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It ends as quickly as it began. The underbog now teeming with trainers, the tunnels' occupants stood no match. Though there was much to take away from their brief exchange, Adrian would notice largely the missing posters hanging around, and focusing solely on his own escape—as was fortuitously forthcoming.[break][break]

"Thanks for the save," is all he would mutter as he and the others worked in tandem to free themselves. The lines blurred down here—members of Rocket and the League muddling together through the filth—and he wanted nothing more than to be separate them. His eyes lock consciously with Thomas Benoit, and then the submerged path. Guess I'll take those chances. Though he manages to catch Rykker's gaze as he scans those around them, he doesn't catch glimpse of Xiura. Hmmmm...[break][break]

"Break a leg down there," he imparts on Benoit before heading towards the adjoining pathway. Enfeebled gait and all, Adrian finds himself staring down the waters, overhearing Oliver Shrakes and ryker hayes 's exchange. He was also intrigued by the idea of an ice path over the waters. Another trainer present (Tempest Quinn) seconds the idea, but none are equipped to take advantage of it...[break][break]

Without a means to pursue this route, Adrian decides to send his GYARADOS into the water ahead of himself, to perhaps rouse the attention of any bottom-dwelling cretins that might be awaiting them. While awaiting the results of this effort, Adrian stares idly at the distant light, and in the darkness he feels... an acute sense of general malaise.[break][break]

Though he would feel isolated should the others venture deeper before he was satisfied of its safety, he did at least have the assurance that many of them had laid well placed traps to cover their egress.

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THE SWAMP[break]ADRIAN chooses PATH ONE[break]GYARADOS enters the water FIRST[break]ADRIAN remains at PATH START

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When Adrian comes to, he can see the drowned blue pigment of their skin, the terrible shape of their filed teeth chattering and gnashing as they observe. As soon as he might've tried to retaliate, they are all of them bound in the grasping clutches of NIHILEGO. Their touch leaves him NAUSEOUS, and it calls to mind Yveltal's own moment of weakness, subjugate to one of these creature's bile... Could the same happen to him?[break][break]

His eyes search around, seeing their machines and contraptions, the posters lining the walls—the musty stench of the mire trickling down deep reaching roots. TERA CRYSTALS cast an aura of light upon them, and in that deep place their voices echo, alien and hostile. Struggling against the Nihilego's grasp over him, Adrian hopes to free himself.[break][break]

Though he can hardly hope to free himself from their poisoned touch, Adrian would manage to free one of his pokemon, unleashing FUROR onto the field.[break][break]

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Exemplifying its unforgiving nature, FUROR would INTIMIDATE those around it, its mere visage giving TORMENT to those who looked upon it...[break][break]

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THE SWAMP[break]ADRIAN inspects THE POSTERS[break]ADRIAN uses STRUGGLE[break]GYARADOS uses TORMENT (INTIMIDATE)

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^{Recognizes their captors, inspects their surroundings (posters). Manages to release GYARADOS, using TORMENT. (ROLL was 97)}

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Acknowledging the trail of evidence where it arose, Adrian skulked along with his peers. Bones and other telling but less than chilling discoveries keep them all ill at ease as they trek the muddled path. But he is yet to lose his nerve.[break][break]

It's not until they reach the bog that he feels his stomach truly sink, the blood in his arms and legs running cold: A swathe of bodies littering the waters. He's left uneasy, watching the fleeting light scrape across the expansive black—only to see the matted hide of some dauntless beast not far off. Adrian's breath hitches, his footfalls halting their advance.[break][break]

And yet it flees them, rather than run them down. He's not entirely sure of himself, but the others are, and there is a certain safety in their numbers... Nor would he want to appear so disturbed, though his chosen compatriots would likely glean as much.[break][break]

"...I'll catch up." Adrian would withdraw his Arbok, hoping to unleash something more suited to keeping him high and dry, and hopefully just above the stench of death. How should he approach this...?[break][break]

While contemplating his next choice, Adrian is AMBUSHED! From out of the water come pallid, mucid limbs with nails that catch pull, dragging him into the undertow. There's only a brief gasp before a sound of gurgling bubbles and sloshing bog water where he once was, and amidst the discord, one might not have even noticed his abduction.[break][break]

uvJYsp0V

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THE SWAMP[break]OPEN TO INTERACTION[break]ADRIAN is TAKEN!

