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Chasing The Sunset & Anti Anti Moon Weapon Strike Team

Chasing the Sunset is a West Marches-style exploration game using Fellowship 2nd Edition‘s Horizon rules.

The party: Ori the Construct, Rod the Exile

Rod emerged from secret waterways under the mountains and is wandering through a spooky forest of huge, ancient trees, riding on the bad of his trusty dog Tobit. One particular tree grows on the edge of a small hill, its roots spilling over the edge like a wooden waterfall.  The roots start shuddering and splintering. As the roots break, a cavern behind them is revealed, and a strange group emerges:

  • 12 Kobold Pokers with shields and spears.
  • 12 Kobold Slingers armed with slings.
  • A Kobold carrying a stack of large books on a frame backpack.
  • A robot made of purple crackling energy and gold metal.

Ori: Hello, we recently arrived.  Where are we? Which continent?

Rod: Were you in the waterways?

Ori: I was on the moon. It’s more inhabited than you might think.

Kobolds: We are the Anti Anti Moon Weapon Strike Team!

This lengthy name causes some confusion. See, there’s the Moon. Someone wants to destroy it with some kind of weapon, an Anti-Moon Weapon. The Kobolds won’t stand for that, so they are Anti-Anti-Moon Weapon. The double negative is completely justified!  Other explanations and introductions follow.  Rod just came through the secret tunnels under the mountains to the East. Those mountains aren’t visible because of the huge, dense forest. Ori and the Kobolds have been sent from the Moon to stop attacks against the Moon, but they don’t know where the attacks are coming from, and they don’t know where they are now.  Ori figures that an astronomer or a library with a map would help him on his quest.

While everyone is standing around talking, a fairy flies out of the foliage and steals a ration from Rod’s bag.  She zooms up to about ten feet above the ground and taunts Rod as he tries to get the food back. She pulls items out fo the bag, taking a bite and throwing them away in disgust.  She flies into the forest and Rod follows, quickly getting lost in the maze of branches and undergrowth. Ori’s half-dead from powering the teleporter, so he has to stay put and use a repair kit instead of assisting Rod.

Rod despairs of regaining his lunch as the fairy makes a show of eating it on a high branch in sight but out of reach.  He walks off, not sure where he’s going, and as he walks around a massive tree trunk, he sees someone from his past, poking at something under a bush! Rod grew up in some kind of evil laboratory, and here, in the middle of a forest, far from that awful place, he sees Brigid. Brigid was Rod’s handled, sort of a caretaker, although that word is a euphemism. She was mean and antagonistic, and enjoyed ruining Rod’s day for no reason. Here she is, same clothes, same tightly-braided hair. Rod immediately releases a lethal blast from his shock collar at his bitter enemy! The electricity makes Brigid’s body rapidly jerk into odd positions, but also into different shapes!  When the bolt of lightning dissipates, the figure in front of Rod is no longer Brigid, but a suggestion of a humanoid, like something hastily formed from clay. It looks into the trees as if for confirmation, then forms brows to furrow angrily, turns its fists into hammers, and rushes at Rod. Rod dodges out of the way.

Ori and the Kobolds hear the thunderclap and rush to investigate!  Ori urges calm and wants to talk about the clay person’s grievances. The clay figure pauses, but a voice from the trees shouts, “No, fool! Don’t listen to him!” Rod looks up and sees an orange-yellow fairy hiding in the branches. This is the one giving orders to the clay figure.  More fairies emerge from the forest to join the fight and try to remove Rod’s shock collar. Ori appeals to this newly-reveled leader to end the fight.

Ori: Maybe you could be my master.

The fairy leader, named Marigold, orders the fairies and the clay figure to stop fighting. She and Ori introduce themselves.

Marigold: I’m always ready to accept reverence and obedience. Anyone else want to bow?

Ori clarifies that he hasn’t pledged his service to Marigold yet, but it’s on the table as a start to negotiations. He turns to Rod and tries to pledge to him very quickly, pushing a Talisman of Calling into his hands.  Rod is ready to play along.

Rod: How dare you betray me, servant!

Ori: I’m trying to save your life!

Rod leaves.  Marigold demands that the Kobolds leave as well, but the Kobolds don’t answer to Ori or Marigold. They won’t be dissuaded from their mission to protect the Moon on behalf of the Dragons! Marigold’s eyes widen. She had forgotten Kobolds, but she remembers Dragons, because she’s one of the Vampires the Dragons built the Moon to fight! She transforms into a large bat and orders her fairies and clay figure to attack the Kobolds!

