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 recovered in Finsea, then investigated the ruins of Sunpeak and found Fafnir’s spirit. She’s dead! Buckle stormed off by himself.
This time, Stella pursues Buckle as he seeks revenge.
As he walks down the tunnel that seems to be how the Gaint Robot Spider left the Ruins of Sunpeak, Buckle calmly chants the platypus warrior chant and marks himself with war paint.
The tunnel goes through the cellar of a large building. He finds himself in a big stone room full of stuff that a rich person wouldn’t use often, like paintings and suits of armor. Doors lead to other rooms. One room looks like a pantry, but it’s empty. Apparently someone took all the food, but left the treasure. Buckle rummages for non-conductive or insultated metal to use for armor, and anything that’s mechanical or electrical
- Is something hidden or out of place? Specifically strange things that could be MacGuyvered into weapons.
- There’s an enormous guillotine. The trap for the neck is 20 feet up. Two large stones, one on either side, are connected by a system of pulleys to the blade. When the stones drop, the pulleys multiply the force, but reduce the speed of the blade. It can destroy anything, but the trick is getting something in place.
- Over-sized leatherworking tools.
- Someone’s project to automate leatherworking has been abandoned here. It’s a wooden torso with various blades on jointed arms.
- broken Fire Droid: This humanoid war machine is equipped with high powered flame throwers, and is designed to destroy and eliminate fleshy enemies.
- Flamethrower: The Fire Droid sets fire to the areas it has been told to burn down, and it will keep them burning until there is nothing flammable left. Its attacks are Ranged, Burning, and Dangerous.
- Fireproof: The Fire Droid is not harmed by heat and fire.
- Tell me about the armor. How could it hurt me or help me?
- There are metal suits of armor with oversized gorgets and collars.
- Cleverly arranged laquered slats of wood, connected with cords of plant fiber, comprise an Elven suit of armor. Where a metal suit of armor would use maille to cover flexible joints, this armor weaves a tough type of grass. Buckle’s fiery body would ignite the wood, so he’d have to wear his fire-proof suit underneath, which would be clumsy.
- There’s a broken Fire Droid.
- What will happen if I take the time to create weapons I can use against the Giant Robot Spider?
- The creatures still in the house will find you.
As Buckle has yanked the pulleys off the giant guillotine and created a base for the leatherworking automaton to sit on. He’s in the process of attaching the flamethrower to one of the automaton’s arms when Charlene rides in on Chip!
- Charlene she/her Elf dinosaur wrangler
- Lasso: Charlene can wield rope in unusual ways. She’s able to grab foes from a short distance away, tying them up to pull off of their mounts, or keeping them still for easy target practice.
- Quick Draw: Charlene has a six shooter (Ranged, Piercing, Reload). She always wins in a contest of sharpshooting.
- Rodeo: Charlene can ride any animal big enough to hold her, and tame it for riding within a minute.
- Chip it/its Varg These massive wolves are large enough for a full grown ogre to ride, and surly enough to make an ogre think twice about doing it.
- Cruel Beast: A Varg is wild and malicious, and cannot be tamed easily. Anyone trying to ride it must Pay a Price.
- Go For The Jugular: A Varg that gets up on top of somebody instantly deals damage to them.
Chelene orders Chip to attack the intruder.
Buckle: Excuse me, do you have a holocaust cloak?
Chatting does not stop a Varg’s charge, so it tackles and bites him, then recoils as Buckle fiery body burns its paws. Buckle’s reaction is confusing enough that Charlene wants to talk, just to figure out what his deal is.
Cherlene: No, I don’t know about a holocaust cloak. How did you get down here? Oh, this room has a tunnel in it.
Buckle: You see, I’m going to need one for this decoy, when I go after the Ice Queen who killed my daughter.
Cherlene: How did you get in here?
Buckle looks at her like she’s dense.
Buckle: Did you not realize that the mountain has been destroyed?
Cherlene: Yeah, that’s why I’ve been stuck here. The staircases are smashed. Chip’s been trying to dig out, but I don’t know how deep we are.
Buckle rambles about the Ice Queen who wanted to destroy the mountain, and he tried to stop her by sending a Dragon, but it didn’t work, and now he’s going to find Petra.
