ultrapenumbra | MOCK EXPLORATION: DUNGEON EXPLORATION

So you've been going about your new lives as Pokemon for the past week... which you may or may not have gotten entirely used to by now, but at least it's not as bad as things were when you first woke up. You haven't really gotten many leads on why this happened or how to change back, outside of, perhaps, conversations with Kangaskhan and Wigglytuff... but even then, it was kind of vague and unhelpful, outside of the lead of these... "Mystery Dungeons."

And, as luck would have it, Wigglytuff and Kangaskhan seem to want you all to gather in the center of town! They say it's an opportunity for you all to get experience with Mystery Dungeons... and maybe a little bit of treasure on the side, too. Who knows, it might even give you answers! ...I mean, probably not, since you're in the tutorial dungeon phase, but hey. It's worth a shot, right?

So, when you arrive at the center of Pokemon Square, you'll find the familiar faces of Wigglytuff and Kangaskhan there, but also a distressed-looking Butterfree and Metapod. Kangaskhan is quietly comforting the two unfamiliar Pokemon, while Wigglytuff addresses you directly...

"Hey, friends! I figure since you're new and here under some pretty weird circumstances, you might wanna take care of this. See, Ms. Butterfree's kid Caterpie's gone missing, and since they're my friends, I want to help! They're pretty sure he's lost in a Mystery Dungeon, and since he hasn't been gone that long... it's probably pretty easy for some new people to take care of.

So, since you're probably gonna want to go through Mystery Dungeons to figure out what's happening with you friends, I figured this would be a good way to get you started! You're probably gonna want to split into four teams of five to deal with things. I'll answer some questions for you, and then I'll take you where we think the Mystery Dungeon is!"

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[...Well!

...

Undyne raises a fist to high five Hakai before remembering — right, no hands. So she just punches him.]

GOOD JOB!

[She's going to very carefully shift her weight onto one foot on the tile in front of her. Does anything happen?]

[Aaaaaand back to calm. He doesn't even act like he could've possibly scorched his teammate, but then again friendly fire is normal when you're kaima.]

We should search the room.

Even a pitiful trap is put up for a reason, it could've been protecting something.

Definitely. We gotta get around these traps first, though....

[...well, the tile does depress! And then, when it depresses... a portion of the ceiling opens up and reveals a cannon that shoots out a ball of gooey silk that will slam right onto the tile that Undyne is stepping on. If she’s quick, she can pull her foot out of the way, but if not, she’s gonna be glued to the ground!]

[Well, since Undyne was prepared for something to happen, she jolts back as she watches the glob of silk splat against the tile she was just stepping on. She grimaces.]

...That answers that. We should see which tiles don't trigger any nasty traps — there's gotta be some way to get around here, after all. A good puzzle maker doesn't just leave their traps unsolvable.

[She's going to get down on all fours and inspect the tiles more closely. If anyone else wants to get in on this, feel free.]

[Jack is pretty unharmed, and so is his sheet. Which, really, that latter bit is more to the benefit of everyone else in the room than himself. His stick is still stuck to the wall, but not to a degree anymore that it couldn't come loose with a little tug of his own. For now, though, he's gonna remain stuck up there and avoid the floor.

The tiles that trigger these traps seem to be rendered inaccessible once activated, so there's fairly little risk of setting them off twice. And if they aren't all traps...]

If the triggers to the ceiling traps are under the ground... can we upturn the ground to reveal them?

[It should be noted that there are actually multiple areas of the floor that resemble the tile Undyne stepped on. They're not easy to see, but if you're slow and methodical, you can easily avoid them.

Maybe it would've been a little harder to deal with if the threads hadn't been immolated, though...]

[Stocke does join Undyne, with the distinct advantage of not needing to get down to get onto all fours. He points out another two trapped tiles, now that he's looking.]

...if we take care, we can avoid them. Assuming they're not decoys and any section of floor could be trapped. [That's the kind of nasty trick he'd use.]

[Though - hmm.] Should we disable traps as we go to leave us an easier escape route, or should we keep them in place in case we need to use them against someone?

Trip them now so you don't have to deal with them on the way back.

[The way this group is going, Garrett wouldn't be surprised if they all forgot about them on the way out.

He's going to pick up a stray rock and toss it on one of the tiles.]

[That actually does set off the trap, dumping a pile of goo onto the tile!]

[Fair enough. Stocke collects a few stray rocks of his own and starts disarming traps as he goes.]

[Anything interesting along the way, or towards the other end of the cave room?]

[There is a treasure chest at the end, which is the most important thing to see.]

[See? He knew it, no one puts up traps without a reason.]

Well, I was right so far, I say we destroy the chest too.

We should probably see what's in the chest first before we destroy it. Then we can destroy both what's in the chest and the chest!

[She continues to slide rocks to activate the traps as she starts making her way across the room, towards the chest. Can she make it over there?]

[She sure can, if she's being careful! There are no additional traps that they haven't figured out how to spring yet.]

[Sweet. By the time she makes it over to the chest, she's already eager to open it up without even bothering to check for traps on the actual thing. If no one else stops her, she's going to try and punch it open, regardless of whether or not it's actually locked.]

HIIIIIIIII-YAH!

[No stopping here, Stocke's just as curious as she is.]

[Though he keeps an eye on the surroundings in case opening the lid triggers some final trap, in which case he'll try to knock Undyne out of the way.]

[NOPE, IT JUST OPENS... YOU DIDN'T NEED TO...

but anyway, there's a small cocoon in there. Not, like, a Pokemon-sized cocoon, a regular-sized cocoon.

It kind of looks like it'll fit in one of the indentations in the door to the fifth room, though, actually...]

[Hakai keeps his distance. For now. It doesn't look like anyone exploded or that the chest was some sort of horrible monster in disguise.

That happens. That's a thing.

Instead, he calls out from where he stands.]

Well? Anything worth smashing?

[SHE ABSOLUTELY NEEDED TO PUNCH THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Undyne carefully picks up the cocoon, squinting at it.]

Ugh. No, just this...tiny bug baby thing. [She pushes the chest aside for Hakai.] Feel free to smash this, though.

[She's going to try and keep this thing safe for now. Who knows what kind of monster lies inside? ~~probably a moth~~]

[Stocke eyes it.]

...I assume this isn't the kid we're supposed to rescue.

[Maybe Caterpie cocooned??]

[But no even if Stocke doesn't understand anything about how these Pokemon work, that's probably too small. ...probably.]

[Doesn't look like there's anything else here.] We should try another room.

[Yep, you're done! Since you disarmed all the traps, it should be no problem heading back.]

[Hooray! ...But Hakai doesn't leave before he jumps on top of that chest and smashes it with the force of all his puppy feet.

Heh heh destroy~]

MOCK EXPLORATION: DUNGEON EXPLORATION

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