Chasing the Sunset is a West Marches-style exploration game using Fellowship 2nd Edition‘s Horizon rules.
The fellowship: Edna Crusher-Harcourt the Ogre, Vestri the Dwarf, Yuri the Outlander
Last time, Edna met Vestri and Yuri and they ran afoul of O’Later, the chief of Port Fennrick who is also an evil Vampire!
GM note: We ran out of time in the last session, so we’re doing the end of session move from that session at the beginning of this session.
END OF SESSION MOVE
- Did we thoroughly explore a new location?
- YES. the Robotic Facility
- Did anyone find what they were seeking?
- YES, Yuri found an item related to his magical sword, and he discovered that Lucy is exactly the sort of person he’s looking for.
- GM note: I complained about Xanadu, the best roller-skating musical of the 1980s. A muse helps some dude realize his dream of making a roller rink and he thinks she’s the coolest girl ever and falls in love. Makes sense from his perspective, but she’s been helping the greatest artists in the world or centuries. Why should she be impressed by him enough to defy the gods to stay with him? Similarly, Yuri may be smitten with Lucy, but what can he offer her? Yuri plans to save this world and offer her access to a new world that she can exploit through capitalism. Yuri’s homeless now and has a medical degree, so he might as well emigrate to America.
- Did we discover something new about the world and its people?
- Nah
Two Boons
- Yuri and Edna level up
- Yuri learns Mighty Leap from Edna
- Edna increases Courage to +3
- Heal
- Yuri heals himself, Vestri heals himself, Edna heals Vestri
Edna, Vestri, and Yuri run through the hole in the warehouse wall, pursued by O’Later and his minions: the Shadows and the Ogre Bork.
Edna. My goodness, you’re injured! Look what happens when I’m not taking care of you!
Edna forms a bond: “I must protect Vestri”
Edna forms a bond: “I must protect Yuri”
Vestri forms a bond: “Edna is a mighty friend”
Yuri forms a bond: “Edna is the mother I never had.”
GM note: My attempt to disrespect my fellow adventurers by implying they could not hold their own in fights backfired in the best way.
Edna: Are we going? Are we leaving town or should we go back and stomp that guy?
Vestri: I assumed run? I assumed run.
Yuri: We should leave and come back with a plan to beat O’Later at a later time.
Edna: Good thinking. Where’s that other Dwarf fellow. We mustn’t leave him behind.
Hundrin was near the exit, tinkering with Gurtin. Vestri points the way. Edna leans down and places her giant hand, palm up, in front of Vestri.
Vestri: All right, that seems faster.
Edna Toss Aside: an ally can ride you
Vestri climbs into Edna’s hand. Edna sees that Yuri is keeping up with her and does some small jumps to demonstrate her technique. He picks it up quickly, and is soon able to jump over a building.
Edna: Yeah, yeah, you’ve got it!
Yuri & Edna Mighty Leap: leap to anywhere you can see.
Yuri & Edna leap directly to Hundrin & Gurtin near the town gate. Edna puts Vestri down. Unknown to the Fellowship, O’Later flies into the sky and uses the ultra-sonic voice of his bat form to signal Shadows all over the town. A group of Shadows that was guarding the gate springs into action to attack the Fellowship.
- Group of Shadows
- Group: able to affect 2 characters at once. When a group is destroyed, replace it with 2 Shadows.
- Death From Above: Shadows can climb along walls and ceilings as quickly as they can run, and as silently as a ghost. When the Shadow drops down on an enemy from above, they can either kidnap them or deal damage to them as a Hard Cut, their choice.
- Patience: The Shadow is Secret until they make a Cut. When they escape or hide, they become Secret again until they make a Cut.
Vestri Clear The Path: 7-9 leave a path, but get in trouble
Vestri charges through the Shadows to reach the gate, which is closed at night. One of the Shadows flies into Gurtin and damages the Drill Tank.
Hundrin: My baby! I just fixed her!
Edna Uncontrollable Strength: lift almost anything
Edna Overcome 10+
Edna kicks the Shadow aside, picks up the Drill Tank and runs to the gate. O’Lateris flying from the warehouse to the gate. He’s not on the scene yet, but he’ll arrive soon. Everyone runs to the gate, but they need to get it open. The door is a series of logs tied together. It hinges at the top and swings outward, so it’s inceonvenient to open from outside. Ropes and pulleys let a group of people inside the walls raise the heavy gate. Yuri considers cutting the ropes, but the gate is designed to fail safely. The weight of the gate naturally keeps it closed. Destroying the ropes and pulleys prevents it from being opened.
