Session 7, VP2

After a night of restless sleep & strange dreams, our heroes awoke to find the Onaga having made its way into the open waters of Aldnari-ketill. Calm, clear skies greeted them as they made their way to the decks. Topside, the party could see that the ocean was relatively still.

After fetching breakfast in the mess from Chef Matthew, they offered their navigation assistance to the crew. The XO, Sigyn, advised Helmsman Moire to give the party's directions heed when charting the ship's course. A few hours later, the group overheard a bit of excited discussion occurring towards the starboard bow.

Sailors had huddled together, and were looking at something on the side of the Onaga. Intrigued, our heroes made their way over to the group. A short distance from the ship's hull lay the breached corpse of a Wailord, great stomach aimed towards the sky.

Far from being put off by what could potentially be a bad omen, the crew were excited at the opportunity to collect blubber & ambergris. Even from where they stood, the trainers could see shapes moving across the bloated body. Lauren used their camera's zoom function to get a closer look, and was able to discern a number of two crab-like Pokemon, as well as smaller, isopods.

Curious what could have killed a Wailord, the group tracked down Sigyn. Explaining their interest, they requested to be allowed to commandeer a dinghy to examine the corpse more closely. Sigyn smiled in response, and explained that some of the sailors were actually planning on doing the same. With her blessing, our heroes loaded up into a dinghy, along with three of the crew.

Two of the sailors stayed in the small boat, while the party climbed atop of the body with the third sailor. Leaving him to collect his valuables, the trainers began inspecting the damage on the Wailord's body. Milling about they saw several Krabby, Kingler, & Wimpod feeding on the Wailord. Reinhold kept watch that none of the scavengers would intervene as the other three party members did their best to study what they could see.

Bronze was able to spot extensive signs of brunt force damage, and what appeared to be evidence of grappling. Meanwhile, Lauren discovered small lacerations, the same large amounts of blunt damage, and odd sections of flesh that appeared charred in some manner.

After reconvening and sharing what each had learned, the group was unable to determine what kind of Pokemon could have done this. What could have been large enough to grapple with a Wailord? How did its skin get charred and blackened?

Having learned all they could, our heroes decided to catch some of the scavenging Pokemon to add to their teams. Bronze and Ros did a number on one of the Kingler, and managed to successfully capture it. With her friends' assistance, Sylvie was able to add a Wimpod to her team.

The battle managed to scare more of the Pokemon away, as the sailor reported in that he had collected what he could find. The party joined him back in the dinghy, and made their way back aboard the Onaga. Several more hours passed as the ship continued to the North-West.

Eventually, a cry went out across the deck that land had been spotted. Most of the party made their way toward the portside bow, where the first small island of Dalkr-Eyna could be seen on the horizon. Lauren felt a tingling on the back of their neck, and instead looked out across the starboard balcony.

With most of the crew distracted, the Onaga had begun to unknowingly drift towards a massive whirlpool. Lauren's calls of alarm gave the ship enough time to narrowly dodge the edge of the rushing torrent. Oddly, the whirlpool seemed to be laced through with electricity of some kind. Whatever this was, it didn't appear to be natural.

The Onaga set a course for the island. When they got close enough to see the coast, our heroes attempted to see if they could spot evidence of a docked boat. Unfortunately, the island looked largely unspoiled from where they stood. Having remembered that Ulmar described the area as a chain of small islands, the group decided to see if they could find the others nearby.

As they proceeded Northwards, more whirlpools became visible throughout the normally gentle waves. Reinhold frowned deeply, before explaining that he had never heard tales of natural whirlpools being found along Vanachrom's coast. Lauren chimed in as well, pointing out that, somehow, all of the whirlpools looked identical.

Wondering what could be behind these threats, the party helped guide the Onaga forwards to the next island in the chain. This too, did not show signs of visitation, but more islands were visible to the West.

Aiming straight for the next closest landmass, the ship moved forward at a delicate pace. Whether it was fate or merely luck, they unknowingly began to enter a whirlpool hidden beneath the surface, surrounding the island. Luckily, the crew were able to drop anchor quick enough to prevent the Onaga from being sucked further inwards.

With the ship moored, our heroes took stock of the situation. This whirlpool seemed to have been formed underneath the island somehow, which explained its weaker pull. This also made it the prime candidate for where Flugil may have been marooned.

Reinhold suggested that they toss a barrel into the whirlpool to see how dangerous it would be to traverse. Seeing Captain Strathe near the prow of the ship, they made their way over to him. When they reached him, Strathe had his arms clasped behind his back, facing forward into the salt spray of the whirlpool.

