Session 24, VP2

The museum’s alarm was still ringing as our heroes arrived back at the steps leading to the entrance. Milling about on the stairs were all the guests. They all looked confused and concerned, and several of the staff were doing their best to keep panic from erupting. Sidling up to the closest person nearby, the group began digging for info. 

Although the citizen they were speaking to didn’t know much, the head of security stepped from the building as the alarms stopped. He explained that there was no fire, or other danger, but that the police would be coming around to take statements. With little ability to actually enforce anything, he politely asked if everyone could wait in the museum cafeteria for the authorities. Thankfully, the Ohmslo citizens, though annoyed and nervous, were willing to offer what help they could. Though they had not been in the museum when the alarms went off, the party joined the flow of bodies inside: the best place to gather more information would certainly be from the inside, after all. 

The cafeteria was cramped but had enough tables for people to split into their own small groups. Our heroes discussed what may have happened while keeping an eye out for any suspicious characters. Periodically, detectives would enter the cafeteria to gather a group for statements. 

It was Ariela who perked up first. Across the room, a young man around her age stood and stared directly in the group’s direction, a scowl on his face. While the rest of her friends continued to talk in hushed tones, Ariela crossed the room towards the young man. He watched with furrowed brows as she approached, continuing to lean against the wall with his arms crossed. Ariela cheerfully greeted him, which seemed to throw him for a loop momentarily. With a brief discussion, she managed to convince the bewildered young man to sit at the group’s table. 

He sat heavily with a frown, and continued to stare at everyone in turn, though his eyes lingered on Reinhold in particular. After a bit of verbal fencing, the man revealed that he was attempting to identify whoever set off the alarm, and that he suspected our heroes. The trainers countered that he was acting suspicious himself, a fact that seemed to upset him. He launched into a fiery speech about the pursuit of justice, and the defeating of great evils. How could a valiant warrior such as he be a criminal? 

The party did their best not to roll their eyes too hard at his enthusiasm and fervor. Once he had cooled down, he introduced himself as Sixten Bregthanott. Before the conversation could move past introductions, the detectives came to lead the group away for questioning. Having nothing to hide, the party explained that they had walked around the Swordthane Exhibit shortly before heading to the park. When the group explained that they hadn’t been present when the alarm was triggered, the detective seemed to mentally write them off as suspects. 

The questioning, he explained, was mostly formality anyway: other detectives were collecting the security camera footage to review. While the detective was distracted by their friends, Lauren reached out with their telepathy. They were easily able to pick up that the Dynjaljoss dagger had been stolen from the Swordthane Exhibit. 

As Lauren’s focus returned to the here and now, their friends were telling the detective that Sixten had not been with them. Sixten hotly interjected that, obviously, he had been here at the museum. This piqued the detective’s interest: he gave our heroes the all-clear to leave, and asked Sixten to stay for more questioning. With the sight of Sixten’s indignant face glaring after them, the party made their way back outside into the sunny weather. 

The trainers discussed the events of the day some more and concluded that there was little else they could do at the moment to help. Instead, Lauren led their friends to the closest of Ohmslo’s libraries. Donner’s eyes went wide at the sight of so much knowledge in one place, and the group split up to pursue some individual research topics, because they each wanted little special private messages from the GM. Ariela tried to find more information related to Sindri’s Kiln, eager to flesh out what she had already gleaned from her own findings. 

Meanwhile, Bronze looked for information on Aegir and Raikou, inspired by her conversations with Gunnar. Lauren found a few books analyzing poems in Elder Vanic, but nothing to help with translations directly. One of the listed contributors to the books sounded vaguely familiar: after searching Wooloogle, Lauren was able to discover more information about the man. 

Passing Ariela on her way, Sylvie researched tales of Shaymin. Even just reading the books seemed to flood her senses with the calming scent she remembered from so long ago. In the historical records, Reinhold dug for anything related to Aegson. The lack of direct records at least let him know that Aegson was not from Ohmslo. Still, he found some articles related to the Adelbrand name that might someday bear fruit. 

As they met back in the library’s lobby, the group debated what to do with the remaining daylight. Donner sheepishly suggested that he may stay at the library a bit more. The rest of the party decided to take a short jaunt into the Varfjell Fields, to seek out some wild Pokémon. Even though they had only travelled a short way, the calm winds blowing across the plains were a welcome change of pace. 

Our heroes continued to discuss the earlier events of the day, and soon came across a group of small Pokémon. Some were unfamiliar, but they recognized a young Skiddo. Not being particularly interested in catching any of them, the trainers instead released some of their own Pokémon to play. 

The young wilds took a few minutes to warm up to the strangers but were soon swept up in a game of tag. The party sat in the tall grass, enjoying the calm of the scene before them- until, with a snort of rage, a stocky Gogoat barreled into the clearing. It was clearly the Skiddo’s parent, brimming with protective rage. The group got to their feet, unsure how to proceed. They didn’t want to cause any unnecessary harm to these Pokémon over a miscommunication. 

Sylvie and Ariela did their best to convey that they weren’t a threat. The Gogoat seemed slightly soothed by their calm voices, but still braced itself in front of its baby. The grass behind the Gogoat soon parted to reveal more fully evolved Pokémon, who immediately joined the Gogoat in circling their young. 

Our heroes kept calm, and backed away slowly, calling for their own Pokémon to follow suit. After a tense moment, the Gogoat chuffed loudly. The wild Pokémon turned to retreat into the tall grass, to wherever their home was. A huge sigh of relief left the group at the peaceful resolution. 