Edna: Use what you’ve learned. Just jump to the top! Y’all get out. I’ll leave last.
Yuri Mighty Leap: jump to anywhere you can see
Yuri leaps to the top of the wall, where the gate controls are. He pulls on the ropes and Edna puts her shoulder into the gate to push it open. The Shadows are recovering. Can they get the gate open before the Shadows attack again?
Yuri Overcome (+hope, Edna’s aid) 6-
Yuri Fool Me Once 10+
The gate rises enough to let Vestri & Hundrin scoot under. Edna plans to jump to the top of the wall to escape, but the Shadows are upon her!
Edna Get Away 6-
The Shadows climb all over Edna, stabbing her with their knives!
Edna Wobbles: no damage from normal weapons, just distraction
Edna can’t get proper form for a Mighty Leap until she deals with these Shadows. She stops, drops and rolls. She’s the size of a mini-van, so they’re about to get in a car wreck!
GM note: To estimate Edna’s size, I looked up specifications for a minivan: 16 feet long (Edna’s height) and 5000 pounds. I also looked up rhinos, which are 12 feet long and 5,000-6,000 pounds. Edna’s uncontrollable strength makes her body unusually dense, so she’d be even heavier than a rhinoceros. 5,000 pounds is a low estimate.
Edna Finish Them (+Courage, force them to retreat) 10+ TAKEN OUT
Edna holds the Drill Tank over her head, so she doesn’t crush it as she rolls on the ground. The nimble Shadows scramble the opposite direction, like log rollers, trying to not end up under her. Most of the Shadows scatter. Edna gets up and pushes the gate open to escape.
Edna Overcome 10+
She ducks under the gate and now the entire Fellowship is outside of Port Fennrick. Will O’Later and his minions pursue them, or be satified with driving them off?
GM note: We get distracted by comparing the situation to various movies, and remember that Yuri can Command Lore about the world he came from, so he really could start talking about Marvel movies in-character.
The Fellowship looks around to decide where to go next. To the south is a marshy area. The Mighty River (which the Fellowship just sailed down) is to the west. To the north is a forest. Yuri considers the Fellowship’s long-term goals.
Yuri: Where do you think this dagger could be?
Vestri: I have no idea where the dagger could be, otherwise I wouldn’t be looking for it everywhere.
Yuri: I feel like Forest is good place for lost things. Maybe there is sword in stone — dagger in stone, or maybe door that needs sword-key.
Vestri: Edna, have you seen a dagger that looks like this?
Edna: Most daggers look like that. Is there something special?
Vestri: If you look at these stones and see this deep red one right in the middle of the hilt, If you look closely — I will hand it to you in one moment — look very closely, just tilt it around until it’s blood red, you’lll notice there is a symbol inside, It is my family crest. The Redrocks. Here you are. Take a look.
Edna: Oh, charming. I haven’t seen this particular one.
The Fellowship decides to go into the forest to look for magical folk, who may know things. Yuri presumes that magical folk learn these things in schools, but he’s not sure how education works in this world, so he asks.
Dwarves have an apprentice system. Each craftsdwarf teaches younger Dwarves about their trade. Librarians and scholars are taught in an academic context that is closest to a school in real life. There’s no value judgment on which profession a Dwarf chooses. A blacksmith may not know how to read, but that doesn’t mean they are stupid and less worthy than a scholar who studies books all the time. Everyone has a place in society, and each Dwarf picks what they want their place to be. Choosing a parent’s profession is common, but not required. Dwarves have social mobility.
Edna’s family was rich, so her time was not taken up by working to survive. She had a tutor and can read several languages. She also learned to play tennis and ride horses, but obviously she can’t ride horses anymore.
Edna: I had a tutor. There are experts who have specialized knowledge. There are libraries. I heard there’s a great wizard who lives in the town up the river.
Vestri: Did we meet a wizard?
Yuri: I do not think so. We met an Eel, and a Vampire, and a water-man.
Vestri: And a Demon.
Yuri: And Dinosaurs. And people who corral dinosaurs.
The Fellowship decides to seek out this wizard, but to take a circuitous route through the forest, so they can search more area.
