One-Shot: Wild Blue

Played a one-shot! Woo!

Wild Blue is a Fate core setting; it shows up in Worlds of Fate vol 1. Basic premise is that you're playing superpowered law enforcement in the old West, but with Fair Folk and assorted weirdness. Shades of Deadlands, but without the horror aspects. The "civilized" areas are called the Blue Lands, consisting of five cities of varying size (Cobalt, Crystal Falls, Ressin, Laketown, and Tom's Crossing). The lands beyond largely belong to the Folk, and well, they're not fans of people. The Wardens, our aforementioned characters, are peacekeepers, working to protect the citizens of the Blue Lands. The game could be uncomfortably cop-ish, but it doesn't need to; I look at Wardens more like Marshals. Similarities to Dogs in the Vineyard a little, now I think of it.

Anyway, here's the characters:

• Lloyd Hunter, aka "Swift." Lloyd was born in Tom's Crossing, and the dealie there is that every year on the first new moon, a child gets left in the woods for Black Tom, the Folk "ruler" of the area. He got away, however, making him an Escaped Intended Sacrifice. Lloyd's gift is that he can move at amazing speeds, but he must eat enough food for three people. He is also Hunted by the Black Fellowship, a cult devoted to Black Tom.
• Caroline Chandler, aka "the Lady." Caroline is from Cobalt, and grew up a city girl. Her gift allows her to hear anything within a mile, but if she misses a meal she gets overwhelmed and melts down. She's an Accidental Eavesdropper, and needs to make sure Everything is in Its Place. As a Warden, she's also winds up as a City Girl, Wild World, and so that takes a little getting used to. 
• Cora Glass, aka "Bloodhound." Cora is a Diligent Hunter, tenacious and steadfast. Her gift allows her to track anyone as long as she has an item that belongs to them, but they immediately know they're being tracked. Cora, unlike a lot of Wardens, actually finds some good in the Folk - she has Fairy Friends. 
• Howell Diddleot, aka "Roquefort." Howell grew up on a dairy farm, and has been mute since birth. But then they realized the cows were talking - and indeed, that they can understand and speak to any animal...but not people. Howell created a communication network, with Pigeons on Every Roof, but didn't go to Academy until later in life (Late to the Warden Party). 

Our story begins in Crystal Falls. Crystal Falls is situated five miles from a cobalt mine. Cobalt, in-setting, is a material that provided fuel and construction material, but in its crystalline form is highly volatile. The Wardens have just finished up taking care of a group of people stealing chunks of crystal from around the mine. Some of the thieves escaped (Roquefort may have turned the other way while they ran; they're not really interested in locking people up), but two of them - Skunky Roy and Red Betty - are locked up in their wagon. They're heading south, back to town, approaching a homestead on the outskirts. Bloodhound is driving the wagon, Lady and Roquefort are riding their horses (well, Roquefort actually rides a donkey named Imelda), and Swift is on foot. 

As they're riding, Red Betty suddenly stands up and rattles the bars. "Let me out," she cries. "It's coming!" Lady cocks her head and listens, and does indeed hear something strange - wood crackling, ground rumbling. The noise is coming from the north. Swift zips back north to check what's going on, and is terrified to discover that a new forest is exploding from the group and heading south!

He runs back to the others and tells them what's going on. Bloodhound asks Red Betty (who is rumored to have Fae blood) if she knows what's happening. She says that this is the Forest Curse, a powerful spell that the Folk rarely call upon. The Wardens let her and Skunky Roy go (they definitely have bigger fish to fry) and try to figure out what to do. 

They decide to take the wagon to the homestead so those folks can load up and get out, and then Bloodhound, Roquefort, and Lady will head into the forest and try to figure out what's happening. Swift will run ahead to the city and start people evacuating. He does, and using his amazing speed, zips around the city coordinating the exodus. As everything gets underway, he stands in the town square, and stumbles, Crashing due to hunger.

The others walk into the woods and head to north towards the mine. They arrive there and see that the miners are panicked; the forest apparently started here. Upon hearing of the forest's unstoppable rampage toward the city, they start to unhitch their horses, but Lady stops them and tells them that heading into the forest might be even more dangerous. For now, they should just go to their barracks and wait. 

