The Acolytes are tasked with a routine mission to travel to the Argi-world of Hilarion to meet with Petor Vaulk, an Inquisition agent that has information related to the mysterious abductionof farmers and townspeople from the planet’s outlying areas. Things quickly go from routine to extraordinary when the Acolytes’ transport shuttle is shot down by unknown forces just outside of the village of Usbeana.
By the Emperor’s grace, the Acolytes emerge from the crashed shuttle with minor injuries and finish the rest of the trip on foot. Upon arrival at Usbeana, the Acolytes find that the village has been the scene of a recent battle- buildings are still smoldering from recent burnt out fires, bullet holes riddle the houses and the village square contains a partially burned pile of bodies. Vaulk does not appear to be amongst the bodies, and a search of the village reveals that the village is empty of survivors.
A recon of the area shows the tracks of a large group of people leaving the village toward the nearby Natruth Mountain Range. With no other leads, the Acolytes follow the tracks which lead higher and higher into the mountains. Nightfall brings them to an abandon hut which the Acolytes decide to use for shelter for the night.
During the night, while Titus is standing watch. He is attacked by two grossly diseased-looking rodents. When the rest of the group joins the fray, the diseased creatures are quickly dispatched. The next day holds another surprise when the Acolytes notice that they are being followed by a half-starved and crazed PDF Trooper named Farris. Farris tells them that he was assigned to a nearby Laser Defense Silo- DS506 and left the complex when several of his unit members became infected with an unknown disease. His diseased comrades now stalk the lands killing and abducting the nearby villagers. Farris has been living in the mountains since he left DS506, hiding in fear of his former comrades. Farris is terrified of going back to the Silo and only agrees to show the Acolytes its location after being adequately persuaded by Titus.
Arriving at the Silo, the Acolytes find that it has transformed into a cave of horrors that stinks of the Chaos taint of Nurgle. Navigating the underground passages and fighting their way through plague-infected PDF Troopers and Servitors, the Acolytes find the rest of the villagers in the center of the complex. All of the villagers are dead, used as a sacrifice to summon a Lesser Daemon of Nurgle.
Upon dispatching the last of the Daemon’s minions, the Acolytes prepare to face the Daemonitself. Titus decides at this moment to use a strange warp-tainted red rock that he received at Bonner’s Reach from an associate of his past. Not knowing what the stone does, Titus decides to activate its power hoping that it will help the Acolytes in their fight against the Daemon. The rock proves to be a powerful Khorne summoning artifact known as a Bloodstone. It rewards Titus by summoning a Bloodletter and a pack of Flesh Hounds. Titus takes control of the Daemons and orders them to dispatch the Nurgle Daemon which they do in short order. With the completion of their task, the Khorne Daemons are dismissed.
The Acolytes have vanquished the terror that stalks the citizens of Hilarion but are unsure what to make of the spectacle that they saw in the process. Titus’ comrades now question their teammate’s conviction in their cause.
- GM’s Note: This mission was ran with modifications from the adventure Bunker DS506 by Rob Leigh.
Comments