Chasing the Sunset is a West Marches-style exploration game using Fellowship 2nd Edition‘s Horizon rules.
The fellowship: Vestri the Dwarf, Yuri the Outlander
Last time, the Fellowship saved the world by slaying a Dragon and disabling a doomsday weapon!
The window in space opens. It happens often, but the timing is always a surprise. Yuri and Vestri see Edna on the other side, coming back from adventuring with her other friends. But this time, instead of stepping through the portal as normal, she holds up a wooden bucket.
Edna: Sorry, I can’t come right now. I’ve been cursed.
Yuri: Ah! Feel better. Is that right?
Vestri: Depends on the curse.
The window closes and Yuri and Vestri are again alone atop the plateau that hides the Dragons’ doomsday weapon.
Yuri: Shall we find your daggers?
Vestri: Dagger. We only have to find one. I have one already.
Yuri: Then shall we find the dagger thieves?
Vestri: First question: How do we get down?
Yuri: Ask for stairs from the mountains, but not too steep!
Vestri Speak Softly with the earth 10+ ask three questions
Vestri Earth Friend: You may spend a question to ask the earth to move for you.
Vestri: Hello, cliff? It would be wonderful if you could make hand- and foot-holds. Close together. I’m short.
Yuri: Why not stairs?
Vestri: If you could make stairs, that would be great.
Platforms of stone fold down from the vertical surface of the cliff, like those hidden ironing boards in old houses. Soon a staircase leads all the way to the bottom of the precipice. Vestri and Yuri walk down and re-unite with Hundrin and Gurtin in the Singing Hills.
Vestri: I wouldn’t mind seeing if we could excavate more of the Dwarven waterways.
Long Journey: They set out for the Oolite Mines, far to the south. The forgers’ location was revealed by a bat, delivering a message from Lady Evelynn and her network of informants.
Long Journey: How do you find the route that leads south?
Vestri’s knowledge of Dwarven engineering lets him spot a hidden entrance to the Dwarven waterways near one of the lakes in the Singing Hills.
Yuri Look Closely 10+ ask 3 questions
- Tell me about the rats. What are they doing?
- Yuri spots some rats moving together as a group. Probably going from the nest to a food source.
- What will happen if I follow them?
- The tunnel mainly heads south. As Yuri follows the rats, they get scared and scatter.
- What is hidden or out of place?
- Yuri finds a package left behind when Dwarves took the last raft from this station when it closed.
Yuri: There is a box over here. Is this something from your culture? Should we open? Edna has me worried about curses.
Vestri: It’s not likely to be cursed.
Yuri tries to open the small stone box, easyto hold in two hands. It’s locked.
Yuri: Since it’s stone, can you ask it to open? Or maybe you should hit it with your mining pick.
Vestri Let Me See That: examine a device and ask two questions
- How do I use it or break it?
- The luggage is reasonably secure, but nothing that a pick couldn’t get through with a little time and safety.
- Who made it and why should I care about it?
- Vestri cracks the box open and finds a deed granting mining rights to Urist Yellowtree.
Vestri: The Yellowtrees no longer exist. They didn’t die out. They all married into other families. According to this, the grandson of old Yellowtree was getting married to one of the Jaderiver kids, and this was a wedding gift. The deed is for clay, which is not what my family uses.
Yuri: The land is in this universe, so it’s not good for me. Maybe I could use it for a vacation home.
Vestri: Vacation home? Why would you go home on vacation? I’d rather wander. Maintaining multiple houses is too much. Just rent.
They walk down the tunnel and wonder how they are organized. The tunnels are artificial, so they can flow in any direction, regardless of the terrain above.
Yuri: We could use a compass. It’s a little magnet that points . . . It wouldn’t work here. Your planet could have a completely different makeup.
GM note: We remembered that we’d solved the problem of navigating the tunnels in an earlier session. Vestri can read the Dwarven route marking at each station, even in the dark.
The Fellowship heads south. The exit from the station they wish to use is blocked off by stones.
Hundrin spends Drill Tank
Hundrin drills through the wall and into a passage beyond. The rest of the Fellowship follows. Yuri ducks to fit through the Dwarf-sized hole. They’re in the Dwarven city of Templeton.
Long Journey: Who is upset by the damage you cause?
Two Dwarven guards patrolling nearby hear the commotion and run over, quite upset.
Vestri: Hello, gentlemen. We were just coming from the station.
Guard: That station is obviously closed. The entrance was collapsed!
Vestri: We didn’t know. We thought the collapse might be recent and we were doing you a favor.
Yuri: Yes, now you have access to the waterways.
Guard: Sabotage! Vandalism! You’ve exposed Templeton to hostile infiltration!
Yuri: Vestri, what are Dwarven legal statutes in this situation?
Vestri: We should let them take us to the baliff.
Yuri: I’m not resisting arrest!
