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 returned to the Moon to take the Elder Star to fight Petra and her Giant Robot Spider. The Kobolds refused to let them steal the Elder Star again, and teleporter slapstick ensued, separating the Fellowship and confusing everyone. This time, they come to an agreement with the Kobolds
Stella was unexpectedly sent back to the terminal in the Fairy Forest when Buckle teleported back to the Moon. He convinces the Kobolds that they should do something to help him defeat Petra, but what exactly they will do isn’t clear.
Buckle: The Spider’s above ground. Von Till’s castle is essentially a Vampire site. Maybe we can use the Moon to focus sunlight on Von Till’s castle? Are there other options?
Junior: We thought we already turned the Moon into a Vampire-killing weapon, so we don’t know what else to do. We don’t have guns. Tilting the mirrors to focus the light is technically possible.
The mortal residents of Rowdy’s Ramparts would disagree with Buckle’s description of their home, but they aren’t here to make their case.
Turning the Moon into the Death Star requires several steps.
- Technical challenge of moving the mirrors
- Find the Giant Spider Robot
- Fire the weapon by aiming the mirrors
- Do something for the Kobolds of similar magnitude
Junior wants to meet with the leader of the planetside Kobolds. He teleports the secret object and a note to the teleporter terminal inside the Table of Famine. The teleporter activates again, bringing Marcy to the Moon.
Marcy she/her Kobold chief
While the Kobolds confer, Buckle goes to the teleporter operators.
Buckle: So, my friend is lost in the teleporter system. Can we get her back up here?
Kobold operator: That was you. You switched her out. Where did you come from?
Buckle came from the Table of Famine, but made two hops to the Fairy Forest then the Moon, because the Moon terminal knew he was at the Table of Famine and wouldn’t accept a transmission from there. Buckle’s most recent teleportation swapped the Moon and the Fairy Forest terminals, so Stella should be at the Fairy Forest terminal.
In the Fairy Forest cave, Stella sits down in despair. After a pout, she looks for a way to communicate to other terminals. There isn’t one. The Kobolds send messages by writing them down and teleporting the paper. Stella’s parents told her that when she’s lost, she should stay put, so she sits in the teleporter cage.
Buckle: Charlene, are you willing to go down and look for Stella? I have a feeling that if I go down, they’ll never let me back up.
Charlene agrees and steps into the teleporter. She disappears and Stella appears.
Stella: Hey everyone!
Buckle: Stella, come out of there. We gotta get Charlene back before she leaves the teleporter.
Stella steps out and Buckle quickly activates the teleporter.
Buckle Overcome danger of teleporter accident 10+
Charlene reappears. She was reaching for the teleporter door, but hadn’t stepped through yet.
Charlene: Oh, she’s here. We should not hang around in these things. We’ll get yanked around.
Buckle: Stella, we are going to use the Moon to destroy the Spider. And maybe Von Till’s Castle. I’m not 100% sure how big the blast radius. We haven’t done the calculations yet.
Stella: Make sure you do before you set anything on fire.
Marcy and Junior return with their decision.
Marcy: We want you to use your technical expertise to ensure the safety of the Kobolds on the planet. Help us with teleporter security, so that what you did isn’t possible any more.
Buckle: I’m happy to help with security. The most important part of security is physical security, and while there’s a Giant Spider running around, operated by a Vampire-aligned ice creature, no one is safe. We have to deal with the Spider first.
Buckle Talk Sense (explain plan) 6-
Junior: It’s a Giant Spider, so it can’t fit in the teleporter. You’re trying to weasel out of the deal.
Marcy: We have a “secret handshake.” Before anyone comes through, they send a certain object and we send a certain object back. The traveler is sure their desJunior:tination hasn’t been overrun, and the destination is sure the traveler is someone they trust. We are working on a teleport trap, but we haven’t finished it yet. We will teleport invaders into a chamber full of traps, then teleport dangerous objects to fall on them.
Buckle: Basically, if someone teleports and you observe them, and they aren’t someone you want, you teleport them somewhere else.
