Rocket-propelled Pokemon Tabletop

Vladenie:

You charge off ahead round the harbour to the Pokemon Centre. You and Lucian, Nariman and Sergio pass the gatehouse (the tiny building beside the drydock with its lights on), the clinic (at the corner of the three-way intersection), and the hotel with a large and rather fancy seafood restaurant occupying the ground floor. Vladenie notices approximately that much, before heading into the Pokemon Centre.

It's your rather typical three-storey centre for Pokemon Trainers; there's the front desk with an ubiquitous pink-haired nurse sipping at coffee and flicking through yesterday's issue of The Solrock. She rises from her seat to greet you, a bit surprised to have a Trainer wandering in at 4am of all times.

You take a look around while the nurse takes Poppy for patching up; the foyer's basically empty. One youngish trainer is sitting at a bench who clearly hasn't slept well tonight, and a pair of old codgers are in one corner grumbling about the Youth of Today over some board game. Unusually (although come to think of it, it kind of makes sense), there's a shuttered-off part of the Centre, decked out with the blues of a Pokemart. The shop hours say it opens at 7am, but a few vending machines are lined up along the side of it, stocking the usual essentials like Pokeballs, Potions, Human Restoratives, and basic adventuring kit like Repels and Escape Ropes.

Your trip back to the pub is uneventful - the only activity on the streets right now is around the fishermen's marina. There you can see the morning fish market starting to get underway.


Team Operation Piss-Up:

Our dashing trio head straight for the pub, which rather suitably discards any pretension or aesthetic standards in favour of just serving up workmen's brew. If you were desperate for that kind of thing, you could always wait for the Blue Basculin on the waterfront to open. They'd cater better to any touristy types in the town.

The Lax Lapras, which is of more pressing need of being exposited upon, is mostly full of tall tables and barstools, other than one wall lined with booths. The bar itself has a couple of liqueur bottles arrayed behind it; the liqueur bottles are in assorted states of not having been disturbed for a good while.

Jack and Nada are shot concerted glares through the smoke-suffused air from three tacit buggers in the booth nearest the door; these probably go disregarded as the two make their way to the bar. The barkeep makes the point a bit clearer.

"You want to drink in here, put those things away." He motions with a dishrag to Harry and Jack Who Is A Ghost.

Minnie makes a beeline for the best compromise for whatever the hell she was looking for. This happens to be the only guy who definitely looks under thirty in the whole pub. He's sitting at one end of the bar, back to most of you, swilling about one third of a glass of booze as he stares into it with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. There's a purple, catlike Pokemon sleeping at the foot of his barstool.

He glances up, shrugs, and motions to the barkeep before sliding some currency across. The bartender looks like he wants to deal with Nada and Jack first, but reluctantly multitasks and draws out a pint for Minnie, scooping up the cash with another glare at the two dudes.

"Are they with you?" the barfly asks Minnie.


Lucian:

You go stalk in the direction of some windows, presumably not paying any heed to Vladenie who headed in the same direction.

The waterfront is full of said windows; at least the kind you can look through without homeowners getting all upset. Right from the Pokemon Centre are a Mart (no, not a PokeMart), the Blue Basculin, and an antiques store. The waterfront itself has a bunch of shuttered or otherwise night-proofed smaller businesses; a kiosk by the ferry docks and a couple of food vendors.

The place on the whole looks designed to cope with a lot of foot traffic, just, not at 4 bloody am. It's deserted other than you fine gentlemen, and one dude tidying up outside the Blue Basculin. You don't find the Pokemart because it's inside the Pokemon Centre. This may or may not annoy you.


Mature Students This Way:

Perception check: 16. Other than a rather understated dumpster diver round the back of the PokeMart, things seem to be suitably peaceful for a four in the morning. The bulk of the activity is back around the marina, where fishermen are bringing in their night's catch for northwest Aroa's assembling fishmongers to purchase.

You can for the most part tell the buyers from the sellers, by the latter all being the ones with cigarettes (that shit nukes your tastebuds, don'tcha know). They also smell like saltwater and clearly didn't do their hair before they got out of bed this morning. Their Pokemon, when they do have them, are the ubiquitous working types like Machop, although one dude has an Azumarill hauling cages for him. You spot a few Wingull in the rigging as well; you hear one squawk a warning as you make your way onto the waterfront. You watch a larger bird Pokemon swoop down from the hills, only to be beaten off by a whole pack of Wingull. A Pidgeotto, perhaps? Hard to be sure from this distance.

Nariman also noted, for the most part, buyers didn't have their Pokemon out and about. The conspicuous exception was one well-dressed woman, with a humanoid, strikingly armoured creature in tow.

Sergio didn't find anything resembling a rangers' station; perhaps the Aroa region didn't make use of them? Considering the limited charges on his Styler, that could be a cause for concern.

The two of you otherwise find the waterfront in a similar condition to what Lucian found. The main exception would probably be the presumably-annoyed Lucian prowling round it.