Rod hears the sounds of combat from afar and activates the Talisman of Calling, teleporting Ori to his side, away from the fighting.  Ori doesn’t want to leave the Kobolds to die, so Ori and Rod run back towards the sounds of combat to help.  Marigold and the clay figure are fighting the Kobold Pokers, while fairies harry the Kobold Slingers.  Rod engages Marigold with his sling and she turns on him.  Ori wants to talk the clay figure down, and demonstrates his commitment to de-escalation by diving in between the battling parties, putting himself at great risk.  He tells he clay figure that he has served a lot of masters, both good and bad, and that the figure deserves a better master.  The figure is convinced and switches sides. Marigold is enraged and swoops in to attack Ori. Ori uses the clay figure’s “Aimless” stat to have it accidentally step in front of Marigold and block her attack. Ori’s still almost dead from powering the teleporter, and he’s between an enraged vampire and a phalanx of spear-wielding Kobolds. It’s too hot! He teleports straight up into the tree canopy.

The fairies steal the Kobold’s manuals and start yelling out instructions at random, throwing the rule-oriented Kobolds into confusion.  These volumes are quite large, and Fairies are only 11 inches tall, so each volume is carried between two Fairies. Marigold moves in to attack the scattered Kobolds. Using his advanced sensors, Ori foresees her next move and tells Rod, who intercepts her with a sling bullet.  Marigold calls for retreat!  The fairies are slow because they are holding heavy books.  Rod runs over and grabs the books back from them. They pummel him ineffectively with their tiny fists.

The vampire forces have been repelled! The Kobolds celebrate!  Ori glides down from the tree branches now that it’s safe.

Ori: I didn’t expect resistance from Vampires so soon!  Where to now, master?

Rod: I thought that was a joke.

Now that there’s time, Ori explains the Anti-Moon Weapon. Someone fired an energy projectile from the Earth to the Moon. Very accurate, but not powerful enough to threaten the whole moon. But that was only the first shot. Who knows what’s coming next? Ori and the Anti-Anti-Moon Weapon Strike Team want to destroy the Anti-Moon Weapon before it becomes a bigger threat. Rod wonders which way they should go. It’s hard to tell from inside the forest. They can’t even see the sky.

Ori: Is there a pressing reason for us not to go back through the tunnels you used?

Rod: I worked hard to get here. So you’re from the Moon?

Ori: Not quite.

Rod: Why don’t you know where you are? Didn’t you aim?

Ori: No, we took a teleporter and the other terminal was in this forest.

The Kobolds are impatient and set off to find and destroy Vampires. They don’t work for Ori, and he doesn’t work for them, so they aren’t concerned about sticking together. Ori and Rod let them go, and wonder how to choose thier own path. Rod enters Ori’s riding pod, and Ori starts climbing trees. If he slips, he glides safely down until he can catch another branch. Eventually, he reaches the canopy and can look around.

  • In the distance to the north: a tangle of urban building. Hard to tell from this distance, but they don’t look organized into neat rows.
  • To the east: high, steep, scary, snow-covered mountains.  These are the mountains that Rod tunneled under to get to this forest.
  • To the south: a dead forest. The trees look diseased.
  • To the southeast: a mountain with a crack running through it.

Ori: Do you favor caution or swiftness?

Rod: Live your best life. Do what makes you happy.

Ori realizes that he can’t bring the clay figure along with him. Ori forged a Bond with the figure by talking about their shared experience of serving various masters. As long as it has a bond with Ori, it is Ori’s companion and will join the fellowship. If Ori directly causes the figure harm, damaging one of its stats, he will also break a bond. Breaking its only bond will remove it from the fellowship. The figure’s only remaining stat is Nameless, so Ori sends it away by giving it a name!

Ori: Farewell my earthen friend. I name you Seeker. May you know what you are looking for when you find it.

GM note: That’s . . . that’s perfect!

Ori and Rod teleport north to the tangled city. They arrive on top of a tower. An upside down clocktower rising out from the windows of a factory set on it’s side. Buildings of all functions, sizes and styles are piled around them as far as the eye can see at every possible angle.

End of session move: The party restores gear and health.

 

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Chasing The Sunset & tunnels

Chasing the Sunset is a West Marches-style exploration game using Fellowship 2nd Edition‘s Horizon rules.

