Using our tail-flame to light the way, we enter the building cautiously with Courtney, Stan and the knocked-out guard.

>>8033291
You step inside. You come to a small hallway with a pair of doors on one side of the wall, a staircase on the other side.

>>8033320

We knock quietly on the door closest to us.

>>8033354
You hear a faint and tired-sounding voice coming from inside. "Come in..."

>>8033370
...No, no no no, that seems like a trap.

Charmeleon looks back to Courtney and Stan before entering, "Stay here and wait for me to call you."

>>8033411
They both nod, moving back a bit.

Through lurking part of this quest, I must compliment the DM on his rather fast response times. You've gone very far in a long time.

>>8033421
We enter the room, using our tail-flame to light our way, and immediately examine the interior - looking for the source of the voice.

>>8033422
Thanks.

>>8033437
You walk into a small living area, in the middle of which is standing a haggard-looking woman in a bathrobe. She looks down at you with a surprised expression. "What?"

>>8033497
We call for Courtney and Stan to enter the room - no threat seems to be here. As they walk in, we examine the rest of the room.

>>8033532
"Who... whose are you?" The woman then looks up as she sees Stan and Courtney come in, and sighs. "Theirs, I see. What do you need?"

>>8033548
"We're here to free you and your town from the Magmas here. We need some help - do you have something we could use to tie this man up and gag him?"

>>8033601
She doesn't appear to understand you, but Courtney translates it. The woman frowns. "You... just who are you?"

>>8033619
We nod towards Courtney, "Go ahead, tell her."

>>8033644
She does. The woman's frown lessens, but she remains concerned-looking. "Is this... some kind of trap?"

>>8033668
Have Courtney reassure the old woman, and ask her why she looks so tired and haggard.

>>8033784
"Well, it is the middle of the night..." She smiles a bit. "But Skarem's occupation hasn't been an easy thing for any of us."

>>8033805
"What exactly has been happening here? The only thing we heard was that they confiscated everyone's Pokemon and locked all the townspeople up in their houses."

>>8033846
"Not much since then. They let us have enough food to survive, at least. Before then, we were all being forced to work in their factories..."

>>8033889
"Factories? You mean the ones used to make the metal for the walls and gates around the town?"

(Magnemite Online, good to see I'm not that late this time)

>>8033972
She nods. "Those, yes. I have no idea what's going on outside at the moment, though."

>>8034014
(Though it looks like I'll be busy for the next couple hours...)

>>8034020
"...how long have you been locked in here?"

>>8034075
"About two days now."

>>8034106
Charmeleon looks around to inspect the prison that the old woman has been forced to live in.

>>8034196
She's not that old. It also resembles Sarina's dwelling a bit, although smaller and with fewer rooms. Are you looking for anything specific?

>>8034218
Just the general condition of the room. I'm trying to get a sense of how well the Humans have been treated by the Magmas while under their rule.

>>8034248
It doesn't look as though it's been mistreated at all; the Magmas didn't seem to show much interest in screwing up people's houses as long as they continued to work.

>>8034271
We ask the woman her name, and if she has something we can use to tie up and gag the knocked-out guard with.

>>8034348
"Sarah, and I should have something..." She heads into one of the other rooms, coming back with some of her sheets, handing them to Stan, who proceeds to tie him up.

>>8034383
"Thank you Sarah. I must ask that you not tell anyone that you saw us - we still have some work to do in secret until we're ready to free you and the rest of the town. Is there anything you need - something we could get for you in exchange for your help?"

>>8034429
She shakes her head. "No, nothing." She smiles widely for the first time. "If you are who you say you are... please, you've already done more than enough for me. For all of us."

>>8034461
"In that case, would you do us the honor of being our contact with the other townspeople? We would appreciate it if you would gather what info you can about the needs of the others by the time we return tomorrow night."

>>8034545
She nods. "Of course, of course."

>>8034560
Charmeleon turns to exit the room, before pausing as she looks back at Sarah. Taking pity on the poor woman, Charmeleon looks to the Zubat that came with them, "Zubat, will you stay here and watch over this woman until we return? If anyone should come to harm her, fly back to the warehouse and let us know as fast as you can."

>>8034635
The Zubat nods, fluttering off towards a corner of the main room.

bamp?

>>8035458
We seem to have a total dearth of players... also, I need to go for dinner now.

Seriously, though, this should be wrapped up and ended by now..

