Chasing the Sunset & Cavern Dwellers

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, Markus the Squire, Ol’ Jardiner the Harbinger

Last time, the Fellowship tracked down the dwarves who fled the City of Clay when it was split by a lake of lava. The Dwarves are thrilled to hear they can return home, and offer the Fellowship gifts.

Three options for the fellowship’s reward

• Dwarven Training
  • The fellowship is taught in the ways of being tough and strong. Everyone in the fellowship gains the Iron stat at +1. If a player already has the Iron stat, the dwarves here toughen them up instead – increase their lowest stat by +1 (to a max of +3). If multiple stats are tied for lowest, they may pick the stat to increase.
    • When you Finish Them by outlasting them in a contest of power or
      endurance, roll +Iron. On a 10+, they pass out.
• Legendary Generosity
  • Weapons, armor, and alcohol are yours to take, no matter how much you need. Each player chooses one of the following to add to their Gear:
    • A fine dwarven weapon, made just for you (Melee, Dwarf-Made)
    • Heavy armor of stone or iron (3 Uses, Armor, Clumsy)
    • Dwarven stout (2 Uses, Vigor, then Drunk)
• Dwarven Waterways
  • You have been given access to the vast underground network of dwarven waterways, and you can freely use those tunnels to rapidly travel between dwarven settlements, or any other settlement in the network.

All options are tempting. Training and armor keeps them from dying, and Dwarven Stout’s effects are funny. Markus wonders how many places are connected by the Dwarven Waterways. Between the four of them, the Fellowship is aware of some, but there might be more. Dryden says that the Dwarven Waterways will improve the world for everyone, not just themselves. The Fellowship chooses the Dwarven Waterways.

Duke Rith: OK, we’ll get right on that. We need to re-do all our work details. We need to de-grow this place so we can send a large group of people to retake the City Of Clay. We need a lot of engineers to rebuild the waterways in between.

Engineers are bustling about with tools and topographical maps. Everyone in the fortress is excited for this new mega-project. The Fellowship isn’t sure what to do. The Dwarves have several tasks that they could assist.

• A survey team is going into the Fairy Forest to fix the waterway under there.
• They need to send a lot of food with the settlers, so they need more farmland. A squad of soldiers will secure the second cavern layer.

Averiela a little bit nervous about going underground.

Dryden: What better way to conquer fear than to face it?

The others want to explore the caverns, and Averiela comes along to keep them out of trouble. They meet Sarvesh, the Sheriff, and her squad of Dwarven Soldiers. They wear copper armor and carry battle axes and shields.

• Group of Dwarven Berserkers: The strongest and most aggressive of dwarves.
  • Blind Rage: The attacks of a Dwarven Berserker on the rampage are very difficult to defend against. If your Grace is damaged, you cannot defend against the attacks of a Dwarven Berserker.
  • Reckless Valor: A Dwarven Berserker can damage this stat to damage an enemy they are fighting.
  • Group: This enemy can act against two people at once. When this enemy is
    destroyed, this stat is damaged, or this is their only stat left, replace the Group
    with two normal enemies.

They go down a central staircase past a storey of workshops, a storey of storerooms, a storey of bedrooms. The staircase ends in a tunnel with traps and a big door. Past that big door, another staircase goes down into the mines. Sometimes a vein of ore has been dug out, and sometimes a whole area has been dug out as a quarry to supply stone to the fortress above. At the bottom of that staircase is a small chamber with no exit. A few nervous-looking miners are waiting for them.

Sarvesh: Breach the cavern!

A miner tap on the rocks to find the thinnest place to mine through. There’s not much light down here. Dwarves see better in the dark that surface-dwellers. Ol’ Jardiner summons a soft light. The soldiers think a bright light in the cark cavern is asking for trouble. The minters quickly break through the wall of the chamber. Ol’ Jardiner pushes his light out through the hole into the cavern. These caverns are tall. There’s a several-storey drop below the opening into a lake. On the shore of the lake, mushrooms grow like trees. The cavern rises as high above the opening as the lake is below.

