Chasing the Sunset is a West Marches-style exploration game using Fellowship 2nd Edition‘s Horizon rules.
The party: Buckle the Beast/Heart of Earth, Stella the Halfling/Hunter
Last time, the Fellowship climbed Cloudhold and trapped the Cloud Eel Stoss in his cave, giving Yrta an existential crisis. Now they leave and head for Sunpeak, the tallest mountain in the world.
Climbing down Cloudpeak is uneventful, and Skimbleshanks the mountain lion leads the Fellowship through a gap in the bramble fence at the edge of the Lazy-I Ranch. They find Wayne, a ranch-hand, and tell him they have good news. He takes them to his boss, Daisy.
Wayne: These strangers say they fixed Stoss real good, so he won’t come down and bother the stock anymore.
Daisy: I’m glad to hear that. Lotta folks who pass through aren’t particularly helpful. Some that came through a while back are the ones who got Stoss coming down here. You’ve made up for them.
Daisy invites them to stay for dinner. There are long tables set up for all the ranchhands. Cookie rings a triangle to call everyone in for dinner, but it’s an Elven instrument, so the triangle is a beautiful windchime with a wavering, magical sound. The Fellowship eats with the workers coming off of the day shift at evening. They eat beans, Brontosaur steak, and a big salad. Elves always eat salad. There’s another section of tables on the other side of the building for the workers on the night shift. They don’t seem to get the same food.
The Fellowship Fills Their Bellies, and Stella chats with Wayne and Charlene, who sit on either side of the Fellowship.
- What can you tell me about the night shift?
- Wayne & Charlene have noticed that the owner is very upset about some other business elsewhere going very badly. They are worried about security.
- What should I be wary of when dealing with the night shift?
- They’re Vampires! There’s tension between the day shift and night shift, but only in the way that each department thinks they are better than other departments. The Fellowship shouldn’t let on that they just struck the mighty blow that the owner is worried about. Or maybe they’ll be scared that the superheores that destroyed their army has showed up at their house.
- What do you want? How can we help you get it?
- Wayne thinks the Fellowship’s special skills could be used to protect the Lazy-I Ranch.
Stella pulls Buckle aside. Elves has keen hearing, so they move further away than usual.
Stella: Buckle! Buckle, they’re Vampires! Do you think the boss is a Vampire?
Buckle: We probably don’t want to meet the owner if he’s a Vampire.
They return to dinner to avoid looking suspicious. They observe their surrounding with extra care now. Will the boss make an appearance?
- Is something hidden or out of place?
- The reason the ranch house is so plain and small is that most of it is underground. The visible building is a hat disguising the real building.
- Tell me about the night shift Vampires. What are they doing? What will they do next?
- Some are uncomfortable with guests around. They usually make their rounds by transforming into giant bats, but they don’t want to reveal themselves.
- What will happen if I try to liberate the Elves?
- Some Elves cast jealous glances at the night shift table. They wish that they could sit there. They don’t feel like they need to be liberated.
The Fellowship excuses itself after dinner. Buckle talks to Jake, Charlene’s Brontosaur.
- What can you tell us about dinosaurs?
- The Lazy-I Ranch has been raising dinosaurs for quite a few generations of dinosaurs (generations of Elves are much longer) They have diverged significantly from wild dinosaurs, like the ones in the Cracktooth Wastes. They take orders better and are bigger. The Megacerops are orphans. The environment of their former homeland has changed and does not support a wild population.
- What does Jake want, and how can we help him get it?
- Jake hears that there are some dinsosaurs in far-off parts of the world. He would be grateful if they went out and found more dinosaurs.
- What should I be wary of when dealing with Jake?
- Buckle tried to ask this question diplomatically, but was rude. Jake refuses to answer and wants them to leave.
Jake: Welp, thanks for the Cloud Eel.
Charlene: So nice of you to visit. Shame you have to leave so soon.
The Fellowship are politely but firmly ushered off the Lazy-I Ranch. They head north to Sunpeak, the tallest mountain in the world. It pierces through the clouds, but these are normal clouds, unlike the constant dark clouds around Cloudhold. It’s a war-torn volcano. Smashed equipment. Loose boulders. Many vents from which lava may flow.
Stella: Buckle, can I borrow your moss suit?
Buckle is immune to heat, and his mammalian adaptability protects him from the dust storm, so he’s having a great time. The fire and chaos around him fills him with hope. He does notice the strong magnetic fields as he moves his head around. That will affect his electrosense.
