Zapdos

Animal Crossing RP Idea

Hi there! I am Zapdos and I’m looking to gauge interest in this idea for an Animal Crossing story idea I have because I want to write more and the story I’m currently running has slowed down. If you aren’t familiar with the series, you play as a person who moves to a town full of animals and you live your life doing things like decorating your house, fishing, bug catching, etc. In the newest game on Switch you move with a group of animals to a deserted island and build a town there. It’s not a series that requires understanding a huge amount of lore, but still has a great amount of room for creative ideas and that appeals to me.

With that said, I wrote a little blurb below to give you an idea of what to expect:

---

In the Animal Crossing universe, Tom Nook has gotten sick and is unable to move any more beings to deserted islands. Fortunately for a small group of people and animals, a copycat innovator named Vince has stepped in to provide this service. For a small fee of 100,000 bells each, he has nice houses on a pleasant island for each person. Everything seems aboveboard - he’ll take everyone to the island first, then get their stuff on the second trip. The houses on the island are in great shape and even had some basic furnishings as well. It looked like everything was going to be good.

But as it turns out, there was more to this place than just ocean views, as was discovered by one resident who dug a hole to plant a tree…and found a fresh dog corpse occupying the spot already.

With no way of contacting the authorities, the villagers now have crucial questions to answer on their own: just what had happened here? Why had nobody heard of this death before now? And what would happen to them?

---

Since this is in the casual section, I’d expect about 2-3 paragraphs at a minimum, but what really matters is that you’re writing good quality posts. I’d rather see a good two paragraph post than a three page essay that nobody can understand (and I speak from experience here; when someone has to ask you what has happened, that isn’t a good sign). Ideally I’d like people able to post 2-3 times a week, but I understand life happens so communication is important.

Do you have questions? Concerns? Comments? Let me know. In any case, I appreciate you taking the time to read this!

The Adventures of Caleb Crowsnest

While Sara helped their cause by looking around for information, Caleb was helping customers. He thought medical books might be a niche market, but a kind woman had bought a text on how to make casts earlier, so maybe there was more demand than he expected. Now the boy was waiting patiently as a thin, tan man with a swirly mustache examined a different book. He was shocked out of his complacency by what the guy said though.

“This book is fake,” he declared as if he were stating the meaning of life.

Caleb knew this wasn’t the case; Roger was way too smart to not know if his book was real. “With all due respect sir, it’s real. The, uh, seller is well educated and a good man.”

“Well, boy,” the adult responded in a kindly way, “it isn’t your fault you got fooled, but let me do you a favor - I’ll buy it off you for a gold piece.” Based on Roger’s price sheet, that offer was 100 times smaller than what it should have been.

“No thank you, sir.”

Now the man’s tone of voice became more stern. “Alright boy, enough games. The authorities won’t take kindly to phonies. Trying to scam the people of this great city will not end well for you. I’ll give you a silver and we can forget this ever happened.”

Caleb was nervous now, but not because the book was allegedly fake; rather, he didn’t want to jeopardize the mission over something fairly small like this. Still, knights didn’t back down from doing the right thing, so that was what the boy intended on doing.

“The book is real. I’ll have to ask you to leave now, sir.”

“GUARDS!” the man started to yell, “THIS CHILD IS-”

Suddenly, the man stopped - not because of any moral enlightenment, but because another man had punched him square in the face. Caleb recognized the attacker; it was Alan, the guy who had helped them find the spot earlier.

Alan scolded the man for his actions as well. “Curly, you oughta be ashamed of yourself, trying to scam a child. What is this, some back alley in Thorn?”

“But Scarman, he-”

“No excuses.” Alan loudly declared as he pulled out his sword. “Now get out of here, and if I hear of you scamming anyone else I’ll gut you like a fish.” Saying this, he kicked the chastised man as he scurried away.

Caleb was relieved; the farmer had saved him from a potentially awkward situation. Edward and Rainbow were relieved as well, having just been spared from potentially having to reveal themselves.

“Thank you, sir” the boy said to the man, “I wasn’t trying to cause any trouble.”

