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, Professor Gummidge the Lantern/Mad Scientist
Last time, the Fellowship acquired one of the parts needed for Professor gummidge to build a hyperspace bridge to the Moon. This time, they reach the Moon and deal with what they find.
The shard of ice from the Rain Comet will serve as a focus for Gummidge’s bridge, but the Fellowship still needs a power source, and a place to launch. Gummidge says a tremendous power is needed, like a waterfall or volcano, and whatever they use will be destroyed. Gloria tells the Fellowship what’s nearby.
- To the south-east, a Vampire’s castle. The Rain heard spooky rumblings a while back, probably from something powerful. Be careful on the way. An angry old willow stands at the border of the Vampire’s territory and attacks anything that tries to cross.
- To the south, a savannah that the Miranda sailed through on the way here.
- South of the Vampire’s castle is the Bile Pit where he throws all his garbage. It’s always boiling.
- East of that are the Fire Pits, another geothermal feature. That’s almost all the way to Sugar’s Crossing.
- South of the Bile Pit are two feuding Elven cities separated by Enmity Gulch. Elves are powerful!
Stella wants to find the power source first, because that may determine the location for the launch. Buckle assumes they’ll go to Vieport to use the power from the fence, but Stella talks to Gloria to get more details about the locations she briefly described.
- What can they tell us about the Bile Pits?
- The Bile Pit is spectacular. It’s a big hole in the ground. Water flows in from all sides. The lake at the bottom is always boiling and strange creatures live along the edges. Some of our more acidic Rain find it appealing.
- What can they tell us about the Fire Pits?
- The Fire Pits are cleaner than the Bile Pit, but the village above it is all werewolves. Every single one, as far as we can tell.
- What can they tell us about Milbar, the northen Elven city?
- Milbar is dangerous. There’s an active war at all times against their rivals to the south.
Buckle imagines swimming in a boiling lake. Stella doesn’t want to get in the middle of a shooting war. The Moon is new, so the village of werewolves should be safe. Gummidge says that an old tree full of hate will burn extra hot, so they could cut down the Old WIllow that stands as a bastion to prevent the Drowned Forest from growing. The Fellowship is protecting the whole world, and the tree only defends one location. It’s a net positive. The Fellowship decides to head for the Bile Pit.
The Miranda sails south towards Kankero’s Labyrinth, through the savannah. Panicked animals swim across the river: jackals, antelope, all sorts of creatures fleeing something. Buckle asks what’s going on. An antelope reports that a monster has killed all the kudu and all the lions and it don’t want to be next!
- What can you tell me about the monster?
- It’s a humanoid skeleton three times your height, covered in soot and ash. A wildebeest charged right into it and it didn’t budge! It’s roaming across the savannah killing things!
- Ohm the Undying: 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.
- What can they tell us about where they are fleeing?
- We’re just going away from the monster. I don’t care that I’m running next to jackals.
- What would they have us do?
- Take the monster away on your weird floating thing.
Gummidge: Undying. That seems like a violation of some physical laws. Does it violate any others? If it doesn’t die, but it ever get tired? Can we trap it in a hamster wheel?
Buckle: Sounds like we’d first have to damage it so it can’t break the hamster wheel.
Gummidge: Or we get it to walk into a trap, because it’s overconfident.
Stella: I’ve got pit traps!
Gummidge: I’ll cut down these trees and build a wheel. Metal brushes will turn the mechanical energy into electricity. The wheel has to be over twice the monster’s height, and it’s only a little shorter than Gallybagger. That will be heavy. I might have to use my rockets just to move around.
Buckle: Why not build the wheel on the ship?
Gummidge: I suppose I could wire myself into the ship.
Buckle: I’ll plan to lure the thing here. Stella are we doing this thing?
