Session 12, VP1

Dragging the bandits along with them, our heroes entered the town of Drillsberg. Beautiful stone pueblo-style buildings adorned the multi-colored cliff face beneath a rocky overhang, kept cool by the deep shadow cast from above. These homes were invariably only one-story tall, with no actual doors on their exteriors. A few miles across, bordering the other cliff wall of the canyon were several more modern buildings, including a Pokemon Center and Pokemart.

In-between the two halves of the city lay a bustling living market. People offered many types of wares for sale, all of it hand-made. Taken a bit aback by all of the life and color, Gunnar made his way over to the closest pueblo, and knocked on the doorframe. Two small children peered around, wielding wooden swords and shields, and inquired who Gunnar was. As he began to explain that they had caught some bandits and were looking for advice on where to take them, the children's' eyes lit up, and they charged past him.

The two young brothers quickly ran up to Bergie and Stompy, assuming that the largest person was the "bad guys", and quickly "subdued" them. As Naivara and Bergie watched the boys try to climb onto Stompy, Gunnar caught the attention of their mother inside of the house.

After exchanging pleasantries, she directed him to visit the Pokemon Center, saying that a man named Erling may be able to assist them. She also let slip that there was a commotion brewing in town lately regarding the local temple to Frigga, that Erling was involved in. A town council was to be held in two days’ time, at dusk.

Threading through the market, Bergie & Naivara found themselves getting distracted by all of the various wares. Gunnar managed to rein in Bergie's excitement until they had dropped off the bandits, but Naivara immediately took off into the market stalls.

Gunnar & Bergie entered the Pokemon Center, and inquired with the nurse on duty if she could put them in contact with Erling. She let them know that Erling and some of his subordinates were actually staying in the guest quarters inside of the Pokemon Center, and went to fetch him. As soon as she knocked on the door to his quarters, Erling opened the door and glared out. A tall and weathered man, his tanned skin and thick muscles made it clear that he worked in some form of hard manual labor. His face was gruff and seemed to be furrowed in a permanent frown.

Erling introduced himself, telling the party that he was the head of the construction and repair crews in the area. After Gunnar explained the party's encounter with the thieves, Erling said that he could certainly put their hands to use performing labor for him as recompense for their banditry.

Bergie began to inquire into the business surrounding the local temple, and Erling quickly became shuttered and defensive. Gunnar attempted to press him for more answers, but Erling stonewalled them, before dragging the bandits into his quarters. As our heroes left the Pokemon Center, they could hear Erling giving the thieves a verbal dressing-down.

Meanwhile, Naivara found her way to the section of the market selling various holistic items. One of the merchants told her that he had sensed her aura coming, and Naivara was hooked. All five of the nearby merchants began pitching their wares to her, and she was quickly devoid of most of her Monies. In return, she had purchased several dreamcatchers, a few wooden/stone carved figurines of Pokemon, a purple geode, and several antler-carved runestones.

Bergie & Gunnar ran into Naivara while she was walking away from the holistic corner, her arms overflowing with her goods. With a smile, Naivara gave each of her companions one runestone with their first initial on them, as well as one each for their starters.

Bergie then searched for merchants selling spices from various parts of the world. He purchased a few larger portions of the local seasonings, and some smaller glass bottles of various foreign varieties.

Simultaneously, Gunnar purchased a replacement for his shirt that had gotten torn in the fight with the bandits. He also found a stand selling gear to aid in traversing the desert nearby, and Bergie purchased some of these as well.

With their wallets considerably lighter, the party decided to visit the temple to Frigga they had been told of. On the outskirts of the pueblo side of town, they found a long, low stone building, that clearly went back some way into the rock face. Decorating the front edifice were several carvings showing Frigga, with silhouettes of various forms of life springing forth from her hands. The interior of the temple was entirely made of stone, with low benches instead of pews.

At its head was a small dais, with no podium, for someone to conduct services. While the walls were barren and plain, the floor was intricately decorated with carvings of Frigga and her name in runic, forming a fractal tableau. A few people from town were sitting on a few of the benches, and two acolytes were slowly cleaning their way around the earthen room. Gunnar asked one if they would be able to talk to the head priestess, and the acolyte went into the backrooms to fetch her.

