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Old Milborough Manor

Aisling

Super Moderator
▪Did you hear something?▪

It's probably not long past noon, though you're unable to tell through the cold mist that surrounds you, and the dark clouds that conceal the sun. You find yourself at an old, but ornate, rusted gate that reads "MILBOROUGH". It appears to be the gateway to an abandoned estate.

Groves of trees dot the gently rolling hills, appearing to have once been overgrown before choking themselves out, dying of neglect. Obscured by the tallest hill is what appears to be an old cemetery, the tombstones themselves buried under creeping or dead vines. Small buildings are scattered across the property, possibly being tool sheds or small barns.

A narrow path winds its way up the tallest hill, leading to a dilapidated mansion at its peak. It is of what you guess is an old Victorian style of architecture. You can't exactly tell, but you estimate from the state of disrepair that this place must have been abandoned at least fifty years ago.

Your imagination runs wild. Why was all of this just abandoned? What dark secrets does this manor hold? Could it possibly be... haunted?


But most importantly, are there still any Pokemon around?
---

  • This area is similar to Chapel Matryoshka in that you must roleplay to progress. It doesn't necessarily need to be long or skillful, just detailed in what you are doing and where you are going. I'll give you some options after your initial post, of course. I don't expect you to have to come up with your own floorplan of the place.
  • There are other points of interest besides the manor if you so choose to explore them too.
  • You may bring a Pokemon with you for protection. Some spooks may be harmless, while more powerful poltergeists may not like you being here...
  • Please link to your profile in your first post if it's your first time here and it's not in your signature.
  • Feel free to be creative with your posts, so long as you don't contradict something I've already said or give yourself something I didn't say was there. You can work with things I imply might be there, though. You can also search for specific things, but I decide whether or not you'll actually find it.
  • The entry fee is $4. Let's just assume that covers the four Pokeballs you probably bought before getting lost out here. You won't be officially charged until the end of your adventure, when you use all four balls.
Will you venture into the Milborough Manor?
 
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(Cool, my little church got a mention! :D That's what I get for having an until-now monopoly on roleplaying zones.)

He doesn't look the haunted house type. A red vest too fancy for his other clothes, glasses, and a skinny frame combine to make him look more like a senile cosplayer given renewed youth, and a case of myopia, than anyone who someone would call for the busting of ghosts. A sort of miserable one, given the weather at the moment. He had just been out playing a game of 'Slaughter the Audino' when, poof, he had somehow ended up in some rather thick fog. It had dampened his clothes just enough to make him feel uncomfortable. Rain would be better.

His omanyte has to agree. Galahad would enjoy rain a lot, but this mist is fun, too! His tentacles writhe gleefully from his perch on Blastoise's head.

On the horizon, the trainer notes quite a few buildings– aaaand there's a creepy castle. Well, mansion is more like it, but castle makes the alliteration work so Blastoise goes with that. Joy to the world, he's stumbled onto an old spooky mansion. He should have brought a van and a talking herdier.

Seriously considering buying a cell phone or something, Blastoise takes the long walk to the foot of the mansion.
 
Blastoise
(yeah, I'm glad more roleplaying-based areas are popping up, or at least areas that have a gimmick besides "themed randomizer". Once you have one area or two that has, like, everything, if you wanna have a specialized area it's got to have some other draw, right?)

As you follow the path up to the mansion, you note that every few yards or so hang lanterns. They look like pretty standard lanterns, or what you'd guess standard lanterns would be fifty years ago, and of course, they are all unlit. Save for one. And it happens to be glowing a peculiar color, as well...
 
Oh, great.

Blastoise rather dislikes the chandelure line on principle, or rather, its reputation. Individually, they were awesome and amazing like all pokémon, but it just grates him to think that the things, according to Science™, they were better at special attacks than alakazam and the like. That was Just Wrong™.

