Chasing The Sunset & Imposters

Chasing the Sunset is a West Marches-style exploration game using Fellowship 2nd Edition‘s Horizon rules.

The fellowship: Dryden of Conwall the Collector/Hunter, Averiela the Elf, Lucia the Brave the Heir/Halfling Sheriff

Last time, the Fellowship tried to solve two of Swallet’s problems by smashing them into each other: lead the Fire Elemental from the trash processing plant into the Fight Club so it can fight the Dragon.

Oh boy, let’s re-cap. The Fellowship arrives as several challengers are trying to gain entrance.

  • Theona: a 16-foot-tall Ogre who fights with huge metal-plated fists
  • Ozzy: a kindly-looking old woman who is actually a Necromancer and just deployed a Group of Skeletons
  • Speedy: a short man with a mustache who disappeared inside the Fight Club.

The Fight Club is an armored warehouse determined to keep the unworthy out. After Dryden blew the door in, that task falls to:

  • Bouncer: a Goblin with big robot arms boosting his power
  • Grinkle: a Goblin with a spiked helmet riding chainsaw rollerstakes
  • Unknown other members of Fight Club further inside the building
  • Fafnir, the legendary dragon, ruler of Fight Club and Swallet, must be in there somewhere.

The Fellowship arrive on the scene pursued by:

  • Fire Elemental: formerly preventing access to the trash processing facility, lured out by the Fellowship and starting fires in nearby buildings
  • Nub-Nub: Former Swallet police. She still pilots her powersuit, trying to prevent damage to the city.

Dryden just blew the door open, so the Fellowship and all the challengers are trying to get in, as the Fight Club members try to keep them out. Nub-Nub tries to evacuate the burnign buildings. Averiela uses her supernatural Elven grace to scale a building via ledges, clotheslines, and drainpipes. She yells into the high windows to warn the occupants to evacuate.

Averiela Overcome (the threat of fire injuring civilians) 6-

She sees two Goblins in a room, but the door is on fire. They are trapped inside!  She enters through the window and draws her titanium sword to cut a hole through the exterior wall, creating an escape route.

Averiela Get Away 7-9 bring someone along

Averiela damages Courage

She pushes one Goblin through the hole before the rest of the wall collapses! She’s hit by the falling debris and partially buried, but pulls herself free. Nub-Nub approaches and Averiela jumps up and brushes herself off. No one likes dust.  Averiela starts to explain how they can work together to free the remaining Goblin.

Averiela Talk Sense (+sense, explain plan) 6-

Nub-Nub: Enough of your “help”!

Nub-Nub grabs the free Goblin and leaps to the roof across the street. The Fellowship already broke its promise to keep the city safe from the Fire Elemental, so she won’t trust them or work with them anymore. Averiela wedges her sword under a big piece of debris, using it as a lever, and calls to the trapped Goblin to push when she pushes.

Averiela Get Away 10+ avoid harm, bring someone along

The piece of debris pops loose, and the second Goblin scurries through the hole before it collapses! Averiela carries the Goblin up to the roof and the two Goblin brothers, Yobb, and Wobb, have a tearful reunion.


Lucia is inside the Fight Club. Just past the smashed exterior door is a lobby with two doors on the far wall. On the left, a five-foot-tall door and a placard bearing a humanoid pictorgram. On the right, a much larger door, whose placard shows and exaggratedly large and long-limbed humanoid.  The walls are lined with trophies and news clippings about various fights and fighters. Lucia walks through the small door, sword at the ready.

She enters a Goblin-sized locker room. Inside, the Bouncer is talking to a whole Group of spiky, armored chainsaw-skate-wearing Goblins. They’re a roller derby team!  The Gobblin’ Goblins. Grinkle is theri Team Captain.

Grinkle: Intruder! Get her!

A dozen rowdy Goblins rev up their skates and zoom towards Lucia!

Lucia Symbol Of Royalty: grants an audience with anyone I show it to

Lucia holds up her Symbol of Royalty. The Gobblin’ Goblins put their skates in reverse and stop short!

