Id like to ask for advice from my fellow players. The situation is that my character, a divination Pysker has gotten into a position where he cant really let a fellow player character, a Tech Priest Secuter, live.

Now OOC I am a little apprehensive and would rather resolve the situation in a manner which doesn't necessarily involve one or both of our character dying. Neither of us have any problems with the other OOC its just a situation that has come up in game. I have talked to the GM but hes keeping his cards close to his chest ATM and I havent had a chance to speak to the other player, who I normally see only on game nights.

To give some context to this situation heres how it came about. My Pysker had been playing a gambling game while on mission trying to crack a cult. Unfortunately the game didnt just result in the loss of money but also transferred power and skills to the winner, which we didnt know. I lost, even trying to use my powers and left the room, rapidly realising my pyschic abilities were no longer with me. I got our assassin to tail the winner and we caught up with him and beat him senseless (finding out about what the game does in the process). Death transfers the powers back to the owner, or you can play the game again. Unfortunately the winner also seemed to have some form of warp entity within him. We ended up putting his eyes out and carting him back to our ship just in case while we try and work out what to do.

Me and the Assassin go out leaving the prisoner under guard with our arbite and tech priest, who have clear instructions not to talk or kill this thing till we get back. When the 2 of us return (after more unpleasantness) the Secuter immediatly starts pointing a gun at my head makes numerous accusations including that the warp creature is actually from me originally (which is true as it happens, though my character was not aware of the infestation at the time, remebering the true course of events only once it left. Sensibly he kept this last part secret) after talkiing to the Warp creature. The assassin sides with the Secuter and they send me to the room where the prisoner is kept. We talk, I call it accursed etc....Secuter walks in calmly, slays the prisoner (I try to stop her, the assassin shoots me for my troubles), warp entity goes straight for me and infests my mind again. I go apeshit and blast the assassin aside (non fatally) and take a swing at the Secuter, luckily missing. She explains her 'plan' which is to activate the Gellar field and sweep it out of my body. This does not does not work.

We have had several sessions since then, as we had an even more serious situation to deal with (!). However it looks like we have some down time coming up (the pysker lost a leg, suffered spinal injuries and needs quite a lot of healing) and infesting a fellow acolyte with a warp entity is not an action that can be forgiven IC. Knowing that hed have difficulty slaying the Secuter in combat, even in the fullest of health, cold blooded murder or assassination seems the only answer IC but I dont really want to a) completely derail the storyline b) ruin someone elses enjoyment.

Ideally if any of you can think of a creative out, where we can both live and keep working together, without it seeming contrived please post your thoughts.

Or alternative ways of handling the situation.

Or failing that fool proof schemes to do the Secuter in

Sorry its a bit wordy, Thanks

You could always frame her for tech-heresy and let his colleagues in the Machine Cult do the rest. This is, of course, assuming you're willing and able to do such a thing and the lady isn't so trusted that people will instantly suspect a frame. Since you said you have a ship there's also the option of pushing her out an airlock. You also mentioned that "allowing an acolyte to become infested" is unforgivable. Is there any way to take this to a superior and have the secutor punished for gross incompetence (you'd trapped the warp entity in a heretic's body, could have sought a way to dispose of it properly), or would trying that also result in your psyker quickly finding himself imprisoned, studied and purged?

Unfortunately going to the authorities would defiently result in burnings for both of us. Also we are on something of a time sensitive mission as there are more of these entities attempting to escape their imprisonment. Plus our Inquisitor is suspected of invlovement with the Entities by us. All of which pretty much rule out any sort of formal trial.

Normally a Pysker would be forced to take its own life with the Mercy blade. The fact that the hypno conditioning didnt is quite worrying and points to the danger these creatures pose.

Framing for tech heresy is quite a good idea. How would you go about setting it up? Might be difficult to convince anyone to burn a mymridon war-smith though.

Im certain that any attempt to push the Magos out of an airlock would be laughed off by it. Maybe decompress an entire section of the hull would work.

thanks and keep them coming.

Secutors are all about warfare. Xenotech weaponry falling into her possession would be a start. Disguising it as good, honest Imperial tech so she unwittingly incorporates it into herself is better. That said, she's the Tech-Priest and you're the dirty psyker mutant traitor. You'd need to get some very questionable outside help.

Also, how important is the mission to the psyker? Can he set aside his vendetta until his duty to the Emperor is concluded?

It is obvious that the warp entity within you has corrupted you to even think of killing one of the Emperor's loyal servants. Kill yourself now and perhaps He will have mercy upon you.

Is playing the game again an option? Destroy the warp entity inside the winner then kill him to restory your powers. If the winner was a blank, would the warp entity be destroyed but your psychic powers be intact but inert?

I am also not sure why the Secutor must die for corrupting you with an entity that was yours to begin with. By that logic should you not have killed yourself by corrupting the winner of the game you lost in?

