Session 28, VP2

A bracing coastal breeze grew stronger as the party made their way towards the Southern edge of the caldera. When they drew close enough, they could make out a few of the Pokémon that Sylvie had seen in the distance: a Klefki, Teddiursa, and an Ursaring. Two other Pokémon were behind the Ursaring a short distance, unable to be identified for the moment. The mama bear was watching as her cub played in the soot at the lake’s shore, while the Klefki was dancing to and fro in a circle. 

Ariela became enamored with the sprightly key Pokémon and did her best to mimic its movements. Polly Pocket helped by letting out cute, digital chirps in time with Ariela’s dance. Klefki considered this spectacle for a moment, but quickly floated over to dance together. A few moments later, both parties wound down to a stop. Ariela took out a rune, and offered it up to the Fairy, who readily accepted. 

Meanwhile, Bronze had been awestruck at the sight of the burly Ursaring. Seeing the success Ariela’s methods had garnered, the Capture Specialist pushed her glasses up her nose. With large, exaggerated movements, Bronze began to stomp back and forth. Periodically, she would wave her arms in a strange, vaguely threatening way. 

Despite the oddity, or perhaps because of it, the Teddiursa toddled a few steps towards Bronze to investigate further. Before it could move too far, its mother had moved to stand between it and the party. This allowed the group to see that the other two Pokémon were a Hippopotas and a Machprey: both Pokémon were grazing for food. 

Reinhold realized that Bronze had begun to anger the Ursaring and decided to intervene. From his prior travels, he had learned that some Pokémon can be intimidated away if you make a show of being larger. The caldera was littered with myriad rubble; Reinhold found the largest nearby rock he could and hefted it above his head. Unfortunately, the rock was awkwardly shaped. It fell back to the dirt and rolled in the direction of the bears. The rock came to a gentle stop at the Ursaring’s feet, just barely touching it. That was all it took for the Pokémon’s eyes to turn blood-red, as it let out a bellowing roar. 

Lauren and the others watched the brewing brawl, unsure if any of them should step in. Reasoning that if help was needed, they could jump in later, Lauren released their young Washawk, Iris. With barely any nudging, the small bird hopped its way over to the wild Machprey. At Iris’s approach, the Machprey tilted its head to the side. It appeared to be a bit confused. The osprey quickly began looking around for any parents the Washawk might belong to, but no other birds were found. There was a quick flash of panic on the Machprey’s face, before it seemed to accept “oh god, I guess I’m a parent now”. Its grazing speed increased significantly as it looked for something to feed its new “child”. 

Bronze’s eyes gleamed yellow as the Ursaring charged, Intimidating it. Reinhold and Vector both leapt into action against the mama bear. In short order, they had the Pokémon Flinched and weakened. Eager to fight alongside its mom, the Teddiursa weakly batted a paw at Vector’s snout to virtually no effect. 

The wild Machprey was not having any luck finding food nearby. With a flurry of feathers, it jetted into the ashen lake. Mere seconds later, it returned with a wriggling Barboach for its young charge to eat. Once Iris had eaten her fill, the Machprey plopped onto the ground, exhausted. Iris snuggled up beneath one of its wings as Lauren did their best to hide a chuckle. 

With their opponents on the ropes, both Reinhold and Bronze let their Pokéballs fly. The joy on Bronze’s face was writ plain as both Pokéballs chimed in successful capture. Reinhold handed the Teddiursa’s Pokéball to his friend, not wanting to separate the bears from each other. 

Lauren gingerly sat next to the Machprey as it continued to look frazzled. As thanks for taking care of Iris, they gifted the Machprey with a Berry. The exhausted Pokémon eagerly tore into the Berry, as Lauren cradled Iris in their arms. The Researcher asked if the Machprey would like to join them once it had finished its own meal. Seeing that Iris did have a parent after all, the Machprey quickly shook its head “no”. With a friendly cry, it took to the skies, soaring off towards the ocean. 

Throughout all of this, the Hippopotas continued grazing, minding its own business. Pleased with the results they’d already achieved, the group decided to leave the Pokémon alone. Ariela used Polly Pocket to attempt to track the energy she had found on the mysterious footprint earlier. Unfortunately, it seemed that there was no trace on the Southern edge of the caldera. 

Since their next goal was Forgerun, our heroes decided to make their way back to the Northern side to camp for the night. After returning, they organized a watch order as the night began to bloom. Before going to sleep, Bronze managed to repair a Capture Rune by reverse-engineering it to a degree. 

Lauren took the first watch, wanting some time alone with their thoughts. During their shift, they heard a strange noise from somewhere further down the side of the volcano. It sounded like something was tilling earth in a repetitive fashion. A night-mode photo taken from the caldera’s rim revealed a large, hulking figure with spikes on its head. Since the Pokémon didn’t appear to be a threat, Lauren let it be. 

Bronze had an uneventful shift. She whiled away the time pondering further on how the Capture Runes might work. Surely, it must be some form of technology she didn’t understand yet. 

On Reinhold’s watch, he could hear, very distantly, the sound of something burrowing in and out of the earth. Unsure where the sound originated from, he remained alert and stayed at camp to watch over his sleeping friends. 

In the morning, Bronze surprised everyone with a wonderfully prepared breakfast. Unfortunately, no one partook, for some reason. Ariela wandered a bit along the lake’s edge, digging for any more clues to her quarry. With some guidance from Polly Pocket, she was able to find a small bit of charred metal. Whatever it was, it was resonating with the Porygon, but in a different way than the footprint had. After she showed this to her friends, Bronze remembered that some geologists could discern information from the taste of sediment. Though she lacked such training, she quickly licked the bit of metal. Strangely, though it had no taste it seemed to fill her nose with a phantom scent. 