Gobblin’ Goblin: Wow, a VIP!

Lucia: There’s a Fire Elemental outside that’s going to destroy this building! We need the dragon to fight it! It will be an epic battle like no one has ever seen!

Lucia Talk Sense (+Wisdom, appeal to emotions) 10+

The Gobblin’ Goblins think that is the coolest thing they have ever heard! They turn to the Captain and the Bouncer expectantly, hoping for permission. The Captain and the Bouncer are almost convinced, but need to get approval.


Back outside, Theona faces the Fire Elemental. Ozzy is trying to defeat Theona with a surprise attack with her Skeletons, but they are too small to be effective. Dryden ponders his next move. He considers experimenting with the Artifact Of Power in his backpack, but perhaps this is not the best time. Averiela sees him consider the backpack and shakes her head.

Dryden: Theona, let’s co-operate. The door is open, let’s go inside and fight the dragon!

Dryden Talk Sense (+sense, explain plan) 7-9

Theona agrees that the Dragon is the better target, but she’s too big to fit through the door. She jumps and grabs the edge of Fight Club’s roof, 20 feet above the street, and starts climbing up. Ozzy takes the opportunity to go inside Fight Club through the door. The Fire Elemental is still enraged and moves in to attack Theona.

Dryden Modifications: Flying Device is always Overcharged and flies for a whole scene

Dryden Get Away 7-9 avoid harm

Dryden flies inside, out of the Fire Elemental’s reach. The Fire Elemental attacks Theona as she’s dangling from the side of the building. Dryden hears her yell, more in anger and betrayal than pain or fear. This is the second deal Dryden has made and immediately broken today! Averiela sees this from the rooftop, but she does not want to get involved.

Ozzy, her Skeletons, and Dryden are in the lobby with the two differently-marked doors, but now there’s a team of bouncers to kick them out!

  • Goblin Bouncer: a three-foot tall Goblin with big robot arms amplifying the actions of their own fleshy arms
    • Bigger ‘n’ You: can throw enemies around
    • Tough As Can Be: This stat must be damaged twice
    • Group: Can affect two characters at once

Dryden Get Away 10+ avoid harm, bring someone along

Dryden flies up, out of reach of the melee on the ground. A certain Bouncer named Yiddle is grabbed by a Skeleton. Dryden swoops in to the rescue, smashing through the Skeleton, picking up Yiddle, and zooming through the big door marked with the lanky pictogram.

They enter a much larger locker room, built for fighters who are bigger than Goblins. Inside there’s an Ogre (same species as Theona) in the middle of attaching his mechanical left arm. It straps on like Furiosa’s arm in Mad Max: Fury Road, except his arm is missing from the shoulder, and his prosthesis is powered. It ends in four pairs of big, spring-loaded scissors. An intimidating figure!

  • Sparky: Ogre Champion
    • Crushing Grasp: destroys objects, Takes Out companions, 3 damage to players
    • Gigantic: Sparky and his attacks are Giant

Yiddle: You better put me down! Me and Sparky will mess you up!

Dryden: Hey, Sparky. Do you know Theona?

GM note: I wrote some secret backstory between Theona and Sparky, unsure if it would every come up, or if the two would meet, and Dryden instantly unlocks it with “All Ogres know each other”  Amazing!

Sparky: Theona? She’s here? We had a deal!

Sparky looks very upset, and he storms out of the room. Yiddle’s bravado seems pretty foolish now. Is it enough to scare her into submission?

Dryden Finish Them (courage, advantage: ally left) 7-9

Yiddle damages Tough As Can Be once

No, she’s a Fight Club Initiate! She’s fought flying opponents before. Her usual strategy is to disable the opponent’s wings to bring the fight to the ground, but Dryden doesn’t have wings. He does have a neck, so Yiddle clamps her robot hands around it to choke him out. Dryden can’t speak, so he makes a “Sorry about this, but what can I do?” face and flies towards the locker room’s far door.

