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QUESTBOARD
⋆✩ quests ✩⋆
One of the core responsibilities of guild members within Bottlecap Bay is to complete quests from the Questboard. Located in the center of the city, the questboard is a physical board where Pokemon can submit requests for help, resources, exploration, and all sorts of things. Each quest rewards characters with points to not only increase their member ranking, but also raise the guild ranking, thereby having a direct effect on the direction of the game!
QUEST TYPES
LIGHT QUESTS
These quests are simpler, RNG-style quests that are far more straightforward and don't require a summary or a thread! Light quests are available every month, but during TDM months, they are the only type of quest available, meaning that nothing plot heavy or significant will be placed into the quests. They also typically reward 50 points to characters, but occasionally reward 100 points.
HEAVY QUESTS
Heavy quests are more intensive, thread-required quests that often hold bits of plot or more intrigue, and are only available every other month. They are also often more dangerous than light quests, and unlike light quests, are not guaranteed to be completed when submitting for them! Depending on the results, these quests can reward anywhere from 200-300 points each depending on success! Characters may only participate in one heavy quest per month.
PLAYER QUESTS
These are quests submitted by other players, available as players come up with them. A player may submit a quest during any month, and may even post the same quest again on a subsequent month, when it makes sense ICly to do so. They are otherwise very similar to Light Quests; more information can be found below, but as a rule, they reward 50 points to characters.
ALL QUESTS
So what do all quests have in common? They must be submitted by the deadline date on the quest itself, and each character may claim points from a given quest only once, though they may repeat the quest with other teams as many times as they like.
Mod quests in particular will have difficulty levels, determined by the filled in stars on a scale of 1-3, with three filled stars being the most difficult. Difficulty can mean anything from physical danger to intensive puzzles, depending on the quest! Mod quests of both types may also sometimes have claim limits, with the number of teams allowed listed per quest.
Lastly, players can feel free to roleplay any of the NPCs that are not listed on the Locations page under the NPC section! If it's not game breaking or contradicting anything in the information available to players, then we generally play by the "do what's most fun!" rules.
AVAILABLE QUESTS
ICE TO SEE YOU
QUEST TYPE: LIGHT
QUEST GIVER: Spheal
CLAIM LIMIT: None
DIFFICULTY: ★✩✩
THREAD REQUIRED?: No
DEADLINE: Must be submitted by MAY 25th 11:59 PM EST.
We were originally just going to continue to our usual shores, but we heard there’s a place covered in ice right here! Please show us!
POINTS REWARDED: 100 points
EXTRA REWARDS?: A Yache Berry
GUARD TO PORT
QUEST TYPE: LIGHT
QUEST GIVER: Raichu
CLAIM LIMIT: None
DIFFICULTY: ★✩✩
THREAD REQUIRED?: No
DEADLINE: Must be submitted by MAY 25th 11:59 PM EST.
Since we’ve largely had to start from scratch with the teleporter project, I need strong Pokemon who can stand watch over the destination points being tested with items. Please be ready to contact back on your pearls to confirm the arrival of our test goods!
POINTS REWARDED: 50 points
EXTRA REWARDS?: None.
FLOWER POWER
QUEST TYPE: LIGHT
QUEST GIVER: Lurantis
CLAIM LIMIT: None
DIFFICULTY: ★✩✩
THREAD REQUIRED?: No
DEADLINE: Must be submitted by MAY 25th 11:59 PM EST.
Lately, there have been swarms of Floette attacking Pokemon in the Heavy Downmoor area! Locals have requested our aid, so please help fight them off!
POINTS REWARDED: 50 points
EXTRA REWARDS?: No.
SIMMER DOWN
QUEST TYPE: LIGHT
QUEST GIVER: Pidgeot
CLAIM LIMIT: None
DIFFICULTY: ★✩✩
THREAD REQUIRED?: No
DEADLINE: Must be submitted by MAY 25th 11:59 PM EST.
