Session 39

The amber orb begins rolling around the room, trying to roll over the party!
[OOC] WC GM: Athletics or Acrobatics checks, all.
Esme rolled up 4d6+1: 10 (3 2 1 3) (STRONK)
Linnea rolled up 3d6: 9 (3 1 5) (Acrobatics)
Max Thorn rolled up 1d6: 2 (2) (is about as athletic as a beached whale)
Sam Spade rolled up 2d6: 9 (4 5) (As athletic as Max, but at least a bit more nimble)
WC GM rolled up 1d20: 20 (20)
Sam Spade: "You're being mean!"
Linnea: "You gotta be shittin' me!"
WC GM rolled up 2d8+11: 27 (8 8)
The orb knocks Max into a wall! ((27-Defense HP))
Max Thorn: "Ow! Hey!"
Esme manages to parry the orb - barely - giving Linnea and Sam room to dodge.
Linnea: "Ugh, I can't believe this! Why does every paranormal encounter I end up in have to be weird in the ways I _don't_ expect?"
[OOC] WC GM: Party's turn.
[OOC] Max Thorn: 62/78
Max Thorn: "Pity this isn't an Onix, or I'd suggest expecting the onix-pected."
Linnea: "You know what, fine! I'm going to put a stop to this right here and now!" And then she let out an exasperated yell at the pun.
Sam Spade: "Noiseless! Go!"
Max Thorn: "Right…C'mon out, Ammy! Put on some heat!"
Sam Spade: "Focus on that ball, Noiseless! That's your target! And keep your cool!"
Linnea then claps her hand twice, and crimson ribbons seem to burst out of the rubble, trying to anchor themselves into the sphere to stop or at least slow its movement! [Fae Binding]
Linnea rolled up 1d20: 1 (1) (AC 4)
Max Thorn rolled up 1d20 2d6+23: 14 (14) 34 (5 6) (AC 2)
[OOC] Sam Spade: Tagging the Amber Orb.
Noiseless flutters in close to the Orb, then spreads her mouth wide and takes a CHOMP!
The orb rolls right through Linnea's ribbons, but in doing so rolls right into Amaterasu's fire.
Sam Spade rolled up 1d20+1 2d6+8+7: 6 (5) 24 (6 3) (AC2, Focused Training, Bite)
Esme: "So we're just going to break it?"
Linnea groans as the ribbons seem to find no purchase in the thing's defenses. She then makes a particular motion to Miator, and she begins a soft, low hum. [Lucky Chant - 3 counts, any user may spend a count to make crit damage non-crit damage]
Sam Spade: "Well, it won't kill Petri's daughter, will it? Just let her free, if she's a Rotom now?"
Noiseless puts several chips in the orb. The dress-projection fizzles but remains intact enough for modesty - even with the girl's legs clipping through as she rolls the orb around.
Linnea: "…really? Is that now this is going to work?"
Linnea: "Auuuuuuuuugh."
The girl sweatdrops at the new opposition, skids the orb to a halt, and runs it the other way, smashing through the doorway and heading for the rubble-ramp up to ground level!
Sam Spade: "Or she'll run."
Sam Spade hesitates.
[OOC] WC GM: Athletics/Acrobatics to give chase. Beat TN 10 to get close enough to take action.
Sam Spade: "Um. Are the systems for the base defenses up there?"
Max Thorn: "Ohhhhhh no you don't…Ammy, go after her!"
Sam Spade: "Come on, Noiseless! Let's go!"
Linnea: "Oh sweet dear Meloetta, no. Something like this getting out can only be…"
Max Thorn rolled up 3d6+1: 14 (6 1 6) (Ammy's Athletics)
Sam Spade rolled up 2d6: 4 (2 2) (Athletics)
Esme gives chase!
Esme rolled up 4d6: 13 (6 2 2 3) (Athletics)
Max Thorn follows along, however, if only to stay in shouting range.
[OOC] WC GM: Take an action if you beat the TN.
Max Thorn rolled up 1d6: 3 (3) (Max's athleti-hahahaha)
[OOC] Sam Spade: Curses.
Linnea rolled up 3d6: 3 (1 1 1) (Athletics)
Esme attempts to grapple the orb!