Charlene: A Dragon died? Cool. Good. You came that way?
Charlene heads north into the tunnel that Buckle used to get here. Buckle calls after her, but she’s not listening.
Back on the surface, at the ruins of Sunpeak, Stella wonders how to honor Buckle’s relationship with Fafnir. Fafnir’s spirit is still here, and Stella may ask her one question, like any Dragon spirit. The previous time Stella visited Sunpeak, the skeletons of the great Dragons were on the surface, but Fafnir died in a collapse, so her body is buried somwhere, probably where her spirit appears. Stella digs slowly, stablizing the debris as she goes so she doesn’t end up buried too.
A giant wolf’s head appears above Stella. Chip sniffs at her, and Charlene also looks down the hole.
Charlene: Is that Stella?
Charlene met Stella and Buckle when they passed through the Lazy-I Ranch. She’s amazed to see an acquiantance.
Stella: We tried to come back to the ranch and it was gone.
Charlene: Yeah, disaster after disaster. A huge landslide came down from–this is where Sunpeak used to be! I was in the main house when I saw it and I ran to the basement….
Charlene trails off and stares. The Lazy-I Ranch used to be a green valley surrounded by mountains. Now there’s just rocky debris sloping down to meet the foothills of the Treacherous Mountains to the south.
Stella jumps out of the hole and approaches to offer Charlene some food.
Stella: This has been a really long day for all of us. You look like you could use something to eat.
This kindness is super-effective. They sit down and share a meal. Charlene starts eating and tears run down her face without her noticing. She’s having a lot of emotions right now. Stella forms a bond with Charlene. Stella has a chat when Charlene is ready to talk.
- What does she want and how could I help her get it?
- She wants to find out if anyone else survived.
- What can she tell us about Petra?
- Charlene remembers when Petra’s expedition stopped here on the way north. The boss gave Petra a lot of respect because she on official Vampire business. That meant a lot of extra work for ranch-hands like Charlene. They didn’t get to attend the fancy dinner in Petra’s honor.
- What would she have Stella do next?
- Charlene sees Boboli (the Dwarf Gold-digger) digging for treasure.
- Charlene: We gotta get this guy digging a search pattern over Lazy-I Ranch. Chip can help. He’s got a good nose. Some other buildings had cellars. Maybe some other people survived!
Boboli is not a companion, but he’s greedy, and is always available for hire. Stella offers Boboli a roll of silver coins to assist in the location and rescue of people from the ranch, with the promise that he can return to the Ruins of Sunpeak and look for gems when he’s finished. He agrees, and starts marking a grid over the Debris Bowl with Charlene and Chip.
Back in the cellar, Buckle tries to make stakes, because Petra is a Vampire. He gave his fireproof suit to Stella (to protect from the cold of Sunpeak Remnants), so he will burn any wood that he handles. He finds leather gloves, but they aren’t as nice as his fireproof suit. Alas, Buckle’s not good at using wooden or metal tools because of his fiery body and the Medallion of Cleft Sky. He makes stakes, but dulls the knife he used. So the automaton can’t wield a knife, but it can weild stakes. He’ll push the automaton in front of him on cart while it spits flames and launches stakes to terrify and distract Petra and her crew.
Buckle goes through the door where Charlene came from to see the rest of the cellar. There are staircases leading up, but they are full of rubble. Buckle searches the other rooms but doesn’t see any other living creatures. He finds some cloaks, but they aren’t fireproof. He’ll do without. The automaton basically works. He continues south down the tunnel, pushing the automaton in front of himself.
Back on the surface, Boboli’s search find a few more survivors. Some other buildings also had cellars. The collapse of the main building split the cellar in two, so there were a few other survivors in that same building, but Chip and Charlene couldn’t reach them. Chip finds a package of food at the bottom of a shallow hole. There’s a note attached.
Dryden: Despite your recent attempts to capture and kill one member of our Fellowship, we have decided to offer you opportunity to escape with supplies. Your route out is shorter. Your food is longer. We hope to see you in the future.
Buckle single-mindedly goes down the tunnel. He sees a light at the end of the tunnel and sneaks up to investigate. He sees armored Dwarves at the mouth of the tunnel, and beyond, the City of Clay. He’s on good terms with these Dwarves, so he approaches openly, not using his terrifying automaton.