Most of the Fellowship stays behind. Ugg’s robotic arms and Rose’s metal armor definitely can’t move through a magnetic wasteland, and most of the Companions don’t do well in heat nad scouring wind. Ichabod the Phoenix doens’t mind heat, and the Little Lights are barely corporeal, so they accompany Buckle and Stella up the mountain.
Buckle’s fireproof suit protects Stella from the heat, but the scouring wind is still a problem. She rips up cattails that she’s carrying to get a lot of fluff for padding, but how can she secure it to the outside of the fireproof suit? Buckle’s feeling very good about this and is ready to go up without Stella. Instead of soft fluff, Stella uses the glowing scales from the Primordial Abyssal Beast she found in the Remnant Dungeon. The scales are the size of plates, so she puts one on each shoulder, one on the front and back of her chest, one on her head, and one on her arm like a shield. The scales are secured with glue made from water and flour (thanks to Gus the cook)
The Fellowship follows the right path and find a big Dragon skeleton mostly sunk into the ground.
Rumbling voice: Invaders on the sacred mountain! Do any Dwarves still heed my call?
Two Dwarven skeletons emerge from the ground. One carries a spear. The other wields throwing axes.
- Skeleton: An agile pile of bones, usually armed, sometimes armored, often cackling, always trouble.
- Just Bones: Skeletons do not take damage from anything that would slip right through them or is made to harm flesh. Most piercing weapons, ranged weapons, slashing weapons, and poison or fire-based attacks will have very little effect on a Skeleton.
- Weapons Training: Skeletons almost always carry a weapon of some kind. A skeleton has a single tag from this list: Armor (1 Use), Piercing, or Ranged.
The axe-Dwarf throws an axe at Buckle. He dodges, but the axe orbits a magnetic boulder, comig around to threaten Buckle again. The spear-Dwarf avoids the magnetic boulder and attacks Stella. Stella drops to all fours as the Dwarf lunges, hoping to get under and inside its range, but it just points the spear down and stabs her! Her makeshift scale armor holds together.
Buckle: Stella!
Buckle runs over and tail slams the spear-Dwarf, knocking it off-balance. Dalt (the Dragon skeleton) rumbles and the magnetic boulder sinks into the ground. The orbiting axe flies off into the distance. Stella shrinks to the size of an apple and climbs into the Dwarf’s ribcage. She grow to normal size, bursting the ribs and throwing the head and arms in different directions! The legs and spine stagger away.
Dalt grumbles again and the ground starts to open up beneath Stella and Buckle!
Stella: Stop, great Dragon! We are hear to honor you!
The ground stabilizes, and the axe-Dwarf pauses.
Dalt: Who is this who still respects the Dragons?
Buckle: We are Buckle and Stella, slayers of Vampires. I have raised a Dragon as my own. We come to the moutain for a pilgrimage.
Dalt: Give me an offering and you may pass.
Buckle: What offering could a feeble Platyperson and a young Halfling possibly offer an ancient Dragon?
GM note: Especially since they left most of their stuff at the base of the mountain.
Stella: Who are you calling young?
Dalt: Hmm, tribute usually comes from entire communities.
Buckle: It’s been many years. We don’t know what the Dragons sought.
Dragons like gold, high-quality crafted items, and things to decorate with.
Stella: Like one-of-a-kind baseball cards? This is an image of a great leader from somewhere.
Buckle: A distant land, completely alien to us!
Dalt is impressed. He’s never seen anything like that before. He will answer any question the Fellowship asks.
Buckle: How do we get rid of the Vampires and get the Dragons back?
If Dalt knew that, he would have done it.
Stella: What is the safest path up the moutain for lowly beings such as ourselves?
Dalt points out a route with fewer creatures, mostly environmental hazards. The route bypasses another Dragon skeleton. The Fellowship takes Dalt’s advice, even though talking to another dead Dragon is tempting.
The Fellowship climbs further and reaches a field of travertine: a thin skin of fresh rock over an active geothermal feature. This surface could easily break and plunge and unlucky traveler into the boiling pits below. The spirits of the dead try to push the Fellowship back down the mountain
- Travertine: A beautiful, deceptively deadly field of rock. The surface look passable, but one wrong step or sudden blow and you’ll fall beneath the surface. Boiling geothermal activity and death await below.