“I know. Don’t worry about it, Caleb,” the scarred man said in response.

The child had to wonder if he had let his name slip at some point. “It’s Calvin, actually.”

The older man smiled in response, as if something about that was funny. “Now Caleb, if you lie any more, Ms. Ardia will wash your mouth with soap.”

At this, the boy’s face became a shade of pink as he tried to maintain his false identity. “Uh, I don’t know who that is. Maybe you have me confused with someone else?” Whether it was on a dwarven island impersonating a bear or in a dragon empire, Caleb apparently was not very good at bluffing.

Fortunately for the child, this farmer was apparently kinder than the failed scam artist, as he looked like he had remembered something that was important. “Alright, all things considered, maybe that was a little sudden. Just...listen please, okay?” Caleb nodded, figuring he could at least do that much after the man had helped him earlier.

“Thank you. I don’t know why you’re here, and you don’t have to tell me, but I’m happy you’re okay. Like I assume you did, I grew up in Eagletown at Red Twig, with your father.” At the mention of a parental figure, Caleb’s eyes went wide and he looked at the man intently, but said nothing. “I get it if you don’t trust me, but I’d like you and your elderly friend to join me for dinner tonight. Maybe I can help with whatever it is you’re doing here? Anyway, I live at the Crimson Ridge farm; take a right on the main road and take a left on the first dirt road, then my house is the first farm on the right. I won’t bother you if you don’t show up, but I hope you do. Take care, Caleb.”

Saying this, Alan waved and took his leave. Caleb felt torn; on the one hand, he would do anything to know more about his parents and what happened with them. On the other, he didn’t want to abandon Sara, his village or Lydia. He had to ask himself: what should he do?

The Adventures of Caleb Crowsnest

@Tiger you are the next writer!

The Adventures of Caleb Crowsnest

The odd group of boy, elderly woman, rablin and hippocampus rested at the side of the road while the latter drank his salt water. “Are you feeling better?” Caleb asked.

“Yeah, I’m starting to” Edward said between gulps of water, “I think I just need to stay hydrated.”

“Okay,” Caleb said, reassured. “Just tell us when you start feeling tired again and we can take a break.” Edward nodded in response before resuming his drink.

The road they were on was made of cobblestone, going between fields of open farmland growing crops like corn and grain. The foodstuffs were all they could see until just up ahead, a figure could be seen; a human man who looked to be in his high 30s riding a dark brown horse. Except for five small scar lines that ran diagonally across his face, he looked like an ordinary farmer. Rainbow, wanting to avoid any unnecessary confrontation, hid in the wagon once more before he was too close.

“Hi there!” the guy said to the group, “I don’t think I’ve seen any of you before. Are you all here for the market?”

“The market?” Caleb asked.

The man seemed to be taken aback as he looked at the child, but only for a moment. “Uh, yeah. Today people from all over the region come to town to sell their stuff.”

“Thank you sir, but we really should be on our way,” Sara responded. As if on cue, Edward quickly finished his water. Caleb briefly got out of the wagon to retrieve the water dish the hippocampus had been using as the elder Nieve continued to talk. “We have someplace we need to be.”

“Auria’s not the only place with money,” the scarred man said with a chuckle, “come on, I know the mayor, I can get you a spot. Please, I insist.”

Suddenly, Sara heard a whisper in her ear. It was Rainbow’s voice; she was worried at first but remembered he could use illusions. It was likely throwing his voice like that was a minor magic trick, but she’d have to ask about it later. “Sara, if we go to the market, maybe we can find more info on the mines.” And the rablin did have a point; thanks to Roger’s contacts, they knew Lydia was in the Coldrock Prison Mine System, but perhaps someone here had a map of the complex or some other information that could help them.

“Alright, if you insist” Sara replied with a smile.

“Excellent! I’ll lead the way,” the farmer responded and proceeded to do so. The town of Loucanter seemed like a quaint small town in some ways, it was decidedly urban in others; while not anywhere nearly as big as Thorn, this area did have a good share of activity, especially near Market Square where they wound up.

