Sojaveña Wilds Silver Ravine Mystery Dungeon

[Virgil134]

"You're expecting to meet someone?" replied Nico, with an inquisitive tone. "Or like, commune with the spirits beyond, kinda thing?" Then he looked away, as if embarrassed. "Not that I believe in anything like that myself, but fair play to anyone who does, I say."

"Not spirits, but the entity that brought us to Forlas," Rodion said. "We can communicate with it telepathically, but only when we're engaging in battle or when we're in a Mystery Dungeon."

The Buizel let out a sigh as he continued to trudge forward, before shrugging his shoulders.

"No idea how any of this makes sense, but apparently it really wants us to go to the heart of this Mystery Dungeon."

 

[Phoenixsong]

Leaf nodded absently as she moved along, listening—thinking, whatever—as hard as she could to the Voice's chatter. Its excitement was kinda infectious, if a little overwhelming. No chance she was gonna remember all those beetle facts, but she'd at least try to grab a close look at any beetles she happened to notice, if it'd make it easier for them to see.

Her trot slowed to a walk, half to dodge the spray of water crazy-strawing across the path and half to think. What did they need to know? Anything they could do to keep in touch with the Voice, that was covered, but what else? She looked around their current location for anything that seemed... helpful, or useful, or interesting, or... she had no idea, actually. What if it turned out there wasn't an easy fix for that right now, and leaving the ravine just dumped them back into radio silence? Had to make the most of the clear connection while they could...

Have you learned anything else we might need to know about what we need to do? We're still looking for people to help— there was a whole wagonload of them heading into trouble tonight, ugh —but maybe you've noticed something new we oughta keep an eye on?

Also... is there a way we can talk to each other more easily? A way we can do... what you do, I guess? You're great at keeping us from turning into a thirty-car pileup when we fight, but outside that, when everyone's going in a million different directions doing a million different things... we don't want to crash into each other when we're just trying to help. It still stung to think of how much more they could've done to help Sonora, to avoid hurting the wrong person, if they'd all had a real chance to plan for it. If you hadn't rushed in and screwed it all up.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Wait, what do you mean the Dungeon’s getting stronger?

Oh, please forgive me, Archie. I just got too excited about Coleoptera. Beetles, Archie!

Back to your question – mystery dungeons can become stronger or weaker over time! This one was very weak until just recently, and now it is getting stronger again. It will produce more gold and items, maybe even rarer and more powerful ones, but its phantasms will also get stronger too.

So, the idea is, if we carve off a piece of this heart, and carry it back with us, we’ll be able to contact you anytime, right?

It is unclear... I cannot see into the heart of the dungeon until you reach it, but it might be possible! It is certainly theoretically possible, at least. It would be a great help if so, and therefore I consider making an attempt to be worth the expenditure of time and effort, and some degree of risk.

Please do take care though, Archie.

"Not spirits, but the entity that brought us to Forlas. We can communicate with it telepathically, but only when we're engaging in battle or when we're in a Mystery Dungeon. No idea how any of this makes sense, but apparently it really wants us to go to the heart of this Mystery Dungeon."

"Huh."

Nico banked in a tight, slow turn, looping around the Buizel to make it easier to talk. As he spoke, he kept an eye on the twisting paths, looking for wilds and phantasms.

"It doesn't sound like you guys know this 'entity' all that well. Do they have a name? Did you see what they looked like?"

Have you learned anything else we might need to know about what we need to do? We're still looking for people to help—but maybe you've noticed something new we oughta keep an eye on?

Also... is there a way we can talk to each other more easily? A way we can do... what you do, I guess? You're great at keeping us from turning into a thirty-car pileup when we fight, but outside that, when everyone's going in a million different directions doing a million different things... we don't want to crash into each other when we're just trying to help.

...I am sorry that there is so much discord between you heroic spirits, Leaf. I feel that if I had just been stronger, I would have been able to help you talk to each other. I am ultimately responsible for your being here, and I feel responsible for these problems. I am sorry to say that I still do not know what the crisis was that defeated the hero who asked for your help, but I can at least keep growing stronger until I can connect you all together.

Also, this expedition may lead to a helpful development – I told you to find a mystery dungeon knowing that I could talk to you more easily while you were there, but also because I knew that there was a chance you could retrieve a piece of its heart, to link you more strongly to me even outside of battle and where the world's walls are thicker.

I am certain that the stronger our connection becomes, the more I will be able to help you all.

From one of the paths – a crevice that seemed to faintly shift even as one looked at it – dungeon dust travelled thick on the wind.