Max Thorn rolled up 1d20 2d6+23: 6 (6) 29 (2 4) (AC 2, Ember)
Sam Spade rolled up 4d6: 14 (1 5 2 6) (Noiseless - Athletics)
Linnea trips over a heap of rubble and goes sprawling. She works herself back up, swearing a vivid blue streak.
Esme rolled up 4d6+1: 12 (5 2 3 1) (Opposed Athletics)
Sam Spade flutters along with the group, keeping up, and taking another few chips out of the orb!
[OOC] Linnea: Can I use Miator's Teleport to have the 'mon catch up?
[OOC] WC GM: Sure. This is the kind of thing it's for.
[OOC] Linnea: Can I follow that up with another action or would that be its turn?
WC GM rolled up 1d6: 4 (4) (That rotom's Athletics are like a girl who doesn't even have a body any more)
Sam Spade rolled up 1d20+3 2d6+8+7: 13 (10) 22 (3 4) (Bite AC2, Focused training/orders + Momentum)
[OOC] WC GM: Follow up is okay, especially since Esme landed that grapple.
The orb manages to just barely start up the ramp before Esme hefts it up off the ground, halting it.
Esme: "Nope!"
Max Thorn: "Oh, good."
Miator lets out a note of concern, glaring briefly at the orb before the Kirlia briefly winks out of existence… before appearing in front of the orb's path. She conjures up a series of wisps, which fling themselves into the orb and set it ablaze! [Will-o-Wisp]
[OOC] WC GM: Combat effectively over unless you want to keep attacking. An orb can try to wiggle around but Esme's got that, and that's all it could do.
Linnea rolled up 1d20: 18 (18) (AC 5)
[OOC] WC GM: Hits
The orb seems remarkably fireproof.
Fortunately for Esme.
Linnea: "I-I don't. Damn it!"
Esme: "…phew."
Linnea: "Miator, what were you THINKING?"
Max Thorn: "And just where did you think you were going, young lady?" Max addresses the girl in the orb.
The girl tries to look innocent, and points up the ramp.
Sam Spade: "Walked right into that one, Max."
Max Thorn: "Yes, but I mean after that."
The girl makes a cresting motion with her hand, then points in the general direction of the door leading outside.
Max Thorn: "…Do you want to stop playing games? Cos we can do this all day, or at least until Esme's arms give out."
The girl puts a hand to the side of her chin as if thinking, then smiles and shakes her head. "No, still want to go back to my friends!"
Sam Spade: "She already said she was going to join the raidertanks outside. Right?"
Miator just gives her partner a Look. Linnea returns the glare. "Don't you start with me!"
Sam Spade: "So, what do we do with her?"
Max Thorn: "I'd say 'put her in the tank'."
Sam Spade: "What tank?"
Esme: "…What?"
Max Thorn: "Er. Hovercar."
Max Thorn: "Assuming there's room."
Sam Spade: "In the orb still?"
Miator: "<It's not my problem that one, your binding skills are lacking, and two, you neglected to teach me any.>"
Linnea: "Wait wait wait you want to WHAT?"
Max Thorn: "As long as we can maintain the integrity of the orb, yeah."
Max Thorn: "Which, uh. Probably wasn't helped by the way we hammered on it just now."
Sam Spade: "That seams kinda…mean, doesn't it?"
The orb is cracked but intact, for now.
Sam Spade: "I mean…the orb is the only thing she's possessing, and all she can do is roll it around."
Max Thorn: "I'd rather she didn't try to possess the hovercar and run off…?"
Linnea: "Hold on a second. I'm confused." "<This seems to be a running theme.>" "SILENCE!"
The metal cap where the orb was attached to the building's power fizzles and sparks a bit.
Sam Spade: "…Whoa, okay, Linnea."
Linnea: "Oh? Oh- uh."
Linnea: "That was at, uh. Mia."
Sam Spade: "…Oh. Okay, then."
Linnea points to her head, points to Mia.
Esme: "So uhh. Right."
Esme: "We want to get her to her friends (and not get shot) but also not put her in the car, probably."
Esme: "…Also, what's our endgame here?"
Linnea: "…Melo, this is going to be interesting when nobody else hears." <And quite entertaining.>
Sam Spade: "Do we want to get her to her friends? They're mean."
Max Thorn: "Take her back to Petri, after which she becomes /her/ problem."
