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bottlecaplogs2026-04-15 10:03 am
bayhelpers) wrote in bottlecaplogs2026-04-15 10:03 am
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APRIL 2026 EVENT LOG
⋆✩ SPRING INTO ACTION ✩⋆
Not a single flake remains from winter’s chill. Wherever the land can give purchase to new roots, flowers are beginning to bud and bloom. Leaves are filling in the depleted forest canopy, and with these refreshing signs of warmer days, spirits should be as high as the clouds themselves.
Should be is the key word here. Lingering troubles from February still loom, making it difficult for the motivation and excitement from the Starfall Festival to keep from gradually draining away. Surely not everything is dire, right?
i. PROMISES TO KEEP
FLOWER GIFT(S)
It’s a shame that those researchers from the Lum guild are still unaccounted for. The primary guilds of Bottlecap are in an absolute tizzy over the matter, with all of the higher ranking guild leaders spotted picking up slack where their exhausted superiors find themselves slipping. But while the Bay is a hive of frantic worry, things couldn’t be more different in the settlement of Death Blood Murder Skull Town - in fact, everyone who helped Lurantis with preparing Skull Town for the ludicrous winter they experienced will be called via grumpearl to drop in…
Apparently, she has a gift for them.
It’s doubtful that only those due to receive gifts are showing up of course. Perhaps Lurantis even counted on that, as when Pokemon begin to arrive she has far more than just cute presents in store. Spring season doesn’t mean everyone gets to slack off, and while things aren’t quite as pressing as when the town was first settled they still have plenty to do! Even gift recipients could find themselves recruited for one task or another, but this time they’re not getting anything spectacular.
…though they won’t be leaving without some kind of repayment, courtesy of the small bounty those of the town have been making for themselves. It’s clear that over the course of the half year they’ve had, Skull Town has formed itself into a system determined to stand on their own zero-to-six legs. Where once the only major constructed buildings to be seen were the communal dwelling house, clinic, and mail shack, they’ve since expanded into additional large structures! A windmill works constantly to grind the grain now being cultivated in the many flat fields naturally present. A bridge now spans the stream that cuts through the area, leading to a cleared out training field for Pokemon to spar in. For those who haven’t taken the time to visit since before winter, it’s probably quite the shock!
Apparently, she has a gift for them.
It’s doubtful that only those due to receive gifts are showing up of course. Perhaps Lurantis even counted on that, as when Pokemon begin to arrive she has far more than just cute presents in store. Spring season doesn’t mean everyone gets to slack off, and while things aren’t quite as pressing as when the town was first settled they still have plenty to do! Even gift recipients could find themselves recruited for one task or another, but this time they’re not getting anything spectacular.
…though they won’t be leaving without some kind of repayment, courtesy of the small bounty those of the town have been making for themselves. It’s clear that over the course of the half year they’ve had, Skull Town has formed itself into a system determined to stand on their own zero-to-six legs. Where once the only major constructed buildings to be seen were the communal dwelling house, clinic, and mail shack, they’ve since expanded into additional large structures! A windmill works constantly to grind the grain now being cultivated in the many flat fields naturally present. A bridge now spans the stream that cuts through the area, leading to a cleared out training field for Pokemon to spar in. For those who haven’t taken the time to visit since before winter, it’s probably quite the shock!
ii. SIGNS OF THE TIMES
ROLLING UP FROM THE SOUTH
Every year, Pokemon of certain species engage in migration. Where others get sleepy, or tuck in for a long hibernation, these Pokemon prefer to just get out of town until the weather is more comfortable.
The region of Bottlecap Bay is not part of the common migration routes, but it's also not out of the way enough to find migrating Pokemon remarkable. Locals and otherworlders alike would have spotted the occasional Swanna flying south last year, or a Seel out in the bay making their round trip of the seas, but it previously would only spark as much notice as a rainy day in spring.
This year is different.
This year, the Pokemon are everywhere. It begins at first with the birds: Flying Pokemon of all kinds shed their feathers as they pass overhead, and it’s the first warning that anyone in Skull Town has before there are suddenly Pokemon canvasing the ground just as much as the feathers themselves. The rooftops, fields, river - anywhere that they can fit, they’re flooding in and fast.
To the Pokemon’s defense, they don’t intend to stay; typically when they land here through the spring they file out in a reasonable order, so much so that it’s easy to forget the field acts as a landing pad for any migrations at all! But the recent weather phenomena really messed up their timing and flight paths…and unfortunately that also means not all of them can immediately head for their usual waters.
