bravenewworld | If you ever go back into Wooly Swamp...

Entry tags:

If you ever go back into Wooly Swamp...

Log Deputy:

axiomaticgrue
Log Deputy Schedule: We'd like to request a 24-hour cycle; at least 1 tag every 24 hours (dependent on at least one player tag)
Participating Characters: Yuuna Sugasawa, Haruka Tenoh, Son Goku, Rei Ryugazaki, Merill, and Usagi Tsukino
Plot Description: A group goes out to explore the Northern Wetlands to see what they can find.
Warnings/Notes: Maybe language? Rated M for Mudkipz?

[The trip over the swamp hadn't been too bad, and given that there were enough large flyers among the party it'd really only been a matter of hours before they touched down at the edge of the marshlands. It was still late enough in the day that getting a good start wasn't entirely feasible, so a camp is set. The next morning comes quickly enough, and with boundless enthusiasm Yuuna helps get everyone ready for the trek up into the new area.

And with everything taken care of, she heads towards the edge of the wetlands, a staff in hand and galoshes on her feet positively vibrating with excitement. Her Pokemon seem restless too, excited to get going, but nervous about what they might find.]

Everybody set? Because we're burning daylight already.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Goku hangs back, quiet. He'd like to wait to see what comes out of those bushes, before making any moves. He's not sure if the thing in the bushes is making the vibrating noise, but it seems like something to air on the side of caution for, so he's keeping an eye out.]

[Bouffalant gallantly lurks through the muck - it seems to be safe for swimming, at least, though not very pleasant! It successfully makes it onto the small swamp island and begins to clamber about for foothold.

Everything is going swimmingly right up until the island sneezes.

...

ohhhhh nooooooo

Well, the good news is that Bouffalant has a pretty slick ride and we may or may not be able to name this amazing discovery Arishok's Mobile Isle, ensuring Merrill and Arishok's entry into the history books. The bad news is that Arishok's Mobile Isle looks less than thrilled about being awake - looks like that strange buzzing was the sound of light snoring reverberating underwater.

Arishok's Mobile Isle uses Earthquake!

Or maybe it just took a step forward who really knows.]

[Like a little Goldeen who had been yanked out from the water, Rei froze under the intense stare of the beast. He backed off a pace and stumbled into the muck, splattering mud on his beautifully clean jacket....and simply reminded himself to breathe.

This was bad.

This was very, very bad.]

...I think we made him angry, [He muttered, already reaching for his Warp Band. Fight or flight, they needed a strategy, and he was going to need more than just Harima's help.]

[The moment she realizes what's going on, so...about the time the island starts to move, Yuuna's already directed Kyo to stop. The big Tyranitar does so, studying the island and wondering how to fight a walking landmass, far enough out that he only gets hit with a bit of the Earthquake. The trainer though, calls out, worry in her voice.]

Merrill!

[She's already working on her next move, readying the Warp Band to call out her own landmass. Avalugg seems the right choice since it is also large, and by the looks of this thing it's probably rock or ground or...some type that's not terribly fond of ice...and she'd honestly just feel more comfortable with big beastie of her own. The swampy water splashes and chills immediately as the walking iceberg appears in a flash, but the order to attack doesn't come just yet.]

Merrill, if you're okay, can you talk to it?

[If the Dalish girl doesn't answer, though, then she has a standby command to start attacking with Blizzard. Hopefully a last resort, but it's all she's got at the moment. Till she comes up with a better plan anyway.]

[Well... at least Merrill was on its back during that Earthquake. Small victories. The problem now is that she is still on its back.]

Arishok! Let's get down!

[Giving the Bouffalant a pair of quick but light kicks to the side to spur it on, Merrill shouts a short command in Dalish and the well-trained mount vaults off the Torterra's back to join the others.]

I'll try.

[She nods to Yuuna quickly before looking back at the great creature.]

My, you're very... large, aren't you? Yes. Very large.

[As usual, the beginning of negotiations are little but nervous babbling.]

Would you mind if we looked around a bit? We didn't mean to wake you up, and we certainly don't want to disturb you any further.

!!!