Linnea: "Admittedly, the idea of setting her loose in that hellhole of a fort is massively entertaining."
Sam Spade: "Sure, but there's a strong chance she'll screw up the defenses to support her friends, who as we've established, want to turn everyone into more ghosts."
Sam Spade: "By killing them."
Linnea: "Oh."
Linnea: "…"
Linnea just sighs and turns away, quite embarrassed.
Esme: "And the whole bodysnatching thing. Justice and all is nice, but I'm also not sure about how I feel about dumping a pre-eternally 10 year old into a full-grown human. Probably human?"
Esme rotates the orb idly.
Max Thorn: "Well, I mean. The alternative is figuring out how to kill her ourselves, given Petri asked us to lay the daughter portion to rest."
Linnea: "Well, that's chilling."
Max Thorn: "Which is so far off the table it might as well be in the fires of Mount Doom."
Esme: "Mount what?"
Max Thorn: "Never mind."
Sam Spade: "Esme, how should it work?"
Esme: "Should what work?"
Sam Spade: "Is your dead daughter's spirit coming back as a rotom normal?"
Esme: "Sort of? Ghost pokemon weren't always pokemon, sometimes they were people. Ghosts are weird and just sort of happen for a bunch of reasons."
Max Thorn: "I don't think it's a case of body-snatching…I think the rotom part was forced into the orb by the megatank and the raidertank it used to inhabit taken elsewhere."
Sam Spade: "No, the body-snatching was earlier."
Max Thorn: "Was it really? We didn't know at the time that the rotom merged with the girl."
Esme ponders.
Sam Spade: "Petri made a clone-daughter, everything went to crap and she decided she couldn't make her daughter live in this horrifying dystopia, she stole her body."
Sam Spade: "That was the body-snatching."
Sam Spade: "Then…we need a name for you."
Sam Spade: "Do you mind if we give you one?"
Esme: "If she never even got a name I'm actually confused how she was cognizant enough to be mad to become a ghost in the first place."
Linnea: "Viola."
Linnea: "Or…what was the other one's name."
The girl thinks. "Never had a name. Make…make mommy give me a name, and body?"
Max Thorn: "No, Viola's it. This one's not a Tim."
Linnea: "<You've been reading too many horror stories.>" "Don't you think it would apply here, though?" "<I don't think she's a witch.>"
The girl shakes her head. "Only mommy can give me a name. Mommy said so! Others tried!"
Linnea: "Eh? Others tried?"
Linnea: "And what happened?"
Ghost: "Mommy said no, only mommy can name me."
Ghost: "Others kept saying mommy stubborn as a rock. Mommy kept becoming a rock."
Linnea: "… how many times, would you say?"
Max Thorn: "Mm. Anyway. Let's load her up into the hovercar…unless there's something else in here worth defending."
Ghost: "Hmm…" She counts on her fingers. "One, two, three, four, five…" She blinks, having run out of fingers on one hand, then shows that hand. "Many!"
Linnea: "Okay you know what? I'm thoroughly befuddled. Let's just go. I'm just gonna try and reboot my thoughts along the way."
[OOC] WC GM: Tech Ed or Intuition check as you return to ground level.
Linnea rolled up 3d6: 13 (6 6 1) (Intuition)
Max Thorn rolled up 5d6: 23 (4 5 6 6 2) (Tech Ed)
Sam Spade rolled up 2d6: 7 (4 3) (Got a feeling?)
Esme rolled up 5d6: 8 (1 3 1 2 1) (Nerd)
Max Thorn: "…Hey, Sam. Could you send Malta or Chicklet up to have a look at the defense system? I've got a bad feeling about this…"
Linnea: "… …"
Linnea: "A-are."
Linnea: "I don't like the implications of that."
Max Thorn: "I need to know where that defense system's pointed."
Sam Spade: "Malta's already up."
Sam Spade: "So maybe not her."
Sam Spade: "Chicklet, can you take a look?"
Linnea: "Oh, I thought we were trapped here…but that could be so much worse."
Chicklet runs on up ahead of the group.
It is difficult to tell the inner limits of the defense system, but it seems likely that it can only target things outside the building.
Linnea: "Or we could just get shot in the ass on the way out."
Linnea: "I don't know."
The outer limits are in ample visible evidence: the outer edge of the charred land outside.
