Wonderful Treasures

[19-16=3]

Opal had heard wonderful things about this mountain. It looked like it was made of impressive black stone, and all sorts of treasures were supposed to lie within. The gossip was so tempting to a young pup like her. She just had to go to this place and see for herself! Luckily, she'd met a like-minded pokemon to travel with. It had been a long journey to get here, but the companionship made it far more bearable. Enjoyable, even.

The black mist that gave this mountain its name was something the Growlithe didn't feel too fondly about. She pressed on, however. What kind of explorer would she be if she only ever went to Pecha Forest? No, she was meant for greater things than that, and so was her companion if they'd made it this far.

When they entered the mountain, Opal looked around. She was learning that it was important to watch out for potential danger, and in a place like this, it could be anywhere. What would be a real treasure to find, though, was... well, treasure. Signs of it. Her nose went to work right away, sniffing for clues on what this mystery dungeon contained.

Ah, it was quite the fine day. It had been a string of very fine days, frankly; very fortunate for the impromptu expedition that Adrol's new acquaintance, Ms. Opal, had proposed. She had been very kind and helpful; she had assisted him when he had gotten lost in a very dark and indistinguishable forest and had even kindly offered to travel with him for a bit once they had gotten his orientation problem sorted. He hadn't even known this country had mountains of this level of grandeur before now, but now that he did he was certainly intrigued. He had no worries about the potential of the potentially cold weather (which he had learned through previous experiences easily overwhelmed his tolerances) thanks to his new companion as well as his new cloak. He had come to be rather proud of it's impressive style.

All and all, the Snivy had been getting rather excited for this excursion. Mountains had a certain natural propensity to hide all kind of interesting secrets and mysteries, not to mention artifacts. There were other perks to mountains that made the venture exciting, though. He was especially excited about the prospect of being so close to the sky. This land had a very vibrant veil embracing it and Adrol fully enjoyed immersing himself in the view of it every night. Perhaps being that high up would enable him to experience it without the need for a reflection to view it in. That prospect was enough motivation by itself to make him want to go, frankly.

The mountains were a fair distance off, costing Adrol and Ms. Opal several days of travel. Not much had happened in that time outside of pleasant small talk, and perhaps a few trips and blunders on Adrol's part. Those had grown more frequent as they had drawn closer to their destination and a thick, dark mist had set in, obscuring his already poor eyesight. He no longer had to worry about the sun, which certainly eased his mind quite a bit. His hope of seeing the sky seemed much more impossible now, but perhaps if they reached the top...

Adrol felt as if they had been had been walking aimlessly in the murk now for hours. His field of vision had been limited so that he could barely even see silhouettes in the distance, and he had lost all track of any sort of goal. He turned to his guide for a moment, finally deciding he should ask about their destination. "Pardon me, Ms. Opal; how much longer would you say our travel will be until we reach the mountain?" he inquired.

Adrol the Snivy - 4 Energy
Fluer de Lis Cloak equipped

"We're already there. We just stepped inside," Opal chuckled gently. Her adventuring partner was a polite young lad and acted in a way that suggested a fancier upbringing than hers. This was fascinating to the pup, who wondered what said upbringing was like. Did being fancier make you happier, or was it the same regardless of how one grew up? Opal was a happy and sociable Growlithe. It was in her nature to want to make friends.

Like Adrol, Opal loved the view of the night sky. It reminded her of her desert home in a way. The stars were always clear and bright, and night-time was when the litter got to meet their father. They were brief meetings, but always something to look forward to. The stories he shared about his nocturnal life were very different to what the pups experienced during the day. Home being made of two opposite extremes was a fascinating concept for the youngsters.

Playing guide for the grass type was something Opal found she was enjoying. She was helping someone and adventuring at the same time. A perfect combination! She took her job seriously, keeping an eye out and resisting the urge to run after the first thing that took her interest.

"Let's be careful, all right? We'll move slowly," she declared and waited for Adrol to make himself ready. The Growlithe had detected a faint whiff of something and was eager to investigate, but leaving her partner behind wouldn't do, especially since it would leave him more vulnerable than the typical pokemon.

