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 party lied so well that the lie became truth, and got a ride to Bertha, the giant flying turtle with an ice castle on her back
The Fellowship hops off Aku onto Bertha’s huge shell. At the edge the slope is significant, but there’s enough grip to not be dangerous. The shell is think enough to protect Bertha from the heat of Buckle’s feet. Buckle greets Bertha, and she rumbles in acknowledgement. Gertrude, the shiny Steward of king Bernard emerges from the castle to greet the Fellowship, refracting rainbows through her clear crystalline body.
- Gertrude she/her, Iridescent Rain Steward: A curiously beautiful monster that glistens in the sun.
- Rainbow Glow: Anyone within the iridescent rain’s light is filled with Hope, unless they are rolling against the iridescent rain.
- Water Jets: The iridescent rain can blast away anyone it pleases, sending them flying away from it on a jet of water. Only those within Melee range can be blasted away by this attack.
Gertrude: Welcome back, Buckle and Stella! What brings you to us?
Stella: Where do we even start?
Buckle: Who’s idea was it to get the Rain?
Stella: We’re the ones who must do it.
Buckle: We need to trade for clothes with the Rain in Lichenton. and so we climbed the Mountain. We didn’t go through the tunnel because of the Fire Elemental, but we still ran into the Fire Elemental and…
Gertrude: Wait, more Rain? What’s Lichenton?
Buckle: Yeah, lots. Northwest of Bogden in mountains. They make special clothes. Well, they don’t actually sew the clothes, they manufacture them with flywheels.
Gertrude: What exciting news! King Bernardwill want to hear. Even ******* would want to know.
That word, apparently the name of another person, is unpronouncable by humanoid mouths. The Fellowship needs and audience with King Bernard, but Bernard’s castle is made of ice and Buckle would destroy it with his blazing heat.
Buckle: Do you have any fireproof clothing?
Gertrude: Clothing isn’t really something that Rain do. Except Lichenton, apparently. They’ve diverged so much… Stay here and I’ll get you an audience.
Gertrude returns to the castle, and a short time later, King Bernard comes out to meet them on Bertha’s shell. Bernard is a large man, all polished facets of ice, with a crown of ice crystals (probably part of his body) on his head.
- Bernard, he/him, Rain King
- Threat to the World: Anyone taking direct action again him has Despair.
- Freezing Touch: Anything touching Bernard will rapidly lose all heat, becoming coated in a thin layer of ice within moments. Anyone frozen this way cannot use any frozen parts of their body, and if they become fully frozen, they are Taken Out.
- Snowstorm: Snow follows Bernard wherever they go. This makes any area with Bernard slippery and unsafe by default.
Snow falls around him, and he freezes what he touches, leaving a layer of ice on Bertha’s shell where he walks. The snow melts around Buckle, so he doesn’t really notice. The snow collecting on Bertha’s sloped shell causes Stella to lose her footing. She throws out the Wire-Port and teleports to the ice behind Bernard. She pulls out King’s remaining sword and stabs it into the ice to give herself something to hold on.
Stella Overcome 7-9 pay a price
Stella damages a stat
Stella cuts herself with the sword, but that’s not all. Bernard and Gertrude are shocked as Stella appears behind the king and draws a sword. Two ice spikes fly in from different directions, stabbing Stella. Bernard’s two bodyguards, previously hidden, reveal themselves.
Bernard is angered: Increase Response Level to 3
Bertha’s Ice Castle gains Sheriff: a Threat emerges to arrest a member of the fellowship
- Bernard’s bodyguards, Shadow Rain: A sneaky and deadly slime that strikes from darkness.
- Ambush Tactics: When attacking someone who does not know where the shadow rain is attacking from, it is Piercing and Necrotic.
- Mostly Invisible: Shadow rain is Secret, and remains Secret until this stat is damaged. In addition, nobody can see the shadow rain’s attacks coming while it is Secret. This stat becomes damaged if anyone Looks Closely in an area with shadow rain hiding in it.
Stella takes two necrotic damage
GM Note: These two assassins were there the whole time, even the first time the Fellowship met Bernard, but they remained hidden and the Fellowship never noticed them.
Bernard: What’s the meaning of this? I trusted you!
Buckle is also shocked and just stammers.
Stella: I wasn’t attacking you! Everything was slippery and I was falling, so I got to something solid!
Buckle: That’s Ice Climbing 101. We fleshy folk have to climb mountains sometimes.
Stella Talk Sense (+Sense, explain plan) +Hope (Buckle’s assistance) +Despair (damaged Sense) 7-9 owe a favor
Bernard: OK, because of your previous help, I’ll believe you, but stay right there.
Bernard extends a pseudopod and touches Stella’s feet, freezing her to the spot.
Bernard: Alright, let’s settle our turbulence and discuss the news you brought.
Buckle: The Rain in Lichenton want to meet you.
Bernard: Another community of Rain? Must be one of the lost shards. Yes, we’re always happy to meet our fellow travelers. Where is Lichenton?
Buckle: Just North and East of here. Aku could tell Bertha the way. What’s a shard?
Bernard: A shard that split from our Great Comet when we arrived.
Bernard points down at the icy metal object in the crater below.
Buckle Speak Softly 6- ask 3 questions, 1 unhelpful answer, 1 false answer
- What can you tell us about the comet?
- Bernard: That’s one of our cultural secrets. I can’t even tell you its true name.