After a few minutes, a tall woman in her late 60s, with brown hair streaked with white, introduced herself to the party as Brenna. She sat on one of the benches, and politely offered for the party to sit with her in conversation. Our heroes asked her about the commotion brewing around the temple. Brenna let them know that Erling had been hired to tear down the temple.

He was refusing to tell anyone who had hired him, or what would be built to replace it when asked. She further explained that the way the town made decisions on changes, laws, and other important matters was to hold a monthly council. Each district of the town had a number of representatives, representing various demographics.

From what she had heard, Erling had been speaking to many of the council members, in an attempt to sway them to allow the demolition. As best she could determine, he had so far gotten 15 members of the council to agree to vote in his favor. Brenna knew that there were 5 members still voting against the demolition, with another 5 as yet undetermined.

The party asked if they could do anything to help Brenna keep the temple standing, and she suggested that they come by the next morning after she thought over matters. The party began heading to a hotel across town. As soon as the sun was halfway below the horizon, a horrendous buzzing sound seemed to emanate from all of the nearby stone surfaces.

The intense noise was strong enough to cause minor headaches and disorientation, but only seemed to last for a few minutes before fading away. Once they had arrived at the hotel, the party asked the innkeeper about the noise, but he quickly hurried them to their rooms in a huff.

In the morning, our heroes were all awoken by the recurrence of the horrific buzzing noise. As before, it appeared to be coming out of every stone surface nearby, including the walls of the hotel. After shaking off their grogginess from the sudden waking, Bergie found that one of his eggs had hatched into a baby male Eevee, who had curled around his legs in the night.

Bergie ran out of his room to show his new party member off to his friends, and the party got ready for the day. Once prepared, they once again made their way to the Frigga temple. As they were coming up to the temple entrance, they ran into Erling, leaving the building in a huff.

Inside, Brenna stood in the main room of the temple, looking flustered. She beckoned the party to sit with her again, and explained that Erling had been trying to convince her to voice her public support of the temple's demolition. Even though he had swayed most of the council members, Erling believed that having Brenna publicly agree to his proposed plan would help convince any citizens who were against the demolition.

Standing as true as the stone of her temple walls, Brenna had refused, even knowing that Erling had the votes to get what he wanted regardless. When the party asked why it seemed that most people in town had a positive opinion of Erling, Brenna told them that it was Erling and his crew who had restored the ancient Jousting Coliseum on the edge of town, which had earned him much favor.

The party inquired if Brenna had thought of any way that they could assist her. Brenna then explained that it may be a good idea to try to talk to the representatives from one specific area, and see if they could convince them to change their minds.

Before they left, our heroes inquired about the odd buzzing drone they had heard earlier. Unfortunately, Brenna was unsure what the noise was: it had begun a few months ago, only happening at dusk & dawn. Several people had headed into the nearby desert to try to determine the source, with no success.

With the names of the representatives from the North-West district of the city, the party set out to put things right. Once they reached the houses in that area, they ran into a family of two parents and two children. As the father helped the children climb onto Stompy's back, Gunnar asked the mother where they could find the three council members. She happily pointed their houses out, and had to drag her husband and children off of Stompy to continue on their way.

Upon reaching the first council member's house, Gunnar knocked on the doorframe. The woman inside quickly put down a paper she had been reading, and stood in a defensive posture facing the door. The party introduced themselves, and began questioning the woman, Aslaug, as to why she was voting to have the temple torn down.

Aslaug was extremely abrasive, and the party managed to find out that she was an adherent to the New Gods. It was her hope that with the temple to Frigga gone, more people would begin to flock to worship Groudon instead.

After the party mocked her for believing that Pokemon could be gods, Aslaug demanded they leave her house at once. As they left, Pearl glanced back from her place on Naivara's shoulder; as they were leaving, Aslaug quickly put the paper she had been reading into a lockbox. Through her Mystic link to Pearl, Naivara saw this happen, and relayed the information to her friends.

With a bitter taste in their mouth from the last encounter, the party made their way to the second council member's house. Inside they found a young woman at the tail end of making fresh vegetable soup. She introduced herself as Tone, and the party began to question her about her vote. Before they could get too far into discussion, coughing was heard from a bedroom in the house, and Tone excused herself: she filled a bowl with the fresh hot soup, and brought it into the bedroom.

