Session 15, VP2

The morning sun would be rising in roughly two hours. Exhausted as they were, our heroes did not feel comfortable going to sleep just yet. The smell of smoke was drifting in from somewhere, & they wanted to confirm if it was something new to worry about. 

After lending what aid they could to the townsfolk reviving their recently-freed kin, the trainers sent out a few of their flying Pokemon. A few minutes later, the Pokemon returned, indicating that the smoke seemed to be coming from the North-West; the Pokemon did not seem too agitated, either. 

The mines had not yet been visited since Gudbrund’s assault had begun. The desire to know how the citizens there were faring drove the group to set out in that direction, with Donner in tow. By the time they reached where the town ended, the canyon walls had grown quite steep & sheer.

Here and there, unmanned barricades & work sites could be seen. From atop the cliff walls, several faint trails of smoke could just barely be seen against the lightening sky. Curious, but seeing that the fires posed no imminent threat, the party continued towards the mines proper. As they rounded a corner, they could see a few people milling about. 

Luckily, they all seemed to be mostly unharmed, and in fairly good spirits. To one side, a woman could be seen administering minor first aid to those who needed it, while a few workers stood guard near the mine entrance. Upon seeing the party, the guards hailed them cheerily, eager to get news from the town. 

After a brief discussion, one of the guards left to fetch the person in charge. A large, weather-beaten man accompanied the guard back to the group. His build indicated his history of physical labor, and his voice was as gruff as the dusty stone walls.

The man introduced himself as Erling, the man in charge of the construction company that had been doing work in & around the town. He explained that, luckily, they didn’t seem to be getting attacked by as many shades as the main body of Drillsberg. A quick recounting of the previous night’s events at the Pokemon Center caught Erling’s interest. In particular, he was intrigued to hear the party had been able to free some of the possessed people. 

Curiously, he remarked that it was good that they were able to do so “as well”. Unsure what he could be referring to, the trainers inquired further. It seemed that a young man, a Trainer wielding a rusty sword, had helped defend the townsfolk in the night. Erling didn’t know the man’s name, or how he had done so, but he had evidently managed to free some shades.

Though this intrigued them, the party tried to focus on the matter at hand, asking Erling about the fires they had seen. His face became a bit grimmer, as he explained that the fires showed up shortly before sunset the day prior. As far as he knew, they weren’t related to, or caused by, any of the townsfolk. 

When the group asked if they could borrow some climbing equipment to scale the canyon walls, Erling happily obliged. He left momentarily, leaving our heroes in quiet discussion. Amidst this, a lightbulb seemed to off in Lauren’s head: the woman plying her healing skills had looked vaguely familiar, but they couldn’t initially place it. Now, they remembered Bergie’s description of a medic named Eplina, and realized this must be her. 

With a smile, Lauren led the group in Eplina’s direction. Once she had finished patching up her current patient, Eplina turned to the group. True to Bergie’s word, she was extremely reserved & professional, but clearly cared deeply about her work. Though not as visibly happy as Erling had been when the party recounted their tale, she was glad to hear it; until Lauren mentioned that they had also freed some of the townsfolk.

Immediately, her eyes seemed a bit colder, and her lips pulled into a tight line. With their skills at reading people, Lauren picked up the sudden shift right away. While Lauren stammered confusedly, not sure what they had said wrong, Eplina pressed for further explanations. When Lauren clarified that the townsfolk hadn’t been injured, Eplina asked the group to move away from the mines for a private discussion. 

Apologizing for any perceived slight, Eplina told them what Erling had not: the young man with the sword had “freed” some of the shades by somehow killing them. Distraught with the loss of life, Eplina was shell-shocked to hear that there was a non-lethal way to save those possessed. 

Seeing that Erling was heading over to them with the climbing gear, Eplina hurriedly gave the party one last piece of warning: amongst the workers and evacuees here at the mines, Eplina had been the only dissenting voice to the mysterious man’s methods. With that, she took her leave.

Erling offered the trainers some sort of grappling hook, & some sets of climbing pitons. After thanking him for his help, our heroes made their way back to where they had spotted the smoke before. Bronze & Lauren gave the grappling hook’s pressurized launcher an examination. No one in the group had used anything similar before, but Lauren believed they could figure out how to activate it. 

Sure enough, a few moments later the group had a secured line or rope to the top of the canyon walls. The now-fading smoke was coming from what looked to be several large campsites in a line. A few human shoeprints could be seen, as well as several that appeared to be from various Pokemon. Donner mentioned that it looked like the sort of campsites Blademill soldiers would use, though he was unsure why they would be here.

Sylvie began to walk around the closest campsite, examining it from every angle. After a few minutes, she was able to deduce that the “Pokemon tracks” were actually left by stylized armored boots. Additionally, the soldiers appeared to be dragging something large & heavy along with them. Most of the tracks appeared to follow the canyon edge South-West, while a few smaller chunks curved off to the North-East. 