"Oh. My my, I didn't even realize," Adrol chuckled apologetically. "This mist is rather strange; I've never seen anything so dark. What could it be generated by that makes it such a dark color?" He certainly couldn't imagine anything, other than possibly volcanic ash. Even ash didn't have this suffocatingly black hue though. This... this was like walking through a cloud of coal. He couldn't feel the grit of sand or ash on his face, either; just an ambient cold sensation that was seemingly ever present. It really did feel like mist, but... he wasn't getting any moisture on him, either. It was perplexing, but intriguing.

While looking at the ground within his field of vision, Adrol could see large shelves of black rock jutting out of the dirt in places where there was thin soil or sheer drops. The air was black, the rock was black... what could this mountain be made of? The small plants and wild grass seemed to have black tips and stems in some places while others were normal; perhaps the strange substances were feeding into the plants where they were present? Adrol wondered if he too would turn black if he were exposed to the mist long enough. It would be interesting, but he also wasn't sure if he wanted that to happen.

Ahead of them, there was a sheer rock face with a massive crack in it. It was as if something had literally split into the rock with some kind of giant wedge or chisel. Adrol's eyes could just barely make the anomaly out in the distance, though he wasn't able to tell that it was a void. The rock wall blended so well with the mist that all he could see was a dark, misshapen line resembling the trunk of the tree. Curious, the small snake tapped Opal and asked, "Do you see that strange formation, Ms. Opal? Can you make out what it is; might it be a tree?"

I don't know anything about the mist, just that it's very unusual," the pup commented, "I went to Pricklemist Hill recently, but that's normal mist, or so I'm led to believe. First and only time I've seen the stuff. Apart from now, I mean."

Opal held little interest in discovering what the black mist was composed of, but was willing to follow any leads that came up while searching for treasure. Black dominated the landscape, though, so they'd have their work cut out for them. Adrol had pointed something out before they could get searching. One section of rock was apparently rather interesting to the grass type.

"Huh? I don't see any trees around here... Oh! There's a crack in the rock's face that's kind of tree-shaped. A big crack with lots of little cracks coming off it. I don't want to run into whatever made that!"

"You don't say? What an interesting discovery we've stumbled upon." Adrol actually found himself more surprised that the dark mass wasn't some species of tree darkened by the ever-present black substance. Had it been a tree he had been considering harvesting some of it's discolored in the interest of observing the black substance up close. He wasn't at all disappointed by this new revelation, however. In fact, it was almost twice as intriguing - although perhaps a bit intimidating as well when considering that it very well could have been made by one of the pokemon native to the area. This did not deter him from approaching to observe the crack up close as they approached. Now that they had come this far, Adrol did not intend to shy away from anything that may have revealed something about the mountain - or may have hidden something useful.

"Don't fret on it too much! There is also the possibility that is a feature formed naturally over time with the settling of the mountain. The rocks may have just split apart with the intense pressure. I've also seen ice lend a hand in creating features like this, although I'm not sure how cold this portion of the mountain actually gets," Adrol reasoned reassuringly as he peered into the crack. The interior was pitch black past the point where the roof of the rock had split, as would be expected. He further noticed that the cavernous crack also had a floor, and that floor was was sloping downward deeper past the dark barrier that prevented his weak eyes from seeing further. The sound of water drizzling reverberated up to his ears faintly from far back into the cavern, confirming Adrol's suspicions that the crack actually ran much deeper than it appeared to at face value. He couldn't resist taking a few steps inside, feeling his way along the walls as he observed them up close.

"I believe that this rift is actually a shaft that may lead into part of the mountain's interior," Adrol finally announced with a look of satisfaction on his face. "It may be worth looking into, in the interest of seeing more of the mountain. There's a chance it may be hiding more than the surface lets on. What do you think; should we investigate it further?"