The main town at Bottlecap Bay isn’t immune to these sudden swarms either; while less of a hot spot for Flying types on their seasonal loop, there are the occasional Water types passing through…and whatever it was which created such hassle for the air has done the same to the seas! One by one, soon to become ten by ten, Spheal and Seel begin to gather at the beaches alongside Pokemon like Carracosta seeking a place for a seasonal nest. The crowded conditions are creating quite the stir down there, and it’s soon clear that without intervention, some fights are going to be breaking out!
The region of Bottlecap Bay is not part of the common migration routes, but it's also not out of the way enough to find migrating Pokemon remarkable. Locals and otherworlders alike would have spotted the occasional Swanna flying south last year, or a Seel out in the bay making their round trip of the seas, but it previously would only spark as much notice as a rainy day in spring.
This year is different.
This year, the Pokemon are everywhere. It begins at first with the birds: Flying Pokemon of all kinds shed their feathers as they pass overhead, and it’s the first warning that anyone in Skull Town has before there are suddenly Pokemon canvasing the ground just as much as the feathers themselves. The rooftops, fields, river - anywhere that they can fit, they’re flooding in and fast.
To the Pokemon’s defense, they don’t intend to stay; typically when they land here through the spring they file out in a reasonable order, so much so that it’s easy to forget the field acts as a landing pad for any migrations at all! But the recent weather phenomena really messed up their timing and flight paths…and unfortunately that also means not all of them can immediately head for their usual waters.
The main town at Bottlecap Bay isn’t immune to these sudden swarms either; while less of a hot spot for Flying types on their seasonal loop, there are the occasional Water types passing through…and whatever it was which created such hassle for the air has done the same to the seas! One by one, soon to become ten by ten, Spheal and Seel begin to gather at the beaches alongside Pokemon like Carracosta seeking a place for a seasonal nest. The crowded conditions are creating quite the stir down there, and it’s soon clear that without intervention, some fights are going to be breaking out!
SPOILS OF LABOR
While the aquatic journeyers have little to offer material-wise - anything they can fish up can be retrieved by locals just as easily - the veritable cloud of feathers from the flocks near Skull Town are a more tangible side effect of this recent invasion.
Well. More tangible than the Pokemon themselves, of course!
While none of the Swanna have been dropping anything like the skill feathers one might have occasionally found in the nearby woods, their feathers are an incredibly downy and soft material - pillows and bedding stuffed with these are something of a luxury, making their shed feathers a hot commodity!
More Pokemon than just Swanna came flying in from the sky however, and it’s largely these feathers that characters will likely be finding. A feather is a feather though, which means that there’s use in anything from stuffing to decoration to even tool creation on the table…and Lurantis is not one to look a gift Horsea in the mouth! (How would that even work!)
As soon as the various birds have been settled - either in their trek off to their actual destinations, or temporarily in beds at the communal building - the town sets to work. A call to gather as many feathers as possible is made, and stations to help clean and prepare said feathers for crafting are quick to follow. It’s more complicated than just washing them in water; these feathers have to be cleaned multiple times, dried, and even steamed before they’re appropriate for use!
Well, unless you just plan on making a necklace or something of course. Then you can have at it.
Well. More tangible than the Pokemon themselves, of course!
While none of the Swanna have been dropping anything like the skill feathers one might have occasionally found in the nearby woods, their feathers are an incredibly downy and soft material - pillows and bedding stuffed with these are something of a luxury, making their shed feathers a hot commodity!
More Pokemon than just Swanna came flying in from the sky however, and it’s largely these feathers that characters will likely be finding. A feather is a feather though, which means that there’s use in anything from stuffing to decoration to even tool creation on the table…and Lurantis is not one to look a gift Horsea in the mouth! (How would that even work!)
As soon as the various birds have been settled - either in their trek off to their actual destinations, or temporarily in beds at the communal building - the town sets to work. A call to gather as many feathers as possible is made, and stations to help clean and prepare said feathers for crafting are quick to follow. It’s more complicated than just washing them in water; these feathers have to be cleaned multiple times, dried, and even steamed before they’re appropriate for use!
Well, unless you just plan on making a necklace or something of course. Then you can have at it.
iii. DISTANT DISASTER
OUT OF SIGHT…
For the Pokemon aware of but not participating in the plan to rescue the missing Lum researchers, the first sign of something going wrong is an uproar at the Archives. It may take some time to get more information, though, with everyone busy handling... whatever it is that happened. Unless, perhaps, you're in grumpearl contact with one of the teams that was going on the expedition?
Depending on who someone tries to reach out to, you'll either get no response at all... or you'll be informed that the first group of Pokemon teams that was teleported out has vanished. To somewhere unknown, that is! They haven't shown up where Chimecho was waiting for them! Needless to say, there won't be any more teleporting going on today.
