3spoopy

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The Ruined Chateau.... Given Sova had been here once already and explored the interior, it now looked smaller from the outside, all except for the massive double-doors. Then again, given the things he'd witnessed inside, it probably WAS somehow smaller on the outside. Still, this wasn't going to deter or scare him. The only thing he was worried for was anyone else aiming to go there. Today, the one who happened to want to go with him was Varda. This was odd, since the two usually only did missions together, but today.... there was no mission here. Actually, the guild had sort of made it a mission to explore the things happening and this seemed like the place to go, so maybe it was a mission. Just, without the rewards.

He looked up to the sky and stared at the gloomy dark clouds for a moment, as if just making sure the sky wasn't changing before he set his attention back on the Chateau. "Remember, Varda, stay close to me in here. This place will literally change with you in it, so if we get separated, we could have a lot of trouble finding each other. There's also a lot of really dangerous and hostile pokemon in here and since most of the rooms aren't exactly huge, I won't be able to go all out with you here," he explained, relaying his past experience in this horrible house to the swablu.

He wanted his ally to be ready for everything in here, after all. Especially since there was a good chance he was going to need some help.... if not with fighting, then with finding his way around. He would have brought some of his other new allies along, but oddly enough.... the little fluff-ball was still the one he trusted most alongside him. At that, Varda was the only one he trusted to manage to capably and safely navigate this place, and more importantly, to LISTEN to him. Sure, Dusk knew the area given she'd come with him before, but she had mostly just been a hindrance in fights and never listened.

Varda's eyes moved from Sova to the unconscious Drifblim. His friend was right, they did have to go. They had no time to waste – even if this definitely wasn't wasting time, but they had to get to the thing before someone else wake it up, right? Who knew who else was in the house with them, maybe they were already too late! But it was wrong to just leave someone who had helped them like that. The bird was having a difficult time, torn between two choices that were both right and wrong at the same time. Hopefully the Drifblim would be fine even if they left it – and hopefully it would understand that they were thankful for the help. Things could have been much worse otherwise.

The Swablu reached into his bag and pulled out the first berry he could find. It was a Pecha berry, a nice plump little one with a pleasant, pink color. It looked like a heart, kind of! And they did taste good, the berries grown in Grassveil Town always tasted good. Varda placed the berry in front of the Drifblim, hoping that it would wake up soon and understand that it was a gift – and get it before someone else took it! With that done, he finally rushed after Sova.
"Are you sure you should be walking...?"

Sova waited patiently for his friend to finish picking out a gift for the drifblim. He didn't complain, only because the big ghost had helped protect Varda.... at least he assumed so. Himself, well that didn't matter, the worst case scenario was everything in the room having to deal with him instead.... well, not really him, more of someone else with his body. Point being if he hadn't been helped, the enemies just would have gotten far worse treatment. Varda, though.... he was unsure about what would have become of Varda without the drifblim there, so he was certainly thankful for its assistance. When the swablu finally scurried over to him, he lifted himself off the wall and slowly pushed the door open, trying not to agitate his injuries.

"No, but I'm doing it anyways," he replied honestly.
He certainly had no business walking, but that didn't mean he was just not going to walk. After all, he was the one pressuring Varda about how little time they had. He'd be a hypocrite to rest now, which was something that didn't seem appealing for him to be. As he opened the door, he looked inside to see.... the dark hallway full of paintings that'd just caused his injuries. He quickly looked up to the ceiling of the room they were currently in to see the door on the ceiling had disappeared, signaling that hallway had moved. Put right back here.... great.... and there were literally no other doors.

(34 energy)

Lord E V carried out 5 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

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Varda frowned a bit as his friend didn't stop to rest like he should have. What if something worse happened due to moving with the injuries? It wouldn't be fun at all! But this far, the little bird's words hadn't affected his friend at all. A sigh escaped his beak, defeated and miserable. But as his fallen gaze scanned the floor, his eyes managed to see something on the ground! More odd pieces that looked quite a lot like the earlier ones they had found on the stairs, broken pieces of... Something that might have been a music box. The Swablu scooped them up with his wings and waddled over to Sova.

