THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

[indigo_league]

Get your "Celebelieve" signs out, trainers, because it's about to get legendary.

The massive heat-wave and subsequent thunderstorm at the end of July was apparently only a prelude-- as August progresses, it's become increasingly obvious that Entei, Raikou, and Suicune are on the loose, galloping all over kingdom come and bringing outrageous weather conditions with them, seemingly not even caring whether or not they're seen!

You don't have to be a Legend Seeker to know that this is wildly unusual for Legendary Pokemon. So yeesh, what's the deal? And how do we get them to stop?

That'll be up to the trainers to discover over the course of our August Event: The Dog Days of Summer!


TIMELINE:

August 7th: After increasingly bizarre fluctuations in weather, a newscast sheds some light on what's been going on: footage of the three Legendary Beasts themselves directly causing the chaos, seemingly at odds with each other. Not necessarily openly tussling, but definitely getting territorial. After the seventh, both the severity of the weather and the number of sightings increase. Maybe your character will even have a run-in with one of the Beasts themselves!

August 17th-23rd: Another newscast (along with a log) goes out with a development on the story-- Entei and Raikou have seemingly had enough of each other's shenanigans, and are now on two separate peaks towards the top of Mt. Mortar, roaring at each other loudly enough to be heard all across northern Johto!! Meanwhile Suicune, the scamp, is taking advantage of its siblings' argument and making absolutely everything everywhere else disgustingly moist. M O I S T.
Fortunately, new information is on the rise as well. It seems that both the Bell Tower monks and the Legend Seekers have made some discoveries they want to share... At this time, characters may choose to team up with one of three different groups tackling the problem, with a simple participation requirement. Signups will be open until the 24th!

August 23rd: Scrolls and caverns and fires, oh my! The secret to summoning Ho-Oh is discovered at the Bell Tower, Lugia's hiding place is stumbled across, and an immense forest fire has broken out at Mt. Mortar!

August 25th-30th: At long last, Ho-Oh and Lugia appear to hear everyone's Concerns.

August 31st: ???? WILL OUR HEROES HAVE PREVAILED? OR IS EVERYONE DOOMED TO GO TO SLEEP EVERY NIGHT LISTENING TO TWO LEGENDARIES YELL AT EACH OTHER FROM ACROSS A MOUNTAIN RANGE FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE?? CHECK OUT THE FINAL NEWS BROADCAST AND CONCLUDING POST TO FIND OUT!

OTHER INFO:

CAN MY CHARACTER SEE/INTERACT WITH THE BEASTS BETWEEN THE 7th AND THE 17th?

Yes! The Beasts are normally very reclusive, but from the seventh onwards, it's becoming increasingly clear that they just do not care about being spotted by humans. In fact, you may very well step out of your tent in the morning to find a miniature thunderstorm demolishing all your camping supplies, and Raikou sitting smugly just out of range and giving you a look that says 'Yeah, what you gonna do about it huh?'

That said, they're still very much wild, and very much Legendaries, so anyone attempting to touch or battle with them will get a disdainful glare and quite possibly a cloud of dust in their face as the Beast speeds off to cause weather-related damage somewhere else. Trained Pokemon might even be reluctant to go face to face with them to begin with!

MY CHARACTER REMEMBERS THE LAST TIME THE BEASTS WERE SEEN-- THEY DIDN'T BEHAVE LIKE THIS AT ALL!

You're right! Something is definitely up. They don't seem to be tormented or in pain, but there is absolutely something that's making them act out, and... quite frankly, giving them an attitude. Not just with other characters, but also with each other! Characters are more than welcome to find that really weird, and rude as hell! C'mon, you guys are like a billion years old! Act your age!

DO WE HAVE TO FOLLOW THE WEATHER LISTED ON THE CALENDAR TO A T?

As the calendar shows, the weather is flip-flopping back and forth pretty violently day to day! But no, you actually don't have to follow it exactly! While the Beasts are the speediest things around, there's still only one of each, and they can't be everywhere at once! So it's entirely possible that everything is stormy on a given day until Entei randomly barges through town around 5 PM and dries up the storm there without a trace. And while he's doing that, maybe Suicune went and made it rain over the route that Entei had been toasting to a crisp earlier.

ON THE 17th, WILL RAIKOU AND ENTEI'S ROARING REALLY BE ABLE TO BE HEARD ALL OVER NORTHERN JOHTO? THAT SOUNDS FAKE.

Really. We're not talking sonic booms that are causing earthquakes or anything, but just like real-life lions can be heard roaring from miles away, Raikou and Entei are loud, and their roars will carry. Those in the immediate proximity on the mountain may be more comfortable with some earplugs, and can probably feel the ground vibrate. Those further away will be able to hear echoes of the roars as distant rumbles. Which wouldn't be such a big problem, but well, it just keeps going. They apparently don't need to sleep, and they also apparently don't care that other things need to sleep.

WILL THE WILD WEATHER CONTINUE EVEN WHILE RAIKOU AND ENTEI ARE PREOCCUPIED?

Yes, to a degree! While they're busy hurling ancient, legendary insults at each other, Suicune has a better chance of influencing things than they do, so while the heat and the storms will still be wreaking havoc, Suicune is now there to make everything outside of the Mt. Mortar territory disgustingly muggy and wet all the time without fear of interruption. Th... thanks, buddy.

