So, you might remember my group had some... Interesting developments . To summarise: They got themselves the warp ghost of a veteran Inquisitorial agent to possess the body of a lost Imperial Saint and an Eldar seer's soulstone. They didn't do much of it except let the ghost go body-snatching criminals (while working for the =I=) and consult the soulstone for information, but hey, after taking the month off they proceeded to... Well, follow on.

Our ghost, Ishtan Vogel proved himself a valuable servant of the Inquisition (and thus far loyal despite his... Exquisite condition). He'd be just perfect if he didn't wake up screaming from time to time or have his bodies rot away as if they were still dead. He also caused nightmares in the remainder of the cell, but they didn't add that up. He suggested it could be possible to stabilize his condition with the proper rituals and treatments, a process not dissimilar to the one used to create a Daemonhost; my players figured it'd be a good idea.

Enter the Cabal of Crimson Woe from Shades on Twilight. My players lost the Liber Daemonicum to the group, and since we're not using the Serrated Query (we have enough conspiracies already!), they assumed the Cabal would keep the book. After talking to their Eldar friend (Sagatar), she suggested that since they had killed Akirvas and several of their brethren, the Dark Eldar would love an opportunity to take revenge; if the soulstone could be taken to her craftworld, she assured her companions would be glad enough to arrange a meeting with the Crimson Woe.

To cut a long story short; after some aimlessly wandering around an unexplored desert world in the Hazeroth Abyss and almost dying to the local fauna, they were ambushed by the Eldar, had some tense negotiations and arranged a meeting with their enemies in a ruined human structure (possibly pre-Imperial) in the nearby moon.

A few insanity points later, the death of the PC Astartes (fell off a cliff, set on fire and then had his head taken off) and most of the "extras", our group ran back to their ship with their brand new burnt copy of the Liber Daemonica.

So, now, with the book in hand, our PC Inquisitor (and Psyker) has decided it is time to learn Sorcery and make a pseudo-Daemonhost out of Vogel. Oh, they're considering the possibility of striking a Daemonic bargain to bring back Ulric, the dead Astartes. Otherwise, the resident Tech-Priest has expressed interest in doing some experiments with the Astartes' body, possibly to bring him back, possibly for science.

Say, when is the Radical's handbook coming out again?

Nice. Very nice.

But for sheer radical side slide my guys may be able to top it, or at least vie for the title:

First) Our Arbitrator (who is really an assassin who murdered and arbitrator and stole his identity): During his second =][= mission he sold his soul to a daemon of tzeentch so it would spare him and give him the power to smite his enemies. Then about three of four sessions back, our pact-ridden hero with an already mortgaged soul got himself possessed by an astral spectre (the player has been a good sport and is currently playing the daemon driving his body to see how long it takes the other PC's to tumble to what happened).

Second) Our guardsman was quite pleased to try out any alien weapons he could get his hands on. He found dark eldar guns to be "too wussy" but loves his ork choppa so much he burned the XP to take an exotic weapon training elite advance after practicing with it for awhile.

Third) Before he got killed by a rival inquisitor our tech-priest was so enamoured with the armored cloaks of the slaugth that he incorporated one into his bionics

Fourth) Our noble born scum briefly considered a dalliance with a daemonette before deciding her claws might be a bit too dangerous in a moment of passion (not to mention the risk of ****** dentata)

And that's without them knowing the truth about their inquisitor.

And they still think they're good Imperials.

Zearoth Kilrathle said:

Emperor above...

I don't think the Radicals Handbook will have enough material to cope with the shenanigans of your PCs O:

DocIII said:

Are you playing with the rule that Ork weapons gain the "unreliable" trait when used by anyone else other than Orks? I forgot what book it's in, but it's in there.

Yes, but the unreliable trait only applies to ranged weapons, so no issue with choppa, its just unwieldy.

Hey Doc, I think our PCs should trade notes. I must say the fellow with the Choppa is quite stylish, and if he display a manic grin everytime someone points his weapon they probably wouldn't mind. ; )

I am curious, however, what systems did you use for the Slaught armour? Any interesting side-effects it had on the curious servant of the Omnissiah?

I must state with shame, in this conference of "well-intentioned heresy", that our Inquisitor PC has decided it is likely a very bad idea to strike a Pact to bring our Space Marine back. Something about owing something to a Daemon and a chunk of Corruption Points dissuaded her.

Not all is lost, however! This moment of sanity was merely a mistep on our road to the Eye of Terror!

They still intend to bring back the Astartes in some capacity, as his death has left our dear Inquisitor as the only surviving cast member from the beginning of the game. I have allowed the Tech-Priest to attempt and concoct some sort of Cybernetic Resurrection, combined with our Pseudo-Daemonhost trying eldritch rituals to recover our man's soul and put his body in some sort of shape.

If successful, I was thinking of adding to the effects of a full Cybernetic Resurrection another ammount of insanity points, about 20+2d10 corruption points, the Dark Soul trait; as well as amnesia, memory lapses and fugue episodes as derangements. Also a loss of experience points (equal to the penalty we have for a new character) to represent lost memories and motor functions. Let it not be said I'm not a kind GM.

What do you make of that, fellow conspirators?

Radicalism is inevitable, it is simply a question of time and degree...

But both of your groups seem, erm... prodigious in their respective slides.

