victory_road | THE CONTEST SPOOKTACULAR!

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THE CONTEST SPOOKTACULAR!

You arrive before the sun sets over the shining sea, a little before 5 o’clock. A fleet of Corviknight taxis descend near the entrance of the castle, slowly setting their passengers on the ground and allowing them to depart. The golden rays of sunshine illuminate the edges of the castle, casting long shadows and making it take on a rather ominous appearance. Better hop to it–you wouldn’t want to miss the Halloween party, now would you?

WELCOME TO THE HALLOWEEN FRIGHTFEST!

Riegfried and Soy greet you at the entrance of the castle. Riegfried is dressed as a Zubat, toting a blue-and-purple cape, a cute hat with giant ears, and plastic fangs. Soy is dressed as a midnight Lycanroc, wearing a dark red suit and wielding a pair of fuzzy white paw gloves. They welcome you warmly, assuring them that they’ll be well taken care of here. Perhaps you’d like to get something to eat, first? Or maybe you’d like to look around at what games and delights they have to offer! Or, perhaps you’re here to perform in the Contest Spooktacular. The choice is yours!

(If asked about the previous attendants of the castle, Shieldbert and Sordward, Riegfried and Soy will exchange looks and explain that they had been…well, very politely asked to leave and not to come back to Kanto, under threat of legal action.)

EXPLORING THE FESTIVAL
The Ball Room

The old castle ballroom has been outfitted with spooky decorations and all manner of electrical equipment--all the necessary things to put on a good contest! Most of the furniture has been cleared away, save for a central stage for people to perform.

At the beginning of the night, before the actual contest takes place, a costume catwalk will take place! Costumed guests will be encouraged to get up on there and strut their stuff. Don’t have a costume? Don’t worry! The attendants will usher you to a very big walk-in closet for you to pick out an utterly fabulous get-up. All from Riegfried and Soy’s personal collections, of course. They wouldn’t want someone to miss out on a chance to show the crowd what they’re made of! This is also the time for characters to register for the contest.

After a few hours or so, an announcement is made informing people that the contest spooktacular will be taking place shortly, and for people to make their way to the ball room. The lights dim and a distant, pre-recorded bone-chilling cackle is heard. Who knows what sort of spooky scary things you’ll be seeing tonight?

The Outer Courtyard

For those wishing to get a breath of fresh air away from the festivities or to explore the activities the festival has to offer, look no further than the courtyard. Nestled safely within castle walls, 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.

There are a plethora of spooky carnival games that have been set up along the perimeter of the courtyard. They’re definitely rigged, but maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll win that giant Mareep plush. One booth seems to be garnering quite a bit of attention–Bobbing for Applins. If you manage to grab an Applin with your teeth, you get to keep it! Just be careful you don’t bite too hard….

The Stables

To the west lie the stables, with a sign posted that reads “HAUNTED HAYRIDE!”. The comforting smell of hay and wood hangs in the air. Instead of the Galarian Ponytas and Rapidashes that previously graced this area, there are a bunch of Mudsdales lounging, waiting for their turn to pull the cart. Outside, there is a scrawny bearded man perched on top of a Mudsdale, patting it on the neck and giving it reassuring words. A nearby cart filled with hay bale seats lies vacant, ready to be pulled alone.

Fancy a little ride around the outside of the castle to see the sights? You can watch the sunset over the ocean, and maybe spot a few rare Pokémon! Heck, if it’s dark enough, you could even be so bold as to hold hands with someone else on the ride! Who knows what you’ll find out there?

Of course, you could always just hang out with the horses. Nobody’s gonna stop you.

The Kitchens

To the east lie the kitchens, and what kitchens they are! Characters will be able to smell the delicious aroma of a variety of sumptuous courses being prepared for the festival. 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.

Many of the menu items seem to be…well, puns. Perhaps you’ll be interested in some Crobat Monsieur, a croque monsieur decorated like a Crobat? Or perhaps a spot of Pumpkaboo Pie? Perhaps a nice cup of Coffee-grigus would do the trick. (Rest assured, no Pokémon have been harmed in the making of any of these delicious selections.)