... AND THAT'S GOING TO LAST THE ENTIRE EVENT?

Until something stops them, yes. We apologize in advance for how tired and miserable and sweaty everyone's gonna be.

HOO BOY. WHAT ABOUT THESE GROUPS THAT OUR CHARACTERS CAN JOIN?

More specific information will come later via another newspost on the 17th, but characters will be invited to head to three different locations, depending on where they think they'll be most useful/what they're most curious about: the Bell Tower in Ecruteak City, the Seafoam Islands, and of course Mt. Mortar itself.
Of the three locations, Mt. Mortar will be more about damage control than anything else-- two Legendaries (a fire-type and an electric-type, no less!) setting up shop on the mountain means a not only a huge forest fire risk (Smokey the Ursaring wants you to stop forest fires!), but also lot of panicking wild Pokemon being stirred up (including a much greater abundance of rare ones than usual!). The Rangers will have their hands full just trying to keep things under control!

OKAY, SO WHAT WILL THE BELL TOWER AND SEAFOAM ISLAND GROUPS BE DOING?

The Bell Tower folks will be doing research into why this is happening, and those who go to Seafoam Islands will be exploring deep within the caves! Both groups will also be heavily involved with what happens from the 24th onwards. We don't wanna ruin the surprise, but needless to say, the Beasts are not the only Legendaries who have a part to play in this event...

... IT'S LUGIA AND HO-OH ISN'T IT.

;)

A-HEM. MODS, YOU KNOW FULL WELL THAT LUGIA LIVES IN THE WHIRL ISLANDS, NOT THE SEAFOAM ISLANDS, RIGHT?

;)

GRUMBLE GRUMBLE WE'D BETTER BE REWARDED FOR THIS...

Rewards will depend on which group a character joins, and also whether or not the requirements are met! But don't worry, successfully solving this larger-than-life dispute will result in something very special for every character involved!

WHAT IF MY CHARACTER JUST FLIES UP TO THE PEAKS AND TELLS RAIKOU AND ENTEI THAT THEY'RE VERY BAD BOYS WHO NEED TO KNOCK IT OFF?

A deeply admirable sentiment, but not even the bravest trained Pokemon will dare carry their trainer up to the two angry legends, and it's far too steep for any human to climb unaided. Even if you could, they wouldn't listen. No mere human can shame these stinkers into behaving themselves! But hm, something else might...

THEY ARE VERY BAD BOYS WHO NEED TO KNOCK IT OFF, THOUGH.

They certainly are.

Got any questions? Ask 'em here!

Comments

SO ABOUT THAT LUGIA FEATHER....

[dreamsofahero]

Ryner's player and I were discussing what these two would ICly do, and the point came up that given the announcement of Lugia's presence in the islands being more or less "confirmed", there's a good chance Sion might first approach the monks and, if he believes them sufficiently trustworthy to not blab about it, discreetly inform them about the whole silver wing thing. And ask if they thought it would be better to bring it to Seafoam rather than Sion and Ryner lending their expertise (and years of researching legendaries on their own) at the Bell Tower.

Since basically under ordinary circumstances the fact that Lugia's already been found would make them favor trying to help find the legendary that's apparently MIA, buuuut they'd also realize that having a token related to it might mean something, even if only to other trainers. SO the question is, what kind of response would they get if Sion mentioned this right up front? Since that would potentially greatly influence what they opt to do one way or another...

[indigo_league]

So, ICly the monks will be very interested in the feather but won't want to take it or anything. They'll tell them that it's a good thing to hang onto and that it would be helpful in either location, saying that Ho-oh might react to seeing it or that it might make Lugia more friendly to them.

To let you know OOCly, the prizes are to do with whichever bird characters visit. So it's up to you guys if you want another Lugia item or a Ho-oh item instead. Both birds will react, and the Silver Wing will allow whoever's holding it to get closer to Lugia, while bringing it to Ho-oh might give a clue as to what's going on.

[dreamsofahero]

So it sounds like, all things being equal, Bell Tower is the more logical choice, since like I said, there's no need to search for Lugia, exactly. XD

WITH THAT SAID though we have a follow up question about what kind of info they can find! Ryner once spent basically an entire year in canon doing extensive research on legends/myths/etc of their world and deducted the locations of various artifacts based on it, and both of them have spent a good amount of time researching what they could on legendaries in-game here. Given that and the fact that they'd absolutely be tag-teaming this to cover as much ground as possible (... and possibly doing things like snapping photos of stuff with their 'gear to review later if they can get away with it) just what would they be able to learn about the various legendaries? They'd definitely be searching out info on Ho-Oh, of course, but that doesn't mean they can't jot down everything else of note as they go, right? :)

For specific examples, would they be able to learn, say, some of the stories behind other regions' legendaries that haven't shown up in VR (or route, for that matter)? Like Unova's dragons and the Swords of Justice, Sinnoh's lake guardians, Kalos's legendaries, etc. And what about Alolan ones, for that matter?

why yes these two are totally cheating cheaters who'll shamelessly take advantage of the chance to dig up info...

[indigo_league]

Yes, as said in the post, information about other regions' legendaries will be available! It probably won't be extensive, since the Bell Tower monks are primarily concerned with local legends, but there will be some scrolls talking about other legends and their histories. Think like, the stuff you find out during the games.