bravenewworld | Descent

Entry tags:

Descent

Iron Mines:
The trip to the eastern mountains is punctuated by the continuing aftershocks. After each one, it may be tempting to glance back at Union to see if any of the towers have fallen yet. The expedition parties move with incredible speed, knowing that the fate of their City hangs on the line.

When they reach the mountains, guided by the coordinates given of the 'strange radio signal', the parties will find that many of the normal entrances and routes have been blocked by cave-ins. In contrast, however, a gaping hole has opened up where none existed before. As this seems to be the easiest way to gain access, the parties slowly lower themselves in...

They will find themselves in the long-sought iron mines.

But there are so many twisting turns and tunnels, it will be impossible to stay together and make any sort of progress. Each group will have to take their own paths from here...

Old City:
Each of the twelve entrances down into the Old City take a different meandering route through the ruins. Though several are blocked off by this time, there are still many potential paths to take. The state of the Old City is poor, being underground as it is, and occasional soft rumblings are certain to cause unease. As the report states, however, there is enough of an interval between quakes that it should be possible to investigate safely.

It would be unwise to venture down alone, but it is impossible, too, for everyone to stay together if they wish to make headway.

Union:
The wild Pokémon continue to come out of the Old City, though the frequency has been somewhat lessened. Rubble lines the streets and though no towers have collapsed as of yet, some seem to be dangerously close and certainly nobody should be staying inside of them. As stated, the towers in Sector 3 are the worse off and construction crews work frantically to attempt to restabilize the foundations of these buildings.

The injured are innumerable, the number of casualties is as of yet unknown, and the chaos and panic is difficult to fend off.

There is a great deal of work to be done.

((Please post below with your groups - in the first comment, please note the members of your group, where you are, and whether or not you intend to keep a threading order. Regardless of threading order, mods will be responding at least once every 24 hours to keep the event moving. Groups should be three to four people in size.

At this time, all characters entering the iron mines will be able to choose to bond with a free extra Pokemon listed under 'Cavern' in the Map and Wild Pokemon post. Please respond there if you intend to make use of this. Characters who have already claimed a free Old City Pokemon may not do so.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He was already getting himself out of the rubble, and he'll haul himself to your level with a wince--okay joints are fine]

Yeah--

[He looks up]

Mari--

[Shit, why did you come to his aid instead of running away with her or something? Well, no helping it now. He's going to ready himself to attack it from behind or run past it with Atsuro to help out Mari, depending on the situation]

[Mari doesn't even glance away to see if Atsuro reached Kaido. Her full attention is spent on the Nidoking and not flinching at the volume of the roar or the sparks coming from its mouth. Even with her ability, she could not understand it perfectly but... 'destruction'...? Did it think humans were responsible for the earthquake?]

I understand you're upset. You have every right to be, considering all the damage that has been done here. But I swear, we three are not responsible for it, and attacking us will not fix anything.

All we want is to leave your territory and return to our own. If you'll allow us, we'll cause you no further trouble.

[The talking is enough to keep the lightning from frying her immediately, but Nidoking snorts derisively.

It's heading up to bring justice and vengeance on all the humans. It hardly matters if it hurts them now or later.]

[As long as talking keeps it from attacking, then Mari will take that as a good sign to continue. And if it's not going to let them go that easily, maybe she could at least get more information from it.]

May I ask, why now, of all times? Am I right in assuming you think humans caused the earthquake?

[Nidoking pauses for a moment.

Then it bursts into laughter, the crackling energy dissipating.

Hahahahaha humans caused the earthquakes she didn't understand a thing!

For emphasis, Nidoking pounds its foot into the ground and the whole area begins to shake.

The earthquakes were their way to strike back! It was all they could do! But nothing had worked...]

[Mari stumbles back at the force of the shaking, catching herself against a wall. But any fear is muted against the noise of her confusion. Certainly, its feelings about its friends and the resources she could understand. But it had sounded like there was some greater concern it had, some bigger fear that would drive the Pokemon to do this. Had she just misunderstood...?]

You're right, I don't understand. But I want to. You say we're bringing destruction on you now, but if not the earthquake, what is it you think we're doing? If it's something that can be fixed or prevented, everyone should know about it so that we can do so.

[Nidoking roars again, an expression of disbelief.

It knew humans were stupid, but could they actually be so stupid as to fail to be able to hear it?

That noise... that noise that drove everything that heard it mad. What else was it but a declaration of warfare against them all?

They should have finished the job they started long ago! Humans never should have been trusted with their second chance!]

A noise...?

[Mari wracks her brain, trying to figure out if she'd heard anything about something like this before, if there had been any strange behavior from Pokemon in the city. Nothing, nothing at all, and certainly nothing that horrible.]

Please, listen to me. I'm sorry that we were unaware of your pain, I really am. But destroying the city will not stop it. Even if you level it and everyone inside, you and your friends will still be left suffering in the aftermath.

[She takes a step forward, her voice softening.]

Let us try to fix this instead. If humans can't hear the noise, then we won't be affected by it. Whatever the source is, I promise, we'll figure out a way to stop it. Just help us find it.

[...There comes an annoyed grunt to Mari's response.

At least they could spread the pain if nothing else. ...Its tone and expression seem agitated, though, as if acknowledging the truth of what she says.

After a moment, it snorts.

It was through the tunnels. ...They had fled from it as far as they could, but even now, it could hear it ringing in the back of its head...]