When she returned to the living room, she apologized for interrupting the conversation. Tone explained that her son, Vargr, had been sickly ever since his birth, and she had been experiencing difficulty getting him the medication and care he needed. With her permission, the party went in to visit Vargr.

The small 9-year-old boy's wan face lit up when he saw Stompy enter the room. Bergie released Froza, and put her on the bed so that Vargr could play with her. As he gently pet the Vulpix, Vargr told the party that he had never gotten to see Pokemon in person, as he got sick very easily when going outside. Bergie introduced him to several of his Pokemon, and when they could see Vargr was getting worn out, they took their leave. Tone thanked them for brightening her son's day, and, not wanting to disturb her any further, they stepped outside.

Gunnar told his friends that he had already seen enough, and did not care to visit the third council member: he wanted to instead try to find out more about the plans of Erling and his employer. Naivara agreed, and the two made their way back to the Pokemon Center while Bergie visited the third council member.

Bergie found the house quick enough, and met a man in his low 20s, named Canute. Through their conversation, Bergie discovered that Canute had inherited his position on the council from his father. While Canute himself was unsure about having the temple demolished, his father had been pressuring him to vote in favor of it, without giving Canute any explanation as to why.

Pressing for more information, Bergie was told that only local citizens were allowed to attend the council meeting, unless they had been invited by a council member. Bergie tried to convince Canute that sometimes it was better to not blindly follow the word of their elders. Although Canute was still unsure, he acquiesced to writing Bergie a pass allowing entry into the town council.

Meanwhile, Naivara & Gunnar entered the Pokemon Center, finding Erling to be gone. After they talked to the nurse on duty, they were told that Erling was likely with his work crew in the nearby quarry: unable to begin work on the temple, they had been preparing materials for the future work.

Gunnar suggested to Naivara that they go to the quarry in an attempt to get more information. As they set out, Bergie, descending from the residential areas, hailed down to them. With the party once more together, they set out.

It took only an hour or so to find their way through the canyons to the alcove housing the quarry. Coming from inside of the mine entrance, the party could hear Erling's voice yelling orders. Rather than walking straight up to where they could see several men working outside a mine entrance, Gunnar decided to approach the matter with stealth. Using his innate athleticism, he managed to scale his way up the 70-foot-tall canyon rock face. Upon reaching the top, he headed off in the direction of the mine, hoping to find a way in from above. (edited)

Unsure what to do, Naivara & Bergie waited anxiously. Finally, Naivara decided to attempt to climb after Bergie; shifting into her Abra form, Naivara hoped to use its enhanced capabilities to scale the rock face. Unfortunately, she lost her grip halfway up. She saved herself from her fall by Teleporting safely to the ground next to Bergie.

Atop the cliff, Gunnar found a tight chimney that led up from the mine. He could hear the sounds of men digging within, and began to quietly make his way down the tunnel. Meanwhile, Bergie & Naivara began arguing about how foolish it was to attempt to climb after Gunnar. Their loud voices attracted the attention of some of the miners, who came over to see what was going on. Thinking quickly, the two heroes convinced the miners that they had been arguing over who was stronger, Stompy or Pearl.

Bergie had Stompy perform some dressage, while Naivara had Pearl do a backflipping somersault off of her shoulder. One of the miners piped up, suggesting that clearly having a Pokemon battle would be the best way to reach an outcome. Leery of battling each other, but wanting to hopefully aid Gunnar by distracting some of the workers, they agreed to a battle using 2 Pokemon each. The miner they had been speaking to informed them that it was nearly lunch-time, and began to draw many of the workers around to watch the battle and bet on the outcome.

Inside of the cave, Gunnar had reached a small ledge about 25 feet above the floor where the miners were working. As he was debating how to continue onwards, suddenly the miners all began to head out of the cave. Thinking to himself that this must be the work of his allies, Gunnar did not hesitate to take advantage of the moment. Leaping down to the cave floor, he began to work his way through the myriad tunnels, hoping to find Erling's office.