GM note: I think there was a Get Away move here.

Dryden twists in mid-air so that he goes through the door and Yiddle hits the doorframe. She loses her grip on him and gets tangled in a towel rack next to the door. Everything in this room is oversized, so she’s suspended off the floor. As he flies into the next room, Dryden calls back:

Dryden: I would have helped you! Join me when you get down!

Dryden Workaholic; Spend Food in between scenes to regain gear


Back inside the Fight Club, the Bouncer and Grinkle escort Lucia through service tunnels to talk to the person in charge about her plan. Bouncer knocks on a certain door and a small panel opens. Bouncer explains to someone inside Lucia’s plan to have Fafnir fight the Fire Elemental

Mysterious Voice: Surely you can handle it. Fafnir can’t be bothered with such trivial matters.

Lucia holds her Symbol Of Royalty up to the panel and demands an audience.

Lucia Symbol Of Royalty: grants an audience with anyone I show it to

The door springs open. The mysterious voice belongs to Brainiac! He remembers Lucia from their meeting in the underground tunnels, and greets her formally by her full title, as protocol demands.

Lucia Detect Evil: Brainiac is evil

Brainiac: This is a surprise! What are you doing here? Did you bring the Fire Elemental?

Lucia: We are traveling and discovered the Fire Elemental and it chased us here.

Brainiac Part of the Plan: take damage to make a Hard Cut

Brainiac Chess Pieces: nearby allies take damage in my place

Brainiac Too Clever For Their Own Good: monologues when things go well.

Brainaic pulls levers on his control panel and drops emergency doors between every room in the Fight Club. He goes on about how the Goblins are incompetent minions and he has to plan for everything himself. This hurts Bouncer’s feelings.

Bouncer damages Tough As Can Be once

Lucia asks what she and her friends should do. Brainiac hands her a sign-up sheet. She can try her luck in Fight Club once this little matter is wrapped up. Now that the intruders can’t move about, Brainiac orders Bouncers and Grinkle to take their forces and clear the building room by room. Brianiac politely shuffles Lucia out into the service hallway, since he will need all his concentraion in the control room to make sure this goes smoothly.


Averiela is outside Fight Club with Wobb and Yobb, the two Golbins she rescued from a burning building.  She asks them if there is some way to summon help, perhaps a neighborhood watch or a fire brigade. There are poles along most of the streets with wires running between them. Yobb runs over to one pole and opens a metal box beside it. This isn’t a telephone. Goblins don’t have telephones. Inside is a small metal canister, like old drive-up windows at banks use to transfer physical items. Yobb puts a quickly-written note inside the canister, then selects a number of small metal bits from a rack. He mumbles directions to himself as he stacks the metal bits on top of the canister. Finally he puts the canister on to wire coming down from the pole and lights it! It’s a small rocket! The canister zooms along the wires. Each time it reaches an intersection, the leading metal piece selects which branch to take, then is discarded. Goblins use this system to quickly send messages across the city. Yobb has summoned the fire brigade.

Nub-Nub finishes her sweep of the burning buildings and determines that no other civilians are in danger. The Fire Elemental is going after the Fight Club now, and Nub-Nub hopes it burns to the ground.  She jumps away.

An emergency door slams down over the damaged front door of the Fight Club. Theona is up on the roof now, and the Fire Elemental is trying to reach her. Averiela wonders if it’s so bad to let the Fight Club burn. She’s done all she can to help the civilians, so she turns invisible and waits for an opportunity.

Averiela Elder Arts: Camouflage

The emergency door shatters into five vertical strips! Sparky’s arm reaches out, then a shoulder, then the Goblin-sized doorframe bursts apart as Sparky forces his huge body through.

Sparky: THEONA! We talked about this! We had a deal!

Theona is shocked and apologetic.

Theona: I didn’t know you were here! I’m just here for the dragon!

