[EVENT] PMD: Explorer's Log

[skinstealer]

welcome...to the first official homebrew deviants gaming challenge. we've been wanting to do a group gaming event for a while, and with the help of some friend brainstorming, this came to mind...a pokemon mystery dungeon themed event where the focus is simple: do a run of a mystery dungeon game- any PMD game, any mods/romhacks/randomizers you want, even picking an unfinished run back up- as long as you are posting about it here on our forums!

we cannot legally tell you where to obtain roms but im sure you can figure it out

these posts can simply be status updates, liveblogs, old style let's plays, anything, but you can get ~forum cash prizes~ for adding some creativity to it. we're open to suggestions on more prize options, but for now...

CHARACTER BIOS- get a pokemon you really like? make a bio for 50 forum cash. if you give them a unique design, whether that's in text or whatever other medium you choose, you can get a bonus 50! this can be as simple or as detailed as you want- it's about making characters together. you can also make up NPCs if you like!
AREA BIOS- inspired by the fact that the skytemple randomizer lets you randomize dungeon names...write or make some art for an area in-game or in your own head, whether that's a dungeon, friend area, building, town, whatever. flesh out your story! 50 cash per!
FANART/COMMUNITY INTERACTION- not sure what to do for a writing angle for this one, but...make something as a tribute to someone else's run, with their permission, and get 50 forum cash! maybe you could so something like having your character write a letter to another user's....get funky with it, but ask first! it's recommended that you give blanket perms when posting stuff, but it's okay to let people ask you individually too. 
PASSWORD RESCUE- 20 forum cash per floor if you bail someone out.  no idea if this works with romhacks/randomizers but it's there.
ANYTHING ELSE....? we'll just be handing out cash left and right for people's stuff. please feel free to suggest things for us to add to this list!
 

we are not starting our personal challenge yet, got some stuff to handle first- but we wanted to get this posted so people can decide whether they want to participate and how! discuss away, ask questions, and have fun!

[knux400]

(The entry is written in large, wobbly, capital letters. It seems as if whoever wrote this is having a hard time with their hands...)

KRAKUA
DAY 1

I WOKE UP ON THE BEACH TODAY. I'M A SCIZOR NOW? VERY PALE RED, ALMOST GREY. BANDAGES ON CLAWS FOR SOME REASON. CLAWS ARE WAY TOO BIG. HARD TO WRITE.

MET ENTU TODAY. SWABLU WITH PSYDUCK BILL? POKEMON ARE WEIRD HERE. THEY LOOK DIFFERENT THAN THEY SHOULD, WRONG COLORS AND FEATURES. ENTU GOT HIS TREASURE STOLEN BY A PAIR OF BULLIES. LATIAS AND DEOXYS. ENTU WAS IN A HURRY TO GET IT BACK AND TELEPORTED AWAY. WAS HARD TO FOLLOW HIM.

MADE IT THROUGH THE DUNGEON OKAY. NO ISSUES.

BULLIES WERE A PUSHOVER. I SHOT THEM ONCE EACH WITH A SIGNAL BEAM AND THEY FAINTED INSTANTLY.

ENTU WANTED TO FORM AN EXPLORATION TEAM. DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO SO I JOINED HIM. GUILD IS WEIRD. WORMADAM IS FULL OF HIMSELF AND TYPHLOSION IS... SOMETHING. I HAVE A GOOD FEELING ABOUT THIS THOUGH.

WE HAVE OUR OWN ROOM HERE. ENTU IS ALREADY ASLEEP. SICK OF WRITING SO I WILL GO TO SLEEP TOO.

NOTE TO SELF: FIND A WAY TO REPLACE THE EIGHT PENCILS I BROKE.

[MarxzVulpez]

I drew Knux's Swablu because Duck Mode Swablu was too fun to not draw

[knux400]

(The handwriting has improved, but it's still not great.)

KRAKUA
DAY 4?????

APPARENTLY TIME IS MESSED UP SOMEHOW??? COULDN'T GET ANY DETAILS BUT TIME IS WRONG AND PEOPLE ARE ACTING MEAN BECAUSE OF IT.

BAYLEEF WOKE US UP THIS MORNING. NEVER HEARD A BAYLEEF SHOUT THAT LOUD BEFORE. HEAD STILL HURTS.

ME AND ENTU WENT ON OUR FIRST MISSION TODAY, HAD TO RETRIEVE A LOST PEARL. GOT HIT BY A GUILLOTINE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DUNGEON, DIDN'T EVEN SEE WHAT HIT ME. APPARENTLY DUNGEONS KICK YOU OUT IF YOU FAINT, THOUGH, WHICH IS NICE.

WE TRIED AGAIN THE NEXT DAY AND SUCCEEDED. GAVE THE PEARL BACK TO ODDISH, WHO REWARDED US WITH 2000 P.

THE CURRENCY HERE IS SOME KIND OF GOLD COIN THEY CALL P, AND APPARENTLY IT COMES IN DIFFERENT SIZES. ODDISH GAVE US 20 100 P COINS. WORMADAM IMMEDIATELY TOOK 90% OF IT THOUGH FOR GUILD EXPENSES. FAIR I GUESS BUT A BIT OF A BUMMER. ENTU WAS PISSED.

TODAY WE WENT AFTER A CORSOLA. THEY ACT NICE BUT THERE'S A WANTED POSTER OF THEM WHICH MEANS THEY'RE AN OUTLAW. SKIPLOOM IS WITH THEM, TOO. HARD TO GAUGE AGE BUT SKIPLOOM SEEMS LIKE A LITTLE KID. WORRIED ABOUT THEM.

THERE'S NO FOOD ANYWHERE. PROBABLY DUE TO TIME STUFF? COULDN'T MAKE IT ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE DUNGEON BEFORE I PASSED OUT. COULDN'T FIND ANY AT THE CHARMELEON SHOP EITHER.

NOT MUCH TO DO BUT TRY AGAIN TOMORROW I GUESS.

WRITING STILL SUCKS. BEEN TRYING TO PRACTICE MORE BUT THE GUILD IS RUNNING OUT OF PENCILS. I'LL SEE IF CHARMELEON HAS ANY.





PREFERABLY IN BULK.

[knux400]

I'm sick in bed so PROPER BIO TIME

Krakua - Scizor, He/Him
Krakua is quiet and thoughtful, with a straightforward "get it done" attitude. He doesn't like to mess around- once he knows what his goal is, he goes straight for it. While this makes him seem cold and unfriendly to most, those close to him know that he's actually a pretty chill guy in his downtime.

As a human, his job was to renovate and refurbish old, abandoned buildings. He often worked with only his Aron keeping him company, and had a habit of collecting trinkets and other oddities he'd find on the site- usually old and worn. He had a few friends he hung out with on occasion, but overall wasn't really a social person.

As a Scizor, Krakua is uncomfortable in his new body. His claws are larger than that of a typical Scizor, and make basic tasks extremely difficult. Signal Beam was the first proper move he learned (haphazardly swinging giant claws around doesn't really count as a technique), and has become his go-to in combat. Although this new world can be confusing and overwhelming sometimes, Krakua has found a sense of purpose as a member of a Rescue Team, and good company in Entu.

Krakua is shorter than the average Scizor, and a very dull red in color- almost grey. He has small striped markings on his head, back, and abdomen, and typically wears bandages on his claws to cover up the sharp edges.

