Path to Ruination [Treasure Search / Complete]

[Damian Moreau]

Not too long after Damian had dropped off the marble that he’d picked up just recently, he was back at the Ruins once more. The weather this time around wasn’t heavy rainfall, but the constantly gray skies didn’t dampen his mood—not in the slightest. He was accompanied by his Claydol, as always; levitating silently behind him as he proceeded through another one of the many entrances that were scattered all around the place.

He’d done well to avoid the ‘tent cities’ that had been set up near most of the well-established entry points; he’d already heard weird tales from the people who were manning the place about the other explorers being asked to ‘map out’ the Ruins for them without payment. “Ugh… and I don’t want to present my findings to the League just yet…” he began with a groan as he finally pulled himself into the welcoming silence that the Ruins presented.

The Claydol then continued to hover behind him on his left side, droning on tunelessly as if it was possessed. “Naz? Something the matter?” he inquired, turning around to look at his companion who was humming a weird tune that was definitely not of this world. “You’ve been… off, lately,” he added a few moments later, before slowly touching the Claydol’s flat face with the palm of his hand.

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CODED BY SYLVIE

[Speedy Gon Yumi]

Dig Dig Dig . . . What's this?!
Congratulations, You've found SHARPEDONITE!
You're own personal torpedo

[Damian Moreau]

Damian wasn’t exactly expecting his Claydol to suddenly light up and start spinning like a top while hovering behind him as the two traversed deeper into the Ruins proper. He then heard thunder rumbling overhead; before the telltale signs of another rainstorm manifested. “Well, I know I’m not going out for a while…” he muttered to himself, looking over at where Nazca was behaving rather strangely, spinning in mid-air while the markings on its body were flashing like some neon street sign that had suddenly decided to malfunction.

“Naz, I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me,” he began with a sigh, before watching as the floating alien-like ‘mon then traveled ahead, still going through the motions of what he assumed was a ‘mental breakdown’ before it suddenly took a left turn and vanished! “Whoa! Naz, wait for me!” he shouted, quickly picking up the pace and chasing down his crazy alien protector, wondering just where the hell it had gone off to. It didn’t take too long for him to actually find the alien, who had come to a complete, dead stop in front of a statue that had a representation of what appeared to be a shark with lots of spikes jutting out all over its body.

“Now that is strange…” he muttered, observing the statue as best as he could—until he’d noticed that there was something rather strange about it—there was a marble sitting in its wide-open mouth! “Ooh, shiny,” he began with a grin, hopping up onto the statue’s dais and snatching the marble from its resting place. Once he’d absconded with his payload, he then gave a rather inquiring look at his Claydol—who was still going off like something had broken inside him.

“Huh.”

claiming! - 293

CODED BY SYLVIE