GM note: My various notes disagree about what’s in the forest to the north. We use my Horizon Location Generator to come up with something.
The unnatural-looking forest is a rough hike. Yuri and Edna can only jump to places they can see, and they can’t see far in the forest. Yuri looks around for clues on which direction to head. What’s interesting in this forest?
Yuri Look Closely 6-
Yuri Fool Me Once 6- ask one question, find out the hard way
Yuri Fresh Eyes: When you Look Closely, ask a player a question from the Speak Softly list
- Is something hidden or out of place?
- The two Shadows from the gate followed the Fellowship!
- What do the Shadows want and how can we help them get it?
- O’Later wants to capture Yuri specifically because he likes rare foods. Steven the housecat is also very rare, but O’Later doesn’t like eating hairy things. Vampires bite people on the shoulders because
Shadow Death From Above: appear from hiding and kidnap someone
Edna attempts diplomacy in a loud and violent manner. Since one Shadow has grabbed Yuri, Edna picks up the other Shadow.
Edna Keep Them Busy 10+ Their attention is all on you
Edna: Let’s trade.
Edna Talk Sense (+Wisdom, appeal to desire to not be crushed) 7-9 owe them a favor
Edna Toss Aside 10+ they go where I want & land how I like: safely on their feet
Edna carefully tosses the Shadow to his comrade. The Shadow is good to his word and releases Yuri. Their kidnapping mission has failed, so the two Shadows leap backwards into the underbrush like ninjas. Yuri calls after them.
Yuri: If you tell him I’m dead, neither of us will be in trouble!
Yuri: Maybe we should press forward.
Vestri. Yes, let’s go! You ahead of us so we can keep an eye on you.
Edna: i could carry you.
Vestri takes off his helmet and wraps it in the braids of his beard so he has both hands free. He collects berries in the helmet as the Fellowship hikes through the woods.
The Fellowship stops for the night and chats around the campfire. Edna’s very athletic and loves to learn about the sports of different cultures. Yuri asks is she knows baseball. She doesn’t, but she tells him about the sport the platypeople play called “Fluming“. They stack logs on one side of a flooded field. You bring a log to your goal. Some teammates hold the log upright, and the other teammate climbs to the top to score a point, with a bonus point for doing a flip on the dismount.
Yuri: I know these Platypeople. I have the Fellowship of the Platypeople. I wish I had known this previously. Next time we are in area we can do this.
Edna: I’m taller than a regulation log. Do I have to put my feet on top of the log to score, or could I just put a hand on it?
Yuri: Maybe next time we bring huge log to Platypeople, so this is even competition.
Edna likes to customize games because it’s hard for her to fit in with other people. She wants to play Fluming with an enormous log. Scaling it up to make it a challenge sounds fun.
Vestri also has a favorite sport. Any number of people can play. Each person has a pile of rock and the object is to get to the center as fast as possible. It would be easy to adjust for Edna by giving her a larger rock. Dwarves already have a handicap system for scaling the rock based on the mass of the player. Sometimes humans want to play. Dwarves look smaller than humans but are often more massive.
Yuri wants to explain baseball, but doesn’t think it would translate well. A game that everyone could play is darts.
Yuri: A dart is almost like a dagger, but an arrow at the same time. And you throw it at a board that has rings and segmented numbers and you try to hit specific spots to get points.
Vestri: Ah, like throwing axes.
Yuri: Yes, yes, like throwing small, fine-tuned axes.
Vestri: Like a lance, but very small?
Yuri: Since you like throwing axes, and you enjoy throwing everything, I think this would be a good sport for us. I would have to make a board.
Yuri learned how to appreciate eating plants from the Platypeople, so Vestri gathers various plants and brings them to Yuri to see if they are edible. Edna checks the tree branches for fruits and seeds.
Vestri: What do you eat?
Yuri: I am herbivore, so I’m vegetarian.
Vestri: I understood “herbivore.” What do you eat, Edna?
Edna: The unusual thing that most people notice about my diet is that it includes a lot of clay, and some sand.
Yuri: Interesting. What is the nutritional benefit of sand for you?
Edna: Strong bones and teeth.
Vestri: Yes, I understand. We eat some rocks as well. Only sedimentary rocks.
Yuri: Elementary.
Vestri: Sedimentary. I don’t know what elementary rocks are.
