Die, Heretics!

A Legendary Setting

A Sector is a large, diverse place. I have a lot of fun detailing the planets within in, hinting at what mysteries lurk inside all of their environments, and crafting the secrets kept by their inhabitants. I’ve decided to direct my efforts towards the Legendary Sub-Sector to begin with.

For starters, the Legendary Sub-Sector is where I like to run my Dark Heresy missions. Its fairly populous with a good four Hive Worlds under its domain. A measly three Agri-Worlds force the Legendary to import from the Glory and Victory sub-sectors in order to survive. Lastly, the sub-sector is usually considered the center of the sector’s military, claiming three Fortress Worlds and two Fleet Bases in its borders.

Fleet Legendary is regularly tested thanks to the warp anomaly it is snugly wrapped around: the Labyrinth. About half the size of a sub-sector the Labyrinth is a twisting maze of ever changing warp routes that borders on the Legendary and Victory sub-sectors. A growing number of pirate vessels under the flag of the Minotaurs are thought to operate from the anomaly and raid the sub-sectors frequently.

The Legendary Sub-Sector suffers from a great deal of hardship. Until recently it was home to three war worlds and a war moon. The Agri-World of Payle Haven in the Embers System is dealing with a with a total rebellion in which the rebels captured the orbital stations and several navy vessels and are very successfully defending the world from Imperial capture.

In the Frost System an Ork Waagh led by the infamous Nob Zombie fight for control over Azlae’s Triumph - the sub-sector capital. Fleet Legendary focuses most of their attention to this war-zone, but the state of the capital has already begun to send ripples across the sub-sector.

As of 5.400.951.M41 war on the Developing World of Mitos and its moon Calcteria has been won. After five years the Logician forces lost their edge; their spies all simultaneously slain, ships outmaneuvered, troops bombarded and hidden bunkers assaulted through deep strikes. This victory would not have been possible without intel gathered by Cell Roaming Soul.

With all the wars in the upper Legendary Sub-Sector, the lower half has been growing uneasy. Mostly Death, Feral, Frontier, and Feudal worlds lower Legendary has always been ruled with a distant grasp. Now that the capital is threatened that grasp looks to disappear entirely…

Suffice to say - its been great breathing life into the Legendary Sub-Sector. Not sure what’s next; Victory, Glory, something else! We’ll have to see.

Work Earns Salvation

Over the past few months I’ve been involved with a number of Warhammer 40k RPGs unrelated to to the tale of Tristan and Vendrigoth, including a number I’ve been running myself. Here’s the rundown:

• Black Crusade: The Wake (Myself). Alpharius (An Alpha Legionnaire Sorcerer) and Dr. Arkturus Fawkes (a former Imperial physician, turned renegade psyker) enjoy their victory over the infamous Ghost Doctor. But have these heretics spurred the ire of the Doctor’s hidden allies?
• Black Crusade: Hekate Sector (Dustin). In the wake of a devastating Tyranid Invasion the Hekate Sector burned. From the ashes rise two renegades Colonel Oscias Dread (A former Imperial Guard Commander) and Theilus (A dreaded pirate) both bent on driving back the Tyranid hordes through the power and glory of the Dark Gods.
• Dark Heresy: Cell Roaming Soul (Myself). Under the command of Cell Leader Jackson Multanius (Hive World Cleric), Acolyte Recruits Tybalt Haxtus (Schola Progenium Arbitrator), Ravion Perseus (Noble Born Adept), and Shock (Mind Cleansed Assassin) attempt to unravel a mystery five centuries in the making. Their journey takes them to the dead world of Shame, where they must compete against other members of the Inquisition and discover which of their so called allies has shunned the Emperor’s light.
• Dark Heresy: Operation Magnitude (Myself). After being exposed to a Gellar Field malfunction Trooper Ophelia (Schola Progenium Arbitrator) is called back to the hive world of Hexthene for reassignment. What was supposed to be a slow paced desk job takes a deadly turn as officials are brutally murdered.
• Deathwatch: Wayne (Dustin). Radamir (Raven Guard Tech-Marine) and Tesu’kan (Salamander Librarian) are sent to the Frontier world of Wayne. After Wayne the two marines will head to Amon-Psi where they will go under the command of Inquisitor Viad to deal with the numerous xeno threats there.
• Rogue Trader: (Dustin). Lord-Captain Vespasian Severus (Rogue Trader) recovers from a narrow battle with a Necron Wraith. Still months away from Imperial space, another Wraith has been confirmed on the vessel. With his right hand man deceased, Severus struggles to find new allies in an already savagely beaten crew.

Its been exciting and busy! Eventually we’ll get back to Tristan and Vendrigoth - but in the mean time: back to work!

Tuesday Heresy

Vendrigoth proceeded into the infested machine shrine intent on purging it. Boltgun in hand he ventured in alone, making his way to the ransacked depths. The Tech-Priests had been through here in a hurry. He continued into the slimy reaches where the Magos-Errant found a number of shoggoths lurking. He made quick work of the three, dealing with them with bolter and bulk-head cutters in equal measure.

From the elevatus tore forth a much greater creature - the size of several of the “large” shoggoths the acolytes had fought previously. It lurched across the room with great menace, but Vendrigoth knows no fear. He tore into the beast with his modified bulk-head cutters, but in the intense fight that followed Vendrigoth had to sacrifice his utility mechadendrite to the shoggoth’s absorbed omnesian axe. The great xeno also laid claim to one of the Magos-Errant’s manipulator mechadendrites. However, no matter how many of Vendrigoth’s valued limbs the xeno disintegrated with his power field there was no stopping the wrathful Magos from tearing it to shreds.

Vendrigoth patched his wounds and descended into the machine shrine’s depths. His sensors indicated a high level of rocket fuel in the atmosphere. Things weren’t looking good. Then something very large grabbed the elevatus. Vendrigoth levitated to the floor above and tossed a krak grenade after what lurked down there. A powerful explosion followed, but not all of the fuel ignited. Unsatisfied, Vendrigoth drew his las pistol and let loose until a massive explosion rocked the space port.

Just as this was happening, Tristan and the barely living battle-sister had awoken. Tristan talked her down from reentering the shrine and throwing her life away. Instead the two of them headed to the armored-limousine, one of many used by the Ministorum on Amon-Psi. The driver was most distraught at the state of the battle-sister, her bandaged head was very concerning after all.

Though she could barely speak, Tristan was able to make out most of what she said. The three of them drove to a shrine to Saint Lanty, where Tristan borrowed an old flamer enshrined there. With further study, Tristan found that the tale of the flamer was written upon a purity seal attached to it. According to legend, a mutant hunter stalked one of Amon-Psi’s few sub-humans through the great city of Baydin. For days he chased him, finally purging the foul creature in an alleyway with this very flamer. He was made a priest after his victory.

Tristan, secretly being a mutant himself, decided against using the flamer (besides, the fuel was only half full, and probably going bad anyway).

He would have to wait some time to explore what remained of the machine shrine’s depths - if anything. However, it appeared as if back up did indeed arrive early. A handful of PDF soldiers armed with flamers made their way into the room where Vendrigoth was waiting. They were merely the forward scouts for five men in black suits and a man in purple carapace armor - Psyker 1st Class Woeden - the man who the acolytes had met with previously.

