Faith and Betrayal

"The Fall of Solace"- Falling Star

“Our task is solemn, and our purpose final. This is no matter of raucous glory, but of duty alone.”

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Several months have past since the events that took place on the Perihelion. The story of the daring rescue of their Battle-Brothers and the termination of Species-Seven has circulated the ranks of the Deathwatch and Inquisition, and the members of Kill-Team Kronus have found many who praise and respect their combat prowess and duty to the Imperium and the God-Emperor. Most of the Kill-Team have spent their time tasked as advisors, messengers, and inspectors dedicated toward improving the various war efforts in the Jericho Reach, while Brother G’heirnat chose to embark on the difficult path of becoming a Space Marine Chaplin.

A sudden summons of import has the members of Kill-Team Kronus dropping their current tasks and making haste to Watch Station Erioch; luckily, Brother G’heirnat has just finished his Chaplin training and is able to join his Kill-Team for this mission. Watch-Captain Hrolth Fangtaker, a loud and boisterous Space Wolf Long Fang well-known for not playing well with Space Marines of other Chapters, issues the Kill-Team their orders, but not before Brother Aoner of the Space Wolves and Brother Dante of the Dark Angels fulfill the tradition of their rival Chapters and participate in a duel to celebrate the great bout between their Primarchs. The bout seems to start out evenly matched but Brother Aoner is finally able to gain the upper hand and subdue his Dark Angel opponent much to the satisfaction of Watch-Captain Fangtaker. With honorable tradition fulfilled, Watch-Captain Fangtaker briefs the Kill-Team on their mission.

Over two centuries ago, an ancient relic revered by both the Space Wolves Chapter and the Deathwatch called the Halo of Providence was lost when the Imperial cruiser, the Ardent Crown, transporting the Space Wolf Librarian in possession of the item and his fellow Kill-Team members failed to return after initiating a Warp jump on a routine mission. The Halo of Providence is psychic hood of legendary power created by an Inquisitor over a millennia ago. It was thought to be lost until recently an Astropathic Choir received a vision that the Ardent Crown would soon return near the heavily populated hive world of Solace but would bring an unspecified disaster, possibly involving multiple breeds of foul Xenos, with it.

Selecting Brother Aoner as the team leader for this mission, the Kill-Team makes haste to the war torn Spinward Front to locate and intercept the Ardent Crown before it’s too late. After two weeks of Warp travel, the Kill-Team’s ship transitions out of the Warp into the Solace sector and begins its search for the lost ship. Augars soon pick up the vessel drifting derelict in space under only emergency power with no signs of life. The Kill-Team gathers their arms and equipment, strap into a boarding torpedo and are promptly shot across the void toward their target. Things appear to be proceeding without complications until an Eldar Nightshade escort frigate materializes in their path and begins to engage in battle with the Deathwatch ship that brought the Kill-Team to this sector. Fortunately, the Kill-Team’s boarding torpedo glances off the hull of the Eldar ship, spins out of control but still manages to crash into the Ardent Crown. After some minor setbacks that costs them precious time, the Kill-Team is able to breach the ship’s interior and begin their search for the relic. There is concern when they realize they are unable to send or receive communications with their ship.

Walking the ship’s desolate and damaged interior it soon becomes apparent that the ship’s crew is most likely long dead and even worse, deadly genestealers now stalk the corridors. Both Brother Aoner and Brother Vectis are able to confirm through psychic and technical means the likely location of the Halo of Providence in the ship’s fore weapons bay and direct the Team in that direction. Not long after, they finally meet the enemy as several genestealers ambush the Team from their concealment near the corridors’ ceiling. Brother Dante goes down as several of the foul Xenos gang up on the Tactical Marine, but his teammates are able to dispatch the creatures and administer aid.

Ever wary of additional threats, the Kill-Team proceeds cautiously, and with the exception of a moment of concern when the whole ship appears to briefly shudder and shake, they make it to the Ardent Crown’s fore weapons bay. Upon forcing open a set of blast doors, the Kill-Team is surprised to find a huge battle taking place inside between genestealers and a force of Eldar comprised of a squad of Warp Spiders and a squad of sharpshooting Pathfinders led by a Farseer and a Warlock. Amongst the ancient stockpile of munitions and other debris, the Kill-Team sees that near the Eldar fighting position are the bodies of four Adeptus Astartes whose power armor is painted in the black color of the Deathwatch.
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The Kill-Team advances toward the Eldar position fighting their way through the genestealers, which are between the two forces. Shortly after the three-way battle begins, the Warp Spiders and the Farseer vanish leaving only the Warlock and the Pathfinders to continue the fight with their enemies. The psychic might of the Warlock proves to be particularly effective against his foes as he compels both genestealers and Space Marines to battle their own forces. Brothers Vectis and Angelos engage each other in devastating melee combat and come close to killing each other before the Warlock’s psychic power fails and he is promptly smashed to bloody pulp by Brother Vectis’ thunder hammer. The Kill-Team is able to dispatch the last of the remaining Xenos and secure the area.

Inspecting the power armored remains, Brother Aoner is able to confirm they are the lost Deathwatch Kill-Team long since dead-their precious geneseed no longer recoverable. In addition, Brother Aoner’s inspection shows that the deceased librarian’s psychic hood (the Halo of Providence) is missing. Suspecting that the Eldar Farseer had taken the item prior to her escape, Brother Aoner psychically scans the ship and is able to locate a strong psychic signature, which he believes is the Farseer. After plotting a course through the ship to intercept the Farseer, Brother Aoner tasks Sister Ruby and Brother Vectis with preparing a boarding torpedo that they found in the fore weapons bay for launch while he takes the rest of the team to recover the artifact.

Unfortunately, it appears that Brother Aoner’s calculations are off and his team fails to find the Eldar, or the Halo of Providence; a psychic scan supports that the Eldar are no longer aboard the Ardent Crown. He orders the team back to the fore weapons bay where the boarding torpedo has been successfully prepped and loaded with the remains of the deceased Kill-Team.

Their mission a failure, the Kill-Team departs from the Ardent Crown- their boarding torpedo shot from the derelict vessel into the unknown since communications with their transport ship have still not been re-established. As the torpedo speeds away from the Crown, the Kill-Team gets a brief view through the torpedo’s small viewing window of the Eldar frigate dematerializing from view and the Ardent Crown plummeting into the upper atmosphere of the heavily populated hive world of Solace.

* GM’s Note: This mission was slightly modified by the GM from the Fantasy Flight Deathwatch adventure of the same name. It can be found here.*

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"The Soul Reaver"- Blood, Sand and Steel

“They are a scourge upon our galaxy, the most vile and sadistic of all our xenos foes, and a peril to any who would ply the void in search of profit or gain. Whatever happens, should the shadow of their ships darken your path, pray you die fighting at the helm of your vessel, lest ‘fortune’ favors you and they take you alive…”

-Magos Domos Agnelain, Explorator

Using his connections with a Dark Eldar named Akirvas, Inquisitor Sand has discovered that acolytes Quint and Pullo were captured and sold by a Dark Eldar Archon named Salaine Morn. Through Akirvas, Sand secretly contacted Morn and a deal was brokered that in exchange for safe passage from the Dark Eldar Webway city known as the Nexus of Shadows, the imprisoned acolytes would secure a Dark Eldar ship for Morn called the Soul Reaver, which is the flagship of the most powerful Archon, and current ruler, of the Nexus of Shadows, Archon Zaergarn Kul of the Kabal of the Splintered Talon.

Of course, conducting negotiations with Xenos, especially the Dark Eldar, is highly proscribed and most in the Imperium would declare Inquisitor Sand a traitor and request his immediate execution if they knew of these relations. Regardless of the danger, the Inquisitor has went forward with the rescue attempt, though those that know of the operation suspect that there is more than just the safe return of Sand’s acolytes in play here as whispers speak of valuable information that Archon Morn will provide to Sand once she receives possession of the Soul Reaver.

Inquisitor Sand has tasked acolytes Jak, Bishop, Jez, Silvain and a young teenage girl named Luck to prosecute this mission. This group has been given orders to locate and rescue Quint and Pullo, and then secure the Soul Reaver and turn over possession of the ship to Morn. The acolytes reach their destination by being transferred from Rogue Trader Captain Melua’s ship, the Arcadia, to Archon Morn’s ship, the Promise of Agony. Morn then takes the acolytes, in the guise of slaves, to the Nexus of Shadows where they are sold to the Wych Cult of the Withered Blade under the leadership of Succubus Anyalra.

Commorragh.pngTheir lives as slaves of the Withered Blade in the Shadowspine Pits begins with torment and pain as the acolytes join other captured slaves and proceed through a number of trials that test their fighting abilities and physical and mental fortitude. Many of their fellow prisoners are killed or maimed in the process and those that survive quickly lose hope as they realize there is no escape from their predicament.

Shortly after their arrival, the acolytes make contact with Quint, Pullo, and their new acquaintances- a squat named Kelson, Magos Domos (a most surely insane tech-priest that has been a prisoner of the Dark Eldar and served in the Shadowspine Pits for over two centuries) and a fellow slave named Gunn. With the additional manpower, Quint and Domos begin working on a plan to escape the Pits that is based on the recruitment of notable slaves to join in facilitating an uprising; a plan which has little chance for success, but provides the only option of hope at the moment.