[skinstealer]

okay! we started our run yesterday- not planning on doing a Whole Lot in-game yet because we have stuff to do otherwise but we wanted to start rotating our starting guys in our brain a bit.

we're going to be playing PMD Explorers of Sky, specifically randomized with SkyTemple. the gist of our randomization is as follows:

- random mons, but we did get the option to pick starter if we didnt like the quiz result so that it'd be petz friendly (more on that later)
- random items (possibly a mistake)
- random tilesets/floor plans/names/OST for dungeons (very fun so far)
- did not randomize moves, stats, abilities, etc. we are not the best with PMD gameplay so we figured this would minimize suffering.

and our personal challenge for the run...

new team members must be petz-compatible to some degree, and we have to hex them. this means that most of our team is going to either be quadrupeds, floating scrimblos like magnemite or the porygon lines, or bipeds we slap back onto the ground. our petz skills are pretty advanced at this point so this still gives us a pretty wide pool to work with, as well as having bases for a lot of mons from our other various runs ready to go. certain mons will absolutely get priority because of that- if we already have a base for something, we'd be fools Not to use it and get that extra party member. hopefully we can get some decent team comps off of this...

on top of that, we're going to be using our pokemon OC generator (soon to be hosted on the HD site once we get a generators page up proper) to randomize some little appearance variations and personality ideas for these guys as characters. actual relationships between characters will be handled via petz interactions, so that we can get cute screencaps of them interacting.

also, blanket perm: you can make whatever fanworks of our guys. if you end up making petz versions, we can even have them hang out in-game- though we are down to do any kind of lore building or even RP (though we would probably need a different thread for that...) with any characters people make. our locations are also free to use for your own purposes!

so...we started the game.

our first randomization didn't go so well because we forgot to make starters pickable and got slapped with snover and that simply will not do. re-randomized and got raikou first try, which was exciting as hell because we've wanted to make a raikou character for years and never really gave ourselves the opportunity to do so. it's a quadruped, it's a tiger, and it's super cute- especially with the prompt we generated for him. a round build...jesus christ it's raitora at home. while we didnt end up making him THAT round, we definitely made him soft and cute for the petz hex, which...
 


[image description: a petz collage of a raikou hex, featuring a small, squishy build and features, the standard raikou color palette, a star + moon patterned body instead of stripes, and four fangs instead of two. he looks very grumpy.]

meet cloudburst, the leader of Team Storm Drain. he's a rough and tumble raikou with a paranoia problem, exacerbated heavily by people treating him like shit for being the runt of his raikou litter. he's a goddamn legendary and he's as big as a vulpix. just a little guy. as demonstrated by the fact that i immediately wiped to the first pokemon in the first dungeon (a fucking smeargle that failed sketch and then struggled me to death) he is Not good at fighting and has a major inferiority complex over it. his greatest wish in life is to become a prolific artist, taken seriously for his work, but he has yet to get any credit in his community, likely because...

he is also....a bandit! Team Storm Drain is a bandit team, not sanctioned by any guild of high standing...and we will be framing our exploits in our run as that of an evil (if bumbling, team rocket style) team! it felt like a fun twist, and we really like these two...which, let's get on to the partner mon.



[image description: a petz collage of a gastrodon hex, featuring a green and lavender body with yellow accents, spikier features overall, eerie eyes with coencentric rings, and earrings piercing one of his...frills? he is simply sliding around.]

it was a tossup between gastrodon and latias for options (there were more but both of those ones are HUGELY gay-associated mons for us, it was not really a question of anyone else getting in), but we already had a gastrodon hex ready to go and the storm theming with a raikou and a gastrodon was too good to pass up. we actually used a gastrodon in competitive for years with storm drain, so it just felt like the right move.

typhoon is the loyal henchman to cloudburst's evil team leader, and is devoted to a fault. cloudburst values his company deeply, but overlooks some of the gastrodon's feelings sometimes...if these two had a sort of pinky and the brain dynamic, typhoon would be pinky without question. silly, eccentric (though so is his "boss"...) and willing to do whatever he says- though he might not be effective at it. even so, typhoon is also the secret muscle behind the team, and oneshots shit frequently in our playthrough. it is actually fucking disgusting how good at fighting he is compared to the literal legendary on the team, most likely because he's fully evolved and has a way better movepool. a lot of the fights in-game end up with me (as cloudburst) ducking for cover behind this guy and letting him water pulse things to death, because otherwise i will die in two hits and cry.

typhoon is also very into being Evil™ and delights in petty heists with cloudburst. the two of them love to scheme. unfortunately, typhoon, while a lot of Slug Muscle, is also known to bungle operations pretty bad- based entirely off of the fact that i realized part of why i was doing such shit damage was because he kept using mud sport every time he saw an enemy across the map. he no longer can use mud sport. also, he generated Weird Eyes, angular shapes, and ear piercings, which i felt made for a suuuuper cool punk-y character. he's so cool.


[image description: a petz collage of cloudburst and typhoon, mainly them exchanging loving glances and staring into each others' eyes.]

which, of course, now we have to see the petz relationships side of things....within like 2 minutes they were cooing and fawning over each other, which is a pretty solid "it was love at first sight" conclusion. cloudburst must have set off for the big world and found himself head over heels for the punk slug...and the two became criminals together, albeit criminals literally no one takes seriously. they are gay against the whole world...

we'll write more about locations later, but i am Not up for image describing screencaps of dungeon tilesets right now. that will be another day!

as for replying to other peoples' stuff....
 

---

@knux400 loving krakua and entu! i love the aspect of krakua being a laborer in the human world- while cloudburst isn't a human, it'll be really interesting to see who makes their player characters having a past life and who doesn't, and What Is Done With That. i hope that krakua can get used to his BIG MEATY CLAWS in time.

[knux400]

Krakua
Day 11

Finally starting to get the hang of these stupid things. It was Entu's idea, actually. He mentioned that I was wearing bandages on my claws when he first found me. At the time, I just took them off, because I didn't seem to be hurt at all. But Entu noticed me practicing my handwriting today, and Entu thought maybe the bandages were for softening the points. A quick trip to Charmeleon's later, and sure enough- it's much easier to hold things without breaking them. I asked Entu if wearing things like that was particularly common for clawed pokemon, but he didn't really know anyone else with claws like mine. Fair enough, I suppose. The only other pokemon I can think of are Krabby and Kingler, and I don't recall seeing any of them around here at all.

We found Corsola and Skiploom. Skiploom hadn't been hurt, thank goodness, but apparently Corsola wanted to throw him down a hole to grab some treasure for her. We turned her over to Tyranitar, who's the equivalent of a police chief here. Apparently Skiploom also has the job of updating the job boards? Impressive a kid his age can hold down a big job like that. Paras had to fill in for him since he was out being kidnapped, and that meant me and Entu had to go on sentry duty. Thankfully, I used to be super into competitive battling growing up, so I know about lots of foreign pokemon from outside my region.

We got three new team members over the course of the week- Mothim, Burmy, and Shuckle- I haven't gotten their names yet. Names are weird here. Some pokemon prefer to go by the name of their species, and some take an actual name. I guess it's a matter of personal preference, or maybe it's like a relationship thing? I'll ask Entu about that later. I've got to try and give him a break from all the questions if I can, though. It must be exhausting having to explain a whole society to someone. I should be able to figure some of this stuff out on my own.

Time is still wonky, no one really knows what's up with that. The sun keeps rising and setting, though, so I'm just going to assume that the days are normal. It's not like we have clocks here anyway.

