Sword's Edge (Blacksmith)

[Kataya]

OOC: I'd like to switch out Spirit for PenPen the Aipom for now, thanks!

Sandy had just a bit too much of the route that day. After facing a man who called himself a psychic, she had a bit too much and decided perhaps it was time to head back into town and take a break. She had gone back to the Pokemon center that night, and today chosen to take a bit of a break from training. It was a good day to wander around the city anyway, and knowing how much her Aipom loved larger towns, she decided it would be a good time to give Spirit a rest and let PenPen have some time out of the lab. The very same purple monkey was on her shoulder as they walked through the street, her tail waving as they passed others cheerily, as if she was greeting everyone that passed by. "It's a good day today isn't it?" Sandy asked PenPen, who nodded in agreement.

But it seemed like something suddenly caught the Monkey's eye, and Sandy wondered just what it was, considering her Pokemon got distracted a lot like this, but no one got distracted quite like PenPen. The monkey suddenly slipped off her shoulder and before Sandy could stop her, she vanished into the crowd. "PenPen?!" she called as she tried her best to push through the various passerbys, which was hard to do politely, but she was worried that PenPen may get herself into trouble. She called for the monkey as she grew a little more worried, but she was able to let out a quiet breath of relief (only enjoyed momentarily, as she saw the monkey circling an anvil in front of a shop, which seemed to be distracting the person using it.

"PenPen, come here!" she called. The monkey hesitated, but the grin returned to her face as she scuttered over to Sandy and climbed up onto her shoulder. "I'm sorry about that, she gets a little to excited sometimes."

[Professor Oak]

Balimund huffed and wheezed as he pick up his tongs, retrieving an iron ingot from the pile and shoved it into the belly of the forge. He yanked on the chain and watched as the billows compressed, stoking the fire with fresh air. Sweat trickled across his brow but he made no effort to wipe it away. His eyes glazed over, mesmerised by the sight of the flames engulfing the ingot ensconced in a nest of coals. The chunk of metal began to transform from a dull grey colour to glow white hot as the burly blacksmith's mind wandered elsewhere...

Thick black smoke billowed across the city under the cover of midnight. Balimund coughed and spluttered as it invaded his lungs and he fumbled his way blindly through the darkness. He had no idea where he was or where he was going but could only stagger forward towards the burning corpse of the tower before him. Hope, harmony and everything the tower represented lay ravaged by the grips of an irrepressible inferno. As he got closer, horizontal jets of flame burst violently from the windows and forced the blacksmith back with the intensity of the radiant heat.

Amid the roar of the flames, terrified screams and guttural cries could be heard both human and Pokemon. The blacksmith turned to the sound of hooves galloping towards him. From a ridge overlooking burning tower, the mounted figure of an armour-clad warrior stopped to survey the scene below. Balimund staggered backwards at the sight of the samurai whose eyes appeared to glow with a supernatural green phosphorescence.

The blacksmith shook off the vision abruptly. This ghastly samurai had haunted his dreams each night for as long as he could remember and each day he worked feverishly to forge the perfect weapon, driven by an innate impulse. He knew that this weapon had to be crafted from the finest of materials. He had sent his apprentice, Asbjorn, out to gather the materials a few days ago but had not heard back from the boy since.

Clamping the molten ingot with the tongs, Balimund extracted the metal from the forge and placed it against the anvil, hammer at the ready as he began to draw the ingot out to the length of a blade. He slowly and methodically began to fold the metal over itself, strengthening it and beating out imperfections. However, he knew instinctively this metal was not strong enough, however much he worked at it but what else could he do without the proper materials available?

As he grunted in frustration, beating the metal forcefully, a purple simian scampered into view, running in rampant circles around the anvil. "What the devil! Where did you come from?" Balimund bellowed irritably. As Sandy came into view and began uttering an apology, the burly man's expression softened slightly. "I don't mean to be rude with ya miss but I'm kinda busy here ya know." Picking the heated blade up from the anvil, the blacksmith set it into a cauldron of water, steam hissing into the air as the blade cooled rapidly, hardening quickly in the process.