In addition to the complications of enacting the escape plan, the group must also try to stay alive in conditions that are less than optimal. The acolytes quickly find that life is a commodity that is quickly spent if one does not have the skills to survive the arena fights, or the luck to avoid being selected to participate in them. Arena fights with wyches, murder servitors, Xenos creatures from across the galaxy and fellow slaves are a constant obstacle that they endure, and so far they have managed to survive (some owe their lives to the seemingly supernatural Medicae skills of Domos the Bloodsmith). Months pass by and the acolytes, and their allies, continue their work on solidifying alliances and planning their escape. Many that the acolytes approach are skeptical about the success of any escape plan. They are wary of a possible trap or question the resolve and dedication of the acolytes toward this endeavor and request that the acolytes perform an act to prove themselves.

In a strange twist of fate following an arena event where Quint and Gunn attempt, but fail, to turn the tables on their Dark Eldar captors, Interrogator Quint meets with a sultry ship captain named Coronnia who works for the crime bosses of the Kasballica and is heavily involved in the Cold Trade; she knows of Quint through his cover identity of Quartiz- a malifixer with ties to several criminal organizations, most notably the heretical tech-cult called the Logicians. Captain Coronnia’s meeting with Quint sets in motion events which lead to Quint’s release from the Dark Eldar and into the custody of Coronnia who has been tasked to transport him back to the Calixis Sector and turn him over to his superiors. Some of the acolytes voice discontent over this ironic turn of events that has allowed Quint to be freed while the rest of his party, including those that were purposely enslaved to rescue him, remain trapped as prisoners.

The remaining acolytes and their allies continue to fight for survival while pursuing potential alliances. Slowly their efforts begin to pay off and they are able to bring several powerful prisoners to support their cause, such as a powerful psyker named Nieja and a massive Ork Warboss named Gob ‘ard Head Green. Others await a suitable display of the acolytes resolve and power and word is put out to set up an arena bout between Jak and Succubus Anyalra’s wych champion, Hekatrix Bloodbride Unarlan. The fight is approved and many eagerly await the match up. Regardless of the outcome, the acolytes plan on beginning the slave uprising at the conclusion of the match.

Domos informs the acolytes that the Nexus of Shadow is built on an ancient human construct from the Dark Age of Technology called the Gaelan Sphere. Though it is unknown how the Sphere got positioned in the Webway, Domos and Kelson find that the Sphere’s machine spirit is still clinging to life deep in the Sphere and they are able to use it to manipulate limited parts of the construct, such as opening doors and turning gravity fields on and off.

On the day of the titanic battle between the massively strong Jak and the quick and skilled Unarlan the stands are packed. The moment the match begins Jak realizes that he is outclassed- Cult_of_the_Cursed_Blades.pngthe wych is too fast and easily evades Jak’s powerful but sluggish strikes while delivering precision strikes of her own that artfully and playfully cut away at her opponent. Unfortunately for Unarlan, the hekatrix makes a slight misstep and Jak seizes the opportunity to deal a savage blow that stuns the wych and then proceeds to savagely tear apart her body with his bare hands and fling the pieces into the stands. A roar of approval, shock and anger comes from the crowd, which soon finds themselves fighting for their own lives as savage beasts and Xenos creatures that were in holding pens enter the stands courtesy of Domos and Kelson’s manipulation of the Sphere’s machine spirit. The slave uprising has begun…

* GM’s Note: This mission was modified by the GM from the Fantasy Flight Rogue Trader book “Soul Reaver.” It can be found here.

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"Fearful Symmetry"

It has been five months since Tyranid forces from a tendril of Hive Fleet Dagon advanced on the Imperial station in the Salient Orpheus known as the Perihelion. Just prior to the station being overrun, Kill-team Kronus departed the station with the fleeing Imperial fleet, but left behind two of its members- Brothers G‘heirnat and Angelos who volunteered to remain behind so that their team could complete their mission in extracting a high value Inquisition prisoner on a shuttle with limited space available.

Death at the hands of overwhelming Tyranid forces is the fate that many expected for the left behind Deathwatch Marines, and the notion of entertaining even the thought of a rescue attempt could not be done while the beleaguered Imperial forces were struggling to merely survive being routed. Since then, the battle line has moved far past the Perihelion and the station now lies deep in Tyranid territory. Deep scans by probing Adeptus Mechanicus vessels show that the station still appears to be intact, though its condition and structural integrity is in question as the monitors for many of its critical systems are no longer transmitting. Speculation, supported by biometric augurs, is that the station is infested with Tyranid organisms and a small force of capital-class Tyranid ships stand guard nearby.

Recently, a window of opportunity arrived when a desperate counter-assault by a combined force of Imperial Navy, Adeptus Astartes and Adeptus Mechanicus ships stalled the Tyranid advance. A bloody stalemate has ensued and the call for reinforcements from both sides has gone out. Amongst this carnage, petitions for a rescue attempt of the stranded Battle-brothers of Kill-Team Kronos have been made, backed by the support of various Deathwatch and parent-Chapter Space Marines, as well as a few members of the Inquisition and Adeptus Mechanicus. Enough support came forward that a desperate plan was approved to send a small, but formidable, combined force of Naval, Astartes and Mechanicus ships to make a concentrated strike into the Tyranid battle line closest to the Perihelion in an attempt to draw away as much of the nearby Tyranid fleet as possible so that a sole Deathwatch cruiser, the Argent Crusader, could penetrate to the Perihelion and deliver Kill-team Kronus (consisting of Brothers Aoner, Vectis and Dante and Palatine Ruby) and Veteran Sergeant Agamorr (a legend amongst the Deathwatch and Adeptus Astartes) to rescue the lost Space Marines, carry out a variety of sub-missions and destroy the Perihelion.

Brother Dante was chosen to lead Kill-team Kronos, while Brother Agamorr would operate solo to complete his mission objectives. It was also decided that two Deathwatch relics would be beneficial in aiding the boarding party with mission success- Sergeant Agamorr armed himself with the famed Hammer of Balthazar and Brother Aoner wielded the legendary Shard of Bekrin.
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After an uneventful transit through the Warp, the Kill-team reached their destination and it appeared that the Imperium’s plan to draw away the Tyranid ships from the Perihelion was a success. Using a Thunderhawk gunship for insertion into one of the Perihelion’s massive landing bays, the Kill-team and Sergeant Agamorr disembark into a fighting boarding action against a formidable Tyranid force of Carnifexes, Termagants, Hormagaunts and Warriors. With supporting fire from the Thunderhawk’s various weapons, the Space Marines and Sister of Battle met their foes head on using bolter, flame and melee attacks to decimate their Xenos opponents. During the battle, Brother Aoner tapped too much into the dangerous Warp energy used to fuel his psychic powers and inadvertently summoned a daemon prince called Vargash the Black (who Aoner had mistakenly summoned before on a previous encounter, which resulted in unfortunate results). The enraged daemon prince sought the librarian’s death, and it was only through another fluke of Warp intervention that Aoner was saved and Vargash returned to his domain.

With the Xenos in the landing bay destroyed or scattered, the Kill-team and Agamorr proceed deeper into the station, splitting up to prosecute their individual missions, and planning to link back up later to enact the protocols to destroy the Perihelion. Not sure where to locate their missing Battle-brothers, Kill-team Kronos wandered the station looking for clues. The Perihelion was in a decrepit state- lack of maintenance and the Tyranid presence has left failing or non-operational utility systems, a damaged interior and no sign of survivors. Eventually a scan by Brother Vectis picked up a faint distress signal Imperial in nature being broadcast from the bridge area and the Kill-team made haste to locate the signal’s source.

Proceeding down one of the station’s many corridors, the Kill-team found their way blocked by an unresponsive door. As Brother Vectis and Sister Ruby used their technical skill to attempt to revive the door’s machine spirits, the rest of the Kill-team enacted a desperate defense to buy Vectis and Ruby time to complete their work as a massive horde of Tyranid organisms flooded the corridor intent on terminating the Kill-team. Termagaunts and Hormagaunts attack the Kill-team’s position with razor sharp claws and organic weapons that fire armor-boring beetles. Brother Aoner unleashes psychic death while Brother Dante stoically stands his ground to bulwark the corridor against the enemy.

On the brink of being overrun, Vectis and Ruby are successful and the sealed door opens to reveal their missing Battle-brothers on the other side. Brother G’heirnat motions the team through the door while Brother Angelos charges into the Tyranid horde to buy his teammates time to retreat to safety. Once all of the Kill-team members are safely through the door, G’heirnat seals the door to keep them safe from the relentless Tyranid assault.

A short exchange of pleasantries follows and the Kill-team learns of the hardships that Angelos and G’heirnat have endured for the past five months. With no ammunition left and their armor battered, G’heirnat and Angelos are grateful to receive the weapons and ammunition that the Kill-team has brought for them.

After utilizing the semi-operational augur array on the bridge, the Kill-team investigates a warning rune at some stasis chambers near the bridge and discover the Perihelion’s Chief Astropath, Mardon Arlarnt, who requests that the Kill-team escort him to safety so that he can relay a priority message that he was in the process on receiving when the station’s evacuation was taking place. The Kill-team agrees, and with the astropath under their protection, the Kill-team decides to make their way to the Adeptus Mechanicus section of the Perihelion to complete one of their objectives- to retrieve a valuable archeotech item called the Lucius-pattern Vision Hood.