Stella considers where to place the Pit Trap to maximize its effectiveness. Buckle recommends putting the hamster wheel horizonally in the pit. The plan is to drop Ohm into the hamster wheel and shut a hatch, trapping him inside, then pull the wheel up with the ship’s crane and install it on the generator. Gummage and Stella implement the plan while
Buckle goes out to confront Ohm the Undying. He does a tranditional war dance. He sends his birds, mountain lions, and little lights to search for Ohm. The lions are stealthy, but the birds are obvious, especially Ochabod the Phoenix. As soon as Ohm sees them, he pulls rocks out of the ground and hurls them at the birds. Elektra, the more experienced flier, pulls Ichabod out of the path of a rock and they both fly back to report to Buckle.
Buckle and Ohm approach each other. Ohm is a nine-foot-tall skeleton covered in soot and black ash. It has three eye sockets, the expected two and one in the center of its forehead. Only two are glowing red. The tail of an Elven arrow juts from the the right eye socket. As it advances, throwing rocks, it mutters.
Ohm: Too much. Too many. Doesn’t make sense.
Buckle casts off his fireproof suit, revealing his fire!
Ohm: No! That shouldn’t exist.
Buckle: Ohm the Undying! I have a challenge for you!
Ohm: That I understand. If I win, I get to destroy everything that doesn’t make sense, including you.
Buckle: How can I agree to that? First tell me what doesn’t make sense.
Ohm: There are so many things! The world was a lot simpler when I remember it. Now there are four kinds of cats and eight kinds of birds, but now there are two more. It’s too much! There should just be one of everything.
Ohm is offended by Buckle’s strangeness and winds up a powerful strike. Buckle lets out a terrifying howl, preventing Ohm from advancing, but the tall skeleton’s reach is enough to swat Buckle from where he stood. Buckle goes flying back towards the Miranda (leaving a trail of fire in the grass) and Ohm doesn’t follow.
Ohm: I’ll come back. This isn’t my pattern. I’ll get back to it.
Ohm turns around to leave, but Buckle runs up and blocks its path. Ohm still can’t approach, so it looks for something to throw at him.
Buckle: Ohm the Undying, what I was trying to ask you was: have you ever been to the Moon?
Ohm: That thing. I was surprised when the night wasn’t dark.
Buckle: We’re going to go to the Moon and we’re going to deal with it. You can help us get there by powering our device with your massive strength. You like destroying things that are new, don’t you?
Ohm: I get to destroy the Moon? Excellent.
Ohm follows Buckle to the Miranda, but keeps Buckle to his right, where his bad eye is, so he doesn’t have to look at him. Ohm is pleased to see Stella.
Ohm: A slim, beardless Dwarf. That makes sense. I’m going to talk to you. We’re going to the Moon, right? Do you want me to throw this boat?
Stella: No, if you throw the boat you can’t come with us. We’ll have you come along in this lovely circular device.
Gummidge: Do I puil it up now, or do we push it in?
Ohm is going to enter the hamster wheel willingly, so Gummidge raises the hamster wheel from the pit trap. Gummidge splits the main mast in half and turns it into a fork that holds the hamster wheel upright. He installs Gallybagger as a figurehead on the bow of the Miranda. Its legs are lashed to the Miranda’s keel. It’s shoulders and head rise above the deck. It holds the ice prism out in front of it. With its new look, the Miranda is ready to launch into space right from this river!
Lanterns can make hard light bridges, and Gummidge specializes in inter-dimensional travel, so he’s going to make the biggest hard light bridge ever and push it halfway into hyperspace so it will reach the moon and only be a thousand miles long, instead of hundreds of thousands. Gummidge sends most of the crew below, but Stella and Buckle are needed on deck. Gummidge recommends that one take the helm and tie themself to the wheel, and the other secure themself on the outrigger.
Stella: How fast are we going to go?
Gummidge: It’s complicated. The length of the bridge will be compressed. It’s pretty fast. It will be a rough start.