>>8034669
>>8035495
Sorry, nodded off there for a minute.

After Zubat takes its place in the room, we leave the apartment building with Courtney, Stan and the newly-bound/gagged guard - and proceed to return to the warehouse as quietly and stealthily as possible.

Oh Charmander Quest!! Here is a picture I picked up for you from Deviantart!

>>8035881
Interesting.

Alas, I'll be gone for about 15 minutes to prepare my own dinner too.

bump

>>8035820
I'm back.
You proceed down, dragging the guard behind you. It's a slow process, but ultimately you make it back to the factory where you started from.

>>8036786
We place the guard against one of the shut-down pieces of machinery inside the warehouse. Ask Ferris and the other grunt if anything happened while we were gone.

>>8036831
Ferris shakes his head. "Nothing. It doesn't look like anyone's interested in this place right now."

>>8036845
"Have any of the others reported back yet? What's the progress on the Magnemite's team?"

>>8036871
He smiles. "Magnemite's made it through. A couple people were coming into the warehouse, but they didn't see anyone there; right now, they're still staking out the warehouse."

>>8036968
"What!? Who's stalking the warehouse!?"

>>8037123
"Oh, I'm sorry. I meant that Magnemite's team was; the people who came in and took some bars with them are long gone."

>>8037143
Charmander calms down her beating heart - to have Magma curious of their hideout would be too much risk for this mission.

"What about Sarina and Sableye? Have they come back yet?"

>>8037308
He shakes his head. "I haven't heard a thing from them."

>>8037347
Charmander expresses a worried look on her face.
*They should've been back by now...*

She looks up to the rafters where Golbat is watching diligently. "Golbat, can you find Sarina and Sableye for us without getting spotted? Tell them we need them back here as soon as possible."

>>8037462
Golbat obliges, fluttering out the door. Rather quickly, he returns, looking frightened. "Skarem's back; he's flying around the generator."

>>8037507
Charmander's eyes widen as she curses to herself.

"This is bad, very bad! We have to get to Sarina and Sableye before Skarem spots them! Golbat, did you happen to see where Sarina and/or Sableye was before you came back here!?"

>>8037700
"There's no way I could see Sableye, but it looked like Sarina jumped into the river to hide."

>>8037762
Charmeleon quickly pulls out the map and finds the figure of the Game Corner, pointing to it.

"I might have an idea. Where exactly did you see her, Golbat?"

>>8037850
"Just south of the generator, getting close to the southern gate."

Sableye wakes up from her short nap in the shadows to hear the sound of massive wings. She curses her luck and tries to make herself even more difficult to spot.

>>8037868
Charmeleon marks the spot on the map. Afterwards, she heads over to where Snover is sleeping and wakes her up. "Snover, wake up, I need your help. Sarina might be in trouble, and I need you to come with me to save her!"

>>8037948
You succeed. Skarem and Ariliee, it appears, are making slow and lazy circles around the generator, although you can't quite tell where they're looking.

>>8037961
"Wha?" Snover then comes to her senses nodding. "Okay, where do we go?"

How the fuck is this piece of shit still going on?

>>8038001
Practically crawling, she tries to slink her way back to the generator to see their reactions.

>>8038001
"We're going to dig a hole to where Golbat last spotted them and help them escape through there."

As we say this, we lead Snover quickly down the hole underneath the ruined platform. Before we leave, we say to Courtney and Stan, indicating to the knocked-out guard, "Keep an eye on him, and make sure he doesn't make a sound if he wakes up."

>>8038025
(by they I mean the Magma grunts and workers)

>>8038025
Their reactions are impressive; some are looking up, while others are diligently bent over, speeding up their work on the generator when under the eye of their leader.

>>8038116
Courtney nods. "Right. We'll keep him here."

>>8038191
Are Gabite and/or the others in the hole when we go down, or are they back at the end of the tunnel getting ready to bring back another load of metal?

>>8038191
Sableye smiles a saw-toothed grin as these gawkers seem ripe for the plucking. However, the smile fades as she considers that most of these goons won't have anything worth taking, and the workers definetly have nothing. Still, she focuses on the more distracted grunts, hoping to see something nice to steal.

>>8038209
As you travel down the tunnel, you see Gabite at the other end, bringing along a metal piece. He brightens a bit at the sight of you. "Charmeleon! What is it?"

>>8038276
A couple of grunts have Poke Balls, but nothing else on them looks valuable.

