Oscar patiently listened to Priam's excited rambling as he trekked toward the ruins. The young rocket was way early, but Oscar wouldn't fault him for that. After all, Oscar himself was bubbling with excitement. To once again be able to raid some ruins was a momentous occasion. He was so excited that he had geared up his full Tomb Raiding getup back from his Alola days. Oscar looked like he was about to storm a military compound, the experience of which wasn't too far off robbing an Alolan ruin.

As Oscar neared the meeting spot, Priam's voice began to echo. Oscar soon spotted the man himself, prattling into the phone without a care. Oscar abruptly hung up before striding up to his exploration partner. "Well you seem excited!" Oscar said this a bit louder and quicker than he should, an attempt to scare his hapless comrade. Oscar looked the ruins over; they seemed compact but for all he knew they could be expansive.

Oscar pulled out a pokeball and let out Malum the Malamar. Malum stretched and wiggled his tentacles, looking to his master for instructions. Oscar nodded toward the entrance of the ruins, "Lead the way Malum, keep your lights lit." Malum cooed as his spots began to glow. As he frolicked to the ruins, Oscar looked to Priam. "Remember not to wander off, I don't wanna dig you out of a trap." He then nodded to the ruins once more, wishing for the energized Priam to take the lead.

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Oscar watched with an unsurprised gaze as Priam tripped entering the ruins. He cracked a smile and shook his head, "Oh yeah Priam, you're really on top of IT!" Oscar squealed as he also tripped, nearly falling down the stairs leading into the ruins' bowels. He balanced himself on the walls, gulping as his face turned bright red. "Okay so, that first step's a bitch. Noted." Oscar straightened himself, following Priam deeper into the mysterious tomb. 

"These fuckers sure liked sandstone." Oscar noted as the reached the bottom of the stairwell. The room they had entered was wide, with both the floors and walls being built entirely of sandstone bricks. Oscar examined the left wall, Malum standing behind him to provide some light. The bricks were high quality, strong and well-formed. "I can't imagine how long it took to make all these, I wonder if it was worth it." 

Oscar slapped the wall and strode casually to the far side of the room. Here there was another entryway, and peeking inside Oscar found another wide room full of rocks. Oscar shrugged and stepped forward, "Could be something in-SHIT!" Oscar's leg fell through the floor, and after a moment of panicked struggling the hole would widen to swallow his lower body. Oscar clung to the edges of the hole with his arms, trying very hard now to move and widen the hole further. Oscar spoke calmly to Priam, "Um Priam, my man. I rather not die, could you lend me a hand?" He would have asked Malum, but Oscar was fully aware how much of a trickster his malamar was. This was proven as Malum stood to the side, chuckling at his master's misfortune.

priam conrad

Oscar grunted as he struggled to hang on, and for a moment he began to panic. His fear is short lived however, as Priam is quick to come to his aid. Good ol' Priam, he could always be relied upon no matter the crisis. Oscar grabbed a hold of his comrade's arm, prematurely sighing with relief.

And then Priam fell in too.

As the tragedy occurred, Oscar had just enough time to realize what was happening. This time he didn't feel any despair, just disappointment. As the floor gave out, Oscar had just enough time to utter one last thing, "Yeah this checks out."

The two fell through the floor, and while Oscar was sure they were dead Priam had come prepared. His siliglyph had no trouble slowing their descent, comfortably placing them at the bottom of this new and dark room. Shortly after Malum would float down, holding the shiinotic in his tentacles as he cackled at his master's misfortune. Well at least someone was having fun.

As their light sources descended, their respective glows would reveal a ghoulish sight. Before them lay rows upon rows of what seemed to be stone coffins, perhaps untouched for centuries. Oscar gulped dryly, "Let's find the exit as soon as possible eh?"

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Oscar is far too terrified to be impressed by Priam's considerably advanced whip cracking skills, and in fact the noise sends palpitations through Oscar's chest. "Shit fuck fuck!" Oscar stumbled back, barely catching himself as he nearly wobbles to the ground. His eyes boggle at Priam's words, as the younger rocket seems unbothered by their current surroundings.

"Well yeah, but tomb raiding one-O-one is to never rob from sarcophagi. Shit's always cursed one hundred percent of the time. We gotta look for treasure outside of this room let's go." Oscar took a few steps forward--and then one of the coffins rumbled. Oscar leered toward the source of the noise, only to find that it was now still. Oscar's eyes twitched, "Did um--did you happen to hear that?"

Another coffin rattled, and then another and another. Soon, at least half of the stone caskets were rattling violently as whatever rested inside desperately tried to climb out. Oscar's shoulders slumped, far too exasperated to be actually afraid. These kinds of shenanigans seemed pretty routine at this point. He looked to Priam, "I don't really wanna stick around to see what comes out, that sounds exhausting." Oscar moved forward, trying to ignore the animalistic sounds coming from the shaking sarcophagi. 

He did not look back, as he fully expected Priam to do something that would have horrible consequences and he didn't want to witness it.

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Oscar winced as he contemplated his response. "For tombs and ruins? Yeah. Thanks to pokemon curses are rampant around the actual resting places of the dead. Especially if they were buried with Cofagrigus, which is likely the case here. They often used them as grave keepers." Almost as if on cue, one of the sarcophagi opened ever so slightly. Strains of mist eerily floated from the coffin's mouth, and if you squinted they almost looked like hands. Oscar grimaced, "Alright gang let's pick it up!" 

Oscar burst into a jog as the rattling of the sarcophagi grew more and more violent. He was doing his best to appear calm, but it's sorta impossible to not be unnerved by the sights and sounds of an ancient tomb awakening. Every once in a while he would catch a glimpse at red eyes and sinister smiles peeking from slightly opened coffins. Even the normally haughty Malum seemed a bit spooked by the spectacle. 

Luckily there's usually a way out, and before long the not-so-doomed band reached a large stone door. It had no handle, so Oscar could only assume that it needed to be pushed--both to open and close it. Oscar rolled up his sleeves and began to push against the mighty door. To his dismay, it was heavy as fuck. Oscar motioned toward his companions, "Okay team let's get some cooperation here before we join these stiffs. Need to push it open and closed, put some backbone into it." 

Malum didn't hesitate to start pushing, he certainly didn't want to die while on a random misadventure. He was a main story death at the very least! Oscar pushed with all of his might. Hopefully his work out routine was going to finally pay off.

priam conrad

With their combined efforts, the doors were pushed open. Just in time for coffin lids to start bursting as their contents awakened fully. Oscar and company rushed through the doors, the beast turning to close them. As Priam ran ahead, Oscar and Malum remained to push the doors shut and seal the chamber once more.

Oscar heard Priam voiced how they could probably take these threats head on, and Oscar paused briefly to observe the room. Without any light, all that remained were hundreds of glowing red eyes charging toward the doors with staggering speed. Oscar shook his head, straining to shout back as he pushed against the doors, "Probably, but--the effort required--wouldn't be--worth it!" The doors closed as Oscar finished his sentence, and he shuddered as the large bodies slammed against the stone from the other side. They were a hair away from meeting a terrible fate.

Oscar turned his back on the sealed chamber, following Priam further down the new hall. He panted as he caught up, "Okay so--luckily--there's like, only one horrible misadventure per raid. It should be straight forward from here." Malum plopped at his master's feet, his heart raising from their near death experience. With great effort, Oscar dragged the dramatic Malamar along as the party delved deeper into the tomb.

priam conrad