Session 6, VP2

A pall hung over the group as they continued on their journey near the Himinglaeva. Each found themselves lost in thought, and the day had fled into night before they had realized it. Finding themselves at a fork in the river, with the white limestone buildings of Ever Dam distantly visible on the horizon, they set camp for the night.

Fitful dreams chased our heroes as the stars turned about them. When they awoke, it was to a lightly overcast day. After rousing themselves as best they could, our heroes resumed their trek. With a brisk breeze pushing against them, the party crested one of the rolling hills of Varfjell Plains, finding themselves nearing the cliff edges of the Poknafjord Bay. Although the view itself was incredible, their attention was stolen away by something unexpected.

Filling the fields before Ever Dam was a roiling sea of faint purple shapes. As the group watched in silence, they could distantly make out separate shapes amongst the mass of color, each melding with their neighbors.

Once they had collected themselves, they activated their Pokedexes; a quick scan revealed that the mass of forms were comprised of two Pokemon, Puphest & Barghound. Spectral hounds, with ill associations. Born half in the afterlife as they were, these creatures possessed a singular ability: they were capable of sniffing out encroaching death. Something about the scent drew them like moths to a flame.

Whether the Pokemon found the scent itself pleasing or they followed it to bring warning, none can say. In years past, this ability was ill-understood. Given their appearance shortly before people died, the citizens of Vanachrom began to believe that the Pokemon were, in fact, causing the deaths they foretold.

After decades of growing fear, the superstitions gained too much traction. All across the country, people banded together to root out and hunt Puphest & Barghound, hoping to eradicate them entirely. The massacre was thorough, but not finite. Still, it had been damaging enough to cause sightings of the Pokemon to become extremely rare.

The sight of so many, all gathered in one place, was an ill omen indeed. Wary, and hesitant to attempt to travel through the pack, our heroes skirted further to the south. Nearest to the soft shores of Angeyja's Sands was a small gap in the swarm, allowing them to make their way into the city's harbor.

At once, they realized that something was off. The city had clearly been designed with large open spaces between the buildings, courtyards for social gathering, & friendly, inviting architecture. Despite this, barely any people could be seen moving about. The sounds of a distant commotion echoed from the docks. Curious, the heroes made their way towards the clamor.

Upon the piers, an argument was taking place between a sailor, Captain Strath, and what appeared to be the harbormaster, Hragn. A small crowd had formed around the tumult; seeing this, Sylvie slid her way into the group to discover more.

A young woman, who introduced herself as Bronze, explained that the appearance of the Puphest & Barghound had begun ratcheting up tensions in the town. Due to this, the populace had grown ever-more suspicious towards outsiders. Hragn had evidently banned Strath's ship, The Onaga, from leaving until the matter could be resolved.

Bronze further explained to Sylvie that she had, herself arrived on the ship. Her initial welcome had been warm, but as the days stretched into weeks, the reception grew ever colder.

When Sylvie mentioned that her & her friends were hoping to safely move the pack away, Bronze eagerly offered a "business merger". As the argument died down & the crowd dispersed, Sylvie introduced Bronze to her other friends. First things first, the newly minted party made their way to the Pokemon Center to recover from their recent troubles.

Even the nurse manning the healing center seemed brusque, although she did perform her duties. Before taking their leave, our heroes inquired with the nurse if she knew someone they could talk to about the Pokemon swarm.

It seemed that, usually, the town's gym leader, Flugil, was considered the local authority. Unfortunately, she had left on a short sailing trip a few weeks prior. She had been due to return in only a few days, but she was yet to appear.

In her absence, it seemed that 4 locals had become vocal about the need to take action regarding the horde; Bjorg, a local Blacksmith, Valdis, a prominent merchant, Solveig, the town's head librarian & historian, & Ulmar, the former harbormaster. After a quick stop at a partially-closed market, where their presence was barely tolerated, the party managed to get directions to the library.

With this knowledge in hand, the group set out. Solveig gave them a reluctant greeting, and allowed the group to ask her several questions. It was quickly apparent that she was pushing for a quick, & potentially violent, solution.

After she mentioned that Bjorg & Valdis were in agreement with her, she attempted to hire the party to aid in "extinguishing" the pack. Reinhold immediately turned the offer down and took himself outside. The rest of the group took their leave but moments later.

Realizing that the situation was getting closer & closer to a bloody ending, our heroes decided to split up their investigations. Lauren & Reinhold decided to take more stock of the Pokemon swarm, while Bronze & Sylvie decided to check around the town's gym.

Reinhold & Lauren walked back to the main entrance to Ever Dam. They watched as the Puphest & Barghound frolicked in the fields. Reinhold asked Kuze to try and communicate with the Pokemon, and the duo awaited his return.

After a short while, Kuze returned, appearing downtrodden. He did his best to pantomime what he had felt from the Pokemon, but quickly grew frustrated when he reached the language barrier.

Unable to discern more of what Kuze was trying to convey, Lauren took this time to get some photographs of the hounds. Despite all of the omens surrounding them, the Pokemon themselves didn't show the slightest hint of aggression or hostility.