Buckle secures himself to the mast on the outrigger. Ohm starts running in the big wheel. Electricity crackles through the cables linking the wheel to Gallybagger (Gummidge’s scarecrow-shaped power armor) and the Miranda jerks forward. Sparks fly from the big wheel. Most don’t go far enough to threaten Buckle, but one that does is absorbed by the Medallion of Cleft Sky. Gallybagger stretches into a shimmering sheet of energy that the Miranda slides along. The strain is more that Gummidge expects and Gallybagger takes some structural damage. The Miranda zooms through a transparent tunnel. Outside, the planet recedes and the Moon grows larger and larger.
Gus comes up from the cabin.
Gus: Gummidge, do you take all my utensils?!
Gummedige completely misses Gus’ tone of voice and points out where each utensil was used in the construction of the machine.
Gus: My favorite fork! Why?
Gummidge: Not many forks have facilitated a trip the Moon to save an entire race!
Gus: OK, but I’d better get it back after this.
Gummidge: I’m not sure I’m getting Gallybagger back.
The Miranda scrapes and bounces along the interdimensional/chrome/light surface and the earlier repairs to the outriggers start to come apart.
Buckle: Stella! The spar’s breaking again!
Stella brings up the sails that they took down when they took down the mast. She tosses one end to Buckle on the outrigger. He’s wearing his fireproof suit so the sails don’t instantly burst into flames. As Stella ties the sails, a bit of hyperspace turbulence twists them into an unnaturally tight and secure knot. Stella counts her fingers.
The Moon now appears larger than the planet. From this distance, the Fellowship can see that it’s covered with thousands of hexagonal mirrors, like very fine scales, or a very large disco ball. The translucent hyperspace tube around the ship reflects the crew ina strange distorted shapes. Those distortions become three-dimensional. Alternate versions of Stella, Buckle, and Gummidge appear on the deck of the Miranda! Instead of being a bright, luminous being,
Alternate Buckle is a dark shadowy being. Alternate Buckle died in the Oolite Mines fighting the King Robot, and was subsumed by his shadow self.
GM note: Buckle had the move Twin Fang from the Apex Destiny, which gave him a companion described as “your shadow” In this timeline, buckle gave up the Apex Destiny for the Heart of Earth Destiny and lost his shadow because he glows with fiery light.
Alternate Gummidge is also a leading-edge scientist, but is very methodical and part of the lawful Academy. The Academies in multiple universes are after Gummidge because he doesn’t just endanger his own world, but he pulls in people from other worlds to his mad schemes. Alternate Gummidge works with Mira, who apprehended Gummidge last time.
GM note: Gummidge’s player came up with a strong personality for Gummige and didn’t pay much attention to his agenda of “Preservation” or the non-mechanical parts of his Knight background. Alternate Gummidge will lean hard into preserving, protecting, and peacekeeping.
Alternate Stella is very clean. She didn’t take on the mission of tracking down refugees from the Giant War, so she’s not on the road all the time like Stella. Alternate Stella’s shoulders are broader because she learned how to swim. She’s lived a quiet, secure life.
Atlernate Gummidge’s Power Suit isn’t a scarecrow. It’s compact and official, like a police car.
Alternate Gummidge: Gummidge, you trouble-maker! Divert this ship three degrees andward and pull over to our dimension!
Buckle: What are you, a cop?
Stella: You poor being. You’re a knight? They were recently made redundant. You don’t have a job anymore. I was saddened when I heard.
Alternate Gummidge needs to comfirm this news. His authority comes from his job, so if he’s unemployed, he can’t give orders. He won’t bully people with his strength and technological superiority. He puts a hyperspace tracker on the deck, then takes the next hyperspace exit.
Alternate Gummidge: Just in case! I’ll be back!
Buckle: This is police surveillance!
Shadow Buckle misses its original. It feels a connection to Buckle. Buckle recognizes Shadow Buckle and they have a conversation.
Shadow Buckle: You’re back? You’re very wrong. You’re not casting me.
Buckle learns that Alternate Buckle died trying to steal the Heart of Earth! Shadow Buckle is the shadow of an evil Buckle who wanted to destroy the world.
Ohm the Undying: What’s this about destroying the world? Can we use it on the Moon?
Buckle: Just keep running.