On the way, Brother Vectis becomes aware of multiple contacts on the auspex rapidly approaching the Kill-team from two different sides. This message is relayed to his teammates and the Kill-team decides to form a defensive position in a room housing several of the station’s sub-generators. This room can be easily defended- a pile of rubble and debris partially blocks one corridor, a small hole in the ceiling allows limited access on one corner and there is only one long corridor that is entirely open. Brothers G’heirnat and Aoner position to hold the long corridor with flamer and psychic powers, Palatine Ruby and Brothers Angelos and Dante act as a ready reserve to assist where they are needed and Brother Vectis watches the partially blocked corridor and the hole in the ceiling in a position where he can protect the Astropath.

The kill-team does not have to wait long until the enemy is upon them. A large group of Genestealers rushes down the corridor at G’heirnat and Aoner and they unleash their weapons in an effort to push them back and reduce their numbers. Calamity strikes the Kill-team from the onset as Aoner taps too much into the Warp and his psychic Smiting power backlashes onto himself severely wounding the Librarian and hurting his comrade Dante; the Black Templar G’heirnat is unharmed as his Chapter’s distrust of psykers has developed methods of protecting them from the Warp’s foul energies.
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There are too many Genestealers to keep at bay with the weapons at the Kill-team’s disposal and battle is soon joined as Genestealers nearly overwhelm G’heirnat and Aoner. Brothers Dante and Angelos rush in to assist their battle-brothers while Vectis holds his section as best he can when Genestealers start emerging from the rubble and the hole in the ceiling. Overwhelmed and starting to sustain serious wounds, the Kill-team takes some desperate, but tactical measures- Palatine Ruby sends cleansing flamer fire to engulf Genestealer and Space Marine alike and all of the Battle-brothers, except Vectis and G’heirnat catch on fire with some of the Genestealers. Covered in flames, both forces fight on.

Angelos sends several Genestealers to their death with sweeps of Vectis’ power axe. G’heirnat takes on the enemy armed only with his Storm Shield and a Combat Knife. Vectis’ servo-arm reduces Genestealers to bloody pulp. Palatine Ruby’s hand flamer keeps the enemy burning. Bolstered by the defense of his Iron Arm psychic power, Aoner cuts at the Genestealers with the Shard of Bekrin. Dante yells defiance at the enemy and drives his comrades to a battle fervor that guides their attacks in a way that the Genestealers find difficult to avoid.

The Kill-team slays the remaining Genestealers, but have sustained numerous wounds and Brother G’heirnat administers aid to his battered comrades. Their time on the Perihelion facing the Tyranid threat is starting to take its toll on the Kill-team- the stock of pain suppressants in their armor is slowly being depleted, their apothecary’s supply of medications has long been used up, and it is only through G’heirnat’s medicae skills and the grace of the Emperor that the Kill-team is still in fighting condition.

Finally arriving at the Adeptus Mechanicus section of the station, the Kill-team makes their way through a devastated section where the Tyranids have used brute strength and numbers to smash their way through the security protocols and physical barriers- the remains of combat servitors litter the corridors and heavy reinforced doors have been torn asunder. The exception to this devastation is the area where the Tech-Priests house their high-value secure storage. The Kill-team finds that the Tyranid advance has not penetrated this far into the section and Brother Dante decides that he and Brother Angelos will scout ahead of the rest of the team to check for an ambush.

Ahead of their fellows, Dante and Angelos find that the area is still under guard by active combat servitors. The heavily augmented guardians rush at the Space Marines with deadly whip-like appendages crackling with power. Calling to his team for aid, the two Space Marines are engaged by the servitors and Angelos becomes a whirlwind of death destroying his foes. By the time the rest of the Kill-team arrives, the few remaining servitors are easily dispatched and the way to recover the Lucius-Pattern Vison Hood is clear.

Using the authorization codes provided to them by the Adeptus Mechanicus, Brother Vectis unseals the vault where the Hood is being stored. A marvel of archeotech, the Vision Hood gives it wearer the ability to detect life signs through a variety of barriers and cloaking devices, detect radiation and contaminants, and note flaws in structural integrity. Hoping the device will assist them in combating the Tyranids with chameleon abilities, Brother Aoner dons the Hood for the rest of the mission.

While evaluating the abilities of the Hood, the Kill-team gets a distress call from Veteran Sergeant Agamorr. The Sergeant’s mission in recovering the geneseed was successful, but the famed Deathwatch Space Marine is being attacked by overwhelming Tyranid forces and requests the Kill-team’s aid. With haste, the Kill-team navigates the Perihelion’s corridors (the Vison Hood assisting the Kill-team in evading Tyranid forces) and arrive at Agamorr’s location too late for battle and find the Veteran Sergeant’s bloody and broken body atop a small mountain of dead Tyranids.

Sustaining grievous injuries, the Sergeant’s body is slipping into suspended animation to preserve his life until advanced medical aid can be given. G’heirnat revives the Sergeant for a short time so that they can question him about what took place. Agamorr still has the geneseed intact, but reports that a rare and classified Tyranid-strain creature known only as “Species Seven” attacked him. While the rest of the Kill-team are lost with the reference, Agamorr and G’heirnat know of the creature and the apothecary briefs his brothers on the rarely seen and reported (some don’t even believe in its existence) Tyranid creature that is simply described as a Hive Tyrant with Lictor abilities. Records to date indicate that there have been no survivors of a suspected Species Seven encounter.

Before slipping back into suspended animation, the Sergeant tells the Kill-team that Species Seven is stalking them even now and they must complete their mission before its too late. While Brother Vectis secures the Sergeant’s body, Brother G’heirnat takes possession of the recovered geneseed and Brother Dante stows his chainsword to wield the mighty Hammer of Balthazar. The team then makes haste to the Engineerium to initiate the station’s auto-annihilation sequence.

Kill-team Kronus arrives at the massive plasma reactor that powers the entire orbital. Stretching up through several levels and crawling with thousands of Tyranid organisms, the Kill-team starts their long approach to the control room located in the center of the massive chamber. Leaking radiation slowly starts to affect their bodies but their Melanchromic Organs are able to protect them from permanent damage for the time being. Vectis drags the body of the hibernating Sergeant Agamorr as the team makes their way to the closest catwalk that travels through the arcing plasma streams to the control room.

Their progress is soon noted by the nearby surrounding Tyranids and a warning flashes through the Hive Mind. Hundreds of Hormagaunts and Termagants’ under the direction of Tyranid Warriors make haste to the Kill-Team’s position. Some of the Tyranids are fast enough to intercept the team before they make it to the center of the chamber and a blood battle ensues between the two forces.

As the battle continues, the massive numbers of the Tyranids starts to give them an advantage. While decimating a horde of Termagants, Brother Angelos goes down and is swarmed by the creatures. Brother Dante and Brother G’heirnat are able to get to their critically wounded battle-brother in time to treat his wounds. Many of the Kill-team have sustained numerous injuries as they finally make their way to the catwalk that leads to the reactor’s central control but inside they find that the battle is still not over as yet more Tyranids wait for them within the control room itself. With time ticking away, the Kill-team charges into the enemy crossing into the inner control chamber of the reactor core for the Perihelion. While Brother Angelos acts as rearguard against sporadic advancing Tyranid organisms, the rest of the team takes on the enemies waiting inside.

With the enhanced visual assistance of the Lucius-Pattern Vision Hood, Brother Aoner is able to see two more Tyranid Warriors hidden on the other side of the control room and he advances ahead of his Kill-Team towards these targets. When he arrives, he does indeed find two more Tyranid Warriors, and realizes almost too late when one of them sends a powerful beam of psychic power at him that one of them is a psyker Tyranid Prime. The two psykers, Librarian and Prime, begin a duel hurling psychic energy at each other.

Calling for his Kill-team to push forward, Brother Dante leads a charge that results in the death of one of the Tyranid Warriors and inspires the rest of his team. After dispatching the other Tyranid organisms guarding the control chamber, the rest of the Kill-team converge on the Prime. Outnumbered and trapped, the Xenos synapse creature is quickly slain.

After setting up a security perimeter, and tending to the wounded, the Kill-team searches the control room for the Sacred Scroll of the Rite of Auto-Annihilation. Palatine Ruby braves the radiation danger and locates the scroll and immediately heads out to a protected area while Brothers G’heirnat and Vectis complete the Rite, which is executed flawlessly. With the safety barriers disabled, the massive plasma reactor becomes unstable amidst the sound of warning klaxons. The countdown to the destruction of the Perihelion begins, and with only a short window of opportunity for escape, the Kill-team makes haste to the nearest hanger bay for extraction. With the station’s structural integrity failing, the Kill-team must maneuver past obstacles of falling debris and collapsing corridors, as well as fight past scattering Tyranids caught in the destruction, to reach their destination.

Making it to the nearest landing bay with only a short amount of time left, the Kill-team voxes their awaiting Thunderhawk for extraction and gets to work preparing to exit. It is decided that splitting into teams would be best. One team to finds a suitable void suit for Astropath Arlarnt, so that he may survive the void when the landing bay doors are opened. One team, which includes Brother Aoner wearing the Lucius-Pattern Vision Cowl to scan for incoming Tyranids, including Species Seven. And the last team, consisting of Brothers G’heirnat and Vectis, who have been tasked with manually opening the massive landing bays doors, which are no longer responding to electronic controls.

With five minutes till their Thunderhawk arrives, Palatine Ruby and Brother Angelos are able to locate, and get Arlarnt secured in a void suit just as several large groups of Tyranid creatures converge on the landing bay from several directions. Brother Dante quickly requests the assistance of the Alpha Scars Chapter Tactical Squad under the command of Sergeant Riesus that has been waiting on standby to assist. The squad teleports into the center of the landing bay with weapons ready to support the Kill-team’s exit. With the clock ticking away to destruction, Brother Aoner’s Lucius-Pattern enhanced vision notes a fast moving group of three Tyranids heading toward the landing bay concealed by the walls.

