Chasing the Sunset is a West Marches-style exploration game using Fellowship 2nd Edition‘s Horizon rules.
The fellowship: Edna Crusher-Harcourt the Ogre/Knight, Vestri the Dwarf, Yuri the Outlander/Apex
Last time, the Fellowship fought a fleet of landing ships carrying an army to invade the Hidden Library. Now they must deal with the aftermath of the invasion.
Edna: We did our part, but we should see how everyone else did. What’s the situation at the library?
Vestri: I will show you the path.
GM note: Vestri participated in the last line of defense via an assist move, even though his player was not present at that session.
The Fellowship sees a pit on the side of the mountain, with an Undead Dragon trying to climb out. It’s a headless skeleton with purple fire streaming out of the neck. Yuri balances his fiery sword on his finger and points it at the Undead Dragon. It swings up to point towards the peak of the mountain.
Edna: Oh yeah. I killed this thing twice last night. I think we need to lay it to rest instead of fighting it. You’re not going to believe this, but my other friends and I found a Dragon skull and buried it on this mountain. And now there’s a headless Undead Dragon here. I think it might be the same Dragon.
- Zweiharn it/its undead Dragon. A skeleton with no skull. Transparent ectoplasm fills out the shape of a headless dragon with no wings. Purple flame spills from its neck like the pilot light on a very large flamethrower. A small purple flame on the tip of its tail makes it look a bit like Charmander.
- Necrofire: The zombie dragon is Melee, Necrotic, and Ranged.
- Undying: When this stat is damaged, the zombie dragon becomes inert and cannot do anything. When the scene ends, heal all of the zombie dragon’s damaged stats. The dragon can only be destroyed if this stat is removed, or if the proper ritual is performed upon its inert body.
Vestri: We need to do the ritual, so let’s find the head.
Edna: I’m worried it will get out before we get the head
Vestri speaks to the earth, asking it to keep the Undead Dragon contained. As it scrambles at the edge of the pit with its claws, a huge chunk of dirt breaks off, partially burying it. Edna leads the Fellowship towards where she buried the Dragon skull, and reads the Hidden Library Message Board.
Stella: Don’t let the headless Undead Dragon out of the trap/hole.
Buckle: We’re going for Aku the Dragon’s help. Don’t let the army or Bloodletter out of the library until they starve to death.
An army in the library? We can’t deal with that right now. Vestri, Bork, and Edna dig up huge Dragon Skull. The burial site is near the volcano’s rim. The Fellowship looks down into the caldera and sees five Dwarven Tunnelers. One is driven into the entrance, blocking it. The other four are abandoned. There’s a hole in the side of the caldera that leads off underground. A Harpy Eagle and a small Phoenix circle overhead. On the far side of the mountain, about a dozen Dwarves roll around in Despair. They’ve abandoned their rifles. A Giant Dung Beetle is in the same situation.
Edna: Watch out for the flamethrower. See? You don’t want to get any on yourself.
Yuri: How do we avoid this fire?
Edna: I’ll draw its attention. I’ll stay at max range and dodge its fire.
Vestri: Yes, if you’ve beaten twice already, I think it will focus in on you.
Bork carries the Dragon skull over her head like a canoe and the Fellowship returns to fight the Undead Dragon. It pulls itself out of the pit and spits Necrofire at Edna. Edna dodges, but each time it leads its shots a little better. Yuri leaps down on top of it like Link’s down attack in Smash Brothers! He smites it with a mighty blow! The skeleton goes limp and the ectoplasm oozes out in a big puddle.
Edna: That’s great! Two for you. Four for me! Bork, bring it in!
Vestri has to sprint to keep up with the tall Ogres and the jumping Human. They put the skull onto the skeleton and the ectoplasm floats away and disappates like soap bubbles. Zweiharn the Dragon is finally at peace.
