Quest Resources (stats, party, location, neofauna information, date, time, etc.): https://rentry.org/PokepocalypseQSTQuest Archive: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Pok%C3%A9pocalypse%20Revival (Start here if you want to catch up on the quest's previous threads!)Updates will be attempted every 2 days! Ideally, I will be back to daily updates by the end of this thread. Absences will be announced in advance and given definitive end dates if I can manage it.<><><><><>Within the Year of Our Lord, 1884, upon a world quite similar to our own, all civilization is at war with a peculiar breed of creature......all civilization, that is, save for Walter Buchanan and his companions. Walter, an aspiring naturalist, sees the good in these creatures: these demons of earth and sky, able to command the very heavens themselves, privy to the inner thoughts of man and the very souls that animate them. He has tamed four such creatures, all of whom walk by his side: Aster, his flaming foal; Mary, his electric sheep; Taylor, his silk-spinning caterpillar compatriot; Florian, his aromatic flower sprite. These creatures, whom he dubs "neofauna," are not his only company. Walter is further joined by two human travelers: Thomas J. Steele, a businessman and state representative of Indiana, and "Andrew," a former buffalo hunter now employed as Steele's own bodyguard. All three of these men share a common cause: a desire to return to the East Coast.This trio is further bound together not only by shared experience, but by their shared allegiance to the Staters: a movement led by a group of rebellious Californians looking to upend the most recent state governor, C. P. Huntington, for his atrocities against the state of California. The treacherous governor has used the state militia to launch a coordinated raid on the Staters' former headquarters, and suspicions abound that he is now responsible for multiple deaths within the movement-- deaths which the Stater's stalwart leader, Aaron Muyr, now seeks to avenge...<><><><><>
>Saturday, September 6th, 1884.You awoke before the sun rose.Everything before you was a blur. If you had dreamed of anything this night, you hadn't remembered it. Your hotel room was dark, quiet-- for a moment, you thought you saw movement at the foot of your bed... and only relaxed upon remembering who lay there."Up y' get, Mary," you whispered to your sheep. You were not about to leave her in the hands of strangers while she was this vulnerable. "We've got work t' do."As you swept through your room like an exhausted phantasm, changing your clothes and washing your face, your heartbeat acted as soundtrack to your morning routine. With every third beat, you were doing something new.Ba-dump. You gave the ornate clock hanging above your bathroom door a glance. Four in the morning-- perfect. Ba-dump. You carried Mary with you into the hallway, making sure to close your door as quietly as possible, and slipped down the carpeted staircase.Ba-dump. The stable doors creaked open, stirring awake the horses closest to its hinges. Florian squeaked at the noise, so disproportionate to the quiet blanketing everyplace else-- you promptly quieted him.Ba-dump. Aster huffed, stomping in place as his stable door swung open. Your heart briefly skipped a beat, somehow expecting to find a bleeding wound upon his leg, only returning to its normal pace once Aster took a confident step forward.Ba-dump. You left the hotel behind, Aster's flaming mane coming alive and trotting ahead of you. Ba-dump. Dark figures lined the streets, sparse in number yet unmistakeable in silhouette-- state militia.Ba-dump. By the light of Aster's mane and the glow of tonight's blue moon, you continued forth into the shadowy city streets, reminding yourself of your goals...<><><><><>
"...keep it quick, keep it quiet. Andrew will lead from the front, reinforcements'll be from the sides..."A cool breeze blew through the small off-road you had all gathered in. Muyr was repeating what he had clarified last meeting. This group was his most important, after all, so such caution was required."...militia would be best struck near the neck're legs. Aim t' knock them out, to avoid blood on our hands..."You held your team together tightly, whispering your plans under your breath in the vain hopes that a member or two might be able to understand them. Everyone here was to go together, on Muyr's signal... except for you."...if our own start t' fall, shoot to kill. We have more Staters than they have troops..."...at least, there were more Staters than troops awake at this hour. All you had was your small party of neofauna. But, you hoped, they were just an emergency measure. The capitol would only have a few militia soldiers in front of it at this hour, not the usual scale of extensive security throughout its halls, so you weren't going to be fighting like the rest of them were..."...have you any words t' say, say them now.">Try to rouse the troops like Muyr did. A boost of confidence wouldn't hurt, right?>Ask a question. [Write-in what question.]>Pray.
>>6319264>Ask a question"What if they have some neofauna of their own?"The governor may be spiteful to the 'demons', but that may be because he wants a monopoly on force.Welcome back, QM!
>>6319264>Try to rouse the troops like Muyr did. A boost of confidence wouldn't hurt, right?A question would just create doubt and hesitation at this point. Just say something short to show we're confident.
>>6319264>Try to rouse the troops like Muyr did. A boost of confidence wouldn't hurt, right?“Huntington leads his troops the same as he does anything else… with the grace and precision of a three-legged cow. Listen to Muyr and we’ll get through this thing fine.”
>>6319472>A question would just create doubt and hesitation at this point.I nevertheless see some value in being prepared and having a strategy for if we encounter a fire-breathing weasel, or something worse.
Rousing the troops it is. Writing!>>6319294Glad to be back, anon. Thank you for coming along for the ride!
