I am just starting my second major adventure/campaign. The last one was Fear and Loathing in Kri-Kren. This one is called The Sicarius Connection.

Essentially the PC's are on the trial of a corrupt or otherwise traitorious member of the Ordo Sicarius, the Inquitorial Ordo that deals with the Officio Assassinorum.

The PC's have just recovered some impritant information on the impending assassination of a Depatmentum Munitorium Master and have to thwart it.

Anyway assuming they manage this the warp journey back to their Inquisitor will be kind of interesting....I am planning on letting an Evesor Assassin loose in the ship......Essentially a classic Alien scenario.

Anyway just wondering if anyone had any interesting ideas about the Officio Assassinorum or Ordo Sicarius or maybe the methods of attack an Evesor would use on a large frieght hauler (about 2000 crew.)

Cheers

Visitor Q

Certainly I think the Evesor will cut a brutal path through anyone that gets in his way.

On the other hand I havwe a feeling the Evesor might actually kill the Navigator to trap the ship in the warp. At least on this particular mission the assassin isn't to bothered about making it out alive.

Hence forth, all references to the Eversor will now simply be "The assassin temple that all look like Chuck Norris but act like McGuyver"

Evesors...they're the skull faced kill machines right? Not the ones that can change their form yes?

Well, he'd head to the bridge and kill everyone in his way in a rather gore drenched manner. He'd want to isolate the PC's, trap them. So...he'd sabotage the engines, possibly kill the Navigator when the ship is in real space (if they're stranded in the warp, the assassin could die before the PC's and he'd never know if they died or not. And that means he'd have failed ) and then, when everythings gone **** up, he'd appear in the PC's quaters. Grinning that proffesional, assured grin. The PCs would then die.

Possibly. >.>

The PC's aren't actually his target. They have the unfortunate task of being body guards.

The good news is that they can at least call on the aid of a half decent Interrogator Seer and what security forces the ship has onboard (about 70 men in all).

Bad news is of course that the Eversor is totally badass.

Some interesting stats for the eversor on a different site. He is killable but very hard. Which is what I want of course......

If you were the PC's how would you go about stopping something like that/protecting your charge? (not that I need suggestions to counter the PC's so much as curious to know if you guys think they have any chance in hell)

Visitor Q said:

For the sake of horror, I think the first the PCs should know about the Eversor would be an alarm going off. Presumably they try to contact the bridge to find out what is going on. A member of the command staff tells them that there are reports of intruders on the ship who is attacking members of the crew. As he's speaking the eversor arrives. All the PCs hear is a massive explosion as he blasts through the bridge bulkhead with a meltabomb, followed by lots of gunfire and screaming.

The PCs will now have a choice - stay put and barricade themselves into the room, or try and find out what is going on. Barricading them inside the room is a bad idea... but PCs don't always make the right choices. Whatever they do, have an NPC officer that they know arrive (head of security would be best) with some armsmen. He tells them that he can't get through to the ship, there are bodies everywhere and that he wants to move the PCs and their charge to a safer location. On the way, they come to a corridor littered with the mutilated bodies of half a dozen crewmen. As the PCs and NPCs stand shocked at the carnage, the Eversor attacks from hiding.

This first attack will be focused on the armsmen. The actual goal is to demonstrate to the PCs just how horribly viscious the assassin is. The corridor is too packed with men for the PCs to get a clear shot - the close quarters are perfect for the Eversor, putting them at a distinct disadvantage. Don't roll the EA's attacks, just have him kill two or three NPCs a round.

The head of security will scream at the PCs to run (which they should do), while he and his men try to slow the EA down.

How do the PCs survive? At this point, they should be thinking 'escape'. The smart thing to do would be to head to the nearest small craft bay to commandeer a guncutter or transport. Unfortunately when they arrive they find the dock controls locked from the bridge. If they have a techpriest with them they may be able to everride the controls manually.... but they don't have enough time. They hear the sounds of combat as the EA approaches, killing rating on his way.