You are close... I am doing my best to conceal you from the phantasms' attention, but you should still hurry, I think...

 

[Phoenixsong]

No! Don't apologize! Leaf pawed agitatedly at the ground. The dust her hoof kicked up took its sweet time settling, was probably doing an interpretive dance routine on its way back down, but she didn't care. It's not your fault (I) we screwed up! You're herding thirty cats and you're doing the best you can and anyone who gets mad at you over that can come talk to me about it.

We're the ones who're supposed to be here to help, and it's not fair if you have to do all the heavy lifting! I want to know if we can work together better without making more work for you. This'd be a billion times easier if they just had, dunno, phones or something, but fat chance of that happening in a place that hadn't even figured out TV yet. Even if the only option is you getting "stronger"... what does that mean? Is there something we can do for you?

Her ears flicked at the sound of stone creaking. A gash in the ravine wall adjusted itself, the stone slowly crunching into a shiny new set of angles and faces around the opening. Was that it? Access to the dungeon's heart? Leaf tossed her head toward the crevice to catch the others' attention, then moved closer, hoping for a better look at what might be inside. Horn first, of course.

 

[Jackie Cat]

No! Don't apologize! It's not your fault we screwed up! You're herding thirty cats and you're doing the best you can and anyone who gets mad at you over that can come talk to me about it.

We're the ones who're supposed to be here to help, and it's not fair if you have to do all the heavy lifting! I want to know if we can work together better without making more work for you. Even if the only option is you getting "stronger"... what does that mean? Is there something we can do for you?

...Thank you, Leaf.

I will keep getting stronger as you do, and you will keep getting stronger as I do, as all of us strive and struggle. Pokémon grow stronger through adversity, or any kind of challenge. Battle, most of all.

But there are other kinds of strength, and more things that matter than battle.

Leaf passed through the crevice, and felt gravity toy with her as she stepped over ground and water that only loosely obeyed the normal rules of matter. The air felt warm, but the breeze was cool, whistling through the hollows of the dungeon. She stepped through to the other side, and arrived at the heart of Silver Ravine.

An open space, embraced on all sides by towering rock walls, the ground thick with dungeon-dust. A distorted portion of the Silver River flowed endlessly in a loop around a tiny islet, only several yards wide. On that islet was a tree – not glowing every colour of the rainbow, not titanic beyond compare, not garishly supernatural, but even so... it could only be the heart itself. Its thick canopy of leaves resembled some kind of willow, but it was heavy with dungeon berries in prominent clusters like that of a juniper. It swayed gently in the breeze, and golden dust fell from its leaves like dew, to waft throughout the Ravine.

"Sweet Saints," breathed Nico. "Would you look at that. I've never been this deep before. What a sight."

This is it. It has been the centre of this distortion for at least a century, I sense. As mystery dungeons go, it is especially benign.

Leaf, Archie, Rodion, Decibel, Naylene.

Please. Could you take an offshoot of the Ravine's heart? I will placate the dungeon so that it does not react, but it will take great concentration. When you have the cutting, I will show you the way out. Plant the cutting somewhere safe, not too far from the dungeon's mouth, and I will reach for it, to anchor my connection.

 

[Weazel]

Jeez, this Buizel was being extremely free with information. Maybe Archie was just too secretive for his own good, but he still felt like maybe it was better to keep certain tidbits to themselves! But, too late for that now, unfortunately. And it didn’t much matter at this point anyway, as with Leaf’s careful guidance, the group was able to squeeze through to, well, the center of the dungeon.

And so the heart they were searching for revealed itself to be… A tree. So all they needed was a cutting to replant somewhere outside the dungeon, and that would strengthen their connection? Well, at least it was a tree and not, like, a geode or bit of ore they’d have to break off somehow. In comparison, this should be relatively easy… Assuming nothing went wrong.

“I’ll get it, watch my back,” the Oshawott said. He half waded, and half swam across the endlessly flowing loop of water to the islet. Once there, Archie picked out a healthy looking branch, drew his scalchop, and started cutting.

 

[Phoenixsong]

For a few confusing, upsetting, exhilarating seconds Leaf could've sworn she'd lost contact with the ground entirely, swimming forward more than walking—through the air, through the water, the water that was in the air???—and then the sensation snapped back to normalish as soon as the crevice opened up again.