Woeden studied the situation for a moment, and it soon became apparent that he was using some form of psychic detection. “There are a few more of them.” He slurped from his tube. “The arbites are dealing with one of the large ones now.” He seemed to drift off for a moment. “They will… survive.”

Vendrigoth is not good with psykers. At some point in his past, probably on Wayne, he developed an intense hatred for them. It was all he could do not to just gun him down and continue with the mission. Which seemed easily in his power. For now an agitated response would suffice. “I called for the guardsmen. What are you doing on Mechanicum property?”

“Our purpose here is manifold.” Woeden scratched at the tube running into the side of his mouth. “We are here to clean the xeno filth from this place and to help ensure the arbites do their duty. Things would be easier if you were to come with us, Magos.”

Though he had no real face left Vendrigoth still managed a malefic glare. ”There are still more to be purged in the level beneath this place. I have recently defeated a xeno of immense size.”

“How large?” Woeden pondered.

“At least three times the size of the large variety you may have encountered.”

“Hmm.” The psyker pondered. “We may not have been able to defeat one of that size… at least not without considerable casualties.” Woeden looked distant. “I can detect no signs of life, xeno or otherwise in the level beneath us. And we can handle the xeno that remain on this floor.”

“I am asking you for the last time - leave the machine shrine at once.” The Magos demanded.

An arbite entered the chamber, his thick boots squishing the xeno paste that now made up the floor. A hound modified into a cyber-mastiff kept to his side, while a wounded officer clutched his chest and made an effort to stand in the doorway. “Magos Vendrigoth - it is unwise and unlawful to make the arbites come to you.”

“State to me the charges put forth against me.” Vendrigoth boomed.

The arbite responded quickly, having memorized the charges beforehand. “Suspected Intent to commit Theft of Adeptus Psykana property, Dangerous Conduct, Intent to commit Dangerous Conduct, Suspected Intent to commit Dangerous Conduct, and Failure to Confess Guilt. An astropathic message has been sent to Judge Loathing detailing these charges. You must come with us.”

“And what is to happen if I choose not to comply?” Vendrigoth’s blank, metal expression remained motionless.

“Then we will make you.”

The room went silent.

Everyone in the room was weighing their options. Could Vendrigoth take on three PDF, five secret agents, one psyker, two arbites and a cyber-mastiff? This would surely be a difficult fight for both parties. But Vendrigoth realized that even if he were to achieve victory, then arbites elsewhere would still be after him.

“I will not leave this place until the xeno are purged. But I will answer what questions you have for me.” Vendrigoth assumed a seated position.

Vendrigoth proceeded to build a counter-case against Command Psyker Rumen, the speechless psyker that violated the sanctity of his mind. Firstly, the psyker made uninvited psychic contact with Vendrigoth - which provoked the Magos-Errant’s firewalls, resulting in a physical backlash on the psyker. Secondly, after this event Command Psyker Rumen refused to hand over non-psychic technology to the Adeptus Mechanicus. Thirdly, Vendrigoth has a record of handing psyco-reactive technology to the Psykana, specifically on Kentaro. Before this incident, relations between Vendrigoth and the Psykana were favorable. The nature of this misconduct was to lie with Command Psyker Rumen and he alone, accoring to the Magos-Errant’s account.

The arbite took his notes, and Vendrigoth offered to patch up the arbite’s partner. After some debate, the arbite decided for it and was made much better.

Tristan entered the machine shrine, the flamer strapped to he shoulder and readied (just in case). He came across Psyker Woeden, who remarked about Tristan’s bionic eye. After giving it a reccomendation, Tristan headed deeper into the shrine to meet with Vendrigoth. The arbites had just finished with him and apparently did have any questions for Tristan.

The two acolytes searched the machine shrine through and through. No signs of Engineseer Blank or the other high ranking tech-priests. This was going to be a serious set-back for the Kappa-Mon mining station project. Things were much worse though. When the acolytes went to send an astropathic message to Arch-Magos Myrmidon they found that the chambers were no longer powered. Apparently the explosion that rocked the machine shrine destroyed the central cognator and erased the power to the space port. The Magos ordered the astropath be relocated to the Mechanicus Lander, and that all that could be salvaged of his chamber be added to the vessel.

Vendrigoth went about making sure as much of the spaceport could be saved as possible, letting the vessels awaiting refueling know that the spaceport on this side of the plant would not be working for several months at the least. Tristan went about rounding up whatever servitors he could find. However, the two of them couldn’t find what happened to the master servitors. Deciding to track their location with the vox-thief they found that the master servitors had been taken from the shrine - rather than destroyed in the xeno attack or ensuing explosion. There was only one conclusion:

The xeno had stolen the master servitor.

This would turn out to be a vital error.

The acolytes went about town in their model-T tracking the signal. When they got out of Baydin and into the countryside they found that the signal grew much stronger. It would be nearly impossible to pin-point the location with just the vox-thief. Vendrigoth looked to Tristan. “Servitor. Transmit coordinates.” They were certain that the xeno that had stolen the servitor would be packing up as soon as they realized what was going on.

As soon as the acolytes got the coordinates Tristan floored it. Driving through fences, shooing grox away from their path, dodging trees, the acolytes made their mad dash to the heretics lair. They neared the coordinates, driving up a hill onto a cultured meadow the acolytes spotted a large, white manor house. Tristan looked to Vendrigoth. Vendrigoth hooked onto the back of the model-T with his manipulator mechadendrite and took aim with his bolter.

Tristan hit the pedal with all his fury. Vendrigoth shot the wall with his boltgun, and the acolytes were most surprised to find that the first shot was absorbed by the manor’s void shields. Not intimated by a chance of ramming head first at sixty miles per hour into an unbreakable wall, Tristan took his chances with the void shield. The acolytes smashed into the weakened wall, only to find another wall just a few feet behind it.

Tristan slammed on the breaks and tried to steer clear, but it wasn’t enough. They smashed through that wall and stopped in the third. Tristan was knocked unconscious for a moment. Vendrigoth leaped from the back of the car and tossed a frag grenade at a nearby group of eight mercenaries. Everyone watched in slow motion as the beautifully arched grenade flew across the room - and subsequently turned the mercs into a hot, red paste.

Vendrigoth followed the coordinates. The walls of the manor were meaningless to his augmented bulk-head cutters.

A maid screamed and his behind a bed. Irrelevant. The Magos continued. A door. Knock? Open? Could alert hostiles. Could be locked. Logical approach: bulk-head cutters. It wasn’t long before the merc’s back up arrived. They hauled Tristan’s limp body out of the car and began searching him.

Bolt pistol, second bolt pistol, needle pistol, auto pistol - how did he manage to hide that spear?! “Who the throne is this man?”

Vendrigoth then made his presence known. The mighty warrior of metal and hatred stood in the opening that used to be the wall - obscured slightly by a cloud of dust. The men let go of Tristan and let loose a hail of bullets. They were nothing more than a nuisance to the Magos-Errant. The magos responded with a hallucinogenic grenade. Suddenly, in the minds of most of the mercenaries were clouded with thoughts of insect-like xenos pouring from the walls.

