Castle Prom 2020

[indigo_league]

After arriving in Cerulean City and riding in one of a fleet of Cerulean Cape Shuckle Shuttle buses for an hour or so, the trees break and the road snakes along sea cliffs. In the distance, all can see a grand building rising up into sight, and excitement bubbles up within each and every heart as this year's mysterious, grandiose Prom location draws ever closer...




Welcome to the castle!

Their duo of hosts stand ready to welcome the characters when they arrive, assuring them that their luggage will be taken care of, and inviting them for a special tour of the castle, or would they rather first see their rooms, or perhaps even have a bite to eat? The choice is up to them.

THE CASTLE SIGHTS The Outer Courtyard For those wishing to get a breath of fresh air or looking for a place to perhaps engage in a little battling, look no further than the courtyard. Nestled safely within castle walls, the courtyard has been given a thorough renovation. The stones gleam like they have never gleamed before; a large fountain (certainly too new to have belonged to the original castle) stands at the center of the courtyard, the water gently cascading down over the marble figures of two nondescript and crowned humans, one holding a sword, the other a shield; wide-open doors welcome characters further into the castle. The Stables To the west lie the stables. Anyone interested in taking a ride along the cliff trails (or guests who just wants to see the horse Pokemon) is welcome to enter. The comforting smell of hay and wood hangs in the air, though any persons expecting to find familiar faces like Rapidash, Mudbray or Zebstrika is going to come off rather surprised. Instead what they will find are snow-white, proud-looking equines. Their long, pastel-colored manes and tails have been brushed to perfection, occasionally adorned with braids and white flowers. Long, violet colored horns jut out from their foreheads, a spiralling pure white groove running along their length. Long fetlocks drift along the ground, rather like delicate pink clouds, almost giving the Pokemon the appearance of being stabled on air rather than something so common as hay. Yes, anyone who has not yet had the pleasure of being able to admire the beauty and grace of the Galar Rapidash can look and ride their fill here. While the stable hands cannot allow anyone to actually keep one of the magnificent horses themselves no matter how much a guest is willing to pay, whenever their bosses aren’t looking, they certainly prove willing to provide characters with a Galarian Ponyta egg for a small price. (Limited to one per character) The Kitchens To the east lie the kitchens, and what kitchens they are! At all hours, characters will be able to smell the delicious aroma of a variety of sumptuous meals being prepared. In the mornings, the scent of fresh bread and breakfast fills the air, changing to the scent of pastries and later on more filling dishes as the day continues on, and fresh pots of tea are always on hand. Officially, the guests are asked not to enter the kitchen, as to not to disturb the many cooks working there. Unofficially, there are not exactly any guards, so if you really wanted to sneak in, you probably won’t get stopped. The Dining Room Adjacent to the kitchens awaits a large dining room. Tables have been set up in long rows with plenty of room for all with some to spare, and once someone sits down, almost as if by magic, they will soon find one of the waitstaff at their side, presenting them with an extensive menu. Order as much (or as little) as you like! The chefs will have it ready for you in a flash. The Ball Room The old castle ballroom has been done up to the nines, reflecting nothing but glory and splendor. Some delicate little tables and chairs stand at the sides of the room, for anyone who needs a quick break for their feet, but most of the polished marble floor is intended for dancing. There is a small chamber orchestra playing in a corner to provide everybody with only the classiest of tunes (though they do take requests for more modern music) and neatly dressed waitstaff with an uncanny ability to tell who is and isn't underaged flit through the crowd like black butterflies, making sure no glass goes unfilled. The Inner Courtyard The doors of the ballroom open wide onto a second, smaller courtyard at the back of the castle. Unlike the Outer courtyard, which was all stone, this smaller, Inner Courtyard is dominated by plants. The gardeners have done their very best to dress up the inner courtyard with plants and flowers of any kind - so many plants, in fact, that there is no room for battling out here. But if you wanted to take a breath of fresh air, wander around and look at the plants, or perhaps even try and find some of the small, secluded