The PCs have a few choices. They need to keep moving - if they stay in one place too long the EA will find them. If the succeed at some relevent skill checks they can lose him for a while, giving them some room to breath. They can try to organise a defences against the EA, but standard ratings aren't good enough - they'll break as the assassin butchers the first of them. There aren't many armsmen left alive on the ship, but if they can gather them together they'll have a small force to work with. If they then try to set up an ambush or a defensive position, they're plan is doomed to failure. The EA will detect their ambush, then figure out a way around it to attack them from behind. The first the PCs will know about it is when a splatter of gore splashes across their faces as he kills a nearby armsman. He may come at them from behind or above, or even below - he places a meltabomb beneath their feet, killing some of their men, before erupting from the resulting hole, lashing out left and right.

To take down the EA, they need to take the initiative. They need to rally the armsmen and engage the EA forcefully. Their men are mostly there to distract the EA while their best shots try to take him down. If the PCs have a melee character, he should engage the EA with one or two armsmen to gain bonuses to hit.

The alternative to killing the EA is to flee. This means returning to the bridge, disabling the locks on the cargo bay, then getting past the EA and returning to the guncutter. As they prep the vessel the EA arrives, leading to a battle in the cargo bay as some of the PCs try to get the guncutter flying and the rest try to keep the EA busy (preferably without dying). The last of the PCs need to get on the ship before take off while driving the EA back (the guncutter or transport should have some pintel mounted weaponry that a PC can use to suppress the EA for just long enough for the PCs to get onboard). The guncutter takes off, leaving the stricken vessel behind.

Unfortunately, as in Alien, Aliens and Aliens 4, it isn't that simple. As the ship was taking off the EA somehow got onboard. And just like those movies, the PCs will have to use unorthodox methods to get him off again - such as opening an airlock or shooting a hole in the side of the ship, ripping the EA into space (though preferably not taking the PCs with him).

If they're smart, they'll then use the ship's weapons on his body. Just to make sure

Some pretty interesting ideas there. Thanks.

I think the climax of the adventure might well be the Eversor going on the rampage but I think I will draw out the horror a bit slower.

The Eversor knows his target and also knows a the rough layout of the ship. However he doesn't know exactly where the target is or what security is on the ship.

Over the first few days in the warp rumours start circulating of an strange shadow stalking the bowels of the ship. The odd servitor or rating goes missing.

The PC's psyker gets some awful nightmares of a grim reaper figure cutting down friends and crewmen (a premonition...)

Then one of the ships Logistician notices that there is an unidentified pod stuck to the outside of the ship. Because they are in the warp they can't send anyone out to investigate. The ship is going to break into real space in a couple of days anyway so it can wait till then.

Then the primary stabliser for the Geller field starts acting up (The Eversor has been at work....). The Captain and Navigator agree that it is best to anchor the ship in a relativly calm area of warp space and repair the field.

Then the Eversor makes his first attack against the target.....

For the sake of giving the PC's something of a fighting chance but also to enhance the horror aspect of the game the Eversor is acting under an extreme caution protocol. It is vital for him to succeed in his mission. Because he can't risk dying, or the target escaping he will withdraw against a well organised defence and attempt a new line of attack. (For example attacking the engine room and blowing the whole ship sky high).

Hopefully it will lead to a situation where the PC's can't simply holdup in a room but have to both prevent the Eversor ripping the ship apart from the outside and also try and flush him out.

And then of course the disgruntled crew might think about mutinying.......

I like the idea of building up the tension but you are using the wrong assassin to do it the way you are describing. 'extreme caution protocol' does not exist in Eversors, they are psycho indoctrinated and trained to destroy without even considering their own survival. All an Eversor would do is arrive at the ship and destroy it if he does not know the location of his target and if he does know the location he fights his way to it and then focuses his destructive cababilities to that area, security is just something to destroy en route. If the subtle, careful tracking, backup planning, apporach is needed a different temple is called upon, Callidus, Vindicare or Venonum. Eversors just destroy.

Banjulhu said:

Well its a fair point that the Imperium usually doesn't worry about subtlty when using an Evesor but then again its not really the Imperium per say using it but rather a rouge Ordo Sicarius Inquisitor.

In any case the exact capabilities of the briefing and hypno indoctrination given to Evesors is not described in any detail. Certainly the fact that they can infilitrate/outflank in WH40K and the way the Evesor acted during the Tarros campaign indicates they understand the fundanmentals of stealth.

The other problem is that the other Temples would really inappropriate for a game set on a ship.

Anyway......