They went shooting at the walls, at each other, anything really. In the ensuing chaos Tristan awoke, rolled under the car and took a shot with his bolt pistol. Though he missed he was able to pass it off for being under the effects of the grenade. “What is that thing!?” The mercs asked, trying to hit Vendrigoth, who had taken cover.

“Watch who you’re shooting at! He is none other than Magos-Errant Vendrigoth!” Tristan shouted from his cover.

“The Mechanicus? What’s he doing here?”

“We are here to investigate the xeno activity here.” Tristan said, sternly.

The gunfire ceased. “So you’re here to stop those xenos with the insectile heads? They’ve been kidnapping some of us mercenaries for weeks.”

Tristan looked to Vendrigoth. It was the Eldar no doubt. But the Eldar where not what called the acolytes here. It was the Yith. “Who do work for exactly?” Tristan inquired.

“Father Orenz signs our paychecks. Why did you drive right inside the house?”

“There really isn’t any time to explain. We have to follow these coordinates. Come with us.”

The ten or so people followed Vendrigoth as he cut through the manor walls. The coordinates led to the kitchen, where a very startled chef was cooking some grox steaks. “Is there a basement here?” Tristan demanded.

The group was pointed down to the cellar, where they found nothing out of the ordinary. Concrete floor. Best to check the upper floors. No time for stairs! Tristan grabbed Vendrigoth’s robe and braced himself. The two of them flew towards the ceiling while Vendrigoth made quick work of the floor boards above them. It wasn’t long before the acolytes made it to the attic.

The two of them began searching, looking for any clues that might lead them to the mind-swapped Yith and a big break in their investigation. Tristan managed to scrounge up some some old jewelry, but their investigation was halted by the sound of someone walking up the stairs. Tristan hid behind the door and donned his cameolione cloak rendering him virtually undetectable.

An older gentleman with a white lab coat stained in fresh blood and oil made his way through the door, a somewhat curious expression upon his face. Vendrigoth simply glared at the man with his optics. The man didn’t seem all that worried about the presence about the Magos, but he was very curious as to why such an important seeming tech-priest was there.

Vendrigoth was not keen to answer any of the man’s questions. Tristan silently licked his lips from beneath the cover of the cameolione cloak, his blood addiction tempting him now more than ever. He was able to control it… for now.

Vendrigoth and the old man passed questions between each other, neither giving a satisfying answer until the man said “You should answer my questions.”

“It would be wise of you to answer my inquiries.” The Magos-Errant threatened in his low, metallic voice.

“Why would I ever want to do that?” The man asked, with an inquisitive smile on his face.

“Because if you don’t we will answer your every question regarding pain!” Tristan shouted, blasting the man’s leg with his bolt pistol. The man keeled over, and fell down the stairs, Tristan following close.

The acolyte found the man holding his bleeding, flesh torn, leg with a look of wonder. “This is most painful!”

Tristan attempted to beat the man with the butt of his pistol, but the now paling heretic leaned back in a lucky dodge. “Why do you not use the powerful pistol to shoot me again?”

“Just shut up!” Tristan ordered, swinging wildly.

Vendrigoth floated down the stairs, and promptly grabbed the man with his mechadendrites. Tristan beat the man unconscious shortly after. The acolytes agreed to meet downstairs, as it seemed something was amiss. Vendrigoth descended through the hole he had made coming up. Tristan proceeded to get lost wandering the upper floors of the manor.

Being the curious scum that he is, Tristan began searching the various rooms for more things of value - what he found was that many of the windowsills had small, brass tubes facing outdoors on them. What at first appeared to be a tiny, glass lens turned out to be a very small, tame shoggoth. Lacking anything more sophisticated than an asupex scanner, Tristan thought it prudent to go about gathering the tubes for later research.

Vendrigoth took the old man downstairs and made his way towards where he believed the garage to be. To his great delight several squads of mercenaries had posted outside of the manor, guns through the force shield. They opened fire. There were no survivors.

Between Vendrigoth’s advanced weaponry and nearly impenetrable armor there was little the mercs could hope to do. Tristan, hearing the disturbance gave assistance from the floor above. It wasn’t long before the mercenaries scattered - but Vendrigoth would have nothing of it. He hopped in the model-T and ran down each one he could.

While the Magos was having his fun, Tristan wandered downstairs to the group of dead mercenaries that the two of them had first encountered upon invading the mansion. Tristan found a man still mostly intact, made sure no one was looking and bit into his neck, full on vampire style. After drinking enough to satisfy his vile urge, he wiped himself clean and did his best to banish the event from memory.

The two acolytes met up soon after, and Tristan shoved a stick of stimm into the old man. “That is most invigorating! My leg hurts much less now. What is that called?” This man was obviously the mind-swapped Yith they had been searching for.

“Where are your chambers?” Tristan asked, dryly.

“2nd floor.” The man smiled. “Perhaps I may have more of that product?”

“Perhaps. Vendrigoth, find the servitor.” Tristan went to investigate the xeno’s chamber.

Vendrigoth held the man aloft as they moved through the manor in a “tell me your secrets, xeno scum” sort of way. Finally, the two of them came to the dining room, where Vendrigoth noticed that the crystals that made up the chandelier were oddly composed. “Tell me the secrets of this room.”

The old xeno pondered for a moment. “I’m afraid you cannot access it. There is a device that is needed to operate the method of transit to the laboratory.”

“Where is this device?” Vendrigoth demanded.

“I destroyed mine.” The man smiled, still very… enthusiastic due to stimm.

“What in particular is required to activate this transportation device?” Vendrigoth’s monotone, mechanical voice somehow hinted at his building irritation.

“You must shoot the large center crystal with a temperature of fifty-one degrees Celsius.”

Vendrigoth drew his laspistol, opened it up and crossed a few wires, by passing the safety encoding. In no time, the skilled technologist had modified his laspistol into a non-lethal heat ray.

“You appear to be very skilled for your kind. Even for a tech-priest, I would assume.” The odd xeno commented.

Vendrigoth shot the crystal, and lights danced upon the chandelier. The dining room table and chairs slid out of the way and the floor opened up as a lift ascended from below.

The Magos-Errant contacted Tristan over his micro-bead, letting him know about the secret elevatus he had discovered. Tristan let him know that the old man was apparently living in his closet.

The Magos and his prisoner descended into the bright laboratory below. The walls lined with thousands of crystals of varying sizes. Upon the dozens of dissection tables were the heads of four dead tech-priests. “Your comrades would not listen to reason. They would not tell me anything before I finished my experiments.” The old man said candidly.

The micro-bead wasn’t functioning, and it would be best if both acolytes were investigating the xeno laboratory. “How I operate the elevatus. I wish to ascend once more.”

“You must press my hands against those crystals so that I may operate them in sequence.” The xeno gestured, attempting to lure the Magos into his foul trap.

“You think me a fool?” Vendrigoth boomed. “Tell me the real combination, or you will be the next creature dissected in this laboratory!”

“Very well - those are the two crystals that must be operated there. But they will not work for you, as you do not possess the biotic materials required to operate it.”

Vendrigoth willed his mechanical eyes to narrow. Deciding that the xeno would not so foolishly attempt to lie to him again, he placed the old man against the crystals.