I haven't talked about this yet since I haven't been able to properly articulate it with my inability to write- I've been seeing things. Tiny little glimpses of the past and future. Probably related to the whole time thing, but who knows at this point. It's been helpful, though. I was able to peg Corsola as a bad guy because of it. I also apparently discovered a whole new cave? Kind of? I saw Guildmaster Typhlosion jumping through a waterfall, and that's how I knew how to get in. But Typhlosion only went to the waterfall after I told them about it, and about how to get in, so it must've been the future I saw. So I only knew what to do because I saw Typhlosion doing it, and Typhlosion only knew because I told them, so... neither of us really discovered it? Or both of us did? It makes my head hurt.

We're on a list of potential candidates for a Guild-wide expedition later on. If we do good enough work, we get to go do... something. I'm a little unclear on the specifics myself. Entu seems excited, but I'm pretty indifferent. I'm still not used to this place yet, so traveling somewhere new won't make that much of a difference to me.

[AceOfNothing]

Journal Entry 1,
Subtitle: Chapter 1: Error

I am Xetys, i am confused.
I woke up on the beach, I have no memory, and this Sharpedo was talking to me?? Says her name is Somri, she's okay for a shark.
I have apparently woken up as a Skorupi, I am not a pokemon. I am a human.... I think. This is a bad dream. I'm sure it's a bad dream. When I wake up, I'll remember things. When I wake up, I will have hands.

Somri dropped a treasure and it was stolen, by a finneon and a Grotle. How do a fish and a tortoise steal from a shark? I Don't Know! I'm still a pokemon so logic isn't present in this dream.
We followed them into Common Fells, a series of underground tunnels and got it back, also got our asses handed to us a few times but I don't personally understand pokemon moves. I'm still figuring out how to scuttle on 4 legs (Somri floats, it scares me)
I no longer like pokemon battles.

Somri has decided we make a good team and dragged me to Seel's Guild to form an "Exploration Team". I am following the dreams whims here.

I'll Update again soon If I'm Stuck Here. Still Hoping this is a dream. 
 

---

Name: Xetys (The Warrior)
Pokemon: Skorupi (Human)
Role: Team Strike Leader
Pronouns: He/They
Backstory: ???????? (I Have Idea's But will do it slowly, suffer)
Coloring/Design changes: Light blue green, slight glow. Scorpions react to blacklight, you get that
Other: 

[AceOfNothing]

Journal Entry 2:
Chapter 2: Bagon
Warning: Lacks a Bagon

It's been a couple days, I'm still a Pokémon, I think I've convinced myself this is fine at this point. Somri is supportive at least, she seems rough at first but she's very sweet. Big sister vibes, in a good way.
Seel... seel is a lot. The combination of Seel and Flygon is... dramatic to say the least.
Speaking of Flygon, they're the second in command I believe? They're musical and exaggerate their movements... I thought I liked them but then we got to guild taxes, and I think they find joy in stealing from us.

Some other people of note, I'll make this quick as I don't really know them yet:
The sentry when we entered: Castform: Seems very focused but the moment things are thrown off he's upset. Water form
Alarm Clock: Munchlax: Loud. Loud Loud

Flygon helped us find our first job, helping a hoothoot find its pearl. We entered Great Wigwam and it did take us two days, but we found it! hoothoot appreciated it a lot, says it likes balancing the pearl on its head.
Flygon took 90% of our money as a guild fee. I didn't expect taxes in the pokemon world and I'm mad about it.

Somri talks to me at night, I tend to pretend I'm asleep anyway. I could talk to her, I should, but I get... anxious at night. 

Tomorrow we are going into town, I'm excited for that at least.
 

---

Name: Somri (The Killer of Men)
Pokemon: Sharpedo
Role: Team Strike Co Leader?
Pronouns: She/Her (But gender is stupid)
Backstory: First born of a large family, all sisters, she left to find some sort of purpose. Taught to bite first ask questions later, sucks at first impressions. Actually, very sweet and caring, probably a bit parentified but not dangerously so in home life. Loves storms and the sky, wishes they could fly, floating does not count.
Coloring/Design changes: Dark blues and yellows, covered in little stars. She just had galaxy vibes; I don't know. Extra spikey bits, like the pre-evolution, made em little star chunks.
Other:  Had to take explosion away from her for killing us too many times. I also think she's a lesbian.

[LiminalPetz]

[Note: I started my playthrough of PMD: Explorers of Sky on my DS last night. No randomizers this time around as I've never played through it before!
I specifically went for Eevee rather than doing the starting quiz honestly. but anyways xD
 If I have the energy soon I would love to hex both eevee and my partner pokemon into petz at some point! I'll likely draw them as well.
Also, Its been a long while since I've put any effort into writing or liveblogging stuff so pardon my rustiness ^^;]


---
[Entry 1]

Eughh.... ah..?
Where... where am I...?
I'm... so sleepy... can't..... stay awake...
...
...
...



"Hey, hey! Are you okay..? Wake up! Please wake up..!"

Slowly I open one eye, and then the other. I feel so groggy...

A blue and yellow pokemon stands before me; a concerned look on their face.

"Oh, thank goodness! You're awake!"

I blink and sit myself up.
I can't remember... where I am. How I got here.
I can't remember... anything..?

"What's your name? I've never seen you around here before.."
My name...?
I stare blankly at the pokemon for a moment.
Ah... thats right!

"My name is... Alex! I'm a human, and-"

"...you say you're.. a human?? But.. you look just like a normal eevee to me!"

Wha..-!!
I look down at myself to see soft brown and cream fur, little paws, and a fluffy tail.

!!!
I've turned into an Eevee?!

But... how?
I can't remember what happened...

---

[AceOfNothing]

Journal Entry 3
Chapter 3: YOU ARE GOING TO BRAZIL (all caps wheee)
‘I did not go to Brazil, I did notttt’

It’s been over a week, I think I’m just a bug now. 
This week was… long. I still don’t fully feel like I belong, but I’ve been around the town. I think I’ve adjusted to the idea of this at least, it only keeps me up at night occasionally, and meeting new talking Pokemon doesn’t surprise me anymore.

Here’s some Pokemon I’ve met, at the Guild or in Laughable Keep

• Dewgong: Seel’s older cousin. No idea what they’re doing but they make me nervous. Used to be in a circus?
  
• Clampearl: Just above us in joining the Guild. very nice, very supportive, we play cards at night. Claws are bad for cards, not as bad as clam shell
  
• Vulpix: Digs tunnels, changes the jobs board. He’s apparently from a line of Contest Pokemon and ran away, just wants to dig. Knows Teleport?
  
• Leafeon: Runs the bank, little sneaky little scary
  
• Poliwhirl brothers(?): Sometimes they speak in rhyme, sometimes they don’t.
  
• Butterfree: Storage bug. Obsessed with tiny jars?
  
• Hoothot & Ekans: Brothers? Mother is sick. Not sure who is adopted, if that’s the case. Ekans is younger and a bit of a scaredy snake.
  
• Infernape: Theif and kidnapper.
  
• Clefairy: Primary Officer of the region? I don’t understand what politics are here? Why is their guilds and officers? Somri just gave me a look.
  

While exploring town and trying to buy apples, we met the kids. A snake and an owl, brothers. I had a weird vision, we met a creepy monkey who took the kids exploring, we found out he’s a wanted criminal… yeah that was… a day. We followed them to Sad Bayou to rescue Ekans. It Took Daysssss. And then Infernape got beat by a rock, which should be funny but honestly annoyed me. 

Clefairy took Infernape away, Hoothoot took Ekans back to their sick mother. We should…. Send her a gift for her worries. I feel bad it took time, even if we did save him. 

Somri loves thunder storms. She starts talking about legends during them, tells me stories of her life… It’s nice.

Tomorrow is another day.
 