Max Thorn: "…I *think* it can only fire on things outside the building, but that could mean it was intended to keep something *in* as well as out."
Linnea: "Y…"
Linnea: "Yes."
Sam Spade: "Well, if it's meant to target raidertanks, then the limits could just be where they were deployed."
Sam Spade: "If, however, it's meant to target rotoms, then Viola is in danger."
Linnea: "Yeah, but what if the orb is the target?"
Max Thorn: "What she said."
Linnea: "Means it - and everything nearby, meaning myself and Jack? Wasted."
Max Thorn: "Should be fine if she goes into a pokeball, though."
Linnea: "These are some seriously robust defense systems… what's powering it still when everything else became an expensive pile of rubbish?"
Esme: "…Hm."
Linnea: "Underground generators?"
Linnea: "But then, what of the fuel?"
Linnea starts pacing back and forth.
Esme looks at the orb in her hand.
Esme: "I'm gonna note there was a glass orb with an electric pokemon sitting at a nexus of a bunch of wiring."
Linnea: "…"
Esme: "That is no longer the case!"
Linnea: "So you think it's either out of power, or on emergency reserves?"
The metal cap on the orb sparks a bit more…then stops. The contents of the orb begin to fade.
Linnea: "Uh-"
Sam Spade: "If that's the case we might want to leave before the raidertanks realize that Voila's done her job."
The girl GRINS.
Esme: "Gonna answer that question in a moment, probably."
Max Thorn: "Let's hustle."
Linnea: "I don't want to learn the answer with my face. I like my face where it is."
Chicklet walks outside. Nothing tries to zap or shoot her yet.
Linnea: "…"
Linnea: "Okaythere'souranswerlet'sgo."
Sam Spade: "Does someone have a pokeball to take Viola with us?"
[OOC] WC GM: If Chicklet's climbing up, will need an Athletics roll. Or if Sam's sending Malta, Malta can just fly there.
Max Thorn: "I've got plenty. Depends on whether she wants to cooperate or not."
Linnea: "You got quality ones? I just have the Great variety."
Linnea: "Maybe a little old. What with the storage being down and the rules being what they are…"
Max Thorn: "Best I've got right now is Friend Balls."
Linnea: "<You want to leave without investigating further? Stop now, you're being foolish.>"
Linnea: "Mia, what-"
Linnea: "<Teleportation.>"
Linnea: "Wait-"
She's already leaving.
Linnea: "Oh no. Oh no no no no…"
Esme recalls Lucrece, who's just been goopin' along. She releases Alexis, who oddly enough isn't putting out any immediate attitude. "Huh. Hey 'Lexis, mind flying up and checking out the rest of the building?"
[OOC] WC GM: Miator's heading up to investigate?
Esme: "No no no no?"
[OOC] Linnea: She is.
Linnea: "She just…took off…"
Miator's ascent is as through a human-sized dollhouse. Fire-type fun here, water-type there, living quarters, offices - all broken and abandoned, with occasional skeletons, likely of those who barely had time to realize they were dead.
Esme: "Hrm. Then yeah, definitely check that out." The Scyther squints her eyes, but acknowledges with a nod, taking off up through the wreckage.
Soon Miator finds the roof, with very cobbled together but powerful machinery. Lightning-transmitting antennae guard every which way, all tied to a central targeting computer, which in turn connects to thick power cables someone must have pulled up here on a climb.
Just as Alexis reaches the roof, Miator finds the settings on the computer. The details are difficult to decipher, but at a glance it looks like rotoms are indeed the target. The computer displays a solid ring of them outside, and one dot underneath, inside the minimum distance.
Linnea: "… She's really far up. I can barely pick up on it…"
Linnea: "Tall structures, crackling… a picture of a Rotom - another of a screen. A ring - and one dot here with us."
Max Thorn: "Is it what I think it is?"
Esme: "…I really should invest in making some short range communication for my pokemon. Kinda forgot about it since Gerv never goes anywhere and Luc can just hop in a computer."
Sam Spade: "Viola? Yup."
Linnea: "Viola."
Esme makes a note to maybe swing back by Wirehold at some point.
Linnea: "And if Viola is with us…"
Linnea: "Then…"
Linnea: "Um… we're surrounded."
Sam Spade: "We need to make her not with us."