Meanwhile, Bronze & Sylvie followed a path to the very edge of the cliff. Upon it rested a squat, white building, decorated extensively with sea glass; a sign outside labelled it as the town's gym. Upon the door was a small, hand-written note from Flugil, mentioning her absence. As the pair wondered what to do next, they heard a throat being cleared from behind them.

A young man, with long, blonde hair, was limping his way towards them, his hand held up in greeting. Sylvie started to fish in her bag for healing poultices, but the man asked her not to bother. He lifted up his right pants-leg, revealing heavy scarring and scorching, covered slightly with medicinal support bindings.

After a stiff bow, he introduced himself as Donner Haldor, a former soldier. It seemed that, after he was wounded and discharged from service, he had gained some form of psychic abilities. Having never encountered someone else like him, he had sensed Sylvie's entrance to the town, and sought her out.

After a brief conversation, Donner mentioned that he too had been getting the cold shoulder from the townsfolk. He was glad to meet other outsiders, and mentioned his hopes that the Puphest & Barghound could be peacefully moved away.

Hearing that the party was also working to that end, he asked if he would be able to accompany them. Once he had been welcomed along, he pointed out that some of the locals were watching them with suspicion, and suggested a change of location.

Heeding the advice, the group reconvened at the Pokemon Center. A brief round of introductions later, they had decided to see about getting a room at the Pokemon Center. The nurse on duty was clearly not interested in allowing them to stay, but Reinhold managed to guilt her into giving them a key.

With the party safely closed up in the room, they began to discuss what they knew. Various theories about what was causing the hounds to congregate were suggested, but no one could state what was going on with any certainty.

Eventually, the suggestion that Flugil may be able to aid in calming the populace was made. Wanting to collect more intell before committing to anything, the group decided to pay Hragn a visit. Although Hragn was rude at first, the party managed to deiceive him into thinking that they were also in support of driving off the Pokemon by any means necessary.

Hragn didn't know anything about Flugil's whereabouts himself, so the group asked him for Ulmar's address. He was hesitant to give out personal information to strangers, but changed his mind quickly once the party said they hoped to "talk some sense" into Ulmar. With a laugh at "seeing the old man get put in his place", Hragn gave them the address they needed.

The former harbormaster welcomed them cheerily into his home, giving them their first warm reception in some time. The party took turns asking him various questions about the situation, and explained they had heard he also wished the swarm to go unharmed.

Ulmar was glad to hear he wasn't the only voice of calm in the storm. When the party inquired about Flugil, Ulmar pointed out a small set of islands on a sea map, Dalkr-Eyna ; Flugil was known to occasionally pay a visit to the islands, though Ulmar was not sure why.

After realizing that Ulmar was firmly on their side, our heroes asked if he had a boat they could borrow to seek her out. Unfortunately, he had not travelled upon the waves since his retirement. Mention of booking passage aboard The Onaga was brought up, but Bronze quickly pointed out that Hragn had banned the ship from leaving.

Ulmar sat quietly for a moment. Finally, he suggested that, occasionally, to do something right, it is best to take action first, and get forgiveness after. Taking his meaning, the party stepped back out into the night. Bronze managed to guide the group onto The Onaga's deck, and to the captain's cabin.

Captain Strath was clearly four sheets to the wind when he opened his door. Using that to their advantage, the party convinced him that, if they were to bring Flugil back, she would retroactively give the ship permission to leave against Hragn's wishes, preventing the incursion of a heavy fine.

Strath was quickly cajoled into jumping aboard the plan. When he started talking about steering the ship out of harbor right then and there, our heroes realized that it may be better to see if someone a bit more sober could take the lead.

On the bridge, they were able to find the XO, Sigyn. Lauren put forth a strong & well-supported pitch, convincing the already-homesick-Sigyn to command the ship until Strath sobered up. She informed the group that the ship could be ready to leave in about half an hour.

Leaving her to awaken the relevant crewman, our heroes returned once more to the Pokemon Center to adjust their carried Pokemon. After doing so, they returned to the white steps that led down to the harbor to discuss the plan one last time.

For the ship to have enough time to safely leave the harbor, Hragn would need to be distracted somehow. Several suggestions were put forth, but it was eventually decided that they would tell Hragn that Ulmar had "come around", and wanted to discuss things further with him.

To ensure they bought enough time, the party asked Donner if he could relay the info to Hragn, and accompany him to Ulmar's house. Donner clearly would have preferred to come along and have a more active role in resolving the issue, but immediately said he would be fine staying behind to aid them in their escape.

Huddled in the shadows on the dock, our heroes watched as Donner knocked on Hragn's door. Whatever Donner said caused Hragn to let out a deep, booming laugh. He quickly dashed inside to grab a coat, and the two walked off towards the steps to the town proper.

Waiting a few minutes more to make sure they weren't seen, the party quickly ran up the ramp to The Onaga's deck. Sigyn gave them a nod, and began to relay instructions to her crewman. With the gleaming stars above them, the party gathered on the prow of the ship as it backed into the ocean.

The dim yellow & blue lights highlighting the town began to slowly fade away into darkness. The four trainers shared a look, their resolves set, and in sync. Where had Flugil gotten to, and what had caused her delay? Would they be able to track her, a seasoned sailor, across open water? And even if they did bring her back to Ever Dam......would they be too late?