bravenewworld | The Battle for Caldera

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The Battle for Caldera

The time for action is at hand, and the players have been set in place. Those who choose to make an attempt at diplomacy head off at the appointed time to meet with Valeria, the clerk and representative of the general who leads the Gigas army. Those who wish to take more direct action against Gigas leave with General Ironbrand to put their plans into motion. In the meantime, the refugees continue to stream into Union, while supplies are gathered and flow the other way.

The outcome of this war may very well depend on the combined results of these four efforts…

((This log will be a catch-all for all four efforts of the attempt to save Caldera. There will be four different parts of this post: Diplomacy, Aggression, Refugees, and Supplies. The first two should be well established, but the Refugees portion will encompass bringing those in Caldera who require help to Union and giving them medical aid and care, while the Supplies portion will encompass people in Union setting up shelters and gathering resources to send back to Caldera, as well as other miscellaneous tasks that may be of help. Gathering resources may entail leaving Union to explore out in other areas. You all signed up for groups, so please try to maintain these groups when posting, particularly to the Diplomacy and Aggression sections. The other two may be more free-form.

Mods will be responding at least once every 24 hours to keep the logs moving.

EDIT 5/31: Please try to group up if possible! We'll generally try to wait for threads to have 2-3 people before we jump in. Threads with 3+ may attract the attention of something a little more... interesting.))

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[ Well, these sure look like caverns under the mountain. Haruka may have disrupted the supply manager to get this information, but it was certainly reliable. If there are any clues to be found about the mysterious "red giant" that plagued the city before Caldera, chances are they might be here. ]

Sewa?

Stay close. I'll send a scout ahead.

[ Off goes Murkrow to get the lay of the land. Now, remind her why, in addition to a certain stowaway riding in the hood of her cloak, she's got Hotaru and Usagi Tsukino (of all people) in tow? Yes, the city's at war. She supposes it can't be helped.

Yet she takes her first tentative steps into the cavern wishing they cast one or two fewer shadows. ]

[ Hotaru's there because she's useful okay!!!!!!! ]

I don't sense anything... unnatural. [ Or does she? It's harder to tell in human form - Absols could sense distrubances through the earth and air, and Hotaru was no exception, but in human form it was less reliable.

If Usagi weren't here, she'd be more comfortable shifting into Absol form. Actually, she'd be more comfortable as an Absol with Usagi, but shifting would draw too much attention and she hated attention. Bah humbug. ]

[dissuading Usagi from tagging along had proven fruitless and unfortunately (fortunately?), she's not cold hearted enough to actually make the girl go back on her own. They have work to do, besides.

No, she'll keep a sharp eye out on their surroundings. Everybody else should be busy enough with the plans, but it doesn't hurt to be careful.

Her eyes fall on Usagi and. She'll hide a sigh.] Hotaru, will Celosia help us when we enter the cave?

[ Really, Usagi hadn't meant to tag along with the group. It wasn't as if she wanted to get herself lost after trying to be helpful... although really if she had wanted to be helpful she should have stayed in Union and not listened to the voice in her head telling her to get more involved because this was important. Her pokemon hadn't helped in that decision either.

So now, she's certain she may have made a nuisance of two of her most respected people she knows and is trying not to get in their way despite getting lost and having no other way home except for Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru.

Usagi's looking around idly, taking in the sights of this new place while Pinky is settled quite nicely in Usagi's arms. If there was anything that the Clefairy knew about her human partner, hugs during a high stress situation were the answer to keeping her from fretting too much. For now though, she keeps herself quiet because they look like they knew what they were doing... right? ]

As the team progresses into the caverns, they notice a faint light, which, as they approach, grows brighter and hotter. Stepping into the next room, they find themselves on a huge alcove overlooking a massive pool of bubbling lava.

Sewaaaaaaa.

[ Sewaddle hangs his head over Haruka's hood and gasps. Oh, boy, that's hot. Haruka's throat closes too - the air in here's stuffy, it's messing with her sense of the wind - but she doesn't betray emotion, just holds up an arm to make sure nobody tries to keep walking. Her Murkrow is flying around the lava pool, cawing in distress. Who put this here? It's uncomfortable! ]

An impasse already?

[ She gives Michiru a look - at least they'd known it was a volcano - and then turns back to the lava pool. Does the path continue on the other side, if they can find a way over? Is there anything written on the walls? ]

[if it gets really bad, she might try something like Water Sport to see if that will help. And if there's no path, but something on the other side, her Gardevoir knows Teleport.

Glancing at Haruka, and then at the kids.] Are you two alright?

[Michiru either looks like she's bearing the heat better than the others or she actually is ~~depending on game mechanics~~]

[ Wow. That's a lot of lava.

Hotaru seems to be in awe of this natural volcanic wonder. Her Litwick, Celosia, on the other hand, is just happily basking in the heat. Guess they don't need her light any more though, right?

She glances over at Michiru when she's addressed, though. ] I'm fine. [ At least she's not covered in Absol fur at the moment. ] It's hot in here, but I'll survive. [ Litwick just continues to bask. Lucky fire-type. ]

[ At least everyone else is calm. Usagi would probably be staring in wonder at the large lava pool beneath them... except Pinky has started panicking at the prospect of accidentally falling over the edge and turning into a barbequed Clefairy.

So, where is Pinky now? Scampering quickly so that she's clinging to the back of Usagi's head and using Usagi's hair as a safety belt around her waist. ]

Come on, really?! Get off! You're not going to fall and it's already too hot in here to have you on my head!

CLEFAIRY!

There's no writing on the walls that they can immediately see, but they do notice a small structure located across a narrow land bridge on an island in the middle of the pool.

Krow! Krow!

