Fourth Wall info post

[indigo_league]

Fasten your seatbelts, because it is (almost) time for yet another Victory Road Fourth Wall!



From Friday the 25th to Sunday the 27th, Victory Road will once against be breaching its containment walls, dragging friend and foe alike into a maelstrom of weirdness and pokemon shenanigans. For three days, the regions of Johto and Kanto will be saying goodbye to the laws of physics and common sense, and instead be ruled by the capricious whims of, well, whoever it is that causes these weird weekends to happen. We don't know who it is. Do you?

In any case, during this weekend, not only your characters will be dealing with a heap of nonsense, but people from outside the game can also take a little stab at having some pokemon fun. In this info post, we will have a little Fourth Wall glossary for anyone who hasn't experienced one of these weekends before, but as is so common with these weekends, there will also be a little special going on this time. So, there also be a separate FAQ to answer your questions regarding that.

We figured that people might want a little bit of additional time to digest (and come up with plans!) for this Fourth Wall's special twist, which is why this FAQ will be going up a bit early, giving you all a chance to read over everything and ask any questions that you might have.


For more information, please read our little Fourth Wall FAQ

What is a Fourth Wall Event?

A Fourth Wall event is an in-game event where people from other games, random characters, even players themselves, just randomly interact with your characters. It's a literal breaking of that invisible "fourth wall" that separates the game-verse from... the rest of the internet. It’s meant to be a silly and fun time though all kinds of CR can take place during it.

How do you participate?

In short, a character makes a post in the comm or a top-level in the mod-posted catch-all and others tag it. Feel free to just tag around if you don’t want to start a thread of your own. You do not have to stick to your in-game character accounts during this event; you can use characters from other games, crack accounts, player accounts, etc to play!

What kind of characters can participate?

Anything and everything, from AU’s to characters from other DW games, ponies, disembodied heads, zombies, Arceus with a saddle, the players, Hello Kitty, and the list goes on...

What about characters coming in, can they have a Pokémon too?

Sure thing! You can bring in any Pokémon from any generation and challenge whoever you want for however much you want. Feel free to knock down or burn down anything. Ride Arceus into battle wearing nothing but a pineapple on your head. It's all good!

Current players are also allowed to have whatever else they want in their party, but all Legendaries will depart after the weekend is over. No keeping the Groudon that followed you home!

Can my character catch Pokémon to KEEP during the event?

Yes, they may! Feel free to saddle your character with some odd Pokémon they weren't expecting to have like a surprise Magikarp appearing inside their backpack.

There are some exceptions-- Pokemon not listed on the availability pages (Johto, Kanto, Sevii) cannot be kept after the event. For example, your character may encounter a wild Chansey in Lavender Town and keep their new friend, but you would not be able to catch and keep Articuno.

Characters also may not keep Pokemon that were given to them by visiting characters-- feel free to get vague and wibbly-wobbly about how a shockingly similar wild Pokemon (as long as it's on the Availability List!) wound up in your character's possession, but nothing that a visiting character gifts to a resident one will stick around once the weekend is over.

We’re also trusting that players will keep this reasonable, and stick to just one or two Pokemon to keep after the event.

Would my non-human character remain in their VR form for the event? What about powers?

Up to you! Your character can return to their original form, powers intact, or whatever you like! Have fun.

What about the environment?

With all the strange things going on, feel free to have your characters experience anomalies while they are travelling. Routes that took days to travel before can now be crossed in minutes. Characters can suddenly find themselves waking up in a different city altogether! If your character is far from where they started out when the event ends, feel free to have them remain there!

Can my character keep items they find during the Fourth Wall?

If this item is normally easily obtainable in the world of the game, like a Pokeball from the store or some choice rare berries, then yes. The exception to this is that we don’t want people keeping rare items or TMs.

Items like a new house that didn’t previously exist on their street, twenty Masterballs, a car, or piles of rubies that appeared during the event can not be kept. This includes items they may have had access to using their abilities or interacting with the warping environment, or any items from home they didn’t already have with them. They will all disappear at the end of the event!

Will my character remember the event once it’s over? What about previous Fourth Wall events?

It is up to you if your character’s memory suddenly becomes clear and they remember previous Fourth Walls during the span of the event.

Once the event ends, your characters’ memories will be somewhat fractured and mixed up. Recalling the events of the weekend will feel like recalling an especially vivid dream, but they are true memories. If you need a number for reference, figure that a character can remember about 80% of what happens during this three-day period.