We pick up immediately after the affair with the pirates, with Rod the Exile & Sapphira the Spider discovering an entrance to a mysterious underground facility.  Before they head down the spiral staircase into the ground, they notice a thin, white spire in the distance.  It’s a giant, magical taper candle, a signpost where travelers leave notes.

GM note: This is a diagetic way for players to share information about the area with other players. There’s one in every location.

They don’t have much to say to other travelers, so they head down into the darkness, lit by the shimmering of Sapphira’s electric field. At the bottom of the staircase, they find a tunnel running perpendicular to the river above. It’s about 4m across, and half full of water. There are posts in the middle of the tunnel at regular intervals along its length. there are signs that other structures used to be attached to these posts, but they’ve disappeared from decay and neglect.  A narrow pipe runs along the top of the tunnel, with periodic vents.

A cross-section of the underground tunnel.

Again, our heroes want to travel by water, but don’t have a boat. They return to the surface and find some logs and branches along the river bank. They carefully carry them down the spiral staircase and Sapphira lashes them into a raft. They have been traveling west, against the eastward current of the river.  This tunnel stretches north and south, with the water flowing south.  They decide to float with the current and head south.  After some time, a tunnel splits from their tunnel, heading west. They take the side tunnel and soon find metal spikes hammered into the stone and brick tunnel walls, like punji sticks keeping something from coming east towards the main tunnel.

The raft encounters punji sticks pointing the other way.

The raft can’t fit between the spikes, so Sapphira picks up Rod & Tobit and climbs over the spikes.  Just past the spikes are two alcoves set into the wall of the tunnel, right next to each other. Each alcove is the size of a modest room, about 3m on a side. They are set above the waterline of the tunnel and have dry floors.

Two alcoves, separated by a barrier.

As Sapphira approaches the first alcove, her electric shimmer reaches out and dances over a vertical plane across the tunnel. It’s an invisible magical barrier, blocking their path.  The water in the tunnel flows unimpeded. There are some weapons lying on the floor of the near alcove: 2 daggers and a flare gun (ranged, burning, 2 ammo).  It’s common knowledge that magical barriers have a power source, and a condition that allows or denies passage. Rod wonders if this is a Dwarven badge-reader.  He attempts to swim through the barrier, but is stopped harmlessly.

They enter the near alcove and claim the weapons. Rod takes the daggers and Sapphira takes the flare gun. There’s a door at the back of the alcove that leads up a spiral staircase to another concealed entrance.  They emerge on a hill. Below them, to the east, the mighty river crashes over impressive rapids. To the west, high white mountains rise like a wall. The river drops hundreds of feet in a powerful waterfall. If there is a pass through the mountains, it’s not obvious from this position. They check for a hidden entrance nearby that hopefully leads to the far alcove, but no luck.

They return to the tunnel and ponder the mystery of the magical barrier.  They talk to the barrier, but if there’s a verbal password, they don’t guess it.  Rod wonders if living material is blocked and tries to push a dagger through.  The dagger’s point touches the barrier and stops. The barrier flares with energy and Rod tries unsuccessfully to push the dagger through. Since aggression didn’t work, Rod tries relaxing and just floating through.  It works for the water, but not for him. He bumps into the barrier and stops.  Next, they throw rocks, which also bounce off the barrier. Throwing rocks all across the face of the barrier reveals that is has no gaps.  Frustrated, Rod charges up and blasts the barrier with electricity. The barrier flares brighter and brighter, matching Rod’s escalating power until the entire barrier is opaque. Rod can’t overpower it. Tobit barks, and the bark echoes down the tunnel, so air as well as water can pass through.

Rod is right up next to the barrier, so he has an angle to look into the far alcove, the one blocked by the barrier.  He sees some glowing equipment set into the back wall. This is probably the barrier’s power source.  Sapphira notices that the wall between the two alcoves is in disrepair and dispatches her spiderlings through the cracks with instructions to disable the equipment.  the spiderlings wriggle through, there’s some creaking and straining, then a crash.  The glow from the far alcove fades, and the barrier is gone.  Sapphira and Rod enter the far alcove and see that the Spiderlings dislodged some kind of power crystal, which fell to the floor and shattered. It’s no good now.  They rest and heal.  Rod scoots closer to Sapphira.

Rod: Have any feelings you want to talk about?