The heart was... smaller than she'd imagined, honestly. Quiet even with the babbling of the looping river, even with the different berry clusters growing on the humble little tree. Nothing wilder than golden sparkles doing lazy little twirls in the air. Nothing to stop Archie from getting to work on the cutting. The ponyta did her best to keep an eye out for trouble, but it didn't seem like anything would disturb them. There was just this tiny, sleepy little world in here, doing whatever silly things it wanted and also nothing at all.

Armchair-cozy mystery. But hey, with a view like this, there wasn't much wrong with cozy.

"We know they need help with something they can't do alone," she said to Nico, answering his earlier question while they waited. "And, well, we're here now, aren't we? Knowing or not knowing doesn't change that. And if someone needs help, then helping them's just the right thing to do."

 

[Virgil134]

"It doesn't sound like you guys know this 'entity' all that well. Do they have a name? Did you see what they looked like?"

"There's just one entity," Rodion replied. "But, it claimed to not have a proper name. Someone started calling it 'Voice', so that name ended up sticking around. As for what it looked like... all we saw was a giant cloud of light."

He gave Nico a curious look.

"Have you heard any stories of an entity like that?"

"Sweet Saints," breathed Nico. "Would you look at that. I've never been this deep before. What a sight."

"… Huh," Rodion murmured, tilting his head. "I figured the heart was just a place. Didn't think it would be a physical object."

The Buizel made his way over to the islet, before creating a watery sword in his right paw and cutting off one of the branches.

 

[Jackie Cat]

“I’ll get it, watch my back.”

Archie found a small offshoot from the main trunk, and severed it at its base with ease. The tree swayed, and more golden dust fell around him, but still – no danger. The voice kept the dungeon placid, as promised.

The offshoot shimmered in Archie's paw, and tiny roots extended from its base, seeking soil.

Wonderful! I will open an exit out of the eye of the distortion for you...

The dungeon shook gently, like an earthquake was taking the greatest care not to unbalance the offworlders. They heard a sound like falling rocks and rushing water... and a hazy, mist-addled crevice opened just past the heart-tree.

By all appearances, it led directly out of the dungeon's entrance – right back where the delve started.

"We know they need help with something they can't do alone. And, well, we're here now, aren't we? Knowing or not knowing doesn't change that. And if someone needs help, then helping them's just the right thing to do."

Nico beamed at Leaf. "Spoken like a true ranger, miss! Gosh, when the chief finally makes it down to Frontier Town, I hope she likes you lot half as well as I do!"

"There's just one entity. But, it claimed to not have a proper name. Someone started calling it 'Voice', so that name ended up sticking around. As for what it looked like... all we saw was a giant cloud of light. Have you heard any stories of an entity like that?"

Nico looked askance. "Yeah, I was only talking about one entity?" He shrugged his wings, and looked back at the tree, eyes wide and bright. "I haven't heard of a cloud of light specifically, per se, but it's the sort of thing that shows up when shamans have dreams and acolytes meditate, that kind of thing. Not that I know anything much about all that mumbo-jumbo."

He looked a little sheepish. Or perhaps, embarrassed?

 

[Phoenixsong]

The branch sprouted roots almost as soon as Archie and Rodion cut it away, making gnarly little grabby-fingers motions at the ground. Mom would've been jealous; she only wished her cuttings took that easy.

What next? Leaf asked as they moved toward the new exit. What'll it do once it starts growing? If the whole tree is the heart of a dungeon, will growing a new one... make a new dungeon? Make this one bigger? A bigger, even more magical Silver Ravine sounded like a trip to explore, although probably also more work to keep babies and confused old people out of.

Whatever happened next, this trip had been a huge success. Leaf couldn't wait to find Koamaru and tell him they were going to have a much easier time talking things out with everyone. Just had to find more people and let them know better communication was on the way at last!

"Thanks for coming with us, Nico," she said, beaming. "Exploring a dungeon with an expert was great, and I'm glad you got to see the center of it this time! I wonder what the hearts of other dungeons are like..."

 

[Weazel]

Huh. No Phantasms? Nothing coming to punish them for taking a cutting from this tree at all? And the Cloud was just… Opening an exit out of the dungeon, right from the center? Just who was this mysterious voice, to possess this kind of power. Power to not only summon them from across the multiverse, but exert their will over the very form and shape of a Mystery Dungeon? He’d heard tell of Legendary Pokemon having that sort of power, in his home universe, but it was all rumors and hearsay, few ever saw a Legendary – that’s what gave them their name after all! And of those that had, fewer still had been able to engage in any long form conversation with one.

