Hello everyone,

I'm delevolping a bit of a bad conscience for constantly asking for advice and ideas here - I'm trying to make up for it by answering other ppl's posts and give what advice I can, but still... Beg your forgiveness, but here we go again: I'm stuck and in dire need of imaginative minds for plotting.

Against the background of a larger campaign, my acolytes are atm searching in Hive Sybellus for two persons they need to solve a certain riddle.

Number one , Darcia Bonneaux, is a stonemason gone artist, hailing from a rather downtrodden industrial sector of the hive, who managed to escape the confines of the toiling masses and make a halfway decent living from her art. She has recently gone into hiding since my acolythes' opposition is targeting her.

Number two , Greco Azarel, is a trader of curiosities, and an underhand smuggler of xenos artefacts, residing in a shady hive area at the coast (the Corsair Docks). He's crafty at not getting found, especially by someone like the Inquisition.

(There is, of course, a lot more to them and the story, but I won't bore you with irrelevant details.)

So, what I now need are some roadblocks and obstacles for the PCs to overcome as they search for those two. It's not important where they are hiding, just that they are not keen on being found. Also, I need to drop some hints about the Hive's raising weirdness level as foreshadowing of the events to come.

I had some vague thoughts, but problems getting them rolling...

Darcia:

So far, I'd thought that she might have sought shelter from her attackers with a rich industrial magnate, the person who practically owns the district she hails from and that she had dealings with in the past. He likes to adorn himself with pretty artists and kind of keeps her as a pet in exchange for hiding her. In that case, my acolytes would need to be pointed to said magnate, but of course I don't wanna blatantly show them "talk to this guy", and I'm kind of at a loss of additional hints and leads to get them there (as it is, they will be pointed to her stepbrother and the orphanage they both grew up in for some character background and infos not related to the search).

While searching for her, the PCs could stumble over some sinister dealings the magnate has been up to. Maybe he has gone insane - one of the many minds tripped over the edge these days by the build-up to desaster the PCs are caught up in - and has founded a kind of "end of days pleasure cult"? Drugging his workers to squeeze out even more performance to finance his increased expenses? Using debased and forbidden substances to power his machines? Has he actually imprisoned Darcia because she saw something she was not supposed to see? I seem to have a problem getting a straight storyline out of this...

Greco Azarel:

Well, he's basically a criminal, and I have no idea how to go about finding a criminal who does not want to be found. He's not conducting shady business at street corners, so no tailing petty dealers. It's more that he has a set and exclusive clientele (mostly rich) that he knows and kind of trusts, new customers will find him to be a harmless merchant of nick-nacks. Initially, my PCs know nothing more than his name and the buzzword "Corsair" to point them to the district. One of them is an Arbitrator, so he might have a chance of pulling some info out of the Arbites database on authority of the =][=, but of course, as above, I'd rather try to avoid to lead them straight to their prize.

So, roadblocks, obstacles, enemies, links in a chain of leads, rip-offs from CSI Miami - I'll gratefully take everything you can think of. Again, sorry to bother and thank you all on this forum for being so supportive of this at times tensed-up GM!

DH is known for its dark areas and doing cruel and unspeakable things for the greater good, so here is some ideas that I have that are in a moral grey area.

Darcia:

Invent some of his clients that have been cheated by him. Even with all the know how and what not of the rich people of the universe are there always someone that have brought something that they are going to regret. Maybe have someone brought one of the newest tay weapons, being told about how amazing the ion technology is, first thing he does is showing it off to his nearby family and richest friends that are collecting the same thing, him setting the weapons setting onto max to really give a show... fun fact, rolling a 1 with an ion weapon have the same effect as doing it with a plasma weapon! He blows his arm off, and not only that are they all now sick, never having been told how the weapon are leaking radiation. Sure they are all healed up now, the rich can afford any medicine after all, but none of them have been too happy about it since they got a case of diarrhea ++ from the radiation sickness. That is the serious idea, the more "40K is insane!" idea is that he brought a xeno artefact, but it was in a wrong colour, is it something that matters? No not really, but he was cheated, and none cheat an (insert title here) and comes away with it!

