Sunless Horizon Play Report #2 (Sessions 3, 4, and 5)

Last session, the party started their adventure, went on a nice boating trip, were attacked by bugs, and then ate someone.

This time, we end the first "season" of the campaign with them completing their final objectives. And then they ate someone.

Players

Unnamed - Oblidisideryptch 
Aemanda Tessier - Dom (only session 3)
Eni Léashvath - Vayra
Arok Tseyvar - Kwub (only session 3)
Erul Avedayati - PurpleCthulhu
Zoma - Justin Hamilton

Source

More Walking
The players spent some time in Subrayada - giving the Overseer the capacitors they'd gathered, then going on a shopping trip. They managed to afford some more bullets for [PLACEHOLDER]'s new gun, and a knife for Aemanda.

They checked their map - the nearest objective was a Network Anteenna, from Network Station 32-c, only a mile and a half away. They leave, passing through Subrayada's front gate and a massive crack in one of the ship's walls. As they walked, the path in front of them split, over and over, until eventually they marched through a corridor only 10 feet wide. 

Then, they stopped. A 20-foot wide stream of corrosive liquid cut through one of the path's walls like a bleeding wound. burning through the floor and vanishing somewhere below.

[Unnamed] was immediately interested in tasting the liquid. When Erul's 10-foot pole (used for depth testing) came up tarnished and smoking, that attitude changed.

Eni decides fire fixed everything last time, and lights a torch, pushing it across the ground towards the stream. The liquid sputters and boils immediately, but does not burn. The party quickly realized that turning the dangerous corrosive stream into a dangerous corrosive cloud really wouldn't help their situation, and pulled out the torch.

Eventually they decide to block the flow with a wall panel. Eni bravely sacrifices their 10-foot pole to the task, and starts prying at the wall. The other PCs hear a pair of footsteps coming up from behind them - their special brand of violent paranoia is (at least time) unjustified, as the footsteps come from a pair of Sworn (Sworn are well-supplied direct agents of the Hierarchs, usually kept for actual wars. Subrayada has a few because of its proximity to a Coolant Sea, and with the rail line down the Overseer is at the top of their chain of command), out here trying to build a perimeter.

The Sworn warn them about the Network Station - traders have returned from there warning of Ghoul attacks. Eni responds with a... less than charismatic reference to Creationist Heresy, leading the more pious of the Sworn to blink in confusion. Luckily, the other breaks the tension, offering the party a round of drinks if they manage to make it back.

Having (barely) managed to talk to a person for 5 minutes without thinking about eating them, the party decide it's time for some lunch, and a test of Sunless Horizon's Rest system - instead of just healing, you get to choose 2 of a list of options (resting to restore Hope, using bandages and other medicine to restore Flesh, Scouting to change the random encounter table, etc.). 

[Unnamed] passes their Scout check, and decides to hunt down a group of bandits in the area. Aemanda passes as well, and removes one of the more threatening Obstacles. They start to move, and conceal themselves on one of the bandits' routes. Thanks to my poor initiative system, the fight turned into a massacre - each PC killed the bandit just below them in initiative, so initiative went to another PC, who then killed the next bandit, and repeat. (After this session we switched to a simultaneous system that seems to be working a lot better). 

The party loot the bandits, then travel the rest of the way to the Network Station.

Network Station 32-C

The Station is marked by a pair of enormous hydraulic doors, both stenciled with the station's designation. Over these stencils are unknown brownish symbols, scrawled by Ghouls to mark one of their nests. 

As the players crossed the doorway, they found a pair of heads on pikes (one Kaiva, one Disciple) staring at the entrance of the nest. Inside this front room is a round shaft leading deeper into the station, and a rusted scaffold drooping into the pit from the ceiling, bearing the antenna at its nadir.