Adrol the Snivy - 4 Energy

FoxFireAlchemist carried out 4 launched of one Black Mist Mountain :

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"You're right, it seems doubtful a pokemon could leave a mark like that," the Growlithe agreed. She could tell the Snivy was intrigued by the sight. Opal had to admit it certainly stood out. It seemed as good a place as any to go looking for treasure. Wait, it could be even better! What about all the stories she'd heard of great discoveries in unique places? This cracked rift could be hiding something amazing! She was now as eager for investigation as Adrol. He was proving to be a great adventuring partner. The both of them were working well as a team, and one of them being blind hadn't set the pair back at all.

Opal trotted up to his side, partly from excitement, but also to make sure he didn't bump into trouble. Her keen senses picked up some things the grass type had missed. It was still very dark, though. She would have to be extra vigilant to make sure nothing could sneak up on them. "Definitely. There's got to be something down there. Try to be quiet heading in, though. I see some shapes up ahead," she warned.

Frebedor carried out 3 launched of one Black Mist Mountain :

, ,

Seeing as Ms. Opal had picked up on something, Adrol saw it only fitting to keep his senses much more closely about him. She hadn't steered him wrong once so far, and he trusted that she wouldn't be doing so in the future, either. Still, he couldn't help but dart out ahead just a smidgen to admire the walls as the two of them passed them. The walls spoke so much about years that had past; he could see erosion from water dripping down the cavern walls cutting empty veins through the stone that surrounded them. Even the rocks themselves had an interesting aesthetic; they were layered with the varying dark hues of sediment that one might expect, but interestingly there were also lighter layers sandwiched in here and there that snaked down the path in front of them. Adrol was following one such vein, tracing over it with his hand thoughtfully when he came across something else that was astoundingly interesting: a berry plant growing out of the rock face. The small snake had to take a second to absorb the sight before he actually examined it up close. It was an Oran bush, although it was definitely... different than other Oran bushes he had seen before. It was a ivy-eque vine plant (a very small one; most assuredly only a juvenile) that was trying to anchor itself to the wall. Adrol could see unripened fruits of varying sizes budding along the vines. What was truly amazing though was that he and Ms. Opal had well passed the last source of outside sunlight. This strange plant was thriving in pitch black darkness.

"Fascinating," Adrol observed quietly. He studied the vines for only a moment; just long enough for him to locate a berry that was close enough to ripe that he could make an excuse for eating it. He found one that suited his fancy quickly and popped it into his mouth. "Hmm... the taste varies a little, but for the most part it's the same. Slightly softer, but that could just be because it's shy of being ripe," he observed to no one in particular, "Still yeilds the same effect as well, it feels like... But it grows entirely with out sunlight. How did managed that? Did it happen naturally...?" He looked back down and observed the base of the plant. He bent back down and identified right away what he was fairly certain were claw marks gouging deep into the rocks. He stood back up and began walking by Ms. Opal's side again.

"Well, I do believe you've definitely picked up on something," Adrol informed her quietly, "Something that's cultivating plants that will specifically grow down here in the dark."

Ahead of them, there was a loud crash, and then they heard voices. The more they listened, the more the voices sounded panicked, rushed.

Adrol looked at Ms. Opal, waiting pensively to see what she would do next.

Adrol the Snivy - 0 +10 (Oran Berry) = 10 Energy
ooc: Wheeeee let's waste the only good roll I'll get in this place /SHOT

FoxFireAlchemist carried out 1 launched of one Black Mist Mountain :

[0+10 (Oran Berry)=10]

Opal sniffed the Oran plant and agreed that there was an astounding similarity between the variety they were familiar with. It was a vine rather than a bush or tree, and it smelled slightly different, but these were still undeniably Oran berries. Before she could select a sample for herself, the Growlithe found herself dashing off again to make sure her charge didn't hurt himself. It sure was a different situation from the carefree way in which she normally behaved, but she didn't mind. She was learning so much and... Hey, there were two discs on the floor! Just lying around in the middle of the cavern! How odd!

The pup examined the discs with curiosity. She knew them to be TMs, which made it even stranger that she'd found a pair with no apparent owner. What's more, they both appeared to contain the same move. It wasn't one she could learn, which was a disappointment, but she placed them in her bag anyway. If she couldn't use them, she could trade or sell them to someone who could. The fire type started to daydream about the TMs she could get in return. Flamethrower, maybe? Fire Blast? Sunny Day was also a move she was interested in learning. Being able to make sunshine wherever she went sounded like one of the best things ever.