Marcy: Or if the object they send through is wrong. Maybe we should observe who comes through before teleporting them to the traps.
Buckle: Ultimately, the flaw of this design is that something teleports through regardless. If someone wanted to harm you, they teleport something that explodes as soon as it arrives. Really what you need is some kind of signal you can make before any object is teleported.
Marcy: Each teleporter terminal has a carrier wave to indicate it’s online and ready to receive. We can turn it off if we don’t want anyone to teleport in, but then we can’t receive the handshake if someone authorized wanted to come in. I see the problem there.
Buckle: You can still do the handshake, but also have a secret code transmitted on the carrier wave prior, like a blinking light. We need to modify the teleporter with an intermediate state that’s not ready to receive, but still sends a carrier wave.
Marcy: Right. If we’re tapping out a code and someone holds down the send button, they could send their unauthorized thing during those blinks. So, “off” “connected” and “ready” and we cycle between “off” and “connected” in a secret way.
Buckle: You probably want to update the code whenever you send your secret object.
Marcy: We’re at the Table and I want to send something to the Moon. There’s this code I switch between “off” and “connected” beforehand, so the Moon knows it’s coming from me and they’ll switch up to ready. So now, when I send the secret object, I send a note with a new code. That wouldn’t affect someone coming from, say, Tower Hub 6? They wouldn’t know the new code from the table.
Buckle: You want to maintain different codes for each station. You’ll need to keep a table.
Marcy: Documentation is our passion. We’re good at that. Changing the documentation frequently. This is weird. We’re not going to cross stuff out or use a pencil. We’ll have a lot of rows, and keep a record of all the codes.
Buckle technical solution 10+
It takes some doing to implement the new “connected” status for the teleporter terminal. Once that’s done, the Kobolds teleport to all terminals with manuals containing new operating procedures. Junior wrote the master copy and scribes made copies.
Junior: We’ll have this memorized by tomorrow!
Task #4, a favor for the Kobolds COMPLETE
Stella wants to find the Spider Robot, but it’s hard to see even a large vehicle from a quarter-million miles away.
Kobolds: If we had viewing devices that powerful, we would have seen that there were no Dragons a lot earlier. We did notice Sunpeak collapsing!
Stella: I see two primary ways forward. One, go back to the planet and find the darn thing, then figure out a way to send a signal back. A really bright light, maybe. The other way is to figure out how to build something that magnifies on the Moon. I’d like to see if I can do the telescope option first.
The Fellowship has seen some telescopes on their travels, at Von Till’s castle and the Anti-Moon Weapon. They weren’t designed to be moved. The Fellowship could build a telescope. The Kobolds who are up for new things moved planetside, because that’s where the new experiences are. Marcy can recommend some optics nerds who could help.
The Kobolds are very excited to use their new security procedures. Everything goes smoothly and Stella and Marcy teleport to the Table of Famine. The Kobolds have been adapting the Human-sized rooms for smaller Kobolds. There’s an older Kobold who invents devices to correct his failing vision. His goggles can swap between several different lens for different tasks.
Benji he/him Kobold optician
Marcy: Benji, we’ve got a challenge for you. We need some of your glass to help us find something–how big did you say it was?
Stella: The size of a house.
Marcy:The size of a house! From the Moon.
Benji is fascinated and starts writing figures and sketching designs. Benji determines that the task requires a telescope with a huge primary element. They return to the Moon and get a spare hexagonal mirror from storage. Teams of Kobolds hold sanding tools and run back and forth to grind the mirror into a parabola that focuses light.
Stella technical solution 7-9 It’s more complicated. Pay a price to make it work.
Stella loses scroll case.
Benji needs something to hold the smaller lenses and mirrors that project the image from the telescope. Stella offers the scroll case she stole from O’Later’s agent long ago. The telescope collects so much light that it’s unsafe to look into the eyepiece. It projects an image on a screen. Ladders from all six corners of the mirror converge on a platform that hold a few chairs, the screen, and the focusing elements. The mirror faces the planet and only needs to tilt a small amount to look from one edge to the other.