What happened to those three days our characters mysteriously lost?

There's still no explanation for that one. The Professors won't even be reachable for a few days; don't expect them to answer your calls. To make it worse, you may not be where you were last...

Does this count for the activity check?

Fourth wall threads and posts carried out by characters who are current residents of VR are fair game for AC. Fourth-wallers and AU versions of a character currently in VR (for example, the same character played as from a different canonpoint, etc) do not count towards AC, even when played by the same player.

What if I just arrived and haven't made an in-character introduction post yet?

Feel free to arrive in the middle of the event! Your character will probably just be that much more confused. You may also hold off until after the event if you wish, in order to not become lost in the confusion.

What if I don't want to participate?

Fourth Wall is not a required event. However, it does affect the game's setting, so logging would have to be backdated or forward-dated to before or after the fourth wall. If you choose not to participate, your character may enter a glitch or be asleep during the event. They will still lose three days’ time and be disoriented like everyone else.

I have a different question…

No worries! Just comment here and we’ll get on that!

---

So, what is the twist this time?

Geography during the Fourth Wall weekends has always been pretty wonky. You walk outside, and suddenly you are in a different city. You open a door, and it leads to someone else's closet. These phenomena are weird, but have become somewhat expected over the years. Not that that makes them any less annoying when you are trying to find your way around!

However this Fourth Wall, while your characters are travelling around, they might come across areas that look completely unlike anything that has ever been present in these regions. Turning a corner in Goldenrod City, might suddenly lead to... an icy compound? A whole castle has suddenly appeared in Viridian City! There is a whole-ass wall around Pallet Town?!

Yes, as you might have figured out by now, during this Fourth Wall, in addition to the normal sights of Johto and Kanto, characters (both VR ones and visiting alike) will be able to stumble into areas and settings straight out of your characters' home worlds. Any places that your characters have been wanting to see? Or conversely, really been glad to be rid off? Well, (un)fortunately, this weekend, they might be stumbling right back into them.

Of course, there are a few limitations which we will go over in this FAQ.

So, which places from my characters' homeworld can show up?

Essentially, any area or building your character is familiar with can show up here in VR. Though please note that for our purposes, familiar with means that it is a place or area they have visited before. If it some place they've only heard off, it cannot appear. Similarly, if your character has visited a certain location, but not all of it, then only the parts they have visited can show up here.

Can a place that is destroyed still show up here?

Yes, that is absolutely fine! Just as long as it is some place your character has visited before, it can appear here, even if said place or building is now destroyed.

Will the places be populated?

The locations that show up here will not be populated. Any plant-life will be there, of course, but the people and animals that might otherwise have inhabited those places are either completely missing or have been replaced with pokemon. So, if the location your character remembers had large bears roaming around in it, they might find that during the Fourth Wall, those bears have been replaced by Ursaring.

Do spaceships count as viable locations?

Yes. Depending on the size of the ship in question, characters might either find someone's rust bucket of a Razor Crest just parked in a clearing like that is normal, or if the ship is extremely large, they'd just suddenly find themselves in a corridor on the ship -- as in, walk outside the pokecentre and suddenly you are on the Enterprise.

Is there is limit to how many locations can show up?

No. Go wild!

We will say that only the player whose character actually belongs to said canon can introduce specific locations into the Fourth Wall. This can either be done via introducing the location in your top level, or if you'd like to give people free reign to visit certain locations even without your character present, you can post all relevant information on said locations in this post (we'll make a separate top level for that) and then once the Fourth Wall rolls around, people can freely stumble into said places.

It is completely up to you if you want to make a certain location free to use or if you'd rather keep it contained to your top level.

Can visiting characters also add locations?

They can in their top levels, but to keep things from getting too out of control, they cannot add these locations as free-to-use ones here in this post. Essentially, if someone wants to toss Captain Picard onto the Fourth Wall, he could have the Enterprise available as a location in his top level. But because Picard isn't normally part of VR, the Enterprise couldn't be posted here.

I have another question!

Feel free to ask it down below and we will get to it ASAP. Please note that there will be a specific comment to ask questions in, so please put your questions there. The rest of the post will be available for people to plot, so we won't be monitoring that!