Another lead could be that instead of the bad guy do they find someone else who works with the same thing, "Corsair " can lead an awful lot of ways. Make this new smuggler sell Darcia out to the acolytes in exchange of his life, something that they properly ain´t willing to do since most of his goons have shot after them, and properly done some damage as well. Of course is Evil Generic Smuggler not going to sell Darcia out, but instead his old place of operation there now are made into a smaller fortification only with his goons and second in command left behind. As with all other situations like this are there a myriad of ways to solve this, and I would hint you to let them do it in a smart and/or stealthy way. But no matter how they are going to solve it would I then dump a name on a little semi-private planet jumper into their lap, and a date as well for that matter. Let them now fight against the red tape to get onboad on his ship, let them really unfold and make this into a chase one way or another. Two chase ideas could be to either get another small space ship and hunt him down, something that I do promise you are going to make your players day, this would I use as plan B since while it is a reward in one way to experience this is it also a sign of them being too late. Plan A would be to chase Darcia trough the planetary spaceports terminal, or maybe even as early as from his house if they have been really really good to cut trough the red tape. If they are too slow or you want to give them something epic then let them all run right at his heels, even getting inside as his ship takes off, something that could get rather hectic and tense as they now have to both subdue Darcia and land the ship again.

Mechanical leads that might help direct the PCs to the general area (which in a Hive could be the size of a regular 21st century city!) where the NPCs are could include

• Checking Cognomen Pass key activation over last couple of weeks.
• Using a few mono tasked servitors to scan through CCTV and other cogitator records.
• Pheromone tracker.

Rumours could include the fact that the artist has several rich patrons. Maybe she was taken to the estate late at night and a local resident remembers seeing someone with the heraldry of the House.

Greco could have enemies. Maybe he traded a xenos artifact that wasn't what it seemed. It could just be a fake but maybe something more. His enemies have been on his trail and might be willing to co-operate with the Acolytes.

Greco could also owe money to someone or have money owed to him. The second party might be willing to cooperate in order to settle the debt one way or another.

As for roadblocks simple red herrings would be the easiest ones. For example one of the last people to buy art from Darcia was a Cleric who has benn found dead recently. However the cases are compeltly unconnected.

Hello everyone,

I'm delevolping a bit of a bad conscience for constantly asking for advice and ideas here - I'm trying to make up for it by answering other ppl's posts and give what advice I can, but still... Beg your forgiveness, but here we go again: I'm stuck and in dire need of imaginative minds for plotting.

Against the background of a larger campaign, my acolytes are atm searching in Hive Sybellus for two persons they need to solve a certain riddle.

Number one , Darcia Bonneaux, is a stonemason gone artist, hailing from a rather downtrodden industrial sector of the hive, who managed to escape the confines of the toiling masses and make a halfway decent living from her art. She has recently gone into hiding since my acolythes' opposition is targeting her.

Number two , Greco Azarel, is a trader of curiosities, and an underhand smuggler of xenos artefacts, residing in a shady hive area at the coast (the Corsair Docks). He's crafty at not getting found, especially by someone like the Inquisition.

(There is, of course, a lot more to them and the story, but I won't bore you with irrelevant details.)

So, what I now need are some roadblocks and obstacles for the PCs to overcome as they search for those two. It's not important where they are hiding, just that they are not keen on being found. Also, I need to drop some hints about the Hive's raising weirdness level as foreshadowing of the events to come.

I had some vague thoughts, but problems getting them rolling...

Darcia:

So far, I'd thought that she might have sought shelter from her attackers with a rich industrial magnate, the person who practically owns the district she hails from and that she had dealings with in the past. He likes to adorn himself with pretty artists and kind of keeps her as a pet in exchange for hiding her. In that case, my acolytes would need to be pointed to said magnate, but of course I don't wanna blatantly show them "talk to this guy", and I'm kind of at a loss of additional hints and leads to get them there (as it is, they will be pointed to her stepbrother and the orphanage they both grew up in for some character background and infos not related to the search).