[Kataya]

While Sandy was used to PenPen unknowingly causing trouble, she was still very apologetic when it happened. After all, she realized where they were as she watched Balimund work. It wasn't very safe and she wouldn't have been okay with it if the man had accidentally harmed himself because PenPen was hard to control. PenPen noticed Sandy seemed a little annoyed with her, because she gave her a few apologetic taps on the back with her tail. Sandy sighed, nodding at PenPen before looking back to Balimund. The way he worked with steel like he was was pretty amazing, and being from New Bark you didn't often see things like this, since it was such a quiet town.

She realized she couldn't exactly loiter around here all day, even if the work was interesting, but she felt bad just leaving after PenPen had caused him trouble. "I understand Sir. But um, if you don't mind my asking, is there anything we can help you with?" she asked. "PenPen feels bad about disturbing you and I also feel bad about it." She didn't know how to work with his tools or anything like that, but she was sure if he really needed her help than there was other things that she could do, even if it was just going and bringing him something to drink. At least she would feel better about the disturbance caused by her lack of attention to the small purple Pokemon.

"This is all very interesting, even if I'm afraid I don't know how to work with any of these things." she mentioned. PenPen was mesmerized by all the shiny things, but didn't dare leave Sandy's shoulder this time, opting for silent admiration instead. You know, the no touching kind.

[fylisfe]

Balimund pulled the cooled blade out of the cauldron and examined it while listening to the girl's apology. This blade was no good. Certainly the blade looked beautiful thanks to his work on it but the metal itself was brittle, a few swings and it would surely break. 

"Help me...huh..." Balimund mumbled mostly to himself. He turned to Sandy and PenPen who both seemed enraptured by his blacksmithing. Normally he wouldn't put his faith in strangers but since the disappearance of his apprentice and in the increase in his haunted visions, he was beginning to feel desperate. Balimund put the cooled blade down on the table and grumbled. "I suppose there is somethin' ya can both help me with." 

Balimund looked over Sandy, he wondered if she would be scrappy enough to get this job done. "I'm in need of some special materials for a very important project I'm working on currently. I sent Asbjorn off to find them but the lad has yet to return. Not sure if he just quit on me or if he got himself lost, but regardless, I'm in desperate need of those materials." 

The blacksmith gestured Sandy over to his work table and opened up a map of the local terrain. "The materials themselves are simple, just a hunk of metal, a thread of silk, and a log of wood. The trick is I need them from these specific locales." 

First the blacksmith pointed to a set of caverns. "This here. This is a cave system just west of here. The biggest cave, that's the Cursed Cave. That's where I need the hunk of metal from. I told Asbjorn to look for silver veins of ore that shimmer in the dark of the cave. Make sure to get a sizeable chunk, the more solid the better." 

Next, Balimund pointed to a mountain range, north of town. "Over here, is the Macabre Mountains. There are massive webs all throughout the valleys of the mountain. You can pluck the finest silk threads from these webs. I'd rather ya get a nice long string than multiple short strands." 

Lastly, he pointed to a forest. "Finally, east of here, is the Shadowtrees Forest. You're gonna need to cut down one of the many trees and get a fresh log, an already fallen one will not do."

Balimund folded the map up and handed it to Sandy. He scribbled the list of items on a scrap paper and handed that to her too. "If ya happen to run into Asbjorn, give him a good scoldin' for me and make 'im help ya gather everything... of course, this is all if you're up to the whole task. I understand if it's too much to ask for, but I'll be real appreciative if ya do take it on." 

---

Will you take on Balimund's quest for the following items?