Rashid ad Din Sinan said:

indeed,

You're yearning for your powers lost is leading you astray.

Are you really willing to cold-heartedly kill somebody whom you've faced all kinds of mortal danger with?! And even if you succeed, the retransfer of powers will immediately point you out as prime suspect nr 1. I wouldn't want to face an inquisitor who finds out you not only willingly killed one of his servants, but also by doing so gravely endangered the mission

In stead I would enjoy roleplaying the emotional wretch you're about to become (endless lamentations over your miserable fate, guilty conscience about your desire to kill of a fellow party-member, cursing yourself over your weakness, fearing the taint of corruption,... repent sinner repent!!!! 10 lashes a day makes the taint go away, etc.) :-)

If you keep it up your GM might even fiat a career-change towards the clergy :-)

Snidesworth said:

Very important. We have to stop 6 individuals from 'stepping outside' which causes the entities to be released from their prisons. So far we have dealt with 3 from this list. Oh and the Inquisitor we serve is number 6 on the list so we cant ask him for help as we have no idea whether he is in league with these things or merely an unwitting dupe (2 have been dupes and 1 was actively trying to free one).

Now hed like to put the vendetta aside, after all hes served with the Magus for many long years. However the intentional releasing off the entity from our prisoner into my pysker at the entities behest is not something that should be taken lightly. The Secuters plan to expel the creature using the Gellar field could al be lies. and the Magos may be corrupted, which could endanger the mission further (equally I am aware that I am myself a risk and possibly corrupted

Snidesworth said:

Well at the time of first playing the game I was not aware of either the Entity inside my mind or also what the game did. I was innocent of the intention! It was only once I lost my powers that I remembered what had occurred. Knowing the penalties, DEATH, and considering myself a vital mission asset I thought it best not to mention to my colleagues the full truth of having been infested. Once wed captured the poor individual (who was a heretic anyway for playing in a proscribed game) all would be better and wed have a specimen to study. And I wouldnt have to worry about any of that horrible warp stuff anymore either. Until the Secuter chatted to the entity and decided to release it and give my powers back.

Once the mission is over Psyker Victus will fall on his sword. Just 3 more individuals to slay then he can rest in peace! Unless he becomes even more corrupted....

I suppose the real problem/question is: Can you let a player character get away with something youd kill an NPC for and still have integrity to the game?

In this case its releasing a warp daemon into the body of a pysker.

In any NPC case Id kill the releaser of the daemon and the psyker host too if possible. Even if they did it with the best of intentions.

However Id rather not take this route. I like the suggestion that Victus cant bring himelf to kill such a dear old friend and becomes consumed by guilt (both over potentilly compromising the mission and even conidering murdering one of his frineds). Any other 'outs' you can think of.

cheers

I'm kind of with Rashid on this one - really can't see why you feel you have to kill the Secutor, other than because you have fixated on her as a convenient scapegoat for your current misfortune. Not only that, I don't think it's in your self interest to do so.

By your own account, the entity in question had originally been in you. Its returning to you is likely due to this fact, not due to any plan the Secutor might have had. It seems far from apparent that the Secutor knew the entity would infest you when she killed the prisoner, however - none of you seem to have been in full possession of the facts at that point. Slaying a prisoner known to be possessed by a warp entity is just standard Inquisition practice. She didn't need to be following any diabolical scheme to decide that executing them immediately was the right idea. In fact, she'd likely be court-martialed for failing to execute someone known to be possessed by a warp entity. It should then be noted that once it became apparent you had been possessed yourself (and you had begun to attack your former colleagues) she not only failed to kill you, but came up with a non-lethal means of trying to remove it from you. It seems to me that she has done little or nothing intentionally to harm you, and in fact has gone out of her way to keep you alive. She could easily justify killing you when you attacked, but chose not to. She could easily justify executing you as a possessed psyker, but chose not to (sure you're claiming that you are now an ex-psyker whose powers have been removed, but as the entity returned to you when the prisoner was killed it would be at least possible that your powers had as well, and she's got no way of knowing - and isn't it the sort of thing a demon trying to avoid execution would try claiming?). To be perfectly honest, she's likely flushed her career in the Inquisition down the pan if not committed a capital crime by knowingly failing to execute a possessed psyker just because he happens to be a colleague.

So, to summarise, she hasn't done anything intentionally to harm you, and she has gone against Inqusition proceedure, risking her own life, and that of just about everyone else around, just to keep you alive. For this level of friendship and devotion you feel an apparently overwhelming desire to kill her. Why????

It seems to me the most likely IC development from this is a growing realisation on both of your parts that you have chosen a Radical path, departing from the clear guidelines of the Inquisition and risking condemnation from your fellows to do what you feel is necessary to combat the enemy. If anything, you should get a lot closer, because you are realising that you have chosen the same path, and that you each have enough dirt on the other to condemn them if you turned against each other. You have to trust each other or you're both doomed.