The Fire Elemental turns on the new arrival, but Sparky is busy with Theona and can’t be interrupted. He lashes out and cuts the Fire Elemental into several pieces of lifeless rock, which fall to the ground and start to cool. Theona and Sparky start an intense, hushed conversation. There’s some history here, but Averiela doesn’t want to hear it. She sneaks in the front door and into the lobby.

Ozzy’s Skeletons are still fighting the Bouncers. The entrance to the small locker room is sealed, but the door sealing the large locker room lies in slices on the floor. Just then, a hidden door from the service tunnels open and the Gobblin’ Goblins pour into the room to reinforce the Bouncers! Averiela dodges throw the melee, leaping on chairs and shelves to reach the secret door.

Averiela Get Away 7-9 avoid harm (also avoid notice because of camouflage)

Averiela enters the service tunnel and sees Lucia, who followed the Gobblin’ Goblins but is not joining the fight.


Back to Dryden, who fled the large locker room without knowing where he’d end up. He finds himself in a big gym, with all sorts of workout equipment. At the far end is a big door made of frosted glass, reinforced with wire mesh. Through the frosted glass, he gets the impression of a large creature in the next room: big jaws, long tail, a humped back, larger than a carraige!  Also in the room is Speedy, the small mustached man who disappeared earlier. He runs at incredible speed to the far door, then to some piece of equipment, then back again. He’s trying to use barbells, jump-ropes, spare cyborg parts, anything to break through the frosted glass door, but he’s too weak to carry the heavy equipment.

Dryden: What brings you to fight Fafnir?

Speedy: That’s not Fafnir! That’s my boy!

According to Speedy, the creature in the room beyond is not Fafnir the dragon, but another creature that used to rule the Mighty River with Speedy. Speedy desperately wants to reunite with his friend. Speedy has already explored the entire facility with his amazing speed, but he’s too weak to open the locked doors between them and freedom.

Dryden: I think we have a common goal. Let’s get your boy out of here without eating any Goblins. I’ll clear the way and defend him.

Dryden Talk Sense (+sense, explain plan) 10+

Speedy agrees, but says his friend does not need any defending.  Speedy takes Dryden through a hidden door into the service tunnels, then to a servie entrance to the arena where the mysterious creature is kept. Dryden reaches behind his cloak and pulls out a spiral glass jar. The lid is also lined in the glass, so the entire inner surface of of the jar is airtight glass. Inside the jar is movement and metal flakes. The jar is full of metal mites, a dangerous invasive species that eat metal! The eat any metal, but love the flakes best. The metal flakes can be used to direct them. Dryden spins the jar to move the flakes to the middle of the jar, then pours the mites on the hinges of the massive door.

Dryden Explosive Trap: open or seal an entrance

The door falls in, revealing an arena, and a giant Armored Crocodile! Dryden saw this very beast in the underground tunnels not long ago! Speedy rushes in to greet his old friend. Armored Crocodile seems very happy, but an excited crocodile is dangerous to be near, especially one forty feet long and covered in metal armor! Speedy easily avoids all the flailing limbs. Dryden cautiously waits at the doorway.

Brainiac Part Of The Plan: damage this stat to make a Hard Cut

All the arena hazards rumble to life! Pits! Saw blades! Pneumatic spikes! A voice crackles over the PA system.

Brainiac: You found my secret. Now you can’t leave!

HR

Back in the lobby, Ozzy retreats with her few remaining Skeletons before the overwhelming Goblin forces.  Lucia knows that Dryden would be reckless and be trapped in the building. She explores the service tunnels, hoping to find him before the Goblins do.

Lucia Look Closely 10+

  • What do my senses tell me?
    • She peeks through hidden doors in various room, including the large locker room, where Yiddle has gotten out of her exo-skeleton harness and is climbing down her robot arm to reach the ground. She also sees the Armored Crocodile in the arena.
  • What is Brainiac doing and what will he do next?
    • A door reveals the power supplies for Magical Barriers, which are even harder to get through than the emergency doors. Brainiac hasn’t activated them yet.
  • What is hidden or out of place?
    • The layout of the building and the way the Bouncer and Brainiac are acting gives the impression that ltos of effort is going into making sure very few people actually see the “dragon” in the arena.