By now, the day was well underway, and it had been over 24 hours since our heroes last slept. Still, they could feel something was off with the situation, and could not just walk away. They agreed to follow the tracks in the hopes of finding the soldiers, before taking the lift down into town as they had initially. The air was calm and still as the sun shone down from above. Although they could hear sporadic signs of life in the nearby tall grass of the Varfjell Fields, the group remained on task.

It didn’t take long for them to see a campsite up ahead, directly South of Drillsberg. One of the soldiers on watch could clearly see the group, following their approach in silence. When they reached a short distance from the camp, he held up his hand for them to halt. After the group explained why they were there, they asked the guard what the soldiers were up to; the soldier repeatedly responded that they were undertaking “standard military field procedures”, and asked the party to travel on. 

Seeing they were being walled, Donner stepped to the front of the group. The guard’s eyes flicked to Donner’s pauldron, which indicated his status as an honorably discharged veteran. In an authoritative voice, Donner demanded the soldier bring out Commander Eira. There was a beat of silence, before the guard turned and headed into the camp.

While they awaited his return, the party asked Donner how he had known who was in charge. He reticently explained that he reached a leadership position during his time in the military, and had known the Commander personally. She was most often the person who led any forays to the mainland. 

Eventually, a tall woman with an imperious bearing made her way to the guard’s post. Although there was no doubt that she was the person in charge, her armor was oddly of the same rank and file of her soldiers, with no markings of prestige. Steel covered every inch of her, save her face, visible through an open helmet. 

Eira attempted to fob the group off with the same lines the guard had earlier, but they refused to leave. When our heroes began to mention details of what had been happening in Drillsberg, Eira scowled. She led them into her tent at the center of the camp; similar to her method of dress, the tent was a standard-issue tent, intended for a single person.

A tense conversation followed, with the group attempting to explain what had been happening in town. From her perspective, Eira already knew the facts she needed from the evacuees. An outbreak of madness had descended upon the town, and was spreading like a contagion. Our heroes’ descriptions of magical spirits the cause had little ground to stand on. 

Unwilling to risk her soldiers’ lives by sending them into a “plague den”, Eira had decided to instead set watch around the edges of Drillsberg, keeping the issue from spreading outwards. Bronze levied an insult in Eira’s direction for her failure to act thus far, causing Eira to bristle with rage. In an acidic voice, she dared the young woman to repeat what she had said to her face. Instead, Lauren immediately obliged.

Eira jammed an armored fist into Lauren’s stomach at the insolence being displayed, causing the trainers to ready themselves for a fight. Those who had not been standing shot to their feet, as Reinhold & Donner moved their fists into a fighting stance. A strange, invisible energy seemed to radiate off of Bronze, aimed directly at Eira. Surprisingly, she quailed slightly beneath Bronze’s baleful gaze, though she offered no apology. 

Slightly cowed, she switched targets, and began berating Donner. Though he said nothing to defend himself, his new allies eagerly did so. Eira continued on to say how her squadron would shell Drillsberg if the situation did not improve. The heated back & forth continued, with our heroes calling Eira cruel & heartless. 

Scoffing, she rebuked them: if she had actually been so cruel, she argued, the town would already be rubble. She was aware a small number of townsfolk were alive & resisting, and had decided to give them a chance to turn things around. If the “contagion” had not been contained in three days’ time, she would give the order to reduce Drillsberg to dust.

"Acceptable losses” was the justification she bandied about, severing an infected limb to save the body. Realizing they would get nowhere this way, the group made to leave, only to find Eira’s tent surrounded by soldiers at the ready. Though she condescendingly told our heroes that she could “hold them for quarantine” after their claims of contact with the “infected”, she ordered her men to let them pass. 

Every new development so far had been another weight loaded onto the pile, and our heroes were afraid they could become crushed beneath the situation. Still, they refused to give up hope. After making their way back to the Pokemon Center, they asked around to see who was in charge, and were directed to a woman named Brenna. 

Brenna was sequestered in the intensive “ward”, as she had suffered heavy injuries. A bandage wrapped round her face spoke the tale of her having been recently blinded. Though she appeared weak & exhausted, she eagerly spoke with the group.

Having seen that the Pokemon Center was now well over capacity, & knowing that the mine had room to spare, our heroes suggested organizing the less-injured folk to move locations. This would allow more space at the Pokemon Center for those needing medical attention, while also adding reinforcements to the mines’ resistance. 

With an optimism at odds with her situation, Brenna agreed this was a wise decision, and thanked the trainers for all of their help thus far. Fighting against their heavy eyelids, the party made one more excursion, leading some townsfolk over to the mines. With this done, they leaned wearily against the canyon walls to discuss their next move.

They were all running on at least 30 hours without sleep. The weariness was mounting, and would begin to wear them down, but more needed to be done; more always needed to be done. Shakily, they agreed to make a final trip to the Colosseum, to see how they had weathered the previous night’s attacks. With dragging feet, they began to trudge their way East once more…