Chasing the Sunset is a West Marches-style exploration game using Fellowship 2nd Edition‘s Horizon rules.
The fellowship: Edna Crusher-Harcourt the Ogre/Knight, Vestri the Dwarf, Yuri the Outlander
Last time, the Fellowship traveled to Saarland, a dead city where forgers claim they stashed the real version of the Redrock family dagger.
The border of Saarland is obvious: a dense ring of redwood trees that tower over the rest of the forest. Branches and smaller trees fill the gaps between their branches, forming a solid wall.
Infinite WIndows opens, and Edna steps through with her companions: ol’ Jardiner and Viktor. Another person, a small, wiry human man also hurries through before the window closes.
Pulmero: I’m not letting you out of my sight!
Edna: Friends, this is Pulmero, who is following me around for the good of his kingdom. He fears I may be some kind of threat.
Yuri: You have your own kingdom? Also, is Pul-Mero hyphenated?
Pulmero: No, my kingdom is ruled by the wise and just queen Lucia. I am her humble and loyal subject. Of course Pulmero isn’t hyphenated. It’s a common name.
Yuri: I apologize.
Vestri: I don’t. Edna has better things to do than deal with you getting into her business.
Pulmero: If she’s innocent, then she has nothing to hide.
Vestri: OK, if you’ve got the time to waste…
Pulmero: Protecting the kingdom is never a waste!
Yuri: You seem very suspicious. Are you suspicious of us because we associate with Edna?
Pulmero: I hadn’t considered it, but that’s a very good point.
Pulmero forms a bond: “I must keep an eye on Yuri”
Edna looks at Saarland’s walls and remembers her previous attempt at navigating through the forest.
Edna: I shouldn’t smash through these trees.
Yuri: You could jump to the top of the trees.
Edna: Those thin branches would not hold my weight.
Vestri: You could jump up and put me in the treetops. I could try to dig under, but these trees are mighty.
Yuri: Just ask the earth to move.
Vestri: I can’t move the trees’ roots. Do you know how dense the roots are for trees of this size?
Edna starts walking along the wall looking for a gate.
Edna Look Closely 6- ask 1 question, find out the hard way
- Tell me about the entrance to Saarland. How could it hurt or help me?
- Indeed there is an entrance between the redwoods. Two smaller trees bend to form an arch. Saarland is the location of their quest, and the entrance allows them to reach it. The two trees forming the entrance are actually Ents. As Edna approaches, they straighten up and avdance threateningly!
- Ent, a living tree, capable of walking and grasping like a person
- Crushing Blow: Anyone damaged by an Ent takes two damage.
- Like Flies: Anyone who fails a roll or pays a price while on top of an Ent is swatted off, in addition to the usual consequences.
Edna Overcome 7-9 temporary solution
Edna grabs the closest Ent as it grabs her, and the two huge creatures grapple. The other Ent approaches to assist its fellow Ent.
Yuri Keep Them Busy 10+
Yuri fires at the second Ent with his gun, distracting it.
Edna Toss Aside 10+ destroy something and take damage
Edna picks up the Ent and throws it through the entrance into the city, where it smashes through a stand of saplings.
Ent #1 damages Crushing Blows
Vestri: We just want to get an object and then leave. Fighting only causes more damage!
Vestri Finish Them (+Wisdom, show the error of their ways) 6-
The second Ent is not convinced, and rushes at Vestri. Edna interposes.
Edna Overcome 10+
Edna You Have My Shield: When you Overcome the harm an ally would suffer and roll a 7+, you can redirect the harm instead of stopping it
Edna turns the Ent’s huge wooden fist so it smashes a hole in the ground instead of in Vestri.
Edna I Know Something You Don’t: When you successfully Overcome the attacks of an enemy, you gain an Advantage over them.
Edna Finish Them (+Courage, force retreat) 7-9
Ent #2 damages Like Flies
Edna has the Ent off-balance. Instead of striking a decisive blow, she flicks it in what passes for a nose and points threateningly.
Saarland Response Level increases to 4 from collateral damage (throwing Ent #1 into saplings)
Saarland gains Guardian: a Threat activates to defend a location
- Tree Shepherd, he/him, a treefolk leader. Strong and gentle, he does not intend to cause harm to anyone who does not threaten his people. He carries a smaller tree like a shepherd’s staff.
- Gentle Giant: Tree Shepherd will never hurt anyone. While this stat is damaged, Tree Shepherd is a Melee, Giant weapon.