Sarvesh: This is completely wrong! The scouts messed up. Dwarves aren’t good swimmers, especially in armor. Wall this up. We need a new entrance.

Dryden considers using his Ranged Rope to grab a mushroom tree on the shore, but it’s too far away. He takes a running leap into the lake! Averiela scores that dive at 6.5 Dryden disappears under water and comes back up accompanied by  giant blind cave fish. There are also fishmen down there! Little werid green guys with spears in their webbed hands. They aren’t happy that Dryden has invaded their territory. He surfs away on the blind cave fish. They tell him that the fishmen were hunting them.

• Group of Fishmen Spearmen: This cavern-dweller hides behind a shield and pokes their enemies with a well-used spear.
  • Use the Pointy Bit: The Fishmen’s attacks are Piercing.
  • Big Shield: When an ally would be damaged while the Fishmen is near them, damage this stat instead.
  • Group: This enemy can act against two people at once. When this enemy is destroyed, this stat is damaged, or this is their only stat left, replace the Group with two normal enemies.

Sarvesh: Invaders! Send them back to the darkness!

She can’t do much from where she is. The Fellowship has to go out and assist Dryden. Ol’ Jardiner is glad that he didn’t choose the stone armor.  Dryden grabs a fishman’s spear as the blind cave fish carry him past, and carries him to shore. The Group pursues Dryden toward the shore, away from the rest of the Fellowship.

Sarvesh: I hoped not to meet resistance immediately.

The miners start digging a ramp down, hoping to breach the cavern at ground level next time. Sarvesh sends a soldier upstairs to fetch a door so they can secure the new opening to the cavern.

Markus dives into the lake. Ol’ Jardiner hesistates. He has many skills, but not many for leaping and fighting. He jumps out, holding Doodle over his head. Doodle acts as a glider, allowing Ol’ Jardiner to land on the far shore of the lake. He hides behind a fungiwood tree.

Fishmen are both beasts and people, so Dryden can speak their language, but can’t order them around.

Dryden: Where are you from? Do you live here? Are you hunting here?

Fishmen: We hunt. New territory.

Dryden: Might not be the best territory. Bigger army coming.

The fishman is not intimidated. The rest of the fishmen reach the shore. Ol’ Jardiner reveals himself to the group.

Ol’ Jardiner: Oh, I’m lost! I’ve been pursued. Please help me!

The fishmen agree to protect Ol’ Jardiner. He leads them towards where he thinks the Dwarves will break through to the caverns. Ol’ Jardiner convinces himself that the Dwarves can take these fishmen. They’re organized. They have armor. Markus swims to shore and catches up to Dryden. Markus talks to the Fishman, but they don’t understand each other. Dryden acts as interpreter. This fishman’s name is Oggluk.

GM note: In Dwarf Fortress, Amphibean Men are evil savages who should be killed on sight, but that’s not how this world works. They need more of reason to exist. More to do besides attack Dwarves.

• What can you tell us about you and your people?
  • They are native to underground lakes and caverns. They are aggressively expansionist. Oggluk and his group are a scouting party.
• What were you doing? What will you do next?
  • Fishmen think the Dwarves are invaders, just like the Dwarves think the Fishmen are invaders. They want to secure the area and kill anyone who interferes.
• What should I be wary of when dealing with you?
  • It’s a word that Dryden can’t quite translate, but the first part means “Giant”

Dryden: Giant-ooOO like water, or Giant-OOoo on land?

Oggluk: Yeah, yeah.

Averiela’s friends don’t need rescuing right now, so she stays in the upper chamber and looks into the distance with her Elfsight.