What happens next unfolds in a matter of seconds. The Alpha Scars Tactical squad brings the Emperor’s vengeance down on the foul Xenos, decimating many Genestealers and Hormagaunts with bolter fire and frag grenades before being joined in melee combat where all but their Sergeant would fall to the deadly claws of the Xenos. Angelos charges into the midst of the Xenos hordes, and later joins his remaining Chapter Battle-brother to finish off the remaining attacking hordes of Tyranids. G’heirnat proves that his strength is indeed legend when his mighty armor-enhanced strength easily turns the massive wheels that manually open the landing bay doors, while Brother Vectis’ powerful servo-arm struggles to do the same. Brother Aoner takes on Species Seven and its duo of Lictor companions as they enter the landing bay. A blast of psychic might reduces one of the Lictors to a smoking carcass and catches Species Seven in the blast. Showing no signs of distress, the massive Lictor-like creature continues past the librarian toward the Space Marines at the landing bay doors while the remaining Lictor assaults Brother Aoner. The advance chameleon effect of Species Seven makes it hard for even the augmented senses of the Space Marines to see its location and the Tyranid creature is able to initially engage the Space Marines single-handedly and cause serious injuries, especially to Brother Dante. Eventually the Kill-team are able to locate the hidden creature and bring their combined numbers to bear (Brother Aoner joins the fight against Species Seven after a perfect blast of stormbolter fire from Palatine Ruby kills the Lictor he is in close combat with). Brother Vectis is able to deliver the killing blow against the deadly creature by boring a massive hole into the creature with his Breaching Augur.
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With their escape route clear, the Kill-team (carrying the bodies of their wounded and deceased Space Marines), board the Thunderhawk and make haste to the safe zone of the Perihelion’s explosion. The Tyranid space assets have since returned after hearing the synaptic cry from Species Seven, and the Thunderhawk desperately maneuvers the gauntlet of debris and Tyranid interceptors. Finding themselves on the edge of the safe zone when the Perihelion’s plasma core finally explodes, the Thunderhawk is buffeted by the massive energies released in the blast wave. Adrift with no power, the Thunderhawk is eventually picked up by the Imperial forces, though all the Kill-team members have suffered critical injuries, including severed limbs and Astropath Arlarnt perished in the blast wave. Despite the damage to their bodies, the Kill-team returns to Imperial-controlled space hailed as heroes, their mission a success.

* GM’s Note: This mission was created by the GM and inspired by events in the Deathwatch adventure, “The Ark of Lost Souls,” by Fantasy Flight Games and the Warhammer 40,000 novel, “The Death of Integrity,” by Guy Haley.

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"The Dying of St Margaret's"

Continuing the joint investigation that started with the strange tainted black birds that were found in Hive Sibellus at the Colleges of Hetaireia Lexis, Inquisitor Sand and Inquisitor Baspherone have yet to locate Chaos cultist Stefan Seiger, but have uncovered information about some time the cultist spent in the disguise of an Imperial Priest working at the isolated island Schola Progenium of St. Margaret’s on the world of Pellicuda IX. The long-established schola had a reputation for producing quality progena, but over the past couple of decades, the numbers of quality graduating progena has declined and the schola has been plagued by personnel issues, deaths and training accidents that are far above the norm for such an institution; analysis shows that these deficiencies appear to have started after Seiger’s time at the schola.
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Initially, Inquisitor Baspherone dispatches a team of his acolytes to St. Margaret’s in an overt investigation into the matter, but the team disappears with no explanation after a week on site. Concerned about hidden Chaos agents amongst the schola’s population, Inquisitor Sand dispatches a team of his own acolytes led by Legatine Uriel, whose cover story is that she is has been assigned as the new head of the schola’s medicae facility to address the unusual number of deaths and injuries taking place. Flak accompanies the team assigned as Uriel’s bodyguard, Bishop takes the cover identity of a pilgrim and Lupus is assigned as the schola’s new choir teacher. These various appointments should allow the acolytes to investigate all ranges, from the upper administration to the lowly pious servants, of the schola’s population.

Upon arrival, the acolytes quickly adapt to their cover identities and the strict puritan way of life that the schola functions under. Three Imperial services and three humble meals a day, corporal punishment of students by Drill Abbots and the constant sound of Imperial hymns in the background are just some of the conditions the acolytes endure during their investigation, which they conduct in-between the duties of their assigned cover identities.

While no hidden cultists or malevolent individuals are found, there is definitely something strange going on at the schola. All of the staff and children appear to be in a state of constant weakness and fatigue, and Uriel is perplexed when her studies of patient records show that everyone, even young children, are suffering from various degenerative medical conditions. The people, the structure of the schola, and even the land itself seem to be aged and in a decrepitated state with no explanation. The acolytes soon find after their first night of sleep that sleep offers no rest and fatigue is a constant condition that plagues everyone no matter how much sleep one gets.

Uriel suspects some type of contamination affecting everyone and starts looking at ventilation, food and water as potential causes. The other acolytes question some of the staff but no leads are made until Bishop breaks into the secure theater that the previous Inquisition team was using as a base of operations. Inside the acolytes find a wealth of research material that the other team complied, and analysis leads the acolytes to believe that the other Inquisition team found evidence to support that something emanating from a meteor that crashed long ago into the beach of the island is responsible for the maladies taking place.
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After finding evidence that the other Inquisition team acquired spelunking equipment, the acolytes decide that there must be a cave near the beach and set out to investigate the possibility. Their hypothesis proves correct, and they do find a small cave mouth concealed on the boulder-strewn beach. Using Bishop’s expertise from his upbringing on a frontier world, the team takes hours to navigate a cave system that is lit by a strange phosphoresce from an unknown source. The trip through the cave eventually leads the acolytes to the remains of the other Inquisition team. Some are just piles of rapidly decomposed bones and equipment, but others appears to be alive until, to the horror of the acolytes, a mere touch causes their forms to rapidly fall apart as dust.

The cave ends in a cavern with a large glowing rock of a strange material that is surrounded by a dense shifting fog that the acolytes soon discover is actively sucking the life from them. With the sudden appearance of daemons of Tzeentch called Horrors, the acolytes begin a desperate fight to destroy the meteor before they succumb to the life-draining fog and its daemonic guardians. With the group on the brink of death, Uriel finally sends the last shot that shatters the meteor and banishes the daemons and the life-draining taint from the schola.

* GM’s Note: This mission was ran with modifications from the Trail of Cthulhu adventure, “The Dying of St Maragret’s" by Graham Walmsley. It can be found on the Pelgrane Press Ltd website “here.”

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"The Watchers in the Sky"

On behalf of Inquisitor Sand’s old alma mater, the College of Hetaireia Lexis on the planet of Scintilla, one of the Inquisitor’s old professors (and dean of the Lexis Maxima), Magister Loremaster Cornelius Wright, has requested Inquisition assistance in investigating a strange and perplexing matter in recent months in which standardized experiments on campus have resulted in abnormal results with no explanation; this phenomenon appears to be only limited to the Lexis Maxima campus in Hive Sibellus. The abnormalities are severely hindering research projects since known effects are no longer standard.

Interested in helping his old friend, but still preoccupied with his search for Interrogator Quint and other matters, Inquisitor Sand dispatches a team lead by one of his senior acolytes, Magos Vern (the rest of the team members include Lupus, Bishop and a newly acquired acolyte from the Penal Legion that goes by the nickname of Flak). In addition, Vern decides to take the added firepower of a gun servitor just in case.

Upon arriving at the Lexis Maxima, the acolytes are set up with quarters and the faculty extend whatever assistance they can provide to resolve this matter. Vern conducts some experiments of his own and confirms that standardized chemical reactions and other known results are not happening. The rest of the acolytes spend their time interviewing other faculty, including a Loremaster named Kale who is currently being treated in a sanatorium on campus that is run by an order of the Sisters Hospitalers. Kale proves to be suffering from some type of psychosis and he believes that the strange black birds on campus that look similar to crows are the cause of the anomalies.

flock-of-flying-birds-desktop-wallpaper.jpgThe acolytes note that there are hundreds of the black birds perched on buildings and trees throughout the campus and they always move together in a flock. Lupus and Bishop start getting the sickening feeling that the birds are watching their every move, and during the night, their dreams are filled with the ever watchful forms of the birds. The feeling of their constant gaze starts to wear away at their sanity and they each begin to subconsciously trace a strange spiral pattern with their hands, the same distinct pattern that they have noted the birds always using when they fly up into the sky.

Intrigued by this strange bird theory causing the anomalies, Vern tasks Lupus and Flak to secure a specimen for analysis. On the high roof of one of the campus’ buildings, the pair try to lure a bird with food with no success. It is only when Lupus decides to shoot one with his crossbow that the normally passive birds react violently and attack Lupus en masse. Despite being seriously wounded, and almost falling to his death, Lupus does kill one of the birds and brings it back to Vern.