While searching for her, the PCs could stumble over some sinister dealings the magnate has been up to. Maybe he has gone insane - one of the many minds tripped over the edge these days by the build-up to desaster the PCs are caught up in - and has founded a kind of "end of days pleasure cult"? Drugging his workers to squeeze out even more performance to finance his increased expenses? Using debased and forbidden substances to power his machines? Has he actually imprisoned Darcia because she saw something she was not supposed to see? I seem to have a problem getting a straight storyline out of this...

Greco Azarel:

Well, he's basically a criminal, and I have no idea how to go about finding a criminal who does not want to be found. He's not conducting shady business at street corners, so no tailing petty dealers. It's more that he has a set and exclusive clientele (mostly rich) that he knows and kind of trusts, new customers will find him to be a harmless merchant of nick-nacks. Initially, my PCs know nothing more than his name and the buzzword "Corsair" to point them to the district. One of them is an Arbitrator, so he might have a chance of pulling some info out of the Arbites database on authority of the =][=, but of course, as above, I'd rather try to avoid to lead them straight to their prize.

So, roadblocks, obstacles, enemies, links in a chain of leads, rip-offs from CSI Miami - I'll gratefully take everything you can think of. Again, sorry to bother and thank you all on this forum for being so supportive of this at times tensed-up GM!

Some possibilities:

• Let the acolytes pick up rumours about industrial magnates that have started weird contests of "statue fights", faking titan fights in smaller arena's. A lot of gambling is going on during these fights and the stories about the pseudo-titans are that they some parts are sculpted from stone (enter Bonneaux). However, lately the fights seem to be rigged as one of the industrialists has created an unstoppable behemoth. It is said that it's face, contrary to the other statues, moves. This all with the help of Bonneaux (and a bit of warpdabbling). Since this weirdness started, no-one has seen Bonneaux and people guess she stays near the behemoth, that is located in a depot near the arena. The acolytes need to check out the arena to find more clues about the whereabouts of Bonneaux.
• As for Azarel: Have the acolytes stumble upon some Obscura. If they investigate the substance, they find out that the substance is altered (stronger version of the normal substance). Rounding up some addicts reveals that the drugs have been altered at a lab in the underhive by someone called "the Methodist". When the acolytes investigate the lab, they easily take out the labrat and his croonies. Further investigation shows that a small number of merchants/scum/... have invested a lot in this business. If the acolytes bring this information to the local arbites station (another roleplaying opportunity) and they look for known associates, the name of Azarel comes up. In fact he knows every single party that invested in the lab. However, the arbites note that Azarel turned up dead a few weeks ago in a shady bar. In fact, this wasn't Azarel but a double. When they investigate the case and the now known home of Azarel, they find out that in fact the body was a double, the home has been visited multiple times afterwards and that some personal effects are missing (an opened safe - but not broken, cogitatorstation taken away), and to make matters worse: in the bedroom, everybody who enters, gets sick. Psyniscience shows a connection to other coordinates elsewhere in the hive.

I think that the secret is that someone knows where these people are, someone always has that info on them or can help by giving some clues. Thus the Acolytes should start with mapping out the targets' friends, patrons and family and try to get info from these and then work out to see where this might lead. I would be very suprised if she didn't tell anyone anything that isn't a clue to where she is; a pretty face, some knockers and a couple of beers can make most men talk rather freely.

Wow people, where u taking all this ideas out of thin air from? It must be amazing to be a creative person

There was quite some food for thought in your posts, I will need to wrap it up when I'm no longer thrown off track by the flu.

I totally dig that arena gambling thing - I won't use it now because I forgot to mention that Darcia is supposed to be a rather nice lady and definitely not into warp dabbling, but I'll rip it off for some other scenario, if you don't mind ^^

A lot of great ideas for Azarel. I'm beginning to think that I might be thinking too linearly. Maybe I should just define where they are, how they got there and what they are doing, and for once just wing along and improvise...

Need to go back to bed, but thanks a lot!

Well... if you need some good roadblocks then tell a bit about your team of acolytes, you can always save them for later use, because what there can be used once can properly be used twice as well, just with a little bit of tweaking.