Unless one of you kills everyone else, leaving no witnesses, so they can concoct a story that still leaves them in the clear.

But unfortunately that can't be you. Any Inquisitor or acolyte who is psychically sensitive will sniff the reek of corruption on you a mile off. You can't play the 'last man standing' card any more because they'll know you've been tainted. So the only option you have left is trust. Like it or not, you need her if you're ever going to convince anyone you aren't a corrupted witch who should be killed on sight.

Sounds like your character is realy happy for his powers ? Are they not a curse you would be happy to get rid of ? Offcause the problem is you cannot condem others with such a curse and let an unsanctioned psysker lose. I amnot quite sure if you got your powers back but either way it something I thought of and you might want to take into considerations.

I can't find an edit tool for this, which may be me being thick, but rereading the above I've realised I misunderstood the situation with regard to the Secutor's executing the prisoner inasmuchas it appears from what you're saying that she executed him having been informed by the entity itself that this would result in you being possessed. This makes it harder to see her actions as not being intended to harm you (though if you take her words regarding the Geller fields at face value it still wasn't her intention to harm you - she just wasn't as smart as she thought she was). I do not feel, however, that you can argue that she indisputably acted contrary to Inquisition guidelines. Irrespective of what a demon did or did not say to her, her clear duty was to kill the possessed individual. It is basic Inquisitorial doctrine that demons lie. Urging you to kill its host so that it can return your friend's powers to him could be a diabolically clever lie in that it might be an attempt at reverse psychology - the demon urges you to kill its host, knowing that you will distrust it and be less inclined to do this, thus leaving a possessed individual alive.

By the same token, your clear duty, irrespective of what you feel you may or may not be able to achieve in your possessed state, is to kill yourself immediately. Concluding otherwise already signals that in regard to yourself at least you are very willing to avoid the sort of simplistic judgement you seem to be making towards the Secutor and take wider circumstances into account.

Thanks for your observations RevMark and Meta. Sometimes you just cant see a way out of a situation without writing it down and talkng it over.

Ok heres how Im thinking of approaching it... this thread pretty much represents the Divinators warring thoughts on the matter while he lies in hospital having a cyber leg attached.

Maybe the Secuter was just trying to help, with its limited understanding of warp interactions. Even if it has started to succumb to Mind-rot then its better I am on hand to watch over it. Also offing a Secuter from the divine light of sollex will cause many further complications. Lets wait and watch what it does.

There is no point crying over spilt milk. The thing is inside me now and until we can contain it permanently/destroy it there is little point transferring it outside myself, which might just cause further problems. I am obviously more strongly willed than the prisoner host as it has been unable to communicate or act while inside me. The Emperor has communicated with me and my soul is filled with righteousness, yet I am merely the messenger, not necessarily his executioner. (We were originally sent on this mission by my psyker receivng a genuine vision of the Emperor.) I am expendable like everyone else.

So lots of paranoia, guilt and possibly splitting personalities for the psyker...Its safe to say that hes walking the path of the radical with the best of intentions...

Ill let you know how the next session goes..

Looking at another thread here some of the faith talents from the Adeptus Soriatus in the IH might come in handy for that nasty warp entity.

Rashid ad Din Sinan said:

Indeed. A member of one of the Orders Diologous or (if you can find one) a Black Priest of Maccabeus can use the Purge the Unclean talent in conjunction with a spent fate point to attempt to exorcise the warp entity from you. How many NPCs in these groups possess fate points is up to your GM, as is how willing they are to save you.

Actually any good member of the Inquisition would have upon knowledge of your possession by a warp entity put a bolt round through the back of your skull in order to prevent the possibility of it manifesting in reality. Or the use of the Psykana Mercy Blade also to the base of the skull where it meets the spine (the brain stem). Its just normal good role playing.

Nobody trusts a psyker fully because of what he potentially become every time he opens himself up to the warp (using a power). Eldar probably do if he/she is a trained warlock or farseer, but we're not playing a game of the Eldar.

Anything else pretty much goes against what citizens are taught if brough up in the Imperial Creed. What do you think your Inquisitor would do if he/she found out you had a warp entity in you?

Exactly why I don't play psykers. They're cool as hell with all the powers they can get, but they're portals to the warp and the warp is BAD. Therefore psykers are bad.

Very good reply, RevMark.

Thank you all for your suggestions. Essentially what happened is our Inquisitor turned up for the first time and held a mini-tribunal. He was very reasonable (posibly too reasonable...) with regards to the warp entity and chastised the Secuter for its actions which resulted in this possession.

The Inquisitor then sent us off on an entirely seperate mission. Even though I dont fully trust him we cant very well ignore a direct order to do something so weve trundled off. While not liking the Secuter and mistrusting it, any hostile actions I make may result in further problems at the moment.

I also inscribed pentragrammic wards into my own flesh just in case! That seems sensible right...

Good to hear that you survived to die another day.

Posted to wrong thread.