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/Elven Elite, Lucia the Brave the Heir/Halfling Sheriff, Edna Crusher-Harcourt the Ogre
Last time, the Fellowship traveled to Vieport and were denied entry into the Adventurers’ Club.
As the Fellowship leaves the Adventurers’ Club, Roddy quietly retracts his hand, holding a red membership card, into the indistinct shape of his ghillie suit. The Fellowship wonders where to head next. The palace in the center of the city seems interesting. A guard challenges them at the entrance.
Eel Guard: Security is tight after the recent trouble. Are you members of the Adventurers’ Club?
Lucia: Roddy is.
Lucia Talk Sense 7-9 owe a favor
Eel Guard: OK, I’ll let you in, but you must leave your weapons here.
That doesn’t bother Edna at all. She hasn’t used her weapon yet, and she’s confident she can handle any trouble in the palace with her bare hands. She hands over a walking stick made of hard wood, shod with metal. Dryden reaches behind his cloak, moving all his weapons to his storeroom through the teleportation spell on the cloak’s underside. Averiela doesn’t like the idea of going inside without weapons. She considers sneaking back to retrieve her weapons. She nudges Lucia, suggesting she use her Royal Symbol.
Lucia: My sword is an heirloom. I can’t leave it behind. I’ll happily leave my throwing knives and arrow traps.
Lucia Symbol of Royalty: Grant an audience with anyone you show it to
The Eel Guard allows Lucia to keep her royal sword and sends another guard to tell the Sea Viper that a royal visitor has arrived. The Fellowship are instructed to wait on the roof. Half of the palace is underwater, and the roof is a nice place to receive terrestrial visitors. The roof has some scaffolding around the edges, and all the furniture and tapestries are brand new. The decorative plants are mere cuttings. The Fellowship figures that the “recent trouble” the Eel Guard mentioned involved a fight on the roof.
There’s also a huge hexagonal metal mirror, held in a yoke that allows it to rotate in any direction. Lucia and Dryden recognize this mirror, but Averiela and Edna don’t. Lucia and Dryden explain that the Moon is artificial and covered with mirrors like this one. Vampires hate the Dragons who built the Moon, and created an Anti-Moon Weapon to destroy it, but the test shot only broke off a few mirrors (like this one) which fell to the surface. Also, Dryden has a mirror shard, so he could open a portal to the Moon at any time.
The Sea Viper and his counselors arrive.
- Sea Viper, mer-snake, he/him, ruler of Vieport.
- A snake-like head, two arms, and a long tail instead of legs. He’s always growing and nothing has managed to kill him yet, so he’s huge.
- Emmett, human, he/him, Ghost Expert
- He’s lanky, and bald. He’s wearing a wetsuit made of shiny scales, so it shimmers and flashes like a fish as he moves. He’s got a clear full-face mask that lets him breathe underwater, and propellers mounted on his shoulders for speed. He has flippers flipped up at the ankle and clipped to his knees so he can walk on land.
- Robin, Lantern, she/her, City Engineer.
- A woman with a glowing light hovering over her shoulder. Her self is actually the light, and the figure of the woman is a holographic projection that facilitates intertaction with humanoid life.
- Agate, Spider, he/him, Special Weapon Expert
- An arthopod that stands upright on two legs, and uses his other six limbs as arms.
Sea Viper: Welcome, Queen Lucia of the Forgotten Lands. What brings you to my domain?
Lucia: We are adventurers and explorers. My co-adventurers Dryen and Averiela must journey south, and this is the nearest port. We were intrigued by your beautiful palace.
Agate can’t help but brag about the latest addition to the palace: a powerful beam weapon! He gestures at the Moon mirror with several hands.
Dryden: What do you need such a weapon for?
Sea Viper: To destroy my enemies!
Agate: It will work better next time. I can focus the beam more precisely….
Dryden Speak Softly 6- Three questions, one unhelpful answer, one false answer
- Tell us about the sea.
- Only half of Vieport is on land. The palace is in the center of Vieport, and the water that the Fellowship overlooks from the roof covers the underwater half, home to most of the merfolk inhabitants.
- What should I be wary of when dealing with the Sea Viper?
- The Sea Viper is making a show of being hospitable and diplomatic, but he’s a tyrant. He’ll take what he wants by force if he thinks he needs to, and that includes any Artifacts of Power (like Infinite Windows in Dryden’s backpack, or the Dragon’s egg that Averiela guards)
- What is the Sea Viper doing? What will they do next?
- The Sea Viper wants to improve his beam weapon, so he’s acquiring the optics that Agate wants to focus the beam more precisely. Since the weapon is fixed in the center of Vieport, it’s more easily used against his own subjects, or passing ships, then for defense or invasion.
Lucia explains a little about the mission to the south. She says that they are traveling to meet with several Elven tribes, although she conceals the exact reason. The Sea Viper offers to provide the Fellowship with a ship for the journey, in exchange for political influence in the places they visit. Lucia could give the Sia Viper’s ambassadors good introductions with the leaders she meets. The Sea Viper offers a Lantern ship captianed by Robin herself. Lucia wants to learn more about Robin.
Lucia Speak Softly 6- Three questions, one unhelpful answer, one false answer
- Tell me about the Lanterns
- Lanterns are extradimensional travelers from a space (Robin pauses to search for a word) beside this world. Lantern are small floating lights, and project humanoid bodies because talking to “people” prevents humanoids from freaking out. Lanterns can project their solid holograms into other useful shapes, like bridges, shields, and weapons.
- What should I be wary of when dealing with Lanterns.
- Lanterns can’t lie, and thus they can’t keep secrets.
- Tell us about the upcoming voyage.
- Robin predicts that traveling with a mixed crew will be comfortable, since they have such different biological processes.