Adrol's speech and a loud crash snapped Opal back to reality. Fantasising about moves would have to come later. What mattered in this unknown place was the here and now. The fire type quickly fished out and consumed an Oran berry she'd packed for the trip to sate her hunger. There was no time to stop and savour the taste. She had to stay vigilant! Her eyes, ears and nose scanned the area. It would be useful to know which direction their surprise company was coming from, how fast they were moving, and where they could escape to if necessary.

Frebedor carried out 7 launched of one Black Mist Mountain :

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Adrol crept forward with Ms. Opal, getting closer to the voices. There were more dark sheets of rock in the back of the cave, rocks that had undoubtedly been part of the walls before time had pulled them into a collapse. They had left a triangle-shaped gap in between their jagged shards that entered into a small corridor through the collapsed rock. Adrol considered it carefully on their approach, then turned and nodded at Ms. Opal. "It should be safe to navigate this rock, but we should watch ourselves. Those voices we heard could only be coming from in here, from what I can see."

Their slow progression had them contending with lots and lots of the dark subterranean material. The acoustics of the tunnel-like path were such that any slip on a stray stone or any loud misstep produced a noise that was concentrated and projected in front and behind them, and would send a signal towards whatever the voices were should they be loud enough. Adrol luckily found that he didn't have very much trouble concealing himself; his small and light biology combined with his leaf-like appendages meant he barely made any noise as he traveled. This allowed him the ability to move faster among the stone, but in this circumstance he hung back with Ms. Opal in appreciation for the extreme caution the situation the situation called for. As the voices grew closer, the corridor began to betray hints of light.

The jagged rock opened up more and more as they traveled until they reached an uneven outcropping that looked out onto a large open room. There was a combination of the collapsed rock along with solid monolithinc walls in this dome-like expanse, all lit by torchlight from various fixtures that were scattered about the room. The intersecting chunks of plate-like rock that made up the outcropping they had exited on provided excellent color, forming trench-like divots behind thick black walls that had cracks to peek through. Adrol jumped at the chance to nestle himself into one, looking to Ms. Opal to see if she might like to do the same.

Upon looking out into the fairly expansive toom, the pigment-challenged snake could see the silhouettes of three dark figures that appeared to be moving against the static black of the rock, but they were too blurry for him to make out what the shapes were. Anyone with normal eyes could tell that there were three pokemon in the middle of the room. A Mightyena and a Lairon stood in front of a pile of items that had been arranged atop a strange drawing on the ground. A small Poochyena was with them, pacing around the pile while occasionally looking to the Mightyena impatiently. Though he couldn't visually asses the situation, Adrol had no trouble picking up the paw steps of one form, as well as the conversation between at least two different pokemon with his exceptionally keen hearing.

The Mightyena turned to the Lairon with a pensive look on his face. "Do you ever feel like this is... stupid?" he asked.

"Huh?" The Lairon responded.

"This whole... 'Sacrifice' ritual. You know, with all these items and people and whatnot. Do you really think we're going to summon anything? Part of me thinks we'd be better off just training and fighting the Absol ourselves."

The Lairon looked unsettled at the Mightyena's question for a moment. His expression morphed into a more thoughtful one as he considered it for a moment. "...Nah. I just don't ask questions like that about the Witch Doctor, frankly. That's a fine way to get yourself excommunicated," she responded in a slightly warning tone. "I mean, sure there's not a lot of apparent logic, but there's also not a lot of apparent logic behind worshiping some character we've never even seen before."

"That's different. Prayer and gatherings are one thing," the Mightyena argued, "but all of this... We're giving up a lot of resources for this, don't you think? It just seems like the One would want us to use all this to solve our problems then having us ask him to do it for us."

The Lairon shrugged. "Come on, seeds and berries are easy to get down here now, and the orbs grow in the walls. It's not like we're in a famine down here." She threw another item onto the pile. "We're just showing that we're a good community, yeah? Why wouldn't the One want to reward that? Besides, it'd be sick to watch the One throw those Absol out on their fuzzy white butts.