nooks created by the plant cover, you are more than welcome. In between the lovely smelling blooms, characters will also be able to find bushes and small trees laden with unfamiliar berries! Small cards in the soil will explain exactly what kinds of berries they are and what effect they have, and characters are invited to pluck a few berries if they want. Just don’t get too greedy! The new available berries are: Apicot, Salac, Ganlon, Petaya, Liechi, Lansat, Custap The Library Situated on the second floor is the castle's splendid library, a welcome respite for those less inclined to dance and frolic. Whatever books originally filled these weighty shelves are long gone, but their hosts have spared no effort in making reading material available to their guests. Among the shelves, guests will be able to find many books on the Galar region's history and myths. Some of these tales are already known over in this region (Who doesn't know the tale of the wise King Arthur and his oval table?) but there are also many more obscure and unknown fables and tales; the truly inquisitive may even be able to find some material on the two crowned fellows depicted in the main courtyard's fountain. It's almost as if Prom's esteemed hosts shipped over their whole personal library. They may, in fact, have shipped over their whole personal library. Pull up one of the plush armchairs, grab a book, and make yourself comfortable by the roaring fire! There's more to read here than you can finish in a lifetime! The Bedrooms Upstairs, guests will find all manner of bedrooms to choose from, from smaller rooms meant for a single person, to large ones for couples, to even larger ones for characters that would like to spend the night with a few friends. One thing holds true for them all: these rooms are seriously extravagant. Decked out in the finest of antique furniture like large canopy beds, solid wooden chairs, tapestries, and rugs, the decor brings to mind bygone centuries. There are even hearths in every room that can be used to light a small fire; while the rooms are all wired for electricity, unfortunately, central heating was a bit outside of the realm of possibility. The Tower Not all of the towers have undergone restoration, but the grandest, largest of them has. It will take some real stamina to climb all these stairs, but if they do, characters will be rewarded with two things: First of all, their two hosts have seen fit to create a small miniature museum inside the Tower’s chambers. Paintings, tapestries, and artefacts have been brought over from the Galar region to be put on display. All the artefacts brought over depict moments from Galar’s rich history, including paintings of ancient kings and queens, an actual knight’s armour, chalices, swords tucked in velvet under lock and key, and richly woven tapestries that for some reason seem to depict knights battling giant Slugma. If you still have energy after the climb to get here, you can continue on to the very top of the tower. From the tower’s high vantage point, it seems the entire Kanto region is on display in the incredible view. The ocean stretches out along the horizon, but closer to home, characters will be able to behold wild forests and cliffs, the green lush routes of Cerulean Cape itself and at night, millions and millions of stars twinkling up overhead. And all the rest... Beyond those sparkling rooms and done up corridors lies... the rest of the castle. The parts of the castle not quite done with their renovations are roped off, but nothing is stopping guests from exploring if they so wish - especially if they are interested in finding those rumored lost treasures or traps. While the rest of the castle shines, these parts of the castle feel almost haunted. Dust and derelict dominates the rooms, old broken furniture covered in dingy white sheets and creaking doors adding to the atmosphere. Did the eyes of that painting just move? Why is there a weird draft coming from that wall? What was that strange ominous creak coming from behind you? Are there any dungeons? Wait, did you just hear someone crying in a far off room? Jeez, no wonder they say this place is haunted. The Rocky Beach The main attraction outside of the castle, besides the hiking and riding paths, is a small stretch of rocky shoreline accessible just outside the main courtyard and down a surprisingly sturdy set of stone stairs. While it's a crummy place to lay out and get some sun, it is littered with bits of detritus from the sea. Shells, whole or broken, peek out between smooth pebbles and the rare piece of sea glass, and at low tide clumps of seaweed lay draped over the craggier outcroppings. Nothing is stopping you from fishing or poking around in the shallows for Pokemon, but you're more likely to find an interesting souvenir than a new friend...