---

[/i]

---

Visit Cursed Cave

Visit Macabre Mountain

Visit Shadowtrees Forest

[/div][/ul]

[Kataya]

When he finally spoke to her, more directly anyway, she realized he did in fact need help. There were three places he needed her to visit, to gather some materials for him. "Someone's missing?" she asked, hoping they were okay. If he needed help finding his apprentice, then she would keep an eye out for them too. "I'd be happy to help you out. After all, we were the ones to disturb you. Right PenPen?" She asked, glancing at the monkey expectantly. 'Huh? Oh, right right! Yes Supplies! We'll get them!' the monkey chirped, making Sandy smile. "Don't worry, we'll keep an eye out for Asbjorn too!" she promised. He wouldn't need to worry about her, because she had her Pokemon with her, all of which were no pushovers.

She promised that she could handle it once more before setting off to do what had been asked of them. As she made her way out of the City with PenPen, she gave the monkey a pat on her head. "I think this will be good for us too. You haven't been out of New Bark Town in a while, so I'd love to be able to show you some of the places you've missed while we've been traveling." she said, PenPen nodding in agreement. 'I love all this fresh fresh air!' She was happy just to be with Sandy as well, so she could easily agree this trip was good for the both of them. Sandy looked down at a paper where she had written down Balimund's instructions and frowned.

"Shadowtrees Forest and Cursed Cave sound a little...ominous....So why don't we get those out of the way first? Then we'll head up to the mountain." PenPen nodded again and Sandy turned in that direction. Sandy didn't know how long it took, but they soon made it to the mouth of a large cave. "Hmm...this...seems like the place." she shivered a bit as she stared into the Cave's interior. Slowly, she made her way inside. "He wanted metal, right? That can't be too hard to find."

Sandy went to Cursed Cave.

[Marchbaby]

As Sandy entered the Cursed Cave to find the hunk of metal the Blacksmith needed for his project the darkness in the cave became quite apparent. Neither her or her Pokemon could see more than a few feet ahead as they looked for the veins of silver metal the Blacksmith had mentioned. The cries of Zubat and Golbat echoed off of the cave walls making the darkness all the more terrifying but that was far from the end of their troubles as they suddenly noticed a giant glittering wall of silver metal. Before they could react to the discovery Sandy tripped over a pair of shoes in front of the wall and in the process a small rock within the shoe flew towards the silver wall.

A few seconds later the wall began to shake violently as a pair of gleaming red eyes emerged from the roof of the cave. It was none other than a very angry Steelix eyeing her down as it roared with all of its might. Torn bits of clothing could be seen in its mouth as it extended its head towards Sandy as a small patch fell out with the name Asbjorn printed on it. There was no body to be found but whatever had happened to Asbjorn was clearly not good and if Sandy was not careful she might just meet the same fate as the Iron Snake was not about to let her escape for disturbing its slumber.

The giant Pokemon blocked off the path out of the cave with its tail that popped out of the ground forcing her to stay and battle it or become another victim, one way or another it was going to get its revenge against her.

Steelix (Level 27) is angry that you disturbed its sleep and forces you to battle it in order to claim the precious metal. Please select a Pokemon.

[Kataya]

PenPen gave a small concerned chatter as she and Sandy entered the cave. Something wasn't right here, it just wasn't! She shuddered as she launched herself from her shoulder into Sandy's arms, and the girl glanced down at her for a moment. "PenPen? what's the matter? why do you seem so scared?" She asked. But in fact she wouldn't need to wait so long to find out. Shreds of clothing fell from above, and no sooner did Sandy read the name then her eyes locked with deep and angry crimson ones, much larger than her own. Sandy felt her body tense up as she realized the bits of clothing were falling from the Steelix's mouth. It had eaten someone, it seemed. That could have been the only reason, right?

