Another bang would actually manage to startle Ambrose, as a door came flying off its hinges nearby. A shape in the darkness lumbered forward, its emaciated form trembling as it moaned. The bodyguard was aghast, shivering as this shadowed--creature slowly walked toward them. Perhaps if they stood perfectly still, it would ignore them and wander off...

Of course, Ambrose could not help but snap a picture. The flash revealed not only the creature, but the true horror that hid behind it within the door frame. The creature itself was a skeletal humanoid in broken blue-armor--and it had about one hundred equally terrifying friends waiting behind him. As the light of the flash died, the creatures would roar with anger. Ambrose, finally feeling a little intimidated, gulped heavily before turning to run forward.

"Oh no no no no no!"

In the darkness he could hear the hoard running as fast as their ravenous legs could carry them, forcing the group to flee for their lives. As the chase began, Ambrose could not help but think of times where his fans would chase after his tour bus. Back then they seemed just as ravenous, it almost made him nostalgic. The bodyguard tried to keep himself between Ambrose and the hoard, he was being paid to protect him after all. However, tragedy would struck as he tripped over what seemed to be one of those shattered z crystals from before.

Ambrose stopped as he sped past is bodyguard, just in time to see the hoard come upon him. The bodyguard screamed, "No! Please! Kill me, kill meee!" Ambrose cringed and shrugged, "Got nothin' to kill with. Just think happy thoughts?" The hoard attacked the screaming bodyguard, and Ambrose would snap a well timed picture before running to catch up with Gwyar.

As he caught up with the knight, Ambrose would lament their situation. "Damn if only I had a strong pokemon. I hope you have a trick up your sleeve 'cause otherwise we're cooked!"

Gwyar Wledig

Prompt
Ambrose Hendrix's experience as a musician and/or struggles with 'purpose' must be explored. 2/3

Ambrose's cries were luckily caught by the very same rider that had briefly lost control of his pelipper. The mighty bird used a massive gust of wind to disburse the gulls--and blow out Ambrose's hair. As his once perfect pink strands settled into a messy nest, Ambrose slumped in resigned humiliation. He supposed this was what the kids today called 'Karma'.

"Thanks." He said flatly before running his fingers through his hair to straighten it out. He probably should have ran away instead, as by the time he finished there would be even further escalation. The Wingulls were not amused by the pelipper's interference, and soon enough an angry swarm would create a perimeter would the bird and its rider...as well as the nearby Ambrose.

Ambrose gulped as he realized how dire the situation was. After wiping sweat from his brow, Ambrose would pull a pokeball off of his belt. "I guess I have no choice." He opened the ball, revealing a vibrant Mime Jr. Ambrose squatted near the cheering mime, "Quickly Ripper, protect daddy!" Ripped let out a whimsical cry, swinging its arms to pull up a wall of psychic energy to protect himself and his master (Reflect). Ambrose briefly peeked out from behind the wall, giving the pelipper rider a thumbs up to assert moral support.

Rowan Wrynn

Ambrose was saved from his berserk state by a nearby stranger with what seemed to be his own, beady eyed bear! As the growth was cut, Ambrose screamed as his bleeding tongue shrank back to its normal size. As he came to his senses, he was foremost burdened by a sense of panic. Did he just lose his money maker? His golden ticket? HIS LIFE LINE!? Ambrose felt around the inside of his mouth, sighing with relief when it seemed as if only the tip of his tongue was wounded.

What came next was a sense of sober clarity, along with the embarrassment that came with the memory of his recent behavior. He was not pleased to be made a fool of by--himself. Or rather his most secret desires amplified to a toxic degree. Holding his mouth closed, Ambrose looked around for his savior--only to catch him running off with the one known as Shred. Ambrose hated having an unpaid debt, so he decided to run along to at least find a moment to extend his thanks.

What he could not have anticipated was that the duo would deliver such a resounding cord, that it would ignite Ambrose's soul. As he caught up to them, the duo's epic musical assault would grab Ambrose by the ears and force his face into the delicious cake of proper rock. The visual of the bloodmoon alongside the toxtricity was an inspiring sight, and by the end Ambrose more invigorated than ever.

By the time he recovered from his awe though, the two were once again running off. Ambrose shook his head to wave off his shock and began running after them toward the ship.

"Holth up you thwo! I wanth tho shower you with athmirathion!!!"