Vern conducts an autopsy on the animal and finds a strange physiology inside- the bird is not of any known species, and more disturbing, some of its internal bones and organs appear to be from a variety of species, including humans and dogs. Even stranger is the absence of blood, and instead there is a black caviar-like substance that holds the insides together.
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The group decides to each utilize their scholastic and forbidden knowledge to comb the source material in the libraries of the Lexis Maxima. In addition, they pay a visit to the College’s premiere ornithologist on birds across the galaxy, Loremaster Juliann Nott. Nott tells the acolytes that the black birds are not native to Scintilla (or any other known place) and were in fact brought to the College over twenty years ago as a pair by a previously employed Loremaster named Sieger. Sieger has since left the employment of the College and his whereabouts are unknown. It is believed that his pair of birds bred and the flocks on campus are their offspring.

Additionally research reveals the following: 1) Lupus recognizes Sieger as a Churirgeon that used to work at a manor house that was purchased by Inquisitor Sand; it was later found that Sieger was a Chaos cultist for the Eldritch Order of the Unblinking Eye and he fled Imperial authorities while the rest of the cult were being terminated. 2) The bird’ spiral pattern is similar to the symbol of the Chaos power of Tzeentch and there is a numeric significance present related to the number “9.” 3) It is believed that the birds are related to the Warp and a theory is developed that as their numbers increase, they weaken the veil between the Warp and realspace (thus the abnormal experiment reactions) and left uncheck, a tear in the fabric of reality will happen. 4) There are reports of similar types of birds near a remote frontier city outside of Hive Sibellus called Rydal.

The acolytes’ investigation is not without complications though, as a power play between Vern with his Inquisition authority and the Sisters Hospitalers and their Ecclessiarchy authority creates a situation in which both groups get higher powers involved. Inquisitor Sand and Inquisitor Baspherone both personally respond to ease tensions and negotiate a working relationship. The potential Warp threat that the birds create cannot be ignored and it is decided that Inquisitor Baspherone will oversee an operation to have Sisters of Battle Retributor Squads armed with flame weapons destroy the birds on campus while Vern and his team continue the investigation in Rydal.

After requisitioning a Valkyrie transport, the team secretly lands on the outskirts of the town of Rydal and approaches on foot. They find that the black birds are indeed present, in considerably more numbers than they were at the Lexis Maxima. They find the townsfolk to be quiet and melon collie and they are mainly miners that work the network of mines that surround the town. The team learns much from a local named Vincent who is not a priest, but is caretaker of the town Church; he tells Lupus that the Ecclessiarchy has not sent a new priest to take over since the last one drowned in the nearby lake over twenty years ago. The acolytes also learn that the town’s women are being plague by a madness in which they take their own lives, which is why there are few woman in the town and the area is shunned by travelers.

After securing room and board at a local inn called the “Green Man,” Lupus and Flak make additional inquires to people but find little useful information other than not many actively worship the Emperor in the area and the strange birds are in abundance but not dangerous. Lupus and Flak do get involved one night in helping Vincent save his daughter from taking her life on a strange stone that sits outside the town- a stone with strange occult engravings that has a local history as a suicide location.

pic1439028.jpgDeciding that the mines might hold the answer, the group makes inquires for a local guide to take them where there are reports of strange phenomena and a miner named ‘Ol Ned agrees to provide his services for hire. Early the following day, ‘Ol Ned takes the group to an old series of mines near a place called the Longhrigg Quarry. Inside is a maze of tunnels that ‘Ol Ned seems to know how to navigate that takes them deep underground in the dark. The tunnels appear to be a nesting place for yet thousands more of the black birds who lay asleep on the walls ignoring the group’s progress. Hours pass by as the group goes deeper and deeper into the earth, and eventually they arrive at a section where the barrier between realspace and an unknown Warp world is permeable. Strange sights and creatures can be seen on the ever fluctuating tunnel walls of the mines and further exploration leads the acolytes to a bright pillar of light in a dead end cavern.

The acolytes find out almost too late that they have been set up and local cultists open fire from the cavern, nearly killing Flak. The acolytes regroup, and using the cover of a tossed blind grenade, they conduct an assault. With the group momentarily split up, ‘Ol Ned, proves to be a cultist as well and launches a surprise attack on Bishop with his chainsword while Vern and Lupus are in the cavern attacking the cultists let by a rogue psyker that is a local shepherd. What follows is an intense battle between the acolytes and the cultists, who are supported by Tzeentch Flamer daemons that emerge from the pillar of light, which appears to be a gateway to the Warp world that is anchored by a strange inscribed stone in the light pillar.

Despite the daemonic horrors and psychic assault, the acolytes are victorious in terminating the cultists and destroying the Warpstone anchor, but the destruction of the stone unleashes one final surge of power as the thousands of birds in the mine attack the acolytes. The aftermath finds the acolytes barely alive and in serious need of medical attention (Flak lost his left eye to the birds), but all the birds in the mines and town are found to be dead and the taint in the area appears to be gone.

* GM’s Note: This mission was ran with modifications from the Trail of Cthulhu adventure, “The Watchers in the Sky" by Graham Walmsley. It can be found on the Pelgrane Press Ltd website “here.”

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"The Devil's Cut"

BY ORDER OF HIS MOST HOLY MAJESTY THE GOD-EMPEROR OF TERRA INQUISITOR GRAMEN SAND’S PERSONAL LOGS- AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY

• Log Number 327:22V:TT3:Hex
• Work Station Location: Jade21

Please enter your authority code> * * * * * * * * * * * *
Validating…
Thank you, Inquisitor Sand.

You may proceed…

• Date: 815.M41
• Transcription: Adept Thodinna, Ordo Xenos, Adeptus Mechanicus Battle Cruiser Machinations of Man, Hippocrasian Agglomeration
• Subject: Recovery of Stolen Exterminatus Weapon

It has been four months since Interrogator Quint informed me that he had obtained, through his cover identity as a Logician agent, information regarding the exterminatus weapon (a single Scythe-pattern barrage torpedo fitted with a chem-viral warhead) that the Logicians had stolen almost a decade ago from the Imperial battle cruiser the Bastion (see mission file #Bastion2398XENOS), and which was subsequently stolen from them by the rogue Inquisitor Forlorn Gaul (see mission file #WANDERLUST879XENOS) who I have since terminated on the planet of Tranch (see mission file #GAUL98118XENOS); Gaul’s intentions with the exterminatus weapon was never revealed. Apparently, the Logicians had never-given up on their efforts to recover the stolen weapon and they were able to obtain credible information from sources that the torpedo’s warhead had been disassembled and transported to the small city of Fallcrest, which is located on the remote jungle planet of Faldon Kise in the Malfian sub-sector of the Calixis Sector.

I immediately dispatched Interrogator Quint to act upon this information and he was able to secure a place to accompany the Logician agents on the mission to secure the weapon’s components with his ultimate objective being to ensure that the warhead was returned to Imperial hands once located. To assist him in facilitating this, acolytes Pullo and Rylak were dispatched under Quint’s authority. The mission was expected to be difficult as Faldon Kise has little official oversight by Imperial authorities and it was decided that any large show of nearby Imperial presence may tip off the Logicians, as well as those holding the exterminatus weapon, to a possible investigation. In addition, communications with the planet are very difficult as there is no official astropathic presence and normal communication methods are hindered by the planet’s remote location and low-tech level; it was assumed that Quint would try to establish communication after an assessment of the situation using whatever communication resources were available. Since his group’s departure, I have yet to receive any communication from the team with the exception of a breach alarm three weeks after their expected arrival on planet coming from the Sand Box that I had established in Fallcrest, which I presume the group was using as a safe house. The alarm continued for several minutes until it abruptly stopped transmitting. I immediately dispatched Raptor Cell to investigate but they were still days out of position and by the time they arrived on scene, and saw the state of the city (described below), there was nothing they could do.

Concerns about the mission have grown since Quint has still failed to establish communication. Six weeks ago I read an Adeptus Mechanicus report complied from various augur and sensorium data from locations on Faldon Kise and nearby space assets, reporting a large-scale chemical dispersal and viral outbreak simultaneously striking Fallcrest and nearby areas (this took place just before Raptor Cell’s arrival). Casualty rates in the hot zone are estimated to be close to 100,000 with additional causalities of 20,000 in the outlaying areas. Initial analysis shows that the destruction caused by this incident is equivalent to weapon-grade compounds and virions that would be present in the stolen exterminatus weapon. I immediately dispatched the remaining members of Romulus Cell (minus myself and Red) to Faldon Kise to assist Raptor Cell to investigate with other authorities.

With this event, there were more questions than answers, but fortunately most were answered a day ago when I received a secure communique from Inquisitor Hejete, the Ordo Sicarius Calixis Liaison. His message contained a transcript from selected de-briefings of a Callidus assassin operative from the Officio Assassinorum named Syndalla who was on Faldon Kise prosecuting an unrelated mission to shift the powerbase of Fallcrest’s government into one that recognized Imperial authority. Apparently, due to her cover as a high-ranking government official, Quint sought her assistance on his investigation when it was suspected that the exterminatus weapon was in the possession of a popular, but unsanctioned, Imperial Cult called the Church of the Golden Father. Unlike the Imperial cults of the Ecclessiarchy, this cult welcomed unsanctioned psykers and mutants (both which were present in abundance on Faldon Kise due to its remote location and closeness to the edge of the sector). Under the leadership of its leader, the Golden Father, and its high cleric, a man named Terion, the membership of the Church of the Golden Father included the majority of the population of Fallcrest and surrounding areas and was spreading to the planet’s other major metropolitan areas.