• Tell me about the mushroom forest? How could it hurt or help me?
  • It shares many features with a surface forest, although to a Wood Elf like Averiela, the differences are glaring aninnumerable. It’s a tactical advantage for Averiela, who can climb and break line of sight. The Dwarves with their heavy armor and melee weapons can’t fight in a forest. They’d rather chop it down and use the wood. Things live in forests, and can hide in the forest until they are uncomfortably close.
• Tell me about the Fishmen. What are they doing? What will they do next?
  • They are following Ol’ Jardiner to the right, towards where the Dwarven miners are digging. There’s another group of Fishmen out in the mushroom forest, coming towards the lake. They are in disarray because…
• Is something hidden or out-of-place?
  • There’s a flying Forgotten Beast! A giant pteranadon covered in feathers. It has a long tail. Beware its poison blood.

Sarvesh: Forgotten Beast! Miners! Wall off this breach!

The Miners hustle up the ramp, but the Forgotten Beast will get there before they can finish the wall. Averiela isn’t sure she needs to kill this creature yet, so she distracts it to give the miners time to seal the breach. She goes out the breach and, yells, and runs along the wall of the cavern towards Ol’ Jardiner and his group of Fishmen. Markus looks up at the Forgotten Beast.

• What are they doing? What will they do next?
  • It’s a bloodthirsty beast that wants to kill and eat everything nearby. Its first target is Averiela.

 

• Velgoolius, the Vengeful Gem, Forgotten Beast. A giant pteranadon covered in feathers. It has a long tail. Beware its poison blood.
  • Poison Blood: When it is damaged, poison blood splashes on everyone nearby.
  • Massive Jaws: When it bites, it deals two damage and its victim is trapped in its jaws and needs help to escape.
  • Tough As Nails: The first time this creature would be damaged or destroyed, damage this stat instead.

Dryden gives Oggluk’s spear back and jumps onto a blind cave fish.

Dryden: Today we hunt together!

Oggluk points at himself, then at the Forgotten Beast, then at Dryden, then at the breach where the Dwarves are. He shakes his spear.

Velgoolious lunges at Averiela and Markus looses an arrow. The arrow lodges in Velgoolious’s tough hide and it screeches and flails, splashing poison blood towards Averiela. Averiela can run on lava and drops of rain, so she can also run on poison blood! She dodges some drops, kicks other drops back towards Velgoolious, and uses others to descend towards Ol’ Jardiner. The Fishmen see Averiela as a hostile invader. Velgoolious is a big threat, but it’s flying and she’s not, so they attack her. They run past Ol’ Jardiner, who shrugs apologetically. Averiela, standing on the shore of the lake, kicks up some water and uses it to run over the charging Fishmen. She grabs Ol’ Jardiner and runs across the water towards Markus, who just realized that everyone left him and is trudging along the shore of the lake.

Velgoolious recovers and lands in the middle of the Group of Fishmen and starts laying about with its wings and mighty jaws. Dryden hopes to tame Velgoolious and ride it across the world. He tries to bind it with his Ranged Rope and succeeds. The Fishmen stab Velgoolious and are showered with poison blood! Dryden’s Ranged Rope is also damaged. He quickly changes tactics and uses his Flying Device to fly up to the breach in the cavern wall. The miners are about to seal it. Dryden wedges the telescoping staff that he took from a killer robot into the hole. He misjudges and his staff slips inside as the Dwarves hoist the final stone into place. Oggluk looks up and shakes his spear, happy that his hunting companion drove the Dwarves away.

Markus, Averiela, and Ol’ Jardiner meet the other group of Fishmen. Ol’ Jardiner wishes that combat was slower so that he had time to react. He tells Doodle to make a picture of an Ogre on a nearby mushroom tree. Not a nice, classy Ogre like Edna. A mean, scary one! The Fishmen switch to attack the bigger creature, but they’ll only be fooled for a moment.

Ol’ Jardiner: Best I can do, guys.

Markus charges through the Fishmen, further into the mushroom forest. He brings Ol’ Jardiner along and is tagged by a spear en route. Ol’ Jardiner is about to scold him for his reckless action, but he did get away from those angry Fishmen thanks to those reckless actions. Now that they have escaped the battle near the lake, Markus looks around at the cavern.