I played the first session of the PC's vs the Assassin and it went really well. At first the players thought the strange goings on were Ordo Sicarius agents who had infilitrated the ship, then they began to believe the rumours sporead by the ships crew that it was a warp ghosts.

Finally they came across a grusome murder (a decoy of the actualy Evesors target) and with the help of their Interrogator leader put two and two together.

At the moment the players are simulatanously loving it and scared out of their wtis as to how to deal with the Evesor.......

Next session ....

The Engine Room gets attacked and the crew begin to mutiney......

Visitor Q said:

How is a Callidus assassin inappropriate on a ship? Stealth, impersonation, close range precision killing. The scalpel to the Eversor's plasma grenade. Callidus would be ideal for the mission parameters described. It would make for a much less slaughter filled horror, amd more paranoia as folks just disappear one by one. Especially with all the opportunities for "This is Bob's corpse, but wait a minute didn't we just leave Bob with our protectee?"

DocIII said:

Its inaapropriate in the sense that the game would, realistically, consist of the Calldius assassin boarding the ship in secret, exploring the ship in secret, killing the target in secret, assuming his position and departing the ship in secret.

Visitor Q said:

Unless the target is a Navigator...

Artaxerxes said:

The target is a Master of Administratum that the PC's are escorting.

Visitor Q said:

As opposed to a violence crazed Eversor "boarding the ship in secret, exploring the ship in secret" and not disrupting life on the ship until the blood drenched spree of murders?

Getting into places they're not supposed to be unnoticed is exactly what Callidus assassins are for. Nothing ever said that a Callidus is required to assume the identity of their target, nor that their kills be absolutely secret. They are trained to assume whatever identity is necessary to accomplish their mission/get close to their target, whether the enemy know about it after the target is dead is all a matter of mission parameters. And disguise/shapeshifting is not the only thing in their bag of tricks, they do happen to be sneaky and subtle.

I'm not saying an Eversor is not appropriate on a ship, but its absurd to say its more appropriate for a ship-board mission than any other temple (well maybe Vindicare, as the close quarters inside of a ship are unlikely to have the sight lanes to put a sniper at his most effective)

Personally, while an Eversor's methods may be unsubtle, I've never seen them as mindless killers - quite the opposite, in fact. They might be utterly lacking in personality due to extensive mindwiping and reprogramming, but the potency of their minds are intact and repurposed to make them even more effective terror weapons.

IMO, at their core, that's what Eversors are, what defines them as distinct from the others. A Vindicare slays from afar, a Callidus slays in secret when their targets think themselves to be safe, a Culexus can slay any psyker, and so forth.

An Eversor kills in such a manner as to send a message - defy the will of Him-on-Terra, and these are the consequences you shall face. To make them effective in such a role, their empty minds are filled with combat skills and strategy, tactics and psychology, allowing them to not only slay their targets, but to utterly terrify them in the process. Their clawed hands, their skull masks, their versatile equipment (they're equipped for ranged combat, melee, demolitions and anti-armour operations, are granted what might appear to their targets to be omniscience thanks to advanced sensor systems) present an inexorable killing machine whose only purpose is to make you regret everything you've ever done before it finally rips off your face through the back of your head, while using its free hand to execute your bodyguards.

DocIII said:

Ah sorry I haven't explained it well enough. What I mean is that a calldius realistically would be far to concealed and would be able to track down and kill the target without the PC's knowing about it before it was too late. When I say inappariopriate I mean for a game not as an assassin boarding a ship.

The Evesor has a certain amount of stealth but when it does finally strike it will be rather unsubtle (or to put it another way was rather unsubtle already played Part 1). In addition its back up plans will be rather less inconspicious than a Calldius's.

In short an Evesor on the ship adventure will be more like Alien which is what I am going for.

A Calldius on the other hand would be more like Ususal Suspects.

I believe there are other temples than the Eversor, Callidus and Vindicare (apart from the psychics one, I forget that ones name)

A temple which seeks to spread absolute fear and terror into the hearts of the Emperirors enemies would be fairly appropriate and lead to an Alien like scenario aboard ship

In my humble opinion you presented the PCs with a scenario that makes it neigh on impossable to even give them a chance to think. I would have ran it much differently.