She backed up slightly, trying not to show her fear, though her body betrayed her with a shudder as she couldn't help but think about what happened to the person who had arrived before her. PenPen trembled too, because she wasn't sure what that thing wanted to do to them. She pressed her body against Sandy's chest, holding tightly to the fabric of her sweater., and Sandy wrapped her arms around the fearful little monkey. "It's going to be okay....it's going to be fine." Sandy whispered to PenPen, holding her close and closing her eyes, to afraid to reach for her Pokeballs.

But it seemed like one of her Pokemon sensed the danger, because in a flash of light Darryl appeared from her ball. She blinked, looking from Sandy to the Steelix. Andrew had given her to Sandy, hadn't he? And that meant she had to protect Sandy, even from the things that scared her the most. "D-Darryl?" Sandy asked as soon as she had the courage to open her eyes. The shrew nodded as if trying to calm her fears, before turning back to the Deadly creature. She lifted her claws before bearing them down into the earth in an attempt to summon an Earthquake.

OOC: Darryl used Earthquake against the Steelix.

[Tarlar]

The huge steelix loomed over the two intruders and it narrowed its eyes as Sandy finally looked up and noticed it. It rumbled deeply and it vibrated through the rocks, it raised its head and readied itself to slam its head down on the two and making them a nothing else than a smear on the floor.
Darryl appeared at the perfect time and made the huge steel type pause a moment, just enough for the sandslash to understand what was going on and take a decision on what to do to protect her trainer.

Earthquake was certainly the right move when it came to facing a pokemon like steelix, within a cave though it had some consequences which Darryl probably hadn't thought about, or might not haven't been aware of.
The steelix had turned its furious eyes at the brown ground type and had been ready to attempt to smash her into the ground like it had wanted to do with Sandy and PenPen, but when Darryl slammed into the ground and made it shake, it was thrown off balance.
The rock around them shook violently and the steelix roared as it was thrown sideways into the cave wall, sending further shockwaves into the rock. Sandy and PenPen were thrown to the ground as well and with a loud snap, cracks appeared in the roof with a few stones falling down

The steelix had been angry it kept being disturbed by rowdy trainers and pokemon but now it was pissed, it raised itself all the way to the top of the roof and then slammed its tail at the side of the cave entrance. The rock cracked and boulders fell down and blocked the entrance, only letting a bit of light inside. Dust swirled around from all the smashed stone but it didn't bother the steelix, it roared furiously at the intruders, it was not going to let them leave.


Wild Encounter

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Weather: Clear

[attr="class","qkt-bkgd"]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]

[attr="class","qkt-clip"]Steelix

LV 27
HP 62% [53/85]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]

[attr="class","qkt-clip"]Darryl

LV 25
HP 100% [80/80]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

Wild Steelix [Sturdy]: Normal
Sandy's Darryl [Sand Veil]: Normal (Can't escape!)

<Darryl used Earthquake, Steelix used Block>

[Kataya]

Sandy had only partially anticipated the consequence the earthquake Darryl had made had caused. She held PenPen as tight as she could as they fell to the ground. It injured her shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain. Darryl having heard her looked her way with a frown. She hurt Sandy? Sandy noticed the look in her eyes and shook her head. "No Darryl I'm okay, don't worry, okay?" she promised as she stood back up, just in time to almost be knocked over again by the Steelix blocking off the cave entrance. Sandy looked around.

Earthquake would be the only effective move that Darryl would be able to use against this thing. Sandy looked around, in search of anything she could use to protect herself. There was a small divet there in the cave that she could just barely make out, but it looked sturdy, and she rushed over with PenPen. She slid into it carefully, water that had gathered there sloshing and wetting both the girl and her purple companion. But at least this way they stood a chance of being safe as Sandy sat carefully in the small shallow pool, nodding at Darryl. "Earthquake again girl. Don't worry, we'll be okay." she promised as Darryl's look of concern returned. But the shrew did as she was told, and attempted to make the earth shake once more.

OOC: Darryl used Earthquake.