>>8038360
"Sarina's in trouble! We need you to help us get her out."

Charmander pulls out the map and points to the location marked down - Sarina's last reported location according to Golbat.

"Think you can dig a tunnel there? We have to move quickly before Skarem spots her and Sableye!"

>>8038360
Sabeye sighs at this disappointing discovery and once again focuses on full concealment. Nothing left to do now but see what the boss-man is doing.

>>8038390
"I can if I don't bother making the tunnel stable; I could get to them alone."
>>8038398
He doesn't seem to be doing much except circling around on Ariliee.

>>8038390
Sableye, unable to take another nap with that overgrown lizard making such a racket, begins to sharpen her claws, and wishes this whole place wasn't so -boring-, no treasure, no secret passages, hell, there don't even seem to be any locks!

>>8038449
"I would rather we come with you in case something bad happens, but go ahead if you think you can. Call for us if it gets too dicey though!"

>>8038500
Gabite pauses. "You can follow, if you follow closely and quickly. Not Snover, though; no room."

>>8038549
Charmeleon ponders this, but decides to give Snover the chance. She needs a moment to feel like a hero, and we can't have woken her up for nothing.

"Snover, go with Gabite and help Sarina and Sableye get out of there safely. I believe in you, and I'll be right here for you if you need my help."

>>8038642
Snover nods slowly, then hugs you. "All right... I'll make you proud, I promise."

>>8038782
At this point, would anyone like to take the role as Snover? She's a kind, quiet and docile creature as far as has been developed, and her info is thus:

Snover (LVL 22)
Powder Snow
Leer
Razor Leaf
Icy Wind
Grasswhistle
Swagger
Mist

- Knows basic human words/phrases

Alright, if nobody else wants to, I'll take on the role of Snover for this once. Though I hope somebody else will be willing to take the role in the future - she deserves some attention.

As Snover, we follow behind Gabite as we tunnel towards Sarina's location.

>>8038824
...

>>8039024
Oh good. Though are you sure you're up to switching gears?

>>8039033
Is there something you'd like? At the moment, you're still waiting as Skarem circles.

>>8039033
>>8039052
If you're up for role-playing Snover, that's okay with me. Sableye doesn't seem to be doing anything atm, and Magnemite is still moving metal materials across the tunnel.

>>8039131
Yeah, I think I'll give this a try.

>>8039209
All right, then. What do you plan?

>>8039382
Well right now Snovers wonders if she can use powder snow or icy wind to make the soil tougher, to minimize chances of cave-ins.
Besides that, she's just walking in the dark behind Gabite, focusing on what Charmeleon would do to prevent a panic attack.

>>8039501
All right. You slowly progress onwards, until eventually, Gabite hops out of a hole near the water's edge, reaching a hand down to pull you out.

>>8039585
Snover blinks as her eyes get adjusted. She gasps as she sees Skarem and Arilee circling overhead, and even as she looks around for Sarina, her eyes keep glancing towards the terror in the sky.

>>8039711
A very wet Sarina climbs out of the water, as you approach, shivering but smiling. "Gabite, wonderful... where's Charmeleon?"

>>8039791
Snover's still not used to talking to people, and wished Charmeleon were hear to do it for her.
"Ah... Charmeleon... stayed behind. She... she decided I would be more helpful but... I don't see how... She also sent me to find Sableye... but if she's not with you..."

>>8039874
(forgot my name, not that it matters I suppose)

>>8039874
She shakes her head. "No, we got separated. Sableye's still in there." She glares over at Skarem. "Why he chose to come back here now of all times..."

>>8039976
"Oh... I don't know... He couldn't be looking for *gulp* us?" and then in a small voice "could he?"
Pushing this latest fear into the back of her mind with all the other ones, "Umm... Is there any way of getting Sableye's attention? Not that it matters... since whatever would attract her would also attract..." Her eyes once again fixate on the pair flying in circles high above.

>>8040113
I know that this is kind of early and that this quest has been sparse today, but I feel like I need to stop now. I need to go to bed; I've got an early start tomorrow.

>>8040157
Fine with me, see you on Saturday!

>>8040113
>>8039874
>>8039711
>>8039501
Damn fine role-playing. I'll look forward to seeing you this weekend.

>>8040188
I agree; Snover's roleplaying was very good.

>>8040157
All right, see you two days from now then.
>>8040188
Thanks, but don't sell yourself short either.

I've already been doing this too long, so I bid you all good night.