Polteageist was already supervising at the Archives, but the other guild leaders are rapidly summoned. For once even the usually even-tempered Mightyena seems very agitated, but she and Ribombee take turns keeping each other on track. For their part, Polteageist steadfastly defends their teleportation specialists to the other two guild leaders, but behind the scenes their questioning is very thorough and intense. A retrieval for a single team of Pokemon should absolutely not be shaping up into a rescue mission for multiple teams of Pokemon at once!
The guild leaders pull together to form a plan, though. Once the teleportation specialists report back apologetically that they're working on tracking where each team could have ended up, the remaining expedition teams are reassigned to retrieve the missing ones - on foot, this time.
For the moment, Polteageist refuses to accept any additional teams; after all, the ones that signed up were the ones prepared to go into unknown terrain, and that seems to be what's going to happen regardless! But that doesn't mean there's no way for others to help. Pokemon loitering near the Archives may be roped into retrieving supplies and otherwise readying the remaining expedition teams. It seems as though the expeditionaries are expected to be gone for multiple days this time, once they do set out...
Or perhaps you could just keep the remaining expedition teams company? Some of them may be a bit rattled, or winding themselves up anxiously over having to wait to head out.
Depending on who someone tries to reach out to, you'll either get no response at all... or you'll be informed that the first group of Pokemon teams that was teleported out has vanished. To somewhere unknown, that is! They haven't shown up where Chimecho was waiting for them! Needless to say, there won't be any more teleporting going on today.
Polteageist was already supervising at the Archives, but the other guild leaders are rapidly summoned. For once even the usually even-tempered Mightyena seems very agitated, but she and Ribombee take turns keeping each other on track. For their part, Polteageist steadfastly defends their teleportation specialists to the other two guild leaders, but behind the scenes their questioning is very thorough and intense. A retrieval for a single team of Pokemon should absolutely not be shaping up into a rescue mission for multiple teams of Pokemon at once!
The guild leaders pull together to form a plan, though. Once the teleportation specialists report back apologetically that they're working on tracking where each team could have ended up, the remaining expedition teams are reassigned to retrieve the missing ones - on foot, this time.
For the moment, Polteageist refuses to accept any additional teams; after all, the ones that signed up were the ones prepared to go into unknown terrain, and that seems to be what's going to happen regardless! But that doesn't mean there's no way for others to help. Pokemon loitering near the Archives may be roped into retrieving supplies and otherwise readying the remaining expedition teams. It seems as though the expeditionaries are expected to be gone for multiple days this time, once they do set out...
Or perhaps you could just keep the remaining expedition teams company? Some of them may be a bit rattled, or winding themselves up anxiously over having to wait to head out.
✩ OOC NOTES.
⟡ CWS: Mentions of extreme weather, missing persons.
⟡ While all Light Quests must be submitted by the 25th of the month, Players may submit their own Player Quests at any time before that point! (Though we recommend saving Player Quests for the next month if it is after the 20th.)
⟡ Have any questions related to the event? Ask them here! If your question is more general for the game, please make sure to direct it to the FAQ page instead. Thank you, and happy threading!
⟡ While all Light Quests must be submitted by the 25th of the month, Players may submit their own Player Quests at any time before that point! (Though we recommend saving Player Quests for the next month if it is after the 20th.)
⟡ Have any questions related to the event? Ask them here! If your question is more general for the game, please make sure to direct it to the FAQ page instead. Thank you, and happy threading!
no subject
Though she cocked her head a bit at that last bit.
"Oh. Back in my world, I knew someone who was poisonous. But it wasn't the sort of thing she could control, she was just... poisonous all the time. She couldn't touch food or other people without poisoning them, and I think that made her really lonely. So, I figure that if it's something you can learn to control, that's not a bad idea to try."
no subject
Mayaka steps between them, waving the scorpion away. "Yeah, I guess it's different around here where a bunch of Poison-types exist. Now, would you quit the needless lecturing and leave us alone?"
"For someone who doesn't want to use poison, you've got quite a mouth. All hope is not lost!" the Skorupi says with amusement as he gets the hint and takes his leave.
The Sneasel watches him to make sure he's out of earshot before looking over at Ritsuka. Clearly, she's interested in learning more about what was shared.
"That friend of yours... did she figure out a way to live with it? It sounds like it must have been difficult."
no subject
"But when she was summoned as a Heroic Spirit later... Uh, it's kind of a long story but because of some things most poisons didn't affect me, and she was really happy that it was okay for her to touch me."