The Mightyena looked like he was about to come out with another retort, but the Poochyena interrupted him by biting at his heels and pleading with him to take them home. "Not now, Combat;" he commanded gently, "as soon as we're done. If you're patient and good from now until we leave, we'll get a treat. How's that sound?"

The woman voice's words struck Adrol with an idea. Orbs in the walls, she had said? He looked all around at the rocks that had once been walls. Surely he could find something here... He started to dig through the rocks that he could move without making too much noise, and sure enough he did start to see what looked like bits of orb here and there. He had to get pretty deep into the pile, passing up many shards of many different types of orbs that had been shattered, but eventually he managed to find one that was whole and still useful. He showed it to Ms. Opal, and then gestured it towards the three pokemon in the chamber to communicate his idea to her.

He waited until they had turned to face away from the rocks, and then he activated the orb and chucked it over the rocky barricade. It made a gentle plink, plink as it bounced down the rocks. The other three pokemon seemed to give a half-hearted look around upon hearing the sound, but they didn't seem incredibly concerned. They seemed to be used to the noise. The orb easily rolled into range of them and in a flash of light, they were gone.

Adrol waited. All was silent for quite a bit; and eventually he felt safe enough to speak again. "...I think we may be alone, Ms. Opal," he whispered cautiously. When nothing bad happened, he stood up and felt a bit braver about speaking. "Perhaps we may have bought ourselves enough time to have a look around? There's definitely something rather peculiar about this rom. Perhaps it might have something you're looking for?" He took another look over the rock to try and take in as much of the room as possible, but he only sadly confirmed that it really wasn't going to do him any good until he got closer. He looked at Opal hopefully.

Adrol the Snivy - 9 Energy

FoxFireAlchemist carried out 5 launched of one Black Mist Mountain :

, , , ,

Opal did not fear going through the rocky tunnel. She did, however, know the importance of caution. The young pup crept carefully along, taking care not to make any noise that would give away their position. The voices grew louder as the pair moved on. A room eventually opened up in front of them, wide and massive. Opal was impressed at the sheer size of the space.

The Growlithe was focused on observing the figures in front of them while Adrol was examining the surrounding rock. She did not notice the cover they provided until she saw him climb among the jagged outcroppings. That seemed like a clever idea, and it would certainly hide them better, so she scampered up to join him while the residents of this place were distracted.

Listening to the group's discussion brought a lot of mystery and intrigue. Sacrifices? A ritual? Who was this 'One'? There were so many questions, but Opal knew she couldn't just walk into the open and ask them. These pokemon sounded dangerous. She was wondering what to do when her serpentine friend had another brilliant plan. A nod of her head as he silently communicated what he intended to do, and a glance through the crack as the orb worked its magic.

When the pokemon disappeared and Adrol posed his question, she replied back to him, "That's good. We should check out that item pile they were standing next to. Like you said, we might find some answers, and we probably shouldn't let this 'One' have their offerings."

Adrol nodded at his companion as he eagerly hopped out of the rocks. "Indeed. I've never seen anything like this before, however. I've heard of pokemon abilities that can 'summon' another being, if you will. Items though? I'm not aware of many that could have that kind of effect" He approached the pile and the floor markings slowly, practicing the utmost caution. It seemed... that nothing was really happening, at least not at this moment. There was little to be gained from taking chances in such a sensitive situation, however. Before he even tried to procure any of the items for himself, he very gently, ever so slightly tapped the strange drawing that the items were resting on with his delicate foot.

...

.....

Mercifully, still nothing happened. He gave another tap, more confident this time. He put his full weight down on the line. Nada. Well, at least he didn't have to worry about being turned into some kind of zombie or creature any time soon upon retrieving his pick of the items. "Well... it seems they weren't exaggerating when they were speaking about their resources. They certainly weren't suffering any shortage." He dug through the various items, selecting some seeds for himself as his items of choice. As he walked over certain areas, he felt a certain... sensation pulse through him. He lifted his feet, and underneath he saw that some of the drawings were reacting after all. However... he didn't feel anything negative; in fact, he felt his energy returning to him. "...Huh. Interesting. It appears that there is some strange energy imbued into the floor in some places. Can you feel it, Ms. Opal?" He began to make notes of some of the symbols he saw drawn onto the ground for later observation.