GM note: While visiting a high-school friend, I played a game with his three young daughters. I used very simple rules, since some were too young to read. There was a Goblin riding a motorcycle with a drill on the front, a Spider-person who looked like a superhero, and a Mermaid. A hundred years ago, before the surprise attack that wiped out the Dragons, Zweiharn was looking for special mushrooms in the Fairy Forest. He wanted mushrooms that imitated sunlight to help against Vampires. Trickster Fairies messed with him, and one of those Fairies was a Vampire. The Goblin and Spider-Person assisted the Dragon, but the Mermaid helped the Vampire Fairy. Zweiharn swallowed the Vampire Fairy and I thought the story was over, but the Mermaid literally snatched victory from the jaws of defeat by diving into Zweiharn’s mouth and pulling the Vampire Fairy out! I said that Zweiharn ran away defeated, but the players chanted, “He’s dead! He’s dead!” So he died. In “the present” Zweiharn’s skull was displayed in the Fairy Forest as a warning, and another Vampire did horrible necromancer experiments to re-animate the body. Both the skull and body ended up on this mountain, and that’s why putting the unkillable Dragon to rest was so simple.
Vestri: Are the bones valuable?
Edna: Maybe we should take it back to the Doomsday Engine. That’s like a Dragon place.
Yuri: We can bury it in the pit.
Edna: There are so many graves on this mountain!
Edna and Bork pick up the skeleton at the shoulders and hips, and little Vestri holds the tail. They carry it to the pit that it recently climbed out of. Yuri muses that Heath, their Remnant friend, would have known the proper procedure.
Vestri: It’s like those Elves in the ghost town. Do they like being buried? Who wouldn’t like being buried?
Yuri: Do Dragons want to be burned?
The Siege Tank that got past the Fellowship last night is here on top of the mountain, smashed and ruined. Vestri uses his tools to put some of the Siege Tanks spikes onto Hundrin, his Dwarven Tunneler.
A Dwarven Tunneler down by the library entrance revs up.
Gurtin: Oh no. They’re going to cook the engine!
The Fellowship looks over the edge. There are two spiral staircases leading from the rim to the entrance. Halfway down one staircase, the stairs are broken, and the wall is scorched, like something exploded there. A Goblin is driving the Dwarven Tunneler that’s jammed into the library’s entrance. Its treads are spinning and it’s slowly pushed back. Two Dwarven Defenders have their shields up on the drill, and a large number of people behind them are pushing, overpowering the Dwarven Defender.
Vestri: I think we should get rid of everybody…
Yuri: What do you mean, “get rid”?
Vestri: Remove them the premises, not murder.
Yuri: Removed from premises would be removed from library, which is what they said not to do.
Edna leaps down, picks up one of the four other Dwarven Tunnelers, and jams it in next to the other Dwarven Tunneler. She actually knocks the first Dwarven Tunneler out of the way! The Dwarven Defenders rush out, and Edna can see about a hundred soldiers inside the library right behind them.
- 2x Dwarven Defender: Trained in the art of the tower shield, this dwarf will defend you through thick and thin. They drive the Tunnelers & put their shields over the vehicles as armor.
- Loyal: The defender can damage this stat to prevent damage to someone.
- Shield-Bearer: The defender and anyone standing next to them cannot be damaged from the front.
- Gang of Warriors: A number of warriors armed with a variety of Melee spears and axes. They are mostly undead, so they don’t feel pain or fear. They will easily overpower anyone one-on-one.
- Overpowering: Anyone trying to act alone against the warriors must pay a price. If they are a Gang or Army, the warriors are Piercing and Giant.
- 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.
- Bloodletter she/her Goblin Vampire: This tenacious old battleaxe never surrenders, and will sacrifice every last one of their minions to make sure they don’t either. She finds the process of removing blood (from other people) significantly improves her mood and situation.
- Defiant Command: All nearby Horde threats, including this one, deal damage back to anyone who deals damage to them. This counter-attack damage happens simultaneously to the damage it is responding to.
The library invaders are trying to rush past, not fight. The Warriors have axes in one hand and a pile of papers under the other arm. Their backpacks are full of books. Gurtin blocks one Dwarven Defender, and Edna backs up to the tunnel entrance and keeps the whole Gang of Warriors from leaving.
Yuri looks for Bloodletter, the commander. She’s heading for a Dwarven Tunneler, guarded by the other Dwarven Defender. Yuri jumps on a nearby Warrior, knocking him down on top of Bloodletter. Vestri is familiar with Dwarven Defenders and knows there’s no point attacking Bloodletter until her bodyguard is dealt with. Vestri jumps to tackle the Dwarven Defender near Bloodletter, and bounces off his shield. If Vestri digs in his heels, he can pick up a Dragon, but in mid-air, he only has his momentum. Bloodletter crawls out from under Yuri and bites him, then gets into the Dwarven Tunneler with her Defender. They drive right at Edna, hoping to break through into the tunnel. Vestri picks up the back of the Dwarven Tunneler, preventing it from driving forward. Yuri slashes the treads with his fiery sword. When Vestri puts the Dwarven Tunneler down, the wheels spit the broken treads up like printer paper. It’s not going anywhere.