He pulls his omanyte off of his head for a moment, whispers something to him, and watches as the creature cheerfully retracts into his rock-hard shell. Continuing onwards as if nothing has changed, Blastoise prepares to throw his impromptu projectile/best pal at any inanimate-animate lamps.
 
A gentle breeze rolls by, causing the oddly-colored flame to flicker. To your surprise (or not?), some handle-looking decorations on either side of the lamp begin to move around. Two small, yellow glowing orbs appear in the flames, and... blink!
608.gif

You have found a female Lampent! You may catch her. Or not. Either way you're free to proceed to the manor.
 
"Oh my god, why is it so cold, my phone said it was supposed to be sunny today! Sunny!"
Crackle rolls his eyes, shielding them from the rain with his hand. As though that phone has ever been able to predict more than when all its credit is used up. "There's a barn or something over there! Let's get out of this rain, I'm freezing!" uv scrambles off the cobblestone path towards a large wooden building not too far away. It would have been closer to just run to the mansion up ahead, but Crackle doesn't complain. That house looks cray. For now it's just a black silhouette, dominating the landscape, until lightning streaks across the sky behind it. No thankyou. The lucario quickly follows, feeling as though the house is looking at him.

uv is first to get to the small ramshackle barn, which seems to be locked from the inside. uv rattles the doors to no effect, before Crackle gets impatient and just punches a hole in the door and undoes the lock. It smells like hay and mildew in here, but it's dry. "Man, I'm so cold." That's because you're wearing summer clothes. Crackle shakes the rain off his fur.
"I know, my phone said it was going to be sunny!" uv glares at the Lucario. "Duh! I'm not stupid!" She wraps her arms around herself, cursing herself for wearing a sundress, and begins to pace around the barn to warm up. Crackle sits on a haybale and opens his backpack, pulling out a cardigan he packed for her.
"... thankyou. But you need to stop with that freaky aura shit. I can pack my own stuff!"
Crackle rolls his eyes again, but his retort catches in his mind. Someone's here. Crackle stands, sure he can sense an aura.
"... a disturbance in the force?" uv asks sarcastically, pulling on her cardigan. "Yeah, I heard this place was haunted or whatever, but it's not like that's actually a thing, right?"
 
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uv

Indeed, if there's anything this barn has plenty of, it's rotting hay. Other than you and Crackle, though, it seems pretty much lifeless and silent inside. An old lamp sits in the corner. It may have some fuel left. An old metal ladder goes up to a loft. Something about the floor sounds funny, but it may just be the old wood making funny old wood sounds.
 
[I love these roleplaying spots. Hopefully I won't get lost as I did that church.]

A woman in her early twenties trudges up the long forgotten path. She was dressed for comfort, jeans, black tee, sneakers, and her ever convenient pack that hung at her side. She tucked her short auburn hair from her eyes and behind her ear as she dug into her pack, confirming she had spare pokéballs on hand. She did.

Phantom stares up the path. She squints as she triest to see the makings of the abandoned mansion at the top of the hill.

She'd bet her left shoe that the place is haunted.

She loved ghost Pokémon, one of her favorite types. She smiled as she reached into her pack once again and pulled out a worn pokéball. She tossed it on the ground in front of her, and, after a bright white light, a charmander appeared before her. She cursed as she made a note... catch more Pokémon.

"Well," she said, starting up the path, and Cato following at her heels, "good thing about Charmander, they double as a torch."

Why did she have a feeling she was going to get flamthrower'd later?
 
[Phantom, you aren't lost. You once were lost, but now you're found! Also, did you used to be a blind wretch?]

Huh. At least it isn't a chandelure, as Blastoise doesn't have any burn cream with him. Tossing his omanyte at the living light-source to distract her, Blastoise immediately follows up with another projectile; this one, a poké ball.

He'd maybe name her Woolfe. It'd be good to have her follow him around, lacking as he was of a flashlight.
 