Edna: Gizzard stones are alimentary rocks!
Edna explains how she had to start eating sand and clay when she hit puberty, but it got a lot easier when her third set of teeth came in.
Yuri: Is it like shark with several rows where they kind of replace each other?
Edna: No. There’s baby teeth, then those fall out when I’m a child and the adult human teeth come in. Those are permanent for most people. When I got Ogrism, they got replaced with stone teeth. That made eating clay a lot easier.
Yuri: So you wanted to eat more sand and clay after having these stone teeth?
Vestri: No it’s easier to eat with the stone teeth, but she already wanted to eat rocks, right?
Edna: Yeah, I had to get the minerals into my body to produce the stone teeth and stronger bones.
Yuri: Was the desire to eat clay always present? I’m interested in biology of Ogres.
GM note: After writing my fun monstergirl’s backstory, I looked back and found: teeth falling out, bizarre puberty, and unnatural desires. This is a horror story!
Edna: When I was 11 or 12. my mom said “Now, Eddie” — she calls me Eddie — “your body’s going to go through some changes soon, and based on our family history, maybe some other changes too.” I hit a growth spurt and didn’t stop. I kept growing and growing, eating a lot, then I wanted to eat clay and sand. Calcium bones stop working at a certain size. I need stronger bones.
Yuri: I’m afraid this is a sensitive subject but I’m curious. Are there natural Ogres, like Bork, or is everyone possible Ogre? What is the nature of Ogres? Are you half-human, half-Ogre?
Edna: I’m what’s called a “first-generation Ogre” so my parents are both human and I just got Ogrism. It runs in my family every few generations. That’s why we got the “Crusher” name, after the first Ogre in the family.
Yuri: If you were to have children with another Ogre, would your children definitely be Ogres?
Edna: Yes, there are some Ogre communities with their own culture. Some first-generation Ogres will join Ogre communities. Children of Ogres are always Ogres. We call them “native Ogres”.
Yuri: Is there a cultural divide between between these types?
Edna: It is cultural. I didn’t grow up as an Ogre. Mom tried to prepare me as best she could with stories passed down, but it’s always different living through it myself. I would have liked to get to know Bork better, but circumstances have come between us.
Yuri finds some wood that he can whittle into a dartboard. How can he make darts? He wonders if Vestri has some metal bits that could be made into darts, but Vestri doesn’t travel with a forge. He has the skill, but that doesn’t mean he can make precise tools at a moment’s notice in any situation. Yuri tries whittling points onto twigs and throwing them, but they have no stability and never go straight. He tries pebbles, but they bounce off the board, so scoring is impossible. Finally, he figures it out.
Yuri: This is not exactly how darts would go, but we’ll make due. This will be fun.
He takes excess berries from the meal and sticks them on twigs, so they are vaguely like tiny axes. Where the berry splats shows how many points its worth. It wont be as precise as actual axes or darts. The outer ring is worth one, then two, and the innermost ring is worth five. During supper, they throw berries at the board.
Normal Forest increases Response Level to 1
Normal Forest gains move Wild Animal: a Beast tries to eat the next character who goes out in the open.
In the morning, Edna looks for a stream to gather water. She stumbles on a Varg that was also drinking at the stream.
- Varg: These massive wolves are large enough for a full grown ogre to ride, and surly enough to make an ogre think twice about doing it.
- Cruel Beast: A Varg is wild and malicious, and cannot be tamed easily. Anyone trying to ride it must Pay a Price.
- Go For The Jugular: A Varg that gets up on top of somebody instantly deals damage to them.
Edna has heard that Vargs can serve as mounts for Ogres so she tries to approach it calmly, but it leaps at her! Edna tries to grab it in mid-air.
Edna Overcome 6-
She misses and the huge Varg knocks her to the ground.
Varg Go For The Jugular: A Varg that gets up on top of somebody instantly deals damage to them.
Edna Wobbles: Normal weapons can’t damage you, only distract and slow you down
Edna’s teeth and bones aren’t the only parts reinforced with minerals. Her skin is also very tough, so the Varg’s teeth can’t tear through. The two huge creatures wrestle on the ground. Vestri and Yuri hear the commotion and come running. Yuri feels bad about stabbing a dog, but it is trying to kill his friend. It’sa big mena monster, but it still deserves scritches. He leaps and comes down on the Varg with his magic sword.