EB1sZlKl

tl;dr
--Ambrose has been freed by from his toxic trance and he feels really silly about his behavior.
--Ambrose is inspired by the power of rock and follows Alba Evovae and Shred Zeppelin to express his thanks.
--CHOICE 1 GANG YES!

Ambrose raised his eyebrows when he heard the name of this mysterious traveler. "Gwyar? Gwwwwyar! That would be a fantastic band name, sounds like a battle cry. GWYAR!" Ambrose chuckled at his observation before taking a flashing picture of Gwyar while he was still in a neutral pose. Ambrose's guide sighed, he was clearly embarrassed to be caught playing bodyguard to a celebrity tourist.

"I agree with Officer Wledig. Let's get moving before something less friendly comes upon us."

Ambrose and his guide would move in the same direction as Gwyar, the trio walking through a large building that has had a titanic hole blown through it. Ambrose swung around wildly, taking as many pictures as he could as they passed through the bizarre ruin. The open walls showed what seemed to be--desks? Multiple floors with floors filled with shattered desks and chairs with long halls between them--Ambrose reckoned that this used to be some sort of school! Aliens had school too, good to know.

Weird thing though, the borders of this unnaturally large hole looked very close to bite marks. If Ambrose did not know any better, he would presume that something had in fact chomped its way through this school. Ha! What drivel, it would be impossible for anything this large to exist. While Ambrose stayed blissfully ignorant to any possible danger, his guide would catch up to Gwyar to have a quick aside.

"I hope you don't mind us following you for a moment. This entire place is giving me a bad feeling."

Almost on cue, a loud bang would echo across the ruins. It seemed close, as if something had shifted and fell. Ambrose paused briefly, his face uncharacteristically serious. When nothing further happened, he would take another picture before moving on.

tl;dr
--Ambrose thinks Gwyar's name is cool.
--The guide and Ambrose tag along with Gwyar as they try to keep moving.
--They pass through what seems to be a large school that has had an enormous bite taken out of it.
--Something stirred in the dark.

Prompts completed
--08: explore an abandoned or dangerous building that represents a societal institution (e.g. a destroyed school, a dilapidated church, a powered down 'police station').

The suitcase had little in value, but it did shed some more light on the circumstances of this poor old man's murder. If only Ambrose cared! He threw the papers aside and got up, dusting himself off as he huffed with disappointment. What a let down, oh well there was still a lot of time to explore! Scratch that, there was actually no more time to explore.

Everyone was called into the entry hall where they had initially arrived so long ago. The kind detective seemed to have solved the case, but he challenged everyone else to guess so he could feel superior or something. Ambrose listened to a few of them, but he would just shake his head. They were all wrong of course, and only Ambrose himself knew the real answer.

He shook his head and chuckled to capture the room's attention. "Amateurs, every one of you. The culprit has been obvious from the start. Who else could orchestrate such a sinister crime but the very detective assigned to solve it!" Ambrose pointed to Declan Walsh dramatically, "That's right, Mister Walsh himself is the killer! You see, Madame Peacock had a type alright--Mister Walsh was her type! She could not resist his rugged detective charm, nor could Walsh resist her money! The two had a secret affair, hidden from the rest of the staff! It had to stay a secret to protect Walsh's career, because his sex-symbol reputation would be ruined if he was caught canoodling with an old rich lady! Of course Walsh was not worried, Madame Peacock was ancient and on death's door! Surely she would soon die and all of her money would be his!"

"Of course it would turn out to be not so easy! Madame Peacock was resilient, and Walsh would be forced to take matters into his own evil hands! Her fairy nature made her especially vulnerable to poison, so Walsh mixed some into her cinnamon! That afternoon, when Madame Peacock enjoyed her afternoon tea, she would ingest the tainted powder and drop dead shortly after! With the lady of the house dead, Walsh would quickly call in her lawyer to discuss her will. He hid her away, not willing to reveal the body until his fortune was secure. Being a senile asshole, Mister Hensley did not question Walsh's summons and gladly discussed Peacock's will with him."

Ambrose abruptly clapped his hands, his mouth twisted into a knowing sneer. "That's when the biggest twist of all occurred! Walsh was not in the will! Peacock was just using him as a cheap piece of ass, a measly toy to use to make her twilight years more bearable. She had no intention of giving Walsh anything! Walsh was enraged, and quickly improvised! He pulled out a water stone Madame Peacock had given him as a gift! Walsh is a water type you see, so Madame Peacock gave him a water stone to be cute! Walsh used this stone to smash Hensley's skull in! He would then steal the most vital parts of Peacock's will to rewrite himself and hide Hensley's body in the secret room that he and Peacock used to fornicate! HENCE THE SMELL! It was not the rotting corpse, but the scent of secret love making!"