The xeno’s usual odd expression resumed. “You know there is a lot I can do from here.” He gloated. “You really shouldn’t have let me do this.”

Vendrigoth glared with a hate so rare in tech-priests.

“Where is Mars?” The xeno pondered.

“I cannot tell you where Mars is, should it exist.”

“Did it ever exist?”

Vendrigoth computed the possible answers. “If I give you information regarding the existence or non-existence of Mars then I will receive information regarding the Yith and their actions on Amon-Psi.”

The Yith mulled it over. “This is acceptable.”

“Mars did at one time exist.” Said the Magos, speaking in half-truths.

“Interesting, this is valuable information. Your comrades were not as forthcoming as you, tech-priest.” The xeno looked candidly towards the severed heads not far away.

“First you are to tell me about the function of the wire device.” Vendrigoth demanded.

“Very well - the device has many purposes, one of which is to create perpetual energy.” The xeno happily explained.

“What do you mean? How is that possible?” Vendrigoth gripped the xeno tighter, the old man in turn grasped the crystals with more conviction.

“When energy is exposed to the device it is multiplied.” The xeno continued. “It also stores data, much like what you call ‘cognators’. There are other uses to the device as well.”

“How do I make use of this technology?” Vendrigoth boomed jealously.

“You lack the biotic parts needed to make it work. You must be of the flesh.”

Vendrigoth fumed. “Tell me what the Yith are doing here.”

“We have come to this time and place to study humanity before its turning point.”

Behind Vendrigoth’s cold, metal facade was a sharp mind scrambling to calculate the enormity of what the xeno had uttered.

The xeno continued. “We are drawn to Amon-Psi particularly because the Old Race was once here.”

“What is this old race?”

“They are much older than the Eldar or the Orks. We have traveled back to the days of them, but were repelled from their society.”

“Tell me why the Eldar are here, xeno.”

“The Eldar and the Old Race did battle, long ago. One of their craft worlds was defeated and the Old Race kept an artifact of the Eldar. I do not know anything specific, but the Eldar fear that you humans will fight the Yith. That is why they seek to slay us.”

“Why do the Eldar think this?”

“I cannot say.” The xeno paused. “But they are destroying the cities of the Old Race whenever they can.”

“I have more questions.”

“Your mind remains pure of any implants and technology. If you are so inquisitive, tech-priest, why not visit our library?” The xeno offered.

The Magos paused. “Tell me how I get to this library.”

“You must exchange minds with one of ours.” The lure of the Yith mind swap suddenly became clear. “Our library contains information from all of time, you could learn anything while you are there. Not to mention contribute as you see fit.”

Vendrigoth considered. “And what will happen to my body in the mean time?”

“A Yith will inhabit your mind and control your body until you return. They will experience life as you do.”

“How long will I be in the library?”

“Typically the exchange lasts a decade.”

Vendrigoth thought in silence for a long time. A library of infinite knowledge? The information in there is greater than could ever be gathered in a conventional lifetime. The secrets needed to put an end to the psykers he hated so deeply, the fate of himself no, the whole sector could be written there. The power to be gained was unimaginable. But the cost? His body would be desecrated by a foul, psychic xeno. For a decade. By the time Vendrigoth returned his body would likely be destroyed or hunted by the Inquisition. No amount of knowledge could ever change that fact.

“I have made my decision.” The Magos cursed at himself. “I cannot allow my body to be taken for so long.”

“A pity.” The Yith calmly and swiftly twisted the pair of crystals. And then shattered the calm with frantic screaming. “Who are you? Where am I? I’ve been shot! This hurts so much! What’s going on?”

Vendrigoth paid little heed to the mortal man, now free of his alien domination. Instead he focused on the energy building up between the crystals on the walls. The lightning traveled with incredible speed - producing a whirring sound as it passed effortlessly through the crystals. Vendrigoth had to get out of here.

“Tristan! Get out of the house! NOW!” The Magos shouted through the vox-caster.

The vox-caster’s powerful signal was able to penetrate whatever technology was at work in the xeno’s laboratory. Tristan shoved the books he was gathering in the attic into his pack with haste. The young acolyte grabbed a pile of rope and quickly attached it to a chest longer and wider than the fifth story window.

Meanwhile, Vendrigoth flew up the elevatus shaft - the man in his mechadentrides kicking and screaming the whole way. The Magos powered on his amplified bulk-head cutters and tore a hole into the metal ceiling, breaking through as fast as he could. Vendrigoth knew there was no escape - he wrapped himself in the thick metal sheet and braced for the coming explosion.

Back in the attic, Tristan gripped the rope tightly and booked it for the window. In another lifetime the cataclysmic explosion would have vaporized his body while he was in mid-air. However, the Emperor was watching closely that day.

Tristan leaped out the window, aiming for the Model-T the now dead mercenaries moved out of the manor. As the ground erupted beneath the yard below the car was propelled upwards a good dozen feet. The chest hit the window, stopping Tristan from free falling the whole way down. Letting go of the rope, Tristan landed in the car and strapped in for the ride.

The explosion rocked the manor one floor at a time, until it burst in one final, earthshaking boom. Gripping the steering wheel for his life, Tristan endured every bounce and flip as the car rolled into the country side. Landing all wheels down a good hundred meters away from the house, Tristan opened his eyes to find he was unscathed in a vehicle that was little more than a steering wheel, engine, and four tires.

What remained of the manor was nothing but rubble. Tristan looked on, wondering if Vendrigoth could have survived. Reality suddenly distorted around the ruins. Three armored, insect-like warriors materialized from the controlled rifts in reality. Tristan threw on his trusty cameoline cloak and watched.

The Eldar looked about the ruins for a moment. One of them, even better equipped than the other two made some gestures around the ruins. Their leader and his right hand man opened holes in reality and stepped through them, leaving but one xeno alone to investigate.

From what Inquisitor Viad had told the acolytes these white armored Eldar appeared to be Warp Spiders. Very dangerous - known to kill space marines she said. But if Vendrigoth were still alive in there he wouldn’t stand a chance so heavily injured against such a xeno.

Tristan knew what he had to do.

He flung off the cloak, placed his lie detector in his pack, and put on his sunglasses. Tristan started the car. The Emperor was watching this moment - he knew it - and there was no disappointing the Emperor. Tristan gunned it towards the warp spider.

It was as if the xeno didn’t really believe someone would be so reckless enough to charge it with a vehicle. The xeno turned slowly to see what was happening. Car. Move. Car! Move! The xeno dodged out of the way just in time. Tristan slammed on the breaks and turned the car around for a second charge. The Eldar shot at the Model-T. Tristan swerved to avoid the flying mono-blades and shot back with his bolt pistol.

The Eldar dodged the shells effortlessly. Tristan abused the car’s wheel, turning the long side of the vehicle to hit the warp spider. The xeno took to the air, dodging over it in a beautiful arc. Tristan picked up speed and came around for another assault.