Yuri Mighty Leap: jump to anywhere you can see
Yuri Finish Them (+Sense, knock out) 10+ TAKEN OUT
Yuri comes down with the pommel of the sword and knocks the Varg unconscious. It slumps over Edna. She pushes it off her, revealing Yuri. Vestri emerges from the treeline huffing and puffing.
Vestri: Oh, I see you took care of it. Doing alright, Edna?
Yuri pets the unconscious Varg.
Harming Local Wildlife increases Normal Forest’s Response Level to 2
Normal Forest gains Stalker: someone starts following the Fellowship
The Fellowship realizes the woods aren’t a safe place to hang around, so they decide to head west to that Wizard’s tower.
Yuri: Da, fine with me. I’m not married to the woods
Vestri: What a strange expression. Why would you be married to the woods?
Yuri: Exactly. I’m not married to them so we to not need to stick around.
Vestri: That doesn’t mean anything. I’m not around my husbands and wives right now, but we are still married.
Yuri: Cultural differences.
A Long Journey: each players sets a scene on the journey through the Normal Forest, the Mighty River, to Thaumatown.
As the Fellowship hikes through the forest, an eight-foot tall Platyperson with white fur steps out of camouflage and tells them they are being followed.
- Marko he/him, giant albino Platyperson: The strongest of the Horde, they stand out from the Troopers. Elites make up for the weakness of their allies by taking hits for them.
- Protect The Little Ones: Horde Elites are twice the height of other horde troopers and commanders. This makes them big, visible targets, which they use to protect the horde. This stat must be damaged twice. When an ally within reach of the Horde Elite would take damage, damage this stat instead.
Yuri: are you following us? Do you hail from Bogden?
Marko: What? No! Quick, stand aside. There’s an ambush.
Vestri: Are we the ones being ambushed, or are you ambushing animals?
Marko: You are the bait! How do you not — babes in the woods.
Edna: That doesn’t seem sporting!
Indeed a Varg has been quietly stalking the Fellowship. The archers under Marko’s command (normal-sized Platypeople) move to engage it.
- Swarm of Arrows: A contingent of archers. The ammo they use is crude and ineffective, but there is a lot of it.
- Covering Fire: Anyone being targeted by a Swarm of Arrows cannot take action out in the open without Paying a Price. The archers can only target one person at a time, or two if they are right next to each other.
Vestri: If you guys want the Varg, you can have it. Let me help you.
Vestri walks out in the open to be as loud and distracting as possible.
Vestri Keep Them Busy 10+ their attention is all on you
The Archers strike from the trees and the Varg never sees it coming. The ambush is successful. Yuri asks Marko about the hunting party.
Yuri Speak Softly 6-
Yuri Fool Me Once 6- ask three questions. One unhelpful answer, one wrong answer.
- What are they doing, and what will they do next?
- Marko: There’s only one reason anyone would come into this forest. Don’t play dumb. You’re after the treature too!
- Yuri: Ah, I had no idea. I’m not from this world.
- Marko: An outrageous, transparent lie!
- Vestri: Oh, I wonder if we’re in the forest of Fulheim, because I’ve heard that a Giant Spider gairds a grove of flowers that grow only here, that can heal almost any poison. Is there someone sick that you’re trying to aid?
- Yuri: Is Bogden OK?
- Marko: Who’s Bogden?
- Vestri: There are more Platypeople than just Bogden, you know.
- Yuri: I’m not from this world. It seems like people live in sections. There are Dwarves over here…
- Vestri: There are Dwarves in every mountain range!
Marko is confused by these strangers, who are obviously trying to steal the treasure from under him, but also seem too foolish to live.
Yuri: We could just leave. What if two of your archers follow us out so you see us leave.
Yuri Talk Sense (+Sense, explain plan) 7-9 owe Marko a favor
Yuri shows the Archers how to play darts. He shows them his makeshift dartboard.
Yuri: You can make a larger version of this, but this is a gift to you for letting us leave without being shot by arrows. There are three rings. Outside the ring is inaccurate. you do not make points. You have acrhers at set distance a they shoot at this and try to make the highest number of points with all arrows in scabbard.
Vestri: It’s like throwing axes.
Marko thinks archery is completely different from throwing axes. As the Fellowship leaves, every archer takes a shot at the dartboard simultaneously. The dartboard and the tree it’s leaning against are covered with arrows! This group goes for volume, not precision.
