Greetings, fellow GMs

there are a couple of things about "Desolotion of the Dead" (adventure in the GMs Kit) I cannot make head or toes of. I read it twice and start to guess that perhaps some things were left "blank".

If I am mistaken and there ARE answers to my following questions in the modul, could you just shove me in face first by providing a page number? THANKS

1) The reason for the carnage at the beginning
The Investigation is kicked off by a gruesom scene in the charnal house. While we are given the result and the Information that it had something to do with "the dead and the cult and the Talisman" I cannot find a passage that CLEARLY stated what happened.

My GUESS is that a ritual to animate the dead went wrong and that the dead turned against there creator... collapsing themelves in the aftermath. But is there one straight description somewhere about just that?

Furthermore , it was mentioned that "strange noises" were reported, but WHO reported them? At hwhich time? Day or night cycle? I can make it up on the spot but would have hoped for the info to be mentioned in the adventure.

2) The Body trade
It is mentioned in the adventure that there is an (illegal) body trade between the lower hive and underhive. How do the bodies get there? The adventure states that measure were taken to seal any pathway in Kilometers around the "Purity Gate" in order to form a bottle neck. Did this stopped the trade? Are the bodies still traded? Using which route of Transfer? Again, I am able to make this stuff up if it is not mentioned, but isn´t that info provided in the adventure itself somewhere?

Thanks-o-lot

Another point I am stumbling upon while preparing the final: the description of "the artefact"

The only line I find about it says it is

"a strange, asymetrical device painful to look upon". If the splinter of it was described more in regard to material (instead to how it feels when touched) I must have missed it. I guesss it is meant to be the force staff that Ferrue wears (see his stats)

How did you described this?
Since my Group is already outnumbered badly (due to their own choices) I will ignore the "Force staff" and turn it into something as unwieldy made of greenish-black Stone that Looks like it would be greased but is dry to the touch.

To your first point:

Desolation of the Dead Page 4

So much was his [Darnis] desire for attention and power that he stole a piece of the xenos artefact and tried to animate the dead himself. The horrific results are what has drawn the Acolytes to the Gallowsway

It's not really clear, but from these sentences I think that your interpretation is the right one. He attempted a ritual and it went wrong.

I found no informations for the other routes into the underhive. As far as I can remember there were only the few things you already mentioned. I guess you have to improvise here.

Your third one: I think the force staff is different from the xenos artefact, for they are listed as different entries in his profile. For the description: "Forgotten Gods" states that the orb from "Dark Pursuits" and the artefact from "Desolation of the Dead" are all part of the same xenos culture. I'd assume that they are from the same material. For further descriptions I'd point to "Forgotten Gods".

I described it in kinda cthuloid fashion. Something like "It has a strange form you can't really put into understandable terms. Sometimes it looks like cube then more like a sphere. Sometimes if you look from the corner of your eye you have the feeling that it is something different alltogether, but as soon as you concentrate again and look at it, it is just a solid block of strange xenos material."

My players didn't ask much questions, wrapped it in cloth and put it into a lead lined box with purity seals.