Syndalla joined Quint’s investigation team, which had been augmented by some locals led by a squat named Kelson and a well-equipped self-proclaimed Moritat assassin named Lotus whose allegiances were never revealed. Coincidentally, the onset of their investigation into the Church of the Golden Father started at the same time that the Church initiated a coup that, due to the loyal worshippers that had infiltrated all of the city’s security and utility infra-structure, only took a day to defeat loyalist forces and take control of the city.

Using the coup as a distraction, Quint’s team located a series of underground tunnels under the main cathedral dedicated to the Church of the Golden Father, and it was in these tunnels that the true nature, and the real extent, of the threat that lurked in Fallcrest became known- the Church of the Golden Father was in fact a Genestealer Cult, and apparently one that had been in place for at least forty years. In the tunnels, Quint’s group fought Genestealer hybrids and Genestealers losing some of their party in the process.
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The tunnels is where the group eventually discovered the location of the exterminatus weapon- having been converted into an above-ground dispersal doomsday weapon. Recognizing that the Genestealer infestation was the larger threat, it was decided that the exterminatus weapon would be activated in hopes of killing enough of the infestation to a manageable level so that Imperial authorities could quarantine and terminate the rest of the infected population. Syndalla stated that the activation codes were secured after terminating Terion (the cult Magnus) but Quint confirmed that the Golden Father (the Cult’s Patriarch Genestealer) was still alive prior to the weapon being deployed. To prevent the escape of the Patriarch, and other infected, plans were made to deploy the weapon as soon as possible. An Imperial Chartist vessel had just reached orbit and the team would try to obtain passage on the ship to avoid the destruction, but unfortunately, activation of the exterminatus weapon could only be done manually and Rylak and Lotus bravely chose to remain behind to do so.

Quint, Pullo, Kelson and Syndalla made their way out of the tunnels and back onto the surface and they were able to successfully hail the orbiting chartist vessel using Syndalla’s vox. Unfortunately, the dark_eldar_by_muju-d4bnlbf.jpggroup’s bad luck would continue because after being teleported onto the chartist vessel, it was discovered that the ship was actually a Dark Eldar cruiser, under the command of Archon Salaine Morn, using technology to mimic its engine signature to that of an Imperial vessel. Syndalla was able to escape and hide in the ship’s interior but Quint and the rest of his party were taken prisoner (I dread the fate that awaits them for the Dark Eldar are known for their cruel torments and the pleasure they get from killing). Syndalla reported that she was able to escape the various hunting parties for days and managed to slip off ship when the Dark Eldar docked at a remote pirate way station just inside the Halo Stars. Using her special abilities, she was able to gain employment and passage back to the Calixis Sector and get word to her superiors.

The information that Syndalla has provided has given me a lead for use in an attempt to locate Quint and Pullo. While ultimately their chances for survival in the custody of the Dark Eldar are minuscule, I will conduct inquires with sources knowledgeable in these Xenos’ operations in this sector in the hopes for an avenue to formulate a rescue. Perhaps it is not too late…

* GM’s Note: This mission was created by the GM.*

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"The Glass Key"

In the underhive of Scintilla, Quint is almost assassinated by snipers from the Pressure Point mercenary group, after he purchases a data-stick containing critical information for his master. There is no doubt that their target was the Interrogator, but further investigation is stalled when it is revealed that the contract was anonymous and the individual responsible for providing the contract information to Pressure Point was just a patsy who was later found dead in a sewer gutter.

While Quint and other Inquisition agents look further into the matter, Inquisitor Sand takes several of his junior acolytes, under Hadrian’s supervision, to his newest project- the Arcadia, a restored Imperial Naval Sword-class frigate turned Rogue Trader vessel under the command of fledgling captain Rogue Trader Du’landra Melua. Inquisitor Sand briefs them that for the past several years, since the reemergence of Eramus Haarlock, he has been busy petitioning the High Lords of Terra to award Melua a Warrant of Trade. With the assistance of powerful allies from inside and outside of the Inquisition, Sand’s petition was granted.

Sand explains to his acolytes and Melua that this a mutual partnership with both entities providing a useful resource. Sand plans to expand his investigations into the Kronus Expanse and Melua hopes to gain additional power and wealth. But first, the Arcadia must be checked out to ensure all is working properly in a trial run of sorts, hence Hadrian’s presence. On the data-stick that almost cost Quint his life are a set of coordinates that lie in the forbidden Threnos Zone that will reportedly lead to the site of the long lost Imperial Olympic-class liner ship the Niveus Astrum, which disappeared over a millennia ago while enroute to Lord Militant Angevin with a valuable gift.

Under the guidance of Navigator Godwin, the Arcadia makes transit using the Warp without incident and upon arrival in the Threnos Zone, the ship’s Astropath, Kessa Silinus, is able to locate and follow the Niveus Astrum’s astropathic mayday chorus in the Warp. Their route takes them to an uncharted planet that they later learn is called Calamitus. Scans show that a large human population inhabits the planet around the wreck of the Niveus Astrum, which has crashed into the planet prow first and miraculously came to rest embedded in the ground like a spike into a board with its rear thrusters pointing skyward.
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Taking one of the Arcadia’s landers, Hadrian, Jak, Jez, Bishop, Rylak and Lupus are dispatched to investigate. Despite sustaining some minor damage, the shuttle navigates the rough weather to land on one of the precarious makeshift landing platforms on the top (rear) of the ship. Immediately upon landing, the party is greeted by a welcome party lead by Arcpenny, a dignitary from the Ascendency, which the acolytes find out is one of the ship’s three controlling factions. Arcpenny is friendly and explains to the acolytes that the community on the ship is made up of descendants from the original crew of the Niveus Astrum. He also tells the acolytes that the community of the Niveus Astrum are an Emperor-fearing people but enjoy their autonomy from the Imperium and prefer to remain a secret. They are far from lost though, and Arcpenny tells the acolytes how their location is known to many traders, pirates and seafarers who come to Calamitus to buy and trade goods- this arrangement is beneficial to all.

The acolytes are taken to meet Montess Quess, the Chanteline (or Queen) of the Ascendancy and she welcomes them to her throne room, which has been converted from the bridge of the Niveus Astrum. Amongst the consoles, the acolytes note a large cubical shape among them that Quess tells them is the Vault of Beowulf, which is said to house a valuable treasure- the gift to Lord Militant Angevin. She also tells them that the Vault has never been opened and that it is sealed with a special locking mechanism that requires three special keys called Clavuses, which each leader of the three factions possesses as a symbol of their office. No one knows what the vault contains, or if it still contains anything because to date, the faction leaders could never come to an agreement over a claim of ownership of its contents.

The acolytes decide to explore the ship further; Hadrian is interested in acquiring knowledge of the ship from the days when it first crashed and Quess directs them to the lower levels of the ship where Director Vaunt, the Tech-Priest in charge of the manufactorum facilities on the ship runs his faction, the Vexillum. With Arcpenny as a guide, the party makes their way to the bottom (front) of the ship and find Vaunt’s compound surrounded by large angry group of labor protesters. While Hadrian attempts to negotiate with the protesters, Jez, Rylak and Bishop are able to sneak their way past the picket lines and to Vaunt’s control tower where they attempt to open a line of communication with Vaunt.

Meanwhile, Hadrian’s negotiations soon falter with the anti-Mechanicus protesters and the mob becomes frenzied for violence when Lupus unwittingly attempts to quell the crowd by singing a hymn to the Emperor, which only raises the crowd’s religious fervor and hardens their resolve. Ultimately this leads to a large number of the crowd meeting their deaths from the massive firepower possesses by Vaunt’s automated sentries and combat servitors when they charge the control tower and attempt a siege.

With the uprising suppressed for the time being, Vaunt welcomes the acolytes and Arcpenny into his tower for conversation and talk of opening Beowulf’s vault. An agreement of sorts is reached with Vaunt stating his intentions of joining the other faction members in opening the Vault but he believes that his faction should have majority claim over what lies inside. This outrages Arcpenny, who believes that the contents of the Vault should be shared equally amongst the factions for the benefit of the population of the Niveus Atrum, and he leaves with Bishop and Rylak to brief the Chanteline on what’s taking place.

The rest of the acolytes make their way to the holdings of the final faction, the Basilican Church lead by Reverent Laudius. Lupus speaks with the leader and convinces him to agree to participate in opening the vault but finds out that Laudius’ Clavus was stolen by Ratclip, one of the local gang leaders. Seeking Ratclip in the gang controlled slums of the Shank-Hill Platforms, the acolytes find the gang leader in heated negotiations with another gang leader inside a bar. Soon the argument becomes an armed standoff with the acolytes in the middle as members from both sides draw their weapons.
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Past the point where talking would be of assistance, the bar erupts in gunfire from all sides, including the acolytes who shoot at both parties. In a matter of seconds it is over with only the acolytes and a wounded Ratclip emerging as survivors. Getting the Clavus, and sending Ratclip on his way, the acolytes make their way back to the top (rear) of the ship where they tell the Chanteline of their success with getting all the faction leaders to agree to open the vault.

It is decided that the unlocking of the vault will take place the following day during a grand ball. All of the faction leaders show-up as promised with armed escorts and a myriad of heavy weaponry. Many suspect that things will not go as friendly as originally thought. The moment comes when the vault is unlocked but unopened and before anyone can see its contents, each of the faction lay claim to the contents resulting in a tense heated debate emphasized by the display of weapons from all sides. Each of the factions make their arguments, but Bishop finally convinces all parties to agree on common ownership.