---

Name: ??? 
Pokemon: Vulpix
Role: Tunnel digger, guild job manager
Pronouns: He/him
Backstory: Comes from a long line of Contest Pokemon, won awards when they were very little but grew frustrated that they couldn’t pursue their true passion for digging. Ran away and joined the guild, hiding from family. Avoids large groups. Made a deal with a powerful psychic Pokemon to learn teleport.
Coloring/Design changes: Based loosely on Dachshund’s and fluffy little show dogs. Long floppy ears, short legs, but more dog then fox. Blue eyes because blue eyes see better in the dark, plus they’re considered “pretty” so think it fits with backstory.
Other:  Pubby
https://youtu.be/U76zyUFg3Xo?feature=shared

[knux400]

Entu
Day 17

Krakua finally explained to me what it is he keeps writing down. Apparently it's something called a "journal"? I've never heard of one before, but it's a thing that humans do sometimes. He says he used to keep one back in the human world, but obviously he can't get to it now. It's kind of hard to understand. You just... write your thoughts down on a piece of paper and keep it a secret? What's the point of writing things down if no one else will ever read it? But it seems like it's important to Krakua somehow, so I'll give it a try!

Show ContentCW: minor violence mention, minor unsanitary mention. cartoonish enough to fit the typical PMD vibe imo but better safe than sorry:

Those bullies from the beach showed up again today. Apparently they're actually Guild members, they work under the name Team Skull. Their leader is a Crobat. I don't know how a Crobat ended up in charge of a Deoxys and a Latias, but somehow they did. I'm also not sure that Crobat has ever had a bath in their life- their BO is just unreal. I wish I knew Hydro Pump so I could just blast the grime right off them... Aghhh, they piss me off so much. First they steal all the Guild's food, then Wormadam sends us out to get more, and they steal THAT from us, too... And then when we had to report back to the Guildmaster empty-handed, they came in acting like heroes because they had a Perfect Apple and we didn't! I would love to pound them into the dirt again, but that Crobat... Besides being unable to go near them without holding your breath, they seem really strong- they even managed to shove Krakua aside.

Krakua keeps telling me to stay calm, and that they'll get what's coming to them eventually, but I don't know. They made us look so bad that we're probably not even going on the big trip in a few days. Wormadam actually told me to my face not to get my hopes up. I wanted to storm into Crobat's room and give them a piece of my mind myself, but Krakua held me back. He says they're full-fledged Guild members now, and lashing out at them is only going to make us look worse. He's right, of course, but I just...! Ugh, I've never been so angry at anyone in my life.

Absolutely filthy, the lot of them. In more ways than one.

[knux400]

Entu - Swablu, He/Them

Entu is cheerful and optimistic, with a bright view of the future. He enjoys taking the time to absorb his surroundings, meet new people, and discover new places. While it might seem like Entu has trouble focusing on a goal, that couldn't be further from the case- he just enjoys moving at a leisurely pace compared to most people. If something isn't urgent, there's no reason to treat it like it is!

Entu's favorite thing in the world is old books- the dustier and harder to read, the better. He loves reading about powerful heroes and legendary places, and dreams of making a discovery of his own one day. Although he knows pretty much everyone in town, he doesn't really have anyone he considers to be a close friend.

Entu tends to rely on Krakua's calm nature in tough situations, something Krakua is well aware of and tries his best to accommodate. Although it takes a lot to upset Entu, it's really not pretty once Entu is upset. He forms grudges just as easily as he forms friendships, and it's best to avoid rubbing him the wrong way.

Entu is a pretty typical Swablu, with a duck-like bill and bubbly, sky-blue markings on the right side of his face, the rest of his body being a typical shade of blue. He has small webbed feet and wings concealed by a thick layer of fluffy white cotton, which he makes sure to keep clean. He doesn't typically wear an accessory aside from his Guild Badge.

[skinstealer]

okay!! we have been playing a little more of our run and have been developing more lore....

cloudburst and typhoon are a part of a bandit's guild, far less huge scale than a typical explorer's one, but still pretty tight knit. cb and typhoon are newcomers to it, but they've been making a few companions...

that's right, randomized NPCs are becoming Official Characters in our lore if they are hexable! we were able to pick out 5 to work with that would be possible to make, and with some luck, two of them were on bases we already had. here they are...



[image description: a petz image collage of a clefable hex. her body is pale lavender with deeper lavender wings and claw tips, and her expression is worried and uncomfortable. her eyes also have little eyelashes.]

meet betsy! she's a newcomer to the bandit's guild as well, and maybe too sweet for this kind of profession...but she's surprisingly good at what she does. she works with speckles, who i'll introduce in a second, but she's got a sly streak under her worried expression and fidgeting. she has a deep love of makeup and glamour, which would be fun to figure out in the PMD universe...but she maintains a degree of paint on her claws at all times, and gets very frustrated if it gets chipped.


[image description: a petz image collage of a mewtwo hex, featuring a light blue striped body with a darker tail and face freckles. it looks rather moody.]

speckles is betsy's team leader and a much more experienced bandit- it appears that betsy signed up later than it's been doing things. being a mewtwo, speckles immediately commands respect through its legendary pokemon status, though people seem to recognize it more as just being a really solid thief than a god-like figure. both it and betsy use psychic moves to entrance people and steal their shit, an effective strategy that brings in a solid amount of loot. in its off time, speckles very much enjoys gambling, and is known for hosting game nights at the local guild for people to get really fucking salty over. it does however, hate being put on the spot, and doesn't particularly like being watched or observed outside of its heist attempts.

as for how everyone gets along in this new pool of characters....


[image description: a collage of betsy and cloudburst interacting. cloudburst looks suspicious in some images, and flirtatious in others.]

well okay i guess cloudburst has a thing with betsy. i guess this guy just gets around? the two of them get along really well and cb is super flirty with her, which despite her worried expression she does really like. judging based on stuff with cb and speckles later, it's a safe bet that team storm drain has solidly allied with team...i haven't figured out a cool name yet. maybe Team Magic Show or something like that? i kind of like the idea of them having a magic act theme.





[image description: a collage of typhoon and betsy interacting. they seem fairly neutral on each other.]

i was wondering if typhoon would be jealous of the attention betsy gets, but they just vibe. not much to say here, they're just kind of chill with each other.

[image description: a collage of cloudburst and speckles interacting. they are having fun and playing together.]

cloudburst and speckles however REALLY hit it off. you know that cloudburst is hitting up gambling nights super hard. these two are buds.


[image description: a collage of typhoon and speckles interacting. they seem fairly neutral.]

and then typhoon is just kind of alright with speckles. i think typhoon might have trouble making friends, leading him to be more attached to cloudburst....

[image description: a collage of betsy and speckles interacting. they don't seem to be paying much attention to each other. ]

and then speckles and betsy themselves are like. purely neutral on each other, 100%. they are in this for The Business, not friendship. if i had to guess, betsy came in looking for an apprenticeship and speckles had an open spot.


that's the new fledgeling team...up next are the storeroom owner, a local townsperson, and the head of the thieves' guild itself!

[skinstealer]

did a little mini writing with @knux400 based on the fact that we ran into a scizor on our playthrough...enjoy!
 

---

It was a simple scenario. A swablu, sitting calmly by a rocky outcrop, watching a light lava flow ooze between some cracks in the wall...and completely unaware of the two pokemon sitting behind a nearby rock pile.

"I'm telling you boss, easy mark."

Typhoon's voice has that slight edge to it- the kind that sneaks in when he's scheming.

"You think so? I mean, obviously my typing gives me the advantage-"

Cloudburst is just as devious, shifting from paw to paw as he thinks it over.

"One set of sparks and they'll fork over everything they've got! It's an easy win."