Max Thorn: "So, yeah. Needs a pokeball. I'm carrying my maximum, though."
Sam Spade: "So am I."
Linnea: "I-I'm not."
Linnea: "So, uh…"
Glancing out the front door, the party can see the line of raidertanks still just outside maximum defense range.
Sam Spade: "….Are you up for carrying a rotom that was a person once?"
Linnea: "I don't have any other choice!" She sounds on the verge of panic.
Max Thorn tosses a Friend Ball to Linnea.
Esme: "That you don't, apparently."
Sam Spade: "We can let her go."
The orb fades out. Seconds later, the head of a rotom emerges from the now-grey orb - and struggles, apparently stuck.
Sam Spade: "We can leave her here. She'll join up with the raidertanks, and maybe mega raider-tank will give her a now body."
Linnea fumbles a bit, then catches the ball. She then turns to Viola, her expression pleading - oh, it's a rotom. She tosses it at the struggling creature.
Sam Spade: "…Or…you capture her."
[OOC] WC GM: Capture check.
Linnea rolled up 1d100: 99 (99) (Friend Ball)
[OOC] Max Thorn: oh god
[OOC] Max Thorn: good thing I have more!
[OOC] Linnea: High is good though. My 1 before missed.
[OOC] Linnea: I think?
[OOC] Esme: Nope
[OOC] Linnea: Ohh. Well, my greats are -10. »;
[OOC] Esme: Capture is a roll-under dealy, which is goofy and why they changed it to a straight d20 thing later
The rotom is sucked out - only to burst right out before a single wobble.
Max Thorn: "…"
[OOC] Linnea: Try again or does it get a struggling action first?
The rotom seems to be trying to come to her senses, easily enough time to throw one more ball.
Max Thorn tosses another Friend Ball to Linnea.
Linnea grimaces, tossing this other one toward the creature. "Come on…work…please! I need this to work!"
Linnea: "WE need this to work!"
Linnea rolled up 1d100: 96 (96)
[OOC] Max Thorn: welp
[OOC] Esme: :D
The ball rolls down the ramp before the rotom bursts out again.
Linnea: "… …"
The rotom waves to the party, then drops through the floor.
Sam Spade: "Well."
Sam Spade: "…We should run."
Linnea: "…I'm gonna lose my fuckin' mind."
Sam Spade: "Do we run in for one last chance, or bail before the defenses are shut down?"
Just as Sam speaks those words, there is a whining sound from below - roughly from the generators.
Linnea: "Screw that, let's bail!"
Esme is taking this opportunity to see what this orb is made out of, before they get blown to pieces. "Probably going to lose more than that."
Max Thorn: "I'd say 'bail', at this point. We tried."
Miator is already on her way back down.
Sam Spade: "Okay!"
Sam Spade snags Chicklet as she runs towards the bikes.
Max Thorn: "She's overloading the generators as we speak."
Sam Spade: "MALTA! Start harassing them!"
Malta screeches.
Max Thorn hops on his hovercycle.
Linnea gets set to get going, spurred onward by the ever-looming verge of panic.
[OOC] WC GM: Are you taking the orb itself?
Max Thorn: "And if we don't want to participate in the first mushroom cloud since the war, we need to jet. Now."
Esme: "Definitely bail. LEXIS! GET DOWN HERE!"
As Miator appears right next to her. <Not without me.> "Of course…"
Esme is absolutely taking it, if it can fit on her bike.
Max Thorn: "…Esme, want to shove that orb into the hovercar real quick?"
Esme: "Oh yeah, the car is a thing."
Esme: "I figured steering with one hand would just be annoying, but this works too."
Linnea returns Miator to her pokeball. "(Please don't wander off like that again…)"
With all the tea plants, there is not room on the hovercar, but the orb can be strapped to the back of the car easily enough.
[OOC] WC GM: So - everyone leaving? There is a line of raidertanks just past the edge of the charred land; what's your plan to deal with them?
Esme quickly gets a small strap!rig going. Valuable specimen-evidence is valuable.
[OOC] Sam Spade: Malta is already harassing the tanks, so we'll see whether they start rallying to fight her off.
[OOC] Max Thorn: I'm going to guess there aren't any good ramping points within the perimeter?