The warp spider made a short teleport for a better shot at the acolyte, but it was in vain. As fate would have it, the jump was a mishap and the Eldar came back to reality to find a support beam melded with part of his arm. Tristan made the best of this opportunity, slamming into the foul xeno with the right side of his car. The Eldar struggled to regain his feet. Tristan attempted to break for another turn, but the car had given up on its short, desperate struggle. Tristan drove into the forest against his will, careful not to hit any trees. Gritting his teeth, the acolyte managed to turn around and safely reach the meadow once again.

The Eldar was well wounded, the car was on its last legs. The breaks were broken, but the accelerator still worked! Tristan gunned it towards the Eldar. Beneath that insect-like helmet surely the xeno’s eyes grew wide. The warp spider took a few more shots with his rifle. Tristan managed to dodge the shots once again, and landed his last few bolt shells in the Eldar’s chest.

Unable to break, Tristan took a long turn with the Model-T, and grabbed his second bolt-pistol. He charged the eldar once more, who dived out of the way landing ungracefully in the dirt. From that position the warp spider aimed his rifle at just the right location - hitting the gas tank of the car.

Tristan could smell the fumes. He grabbed his pack, slashed the seat belt with his witch-lance and bailed. The Model-T continued into the forest without him. Within a few seconds the vehicle hit a tree and burst into flames.

Tristan stood, bolt-pistol in one hand, witch-lance in the right silhouetted by the fires. The Eldar drew his blade, and rose from the ground. The broken armor from the bolt shots fell off, revealing a small, bleeding wound. Both warriors aimed their guns, ready for the real fight ahead.

Without warning, the Eldar began making a series of fast-paced, small jumps through the warp. Tristan shot at the Eldar, but his bullets were easily dodged. The warp spider landed in melee, swinging his blade in a beautiful arc. Tristan blocked with his witch-lance and counter attacked, but by the time his weapon finished its swing the Eldar had vanished.

He’s gone invisible. Tristan thought. Sheathing his witch-lance, Tristan drew forth the xeno-grenade given to him by Inquisitor Viad on Wayne. The acolyte primed it without hesitation. “If you slay me now, the grenade will take you with it!”

A mono-blade flew over Tristan’s shoulder. Clearly the Eldar had retreated to the forest. Two can play at that game. Tristan deactivated his xeno-grenade and deployed a smoke screen. He went prone just before a shot flew straight overhead, right where he was standing. Tristan donned his camo cloak and inched forward, bolt pistol in hand. The Eldar was crouched behind the shattered remains of a bathtub not far away.

Tristan squeeze the trigger sending a flurry of bolt shells into the hole he had made before. The Eldar put his hand over his heart and nodded slightly, almost as if to acknowledge a fight well done. The bolts exploded, shredding the Eldar’s torso and killing him unquestionably.

Tristan breathed a sigh of relief and examined the body. Most of the armor was still in tact, as were the weapons. The face behind the helmet was much more human than he had anticipated - though it was much thinner than most men he had laid eyes upon.

Some of the rubble began to shudder. Before Tristan could do anything to help Vendrigoth burst from the ground below, looking beat to hell. Of course knowing the Magos, he’d be better by tomorrow.

“Vendrigoth, help me carry this warp-spider.” Tristan greeted.

“Okay.”

The two, broken and bleeding acolytes limped to the nearest house where Tristan “borrowed” a beat up truck to drive back to Baydin.

“So…” Tristan muttered as they drove into the rising sun. “I guess I killed a warp spider.”

“I turned down infinite knowledge.”

“Oh.” The awkward silence permeated. “Okay. What’s next?”

Tuesday Heresy

Tuesday Heresy has been a bit irregular lately, but we finally got in a large session where a lot happened. I’m mashing the tinier sessions we’ve done in with this one.

Tristan woke up from his night having just had a drunken hook up with the Planetary Governess’ daughter Mina Aruna. Though he managed to weasel only a little bit of information he was able to call the operation a success and after getting dressed he proceeded to call in the Mechanicus Lander for extraction.

Afterwards Tristan and Vendrigoth took to the skies, heading across the planet for their scheduled meeting with the Chaplain Ascendant. The castle he was using looked to have been recently lost to a massive battle, though strangely it looked well preserved. It appeared to be a site of a holy victory of some kind.

Unfortunately the Chaplain Ascendant was in a very important Autoseance, so in the meantime Tristan and Vendrigoth were free to peruse the library. The ancient books kept there dated back to before the planet was reclaimed by the Imperium - an event which apparently culminated in the attack of this castle by a company of Space Marines.

In the small amount of time spent researching the library Tristan managed to find that the natives of the planet made use of curved swords, held at odd angles, to fend off the Imperial Guard with great success. The swords glowed with red energy, reminiscent of a power field. Otherwise, their technology was limited to castles and muskets. Deep in the library Tristan discovered a painting of several human figures apparently worshiping the sword, with a burst of light all around them. The acolytes had heard of this light before, in some sort of myth that stretches back to the days before the Imperium returned to this place.

The acolytes met with the Chaplain Ascendant, who warned them about the dangers of the Command Psyker Major. Apparently, he really was sent by the Lord Hermes (the Sector Governor). But his title had the rights and powers of an Imperial Guard General - meaning that his political pull on the planet was mostly controlled by the Planetary Governess. It was then that the three realized that the governess gave Vendrigoth the same rights as the Command Psyker Major. With the location of one of the Psyker’s agents, the acolytes left once more the city of Baydin.

Checking a few messages left by telephone back at the Mechanicus shrine, the acolytes were very happy to find that Clips, a severely crooked cop and probably one of the more useful contacts that Inquisitor Alistair supplied them with, had finally gotten a hold of some Skull. As I may not have mentioned, Skull is a powerful drug being manufactured by the Chem Tzars of Nowhere, the shattered remains of a traitorous faction hailing from the planet Kratos. Their knowledge of chemicals and experimentation with advanced formulas led them to create brutal, body changing drugs that border on mutation. From Clips:

“Skull pretty much makes a normal guy into a big mess of muscle and hate. They get all mean, can’t think of anything. Its like their brain just got fried. All they can do is kill. It makes a man super-tough and super-strong. Its so bad that the gangs can’t even use two of ‘em because they’ll kill each other before the do any damage to another gang. And the worst part - once the drug wears off it kills you, man.”

Tristan, being the paranoid man he is, has been worried that the Chem Tsars could contaminate the water systems with it. Vendrigoth assured him that they would have nothing to gain from it, but suggested that they research it anyway. Well in either case, the two acolytes finally had access to the chemical all they had to do was negotiate for it.

Meeting Clips in an alleyway behind the police station he was loitering at the acolytes convinced Clips to hand over the two (No Clips, all the doses) errr… three doses of skull. Clips is a con man at heart, and rambled on about how expensive it was to get a hold of, so Tristan tossed him some bolt shells to pawn. Clips finally looked into Kales Ahmet, the son of the late Professor Ahmet. Though Tristan and Vendrigoth had already looked into him, Clips was still able to turn up a little interesting information. Apparently the company Kales works at has a lot of unaccounted for machinery. Lots of heavy lifting gear, like cranes, drills, etc. Not to mention winter expedition supplies. It was all very unusual.