On the surface, Bergie & Naivara began their battle. Bergie asked Stompy to go easy on Pearl, hoping to stretch out the fight to buy Gunnar more time. Naivara & Pearl chose not to hold back, causing Stompy to overstep, and knock Pearl out. Naivara switched to Lus, and used a strong Water attack to knock Stompy out in turn.

After navigating his way through the tunnels, Gunnar managed to find a small hollowed-out room housing a small work trailer. Peeking through the window, he saw that Erling was doing some paperwork inside. With Skeldr's help, Gunnar managed to mold some stalagmites to hide behind, before having Skeldr use rock Blast to cause a small avalanche down the tunnel he had come down.

Sure enough, the sound managed to distract Erling. He grabbed a hardhat with a light on it, and went to investigate the sound. Gunnar instantly leapt inside of the trailer. Unable to read anything, as the papers weren't in Runic, Gunnar chose to grab as much as he could and shove it into his pack. He swept up everything on the table, and managed to grab several file folders from a nearby cabinet, before heading back into the mine.

As the battle continued above, Bergie switched out to Froza, using her to quickly KO Lus. The miners all cheered and exchanged money at the outcome. One of the miners came up to tell them how fun the battle was to watch, and suggested that they have one more 1-on-1 battle before the miner's break ended. Seizing the moment, Naivara convinced him that the pair should be paid a cut of the betting proceeds for providing the entertainment. The miner readily agreed, and the fight commenced anew.

Underground, Gunnar tread as quietly as he could back up the tunnel. He shortly came upon a fork where he had caused a small avalanche, where Erling was investigating amidst the stone and dust. Unable to follow the path he had taken into the mine, Gunnar headed down the unknown fork.

Chaz the Chikorita and Peach the Mareep clashed in the canyon to buy Gunnar more time. Chaz managed to land a critical hit with Razor Leaf, putting Peach on the backfoot. After trading blows for a few rounds, Chaz once again launched a critical Razor Leaf, pinning Peach's wool to the rock face.

Unable to pull herself free from the leaves, Peach began to glow as she struggled mightily. A burst. of blinding electricity erupted forth. When it cleared, the spectators could see that Peach had evolved to pull herself free, losing some of her wool in the process. With a powerful lightning bolt, Peach knocked out Chaz. As Naivara began to celebrate both her victory and Peach's evolution, Gunnar suddenly came running out of the mine, screaming about an avalanche inside.

The miners quickly moved into action, giving Bergie & Naivara their winnings of $3000 before heading into the mine to assess if anyone was in danger inside. Gunnar ran straight from the cave entrance all the way back to the temple to Frigga, leaving Naivara & Gunnar to make their own way back to town.

Gunnar met with Brenna once more, and asked her if there were a space they could use to go over the documents he had recovered. She led him to a small study room, and left him to his work. Gunnar called his friends, and alerted them to his location so they could meet up with him. After stopping off at the Pokemon Center to recover, the remaining party members made their way once more to the temple.

Bergie & Naivara were led to the study, where they Gunnar sitting amongst swathes of paper strewn haphazardly about the place. As Gunnar looked on, they began to read their way through the papers, looking for anything of interest.

Most of the documents were unfortunately timesheets and employee records. After a few hours of investigating, Bergie finally found a small clue: a letter to Erling from his employer. The letter seemed to be a recent correspondence, and did not include much information of use in the body of the text, with no mention of what was planned to be done to the temple space. However, the letter was signed by Erling's employer: Aegson Adelbrand.

As Bergie read the name aloud, Naivara recognized the last name from some of Vanachrom's histories. From what she could recall, there was once an ancient hero in the distant past named Aegson, who wielded a spectral sword. Shortly afterwards, Brenna came in to check on their progress. The party explained what little they had found, and Brenna also recognized the name, but only faintly.

The party asked Brenna if she knew of any connection Aegson may have had to the temple, but she had not heard any such tales. To the best of her knowledge, the temple histories had no reference to anything of import being here besides the temple itself.

Thinking that perhaps there may be something more beneath the surface, Gunnar asked Brenna if the party could explore the temple's halls to search for further clues. Brenna wholeheartedly agreed, and the party began to clean up the papers littering the study room, preparing themselves to continue their investigation.