The Inner Courtyard

The Inner Courtyard looks…well, different. All the plants seem to have been temporarily removed from this area (as evident by the dozens if not hundreds of potted plants along the outside), and it’s quickly obvious as to why. A haunted house has been set up inside of the courtyard, the temporary walls obscuring the horrors that lie within. The door to enter is slightly ajar, and you hear strange and eerie noises inside. Was that howl from a person, or from a Pokémon? And what about that clanking, shuffling sound? The hairs on the back of your neck begin to stand up.

Dare you enter? Fright and fun both await you. Feel free to make up what terrifying attractions are inside the haunted house. At the end, an attendant will present you with a photograph of you and your friends inside the haunted house. Ahhh, treasured memories.

The Library

It looks like the books were removed from the library with the departure of Sordward and Shieldbert. Perhaps they couldn’t be without their personal collection. Nevertheless, it seems that someone else has taken an interest in this room. A woman with frazzled, gray hair and gigantic spectacles stands near the entrance, a slightly unhinged grin on her face as she welcomes you inside. You see, her name is Dr. Espa–she’s a paranormal investigator, and she needs your help to study ghosts! No, no, not Ghost Pokémon–she wants to track down Bill’s great-great-great-uncle, and any other ghosts that live within these halls!

The doctor–if she can even be called that–has a wide variety of pseudo-scientific equipment on hand, including spirit boxes, dot projectors, EMF readers, temperature gauges, and more. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to wander into the deepest, most haunted sections of the castle and report back to her on whatever you find! If you weren’t already motivated by the pursuit of knowledge, she’ll also offer you a reward of 2000P for any evidence that you find. She’ll…accept any evidence, really.

Is she a staff member, or just a regular woman with a keen enthusiasm for ghosts? It’s hard to tell. Riegfried and Soy certainly don’t know who she is.

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 a stunning sight. 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 millions and millions of stars twinkling up overhead.

The Rocky Beach

The main attraction outside of the castle is a small stretch of rocky shoreline accessible just outside the main courtyard and down a surprisingly sturdy set of stone stairs. It looks like a group of people have set up a nice, warm bonfire on what little strip of sand they can find--perfect to stave away the chilly waterfront breeze. Why don’t you help yourself to a cup of warm cider and sit by the fire for a bit?

If you’re done making your clothes smell like smoke, you could also comb the beach for interesting trinkets. 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 craggy 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...

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.

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; Yamask; Dreepy; Honedge; Doublade**; Dusclops**; Mimikyu**; Polteageist***; Gengar***;

Courtyard

Venonat; Venomoth; Drifloon; Phantump; Pumpkaboo; Murkrow; Rookidee; Zubat; Hoothoot; Woobat*; Noibat*;

Rocky Shore

Galarian Corsola; Binacle; Staryu; Wimpod; Frillish; Krabby; Relicanth*; Wimpod*; Kingler**; Jellicent**; Slowking***;

TRICK OR TREAT!
Near the entrance of the castle is an old man dressed in dark, heavy wool clothes with a mysterious gleam in his eyes. He holds an oil lamp in his hand, waiting for those to approach. If you get close enough to speak to him, he’ll ask you a question.

”Halloween’s not over ‘til you’ve got yourself a good haul of candy. How do you feel about a little bit of…trick or treat?”

He’ll regale you with an old tale about the castle grounds. 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. Though previously only haunted by the ghost of Bill’s great-great-great-uncle, the recent human activity in the area has caused droves of Ghost and Dark-type Pokémon to flock towards the area and take advantage of this newfound source of fun.

Those who attended Prom 2020 would remember that trainers were allowed to search for hidden treasures among the secret passages and strange traps. This year, however, the search will be a…little different! Instead of trying to find treasures, your characters will be exploring the labyrinthian hallways and secret passages to find tricks…or treats.

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. Let us know in your comment where your character will be looking!

As characters explore, they will have a 50/50 chance of encountering either tricks or treats!

A character that rolls a treat will have a generally positive encounter with a Pokémon, who will likely lead you to great treasure and sweets! Conversely, a character that rolls a trick will probably be pranked by a Pokémon. Characters will not be able to catch the Pokémon they encounter, unfortunately–they’ve gotta scare the other guests, too!

In both cases, characters will stumble upon a random assortment of sweets and ghost-related items, including but not limited to rare candies, Alcremie pastries, poffins, and other consumables! Characters may also find a rare, unique item that may be sold for about 5000-6000P or kept as a memento.