[ Haruka's Murkrow has definitely noticed this structure; it looks like a good place to perch, so he wheels over to take a rest. Are you people coming? Is there anything shiny here?

Haruka, meanwhile, is looking at that bridge and smirking. Sure, she's probably fine crossing it herself, but given that she'd rather Pinky not add the balance beam to her gymnastics credentials...

She looks over at Michiru with a knowingly cocky expression. Yeah, she's about to ask for a favor. What of it? ] I hate to say it, but we might be better off carpooling.

[Haruka gets a sidelong glance, complete with a smirk.] You could just ask for it.

[there's a joke in there somewhere, but...

Warp Band, go! And Michiru summons her Gardevoir, who's glancing around and trying not to look too impressed at all the lava.] Waltz, if you would please...?

[Gardevoir nods and Teleports them all to the center.]

Edited 2014-06-03 02:48 (UTC)

The small building appears to be a shrine. It's definitely old, and doesn't appear to have been visited in many years, but it's oddly in good condition - no major wear or tear can be found on it. Within the shrine are the shards of some sort of broken machinery, and nestled within those shards appears to be a small disc. A Technical Machine, by the looks of it. Additionally, there are some scrolls contained within the shrine. They appear to be in old script, but should be decipherable with some study from Union Scholars.

[ Hotaru's looking around curiously - but she's hanging back short of any of the objects, not wanting to get in the way of Haruka or Michiru. This was their show, as far as she was concerned, and she wasn't about to get on their bad sides by poking anything she wasn't supposed to.

She recognized that the disc was a technical machine - her father had similar discs around his lab, although she hadn't touched those, either. He would yell if she got too close. She wondered if the others would, too. Best stay back, yep. ]

[ On the one hand, HOLY COW GROUP TELEPORTATION. That was so awesome. It was in a blink of an eye too! Both Usagi and Pinky are quite in awe at just how simple it was to get from point A to point B without worrying about falling to certain doom.

But man oh man, was it even hotter here than it was when they had first popped into this lava cavern. Usagi can feel the sweat and stuffiness of the cavern starting to weigh down on her the longer they're down here. She's about to open up her mouth to complain about the conditions they're currently under...

... but her eyes catch a glimpse of the shrine that's now within their grasp to start adventuring in and Usagi is immediately poking her nose into everything and anything. Specifically stopping when she notices the small disk that's shinier than anything else in this place and picks it up, looking at it with a curious eye. ]

Hey guys? What's this thing?

Krow!

[ Congratulations, Usagi. You have the same affinity for shiny objects as a Murkrow: he's now flying around your head, debating the best way to approach and claim that special prize.

Haruka bats him aside, however, putting down the scroll she'd been looking at (they'll have to take these back for Setsuna to look at later). She will attempt to pluck that device from Usagi's fingers. ] Don't touch anything.

[ But Haruka, you're taking everything. ]

[and she'll glance at one of the scrolls, before picking all of them up and, let's see. How best to carry these?]

Oh, just probably some ancient relic with great historical value.

[Michiru, please.]

[With the items in hand, the party is safe. Or are they? There's a growling noise echoing off the vaults of the cavern. It sounds very menacing.]

[ The heck is that?

Whatever it was, it sounds very menacing. ]

It might be a good idea to leave. [ Hotaru's about a half-second from taking her Absol form, Usagi or no Usagi.

Unlike the other two Enlightened in their group, she felt vulnerable like this. And vulnerable wasn't a good thing when there was a very menacing sounding growl coming from somewhere in the cavern.

Her Litwick, on the other hand. seemed to... actually, her Litwick didn't seem to care whatsoever. She was just standing at the edge of the island staring into the lava. Wow. Simple minds have no worries. ]

A-ancient relic?!

[ Well, she's just going to let Haruka take that thing from her without any kind of retort. Why? Well, she's pretty sure that she doesn't want to be the one who gets in trouble for breaking something that valuable.

She'd apologize profusely because the last thing she wants is to get on Haruka's bad side but.... ]

.... what's that?

[ Welp. If being surrounded by lava wasn't enough to put Usagi on edge, that growl sure did a good job of it. ]

[well, now.] It seems like we've worn out our welcome.

[and the scrolls go in a convenient pack she's got on her. Want to put the TM in here too?

She glances at her Gardevoir and. She knows exhaustion when she sees it. ~~Hypocrite~~.] We should start walking.

[turning to the land bridge. This will be fun.]

[ Haruka passes over the TM and begins slowly herding the others (especially Usagi and Hotaru) towards the exit, shielding them with her body as she looks around for the source of the sound. Her head has snapped up and stayed up since that growling came.

Still, the fact that Waltz either can't or won't Teleport gets a smirk. ] Stamina give out before the big finish?

[she'd send Gardevoir back, but the Pokemon is notoriously stubborn when it comes to the safety of her Trainer.

Haruka gets a smirk right back.] She might surprise you yet.

[ladies, this is so not the time. Honestly, look at Gardevoir rolling her eyes.]

[The lava erupts and a strangely colored Pokemon bursts out of it, landing lightly on its feet and blocking the path. It is growling menacingly, the fur on its back raised and flames gathering around its body.]

Edited 2014-06-05 14:28 (UTC)

[ Hotaru takes a step back in surprise as the lava erupts and a yellow Pokémon blocks the path. Also because if any of that lava splashed on her she'd probably die.

She's a Shifter, so she can talk to them, right? ]

H-Hey. We come in peace? [ This wasn't going to work, was it?

Meanwhile, her Litwick, which was a lot closer to the Arcanine, just pipes in with a completely-unfazed "Hi!"

Yes. Thank you, Celosia. That was a very useful addition to the conversation. ]

After the above thread... (cavern exploration)

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