"With little time remaining, Walsh set up the crime scenes to make it as difficult as possible to follow his tracks. He had planned on only having his own bumbling team being present to investigate, but that's when we appeared. At first Walsh was panicking, how could he hide his crime from this many people!? Yet when it became clear that we would soon fade away, he instead saw an opportunity! He would send all of us out to gather every shred of evidence we could, and once we had it all he would bullshit a reason to blame one of the staff members as the culprit! Then when we faded away, he would be able to arrest the red herring and get away scot-free! It's the perfect crime! He would have surely gotten away with it, if I weren't in attendance that is!"

Ambrose put his hands on his hips, looking smug as he awaited the well deserved praise from his peers.

I mean, there was no way that he got exactly nothing correct and made a fool of himself--right?

tl;dr
--Ambrose has not been paying as much attention as he thinks he has.

Naturally no one paid Ambrose any mind, there were much more important things to do than humor the ravings of a sickened mind. Their lack of attention only mattered to Ambrose, who was enraged by his laments going unheeded. As the group moved on, Ambrose would do everything within his power to make the trip as annoying as possible. It was what these wretches deserved!

"You dare ignore my plight! Gone are the days of commonplace humanitarianism! What sick FOOLS!!! would ignore the pain of a helpless noble soul such as myself!? NITWITS!!! Every one of you! A pox upon your feeble houses! When the very same sickness grabs a hold of your mortal coils, do not look to me for comfort! I'd sooner see you die then raise a finger help such DREDGES OF SO-CI-E-TEH!!! Behold the modern age, a worthless lump of excruciating indifference!"

It went like that all the way down to the ship, even as the prisoners betrayed the hunting party Ambrose would still be shouting his nonsense into the ether. "Look where your greed has lead you! This is what happens to the miserly whelps who dare shun a man in need! Let these consequences wash over you like the crushing embrace of ONE THOUSAND WAVES!!! Damn you! Damn you all to HELLLLAAAAAACH!!!

Those inflicted with the mysterious toxins would soon grow bizarre chains upon their body, and Ambrose's own transformation would occur on the final syllable of his tirade. His tongue suddenly grew twice in size, filling his mouth as it poured outward. The wringing pink tendril turned purple, inflating and shifting into the very chain that had inflicted this sickness upon him. He had already lost his sanity to the toxin's madness, therefore when his chain was fully formed he would attack the poor soul nearest to him.

As chaos erupted around him, Ambrose would calmly follow his thread of fate to his destined victim. Shred Zeppelin was already being attacked, but that would not stop Ambrose's approach. A pokemon was poised to assault the downed Shred's assailant, and Ambrose's sickness told him that this would be the perfect way to screw with him. Blinded with the confidence that lies only within the mad, Ambrose cackled wildly as he swung his hefty chain into the Lokix to stop it from saving its master.

lWtrnuul

tl;dr
--Path 1
--The toxin has increased Ambrose's desire for Attention.
--Ambrose's chain grows from his tongue.
--Ambrose attacks Shred's Lokix with his tongue-chain to screw Shred over.

Osborne managed to cut Ambrose free, but the damage had already been done. A dreadful feeling began bubbling up within Ambrose, and he would wretch as he dragged himself out of the water.

Dragging himself against the ground, Ambrose would cry out at the toxins took hold. "What's--happening to me!? I feel--I feel--so cold!" He managed to stagger to his feet, and continue to stagger toward the caged folk nearby.

He dramatically threw himself onto one of the cages as he began gasping. His expression became enraged as he began reaching for the sky. "What cruel fate, to die among these parasites! What a grotesque joke! Oh what wretched agony!"

Osborne came up to Ambrose, looking rather sickly himself. Ambrose took notice, and the usual love for his pokemon was replaced with something vile. "Oh here we go, always making it about you!" Ambrose abruptly returned Osborne to his pokeball, nonchalantly reattaching the ball to his belt. Ambrose sighed heavily, "Where was I? Ah yes, OH WHY DEAR FORCES OF THE UNIVERSE!? WHY ME!?"

tl;dr
--Ambrose has been inflicted by the toxin. His desire for Attention has increased.
--Ambrose withdraws Zoroark and does nothing of use because he is too busy being dramatic.
Ambrose rolled a 44 hollow was dumb and posted with the wrong account.