Have an NPC, maby a low ranking guard or passenger who befriends the acolytes, buys them drinks and is a generally nice guy. Then have the random murders from an assassin (a death cultist would have worked as they are rather stealthy and not to overpowered, but Calludis would work for higher level PCs) and dont let the players know this, but these people that are dying have some form of connection to the NPC; have the nice guy NPC be worried about the acolytes and work with them. Naturally they will fall into the belief that this guy wants to survive, and hes pretty useful so have the acolytes work with him. Then let itself play out, but the real answer to this is that the Calludis isnt there to kill the Master of Administratum, but rather to protect him. Protect him from the NPC whom is a well known bounty hunter, and who has been charged with killing the MoA. It leaves it open ended, if the PCs kill the Calludis make sure they are heavily wounded and tired, then have the NPC make his move. Its not something they will see comming. If the Calludis makes it to the PCs, he will simply kill the NPC and disappear, leaving your PCs stumpted and confused. If they figure it out and kill the NPC themselves then they have earned major expirance.

Just my take on it.

Visitor Q said:

If I were planning an assassination on a vessel of that nature I would be doing two very important tasks.

1. find , fix, eliminate crew / equipment capable of allowing this vessel to return from transition.

2. eliminate, and or destroy all communication equipment.

3. failsafe detonate key areas in the cargo hold to vent the warp inside to destroy all.

Ira, I like the layers of suspicion and not knowing who is the enemy and who is a friend in your scenario. Nice.

Ira said:

This is a pretty cool idea actually and something I might include at a later date.

In this particular scenario I wasn't really going for an investigative adventure (they will have that in a few sessions time when they attempt to track down the Ordo Sicarius traitor; Nemisis Amber Five).

What I was really going for was an 'action thriller' type scenario with a growing feeling of claustraphobia, horror and tension as the PC's realise they are facing a truly terrifying and impacable foe.

I also wanted a game that has a high tempo see sawing between the PC's going on the offensive with what resources they have at their disposal to flush the Assassin out, and then the Evesor turning the tables....

Talking to the group the PC's thin kthe Evesor is likely to try and kill their Interrogator boss who is onboard but injured (from a previous session) as he knows where the real target is. They hope to launch an ambush on the Evesor.

Depending on how well they plan it it might have some success and they might get lucky and wound the Evesor in a cross fire. I would imagine the assassin will be able to evade death though and kill off a few red shirt NPC's perhaps even seriously wound/burn a fate point off a PC..

After this the players will either chase the assassin who will lead them into a counter ambush in the lower decks of the ship

OR

they might regroup. In which case the assassin will bide his time and launch a major attack on a crew quaters leading to rising tensions maybe even mutiney.

Then the assassin will attack the engine rooms.

What the PC's do next will depend on what happens next but ultimatelty the Evesor will realise that the PC's/Interrogator will know where the target actually is. He has been programmed/indoctrinated to try and stay alive (evesor Assassins are a precious commodity when you are a small traiterous group) but ultimatly will destroy the ship if all else fails.

DocIII said:

*Bows*

Thank you, you are all too kind.

See the suspenseful scenarios are fun, but if you have thinkers (adepts and techprists) in the group they generally sit back while the fighters are in their glory. I like to provide scenarios where all PCs of all classes have a chance to have a moment in the spotlight, and apart from the random test to open a door or think up a logistical plan of attack, these poor thinkers and speakers are going to be hiding in a corner trying not to die.

But good luck to you mate, keep us posted, I'd like to hear about how it plays out.

Ira said:

Yeah. I normally split my campaigns into a number of adventures and each adventure into a number of scenarios. Generally the scenarios vary in length but will have a particular theme where different player types will shine. Then the next scenario a new skill set is neeed. I find it easier to run the story that way. It also gives a very compelling reason why PC's will work together.

I will definitly post what happens. We are playing again this Sunday where this section of the mission should be wrapped up.

BTW any suggestions as to who or what Nemisis Amber Five actually is wouldn't go amiss.

At the moment all I do know is that he is an Ordo Sicarius Inquisitor with an Issavanian mindset working in conjunction with at least one other Inquisitor (of the Ordo Xenos).

I was thinking of basing him on a miserable backwater primative/feral world. He himself would be a heavily augemented lumbering beast of a man.

