Session 36, VP1

In the blink of an eye, a thunderous bolt descended from the heavens. Saffa & Gunnar unfortunately found themselves caught in the blast. When the dust settled, Gunnar dragged the barely-conscious Saffa away from Tanngrisnir. Bergie quickly patched the pair up, & made ready to retreat with Naivara.

Gunnar’s blood was up after the goat’s assault- before his friends could begin to regroup, he charged up to the uppity ungulate. A karate chop to the beast’s shoulder landed true, though Tanngrisnir’s skin seemed once more to change hues at the moment of impact. Saffa came running over to assist with the fight, & the two released Pokemon to help.

Naivara & Bergie let out fraught sighs, but couldn’t leave their friends in danger alone. The four trainers & their Pokemon threw wave after wave of attacks at the godly creature. Each time, its form would shift for the briefest of seconds as it soaked up the damage. It seemed that the change of color was indicating a correlating one in part of Tangrisnir’s typing.

By comparing what types seemed to hit the hardest, the group was able to determine that its darker form was adding a Steel typing to its Electric. With that knowledge, some Fighting & Ground moves made short work of the goat: shoulders sagging, Tanngrisnir fell to his knees, & the orchard echoed with a shattering sound. His form-shifting ability had been broken- but he had not been.

Being stuck in his standard form didn’t seem to weaken him in any way. If anything, having his back against the wall caused him to attack even more aggressively than before. Nearly every turn, someone was getting knocked out.

Nerwen was pushed to the edge of death’s door after a particularly vicious Grass attack. Still, our heroes gave as good as they got. Tanngrisnir had managed to apply a Leech Seed to Bergie, allowing a small influx of health, but the test of endurance was quickly coming to its conclusion.

Hoping to recover enough strength for a victory, the legendary used Giga Drain on Gunnar. What the goat hadn’t known was that Gunnar had been about to pass out- there was virtually no energy to drain for healing!

Blade & Stompy quickly took advantage of this stumble. Repeating Fury Cutters hewed away at Tanngrisnir’s remaining health, while Stompy peppered the goat with fireballs. On his last legs, Tanngrisnir loosed another wicked Discharge attack, knocking Blade & Saffa out.

The goat was breathing heavy, but was running on enough anger that it could still take out Naivara & Bergie. Stompy saw the beast eyeing up the two, & let out a snort of frustration. He pawed at the ground with his hooves, lowering his head towards the foe. Tanngrisnir responded in kind. As both Pokemon bellowed out war-cries, they slammed into each other head-first. Fire, foliage, & electricity erupted in a blinding flash.

Even before their vision cleared, the trainers could hear only one Pokemon huffing & puffing after the clash. Tanngrisnir lay on his side, crushing several bushes, as Stompy wobbled on his feet. Our heroes had done it!

They’d managed to defeat a legendary- one that belonged to a god no less- & come out the other side with no permanent injury. Bergie made quick work of patching up Saffa & Gunnar. Everyone was buoyed by their victory, but unsure of what to do…except for Gunnar.

Without explaining much (As was his wont.), the martial artist insisted the group eat Tanngrisnir. The color drained from Naivara & Bergie’s faces. They were trying to stop the goat from terrorizing the orchard, but killing it while it lay unconscious? That felt a step too far. Even ignoring the moral quandary that entailed, Tanngrisnir belonged to Thor. Though much could be said in praise of the god, little of it mentioned him being particularly forgiving.

Unable to stomach this idea they refused to take part, leaving to return to the Pokemon Center. This did nothing to dampen Gunnar’s enthusiasm. When Vern came across the roast-in-progress, he was invited to partake. It took him a second to mull this over, as he searched his memories for lore of the creature. Although he passed on joining the meal, he didn’t condemn it in any way. Realizing that Saffa likely didn’t know the myths, Gunnar explained them to her as he rotated the spit.

One of the older tales spoke of a time Thor traveled alongside a handful of mortals. While they had been stranded in the wilderness, they grew dangerously weak from hunger- but Thor merely laughed. His hammer smote Tanngrisnir between the eyes, dropping the goat where it stood. The group quickly prepared the body for a campfire of their own.

The mortals were hesitant of questioning a god, but felt themselves unworthy to accept Thor’s offering. When one of them grew brave enough to say so, Thor slapped him heartily on the back. Tanngrisnir was no simple goat: he had been bred & raised in Asgard!

He was of such incredibly hearty stock, that he possessed a unique power. Though he may be struck down & even sundered apart, as long as his bones persisted, he would reform the next day at dawn.

 It was at this point that Saffa realized she had left her throwing axe back at the scene of the fight. Seeing Gunnar was in a long-winded speech, she snuck off without a sound. It’s not like I’ll miss anything important anyway, she thought.