"Heh...I'll give it a shot."

Suddenly, the Swablu turns to the left, looking at someone just out of view of the duo.

"Come onnn, it's not that b-"

An unfamiliar shape catches the corner of his eye. Quickly, he turns the rest of the way around. A dark figure looms over him, a Raikou, with a wide, manic grin on his face and even more fangs than usual-

-except, he's only about a Vulpix's height.

Even so, he gnashes his teeth and causes sparks to fly, doing everything he can to look intimidating.

"Any valuables in that pouch of yours?"

"-Uh? No? Maybe? W-Who's asking?"

The Swablu visibly tenses, instinctively aware of the Raikou's advantage over him. He backs towards the wall as a low, stern voice comes from a hallway to the left.

"Entu? What's going on?"

The Raikou drops his voice to a low hiss. "You're going to tell your friend that everything's fine, or you're a roast bird."

Entu freezes for a moment, unsure what to do. He flattens his back against the wall.

"Uhhh... E-everything's fine...! Krakua! No issues here!"

Krakua, somehow, isn't convinced. Small metallic footsteps can be heard as a Scizor comes into view, towering over Cloudburst and Entu alike. His pale red carapace gleams in the low light as the Raikou's eyes fall on the massive claws to either side of him, each one wrapped haphazardly in bandages.

Again, the low, stern voice drones from the Scizor's beak as Krakua gazes directly into Cloudburst's eyes.

"Excuse me."

Cloudburst swallows.

"...h-hello! I was simply asking-
I'm looking for donations. Plain and simple, you see?"

Without a word, Krakua's gaze shifts to Entu.

"W-well... He was asking if I had any valuables, so I guess... I misunderstood? But, uh, he got awfully close, and- and said I'd be a roast bird unless I told you I was okay-"

Krakua just sighs, a small huff escaping his nostrils as he turns back to Cloudburst.

"Back away from him and explain yourself."

 The Raikou jumps back, clearly sweating.

"W-WELL-
My wording could be construed as aggressive- but it's more assertive, you know? I only want to support the charities in my area! Orphans needing berries!"

Krakua calmly moves forward, placing his claw between the two. It almost takes up as much space as another Pokemon would, and it's in full view of the Raikou, completely obscuring the Swablu from his perspective.

"We're not interested in donating. Goodbye." Krakua stares Cloudburst dead in the eye.

"Wait-" Entu looks at Krakua questioningly, starting to speak before stopping himself. Though sympathetic to the Raikou's cause, he trusted Krakua's judgement enough not to step in.

"S-s-suit yourself! Just remember, a good deed can save a life!"

He immediately bounds back behind the pillar, out of sight and out of mind.

Entu watches the Raikou bound away, confused.

"Um- that... didn't seem like a nice thing to do to him? He was trying to raise money..."

"Entu, he was trying to rob you. He just got scared and turned tail when I showed up."






"...easy mark, huh?"

"W-well, you can't win them all, boss!"

[knux400]

A strong breeze blew across the clifftops, threatening to knock the three pokemon off the side- although one seemed a lot more worried than the other two. The Chimchar wasn't bothered by the cold so much as he was bothered by the prospect of those sharp-looking rocks below him, and the long fall he'd have to take to reach them. Cal fidgeted with the bottom edges of his sleeveless vest, idly tweaking the fabric in one hand while he tried his best to avoid looking at the edge.

It was unusual for any pokemon to wear something that close to human clothing, the Scizor noted, much less a Fire-type with an active tailflame just inches away from it. He shrugged it off after a moment. Pokemon were all weird here, Krakua thought to himself, thinking of his oversized claws and dull greyish-red coloration, both extremely unlike any Scizor he'd known back home. Seeing a Chimchar with a shirt on was far from the strangest thing he'd seen in the month he had lived in this world. He tapped his tiny, insectoid foot impatiently- a habit carried over from his days as a human that was thankfully a lot less audible now.

Krakua wasn't worried at all about falling- he was confident that even if his wings couldn't outright carry him, they could at least slow him down enough for his metallic carapace to absorb most of the impact. He'd never tried flying before, and wasn't in a hurry to do so- no matter how much Entu insisted he try it. The Swablu was at the head of the group, a sheaf of papers clutched in their cottony wings as they squinted at the old, faded handwriting on the sign. They muttered the occasional "hmm" and "uhh" to themselves as they glanced back and forth from the papers to the sign, attempting to decipher the script. They used to study old languages in their free time, and now that hobby was finally paying off- at least, it would be if they weren't so distracted by the excitement of it all.

This was Entu's first expedition, and it had been a rocky road to get here, to say the least- but Typhlosion, ever the generous one, had decided that no one was to stay behind for the trip. The entire Guild was going, and it was a decision everyone emphatically agreed with. They had split into teams for the journey, and were told to meet up at Fogbound Lake. Entu's navigational skills had led them, Krakua, and Cal to cross this canyon- apparently the fastest route, though Krakua couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't seen anyone else from the Guild going this way. Now the path before them was split, and the only indication as to what lay beyond was an old wooden sign with some kind of scrawl that only Entu recognized.

"No, that definitely- hm. Okay." The Swablu chirped after a few minutes, seeming confused.
"You got something?" Krakua asked.
"Yyyyeah. I just had to be sure, because- honestly, these names are, well... odd. The left path is called Filthy Cathedral and the right path is called Hilarious Crypt."
"Hilarious Crypt?" Cal tilted his head, confused.
"Yeah. Well, 'hilarious' isn't a completely accurate translation, the literal meaning of the word is 'that which contains a joke'."
"Well... That definitely sounds better than Filthy Cathedral, that's for sure."
"So... There's a joke hidden somewhere in Hilarious Crypt?"
"I mean, according to the sign."
"Then it's settled! Let's go to Hilarious Crypt and find the joke!"
"Sounds good to me. Krakua?"

Krakua simply shrugged in response, and the three of them stepped through the opening into Hilarious Crypt.






"I'm seeing a whole lot of Crypt, not so much Hilarious."
"We'll find it eventually! We just have to get to the end!"
It had been about a half hour since the trio had entered the Crypt, and so far it seemed fairly similar to any other Mystery Dungeon. Long, winding hallways broken up by rooms littered with traps and treasure alike- nothing that any of them weren't already familiar with. Aside from a few encounters with the locals, everything was calm and nondescript.

The dungeon itself actually kind of resembled a dungeon, Krakua thought, unlike the thick wooded areas and natural-looking caves he'd been in previously. The walls looked to be made of old stone brick, and the floor was smooth. Every so often, there would be a set of bars in the walls or ceiling, allowing daylight to shine through. Of course, this would be physically impossible under normal circumstances, but Krakua had long since given up trying to make sense of these places. Mystery Dungeons just seemed to behave the way they wanted to. If a skylight was meant to be there, it would be there, no matter how many floors were directly above it.

Suddenly, Entu's voice snapped Krakua away from his thoughts.
"Krakua-!"

But before Krakua could even turn his head to see what Entu was trying to indicate to him, he was blinded by a flash of light and an unbearable heat. Sent flying back through the tunnel he came from, he had fainted before he'd even hit the ground. Simultaneously, Entu and Cal slapped their Rescue Team badges, activating the emergency retreat function. In an instant, all three of them were back at the clifftops, the faded sign and the two paths lying before them.







Krakua lay still- breathing, but unconscious- as his companions tended to his wounds. His entire body looked scorched, and the scarf around his neck as well as the bandages around his claws were nothing but ash. His Goggle Specs- a special item that allowed him to see hidden traps and invisible pokemon- had also been destroyed in the fire. His delicate wings, thankfully, had been mostly behind him when the attack hit, and were only scorched around the edges. Slowly, he opened his eyes and coughed, a small cloud of soot puffing from his mouth.