Without further delay, the vault is opened and to the delight and disappointment of various faction members, it is found to contain a data archive of cogitators, tomes and treaties of rare works of literature, poetry and social and religious discourse. Gathering their share of the vault’s contents, the acolytes decide to inform their master on what they found when they located the Niveus Astrum and let him decide the fate of its people.

* GM’s Note: This mission was ran with modifications from “The Glass Key" adventure by James R. Burrows. It can be found on the Fantasy Flight Games website “here

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"Non-Permissive Environment"

“When the people forget their duty they are no longer human and become something less than beasts. They have no place in the bosom of humanity nor in the heart of the Emperor. Let them die and be forever forgotten.”

-From Prime Edicts of the Holy Synod of the Adeptus Ministorum

Interested in secretly acquiring an Ecclessiarchy prisoner known only as “Subject Four,” Inquisitor Sand has set in motion a plan to have the Ecclessiarchy transport Subject Four from one secure location to another and plans to abduct the prisoner enroute. In order to do this, one of Sand’s acolytes, Pullo, has gone undercover as a crewmember on the Ecclessiarchy prisoner transport ship, the “Sanctus Light”, which is responsible for transporting Subject Four to his destination, and plans on sabotaging the vessel so that it can be boarded. Pullo was successful in sabotaging the engines of the Sanctus Light and setting the ship adrift. A breakout of subsequent prison riots are keeping the crew occupied until assets from the Imperial Navy can respond to the ship’s distress call.

With this window of opportunity, Sand has requisitioned the use of a prowler-class Inquisition Black Ship called “Darkness Falls” to shadow the Sanctus Light and deploy a team of his most trusted acolytes to extract both Subject Four and Pullo. Upon arriving at the disabled prison ship, Inquisitor Sand is worried when he finds the Sanctus Light floating under emergency power amongst a debris field of ship wreckage and escape pods with no answer to communications attempts.
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Retrieval operations of the escape pods commence and all but one of them contains bodies of deceased prisoners and crewmen. The one survivor that they do retrieve has mortal injuries and makes a cryptic statement thanking the Emperor that he got away clean before dying in the medicae bay. Sand notes that the man’s body has some unidentified physical anomalies and begins an autopsy in hopes to find answers to what is going on aboard the Sanctus Light.

With the responding Imperial Naval ships only six hours away, Sand sends Romulus Cell, under the command of Red and Quint, and a squad of Inquisition Storm Troopers led by Sufal, to proceed to the ship via two Arvus Landers. The Lander pilots easily navigate their way through the debris field and use Inquisition override codes to open the Sanctus Light’s hanger doors and land inside.

Immediately upon exiting their Landers, the Inquisition forces come under attack by a large force of prisoners attempting to steal their transports. A fierce firefight breaks out and the more heavily armed and armored Inquisition agents kill a large number of their attackers with only the loss of one Storm Trooper before the surviving prisoners flee back into the depths of the ship.

After a brief moment of pause to get their bearings, heal their wounded, and order Sufal and his men to hold the Landers at all costs till their return, Romulus Cell proceeds deeper into the interior of the ship. While passing through a maze of small personnel corridors, they discover that the ship is still very much under guard when a group of acro-flagellants attacks the party. A deadly dance of melee and point-blank gun play commences. Quint’s gun-slinging prowess easily places bolt and inferno rounds into their attackers while Red’s power sword carves a path through the enemy. Even Hadrian lends his axe to dispatch several of the wounded arco-flagellants. Despite being surrounded by multiple arco-flagellants, Jak seriously wounds several of them before he himself is seriously wounded and knocked unconscious. The rest of the team quickly dispatch the last of their foes and tend to their wounded comrades.
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Arriving at the main ship junction, Romulus Cell decides to split into two groups to ensure there is enough time to accomplish both of their mission objectives before the Imperial flotilla arrives. Quint will lead Hadrian and Jak on the mission to recover Pullo and Red will take Uriel, Rylak and one of the Inquisitorial Storm Troopers to operate the vox-caster and provide support in the search for Subject Four. Aided by ship schematics provided by their Inquisitor, both teams are able to negotiate the dark twisted passageways of the ship despite the makeshift barricades and damaged and blocked corridors they encounter that are most likely a result of the prisoner riots. Both parties encounter enemies on their respective paths and while the freed prisoners pose a minor hindrance to their progress, they quickly realize that there are far worst dangers on the ship in the form of Nurgle daemons and Plague Zombies.
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Inquisitor Sand’s autopsy tests confirm that the Sanctus Light is contaminated by a Nurgle Plague virus, and as more of its ship population becomes infected and turned into Plague Zombies, the barrier between the Warp and Materium becomes weaker, which allows the daemons of Nurgle, who are drawn to the plague infected ship like a beacon, to manifest into reality and bring yet more death and infection.

Quint’s team witnesses the spread of the Nurgle plague first hand when one of their number, Jak starts vomiting blood and complaining of fatigue. Hadrian conducts a medical examination and confirms that Jak does indeed appear to be suffering from a strange malady- the most concerning of his symptoms appears to be his left hand, which is covered in green pustules. Jak notes that this is the location of a bite that he received from one of the Plague Zombies in the chapel. Because it appears that the infection is rapidly spreading, Hadrian recommends the immediate amputation of the hand. Sad, but in agreement, Jak allows Hadrian to amputate his left hand (which proceeds without complications) and the severed hand is secured inside of a nearby container for transport.

Red’s team reaches the maximum security detention area of the ship, and after killing several uninfected crewmembers to preserve the secrecy of their mission, they proceed to Subject Four’s holding area which is guarded by two massive Penitent Engines. Surrounded by the chopped and burnt bodies of others who had attempted to pass this way, Red’s team and the Penitent Engines become engrossed in a desperate fight. Promethium-fueled flames burn the acolytes while massive whirring blades of death dig into flesh. The fiery weapons of the Penitent Engines brings Red’s team on the verge of death as they struggle to hurt the massive constructs. Despite his injuries, Red pushes on and with a storm of blows from his power sword he dismantles both Penitent Engines with only the loss of the Storm Trooper accompanying his team. Past the destroyed Penitent Engines, Red’s team quickly locates and secures Subject Four- a naked man whose body is covered in a tattooed mass of blasphemous runes and secured in a hexagramatically-warded stasis capsule. Using the suspensors fitted to the capsule, the team quickly brings their charge back to the landing bay for departure.
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On the other end of the ship, Quint’s team locates Pullo in a safe room in the Engineering section and receives new orders from Inquisitor Sand to destroy the ship to cover up their operation to take Subject Four, but also to prevent any survivors from escaping and spreading the disease and to prevent the personnel from the incoming Imperial flotilla to become exposed should they board the ship. It is decided that the best way to destroy the ship with the limited time available is to set-up a catastrophic failure of the Warp and Plasma drives, thus creating a massive explosion that will destroy the ship and the surrounding debris area. Braving a crowd of Plague Zombies and daemons of Nurgle, Quint and his team are able to escort Hadrian to one of the plasma/Warp drives control rooms so he can set-up this failure.

The operation is a success. The Sanctus Light’s plasma and Warp drives overload and cause a catastrophic explosion removing all trace of the Sand’s mission and destroying the vectors of the Plague virus. Subject Four is secretly in Inquisitor Sand’s custody, but who is Subject Four and for what purpose does he serve remains to be seen.

  • GM’s Note: This mission was created by the GM and inspired from the Warhammer 40,000 novel “Crossfire” by Matthew Farrer and the Halo short Story “The Mona Lisa” by Jeff VanderMeer and Tessa Kum.
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"The Eternal Tide"

Upper Spire of Hive Sibellus two months following the failed assassination/capture of Magos Caerivus

Inquisitor Sand sat in the private open air booth looking out at the layer of greyish white clouds below. Even this high, the pollution was starting to have its toll and it would not be long before even these clouds were permanently black and foul smelling. The booth was elegant and richly decorated, as was expected from an establishment that catered to the rich and elite. The rose-colored marble surfaced table with rare Teek chairs, small finely-crafted reliefs of various Imperial iconography and a richly colorful painting depicting Saint Drusus marching in victory amongst a cheering crowd of millions following the pacification of the Calixis Sector were just some of the expensive decorations that pleasured the eyes. Sand took another sip from his glass of wine as his visitor entered the booth and took a seat.

“I see you’re drinking Golden Tokay,” Inquisitor Srax-Rhame said nodding with approval at the bottle of Quaddis-made vintage sitting on Sand’s table. “You know that it’s said that some vintages from Quaddis are so perfect that their mere taste…”

“Is enough to kill a man with pleasure" Sand cut off Srax-Rhame by finishing the saying. “Yes, yes, we’ve all heard that by now and its getting a little old.”

“Just cause the saying is old doesn’t mean it’s not true,” Srax-Rhame replied as he pored himself a glass of the vintage.

Nearby, his bodyguard, the Moritat assassin Esme Blackheart, stepped back toward the booth’s wall and almost seemed to blend in inconspicuously with the surroundings. A technique used no doubt to avoid detection but still be within range to defend her master. A dark-colored armored bodyglove covered her small lithe body and from her matching mask, her black eyes studied Sand’s bodyguard, Red, whose appearance and stance was in direct contrast to Esme. The massive armored Crusader made no attempt to hide out of sight, but prominently stood near his master to defend him if necessary.

“I heard the assassination of Caerivus was a failure. My sources tell me your Interrogator, Quint, was on scene but he allowed Caerivus to escape.” Srax-Rhame cocked an eyebrow, “Is this true?”