[Atsuro's been listening this whole time, trying to pick up on the conversation - so the Pokemon were provoked by some kind of noise? Something only audible to them, probably? It looks like the conversation is taking a more peaceful turn, though, so he'll risk getting out of his hiding spot and back into the Nidoking's field of vision - not without turning to Kaido first, though.]

Looks like miss Mari is getting through to it... I think it'll be okay now. Let's go to her.

[And with that, he starts moving carefully so that his appearance isn't too sudden or perceived as a threat by the Nidoking.]

[He nods. The faster they can regroup, the better. He'll do his best to not have his entire body language sceam "battle," but it's kind of hard... hopefully it doesn't consider him enough of a threat to take it as offense.

Still, he'll put his hand on Atsuro's shoulder to slow him down--let him go first, just in case]

[Mari relaxes into a smile.]

Alright, thank you. We'll figure out some way to stop this.

[Finally, the situation feels calm enough that she can glance over at Kaido and Atsuro. Neither one looks very badly hurt, but she knows Kaido at least can't be uninjured. Could he manage a deeper trek into the mines? She wasn't sure; though neither was she sure if a suggestion they leave without doing anything first would be very well received by the Nidoking.]

[Someone as clueless as her? And those little runts she was with?

Nidoking guffaws again while glancing back towards Kaido and Atsuro. It seems entirely unrepentant about Kaido's current state.

Please. They'd get murdered before they took ten steps.

The only reason they aren't dead yet is out of the goodness of its heart or some crap like that.]

[Are you kidding? He's not gonna die from a few scratches. He can still walk and fight ~~damnit~~]

Kaido.

[Atsuro grabs his shoulder in an attempt to cool him down - really, there's no need to be provoked so easily and push yourself too hard. He's glancing shortly at Nidoking - Atsuro himself isn't the type to get fired up over being looked down upon by someone - and returning his gaze to Mari.]

Miss Mari, what did you find out? Do we have a plan for now?

[She can't help a small chuckle at the Nidoking's blunt assessment.]

And we're very appreciative of that.

[Then she turns to Atsuro and Kaido, checking to see how badly he's been injured. If he can still bristle that quickly he'd probably be fine, but she still wanted to get him resting soon.]

It seems there's some kind of noise in the mines that's hurting the Pokemon and making them act out. I think we should go back up to the city and let someone know so they can send more people down and find whatever's causing it.

[Atsuro nods - that sounds like a sensible plan. Of course, he'd be curious to come see what it is himself, but it might very well be too dangerous for the three of them. Normally, having a Nidoking on their side (it is on our side, right?) would be a pretty good guarantee for survival, but not when it's in the danger of being driven crazy. He glances back at Kaido]

Kaido, you've sent out an SOS earlier, right? If they've already sent someone, we might encounter them on our way back... I'm not sure if we'd have enough people even then, though.

I say we just go see what the hell is up. If they got the SOS they can catch up to us.

Plus other teams went in, we can always pass the info on if we see them.

[She half-expected Kaido to say something like that, so her answer came prompt and firm.]

Tadashi, that's far too dangerous. We couldn't even fight against one Nidoking, what would we do if we ran into another Pokemon just as strong and less willing to listen to us?

I agree with miss Mari. I think we have better chances if we regroup and alert others. Rushing in is too dangerous, and we don't even have a backup plan - Old City might be an at least somewhat familiar territory, but we've never been to the mines, nor do we have maps of them. And we don't have any proper supplies ready in case one of us gets hurt, which is rather likely--

[He stops with his speech, suddenly remembering something, and quickly turns to Mari, lowering his voice.]

Miss Mari, can you ask the Nidoking about where it's learnt its moves? They're not supposed to be a part of its naturally developing abilities, so maybe there was some outside intrusion with that, too - and I think it's possible it's related to the noise or whatever is causing it. If I'm right, of course.

[And now, back to Kaido.]

Anyway, that's what I think. It's just too risky, Kaido. It's one thing to go face something dangerous, and a completely different thing to do so completely unprepared.

[Nidoking interrupts this conversation by snarling loudly at this point. What in the world are they yammering about and how is it more important than destroying that machine and exacting vengeance???

It will begin to stomp back towards the exit out of the Old City.]

((Nidoking is calm enough that a Bonding may be attempted at this point! As only one person can successfully bond, however, we ask that you discuss it amongst yourselves and decide who will try. Bonding may still not be successful depending.))

[The snarl startles Mari's attention away from the boys. As the Nidoking starts to leave, she finds herself thinking. It's very strong, certainly, but more than that, it's been helpful and willing to understand and reconsider. A Pokemon like that could be a good partner.

And there's something else, too... a thought that has been troubling her since the Nidoking's revelation of the evidently man-made noise.

After a moment to consider, she makes her decision and follows after it.]

Pardon me, but could I make a proposal?

[If she wants to propose destroying the noise, she already proposed it earlier and she'd better hurry up and snap to it before it changes its mind about not frying them.

Nidoking's tone is more grumpy than it is actually serious. It seems vaguely annoyed at having been persuaded not to eat them.]

[A bit amused at the attitude, she smiles.] No, not that. Though it is related.

Destroying whatever is causing that noise is only the first step. Whoever made the source is still out there, somewhere outside of Union. If you'd like, we could work together to find them and see them punished.

[After all, this was the first serious evidence she'd found to support people living outside of Union. There was no way she wasn't going to follow up on it, one way or another.]

((Assuming this means Mari is initiating the Bond!))

[Nidoking stops for a moment and glances back with an expression halfway between disgust and dubiousness. It had wiped the floor with them earlier. What in the world could they offer?]

Descent

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