Guard: This is easier than usual.
Yuri: Because we are not criminals.
Vestri: My friend is from a different land and doesn’t know our rules. I’m surprised to find that Templeton, home of the famous School of Mine, doesn’t approve of digging.
The two guards lead the Fellowship to City Hall, the deepest building in the city, built right in the center of the caldera. The guards lead them to an Orc woman, a little taller than Yuri, with green skin, wearing black leather armor and looking out of place behind a desk. She glares at the guards.
Beth: What’s this? Don’t waste my time
Vestri: Of course not. We’ll just go.
Guard: We found these strangers digging out the entrance to the old waterway station.
Yuri: We were trapped in the tunnels. It was traumatic.
Beth: You have suspiciously good knowledge of our city’s infrastructure.
Yuri Talk Sense (+sense, explain plan) 6-
Yuri is honest with Beth. He explains how they just fought the last Dragon to save th world from destruction, then got lost in the mines and came out here. The Fellowship has no designs for Templeton
Beth: A Dragon? You Found a Dragon and killed it? No way! Step outside for a moment, boys, I’ll get to the bottom of this.
Guard: Now, commander, remember the recent bulletin on authorized use of force!
Beth: FINE! I don’t want the Mayor in here again. What punishment is allowed?
Guard: We could hold them overnight, then community service: Maybe repairing the damage they caused.
Beth: OK, but they leave Templeton as soon as they are done.
Yuri: Thank you for your leniency.
The Dragonslayers, who could probably kill everyone in the room without breaking a sweat, allow themselves to be led to the holding cell. This is a college town, so there are always a few rowdy youths dumped here to cool off overnight. Tonight there are a few students who shaved their beards as part of a fraternity hazing ritual. They’re wearing scarves for modesty and because they are cold. The Fellowship doesn’t mind being in jail. It’s a calm place to rest for once.
Vestri: To be frank…
Yuri: Who is Frank?
Vestri: This reminds me of home. Back there I could always hear someone else’s voice as I drifted off to sleep.
Yuri: I’ve been to college twice. Undergrad. Medical school.
Vestri: Maybe we should go to sleep. Good night, Gurtin. Good luck with the beards, kids.
The next morning, the guards release the college students and escort the Fellowship to the entrance to the waterway station so they can repair the wall. Girtin and Vestri are in their element, Yuri assists as he can, and soon the wall is as good as new.
Vestri Talk Sense (+sense, explain plan) 7-9 owe favor
Vestri: We did our time and repaired what we broke, so we’re good, right? We plan to move on, but maybe we can make a stop on the way out of town.
Guard: As long as Beth doesn’t find out.
Vestri: We won’t waste Beth’s time.
The guards let them go instead of running them out of town immediately. The Fellowship goes to the city library to learn about the Oolite Mine. Yuri asks the librarian for assistance, because he can’t read Dwarven script.
Yuri Speak Softly 10+ ask three questions
- Tell me about the Oolite Mine.
- The library has records of shipments from the mine that abruptly stop 120 years ago, but just last month the Oolites came through Templeton, on their way to re-open the mine. Very exciting!
- Tell me more about the Oolites.
- The Oolite family were secretive about their mine. There are no public maps of the mine’s layout or tunnels. Then Oolites seems thrilled to recover the mine.
- What should I be wary of when dealing with the Oolite Mine.
- Giant Dung Beetles live in the hills surrounding the mine. If you step wrong you may fall through a hole into their nests. The Oolites indicated that a great danger at the mine was no longer a problem.
Yuri thanks the librarian, and the fellowship leaves Templeton before Beth can notice them. They take the road west to a rest stop, before heading south overland.
A magical campfire burns inside a large fire-pit at the center of the camp. Those lit by the campfire’s light cannot harm each other. Travelers keep the fire buring at all times by bring their own firewood and adding it to the campfire. The Fellowship looks around and spots a familiar face, Jane, who was falsely accused of theft in a previous adventure.
Jane: Thanks for clearing my name.
Yuri: Of course. What brings you here? Are you traveling alone?
Jane: I’m on my way to Templeton, because I hear those mining students are fit!
Jane flexes her skinny arms and grins.
Vestri: So you’re searching for a young man? Since we last met, we defeated a dragon!
Yuri: Do we help her find a beau? Or maybe food?
Jane: Dont worry about me. I’m great with people. Watch.
Jane walks over to a group of travelers and effortlessly adds herself to the group. Soon they are joking and laughing and sharing their supplies with her.
After a restful night of magically-enforced peace, the Fellowship leaves the road and travels south through rocky hills, carefully avoiding the Dung Beetles holes. As they come over a ridge, they see the Oolite Mine ahead, with miners scurries busily about. A closer look reveals a chocking fact: These Dwarven miners are made of metal!
NO END OF SESSION MOVE