We’re at our wits end with the woods! All efforts to perform the burn-off have ended in failure, and we need to ensure that should the worst happen, the canopy doesn’t go up in flames. Help gather and dispose of any dry, dead wood we can find!
POINTS REWARDED: 50 points
EXTRA REWARDS?: No.
PLAYER QUESTS
Player Quests are now open! These are quests ICly posted by your character to any of Bottlecap Bay's quest boards. They may be quests that are meant for the benefit of the city (or outlying outposts, or good relations with local Pokemon), or they may be quests for a character's personal concerns... and even joke quests are very welcome, for CR purposes!
(Just keep in mind IC reactions while devising a quest - guild leaders may choose not to reward points for "come perform a handstand for me," and there may be negative consequences for posting "assassinate my annoying guild coworker!")
Some general guidelines:
- To respond to a player quest, other players may use the same submission form as for mod quests; they do not have to provide a thread, but do have to fill out the summary.
- For all quests, quests may reward 50 points! Points track how helpful a character is overall, so they may be awarded for (reasonable, non-joke) personal quests as well!
- For quests for the benefit of Bottlecap Bay, guild leaders will generally also allow for item rewards from guild resources. These rewards should be restricted to a single item or type of item chosen by the quest-writing player, and can be one of: berries, basic stones, basic accessories (with no special effects), or small furniture items. A character may also offer handmade items that they are able to make/obtain the resources for.
- For personal quests, guild leaders will not allow for item rewards from guild resources... but a character may still offer handmade items that they are able to make/obtain the resources for!
- Characters who are ICly posting the quest obviously cannot join their own quest! However, at mod discretion, posting a quest may result in extra points in the next point tally, particularly if the quest is for the benefit of Bottlecap Bay - the guild leaders will reward someone looking out for the success of the city.
- Quests may not have limited entry slots.
- Quest-writing players will decide whether responses pass or fail. (They may choose to respond with a blurb with more flavor details, or just a note saying pass/fail.)
- Posted rewards will be fully awarded regardless of pass/fail. If a quest says the reward is 50 points and a berry, then even failing teams will get those rewards.
- It is fine for personal quests to have a biased pass/fail outcome for CR purposes, such as a designated team being pre-arranged to be the only one who succeeds. However, this must be made clear beforehand OOCly, and the above point must be followed.
- Players may decide whether their quest is worth 50 points or 0 points. We're trusting players to use their best judgement! (ICly, points are always awarded by the guild leaders, but will still be awarded for non-joke personal quests that take effort. For example: "My important item is missing, please help me search the woods" or "I want to make a feast to cheer up my friend but I don't know how to cook, please help.")
- If a player would like to have their character ICly post a problematic quest and receive consequences from their guild leader, please contact the mods on the mod contact beforehand! (This is for quests that would be viewed as actively harmful, rather than silly ones.)
- Players may not have their own characters, even their other character, submit for a quest that they posted.
SUBMISSION FORMAT
Please use the following format to set up a player quest!
If you would like, you may also use the following format when responding with quest results (but this is not required)!
QUEST SIGN-UP
To claim and sign up for a quest, simply fill out the form below and reply to the current month's thread for mod quests, or to the individual quest for player quests. All quests require at least 2 characters to complete, with no maximum unless specified. Keep in mind that for quests requiring threading, 3 is probably a good number. Multiple quests can be signed up for in one comment.
PLAYERS: Players involved.
CHARACTERS: Characters involved. (2 minimum)
QUEST: Name of the quest you're signing up for.
SUMMARY: (Optional for light, required for heavy or player quests.) How will the quest be tackled? Write a short summary of how the characters intend to succeed and include any relevant details (tensions within the team, particular skills or weaknesses, any relevant triggers to avoid, etc.)
After claiming a quest, a mod will reply with confirmation and/or more details, and may request more information on how the team tackles the quest. For quests that are limited in some way, players who manage a sign up one month will be required to wait for 24 hours after quest posting to sign up for a limited quest the following month.