Stella Look Closely 6- ask 1 question, find out the hard way
- Is something hidden or out of place?
- Far to the south of the main continent, there’s a ring of clouds around a section of land connected to the southern continent by an ithsmus. The coulds form a perfect circle except for where that circle crosses the ithsmus. The ring looks artificial.
GM note: We’re in a bad state. Players can’t keep rolling the same check until they succeed, but it feels bad to spend all this time building a telescope only for it to be useless. Each roll should change the situation, but they’re looking from such a great distace that what they look at can’t really affect them. Compromise: Buckle looks through the telescope, but Overcomes the difficulty of scanning the whole planet for one object.
Buckle Overcome 7-9
GM note: hard to think of a temporary solution, so I gave the players imperfect information.
Buckle sees a large vehicle with many legs. It’s further west than he has ever traveled. The land is uplifted, separated from the rest of the continent by a ravine.
#2 find Giant Spider Robot COMPLETE?
GM note: This is actually the Luna Penumbra, traveling home of another party of player characters. They defeated the Giant Spider Tank and attached its legs and reactor to their ship.
Fortune roll: Does anyone know this place? partial success
Marcy’s scouts report that place is called “The Empire” but she doesn’t know more than that.
Buckle: Good news and bad news. Good news: Found the Spider. Bad news: It’s far off to the west, where we’ve never been before.
Stella remembers the lore of her people.
Stella: Doesn’t exist. The wall is the end of the planet.
Buckle: What do you think? Should we still try to destroy it?
Stella: Seems like an act you would take if you wanted some kind of battle to occur. If we could be confident that we could aim the mirrors and be accurate, then maybe. But also, I didn’t know this land existed before now. How do we know there aren’t more Spider Tanks? How do we know this is her?
Buckle: Let’s solve one problem at a time. First let’s figure out if we can aim the mirror.
All the mirrors can be adjusted in case they get out of alignment, but Buckle’s plan requires tilting the mirrors much more. Buckle talks to Benji about the calculations required to turn the Moon into a Fresnel lens to focus light at the distance of the planet’s surface. Benji brings in Junior, who understands all the Moon’s systems. First, they will adjust the mirrors to reflect the light in parallel beams to the planet, then focus the light beams to one point.
Building the telescope and re-orented the mirror take days.
To verify their math, Buckle stands atop on of the cable-car hub towers. Benji calculates the angles for nearby mirrors to focus light from Buckle’s position instead of the sun. Even from the high tower, the horizon is relatively close. Most mirrors just can’t see Buckle no matter where they are pointed. Junior co-ordinates the work teams making the changes. The telescope will observe the target point on the planet to confirm the effect. But what is the target point?
Marcy: We should aim it at the ocean. Pretty sure people don’t live there.
Buckle: I suggest we flash Lady Evelynn.
Stella shakes his head, but agrees.
Buckle Technical Solution 10+
Buckles emit a brilliant flash from the Medallion of Cleft Sky. Benji confirms that the building in the target area lit up a little.
#1 Technical challenge of aiming the mirrors COMPLETE
Now they can apply those same calculations with a different starting point and focus the sun’s rays into a beam of awesome destructive power.
GM note: They’ve built the Death Star! This is Star Wars now.
Stella: How destroyed are you expecting this Spider to be?
Buckle: I don’t know how much energy we’re going to pump into it, so why not go full maximum destruction?
Stella: How about we do half of that to start?
Buckle: Worst case, we ablate the land around the Spider.
Stella: Let me emphasize the importance of avoiding harm to uninvolved bystanders.
Buckle: Maybe we should startwith a small amount, or a target we don’t mind leaving a crater around. We could shoot Sunpeak. It’s already destroyed.
That’s sacrilegious to the Kobolds! The Fellowship consults their map. The Deadlands around Vieport are full of hostile ghosts that are already dead.
Buckle: The Sea Viper’s still got that death ray, right? Let’s take if off his hands. See what happens with a 1% blast on his house.
GM note: Correction: this is now Rogue One.
Buckle gives the order, and Kobolds work teams simultaneously move 1% of the mirrors on the sunlit hemspere of the Moon towards the Sea Viper’s palace. A circle of bright light rapidly shrinks and intensifies as the mirrors approach exact focus.
Buckle Finish Them +Blood to destroy 10+
Half of the Sea Viper’s palace disappears. A crater around the building quickly forms and floods, since the palace was on the shore. The circle of light expands and fades as the Kobolds return the mirrors to resting position.
Buckle: OK, let’s do the Spider with 1/000th of the mirrors. A tenth of what we did to Vieport.
Buckle Finish Them +Blood to destroy 10+
Benji reports that the Spider was hit and is not moving. Hard to see what, if anything, happened to the occupants. All the energy went into the target and none leaked through to leave a crater underneath. The Fellowship wants to confirm the kill, but how will they get to The Empire?
Buckle: I like the idea of teleporting back to the Table, trekking to the Miranda, traveling to the magic rest stop and talking to Bernard to hitch a ride. We could also go through Vieport, up the river, overland through Fairmeadow.
Stella: Vieport? Isn’t that what we just exploded?
They decide that Vieport will be too busy to hassle them. Before they leave, Buckle asks Junior for technical manuals for the teleporters.
Buckle: It would be really useful if we didn’t have to keep bothering you every time we want to teleport somewhere. If we make our own teleporter network, it doesn’t have to intersect with yours.
Buckle Talk Sense, appeal to emotion 7-9
Junior: We’ll give you the manuals, but once you teleport to the planet, we’re not letting you into our teleporter network again.
Stella: If you ever what to see what we’re up to, use the telescope.
The Fellowship teleports to the Table of Famine along with Marcy and Benji.
Marcy: Thanks, I guess. I think the new teleport thing is cool.
Buckle: Remember, don’t use the death ray on anything.
Long journey: each player creates an event along the way
The Kobolds send them out the front door, which is in the middle of a high cliff face. They descend a narrow staircase to the Singing Hills below. The hills are quiet and still. The breeze that whistles through the standing stone atop each hill is still. Aku is flying over the hills as usual, but clumsily. His disciples (Fee and Fum) call out directions to guide him. He almost collides with the hill the Fellowship is climbing. Buckle used a mouth-sized whistle to call to Aku. Aku flies towards the sound.
Fee: Step back. He’s going to land!
Buckle: Aku, I’ve never seen you on the ground before.
Aku stops short because Buckle didn’t step back. To avoid running Buckl over, he stops short and lands hard.
Fum: That was rude! Can’t you tell that thing are hard for him already? The wind has stopped, so he can’t tell where he is. He can’t hear the stones.
Now Buckle notices that the Singing Hills are quiet.
Buckle: What happened?
Fee: Probably related to that mountain collapsing. You should be able to see it above the plateau.
Buckle gets a distant look in his eyes.
Buckle: The mountain… I don’t know what to do about the wind, but we’ve dealt with the person who did it.
Buckle tells the story of the Ice Witch, the Giant Spider, and how he used the Moon to destroy them.
Fum: That seems somehow worse.
Buckle: Well, they took my daughter.
Aku makes a deep rumble that seems to say, “What can you do? It’s family.”
Fum: If you can move the Moon, can you control the wind?
Buckle: We can’t, but the Kobolds probably can. They can focus the solar energy where-ever they want. They can create temperature gradients. See if you can talk to the Kobolds that live in the Table of Famine.
Fum: I’ll go on his behalf. It’s not proper for Aku to beg for favors from tiny people.
With that, the Fellowship bids Aku and his disciples farewell. Charlene and Ducky part with the Fellowship.
Charlene: We’re grateful you got us out of the rubble, but we’re done with adventures.
Long journey: The Framework causes a problem.
They continue through the City of Clay and to the Mighty River. They left their companions for so long that the companions stopped maintaining the Miranda and built a permanent camp in the forest.
Stella: You didn’t maintain her? Miranda, I’m so sorry!
Hamfast: See, she misses the ship more than us! You want us to take care of the ship, but who takes care of us?
The Fellowship counts heads to make sure all companions are accounted for. Ichabod (the young Phoenix) returned from a journey to find other Phoenixes. Petra attacked other fire-based targets besides Sunpeak, so Phoenixes decided that congregating was inviting her wrath, and scattered. Silk (Stella’s Riding Spider) and Elektra (Buckle’s Harpy Eagle) are living with the native Spiders and Harpy Eagles. Stanley (a humanoid Spider) and Rose (Stella’s bodyguard) argued about how to maintain the ship, so nothing ever got done. Hamfast sings and plays hand-made instruments. Ugg isn’t here. He probably returned to Swallet.
Stella works on the ship.
Stella Look Closely 6- ask 1 question, find answer the hard way
- What’s going on here? What do my senses tell me.
- The water is always moving, so items on the Miranda that were not secured have fallen on the deck. The engine compartent flooded. It needs to be dried out, disassembled, cleaned, and re-assembled.
Stella: Buckle, can you please dry out this room?
Buckle takes off his fire-proof suit and stands in the engine room for a little bit. Stella starts taking apart the engine, taking notes as she goes. She stops before she gets overwhelmed.
Buckle sets out for Swallet, which is hidden once more. The showy entrance comissioned by Fafnir has been removed. He’s wearing his fire-proof suit to avoid burning the local plants. He finds the hidden door and knocks.
Goblin bouncer: What’s the password?
Buckle: I’m Ugg’s friend.
Goblin bouncer:That might actually be true.
After a while, Ugg comes to the door.
Ugg: You’re back! You were gone a while, and Swallet was right over here.
Buckle: You wanna come back on the Miranda with us? We hunted down the giant Spider and destroyed it. We’re going to make sure we finished the job. Also, we took out that death ray at Vieport.
Ugg returns to the Miranda with Buckle and finishes Stella’s disassembly and cleaning.
Ugg spends Tough As Can Be
Buckle Overcome 7-9 pay a price for permanent solution
Buckle erases a bond with Ugg
Ugg is exhausted, but the ship is working again. Stella shares a snack with Ugg.
Stella Fill Your Belly heal 1 stat
Ugg Fill Your Belly heal 1 stat
They sail down the river to the Amphibeous Arms in Port Fennrick.
Buckle: A round of those free drinks for life!
Zalamel: So, you got that Dwarf killed, eh?
Stella: We didn’t kill him. He was very happy where we left him. Did you have an interest in his return?
Zalamel: No, just more evidence of your incompetence. Abandoning your party members.
Stella: What brings you here? Still looking for an apprentice?
Zalamel: I have some prospects, but no-one here. Gotta be sure my apprentice wouldn’t leave me out in the field somewhere.
Stella: You should know that I’ve been working on magic.
Stella signals behind her back for Gus to hand her a pouch.
Gus spends Special Ingredients
Stella crushes the bag of powdered sugar, releasing a cloud, then jumps to the ceiling.
Stella Animal Traits: Jumping Spider, Wall Walker
Stella Get Away + hope from Gus’ assistance 10+ avoid notice, avoid harm
Zalamel has no idea that Stella is directly above her. She doesn’t want to lose face, so with some magical hand gestures, she also disappears. Stella walks down the wall to the cheers of the other par patrons.
The Miranda sails out of Port fennrick to the ocean, then follows the coast south and west towards Vieport.
The section of the palace that connected to the central is gone. replaced by a flooded crater. Boat crowd around for rescue operations. People are clearing rubble and putting out fires. The entire garrison is swarming the palace. A few boats patrol the perimeter, telling ships that the port is closed and they should go elsewhere. Stella hails one of the perimeter boats.
Stella Speak Softly: 6- ask 3 questions, 1 true, 1 false, 1 unhelpful
- What do they want? How can we help them get it?
- They want to find out who did this and get revenge. The sailors don’t know this, but the Fellowship could help them get it by turning themselves on.
- What can they tell us about the hole that used to be the palace?
- The Sea Viper is re-decorating.
- What are they doing and what will they do next?
- They are warning ships off. If any ships sail past, they’ll fire on them.
The Miranda stays outside the perimeter.
Buckle: Stella, want to go for a swim?
Stella puts on her Dwarven Turbine Suit and Axolotl Mask. She and Buckle dive off the far side of the Miranda, so the perimeter boat doesn’t see them. The undersea half of Vieport is also in an uproar. Most people are focused on the rescue operation, so they don’t pay attention to Stella & Buckle. Rose pilots the Miranda away from Vieport, but will wait at a pre-determined place off the coast for the Fellowship to return.
Buckle Look Closely: 7-9 ask 3 questions, find out 1 answer the hard way.
- Tell me about the Sea Viper. What is he doing? What will he do next?
- The Sea Viper was in another part of the palace and was not killed. He’s making a show of leading the rescue effort, so everyone knows he’s still alive and in control.
- What will happen if I sneak past to the Adventurer’s Club?
- The military isn’t paying attention to the Adventurers’ Club, but someone has noticed the Fellowship.
- Is something hidden or out of place?
- As Buckle swims towards the Adventurers’ Club, there’s a vague shape where the water is different water. It’s a Rain adventurer!
- Una Acid Rain: A burning, acidic ooze that eats whatever it touches.
- Acid Touch: Anyone touching or touched by acid rain takes damage. This acid burns through organic materials only, so metal and stone are safe.
- Amorphous Slime: The acid rain can fit through gaps or any size, and walk right through grates or screens as if they were not there. They cannot be tied up or restrained, except by forcing them into a sealed container of stone, glass, or metal.
Buckle notices the Rain as it starts to envelop him. Its acidic body may damage his fire-proof suit. Buckle swims away and it pursues.
Buckle: Personal space, buddy! Are you one of Cyana’s friends? Maybe you know Hydroxl from the Bile Pit. Are you from the Bile Pit or from the Crater? Are you one of Bernard’s friends?
Una laughs about Bernard, but stops themself.
Una: You spies won’t distract me. I’m sure there’s a reward for taking you in!
Stella: Sorry for the confusion. We’re making out the new beluga route.
Stella Queen of the Wild: beasts must obey
Stella Talk Nonsense 10+ “don’t arrest us” success
Stella sees an Adventurer’s Badge floating inside Una, but doesn’t want to burn her hand or her suit to get it.
Stella Sting Like A Bee ask a question from Look Closely list.
- Is something hidden or out of place?
- Snake-folk carry big glass tubes out of damaged rooms of the palace. The tubes contain ghosts from the Ghostlands: vague purple shapes with burning eyes.
Una is convinced and leaves to sniff out other invaders. Stella motions to the Belugas to leave.
The Fellowship goes to the Adventurers’ Club. Fred, a Mer-Folk Betta fish greets them. Buckle tries to get information from him and any adventurers who are present.
Buckle Speak Softly 7-9: ask 3 questions, get 1 unhelpful answer
- What are they doing? What will they do next?
- Helping with the rescue effort. There are fewer people in the palace than in the city, so it could have been worse. Some people blame Agate for fiddling with the beam weapon. Others are thankful it didn’t hit the powerplant.
- What can they tell me about the Empire?
- A person standing near Buckle (when did he arrive?) with his hat pulled down almost to her raised collar interrupts Fred:
- Mr. X he/him Hidden Figure: A shadowy mastermind type, who uses their minions to get what they want. They never take the spotlight, if they can help it.
- Ambush Tactics: Groups led by the hidden figure can launch an attack from ambush as a Hard Cut. The hidden figure can never be seen or heard
while they are lying in wait. - Coward: This stat is always damaged first. After this stat is damaged, the hidden figure will attempt to flee the scene.
- Master Plan: The figure always comes with a hidden trap (See page 151). This trap is always set up in such a way as to protect the figure.
- Ambush Tactics: Groups led by the hidden figure can launch an attack from ambush as a Hard Cut. The hidden figure can never be seen or heard
Mr. X: The Empire? They’re real sticklers. You need a license for everything. They think their forces can handle everything, so they don’t like adventurers. If you think you’re going to knock some heads and be a hero, that won’t work. You need to be subtle. I could introduce you to some people. Show you how it works.
(Speak Softly continued)
- What would they have us do next?
- Fred: It’s great that you’re here and want to help. I’ll get you connected to the rescue effort. I remember you dealt with the Kraken, so you’ll good underwater.
Stella starts backing towards the door.
Buckle: Maybe you could connect us to the Lanterns. They seem like they know more about getting things put back together than the guard.
Buckle Speak Softly (trick) 7-9 owe favor
Fred leads Buckle into the street and flags down a Lantern. He explains that the Fellowship are good underwater and willing to help. The Lantern takes them to Robin, who has definitely met Stella and Buckle. Stella keeps her Axolotl Mask on.
Fortune Roll: disguises improve their chances. Robin fails.
Robin does not recognize them. She’s co-ordinating the rescue efforts. Messengers run in and out. The Lantern introduces them as underwater experts.
Robin: Which of these are you best at? Strength, speed, planning, magic?
Buckle: For me it’s speed. I’m faster underwater.
Stella: Planning. I can also go fast if needed.
Robin: I’ll assign you to a rapid response team. Some underwater rooms have been cut off by debris. The brute squad can open a path, but they need scouts to go inside, see what’s there, and what needs to be done. Are there people trapped, valuable items, instability?
The Fellowship meet up with some big constrictor Snake-Folk. When the brutes pull debris out of the way, water rushes into the room.
Buckle + Stella’s aid Get Away 7-9 avoid harm
They ride the current inside and find a survivor. They were in an air pocket that has just been breached. They panick, flail, and grab at Buckle. He pins their arms behind them. Stella is absolutely terrified, but she takes off her Axolotl Mask, puts it on the survivor, and jets to the surface at maximum speed! Now that the survivor is not drowning, they calm down and Buckle is able to swim to the surface with them. Stella takes her mask back. This person is beside themself with relief and gratitude.
Buckle forms a bond with Co B.
- Co B. they/them Snake-Folk Adoring Fan: Owes the Fellowship their life.
- Cheerleader: The fan can damage this stat to give someone Hope.
- Danger Magnet: The fan loves to watch their heroes in action. When a Dangerous attack happens near them, the fan is always among the collateral.
After a long day of saving people from themselves, the Fellowship returns to the the Adventurers’ Club. Buckle talks to Mr. X about the Empire.
Buckle Speak Softly 7-9: ask 3 questions, get 1 unhelpful answer
- What can they tell us about entering the Empire?
- Because of their geographical advantage, it’s easy for them to control access. It’s physically difficult to enter except through their ports of entry. They’ll ask you questions to make sure you won’t be drain on their society and you aren’t allied with any of their enemies. If you have any unusual capabilities, they’ll require a license. If you operate a large vessel, or know magic. This makes false licenses very valuable.
- What does he want? How could be help him get it?
- Mr. X’s motives are a mystery.
- What would they have us do next?
- Deliver a package to my friend inside the Empire. I can provide one false Tourist license. The package is a sealed trunk.
Buckle: How do you expect us to get it back the checkpoint without getting inspected?
Mr. X: They won’t look too closely if you already have a Tourist license.
Buckle: Can’t we get licenses by being aboveboard?
Stella wants to take the job because it’s intriguing, but doesn’t want to take it because it could cause problems.
Stella: If we can’t find this guy, are we allowed to bring this back?
Mr. X: You gotta believe that you will succeed. But it’s much better that you bring it back to me instead of dropping it somewhere in the Empire.
Buckle: What are you offering in exchange for this?
Mr. X: You get the tourist license and you get to know one of my helpful friends in the Empire.
Buckle: Alright, let’s do it.
NO END-OF-SESSION MOVE