"Krakua! You okay?"
"m'fine. What the heck even was that?"
"I was trying to warn you- there was a Charizard, and it hit you with some kind of fire move-"
"A Flare Blitz." Cal clarified. "It's a super strong technique that only the most powerful Fire types can learn."
"-yeah, that- and you were out cold pretty much instantly."
"...Makes sense." Krakua grunted and stretched, slowly sitting up.
"Fire-type stuff is my biggest weakness, of course it would take me out in one hit. I'm just glad it didn't do any permanent damage. How long have I been out?"
"A couple hours, maybe?"
"Mm. There's still daylight left if we want to try again."
"Are you sure? If there's Charizards in there, then it might be a better idea to go the other way."
"We just got unlucky. I'll be more careful this time. You guys are both okay, right?"
"Yeah, we... just bailed as soon as you went down." Cal looked down, ashamed.
"No, that's smart. No sense trying to stay and fight at that point. You've got the Get Out Of Jail Free card, may as well use it."
"The huh?"
"You did good is what I'm trying to say." Krakua stood up, dusting himself off. "If you guys are good to go, I'm fine with trying again."
"...Alright. If you're sure."










There was much less conversation the second time- the trio were constantly watching their backs in case the Charizard from before made another appearance. Though the mood wasn't exactly grim, it was a lot more serious than it had been before. Rounding another corner, a tunnel stretched its way into an open room. Krakua leaned in, scanning the area.

"Looks good. I don't see any-"

But as he was speaking, he took a step inside, and the floor beneath him sunk in with a soft click. All at once, pokemon began appearing out if thin air, flooding the room. Where there had been a small, empty room before, a large crowd now stood, all eyes fixed on the intruders. Krakua did the math in his head. There was no way any of them were going to win that fight. There wasn't anything helpful in the bag. That left only one option.

"-RUN!"

Entu was already in the air, flying back down the way they'd come. Krakua was hot on their heels, ducking out of the way as attacks of every type flooded the corridor behind him. Cal, however, didn't react nearly as quickly. As he turned to run, a flurry of needles shot from the crowd behind him, catching him in the leg and causing him to trip as he rounded the corner. Neither Krakua nor Entu could do anything as the wave of pokemon overtook their partner. Within seconds, Krakua and Entu's badges both made a harsh chime, indicating that their teammate had lost consciousness. Krakua wasted no time slapping the badge, and the three of them were back at the cliffs before they knew it.

"...Entu? Do you know what that was?" Krakua turned to the Swablu, panting as he sat on the ground.
"...A Monster House. As soon as you take your first step into the room, a bunch of Pokemon show up... Most rescue teams try to use an Orb or something to get away. It's not a good idea to fight that many enemies at once."
"Never seen one of those before. That can just... happen?"
"...Yup. It sucks."








"I really want to know what the joke is, though!"
"Cal, you and Krakua have both gotten knocked out in there. There's no telling what would happen next time we go in."
"But it could be a great discovery! No one's seen what's in there in centuries!"
"One more time."
"Krakua?"
"If I'm understanding correctly, Monster Houses could happen in any given dungeon- or they might not happen at all. There's not necessarily reason to believe that Hilarious Crypt is any tougher than Filthy Cathedral. If you really want to know what's in there, we can try one more time, but after that, we're going the other way. Does that work?"
"...Fine."
"Sure. Let's just get this over with."
"Great." The trio stepped into Hilarious Crypt once more as Krakua continued to speak to the group. "Now remember, I can't see traps anymore, so that means we need to be extra careful for-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
Krakua looked down to see a dark pit where Entu had been standing. He sighed deeply as he tapped his badge again.









"Nope. I said one more try, and that was it. We're going to Filthy Cathedral."
"But-! That didn't even count! We took two steps in and then Entu fell in a hole! And they can fly!"
"Not if I don't have enough space to spread my wings! That hole was barely wider than I am!"
"All the more reason why we should quit while we're behind. That dungeon is just too dangerous. We're going the other way."
"I can't believe you two! We're supposed to be explorers, we can't give up this easily! I want to know what's down there!"
"We're supposed to be exploring somewhere else right now, Cal. We can't let ourselves get distracted."
"I... ugh! I'll do it myself, then. I'll meet you two at the lake."
"Cal, wait. Cal!" But Cal had already stormed off into Hilarious Crypt.

"Suits me just fine. C'mon, Krakua." Krakua just sat, placing his head in his claws.
"...No. We've got to go in after him."
"Seriously?"
"He might be acting like a jerk, but we still have a responsibility to him as a fellow Guild member. We can't let him go by himself."
"I-"
"Would you rather do this, or explain to Wormadam that we left a teammate behind?"
"...Fine. But if he tries that stunt again, you're going to have to stop him."
"Obviously."

[AceOfNothing]

Okay! Big General update with the guild members! Plus some introduction things
Also do wanna say I’m good with fan art, wondering about other peoples characters honestly.
I still might give Guild members names. I have been using a dragon name randomizer for my guys because….. idk I wanted to.

Anyway moving on

---

Seel’s Guild/The Questionable Circus

Questionable Circus was old, most people in town remember the circus as old, it’s commonly accepted that the Circus was founded before Laughable Keep but who can be sure. Upkeep and finding talent was slowly catching up, and while a young Seel had dreamed of running it he knew before inheriting it he’d have to do something different. His cousin, Dewgong, spent time traveling as an explorer, and It’s stories inspired Seel to open the Guild. With the assistance of Flygon, Dewgong and Seel worked tirelessly to set up the guild, and now feel much more secure in this business venture.

They have not fully shaken off the circus influence, but a little bit of fun in these difficult times is good for everyone.
 

---

Name: Silly Seel The Balanced (Circus Name)
Pokemon: Seel
Role: Guild Owner
Pronouns: Any (tends to get He/They most frequently)
Backstory: Worked as an Acrobat and Clown in the circus, wished to inherit it one day. He did, but reality made it impossible to keep the circus going. She left on a mission to find her cousin, eventually leading to them deciding to run their own guild. Seel is very sympathetic towards other Pokemon, and Dewgong worries they will get taken advantage of. Doesn’t like to talk about what happened to it’s family, but swears the stars twinkling are it’s parents telling jokes.
Coloring/Design changes: Clown. Clown. Ball resembles a pokeball. Clown.
Other: Gives out different colored balloon animals as gifts for events, honestly probably wishes it was a balloon dog.

Name: Dizzy Disaster The Dewgong
Pokemon: Dewgong
Role: Swap Shop/Ex Leader of Team Stain
Pronouns: He/They/It (Probably wouldn’t argue with she, but doesn’t vibe with she)
Backstory: Dewgong was raised in the circus, mostly working on the retail side of things and he was considered too imbalanced as a Seel pup. Grew resentful and left young, taking Flygon with him to travel. They weren’t always a nice team, and often ended up kicked out of guilds. Carries a lot of guilt for abandoning Seel, as they were more like siblings as kids. 
Coloring/Design changes: Idk, I wanted it to look related to Seel but not another clown. Here’s the edgy cousin. Purple instead of blue.
Other: prble 
 

---

Name: ??? Probably makes people call him Mister Fly
Pokemon: Flygon
Role: Seel’s advisor/Ex team leader of Team Stain
Pronouns: He/Him
Backstory: Joined the circus later in life but was mostly a problem. Likes being in charge but not taking orders. Joined Dewgong traveling and is almost entirely the reason they are banned from 10 different guilds. Would rather be an actor but hates stage lights.
Coloring/Design changes: Honestly I just color slid actual Flygon for Blue Or Purple, found blue/pink and decided they still felt purple. Money bag because money
Other: Not a big fan of Seel but won’t say shit because of Dewgong.
 