Lucia pulls the batteries from the Magical Barriers to prevent Brainiac from activating them.

HR

Back in the arena, Armored Crocodile is in danger from all the arena hazards, and the way out is open. It charges through the door, and through Dryden!

Armored Crocodile Rampage: charge & damage anyone in my path

Dryden Robot Shield: 1 Armor

Dryden activates the fragment of the Shield Commander robot just before the Armored Crocodile runs him over. His body sparkles like diamond as he’s thrown against a wall and ragdolls to the floor. He’s completely unharmed. It wasn’t even painful, but the Robot Shield is no good anymore.  Speedy guides the Armored Crocodile to the service entrance and they try to bash the door down. Dryden follows behind. Lucia saw all this from the far side of the arena. If she wants to catch them, she must go straight through the arena! Taking the corridors around will be too slow.

Lucia Get Away 6-

Lucia charges through, but a Pit Trap opens under her feet!

Lucia Overcome 10+

She catches the edge as she falls and scrambles up.

Brianiac: Service Tunnel E!

Over the PA system, Brainiac summons his forces to intercept the Armored Crocodile. They need to get past this door quickly. Dryden pulls out his unbreakable Dwarven hammer, but he’s not strong enough to smash down such a big door.

Dryden: Don’t let him eat me, please! I’ll brace the butt of the hammer against the lock, and the big guy can hit it with all his might.

Dryden Talk Sense (+sense, explain plan) 10+

Speedy relays the plan. The Armored Crocodile’s helmet has a big steel cap at the point of its nose that can go through boat hulls (useful in their previous line of work) and Dryden is holding his hammer between that and a padlock on a massive metal door. The Armored Crocodile rears back and strikes forward with a deafening crash! The Armored Crocodile’s nose stopped inches from the door, just enough room for Dryden’s hands. The unbreakable shaft of the hammer was driven clean through the lock and the door behind it. Dryden extracts the hammer, pulls the pieces of the lock away, and opens the door to the outside. Speedy and Armored Crocodile are free! Lucia runs to catch up with them, and the Gobblin’ Goblins are right behind her!

They all run out into the street. Speedy has a plan to escape the city, and he leads the Armored Crocodile around the Fight Club and to the west, towards the trash processing plant.

Nub-Nub: What is that thing?

Lucia: Brianiac tricked you! It’s not a dragon!

Dryden: No dragon, just a croc. Sorry!

Nub-Nub: That’s not what I fought! That’s just some animal!

GM note: Nub-Nub previously described Fafnir as about the size of a wolf, with wings.

Nub-Nub pursues and readies her Rocket Fist to attack the Armored Crocodile.

Dryden: Bind!

Dryden Modification: Ranged Rope Autonomous, reponds to simple commands

Dryden Keep Them Busy 10+

Dryden’s Ranged Rope shoots out from his cloak and wraps itself around Nub-Nub’s Power Suit and the communication wires along the road, so she’s dangling in the air.  Lucia wants to talk to the Gobblin’ Goblins, but they are on a mission and won’t listen. She switches to violence and hurls throwing knives at them

Lucia Keep Them Busy 7-9

The Gobblin’ Goblins are forced to dodge and the Armored Crocodile pulls ahead. They reach the front of the building, where Swallet’s volunteer fire brigade has gathered. Goblins are civic-minded, so there are lots of Goblins ready to fight fires, but they are also independant inventors, so all their equipment is custom and doesn’t work well together. There’s one machine that produces expanding foam, and several with high-pressure hoses. One Goblin has a powerful machine that could do the whole job by itself. He just needs a hose long enough to reach the waterfall on the east side of town. The Armored Crocodile and its pursuers barrel through this crowd, causing complete pandemonium.