Alternate Buckle was fighting on the side of Fafnir and the Dragons, but the Vampires turned him to fight against her. So Shadow Buckle is also a Vampire!
Shadow Buckle: We defeated the Dragons and the night was the darkest it’s ever been.
Ohm the Undying: We’re going to make that happen. I don’t like this Moon thing.
Shadow Buckle: What’s the Moon?
Ohm the Undying: That thing right there. We’re going there now to destroy it!
Shadow Buckle wants to come with Buckle, but it’s hard for a shadow and a light source to co-exist. Buckle thinks Shadow Buckle is creepy and weird. He goes to confer with the Fellowship and Shadow Buckle follows. Buckle opens his suit a little bit and Shadow Buckle shrinks from the light.
Buckle walks up to talk to Stella, but it’s Alternate Stella and she doesn’t know him. He awkwardly excuses him and talks to his Stella.
Buckle: Stella, the shadow wants to come with us to destroy the Moon. What do I do?
Stella: If you took the suit all the way off, you’d scare it away. It’s in its best interest not to come in case you have to do that.
Buckle misses the connection with his shadow, but he doesn’t like Vampires. He goes back to Shadow Buckle.
Buckle: I’d love for you to come with us, but I can’t risk destroying you.
Shadow Buckle feels betrayed, but can’t act against Buckle. It flees and Buckle doesn’t see where it goes. It hides with another creature of darkness, in Ohm the Undying’s shadow.
Alternate Stella marvels at Stella interacting with all these strange creatures. Stella explains that she met them on her mission to tell Halfing refugees that the war was over. Alternate Stella was too young to go. The war happened earlier in her world. Alternate Stella was sheltered and protected, but feels isolated and left out. Stella looks at her healthier self, without all the physical scars and mental trauma that she’s accumulated on her dangerous travels and gets emotional.
Stella: On the hardest nights on the road, I would have given anything to be you.
Alternate Stella: The friends you have are worth it. What you’ve built and done here, it’s amazing.
Alternate Stella hugs Stella and fades away as the timestreams diverge. She leaves Stella with a warm feeling, emotionally and physically.
The endless field of mirrors now fills the sky.
Gummidge: Hold on, we’re arriving in a few seconds!
Stella: Do we need to do anything to prepare?
Gummidge: Let’s try turning around.
Buckle: What if we cut loose this wheel just before we land? Will it be flung into space?
Gummidge: The thing that powers the bridge?
Buckle’s more scared of messing up hyperspace travel than he is of the giant skeleton, so he leaves the wheel alone. Gummidge twists Gallybagger’s upper body to turn the Miranda because he can’t turn the bridge. The ship lands hard, outrigger first, on top of a metal tower. The mast on the outrigger cracks, and the spar that wasn’t re-inforced on route also breaks. This tower is the highest point on the Moon, and thus the closest place to land. Wires radiate from the tower in all directions. It’s the hub for a network of cable cars. The tower is above a complex of buildings, including a familiar-looking red pyramid. Kobolds run out of the various buildings and look up at the ship.
Buckle: Hey, you’re not Vampires, are you?
Kobolds: We were going to ask you the same thing! Why didn’t you come through the portal, like the other people?
Stella tells Ohm that he needs to keep the Miranda idling or the bridge will collapse and they’ll be trapped there forever. That’s not true, but she wants to keep him contained so he doesn’t destroy the Moon. The rest of the Fellowship descends the tower and meets with Junior, the most senior Kobold.
Junior: How strange that no one came here for 100 years, now so many people arrive, and none use the terminal.What do you think about Dragons and Vampires?
Stella: Big fan of Dragons.
Buckle: I hatched a Dragon. Maybe you’ve heard of her. Only Dragon in town.
Junior: What happened to the rest of them?
Right now it seems like they are mostly bones or re-animated corpses. Mostly bones. We talked to the bones.
Junior confers with other Kobolds and decides that Buckle’s story doesn’t contradict what the other people said. He just has an odd way of expressing himself.
The Fellowship notices a message board! Other adventurers have been here before.