---

Name: ???
Pokemon: Cloyster
Role: Ex Team Stain member 
Pronouns: They/Them
Backstory: Joined Team Stain young, but towards the end of the teams life. Hesitant to join the guild recently, while considered a newer member Cloyster has actually been joining and leaving for years. Pretended to be a psychic for a while but will not talks about that (If you saw them, no you didn’t)
Coloring/Design changes: Loosely Based on Sydney Rock Oysters, I like the pointy. I made the pearl uneven to mimic real pearl more.
Other: I didn’t want it purple I wanted pink/red. I hated it, so purple.
 

---

Name: ???
Pokemon: Water Castform
Role: Sentry
Pronouns: He/They
Backstory: Grew up in a cave, was rescued by Seel accidentally early on in Seel’s journey. When Seel built their guild, it went to find her to join. Not a fan of bright lights.
Coloring/Design changes: Kinda kept it normal but like… what can you do. Made the “pupils” large to find light.
Otherrobably good friends with Vulpix, but Munchlax is who he clings to.
 

---

Name: ???
Pokemon: Munchlax
Role: Sentry help
Pronouns: She/They
Backstory: Showed up one day asking for a job, bonded with Castform. Kinda a kiss ass when it comes to Flygon, he considers her his prodigy. Not good at first impressions, partly because she refuses not to “be true to herself”. Actually very sweet and caring, but stubborn and refuses to make themself small. Grew up with a lot of brothers.
Coloring/Design changes: Vaguely she’s based on like… “girly oc’s” that get picked on. Wanted it fem/colorful/maybe a bit overboard.
Other: Not getting into why this was my design choice but I have gender thoughts.
 

---

Name: ???
Pokemon: Nincada
Role: Chef/Friend Wrangler
Pronouns: He/Him
Backstory: The child of a vendor from the circus, Nincada himself was not involved in the circus. But, to honor his parents long time friends, he joined in building efforts of the guild and stuck around. Would like to be an artist
Coloring/Design changes: Shading doesn’t help, actually a little green but mostly the same. Berry stains.
Other: Paints with berry juice.
 

---

Name: Ondriem The Warrior
Pokemon: Makuhita
Role: First member to join team Strike!
Pronouns: It/They
Backstory: It wishes it could fly, and spends a lot of time in the clouds. More of a dancer then a fighter, surprisingly light on it’s feet. Not afraid of a fight. Egg was abandoned and mislabeled so it was raised by an Altaria couple, who usually only adopted bird Pokemon, but kept them and called them Duckling as a kid.
Coloring/Design changes: Colors picked from a Cassowary, found in the clouds. So birdish
Other: Probably mimics bird calls

[skinstealer]

big things happening in our playthrough! we FINALLY unlocked recruitment (i say as if it hasnt been only 3 sessions) and spent some time looking for party members. there are a lot of potential members in the areas we have unlocked, and we're going to try and go for umbreon, absol, and stunky soon. lots of favorites and ones we've already made in petz!

for now, we've recruited two new members: lilith the vaporeon, and beethany the combee. we werent planning on getting a combee by any stretch, but we realized that combees Are hexable (sadly not vespiquen, which sucks extra because beethany is a female combee!!!) and she was so nice when she asked to join our team after a job...she must have been so happy when cloudburst and typhoon stole shit for her. missions to recover objects are probably paid heists/muggings? and then outlaws are like. rival thieves to the bandit guild i think. whatever works!

we've only had the time to make lilith, but we felt like she was more pressing than making the other NPCs for now. team members come first!



[image description: a petz collage of lilith, a vaporeon with an inverted color palette (though her eyes and outlines are still black) and a striped body palette. she looks very refined and snooty.]

lilith is a handful, plain and simple. she is a weird goth girl with refined tastes, and has turned to a life of crime after feeling like she needed more money to fulfill her needs in life. she prefers bitter tastes and fancy food and often pesters the rest of storm drain to stop eating garbage and sweets. cloudburst and typhoon weren't super sure on letting her onboard...but her helping hand and strength moves make her surprisingly brutal and effective in taking down marks and other goons.



[image description: a petz image collage of lilith interacting with typhoon and cloudburst. both interactions look fairly neutral.]

unfortunately, when it comes to lilith's relationships with other established characters in petz...she's pretty boring. she doesn't mess with people but sometimes people wrestle with her, and that's pretty much it. even with her refined tastes and defined opinions, she and other people are just...pure neutral. it's all business. maybe there's some bickering here and there, but she is, at the very least, very professional. this is just a job to her.



[image description: lilith interacting with betsy and speckles. more neutral interactions.]

yeah she doesn't have anything significant with Team Magic Show either. she's just not here to make buddies! hopefully beethany injects some intrigue into the team...

while a bit of a letdown character-wise, the idea of her being businesslike has potential, especially with how helpful she's been in actual missions. we're actually starting to do missions without wiping!

next up...figuring out some areas, including the bandit's guild!

[skinstealer]

a new mon...this one's an NPC, and replaces kangaskhan in our game. as such, it feels right to make them the storeroom manager of Dark Village, the very aptly named (yes, that is literally the name of it) thieves' guild. i have named them Conroy and they are...well, they're alright. easy to hex, at least.




[image description: a petz image collage of conroy, a furret with a thick chest and limbs, and a blue collar with a star tag. they also have light and dark speckles on their fur.]

i'll be honest, i'm having a hard time pinning conroy down. maybe i will ramble while i write this down...they're a furret with high energy levels, and are quite chatty in the guild itself. they stole their collar from a wealthy jeweler, and even though other pokemon tell them it's risky to wear it around so openly when it has a signature style, they can't resist showing off. it's their prized possession.


[image description: a petz collage of cloudburst and conroy. they seem neutral on each other.]

cloudburst and conroy are totally neutral on each other. to the two of them, it's just business. not friends, not enemies. cb is here to pick up his shit and leave.


[image description: a petz collage of conroy and typhoon. they clearly hate each other.]

typhoon on the other hand...conroy does NOT like typhoon and the feeling is mutual. maybe conroy just doesn't take typhoon seriously, or makes jeers about his henchman-ly nature...typhoon takes his status as cb's partner very seriously after all, both in love and in crime, and wouldn't take well to people even just calling him annoying for it. cb is pretty oblivious to this happening, and has no idea the two hate each other so much. typhoon may even hesitate to bring it up, because they both need the storage service...

[image description: an image collage of conroy interacting with betsy, lilith, and speckles. they seem fine with lilith, angry around speckles, and angry around betsy.]

conroy does NOT get along with team magic show. maybe their shitty attitude applies to their gimmick. they just don't respect magicians.

them and lilith are cool though. they probably share a love of jewels.

simple update, but hey, another one down.

[skinstealer]

okay, another simple update...last time we played, we got a new squad member via a combee asking to join the team after a successful mission. apparently we pulled off a heist So Well that beethany wanted to join a life of crime...


[image description: a petz image collage of a combee, featuring a standard design aside from a red heart pin on the right honeycomb.]

here's beethany. or, at least, beethany + two other bees we haven't named yet. they're probably just shy! beethany is specifically the one with the heart pin.

beethany is a rebellious young combee (still an adult, but probably like...think 18-19. she's still young.) who wants to get into TROUBLE. she loves picking fights with people in the field and wants to scrap with anyone who gives the team shit. she's overenthusiastic, plucky, and a real handful.

how does she get along with the rest? let's see....