- Speak For The Trees: Tree Shepherd can answer questions on behalf of his
entire forest. Anything seen by any of his trees is knowledge he can share. - Threat to the World: anyone who acts directly against him must Pay A Price
Tree Shepherd: Desecraters! Leave the dead in peace!
Vestri: My dagger’s here. We’re not stealing. We’re recovering.
Yuri: If anything we are un-desecrating.
Yuri Talk Sense (+Sense, explain plan) 6-
Yuri Fool Me Once: re-roll one die & take the new result: 6-
Yuri Fool Me Twice: Pay A Price to reroll one die and take the new result: 10+
Yuri damages Grace
Yuri hesistates and corrects himself a few times does convince Tree Shepherd that the Fellowship is not his enemy.
Tree Shepherd: If this is true, we will see this done peacefully.
Yuri: Why don’t you allow outsiders?
Tree Shepherd: Most people who come here are looters and grave robbers.
Yuri: Perhaps you could leave male flowers outside the walls. Their pollen can cause allergies. That’s a possible deterrent.
Tree Shepherd: How will you find your item?
Vestri: We know it’s on the second floor of the Mint. We’ll get out of your branches as soon as we find it.
Tree Shepherd: This city is dead, so we are returning it to nature, like all things should do. We cannot take you as far as the Mint. Those there don’t want the city to stay dead.
Tree Shepherd leads them to a border in the middle of the city. So far they have walked through streets covered in tall grass, with bushes and trees sprouting for buildings that are difficult to recognize. Here there is a sudden shift to buildings that are burned out but not overgrown. Two Ents stand on either side of the street. Occasionally one will pull a stone from a building nearby and hurl it into the ruined section of town. The buildings near the border have holes in them from many hurled stones.
Yuri Speak Softly 6-
Yuri Fool Me Once: re-roll one die & take the new result: 7-9
- Tell us about the other side. How could it hurt or help us?
- Tree Shepherd has nothing to tell. The Ents do not go past the border.
- What should we be wary of when going to the other side?
- The dead stick to the shadows and prey on the living.
- What would you have us do next to reach the Mint?
- Tree Shepherd lowers the tip of his staff to the ground and Yuri climbs onto it. Tree Shepherd lifts him up to see over the rooftops. Tree Shephard indicates a domed building deep in the ruinded half of the city. That’s the Saarland Mint.
Vestri Speak Softly 10+
- Tell us about the cause of the undead.
- Saarland was attacked and destroyed in a single night. The undead are former residents who won’t let go.
- What will you do next about the undead curse?
- We must allow the circle of life to continue. That’s nature’s way.
- What should we be wary of when dealing with the undead?
- Nightmaw: A shadowbeast that hungers like no other.
- Shadows: The Nightmaw can only move through shadows, along the surface. It cannot form in total darkness, and it cannot touch anything off the ground or in the light. It can only be harmed by fire and direct sunlight.
- Hunger: Whenever Nightmaw deals damage, it gains Armor (1 Use). It can hold a maximum of 2 Armor at a time.
- Nightmaw: A shadowbeast that hungers like no other.
Vestri: We can find fallen branches (we won’t harm any trees) and make torches. We’ll camp out, then move in at first light.
Tree Shepherd: I’ll tell my flock to let you through in the morning, but you cannot camp within the city.
The Fellowship agrees to these terms and spends some time setting up camp and gathering materials for forches.
Vestri spends 2x Craftsman Tools (useful) to gain 2x Torches
While Vestri works, Edna tells the story of how she accidentally smashed Pulmero’s dock and earned his suspicion.
Yuri: I don’t see a problem. It was an accident and she paid for the damage.
Vestri: So, young man, why do you think she’s up to no good?
Pulmero: An abundance of caution. And of patriotism!
Vestri: What if someone attacks while you are gone? You should have stayed by the queen. Now you’re about to take a terrible risk and enter this city of the undead with us.
Vestri Talk Sense (+Wisdom, appeal to emotion) 10+
Pulmero: You’re right! What am I doing here? I don’t even know where I am right now! How can I ever get back to the queen?
Pulmero breaks bond “I must keep an eye on Edna”
Pulmero breaks bond “I must keep an eye on Yuri”
Pulmero forms bond “I must stay close to Lucia”
Yuri: Deep breaths. This is on you. You went through the portal.
Edna: No hard feelings. I’ll take the same window back and you can come along. Just stay in camp with Hundrin.