Averiela: This place is unnatural.
A weapon gone wrong.
Cursed by blood creatures,
It breathes not grace, soul, or song.
Dryden: Vampires cursed the Moon.
We hope to fix it soon.
Appleton gets a boon.
Werewolves meet their doom
PS Ritual success? Moon restored. Weapons forged.
Markus: It’s like when people think for themselves instead of toeing the party line. If you need help convincing them, find it written down.
Ol’ Jardiner: Sanguinous glyphs, surreptitiously inscribed, form multi-dimensional lattice of arcane significance, corrupting reflection’s intended cleansing purpose to lycanthropy. Curse lifted! Watch next full Moon!
Now Stella asks the Kobolds some questions.
- What do they want? How can we help them get it?
- We’re down to a quarter of our normal crew, so we’re not self-sufficient anymore. You could go down and bring back supplies for us.
- Tell us about the other beings who came here recently.
- They arrived with shocking news: the weapon we have been maintaining for generations didn’t wipe out the Vampires like it was supposed to, and the Dragons lost the war right after we got here. Their wizard found a curse in our precious manuals of operation. He and all his friends fought the curse and we are hopeful that the Moon will fulfill its purpose.
- What would they have us do next?
- Tin-Tin IV: Leave us alone! Outsiders already deceived and led off most of our breathren.
- Buckle: Do you see the light bridge and massive skeleton? Do you think we came here just ot turn around?
Gummidge: Are we done here? I was so excited to get here I didn’t get your requirements for what to do now that we’re here.
Stella: We should learn more about what this thing does.
Gummidge sends out his flying drones (in the shape of ravens) and examines the mirrors, looking for the portal that Tin-Tin IV mentioned.
- Tell me about the portal.
- The previous group opened a window from the planet to a point on the Moon’s surface, several stops down the cable car line. A Kobold gives Gummidge a ride on the cable car to view the scene. En route, she explains that most Kobolds chose to leave through the portal, believing that their mission was pointless because the war was over. 1,500 left, and 500 stayed, because they don’t know anything else.
- What will happen to werewolves when the Moon is full?
- Gummidge compares the sunlight coming in with the reflected Moon-light going out. The light is not cursed, so werewolves will not transform under the full Moon.
- What will happen to Vampires when the Moon is full?
- The Moon doesn’t reflect pure sunlight, so the full Moon won’t kill Vampires.
Stella: Let me get the history straight. Werewolves came about when the Moon came about. But vampires and Dragons were fighting before the Moon, because that’s why we have the Moon. So the werewolves have a cold, and the Vampires have ADHD. One you cure, and the other you don’t. What does it mean to cure something that’s naturally ocurring?
Buckle: It means to kill them.
This is an academic question to Gummidge because he has no blood, but he understands that other cultures have strong opinions about Vampires and tries to respect that.
The Kobolds are upset at Gummidge’s findings. The other group was so confident that they had succeeded. They hoped for a win after so long of being ineffective.
Stella: What’s your take on killing vs. curing Vampires? Is it still a win if there aren’t Vampires?
Junior: Hmmmmm, they killed all the Dragons. We want revenge. They’d be easier to kill if they weren’t Vampires anymore, but it would be even easier if the Moon did what it was supposed to. That wizard wasn’t able to break the curse. Maybe it will never work.
- Tell me about how the Dragons built the Moon?
- None of the Kobolds who witnessed the Moon’s construction are still alive. Junior is the oldest. Most other Kobolds have III or IV after their names. Dragons flew huge sections of the Moon to the edge of the atmosphere (they are limited by their wings) and threw them into low orbit. The Moon was assembled there, then boosted into its current high orbit. A multi-stage process. The power core was the last piece added.
- What powers the Moon?
- Elder Star: a miniature star, a powerful ever-burning flame. It can be used to power any technology, but it can also be detonated with devastating effect. When the detonation is triggered, everyone within a mile of the star has 30 minutes to get away from it before it annihilates everything. Anyone and anything within the blast is simply gone forever, never to be seen again, and anyone witnessing the blast is blinded for several minutes. The Moon is hollow and the Elder Star is in the center with power cables running to the surface.
