I decided to write this in the forom because I need help thinking of extra fluff for this campaign that I was inspired to write because of one of the adventure seeds in the Creatures anathema. (Worth the money). Now so far it goes like this. A xenologist has vanished while exploring a jungle on an orkish planet. His research id highly valuble to the inquisition. The mission, Find the xenologists research and retrieve it.

So they acolytes arive at this jungle of quarn to find that its all swamp and mud atleast at waste hight, as they venture into the jungle they feel slimy creatures brush up against there legs and stuff like that. After a while they find a shack proped up by four logs. I dont know how they come to this, thats why I need ideas. If they decide to search it they find a journal confirming its the xenologists shelter. They find a journal telling the acolytes where they might find the xenologist. Anything else they might find here would be helpful. Any way thats all i Have so far, not much. Please give me some help

Thank You

I think the twist should be that the xenobiologist has not only become a member of the ork tribe he has been studying, but he's somehow managed to become the Warboss.

DarkPrimus said:

Apocalypse Now?

For the lead up to the cabin, do any of your acolytes have tracking? That could speed things up a lot for them and give you a long running excuse to get them where they need to be.

Are there any Imperial settlements? That would be another good place for them to start. After all, the biologist would need supplies and would, therefor, have to make regular trips to the settlement/port for said supplies. I doubt the biologist is living alone out in the jungle, what are his or her helpers, assistants, and apprentices up to and would any of them be found in the port/settlement? Did the biologist hire put locals for assistance, guides, etc? If so, they could lead the PC's to the cabin.

Perhaps if can be arranged for them to get a river boat at the settlement. The guides know where the biologist should be, but it's a dangerous trip down the river. They will encounter families in other boats which may be smugglers which end up getting shot by over zealous gunmen on the PC's boat (and all they were smuggling was puppies). Then there's the crazy air calvary with their guncutters who enjoy a good BBQ and surfing during an engagement with feral orks. There's that supply and refueling depot where a bit of drink and a good show could be had by the guardsmen stationed there to fight off the orks, though like all things, it goes real bad and crazy real qui9ck and the entertainment has to be air lifted out. There's the last outpost before the true wilds which is eternally sieged by orks, all the guardsmen have all but lost hope and sanity, half are baked out of their minds on obscura, there's no commissars, no command staff (they're all dead) and that last outpost, the ass-hole of the world, is eternally on the edge of oblivion and madness. Then there's the jungle proper where the savage feral ork tribes live a brutal life and in there midst, somewhere, there's a xenobiologist who's gone native and they just might have to put the warrior scholar down for good. Of course, they'll be seen as the new Warboss once they do so... ;-)

RoBro said:

RoBro said:

Option: Sneaky Gits
A number of Gretchins where camping near the guncutter, curious as they were. They tried to get in, but many of them died horribley by the weapons fire. Still, they coudln´t just leave it alone. Seeing "pinky skins" walking in an out made them puzzling that if they could get the pinkys captured, they might find a way into "the WaWaWUMM MetalRock". Make the Gretchins follow the pc. If they do not notice them, they will ambush them at night, trying to take out the guards first. They want to take them "as alive as possible" to question them on "how do ya pinkyskinz get into tha WaWaWUMM MetalRock?!?" Due to the high swamp level, the gretchin might travel "from tree to tree", like monkeys.

Arriving at the shack:
If the orcs captured him (sooner or later) he might have survived by serving the tribe as a "weapon maker". Showing them how to make and use gunpowder. The Tribe does not know about the Cutter. If it is so, the pc might recognize that the shack was the place of a fight (doors bashed in; tables turned), but no blood was spilled. The notes and logs of the XA talk about a tribe he studied..together with some information where there camp is. (As the orks came in, he did not even tried to fight. Emulating the behaviour of a gretchin in hope to be seen as "servile". It seemed to work.

The "Final" for your mission would be to rescue the XA from a tribe of feral orcs. Not only would the pc need to sneak the XA out (putting down a complete tribe camp should be beyound there means!) but to make a haste back to the cutter..before the orcs notice (sooner or later they will!) and catch up on them. Say "blood-squig" for tracking them down.

Further tipps:
Make sure to ask for checks on "Survival" and "Navigation". The later to get around, the first to provide themselves with water and to avoid things like getting stuck, wading through cleary leech invested water and so on. If the pc manage to study the notes of the XA on this jungle (located in the shack) they will get a bonus.
"Tracking" could be employed to hide your own tracks. In additon, while searching for the camp, they pc should get an oppurtunity to stumble across "orc tracks". If they are able to follow them, they will "shorten" the time they need to find the camp.

You could have them make Toughness checks every secound or third day in the jungle. Missing these, they might catch some light feve r, putting them at one less fatigue until cured, the obvious -10 and additional -10 for every further toughness test to resist poisons, illness etc.

The whole affair will be very "survival, stealth and combat". Reduce the last one. As soon as they "meet the orcs", making it "run or get sweeped by the green flood".

What is useful stuff is in the shack?

A cure for the common light swamp fever

If you go with my mentioned "light fever" idead, there could be a case with a number of unlabeled vials. Containing different fluids. Most of them broken, due to the fact the someone open the box and throw it away afterwards (orc sees, orc opens, orc drinks...YOIKS! and away!)

The clue to this being a cure is in the notes of the xA (whom are scattered all over the place?). In his notes, he mentions from time to time that "this fever is very annoying" and at one point that he "might found a cure. Extract of the Yellubus Bronocius Bernhard " together with a short formula how to reproduce it. Unfortunately, the description of the plant is not "same page" but somewhere entirely else in the XA´s documents (easy inquiery test; with "Read/Write" as the skill). A routine skill check on survival is need to locate the plant. 5 success need, each role equals 30minutes time searching. The "raw" jouice of the yellow berries will give a +5 on the check. Together with some of the remainng "chemyist set" in the shack, the extract can be produced with a successfull +30 Chem-Use check. An ordinary check will help to tell the remaining cure appart form other chemicals, but this is only need if the pc do not make there own. (one they see how it looks, they know what to look for).

Swamp equipment
Perhaps an extra set of mirker graves, some rations the orcs did not plunder (they plundered A LOT, but not ALL). These stuff could give your players +5 or +10 on survival checks for the rest of the adventure

A crude map of the area, giving +5 on Navigation(Land)
The remains of an first-aid-kit
NO weapons (the orcs took everything that looked like a weapon to there genetic memory)