- What are the Rain doing? What will they do next?
- Bernard: You’re helping us settle a controversy. Some aren’t sure that finding lost shards is important. Ohers say we need to contact all our people.
- Stella remembers her quest to bring all Halflings home, that turned out to be based on bad information. Sometimes you shouldn’t gather all your people.
- What does Bernard want? How can we help them get it?
- Gertrude runs over to Bernard and they put their heads together for a moment.
- Bernard: Do you know Willow’s Landing? We here there’s a Rain settlement south of there. Please check it out.
Buckle remembers his awkward visit to Willow’s Landing and isn’t keen to repeat it.
Stella: We have the first stop and you have the second. Bertha can fly you to Lichenton, then fly us to Willow’s Landing. Maybe Aku can fly along with us. His home is in the same direction.
Bernard: Sadly, Buckle can’t stay in the castle during the journey.
Buckle: Wait, can you freeze me?
Bernard: An exciting challenge!
Bernard and Buckle test their heat and cold by doing the Predator handshake with a sizzle. Steam rises, and Buckle cools to a non-dangerous temperature. Bernard warms up but doesn’t melt.
Bernard: Yes, yes! This will work!
Assassin: Sire, it’s not wise to weaken yourself.
Bernard: Surely you can protect me inside my own castle.
The Assassin bows and retreated, thoroughly embarrassed.
Bernard: Excellent! Willwill prepare to take Bertha to Lichenton, but we can go no further. You’ll have to go the reset of the way alone. Bring the Rain back to Lichenton.
Gertrude needs some time to prepare the ice castle to travel, so the Fellowship has some Downtime!
Downtime: each player sets a scene
Fee calls out from Aku that they plan to leave soon.
Stella; Thank you for all your help!
Fee: That you for restoring the music!
Aku flies away to the east, back to the Singing Hills.
Downtime: each player sets a scene
Buckle walks to the edge of Bertha’s shell and looks down. He wonders how the Rain get from the crater to Bertha and back. There are threads running from bertha down to the comet. They only look like threads because Bertha and the comet are so large. They are actually pipes, and the fluid Rain squeeze through those pipes to travel up and down. What kind of pumps are needed to power these pipes. Is there a Rain turbine inside the comet? The pipes disconnect from Bertha and telescope back to the comet.
Buckle: While we’re underway, you could give me a tour.
Bernard: I’m proud of my castle and I’m happy to show it off.
Bernard returns the castle, taking the snow and cold with him. Stella breaks the ice from her feet. She could get Buckle to melt it, but this way lets her get some anger out. She asks how long until Bertha departs. She has one hour to to spend. Stella runs giddily to the back of Bertha, slides down her shell, then flips over the edge and sticks to the underside
Stella Animal Traits: Wall Crawler
She walks upside-down on Stella’s lower shell, looking “up” at the crater. She concentrates on the comet and feels something cool run over her foot. She looks at the shell and sees a wave approaching her! Several Rain are using their surface tension to slide under Bertha. Stella comes back to the top side, completely soaked.
Stella: I hate water!
Downtime: the Framework sets a scene or advances their plans
GM note: Secret things happen that I don’t tell the players about.
Stella wants to Fill Her Belly to heal al lthe damage she took, but Gus carries the food, and she left him back on the Miranda! Bertha gets underway. Bernard puts his arm around Buckle and shows him around the castle: the throne room, the battlements, the tower. They look informal and chummy, but Bernard is constantly exerting himself to keep Buckle’s volcanic heat at bay.
Buckle: How strong are these wall? Ice is usually brittle.
Bernard: We rely on Bertha’s shell quite a bit.
Buckle: What kind of attacks do you face?
Bernard: You remember the beam weapon.
Buckle: I recall you hid behind a mountain.
Bernard changes the subject and points out another feature of the castle. Buckle recalls that the mountain didn’t do too well against the beam weapon either.
Bertha’s Ice Castle Frozen: this Location is very cold and requires Cold protection
Stella has to keep active to stay warm, so she jumps around and runs in place for the whole trip.
Stella Animal Traits: Jumping Spider
Bertha arrives at Lichenton and lands just downstream with her flippers on opposite sides of the river. Cabochon and other Rain come out to see this spectacle.
Buckle: Hey, look who we brought!
Cabochon: Amazing! Truly unprecedented!
Gertrude: May I present King Bernard, ruler of the Ice Castle, Grand Pilot of the Great Flying Turtle Bertha.
Cabochon: You must meet with Mossmaster immediately.
Cabochon sends Bernard and his party to meet Mossmaster and pulls the Fellowship aside to the Trade Depot.
Cabochon: The weavers have been busy and your payment is ready. Three suits of fire-proof clothing, as promised.
The Fellowship has completed a quest! Wonderful. They take the clothes and walk downstream towards the Miranda. They left it damaged and suspended over the river on Giant Spider webs. What happened while they were away? Why is smoke rising over the trees? Gus runs up to them. His skin is blackened by soot and his hair is smoking.
Gus: I’m so glad you’re back!
END OF SESSION MOVE
- Did we thorougly explore a new location? YES
- Did anyone find what they were looking for? YES
- Did we learn something new about the world and its people? YES
Three boons:
- Level up Stella & Buckle. Stella shares Sting Like A Bee with Buckle
- Heal: Stella heals a stat. Stella heals Necrotic damage to a stat
- Restore gear