Session 32, VP1

Night brought little relief & rest to our heroes. Their injuries were taken care of, but the guilt weighing on their conscience had not abated. Rather than buckle under it, they chose to stand resolute: if they had but one more day to protect the flock, they would spend it well.

Putting their heads together in the morning, the trainers brewed up a few new traps to defend Ash Cavern. After laying these down, & enhancing their previous deterrents, they readied for the coming assault. Now expecting further attacks to come from above, the party made sure to stay closer to the tree this time.

Sure enough, when the enemies appeared, it was from nearly every possible entrance to the cavern. Bergie & Naivara used their super-effective Pokemon to ward off the flying kidnappers. Blade proved quite useful in cutting off the poacher's various backpacks & satchels, while Froza fired icicle after icicle at the Flying types.

Saffa did her best to guard a tunnel with her Pokemon. Stiletto took out several Rock type assailants before he was felled. After that, Trixie did her best to keep Saffa from getting hurt as she had been previously. Their gym leader friend seemed anxious, galvanized by the approaching end to their watch.

As things grew dire, she motioned to her Millimimic in an odd fashion: after a few moments, a veritable horde of Wormic & Centimic descended from the ceiling on silken strands to join their senior. The horrifying group of insects began to swarm over any poacher who came in range. Those that weren't killed ran away in abject terror.

Gunnar & Skaelmvaer split up to cover multiple tunnels at the same time. A few of the human poachers were foolhardy enough to engage the Martial Artist directly. The flurry of blows they received quickly drove them away.

Meanwhile, Skaelmvaer used her strong bulk to act as a living blockade. The scales of the fight were slowly tipping in our heroes' favor. Just as their victory seemed assured, one of Ingrid's Ampharos was gently lowered a short way down from the cavern's ceiling. Ropes manned by the poachers aboveground helped move the Pokemon back & forth, as it launched powerful blasts of electricity.

Several of the defenders were knocked unconscious by this sudden assault. Before the damage could grow too great, Naivara had Blade sever the ropes with his keen blades. No sooner had this new danger been quelled when Gunnar's newfound nemesis came bounding down one of the tunnels.

The Politoed had its eyes locked on its foe. Gunnar managed to press this to his advantage, positioning several poachers in the path of the Pokemon's attacks. Wave after wave of the enemy were defeated, but Ingrid herself had still not made an appearance...

What felt like hours later, the final poacher was sent fleeing down a tunnel away from the cavern. Our heroes & their allies stood on weary legs. Blood mottled the feathers covering the stone floor, & several nests were empty, but enough of the flock had survived to carry on their migration.

Bothered by Ingrid's absence, Gunnar once again made his way aboveground through the moonroof. Aside from a few ropes & footprints, the only thing he found was an envelope staked to the ground with a knife.

When he returned to his friends, Gunnar called Lauren: back in Drillsberg, the two had agreed they would be fine helping each other translate messages in languages the other didn't know.

"Thanks for cutting down the take on this one, kid. I know you turned down my offer, but this is for you three anyway. - Ingrid" The call was ended, as three bills for 100 Monies each fluttered gently to the floor. Our heroes were incensed at the brazenness of the letter.

Despite their anger, there was little they could do at the moment other than recover from the prolonged battles. Silholdra bowed low to the party, thanking them for all of their assistance. The flock would be leaving the next morning, & she expressed her wish that the group could watch the migration together.

Doing their best to swallow their anger for the moment, the trainers agreed to meet Silholdra back here in the morning. Once the flock moved on, there was still some small business to take care of in town before they moved: not least of which was winning their second Gym Badge from their new friend herself......