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AVAILABLE POKEMON Naturally, this wouldn't be a Pokemon Prom without some Pokemon to catch! All catchable Pokemon range between the levels of 10 to 30. The Pokemon in the castle mostly haunt the unfinished section, but feel free to have the occasional encounter in the renovated sections too! Castle Impidimp; Gastly; Haunter; Litwick; Lampent; Duskull; Shuppet; Sinistea; Misdreavus; Honedge; Doublade**; Dusclops**; Polteageist***; Gengar***; Courtyard Butterfree; Cutiefly; Ribombee; Beautiful; Vivillion; Rocky Shore Binacle; Staryu; Wimpod; Frillish; Krabby; Kingler**; Jellicent**; Slowking***; During the characters' stay, they might suddenly find their room a mess, as if a small tornado went through their luggage. They might even find themselves missing some incidental items or articles of clothing, nothing necessarily valuable or significant, but it sure is weird. This is... probably the work of the castle's Pokemon, right?

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TREASURE HUNTING While your shuttle bus slowly trundles towards the castle, the driver will regale his riders with local stories and legends, chief among those the legend of the castle itself. You see, the castle was built by a relative of Bill (you know, the Pokemon storage system inventor?), but no one has lived in it for years and years because it is haunted. No, not haunted by Ghost types. That would be rather common and hardly worthy of note, wouldn't it? No, the castle is haunted by the ghost of Bill's great-great-great-uncle, and rumor has it that he is so possessive of the castle and its contents that he will kill all who enter. You see, even when he was alive, this man's enormous hoard of wealth was only outmatched by his enormous amount of paranoia. He was so paranoid that others would come to steal his wealth that he built his castle high upon the cliffs where no one could approach it undetected. But that wasn't enough to settle his fears! He started to hide his multitude of treasures all around the castle, and he built many traps and secret passages to protect them. It's said he was so fiercely protective of his money that he refused to leave the property even after his death, and his spirit still haunts the castle to this day. Many who have tried to find his treasures have disappeared. That is what the rumors say, at least. In any case, feel free to explore those abandoned halls and ruins for these supposed long-lost treasures. Better check for hidden rooms and passages behind old bookcases, trap doors covered by thick dust-riddled carpets, and perhaps even a hidden vault or two in the castle basements. Players are free to go absolutely wild in coming up with secret passages and hidden secrets for their characters to find. Now, as for the treasures characters can find during these explorations, they can broadly be divided up into two categories. The first category of treasures are common treasures. These are small, fairly common items that can be sold after prom for a small amount of Pokedollars each (think 100-200p), or they can be kept as a memento. Generally, these are small items that could easily fit inside a character's pocket and won't necessarily be well hidden. Characters are allowed to find as many of these common treasures as they want. Examples of common treasures would be items like pieces of antique silverware, broken mirrors, small figurines, old books damaged by the passage of time (but perhaps still readable in some places), or parts of worn and threadbare tapestry. The second category of treasures are rare treasures. These are properly hidden items that can either sell for quite a bit of Pokedollars after prom (think 5000-6000p), or can be used in-game. In order to allow of an element of surprise, every character that wants to participate in finding some rare treasure is allowed to comment once to a special RNG comment to find out exactly what they will find. Each treasure will consist out of somewhere between two and four items, the exact number of which will be left up to chance. For any questions, please refer back to the previous OOC post.

Comments

Of course he is

[strings_theory]

[Looking at the new Pokemon just like you are, Johnny, is that a problem?

Though of course he's making his way over and she's immediately rolling her eyes. She's not spotting you any more cash than she already has, Johnny, so don't even think about it if you're low on the funds. She does, however, have Stone Free wandering next to her and that almost four foot tall grass/bug nonsense probably still looks weird.]

If you hadn't noticed, both of mine are female. [And she's more looking to get one for Countess than she is Ermes. Mostly because flaming cotton candy sounds cool and also Ermes doing anything with anyone sounds weird as hell to her. A problem, truly.]