Pulmero: Which one is Hundrin? Is that the Drill Tank?
The next morning, the Fellowship prepares to set out into Nightmaw territory. Vestri holds on torch. Gurtin holds the other. Yuri holds the Toggluminator (from Vieraugen’s Doomsday Dungeon) Viktor is Edna’s torchbearer.
Viktor damages Let Me Get That to gain Torch
The Fellowship walks through the Ent’s part of town, passes the guards at the border, and go into the undead part. The buildings on this side of town are burned. Doors are broken down and windows are smashed, but there’s no animals living in the husks, and no plants grow in the ruins. The shadows cast by the morning sun flinch away from the Fellowship’s torches. The Nightmaws really can’t do much against sunlight and torches together.
Vestri: These Nightmaws remind me of our friend Heath.
Yuri: Poor Heath.
Vestri: He’s in a better place now.
Yuri: I don’t know about that. What happens to Remnants. They already died once.
Vestri: Dwarfs come from stone and return to stone.
Yuri: Can a stone that used to be a Dwarf become a Dwarf again?
Vestri: If you did, you wouldn’t remember. I suppose it’s possible the same stone has been a Dwarf twice.
Yuri: Is the entire planet a dead Dwarf?
Vestri: Don’t be ridiculous. The planet’s not all stone.
Nightmaws in dark upper windows throw desbris down on the Fellowship! They’re trying to extinguish or destroy their torches.
Edna Protect The Little Ones: If an ally within reach would Overcome danger, they can have you take that danger instead.
Edna damages The Hills: 3 Armor to spend only on Protect The Little Ones
Viktor ducks closer to Edna, and the projectiles bounce off her and miss him.
Yuri Overcome 10+
Yuri knocks the falling debris away with his flaming sword
Vestri Overcome 10+
Vestri shields his torch with his body.
The Fellowship reaches the Saarland Mint with all light sources intact.
The building is two storeys tall, mostly stone, and surrounded by a high metal fence. The fence was probably decorated in the past, but now all but the main posts have been stripped by looters. The gates were smashed inwards off their hinges. A sign over the door (carved, not a plaque, so it can’t be removed) indicates that this building was a forge and a storehouse. The front doors are gone, and the sunlight illuminates a small patch of floor inside. There’s a corpse just inside the threshold.
Yuri advances into the pool of sunlight at the threshhold. The shadows aroudn al lthe walls are full of Nightmaws. He pokes the corpse. It’s really dead. It’s wearing a black cloak and carrying several large empty sacks. It seems fresher than the rest of the destruction in Saarland.
Vestri: This corspe should have decomposed
Yuri: Maybe there is some enzyme in the environment that preserves it.
Edna: Should we lay this guy to rest?
GM note: Edna has laid an unusual number of strangers to rest.
Vestri: What’s the procedure for humans?
Yuri: It’s not my culture. Pulmero might know.
Viktor produces a cloth to cover the body, and Edna picks it up and wraps it. The Nightmaws seems pleased when she takes the corpse.
Vestri: Does anyone see a place for a cemetery?
Yuri: We can dig one big hole and put all the bodies there, like they did to Mozart. You know, the composer?
GM note: Wow, Mozart really was buried in an unmarked grave. I did not know that.
Edna: We want a decomposer. Maybe the Ents could deal with it? They’re trying to return everything to nature.
Vestri: Just don’t call these dead bodies fertilizer.
Edna Mighty Leap: You can leap to anywhere you can see
Edna leaps back to the border and asks the Ents for help with decomposition.
Edna Talk Sense (+Wisdom, appeal to emotion) 7-9 owe a favor
Edna explains that if the Ents deal with the bodies of the former residents, they won’t have to deal with Nightmaws anymore, and they can reclaim the rest of the city. The ents approve and take the body.
Edna Mighty Leap: You can leap to anywhere you can see
Edna leaps back to the Mint and tells the Fellowship about the deal with the Ents.
Vestri: OK, let’s find some planks and make a platform to stack the bodies on. We’re stong. We can carry them all. We can use the sunlight to protect us from the Nightmaws while we canvas the city and collect the bodies. It might take a few days, but there’s no hurry. I feel bad for these humans. They’re stuck and unable to move on.
The Fellowship moves to implement Vestri’s plan.
Ol’ Jardiner: That was a Human body, but this is clearly an Elven town. Are we going to give Elven bodies Human burials?
NO END OF SESSION MOVE