The Acolytes had better things to do, like visit the Command Psyker Major. But Clips was certain he could steal one of the cranes without anyone noticing. Try as they might the Acolytes couldn’t think of a good use for it. Clips kept insisting he could get it “Guys I can get you this crane man.” To the point where it seemed like he just really wanted to drive a freaking crane for eight hours from the sticks to Baydin. Tristan figured if he got a crane he could eventually figure out someone to sell it to. The prospect of selling it to their allies in an effort to build the space station seemed reasonable. Well… except that Captain Cutter promised to do the heavy machinery for the station…

So Tristan and Vendrigoth dropped by the office of Ehteave Doncho, the planetary head of toxic substance and disease control. Mr. Doncho was eager to analyse Skull, just by looking at it he could tell that it wasn’t designed to last long - meaning it was manufactured on world. Keeping the other two samples a secret, Tristan asked Doncho to get as much information about the chemical as possible. Ideally, a way to preserve the compound so it could be transported.

With that out of the way, Tristan and Vendrigoth went to the hotel where one of the Command Psyker Major’s agents was staying for a late night rendezvous. A couple of his bodyguards met the two of them in the lobby, but business quickly became serious enough that we had to move into a private chamber. The psyker-agent was brought down and he was reasonable enough to see that cooperation was the best way to solve this problem with alien tampering. With his recommendation, the acolytes made their way to Fort Xerxes - the Command Psyker Major’s base.

Once there, Tristan and Vendrigoth were greeted by an important seeming psyker in purple carapace armor. Most off setting about him was his lips were sown shut, no doubt some esoteric process required for this sanctioning. He was flanked by two imperial guardsmen in full combat gear, who spoke on the psyker’s behalf through an eerie mind-link.

Things were going well at first, and Tristan quickly simplified any questions he had to be answerable with yes/no. Vendrigoth met with the tech-priests under the psyker’s command and they did their best to explain what they thought the various scraps of xenos technology did. Two things caught Tristan’s eye - an advanced piece of cameleoline cloak technology that a guardsmen managed to rip off of a xeno. Rather than the fabric disguising itself as whatever surroundings were nearby, this advanced xeno-tech was able replicate itself to look, feel, taste, hear and even smell like the area around it. It was so perfect that the only way the tech-priests could tell it existed was because they put it there. The second piece of technology was a broken heap of wires, which apparently were psyko-reactive. The tech-priests had no idea as to what it did, but were certain that they were missing pieces of it. They were, of course. Since Vendrigoth had on his possession an intact device just like it. But he wasn’t about to give it up.

These artifacts were all found at the site where one xenos group had attacked a witness the Command Psyker Major was closing in on. Tristan and Vendrigoth suspected this witness to be a mind-swapped Yith in all actuality. Tristan asked the psyker just how they managed to find this witness, but the answer was so complex that the psyker decided it was worth the risk of tearing open a portal to the warp and entered a mind-link with Tristan and Vendrigoth.

This is where things get interesting. Tristan and Vendrigoth both have more insanity points than this pskyer. They also both have double his corruption points. This meant that the psyker opened a door best left closed and suffered a whopping 8 corruption points, causing him to make a test against mutation. What’s more is Vendrigoth has prepared his mind against psychic intrusion - inflicting severe damage on the psyker’s mind.

Now thoroughly enraged, the psyker and his minions drew their weapons. The two acolytes reflexively drew their own. Having successfully linked with the minds of Tristan and Vendrigoth, the psyker was free to communicate with them. He accused them of being agents of chaos, and well… its hard to deny it when one of you is secretly a mutant and the other made half of a daemon pact.

The psyker proceeded to inform the wayward acolytes that everyone in the base was armed and ready to expunge them and his mind link with the Command Psyker Major meant their game was foiled. After some debate with Vendrigoth, Tristan drew his secret weapon: His Legate Investigator Inquisitorial Seal.

A silence shook the room, sweat running down the brow of tech-priest, acolyte and psyker alike. Muscles tensed and trigger fingers shivered. Finally, the psyker ordered his guardsmen to stand down. The Command Psyker Major, along with everyone in the room knew of their standing as acolytes of the Inquisition. The psyker before them narrowed his eyes, glaring at Vendrigoth.

“There is no definitive proof of your standing as a Magos Errant. Until there is further evidence of your station as Acolytes of the Emperor’s Inquisition and your identity as a Magos has been confirmed you are forbidden to come near this base. I will not relinquish the xenos artifacts to the likes of you without a writ from your Inquisitor.”

Vendrigoth did not put down arms. His deep hatred of psykers was nearly to the boiling point. It took Tristan some time to convince both of them to lower their weapons. The acolytes left - but not before Vendrigoth gave his words:

“Before I leave this planet you will apologize to me. With your own lips.”

The acolytes boarded the Mechanicus Lander and proceeded to the rendezvous with Inquisitor Viad’s cell of acolyte recruits. So mythical was their incompetence that they couldn’t even come up with a suitable code name for themselves.

Nevertheless Tristan and Vendrigoth landed in the middle of a large herd of grox outside of a backwater village. The two of them ducked into the local bar where they met Viad’s acolytes. Peer was the first they found - a tough, extremely bald guardsmen having difficulty with his grox steak. Doctor Nevin, who was known as Doc among their group apparently came to Amon-Psi to cure a plague and succeeded. The last of the acolytes - Thrisk was a native to Amon-Psi and a skilled forester.

Taking them back to the lander, Tristan and Vendrigoth had Thrisk draw up a map of the forest. Vendrigoth drew up several locations where they were to make camp using some land marks as a starting point. Ideally, the mysterious Eldar would see the pattern made in the forest as one of their symbols and meet with them.

After a couple of days in the forest all the planned camps were made and the Eldar still hadn’t shown up. Perhaps including landmarks was too subtle for them, or maybe the Eldar didn’t recognize those locations as pieces of the symbol. Either way the camping trip was lengthened and the acolyte cells once again split into two groups to cover more ground. Tristan and Vendrigoth visited two of the landmarks while Viad’s acolytes visited the other.

At the final landmark Tristan and Vendrigoth heard a rustling in the bushes behind them. Turning slowly to face it expecting the Eldar they saw nothing. Then, a voice from behind them once more. “Do you know the meaning of the maldon?”

Tristan about-faced to see a distant warrior in insect-like armor with weapon readied. Saying nothing Tristan raised his empty auto-pistol. The Eldar lowered his weapon, as did Tristan.

“I see.” The xeno replied suspiciously. “From whom did you learn the maldon?”

“She is known to our kind as Inquisitor Viad.” Tristan softly muttered.

“And from whom did she learn the maldon?”

“We do not know.” Vendrigoth’s metal voice rang out.

“She must have had contact with others of my kind in the past.”

“We suspect as much.” Tristan agreed.

“What do you seek from the Eldar?”

“We have come on behalf of the Inquisitor, who seeks an audience with the Rangers.”

“The Rangers… she is well versed for her kind if she knows that the warlocks will not listen to her. Where is she?” The Eldar seemed slightly impressed.

“She is at the Kappa-mon Mining Station, following others of your kind.”

“She will not find the Rangers so deep in space. We have been invited here - this is not our fight.”

Tristan nodded. “We will make arrangements with the Inquisitor. How will you know to meet us?”

“That vehicle you landed here in. There is only one other like it in this world.”