'Sides, you're the last goddamned person that should be talking to me about having multiple horses. You're seriously a male version of a horsegirl and it's infuriating.

[joekid]

Mine are all different. [[ he looks a little confused at the horsegirl comment. he absolutely does not know what that means, damn those time sensitive colloquialisms! ]] And I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. I'm a jockey, horses are what I'm comfortable with.

[[ and weird shrimp shaped things, if tusk is anything to go by... ]]

Anyway, okay, I get it now. You're wanting a stud. Gotta say, Jolyne, you don't strike me as having enough patience to be a breeder. [[ he starts counting up his money as he speaks. thanks for buying his prom day best, jolyne, now he absolutely has enough to buy a sparkle horse egg! ]] Can you even guarantee you'll get a male from one of the eggs?

[strings_theory]

Bitch, you know you would have multiple if you could. [Fuck you, Johnny, she knows what your game is. Also she's rolling her eyes at the jockey comment, she could have seen that five million miles away.] Jockey shit don't fly here, dude, especially since horse racin' doesn't seem to be a thing here. Outside of the occasional event and that's open to literally everything, not just horses.

[She has other things than horses, too! Like the leavanny who is tugging at her pants because her trainer is getting upset and that's not cool, man.]

I got enough patience to make some extra money on the side if how rare these things seem to be around here is anything to go by. [... Also shut up, Johnny.] Call it a hunch.

[joekid]

Doesn't change the fact I was a jockey before I got here. I'm still more comfortable with horses than other animals. [[ he shrugs, slipping his money away and craning his head back ever so slightly. there's a small hint of a smirk on his face, but it's faint. ]]

And I figured you can't actually tell. Best of luck on gettin' one, then. [[ that smirk turns into an overly sweet smile, dripping with insincerity. ]] If I end up bein' the one with a colt, I'd be happy to help you with your little operation... If you ask nicely enough, of course.

[[ it's kinda nice to be an asshole to someone that isn't diego for once. it's shitty, sure, but there's clearly a playful bite to it all. he isn't deadly serious or even that mad, but he is somewhat enjoying the banter. ]]

[strings_theory]

Better get used to being around things that aren't horses, there's not a lot of 'em. [Please just ignore Stone Free who's doing the equivalent of a huff at Johnny, because of course she is.

And she can't help meeting his own sweet smile with her own and just running a hand through her oddly loose hair. Don't ask. It's fine.]

No need. If I get a filly then I could still breed her with Demon or even Bomber, they're the same egg groups. [If Johnny may recall, he has absolutely met Demon the sylveon by this point. And the other is a goddamned soccer rabbit.]

[joekid]

[[ the mental image of that makes johnny rather uncomfortable, and he winces accordingly. gross. ]] Ugh, fine. You do that then.

This is why I don't breed these things. Anyway, hope that stable hand gets back with the eggs soon. Might as well go and see if I can ride one of the Rapidash, get a feel for it.

[strings_theory]

[Success. She really thinks that shit is weird herself, but she stopped asking questions the second she saw inanimate objects being alive and are considered Pokemon. And her Slowking waxing poetically.]

Sure gonna. Breeding's a good business around here, so I've heard. [If you know what you're doing and she sure as shit does not know what she's doing.]

You go do that, not like they probably don't have eggs for days around this damn place and with how many of these things they have.

[joekid]

That ain't the problem. [[ a small, huffy sigh. ugh, jolyne, why must you doubt his superior knowledge of all things useless in every other day of life except today? ]]

I don't know which horses are good to ride. Need a stable hand to show me that, they're the ones that take care of the horses and know them best. [[ he shakes his head, a look of exaggerated pity on his face. ]] You don't just jump on a horse, willy-nilly. Unless you wanna get hurt. Even if it does have, well, purple candy hair. [[ which he has plenty of experience in....... thanks, slow dancer... he still has the scar on his leg! ]]