Some far away noises caught Adrol's attention. He stood still and listened, but they seemed to fade out as quickly as they had arisen. Still, Adrol imagined they would only be safe here for so much longer.

Around them there were 3 potential exits: one that looked as though it had been hewn out of the rock intentionally with architectural detail fancying it dramatically, one that was also similarly hand-made (although far cruder and with no details to speak of), and one crack in the wall, similar to the one they had entered through that seemed to have persisted through quite a few patching attempts. Adrol, being of the near-sighted persuasion, could not distinguish any of them.

He looked to Ms. Opal. "Well, I can't seem to find anything particularly of interest besides these markings... Have you found anything strange, or anything you were looking for?"

Adrol the Snivy - 13 Energy

Opal was just as eager to get to the item pile as Adrol was, but stood to one side as the Snivy had his pick. Seeds? An interesting choice. The Growlithe would have gone for the bulkier items, but as she thought on the matter, seeds did make sense. Most of the pile comprised of them, so there was a good chance of getting one of the useful varieties. Even better, nothing happened when the pile was disturbed. That orb must have put the cavern's residents quite a way away. she figured. Taking something for herself should be no trouble. The pup had kept watch, but now it was her turn to claim a prize. Following Adrol's lead, she selected two promising-looking seeds.

"I haven't seen any of either. That doesn't sound like what those pokemon were doing, though. It's like they were worshipping something. I've heard stories about super powerful pokemon being likened to gods. Beings of legend. Legendaries," Opal replied to the talk of summoning, "I can only assume that was the intention here. I don't know who this 'One' could possibly be, but if I had to hazard a guess, they'd be a rock type pokemon."

Perhaps these patterns on the floor might provide a clue to the mystery? It seemed Adrol had the same idea. The Growlithe him test the lines. She was ready to fight or flee, but nothing happened. Huh. Maybe this worship was just some ceremonial act. Grabbing one more item would be harmless, right? She'd had her eye on something, another TM that became visible when she took her seeds. Picking the disc up revealed that it also contained Stone Edge. Unbelievable! She now had three items containing the same move! It couldn't have been coincidence that she'd found them in such a short span of time. Most likely, someone had brought a bundle to be offered and dropped two.

Almost as soon as Opal took the disc in her jaw, she experienced a wave of energy rushing through her. She'd never felt so amazing! Right now, she could take on the world, best any challenge it threw at her. Nothing could defeat her! All she needed for perfection was for this TM to be for a move she could learn. Perfection... No, that was out of reach for her. Exhilaration was swiftly exchanged for agony. The pup let loose with a pained howl, dropping the disc at her paws.

"I did feel something. It was awful," she gasped after the pain faded. It still lingered, but now it was bearable. She manoeuvred the TM into her bag and secured it before looking around at the exits and resting her eyes on the fancy one. "I don't see anything else in this room, but those carvings on that wall look very similar to the ones here, don't you think? Come have a look! It might mean something!"

"Hmmm... I suppose that would be the logical conclusion..." he hummed pensively. Ms. Opal's suggestion would be the logical deduction, but Adrol couldn't help but be drawn to consider other options. The space was certainly large, but was it large enough for a mythical beast? It was hard to say, really; Adrol had never seen one personally so he had no reference for their scale. During the limited education on mythos he had received during his run as an heir he had learned that some of the titans described in whispers were very big, while some were thought to be very small. He imagined that a rock or a ground type legendary could be as large as a mountain or as small as a grain of sand, so scale certainly wasn't granting them any meaningful hints in this investigation. He scoured the nearby walls for any interpretations that he could perhaps identify, but he didn't see anything he couldn't recognize (Lairon, Mightyena, other species he imagined would be common among the mountainous terrain...). That only accounted for what was in his feild of vision, however.