"Ah have a few," you mentioned. Muyr stepped aside to allow you to shuffle forth, then turn your back on the capitol and your attention onto your fellow men. The night was short, and the crowd's patience was already beginning to thin. You decided to keep things brief. "If any'a you are havin' doubts, put them t' rest. I've seen how we've trained, an' I've seen what we're up against. Huntington's a bloated ol' fool with the grace of a disabled cow-- as long's we follow Muyr into the daylight, ah say we'll be fine."You finished the brief speech with a grin, but couldn't help betraying your own words. The very confidence you wanted to impart unto others was shaky, uncertain-- blanketed in just the slightest hints of doubt.And yet, nevertheless... the Stater troops you'd addressed pumped their fists in approval, saluting if they couldn't, trying to make as much of a scene as they could without giving away their position. Their confidence reassured you, reinforcing the strength of your own... and, by the time everyone had quieted down, you couldn't help but feel like things were going to turn out quite alright.Soon after your speech, the countdown began. You checked your watch and began to saunter off to the side, keeping your eyes on the crowd."On one, two..." Muyr was giving you glances. His eyes bounced between you and the capitol lawn as he continued counting under his breath, his hand tightening around something within his holster's pocket. You knew what he meant."...three, four..."Men were already rushing to the front of the road, huddling around the edges of each building flanking it, giving Muyr space...BANG"GO!" Muyr shouted, spitting forth his first command.Almost a hundred Staters flooded forth onto the capitol lawn all at once. Men poured in from every cardinal direction, save north-- from the east, you could see Andrew leading the charge; from your south, Muyr moved forward. In all the confusion that followed, with the tide of men splitting into various different groups all aiming for various different parts of the lawn, nobody managed to keep track of you.You slipped into the crowd, blending in almost unnoticed amongst the sea of warm bodies. As men dispersed, you slipped between tight crowds and aimed for the giant white dome you'd all arrived to capture.Gunfire drowned out your thoughts as you accompanied various men in a rush towards the capitol steps. You reached them, just in time, only to have your efforts squandered by a militia troop shoving you backwards--
--who next found himself on the ground, twitching uncontrollably, covered in Florian's spores. "Good job," you whispered to your small plant friend. You swerved behind you, expecting another attack-- instead, you were met with a far greater skirmish than you'd expected.The lawn had quickly become a mess of lead and fury. State militia troops wrestled with Staters, wrestled with neofauna, wrestled with each other-- in all the chaos, it was almost hard to make out that you had the militia on the defensive. A great start-- and a distraction from what you needed to do.The steps of the capitol were easily climbed. Your greatest trouble came in keeping yourself on-balance, not tripping over your own toes as you climbed the brief staircase and rammed into the building's doors, turning to shield Mary as you threw your entire body into the great oak gate keeping you from Sacramento's head of state. It took only two attempts for the doors to swing open. They... hadn't been locked.Once you'd stumbled forth into the grand foyer, you stopped. It was hard not to be taken aback in brief awe. The ceilings of the building were enormous-- at least thrice as tall as you were, if not taller. The lavish domed roof hanging over your head put your hotel's lobby to shame, with its intricate patterns and detailed color work uniting in a wonderful display of...creeeeakYour heart skipped a beat.You weren't alone. You checked your watch again, as if hoping it would show you some other time if you squinted at it hard enough. No-- it was hardly four thirty. Nobody was supposed to be here until hours from now.The floor here was wooden, carpeted. A familiar stench arose from it-- one that reminded you of the hotel's stables. The stench, however, brought you far more comfort than the continued creaking from above.You gave the lawn one last glance, its chaotic battle almost inscrutable from this distance. Aster had gone to Andrew, as you'd commanded him to, and yet... No-- the carpet simply had to be cleaned, that was all. And besides-- the rest of your team remained with you. There was every possibility they were the source of this.You strafed right, into the carpeted corridors. The creaking above you never ceased-- it only grew quieter without the echo of the dome to amplify it. It was as if a man was pacing-- patrolling, perhaps, some general area on the second floor. A pity-- that was exactly where you needed to be. And yet... what good would pacing do at a time like this? For what reason would there be any need of...?
The stairs! You'd made it to the stairs. This was no time for speculation. You climbed them without hesitation, your hand gripping the banister like each step was about to give out from beneath you. The stench only worsened the further you climbed. It came to your uneasy attention, around the same time, that the wing you'd wandered into happened to be the same blackened part as you'd seen just a few days ago. But for that to be the source...crk crk crk...you trailed off. Whoever was patrolling the corridors was going in the opposite direction. Good-- you were certain the governor's office wasn't far from here. All you'd have to do, then, was get in there and hold the fort until Muyr could join you...Your free hand slipped over to your left shoulder, prompting Taylor to climb atop it and chitter. You quickly shushed him, motioning with your head for him to look forward, and continued forth. It wasn't long before the governor's office was within reach......but you could hear your unwelcome company beginning to approach again. There was definitely some kind of patrol officer wandering these corridors.If you played your hand right, you could slip past him without ever catching his attention. If you were caught, however...>Try to neutralize your unwanted guest before entering the governor's office, and risk losing access to it entirely. >Take your chances and attempt to get into the governor's office, and risk getting caught by whomever was wandering the corridors.
>>6320137>Take your chances and attempt to get into the governor's office, and risk getting caught by whomever was wandering the corridors.Remember the mission. This is all for nothing if we don’t get into the office.
>>6320141+1