In order to allow for an element of surprise, every character that wants to participate in trick or treating is allowed to comment once to a special RNG comment to find out exactly what they will encounter. Each treasure will consist 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

You deal with a lot of sensitive information as an investigator. Plus a lot of desperate people that would be really easy to screw over. The license is supposed to cut down on that.

[Of course, Elmville gave a license to a 14-year-old kid, so questionable how much protection those licenses really are.]

[He definitely seems too young to have a license like that, but then they're currently in a world where ten year olds are allowed to go off and have their own adventures. What does he know? Other worlds are weird.

Not that it stops him trying to angle for that information anyway.]

How long does it take to get something like that?

Normally? At least three years. Or less than that if you got a degree in criminal justice. Well, it changes from place to place, but that's what it's like in Elmville.

[Which means Riz is definitely not old enough to have done any of that, unless he started college when he was eight.

He grins though, anticipating the question that is to follow.]

But they get really cool about making an exception when you solve the disappearance of seven girls and kill a dragon before it can start taking over the world again.

[Riz anticipates correctly. Min just looks more confused through his initial explanation, and already has his mouth open to ask further questions before he carries on.

Though in the end it doesn't leave him with any less questions. Like... what is this kid doing with his life? Where are his parents?? How can he talk so casually about something so terrifying?

There are so very many questions, but it's always best to start with the basics.]

You did what now?

My friends and I solved the disappearance of seven missing girls and killed a dragon. The dragon was also our vice-principal.

[At this point in the conversation, Riz has gone from crouching on the piano to just casually sitting on the edge of it, his feet dangling high above the floor. As he talks, he gestures with his hands.]

The dragon was the one who had kidnapped the girls. He needed them for a ritual to break free from the bindings placed on him. So once we put together who was behind everything that was going on, we were able to beat him and make sure the girls got freed.

I also ate him. Some of him. He was too big to eat all at once and they didn't let me take more than a few kilos of leftovers home with me.

[Somehow this is actually a lot better than he was expecting. Mostly because the missing girls are actually found and freed.

Then Riz has to go and ruin this by talking about......... eating him. What. Even if he was a bad dude if he was sapient it feels very wrong to have eaten him.]

Dude, what? You can't eat your vice principal. Even if he was a dragon he was still a person.

[There are probably better ways to word this, but he has no idea what they are. This isn't something he ever thought he'd have to say.]

[Riz sniffs, and even now, anger glints in his eyes.]

Maybe he should've thought of that before he ate my dad.

[Riz had been very set on taking back his father's weight in flesh bite by bite. He hadn't quite managed, but he had still gotten plenty of dragon burgers out the deal.]

[God. He is very much not equipped to have this conversation. He and his dad rarely understand each other, but Min still cares about him. He can't imagine losing him, much less in such a brutal manner. And Riz is even younger than he is...

He starts to reach out to... what? Touch his arm? Maybe? He doesn't know himself, but he barely knows him. Touching him would be weird, even if it's meant to comfort him. He draws it back. ]

I'm sorry. [That apology comes a lot more freely than the earlier one. What else is there to say in this situation? He still doesn't understand the logic behind eating him. Surely that's taking revenge too far? It's not an opinion he's willing to voice right now though.] I'm sorry about your dad. No kid should have to go through that.

[It is honestly for the best that he didn't end up touching Riz. Because really, this is why Riz hates talking about his dad. Every time he does, it just nets him pity and phrases he doesn't really know what to do with. They are sorry? Yeah, he is sorry too. Doesn't bring his dad back. No kid should have to deal with that? Cool. You certainly don't have to tell Riz that.

It's--

He gets that it is meant to be comforting. Probably. But it isn't.

He glances away, reaching up to adjust the brim of his hat and pull it a little lower over his eyes.]

Yeah. Well. Nobody has to worry about that now. Not from him.

Yeah. Guess not.

[He taps out a few more notes, then abruptly stops. That's probably insensitive. The silence no matter how short feels heavy, but he has absolutely no idea what the right thing to say here is. Apparently stock sympathy phrases won't cut it, but he doesn't have any better ideas.]

School sucks, huh?

[Yeah, no, that was not any better and he sincerely wishes he could take it back.]

[Riz snorts.

That was... yeah, that was a really bad line, but in a strange way, that makes it much better than dealing with another empty platitude. At least this guy isn't just rattling off some standard internal 'pity for sad kids' script. He's trying. Not very well, but Riz of all people cannot judge people for their lacking social graces and abilities.]