His dashing long coat fluttered in the breeze, as his hair blew majestically in the wind. Our heroes hailed him to get his attention, but he didn't respond. After a few more greetings, they realized they could faintly hear the sound of snoring coming from his direction. Bronze released her new Kingler, and managed to convince it to give Strathe a wake-up pinch.

Strathe came back to consciousness in surprise. The group stood by in confusion as he appeared to be struggling to turn around in their direction. Finally, he shrugged his long coat off of his shoulders, revealing that it had been attached to a wooden frame. The frame, rooted in the ship's deck, allowed Strathe to sleep standing up.

Looks were shared between the trainers, as they realized just how much Sigyn actually held the boat together. Doing their best to ignore his undignified behavior, they asked Strathe if they could empty a barrel to test the waters. After receiving his approval, a sailor emptied out a barrel of dried rations. Strathe quickly pocketed several, before returning to his "post".

In a few moments effort, the barrel had been heaved over portside. The whirlpool quickly took hold of it, but seemed much more gentle than the ones in the open water. Surprisingly, the barrel managed to wash up on the island's shore relatively undamaged.

Taking heart in this, the group returned to Sigyn to once again request the use of a dinghy. Although she knew this was the best way to complete their search, Sigyn was hesitant to allow them to leap overboard into the dangerous sea. She produced a small notepad, and hastily drafted up a "waiver" for the party to sign. Once everyone's name had been added to the paper, Sigyn had some of the sailors lower our heroes to the water's surface. The sucking waters of the whirlpool rocked the dinghy discomfortingly, making the brief ride tense. Luckily, they were able to land on the shore without any missteps.

As they disembarked, the group could see the crew of the Onaga waving and cheering from the deck. After dragging the dinghy ashore, our heroes began to look for clues. It didn't take long before Lauren was able to find some wood half-buried in the sands. The broken plank had clearly come from a small boat, and a portion of a letter could be seen painted in the upper corner. Clearly, someone had been stranded here.

The group conferred over what they had found, and took a look at the island's terrain. A short ways up from the beach, the ground transitioned to short grass, interspersed with palm trees. Towards the island center, a small rocky plateau could be seen.

Before they could debate how to proceed, the sound of swarming footsteps came from behind them. Rushing out of the ocean spray was a veritable horde of spine-covered, poisonous Pokemon. The group's Pokedexes identified them as Mareanie & Toxapex. Seeing aggression in the urchins' eyes, our heroes quickly began running further inland.

Although the grass seemed to slow the Pokemon down, their pursuit continued. Glances thrown backwards revealed that there were at least 50 of the Pokemon, possibly even more. Upon reaching the rocky plateau, Bronze quickly vaulted her way up top. Reinhold used his strength to scale the rock face to safety. Sylvie & Lauren, however, were experiencing difficulty climbing the stone.

Reinhold swept off his cloak, dangling it down to aid in their ascent. He and Bronze anchored themselves as Sylvie managed to pull herself up the cape. The horde grew closer as Lauren's breathing began to hitch in panic. In an eyeblink, several of the swarm launched a volley of poisonous barbs. Lauren was able to shield their face from the assault, but got skewered in their arms and torso. Immediately, feelings of sickness began to spread from the wounds.

Reinhold released Shadow down below, instructing him to draw off the attention of some of the horde, as Bronze had Roz lay down supporting fire from above. Seeing Lauren weakening, Reinhold leapt forward with a mighty punch, shattering a large portion of the rock face.

The broken pieces shed a few feet off of the height to climb, and Lauren was able to use the stones as a foothold to reach Reinhold's cloak. Skin turning sickly & veins limning purple, Lauren could do nothing more than maintain their grip on the fabric as the rest of the group hauled them to safety.

With the party reunited, Reinhold recalled Shadow before he, too, could get overwhelmed. Sylvie busied herself with attempts to heal Lauren as best she could. After a moment to catch their breath, our heroes approached the edge of the plateau to confirm that the pincushions were unable to climb; thankfully, this proved to be true.

Suddenly, they heard a weak voice coming out from behind them. A short ways away, a crack in the rockface had just enough room for someone to hide away from the open sun. Nestled within it, our heroes saw an injured woman weakly reaching out in their direction.

Rushing over despite their recent ordeal, the party took stock of the person they had found. Her skin was covered in bruises and cuts in many places. Several of the purple barbs Lauren had recently been stung with were still embedded in her arms and legs.

The woman was clearly heavily suffering the effects of poison, and appeared to be dehydrated as well. The party gave her some of their water and rations to aid her. Even this small bit of comfort clearly made a difference in her state. In a weak, rasping voice, the woman introduced herself as Flugil from Ever Dam.