[OOC] WC GM: The perimeter is blasted mostly flat. There are a few raidertank wrecks, but not enough to ramp.
Max Thorn: "Gonna have to lure them toward one point and then run out the opposite side, I think."
Malta is dodging fire - easy enough so long as distance is kept, and enough to distract some of the raidertanks, but not enough to make a hole.
Sam Spade: "I wonder if we can suck some of them into the defense - oh, no. Never mind."
Max Thorn: "I think we need another pokemon out there doing the harassing…"
Esme: "Hrm."
Max Thorn: "…And the raidertanks are going to be inside the blast radius, too."
Max Thorn: "Which suits me fine."
Esme: "Oui, a small consolation."
As the party debates, light begins shining from the generator level.
Sam Spade: "….CRAP."
Sam Spade: "FORCE OUR WAY THROUGH!"
Sam Spade revs her hovercycle.
Linnea: "JUST GO ALREADY!"
[OOC] WC GM: Sam: Guile or Focus check.
Max Thorn gets going, too.
Sam Spade rolled up 6d6: 25 (5 2 5 3 4 6) (Guile.)
Max Thorn rolled up 5d6: 9 (1 3 1 1 3) (Guile, if Max is getting the same choice.)
[OOC] Max Thorn: oh come on.
Esme quickly decouples a small green jewel from her belt, slapping it onto Alexis' torso. "Go play distraction with Malta."
…perhaps it is honest panic. Perhaps it is Sam's plan. But as she races toward the raidertanks, they see the look on her face and the light behind her. They look at each other in confusion, then one of them apparently realizes what's going on with a, "Rot oh" .
The raidertanks break ranks and begin to peel out away from the building.
Max Thorn: "… I guess we don't need a distraction, then."
Sam Spade: "MALTA GET CLEAR!"
[OOC] WC GM: Focus or Athletics, everyone who's driving.
Max Thorn rolled up 2d6: 3 (2 1) (Focus)
[OOC] Max Thorn: okay seriously
Sam Spade rolled up 5d6: 12 (2 1 2 6 1) (Focus. Staying on Max as much as possible, though, since we know he's not that great a driver.)
Esme rolled up 4d6+1: 14 (2 6 3 2) (SPORTS)
BUILDING used SELF-DESTRUCT!
Shock waves send the group flying, end over end. Everyone but Max lands right-side-up, though.
WC GM rolled up 6d12+35: 76 (10 7 1 11 1 11)
[OOC] WC GM: 76-Defense damage. That's slightly under 0 HP, right?
[OOC] Max Thorn: 65 damage to Max, so yes. -4/78 now.
Sam Spade: "MAX!"
Max is unconscious, as his hoverbike rights itself.
Sam Spade swerves over and pulls in next to him.
Linnea is knocked out in an instant by the force. (-10/84)
Sam Spade: "JACK BRING THE CAR AROUND!"
[OOC] Max Thorn: sorry, -3.
[OOC] Sam Spade: Did we all take that damage?
[OOC] WC GM: Only Max. The rest of you were cushioned by your vehicles.
[OOC] Sam Spade: 'swhat I thought.
[OOC] WC GM: …though Linnea could have been too, if you want. I was having Jack autopass.
Sam Spade waits for Jack to pull up, yanks a door open, and glances back at the raidertank horde.
[OOC] WC GM: The important thing is: nobody's dead and some of the party is still up.
[OOC] Linnea: oop I misread.
[OOC] Linnea: But I already did it so it's fine, we can go on.
The horde is running every which way from the mushroom cloud that has replaced the building.
You suspect Viola has discorporated.
[OOC] Sam Spade: And presumably some of the survivors are are running this way, so-
Sam Spade hefts Max, forcing his unconscious body into the back seat.
Sam Spade: "No, stay there, Jack, you need to drive. Linnea, can you - welp."
Sam Spade slams the door closed and runs back to her own vehicle.
Sam Spade: "Okay, let's go!"
Esme: "He'll be fine, not the first explosion he's been through."
It is easy enough to lash Max to his hovercycle, and his hovercycle to Sam's and/or Esme's.
What few raidertanks are heading this way are shaken - and in any case, still too slow for the group's vehicles. In minutes, the party is away and safe.
[OOC] Sam Spade: And all it took was two or possibly three Injuries to two of the party members.