Meanwhile, Roquefort talks to a chipmunk and learns that when the forest began, a song was audible (at least to the animals). It sounded like four voices from the north, and one from the south. Roquefort relays this to the others (with some difficulty), and Bloodhound talks to one of the miners. Evidently, they all woke up at the same time, all with the same song in their head. One of them, Jackie, was even playing it on a harmonica. They call Jackie over and have him play it again, and as they do, the Lady hears animal sounds from the forest. A wolf, birds, bats, even a moose - and then she realizes with horror that it's all coming from the same beast. 

Back in Crystal Falls, Swift sits on a curb and collects his wits. A merchant - a wood carver - comes over and sits by him, and engages him in conversation. Swift mentions that he's hungry, and the man gives him a piece of fruit, which Swift devours. It's only after he eats it that he looks into the man's eyes, and sees that they are deep gold. This is no man, it's Black Tom himself. The trickster Folk laughs, and Swift runs for the forest, saying "I outran you before!"

At the mine, the Lady warns the other than something weird this way comes. The creature steps out of the forest, a huge, moss-covered, menagerie in one body. It has antlers and horns and multiple legs, and it lowers its head as if to charge. Roquefort talks to it, though, lulling it and calming it, and Bloodhound realizes that it's being Summoned by Music. They tell Jackie to stop playing, and as soon as he does, the creature falls apart into its component animals, which dash off into the woods.

Speaking of dashing, Swift emerges and explains the situation to the other Wardens. The Lady listens to his guts and hears chiming sounds playing the same tune they heard before. They decide that they need to take this fight to Black Tom directly, so they head into the forest again, Bloodhound using Swift as the "item" that belongs to Tom in order to track him. They enter a clearing in the center of the forest, a black cat with golden eyes lounging in a moonbeam. The cat stands up and becomes Black Tom, and a very tense discussion begins.

The Wardens ask what exactly Tom wants with the children he takes - does he eat them, as the legends say? He doesn't directly answer, but does say that it's really more about the show of devotion that the townsfolk make. Bloodhound realizes that Tom has Inhuman Hungers, and Swift makes it quite clear that he has no love for this Folk. Black Tom, though, asks a simple bargain - if Swift surrenders to him, he'll stop the Forest Curse. The Lady asks for a pause in the forest's growth so they can negotiate, and Tom agrees. 

Swift isn't really able to convince Black Tom of anything - the way Tom sees it, Swift belongs to him by right of the Accord in Tom's Crossing. But Roquefort points out that the Accord was honored; it's not anyone's fault that Tom couldn't keep hold of the kid. And besides, Bloodhound offers, Lloyd Hunter isn't "Lloyd Hunter" anymore - he's Swift. He's not a child, he's a Warden. Tom has no claim to him now.

Tom sees the logic in this, and agrees, but does point out that if Swift ever answers to "Lloyd" again, that makes him Tom's. They agree, and the Forest Curse stops. Tom tells them to enjoy the forest for as long as it might stand, and vanishes in a swirl of shadows. 

Everything seems well - but then the Lady hears fire and twigs crackling. "For as long as it might stand," says Swift. "He set the forest on fire!"

Swift runs off to find the source of it, and arrives at the mine. There's a Big Bonfire blazing, and sitting at it is Marian Voltar, one of the Wise (scholars and mystics). They've met her before, she's kind of a fixture in Crystal Falls, but now she's sitting at a fire in front of a huge "waterfall" of cobalt crystal, which is a good way to blow everything in the area sky-high. She's staring into the fire, murmuring something Swift can't understand.

The others arrive, and the Lady tries to tackle Marian. She raises her bluesteel arm and blocks the shot, but that's enough of a distraction for Bloodhound and Swift. Bloodhound lassos Marian, and Swift runs in circles around her, tying her tight. Meanwhile, Roquefort drags a drinking barrel over to the fire and the Lady tips it, extinguishing the fire. Swift splashes water on Marian's face and she snaps out of her reverie. 

Marian tells them that she came here to investigate the mysterious forest, but suddenly she say the crystal as a blazing river of fire, and she created a spring of water from the ground to try and extinguish it. This is Folk magic, the Wardens realize, but now it seems to have passed. Marian leaves, and the Wardens head back to Crystal Falls to begin the long process of clearing enough of the forest to make a road, rebuild the homesteads that were destroyed, and get the miners back to work.