“The mayor should be...oh, there he is!” Having found who he was looking for, the scarred man dismounted his horse and walked up to who the group assumed was the mayor. “Hey, Bradley!” he exclaimed with a friendly familiarity.

A short man who looked to be in his 80s turned around. “Oh, hi Alan! What can I do for ya?”

“Well, I met these guys on my way here, and thought you’d might have a space for them to sell their stuff. Can you help me out?”

“Oh, sure. Take them to spot 3 on row E, the guy who reserved it backed out.”

“Great, thanks man. Wanna meet up for drinks later?”

“Oh, sure! Listen, I gotta go, the missus asked me to buy some eggs. I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

With that, Alan took the group to the spot and took his leave. Once he was gone, Sara gave her instructions to everyone; Caleb was to sell the books using Roger’s price list as a reference, Rainbow would stay hidden but keep an eye on the younger members of the team, and Sara would go around trying to find anything that could be useful for saving Lydia.

And she was doing just that when she approached a stall that had caught her eye. What Sara saw was quite surprising for a place like this; it was...

The Adventures of Caleb Crowsnest

@Dusty you are next!

The Adventures of Caleb Crowsnest

@Tiger you are the next writer!

The Adventures of Caleb Crowsnest

Caleb, Rainbow, Sara and Flower were sitting on the front bench of the pony wagon, riding it through the Northern Border District to, well, the border. This was the most direct way to get to the Blackscale Empire; from there, they would begin their trip northwest to the Coldrock Prison Mine System (named after the mountain range where it is located) where they would find Lydia. The wagon also contained many old, valuable books that Roger had acquired in his 400+ years of life. The plan was to sell them in the city of Auria to help the group maintain a good cover story and provide funds for their journey. Roger was clear on this, even providing a price list based on his research written in his usual high-quality penmanship. “Lydia is priceless to me,” Roger had told them, “I don’t care if I never see any of these books again.”

As the group got closer to the border, Rainbow got up and said he’d go inside the wagon.

“Will you need to be hidden the entire time?” Caleb asked.

“A lot of it,” the rablin replied, “but don’t worry, I brought reading material.”

The boy looked at the contents of the wagon; besides supplies for the trip, it was medical books as far as the eye could see. “You’re going to learn medicine?” he asked.

Rainbow rolled his eyes at Caleb. “No, no, no - magic. See, after you all left the chambers a few days ago, Mason and I got to talking.”

“Who?”

“The lanky red-haired guy. Anyway, Mason said there’s no way I should’ve known that spell. Super advanced and blah blah blah. It makes sense, but whatever. He then asks how I was feeling because he used my mana to save Byures; I was fine, but didn’t think much of it. Apparently I have more mana than anyone he’s ever met, because that should’ve drained me or something.”

At this, Sara arched her eyebrows; Mason was famous across Thorn for his magical abilities, especially for someone so young. He was not the sort of man to say that in jest. She didn’t say anything though and let the rablin continue his story.

“Anyway, red hair guy tells me to ‘hone my gift’ and I asked how to do that. Long story short, after we made sure Byures was safe - he says hi by the way - we went to Mason’s place and he gave me a book on magic. Supposedly if I practice enough, I’ll be able to-”

At that point, Sara had to interrupt. “We’re at the border,” she said. Rainbow took that as the obvious cue it was and hid within Roger’s books. Being a tiny creature made that easier than it would be for someone like Caleb, plus if worst came to worst he could use an invisibility illusion to make himself undetectable.

Using the reins to “control” Edward, Sara stopped by the border guard in full Blackscale uniform when he held up his right hand to make a stop signal. This was the one way to get directly to the Empire from Thorn City, and as such it was heavily armed. Failing to do even the slightest thing correctly could potentially ruin their chances at saving Lydia before they even began.

“What are your names?” the human man asked.

“I’m Sally Smith, and this is my grandson Calvin. We’re from Thorn.” Just like she had told them last night, they would use fake names to minimize any risk.

“What is the purpose of your trip?”