- Cracks: When anyone makes a move while on the travertine, add a crack to this stat. Everyone can hear it. When this stat has three cracks on it, damage this stat. When this stat becomes damaged, someone falls through the travertine. They become lost, disoriented, and burning.
- Geothermal: The area under the travertine is deathly hot, and finding your way back up is difficult at best. Anyone under the travertine takes damage constantly. If they are not rescued by the end of the scene, they die.
- Specter: These ghostly spirits like to cause trouble, but they are mostly harmless. They’d rather scare you than kill you.
- Spooky: Specters want you gone. If your Courage is damaged while you face a Specter, temporarily replace all of your Agendas with Run Away.
- Poltergeist Powers: Specters can lift and throw anything they can see, no matter how heavy it is. Specters can float, and move through walls. Specters do not take damage from weapons of any kind.
Buckle: Stella, ride upon my back!
Buckle charges forward while Stella screams in fear. Crack! The travertine buckles. A Specter hurls a rock as they pass, hitting Buckle in the leg. His poisonous spurs are damaged, but they are through.
Further up the slope, the dust storm intensifies! Pebbles and small stones are whipped around by the powerful wind.
- Pebble Storm: Its a bad time to be outside. If the sky starts falling on you, find yourself a sturdy roof and wait it out.
- The Sky Is Falling: During a pebble storm, stones rain down across the area. Anything moving through the pebble storm takes damage, and may suffer broken bones or a concussion. This will even damage ships and vehicles.
- This Too Will Pass: Pebble storms pass quickly. After the storm has dealt 3 damage, or after everyone who might be damaged by a pebble storm has safely taken cover, destroy this threat.
The Fellowship looks for cover on the rock-strewn slope. Some of the rocks form flat sheets. Buckle lifts a rock sheet and his friends take cover under it until the Pebble Storm passes.
They climb higher and higher, into the clouds and into a blizzard! Inside the blizzard are two Ghouls, remnants of the Vampires’ forces. They are hard to see. Even Buckle’s electrosense doesn’t detect them because they are dead.
- Blizzard: A winter storm. Mighty winds, biting snow, and total darkness.
- Frostbite: Anyone who does not have shelter from the blizzard must Pay A Price each time they take the spotlight. Protection can be used as shelter.
- Fog and Darkness: The weather outside is frightful. There is no visibility to speak of, and even supernatural vision is stymied by the mix of swirling snow, thick fog, and near total darkness. You cannot Look Closely in a blizzard, and all rolls are made with Despair.
- Ghoul: This undead is endlessly hungry, always looking for its next meal.
- Hungry: Ghouls are always hungry and will eat anything they can catch. If your Grace is damaged, a ghoul’s Cuts against you are Hard Cuts.
- Tough As Nails: The first time a ghoul would be damaged or destroyed, damage this stat instead.
Buckle digs into the snow, which melts around his burning hands, and freezes into ice behind him. He exacavates a cave for his friends to take shelter in. Stella sets a Pit Trap at the entrance for the Ghouls, which can sense life and vaguely wander towards the Fellowship. One falls in the pit and the other steps over its teammate to enter the ice cave. Buckle sets it on fire! It’s close quarters inside a melting ice cave with a burning Ghoul! Stella pummels the Ghoul with snowballs to slow it down. Buckle tries to run past, but there’s not much space. The Ghoul grabs him and bites his nose! Stella shoves the Ghoul back and it succumbs to the flames. It falls into the pit with the other Ghoul, which isn’t able to climb out of the pit. Stella and Buckle tunnel out the back of the ice cave.
The Fellowship emerges above the clouds. It’s always sunny on top of Sunpeak. Lava flows from the peak, and a Dragon skeleton is wrapped around it. Between the Fellowship and the peak is a sheer precipice with vertical walls.
Buckle: Ah, that’s nice.
Using the powers she learned from the Giant Spiders, Stella can walk up vertical walls. The fireproof suit she’s wearing lets her carry Buckle without being burned. She makes it to the top, but strains her back from Buckle’s weight.
At the top, sleeping in the lava as if relaxing in a swimming pool, is Buckle’s long-lost adopted daughter, Fafnir the Dragon!
END-OF-SESSION MOVE
- Did we thoroughly explore a new location? YES, Cloudhold & Sunpeak
- Did anyone find what they were seeking? YES. Stella & Buckle protected people by trapping Stoss
- Did we leave something new about the world and its people? YES, Fafnir, the vampire hideout,
3 boons: gear, gear, heal.