Posted on by Cliff

Chasing the Sunset & the castle

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 confirmed that moonlight hurts vampires, killed Baron Von Till, and looted his castle. This time they find owning a castle is more complicated that assaulting it.

Ol’ Jardiner’s friends had the same idea to see how the full moon affected Von Till, so they join in the looting. Ol’ Jardiner leaves with them by walking, instead of via Infinite Windows.

At the expected time, Infinite Windows opens and Claudia (Markus’ fiance) steps through!

Claudia: Alright, you’ve been off having fun for too long. You need to come back and handle your responsibilities.

Markus is excited because he really loves Claudia. Markus runs to hug her. Claudia shrinks back, then shrinks in general and turns into Ol’ Jardiner!

Ol’ Jardiner: Hoo hoo! Look what I can do now! I learned a new trick!

Markus: I thought you were Claudia. I’m so sad.

This did not go how Ol’ Jardiner intended.

Ol’ Jardiner:  Uhh, we could go see the real Claudia if you want. Open another window.

Markus: I dunno. I said I’d be gone a year. I haven’t been gone a year yet. I want to finish this adventure.

Dryden: I’m curious. How can you do that now?

Ol’ Jardiner: I learned that from my friend Yonne. She’s water all the time so she can change her shape very easily.

Averiela: Is this one from that town where the wizard was dead, but said “You should all be free!” and disappeared into the river? I was very impressed.

Ol’ Jardiner:  That must have been a different Rain.

GM note: Time for some downtime! More low-stakes, character-focused scenes. Less battles and plot.

Ol’ Jardiner: If we just spruce this up a little, we could have this awesome fortress as a home base from which we set out for adventures! We could have a special room for Infinite Windows that’s all armored so we could leave Infinite Windows open.

Markus: I approve. I’m in.

Averiela: We could also have passive income while we’re out.

Will she charge the Acid Rain rent to laze about in the moat? Ol’ Jardiner goes out to inspect the outer wall that has fallen down. That’s the most obvious problem. He wears the bottom half of an exosuit so his feet and pants don’t get wet. While he’s taking measurements, people peek out from the out-buildings in the courtyard.

  • Rutile he/him Dwarf. Despairing Citizen: A local who has given up all hope, and is spreadingtheir despair to all who will listen.
    • Melancholy: Every ally around this citizen is in Despair.
  • Rowdy he/him human Rowdy Coworker: They’re waiting for an excuse, you just need to give them one. Everyone forgets what his parents called him.
    • In Your Face: You cannot Look Closely around a Rowdy Coworker.
    • Willing To Punch A Cop: Rowdy Coworkers do not feel Despair.

Rutile: What happened? A battle? We’re sure to be taken prisoner, and if not, we’ve lost our jobs.

Rowdy: I’d like to see those invaders come in here. They won’t kick me out of my house!

Ol’ Jardiner puts on a friendly face. Rowdy looks ready to punch someone and Ol’ Jardiner doesn’t want to be that someone.

Ol’ Jardiner: Don’t worry, The castle is safe. We’ll fix it up and make you more secure. We’ll get this wall up, get this water pumped out

Rowdy: Why are you going to do that? I’m going to do that!

Ol’ Jardiner: I don’t think you can! This is a big job. You’d need to organize people (I don’t know non-super-natural ways to do this) You need a bucket brigade. You need sandbags. There’s no way you could do all that.

Rutile: You’re right. It’s an entire wall of the castle. It’s too big.

Rowdy: I’ve been working for a Vampire for a long time and I’m not working for anyone now!

Rowdy takes a few steps, then turns back.

Rowdy: You know, the Vampire did pay us. I’m leaving unless you can really convince me to stay.

Ol’ Jardiner assumes the treasury has enough gold to pay for the repairs, so he makes a deal with Rowdy.

Ol’ Jardiner: Yes, I promise to give you this shiny amythest right now, plus a salary from the treasury if you will stay and lead this people in the repairs.

Rowdy: Hmmm, do we get a bonus on holidays?

Ol’ Jardiner: Sure! Last night will be a holiday. We’ll celebrate my defeat of the Vampires. Every year, or maybe every full Moon should be a holiday!

Averiela: You are not a good negotiator.

Ol’ Jardiner: Fifty-two celebrations a year, this is–twelve and a half celebrations a year for me! This is great!

