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 traveled to gather allies to protect the Hidden Library, and they had to settle a labor dispute to do it. There’s not much time before the invasion. Who else can they recruit in time?
GM note: Scheduling troubles delayed this session, but diagetically it takes place before the start of the invasion. Also, this session was limited to one hour.
The Mayor agreed to send 50 warriors to defend the Hidden Library in exchange for the Fellowship’s assistance with the strike. Buckle and Stella consider which style of warrior they want. Dwarven Bersekers, Dwarven Defenders, or Dwarven Gunners. They send the Mayor’s messenger hawk back to Templeton with a request for a Gang of Dwarven Gunners.
- Gang of Dwarven Gunners: Dwarven riflemen are famous throughout the world for their excessive use of black powder.
- Powder keg: If this stat is damaged, the gunner explodes, causing collateral damage.
- Sturdy Rifle: When the gunner has an open shot, they may damage this stat to immediately deal damage to anybody. If they can get some time and safety, they heal this stat.
- Gang: This enemy can act against everyone at once. When this enemy is destroyed, this stat is damaged, or this is their only stat left, replace the Gang with two Groups of this enemy. This stat can only be damaged by Area, Dangerous, or Giant attacks.
As the Fellowship leaves the Oolite Mine, they ask the Giant Dung Beetles for help.
Buckle: We have things sorted out with the people at the mine. How are y’all doing? Any problems? I’m wondering if you can help us out with a problem of our own. So, important to learn about the world and share what you’ve learned with other people. There’s a magical place where people collect knowledge and make it available for free as long as everyone gets along. People who don’t get along are coming to take it away from the rest of the world. Can you help us keep that available for everyone.
Dung Beetle: Ah, that would be like some of use closing off the mushroom chamber and no one else gets to eat the mushrooms. That would be wrong.
Buckle: Yes! And any information that interests you about mushrooms, we’ll help you get that, as long as this place stays open.
Buckle Talk Sense (+Wisdom, appeal to emotions) 10+
A Group of Giant Dung Beetles agree to protect the library.
GM note: I had to make up stats for Giant Dung Beetles because they aren’t in any books. We invented these creatures especially for this fictional world.
- Group of Giant Dung Beetles. These beetles are much larger than normal, the size of a hatchback car, but they aren’t big enough to have the Giant tag.
- Armored: This stat must be damaged twice.
- Rolling Boulders: Damage this stat to deal damage to an enemy OR Keep Them Busy. The enemy must be downhill from the Giant Dung Beetle.
- 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.
The Ghost Librarian said that the previous defense of the library included warriors and mages. The Fellowship has recruited warriors, so now they think back on the magical people they have met. There’s Samantha in the swamp next to Fairmeadow. Lady Evelynn seems to have some magic, but she hates them. The Fellowship actually has lots of friends around the world. In addition to Templeton, the Giant Dung Beetles, and Samantha, they’ve gained fellowship with Aku the Sky Serpent in the Singing Hills.
The Fellowship travels to Samantha’s Swamp. The Giant Dung Beetles follow because they don’t know how to get to the libarary. Since they have Samantha’s fellowship, the crows that watch the borders recognize them and fly off to tell Samantha. After a little while, she appears and greets them.
Stella: We don’t have much time to explain, but there’s this library, and it’s awesome, and O’Later is going to come and take it over, and do eveil things and we need your help. And maybe Ferdinand’s.
Samantha: There’s important Elf business to the south so he’s traveling there by himself. It’s a big step. I’m proud of him.
Stella and Buckle quickly express their approval and return to the urgent subject of the invasion.
Samantha: What exactly do you need of me?
Stella: We know that magic was used to defend the library in the past and your the nicest magical person we know so we’d like you to come help us!
Stella Talk Sense (+sense, explain plan) 10+
Samantha: Wow, my reputation is “prickly” if people are being generous, so it’s nice to hear you say that. I will do what I can.
GM note: The date of the invasion is “November 2023” a real date. The characters know the in-game date when the invasion happens, but we haven’t invented an in-game calendar, so we have to talk around it when telling allies when they will fight. “The invasion will be on Known Game Day” and so on.
Stella: Feel free to pick up any magical friends you have on the way.
Samantha: I’m a loner, but I’ll be able to gather various reagents here before I set out.
- Samantha she/her Human swamp witch. A master of secret magic
- Forest’s Power: The elder knows everything that happens in their forest. They can command the trees and plants to move however they like, and capture sleeping or downed foes in the thick of the woods.
- Mystic Power: The elder can damage this stat to cast a powerful spell. The spell does exactly as they say it does.
Stella: By the way, when you go to the Hidden Library, do you mind taking our friends? We need to go talk to Aku.
Buckle Talk Sense (+Sense, explain plan) 7-9 owe a favor
She agrees, and the Fellowship sets out again. They go to the river on the western edge of the swamp and attempt to hail a passing boat going upriver. The first ship is a cargo vessel with supplies stacked up on the deck. Stella looks for another boat, maybe The Hibernia? Or the least threatening-looking ship, in case the boat’s crew turns out to be nefarious. Next comes a river boat ready to go far upriver into rough territory. The captain is Humphrey Stewart, a grey-haired chubby man. His crew are wiry youths He waves his beat-up captain’s hat in response to Stella’s hail. Buckle’s wearing his fire-proof suit, so they don’t have to worry about buckle destroying the boat.
Stella: For this bag of money please take us to….
Buckle: To the turn in the river where the two volcanoes are.