Saphhira: That’s the first time you’ve asked me that.

They continue down the tunnel. It’s better preserved than the exterior sections.  The central poles hold conveyor belts powered by paddlewheels that could carry things against the current. There are larger platforms on the sides of the tunnels that look like tram stations, but everything seems to be long-abandoned.  There are burned and melted trails across some of the platforms, probably caused by lava.

Elevated conveyor to travel against the current.

There’s a glow and a hiss ahead. As they approach, they see that the tunnel has been breached by a lava flow. The water is flowing into the lava and evaporating, causing the hissing sounds and a cloud of steam. Our party exits the tunnel at the last platform. The far wall of that platform is gone. There’s a big chamber carved out of the mountain, cutting right through the Dwarven ruins. Only the bottom is filled with lava.

GM note: One player wanted to discuss contingencies without me overhearing, because she knew that I could literally make her worst fears come true. I assured her that I had already decide what awaited them, and it turned out to be exactly what she feared.

Fearing an ambush by some sort of lava creature, Sapphira attempts to rig the platform with webs, but she’s interrupted as a lava monster does indeed emerge from the lake of lava in front of them! Rod fires his slingshot at the lava monster, attracting its ire. As it approaches, Sapphira interposes herself to keep Rod safe. Rod tries again to knock the creature unconscious with his sling bullets.  The creature takes a swing, splattering lava over Sapphira, who uses fast healing to soak the damage.  Sapphira deploys a pit trap right at her feet and the lava monster falls in right before it grabs her. The heat radiating from the lava monster’s body sears Sapphira’s armor.  While the lava monster tries to get out of the pit, Sapphira deploys webs around the platform, and Rod runs to get some water to pour on it.  As Rod returns to the pit, the lava monster climbs up and swats him away with a burning arm. Rod retreats towards the watery tunnel, pulling at Sapphira. She’s not quite ready to flee and uses her webs to fling loose rocks at the lava monster.  It pauses and flares with extra heat to melt the rocks embedded in its gooey body.

Rod and Sapphira retreat back into the tunnel, sure that the water will harm the lava monster if it pursues them.  Sapphira prepares more webs in the tunnel and Rod is ready with a bucket of water to throw at the creature.  They are right, the lava monster does hate water. It does not follow them into the tunnel, but moves back into the lava lake and stares down the broken end of the tunnel at them.  Rod pins it down with sling bullets, allowing Sapphira to slip back out onto the platform and fire acupuncture needles form her mouth The monster’s chakras are not in the expected locations, but she finds them and paralyzes the monster. It freezes in place and tips over, sinking partly into the lava lake.

Victorious, Sapphira leaves her mark at the end of the tunnel, then carries Rod over the roof of the chamber and to the exit.  The emerge on the other side of the mountain into an ancient forest, and that’s where the session ends.

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Chasing the Sunset & pirates

Chasing the Sunset is a West Marches-style exploration game using Fellowship 2nd Edition‘s Horizon rules.

Rod the Exile

He’s a Halfling, but knows nothing of Halfling culture, because he was raised in an evil lab and experimented on. This lab, funded by a mysterious and nefarious organization, kidnaps children and brainwashes them to become spies.  Rod lost the use of his legs, but can harness the power of electricity, which he channels through the shock collar still locked around his neck.  He’s been out for about 1.5 years, dumpster-diving and stealing to survive. Tobit the dog is his faithful steed and closest friend.

Sapphira the Spider

She is almost humanoid. She walks upright on two legs ,but has many arms, web spinners, and can spit poisoned needles from her mouth.  Spiders live in fear of each other because they are power-hungry and often resort to cannibalism to consolidate power. Strange electrical current shimmers across their exoskeletons, like that glass sphere toy that sends harmless bolts of lightning to your fingers when you touch it. Spiders can sense each other and communicate via a special electrical frequency. Sapphira carries her babies along with her, which is unusual,since most Spider parents would eat them. She avoids killing if she can help it.

Let’s Begin

Looking west at Port Fennrick on the delta of the Mighty River.

Sapphira, Rod, and Tobit are in Port Fennrick, which is built on the delta of a mighty river. They plan to head up-river to and search for a legendary subterranean Dwarven highway that Rod is sure actually exists.  Sapphira uses her spider silk to make a harness that holds Rod more securely on Tobit’s back.  As they approach the back of town, where the river splits into a delta, they see a gate where all travelers are being stopped by officials.  traffic is backed up and people are grumbling.  Rod doesn’t want to deal with that at all! he hasn’t had good experiences with authority figures or law enforcement.  Our party slips down a sidestreet to hop a fence out of town. It’s trivial for Sapphira, since she was walk on walls, branches, and ceilings.  Tobit is not so agile, so she drops a silk line and pulls him and Rod over.