Ol’ Jardiner was so excited by the thought of people celebrating him that he forgot how often the moon is full.  Rowdy gets started, organizing people into teams and assigning tasks.

Meanwhile, Markus goes looking for the treasury. He trapises through the castle, blithely unaware of other people’s activities. He assumes the treasury is somewhere down, and finds staircases that lead down into water.

  • Tell me about the path to the treasury? How could it hurt or help me?
    • There’s an obvious route to the treasury, just off the great hall, but behind that door is a small empty room. Markus starts at Von Till’s chamber and tries to find his way back to that false treasury. The hall that leads there is underwater.
  • What is going on with the flooded castle? What do my senses tell me?
    • Markus finds some rooms marked in the Vampiric language. The same Vampiric word can be translated “jail” “dungeon” or “stable” so these rooms might contain prisoners, or war beasts. One of the gatehouses was used to hold an Undead Dragon.
  • Is something hidden or out of place? If so, what looks suspicious.
    • The far wall of the false treasury is a secret door. Markus detects a slight air current. The wall gives just a little when he pushes on it, but the door does not open from this side.

Markus, fresh from the Forgotten Lands, would have thrown open those doors to release the prisoners, but he’s learned a little caution in his time adventuring, so he makes a note of the doors, but leaves them for now. He swims through the flooded hallway to reach the other side of the false wall in the false treasury. He’s a good swimmer because he grew up on an island.

It’s dark here, so Markus lights a lantern. There’s a big ornate door at the end of the hallway. It’s is obviously locked. It is obviously trapped. There’s a an obvious trap to let people know not to mess with the door, but it probably has other hidden traps that are harder to avoid. On either side of the doorframe are two big axes that are springloaded to swing down and strike anyone standing at the door. Markus shoots arrows at the axes from a safe distance. They are on a hair trigger, so hitting the axe blades with arrows is enough to send them crashing down. This trap does not reset itself. Markus examines the door.

  • What is hidden or out of place?
    • There’s a pressure plate on the threshold. Pushing that plate down pneumatically fires darts straight down from holes in the ceiling.
    • If you don’t unlock the door properly, when you open the door, poisoned Vampire teeth spring out to bite a hand on the door handle.
  • Tell me about the lock.
    • The key that opens this lock has a hollow shaft that is filled with blood. Turning the key in the lock will engage a mechanical catch, but it also pours the blood into the lock. The right blood will release the magical lock.
  • What will happen if Dryden smashes the door open with his unbreakable hammer?
    • The doorframe between the hinges isn’t load-bearing. The door is the only thing holding it up, so if the door is taken off its hinges, the doorway collapses.

Markus throws his big axe onto the threshold to trigger the dart traps. The darts are filled with acid, not poison. The wooden shaft of the axe dissolves, leaving only an axe head that might be covered in acid. The axe is ruined, but that trap is disabled.

Markus reasons that Baron Von Till would keep the key to the treasury on his person or in his study.  Markus swims back and searches Von Till’s study. Von Till’s body is still where it fell. He finds the key in the dead Vampire’s pocket, but it’s a self-loading key!  When he grips it, a needle protrudes to draw his blood. Markus recoils, dropping the key and avoiding the needle. The needle retracts under spring pressure.

  • What is going on here? What do my senses tell me?
    • It’s a beautiful ornate key, inlaid with gold, but not silver. The handle of the key conceals a lever that extends the needle, so holding the key normally is what causes it to protrude. Holding the key by the other end is safe.

Since the key is designed to draw blood from its wielder, Markus reckons that Von Till’s blood will open the magical lock. He carefully picks up the key by the wrong end and goes to find the rest of the Fellowship.

Ol’ Jardiner is glad Markus found the treasury, because he already promised its contents to the workers fixing the castle.

Ol’ Jardiner: Magical traps and locks, you say? Very interesting.

Markus: I think I sprung all of them but one, using my wits.

Ol’ Jardiner: Huh. Wow. OK, nobody freak out!

Ol’ Jardiner transforms into Baron Von Till and confidently grabs the key. The needle draws his transformed blood and his diguise fails from the injured hand outward.

Ol’ Jardiner: Ok, where’s the door?