Stella spends 1 Precious item
Humphrey: Yes, some fascinating geological stuff there. Why is one volcano active and the other not? If I were a geologist, I might stop there too. We’re going far upriver. There’s a strange swamp…
Buckle: Oh, where the Vampire Fairies are?
Humphrey stops and stares.
Buckle: We stole their dinosaur.
Humphrey: What? That doesn’t make sense. I’ve heard of the ecosystem doesn’t seem like it would support dinosaurs.
Stella: What my friend is trying to say is we too are adventurers and would love a ride. Thank you so much.
Humphrey Stewart What News Do You Bring?: Humphrey will tell you one interesting fact or piece of news for each that you share with him, once per person.
Along the way, they trade stories. Humphrey specializes in Natural Science, but he’s also passed through many cities and towns, so he has a lot of stories to tell.
Buckle: There aren’t dinosaurs there anymore. We took their dinosaur back to the land of dinosaurs.
Humphrey: We just finished baling out the boat. This cargo ship rudely splashed us with its wake. They think they’re special because they’re carrying the gear for the Mutual Defense Force coming up from Vieport to Sugar’s Crossing. The Snakefolk are replacing the Elves.
Buckle: Oh, right. Sugar’s Crossing has a rotating guard.
Stella: That active volcano isn’t really active. A hidden city of Goblins burns their trash and releases the smoke from the volcano’s caldera.
Humphrey: I also have an artificial mountain fact. If you were going a bit further, around the bend, there’s a strange mountain with some giant industrial work cut into it.
Buckle: Oh yeah, the Anti-Moon Weapon. vampires built it to take out the Dragons that are on the Moon. Technically they’re Kobolds. There’s only one modern Dragon that I know of. I don’t know if you knew, but there are a lot of Vampires. They’re going to attack the Library.
Humphrey: You know so many rumors. I’m all out of rumors.
Buckle: They’re not rumors. They’re just our lives.
Humphrey motions one of his crew over and tells them to start writing grants for expeditions to study the Anti-Moon Weapon and the Moon.
At Sugar’s Crossing, Humphrey goes to buy some defenses against Vampires. The Fellowship checks the Sugar’s Crossing Message Board but only find old messages from themselves. They mostly stay on the boat to avoid the guards’ notice. They are enemies of Vieport. Soon after leaving Sugar’s Crossing, the boat approaches the Hidden Library and the Fellowship disembarks.
Buckle: Thank you for the ride. It was a pleasure cruise. Don’t tell Evelynn we were here.
Humphrey: I asked her for a grant once. It didn’t go well.
Buckle: Did she turn into a giant shadow and try to smoosh you? Put you in her dungeon? Send a Phoenix after you?
Humphrey: It was a strongly worded rejection letter.
The Fellowship walks up the paved path to the volcano’s rim. At the top, several boulders have been set up as anti-seige weapons. By pulling out their supports, the boulders can be sent tumblign down the mountain onto invaders. They are perhaps redundant now that they’ve hired Giant Dung Beetles. Stella reads the Message Board while Buckle looks for the entrance to the Underground Waterways.
Edna Crusher-Harcourt: Mercenaries inbound from west. Airship will intercept. Army inbound upriver from Port Fennrick. Stay clear of debarkation point. Feel free to use boulder traps.
Lucia the Brave: Here lies an unknown and unnamed dragon. May it rest peacefully, undisturbed and honored at last. May its soul fly eternal.
Dryden of Cornwall: The beasts under my command will bow to defenders of the library. Perhaps my valor will earn back my library card.
Averiela: We planted false targeting coordinates for the Anti-Moon Cannon (avoid Vieport) Cannon is in the mountain to the west. Off to destroy cannon.
Markus Ironheart: Having heroic adventures! Happy! Let’s save the beloved library. Hurrah!
The Fellowship survey the land and consider how to array their forces. The Swarven Gunners and the Giant Dung Beetles are positioned on the rim of the caldera, so they can see enemies coming from all directions and re-position as needed. The Miranda is moored near the library on the Mighty River. They send Rose out to move the Miranda upriver to the edge of the rapids to keep it safe from whatever is happening at “debarkation point” Ugg returns from visiting his hometown of Swallet.
Ugg: It’s crazy. They don’t know there will be a huge battle over their heads.
Samantha is stationed inside the volcano, standing on the library’s ceramic shell.
Samantha: I’m plant-based, so I won’t be able to re-seal this shell. I could growa mass of brambles, but you want to keep this open, right?
Buckle: If we get some wood that’s small enough to fit in the Gunners’ barrels, we could have long-range staking weapons.
Samantha spends Mystic Power
Samantha can’t make that many stakes, but she can grow a garlic plant with a woody stem. She makes 2 stakes from Garlicwood.
2x Garlic Stakes. 1 Use. Melee. If a Vampire is damaged by this weapon, it must flee the scene.
Everyone is in place. The Fellowship is ready to face the invasion!
END OF SESSION MOVE
- Did we thoroughly explore a new location?
- NO. They did explore the Dwarven Waterways, but not every stop, so that’s not through.
- Did anyone find what they were seeking?
- YES. Buckle wants to keep people safe.
- Did we discover something knew about the world or its people?
- Buckle already knew all the rumors that Humphrey tried to tell him.
- YES. Miners’ labor union in Templeton.
2 boons: Heal, Heal
Hidden Library Message Board
Buckle: We are defending the library rim, but we need more magicians to help seal the library if needed.