"Look, I found–" Varda stopped as he saw what the creaking door revealed on the other side. More darkness. The bird had gotten enough of darkness for one day – and not because of the darkness itself, but because of what kind of traps it managed to hide!
"Ah, it's so dark. Maybe we should get a candle?" He suggested with a chirp before his eyes seemed to come to a realization,
"Wait, isn't this...? It looks so similar," the Swablu cooed, mostly thinking to himself as he tilted his head. Could it be? It looked pretty much like the dark hallway from before, but that one wasn't here! It was above the room...

Bird carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

Sova just stared into the room in shock at the sheer bad luck at the situation, barely even listening to Varda. He merely replied "Uh-huh," as the bird pointed out that this place looked similar, confirming it was definitely the place that they'd just come from.
He didn't know what to do here, it seemed the house wanted them to choose between being battered even further and risking their sanity. Was there even a right choice here? It didn't seem so, it seemed like they were likely to be hurt in some way no matter what they did. However, he was likely to be hurt worse without the light, while Varda was probably going to be the one more severely affected with a light, so he was willing to take the fall - both figuratively and literally - and be the one on the worse end of the punishment.

He didn't really know what to reply to his friend, as he didn't really have any comforting words and he wasn't sure how to explain this or how to break to the swablu that they were going to have to go through the hallway of Hell again. Instead, he resorted to the only thing he could think of that accurately explained their situation. The one thing that, in all of his experience here, described this place perfectly.

"Welcome to the Ruined Chateau."

Varda blinked and put the odd broken pieces into his bag for safekeeping. Talking about the pieces didn't seem very important right now, his brow furrowing into a frown. This wasn't very funny, going through the same rooms twice! Well, perhaps they hadn't gone through the last room properly so they were sent back, as they just fell in the middle. Probably. He didn't know how far they had gone the last time...
"We have been here for a while now!" The bird chirped, the joke going completely over his head as he looked at Sova. His eyes couldn't stay there for long, moving back to the dark hallway that greeted them.

"Um... I don't know if we should do it in the dark again," the Swablu pondered, tilting his head. Last time had been too dangerous. The next time... Could be fatal! He didn't even want to think about that! Was he prepared to protect Sova if something went wrong? Varda felt tired and actually a bit hungry, his foot absentmindedly digging into his bag for a little Oran berry snack.


Current Energy: 10 (0 +10 from the Oran berry)

((If I don't roll that piece A this time, save the monsters for the next page for amazing Varda evolution magic or something. This would be the last page that is needed, but if we actually get the piece, we can do it in the next thread.))

Bird carried out 4 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

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Sova sighed as his friend pestered once more to use a candle, despite his assurance that the risks of the dark were better than vision in the room ahead. Yes, it'd been proven they could bump into possibly hostile pokemon in the dark and yes, he'd proven it was extremely dangerous traversing the dark picture gallery without a light with his rather severe injuries, but.... he couldn't subject Varda to the things within. "Look, now that I'm ready for that type of trap, I can probably avoid any more severe injuries.... besides, I'd rather hurt my body than your mind," he stated, hoping to coax his friend out of using a light once more.

"But.... I've got no right to order you around, so you can make that decision for yourself. Just remember I told you so," he continued, figuring if Varda really wanted to go grab a candle, there would be no talking around it.
He waited in front of the door, holding it open as he awaited the swablu's decision. He wondered if his friend would continue trusting him or not. Honestly, he couldn't say he would be very willing to trust himself in this situation, so he couldn't blame Varda, but.... he still hoped the little bird would.

(Magical bird transformation is a go.)

"Um, but! Can you be prepared for it if you don't see it?" Varda questioned as Sova tried to brush his worries about the light aside, certain that he was ready for it now. But how could one be ready for it when it was so sudden? Sova had no time to react, would he have any time to react the next time? What if the next fall was even higher? It was hard to say if the Glaceon was just saying it to make him feel better and stop worrying, or if the Pokémon really thought – no, knew – that he could avoid it. But Sova was injured. Fast movements would be impossible...