[Tarlar]

The steelix had went into full rampage and didn't notice, or care what Sandy and PenPen did, Darryl had fueled its rage, how dared she come here and attempt to destroy its home? It didn't like stranger coming and when they did they got what they deserved, they could just stay out so it was their own fault.
Most ran at the sight of it, and the few who didn't rarely got to see daylight again. Sandy's reaction had been just as it had been expected, but Darryl had been the first to straight up stand up to it and it was infuriating.

Another earthquake hit the cave and the steelix was thrown about and roared as the boulders loosened in the ceiling fell down and crashed against it. While it didn't make any visible marks it certainly could feel it!
"Why aren't you afraid! Be afraid!" It roared at Darryl and slammed its head up against the ceiling to knock out even more of the rock.
Darryl was ready and had rolled up into a tight ball, so the rocks falling down on her cracked into pieces with contact with her hard spines. The pieces rolled around her and made it hard for her to move around as she would keep tripping on them as they rolled around under her feet.

Sandy and PenPen had been rocked back and forth inside the crevice she had found but was otherwise unharmed, so it had been the right decision she had made.


Wild Encounter

---

Weather: Clear

[attr="class","qkt-bkgd"]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"]

[attr="class","qkt-clip"]Steelix

LV 27
HP 16% [14/85]

[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"]

[attr="class","qkt-clip"]Darryl

LV 25
HP 92% [74/80]

[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"]

[attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"]

Wild Steelix [Sturdy]: Normal
Sandy's Darryl [Sand Veil]: -1 spd (Can't escape!)

<Darryl used Earthquake, Steelix used Rock Tomb>

[Kataya]

Sandy felt relief when she saw that the Steelix's attacks had barely touched her beloved shrew. Darryl had always been slow, but since evolving, something in her had changed. She was still a very laid back Pokemon, but she knew when a situation was serious. She and PenPen were soaked, but with only a dull pain in her shoulder, she considered that better than the outcome of the person who had entered this cave before her. She watched Darryl and the Steelix from the opening of the Divet, still holding tight to PenPen, who hadn't let go of her either.

'I'm not afraid, because you don't scare me.' Darryl said simply. 'I need to protect my human. When she's scared, I can't be. Sorry about that.' The Shrew chirped dryly. She had to take care of this thing before it or she herself could take anymore of the cave down. She glanced to where Sandy had fled, as if to make sure she was still safe. She could see Sandy curled up there together with PenPen, and they seemed to have survived the last attack just fine.

And so, Darryl dug her claws into the earth once again, hoping to cause the final tremor that would send this thing fleeing.

OOC: Darryl used Earthquake.

[Tarlar]

The steelix didn't answer Darryl with anything else than a roar, it hadn't asked to start a long conversation. It merely had aired its frustrations as it was used to everyone running at the mere sight of it, that Darryl chose to answer calmly and logically only made it even more angry. This wasn't right! It was feared and respected by everyone so Darryl had to learn her rightful place and bow fearfully to it as well.

It lunged forward to try smash Darryl into the ground but didn't get that far. The sandslash jabbed her claws deep into the ground and sent it shaking once more, which the now unstable rock couldn't endure anymore. The steelix didn't know what hit it as a rockslide from above rammed down on it and pulled it to the ground, the steel snake trashed about and its tail slammed at the boulder's blocking the exit and sent them flying out. More rocks fell from above and buried the steelix fully and filled the air with dust once more.

The silence that followed was tense, with low rumbles from shifting stones deep below and the rattling from pebbles which dropped from above. Was the steelix out cold or would it break free of the mound any moment? Would the rest of the cave hold or would it collapse completely?
Amidst it all something shimmered dimly between all the grey of the rock, it looked metallic so perhaps that was what she had been sent to find?

Darryl gets 1350 exp and grows to level 26! (399/2107)
She also gains +1 happiness (+11)!


Something shines in the rubble, its a hunk of metal!

Darryl's HP 92% (77/83)