Buckle: Have you seen an Ice Queen go by?
Guard: You know about her?
When Buckle leaves the tunnel, he can see patches of ice on the floor and some smashed market stalls. Dwarves chip away at a splash of ice half-encasing another Dwarf. Buckle puts his hand on the ice and melts him out.
Buckle: Yes, I’m going to find her. Who’s with me!
The Dwarves are too scared to follow the Giant Robotic Spider, but they point Buckle to where it went: the Underground Waterway Terminal. Buckle grumbles and leaves flaming footprints as he walks back to his cart and pushes it to the terminal. The usual traffic isn’t circulating. The conveyors that usually move ramps upstream are smashed in the westbound tunnel. The Giant Robot Spider squeezed through this tunnel and barely fit. Buckle’s also not good with water, so he needs a way to go upstream with his automaton. He finds Sarvesh, the Captain of the Guard.
Buckle: Find someone who can get me a tunneler, or someone who knows how to build these giant spider machines. Clearly, you’re the ones who built this thing.
Sarvesh: We don’t build giant spiders. I will take you there in a powered raft, but when you reach the end of the tunnel, I will demolish it behind you, so that thing can’t come back to our city.
Back in the Debris Bowl, Boboli and Charlene have uncovered five more survivors. One is happy to have a path to the surface, but doesn’t want to come out right now. Charlene and the others think that’s completely reasonable. Stella has two big goals:
- find Buckle, ideally convincing some of these beings to come along
- talk to Fafnir’s spirit before she leaves.
Stella makes her pitch and Charlene recognizes Buckle from Stella’s description. There’s only one flaming Platyperson.
Charlene: He was downstairs making some sort of contraption. I was locked on to the tunnel. I didn’t pay him much mind.
Stella: In the same way that you needed my help to find your people, I need your help to find my people.
Charlene is Stella’s companion, so of course she’ll help. Only one other survivor agrees to help. He’s completely covered in metal armor, so it’s hard to tell what he looks like, besides a humanoid body plan.
- Ducky, he/him Iron Collector: A magnetic blacksmith, collecting ores and metals wherever they go.
- Crude Iron: The iron collector can create Orc-Made weapons or armor on demand, for any who ask for them. They will only give one such gift to each person who asks.
- Magnetic Armor: Metal weapons cannot hurt the iron collector. Any iron or steel items that touch their body become stuck to them. Such weapons used on them are taken straight from the attacker’s hands.
Boboli: I wish you’d stick around and help me pull ore out of the ground.
Stella sends Charlene and Ducky south, with instructions to stop at the first interesting thing they find. She heads north, not telling these people (who recently worked for Vampires) that she’s going to a Dragon Spirit. She goes north from the cellar to the Ruins of Sunpeak, and the hole she was digging when Charlene interrupted. All that remains of Fafnir’s physical body at the bottom of the hole is her skeleton and piles of scales.
Stella: Fafnir, as you can imagine, Buckle is really devastated by your loss and I’m afraid that he is going to do something that harms himself and others. What is something that you would say to him, to express your love, or to ground him?
Fafnir: Of course revenge against your enemies is always justified, but you don’t have to blame yourself, or feel bad for me. This was a glorious battle. There’s no better way for a warrior like me to go out. I have no regrets.
Stella takes a scale, and thanks Fafnir for her help.
She goes south through the tunnel, past the cellar, until she catches up with Ducky and Charlene, who are hding behind a rock near where the tunnel emerges into the City of Clay.
Charlene: I’m glad you’re here. The tunnel connects to the City of Clay, and Ducky has been boring me by explaining all the details of the armor of the Dwarven guards we can see from here.
The Dwarves have organized work parties to repair the damage, including bracing this tunnel in preparation to sealing the entrance. Stella and her companions hurry through to avoid being stuck.
Workman: Are you from Lazy-I Ranch or are you with the Platyperson?
Stella: Both.
Workman: Oh. Looks bad at Lazy-I Ranch. The Platyperson went to the Underground Waterway Terminal. Seemed to be in a big hurry. Very demanding.
Stella: Are there any machines that will get us to where Buckle is going faster?