FULL NAVIGATION
QUEST BEGINS
Robin and Agnes aren't one of the first group of teams into the teleportation room, so they're left to hang out in the Archive corridors waiting for their turn, watching Lum Berries bustle to and fro with packs of supplies. Which means they're also right there to witness when, after the first group is sent out, Raichu tries to contact Chimecho over the pearls... and a sense of alarm starts to spread through the teleportation specialists.
It's quickly clear that something has gone very wrong, as Chimecho is reporting that none of the first group of teams has shown up near her, where they were expected. Where could they possibly have ended up? And what went wrong? None of the teleportation specialists' tests did anything like this!
The next few hours are either agonizingly nerve-inducing or frustratingly dull, depending on how anxious team members are. It's clear that there's not going to be any more teleporting going on today - but those researchers still need to be found, and now there's many other teams who may need a rescue! Robin and Agnes are loaded up with supplies and left on standby while guild leaders discuss what to do and teleport specialists try to figure out something about where everyone is. Especially distressingly, the missing teams aren't responding to grumpearl communications - hang on, wait, was that a couple words that just got through? Are they just nearly out of range, or is there something interfering?
Eventually, Polteageist makes some befuddling suggestions that seem to be just what the teleportation specialists need, and the Psychic Pokemon report back: they have a general idea of where each missing team ended up. They are all beyond the cliffs, just scattered widely. They can't confirm that anyone didn't end up injured in the botched teleportation, though... so with that, Mightyena and Ribombee promptly start assigning rescue teams. Robin and Agnes are given the task of finding and retrieving Emporio, Kaiba, and Catrina.
Entirely on foot, this time. This may be a multi-day quest.
Fortunately, with this month's efforts to build stairs and platforms up the cliffs, part of the way up is easier - though at some point you're still going to end up forced to climb. And for this first section, at least you have the company of all the other rescue teams. At the top, though, Robin and Agnes will have to steel themselves and split off. Now they'll be following their personal directions from the teleportation specialists.
Robin and Agnes must turn sharply inland. There are more cliffs here, these ones overgrown with plants and piercing even higher into the sky than they've already climbed. Fortunately - unlike at least one other unlucky team - Robin and Agnes may skirt around those. Instead they're dropping down an escarpment into a green valley. Allegedly, this is the place where the Lum researchers were intending to meet with Decidueye... but the latter isn't who you're looking for right now!
The valley becomes more wet as Robin and Agnes continue downhill, sprouting thick clumps of wetland bamboo, and eventually transitions entirely into a soggy marsh. Grass sprouts in patches, and pools of water are - at least for now - calm and placid. There's no choice but to slog through them, but some look deceptively much shallower than they actually are. Agnes's Drought ability does help to some degree, evaporating water as they walk, but only to a point.
You'd think that it would be easy to find missing Pokemon here, with at least the surface of the land so flat... but the fog that's rolled in makes it impossible to see far into the distance. It's disorientingly easy to get turned around and find yourself back at the bamboo, almost out of the marsh. Robin and Agnes will find it unusually common to mishear what others are saying too, as if the fog is twisting their words - sometimes to the point of getting them in dangerous situations! It may rest on Robin's diplomacy to keep them from coming to blows over it, but is that enough?
There are wild Pokemon here as well, darting and slithering through the grass or swimming fluidly through the water with barely a ripple. Some flee the team outright, but others watch them with gleaming eyes. If the team asks if anyone's seen who they're looking for, they'll get answers in the negative - but for some reason, there's a sense that they're not being told the truth? And even when they move onward, Robin and Agnes will quickly start getting the feeling that they're being followed...
Good luck with your search, and be careful!
