Session 4, VP1

 

Waking up to discover the storm-clouds growing heavier, the party felt the remnants of another dream of the Man in the Wide-Brimmed Hat. After getting themselves ready to continue on, they noticed that during the night, Skeldr had begun to eat the sand castle, collapsing one of the walls onto himself. The party extricated him, and set as straight a course for Ohmslo as they could. After a few hours travel, they reached where Angeyja's Sand ended, with a short stretch of field between them and the city. 

As they contemplated whether they should hide under a tree when thunder and lightning started, Naivara and Bergie noticed a trio of roughed-up bandits sneaking up behind them. The bandits brandished their weapons, and told the party to give up their belongings, but the party stood their ground. With the release of the bandit's Pokemon, a quick and brutal battle began: our heroes made short work of the bandits, leaving the bandits' Pokemon with no-one issuing battle commands. 

After taking the weapons off of the bandits, Gunnar built a rough sled from broken tree limbs, and, working with the bandits' Pokemon, they got the prone forms of the bandits onto the sleigh. The party ran into some security guards at a power station right outside the city, who gladly took the bandits into custody with thanks. The heavy rains began to break as the party set foot into Ohmslo. 

With the dense cloud cover, the entire city was washed out in shades of grey, save the gentle yellow light of the lampposts. A 10-foot deep canal ran through the middle of Ohmslo, leading away to the coast. Closer to the canal, a Pokemon Center was seen, as well as several shops of various kinds. 

When approaching the Pokemon Center, Bergie tripped and fell onto his back, caught as an unsuspecting of a prank pulled by Knud, a local teenager. Knud exchanged some very disrespectful words with the party, before Gunnar scruffed him, then dropped him into the canal. The party healed their Pokemon in the Pokemon Center, and switched out some of their party members. Gunnar inquired if the town had "an obstacle course or a theme park": the nurse did not recall seeing any, but noted that there was a rally in the center of the town. 

Upon leaving the Pokemon Center, the players ran into a field reporter and cameraman, who quickly got some interviews after introducing themselves. Signe and Leif were usually on detail filming a sort of "Billy on the Street" type of comedy, but when news of the controversy surrounding Ohmslo's election got out, they were rerouted to try to get good footage as they were the closest crew. The party agreed to allow Signe and Leif to follow them and film them exploring the city. 

Next, they all stopped at a clothing store to do some hat shopping for themselves and their Pokemon, which was all filmed. As the party left the hat shop, Signe and Leif took their leave for the moment, as our heroes continued further along the canal. A short while ahead, they came across a large political rally being held on the largest canal-bridge. 

A politician, Mr. Mayer Hackett, was giving an impassioned speech to his supporters, indicating that allowing people to have their Pokemon out and about with them was damaging to the city and its inhabitants, to a surprisingly strong reception. The mayoral voting was to be held in two days’ time. As the party approached the rally, Stompy accidentally got his head stuck in a garbage can, causing everyone present to stop and stare at the mess he had created. Hackett immediately worked this into his speech as an example, before leaving with his security detail. 

As the party lingered on the large bridge, processing what they just heard, Gunnar and Bergie noticed that Naivara was suddenly crawling around on all fours, and repeating the word "Miltank". They tried to snap her out of the trance, but couldn't succeed; thankfully, she came to her senses in a few minutes time. Naivara remembered seeing a bright flash of light, then nothing else until she came to. Gunnar and Bergie assisted Naivara to the Pokemon Center to see if they could discover anything about the odd fit. 

Upon arriving, they found the Pokemon Center overflowing with other people who had suffered the same plight. Several of the other patients took umbrage with the party having their Pokemon out and about. They discovered that the fits started around a month ago, which just so happened to be about when Hackett's rallies started. 