The way this branch was sprouting in his paw, just looking for ground to take root in… Honestly it was a little creepy. The Oshawott almost instinctively held the growing, almost writhing thing away from him, and was very much looking forward to putting it in the ground so he wouldn’t have to look at it move like the world’s tiniest, angriest Sudowoodo.

“We should get moving, before things shift again and our path out closes,” the Oshawott announced, once he’d taken the time to swim back to Nico, Leaf, and the dinosaur-fish. He was still feeling a little unsettled by this whole thing, and really didn’t want to hang out here any longer than he had to.

 

[Jackie Cat]

What'll it do once it starts growing? If the whole tree is the heart of a dungeon, will growing a new one... make a new dungeon? Make this one bigger?

If you take too much of a heart, or move it around continuously, all sorts of things can go wrong. The piece of the heart might lose its distortion-related properties, or it might open a new distortion if its new environment is favourable. If you remove too much, the original dungeon might collapse, which might be catastrophic! But placing a small cutting just at the edge of the distortion is a safe adjustment to the distortion, once I connect to and stabilise it. It will provide a small window at the dungeon's mouth where the world's walls are thinned.

It will let you reach me whenever you need me.

"Thanks for coming with us, Nico. Exploring a dungeon with an expert was great, and I'm glad you got to see the center of it this time! I wonder what the hearts of other dungeons are like..."

The Wattrel shrugged, his eyes still wide with wonder at the dungeon shifting around them. He looked a little nervous about the cutting of an offshoot of the heart-tree, but ddin't question it. At least, not out loud.

"Haven't seen many hearts up close. It's pretty rare to get right up to a heart without just slipping outta the dungeon once you get to the 'eye of the storm', so to speak. The one I'm most familiar with isn't a thing like this, though, I can tell you that much!"

“We should get moving, before things shift again and our path out closes,”

Yes, please do! It takes a great deal of effort to influence the distortion in this way...!

 

[Phoenixsong]

Leaf gave the ravine's heart one last look before she headed for the exit. Still the same sleepy little pocket world as before, even with the branch removed. Dust dancing in the air, river bubbling in busy little circles. Tank would like it here. It'd be nice if she could remember enough to tell him about it later. (However much later that would be.)

Then she turned, gave the others a nod, and trotted toward the opening. "What's the heart you're most familiar with like, Nico?" she asked. "Is there a dungeon you have to go all the way through all the time?" After a sight like this, she was definitely eager to learn more about what else dungeons could do.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Nico opened his beak to reply, then seemed to reconsider what he'd meant to say.

"There's a dungeon that all the rangers visit plenty often," he said. "Up north a ways. It's a bit of a weird one... Maybe you'll get to see it if you end up joining."

It seemed this particular dungeon was a sensitive subject.

"Lotta natural dungeons are similar enough to this one," he said, changing tack as he flew over Leaf. "Though forests and caves and such tend to be a bit more open, and not made of so many narrow passages... But there are plenty weirder dungeons out there, too."

 

[Weazel]

The Oshawott hurried after Leaf and Nico, not wanting to be left behind. This little expedition had left him with far more questions than answers. Still, they’d done a good thing, he hoped. Once they’d gotten this little monster sapling planted, it’d be that much easier for the others to communicate with the Cloud. Well, he tried to push all that out of his mind for now, the others were talking dungeons, this was a topic he could contributed to!

“Where I’m from, Dungeons don’t have hearts, so this thing,” he paused to wiggle the writhing root in his grasp, “is all new to me. Some of them do have fixed centers through. They’re kinda like the center of a whirlpool, or the eye of a hurricane. The whole rest of the dungeon shifts around them, but they’re pretty calm. Most other ones just have an entrance and an exit. But some have an entrance, exit, and center! Those ones tend to be the biggest, so the centers often get turned into rest points.”

He hadn’t actually been to one of those kinds of dungeons yet, himself, but he’d heard plenty about them from the other Adventurers back home.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Nico nodded affirmingly. "Yeah, that's not so different! Like I said, most folks just miss the heart when they get to the centre. And Silver Ravine is one of the kind that has two entry/exit points – pretty typical, given the landform it spawned in!"

Mystery dungeons will nearly always conceal their hearts from pokémon. This heart is open to you because I am with you. I know other worlds work still more differently, and strangely.

"The storm metaphor is what we use a lot at Ranger HQ. Once you're far enough in, the safest thing to do is head even deeper, 'til you get to safety... And hey, speaking of...!"

The crevice wavered as the party stepped through it, and out to the other side. It had seeemd only a few yards long at most, but they'd been walking for what felt like minutes.