• Is something hidden or out-of-place?
  • He’s discovered an upward passage. They’ve run into a more crowded area of the cavern, with more stone walls than flat ground. One wall isn’t vertical. It’s a ramp that leads upwards.

Averiela sees that Markus and Ol’ Jardiner are safe, so she turns to support Dryden against Velgoolious. The Fishmen charging her do not concern her. Velgoolious finishes killing the first group of Fishmen, and turns to Oggluk and Dryden. Averiela lets the Fishmen chase her and lures them towards Velgoolious. Dryden pulls out a toy banana and a toy crab. The banana is a prank weapon, a mirage with substance. Dryden primes it with the toy crab and throws it into the lake, where it becomes a giant crab! Velgoolious turns to attack it, and Dryden plunges down on the beast’s wing with his unbreakable Dwarven hammer. The wing breaks and Velgoolious spirals down into the water. It dies and its poison blood seeps out and poisons the underground lake.

Now that the Forgotten Beast is dead, the second group of Fishmen attack Averiela. She runs across the surface of the poisoned lake. The Fishmen jump in the water to pursue her and it hurts! The water isn’t supposed to hurt them. They climb up on Velgoolious’ body to escape the poisonous water. Dryden turns to Oggluk.

Dryden: We are mighty hunters. We defeated our foes. Water? Bleaugh!

Dryden and Averiela disappear into the mushroom forest to reunite with Markus and Ol’ Jardiner. The Fishmen are trapped on Velgoolious’ body, floating in the poison lake. At least they won’t lack for food. Oggluk busies himself with some sort of plan to help his friends.

Once the Fellowship has reunited, Dryden takes some mushrooms growing on the ground, and a broken stalactite. Just then, a Plump Helmet Man climbs down from the upward passage. He’s a bit shorter than Ol’ Jardiner and the purple mushroom cap looks like a big hat. He’s not immediately aggressive, unlike everything else the Fellowship met down here. His name is Mycroft.

Mycroft: I thought this was my secret.

Markus: The cavern?

Mycroft: Yeeees, the cavern. I’m going to commune with my fellow mushrooms.

Mycroft bends down to examine the mushrooms growing on the floor. Ol’ Jardiner strikes up a conversation.

• What do you want? How can we help you get it?
  • I want to be left alone. Go away.
• What can you tell us about the passage?
  • I can’t tell you anything about that.
• What should I be wary of when dealing with you?
  • You should be wary because I can release toxic spores that make you see your deepest desire and your greatest fear.

Ol’ Jardiner: I remember that party in college. I don’t think I want to see that person again. Let’s be cool. OK, these caverns seem pretty dangerous. You seem to know your way around. Could you direct us to a safe place? We’re obviously not from around here.

Mycroft agrees and starts leading, but Ol’ Jardiner didn’t intend to follow him. He runs up the upward passage. Averiela has a rare moment of indecision, because charging into unknown underground spaces seems foolish. Dryden and Mrkus duck behind mushroom trees as they walk along. Everyone goes up the passage.

The passage rises through various chambers. Some contain ore, and some contains gems. Ol’ Jardiner manipulates the leylines of magic to free a gem from its sealed location in the wall. He finds a fold in the wall and puts his hand in, further and further. The gem wiggles and moves into the wall. Ol’ Jardiner pulls his hand out and he’s holding a rough amethyst.

Averiela: Does that mean you could get us out at anytime? We could go back to the wall that the Dwarves sealed.

Ol’ Jardiner: I only had one use left.

The upward passage ends in the first cavern layer. The Fellowship recognizes the yellow fungus, the same as grows in the Dwarven farm. Dryden thinks they should find the fortress and tell them that they defeated a Threat To The World. They could get another prize. Averiela always wants to show her superiority to Dwarves. She wants to show that she survived without explaining how. But where is the fortress from here? Markus looks around.

• What is hidden or out-of-place?
  • In the middle of a wide open area stands a square block of obsidian, about 12 feet on a side. It sparkles with gems.

Dryden: It’s a trap!