[OOC] WC GM: Stopping to treat Max and Linnea, or just powering on to the next destination? And what is the party's next destination?
[OOC] Max Thorn: Site 2 or 3, I think.
Linnea seems to still be in her magical form, as the works that bind the armor to her are powerful indeed. She looks quite much the worse for wear, though. (( 2 Injuries. 50% then 0%. ))
[OOC] Esme: 3, 1 for Massive Damage
[OOC] Linnea: Right, okay.
Esme feels they should probably pull over to at least check on them, but medical knowledge isn't exactly her…well anything.
Sam Spade waits until the last raidertank has vanished into the distance.
Sam Spade: "Hey. Let's hold up for a bit."
It takes about half an hour before no raidertanks are visible at all.
Featureless desert lies in every direction. The sun blazes overhead. The only movement in sight in any direction is heat mirages. For Dojji, this is relative safety.
Sam Spade pulls to a halt. Malta screeches in out of the sky, lands on the back of Sam's bike, and appears to go asleep.
Sam Spade: "…I don't know any other medicine but what I've seen on the 'dex."
Sam Spade: "Do they look okay to you?"
Esme: "Uhhh."
Esme: "Alive, yes. Not particularly good?"
Esme shrugs.
Esme spritzes each of them with a potion.
[OOC] WC GM: Fortunately, these Potions work just fine on humans too. +20 HP each.
[OOC] WC GM: Which is enough for positive HP and consciousness, yes?
Max Thorn gradually comes to, groans. "…I hurt in my everything. Ow."
Linnea groans. Stirs. Uncurls painfully. Then starts screaming, as she's not quite realized where she is yet. (10/[58])
Sam Spade: "Whoa! Calm down, Linnea!"
Linnea: "Ah-ah…? What-"
Linnea: "Wh… ah…"
Linnea pants for breath. "No- but- where-"
Linnea: "A-are we dead?"
Sam Spade: "No?"
Sam Spade: "Why would you think that?"
Linnea: "… …"
Linnea: "Because, the blast, and…"
Max Thorn: "Presumably her everything hurts, too."
Linnea: "Oh, Melo…"
Sam Spade: "That sounds reasonable."
Max Thorn: "Are the plants okay?"
Linnea: "I don't think I'm good enough to patch up these hurts yet… just enough to keep walking…"
Esme: "Didn't run into any trouble until now, so presumably."
A few of the plants are toast, but most of the cargo is okay. Especially in the hovercar, since the orb seems to have taken the brunt of the blast.
Esme: "Wait no, some of em are a little charred. Might be able to fix it later."
Max Thorn: "Well. Anyway, Site 2, I think…?"
Linnea: "… did anyone bring bandages? The kit I have got knocked around and I think I lost 'em all."
Jack wordlessly holds up Linnea's kit.
[OOC] Linnea: Ah, nobody else has bandages the item?
[OOC] Sam Spade: Nope!
[OOC] Max Thorn: Nein.
[OOC] Esme: Non.
Linnea: "Ugh…this is going to be ugly, I think…I have some more potent restoratives if people need 'em." She points out the pack of concentrated Super Potions. There are ten of them.
Well, nine. Linnea has taken one of them and immediately starts applying it to the worse-off areas.
Her armor seems in tatters, with some pretty nasty bruises evident underneath.
[OOC] Linnea: 45/[58]
Sam Spade gets off her bike and stretches.
Sam Spade: "…Max, do you think you'll be able to stay up?"
Max Thorn applies one of his own, and signs. "Unless something else comes up, yes."
Sam Spade points at the rope that's lashed his bike between hers and Esme's.
Linnea: "…"
Sam Spade: "Cuz that's got me very nervous."
Esme checks out the orb. Any more cracks?
Max Thorn: "Not going to be up for any fancy footwork anytime soon, though."
Linnea looks like she's about to start screaming again, but thinks better of it.
The orb has many more cracks, as expected. It is still intact, but it is probably not going to be imprisoning any more rotoms in the near future.
Linnea: "…I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't bring Viola with me."
Linnea: "I tried."
Sam Spade: "It's okay."
Max Thorn: "Not your fault."
Linnea: "I mean, no, it's not okay…but um…thank you."
Sam Spade: "I would have tried earlier if I could have, but."