Time and space are not absolute. Dungeons and other distortions will treat them as guidelines, not rules.

It was still sunny outside, but dusky, the sun beginning to set.

Would you plant the offshoot, Archie? When it takes root, I will form a link with it. I will need to focus intently on making the link for some time, and it will be as if I were unconscious, but when I am done, my connection in this region will get much stronger! Especially near this spot.

 

[Weazel]

So the only reason they could get to the heart was because the voice made it so, huh? Once again, Archie found himself thinking of Legendaries. If the Cloud was one, which made the most sense? There was always Arceus, who created the universe with its one thousand arms – theorized by some to be a reference to the Unown, a Pokemon well known to have reality warping powers that, though weak individually, could grow exponentially the more of them drew together. Would such a God really deign to work with them on an individual level, or really need any kind of help at all?

Maybe the voice was the Wishmaker, whose awakening was heralded by the coming of a great comet. If such a comet had appeared in the sky prior to their arrival, surely Pokemon would have made note of it, but he didn’t recall any such mention when he was reading over previous issues of the Gazette. On the other hand, the voice did say they were far away, and interplanetary certainly counted as ‘far,’ and even if the Wishmaker’s body was asleep, surely such a Pokemon was powerful enough to reach out to them in its dreams. Yes, this made more sense to the Oshawott, based on what he knew and theorized at least. For now though, better to keep this hypothesis to himself until he had more information to work with.

Anyway, for now, he was being asked to plant the cutting, and Archie was extremely happy to do so. He looked around briefly, before picking out a spot where some grasses and low lying shrubs seemed to be growing well – a place such as that would have ample access to water and sunlight – that, better yet, didn’t have any other trees growing that their little Dungeon Sapling would have to compete with. Once he got it close enough to the soil, the cutting practically buried its roots itself, latching into the ground and causing the Oshawott to jump back a foot or two in surprise!

“It’s an, uh… Eager little plant!” he said, looking over to the others and chuckling nervously. Hopefully this was a good thing. It seemed like the voice was going to go radio silent for a little while, but when it came back online, so to speak, hopefully they wouldn't need to be in a life or death situation to communicate with it.

 

[Jackie Cat]

The sapling took root quickly, glowed like a pokémon during evolution, and reached for the setting sun.

Perfect! Thank you all, and well done.

I will now link to this spot, so that we can communicate with ease from now on...

I will talk to you all again soon!

The sapling shimmered, and stilled. The 'mon standing around it might have felt a kind of pressure in the air, but the voice was silent.

"Well, that sure was... interesting," said Nico, politely. "Don't really know what to make of it, but I can't explain it to myself, so... I'll take your word for what just happened. I'm just glad I could help get you through safe and successful."

He glanced at the sun, and calculated the hour in his head.

"Heh, I'd better take my leave. It was a pleasure getting to know you guys a little more! I'll see ya when I see ya!"

The seabird ranger flew off, leaving the offworlders and their budding dungeon cutting behind.

<><><><><>​

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade had been out to the Silver Ravine dungeon a few times, mostly just for a few easy errands on the bulletin board--retrieving lost goods, scooping up dungeon dust, that sort of thing. But this was the furthest she'd gone.

The Meowth was joined by Leaf, Koa, Archie, Astrid, Nova, and Prim. Leaf and Koa were no surprise, having been there when the rangers issued their challenge. She didn't know the others' motivations, though, whether they were aiming to join the rangers or were just looking for a good battle (or maybe in Nova's case, a good distraction...)

Leaf had been able to lead the way, having navigated all the way to the dungeon's core once before. As they pushed deeper into the ravine, the terrain gradually stopped following the rules, the path twisting to run across the walls as the river split off in unnatural directions. She found her eyes being drawn to the glittering silvery banks, although whether that was some pull of the dungeon or a side effect of being a Meowth, she wasn't sure.

It seemed like the sun was still in the exact same spot in the sky by the time they reached the spot where they could first see the ranger duo waiting for them, apparently grilling some fish on the riverbank.

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova had only caught wind of this because he was walking around in the general area. But there was mention of going to a dungeon as a group and allegedly that was where the mystery voice was stronger. So, he wound up tagging along.

The null had no idea how the dungeon worked, though. He walked along silently, projecting thoughts of pain and discomfort with the mask. While he was stuck with it, he couldn't be psychic, so he wasn't even sure how he could reach out to the voice. Chances are it probably wouldn't respond anyway. And it seemed like the others were, in fact, meeting someone. A couple of someones, actually.