Session 38, VP1

In the morning light, our heroes made preparations to leave Seeder Grove. After stocking up & managing their parties, they went to pay Vern a visit. The townsfolk had already cleaned up after the previous day’s festival, leaving nothing more to be done than routine maintenance.

Vern was absent performing just that, so the group decided to help by filling up some baskets with fruit from the orchard. When he returned, Vern thanked the group for their assistance- with the fruit, & that with Tanngrisnir. After a small bit of lunch, Gunnar explained about Saffa’s recent purchases. He asked if Vern might be able to visit the parcel of land with them, to provide it with Idunn’s blessing.

Vern eagerly agreed to help repay our heroes past kindness. Soon, they entered Idunn’s Heart on their way North-East. They trekked through the forest with relative ease, until Gunnar’s ears perked up. He jumped backwards just in time to avoid a falling Pineco. It was clear that the Pokemon had fallen from the tree’s unintentionally, & it seemed to be trying to warn them of something.

Looking upwards, the trainers saw an Absol & Lopunny amongst the branches. They leapt down, itching to fight both the Pineco & the party. As the group moved to protect the Pineco, another combatant lurched into the clearing: a Bewear!

The Lopunny & Absol were taken care of in short order, but the Bewear was seemingly unphased by any attack it suffered. Its powerful moves were causing damage to everyone in the area- including the Pineco. Knowing that Pineco tended to explode in self-defense galvanized the team to make short work of the rampaging Bewear.

After a solid night’s sleep, they continued on their way. It didn’t take long before they ran into some more Pokemon: a Heatmor was menacing two smaller Pokemon, a Ledyba & a Solosis. It didn’t take a Pokedex to understand that the Heatmor had a significant advantage on the two scared Pokemon.

Bergie & Gunnar leapt into action, attacking the Heatmor before it could make any fricassee. They managed to drive it back a ways when disaster struck. Naivara had Peach launch a powerful Bite attack…at the Solosis!

The single cell Pokemon took a massive amount of damage, barely able to hold its form together. Its friend, the Ledyba, attempted to drive Pearl off with no success. When the Heatmor had finally been driven off, Bergie realized what Naivara & Pearl were doing, & moved to protect the defenseless critters.

Though he was able to heal the Solosis, it was clear both Pokemon were terrified of the party. After a tense moment, the Ledyba picked up its friend & waddled off into the underbrush to safety. A bit more travel saw them nearly at the edge of the forest before nightfall.

While making breakfast, they discovered that the food in several of their packs had been stolen while they slept. A search of the area revealed footprints from the culprit: a Delibird. It had clearly flown off after ransacking their rations, so there was no trail to follow. Moving on, Saffa led the way out of the forest & onto the Varfjell Fields.

A few small hills lay before them, with no farmland in sight. Gunnar had Vern examine the map while Saffa wandered about. Vern indicated that the map showed the farmland as being a bit more North-West from their current spot- which is right when Saffa let out a whoop of joy. Following her voice, the group crested one of the nearby hills.

Less than half an hour’s distance away was a farm! The fences were freshly painted, the house was in excellent repair, & the distant sound of mooing drifted from the barn.

Saffa all but skipped towards the farmhouse, with Gunnar right behind her. For his part, Vern looked concerned. Just as the group reached the porch steps, the front door opened. A farmer looked down at them in bemusement.

He leaned on a shovel, before demanding to know what the party wanted. Triumphantly, Saffa insisted she had just bought the farm. The farmer immediately snorted in response. Introducing himself as Gregori, he said in no uncertain terms that he had done no such selling of his property. When Saffa showed him her “deed”, Gregori laughed derisively. Gunnar asked what was so funny, & Gregori told the group to follow him.

He led them around his fence, & continued in the direction of the forest. Just out of the shadows of the trees was a 5’x5’ patch of dirt. Rotten posts & bare thread outlined the space. With a sneer, Gregori pointed at the square, saying that this must be what Saffa bought.

Having had enough of the farmer’s attitude, Gunnar started arguing with him. As things got more heated, the Martial Artist grabbed onto Gregori’s overalls, pushing him back to his own farm. With an offended huff, Gregori hopped his fence. He sarcastically wished the group “good luck with the thieves”, before storming off to his duties.

Saffa was clearly let down by the turn of events. Unsure how to proceed, the group asked Vern to speak with her. As gently as he was able, Vern explained that he believed Saffa had been swindled. When she showed him the “magic seeds” she had also purchased, he regretfully informed her that they were very healthy sunflower seeds.

After a moment of silence, Saffa sat down heavily in the center of her new land. Vern cast the group a sympathetic look, before moving to set up camp. Naivara & Bergie helped him, leaving Gunnar to look after Saffa. He spoke with her about the disheartening events of the day, & inquired about her motivations for buying the land in the first place.

The Saffa he had known was a traveler who sought her fame amongst the various people of Vanachrom- settling down at a farm seemed out of character. When she worked up the energy to speak, she explained that she as tired of feeling like a failure.

It was true, she had been seeking fame across the country, but with no success. That goal was no closer today than it had been when she started. It was her hope that trying a different tack would perhaps give her better odds.

In his way, Gunnar tried to explain that maybe Saffa was spreading her skills too thin. If she were to focus on one thing & devote herself to it…Unfortunately, he compared this to her Ragglewaithe. It was so many instruments all at once, so perhaps things were getting lost in the noise, he said. Saffa though, heard this as further critique on the one thing she felt she had been successful in making. Softly, she asked Gunnar to leave her be for a bit.

Distraught, he busied himself with preparations to the patch of soil. The party left some dinner out for her, but Saffa ignored it. In the morning, they woke to a gentle misting of rain. Saffa was curled up on her side, asleep on her land. Vern & Gunnar set up her tent over her to keep her out of the elements as best they could.

Once breakfast had been finished, Gunnar explained that he had seen something during his watch overnight. The sounds of a commotion had come from Gregori’s barn. The farmer quickly hobbled out of his house with a lantern & shovel. Gunnar had heard him yelling at some thieves, before failing at catching them.

None of the group was eager to speak with the farmer after his brusque manner the day prior. Vern volunteered to do so while the others cleaned up. He returned a short while later, rubbing his upper arm. Gregori had not heard him approaching. When he noticed Vern “sneaking up on him”, the farmer had lashed out with his shovel, thinking this was one of the thieves.

Though our heroes were angered, Vern did his best to downplay the incident. Idunn, after all, believed in second chances. Grumbling, Bergie & Naivara decided to sneak over to the barn to investigate for themselves. A healthy herd of Miltank roamed inside. Interspersed amongst their hoofprints the pair was able to find some familiar looking footprints leading out of the barn.

As before, the Delibird tracks stopped a short distance away. The party reconvened to discuss what they had found. There was no love lost towards Gregori, but it seemed his warning about the thieves had been true. Agreeing that this merited further inspection, they decided to pay the farmer a visit for another chat……