Only when your vice-principal ruins prom by turning into a dragon and trying to take over the world. It's actually pretty cool most of the time. School is where my friends are.

[The 'pity for sad kids' script would be easier, frankly. He'd still suck at it, but at least he sort of knows it. Not having a good read on Riz yet, he's shocked (though relieved) that didn't make him kick off again.]

Really? I don't know if I'd ever want to go back to school again if that happened to me.

[Not that he wants to go back to school anyway, but at least he doesn't have any traumatic reasons for it.]

It's an adventuring school. That's what adventuring life is like. If I didn't want to deal with dragons and beholders, I could've just gone to Mumple.

[Please note that Riz says 'Mumple' like it is truly the worst place on earth. Much in the same way like a sports fan might refer to their arch rivals. The Dinkleberg to his Timmy's dad.]

Why would you want to deal with those things?

[He recognises he isn't the most exciting dude in the world. He's fine with that. But actively choosing a life that puts you in a position where you need to deal with dragons? Why would anyone??]

Well, if we don't do it, then who will?

[People joined adventuring schools for all sorts of reasons -- the fame, the fortune, but for Riz it had always come down to what Penny's disappearance had taught him. Sometimes terrible things happened to good people and there needed to be people that kept those things from happening. And it certainly wasn't going to be the police. Even the best, most badass detective ever (his mom) hadn't been able to solve Penny's case when faced with the dreadful twin beasts of bureaucracy and upper management.

So, he had assigned the job to himself. It had seemed (and still did) the most logical solution.]

I don't know. Someone else? You should pick a career because you like it, not because you feel like you're the only one who'll do it.

[He guesses someone needs to investigate these things, but... that doesn't exactly sound like the best reasoning to do it.]

Besides, school should be safe, even if you are learning dangerous things.

I like what I do.

[And honestly, he's always wanted to live this live -- solving mysteries, helping people! Sure, once he had thought he could do that in an official police capacity, like his mom does. That may have changed now, but the underlying drive hasn't.]

Plus, the world is a dangerous place. Wouldn't you rather know how to deal with it? Instead of sitting around and hoping that someone else comes and does it for you?

I know how to deal with it.

[This is decidedly untrue, which is perhaps why he sounds just a tad defensive. Prior to the train he'd been embarrassingly sheltered. He'd learned some survival skills there through necessity, but most of them hadn't been applicable back home. It's Ryan who tends to take care of a lot of their things there since he's done the whole life on the road thing before, and here it feels like he has a hopeless amount to learn.]

I just meant that schools should have some kind of safeguard in place. You don't have to be at risk to be able to learn how to do things.

Dealing with the dragon was definitely kind of extra-curricular? Like, that wasn't our exam or anything. Just something we had to do.

[Dealing with the Nightmare king in their second year though? Definitely an actual assignment.]

Besides, people almost never die during class. And we got healers for that.

I mean. It would be kind of weird if that was part of your curriculum.

[Then again, what about what Riz is telling him isn't weird?]

Healers for dying...?

[He actually has multiple questions about those last two sentences, but reassurance that he's interpreted that correctly feels most important.]

Don't they have Revivify where you are from? You know, when a cleric brings you back from the dead? [Riz frowns, cocking his head in a thoughtful manner.] Maybe you call it something different.

Uh... no? We have CPR, but most of the time when you're dead you're dead.

[A beat.]

Do you know what CPR is...?

[Is it even needed if someone can just come and bring you back to life?]

[Riz gives Min a funny, scrunched eyebrow look.]

Yes, I know what CPR is. Not all of us can heal with magic, you know.

[Riz has been taking a whole non-magical healing course! Sure, it seems silly when you've got a cleric and a bard who can literally bring back the dead, but it's a whole less silly when they are out, and you are scrambling down a hallway, covered in corn, trying to find someone, anyone, to help save the kids you only just met in detention.

But enough spicy memories.]

Edited 2022-11-20 23:40 (UTC)

[His face heats up slightly at that look. It's not his fault he doesn't know anything about magic, but at the same time the way he says it makes it feel like it should have been obvious.]

I don't know. We don't have magic at all where I come from.

Not at all? [So wherever this guy comes from must be like this world.] Shit, that sucks.

[Riz doesn't even do magic (and honestly, should never be allowed to know any magic for the sake of everybody) but still, to imagine a world without magic at all. How dreary.]

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