Finally, kind of up and about again.
Tell about my team, alright, I'd be glad to! I have in my group three acolytes:

A voidborn Psyker (Pyro), who is really clever and his player is exceptionally inventive and smart in finding connections, avoiding risks and such. Also, the character is extremely fearful of physical contact with the outer world, unfiltered air, rainwater and the like.

A melee Assassin from a postapocalyptic feral world who lost her brother in an orbital bombardement ordered by Imperial authoritied and thus is secretly a liiiiittle bit biased toward the whole Imperium thing. She's a combat monster who pretty much two-hits everything I set before her.

An extremely pious Arbitrator following the Cult of the Emperor Revenant and praying to his ancestors every night. His noble family was wiped out by unknown forces (my evil villains, but he does not know yet), so he grew up in a Schola Progenium and is totally devoted to the Imperium and the Inquisition. He practically reveres their inquisitor, and I hope to have his resolve decently tested further down the road when he finds out what the Inquisitor is up to.

While none of the PCs is particularly adept at social interaction, they put up a good fight in interrogations. All of them are overly thorough in investigations, they want to know EVERY tiny detail and follow absolutely every clue ever seeded and every hint dropped ever so casually. That's why most of the published scenarios don't work for them without excessive adding on my part They stretch their inquisitorial authority a bit too much for my taste, like daring to order a very powerful noble to let them search her house on very thin evidence - and really, what to do about that? - but other than that, they've so far stayed firmly on the puritanical side and done a very good job at uncovering the conspiracy.

Hmm... they are missing people inside of the systems, both inside Adeptus Mechanicus and The Administratum, so that could you always use against them as a road block. Red tape is after all the best tape there is!

I do know that it can be rather boring to do paperwork and such, but think of the look on their faces when the person before them looks at their fine inqusition badge, nods and then answers that instead of X years will the paper work now take X months. It is in situations like these that your players have to think in a new way. Something else that you could throw at them is situations where they have to think about what camp that they stand in, like being told to break a law for example, hunt down a person that the inquisiton are sure are a psyker, only to find out that he/she isn´t. Moral choices are some of the best choices, and when kids or babies are in the picture are you sure that you will get your players to think more than once about what they are doing.

Edit: And now that the players are happy to flash their badges and the their status, add the Ecclesiarchy to the picture. Because maybe do the players talk down to nobles and its like, but you do simply not do that to the holy church without some severe consequences.

Yeah I've been thinking about the paperwork-hurdle, too. But then again, if they are really hell-bent on requisitioning this damned interplanetary shuttle or sweeping this house, who's to stop them? I can possibly think that it would take days and weeks of paperwork to request an Arbites kill-squad or PDF, and yes, if they overdo it, their inq might give them hell afterwards, but in the heat of the moment if they just act... Can I reasonably have simple guards just doing their job stand up to the oh so powerful inquisition?

Their newest exploit: they arrested a noble's personal doctor, falsely accused him of murder and if things go where I think they go, my Arbitrator's excrutiator kit will make an apperance next session. Yet there seems nothing I can do about it in terms of retaliation on the noble's part.

So far, they've been very polite around priests (damned acolytes know whose boots to lick XD), but I wonder how the consequences you mentioned would look like if they give in to their arrogance some ranks from now...

They are clearly misusing their powers if what you say are true, and that should have some kind of consequences!

You are right that a simple guard can´t do much, but numbers are an important factor. Think on it, they are three, a noble house are zillions. If they really push their luck to far then push back. Let the noble give them what they want, but let him demand the name of their inquisitor as well, or get him to trick it out of the acolytes some way or another. A badge could be fake after all, and back ground tests is to be had as well. Then when they leave let him send a rather angry letter to their Inquisitor, it stating rather firmly what they have done. The Inquisition works from the shadow, that is fairly well known, they are bookie men and so on, so hearing that some of his servants having done this will surely piss him of.

And to your question, yes make the guards act. Not with deadly force, under no circumstances with deadly force, but make one full platoon of guards escort your three acolytes out onto the street. Maybe are the players technically stronger, but it is not normal to be allowed big weapons into the house of a noble. And with a fight between three pistols and X autoguns am I pretty sure that I know who there would win that.