When his venture with the walls yielded no clues, Adrol moved back to the item pile in the interest of further inspecting the glyph below it. As Opal moved around the pile and collected her items, the small white snake followed and further pushed the odds and ends that were left behind aside. He gathered that the glyph was perfectly circular in structure, with a geometric web of lines in various thicknesses radiating out from the center. the circle was cut in half by three wavy lines lightly tinted with color, creating a cat-eye pattern in the middle of the circle. Adrol noted several other symbols of different forms being connected by the web within the circle. They were rather simple, with the motif of tongues of fire being rather prevalent. Adrol cocked his head. Fire? Was it some kind of fire deity that they were seeking out, or some kid of fire energy they hoped to harness? His studies had taught him that fire was a symbol often associated with war, which certainly seemed to line up with what he had heard earlier. Perhaps this glyph was merely some kind of depiction of their conquest-?

Ms. Opal's sudden (and seemingly unprompted) howl startled Adrol terribly. The anguished sound tore him from his thoughts and made him instantly, deeply concerned about his accompanying puppy pokemon. "Ms. Opal, are you quite alright??" he exclaimed, the shock and horror apparent on his face. Her never saw the TM in her mouth; he only turned around in time to see it at her feet. He listened as she explained that she had felt something as well, although it had not been the rejuvenating glow that he had experienced. It had been painful for her; some kind of energy jolt that left her cringing until it subsided. This was concerning now; especially because Adrol hadn't known that the origin of Opal's experience had been caused by the TM. He began to revise his thoughts on the entire situation. Perhaps the odd glyph had been broken in some way... or it had some sort of malicious energy circulating among the energy that had healed him. Perhaps it was dependent on the pokemon? If that were the case, why had it deemed him to be non-threatening where it had deemed Ms. Opal to be unfavorable? Was he missing something?

Opal seemed relatively unphased by her ordeal - already leading him towards an opening in one of the strange cavern's walls. Adrol couldn't help but feel strange about her actions, but he supposed his suspicions could just be the product of paranoia. She was an adventurer after all; her instinct to explore in suspicious circumstances was likely as second-nature to her as breathing or the need to eat. He couldn't help but make note of how she seemed to blindly wander towards what he soon confirmed for himself to be a glyph-covered hall entrance after having just been afflicted by some form of pain on that dubious glyph. He decided to hold his suspicions to himself for the time being, however. He was certainly concerned for Ms. Opal, but he feared that if he acted too rashly on a very loose suspicion of his he might offend her honor.

"Hmm... yes, there are some symbols repeated from the strange glyph on these constructs. I would guess that that means this hallway is significant in some way; perhaps it connects to another chamber like this one," Adrol reasoned thoughtfully as ha examined the images she was describing. "...However one could only assume that if it's related to this chamber, we'll likely run into more pokemon like the ones we first encountered in this room down this way. Are you sure you're... feeling well enough for that after whatever just happened?" He gave her a look of concern.

From the other side of the room, more low noises resonated lazily into the chamber as if they had originated from far off.

The circle's patterns held little meaning to the Growlithe by themselves, but when Adrol asked if she felt something, she put two and two together. If he'd felt something, her random bout of pain couldn't have been a coincidence. All that remained now was a dull ache, but Opal kept the experience in mind in case she ever encountered more floor glyphs in the future. Perhaps there was another such placement beyond the carved walls? Time to venture forth! ...Or rest, as her companion just suggested.

I wouldn't mind taking a quick break," the pup admitted. A few minutes should be enough, she thought. The pair musn't tarry for too long. There was treasure to be found, and what if those pokemon from earlier came back? They'd be outnumbered two to one! "I don't doubt that, but those pokemon from before are going to come back here eventually, too."

A fair of foosteps accompanied the voices. "I'm telling you, Marrow, I had more than one. I must have dropped them. Just because they weren't in that room doesn't mean I'm lying." It was difficult to make out the conversation, but Opal's ears pricked up. It looked like that break might have to come later.

((I used ffcc99 colour for the NPCs))