victory_road | Castle Prom 2020

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...

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?

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Angel's gaze falls to her hand. She tightens her hands into fists, blunted nails pressing in to the sensitive flesh of her palms. She stares hard at the blue lines that adorn one hand, trying to comprehend the idea of wanting her powers back.]

I'm glad you're able to take so much enjoyment from it, then. [She looks up, finally, and offers a smile. It's halfhearted and wobbly.] I know you were less than thrilled when you found that you were without them.

[She'll just nod. Normally she'd be more open about how awesome it was to get them back but now really isn't the time.]

Angel. Krieg told me what happened when you got your powers back that one time.

If you want, and I don't know for sure how well this would work, given that we don't have our powers here at the moment and they're not exactly the same- but if you're interested, I could try to help you learn to control your powers for when they show up here again.

[Angel knows Maya's own horrible backstory after all. In a way they were similar and yet opposite. Training was all Maya was allowed to do when she was locked away.]

[A chill of shame creeps down Angel's body, the sensation not unlike having a bucket of water upended over her head. She shifts in her chair, while 'Dora quickly sets about wrapping a tendril around her wrist. It squeezes tightly, steadying hands she didn't realize had begun to shake.

It's been a long time since she'd had to think about what she'd done. She'd come to terms with the guilt, and no one had held what had happened against her. But sitting in front of Maya, the siren that Angel had held in such high regards, facing down her inability to control her powers...

Humiliating was the best word that came to Angel's mind, and even then she isn't sure it's accurate.]

That's... not necessary. [Some part of her appreciates Maya's offer. The rest of her doesn't want to even think about acknowledging her powers. Not when the easiest solution is to snap her collar around her neck and keep it at bay.

Then again... she isn't so sure she knows where it is.]

I had a way of keeping it at bay before. I'm sure I can track it down again.

I think it's somewhere in the house in Goldenrod. Finding that was why Krieg had to tell me what happened. I was going to destroy it.

[Surprise siren control collar is not a great surprise. It's a miracle she hadn't snapped it on sight.]

So, I know it's not necessary but I just wanted to offer it anyway. I mean, you're not just a fellow siren, you're also my friend.

Just....consider it an open offer, okay? If you never say yes, that's not going to offend me or anything but I just want you to know you have options.

[Angel's shoulders begin to hunch. She watches her fingers uncurl, long enough to see nails with residual purple tint, and then curl again. There's nothing unkind about anything that Maya is saying, but that doesn't make it any easier to shake the miserable feeling that's crept over her. The collar had upset plenty of people, she remembered that much, but the fact that it had done so to Maya almost hurts.]

I'm sorry you had to come across it.

[Maybe it would have been easier to explain if she had been there.]

Where would we even begin? Without our powers, it would be impossible to tell if any progress was being made.

[Oh, Angel. Carefully Maya leans over and puts a hand on the other girls shoulder.]

Hey, it's okay. I didn't blame Krieg for forgetting about having it in a bag and not telling me it was there, so I certainly don't blame you.

[Krieg had done his best to explain and it luckily had worked out. Maya trusts Krieg more then almost anyone after all.]

Starting though that's the easy part. You're right about how hard it would be to tell for sure but... do you know how to meditate?

[It hurts to know that Krieg had clung to the object in her absence. For the most part, she'd managed to swallow her guilt for having left in the first place. Still, despite the fact that she'd had no control over it in the first place, she felt the smallest of pinpricks of guilt from time to time.

She decides to keep that much to herself, though. She already knows how both Krieg and Maya would answer to the feeling if she spoke it aloud.]

I don't. I've... never tried. [That isn't entirely true -- she was sure she'd made a few attempts here and there throughout her life as an attempt to alleviate the pain, fear, and anger. But Maya doesn't need to know that part.]

Where would I begin?

[They would have very strong feelings about this. They are incredibly biased after all. They are also right.]

With the basic training first. We'd have to figure out some of it as we went along. The sort of training I received isn't something I'd want to put other people through.

[Fuck the Order.]

However it would involve a lot of sitting, either by yourself or with me. Either listening to me talk you through an exercise or by yourself trying to do something like focus on your breathing.

It's....an odd practise and while I hate the monks who forced me to learn. I was able to use it a great deal to focus my powers, escape from a reality I hated while I was there and just to clear my thoughts and calm down.

[Angel nods, mulling over Maya's words. Talking about it in a purely hypothetical sense, it sounded doable. Regulating her breathing and learning to distance herself from her thoughts would be helpful no matter what, even if she couldn't apply it to her powers outright.

But a more malevolent part of her brain whispered that it would be for naught. People had died by her hands, and would continue to do so, because she was incapable of controlling herself.

She pushed the thoughts from her head for the time being.]

It's something to consider, at least. Perhaps once Prom is over, we can discuss it further?

Yeah. It would be good to wait for after the prom anyway. We're only here for a while and this is supposed to be a break from stuff.

[As much as she's sure that Armin is going to be right about something going wrong.]

Do you want to look through the books here some more?

No, no, I think I've seen enough for now. [Not really, she mostly did a lot of sleeping, but she can always come back later.]

There's plenty more to explore, don't you think?

This place seems big enough. I'm kind of curious to see if they bothered to fill the entire thing with stuff from Galar. Or if just stops at some point.

Castle Prom 2020

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