Session 49, VP1

Surmounting the peaks of Skald's Echo was thankfully not as difficult as Sol's Bed or Heimdall's Gates. After an initial bit of steepness, the climb leveled out enough to make for a pleasantly bracing hike.

 

Early in their trek, the group ran into the phenomena that gave the mountains their name: despite seeing no other life nearby, they suddenly heard quiet, friendly voices in conversation. Takeru explained that sounds within the range was magically warped in some way. At times, you could hear things that were happening in the distance as if they were actually right beside you. Thus, it was no cause for alarm when they overheard the sounds of rocks tumbling down the slope- with no landslides to be seen. 

 

This peace of mind betrayed them quite quickly.

 

Our heroes nearly lost their footing as multiple Weepinbell popped up from the soil in front of them. The pitcher plant Pokemon had plainly been planning a poison pitfall! The wilds had been lurking in burrows, covering their mouth- the trap opening- with dirt on one of their leaves. Thankfully, they were much to small to swallow prey of this stature.

 

The party released Pokemon of their own, & defended themselves in earnest. Crashing sounds of more tumbling rocks kept echoing out for an unknown reason...until one of their Pokemon landed a solid hit on a Weepinbell.

 

On reflex, the creature spat out a round boulder at its attacker. The missile slammed into the target with a thud, before it began hovering? Ah! As they opened their eyes, it became apparent that the boulders were actually a swallowed herd of Minior!

 

Knowing the plants would likely spit up more Minior in defense, the group was able to plan their attacks effectively. In short order, they were able to knock out the would-be assassins. The comet Pokemon seemed rather shy after being freed. Without attacking, they slowly floated away in bobbing orbits.

 

Shaking their heads at their absurd encounter, the trainers continued up the trail. Nearly at the peak of the mountain lay a small temple devoted to Tyr. In size, it looked closer to Forgerun's temple of Baldur Ho-Oh than Drillberg's temple to Frigga. Flanking the entrance were two metal statues in the Steel god's likeness.

 

The song of all blacksmiths drifted faintly out the open doors. Takeru suddenly became intensely interested in checking his pack- surely not delaying anything out of anxiousness. When it was clear there was no getting around it, he lead his newfound allies in with hesitant steps.

 

Smells of hot soup made the party's stomachs rumble. The scent was coming from a large dinner table in the main foyer of the temple. It looked like the residents had only just began breaking bread, which was serendipitous timing. All of the seated worshipers stared at the unexpected guests without offering any greetings. 

 

Takeru cleared his throat before attempting to introduce Bergie & Gunnar to his folk. The gathered citizens seemed...unimpressed. Upon realizing his mother did not appear to be present, Takeru excused himself to go fetch her. 

 

It was the clangs of smithing that he wend towards. Alone in the forge room, he found her: Hervör Stahl. Though it had been near on 15 years since the two had last spoken, the only tell of age upon her was a bit more grey in her hair than Takeru remembered. The priestess still possessed an intimidating presence, in both appearance & personality.

 

Clearing his throat, Takeru called out a "hello" to his adopted mom. With her hammer in mid-swing, she didn't even look up as she commanded him to prepare a quenching bucket for her current work. A few minutes later, Hervör began to "close up shop" for the day.

 

"...Hello to you as well, Takeru. How long has it been?" she asked. "......Three...years?"

 

It was with no small amount of discomfort that the Ace Trainer corrected her: it had been almost five times longer than that. His mother's tone didn't shift in the slightest as she responded, but Takeru could tell she was embarrassed the same as he was. Hervör led the way back to the dining chamber after squeezing her son's shoulder.

 

Gunnar & Bergie had managed to convince the other monks to let them join the "feast". When Takeru reappeared, he introduced his companions to his mother & vice versa. The blacksmith asked stoic questions of Takeru over their dinner. The Ace Trainer gave a half-answer when asked about his old Charizard, which it was clear Hervör saw right through. Still, she seemed pleasantly surprised to see Laros the Beldum traveling alongside him.

 

Bowls were mostly empty when she asked our heroes what "good" they had done today. The trainers explained how they had rescued the trapped Minior earlier, which seemed to satisfy the priestess. With no verbal response, she left to get extra helpings of soup for the party.

 

Afterwards, Bergie explained the situation that had led them here. Hervör ribbed Takeru in a dry tone for only "coming home when you need to ask for something".  She clarified that this was a "very funny joke" when she saw the genuine looks of confusion she got from the rest of the group.

 

Moving onto business, she asked to examine one of Birger's Pokemon. Her examination confirmed the conclusions our heroes had already reached. With a grunt, she got up to fetch something. She returned carrying a massive, dusty book. All the temple's knowledge regarding Steel types lay within.