[Oh boy he's getting a little concerned for Merrill, attempting to run as he fights to keep his ground. Goku nearly trips and falls flat on his face a few times as he tries to get to Merrill, but skids to a halt as soon as he can see that she's gotten out of the way and safe.]

[He's about to join in negotiations, but stays silent for the moment, standing a good ten feet or so behind where Merrill is. He's going to wait until the pokémon either speaks or acts.]

[Arishok's Mobile Isle seems uninterested in hearing about how large it is! It continues to plod forward, shaking the ground with every step.

It doesn't seem to have heard Merrill. If it speaks anything coherent at all, Merrill may be able to work out that it's mumbling something about 'fat hooves'. Apparently it doesn't get many Pokemon Bouffalant's size stomping all over it. It sneezes again while stepping forward, sending a blast of water and leaves everywhere.

It doesn't particularly seem to be targeting them, but it doesn't particularly seem to be avoiding hurting them, either.

They can continue to try to communicate if they'd like, but clustering to the side and waiting for it to go away may also be a viable option here.]

[Arishok doesn't seem to have appreciated that comment about fat hooves, and expresses his displeasure by stamping said hooves against the ground. He seems to be gearing up for an angry charge before getting caught in the Leaf Storm.]

I... think we should just let him go. Is everyone all right?

[Thankfully, Hyozan the Avalugg had been sort of interposing himself between his trainer and a few others, covering them from some of the leaf storm by dint of being pretty stupidly bulky. And he doesn't really seem to mind.]

I'm alright, and agreed. Not really sure I'd want to fight a walking island.

[Mental note: Torterra are freaking cool.]

Let's move on. [ And Haruka presses forward to do just that, Torterra and its collateral damage be damned. Rushing Wind returns to her too, flying in a circle around her head. The ground moving is a bit disturbing. It throws off her landmarks!

Gold, for his part, wonders whether Eeveelutions can get that big. A giant Martelé would be awe-inspiring!

Then he gets whacked in the face with a leaf and falls over into the swampwater, but Haruka's still walking so he jumps back onto all four paws and bounds after her. She's going to carve a trail past this thing no matter what. Her focus is 100% on moving forward...and any frogs they may encounter along the way. ]

[Rei brushed the mud off of his jacket while he watched the beast move past them as if they were nothing, torn between awe-inspired fear and admiration. He couldn't begin to fathom how long that Pokemon must have lived, or all of the things it had seen during it's expansive lifetime.]

Yeah, let's. [He tore his attention away from the isle, nodding at the rest of the group. As much as he wanted to follow, to see where it would go, he knew that they needed to keep their focus narrowed in on the current objective]

[As the creature lumbers past them, they may note that its backside and underside are covered in strange globs of... something purple and oozy. Very pleasant. It sneezes again from beside them before continuing on.

If they have no particular interest in maintaining relations with Arishok's Mobile Isle, they will also note that its departure has lowered the water level of the swamp muck considerably, and it's shallow enough to see bottom now.

...Is that some sort of under-muck passage on the other side?]

Yeah... [He responds shakily, watching the giant mass of turtle/land lumber off. Wincing at the gross purple stuff on its underside, he takes a look across the way that's just opened up to them with the movement of the pokemon.]

Hey! We can get through now!

[He's going to happily start towards the passage there because it seems like a really good idea right about now to get away from the giant mass of turtle.]

[Waiting, but a little tense with caution, Yuuna nudges Kyo towards the passage, peering down into it.]

Huh. I guess so.

[Studying it, she mentally runs through a handful of questions. How tall is it, and how deep? Is there any light showing? Is it man-made? Or something else?]

I wonder what that was on its back... some kind of mold or slime, maybe?

[Yeah, Merrill's still more fixated on that than she is on the passage. Not to say she won't follow, but that's a little concerning.]

We'll find out for ourselves soon enough. [ Considering it was submerged, and this passage certainly looks....wet. They'll have to proceed with cau-- ]

Jolteon!

--Shoot! [ And there goes Gold. He's never heard about Flying-types in mineshafts, but even if he had, he would have argued to himself that those Pokémon were being super helpful! He will be helpful here, too! He will be the pioneer, so more Pokémon like that big turtle don't startle them! And he can hold his breath really really well, so even if he ends up underwater, he'll be okay!