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^{Adrian gets separated after hesitating out of fear. (Will meet again ryker hayes Xiura Balfaltin; sorry for missing a round!)}

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Adrian manages a pleading stare while they exchange words, finding himself relieved when they see no reason to turn him away. "Great, hope you don't mind if I tag along."[break][break]

Adrian throws a conscious stare towards the treeline, but is otherwise ready to see themselves off. And yet a Sableye distracts them a moment longer, disheveling its trainer while offering a message. His stomach sinks when she shares its message.[break][break]

So they were too late for them. Catatonic, Adrian feels the nape of his neck tingling with unease. And so he's unable to sway Xiura from following after Sableye, instead being obliged to follow—with a moment's delay.[break][break]

"Of course." Adrian would not leave them, though as they break ground, the mire surrounding them begins to feel hostile. For all his confidence and clothing, he might as well be naked to the dangers here. And for once he acts like it, refusing his strides to carry him any further from their troupe than his arms reach. It was almost unlike him.[break][break]

"Let's not advertise our location," he replies in a similarly hushed tone, exclaimed in emphasis. If they barged in, noisy and arrogant, they were sure to be missing a few ears of their own. "Jin'll be fine."[break][break]

He could feel the first lie as it spewed as mud from his mouth, unclean and hardly pleasant.[break][break]

IH7DNaA3

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AREA 1[break]OPEN TO INTERACTION

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^{Adrian tags along with Ryker, Xiura and company.}

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In some other life, he might have counted on angelo vestri being here to help him close out what he considers to be an unfinished chapter in their history. Yet though Adrian knew this string of incidents to bear resemblance to a previous investigation, he could not hope to bear a passing semblance to the well-to-do trainer Angelo may have once seen him as. Now there was only the stain that wouldn't wash out, three red strokes emblazoned as an "R" on his ledger.[break][break]

But even still he hopes to do some good, in memory of that time and the well meaning trainer that had been borne of it, or perhaps haunted by them.

---

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As he crosses the threshold of the dim murk of the marshlands, he cannot help but be intimidated by the sprawling number of trainers hoping equally to lend their aid to a just cause. It's enough then to keep him cautious, hiding behind the HAZE and natural fog to elude any would-be complications. But still his eyes linger on a Thomas Benoit as well as those in accompaniment, unwittingly spotting such an obvious antagonist, avoiding them purely by chance.[break][break]

For now.[break][break]

There are certain... perks he regrettably lacks, and though his eyes squint and leer in hopes of discerning more than vague shapes through an uninviting mist, he can see naught but what the naked eye can tell. And so he is required to get his feet wet and hands dirty; to muddle through it all.[break][break]

Adrian approaches a pair of silhouettes admist the murk—ryker hayes and Xiura Balfaltin—in what can be summed up as blindly approaching them, under the guise of innocence. "Hey, excuse me—"[break][break]

Adrian seems to cast a wary glance over his shoulder, before turning his gaze back to them.[break][break]

"Do either of you know your way around this place?" Slithering in his wake an Arbok, Adrian appears to have only just arrived, same as most.

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AREA 1[break]OPEN TO INTERACTION[break]ARBOK uses HAZE

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^{I hope you guys don't mind the tags.<3}

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In the midst of headstones and monuments his footfalls drop against ramshackle cobblestones, paving a path that has since been lost to the detritus and overgrowth of the mountaintop. And yet it feels right somehow.[break][break]

In this dated place of disrepair, Adrian hopes not to stumble across anything in particular—but not to be stumbled upon by some vagabond or groundskeeper. In the deep places of the mountain, only the dead and the disconnected are left to be disturbed by his intrusion. And he would not suffer them to pass.[break][break]

Although he wanders seemingly aimless, Adrian reflects on the happenings of his latest excursion into the border, and of the things he's seen within...