The party resolved to go to Town Hall, to try to see if they could speak to the incumbent mayor about Hackett's plans for office. As Gunnar stalked up the stairs to the Town Hall building, he slipped on another prank left out by Knud, who was lurking by the columns to the building front. Gunnar then tried to accost Knud, but got stuck in a sticky web-like net. Naivara and Bergie helped get Gunnar free. After once again being taunted by Knud, Gunnar and Bergie decided to come at him in a pincer movement, but Knud temporarily blinded them with sneezing powder and escaped. In recompense, Naivara had her Westie fly after Knud and poop on him. 

Our heroes then approached the doors to the Town Hall building, only to find the building locked and empty. Eager to put an end to Hackett's rabble-rousing, Bergie headed to the back of the building, and found a back door. Using the club he had taken from the bandit earlier, Bergie broke the door's lock, and entered the Town Hall. He then opened the front door for Naivara and Gunnar to enter, but they refused, leaving Bergie and Stompy to their own devices. Bergie attempted to find records that might show where Hackett lived/worked, but had no success in the records room. He then headed upstairs to the floor with the incumbent Mayor's office. Seeing the office doors locked, Bergie began opening closets to try to find keys. 

Naivara and Gunnar were waiting at the bottom of the steps to the Town Hall building; suddenly, Bergie came bursting through the front doors, slithering around and repeating "Ekans". Gunnar and Naivara ensured Bergie didn't accidentally hurt himself in his trance, then the trio decided to rent hotel rooms and rest for the night. 

In the dreary morning, the party felt themselves drained from dreams of a town where Pokemon were banned. Determined to do what they could to prevent that outcome, they returned to the Town Hall building, only to find it cordoned off after the break-in the night before. Signe and Leif were interviewing a security guard about the story, and Gunnar attempted to talk the security guard & the incumbent Mayor's secretary into booking him an appointment, to no success. 

Signe and Leif talked to the party about the events of the night before. Bergie almost let it slip that he was the one who broke in, but Naivara managed to cut him off and scold him into not mentioning anything. It was at this moment Bergie and Naivara noticed Signe and Leif were filming some of Gunnar's Pokemon playing around. Leif, complaining about the lack of good lighting, released his Pokemon, a Heliolisk. He then had the Heliolisk use Flash to create a blinding white light, that then filtered down to a soft, warm yellow. Naivara and Bergie exchanged a look of suspicion, as Gunnar determined to depart on his own and find Hackett. 

Reaching the large canal bridge again, Gunnar saw yet another rally for Hackett's supporters. This time, Gunnar pushed his way to the front to accost Hackett about his policies, and got himself kicked out by a security detail. As he was escorted off the bridge, Gunnar saw a bright flash coming from a nearby alleyway. He crept towards the opening of the alleyway, to see a figure in a trench coat and large hat heading away. 

Giving chase, Gunnar slowly lost ground in the twisting routes of the alleyways, until coming upon an empty dead end, where he bumped into some kind of invisible wall. Gunnar knelt down to look for tracks, but found nothing. Thankfully, Bjargulf was a capable tracker, and led Gunnar off in a new direction. In a few minutes, Gunnar found a young woman crawling around on the ground, repeating "Bulbasaur". He waited until she snapped out of the trance, and escorted her to a Pokemon Center. 

Upon returning to the alley, he found the trail had gone cold, and decided to find Hackett's office. Gunnar retraced his steps back to the alley by the large canal bridge, when he saw Hackett meeting with a man in a trench coat and large hat on the other side of the canal in another alleyway. The two exchanged something, before going their separate ways. 

At roughly the same moment, Bergie and Naivara were formulating a plan: given the bright flash of Heliolisk, they suspected that Signe and Leif were the culprits making people have Pokemon fits, especially after they inquired and were told that the TV crew had been ordered to head to Ohmslo a month ago, which was around when the fits started. They managed to talk the two into following them to the canal, where they both promised they were going to "jump into the canal a bunch". Signe and Leif reluctantly agreed to come film this. Upon reaching the canal, the two bumped into Gunnar, who was heading to the large canal bridge. 