Markus leads everyone back to the flooded hallway. Ol’ Jardiner doesn’t want to swim through stagnant water with an open wound. Telekinesis won’t help because he can’t see through the water to the door. Doodle forms a canopy over Ol’ Jardiner to trap a bubble of air around him when he goes into the water. He manages to swim through without drowning or getting his injured hand wet. Now he sends the key into the keyhole with Wizardry. The keyhole closes around it like a mouth! Now that it’s moving, the ornate carvings on the doorknob look like a face!

Doorknob: Who goes there? You’re not what’s-his-name. You’re not him. Why are you here?

Ol’ Jardiner: I am the new ruler of the castle! By my magical arts I have slain Von Till and all his Vampire breathren and now we seek the spoils due the victors.

Doorknob: Ha! Ha! What makes you think I’ll let you in?

Ol’ Jardiner: I have the key and I unlocked you. This is a lot more trouble than I usually get from furniture.

Doorknob: I will let you in, if you will let me out of this door. If you’re a master as you claim to be, you will know it is an ancient spell that binds me to this door. Until I am released, I cannot become myself again. Behind me I have all the castle’s treasures, a great incentive, for I will not open this door until you help me out!

Ol’ Jardiner: Who are you?

Doorknob: You might not know me. I don’t know you. I don’t want to know you. You don’t want to know me.

Ol’ Jardiner: Your proposition is interesting. I must confer with my Fellowship.

Ol’ Jardiner and the Fellowship go back through the flooded hallway to speak privately.

Dryden: I’m just going to say, the last time we freed something–

Markus: It didn’t go well for us.

Dryden: We got some gems. That was pretty good. I don’t know what the Dwarves think about what we did.

Ol’ Jardiner:  Markus, you said there was a false treasury room? Where is that?

Markus: It’s right around here on the other side, right off the throne room.

Markus leads the Fellowship into the small, empty room.

Markus: I think the other treasury is behind this false wall. Could we tear this wall down?

Ol’ Jardiner: We don’t need to.

Ol’ Jardiner draws a glowing knitting needle from his vent, hooks into into the ley-lines puts a little loop of spacetime around the false wall so the Fellowship can walk past it into the treasury. Ol’ Jardiner walks over and knocks on the back side of the magical door.

Doorknob: You will regret this!

The unknown creature keeps yelling, muffled by the thick door, as long as the Fellowship is in the treasury.

GM note: We completely ignored that entity’s backstory!

Averiela takes Theodore’s bracelet out into the Drowned Forest. White Sands and Knows-Too-Much go with her. She finds a spot where the soil is not too sandy or too silty or too clay-y. She feels a bit of energy in this earth. She opens a secret compartment in the bracelet and out of it drops a Lifestone. It’s a signal that tells Elves back home that an Elf has died. She works with it and molds it and shapes it. Its glow changes from the usual white to a more champagne color. She starts to sing a song of the Elves. Some of the wildlife starts to gather. She’s putting out positive energy into the ecosystem and feels a distant but powerful response. She continues to weave her song. She puts the Lifestone into deep into the soil. White Sands touches her horn to place it was planted and her innocence takes away some of the deadness of the place and allows a small sprout to grow. Averiela continues to sing as the spout grows into a little oak tree with a rosy shimmer that grows from within. A few tiny willow shoots emerge at a respectful distance. Averiela keeps singing. Old Willow, at the western edge of the Drowned Forest, has been holding back Von Till’s evil influence, preventing it fom spreading further. It’s been fighting and angry and bitter for so long, but Von Till’s negative energy is gone and now it feels a hopeful new life growing.

Dryden can’t help but notice the animals moving to a certain place. Once the ceremony is done, Dryden waits respectfully to allow a full conclusion, then addresses the gathered animals.

Dryden: Fire is coming at dawn. This old forest. I’m going to help it rejuvenate by burning it.

Dryden figures that the forest being waterlogged is actually a benefit. The tops of the trees will still burn, but any debris that falls will be quenched instead of spreading the fire.

Averiela: You didn’t tell me this beforehand?

Dryden: This area will be fine.

Dryden plans to start by burning a ring around the castle. The Drowned Forest is drowned because all the places that water could drain have been choked by moss and debris. Dryden walks through the forest and asks the animals what it was like before Von Till. Animals have the legacy of memory, preserving the knowledge if history even in short-lived creatures. Von Till, through his evil Vampire arts, stabbed the trees, killed their hearts, and made them evil. Instead of spreading life, the tree sucked everything in. They claimed the river and anything else their roots could reach. This gluttony killed the rest of the tree.