“I sell antiques for a living. I got a great deal on these rare books and we’re going to sell them up in Auria.” Saying this, Sara showed the guard the copyright page of a hardcover book, The Complete Compendium of Medicine, which was apparently published in 1225.

The guard’s eyebrows rose. “Not bad,” he said, “and how long do you intend to be in the Empire?”

“About three weeks.”

“And do you-”

Just then, the guard was interrupted by a loud, ringing bell. “One moment please, stay there.” Staying this, he pulled his sword from his sheath on his belt and looked around. Sara thought for a moment he might have been suspicious of her as he looked under the cart, but he only spent a moment there, turning his attention to the direction of Blackscale and away from Thorn.

Suddenly, he saw what he was looking for; a goblin man had somehow managed to sneak past the other guards; he was middle-aged and looked like he had been through a tough battle of some kind very recently as there was a large bruise where one of his eyes should’ve been.

“Oh no you don’t,” the guard said, throwing the sword at the goblin. It hit him sharp-side first, causing him to fall backwards onto the ground. He walked towards the body as another guard ran up to him. “Good job Jensen,” the new man said, “is it alive?”

Jensen felt the man’s pulse. “Nah, it’s dead,” he responded as if he was talking about the weather as he pulled the sword from the being’s corpse, “that’s what they get for trying to run though. Good slaves should know better.”

“I’ll fill out the damaged property form,” the other guard said as he picked up the corpse. “Man, I hate paperwork.”

“Tell me about it. I’ll have to clean my sword after-oh, right, I’ve kept some people waiting,” Jensen realized, “excuse me.”

At the wagon, Caleb was trying his best to hide his seething rage and desire to jump into action. Those men made killing sound so trivial and it infuriated him. As the guards talked about the dead man as if he was livestock, Sara was afraid the child would do something they’d regret and wrapped one of her arms around the boy, hugging him. “I know, dear,” she whispered, “I know.”

“Sorry to keep you waiting, ma’am” Jensen said as he returned to where Sara was like nothing had happened. “Any slaves to register?”

“No, sir” Sara responded.

“Alright then, welcome to the Blackscale Empire! Have a great day” he cheerily responded.

“You too,” Sara replied with a fake smile.

As soon as they rode out of distance of anyone, Caleb asked a simple question: “why? How can people act like that?”

“I wish there was an easy answer, child,” Sara sadly replied, “but there isn’t. The world can be a cruel place, and I don’t know that it will ever not be that way; but if you surround yourself with good people that you love and do the best you can to be good yourself, it becomes a much brighter place. Are you okay?”

“I think so, yeah.” Caleb said a little sadly.

“Will you be okay with worse? Because it will get worse before we can save Lydia.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” This time, whether through willpower or time, the sadness in the child’s voice was gone. He would do whatever it took to save Lydia from a fate like the orc’s: it was the knightly thing to do and he had given his word anyway. And in the back of his mind, Caleb felt that Roger was right when he spoke to him at Captain John’s memorial ceremony; he felt like he was one of the Nieves, or at least he did when he was with Sara. “We’ll save her, I know it.”

Sara smiled at the boy’s bravery; moving forward while scared was the definition of courage. This child had sailed across the ocean, fought against cultists, saved a city, and was now helping her save her granddaughter for no reason other than to help people who needed it. None of this had to have been or would be easy, and there was no doubt about it; Caleb was a kind child and special to her. Sara hugged him now with both arms, mentally vowing to herself that she would do whatever it took to keep him safe.

The Adventures of Caleb Crowsnest

@Dusty you are next!

The Adventures of Caleb Crowsnest

@Tiger you are the next writer!

The Adventures of Caleb Crowsnest

Edward was pulling around the cart, having fun with the kids and Rainbow. The rablin wasn’t sure how he ended up in the cart, but he was enjoying it all the same. It reminded him of the Captain; he had told the rablin that in the past, he would give rides to the neighborhood children on holidays. Even Kayden was having some fun, despite her mind being on her father. It is explained that John Sr. would hire a horse to give rides to the neighborhood children on special occasions.