The bird's eyes turned to look at the room behind him, the one full of unconscious Pokémon and lit candles. There was a lot to choose from, so that wouldn't be an issue unless every single candle was somehow stuck.
"And I can't ride you now, so we'd have to do something to be sure that we're not getting separated," the Swablu continued with a coo, closing his eyes before looking at the Glaceon.


((I hope you have a magical girl transformation music picked. Also wow itemizer orbs, maybe we'll get another piece B...))

Sova stared at the the little swablu with a bored and unamused look.  He'd already given permission to use a candle, simply stating that he'd warned Varda not to, but the bird seemed hesitant to just do it.  "Yes, I can be prepared and yes, you can ride me.  You weigh about as much as a cloud, it doesn't matter if I'm hurt," he stated rather bluntly, getting impatient with his friend.
How hard was it to just make a decision?  He didn't care to debate anymore, if Varda wanted to become scarred for life so bad, who was he to stop it from happening?

He opened the door wider until it was against the wall and then leaned on it, resting as he waited for his friend to make a decision.  He stared at the swablu as he waited, clearly not really pleased with having to just sit around and wait for Varda to decide on one of two choices.

(Does Lavender Town theme work?)

Varda frowned. Sova wasn't moving anywhere, so the decision couldn't be made for him this time, it was going to be all him. He was a bit unsure if Sova really could react to a sudden drop like that again – after all, he was hurt and it seemed quite impossible, but it was Sova! He was a strong Pokémon who could do many things, even if hurt. But riding him... That was where the bird drew the line! That would certainly be impossible, even if he was light! It would just hurt too much, he shouldn't use his friend like that!

The bird finally spread his wings and flapped a couple of times to gain some air, soaring over to the closest candle that had been attached to the wall. The long, slender candle had been jammed in the dirty silvery holder quite well, but with a bit of foot finesse, he was able to pull it free. If the house was going to give them darkness, he was going to bring in light! With the lit candle firmly held in his talons, the Swablu finally flew back to his friend, ready.


((Is it magicy enough?))

"Don't say I didn't warn you," were Sova's first words as his friend flew over to him, along with a candle.
He turned around and walked - or rather limped - into the room, glancing at a few of the paintings that were now illuminated to check. "Avoid looking at the paintings if you can," he suggested, seeing that this was indeed the same place, the walls lined with paintings that most would find.... unsettling, to say the least.
For now, he could only see the paintings of various sad or scared-looking pokemon, which wasn't too big of a deal to him, but he knew it would probably be a different story for Varda.

Further along, he knew the paintings would get much worse very fast, the light justh needed to illuminate a little farther in.... He recalled the last time he'd been here, seeing only a few of the worse pictures depicting clearly deceased pokemon with fatal injuries. There'd even been a painting of an eevee.... it'd only been one of the presumed pre-death pictures, but the fact that he'd already gathered what that probably meant deeply upset him, even now. However, that particular painting didn't appear to be anywhere around now. At the very least, it wasn't in the same place it'd been in, as he'd remembered the placement of it very well. Then again, he recalled this area being more than just one straight hall, so maybe this was a different entrance than the one they'd come through last time.

(No, but it's spoopy enough to make up for that.)

Varda just nodded to his friend's words, the candle still in his claws. He looked quite determined, not letting anything stop him or bother him! The door had been open, so it was just a matter of flying through as his friend limped in, the door closing behind them once no one was holding it open with their weight. The room got both brighter and darker as the other room's light no longer poured in, their only light right now being the tiniest candle... But at least their surroundings were nicely lit now! There indeed were paintings on the wall with sad-looking Pokémon, and those made the Swablu feel sad too... But the thing that made him the saddest was Sova! It wasn't right to force someone to walk when they were hurt, it was hard to watch.