Comments

Budehuc Castle

[lightningbearer]

Welcome to Budehuc Castle! Located on a cliffside overlooking a lake and featuring some rather soothing BGM, the castle grounds are an odd fragment of Zexen construction located out in what's otherwise Grassland territory. Though devoid of its usual inhabitants, you might find Meowth, Skitty, Glameow, Litten, or Purrloin wandering the grounds, along with the occasional Growlithe and Rockruff.


Gate and Front Plaza

The entrance to the castle isn't so much a "gate" as a large gap in the crumbling walls, with a mostly-overgrown paved stairs and path. Immediately inside the gate you'll see to your right an odd tent that doesn't match the rest of the architecture at all, followed by a building that based on the signage seems to be some kind of lottery or similar shop? And finally at the end nearest the castle is a small inn consisting of a front entrance room, a small dining room, and a few bedrooms on the upper floor.

In the middle of this front plaza is a small fountain that seems to constantly attract Pidove, and to the left are a few more buildings. Investigating these will show that one is... probably something magic-related (a rune sage shop, to be specific), another is clearly some kind of general shop, and the third is filled with assorted antiques as an appraiser's shop. Past this are stairs to the lower, side level of the grounds, and inbetween the two sets of buildings, straight ahead from the entrance, are stairs up to the main castle.

In front of the castle is another much smaller open space, where you can admire the architecture, or head to your left, past the entrance to a side building with a small doghouse in front, and a narrow set of stairs to the side area below.


Lakeside

Should you continue your explorations outdoors by heading to the side area, there's more to explore. At the far end, at the bottom of the narrow stairs from the front of the main castle building, there's an iron door under the stairs, and to the left when facing it is some kind of open-air diner. It's probably very nicely stocked with foods to make all sorts of combinations of dishes, it's just a pity that the stack of recipes is probably in a language no one visiting knows. Beyond the diner and along the whole edge of this area is a large lake, and... is that a ship out there just behind the castle? There's totally a ship there. Huh.

Anyway, to the right of the door and stairs is another building, this one absolutely filled with all kinds of stuff. Antlers, spices, crystal balls, furs, and other such goods as a trading post might have. Beyond that the hill slopes upwards past nice garden patch with various fruits and vegetables growing, and beyond that is the stairs that lead back up to the front plaza area.


Hillside

Continue on and there's several more buildings. One has training dummies set out in front of it, and the next has what's clearly a forge on the lower level and what appears to be an armory above it. Past this is a tree-lined path to some stables. While they're devoid of horses now, you might find a Mudsdale or Rapidash or two... which is convenient, as there appears to be some kind of racetrack set up in the field beyond. Have fun!

There's also a few Tepig and Grumpig roaming around nearby, and if someone takes the time to really examine the dusty ground of the racetrack, they might find what appear to be giant bird and giant cat prints. Huh. What could possibly have left those?


Castle - Main Level

Returning to the castle by the front, inside the main entrance is a large room with a high ceiling and a grand staircase sweeping up to the second floor. To the right of the door is a small room that was probably once an office but is now filled with a mixture of furniture and... some kind of exercise equipment. One of the tables is laid out for playing a card game of some sort, but naturally (luckily?) no one's there to explain the rules.

Back in the entrance hall, next to the door of the side room is a tall, ornate mirror. Messing it may or may not teleport you somewhere, probably at random due to the lack of anyone present who knows how to use this kind of magic. You have been warned. Beyond that is an old-fashioned elevator, and between the elevator and the main staircase is a set of stairs leading down to a basement level.

To the left of the stairs is, well, a hole in the wall, through which you can see a ship. The same ship you can see from outside, in fact! But more to the left is a large meeting room. The walls of the room feature large, deer-themed tapestries and crossed swords, the floor is covered in thick carpet, and there's what appears to be a small shrine on the far wall. Suits of armor and large red banners featuring a flame-like symbol also ring the room.

Beyond this is a hallway that leads to the back of the castle, where there's more collapsed wall. On the far right of this hallway is a room that was probably originally servants' quarters and appears to have been converted to an infirmary, and to the left is a door to the tavern. The tavern features a nicely-stocked bar and a small stage for entertainment at the far end, as well as a kitchen (also stocked!) in the back.


Castle - Second Floor

Should you go up the stairs to the second floor, right in the middle at the top is what's clearly a suggestion box, with a pen and slips of paper for writing notes readily available! There's also some kind of newsletter posted on the wall, though good luck reading it if you don't know the language. To the right is what's clearly a library absolutely PACKED with books. If you're lucky, you might find an illustrated one featuring monsters or other such interesting things, if you're very lucky (or absurdly persistent) you could even stumble across a particular tome which contains a sketched portrait of a certain one-eyed mercenary. It's clearly a fairly old book, too, some years at minimum, yet the portrait looks identical. Huh. Finally, there's a table set up here for a card game, but nobody around to explain the rules.