Phantom

Your Charmander follows along obediently behind you, providing adequate light in the fog as you make your way up the hill to the mansion. His tail causes everything nearby to cast shadows, making your surroundings even more spooky than they were before. You could swear that some shadows were moving in ways that they shouldn't be, and you realize that Cato's light will draw attention to the two of you if you aren't careful. Or maybe you want that?

Blastoise

Lucky you! Not only have you already found a new Pokemon, but also one which provides function. She provides light for you and makes the path to the mansion much clearer. She'll likely make other things clear to you that you may or may not have wanted to know, too...
 
[I feel stupid, I just got your pun Blastoise. *facepalm*]

Phantom kept a brisk pace, at least brisk enough so that she made good progress to the mansion and slow enough so her partner could keep up with her. The shadows gave her chills, but they just made her more excited.

"Here ghostie ghostie ghostie," she whispered. Soon the mansion was in plain sight.
 
Most people, especially those who were just starting out, would not consider a probably haunted estate to be the best place to visit.

Stala doesn't fall into the category "most people"

She was running full pelt towards the dilapidated building, poor little Arizona barely managing too keep up with his much shorter legs. She wasn't really that excited about the prospect of whatever horrible things any ghosts may do to her, she just loved running. In fact, if Arizona hadn't singed her pants to get her attention to point it out, she probably wouldn't have noticed that they were in a place almost straight out of a horror film. Until she ran face first into a building that is. As it is however, she managed to merely slam into a tree.

Arizona has kindly fertilised the ground out of fear.
 
Phantom

"Here ghostie ghostie ghostie..."
A chilly breeze suddenly stirs, seeming to blow right through you to the door, which creaks open of its own accord. You could swear that a voice somewhere further in the mansion murmurs something, but it's utterly indiscernible. It's also possible it wasn't a voice at all. But it sure sounded like one.

Stala

You run headlong into a thick, old tree, dead moss peeling away from the bark and clinging to your shirt as you pull away. Eerie cries echo through the tops of the nearby trees. It's possible your presence has disturbed something from its long sleep.
 
Phantom

"Here ghostie ghostie ghostie..." A chilly breeze suddenly stirs, seeming to blow right through you to the door, which creaks open of its own accord. You could swear that a voice somewhere further in the mansion murmurs something, but it's utterly indiscernible. It's also possible it wasn't a voice at all. But it sure sounded like one.

"Hmm," Phantom said with a smirk, "I'd bet that that's not an invite for tea."

Phantom walks through the door, without even looking back.
 
Phantom

As you step into the mansion, you see that it's even more dilapidated on the inside than the outside. The first room appears to be a living room of sorts. A fireplace sits in a far wall, and there are several couches loosely surrounding what's left of an ornate coffee table, the legs of which collapsed from under it long ago. The couches themselves were coated thickly with dust, though you can still tell the fabric has holes eaten through it. Some pictures still hang on the walls, most of them old portraits (which all, incidentally, appear to be watching you) or old landscapes (which uncannily look as old and dreary as the outside of the mansion does). Several smashed picture frames lie in the floor where they fell from the walls long ago.
The chill comes back and sets over you... you get a suspicion that it might not be best to look behind you.
 
Phantom

As you step into the mansion, you see that it's even more dilapidated on the inside than the outside. The first room appears to be a living room of sorts. A fireplace sits in a far wall, and there are several couches loosely surrounding what's left of an ornate coffee table, the legs of which collapsed from under it long ago. The couches themselves were coated thickly with dust, though you can still tell the fabric has holes eaten through it. Some pictures still hang on the walls, most of them old portraits (which all, incidentally, appear to be watching you) or old landscapes (which uncannily look as old and dreary as the outside of the mansion does). Several smashed picture frames lie in the floor where they fell from the walls long ago.
The chill comes back and sets over you... you get a suspicion that it might not be best to look behind you.