Meanwhile, the Warriors can’t get into the tunnel past Edna, so they attack. Edna dodges and parries dozens of axes, then sees a Warrior going for Ol’ Jardiner and steps in front of the blow. Yuri waves his fiery sword wildly to keep the Warriors away. He frantically shuffles around and stubs his venomous spurs because he’s not entirely used to his new bestial body parts. Vestri rips an armor plate off of Bloodletter’s disabled Dwarven Tunneler and uses it as a shield.
Bloodletter: Don’t get distracted! We need to bring the knowledge back to Port Fennrick!
Bork: There’s hardly anything to go back to! I came on the ships and just as we left, City Hall was leveled! You see the burning Siege Tank up there? O’Later is dead! What are we fighting for?
Bork is big and scary and the Warriors recognize her from Port Fennrick, so they at least pause to listen. Edna wonders if this information is enough to make Bloodletter drop the library and go back to Port Fennrick.
Edna: Do I want Bloodletter to take over Port Fennrick? I think I could run Port Fennrick.
Yuri: You’ve got the money, and it would piss off that other lady. The other rich lady. Another E name.
Edna: I killed her last night. She was one of the mercenaries.
The invaders regroup to consider the new information. Bloodletter is flanked by the two Dwarven Defenders, in the center of the Gang of Warriors. The Fellowship huddles to come up with the perfect argument to solve the situation peacefully.
Yuri: Forget this library stuff. Focus on rebuilding and leading Port Fennrick
Bloodletter: Alright, troops. O’Later had a grand plan and totally failed. The town is in ruins. The only effective people around are us! Stealing this information was part of O’Later’s plan, which was a total failure. Let’s get back to Port Fennrick and fix what he ruined.
The invaders drop their stolen books and head down the tunnel: Bloodletter, two Dwarven Defenders, three Dwarven Tunnelers, and 100 Warriors. Edna lets them pass. Ugg and Rose (in the Dwarven Tunneler that was blocking the entrance) leave to report this development to their Fellowship.
Vestri: The next thing we should do is bring all the scrolls to the book return. Let’s do a little community service!
The Ghost Librarian can’t leave the library, but she pushes all the book carts out to the entrance and the Fellowship loads them up. She’s grateful that the invaders are gone, but has a lot of work to do, re-organizing the collection and checking for damage.
Edna: I was thinking I could run Port Fennrick. I’d definitely kill fewer people than Bloodletter.
Vestri: Do you really want to run a town, Edna?
Edna: I just found out about commerce, and Port Fennrick does a lot of commerce.
Vestri: True, but would it not end your time adventuring? We would gladly come and visit, but we prefer when you accompany us.
Yuri: You could always have someone run your estate.
Edna: You mean the Crusher-Harcourt estate? My parents run that.
Bork: I ran the docks. That’s, like, half the town,
GM note: Do I retire Edna and build Ol’Jardiner as a full character? That’s what Lucia’s player did, bringing Markus out for an adventure.
The Fellowship fills their bellies then prepares to head for Port Fennrick. Edna puts all her small friends in her apron, and gives Bork a piggyback ride. Edna leaps along the Mighty River towards Port Fennrick. Bork enjoys the ride and the view.
Bork: At some point we need to clear the Mighty River because that’s, like, half our traffic. Y’all stopped it up pretty good.
Edna jumps back to the site of last night’s fight. Giant punji sticks in the river bed hold several shipwrecks in place, mostly blocking the passage. Vestri doesn’t like water because he’s so dense that he sinks.
Yuri: You won’t get swept away by any currents because you’re, like, 500 pounds. Just hold your breath, walk, and pull.
Vestri: OK, I need someone to help me build an apparatus to breathe through, DOCTOR.
Edna pulls the giant punji sticks out of the river bed. She’s dense enough to walk along the bottom. For the sticks in the center of the river where the water is over her head, she holds her breath. Bork and Vestri re-float the largest pieces of hull and pile the broken pieces on top of them. Vestri and Edna walk on either riverbank and pull the make-shift barges down the river by ropes.
NO END-OF-SESSION MOVE