Another short episode this week…

When we last left our heroes, they had embarked into Seafoam Cave, a cave where no trip is the same way twice, and even the items found will be unknown and scrambled, leading some to compare it to a roguelike. Our heroes do have an advantage compared to other travelers: The Heart of Fire can identify items. But to other travelers, the journey is not so easy…

Episode 30: Follow the Eight Melodies

“Ooh, what does this do?” Misty smiled as she picked up a wand that appeared to be made of iron. She aimed it at the wall and fired a red beam, which materialised into a Zubat.

“Glacier Beam!” Brenna called, freezing the Zubat before it could swoop to bite Misty.

“Ash, if you would…” Brock began. Ash nodded and aimed the Heart at the wand Misty clutched.

This is a wand of summoning. the Heart replied.

“NOW you tell me…” Misty sighed as she tossed the wand away.

“Cardinal rule of roguelikes: What you don’t know can be hazardous to your health.” Brock explained as he wrote down “iron wand=wand of summoning” down in a notebook.

“At least be thankful we don’t have to worry about ‘yet another stupid death’ in here.” Misty swallowed hard at the thought of dying as she followed her friends down a stairwell, and that Seafoam Cave paled in comparison to a real roguelike.

“But we DO have to worry about certain Rockets following us,” Ash cautioned, showing the others a scene of the Rockets inside the cave on the floor above them. James was teetering about the floor in an almost Spinda-like fashion, Jessie was running from a blue wand, which was trying to set her on fire, Meowth kept zapping a wand on summoning, inadvertantly summoning an entire pack of Growlithes.

“I didn’t expect this to be a hallucination potion!” James cried as he stumbled about the cave floor.

“Nor did I expect this wand to shoot fire!” Jessie yelped as a blue wand chased her, shooting fire all the while.

“Who made dis place anyway?” Meowth complains as he ran from some Growlithes conjured from a wand of summoning. All three collided with each other, and were warped outside.

Leila giggled at the almost comical scene. “Yet another stupid warp.” The others chuckled in agreement as they continued down the hallway.

It wasn’t long before the group noticed a line of large rocks blocking the hallway–and going back did not appear to be a viable option. “Now which way?” Brenna groaned.

Hayley just giggled and pushed a few of the bulders aside, creating a simple plath foward. “Nothin’ wrong with pushin’ the rocks aside, now is there?”

“Hayley has a point…” Dawn interjected as she pushed another rock into a hole in the floor. “and we likely will be needing some rocks on another floor.” Inspired, the group raced over to what rocks had not been rearranged and began to push them, making a few more rocks fall through holes. While the group could feel the thuds on some rocks as they landed on the floor below, others landed with splashes farther below

Once all the rocks had been pushed away, May lead the group over to a new stairwell. “Now see?” That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“I can think of harder puzzles we’ve solved…” Misty agreed. “Remember the memory puzzle in Suicune’s tower?”

“Let’s not go there…” Brock shuddered as he documented a red flask lying where a rock had been.

Ash crept up to the red flash and aimed the Heart at it. This is a potion of invincibility. Brock updated his item list before following his friends down to the next level of the cave.

Some screeches met them, and Ash gasped as a whole flock of Zubats came flying at them–there were too many for the eight of them to actually fight!

To Be Continued…