 

As she flipped through the pages, the party realized the book was effectively an analog Pokedex. Hervör lay the book in front of them once we reached the right entry. Maintaining the keen blades of a Pawniard or Bisharp was relatively easy, as the Pokemon largely took care of sharpening themselves. The issue was each member of the species had their own favorite whetstone. If it were lost, it could take years to convince them to use another.

 

Someone must have stolen all of the Pokemon's whetstones! Now that they knew how to proceed, talk turned to the goings-ons at the temple. Hervör explained that there was a strange, somewhat-annual concert happening in a few nights' time. A "divine guest" was said to visit a nearby amphitheater hewn into the rock of the mountain. The entire group was excited to see this, though none more so than Saffa.

 

Discussion led them to decide on spending the night in the temple's guest quarters. They would return to the lumberjacks' the next morning, & return in time for the moonlight sonata. 

Saffa was strangely absent when the party readied to leave. Hallbjorn's excitement could practically be felt on the trip back. He helped relay what had been learned to his fellows when they reconvened. To give his friends a break, he chose to jump back into the woodwork himself, allowing Birger to accompany the trainers instead.

 

Now that they had an idea of what to look for, our heroes began searching for any Pokemon tracks near the lumberjacks' previous campsite. Five different sets were found: two of one evolution line & three from another. Both trails led into the small bit of woods nestled against the mountain. When the tracks separated, the group split to follow both leads.

 

Bergie & Birger followed the tracks from the larger evolution line. Hidden at the base of a tree, they eventually found the entrance to an underground burrow. Some Pokemon could likely fit inside, but it would be quite a squeeze for a person. Still, the Breeder was able to identify the paw-prints with some more study of the area; the tracks he had followed belonged to the Folimine line! These Pokemon were known for loving to collect bits of metal to line their dens. Could they have stolen the whetstones as decor?

 

Elsewhere, Gunnar & Takeru ran out of clues when the smaller footprints indicated their owner had climbed up a tree. The Athlete was both undeterred & unimpressed. After breaching the boughs himself, he was able to pinpoint movement amongst the leaves not too far afield.

 

Some effort led them to discover a monkey was watching them from a nearby tree. As the pair managed to corral the purple creature for interrogation, Bergie arrived on the scene. The small Pokemon was an Aipom. The group's Pokedexes explained that, while they had no particular ties to metal themselves, this species was well-known for their love of pranks.

 

This seemed like a safer bet than the mustelid burrow. A jar of honey was able to convince the Aipom into leading the trainers to its kin. (Though the prankster ended up throwing most of its bribe onto Bergie's face.)

 

Arriving at a tree crowned with thick limbs, our heroes could hear what sounded like a large group of the monkeys overhead. Gunnar climbed again to attempt "diplomacy" with the wilds. The troop of Pokemon revealed that they did have the missing whetstones, but seemed fairly disinterested in returning them. The Martial Artist offered a variety of knickknacks to no avail. When his temper got the best of him, the monkeys shoved him from the tree.

 

Verbal mockery succeeded where bartering had failed- at least, for luring the Pokemon down the the ground. At least 15 Aipom advanced on the trainers, one of which had stolen Bergie's Pokedex. Leading them were three Ambipom, their evolved form. Time for battle!

 

The simian commanders led from the rear, behind a sea of their fellows. Trying to drive through the Aipom was a difficult task. A task made even harder when the Ambipom threw several of the smaller monkeys onto our heroes.

 

The Pokemon clambered across each trainer, lessening their field of vision & make even mundane tasks a chore. Takeru & Bergie did their best to avoid being swarmed as they fought, but Gunnar? He just waded right into the thick of the combat. 

 

With each step, less of him became visible beneath his growing "cloak" of monkeys. The Athlete was nothing more than a humanoid silhouette by the time he reached the ringleaders of this farce. Between his own powerful attacks & a reprisal of Red Hot Chili Pepper's Uproar, the pranksters were eventually worn down & knocked out.

 

Bergie grumbled as he collected his stolen Pokedex. Takeru surreptitiously pocketed a newly-filled Pokeball while Gunnar gathered up the stolen whetstones. It was nearing sunset when they found their way back to the lumberjacks' campsite.

 

The workers were all overjoyed to see their Pokemon's treasure returned. All of the Pawniard & Bisharp began getting to work on regaining their polish & keenness. Even the more reticent of the lumberjacks gladly invited our heroes to join their campfire for dinner.

 

Starlight reflecting off of their plates, our three heroes basked in the satisfaction of a job well done. This had not been a quest of great importance, true, but that was exactly why it was so refreshing. Aside from making it back to the temple in time for the "concert", they had no real time constraints on their docket. Maybe they would explore the area a bit for wild Pokemon on the morrow. Alternatively, they could always head back earlier than planned.

 

Such thoughts could keep till the morning. For now, they each shared a smile as they readied for bed.

 

"Hey," Takeru said as the trio split to head to their own tents. "Today...today, we did something good." A sentiment that kept their hearts nearly as warm as the campfire while they drifted into dreams...