Greetings, Researchers. I know that most of you are still resting and preparing for the next leg of our journey. Circumstances present several opportunities for our guild, however, and since our time here is limited, we should act on them quickly. As this is her homeland, I will defer to Solstice to explain the details.

Thanks, Professor. Now, you probably know that Geoda has its own branch of the Researchers. The members here are great in geology and astronomy, but biology isn’t their strong suit - they’ve never done a full survey of the flora here in the Cactus Fields! Since we’re here, we’re going to fix that. Chelle has asked for interested members to comb the area and take samples from the different cactus species in the area. Fruit and pollen samples are especially important; if we get those, we can experiment with growing and crossbreeding our own cacti.

Sound easy? It should be, except for one … complication. Some of the local Pokemon are not at all happy about our plans. The cacti here are like their homes and livelihoods all rolled into one, so they’re understandably suspicious about strangers poking around with specimen vials. A few of them might even resort to violence if they see what we’re up to. If we’re going to get those samples, then, we absolutely have to avoid a confrontation.
It’s up to individual teams to decide how to go about completing this task peacefully - stealth or disguise might work, but I encourage you to try and befriend the locals. I’m sure that if you explain what we’re trying to do, or demonstrate how our scientific knowledge can be useful, their hostility will disappear. They might even help us find rare specimens! I'll give a Merit to anyone who can win the trust of the locals.

Thank you Solstice. Now, allow me to present our host, Sherman, who has come to us with a highly intriguing task. It may be unconventional, but please give her your full attention.

Well hey again folks. Miss Chelle's right, I've got a fun job for y'all. Now you see, I happen to make my own brand of tequila here at the Cacturne - that’s booze made from agave n' cactus, for y’all outta-towners - and I’m looking to enter it in this contest in the city a few weeks from now. But my still’s in bad shape, and I’ve been thinkin’ that my recipe needs a little somethin’ extra. Somethin’ to make it more excitin’, right? And then y’all showed up, and I figured your sciencey stuff might be just what I need!

You’re asking us to help you make tequila? Uh, Chelle, is that really such a good use of the guild's time?

Distillation is a critical part of all alchemy. This will be a valuable chance for our newer members to learn to apply their skills outside of a lab environment, and it will help further our knowledge of local plants and their properties. I think it’s an excellent idea.

Aw, Miss Chelle, you’re a floatin’ blob-thingamajig after my own heart. Now, the only things you have to use for my tequila are agave juice, of course, and salac berry juice - that’s my signature, gives it some zip. I’ll provide those ingredients,  and then y’all add whatever else you think is good. An' If you’re more the mechanic type, you can help fix up my still, get it nice and optimized. Oh, and for Miss Sol's benefit - don't worry about your folks gettin' sloshed, we set out the product for the Cacturne regulars to taste-test. They got iron livers, haw!

Even so! We're on a tight schedule, and we can't afford a pile of drunken Researchers lying around. Anyone who gets too drunk while working on this "project" will get a Strike.