Roger was walking next to Edward, observing him and adjusting the reins on the cart as needed. The skeleton doctor noticed that the hippocampus’s hooves were a little worn and remembered something an old friend had given him. He stopped and talked to the equine:

“Edward, I should go inside, I have something to give you. Caleb, could you come with me?”

Caleb agreed, so the skeleton and boy went inside the house. The pair ended up in the doctor’s office. It was an elegant space, decorated with classy wooden shelves similar to a library. Those shelves were perhaps more full than a library’s would be though: various books occupied every nook and cranny of space there, and then some. Even more texts were in various boxes scattered around the room. Towards the windows was a desk with papers and books stacked on it; near that was a bed where John Jr. was laying, with Sara sitting at a chair beside her son while Hazel brewed something for the man at a nearby table.

Caleb was saddened to see John Jr. in such a weakened state; emaciated and diminished, lacking some of the energy he normally does. The child ran towards the man. “Are you okay?” Caleb asked. John Jr. wasn’t sure if it was confidence or bravado, but he answered the child’s question. “Yeah, don’t worry about me. I’ve fought through worse. I’ll get through this.”

Meanwhile, Roger grabbed something - four horseshoes and a sheet of paper - and walked to his desk to start writing something. Once he finishes, Roger walked over to Caleb and gave him the items and explained what they were for. “These horseshoes were given to me by the hippocampus that brought me back to Thorn all those years ago. Edmund was grown then, but wore these when he was little. He gave them to me as a sign of our friendship and they mean a lot to me, but you all have done so much for us and Eddy could use them more. Take them and these instructions; apparently it’s really easy to bond these to his feet. Then he’ll be able to walk much more comfortably.”

“Thanks Roger,” Caleb said before turning back to John. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, go on, Caleb,” the man responded, “get those to your friend.”

Caleb started to leave, but apparently John Jr. had changed his mind. “Caleb, wait.”

“Yeah?”

“Before you go, I’d like to give you something,” he said, reaching for his sword that was resting on the bed, “I’d like you to have this. I know we don’t always see things eye to eye, but you’ve done a lot for our family, and I want to thank you for it. Take this, I’m sure it will help you.” Saying this, John handed the sword to the youth.

“...thank you.” Caleb responded simply.

“No problem,” the man said with his signature grin, “give Edward my best. And Lydia too, when you see her.”

Caleb weakly smiled and nodded, then left the room. Sara smiled, asking her son if he needed anything else from her.

“No thanks Mom,” he replied.

“I should start preparing, then,” she said as she got up and walked towards the door.

“Love you mom,” Junior said before Sara was about to leave.

“Love you too, son” the elderly woman responded before closing the office door behind her.

Whatever Hazel was thinking about what she had heard versus what transpired yesterday, the skeleton doctor decided it didn’t matter. Before she could say anything, he asked her “Hazel, were you able to do what I asked about yesterday?”

-----

“Wow! These are great, thanks!” Edward told Caleb, who had just finished casting the spell a minute before. The hippocampus had been testing his new horseshoes by pulling everyone around the yard again

“No problem!” Caleb responded. The spell had been easy to cast thanks to Roger’s instructions, which had been written in beautiful and impeccable penmanship. Apparently these horseshoes were magical, crafted specifically for hippocampuses who spent lots of time on land like Edward had been doing lately. If he needed to transform, these horseshoes would stay with his horse form and return when he became a horse once more. These would greatly help him avoid incidents like what had happened in the forest and increase his stamina considerably.

“How is the cart?” Caleb asked.

-“It’s fun!” Edward responds. “I can’t wait to go save...” he hesitated, seeing Caleb’s face becoming alarmed, “...everyone from the green dragon! Come on Rainbow, pretend to breathe fire!”

Rainbow did not look amused at the moment, but obliged, remembering Sara’s request of him. “Roar” he declared with some hesitance, raising his little arms up and creating little hooks with his hands, “I’m a dragon!”

Caleb snorted at the sight of his rablin friend’s poor acting as Sara walked up to him, glancing at Junior’s sword in his possession before looking at her grandchildren.

“Kids, come here please. I have something to tell you,” she said.