One of the things that I am planning to do myself is have a special dinner served for my acolytes next time they see their Inquisitor, a little something called corpse rations and then for desert a question if they can guess what there happened to the last team of acolytes there didn´t follow his orders to the letter.

Yeah I've been thinking about the paperwork-hurdle, too. But then again, if they are really hell-bent on requisitioning this damned interplanetary shuttle or sweeping this house, who's to stop them? I can possibly think that it would take days and weeks of paperwork to request an Arbites kill-squad or PDF, and yes, if they overdo it, their inq might give them hell afterwards, but in the heat of the moment if they just act... Can I reasonably have simple guards just doing their job stand up to the oh so powerful inquisition?

Their newest exploit: they arrested a noble's personal doctor, falsely accused him of murder and if things go where I think they go, my Arbitrator's excrutiator kit will make an apperance next session. Yet there seems nothing I can do about it in terms of retaliation on the noble's part.

So far, they've been very polite around priests (damned acolytes know whose boots to lick XD), but I wonder how the consequences you mentioned would look like if they give in to their arrogance some ranks from now...

Bear in mind one important fact: They're not the inquisition.

There authority is specifically and only that authority that their inquisitor explicitely delegates them via a Sigil of Question, Writ of Authority, or similar document or item.

Generic house armsmen #45.356 is not going to know this. The House Master-At-Arms of a major noble house (those approaching "Peer of the Imperium" level), who's probably a minor noble himself and very well educated in imperial law, will.

His response is likely to be one of two; either tell them where to get off unless they come back with orders from his master, or let them enter and then have them arrested for "Impersonating The Inquisition" if he can get a recording of them claiming they are. Note that - unless you're authorised by your inquisitor to do this - this is one of the most serious crimes in the whole of Lex Imperialis.

In terms of finding Darcia, you're going to need to start with her known movements and associates. Cognoment tags, as noted, will take you some of the way, but I'm assuming she'll have not used hers once she's made contact - so it'll show she didn't leave the district (without some seriously talented assistance, anyway). Then it's a case of "where would she go to hide out?" - and pulling up a list of known associates in the area. Nothing requires you to send the acolytes to the industrial magnate first, and some false leads (many of which may be dangerous to follow up) can use as much time as you like.

More importantly, the opposition will presumably be looking, too. If they have any sense, the acolytes can save a lot of time by finding out where their opposite numbers are searching (or, in extreme cases, following them to Darcia).

If he's keeping Darcia as a bit of arm candy, then presumably he knew her before - so learning the names of her previous customers might help.

Greco - it depends. If they know his name, and look around the corsair docks, they'll find him. But do they know what they've found (or what they're looking for?). Why are they looking for this guy in the first place; has someone told them that this guy is involved in the cold trade?

Thanks for your input on the authority matter, friends. I guess I'll have to mentally toughen up my NPCs when dealing with the acolytes. I am no expert at all on 40k fluff, and the DH core rulebook is frustratingly vague in places - other than stating how terribly intimidating that organisation is to the average citizen, I've not found much concrete information. It took me ages to figure out what the inquisitorial Rosette actually is, and I've not heard the term Sigil of Queston ever before. I imagined the acolytes as some kind of FBI - if those guys appear at your doorstep in RL, you're probably not going to tell them to buzz off...

In what way is a cognomen used? I thought it to be some kind of passport or ID, so not something that is scanned on a regular basis.

Regarding Darcia, I settled on something different from my first approach to eliminate a few plotholes I had overlooked. Now she's actually been kidnapped by the opposition, who conveniently are working with my magnate who conveniently is in debt to the supervillain's evul guild. And since the acolytes have something the opposition wants, they'll use Darcia to lure them into a trap. That way, I can throw them some hints about who's hunting them and give them a fight to free the damsel in distress (hubbie will love it).

About Greco Azarel, they don't exactly know why they are looking for him, nor who he is. In fact, they are following a breadcrumb trail to a hidden stash of direly needed data, and they only know that the information leading there has been encrypted and split up between three parties to keep it from falling into enemy hands - themselves, Darcia, Azarel.

Now Azarel is an associate of the man who hid the data they are after, not someone they'd willingly choose to work with. Likewise, Darcia and Azarel only know that they have one part of a three-piece puzzle and might not be too keen on working with the other two parties.