[image description: a collage of beethany interacting with the members of team storm drain. beethany seems oblivious to cloudburst's irritation, neutral with typhoon, and snubbed by lilith.]

team storm drain relationships are...mixed. cloudburst seems pretty irritated by her, but he tolerates her presence. weirdly, she gets said when cb is put away- maybe she looks up to him, which would make sense with her wanting to join the team so desperately. maybe she nagged him to join?

her and typhoon are true neutral. not much thought about each other.

lilith disapproves of beethany- probably sees her as a little kid. similarly to cloudburst, this isn't picked up on by beethany at all. poor girl...


[image description: a petz image collage of beethany interacting with the NPCs of the run. beethany and betsy are neutral, she and speckles hate each other, and her and conroy are friends.]

and with the rest of the guild so far...conroy is her friend! i like to think that he sneaks her little goodies when she comes to help with the storeroom. she doesn't like sweets, so maybe some jerky or something. what do pokemon make jerky out of? fruit leather maybe? i dont know, that's still sweet. who knows.

her and speckles fucking hate each other. funny answer: she cheats at game night

her and betsy are fully neutral, though. maybe betsy just doesn't see the cheating as a crime.

we're free to resume our session again! we will probably be hunting for a stunky, umbreon, and or absol....

[skinstealer]

well...we've been playing a good bit, but haven't made progression. we ended up spending like 3 hours total trying to recruit a stunky to the team...only to realize that the first dungeon's stuff is completely unrecruitable. fuck. we'll get a stunky eventually, but MANNNNN it sucks to not get one so early on when they're so tantalizingly out of reach. we'll have an excuse to make one in petz someday...

we did pick up two houndooms and a houndour from going to the wrong dungeon during that 3 hour period, though. igneous, brimstone and charcoal will be hexed and detailed upon in this log soon enough! igneous is the main party member out of the three, and the other two are his siblings...


for now, though, a brief interlude- while doing poorly last night, we decided to do some petz gameplay stuff to destress, and como helped us decide on doing some stuff with our PMD guys. we were in the mood to make props and toys to essentially "play house" with our petz OCs, so after seeing that cloudburst and speckles were the ones that wanted to play that night, we set out to set up an elaborate scene with custom toys and playscene shenanigans...a game night at mt. moonview!



[image description: a petz screencap of a hilly night landscape, covered in glowing lights and cool colors. on the hill in the foreground, there are gold and silver coins, as well as apples and a big blue chest.]

so in rescue team DX (the switch remake of PMD red rescue team), they actually did up some of the friend areas with painterly backgrounds instead of an explorable area. we've never played through the remake ourselves but we do appreciate that they did something with the friend area concept instead of just ditching it like explorers does in favor of a menu. yes, the friend area feature is clunky and hard to wrangle, but it adds so much flavor and worldbuilding potential! thankfully for us, some of these higher-res graphics are pretty suitable for petz playscenes- though sadly not all. the one most well known for being home to clefairy and clefable, Mt. Moonview, works amazingly atmosphere-wise, though it does lack a lot of solid play space. still, for something like this, it'll do.

for the scene itself, i wanted it to be cloudburst going out for a midnight rendevous with speckles, the two of them sneaking away from the bandit camp to do a game night just for the two of them. they're very obviously close friends in our petz game and it makes sense for the two of them to go get some Them Time away from the rest of the members of their teams sometimes. being bandit team leaders is hard work, after all, and sometimes they need to unwind and gripe about how things are going, maybe even swapping tips and secrets over a nice game. to set this scene, we'd use the mt. moonview scene- and we'd need some toys. i just so happened to be looking through OpenGameArt to find some stuff for props for our other crew, so i was already in the mindset of processing sprites and plugging them into the game as toys. picking out some PMD sprites, resizing them, and popping them in the game was no sweat.

i chose the two coin sprites, the classic apple, and a big blue chest that i actually don't know what it's for. if anyone can tell me, let me know- it is a big sprite compared to the others, they're all scaled up by the same amount!


[image description: a screencap of cloudburst and speckles approaching the scene. speckles seems nonchalant, while cloudburst looks hesitant.]

enter our boys out for a night on the town...problem one arose while we were testing the apples. the apple toys are based on the cheese, which is a food item that can be eaten in a single bite. these also have a higher tastiness value- most petz fucking love cheese. these two, however...have food finickiness traits, and refused to eat the apples. there's two types of this that could be applicable here- namely either just fucking hating cheese flavor, or refusing to eat anything but their favorite. after @gyiyg changed the apple to have sweet flavors, cloudburst would eat it, but haven't tested with speckles yet. betsy also would not eat the apple.

still, they arrived at their little setup...i'm not sure what games they actually play, but it's cool to think about them maybe doing some stuff with dice. we asked knux if he'd be down to make us some PMD-style dice sprites for us to put in the game as props, and that may happen in the future...


[image description: cloudburst is busying himself with the apples and coins, while speckles messes with the chest.]

the chest and coins are based off of the chewy sneaker toy- a very common base for props/objects, seeing as petz will mess with them fine, but it doesn't really have any other special qualities. it's a good toy to just, slap a sprite on if you want to put something specific in the game. this morning gyiyg gave them fancy adjectives to make them their "actual colors' (aka assigning the correct color value like "yellow", so that petz can interpret them as intended), among other things, but last night they were basically just reskinned sneakers. either way, they got into messing with them quickly.


[image description: speckles plays with some coins, surrounded by a mess of items.]

it's fun thinking about speckles in his proper bipedal state, fiddling with coins in between his fingertips- i can picture it vividly, and we might even draw it at some point... canonically in our mind, he is a regular bipedal mewtwo, even if his petz incarnation has to be solidly grounded on all fours. considering cb is kind of a runt of a raikou, it does make it funny to consider speckles as the size of a person and cb is like a weird fucked up dog size, and make the two of them gamble. so many interactions come to mind...


[image description: speckles carrying around an apple, while cloudburst carries a gold coin.]

speckles did enjoy picking up and moving the apples around, even if he wouldn't eat them. cb wanted nothing to do with them. i can picture it as a sort of "look, i brought apples!" situation, where cb refuses to eat them and when speckles is asked why he wouldn't eat them, the mewtwo says he brought them for cb! and thus neither of them eat anything, choosing to gamble on empty stomachs.


[image description: cloudburst standing indignantly with a gold coin in his mouth, surrounded by similar coins.]

i think cb did good on this night, gambling-wise- not that he doesn't have a lot of money already, thanks to his tendency to scoop up rare items in the field and sell them for a high price (aka our randomizer keeps giving us bands and orbs and shit). it doesn't look like either of them brought a lot to work with- it's more about the company than the profits, when it's just the two of them.


[image description: speckles holding an apple in his mouth while cloudburst looks away, a coin in his own.]

this is just a pic of speckles and cloudburst doing different things independently, but it really looks like speckles is trying to get cb to eat an apple. they probably bickered and bickered about this, though all in good fun.


[image description: all of the toys are put away, and the two pokemon sit on the starry hill. speckles is gazing into the sky, while cloudburst looks at the ground.]

all in all, it was a lovely little gameplay session, and the prep required actually made it feel a lot more special. these kind of "playing pretend" scenes are really fun to set up, and felt meaningful to do- especially since we have all of these toys and the playscene for later interactions as well, if we want! it definitely makes us want to get off our asses and design some scenes for the environments we've randomly generated, too...

if anyone has any requests for PMD item sprites put into petz, let us know! thank you for letting me take you on a little journey.