HR

All this time, Averiela has been sneaking invisibly through the service tunnels of the Fight Club. She knocks on Brainiac’s door and doesn’t answer his call.  She waits a while and knocks again. Brainiac opens the panel in the door and looks, but doesn’t see anyone. Maybe it’s an especially short Goblin. Brainiac installed the panel at his eye level. After a few knocks nad no answers, Brainiac opens the door and steps out to look upand down the hall. Averiela appears, blowing a pinch of Stardust in his face.

Averiela Elder Arts: Stardust puts one person to sleep.

She catches him as he falls and ties him to his own chair in his control room.

Averiela Look Closely 7-9 three questions, one answer the hard way

  • What do my senses tell me?
    • The control room has clearly labeled switches for many functions and indicator lights showing the status of every room in the building.
  • What is hidden or out of place?
  • What is Brainiac doing? What will he do next?
    • GM note: The answers to these questions are revealed by Brainiac’s notes, kept neatly in a safe under the desk. Opening the safe is the hard part

When Averiela opens the safe, she triggers a Poison Dart Trap!

Averiela Overcome 7-9 pay a price to get good result: 1 Ammo

Averiela twists away with impossible Elven Grace and the poison dart strikes the quiver on her back, breaking some arrows, but not reaching her flesh.

The notes in the safe are well-organized, complete, and written in a very neat hand, so Averiela is able to reconstruct what happened. Brainiac got a tip that a Dragon was in Swallet, and when he arrived Fafnir was running the town and fighting all challengers. One challengers turned out to be a Vampire assassin! Fafnir defeated the assassin, then immediately left the city to find who sent the assassin after her. Brainiac was frustrated with Allan a Zham, who was so dismissive and unappreciative when he sent him out on his mission. Brainiac decided not to be a follower any more. Allan a Zham didn’t deserve all the expertise Brainiach offered. He’ll do his own thing! He’ll be the boss this time!  Brainiac swooped in and took over the Fight Club, turning it into a secret society, making access to “Fafnir” a precious thing reserved for only the inner circle.

Averiela uses Brianiac’s control panel to open all the doors, then smashes the panel. The noise wakesBrainiac, who struggles against his bonds. He doesn’t have Chess Peices or Part Of The Plan available. He’s stuck! He starts crying. Averiela intends to kidnap Brainiac. She pushes him on his wheely chair into the gym. She cuts open a punching bag, dumps the stuffing out, and jams Brainiac inside. She puts the punching bag in a laundry cart and is ready to leave.

Averiela Overcome (risk of being discovered) 6-

Just then, a group of Goblin Bouncers enters the gym. They recognize her as an intruder!

Averiela: Hey, guys. I captured Speedy. He’s here in this bag, so I’m just going to take him out now.

Averiela Talk Sense (+Grace, trick) 6-

The Bouncers don’t buy it and move to grab her with their big robot hands!

Averiela Get Away 10+ avoid harm, bring someone along

Averiela charges through with the cart, knocking the Bouncers out of the way! She flees through the locker room, through the lobby, and out the front door. Theona and Sparky are sitting close to each other a short distance away. They seem to have reached an understanding. They shake hands solemnly. Averiela definitely does not have time to find out what’s up, so she keeps running.

So everyone’s running for the Trash Processing Facility! Speedy and Armored Crocodile are in the lead, then Lucia and Dryden, then the Gobblin’ Goblins. Behind them are Averiela, pushing Brainiac in a cart, and the Bouncers. The Fire Brigade will probably save the Fight Club building from burning, but in most other senses, the Fight Club has been destroyed!

END OF SESSION MOVE

  • Did we thoroughly explore a new location?
    • Swallet & Fight Club YES
  • Did anyone find what they were looking for
    • Averiela seeks to protect the world from dangerous people like Brianiac YES
  • Did we learn something new about the world and its people?
    • NO

Two boons: Averiela and Lucia level up. Everyone heals 1 stat.