A cognomen is an ID card or pass, but it has a 'chip' component and things like mag-trains or lift tubes will require you to scan it rather than show it to an operator; specific doors in the hive won't let you pass without one - it's what keeps the riff-raff out of the spire (unless they're in the system as being employed as a spire-born's servant).

Yes, the inquisition (like the FBI) is intimidating. But imagine that half a dozen guys in black suits turn up at your door, insist they're the FBI and that they're comandeering your stuff. But refuse to show you a valid badge or provide any warrant of authority other than the fact that they have a side door key for a police station somewhere.

A Sigil of Question is the lowest rank token of authority - issued to a "Quaestor" (a rank sub interrogator in the hierarchy of things) - the Quaestor is in the Inquisitor's handbook as an alternate rank, but essentially the Sigil says "This Person is invested with Inquisitorial Authority for actions pertaining to the following specific investigation" - the scope of which has to be listed on the attached documentation (or on the built-in chips, if it's a higher-tech version).

Ah dammit I think I shot myself in the foot with that one. Since I figured that my acolytes would not be able to carry out their work without a suitable badge of authority (and I still think so), I just gave them one. Also, it's what their inquisitor would have done, cos for various reasons he's a bit over-protective of said acolytes and wants to give them every possible edge.

Huh, that's what happens to new GMs I'm afraid.

Alright, but as the damage is done (I can't reasonably deprive them of it now), I guess I'll just have to roll with it and try to teach them not to overdo it by means of the bad guys generally knowing where they are and what they are up to. No secrecy - no secret investigation. Sigh. But I will give the Sigil of Question a look, maybe I can perform damage control by at least limiting their authority.

Thanks a lot, everyone, it has been very enlightening, as always on this forum.

"I can't reasonably deprive them of it now" You are their GM, you do not have to be reasonable, you can do whatever you want in this case, and if you think that this will make it a more interesting experience then do it. The trick is just to do something unreasonable in a way that the players find reasonable. I have taken over as GMing in my RP group from our old GM since he had to stop, and I am removing some of the little extra things he gave us. He did for example give us 1/2 the xp for a session when we didn´t came, I am going to say that there is no xp to get at all, that is unless you call in sick to me personally. What did I do to make it reasonable? I told them how expecting 6 players and getting 4 can screw up the game, not only for me but for all.

New GMs and groups alike should be given some slack, it is about having fun after all and not to follow the rules to the letter, so if you mean that they would get a better experience by taking their badge from them, then start the next session out talking about how you made an honest mistake giving them this unlimited get out of jail card, how you now can see how they have improved and have gotten more experienced and that you think that it would be better for all of them if they could play without the badge. Make them give it up instead of taking it as such, at least from a player perspective, and do then find a way for their Inquisitor to reclaim their badge next time they meet. He could have gotten an angry letter from one of the people they have used it against, he could have read their reports (because they do have to give reports when a job is done right?) and seen how aggressive they are or a whole third thing. Of course are he going to give them one of the lesser badges he have so they still have just some power, but not the OP badge of DOOM that they have now.

TL;DR As with all other problems that you will meet in this game, talk them though with your players, let them see how it would give them a better experience without this üpper badge, and try to see if you can´t coax the players to agree to give it up, apply sugar coating as needed.

Edit: have changed a little bit on the first segment to make my statement clearer

Ah dammit I think I shot myself in the foot with that one. Since I figured that my acolytes would not be able to carry out their work without a suitable badge of authority (and I still think so), I just gave them one. ...

Huh, that's what happens to new GMs I'm afraid.

Alright, but as the damage is done (I can't reasonably deprive them of it now),

I did the same thing, and I did deprive them of it after they abused it too much.

The rationale was simple: By causing all kinds of havoc, they caused the Inquisitor more trouble than he was willing to put up with, and drew a lot of attention from the people they were investigating.

So he took it away, and said something like "you are the reason we can't have nice things"

Basically by taking away their "get out of jail free" card, he forced his people to act more subtly and carefully, with less collateral damage.

Well... in theory, at least