The Dwarves have invented wetsuits that look like they have SCUBA tanks on the back, but those cylinders contain a turbine, not compressed air. Wearers must surface to breathe, but the turbines will propel them quickly through the water. They are prototypes, so the creators will part with them for one Precious item each. Ducky can’t wear a suit, because it has metal components, although he is fascinated by the construction of the valves. Stella pays for one suit, and tells Charlene and Ducky to follow her however they can. Stella needs to reach Buckle quickly, before he does something foolish.
GM note: I invented a simple mechanic to represent Stella chasing Buckle. Buckle started with 2 progress, and Stella with 0. Each round they roll 1d6 to see if they make progress. Buckle advances on a 1 or 2, while Stella is faster and advances on 1-4. If Stella doesn’t catch up to Buckle before he reaches 5 progress, then he reaches the Fairy Forest and Sarvesh demolishes the entrance behind him, cutting Stella off.
First roll: Stella advances & Buckle doesn’t. 1 to 2.
Stella puts on her Axolotl Mask and zooms underwater without surfacing to breathe.
Second roll: Stella advances & Buckle doesn’t. 2 to 2.
Buckle has to push pieces of debris out of the boat’s path. Sarvesh notices someone coming up behind them. Stella pulls herself onto the boat.
Buckle: Stella, you’re here! Can you push us any faster?
Stella: Buckle, where are you going? What are you doing?
Buckle: I need to get Petra.
Stella: What does “get” mean?
Buckle: Petra killed my daughter.
Stella: We did, and that’s terrible, but we have to approach this in a way that you don’t get hurt.
Buckle: There’s no “but”. She has to be stopped.
Stella: Buckle, I talked to Fafnir. I know you’re hurting a lot, and she wnats you to know that you should not blame yourself for what happened to her. She fell in glorious battle and that was the way she wanted to go. Her life ended in a way that was very satisfactory. And that doesn’t take the pain away, but this is part of her for you to carry with you.
Stella gives Fafnir’s scale to Buckle.
Buckle: That’s right. She lost. So someone has to win for her.
Stella: Buckle, I want to help you, but you have to work with me. I have others who are willing to help, if you just let them catch up to us.
Buckle looks at her with hope in his eyes.
Buckle: Alright, let’s get them on board!
They wait for Charlene, Chip, and Ducky, who eventually catch up on a raft. They all go to the tunnel into the Fairy Forest.
Sarvesh: Good luck, seems like you’re very motivated. I’m collapsing this tunnel behind you.
Buckle: Alright, you ready to destroy a giant metal spider and ruin an ice queen’s day?
Ducky: Metal, you say?
Charlene: Yeah, I owe it to Stella here.
Stella: We’re with you.
They march into the Fairy Forest as Sarvesh sets off demolition charges and the mouth of tunnel collapses behind them. Usually, The Fairy Forest is hard to navigate because of the dense trees and trickster fairies, but now there’s a wide path of destruction going basically south. Fairies approach to harry the travellers, but Stella and Buckle have already defeated every weapon and trick in their arsenal.
Fairies: Oh no, it’s them!
The Fellowship follows the path south and doesn’t hear the usual laughter from the branches. They reach the river, and the path continues across the river as ice. On the other side of the river is what used to be the Drowned Forest. Von Till’s castle is visible to the south. The Giant Robot Spider leaps to the top of the castle walls!
Buckle: Stella, I think we need to backtrack a bit and get the Elder Star. From the Moon. We left it in the teleporter for the Kobolds.
Stella: Let’s get it.
The Fellowship returns to the Fairy Forest.
Fairies: Oh no! Why are you back? Isn’t that a nice forest over there? It’s growing again. You like all that rebirth stuff, right?
Buckle ignores them and goes to the cave that contains the teleporter. The teleporter is there, but there are batteries installed now. The Eldar Star isn’t here, and neither are any Kobolds. Buckle figures the Kobolds took the Elder Star back to the Moon, and tries to decipher the control panel. There are about a dozen other teleporter terminals that read as ready to receive, but which is the correct one?
- What will happen if I teleport now, with the current settings?
- You would end up at other point on earth, under the Table of Fanime, home of the Kobold cult of the Eternal Spiral.