Haruka sighs and follows her Pokémon to drag him back. This is why she doesn't like traveling with naive people! ]

Heeeeey, Gold! [He grins as the Jolteon joins him up at the front, the Joltik in his hair popping out and giving a little hello too.]

Careful, so you don't trip and fall, the ground here isn't solid. Haruka won't be too happy if she's got to clean all the mud off of you when we get back.

[There was no way that Rei could hide his amused chuckle at the Jolteon's antics as they trudged down the strange passage. For someone who came across as so serious, Haruka sure had some lively pokemon!]

We've got a few water types with us, [he called, and double checked to make sure that the punky Azumarill hadn't wandered off. Swamps were still his home, after all.] Staying clean won't be a problem.

[And, if the water types didn't want to help, Rei still had managed to stash a bar of soap in his pack.]

[The passage is on the non-inviting side. Tall enough to allow the humans to walk comfortably, though just barely, and slimy and oozy all around. It's hard to tell who made it, although the best guess would be some sort of swamp Pokemon. No light is visible from the other side when viewed from their position outside, and it extends at a very slight angle downwards, which means it's likely that the water will rise as they proceed.

Merrill will be the only one to notice that the purple oozy spots attached to Torterra will shift around and....... turn to look at the group? Gross. Torterra moans and sneezes again at about the same time. Looks like it's been trying to dislodge some sort of parasite infestation - the sneezes unfortunately don't accomplish much of anything. In a few more steps, it will be out of sight.

When Haruka, Rei, and Goku venture into the tunnel, they will find the mud to be extremely sticky and difficult to get through. They will also find that the tunnel branches quickly into two different paths. The left slopes downwards more steeply and it's clear just from sight that the brackish water will be around waist level. The right is much narrower and odd filaments are visible dangling from the ceiling.]

[Oh, lovely. That's...just super pleasant, isn't it?

Yuuna groans inwardly at the over-helpful Jolteon and follows the group down into the tunnel, sending Hyozan back to the Habitat to await further instruction. Twirling her fingers, she sends Magnezone on ahead of the group after attaching a small metal lantern to it's magnetic casing as a lightsource. Since it's not terribly wide, Tyranitar takes up the rear and the ranger slips forward around Rei.]

A fork, huh.

[She eyes the mucky tunnel and the filaments, taking out a small camera and snapping a couple of pictures. Tucking it away, she pulls out a length of rope next. In the process, she makes sure Zedd is blocking the path of Gold so he doesn't go scampering off again, a robotic chime telling the overeager Jolteon not to run on ahead.]

Well. Looks like we've got two choices. The first is the dirty way, and the second...well...I'm not sure I like the look of that stuff on the ceiling. It's not staying clean I'm worried about, but rather how prepared we really are for swamp caverns. Especially narrow ones like this.

[She doesn't want to order the group to follow even if it's her expedition, but she shoots an uneasy glance down both tunnels.]

Which means we can get muddy, find out what those things are, or turn back out of here and look elsewhere. Thoughts?

Edited 2014-12-01 05:10 (UTC)

I don't mind a little mud.

[Merrill's been through enough wilderness on her own to have a rather high tolerance for being dirty and wandering through random sticky muck. Neither choice really bothers her all that much, truth be told.]

I'm worried about whatever that was on that Pokemon's back, though. Maybe they live down here somewhere?

What do you mean? What did you see, Merrill?

[Share with the class...]

Those purple oozy, slimy, blotchy... things on its back.

[She makes little squishing gestures with her hands as if this will help things.]

They moved as it was walking away. I could have sworn I saw them looking at us.

[Well, he can't hear the conversation behind him so he's taking a look around.]

Hey, Joltik, wanna create some light for us?

[The little electric type shakes in Goku's hair as a response, and crawls forward so it's sticking out of his hair a bit. It creates a little electric ball of light in front of it, giving them some visibility.]

Thanks! Come on, let's go this way! [He's not digging the strange things hanging from the ceiling, so he's headed down the left.]

--I beg to differ, Goku-san!

[Rei spoke up too quickly, uneasily eyeing the deeper water that lay further along that path]

The other way looks like it might be a bit easier to get through.

[The Azumarill chittered. Coward-- how do you expect to learn like this?]

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