“Your sources are correct. Caerivus did escape, with the assistance of Quint and some of my acolytes but they were able to recover some of Redole’s lost research, as well as find out what Caerivus is doing for the Logicians.”

“Gramen, I can’t help but voice my disappointment. You and I both know the danger that the Logicians pose. Whatever intentions they have with Redole’s research will not have the Imperium’s best interests in mind. And to allow a traitor, a heretic like Caerivus, with access to Inquisition secrets go free is unacceptable. How many do we now have to silence because of Caerivus’ operation on Spectoris? How many has he involved- these mercenaries that he hired- the Steel Savages? The Organicists from the Adeptus Mechanicus?”

“The Steel Savages are not a concern. I have credible information from my sources that their operation with Caerivus and the ensuing firefight they had with the Organicist forces sent to intercept Caerivus’ salvage operation has sealed their fate. The Organicists don’t know what, if anything, was brought up from Redole’s underwater lab but they do know that Captain Liam and his Steel Savages were responsible for defying their authority and that alone will ensure their termination and cease their operations on Spectoris.”

“That may be true, but regardless, I have sent resources to deal with any surviving Steel Savages and to pick up Caerivus’ trail- a trail that should have ended with the hands of your men strangling the life out of that traitor.”

“Quint chose a proper course of action given the circumstances. Caerivus is alive yes, but now we have an opportunity- an avenue of investigation that until now has been closed for some time. How long has it been since we’ve had a potential path to an Iron Techtrarch? Ten, twenty, years? Aren’t you tired of eating little fish in the pond Srax-Rhame?”

Srax-Rhame did not immediately reply but took a drink from his glass and pondered as he enjoyed the taste of the wine. “You know, my sources also tell me that your man Quint is a Logician agent- a double agent like Caerivus.”

“He is indeed, but this was done with my approval to work towards my…our goals.”

“I’m sure by now, Caerivus has told his superiors of Quint’s allegiance to the Inquisition.”

“Let him. They may think that Quint is a traitor to their organization or perhaps they may think they have someone they can exploit in ours. In any case, I will have Quint take precautions. He understands the danger and has accepted the potential consequences.”

“Has he now? There are not many outside of the Ecclessiarchy and the Adeptus Astartes so eager to throw their lives to the winds of fate.”

Sand did not respond immediately, but stared at a passing cherub flying past spraying a pleasant-scented fragrance from a dangling incense orb. “All of us choose to make sacrifices of a sort for what we believe in” he said momentarily lost in thought.

Srax-Rhame continued, “So the specimen recovered from Redole’s lab, it’s like the others we know of?”

“My preliminary research of the documents recovered by my team and their descriptions of the specimen appear to indicate yes.”

“And now they have another specimen. That makes at least two that we know of in their possession. We have only been able to retrieve the one after all these years. Speaking of our specimen, what has your and Faust’s research on it uncovered?”

Sand again did not respond immediately but drank the last of the wine in his glass.

  • GM’s Note: This mission was ran with modifications from “The Eternal Tide" adventure by Andrea Gausman. It can be found on the Fantasy Flight Games website “here
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"The Red Tower"

Ref: Inq/9345818821/RT
Subject: Verbal Transcript of Pict-Recorded Document
Date: 815.M41
Location: Chambliss Estate House, Cyrus Vupla (Agri-World)
Sector: Calixis Sector (Golgenna Reach Sub-Sector)
Original Transcription: Adept Thodinna, Ordo Xenos

+EXTRACTED FROM THE MEMORY OF PERSONAL SERVO-SKULL IN SERVICE TO INQUISITOR GRAMEN SAND+

>[RECORDING STARTS]

[Stationary Pict-Source] Wide angle view of a large living area with extravagant, but old and ill-kept, décor made up of subdued-colored and faded couches, chairs, and tables, with wall paintings depicting mainly Grox-ranching themes and country landscapes. Standing near a large picture window that looks out onto an interior garden of cacti and other desert-thriving plants stands an extremely elderly male [Subject I] heavily augmented by archaic bionics and cybernetics. A combustion-style power plant attached to the man’s back belches a cloud of black exhaust smoke into the air and the lower half of his body has been replaced by a carriage platform with four piston-driven steel legs- positively identified as Lord Cryrl Chambliss, Patriarch of the Chambliss Ranch House. [verified]

Standing across from [Subject I] [Chambliss] is a handsome man [Subject II] with Scintillan noble features wearing a white and red robe with an Inquisitorial Rosette hanging on his neck from a silver chain- positively identified as Inquisitor Gramen Sand, Ordo Xenos. [verified]. Standing next to [Subject II] [Sand] is a massive man [Subject III] clad in carapace armor wielding a tower shield bearing the symbol of the Inquisition and armed with a sheathed power sword- positively identified as Crusader Red, [Subject II] [Sand’s] personal bodyguard. [verified]

VOICE (1) [CHAMBLISS]: Greetings Inquisitor Sand…Ahhhh. I hope that your investigation fares well and nears closure….Ahhhh. I assure you that placing me on house arrest for the duration of your investigation is not necessary as I normally do not go much farther than the estate grounds…Ahhhh. But there are some occasions when I do enjoy a stroll through the family ranch lands….Ahhhhh.
VOICE (2) [SAND]: Lord Chambliss, you are indeed correct that my investigation is near closing. Just a few loose ends to tie up and me, and my team, will be on our way, and you will be back to running family operations. I do hope that the absence of the twenty-four family members, including your favorite nephew and two of your grandchildren, that I am taking with me to Scintilla for sentencing, will not be too much of a burden on your family business, especially with the increase in the amount of contracts that your Ranch House is now responsible for fulfilling. You understand that many of these family members will most likely be executed for their crimes- dealings with Kroot Mercenaries, or Xenos of any kind is strictly prohibited and punishable by death.
VOICE (1) [CHAMBLISS]: Ahhhhh…I understand fully the seriousness of their crimes and am sadden that it had to turn out this way…Ahhhh. But I fully obey and support the laws of our Imperium and God-Emperor…..Ahhhh. If death be the punishment, then unfortunately death it shall be…Ahhhh.
VOICE (2) [SAND]: Surely you must have some guilt about the massive numbers of deaths and disappearances with the other ranch house families that your family’s Kroot agents are responsible for. All of this of course, according to your now-incarcerated family members, was orchestrated only to further the wealth and power of the Chambliss House.
VOICE (1) [CHAMBLISS]: Ahhhhhh.Grox.jpg
VOICE (2) [SAND]: From the results of their crimes, it has appeared that your house will indeed prosper. My agents tell me that the manpower losses and disruptions caused to your competitors from the Kroot will take years to recover from to get back to normal operational efficiency. It appears that House Chambliss is now one of the ten most powerful ranch houses on the planet and will be secured in that position for many years to come since there is a reliance on its fulfillment of the existing contracts it had recently acquired.
VOICE (1) [CHAMBLISS]: Ahhhh…It is most unfortunate that my House’s success had to come at the cost of others, my family and my competitors, but the sector needs the exporting Grox-meat that this planet provides…Ahhhhh. I am but a humble cog in the machinations of the sector’s massive support apparatus…Ahhhhh. Inquisitor Sand, I take it that you are satisfied with your results?….Ahhhh. You have revealed the existence of foul Xenos hiding in the sector, brought to justice those who would consort with the alien and ensured that the Sector’s supply of Grox-meat, and other subsidies, is fulfilled…Ahhh.
VOICE (2) [SAND]: Indeed. With the exception of the Kroot having escaped my attempts to locate them, it seems that the Emperor’s law has been upheld and justice meted out. Though I must admit Lord Chambliss that I was positive, and I am rarely wrong, that you had a hand in devising this heinous activity that we stopped. My research on your family and household members show me that only a few of them have had any dealings with off-world organizations and interests, and of those that did, none of them appear to have been with entities with Kroot connections. I did note that in your youth, you spent some time as a crewmember aboard a Rogue Trader ship operating in the Kronus Expanse, the Fel Hand under the command of Rogue Trader Hadarak Fel. I think you served as one of his seneschals?
VOICE (1) [CHAMBLISS]: Ahhhh…Yes, a most wondrous and interesting time…Ahhhh. The sights I saw….Ahhhh. One of my most fond memories Inquisitor…Ahhhh.
VOICE (2) [SAND]: I can imagine. The Expanse has many sights, including several Xenos species never seen by the majority of humanity. My research revealed that the Kroot are known to operate there, but you already know that Lord Chambliss.
VOICE (1) [CHAMBLISS]: Ahhh…
VOICE (2) [SAND]: Good evening Lord Chambliss, and good luck on your future business success. Before I go, I would like to tell you that my agents have heard mutterings from some of your rivals, especially Ranch House Laurel. It seems that some of them have some understood misgivings about your recent rise to power and the methods used.
VOICE (1) [CHAMBLISS]: Ahhh….
VOICE (2) [SAND]: But I’ve taken up too much of your time Lord Chambliss. You are officially free of House Arrest and I have closed my investigation for now. [Subject II] [Sand] turns to [Subject III] [Red] [says in hushed tone] Red, let us go back to the Arbites Precinct and review the evidence again on Lazarus’ escape. A daemonhost loose in the hive city is something far more deadlier than what we have here…

>[RECORDING ENDS]

  • GM’s Note: This mission was ran with modifications from Hebanon Games’ “The Red Tower" adventure by Caleb Stokes. It can be found here:
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