- Tell me about the Kobolds. What are they doing? What will they do next?
- They are trying to balance their traditions with the new information they recently learned. There’s no longer a hard split between “it’s our mission to stay on the Moon” and ” the mission is stupid and everyone should leave.” Some Kobolds live on the Moon, some on the planet below, and they have business with each other.
- What will happen if I teleport to the command center on the Moon?
- Buckle studies the glyphs and determines that a certain large glyph represents the command center.
Buckle: Stella, I have an idea. What if we use the Moon to destroy the spider?
Stella groans. She’s trying to avoid escalation.
Stella: Buckle, that’s too unpredictable. We can’t know that we’ll only get the spider if we use the moon.
Buckle: Then we can go get the Elder Star and destroy it ourselves.
The Fellowship teleports to the Moon. The teleporter terminal is now defended with guards and barricades, because of incidents like Buckle & Stella stealing the Eldar Star and dooming them all to a slow death.
Guards: It’s you! You stole the Eldar Star! We were all going to die!
Stella: We gave it back.
Buckle: We need your help. They killed a Dragon. It’s a Vampire with a giant spider.
As Buckle gives his speech, the Kobold guards go for a big button on a secondary control panel beyond the barricades. Stella uses her Wireport to appear next to that control panel. Since she appears at the other end without traveiling through the space between, the wire mesh of the teleport cage doesn’t stop her. She grows to maximum size (a bit bigger than a Kobold) and tackles one guard to prevent him from hitting the “Send it back!” button. The second guard steps on her and hits the button, sending Buckle, Ducky, and Charlene back to the cave.
Buckle: Do you still swear fealty to the–
Buckle realizes what happened and starts fiddling with the teleporter. The carrier signal from the terminal they just came from turns off. Buckle can’t teleport back to the control center now. He doesn’t want to be sent back again, so he tries to add a 30-second delay to all terminals on the network, and it seems to work. Since he can’t directly teleport to the control center from here, he sets the destination to the Table of Famine. The Kobolds want to keep people off the Moon, so he figures the Table of Famine would not need similar defenses.
When Buckle activates the teleporter, it malfunctions! An escalating magnetic field slams Ducky into the nearest mesh wall. The batteries make worrying whining noises. Buckle goes for the emergency stop button. Since the Kobolds aren’t complete fools, there is an emergency stop button. The teleporter shuts down and Ducky is free. Buckle goes back under the teleporter to fix whatever broke.
Back on the Moon, Kobold guards call in Kobold Pokers to capture Stella. They corner her despite her best efforts.
- Group of Kobold Pokers: These kobold warriors hide behind shields and poke their enemies with well-used spears.
- Use the Pointy Bit: The Poker’s attacks are Piercing.
- Big Shield: When an ally would be damaged while the Poker is near them, damage this stat instead.
- 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.
Guards: She pretended to fix the Moon, after those people who really fixed the Moon came through. She wants to steal the Elder Star again!
Stella: The Vampires! They’ve killed a Dragon. You have to help.
Poker Commander: You told us all the Dragons were dead!
Stella: They are now!
Guard: Junior has to make a decision on this.
Poker Commander: No, she’s too dangerous. We should send her back immediately.
Stella wants to talk to Junior, but the Kobolds open the teleporter cage and use their spears to encourage her to enter. She tries to resist, but is forced inside. Some Pokers push the points of their spears through the cage to keep Stella away from the door. When she’s teleported away, everything inside the cage, including the tips of their spears, will go with her.
Guard: Downstream is offline! Where do we send her?
Poker Commander: What about the third site?
Guard: It’s not ready. We haven’t tested it yet. We can’t send her to the stronghold.
Poker Commander: We’ll trap her here. Seal the door!
Guard: Then she controls the teleporter! We’ve got have Junior come down here. I’m still not used to making decisions.
One of the Pokers fetches Junior, the oldest Kobold and leader of those who remain on the Moon.
Junior: Why have you returned after stealing our precious artifact? We trusted you and you tried to kill us all!
Stella: There was no intent to kill.
Junior: You plead incompetence?
Stella: I do!
Junior: You’re still dangerous!
Stella: We have found a Vampire that has survived underground and is trying to take over the continent. I and my friends need your help to stop her so we can preserve all Kobold life.