Seeing this absolutely normal behavior caused Lauren to remember the picture they had taken in the night. Our heroes examined it, but were unable to identify what the mysterious Pokémon could have been. Ariela was reasonably sure it wasn’t either of the two Legendary Pokémon mentioned in the myths she was chasing. The group broke down their camp and began descending the volcano’s Northern side. Roughly halfway down, they came across the work of Lauren’s mystery Pokémon. Here and there were mounds of earth, with small trees planted in them. 

The mounds ranged in size from 1’ tall, to nearly 9’ tall: this seemed to indicate they may have been created by Pokémon of varying size. Sylvie studied the mounds of dirt and the trees sown inside them. Something about this seemed vaguely familiar. While she wracked her memories, she began to exude a soft glow from her palms. Moving her hands closer to one of the trees, the group was momentarily stunned to see it rapidly begin to thrive. In just a few seconds, Sylvie had helped the tree move through several months of growth. 

This led to further discussion of where such powers may have come from. In the middle of this, Sylvie suddenly remembered what had seemed so familiar. During their travels, the group had come across a Lairon: that Pokémon line was known to attempt to plant trees to “fix” or “repair” their territory. From what she recalled, they would typically only do so after the environment was damaged in some way…but the volcano had been rendered barren centuries ago. In other words, this behavior seemed a bit odd. Trekking further down the volcano’s exterior, the party began to notice their lungs were beginning to burn slightly. Perhaps some ash was being swept into the air. Upon reaching the base of the volcano, they found evidence of some more strange tracks. 

Something at least 12’ in diameter seemed to have been tunneling in and out along the volcano’s base. The tunnels were all collapsed, filled with freshly moved soil. After some debate on what could have been so large, the trainers decided it might be wiser not to disturb the creature. With Sindri’s Kiln between them and Forgerun, they began to walk northbound. 

The burning in their throats was worsening as they went. It didn’t take long before most of the group began to periodically cough. The air itself appeared to be tinted lightly purple: clearly the cause of this sickness. A few of the group put on makeshift facemasks, as they retreated to Sol’s Bed. The burning and purple coloration began to fade as they climbed part of the way back up the volcano. The mist appeared to coming from somewhere in Sindri’s Kiln to the North. 

Not wanting to risk travelling through it, they decided to instead head west, back into the Varfjell Fields. The poison mist got weaker as they moved away from the ash fields…but worryingly, it was clearly seeping into the Fields. Our heroes found the land unnaturally quiet on their journey. Even the waters of the Himinglaeva, appeared lifeless as they crossed the river. When Forgerun finally came into view, it, too, was enveloped in the poison mist. 

Though the town was famous for its blacksmiths, every forge the group passed lay cold. A few townsfolk could be seen moving about, most wearing some form of facemask. Before investigating further, the trainers stopped at the town’s Pokémon Center for some healing. 

Once they had gotten their parties settled, Ariela asked the nurse about the mist. The healer didn’t know much themselves, but suggested that the group seek out Brunick, the town’s Gym Leader and Village Head. She happily gave them directions and bid the group to take care. The north of Forgerun was primarily residential. Yet, as the trainers began to work that way, they could hear the sounds of a hammer and anvil echoing through the mist. 

They followed the sound to its source quickly enough: a young, muscular man was working his forge at the edge of the town. After the group got his attention, he quenched his current work and removed his welding mask. He introduced himself as Brunick, and asked how he could help the travelers. In response, they stated that they were curious how they could help Forgerun. Brunick smiled and invited them into the cottage adjacent to his forge. The inside was sparse, with little beyond the basic necessities. The most prominent thing was the fireplace crackling in the corner, with a Kindloof nuzzled beside it. While Brunick excused himself to quickly clean off from his forge-work, Sylvie prepared tea. 

The Gym Leader seemed pleasantly surprised to find the table set with tea and offered his thanks. At their questions, he explained a bit about what was currently going on in the area. At some point a week or two ago, the cloying, purple mist began to cover Sindri’s Kiln. Each day, its reach seemed to grow. The effects of the poison were relatively mild but tended to linger. Conventional Antidotes had unfortunately proved unable to combat this sickness. 

Once the mist had enveloped the town, it quickly became apparent that it was particularly harmful to Fire type Pokémon. Given the town’s specialties, this was obviously a problem. After explaining all of this, Brunick asked to know more of the party’s own history. He seemed pleased when the group mentioned having met Bergie, Gunnar, and Naivara. Brunick revealed that he knew of the situation in Drillsberg but was glad everyone seemed alright. 

Softly, he questioned each of the trainers a bit. Sylvie was a bit unnerved when he could somehow tell that she was from Harbinger Valley, and quickly changed the subject. Since they had met him outside, Brunick hadn’t seemed to be displaying any ill effects from the poison mist. When the group asked about this, he pulled a runestone necklace from beneath his tunic. 

His grandparents, who hailed from Harbinger Valley, had gifted him with three such necklaces at his last visit. Though he didn’t know much of runic magic himself, the necklaces were apparently able to mitigate the poison to some degree. Brunick was suddenly cut off from continuing, as sounds of a commotion began to be heard from somewhere outside. Reacting immediately, he darted outside, leaving the group at the table in confusion…