- Tell me about the teleporter network?
- There are several teleporter terminals on the Moon, each at the center of a cable car network. The Moon is too big to feasibly travel around by cable car. One terminal is on the planet below. That’s how most of the original Kobolds came to the Moon a century ago. A weird robot activated that planet terminal about a year ago. We sent a team of Kobolds down with manuals to repair that terminal, but they never came back and we can’t reach that terminal. Don’t worry, the original manuals are safe in the library. Not safe enough to avoid the curse…
Buckle pulls Junior aside.
Buckle: Your friends are dead. I’m sorry. They were working for the Vampires and wanted to come up here to destroy you, so I had to blow up the teleporter.
Junior: So you ruined our chance to get home, but it was for a good cause because they were about to overrun by Vampires that we thought we killed before I was born. Sure. Fine. Can you make this thing kill Vampires?
Buckle: We can fix the Moon. But after we use the Moon, you have to let my skeleton friend destroy it.
Junior’s shadow detaches and goes back towards the Miranda. Buckle is surprised, but figures he’s not keeping any secrets, so he’ll let it go.
Junior: We need proof that it worked before we abandoned our posts and let the Moon be destroyed.
Buckle: OK, you need to give us some copies of the manuals for the teleporters.
Junior: So, to be clear, first you fix the Moon, then you go back and fix the teleporter, then we can send a team down to get proof that it worked.
Stella: What if we could prove that Buckle’s shadow isn’t a Vampire anymore, after being exposed to the Moon-light?
One of Gummidge drones flies up and squawks at him.
Gummidge: Gallybagger is powering up! I thought you told Ohm to just walk.
The Fellowship hustles back to the Miranda in time to see Ohm give the wheel a big “The Price Is Right” spin before leaving the ship. Gummidge checks the systems and isn’t worried.
Ohm jumps down from the tower, walks a short distance, then stops and looks at the ground. Buckle and Baffle approach it carefully, worried that it will start destroying the Moon immediately. Ohm seems to talk to itself, but it’s actually talking to its shadow, which is really Shadow Buckle! Shadow Buckle was secretly following the Fellowship the whole time.
Shadow Buckle: You should destroy the Moon now!
Ohm the Undying: No, there are like four things here. It’s great. There’s one kind of tower, and one kind of critter. Once the rest of them leave, this simple world will stay the same.
Buckle: We can make that happen. Just hang out here and don’t destroy anything for now.
Ohm the Undying: You are the things I most want to destroy, so I’m going to go that way.
Buckle happily reports to the rest of the Fellowship that Ohm the Undying isn’t destroying the Moon right now.
Stella: Buckle, I know Kobolds really want revenge. More death doesn’t seem like the answer. Can we change it so the Moon cures Vampires instead of killing them?
GM note: We designed a new ritual, similar to the previous ritual. Curing the Vampires would require perfect rolls from all of us. Each of us need to do something related to making the Moon work in a more scientific way.
|
0 |
Moon reactor goes critical. Moon flashes, then goes dark forever. Everything exposed to it takes 1 damage. Kobold base starts to collapse NOW. |
|
1 |
All mirrors focus as a beam weapon. Roll four dice on the world map & draw an X. That location is destroyed. |
|
2 |
no change (werewolves cured, vampires unaffected) |
|
3 |
no change (werewolves cured, vampires unaffected) |
|
4 |
werewolves unaffected, vampires killed by moonlight |
|
5 |
werewolves cured, vampires killed by moonlight |
|
6 |
werewolves cured, vampires cured |
Buckle gathers the Kobolds to hear the Father of the Living Dragon speak. The sky dims and reveal the flowing green aurora. The Kobolds are unimpressed because they see aurora on the planet below all the time.