“Who lays claim to the other vehicle?” Vendrigoth focused his optical mechadendrite.

“Where he goes there is a disturbing storm of psychic energy. We have not dared to approach him.” The Eldar looked about, grimly.

“The Command Psyker Major, no doubt.” Tristan looked to Vendrigoth.

“You know of him?” The Ranger appeared surprised.

“Yes, he was sent to investigate the wave of psychic energy that hit half of Amon-Psi.” Tristan kept his voice calm, but his point was clear. The Eldar had brought this upon themselves. “His orders come from the Lord Hermes.”

The forest came alive. Eldar appeared from the bushes, trees vanished leaving Eldar in their wake, a rock stood up. And yet again it seemed that the hatred of psykers unites all.

“The Lord Hermes!?” It seemed even the Eldar feel anger. “The one you know as the Command Psyker Major - he is not natural. Such information… must be repaid. What do you seek?”

Vendrigoth was the first to answer. “Why? Why did the Eldar tamper with the memories belonging to the people of Amon-Psi?”

The Rangers went quiet. “The Yith seek knowledge. We denied it to them.”

Tristan and Vendrigoth nodded. “If you need us…” the acolytes turned, “you know where to find us.”

And with that, both parties went their separate ways. The acolytes made radio contact with Viad’s cell and met at the Mechanicus Lander. Thrisk was quite shaken about something in the woods. He was fairly certain they could have been killed. Tristan and Vendrigoth were able to turn the confrontation as an excuse to have the inexperienced acolytes search the forest looking for a xenos fighter that landed in the vicinity.

The Viad’s cell permission to rest a few days before heading back into the forest. Tristan and Vendrigoth prepared the Mechanicus Lander for take off but something unexpected happened. The lander has been exposed to some kind of xenos cognator virus. Vendrigoth could feel the sinister machine spirit attacking his potentia-coil. By initiating the sacred machine protocols of the Omnissiah he was able to drive the vile thing into the depths of his drives and cordon it off.

There were several vox messages awaiting in the lander, most of which were infected, as was the lander’s plasma generators. However Vendrigoth was clearly underestimated - a fault which is common among dead heretics from Amon-Psi to Wayne.

After virtually scrubbing the lander the acolytes learned that the Mechanicus shrine at the Baydin space port had been overrun. Things were looking bleak. The long flight over was unsettling as Tristan’s paranoia run rampant. Their fears were confirmed when they neared the spaceport to find the Mechanicus landing pad closed and dozens of space ships awaiting their refueling.

Since it was two in the morning and he needed a place to park Tristan had no problem landing in the middle of the intersection closest to the space port. Tristan and Vendrigoth hurriedly rolled out of the lander in their Model-T-like vehicle and as they neared the space port were assailed by several angry looking men who obviously didn’t know how important Vendrigoth was.

“Tech-priest! Why hasn’t my ship been refueled? Do you have any idea how much steel is laying about the fields outside this city of yours? I have schedules to keep!”

Vendrigoth and his half dozen mechadendrites dangerously leaned out of the car window, saying something along the lines of “ship them out and we’ll refuel you when we get the chance.” That seemed to shut the men up. The acolytes drove across the service yard and towards the giant repair bay doors. Vendrigoth jacked into the door control panel, only to find that it, too had been stricken with the cognator virus. The Magos Errant was getting very good at defeating it.

The giant doors split open and the acolytes were attacked by the putrid smell of sulphur. Just as suspected, the entire machine shrine was covered in the thick blue slime of the shoggoths. Furthermore, several pods that used to be tech-priests and servitors came to life and began their attack. The acolytes entered and Vendrigoth quickly closed the door.

The battle was quick, too quick for the shoggoths to adapt to the use of the acolyte’s weapons with any real results. Tristan couldn’t entirely recall if they sprayed acid before. Well they definitely do now! If the entire shrine had been overrun, like the scrambled signal from the shrine suggested then it was clear the acolytes would need some help.

They called up their ally the Chaplain Ascendant, who jested about them needing help so soon. He changed his tone when he heard what the problem was:

“The Machine Shrine has been overrun by xenos. We have need of your Battle-Sisters.”

The PDF was given a call, but their arms were largely useless and three hours away. Nevertheless, some men with flamers were requested. The arbites were also called. Apparently they really wanted to talk to the Magos Errant about something very important. Vendrigoth basically told them whatever their quarrel with him was it had to wait because he was obviously doing more important things than getting arrested.

The Sisters of Battle arrived with haste. The four of them headed towards the central cognator where Vendrigoth could better assess the damage to the shrine and see to it that Engineseer Blank still draws breath.

However before the inner shrines could be reached Tristan began bugging out. The pipes! The pipes! The said the xenos were coming from the pipes! He shot at the sprinkler system heads with his bolt pistol and surely enough, the foul xenos began their assault.

Tristan quickly fled down the hallway and began shooting the acid spraying sprinklers, but missing with every shot. The Battle-Sisters quickly fell to the burning acid. Damn Eccleasiarchy doesn’t give helmets to recruits. Tristan was also unfortunate enough to be sprayed, but survived it barely. He ran out of the shrine (kept going by stimm only!) to get some back-up and warn the Inquisitor about how things were going.

Vendrigoth couldn’t bring himself to admit coming into the shrine without PDF support was a bad idea. He proceeded to splatter the shoggoths with his increasingly heretek bulk-head cutters. You know what they say: when you have bulk-head cutters the whole galaxy starts to look like bulk-heads. After slaying the remaining xenos he dragged the dead Battle-Sisters out of the Machine Shrine, so that the xenos couldn’t absorb them. Needless to say, when the onlookers from the service yard saw the two dead warrior-women of the Emperor dragged out of sulphuric chamber by a blood soaked engine of pain and death they began to think of things they could be doing elsewhere.

Tristan, all hopped up on stimm returned to the Astropathic chambers and received some negative news from Inquisitor Viad.

“Negative. Retrieve psyker at any costs, study artifact and report results.”

Ahhh yes. Tristan suddenly remembered he requested an Inquisitorial writ so that he and Vendrigoth could obtain the xenos artifacts from the Command Psyker Major. And they mentioned that they had obtained a Yith artifact. The problems were piling up.

“Shoggoths have overrun the Mechanicus Shrine at the Space Port in Baydin. Our allies have agreed to meet with you. Requesting assistance.”

Tristan began to limp out of the chamber, but was stopped by some marginally important message. Probably about that damnable crane. Oh and some guy named Arch-Magos Jerikus has a message for Vendrigoth. Whatever things can wait.

Tristan hauled ass back to the Mechanicus Shrine where he found Vendrigoth administering first aid to an apparently barely living Battle-Sister. Her face had been completely melted by the acid. Her eyes were forever gone, and most of the muscles towards the top of her head had eroded away, giving into the bone beneath. Yet she still lived. Maybe if she had more than seven fellowship she’d make a good acolyte. One thing was for certain, she’s getting a helmet now.

Vendrigoth gave Tristan some basic medication and cleaned most of the acid wounds, at least the scarring wouldn’t be as grim dark as first thought. Vendrigoth proceeded to take the dead Battle-Sister’s bolter and head into the shrine alone.

