Session 30, VP2

The revelation of Sylvie’s latent powers sparked a further round of discussion. The group decided that it might be best for them to travel either into Sindri’s Kiln, or back to Sol’s Bed. 

Thanking Brunick for his time and advice, the trainers walked back over to where Brunick’s Capture Trap was. Ariela and Bronze gave the circle a once-over, taking note of the various runes comprising it. The fine detail in the circle was impeccable, showing that Brunick must be capable of fine detail as a blacksmith. There was a bit more discussion of how to approach traveling through the mist, and someone suggested they see if they could borrow any sort of tools for digging. 

A few moments later, the party sheepishly knocked on Brunick’s door. They explained that they had thought it might be a good idea to bring along some digging equipment, which Brunick agreed with. He asked the players to wait in his cottage, while he paid a visit to a few townsfolk. Before the door had even closed behind him, Ariela was asking Dagaz to show her where Brunick kept the treats. 

Bronze glanced at a few books on Brunick’s table that seemed to deal with smithing: whether these were written by Brunick, or passed down to him, they were very detailed. Meanwhile, Sylvie thought back on the play Brunick had mentioned. With the rest of the group busy, she wandered into Brunick’s bedroom. His closet was slightly ajar, and she could see bits of a garish costume sticking out. 

When she opened the closet, she found a collection of various items related to the Fire Festival that Brunick had spoken so fondly of. Included among these was a record of sorts, detailing the various events the town had put on each year. After a bit of rifling through the folder, she found a script for the play featuring the dueling Pokémon. 

As expected for something written by a child, the play was fairly simplistic in nature. The most standout portion was the child’s description of the feline beast’s opponent: the description in the script was of much greater detail than what Brunick had spoken of. Sylvie could tell from what Brunick had said that the people organizing the play must have modified the costume. 

In the script, the creature was described as being played by at least two people. It seemed to be a broad, squat shape, with a wide stance. Whether these details were created by the child, or if the child had perhaps some inside knowledge, it was impossible to tell. She took note of the name of the author, for future reference: it was a young boy in town, named Latham. 

Brunick returned shortly after, bearing what tools he could borrow from the willing townsfolk. Unfortunately, four of the five tools were not likely to be helpful. Turning down the two jackhammers and welding torches, the party opted only to take the oxygen tank with mask. 

They bid Brunick a second farewell, setting out to the Pokémon Center. Our heroes healed up their Pokémon, while Bronze made space in her party. This way, if the group encountered something that could help them dig, it could be added directly to their teams. As they left town, they plotted a course that would have them enter the Varfjell Fields for a day or two. Hopefully, this would let them skirt the harsher effects of the poison mist until they needed to re-enter the Kiln. 

Throughout their trek the first day, they could once again detect signs of life in the tall grass. It seemed that the mist had not spread too far West, yet. Still, they were on a mission, so they did their best to ignore the temptation to go Pokémon hunting, for the most part. The group set up camp for the night, with Bronze on first watch. 

Shortly after the sun had set, she began to feel a tremor in the earth. Realizing that something large must be walking nearby, she activated her Shinx eyes. Sure enough, Bronze could make out a hulking figure stamping through the brush. It didn’t seem to have noticed them, so she pulled out her Pokédex to scan the creature. 

Unfortunately, the light and beeping from the Pokédex alerted the Pokémon. It turned, and began barreling towards the campfire, in a clearly aggressive posture. Bronze thought for a second, before waking the rest of the group. As the friends got to their feet, there was a repeated “whumph” sound coming from the direction Bronze had pointed. Five craggy boulders came flying out of the dark: Bronze and Lauren managed to just barely dodge them, but the other three trainers found themselves pinned in place. 

With a chuffing roar, the Pokémon stomped into the light cast by their campfire, revealing itself to be a Rhyperior. Though the creature was intimidatingly large and powerful, quick use of some status conditions gave the group they edge they needed to take it down. Once they had determined the coast was clear for the moment, most of the crew returned to bed. 

In the morning, Reinhold saw Lauren was awake and staring into the distance. He knew that Lauren had been feeling down the past few days, so he asked the Researcher to join him in his morning stretches. Bemused, Lauren agreed to at least attempt them. As the pair exercised, they became aware of a small, bipedal figure, silhouetted against the sun. Figuring that they could handle it between the two of them, they calmly walked towards it. When they drew close enough, they could see that the figure was a Combusken, performing its own set of exercises in the light of the dawning sun. The trainers shrugged and moved to stand near the Pokémon. The Combusken eyed them warily for a moment but gave them the benefit of the doubt. 

Lauren scanned the Pokémon during one of their stretches: the sound of this clearly caused the Combusken to flinch, as if expecting a Pokéball to be thrown. The pair made sure to give the bird a bit more space to set its mind at ease. 

With their standard routines finished, the Combusken took a step forward, before turning to face them. It slapped its powerful thighs before entering into a squat nearly touching the ground. Once in that position, the Pokémon looked back and forth between the trainers’ faces, almost as if it were challenging them to mimic it. Lauren politely bowed out, knowing their limits. Reinhold nodded his approval of the Combusken’s form. After studying it momentarily, he quickly performed a squat of his own. While the Combusken had been nearly touching the ground, Reinhold’s squat was much more powerfully deep. 

The Pokémon seemed quite surprised at being shown up, but nodded its own approval back at the Martial Artist. Before returning to camp, Reinhold asked if the Combusken would want to join up as one of their Pokémon. It shook its head no and backed up slightly, nervous that the dreaded Pokéball was indeed coming. The pair of trainers respected the Pokémon’s decision, and it waved them a friendly goodbye. 

After the rest of their group woke, Ariela decided to try to teach Bronze how to cook. The attempt went about as well as expected, but Reinhold was able to choke a few bites down in support of the endeavor. Refreshed, our heroes continued the path they had planned out, beginning to curve back towards Sol’s Bed. 

By the time they set up camp, they were beginning to feel the familiar burning in their throats from the poison. The watch that evening was thankfully uneventful. In the morning light, it was easy to see that the mist had spread yet further. Their campsite was now in the thick of the poison, and the group knew they would begin to start feeling its effects. Still, Sol’s Bed was only half a day’s trek away. After a few hours, the party found themselves re-entering the ashen fields of the Kiln. 

The area appeared lifeless…until the trainers noticed a small pair of yellow eyes staring at them from beneath a pile of soot. Ariela eagerly strode towards the hiding Pokémon. Blue fur could be seen around its eyes, and it appeared to be a Shinx. The Researcher held out a hand towards the Pokémon for it to sniff. It was then that the Shinx narrowed its eyes mischievously, as two other nearby mounds of ash burst open. The group was suddenly surrounded by an Electabuzz and Electivire. The three Electric type Pokémon advanced to attack the travelers now caught in their ambush……