Please fill out the unique form below sometime by the April 25th deadline so that your quest can be considered completed. Please note that you have flexibility and freedom in threading this quest and any related NPCs (aggressive Pokemon, layout and terrain hazards, etc). Resolution details for players (including whether you succeeded in rescuing your target) will come with the quest conclusion; threads need only have one or more comments from each participant to qualify for submission.
no subject
How do they carry out searching for the missing Pokemon and dealing with the region's challenges?: Within the soggy marshes, Robin can float above and help pull Agnes out of unexpectedly deep pools if needed. The fog and twisted words will likely be difficult: while Robin and Agnes are used to strange magic, Agnes can be prone to aggression and Robin has been on the lookout for most of her life for people to do her harm, and her first "meeting" with Agnes was a dreamshare in which Agnes killed her painfully. Robin will try to keep a Calm Mind, but it could truly go either way at first.
If the team is confronted by wild Pokemon, seemingly with hostile or threatening intent, how do they respond?: Robin will spend minimal amount of time negotiating, and most of it will be fairly coercive. Robin will be liberal with her use of Infestation to make the hostile Pokémon try and cooperate and tell her where her missing friends are, but will not hesitate to "faint" them if she believes they have put her friends in danger. Agnes will follow in suit, being more of a fighter than negotiator. Agnes's moveset includes some nasty attacks like Bitter Malice, a one-turn Solar Beam (thanks to Drought) and Burning Jealousy to punish anyone who tries to set up with stat-boosting moves.
SUCCESS
Robin's speed to resort to Infestation and Agnes' rapid escalation to aggression have not necessarily served them well. While the wild Pokemon quickly prove not to be very much of a threat to them, they're also not very helpful, and Robin and Agnes' approach seems to have prompted most to either run from them on sight or to attack just as aggressively. It's slowing them down! On top of that, Agnes in particular is struggling with the wet terrain, despite her Drought ability.
For a while they manage to keep it together nonetheless, but with their lack of trust in each other, the fog quickly starts getting to them. They nearly come to blows repeatedly, taking out aggression on each other just as much as wild Pokemon.
It's in the midst of this that they're suddenly contacted on their grumpearls. Hang on, weren't those not working this whole time? How is this happening? And does it mean they can - no, seems like they still can't reach town…
Whether or not they get an answer, it's Ritsuka and Firoza on the other end. The two negotiate Agnes and Robin down from their squabbles rapidly, snapping them out of it by letting them know that Kaiba, Catrina, and Emporio are nearby… and in danger!
Agnes and Robin rush over to rescue their targets - who have just been knocked out by a massive swarm of wild Pokemon, who seem to be about to continue tormenting the poor unconscious Pokemon. Before this can happen, Robin and Agnes unleash an overwhelming assault that drives them away; the already tired wild Pokemon are more easily scared off than expected.
From here Kaiba, Catrina, and Emporio - who may even have evolved! - must be dragged back through the marsh, down the cliffs, and to the clinic. It's a tough haul, but fortunately having two larger Pokemon… and a Cofagrigus body… makes it possible.
It is once they're out of the marsh that the fog begins to clear. As if a weight is physically lifted from everyone's minds, as the air brightens so too do everyone's thoughts. The Pokemon you were so certain had come to bring your end... the words and taunts, the lies that you were hearing… nearly every aspect of it was never real. It seems that at least prior to Agnes and Robin's rampage, all but a few of the Pokemon in these regions were actually trying to help, and even the ones crouched over Kaiba, Emporio, and Catrina weren't intending to keep battling past a knockout. Now one can only wonder how your responses will have affected relations in the area...
Even so, it is with soaring feelings that the team returns home. They've successfully rescued the Pokemon they were assigned and managed to get them back home alive! Considering just what a disaster this entire affair began with, it's no surprise then that the guild leaders have determined these efforts a 'Success' - after all, they didn't even get to begin with the intended advantage of teleporting directly to the region! Each member of the team is thus awarded with 300 points. Congratulations! Though remember: it could easily have been you out there in those Pokemon's place...