The Fellowship exits the forest and reaches the banks of the Mighty River. They secure transport on a boat going upriver to Thaumatown. There’s a mystery onboard. A wealthy passenger stored his backup crown in a lockbox in the hold, but the crown jewel has been stolen. The suspect is Jane, a Marilyn Monroe-type, but the crown jewel is not in her position. Vestri interviews the nobleman who lost the jewel.
Vestri Speak Softly 7-9 three questions, one unhelpful answer
- How did he discover the jewel was missing?
- The assistant to the nobleman, a thin timid Human, would attend the nobleman, then periodically check on the lockbox in the hold, since there was no guard in the hold. Halfway through the voyage, he checked and found the lockbox open, the crown inside, but the jewel was missing. This is a backup crown that still has sentimental and financial value.
- What was he doing? What will he do next?
- He’s very fat, and sit in a bathtub full of gravy. Sometimes he dips fried chicken into the gravy and eats it. So unsanitary! Vestri is disgusted.
- What would he has us do?
- The nobleman assumes that Vestri works on the ship. “I would like you to figure it out and get out of my cabin, so I can continue bathing in gravy.”
Vestri shares information with the rest of the Fellowship on the deck and recommends examining the crown. Yuri hopes that he is not suspected of the crime.
Edna: I’m very interested in jewelry, but you’ll have to bring the crown back up to the deck. I don’t think I can fit down there in the hold.
Vestri lets the timid servant know that he’s taking the crown from the hold and brings it back to the deck to examine it.
Vestri Let Me See That: ask 2 questions about an item
- What’s wrong with it and how can I fix it?
- There’s a big setting for a gem that’s empty. If the gem is placed in the setting, the setting can rotate and activate some gears.
- Who made it and why should I care about them?
- The crown was made by The Remnant, servants of the Dragons who were wiped out 100 years ago along with their masters. Yuri’s sword and scabbard were also made by the Remnant.
Edna chats with Jane.
Edna Speak Softly 10+ ask 3 questions
- What does she want & how can we help her get it?
- She wants to be absolved of the crime. Make sure that you catch the actual culprits.
- What should I be wary of when dealing with her?
- She’s so commited to appearing innocent that she’d throw Edna or anyone else under the bus.
- What can she tell me about the crown?
- She saw the noblemen do a trick with the gems to make stars spin around, but he showed everyone on the boat. Anyone could have done it. He thinks it was me because he placed it on my head for the party a couple nights ago.
Edna considers Jane’s hairstyle. It’s not big enough to conceal the gem. Yuri talks to the timid servant, who is named Viktor.
Yuri Speak Softly 10+ ask 3 questions
- What was he doing? What will he do next?
- Viktor obeyed every random whim of the nobleman. He checked on the crown, then the nobleman sent him to the kitchen with specific instructions to get a meal that took half and hour to prepare, and to stay in the kitchen until it was ready. When he returned with the meal, there were splatters of gravy on the floor of the cabin.
- What can he tell us about the storeroom?
- He was absent from the storeroom for the half hour needed to prepare the food. The lockbox was opened, and only he and the nobleman have keys. There was gravy in the storeroom.
- What does he want? How can we help him get it?
- He wants a new job. Not only is the nobleman messy and disgusting, he hasn’t been paying Viktor correctly.
Yuri inquires about Viktor’s interests. Viktor likes travelling , but although this boat travels up and down the river, it does not have any open positions. Edna offers Viktor a job as her attendant. She’s not replacing Ol’ Jardinier. She still palns to link up with him.
Edna: If it was practical, I’d just dump that man out of his gravy bath and look for the gem at the bottom.
Since Edna can’t fit below deck or inside the nobleman’s cabin, Yuri and Vestri go to confront him. Viktor offers to help. He’ll probably be fired anyways if his testimony reveals his employer as a liar. Vestri brings a sailor along as a witness. Yuri and Vestri march in and try to dump the tub over. It’s heavy!
Yuri Overcome (+hope, Vestri’s assistance) 6-
Fool Me Once 7-9 pay a price for a permanent solution
Yuri damages Blood
Yuri strains himself, but the tub does fall over, spilling gravy all over the deck. The nobleman was hiding the gem in the tub! Yuri wonders why he’d steal his own property. Vestri suspects insurance fraud. Yuri’s amazed to discover this world has insurance. The nobleman is disgraced, Jane is pleased, and Edna hires Viktor.