Outside of town is a jungle. Hunting birds circle overhead, looking through the canopy for weak and isolated prey to pick off. Staring into the dense foliage, Sapphira spots tripwires laid by giant spiders. Lowercase S. These are dumb beasts, used as mounts by smaller humanoids.  Disturbing these tripwires will alert spiders lying in hiding to rush out and attack.  Rod manuvers around the tripwires as best he can, but is forced to push through a sticker bush & takes damage.  Sapphira was made for this challenge. She can easily climb into the trees to avoid the tripwires. If no branches are available, she can use a line of her own silk. She also an expert on webs, so she knows where the tripwires are even before she sees them.  She leaves her mark for the other spiders to find, so they know who they were dealing with.

Our party emerges from the jungle next to the mighty river.  How will they travel upriver? For now, they walk.  After a while, they see a raft coming downriver.  It’s 40 feet on a side, but piloted by a single Giant using a tree trunk as a pole. The raft is damaged. If it carried cargo, there’s none onboard now, and the Giant looks scared and a bit hurt.  Our party hails him to ask what happened and ask for a ride, but he yells something about pirates and doesn’t slow down.  Our party decides to wait for the next upriver boat.

They wait a bit longer, and the next boat that appears looks like a Viking longboat, but without the shields along the side: long, narrow hull that rises at the prow and the stern, one mast, and one row of oars on each side.  Sapphira sneakily attaches two lines to the stern and she and Rod let the boat drag them along as if they were inner-tubing, just with no inner tubes.  The boat’s high stern blocks them from the view of the boat’s crew.  they overhear some chatter from onboard. the crew is worried about pirates. One man goes aloft to the crow’s nest to look about and spots the Rod & Sapphira tagging along.  The lookout calls out, but just then the boat hits something! Its forward progress is stopped immediately and the bow is pushed up out of the water!  The lookout falls from his perch to the deck. From their position behind the boat, our party can only see something large, armored, and spiky rising out of the water under the boat.

It’s a giant crocodile, covered in metal armor, with an armored platform built on its back. It pulls back from under the boat and faces it, nose to nose.  Nose to tail, this fearsome creature must be 40 feet long.  A small man emerges from the armored compartment and dashes in a loop around the boat, leaving a roostertail spray behind him as he runs across the surface of the river!  He definitely spots our party as he passes by.  He returns to stand on the crocodile’s snout and shout to the boat’s crew, demanding that they hand over their valuable cargo.

Rod and Sapphira don’t want any of this mess, so they disconnect their tow lines and discreetly start swimming to shore.  The small speedy man, who calls himself Slick, notices and zooms to cut them off before they reach the shore.  “Not so fast!” he says, “Stay fight there and I’ll get to you once I finish my business with the boat.” Poof, he’s back on the crocodile’s snout.

Sapphira and Rod consider their options.  Sapphira takes a bear trap from her gear and sets it in the water at their feet.  Rod calls out to Slick, saying he’s willing to surrender all the cash and jewels he’s carrying.  This is music to Slick’s ears, and he already has his hands in Rod’s pockets by the time the trap snaps shut on his legs.  Slick howls in pain and tries to flee, but the bear trap has his leg stuck.  The armored crocodile hears and responds to its master’s cry, charging straight for Rod, which means going under the boat! The hull groans and cracks, crew members are sent flying as the armored crocodile rushes forward in uncontrolled fury. Sapphira flees to shore, but Rod and Slick and the bear trap are all damaged by the attack.  With the trap broken, Slick flees as fast as his legs can carry him, which is incredibly fast. He’s out of sight in no time.

Rod ends up on top of the crocodile’s armored platform, and squares up to fight the rest of Slick’s crew, but the platform is empty. Slick was the only passenger.  Sapphira spits needles at the crocodile’s face and eyes to distract it from her vulnerable colleague.  Rod uses the opportunity to charge up and unleash a blast of electricity from his shock collar. Confused and hurt, the crocodile panics and starts swims away, upriver.  This presents a dilemma for Rod who is still aboard. He and Sapphira have been looking for a ride upriver all day, but the crocodile is a dangerous vessel, and Sapphira isn’t with him.  He bails out and stays with Sapphira and the damaged boat.