Dryden looks for the edge of the Dead Forest to burn some blockages away and start draining the marsh. The eastern edge borders the Anti-Moon Weapon. The Fairy Forest is too the north.  To the south, the trees stop, and there’s a lake with a hole in it, called the Bile Pit. Looking out past the edge of the forest, the smooth surface of the water is interrupted by a large circular hole. The water of the “lake” isn’t that deep. All the water drains into this hole, which sizzles. Steam rises from the hole at all times.

That’s where Dryden goes.  Long ago, Dryden was trying to figure out fire that burns on water. He didn’t develop that, but he got close. He has a special material that will ignite anything. It’s applied with a brush and flares out from whereever it’s applied. He spreads a generous amount on two root systems at the edge of the Drowned Forest and ignites them.

It works too well! The two trees go up in flames immediately, releasing a burst of water into the Bile Pit. The fire is too close, so Dryden and the animals flee back towards the castle. An explosion inside the Bile Pit sends debris high into the air. Globs of silvery muck impact around Dryden and start moving on their own!

  • Group of Quicksilver Slimes: This destructive ooze monster consumes metal, making it the nemesis of machinery and infrastructure of all kinds.
    • Metal Eater: The quicksilver slime eats into metal with ease. No metal wall or grate will stop it, and Armor cannot be used against its attacks.
    • Charged Up: The quicksilver can hold an electric charge. When the slime consumes machinery, it becomes charged up until it fully digests. It becomes Elf-Made, electrifying and burning anyone who touches it.
    • 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.

Dryden sets another fire behind himself to slow them down. The rest of the Fellowship sees trouble coming and they fly over the burning forest in the Luna Penumbra.

  • Tell me about the forest fire? How could it hurt or help me?
    • Dryden was correct the fire did spread confusion among his pursuers, and the smoke makes it hard for them to find him. Beyond the obvious danger of an out-of-control forest fire, this fire is moving towards the castle.
  • Tell me about the pit. How could it hurt or help me?
    • Averiela’s keen eyes pierce smoke, steam, and distance. It seems thoroughly horrible and unpleasant place. Swamp water fall into a hot geothermal feature. Rotting things fall in and burn. Corrosive chemicals are everywhere. It harbors creatures of slime, muck, disease, and corrosion.

Dryden: It could be an advantage for us. We could start mass-producing thermometers. That could be an export for our new home.

Ol’ Jardiner: Commerce is more Edna’s area than mine.

Dryden: The animals told me that there were pleasant streams and a thriving forest, until Von Till systematically went through to make it a swamp full of despair. I thought, “we can return this valley to a beautiful forest with flowing streams once again.” So, I want to go down and talk to the things that are trying to eat me.

Ol’ Jardiner: I’ll cover you with the ship’s gun.

Dryden leaps off backwards from the ship and pulls out his Flying Device. It’s a metal disk, so the Quicksilver Slimes would love to eat it.

Dryden: Oh mercury blobs. Why are you trying to eat me? Can you return home?

The Quicksilver Slimes don’t speak the languages of men or beasts, but they hear Dryden and detect all his metal equipment. Ol’ Jardiner sees them turn to track Dryden, and takes advantage of their distraction. He fires! The Quicksilver slimes, the water they are in, and any nearby plants are splattered across the ground. As the dust settles, most of the debris is inert, but some of the small blobs of quicksilver flow together to form two Quicksilver Slimes. They retreat

Ol’ Jardiner: It’s working! Aaaah, no more ammo!

Ol’ Jardiner goes below to yell at the crew to find more ammo. He opens a door and finds two identical Elves bound and gagged. He had forgotten that Larry and Laurent were here.

Dryden flies over the forest and calls on beavers and muskrats to cut down trees near the castle, and around Theodore’s memorial oak. The southern half of the Drowned Forest will burn, but the animals are escaping and the fire isn’t threatening anything the Fellowship cares about. Is that victory?

A strange bird wheels overhead, then flies to the south. It drops a feather, which Dryden catches.  Usually, running one’s fingers along the edge of a feather feels soft, but this feather is prickly and has a film of goo over it.