To the other side of the stairs is an ornate and moodily-lit room featuring some assorted statues of various shapes and sizes. Down the hall beyond that (again, with a bit of a hole in the far wall...) is first a small bedroom-slash-office, and then the master suite, featuring both a well-furnished office and a comfortable bedroom.


Castle - First Basement and Ship

Down the stairs to the first basement level, there's a... is that a graveyard? That's totally some kind of underground graveyard. There may be signs of someone digging in one corner, and very possibly some Litwick or Lampent hovering around the graves. Oh, and amongst the normal footprints in the soft soil are occasion prints that look like they're from some sort of oversized duck, and others still that, frankly, almost look like they belong to a dinosaur. How very strange indeed.

If that weren't weird enough though, there's again a hole in the wall... and this hole features some planks forming a bridge to a matching hole in the ship in the back. Crossing into the ship you'll find an open space long since stripped of any cargo, with three cabins to one side. One has been decorated with assorted rugs and woven hangings of intricate geometric designs, the second is very neat and tidy with decor that looks like it wouldn't be out of place in the main castle, and the third... the third frankly looks like a tavern at the end of the night, with empty wine bottles, a dartboard, and general untidiness.

If you take the stairs up to the deck above, you'll find a very nice view of the lake, as well as several rows of towels hung out to dry. And the doors to the cabins up there are draped with hangings that wouldn't be out of place at a Japanese-style bathhouse. In fact, if you go in there, it is a bathhouse. Somebody totally took the ruined cabins of the ship and somehow converted them into an open-air, heated bath. Nice.

The rest of the ship is largely, well, a ship. It's clearly not going anywhere given the damage, but it's scenic and quiet, at least! And yes, by "quiet" we mean no background music. At all. Just the sound of the waves.

Back to the castle, at the far end of that basement floor there's a counter decorated with a simple bone-design banner, in front of a door with a similar banner above it. Inside that door is... stuff. Oh so much stuff. Seriously who even put this here? Partially-used medicines, spell scrolls, miscellaneous armor and equipment, rune crystals, knick-knacks and accessories.... Yeah, it's a mess of a storeroom.


Castle - Second Basement

Further exploration will find there's stairs to another basement level below. Head down there and you'll find a storeroom of a more practical kind, filled with crates of grains, shanks of meat, and assorted other food supplies. It looks like someone spilled something though, to just from the mess of flour on the floor. Further down the hall are several jail cells, one of which features bars bent very out of shape. Who knows the story behind that, but it appears that someone's set up some kind of office of sorts there? There's reference books, various guides, all kinds of notes, and generally the sorts of things one would stereotypically find in a detective's office.

Beyond the jail cells is an iron-clad door to the outside, the same one at the foot of the stairs to the front of the castle.


Castle - ???

There's still, however, one last mystery to be found. Should you at any point decide to take the elevator, and succeed in using it despite its lack of operator, you might discover something interesting. Namely, that despite the castle only having four floors, the elevator actually travels to five. Should you take the elevator to this mysterious fifth level, you'll find yourself underground in a cave of some sort, a tunnel leading away. The tunnel is crawling with monsters Pokémon: Gorebyss, Hattrem, and the occasional Primarina, and after a while splits in two. Don't worry about trying your luck though, as both branches of the tunnel meet up again in a small cavern, from which another tunnel leads away. Follow that tunnel and... you'll find a very nice sitting room. Now who the heck put that all the way down here?


Tablet of Stars

Now, the castle grounds don't really extend beyond the front 'gate' before you're back to wherever you were before. Except that, if you take a sharp turn to the north, you might stumble across a sort of connected area. It's not much, just a small point overlooking the lake with several rocks protruding from the ground, and a carved stone tablet in the middle of them. On that tablet is a list of names. One hundred and eight names, to be precise. None of of which, of course, are likely to be legible to most visitors here... Unless, perhaps, one happened to find a certain book with a certain portrait in the castle library. And then happened to note down the writing captioning that portrait. And then happened to spend enough time looking closely enough at the names marked in the stone tablet to see that one of them, in fact, is indeed a match for the one in that book.