Calm settles over the scene as our party ponders their next steps and the crew of the damaged boat try to recover.  The captain intends to cancel the trip and return to Port Fennrick. Sapphira offers to protect the ship if it will bear her and Rod upriver. She hopes their swift defeat of the pirate crocodile will reassure the crew.  the captain refuses. The boat is too damaged to continue. Half of the oars snapped and many of the crew are injured.  The able-bodied will be bailing water the whole time that the current bears the boat back to Port Fennrick.  During this recovery period, Rod shares a meal with a sailor named Cooper and forges a bond with him.  Cooper says that if Rod ever needs anything, he’ll be in Port Fennrick, ready to help.

Eventually the boat departs and Rod and Sapphira once more start walking upriver.  Rod is looking for evidence of a secret underground transportation network that he heard was built by the Dwarves long ago.  After hiking upriver for miles, he spots something odd.  A rock on the riverbed shifts up for a moment and air bubbles out from beneath it.  Observing it for a while indicates that the rock conceals a valve that is regulating the air in something hidden below.  Rod looks around and finds a large rock on the riverbank that conceals a spiral staircase leading down into darkness!

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Chasing The Sunset & party prep

Chasing the Sunset is a West Marches-style exploration game using Fellowship 2nd Edition‘s Horizon rules.

Rod the Exile, riding Tobit the dog, is walking around Port Fennrick with Pikano, who appears to be a human child. The sidewalks in Port Fennrick are boardwalks around buildings up on stilts over the river. They look over the edge of the boardwalk and see mermaids swimming around.

Pikano is a good swimmer, so she jumps in and talks to a mermaid. This mermaid just spent weeks swimming up the river and back down, collecting local delicacies. She offers a blue flower with thick, salty petals. Pikano eats a petal and doesn’t like it. The mermaid has a treat for Tobit: fish that only live in a frigid mountain lake far above. They are two inches long and bright red. The mermaid needs to go. She has been away from her family for a long time and wants to get back. Pikano asks about the mermaid. The mermaid says to head to Finsea: follow the river out to the sea, past the seaweed farms, and that’s Finsea. Ask for Allura, who runs a shop of exotic treats. People know her. She’s be happy to receive you.

The mermaid swims away, and a boat passes. It’s drawn by two manatees, and piloted by a platyperson. Someone on the boardwalk calls out to her, and she quacks back. They throw out lines and tie up the boat. There are humans walking on the boardwalk above, and fairies flying everywhere. They don’t need to respect waterways or sidewalks.

There’s a fairy struggling with a heavy load. Pikano climbs out of the water to assist the fairy. She leaves wet footprints on the boardwalk as she approaches. Rod and Tobit climb out of the water and Tobit shakes himself off, getting water everywhere. The Fairy is named Marigold, and her package is too heavy for her. Fairies are only 11 inches tall, so they aren’t physically strong. Marigold says that Pikano looks big and strong, and will she please help her carry this heavy package? Pikano agrees, and can easily carry the package. It’s not that heavy.

Marigold says that her house is just over this way, and flies off, over a house! Rod and Pikano can’t fly! What will they do? Pikano can turn into a spider, so she climbs up the waterspout. She drops a silk line so Rod can tie it to Tobit and pull the dog up. Once all three are on the roof, they see a big tree growing in the back yard, with branches extending over the roof. Marigold’s house in in the branches. The door to her house is very small and Pikano can’t fit inside. She turns back into a human and knocks on the door. Marigold answers the door and is so happy that Rod and Pikano carried her heavy package for her. She was throwing a party soon, and the package contains all her supplies. Now the party is saved! Marigold digs in the package, looking for something she can give to thanks her helpers. She throws flowers and loops of ribbons around until she finds what she’s looking for: a delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookie! Pikano thanks Marigold and devours the cookie.

GM note: In real life, Pikano’s player received a real oatmeal chocolate chip cookie at this time.

Rod sticks around to watch the party. The party is in Marigold’s “back yard”, the upper branches of the large tree. Fairies of many colors arrive and dance to music played by songbirds. The dance moves are small, quick, and precise. The fairies find seats all over the branches at many different levels. There’s no dance floor or flat table. The whole party is very three-dimensional.