  • Blighted Falcon: A Hunting Bird adapted to life in the Bile Pit.
    • Eagle Eye: Hunting birds can see you coming a mile away, and will never attack the whole group at once. They go after stragglers, or those cut off from the group.
    • Corrosive Touch: Anything that touches a Blighted with their bare skin must pay a price.

Dryden flies down to talk to some sparrows.

Dryden: First, be careful, because there’s an unknown predator around. Second, if you hear something coming this way, please come let me know.

With an early warning system in place and enemies at the border, the Fellowship returns to fortify the castle. The whole western wall has fallen outward because the foundation was waterlogged. Averiela surveys the damaged wall and tries to re-use parts of the catapults from the towers as cranes or levers.  The workers haven’t made any progress on the wall because Rutile gives them Despair.  Markus walks Rutile around.

Markus: Dude, life is different now. Look at everything that’s changed.

Rutile: Yeah, we’re organized. We’re getting paid. Ths is different.

Just when it seems like Rutile is coming around, Rowdy interrupts.

Rowdy: Something got into the tool shed!

Rutile: There, see? Hope just sets you up for disappointment.

Dryden runs to the tool shed and finds two Quicksilver Slimes eating the tools!

Dryden: You fiends, it’s I you are after!

The charged-up Quicksilver Slimes turn on him. Dryden free-runs over the rubble, yelling loud insults, hoping that someone hears him. He avoids one’s attack and leaps over the second.

Ol’ Jardiner: I knew this would happen.

Rutile: Yeah…

Ol’ Jardiner: No, I really knew this would happen.

As Dryden runs past, Ol’ Jardiner throws his poison dagger straight up in the air. Three seconds later, it falls straight into one of the Quicksilver Slime, killing it. The stored electricity is discharged. Ol’ Jardiner isn’t quick, but he can see slightly into the future, so he leaps away before it happens.  Dryden pulls out his robotic telescoping bo staff, and vaults over the rubble. Fortunately, he retracts the bo staff before the burst reaches him. Holding a big metal rod that’s stuck into the ground isn’t a good way to avoid electric shock.

Averiela is still jury-rigging some devices, and Markus is keeping Rutile away from the workers, so only he is depressed, so Dryden and Ol’ Jardiner are on their own.

Ol’ Jardiner realizes that he started a knife fight by dropping his knife. He pulls out magical baubles made of metal, throws them one direction, and runs the other.

Ol’ Jardiner: Please eat these half-finished projects I haven’t worked on for a year instead of me!

The remaining Quicksilver Slime stops to eat the baubles, then chasing Ol’ Jardiner hoping for more treats. Dryden sets a trap on the far side of the rubble where the Quicksilver Slime can’t see it. He’s pretty sure that Ol’ Jardiner will out-run the Quicksilver Slime, but he keeps an eye out.  From his hidden workshop he produces another copy of a trap he used long ago on Lady Evelynn: The Ever-Burning Brand. He puts it on top of some metal bits. When the Quicksilver Slime eats the metal, the Brand will fall and explode! Ol’ Jardiner runs towards Dryden, sees the trap at the last moment, and avoids it. The Quicksilver Slime is fooled and the trap explodes! The rumble of the explosion is mixed with the crackle of the Quicksilver Slime discharging. The injured Quicksilver Slime retreats.

Dryden: Ol’ Jardiner! It’s this way! It’s right here!

Dryden hopes that Ol’ Jardiner can repeat that trick that killed the first one. Ol’ Jardiner is searching the ground, hoping his knife wasn’t destroyed.

The Blighted Falcon that was watching the Fellowship earlier sees that Dryden is alone and dives to attack him. Dryden orders his Autonomous Silver Throwing Star to “strike!” and tosses it at the Blighted Falcon. It hits. The Falcon is injured, but still diving towards Dryden. It explodes! Ol’ Jardiner was able to blast it from extreme range by focusing his power through a magic crystal. The Quicksilver Slime escapes. Dryden

END-OF-SESSION-MOVE

  • Did we thoroughly explore a new location?
    • YES. Baron Von Till’s castle
  • Did anyone find what they were seeking?
    • Averiela got closure for Theodore, the missing scout
  • Did we learn more about the world or its people?
    • The existence of the Bile Pit
  • 3 boons
    • gear
    • gear
    • level up Markus and Ol’ Jardiner

GM note: This episode was brought to you by: