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, Lucia the Brave the Heir/Halfling Sheriff
Last time, the Fellowship started a huge brawl in Swallet’s Fight Club and released the “Dragon” which turned out to be a giant Armored Crocodile. Not quite a Dragon, but still terrifying.
Now everyone is running in the same direction.
- In the front, Speedy leads the Armored Crocodile towards the waste disposal facility on the west side of town.
- Dryden and Lucia follow them.
- Behind them is the Gobblin’ Goblins, a roller derby team and Fight Club members, trying to re-capture the Armored Crocodile on Brainiac’s orders.
- Brainiac is right behind them, stuffed into a punching bag, and wheeled along in a laundry cart Averiela.
- Averiela is pursued by a group of Goblins with giant robotic arms, also members of the Fight Club.
- The Fight Club itself and neighboring warehouses are in flames, and a volunteer fire bridage is trying to control the blaze.
GM note: the audio recording has problems, so I have to reconstruct this from memory, brief notes, and a one-sided conversation.
An Angry Mob has formed in the wake of the Fire Elemental, and the Armored Crocodile is running back the same way, right into the Angry Mob.
Dryden activates his flying Device and flies ahead of the Armored Crocodile and calls out to Angry Mob, telling them that what’s really wrong with the city, what they really should be mad at, isn’t the Armored Crocodile, but the Fight Club, that strange intrusion on their way of life!
Dryden Rage Against The Machine 7-9 GM chooses the new target of the Angry Mob
The Angry Mob is convinced, but is also distractable. They pass the Armored Crocodile and the roller derby team, but they spot Averiela, an outsider, and think maybe she’s the one they should hate for disrupting their way of life. Now Averiela is in danger! Normally Averiela could easily dodge these Goblins with her Elven grace and speed, but she’s got a captive in a cart, so she’s much slower. Camouflage won’t help either, because she can only Camouflage her allies, and Brainiac is not an ally.
Averiela Rage Against The Machine 10+ redirect Angry Mob’s wrath
Averiela inspires the mob to be angry at the destruction that the fire is causing, so now they are all very intent on putting out the fire. Who knows how effective they will be at assisting the fire brigade. The fire brigade wasn’t that organized to begin with (Goblins are very independent) and the addition of rowdy assistants who want to punch the fire may be a net loss. In the time Averiela took to make her case to the Angry Mob, the group of Goblins pursuing her has caught up, so she’s in danger again! They don’t know that she has Brainiac in the bag, but she was one of the trespassers in Fight Club when everything went wrong, so they’re still angry at her.
Averiela Keen Senses ask one question about your surroundings
- “Where can I hide?”
- There’s a catapult shop nearby. Goblins love building devices, and the Goblin who owns this shop loves catapults. There are bags of ballast for counterweights, baskets for payloads, some baskets are even on wheels, so there are objects that look similar to the laundry cart and punching bag that Averiela is pushing.
Averiela Get Away 10+ Avoid notice, bring Brainiac along
Averiela spends Light Armor
As the Angry Mob rushes past to assist the Fire Bregade, Averiela pushes through them to get inside the catapult shop. The pursuing Goblins lose track of her in the hubbub, but she collides with a few mob members and gets banged up. From inside the catapult shop, she sees the Goblins looking around in confusion. They’ve lost track of her, so she has a moment of safety.
Back at the head fo the procession, the Armored Crocodile has no obstructions between it and its goal: the Waste Disposal Facility. Lucia and Dryden are following it, and they are all pursued by the roller derby team. It looks like they could escape the city along iwth the Armored Crocodile, but they’d leave Averiela and Roddy behind, with no plans to rendezvous. Roddy’s probably watching them from his perch above the City Park, but that’s on the other side of town. Dryden has a signal for “shoot this thing” but no signal for “Meet up outside the town at this location.” Speedy, Armored Crocodile, Lucia, and Dryden run into the Waste Disposal Facility. There are conveyor belts and bins and pipes all over this large facility. Waste was sorted, then burned, recycled, or dumped, as appropriate. Speedy directs the Armored Crocodile to a large stone pipe that matches the pipe on the other side of town that forms the waterfall into the City Park. This pipe is at the bottom of the chamber that Swallet is built inside, and leads down and away from the city. The Armored Crocodile and Speedy go inside the pipe and leave Swallet. Around the same time, the roller derby enters the facility.
Lucia Quiet, Don’t Move: enemies won’t see her until she moves
The Gobblin’ Goblins decide that the Armored Crocodile is too far gone to pursue, and they can’t find Lucia, so they turn on Dryden. The facility would make a good Tony Hawk level, and the Gobblin’ Goblins use this to their advantage. Two of the big ones skate up a ramp and slingshot a smaller Goblin into the air to intercept Dryden (still flying with his Flying Device)
Dryden Get Away 10+ avoid harm
Dryden evades and taunts the Gobblin Goblins.
Gobblin’ Goblin Reckless Valor: damage this stat to damage an enemy
The airborne Gobblin’ Goblin sees that Dryden has moved away from her trajectory, so she removes one of her chainsaw skates and throws it at Dryden! She totally wipes out landing with only one skate
Dryden damages Sense
Gobblin’ Goblin: Worth it!
The Gobblin’ Goblins have no targets they can immediately attack, so they skate around threaneningly for a while.
Back in the Catapult Shop, the shopkeeper Krem greets Averiela. Even with a fire and a mob outside, she is still open because she’s just that dedicated to catapults! She can tell that Averiela’s basket and ballast didn’t come from her shop. No doubt it came from a competitor’s shop and wasn’t suitable. Krem can fix her up with good equipment no problem! She’ll just take the old junk off her hands. She notices that Averiela’s bag of ballast is moving and making noise. There’s a person inside! Averiela says that she’s captured a very dangerous person and needs to interrogate him.
Averiela Talk Sense (+Sense, explain plan +Despair for awful request) 7-9
Krem: Everybody’s got rights here in Swallet, There has to be an observer in any interrogation. You can talk to this guy in the back room, but I have to be there to make sure everything is OK.
GM note: This is the part where I stay in character to prevent the player from torturing an NPC. I should have broken character and said “Torture is evil and heroes don’t do it. Try something else.”
Averiela Whisper On The Wind
Averiela sends a message to Lucia telling her where she and Brianiac are. Krem puts Brainiac in a chair in the back room and keeps an eye on Averiela as she asks him questions.
Averiela Speak Softly 6- three questions, one unhelpful answer, one false answer
- Tell me about taking over Fight Club
- Brianiac was running the Fight Club because he’s smart and he’s good at being in charge. The meat-headed fighters were easy for him to manipulate. He got the power and respect he didn’t have in his previous job.
- What was Brainiac doing and what will he do next?
- What should I be wary of when dealing with Brainiac?
- He’s smarter than the people of Swallet, smarter than the adventurers who come to Fight Club, and smarter than you because you didn’t anticipate the layers of plans and traps he has laid. Every minute she spends talking to him is a minute his forces are closing in.
Lucia wants to link up with Averiela, but needs to get past the Gobblin’ Goblins patrolling the facility. Dryden causes a distraction for her and she’s able to slip away.
Dryden Keep Them Busy 7-9
The Gobblin’ Goblins find tools and pieces of trash around the facility and hurl them at Dryden. Dryden dabs and Roddy fires from across the city, detonating an oil drum. The shock and commotion allows Dryden to escape the facility unnoticed.
Dryden Get Away 10+ avoid harm, avoid notice.
Lucia reaches the catapult shop and knocks at the door. Krem requires Averiela to come with her to answer the door, since she won’t leave Averiela alone with the prisoner. Lucia shows her Symbol of Royalty. Krem thinks it’s odd that so many foreign officials are in Swallet fighting crime.
GM note: What exactly is the state of law and order in Swallet? There was a system, but Fafnir took over and thrashed anyone who doubted her authority. Fafnir doesn’t care about day-to-day operations of city government, and she’s not even in Swallet anymore. Maybe the civil servant of the old system just kept doing their jobs, since Fafnir wouldn’t care enough to stop them.
Krem thinks that charges of corruption involving a foreign diplomat are over her head, and more serious people should be called in. She sees the Goblins outside. Fight Club keeps people in line. She thinks they should take custody of the prisoner, and Averiela and Lucia can coordinate their investigation with them. Obviously the Fellowship doesn’t want to involve the Fight Club. Lucia wonders about getting Nub-Nub (the ex-cop) instead, but the Fellowship has done a lot to anger Nub-Nub today. Lucia keeps Krem busy with confusing legal jargon while Averiela sneaks back to Brainiac.
Lucia Keep Them Busy 7-9
Averiela Talk Sense (+Sense, explain plan) 7-9
Averiela really wants to know where the real dragon went. Brianiac will tell her, but only if she releases him.
Brainiac: Vampires from a forest in the west sent an assassin after Fafnir. After she defeated the assassin, she went after the vampires.
Averiela tells Brianiac that Allan a Zham is dead and Brainiac thinks he had it comes. Averiela unties him. He walks out to where Lucia and Krem are talking and gloats that he has been cleared of all charges. He implles that his innocence is unquestionable but also that he outsmarted his interrogators, because it’s important that everyone knows he is the smartest person in the room. He leaves, and decides not to risk further conflict by sending the Goblins outside into the catapult shop to attack Averiela and Lucia. His building is on fire. His fake dragon is gone. Lots of his minions are beat up. The challengers that were going to join aren’t anymore. Sparky, his Ogre Champion, has had an epiphany about his life and might not fight anymore. Brainiac cuts his losses and is happy to survive.
Krem: That’s great. I’m so glad that justice has been served!
Dryden flies over to Nub-Nub, a Goblin in a Powersuit that’s tangled in overhead wires by Dryden’s Ranged Rope. Nub-Nub has opened the Powersuit’s hatch and climbed out to cut the wires and free her Powersuit. Dryden says he’s here to get his rope back, and Nub-Nub switches to cut it first! She’s angry! Dryden calls the rope back. It unties itself and returns, dropping Nub-Nub and her Powersuit to the street below. Dryden zooms away to pick up Roddy and leave town. Nub-Nub has had a terrible day.
GM note: Break time. Stretch and get a snack.
The Fellowship leaves Swallet via the big ramp built at Fafnir’s command. It’s at the foot of a volcano. There’s another volcano just to the north. Lucia recognizes it as the location of the hidden library, founded by the sect from the Forgotten Lands. Averiela puts some clues together.
Averiela: Maybe the Vampires are trying to kill the last Dragon so the last Dragon doesn’t activate the Moon device!
The Fellowship wants to go west to find the Vampires that Fafnir was chasing. Lady Evelynn’s Estate is that way. Dryden and Lucia explain how they wrecked her house, but specifically saved her life. From a death trap that they put her in. She’s an evil supernatural woman, but she’s not a Vampire. The Vampire Lucia killed was Lady Evelynn’s friend. They won’t be welcome there. Averiela suggests visiting the library, since it’s just one mountain over.
Dryden: I’m pretty sure we got chased out because he didn’t have our library cards.
Lucia: But I’m the Heir of the Forgotten Lands! I can bring Averiela because I trust her to not touch things.
Dryden: We have left our mark where ever we’ve been. Swallet is decidedly different now.
Lucia: They can choose their destiny now!
Lucia remembers that Dryden has an unidentified Artifact of Power. The library could explain how it works. Dryden sets off towards the library.
As the Fellowship climbs the volcano, they meet a Dwarf huffing and puffing up the mountain. He’s heard that there’s gold in the volcano. He’s going to claim this vein of gold to show that he’s a legit Dwarf and establish himself back home, where an ambitious uncle has taken over from his father, putting his branch of the family to shame. He’s worried that the Fellowship is also trying to find the gold, but reassured that they don’t seem to carry mining equipments. Lucia greets him.
Lucia Symbol of Royalty.
Lucia: We are seeking knowledge. What are you seeking on this mountain?
Lofar: Some people go the mountaintops to reach enlightenment or whatever. If you want to do that, that’s fine. But it’s really about what’s under the mountain! That’s the key, That’s what I’m here for. The riches of the earth!
Dryden: Good Dwarven sir, I don’t know how you feel about ghosts. I can guarantee you (because I’ve been to this mountain before) that there are ghosts at the bottom, and I’ve personally been banned. But I also know there was once an army encampment around the rim. While my friends venture the spirits below, I would help you search for forgetten gold from the army above.
Lofar: Tricks! You’re trying to get to the gold before me. Despite my short legs, you shouldn’t underestimate the speed of the Dwarves!
Lofar runs to reach the peak before them. Dryden wants to keep the library a secret. Maybe he can get a ghost librarian to emerge and scare Lofer away. Lucia thinks the library won’t get plundered, since the librarians were able to eject Dryden, a powerful magician.
Dryden Queen of the Wild: All Beasts serve him
Dryden: Varmints of the mountain! Someone’s going to dig up your homes! Rise up!
From the rocks and nooks and crannies come angry chirping sounds.
Dryden Pack Leader: when advantage comes from Allies, roll with Hope to Finish Them
Dryden Finish Them (+courage, scare Lofar away) advantage: varmint minions 10+
Lofar is driven from the mountain by marmots, weasels and other ground rodents. The Fellowship has a peaceful and scenic picnic on the mountain.
Fill Your Belly: spend Food to heal stats
Dryden workaholic: restore uses to Gear
No end-of-session move.