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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 kept flying, concentrating on getting up. He did have to follow the spiral of the stairs so he wouldn't abandon Sova completely in the darkness by flying straight up, so he also had to pay attention to the sound of his friend's feet as the paws hit the surface of the stairs. And suddenly, they stopped, forcing the bird to turn around to look what was up. A gasp escaped his beak as he saw a shadowy figure holding onto the Glaceon, pulling his down through a hole in the stairs... Of course Varda sprung to action as fast as his sluggish reflexes let him, flapping his wings to get closer...

And then he was told to just keep going because Sova was fine. It was a conflicting situation. On one hand, he knew that Sova could handle things on his own – better than with his help, probably. But then again, the Glaceon did have a habit of insisting on doing everything even if it actually wasn't the best idea. It was a difficult choice to make, but in the end, Varda chose to trust his friend even if he still kept his eye on the Pokémon rather than flying up like he was told to do.

An odd cry echoed out as the air started to grow colder, the Glaceon's body freezing and its coldness visible as it radiated into their surroundings as white wisps of freezing air.
"Sova! Are you alright?"

Sova nodded in response to Varda as he pulled himself back up onto the stairs. It was fairly easy now that there wasn't something latched onto his leg, pulling him down. As soon as he was back on his paws, he got moving again, wanting to get out of this room filled with mischievous Ghost-types. His icy armor did not break and melt away, showing that he was keeping it up for the speed. He decided to make more of an effort to keep an eye on his surroundings in the hopes of avoiding any more encounters like the one he'd just had.

"I'm fine, lets go!," he replied, clearly not interested in a lengthy conversation at the moment.
Paying attention to the environment quickly paid off as he caught a ball of black and purple gas heading towards them. A gastly. A dark orb of energy formed in front of his face as he ran before being fired at the gastly. The Shadow Ball didn't really explode like usual, though. It DID, but the explosion was.... small, presumably from the body structure of the thing hit. Either way, it'd certainly done the trick as the little gastly came crashing into the stairs, which was presumably not what it had been aiming to do.

"Me - one point. Gastly - zero," he commented as he ran along, feeling a bit cocky after dealing with the enemy so fast.
However, he knew there were far more dangerous things in here that would be more difficult to deal with. After all, he'd fought many of them, some of the most threatening things he'd fought in quite some time.

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

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Varda nodded as well, turning around so he could continue flying in the right direction. Sova was back on his feet, climbing up the stairs, so the bird had to fly around the spiral staircase to illuminate the path for his friend. It was especially important in the areas with large holes, as that would get very dangerous if one couldn't see them! Well, honestly, they already were quite dangerous considering how fast the Glaceon was running, not having all that much time to pay attention to everything... But it was going relatively well, and they were getting closer to their destination! There seemed to be another floor above them.

All the bird heard behind him was a small explosion, his eyes darting to see, but he didn't manage to catch what it was. The darkness around them was strange, almost as if it was... Alive, seeing how it sometimes looked like it was moving. But every time he looked back, it seemed to be normal. Perhaps the house truly was alive...

The stairs came to an end, leading the pair to another small floor. There was a rather large candle in the middle of the carpeted floor, short and stout. The odd purple light's presence was explained, as this candle's flame had a strange purple tint to it! The floor wasn't really a room, just acting as some kind of entrance that led to more rooms. Three walls with a large, imposing door on each of them, but no clues as to where they should be going now.

Bird carried out 5 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

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Sova carefully avoided all of the dangerous holes in the stairs as he ran, actually surprising himself a bit at how little trouble he was having with it. As they reached the next floor, he got his hopes up about resting for a moment, but to his dismay.... there was more "fun" yet to come. Honestly, these enemies weren't even a challenge, they were just pests! He stared at the candle in the middle of the room and couldn't help but think it seemed.... familiar, but he wasn't quite sure why.

He stared at the candle for a moment, before it suddenly WAVED at him. It revealed that it had an arm, albeit a small one, and waved! That was when he noticed a tiny yellow eye, signaling that it wasn't really a candle at all. "Hiii....," he replied, still a bit surprised. "Sooo.... Are you a nice candle?," he questioned, getting a nod as a response.
So this thing could understand them? On top of that, it didn't seem to be hostile. Great, maybe it could help them.

"Alright, Varda, how about you talk to the litwick and see if it knows anything that might help while I check out the doors? I've never seen rooms split in half, so as long as I don't leave the room, we should be fine," he suggested, as he figured he would be the better one for scouting behind the doors, while Varda would be better for.... social.... stuff.

(So it's a triangular room? Or a room with a wall missing?)