Still, they were hoping to encounter a few more Pokémon, if possible. It didn’t take long before they heard signs of movement nearby. Just barely visible above the tall grass, a young woman was hunkered down. It appeared she was watching some Pokémon hidden nearby. When she noticed our heroes, she smiled and waved them over with a shushing motion. Eager to see what the commotion was, the trainers crept forward…straight into an ambush! 

Several wild Pokémon suddenly flanked the group, as the young woman continued to wave with a blank expression on her face. Our heroes rallied together to defend from the onslaught, confused as to what was happening. Sylvie couldn’t shake a weird feeling coming from the woman who had tricked them. Reaching out to the woman’s mind, Sylvie let out a gasp. She didn’t know what they were dealing with but could tell that the “woman” was not human. 

The being’s form began to bulge and shift in horrific ways. The upper half of the woman’s shape remained but went completely limp. Her lower half burst into a gelatinous pink blob, swelling into a huge mass. Pink tentacles began to lash out wildly as the Ditto’s allies fell. Stunned by the appearance of a Ditto who chose to masquerade as a human, the trainers took the brunt of a few heavy attacks. Weathering the hits, they found their footing to turn the tide. 

Despite the size and strangeness of their foe, they worked together to weaken the Ditto enough for Reinhold to capture it. As they caught their breath, the group realized that Lauren had suffered an injury to their hand. Sylvie managed to bandage it enough to stem the bleeding, but the cut would need stitches to properly heal. With that in mind, our heroes began the trek back to Ohmslo. 

The sun set slowly as the city came into view. When they were roughly a mile out, the sky began to darken intensely…but only directly above their group. Bronze released Ros, who lit her tail in a flash. Even this, the lightning that had defeated Gudbrund’s shades, faded into nothing as the void fell upon them. Nothing was visible. In fear, some of the party reached out to find each other, while others readied themselves for defense. 

“You thought you could escape justice for your crimes,” a voice cried out, “but I will stamp out all evil in my sight!” 

There was a pregnant pause before the group recognized the voice as belonging to Sixten. Unsure how he was doing whatever brought on the darkness, they spoke to him once more. When they had “thrown him under the bus” at the museum, Sixten took this as proof that the group had been the ones who robbed the museum. After all, why else would they deter a crusader of virtue?  

Eventually, they managed to convince him that he was looking at the situation entirely wrong; whether Sixten believed they were innocent, he was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt…for now. Like a curtain pulled from a stage, the darkness fell away, revealing the more natural onset of evening. 

Standing several feet away from them, Sixten brandished a small handaxe. The metal appeared mottled, akin to the dagger that had been on display in the museum. Part of its blade reflected light in an odd manner, and the hilt was swathed in blackened leather. Reinhold could feel something shiver along his spine at the sight of the axe, some sort of distant connection. 

Seeing their interest, Sixten explained a bit more of his own story: a descendant of an ancient bloodline, he wielded shards of an ancient sword, reforged into something new. He had been weaned on tales of the bravery his ancestors displayed as they traveled the land to protect those in need. Now, it was his time to carry the mantle. Once peace was established, Sixten agreed to accompany the group to the Pokémon Center. While Lauren got their wound stitched up, Reinhold called Sollaug. 

As expected, she was incensed at being bothered so shortly after their initial encounter. She was able to confirm that the dagger stolen from the museum was authentic, at least as far as her senses could detect. Reinhold tried to ask her for more information on the subject, but Sollaug responded in a huff, stating that it didn’t matter anymore. “They’ve already identified the thief- some young woman named Hilde.” 

Even though Lauren couldn’t hear the phone call from across the room, their blood still ran cold. They quickly rushed away from the nurse as soon as the last stitch was sewn. Lauren insisted there was no way that Hilde would’ve done this. Something was wrong here; someone had to be framing her.  

It was then that Reinhold’s face showed a shock of understanding. Who had they seen just the other day, talking to Hilde’s mother? What trainer had they met who had already shown a propensity to wield oversized Pokémon? Who did they know who would callously let someone else take the blame for their sake? Gyda. 

Frantically, Reinhold used the PC to swap in his newly caught Ditto. Our heroes retired to one of the Pokémon Center’s guest rooms. If the Ditto had been trained to mimic humans, it would be an excellent tool to frame someone for a crime. And if the Pokémon was released, all of the evidence would be released with it. 

Bribing the Ditto with some Berries, Sylvie convinced it to mimic Sixten. The blob formed a convincing replica of his face, yawning the mouth wide to swallow the Berry whole. Seeing this, Sixten looked aghast, and ran to the closest garbage can to retch. 

When they asked the Ditto to turn into Hilde, it was unable to comply. Bronze recalled that Ditto were known to be accomplished mimics, but only of things they can see. They were unable to store long-term forms, especially ones as difficult as humans. Still, just because the Ditto could take a human form didn’t confirm anything else. 

Taking a deep breath, Sylvie and Lauren held hands. With their eyes closed, the two of them concentrated all of their efforts on reading the strange Pokémon’s mind. The Ditto’s psyche seemed as formless as its body. All they could piece together were glimpses, but those glimpses were enough: Gyda, catching the Ditto. Her showing the Ditto a picture of Hilde. And the Ditto, in Hilde’s form, at the museum. 

Exhausted, the psychics relayed what they had gleaned to the rest of the group. It seemed every new facet of this situation only made things worse. As Lauren pointed out, Hilde worked at the Art Museum…right around the corner from the Natural History Museum. It would also make sense if she knew some of the security measures both museums would employ, giving her both a probable means and method for stealing the dagger. 

Weighed down by both guilt and fear, our heroes took off from the Pokémon Center at a run. Lauren led the way towards Hilde’s home, doing their best to fight off a panic attack. If they could just get Hilde before the authorities did, then they could…they could…what could they do?