They said they were saving the world from Vampires last time, so this pitch is unconvincing.
Junior: So what’s the Moon going to do?
Stella: We need a weapon that can destroy a spider tank. I think you have the ingenuity and resources to either have already made one, or be able to create one.
Junior: Ingenuity is a virtue we have not needed for a hundred years. We’re still working on it. The only weapon we have is the Moon. The planetside Kobolds live in a place full of traps and weapons. The braver and more inventive Kobolds tend to live there. The more traditional ones live up here. Also, I do not think there is an artifact there that you can steal to kill all of them. Let’s send her to the Table.
The guard confirms that the forest terminal is offline, but the Table terminal is still active. The Pokers usher Stella out of the teleport cage and around the back of the the teleporter pyramid so she can’t see what’s happening. She hears the teleporter activate twice, then she’s ushered back into the teleport cage.
Stella: Can I have an official note or something?
Junior: That’s been taken care of.
The two teleportations that she heard were a coded message and response, so the Kobolds at the Table know that the Moon Command Center is about to send something, and the Kobolds on the Moon know that Kobolds who know the code still control the other terminal.
Stella sees the room outside the cage change as her cage and the cage at the Table terminal instantly switch places. The cage is in the center of a larger room with one heavy door leading outside. Kobold guard at that outer room eye her suspiciously.
Stella: I was sent here by your comrades–
Buckle activates the teleporter in the Fairy Forest! Stella is suddenly in the cave in the Fairy Forest. Buckle appears in the Table of Famine. startling the guards. The Kobolds fall back and close the door. Sand starts falling from the ceiling. A lot of sand. This is a trap to eliminate intruders. The control panel has been moved outside the room. Buckle leaves the cage and pounds on the door. When there’s no response, he creates an explosion to tear the door off its hinges! The door bends, and sand can flow out through an opening, but it’s mostly stuck in place. Buckle and Charlene push agains the door, but can’t move it. Ducky motions them away, spreads his arms, and presses his magnetic body against the metal door. He walks backwards, pulling the door off its hinges.
Kobold: They’re breaking through! What’s Plan C?
Buckle: Do you still swear fealty to the Dragons?
Kobold: No! We’re the new Kobolds. We’ve moved beyond those outdated traditions.
Buckle: Get out of the way. I’ll do it myself.
Kobold: You want to leave? We’d like you to leave.
With the Kobolds’ assistance, Buckle turns off the sand trap and sets the destination to the Moon Command Center. Junior turned that terminal on again to send Stella here, so now Buckle can send himself back.
On the Moon, The Kobolds are relaxing after getting rid of Stella. Buckle appears!
Buckle: Do you still swear fealty to the Dragons?
Kobold Guard: Dragons? Yeah, we like Dragons. We could at least listen to him, Junior.
Buckle: The one remaining Vampire has ice powers and has murdered the last Dragon who I hatched from an egg, and I need your power to destroy her.
Junior: You absolutely cannot steal the Elder Star again. We will all die.
Buckle: Then either you need to go down to the planet and give me the Elder Star, or you need to do something with this weapon to destroy her giant spider.
Kobold Guard: The other one was a lot nicer. Why’d we send her away?
Buckle’s eyes start glowing and things start melting around him.
Junior: We’ll work on it! You remember how much work it was to change the quality of the light here. Targeting a specific machine on the surface, that’s unlike anything we’ve ever done. We’ll have top men work on it.
Buckle: I am your top man. Give me the manuals and I’ll show you want to do. Now where’s my companion?
Kobold Guard: We sent her to the Table, planetside.
Buckle: i was just there. She wasn’t there. Get her back, and while you’re getting her back. I’ll figure out this weapon.
END OF SESSION MOVE
GM note: We skipped a few end-of-session moves, so this goes back to discovering Petra’s base under the Ice Fields.
- Did we thoroughly explore a new location?
- YES. The Debris Bowl. A literal search party
- Did anyone find what they were seeking?
- YES Buckle found the Artifact of Power he was seeking. Too bad Petra controls it.
- Did we learn something new about the world and its people?
- YES, Petra’s team, and base, and plan.
3 boons
- gear
- gear
- healing