Varda landed on the floor and held the candle he had carried all the way up with his other foot, looking around. While the floor looked rather old and almost like it could break apart at any moment, in a way it also felt safer than the perilous stairs. It didn't have any obvious holes, for one, so perhaps it would support their weight. The two Pokémon weren't all that heavy, even with their weights added together!

The bird's eyes were exploring the walls and the tall doors, looking back down when Sova suddenly spoke up. He was clearly a bit confused by this whole thing, tilting his head as he looked at the Glaceon... But then, his gaze turned to look at what his friend was staring at. The strange candle with the purple flame... It was moving! It wasn't a candle at all – or it was, but not that kind of a candle – it was a Pokémon! It wasn't hostile and it seemed to understand them, but it did seem to be very quiet...

The Swablu nodded and started to hop closer to the little candle, smiling gently.
"Um, hello! If you don't mind, I could ask you a few questions. We need to get to the um, chamber?" Varda glanced back at Sova as if to confirm that he remembered all the steps,
"And the... Throne. And we would need to find some kind of Melody of Awakening..."


((A missing wall, but you're always free to do whatever you want with my descriptions!))


Current Energy: 0

The litwick remained silent for a moment, almost appearing as if it wasn't going to reply. Then it finally spoke up for the first time, revealing its voice to be soft and high-pitched, implying it was female or very young.... or both. "You'll get there when the house decides," it simply stated, not being of much help to Sova since he already knew of the house's shenanigans.
It seemed to neglect to answer the question about the Melody of Awakening, presumably either because it didn't know the answer or didn't want to say it.

Sova left his ally to talk to the litwick, listening in as he approached one of the three doors. He figured he'd start with the one on the left, then check the middle, then the right. After that, he could decide which one seemed the most appealing.... and hopefully the house wouldn't change anything up in that timeframe. He approached the first door and pushed against it, revealing that it was a push-door as it began to slowly open. He took one step after another, slowly opening the door until he moved one of his paws forward and.... felt nothing. He almost fell as he took a step over a ledge, making a very audible gasp in surprise.

The door seemed to lead to nothing! Just a steep ledge, one that he'd almost fallen over! However, upon looking down over the ledge, he could indeed see the bottom, thanks to some candles on the walls lighting the way. It was.... a fairly long drop, one he wasn't interested in experiencing. "Oookay.... sooo.... this door is out of the question," he stated as he backed away from the door and allowed it to close.
Though, honestly, Varda would have been able to just fly down.

(I was just trying to get the right interpretation is all.)

Varda didn't seem to be too bothered by the silence, just staring at the little candle – that was about his size – with a gentle smile and an oblivious gaze. In his world, time could be slow and quiet, so it wasn't anything strange to him. Had the candle-like Pokémon decided to not reply at all, the bird most likely would have stayed there waiting for a good ten minutes before deciding that there wasn't going to be a response. But until then? It was just fine. Eventually a soft voice came out, but it didn't really help. They didn't get an answer as to where to go – but it seemed to be possible that there wasn't an answer and they would just stumble there eventually. No help locating the mysterious melody, either...

"Oh, well... Thank you anyway!" The bird chirped and nodded before disengaging himself from the conversation and waddling over to Sova. The Glaceon seemed to be inspecting the doors, trying to find the best route by peeking what was behind them. The first door he opened... Didn't seem to be too good, considering how the Pokémon had reacted. The Swablu couldn't help but tilt his head a bit.
"Why not try the right door? It clearly has to be... The right door," Varda suggested, stopping when he got close enough,
"Should I keep carrying the candle...?"

Sova stayed quiet for a moment as he tried to get over the little surprise the door had given him. While he wasn't easily scared, shocked was a different story. It had given him a feeling that was very difficult to deal with, on top of his already-present exhaustion from having to run a marathon up a set of spiral stairs. He was actually starting to feel a bit lightheaded, mostly from not regulating his breathing well. At that point, he decided to open up his bag and quickly retrieve a Reviver seed and eat it. He knew he didn't really have to eat seeds to get their effects, but he found that eating them required less work than sucking on them, so that's what he always did.

With his clarity and energy already returning, he now felt confident enough to try another door. Taking Varda's advice, he made his way over to the door on the right, even though he had been planning on checking the one in the middle next. "Nah, this whole place is lit by candles from what I can tell. If we need light again, we'll have plenty to choose from," he replied to the question on keeping the candle.
"Why not ask it about the thing?," he questioned, glancing back at Varda, then at the litwick.
Maybe it knew something about what that piece went to. Maybe whatever it went to belonged to the litwick and it had dropped it down the stairs on accident.