While the players inspect the pit, they see a pair of wet, dark eyes - a Ghoul, staring back up at them. They decide to move down and try to parley - Eni descends on a rope and offers it some food. It accepts, but doesn't understand their language - Eni asks where the antenna is, but the Ghoul assumes they're looking for the last group of Jackals, and points to a small maintenance room on the other side of the shaft.

The rest of the PCs keep an eye on the Ghoul while Eni crosses over, and opens the door to the maintenance room. They are almost stabbed by one of the last Jackals - an Ayir named Alexis, with two broken legs. Alexis begs to be rescued, and the players bring her up to the first floor. The Ghoul they found leaves, crawling through a tunnel.

Then, they decide to descend all the way to the bottom, skipping the 3rd and 4th floors of the pit. At the bottom, they find the Network Antenna, hanging over an abyss. They can see lights blinking back at them from the bottom - it seems like they're miles away.

Like this, but upside-down. Sure looks safe to me!

As the PCs make a plan to detach the Antenna without it falling, a Ghoul starts to climb across the scaffolds above, from one room of the 3rd floor to another. As Eni disconnects the Antenna, [Unnamed] uses their duct tape to tape it to Eni's back. 

The Ghoul looks down and sees them. It coils and leaps, but [Unnamed] deflects it, sending it into the abyss. Its scream awakens the rest, and 5 Ghouls emerge from the 3rd floor. 2 start to climb the scaffolds to the top, while three descend.

This fight was the first test of the new simultaneous initiative system. 

Round One

Zoma and Erul both fire, the sound of their guns resonating in the walls. Both shots hit, one caving in a Ghoul's skull, the other puncturing its lung. Alexis throws a spear, stabbing through one of the descending Ghouls.

Round Two

One ghoul manages to reach the top floor, clawing at Erul before it dies of blood loss. Another simply collapses, falling from the scaffolds into the abyss. The last Ghoul resists Eni's poisons and bites them, before being thrown into the abyss by [Unnamed].

The PCs all rest, then decide to return to town and give the Overseer the Antenna. 

Oh Wow, a Real Conversation

Every obstacle between the Network Station and Subrayada had been cleared, so the PCs returned with no random encounters. After surrendering the Antenna, they take up the Sworn's offer of a meal. Eni immediately takes over the conversation, rambling about Keter's will. One of the Sworn, a Seeleh named Azad, rebuffs these arguments - the other, the Ayir Purnama, doesn't care (he's a pagan anyway).

Eventually, talk turns to more corporeal matters; Eni asks about becoming Sworn, and is told "Once you get the Overseer's Favor, they'll start giving you work - take it. Eventually, if you do well, they'll send you up to the Hierarch. This is a good time to do it, too - the Oasis Kingdoms are arming themselves, and the Lord Navigator's worried."

The Sworn also talk about the Mass Driver Aperture - apparently, some Skinborne say the own the place now. They don't usually hold territory; there must be something special about the place.

At this point, the players decide that direct exposure to vacuum isn't particularly healthy, so they sell one of their two guns to buy a Papersuit (thin foil spacesuit) and some air. They also made a backup plan - if they can't manage to afford the papersuit, they're just going to abandon the Houses entirely and try to make friends with the Sea People.

Luckily, the tiny amount of money they had was enough to buy a child's Halloween costume state-of-the-art spacesuit. Then, they leave town.

Even More W A L K I N G

The floor of their path quickly decays, eventually collapsing. 4 feet below is a reservoir of filthy, stagnant water. The floor returns after 60 feet. While Eni goes fishing (catching a strange crustacean), the rest of the party prepare to climb across the ceiling.

Eni slightly cuts herself on the ceiling's bars, while Erul falls off and lands eye-first on debris.

So, the party's priorities change immediately as Erul is now stuck in the reservoir and missing an eye. They all try to fish Erul out, and succeed.

(At this point, I gave up on my climbing system completely - it takes too long to resolve, and the failure tables are way too abrupt. If anyone has any good ideas, please put them in the comments, because this system has haunted me for months.)

After that incident, they make it to the Aperture without a problem.