There was, naturally quite a lot she was leaving out, but Ritsuka was attempting to summarize the important parts as best she could.
no subject
"Working with an assassin or heroic whatever -- that doesn't sound like something a normal person does," she responds without filter. "And you were immune to poison too?"
no subject
On the one hand, Ritsuka had anticipated at least a little surprise or questions. She'd even left out a lot of details that would have raised even more. But the strength of Mayaka's reaction still caught her a bit off guard.
"It's kind of a long story... And sort of? There was a Heroic Spirit that, because I formed a contract with them, the contract protected me from poison. We think."
She never did find out for sure how that had worked.
no subject
"I see. I think? But anyway, Rit-chan, doesn't this mean that you were only able to befriend her because of this power you had? What do you think would've happened if you weren't immune to poison? Would you have still become her friend?"
no subject
"Oh, I still would've wanted to be friends," there was no hesitation in her answer, "but it wouldn't be the same, I guess. She probably would still have felt like she had to be alone..."
Which would have made Ritsuka feel bad, in turn, even if there was nothing that could be done about it.
no subject
When Mayaka learned that Steel-types were immune to poison, and that she could lower her guard around people like Parvati and Ume, she'd felt some relief. So, Ritsuka was like that, maybe even more, for the poisonous assassin.
"Sometimes, I think it might be safer for me not to hang around others too because of my claws. But... I don't think I could deal with the loneliness."
no subject
"Yeah, that's why I think that if there's a way to learn to control your poison better, it'd be worth a try. Because if you can, then you won't have to worry about it so much."
no subject
If what the Skorupi said is true, she'll only be able to master her poison if she actually uses it. But in what scenario would that be okay?
no subject
Real fights might need to happen eventually, but surely that ought to help as a starting point, at the very least.
no subject
After making sure there's enough distance between them, she removes her gloves to show the Rufflet the purple-ish tint of her claws.
"When I'm nervous, or worked up, I think it gets worse? But I haven't really experimented. With training dummies, because I know they're just made of straw, it's hard to think about 'poisoning' them."
no subject
She'd had plenty of experience with battles using an elaborate simulator, back in her world, but even with as realistic as that could look and feel, there was still the knowledge that it wasn't real in the end. But, a little more realism certainly helped with the illusion.
no subject
"Though I wonder if it's about the dummies, or just the way I am. Unlike a lot of the others here, I'm not a fighter."
Sure, it's not common for her to get involved in a heated argument, but very rarely does she ever feel the need to use her fists.
"You don't strike me as that kind of person too, Rit-chan."
no subject
Which probably wasn't too surprising, given what she'd been talking about just earlier. Though on the other hand, that certainly raised the question of why she was a Rufflet of all Pokemon, given the species' reputation for being eager to fight...
no subject
"Well, if you don't like fighting, then why do you fight?"
no subject
Not that she'd had much chance to think about that at the time. Even now, there was a lot to her own feelings on the matter that Ritsuka herself was unaware of.
"And I guess after a while I just kinda got used to it."
no subject
She thinks that many of the others have gotten used to fighting... maybe even before they got turned into Pokemon. Like Flowey, Shoka and Umemiya. As much as she knows it's necessary to survive out in the wild here, Mayaka is frightened of the thought of becoming desensitised to fighting.
no subject
"I guess so...? I never really thought about it before..."
There hadn't been time to think about it.
no subject
"I get having to fight to survive, or to protect your friends, but if you're not suited for fighting, why not just leave it to those who prefer to do it instead?"
no subject
Well, the alternative didn't bear thinking about. Ritsuka might not have been the one actually trading blows with their opponents, but she was still there for every battle, supporting her allies, even giving direction as needed. To her mind, that was still very much participating.
"... There'd always been something, too. A threat that needed to be stopped, I mean. So one way or another, we always ended up needing to fight, and I didn't really think about it much beyond that..."
And, well. She'd only been here what, about a month or so? She was still getting used to simply being a Pokemon, let alone stopping to question habits formed over years of being in constant conflict of one kind or another.
no subject
The Sneasel fidgets with her claws. "Sorry if my questions were a bit much."
Mayaka knows she has a habit of getting carried away and insisting on what's right.
no subject
"It's fine." She really didn't mind answering questions, just some of the things Mayaka had said had really caught her off-guard. "Still though, even if you're not planning to fight at all, I don't think it'd hurt for you to practice controlling your poison, you know?"
im good to wrap this in a bit!
"Thanks for the advice, Rit-chan. Anyway, wanna go grab something to eat?" Mayaka gestures to the communal hall behind them where there's usually stuff to eat around meal times.
sounds good to me!
She might not be able to offer much help, but she'd certainly try her best.
"Oh, sure!"
Food was always a good option.