But there was one thing that wasn't hard to watch in the room: everything else! As there had been a door in a very unfortunate place last time, the bird was determined to find any traps before they were sprung! Sova was walking so slowly that he couldn't really stay by his side and actually stay in the air, so he just casually flew all over the place, trying to shine the light in all the suspicious nooks and crannies. He was quite busy with that!
"Do you see anything that's odd?" Varda cooed as he flew closer to his friend to light the floor better.


((But shouldn't the music fit the magical girl in question? Is Varda spoopy?))

"Yes, there's paintings all over the walls that "odd" would be an understatement for," Sova immediately responded as he looked around at the paintings.
The first time he'd come here, the paintings had really gotten to him, but now he had someone whom it was his job to protect.... even if he was half-crippled at the moment, it was still his job as far as he was concerned. He didn't need help, but Varda surely did. However, as he walked through the hallway, he began to notice something else that seemed.... odd. There were less and less paintings, which he wasn't going to complain about, but it was weird.

Then he noticed the door. There was an intersection coming into view, but what intrigued him more than that was the door that the candlelight was just barely managing to illuminate. It was pure black, with what appeared to be a painting on it.... but on closer inspection, one would see that it was actually a mirror framed the same way as the paintings. It was as if it was meant to make a statement about the room ahead being so dangerous that anyone willing to step inside would end up like those in the paintings.... "....Actually, I see something pretty weird. Do you see that door?," he questioned hesitantly, more worried about the door than he could capably hide.

(Everything is spoopy in the Ruined Chateau.)

"But... They don't attack, right?" Varda asked, tilting his head in the air. The paintings, well, a painting or two or even twenty on the wall wasn't all that odd in itself, but the pictures were something he wouldn't want on his wall at least! He probably should get something in his team's room, though. The walls looked bare like that... How come it had taken him this long to realize that?
"Can a painting come alive?" The bird continued to muse out loud, looking at the strange paintings. Many Pokémon could be mistaken for normal everyday items, maybe these could be Pokémon in disguise too! Or something.

He continued to fly, using the candle to light their way. His eyes were also attempting to be as keen as they could, looking all over the hallway. Of course he ended up missing the obvious ones in front of them – or maybe he assumed that Sova would keep his eyes there so he could look in the other directions as he flew around! When his friend spoke up about seeing something weird, the Swablu's eyes snapped in the air direction, hovering in the air for a moment. There was a door with some kind of reflective surface on it, the glow of the candle hitting it and bouncing back.
"Ah, a ball of light! Is it a Pokémon?"


((I dunno, Varda might be anti-spoopy...))

"Lets hope not," Sova commented to the question of paintings coming alive, unsure as to whether or not it was possible.
Normally, he would have been fairly certain it wasn't possible, but here.... well, this place defied all logic, so it seemed like a very real possibility. Though he didn't foresee a painting really causing much harm, it still didn't seem like a fun time to have all of these paintings suddenly spring to life and attack them. He didn't think long on this, though, since there were more important things to worry about.

He sighed as his friend mistook the candle's reflection for a pokemon. "That's a mirror. You're holding a candle," he explained, figuring Varda could figure it out from there.
He wasn't really in the mood to give an in-depth explanation for anything right now, because the door was captivating his attention. The pitch-black color of the door made it look very menacing and the framed mirror didn't help with making it seem less menacing. There were paths to the left and right, maybe they could just take those and avoid this door entirely!

(The Chateau corrupted him.)

Varda seemed to be completely shocked once he managed to piece the puzzle together. A mirror, a candle, an odd lightball of a Pokémon... He got it! It was just the reflection of the candle he was holding. At the same time, the bird looked both happy to have have realized it as well as amazed at this little trick that had completely fooled him! It had to be the darkness. He was relieved that there were no Pokémon here however, as even though the last time the Pokémon they met had been a friendly one, the next one might very well be a hostile one. That wouldn't be a good thing at all.

"That scared me! I thought we would have to fight," he chirped happily, but then he started to think. Why a mirror here? It was much too dark to admire oneself, so it seemed like such a waste! Then again, the paintings were in a dark room as well...
"Why would there be a mirror here of all places? That's so... Weird! It doesn't fit at all."


((Are you sure? What if he corrupts the Chateau...))