Back in the tale, Thor & his companions went to sleep on full stomachs. No one could bring themselves to stomach even one more bite- except for the smallest of them, a growing lad in the spring of youth. He awoke late at night with a rumble in his stomach. Taking care to be silent, he gathered up a few leg bones, & greedily sucked down their marrow.

As dawn came, all of Tanngrisnir’s bones were laid out appropriately. Rays of light caused the remains to stand, & re-form. Yet! Look there, at Tanngrisnir’s leg: it hung limp & weak! The legends tell not of what wrath Thor brought low upon the lad, for it is not a deed worth remembering.

After that day, there were stories that Thor worked closely with both Tyr & Loki to bolster Tanngrisnir in some way, lest this ever occur again. Saffa crept back to the campfire, thanking Gunnar for the tale. In time, the meat was cooked perfectly. The pair released all of their Pokemon to share in the godly meal.

Together they managed to pack away nearly every last morsel, though it did take a few hours. The heavenly taste quickly lulled them to a deep sleep. Bergie & Naivara healed their teams at the Pokemon Center. They debated switching up their parties, but decided against it for the moment.

Both trainers felt uncomfortable at the idea of returning to the orchard. If Gunnar’s decision angered Thor, it may be best to prove themselves innocent of it. And so, they supped at a local bar, before renting rooms at the local inn.

In the dead of night, Gunnar woke to a strange chime. It sounded like the ring of something hitting metal…… A full night’s sleep saw Naivara & Bergie ready, if not eager, to see the aftermath of Gunnar’s meal. They walked back to the orchard. At the entrance, Vern was collecting more fruit for the coming festival.

Bergie spoke some with him regarding Gunnar: Vern smiled, & stated he & Saffa had seemed fine when he saw them this morning. He bid the duo a farewell, as his work took him further afield. The rocks of the large campfire Gunnar had made still stood at our heroes’ former campsite. And, alongside them, Tanngrisnir sat on the ground chewing his cud.

The beast looked somewhat less irritable than it had prior, but seemed no more friendly. Looking around, they saw no sign of either of their friends, until- there was a small scrap of fabric, stuck to one of the goat’s horns. Fabric that looked just like Saffa’s motley garb. The lack of any visible signs of struggle didn’t quite calm the rising anxiety enveloping the trainers. Bergie quickly took up his Pokedex, dialing Saffa’s number.

In response, a ringing echoed out from right near their location. The pair slowly turned their heads to Tanngrisnir…only to see Saffa & Gunnar come walking around a nearby stretch of Berry trees. Thankfully, they both seemed unharmed. The only noticeable differences were a small tear on Saffa’s sleeve, & a gap in her smile that wasn’t there the day before.

Pressing the juggler got no answers, but did make her face light up red in embarrassment. She insisted she was okay, & sulked off to ready her pack. Gunnar explained that, true to the legends, Tanngrisnir had risen from his bones at morning’s light. Since coming to, he had been sitting around lazily.

Bergie wanted more answers, insisting something else must have happened involving “that sheep”. GOAT, a grating voice echoed in response. NOT SHEEP. GOAT The group turned as one at the revelation that Tanngrisnir actually was capable of speech. Some fumbled words later, the creature got back to his feet. His eyes narrowed as he looked at one Pokeball in particular on Bergie’s belt. BRING HIM OUT, Tanngrisnir said.

Leery, but hoping to avoid any further violence, Bergie released Stompy. The two ungulates eyed each other from a short distance. Even with Stompy’s mighty bulk, he was still dwarfed by the goat. The godly beast began to chew furiously. Seconds later, there was a small cracking sound.

Tanngrisnir arced his head up, & spat something into one of Stompy’s growing antlers. Before anyone else could react, he leapt to the sky, fading away into lightning once more. Bergie attempted to see what the object was, but Stompy was uncooperative: eager to see what compliment or insult had been paid to him, the moose was rapidly tilting his head every which way to dislodge the item.

Eventually, the fiery Pokemon realized he couldn’t dislodge it himself. With a sigh, he lowered his head towards Bergie. Wedged into a nook on Stompy’s antlers was…a tooth? One of Tanngrisnir’s teeth, to be precise. There appeared to be runes of some kind carved into its surface as well.

The bone caused Bergie’s fingers to tingle as he removed it. Though he couldn’t read Elder Vanic himself, somehow the medic could understand what the gift meant. In a show of respect, Tanngrisnir had left them the ability to summon him & his chariot one-time in the future.

Promising to take good care of the trophy, Bergie gave Stompy some well-deserved pets & scritches. Having driven out the orchard's unwanted guest, our heroes had ensured the Seeder Grove Food Festival could continue as planned. Sitting in the comfortable grass, they laughed & spoke of what they would do in the days to come…