Sam Spade pats the three pokeball holders on her belt.
Linnea: "Yeah…"
Max Thorn: "And anyway, I really doubt she survived the explosion, so we accomplished our initial goal regardless."
Linnea: "Rest in peace, I hope."
Now that she has time to study it, though, Esme can confirm that the majority of it is - or was - an elaborate pokeball, with a projection screen covering most of the orb, a voice synthesizer, and related systems. But there seem to be several cross-purpose or useless systems; perhaps whoever built this knew what it would imprison but was in deep denial.
Sam Spade: "…Yeah. It's what she wanted…I think?"
Linnea: "… I don't know."
Linnea: "I was overwhelmed. I didn't expect to get drawn into…this…from the fragmented warring within the fort."
Esme: "Huh. Neat."
Sam Spade reaches over and pats Linnea on the shoulder.
Linnea: "I hope at some point we get a chance to stay in relative safety… I can't have a breakdown here. Not here. It's not safe."
Max Thorn: "Linnea, none of expected this sequence of events. You did as well as any of the rest of us would've, and far better than what some folks'd able to handle."
Sam Spade: "It's alright. You may not have realized…"
Sam Spade: "Yeah."
Linnea sighs heavily.
Sam Spade: "I didn't realize we were coming here so soon, but we've known it was coming for some time."
Linnea: "Okay. So. We're beat to hell out in the middle of the wasteland. But we're surviving, and we're all together. So we have that going that for us."
Sam Spade: "Yup."
Linnea: "What's next?"
Sam Spade: "Well, there are two more sites to visit, and we need to track down Mega Raidertank so we can show Iggy how cool we are."
Linnea: "We need to deal with our injuries before we even think about considering the Mega Raidertank."
Max Thorn mutters something involving feeding Ignacia to the Mega Raidertank…
Sam Spade: "Yeah, well."
Esme: "So sites first, then."
Linnea: "Sites first."
Sam Spade: "One of those sites should be a functioning colony."
Max Thorn: "Right. Site 2's closer, I think."
Sam Spade: "The other is still holding off the enemy, I think?"
Sam Spade: "…Or am I misremembering based off of half-understood guesswork."
Linnea: "Thank Melo. A reprieve, and maybe we can do some bartering. I'm… not so sure money has any worth out here."
The trip toward Site 2 is fairly smooth, thankfully. The party barely sees another raidertank until they get close. But once they do…
An increasing frequency of hills - or perhaps just large sand dunes, it is hard to tell - comes with squads of raidertanks that seem to be searching for something. They take perfunctory shots as the party passes, missing widely at first.
Soon the party comes into sight of a ruined city, blasted down to the memories of roads and the trace remnants of building skeletons.
Max Thorn: "…hard to imagine anyone still being here. Jeez."
Sam Spade: "But the raidertanks certainly think so."
Sam Spade: "They're looking for the entrance."
Sam Spade pulls out her pokedex.
Sam Spade: "Um."
A dozen raidertanks are gathered around one skeleton, intact halfway up to its first story, as the party's pokedexes beep. A text message comes through, signed "DH" .
Sam Spade: "….Is there any-"
DH: "ARE YOU HUMAN Y/N"
Linnea near leaps out of her seat, before fumbling-
Max Thorn responds. "We are human, yes."
Linnea: "Yes. Yes. And also hell and yes."
Esme sends a reply. "Y!"
Max Thorn: "I am *not* bleeding for anybody today, though."
DH: "GET READY TO DRAW RTS AWAY. WILL PREPARE SNIPER."
DH: "GET TO ELEVATOR, WILL PULL IN WHEN SAFE."
Sam Spade blinks and slides the 'dex back into her pocket, then revs her hovercycle.
Max Thorn: "…Draw them away how, exactly?"
Sam Spade: "HEY!"
Sam Spade: "RAIDERTANKS! YOU'RE STUPID AND YOUR MOTHER IS UGLY!"
DH: "RTS ON ELEVATOR NOW. BE THERE."
Malta screeches and takes off into the air.
Sam easily gets the attention of 12 ghost-[okemon-possessed tanks with apparently unlimited ammunition for their main cannons.
Sam Spade: "okaynowwerun!"
[OOC] WC GM: 25 pokemon XP each for the chase, and +1 trainer level each for clearing the lab.

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