He explained that he had seen someone in an alleyway near Hackett's rally causing a bright flash, shortly before seeing someone acting like a Pokemon. Realizing that this meant Signe and Leif were likely innocent, Naivara and Bergie briefly talked off to the side about how this meant that Hackett was likely somehow connected to the epidemic. The party, with the TV crew in tow, crossed the large canal bridge, and investigated the alley where Gunnar had seen the exchange go down. 

Once again inspecting the area for clues, Gunnar found a black and white photo of Hackett speaking during his rally. Using Bjargulf's tracking abilities once more, the party followed the trail until it went cold: right across the street from Hackett's campaign offices. Naivara, Gunnar, Signe and Leif knocked on the front door, and managed to convince the secretary that they were there to film some last minute interviews of the mayoral candidates. 

Bergie and Stompy decided to sneak in through the back door, which they found unlocked. As the party distracted the secretary, Bergie attempted to sneak quietly into the building to reach the stairs: in the process, Stompy accidentally knocked over a series of shelves, drawing the secretary's attention. Bergie used his disarming naïve charm to convince the secretary that he had entered through the back door by mistake, and began to help clean up the mess in earnest. With the secretary thus distracted, the rest of the party led Signe and Leif up the stairs. 

In the office section of the upstairs, they saw no-one, but heard Hackett in his office with the door closed. Gunnar ran forward and barged in, then started accusing the mayor of being behind the Pokemon fits, to help his election campaign. Hackett began angrily yelling back at Gunnar, denying any such involvement. Gunnar spotted the envelope he had seen Hackett take from the shadowy figure earlier, now sitting on Hackett's desk. With a sudden burst of speed, Gunnar dove and grabbed the envelope, screaming "HERE IS THE PROOF!" 

Opening the envelope revealed nothing more than a series of black and white photos of Hackett giving speeches, shaking people's hands, and kissing babies. Gunnar insisted this was still proof that Hackett was involved in the fits somehow, but Naivara, Signe and Leif convinced him to leave with them. Coming downstairs, they saw Bergie chatting with the secretary, who was giving some fairly clear signs of being interested in Bergie. Alas, her flirtations fell on deaf ears. 

In a huff, the party stepped back out into the rain. Signe and Leif were embarrassed and downtrodden about being dragged into harassing Hackett, who they now knew was innocent. In a last-ditch effort to keep Signe and Leif's help, Bergie suggested that everyone pour over the footage the pair had recorded since their arrival. After spending a few hours fast-forwarding through tape after tape, Naivara found it: in a shot of B-Roll near the same Pokemon Center the party stopped at before was a bright flash coming from an alley. 

While everyone discussed what this could mean, Gunnar fiddled with some random buttons, and accidentally enhanced the brightness on the image: now they could clearly see the silhouette of the person causing the flash. The figure wasn't wearing a trench coat or hat, and they appeared rather short. Gunnar suddenly stood straight up, as the realization hit him: Knud, the teenager who had been harassing them had been fairly short, and was clearly fond of causing hurtful pranks: he had to be the culprit! 

The party, Signe and Leif once more in tow, ran outside into the darkened night, with thunder and lightning pouring down heavily around them. Naivara released Westie, and sent him out to scout for signs of Knud anywhere. While the party waited for Westie to return, Naivara had a brief flash of Westie's sight, seeing the alley behind the Pokemon Center. Suddenly, the vision turned red, and the connection to Westie was lost. Frantic, our heroes ran with all speed towards the Pokemon Center to stop Knud and save Westie. 

Seeing the edge of Westie's wing lying flat on the ground of the alley behind the Pokemon Center, Naivara charged around the corner. After a bright flash, she was once again acting like a Miltank. Gunnar ran around the other side of the building, hoping to catch Knud by surprise. Bergie quickly told Signe that the two of them should step around the corner while covering their eyes, to hopefully prevent the flash from hypnotizing them, while having Leif only observe through his camera. 

Bergie's plan worked to great success, and the bright flash had no effect on him or Signe, although Leif was slightly dazed. Gunnar rounded the corner at just that moment. In front of Naivara stood Knud, with a small Inkay floating in front of him. Knowing that he had to move quickly, Gunnar leapt forwards with a mighty Karata Chop, hoping to take out Knud from behind. 