As he approached the door, he put a paw on it to test if it was as heavy as the others. An attempt to push on it with his paw revealed that it was pretty much the same. He leaned against it and slowly pushed it open, this time careful to avoid any random pitfalls. As the door opened, it revealed.... well, sort of a pitfall, but with another staircase. This one was a straight staircase with no railing, still the same black color and he couldn't see any holes in it. On top of that, the entire way down was well-lit by candles on the walls. It didn't even seem to be too far to the bottom. This certainly looked like it was going to be the best option of the three choices! However, he still wanted to check the last door, just in case....

(Energy - 0. Loljk 87. Reviver seed ftw.)

Varda followed the Glaceon's journey with his eyes, seeing that the Pokémon seemed to feel the same way as he did about the right choice for a door! It certainly made sense that the right one was the, well, right one, right? The bird gave a nod to his friend as well as he was given permission to abandon the candle he had taken up the stairs. It did look like the house had plenty of light sources, even if it wasn't exactly bright – a strange combination, but here it was right in front of his eyes. If things continued the way it looked like they were going to, they wouldn't be running out of candles. Unless they all went out suddenly or something.

"The thing?" The Swablu cooed, not knowing what the suggestion was talking about. It took him a while to remember, but when he did, his entire being just beamed with realization.
"Ah! The thing!" He chirped, his eyes wide. He remembered now! It had only been a moment ago since they found it, but considering that neither him nor Sova knew what it was, he had already abandoned hope of learning more about it on this trip. When he buried it in his bag, he also buried the anticipation and seemingly, his memories of it. But now that they had resurfaced, Varda gave the Glaceon a determined nod. It was a great idea, it might have belonged to someone in the house – even this little candle Pokémon!

"Oh, if you could excuse me for another moment," the bird spoke up as he started to waddle closer to the candle, digging out the strange piece they had found on the stairs and showing it to the Pokémon,
"Have you maybe seen this before? Someone might have dropped it..."

The litwick went back to its normal silence as it stared at the part.  For a moment, it seemed it didn't know what it was or didn't want to answer, then it finally spoke up.  "Those are all over the place.  Music box pieces," it explained, still not using many words.
Despite the clear avoidance of any extended conversation, it had given much more information this time than it had before.  "But you know the rumors....  Play the box and you'll-," it continued, as if about to say something important, but was suddenly cut off by the sounds of something slamming into the ground.

BACKGROUND MUSIC!

Sova released the door on the right and slowly walked towards the one in the middle. He figured if this house really was alive or controlled by anything with a conscience, it was probably going to put the "best" door in the middle, though what the house viewed as best was up for debate.... With that in mind, he cautiously opened the door, once again being careful to make sure there was no pitfall. To his surprise, there was just an empty room on the other side. Not even a very big room, just.... empty. No other doors, nothing. Then a large, purple, circular.... thing flew OUT OF THE FLOOR and into his face, so silently that it astonished him into stumbling backwards. Just then, two pink-tan colored appendages came out of the floor and wrapped themselves around the glaceon's neck, pulling him down and slamming him into the ground head-first. He pulled against it, but it just wrapped tighter and tighter around his neck, beginning to choke him.

Varda looked down at the piece he was holding. Music box pieces...? Well, he had never opened one up like this, so maybe they were full of those odd little parts inside like this one – though the piece the bird had found looked like it was missing a lot! Did someone break these, if they could be found all over the place? And how many? There were so many questions in the air, but they would have to keep their eyes open for these things! They seemed like a clue that could put them on the right track, at least he was interested in seeing if they could find enough pieces to create an actual music box! Varda kept listening, already putting the broken piece back into his bag.

And suddenly, a loud slam from behind forced both of the Pokémon to stop their conversation short, the Swablu's gaze quickly flicking over to the source of the sound. It was... Sova! And some other strange Pokémon that had appeared out of nowhere! Varda hadn't even noticed, but now he had no time to waste. Some kind of arm-like things were holding onto the Glaceon, and it was clear that they were holding onto him very hard.

The bird Pokémon spread his wings and jumped up into the air, soaring closer as fast as he could with strong wing beats. He built up speed and momentum for his attack, finally folding his wings closer to his body as he turned his flight into a lunge. His beak was aiming for the strange appendages. Most likely, Varda couldn't pry those things off. He was only going to have to try to make them flinch enough so Sova could break free...

Sova pulled and pulled at the things wrapped around his neck in an attempt to break free, but to no avail. As the grip continued to tighten, he closed his eyes in pain. Before he could even consider what to do next, he heard a pained screech and felt one of the two appendages wrapped around him loosen almost to the point of falling off. While he wasn't sure what'd happened, unaware that Varda had pecked at it, he wasn't going to pass up the chance to get out. However, as he tried to pull away, he found that the other appendage was still wrapped around him fairly tight, keeping him from doing much. His neck fur then flash-froze into spikes under the binding arm, eliciting another screech from under the floor as the arm released and the rest of his fur froze into spiky armor.