Lucia Royal Treatment: leaders offer a meal and a room for the night
The Fellowship restores some stats with the Sea Vipers Food.
The Sea Viper prepares rooms for the Fellowship and allows them to consider his generous offer overnight. On the way off the roof, Dryden scoops up a handful of dirt from a flower bed. The Fellowship woud love to have a ship, but of course they don’t trust the Sea Viper. They immediately plan to commandeer the ship for themselves.
Averiela: I can’t reveal the location of my home to the Sea Viper. If Lanterns can’t lie, maybe we can get Robin to defect with us.
Dryden: I want to destroy that beam weapon. It’s my duty to keep dangerous things away from those who would abuse them.
Edna: I could smash that thing easily, but it would be rude. He has shown us hospitality.
Lucia: But they took your walking stick.
Edna: Please! I don’t need a weapon. It’s not even alive.
Edna considers a long sea voyage. Her skin, teeth, and bones are part stone and metal, so she’s too dense to swim. That’s not a problem in rivers and lakes because she can get to the surface with a Mighty Leap to take a breath, but in the middle of the ocean, with miles of water below, she’d drown before she reached the bottom! Ol’ Jardinier reassures her that he has a spell for just such a disaster, and he’ll keep an eye on her. Edna is overcome by this declaration of loyalty and scoops Ol’ Jardinier up in her giant hands.
GM note: The Fellowship really should have checked for eavesdroppers before planning a mutiny against their host.
The next morning, the Fellowship and the Sea Viper’s council reconvene.
Dryden: We look forward to sailing with Robin.
Lucia: And bringing greetings from the Sea Viper.
Robin goes to make the ship ready, and the Fellowship has some time to make thier own preparations. Edna spends a long time in the marketplace sampling the local cuisine.
Edna spends 1 Precious Item to refill her Food.
Edna meets up with the rest of the Fellowship followed by a third figure (besides her Companions Ol’ Jardinier and Viktor) A Human woman wearing chrome armor, with bubblegum-pink curly hair spilling down to her shoulders.
Edna: Lucia, I met this lady in the market and I’m sure you’ll get along. “You have to meet my friend”, I said, “She’s also a knight.”
Dryden, Lucia, and Roddy look at the pink-haired woman with shock and horror, which she reciprocates. She’s Lady Elizabeth Eleanor Eadwynn, and they came to blows when they first met each other! She no longer has her unicorn sword or helmet. Now she carries a shield made from a huge turtle shell, and a short, broad blade.
Lady Elizabeth Eleanor Eadwynn: You! How dare you show your faces to me!
Dryden: As I recall, you dropped your weapon and helmet as your ran from our last meeting. Do you want to make a scene?
Averiela fades into the background to observe. Edna is dismayed that her new friends don’t get along.
Lucia: Last time we met, this lady used a weapon made from the horn a peaceful unicorn!
Dryden & Lady Elizabeth Eleanor Eadwynn: Two horns!
Dryden: I demand an accounting of that turtle shell, for I am a friend of the great turtle: Ancient One. I’ll divest you of it.
Lady Elizabeth Eleanor Eadwynn: You steal my equipment and my servant, and now you want to take more from me? Come on, Roddy, shoot this fool!
Roddy freezes. Everyone is looking to see what he’ll do next, and he hates being the center of attention.
Dryden: All people can do what they will. You can’t order him around.
Lady Elizabeth Eleanor Eadwynn: You only say that because he obeys you. What if he wants to come back to me?
Lucia: We’ll be sad and disappointed, but he can do what he wants.
Roddy takes them at their word, and does the thing he most wants: get away from people and from confrontation. He leaves the party. Dryden wants a piece of his ghillie suit, just in case, but Roddy refuses and walks away. Lady Eadwynn tries to follow him.
Dryden Keep Them Busy 10+
Dryden: I must know the lineage of that shield. I’ll take the shell.
Seeing that Lady Eadwynn is distracted, Lucia draws her sword and advances. Lady Eadwynn’s reflexes are impressive, and she gets her blade around before Lucia’s sword is ready.
Lady Eadwynn Spell Sword: When Lady Eadwynn is trying to fight you, anyone who gets close to them must Pay a Price to do so.
Edna Protect The Little Ones: When your body is between someone and incoming harm, you suffer that harm in their place. This happens whether you want it to or not.
Edna Of The HIlls: spend 1 Special Armor to Protect The Little Ones
Edna’s been standing right next to Lady Eadwynn this whole time, and when she sees the swords come out, she just pops her knee forward to strike Lady Eadwynn’s sword arm, spoiling her stroke.
Lucia Finish Them (+Grace) 10+ TAKEN OUT!
Lucia smoothly steps in and knocks the blade from Lady Eadwynn’s unsteady hand. Lady Eadwynn has no choice but to let Dryden take her shield as well.
Dryden: Thanks. Go forth and hunt monsters only. These creatures should be living free in the wild!
Lady Eadwynn retreats in shame, cursing under her breath.
Edna: So, should I name-drop you in the future to avoid this kind of confrontation?
The turtle shield is from a large normal turtle, not a Great Turtle. Edna thinks she could wear it as a helmet, but doesn’t because that seems disrespectful. Her new friends have to lay a lot of remains to rest! now the Fellowship is ready to set out on their voyage to the south.
GM note: The players built Robin’s ship, the Luna Penumbra, using the Ship Playbook. They are quite confident that they’ll successfully commandeer it and use it for a long time.
- Luna Penumbra, A flying ship with sails that spring open like the Saucy Mare from ReBoot.
- Cannon: +0
- Engine: +2
- Hull: +1
- Crew: 2/4
- Features: Smuggling Compartments, Escape Pods, Exo Suits, Sensors, Afterburners
- Form: Boat, Airship
NO END OF SESSION MOVE