Dryden approaches. Averiela stops him and takes a careful look.

• What is going on? What do my senses tell me?
  • Obsidian is an igneous rock formed by rapidly cooling lava. It’s in a sedimentary layer. It’s presence is unnatural. It’s slightly warm to the touch, and she cna hear movement inside.
• Tell me about the obsidian block? How can it hurt or help me?
  • If you smash the obsidian and take all the gems, you’ll be rich!
  •  It’s like a geode. To get the gems out, you have to break it open. There may be something dangerous inside.
• What will happen if I take a gem?
  • You’ll get a valuable gem and release whatever is inside.

Averiela: is it a Dragon?

Dryden: I’m going with some kind of fire thing that turns stuff into lava and got trapped. We can take it! We’ve dealt with that before.

The Fellowship stops for a picnic while they consider what to do. Dryden puts his damaged Ranged Rope behind his cloak and brings out a Harpoon Gun, stolen from Lady Evelynn.

Ol’ Jardiner: I don’t know if I can handle any more physical battles. I’d rather do some intrigue or sneak around.

Dryden: What if we crack it open and you sneak inside?

Ol’ Jardiner: I do have a friendly face. The rest of you should hide.

Averiela: I can camouflage everyone.

Ol’ Jardiner: What if this guy inside is just mad at everyone from being stuck? Do you have any traps?

Dryden: This’ll be cool. I haven’t used my traps for a long time.

Dryden places a Bear Trap on the ground next to the obsidian block, and aims a Poison Dart Trap where something could emerge from the obsidian. He also places an Explosive Trap on the obsidian to seal it if the thing inside threatens to destroy the entire world.

Dryden: What could go wrong?

Drdyen explains to Markus how to lie in ambush withouth being seen. Averiela camouflages herself and Ol’ Jardiner. Dryden has to be in the open, standing over his Bear Trap, to smash open the obsidian block with his Dwarven hammer. There’s one really cool gem that he aims for first. After a few blows, the gem pops out in front of a big black fist, which opens and starts tearing the obsidian block apart. It’s a nine-foot-tall skeleton, caked in black ash! It has three glowing red eyes and claws on its hands.

• Undying Demon: A massive warrior, whose strength is unrivaled. They cannot be killed, and this gives them great confidence.
  • Big Muscles: The demon is a Giant, Melee weapon. Their attacks send you flying out of their way.
  • Immortal: This stat cannot be damaged. You cannot roll +Blood to Finish Them against the undying demon.
  • Overconfidence: The demon never backs down from any challenges. They will gladly and willingly walk into traps and take blows directly on the chin, confident it cannot kill them anyway.

The Fellowship has unleashed an ancient monster. It’s not the Dragon that Averiela was hoping for. It steps out, crushing the Bear Trap underfoot, and smoothly dodges the dart from the Poison Dart Trap.

Dryden: I, Dryden, have come and now you must show yourself worthy of being free.

The Undying Demon grabs at Dryden to put him into the obsidian cell.

Dryden: I challenge you to a battle of wits, not a battle of strength.

The Undying Demon accepts the challenge, but still puts him in the obsidian cell.

Averiela looses an arrow from camouflage, striking it in one of its three glowing eyes. It screams and spins around. The ash comes off its body, spreading a thick black cloud. When the cloud dissappates, the monster is gone.

Dryden finishes breaking the obsidian block, and ends up with 8 rough amethysts. That’s two for each. Ol’ Jardiner has a third gem that he got earlier. The Fellowship leaves without warning the Clay Dwarves about the demon they set loose, because Sarvesh led them for dead. They do write on the message board to warn other adventurers.

Ol’ Jardiner: Gems aren’t worth the monsters, danger, and rude locals.

Dryden: Cavern below has poison lake and fallen foe. Fishmen attack aggressively. Mushrooms do so passively.

Markus: Beware the backstabbing Dwarves and also the ash demon, but at least we defeated the forgotten beast . . . and had adventures!

Averiela

NO END OF SESSION MOVE