Session 8, VP1

The party visited the armorer and weaponsmith who had posted signs asking for help. Naivara decided to assist the weaponsmith, Brindhild, while Bergie and Gunnar instead assisted the armorer, Osmond. Brindhild was extremely overbearing, and doubted Naivara could offer help, but allowed her to try.

Over the course of the rest of the day, Brindhild scolded Naivara's efforts to assist with their work of forging a sword. This culminated in Brindhild having Naivara switch out with Pearl. Pearl was surprisingly successful at helping out with the blacksmithing. Brindhild planned to only pay Naivara a small amount, but Pearl managed to convince her to pay Naivara a more respectable amount. Additionally, Naivara received a 25% coupon for a weapon purchase.

Bergie and Gunnar were warmly greeted by Osmond, who explained that he was looking for people to head out into Sindri's Kiln and find more ore for him to smelt. He gave the trainers each a wicker basket, and sent them on their way. Gunnar first had Bjargulf and Nosepass attempt to sniff out ore deposits, which worked wonderfully.

Next, Bergie used his walking stick to feel around to find more ore, which worked as well. Finally, Gunnar broke out the big guns: he released Skeldr, gave him a sample taste of some of the ore, and told him to find some more. Skeldr took off incredibly fast, and managed to gather together a fantastic haul of ore.

Bergie and Gunnar returned to Osmond with the ores. He was ecstatic, and rewarded them with money and a 50% off coupon each for an armor purchase. The trainers met to discuss how their days went, before enjoying a nice dinner in the center of town. Bergie purchased a bag of Forgerun's signature spice mix after thoroughly enjoying the meal.

In the morning, the party headed back over to Brindhild and Osmond's shops. Naivara exchanged her coupon with Bergie's, and commissioned a set of Light Armor from Osmond. Bergie commissioned a war hammer from Brindhild, while Gunnar commissioned a set of two throwing hatchets. Since it would take some time for the orders to be completed, the party decided to pay a visit to the nearby lake, Bergelmir's Hold.

Upon reaching the lake, they found the waters to be an interesting silvery hue, full of metal runoff from Forgerun. Naivara and Bergie were hesitant to enter the waters, but Gunnar immediately jumped in and began swimming to the other side. Bergie rested his feet in the water, with Stompy sitting next to him.

Naivara released Westie, and had him fly over the lake, periodically dipping in to try to see if there was anything in the waters. Gunnar reached the other side of the lake, and climbed a small tree to get a better view of the surrounding areas. To the west, he could see a lot of dust in the air around what he guessed was Frigga's Womb.

As he turned around back to face the lake, Gunnar noticed that there was a shadow beneath the waves that seemed to be tracking Westie's dives. The shadow lined itself up with the spot Westie was aiming for, and Gunnar jumped back into the lake, swimming as fast as he could towards where he saw the shadow. As Naivara told Westie it was time to head back to the shore, he took one last dive. As soon as he reached the surface of the water, something quickly jumped to meet him, and pulled him under the surface.

Naivara quickly released Ash, her Relicanth, and jumped into the water on his back, urging him to reach the spot where Westie was last seen. Gunnar reached the spot just as Naivara did, and the two of them grabbed hold of Ash. Naivara mentally commanded Ash to dive, hoping to find Westie.

On the shore, Bergie and Stompy watched with trepidation, remembering what happened when Bergie dove into the ashen lake in the caldera. As they debated what to do, there was a sudden rushing of wind, and something streamed past Bergie's face, scratching up his cheek. Bergie desperately searched the skies to try to spot the foe, but it was flying at such high speeds that it couldn't be tracked.

Readying for another attack, Bergie and Stompy went back-to-back, while Bergie hefted his shield. The rushing of the wind kept circling tighter around the two, before the Pokemon darted past Stompy, raking him with its talons for heavy damage. Bergie recalled Stompy, and decided to try something different.

 Meanwhile, Naivara and Gunnar had managed to see the silhouette of whatever was holding Westie hostage below them. After surfacing to take a deep breath, they dove intently towards the target. Naivara drew her bandit's sword, and ordered Ash to rush forward with a Slam attack.

Ash's attack took the Pokemon by surprise, forcing it to release Westie, who began struggling to the surface. As Naivara swung her sword at the Pokemon, the sword shattered. The Pokemon turned and began to approach to attack, revealing itself as a Wartortle. Feeling themselves running low on air, Naivara and Gunnar surface, as Naivara mentally urged Ash to continue to fight.

The Wartortle heavily damaged Ash with a Skull Bash attack. Naivara and Gunnar breached the surface, and saw Westie struggling to tread water. Naivara recalled him to his Pokeball to keep him safe. The two trainers both took deep breaths, before diving once more.

Meanwhile, Bergie laid his shield on the ground, and took out some of his rations. He took some in his hand, crumbled them up, and sprinkled them in a circle on the ground, before lying flat on his back inside of it. Once he was flat on the ground, Bergie called out to the speedy Pokemon, explaining that he meant no harm, and hoped the Pokemon could stop attacking for no reason. Due to his adeptness at communicating with Pokemon, Bergie successfully calmed the enemy down. It landed in a flash to begin gobbling down the rations, revealing it to be a Machprey.

Bergie attempted to win the Machprey over by sprinkling some of the Forgerun Seasoning on the ration crumbs, but the Machprey was too distrustful. Attempts to get the Machprey to eat out of Bergie's hand met with similar results. Finally, Bergie released Flapaghast, his Starly, and encouraged it to join in eating the rations.

As Gunnar and Naivara dove once more into the lake's depths, they arrived just in time to see Ash let loose a final, massive blow, knocking the Wartortle unconscious. It drifted up to the surface, where it floated on top of the water. The two trainers grabbed onto the exhausted Ash, and had him begin to pull them back to shore. As they reached the shallows, Bergie held out a hand in their direction, telling them to hold back for a moment.

Having had little success with trying to win over the Machprey, Bergie decided it was time to go on the offensive, releasing a Swift attack. The attack angered the Machprey, who used its incredible speed to return an attack of its own. As the Machprey began to ascend, Bergie started reaching into his pack. The Machprey folded its wings, and began to dive straight at Bergie, talons extended. At the last second, Bergie held an Ultra Ball out in front of himself, and the Machprey's beak triggered the capture process, successfully capturing it immediately.

Naivara and Gunnar came ashore after seeing Bergie had resolved his encounter. The three trainers healed their Pokemon, and themselves, and began the trek back to town. They arrived to Forgerun as the sun was setting, and decided to try paying Brunick another visit. He welcomed them in to join him and his Pokemon for dinner.

After the meal, Brunick asked the party where they were planning on going next. They explained that they were going to try to buy a boat, and ride downriver from Iokul Lake to get closer to Frigga's Womb. Brunick instead offered that the party could use his Crematasm as transport down the river. He explained that those with courageous souls would not be burned by Crematasm's flames, and that he would introduce the trainers to his Pokemon tomorrow by Iokul Lake.

The party retired to the inn to rest, and awoke to the sound of rain pouring down. They met with Brunick, and walked to Iokul Lake. Brunick released his Crematasm, and as he began to explain how he was going to have them test to see if the flames would burn them, Gunnar ran and leapt onto Crematasm's back.

Unsurprisingly, although Gunnar was wreathed in green flame, he felt no pain. Bergie and Naivara then held their hands out to the Pokemon, feeling that the flames did not hurt them either. Once the party was all on Crematasm, Brunick waved them goodbye, and wished them good travels. Crematasm left the lake, and entered the river, as the party began their trek Westwards.