That was the moment that Knud's main Pokemon, Malamar, melted out of the shadows and intercepted the blow. The battle had begun. Naivara managed to channel the strength of her Drowzee, Buttons, to cast Hypnosis on Knud, knocking him unconscious, as our heroes waded into combat alongside their Pokemon against the terrifying foes. With Knud unconscious, his Inkay began to make less and less accurate attacks; the Malamar, fueled by its psychic connection to Knud, continued to fight in a rage. 

Mighty blow after mighty blow was traded back and forth, as Malamar kept launching sweeping Dark attacks to hit all members of the party, eventually successfully putting most of them to sleep as well. Gunnar managed to lower Malamar's Accuracy with Mud-Slap, as Naivara Paralyzed it with Thunderwave. The Malamar, being driven even further into a frenzy, launched into an even more savage assault, knocking out everything on the field except for Gunnar, Stompy, and Bergie. 

As Gunnar once more attempted to attack the Malamar himself, Bergie desperately healed Stompy. The Malamar sent out another Dark Pulse in response, throwing Gunnar to his knees, and knocking Bergie and Stompy unconscious. In its rabid state, the Malamar would not stop until it had killed all the foes before it: it advanced towards Bergie's prone form, a spectral hand of darkness stretching forth from its aura. 

At the last second, Stompy pushed himself back up his feet, and braced himself hard to absorb the blow meant for his master. Cracks began to appear in Stompy's hooves and the ground beneath him from the onslaught of energy, but Stompy would not be pushed back. Letting out a bellow of rage, Stompy ignited the fires on his ankles hotter and hotter, until they glowed blindingly bright. A massive column of fire erupted, completely obscuring Stompy from view. 

When the raging fires died down, a momentous change had occurred: Stompy, willing to give his life to save his Trainer, had forced himself to evolve into Terrelk. With renewed vigor, Stompy charged straight towards the Malamar, before rearing up on his hind legs. With another roar, he slammed the burning hooves into the Malamar's chest, pushing it against a brick wall. The Malamar screeched in rabid fury, and Stompy lowered his head, before thrusting forwards with his newly-grown antlers. The antlers speared straight through the Malamar's head, skewering it to the wall. When Stompy pulled his bloody antlers away, the Malamar fell to the ground, dead. 

Signe and Leif ran to get help from the Pokemon Center, and officers to arrest Knud. While his allies coalesced, Gunnar made some fliers protesting Hackett's proposed "no Pokemon out" policy. The next afternoon, Bergie and Naivara awoke in a hotel room bought for them by Signe and Leif. Gunnar explained how Stompy had saved the day, and, hearing the commotion, Signe and Leif came to congratulate the party on stopping Knud. Leif had managed to catch the entire final confrontation on film, and the TV crew showed our heroes the footage running on loop on the local station. 

When they felt up to it, the party travelled outside, to see the voter turnout. The grey clouds had mostly dispersed, and the Sun was slowly becoming visible again. The canal was overflowing, and children were seen splashing around with their Pokemon alongside them. Gunnar began putting up his anti-Hackett signs by the voting centers, and managed to convince some random citizens to assist him. As they watched the crowds come and go, Bergie climbed aboard Stompy's back, and the party headed back to their hotel room. Signe and Leif invited the party and their Pokemon to a dinner to celebrate their victory, and watch the election results roll in. 

The race was close, extremely so, but in the end, the incumbent Mayor won by a narrow margin, and Hackett was defeated. The party celebrated late into the night, before retiring to their beds for some well-deserved rest. In their dreams that night, they once again saw the Man in the Wide-Brimmed Hat. He slowly faded into fog, and each hero saw their patron God's silhouette appear before them, seeming to offer a choice of some kind. Upon waking, Bergie and Naivara found they had somehow Soul Bonded with Pokemon of their patron God's Type. Gunnar awake with the ability to shift one of his Pokemon to his patron God's Type.