Session 33, VP1

Our heroes rested upon returning to Stygian Falls, sleeping deeper than they had since taking up the task of protecting the flock. When dawn broke, they each set about their morning routines.

Bergie paid a visit to the family of Rowlets he had entrusted to the town's young folk, finding the Pokemon well looked after. Naivara took a break from her daily push-up, reasoning her efforts defending the tree had been more than a single push-up anyway.

Meanwhile, Gunnar found Saffa, & asked her to walk with him towards Ash Cavern. When they found a small alcove along the way, Gunnar took out the pair of handaxes he had commissioned back in Forgerun.

Saffa had injured several times over the course of the group's defense of the tree. In the hopes of giving her a means of defense, Gunnar passed her the axes. It was hard to know exactly what she thought of the gesture, but Saffa was quiet for a moment.

Looking at her weakened arm, she slid the haft of one of the axes through her belt. With a smile, she held the other back out to Gunnar, explaining that she couldn't wield them both- besides, they would both be safer if they each had one.

The pair spent a small amount of time practicing throwing the axes, a skill that Saffa picked up fairly quickly. When they had finished, Gunnar released his Curaurus. Encouraging Saffa to take up her Rabbscuttle, he asked his Pokemon to "sing" into the echoing caverns.

So it was that Naivara & Bergie heard discordant lovely music drifting down the tunnel. Once the group reunited, they continued on to Ash Cavern. Silholdra was already waiting for them. She appeared to be finishing up the process of cleaning the area of debris from the recent battles. With a weary smile, she took a seat on of the mighty tree's roots.

As if they had been waiting to share the moment with their protectors, the Lumarrow & Phospharrow all begin to quietly sing. Their voices intertwined like spectral dancers through the air. At some unspoken sign, the flock alit from the tree as one. The soft sound of wings beating the air laid an undercurrent of hope beneath their growing song as the Pokemon circled tightly around the Ash.

Each rotation, the glow from their feathers waxed brighter: in moments, the birds themselves could no longer be seen as anything other than swirling orbs of color. With a crescendo- one note, high & clear- the flock spiraled out of the hole in the cave's roof. The group of trainers continued to watch in silence until the final specks of light had disappeared within the clouds.

The sight of such a natural beauty seemed to ease the souls of everyone present, save one. Bergie had been uncharacteristically quiet this morning. Without a word to anyone, he began the trek back to town alone. This shift in bearing did not go unnoticed, & his friends wondered what was troubling the usually-cheerful man.

Back in town, the group split up. Silholdra needed to prepare the gym for our heroes' coming challenge, & Saffa excused herself to return to sleep. The remaining trainers decided to split up, the better to track down Bergie.

Naivara visited the Pokemart, to see if Bergie had stopped by. Though he hadn't, the visit wasn't entirely a bust: the shopkeeper explained that the townsfolk had put together a small basket as thanks to our heroes. He gifted it to Naivara with a smile, & a promise of a discount in the store for the three trainers.

Gunnar had decided to visit the area where the children had been with the Rowlets earlier. Sure enough, Bergie stood some ways away from the raucous field of play, Stompy at his side. The breeder was standing nearly as close to the waterfall as physically possible, staring into the falling waves.

Unsure how to begin conversation, Gunnar instead took a spot to Bergie's other side in silence. After a few moments, he hesitantly asked how Bergie was doing. It was clearly difficult for Bergie to put his feelings into words, but the weight on his soul was too much to bear alone.

On one of the earlier days of the group's defense, Bergie had seen a poacher climbing the tree. The man had dropped down from the ceiling into the boughs, his rope now trailing from him to the cave floor. Desperate to protect the innocent birds, Bergie took hold of the rope, & pulled sharply.

The poacher had time only to gasp as he fell: when his neck slammed into the cave floor with a gut-wrenching crack, his time on this plane had come to an end. It had taken a few heartbeats for Bergie to realize what had happened. The sounds of continued battle snapped him back to his senses. At that moment, he was needed. His feelings would need to wait.

Now, with the threat finally ended, Bergie was hurt & lost at the truth of what he had done. In Cursestone, he explained, the dead were celebrated when they passed. Their tales were told, & their songs were sung. But here, with this poacher...Bergie hadn't known the man's name, let alone his story. The poacher's death would go unmourned, unnoticed by the annals of time.

Gunnar did his best to console Bergie. He knew that this had been an accident, & did not make Bergie a bad person, especially when weighed against all the good he had done thus far. With his own walls weakened, Gunnar explained that he could empathize with Bergie: though his hand had not wielded the blade, Gunnar blamed himself for every death that had occurred from Gudbrund's reckoning.

Both trainers began to cry as their sins bore down on them. All they could do in the moment was to take comfort in the fact that they weren't alone. As the two trainers hugged to support one another, Stompy laid his head on their shoulders. The trio stood this way for a few minutes as their feelings ran their course.

Once they had recovered, both trainers felt their burdens slightly lessened. Looking to the future, they headed off to meet Naivara at the town's gym. The mystic didn't need her supernatural senses to tell her friends were a bit out of sorts.

The pair reassured her that things would be alright, & Naivara made sure to tell her friends that she cared for the two of them. Reunited & bolstered, our heroes took the short trek down a tunnel off of the town proper. At its end, Silholdra stood in a cave lit only by sparse amounts of glowing moss.

Her usual facial paint had been swapped out for a solid grey mask, covering everything from her lips upwards. In a gravelly voice, & with exaggerated movements, she demanded the trainers ready themselves for battle.

The opponents each took the field, & the fight began in earnest. Attacks were traded back & forth, as Pokemon began to fall. Though both sides had taken losses, Silholdra's team had fully spent themselves in the test.

Dropping her odd facade, Silholdra smiled cheerily at the group. In recognition of their skills, she awarded them the Abyssal Rune, as well as one of her favorite TMs. Gunnar gifted her with a small idol of Loki he had rigged as a firework, knowing the god's penchant for trickery.

Though startled, Silholdra laughed at the prank. The group shared a few pleasantries, as they discussed our heroes next destination. Seeing that there was some discussion to be had on the matter, Silholdra left the group to it.

Several options were put forward, but it was eventually decided to continue on their original path: Seeder Grove would be their next port of call. With this settled, it was time to stock up before the journey. Bergie purchased several essentials, while Gunnar had a particular store in mind...

When he entered the apothecary hut, the clerk had a resigned look on her face. She recognized the futility in trying to further talk Gunnar out of buying the cursed metal plaque, & he had completed the task she had set before him. Using special gloves to slide the metal into a ward-enshrouded bag, she placed it on the counter with a frown.

Gunnar passed her the Monies, & left as she hung her head. Outside, he ran into Bergie, & the two talked about what they had bought. Bergie seemed to grow increasingly anxious as Gunnar recounted the tale of the metal he had finally earned.

Visions of gemblades swam through Bergie's mind as he found himself swept up in the martial artist's wake. A short hike later, they had arrived at Silholdra's home. She was in the middle of painting what looked to be a mural of the events in Ash Cavern. In his typical spirits, Gunnar began retelling the same story he'd just told Bergie.

At the mention of the metal, Silholdra whipped her head in his direction. Her eyes grew wider as he continued. When Gunnar had finished, she stood momentarily silent. She placed a trembling hand gently on Gunnar's wrist. "Y-you...you bought it?", she asked in a hushed, wavering voice...