Next session: Vendrigoth murders everything in the Machine Shrine while Tristan talks to the arbites about the dead Sisters of Battle, why they shouldn’t arrest him just because his corruption points say “soiled” and that the heir to the planetary governess wasn’t legally intoxicated when he slept with her.

Heresy Grows From Idleness

Overnight my Dark Heresy group grew from a single player to four players. Yes, soon the vile heretics that cower in the darkness will feel the might of the Emperor! This will be a learning experience for three of the players, but they seem keen to learn the system. I look forward to this.

Inquisitors Needed

I’m getting ready to run a Dark Heresy mission for a friend of mine. Now, my setting is largely in the works, but a number of features have been decided.

• The setting consists of two sectors that have recently and forcibly been joined together. There is a large debate as to why the borders were rewritten.
• A large warp storm that divided the sectors has been receding rapidly, leaving a mass of unexplored planets ripe for conquest.
• The sector is close to Dark Heresy’s famous Calixis Sector. Some of the larger threats from that region bleed over into this setting.
• There are a great number of Inquisitors and minor Ordos spread across the sector.

I have a few Inquisitors detailed, but there are still pieces missing in the puzzle. If you feel inclined to contribute to the sector then I invite you to take this Inquisitor Questionnaire developed by a friend of mine. It’s meant to be administered to a group of players. Everyone answers the questions, then the GM takes the most interesting ones and designs the Inquisitor from those answers. Everyone knows a little bit about their Inquisitor, but is uncertain which aspects were picked up.

I believe inspiration for the questionnaire was taken from the Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition Complete Book of Villains, and then tweaked to better fit Inquisitors. I’ve added and subtracted a handful of things from the quiz. Here it is:

• What is one thing your Inquisitor would change about the Imperium?
• What would your Inquisitor do if they succeeded?
• What is your Inquisitor’s greatest obstacle?
• How far is your Inquisitor willing to go to overcome this?
• Is there anything your Inquisitor simply will not tolerate?
• What does your Inquisitor enjoy?
• How does your Inquisitor spend their free time?
• What is your Inquisitor’s strengths?
• In contrast, what is your Inquisitor’s weaknesses?
• Who does your Inquisitor count as their allies?
• Who is your Inquisitor’s enemies?
• What does your Inquisitor enjoy about their status?
• What do they dislike about being an Inquisitor?
• What Ordo is your Inquisitor?
• How does your Inquisitor view psykers?
• What about mutants?
• What are their thoughts on the Ministorum?
• Does your Inquisitor believe the Emperor is a god?
• Is there truly hope for mankind?

Most of the credit lies with the GM who wrote the original questionnaire of this nature, Dustin. I merely improved upon the formula. Feedback is appreciated!

Dark Heresy Missions

Writing a number of Dark Heresy missions at the moment. Having a lot of fun with it, to boot. I feel like the vast majority of the game comes from the Game Master, and each GM has a plethora of quirks in their storytelling.

Take for instance, the GM for Tuesday Heresy, Dustin. He has a clear focus on Dark Heresy’s grim setting. His locals are well defined and each area we go to, be it a city, planet or entire sub-sector has a deep seeming pool or lore and events. It really brings out the fun in exploring the setting. Furthermore, we’re always very excited to learn how our characters successes and failures effect a world even long after we’ve left it.

Another of my friends, Josh, finally took up the mantle of Dungeon Mastering for his friends in Portland. Whether on purpose on not, he loves his character development. In their first session of 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons he managed to introduce a number of varied non-player characters (NPCs).

Now I’m not very sure of when each character presented themselves, but here’s how they stuck in my head. The first I recall is the reoccurring villain. He showed up in the very first session on a wanted poster. Later in the session the marauder was slaughtering some of the local guards. The players fought him tooth and nail, but were fairly confused when the villain whistled. A moment later his horse showed up and he rode off into the wilderness. This is pretty much how every encounter with him has gone and it pisses off the players to no end. They hate this guy with the burning passion of the apocalypse.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Josh breathed life into a half-orc. He started with a well detailed background and remember-able mono-tone voice (mono-tone sticks out surprisingly well in a setting where most people feel compelled to put on their British accents). This pacifist healed the party and held torches for the most part, but when it came down to it - he sacrificed himself in the most heroic way possible. While the mines the adventurer’s were exploring collapsed he held the door open just long enough for the others to escape, but could not break free himself. One of the players literally shed a tear. It was a touching moment.

My personal style focuses on story. I do like to have a lot of setting in the role playing game I run, but I personally enjoy a compelling story. I’ll admit, my adventures are hit and miss, but when they do hit - we talk about it for years. I write out a loose set of events, organize them in the way that I think my players will go through it.

This method involves quite a bit of preparation to be done well (though not as much as Dustin’s setting-intense approach). I make sure to have the events written, the most likely questions answered, the vital characters described, and the important locations detailed. In addition to this I have a few twists I’ll be experimenting with for my latest creations…

Part of the fun in Dark Heresy I think comes from the role fate plays in it. Your characters live and die based on the roll of the dice, their only second chance being Fate Points (which let you modify your rolls beyond normal). In an effort to further the flow of 40k’s fickle universe I’ve been hard at work crafting a series of tables for mission complications. I plan to use these as guidelines when making my missions. My players will be able to reap the rewards from the Benefit, Safe House and Support tables. However they’ll have to contend with the Bonus Objectives, Complications and Drawbacks tables. All in all, it should add a random element I can share with the Dark Heresy community at large.

For my upcoming mission’s I’ll be taking some inspiration from other, more seasoned GMs. I’m going to try and make a flow chart for the two missions I’m working on. It’d be really neat to look at, not to mention compare the flow chart to how the mission actually went! Also voices… I might try and record some dialogue and make sure their voices are varied and interesting. Furthermore, there was talk on the Chapter Master forums (http://tgchaptermaster.freeforums.org/index.php) about some kind of voice editing software, so I suppose I might have a try at that!

Lastly I’m looking to add my favorite element from Dustin’s Dark Heresy missions: the Doomsday Clock. In every mission we’ve been on there has been a countdown to the planet’s complete destruction. Only on one of the four missions we’ve done so far have we known the exact time of our doom. The mystery surrounding the time and nature of impending doomsday makes the game quite thrilling.

Soon here, I’ll be joining an online game with a new GM. I’m very much looking forward to see how he runs his missions, and if there’s anything I can learn from the way he GMs. Also, getting to play a fresh, 400 xp Acolyte makes me happy!

Idea

Dark Heresy motion picture with Dustin’s campaign as the script. Each mission becomes a movie in the epic series. The opening credits of every movie is done to a different Hammerfall song.

Mission One: Kentaro: Secrets

Mission Two: Witches of Wane: Any Means Necessary

Mission Three: Daemons of Wane: Renegade or No Sacrifice, No Victory (tough choice)

Mission Four: Amon-Psi: Between Two Worlds or Riders on the Storm (the latter being much more metal)

Mission Five: Lance (Suspected): Last Man Standing

Other missions to be written as we get to them.

I’ll start writing the scripts now. I’m serious.

The 2nd 99

Bleh, I told a Runescape poll that I would get another 99 before new years, and there’s only 11 days left and I’ve barely touched Runescape at all for a week! :O