The group let out a collective sigh of relief that they had managed to find her alive, and expressed their happiness at having done so. Flugil gave them a confused look, so the group explained what had been happening in Ever Dam, and why they had set out to find her.

Perturbed, Flugil told the party why she had been missing for so long. This island chain was where she had caught her first Pokemon as a child. Every year since, she takes a small sojourn here to let them visit "home". In a stroke of bad luck, her annual visit happened to coincide with a migration of Mareanie & Toxapex.

Shortly after making land, she had been swarmed just as the group had, narrowly escaping to the plateau. As time moved on, Flugil had noticed that the swarm would move back into the ocean periodically, ebbing and flowing to some inscrutable rhythm. She had made several attempts to reach the shore before the Pokemon returned, but had been unable to do so in her weakened state.

Each attempt saw her further injured, and with every failure, more of her own Pokemon team became damaged and knocked out. Eventually, she had only two Pokemon remaining: a Machprey, and Hylr, her Kraelstrom.

Realizing how dire her situation was, Flugil had sent her Machprey flying out into the sea to hopefully find seafarers to bring back for help. With only Hylr to protect her, Flugil waited in increasing agony, refusing to give up hope. Gathering the absolute last of her strength, she had made one last attempt to get to the ocean.

In the quiet of night, she crept through the palm trees, edging closer and closer to freedom. When she finally reached the shore, she found the shattered wreckage of her small sailing boat. Ready for such an eventuality, she released Hylr, aiming to ride him to safety. In a cruel twist of fate, the horde of poison Pokemon chose that exact moment to return from the deep. Hylr gave his all to shield Flugil from further harm, buying her time to limp back to the plateau.

While protecting her, Hylr became overrun with Toxapex & Mareanie. All across his massive body they stabbed with their poisonous barbs. Covered in wounds and driven mad with the amount of toxins within him, Hylr surged out to sea. In the days since, he had been circling the area in a state of blind rage, attacking anything in sight & leaving whirlpools in his wake. Flugil had noticed that the whirlpools seemed to quiet down at night, meaning they could likely be traversed safely at those times.

Our heroes decided to plan their next moves. Sylvie managed to find a single Antidote in her bag. Seeing that Flugil was too badly affected for it to do any good, she managed to convince Lauren to use it. Flugil's eyes lit up as she saw the contents of Sylvie's bags, and she asked if Sylvie knew how to craft medicines.

Sylvie ruefully admitted that she could, but didn't know how to make an antidote for this type of poison. Thankfully, Flugil knew a recipe for just such an antidote. Amongst the small island chain there were 4 Pokemon in particular: Shroomish, Bellossom, Audino, & Mega Audino. If the group were able to collect some plants and herbs from them, an antidote could be mixed together.

Having a goal in sight allowed the group to plan more effectively. If the whirlpools calmed at night, their best course of action would be to wait for the swarm to ebb away once the sun had gone down. They could then hopefully get their dinghy back into the ocean, and make their way back to the Onaga.

Once there, they could set out to the small islands to search out the cure. They would need to prepare enough to not only cure Flugil, but her Kraelstrom as well. If luck was on their side, they would be able to calm her Pokemon down with the antidote without having to engage it in battle.

Due to her ordeal, Flugil no longer had the strength to move under her own power. Reinhold stepped up, and suggested that he could carry her to the shore. Sylvie suddenly let out a cry of surprise; while rummaging through her bag, she came across the Max Repel that had been gifted by the inhabitants of Lygiheim.

Lauren & Reinhold realized that they also still had the Max Repels; these items would be useful in their flight to the shore. As they continued to discuss and hammer out the details of their escape, a massive, pale white tentacle breached the surface a few miles off-shore.

All along the tentacle's length, stripes of deep blue and bright yellow could be seen. Even from this distance, a purple hue could be seen mottled across Hylr's skin. The sound of his tentacle slamming back underwater echoed across the island like a thunderclap.

The group fell silent, their minds shaken. The limb they had just seen had easily been as long as the Onaga, and they hadn't even seen the rest of the Pokemon. It became painfully obvious what had happened to the Wailord further South.

They had finally found Flugil. A plan to get her to safety had been made, and they knew exactly what they would need to find to help her recover. But the plans and dreams of mortals were as nothing besides the capricious whims of the deep waters surrounding them.

Fear began to take root in our heroes’ souls. Their hopes for success were wan, and danger, it seemed, was closing in from every side. They had set out to save Flugil, and, no matter the danger, they would not back down. Let the ocean throw what it may their way: they would weather it, and break through to the other side. There was no other choice.