It is Puzzle Time. You Have No Choice.

The party opens the sliding door to the Aperture. On the other side is a ladder leading up, and an airlock.

Everyone except [Unnamed] and Zoma go up the ladder, to the control room.

Source

Control Room Objects

Console: Joystick, Red button (fire), green button (load)

Loader: Marked “No Personnel - Electrical/Crushing Hazard”. A large set of rollers lead into it, and it's connected to the breech of the mass driver

Floor Panel: Marked "Warning - Electrical Hazard. No Detach"

Eni immediately messes with the console. After some experimentation, Eni finds that the green button turns on the loader and energizes the rails, while the red button opens the barrel cap (the barrel is capped to ensure everything stays airtight) and releases the rails' energy.

Then, [Unnamed] and Zoma open the airlock, and float outside. Here, they find the Turret Ring, which connects the Aperture to the worldship's hull. They also see a single star, just over the hull's artificial horizon.

They both come back through the airlock, while Erul and Eni jam the loader with a metal pole. Then, they make a plan - the pole should short the rails next time they try to charge, so the inside of the barrel should be safe, or at least safer. [Unnamed] will out into space, then Eni'll cycle the gun again, and [Unnamed] will climb into the barrel while the turret cap is open. Zoma will go with them to make sure nothing weird happens.

The plan works... mostly. [Unnamed] makes it in without a problem, but Zoma notices the star they saw earlier is a lot closer now, and looks to be about 6 lights. Then it gets closer. And closer. Because it's a Skinborne ship, coming to take apart the Aperture and attach it to the Ark.

At this point, everyone panics. [Unnamed] hovers inside the barrel, hoping the ominous blue glow of the rails subsides before they drift into one of them, while Zoma completely abandons him, barely making it into the airlock before a pair of Skinborne emerge from the ship.

As the Skinborne move to the airlock, [Unnamed] begins stripping the mass driver's rails, ending up with 4 8-foot long cables studded with electromagnets. As the rest of the PCs hide in the ladder, [Unnamed] hatches a quite risky plan - they start to tie the rails together, and reconnect to them to their power source, explaining the plan by hammering on the walls of the turret in morse code.

Eni climbs up to the turret and hits the red button, opening the turret cap. [Unnamed] floats out of the barrel, throwing the rails as Eni hits the green button, charging them. The rails make contact, and both Skinborne convulse violently - one cracks their helmet's faceplate on the hull, and the other one wraps around the rails.

After a few minutes, a third Skinborne opens the ship's airlock, sees the two corpses, and goes back inside.

The PCs loot the bodies (getting a pair of lightly scorched Papersuits along with some tools), then they start the long trip back to Subrayada.

The Ceremony of Favors

Source

At that point, the campaign (or at least its first season) ended. But, I'd prepared this little epilogue, so why not use it?

After the party returned to Subrayada, they spent a few days waiting for the Maglev Rail to be repaired. They were all formally invited to the opening.

When they arrived, the Overseer's Herald brought them up onto the train platform, and pushed them down in front of the Overseer. The Overseer signed, and the Herald translated - "You will be as hands to me. My orders will be obeyed, and in return, you will be elevated further. Look to me."

The Herald pulled their heads up to look at the Overseer, and dragged a thin knife across their foreheads. The Overseer bent down to taste the blood.

"It is sweet - you are Favored."

Conclusions

1. Simultaneous combat is definitely the best option for this game.
2. The Difficult Terrain system isn't really working how I had hoped. I'm currently debating whether to try a pointcrawl-like Difficult Terrain minigame, or just drop the subsystem entirely. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd really like to hear them.
3. The game doc needs a lot more resources to be run by anyone but me - the Obstacle and Encounter tables are all placeholder, there's no guidance for if the PCs abandon the Houses, etc. This is my highest priority for the next version.
4. And finally, this is a working concept. Even after all the work I'd put into this setting, I was still (very slightly) unsure if it would work for an RPG.