Instead of just letting the thing that'd tried to strangle him get away, he bit onto the pinkish appendage as it tried to escape into the floor and tugged at it, causing the culprit to once again screech. It tugged against him, but this time, he was the one with the upper hand, managing to pull it out of the floor and into the air, revealing it to be.... a gorgeist! He released the arm and allowed it to fly up into the air from momentum, keeping it away from any solid structures to stop it from hiding. As it fell back towards the floor, the glaceon's breath grew visibly colder, resulting in a light blue misty look. He took a deep breath and blew at the ghost, exhaling the Frost Breath all around it and resulting in even more of the clearly pained sounds, which were honestly getting annoying.

The gorgeist dropped to the ground, covered in a blue tint from the icy mist and clearly unconscious. Sova then slowly turned his attention to the drifblim in front of him with a very low and clearly agitated growl. It floated backwards in fear and created a purple Shadow Ball before firing it at the glaceon. He didn't even try to avoid the attack, simply taking the ghostly explosion to the face. The purple haze lingered for a moment, creating a bit of buildup before he simply walked out of it, with a very, VERY unhappy look on his face, though seemingly completely unaffected by the attack.

Varda felt his beak sink into something fleshy, followed by a screech that signified he had hit something living indeed – and luckily it did not seem to be Sova, as it would have been quite possible for him to accidentally hit his friend instead! The impact forced the bird to recoil a bit, flapping his wings to straighten himself before landing on the floor and looking up. The arms had let got a bit, but they weren't completely off yet. The bird already prepared for another peck, hoping that less speed would be enough for the lighter grip... But he didn't have to. The Glaceon was still in the game, the air starting to feel colder and then seeming to hurt the creature holding onto the Ice-type Pokémon.

Sova was free! The Swablu didn't have time to celebrate, as the owner of the odd hands was soon pulled up from the ground. It was an odd Pokémon he had never seen before – and due to the cold air, the bird knew he couldn't get much closer without getting in the way of the Glaceon's attacks. Instead he took a couple of steps backwards, trying to keep an eye on his friend and help if it looked like something was going to go wrong... But then something odd behind him caught his attention. It wasn't even a sound or something, just a strange feeling that forced him to look over his shoulder quickly.

At first he didn't see anything, until he realized the darkness behind them was... Wobbling in a strange way, kind of like hot air. But he did not feel the heat, the house was actually colder now thanks to Sova. But then, he noticed that the wobbling areas were separate round spots that were growing – no, getting closer... And then he started to make up their features. Strange floating gas balls, somehow managing to blend in so perfectly. Varda couldn't say how many of them were, but it was definitely more than one!
"Ah, Sova... Maybe we should go!"

Sova's growling stopped for a moment as he heard Varda speak up. He glanced over to the swablu to see a few gastly harassing his friend. "I've got a better idea....," he muttered as the drifblim fired yet another Shadow Ball at him. Again, he simply took the attack.
However, this time, he picked up his pace as he exited the haze of darkness. Within moments, he was ramming straight into the purple blimp-thing, slamming it into the door. It then tried to phase through the door, only to feel the wrath of one of the glaceon's Shadow Balls. The resulting explosion caused the drifblim which was already halfway through the door to fall forwards onto the ground, unconscious.

With that out of the way, he focused his attention on the little gas balls around his friend. He created another shadowy orb in front of him and sent it flying towards one of the gastly, hitting it directly and sending it flying into a wall with the resulting explosion. It went through the wall, but didn't seem to be coming back out, presumably either due to falling unconscious within the wall or not wanting to try fighting him.

The litwick watched as the fighting went down, its expression not really giving any clues to its feelings about the whole thing. Honestly, it didn't really seem to care, but that was up for debate.

Varda quickly glanced in Sova's direction as he heard some quiet speech, but he was unable to make out the actual words. It was coming from his friend he believed, but if it was something he should have heard... He didn't know! The shadowy orbs Sova used to attack the odd creatures caused wispy explosions left and right, occasionally forcing the bird to cover his face from the little smoky shadow particles that were thrust in his direction. But this was no time to be hiding! The shadowy gas things were approaching, and he was right out in the open!

The Swablu attempted to use his wings to generate strong gusts of wind – after all, this kind of Pokémon seemed like they were made of nothing but air, so they would easily be pushed away, right? It was a good theory to try, but the wind just seemed to pass right through the gas-balls! The ghost-like critters didn't even seem fazed at all, continuing their slow approach. He had to come up with another tactic – and fast.

The bird did what birds like him did the best: sing. Doing his best to calm himself and his voice, Varda chirped a calm, lulling melody.