Edna forms bond: I am a good employer to Viktor
The boat continues on, but just before reaches Thaumatown, it has to stop. The bridge over the river was damaged by a recent storm, and the river is blocked by debris.
Edna: Perfect!
Edna Uncontrollable Strength: lift almost anything
Edna wades into the river, tossing debris onto the shore. She finds a long beam among the debris and uses it to dislodge debris in deeper water that she can’t reach. Her body is so dense that she can’t swim, and sinks to the bottom of any body of water.
Edna Overcome 10+
Edna clears a path for the ship to path. The boat reaches Thaumatown on time. The captain is very grateful for the Fellowship’s assistance with the crime and the debris.
Two towers dominate the skyline of Thaumatown: the clock tower on the Civic Center, and weird a magical-looking tower at the back of town. Vestri confidently heads for the magical tower.
Citizen: Oh, no, you don’t need to go there. The Wizard’s gone. We have a self-appointed government now. It’s the new hotness.
Vestri: Where has the Wizard gone?
Citizen: I was there! He was on the docks. He walked out onto the water and told us that he’d taken care of us for so long, but we were ready to rule ourselves. Then he disappeared into the water and we never saw him again.
Vestri: Nice of him, but unfortunate for us.
Yuri: Maybe he went invisible and then went back to his tower. Has there been any lights on?
Edna Mighty Leap: jump to anywhere you can see
Edna leaps to the balcony at the top of the tower.
Edna: Uhhh, there’s a dead guy here?
Yuri: Is he wearing wizarding clothes? That’s not good. Did you guys kill him?
The townfolk are shocked! Vestri runs up the tower stairs to investigate. Hundrin says outside and tinkers with the Drill Tank. He’s not much for these mysteries and adventures. He likes traveling and Vestri is his cousin, so he’s traveling with him. He usually explores towns and sees the sights while the rest of the Fellowship gets into trouble. Yuri just leaps to the balcony.
Yuri Mighty Leap: jump to anywhere you can see
Vestri Look Closely (+hope, Edna’s assistance) 10+
- What is going on? what do my senses tell me?
- A Wizard’s study with books and scrolls piled on shelves and tables. They all have water damage. The pages are wavy. There’s a skeleton wearing Wizard’s robes with a knife stuck in it. Edna notices a spiral carved in the railing of the balcony that matches a faint spiral of fresh roof tiles on the Civic Center. A beam weapon was fired from here to there.
- What is hidden or out of place?
- A hidden switch causes a bookcase to slide aside, revealing a secret room!
- How could the electric knife hurt me or help me?
- The knife is unusual. Squeezing the handle makes electricity crackle along the blade, so the physical threat it poses is obvious. The indirect harm of revealing that the Wizard (who supposedly left when the people were ready to rule themselves) was actually murdered would cause an uproar in the town.
Vestri wonders if the Wizard really did abdicate, then came back and was murdered, or if he was murdered first, and an impostor abdicated. Maybe the dead body is also an illusion, so no one will ever go looking for him Whatever happened, Vestri thinks self-determination is good. Maybe they should hide the Wizard’s body in the secret room they uncovered. He’s not going anywhere, so the Fellowship looks for useful items and information before deciding what to do about him.
Going through his papers reveals that he was paranoid about other magicians. He used Divination to foresee future threats and remove them preemptively. Yuri’s magical sword also seems to possess Divination magic. On a table is a Faraday-cage collar. It splits in two at a hinge to go over someone’s head, then closes and is locked from the outside. This is not a self-defense item. It’s something put on someone else by force. Yuri worries it was used to test experimental magic on prisoners. Would a Faraday cage block the electricity from the electric knife? The room is disorganized enough that it’s hard to tell if anything has been taken. Vestri looks through some books but can’t read the script. Edna reads a note that says there’s something to find under the two volcanoes to the south. Yuri looks for anything with the symbol of the Remnant. The Remnants served Dragons, so their symbol is the shape of a poker head, because they tend the fire. Yuri finds a book with that symbol inlaid on the spine, but none no one can read the words inside.
Vestri takes Electric Knife (melee)
Yuri takes Mysterious Remnant Book
Edna takes Magical Trinkets
With their investigation of the tower finished, the Fellowship must now decide what to tell the townsfolk.