Well the PC's defeated the Evesor after a fairly epic fight. Basically they set up an elaborate trap to lure the Evesor to the launch deck on the ship where they and about 20 NPC goons were waiting.

The Evesor turned the tables inititally arriving from an entrance the PC's had forgotten to cover. He entered a control room overlooking a launch hanger and killed a couple of NPC's. The PC techpriest lobbed a frag grenade at him at point blank range which the Evesor dodged by diving itno a side room which was then racked by fire from the NPc's down below.

THe Tech Priest proceeded to flee the area while the Evesor assassin crawled away unscathed.

He then skirted a upper level corridor, encoutnered three NPC guards which he slaughtered. During this time the PC arbitrator began charging after him shotgun at the ready with the immortal words "Well I'm going to have to try to apprehend hinm aren't I?"

The evesor shot ouyt a large window and jumped down into the hanger bay and took cover behind the landing strut of a large shuttle. NPC guard charged him got grabbed and shot at close range.

The Arbitrator took up poisition at a nother window and began shooting at the Evesor who returned fire driving the PC back.

The PC psyker and Guardsman led the remaining NPC goons into the main hanger area with a NPC heavy stubber guy giving firing support. Grenades were thrown (badly) and one bounced off the shuttle and blinded an NPC guard.

The Arbitrator and Techpriest charged across the upper level corridor to get to a stairwell to help their conmrades. Meanwhile the Evesor ducked under the shuttle and charged the NPC's/PC psyker.

The PC psyker tried to stall him through spasam with mixed success. The guardsman climbed up on the shuttle to get an elevated firing position and some of the NPC blocked the line of sight of the Heavy Stubber.

The evesor shot two well armed NPC's killing them with his bolt pistol before laying into the psyker and two NPC's with his Nuro Gauntlet bringing the psyker down to a +3 critical in one turn and nearly making him lose a fate point. As it was he was only knocked unconsious and spent a few fate points to get back on his feet.

Meanwhile the remaining NPCs and the guardsmen did a fair bit of damage to the Evesor in a hail of fire (though the evesor dodged a few bullets as well).

Arbitrator was down the stairs and runnignt o help at this poiint with the Tech Priest a fair way behind him.

The Psyker picked up an autogun and used heal suceeding in bringing his wounds right up. However he als invoked a psychic phenomona that brought a veil of darkness amongst the Evesor and the NPC's. Under this cover the Evesor ducked in anoher landing bay but not beforeshooting the Heavy stubber support guard in the neck with a needle pistol killing him inbstantly.

The PC's rushed after the Evesopr who made his way towards a shuttle where he thought his target was. In the process the Evesor finished off a couple more NPC's leaving the PC's to deal with the injured but very much alive Evesor.

In addition the arbitrator snapped off a shot with his combat shotgun at extreme range and managed to score a massive 10 wounds on the assassin.

The PC's surrounded the shuttle with the Tech Priest covering the main entrance ramp with his heavy stubber (which he had just liberated) the guardsman going in to the shuttle fro mthe top the psyker guarding the outside and the Arbitrator following the evesor through a hole made by a melta charge.

The shuttle was pitch black inside and what ensued was rather messy. The guardsman opened all the internal doors and the Evesor began firing from the darkness at the Tech Priest who was sillueted agains tthe entrance. The Tech Priest returned fire leading the guardsman and Arbitrator to seek cover. In the process the evesor made an number of acrobatics and concealment test and crept around the guardsman and attacked the arbitrator which he had determined was the bioggest threat. He disarmed PC and knocked him to the ground with a quick elbow and was about to finish him off when the tech priest opened up again the evesor dodged to oneside but was shot by the guardsman the evesor jumped on the stunned Arbitrator and blew up who survived through losing a fate point..

Well we all had a really good laugh and agreed that the Arbitrator was a bit of legend in that scenario running about a 1.5Km circuit to get to the evesor (including sliding down the bannister of a spiral stair case).

The Evesor probably wasn't as dangerous as he could have been (though he did kill 20 odd NPC's and would have effectivly killed two PC's) but I wanted to finish this particular part of the adventure in two sessions.

Anyway next session will mainly be non combat investigations which will turn up a variety of dark secrets aboutt he Ordo Sicarius and the Officio Assassinorum.