The united fiddling around from everyone in the hallway would eventually bear rotten fruit. A secret room was revealed, and within it lay a brand new corpse to ponder over. Looks Ambrose would have to eat those words from earlier, it turns out you could very easily hide a corpse in the walls.

Ambrose's attention was immediately drawn to two things: the vault and the suitcase. Ambrose quickly dismissed the vault, anything valuable within would have been taken by the killer. The suitcase however still held the possibility for valuables, it may be worth rifling through.

Ambrose shoved his way past whomever was looking it over and began to search the suitcase for himself.

--search the suitcase 2/3
--Declan should search the body!

• player/ooc name: hollow
• character tags: Ambrose Hendrix Dwayne Parker
• dropped characters' tags (if applicable): @alezander
• ic posts for characters: dwayne ambrose
• are characters in directories?: Y
• any notes/comments: Don't get used to Dwayne he's about to spend the rest of the year in jail.

This PUTRID stench was driving Ambrose mad! I mean it was not that bad, but the fact that he could not find a source while walking down the hall was quickly pissing him off. This was a class-a stink, there was no way its source would be able to hide! If it came from one of the other rooms, surely everyone would know about it by now. Something was not adding up.

Ambrose was briefly distracted by a rather large group that had also begun searching the hall. A child among them had yelled out something about another body, the idea of which made Ambrose scoff. What a droll idea, hiding another body where it could be sniffed out. Then again--

"OOF!"

Ambrose nearly tripped on what seemed to be a loose rug. As he regained his balance, Ambrose would stomp his foot in aggravation. "This entire house is a travesty, who leaves a rug like this?" Ambrose decided to bend down and straighten it out...

-- Examining the rug 3/3

It was a good thing Ambrose was wearing a poncho, otherwise wading through chest-high water would be really annoying right now! Ambrose was trying to stay positive, using mental reaffirmations of his genius to distract himself from the fact that his pants and boots were likely ruined. Osborne on the other hand made no attempts at being positive, wearing his distaste like a party mask.

They, along with the other fools who decided to take this route, trueged along as quickly as they could. Osborne was having a much harder time than his master, with the sensation of wet fur nearly bringing him to tears. The zoroark glanced downward to distract himself, which quickly proved to be a huge mistake.

A ghostly visage was staring back at him! Osborne's eyes bugged out of his skull as he latched into Ambrose, nearly dragging him under water. Ambrose let out a sharp click of his tongue as he shook his scardy-cat partner off. "What's the big idea? You know I don't do piggy back rides! Not since the incident."

Ambrose looked back, and Osborne would point frantically at the water. Of course when Ambrose looked he would see nothing, causing him to scoff at poor Osborne. "Oh come now Oz, nothing could possibly be lurking in this muck. They'd have to be insane--or dead."

Right on cue, Anchor Shits would begin bursting all around the search party. One shot grabbed Anbrose by the shoulder, threatening to pull him under the water. Ambrose stood form, pulling with all his might to avoid a watery grave. "Osborne, I'm sorry for doubting you. Save me please!" It was not at all what Osborne had seen but he appreciated the apology nevertheless. Osborne jumped forward, flailing his claws to Night Slash hopefully free his master as well as anyone else who struggled to break free from their assailants.

kvqUez4b

Tl;dr
--Zoroark sees spooky ghosts in the water!
--Ambrose is hooked by an Anchor Shot, Zoroark used Night Slash to break him and anyone else nearby free.

Diamond was initially afraid when he was called upon by Ambrose to perform a solo job. However, once he realized he would just be opening jars, his fear morphed into offense. This was all his master could think of to utilize his strength? Ha, child's play. Diamond scoffed as the first jar was presented to him, haughtily setting his log down to grasp it with both hands.

He looked away with an exasperated leer as he turned the jar's lid. It was a paltry amount of effort, which was probably why the lid refused to budge. Looking to the jar now, Diamond would exert a bit more force. The lid stood firm. Diamond glared at the jar, as if the inanimate container had personally called him a wimp. His muscles bulged as he employed even more strength, still failing to open the jar.

Diamond's short fused burst as he found himself winded by his latest attempt. He clasped the jar from both ends, yelling out as he unleashed all of his power upon his nemesis (Superpower). The jar exploded, leaving just a jam-covered bottom while the rest was now covering Diamond's face. Diamond put the broken jar on the nearest table, confidently picking his log back up and strutting away--as if he had just performed the best possible job he could.