Phantom lets out a low whistle as she takes in the old building. It looked like no living person had touched the place in years. Stepping through the threshold she felt a chill and that eerie-scary-movie feeling that someone was watching her. She glances back, giving into temptation.
 
Phantom

You look over your shoulder and the door is no longer there, only black. It's as if you have gone so deep into a cave, when you look behind you all you see is the darkness.
Before panic can set in, however, the darkness begins to recede. The edges of your vision return and the shadows coalesce into...
092.gif

A Gastly! Apparently she flew into your face right when you turned around. She cackles at her own mischief for a few short moments before stopping to eye you curiously, grinning madly. She looks at Cato with some interest, too, but mostly you. The Gastly seems to appreciate that you finally stopped to look at her.
 
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Phantom

You look over your shoulder and the door is no longer there, only black. It's as if you have gone so deep into a cave, when you look behind you all you see is the darkness.
Before panic can set in, however, the darkness begins to recede. The edges of your vision return and the shadows coalesce into...
092.gif

A Gastly! Apparently she flew into your face right when you turned around. She cackles at her own mischief for a few short moments before stopping to eye you curiously, grinning madly. She looks at Cato with some interest, too, but mostly you. The Gastly seems to appreciate that you finally stopped to look at her.

"Well, hello," Phantom said with a shaky grin. She wasn't about to admit that the ghost Pokémon had scared her. She reached into her bag, pulling out one of her few unused Pokéballs. "Wanna come with me? It must be boring here, all alone, with no humans to prank?" She tossed the empty ball at the gastly.
 
uv

Indeed, if there's anything this barn has plenty of, it's rotting hay. Other than you and Crackle, though, it seems pretty much lifeless and silent inside. An old lamp sits in the corner. It may have some fuel left. An old metal ladder goes up to a loft. Something about the floor sounds funny, but it may just be the old wood making funny old wood sounds.

Both Crackle's and uv's eyes turn to the floor. There's a grimy square frame in the floorboards right beneath uv's feet (she squeaks and jumps on to a haybale). They can hear an odd scraping sound, but the weathered trapdoor isn't giving any secrets away. Crackle's ears follow the sound intently. "Well, there's nothing here! Y-your aura was probably off, right?"
Crackle gives uv a blank look. Right. There's something under there. Let's have a look. He crouches and removes the grimy handle from its recess. It's cold in his paws, and the buildup of dirt and dust coats his palm.

"Why? It could be something really bad, Crackle!" uv picks a loose thread on the sleeve of her cardigan anxiously. "There's probably nothing even there, it's just old wood creaking because it's cold or whatever!" There is something, and I'd rather know what it is. It might just be a pokemon. You might be actually able to catch something, like what you're supposed to do in the Safari Zone.
"... that was mean." Crackle shrugs, and pulls on the handle. It takes a bit of elbow grease (uv moves from her perch on the haybale to help), and the trapdoor moans with age before giving up and falling upright. Crackle tests it. It'll stay open so long as nothing disturbs it.
It's very dark. The pair can just make out wooden steps receding into the basement. The hole reeks of stale air and mildew. Crackle boldly begins to descend the steps.
"Wait!" uv hurriedly grabs an old lamp from the corner of the room, lights it, and scrambles down after her lucario.
 
Stala

You run headlong into a thick, old tree, dead moss peeling away from the bark and clinging to your shirt as you pull away. Eerie cries echo through the tops of the nearby trees. It's possible your presence has disturbed something from its long sleep.

Stala's eyes widen at the unidentified sound. "You hear that Arizona?" she grabbed the poor torchic who was probably wondering who he murdered in a past life to deserve such a trainer. "That was the sound of ADVENTURE! We must capitalise on this rare opportunity!" Before the chick pokemon had a chance to complain, Stala ran up to another tree and started yelling Japanese-sounding gibberish at it, full blast.

"MATTA RAISHU DESHYOUNE? HOWEROU WA ATATAKAI! MAKANAKAUSHIWAKA!"
 
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