The issue with the sunlight is that it’s not being properly focused. The Fellowship need to properly align all the mirrors so the outgoing light perfectly matches the incoming light. The control center has limited ability to re-aim mirrors. If a mirror is badly out of allignment, a work crew goes out on the cable cars with pulleys and fixes it with muscle power. If Buckle increases the voltage provided by the Elder Star at the center of the Moon, Gummidge will be able to adjust all the mirrors simultaneously from the control center. Even if they wanted to co-ordinate the hundreds of work crews that would be needed to move the mirrors directly, there aren’t enough Kobolds left on the Moon to do it.
Dumping power into the Elder Star will cause an explosion, but hopefully a controllable one. Buckle is happy to be surrounded by flames.
Gummidge runs the numbers with Junior, then explains the procedures to dozens of Kobolds sitting at dozens of mirror-alignment consoles operating hundreds of levers. He writes a huge table of numbers on a giant blackboard. Timing is strict. The workers on the surface depend on a signal from Stella
Gummidge: This light is the signal. This is a drill. This is a drill! Nobody touch your controls. Stella?
Stella flips a switch from inside the elevator to the core.
Gummidge: That’s what it looks like. Next time it won’t be a drill.
Buckle removes his fireproof suit and gives it to Baffle to wear. He goes down the elevator shaft to the core. Under the hollow Moon’s dense metallic shell there’s no gravity. Buckle pushes off the innermost scaffolding to reach the Elder Star. Stella comes down the elevator shaft and signals that everything is ready on the surface.
Buckle dumps power from the Medallion of Cleft Sky into the Elder Star. Fire erupts around him. The heat of a star is even hotter than the Heart of the Earth, but he can take it. The Elder Star sends power up the cables, but there’s so much power that all the scaffolding and even the elevator are energized. Stella uses her wireport to instantly appear at the top of the elevator shaft and flips the signal switch remotely with Wizardry.
The Kobolds leap into action and all the mirrors shift slightly. The Fellowship knows they’ve done something, but they aren’t sure exactly what. Stella goes looking for Ohm to check on Shadow Buckle. If the Moon reflects pure Vampire-killing sunlight, Shadow Buckle can’t survive.
Ohm sits quietly a few miles from the Kobold’s base, staring out at the Moon’s horizon. The world outside its obsidian prison was such a shock to it. This place is so calm. It’s at peace here. Stella looks closely. Is his shadow a normal shadow? Yes it is, but she has disturbed Ohm!
Ohm the Undying: This is a perfect spot. Unchanging, undying, like me. Still you bother me. Begone! Take your little ship and go back to that awful place up there.
Stella: Enjoy your life, forever. Bye.
Ohm watches to make sure she leaves, then turns around and resumes his contemplation.
Stella: I don’t know what happened, but Shadow Buckle is gone. No trace.
Gummidge: Experimental evidence that our project has succeeded! Good job, everyone!
The Kobolds cheer! Finally, after 100 years, their mission has succeeded. Should they leave now and join everyone on the planet below? They need more proof. They will wait until the full Moon and see if it works everywhere. Junior gives Baffle copies of the teleporter manuals, so she can fix the lower terminal and give the Kobolds access to the surface again.
Gummidge: Excellent, I’ll tell Ohm to spin up the generator and we’ll return.
Stella slips away and wall-walks down the elevator shaft towards the core. She meets Buckle coming up the shaft.
Buckle: Where are you going, Stella?
Stella: I need to grab something.
Buckle: Is it this?
Buckle holds out the Elder Star! They both had the same thought of how to power the Miranda without Ohm’s help. Stella holds the Elder Star and shrinks down to the size of an apple. She sticks to the underside of Buckle’s tail and he walks past the Kobolds. They don’t see Stella or the Elder Star, but she burns her hands and feet holding onto Buckle’s flaming body.
The Elder Star can power any technology, so Gummidge can easily adapt it to power the Miranda. After dooming a malignant race to imminent destruction, the Fellowship rides the hyperspace bridge back home, leaving an undying monster on an orbital super-weapon that will soon become uninhabitable. Hooray?
NO END-OF-SESSION MOVE