And DocIII? I would definitely follow up on the noble born scum - those "ladies" can sense desire and can certainly shift shape to calm his anxieties...

As for your guys Zearoth, I feel a Carta of Inquiry and accusations of Extremis Diabolus in your Inquisitor's near future. A visit from the Ordo Malleus is sounding long overdue.

The fun part with my arbitrator/assassin character (before he got possessed) was that the way I structured the pact game mechanics he had a pool of extra Fate Points he could draw on for purposes that helped him Survive and Smite his enemies (the terms of the pact)

Basically. he could use these "extra" fate points for defensive rolls, spends to regain wounds, etc.; and he could use them for attacks on targets for which he had an apllicable Hatred talent, or that were part of the specific group he was seeking revenge on from character creation on forward.

However, any time he called on his pact his corruption tally went up 1 CP per FP usage. As a result he's a beast to kill, but he blew past 40 corruption without slowing down, and broke 50 (maybe even 60, I'll have to check my notes) when he got possessed.

The player's only hope for his poor character is that a friendly exorcist stumbles across him (not very likely) before his cell mates realize he's possessed and kill him. I will give the player props for doing a great job of playing the role of daemon faking to be the character (per possession rules, must make an Int check to know any given fact the character knows) without letting his hope that his character can be saved interfere with the daemon doing its own thing. (Since he's been playing the Astral Spectre, he's secretly used his nightmare and madness pychic powers to set up cults to himself among the innocent civilians along the cell's path of travel, without tipping off the rest of the group. Very sneaky.)

I'd let him burn all his Fate Points for the chance to meet a Black Priest - one of the character types from The Radical's Handbook is "Exorcised".

Oh, you thrice-cursed tease you!

(I assume that's the sort of character Adurjin from Shades on Twilight would be if she was alive? I can't wait for that book)

@DocIII: The guy playing that Arbitrator deserves a medal. Possibly a "Lifetime Heresy Award" or something.

I remember that shortly after the Astartes died, his player blurted out "Hey, so... Do I get to play a Grey Knight now?". We all looked at him with that precious "Good sir, are you intent on killing us all?" expression. Yes, we, even I as GM. I swear, if a Grey Knight turned up in the game he would seek out the source of all this and would not stop until he killed the in-game manifestation of me as an Architect of Fate, which would be incredibly meta and a bit existencialist, but we did come in fresh from a Planescape campaign.

My players, however, are certainly not waiting around for Ordo Malleus to knock on the door, they will seek it out. In fact, their plan is to give back the Luminous Reproach (the guy using it is dead anyway and if he comes back as an unholy abomination it would be a terrible idea to use the sacred blade) as well as the Liber Daemonicus to reap the rewards and assuage suspicions. I mean, the Inquisitor lost her companions in battle against the dread Eldar in order to recover the book for Malleus! How pious of her! So young, a saint in the making!

It is probably their most reasonable plan to date.

I have started to keep a track record for Vogel's corruption points. I've figured he is well intentioned, he already lost an Inquisitor and intends to do everything in his new capacity to protect the one who gave him a (wretched) second chance. The best way to do so is clearly to take burdens upon his own soul to guard that of the Inquisitor's (he was very protective of the Book), certainly this martydom is his only recourse left. It weighs heavily enough on him that the Inquisitor had to learn dark sorceries to bind him.

Gotta ask, is Vogel a PC or NPC?

TS Luikart said:

Well his three hopes right now are 1) a Black Priest, 2) a RT Missionary, or 3) a tzeentchian master sorcerer who needs the arbitrator to complete a scheme which won't work if his mind is supressed by daemonic possession.

#3 is actually most likely at the moment, but also more likely to cause additional harm while binding and purging the daemon.

Roughly when is Radical's Handbook scheduled to drop, I think I may need that "exorcised" character option. I don't suppose that's being considered for posting as part of a book preview?

DocIII said:

He's a NPC from Shades on Twilight.

BEWARE OF SPOILERS!

He was an assistant for the Daemonhunter Adurjin and a powerful psyker, he became a warp-spirit after dying inside the Black Ship. My players took a liking of him and convinced him to possess the dead Inquisitor's body so he could join them. Hijinks have ensued since then.

The "ritual" will be made next session, to properly stabilise Vogel inside a body. The gestures and bindings are similar to the ones used for a Daemonhost. I'm still wondering about what interesting side-effects this will have, but hey, I have all the way to the next Sunday to figure that one out. Any ideas fellow conspirators?

Given the way your group seems to have taken and run with him, and his interesting/unusual backstory, I just thought it might be interesting if you let him become a PC. Didn't one of your characters get snuffed recently? Consider letting him play Vogel. Just a thought.

Zearoth Kilrathle said:

Funny thing is, due to OOP circumstances the other Players know about his first pact (although their characters have no clue), but they have no idea about the possession because they think they proved him not to be possessed. (He knew the right answers to some questions, very slickly weaseled his way past the ones he failed the rolls on, without any metagaming I might add, then later they had a psyker scan him, but the daemon beat the psyker by 6 DOS on opposed psyniscience, and 4 DOS on WP.)

So other characters completely clueless, and players assume anything funky has to do with the old pact. Didn't even tumble to it when he executed one of their hirelings in front of the whole crew (just out of a level of daemon viciousness that wouldn't fit the "arbitrator's" personality) because he gave them a semi-reasonable excuse.

Good stuff. If he keeps performing this well I may even let the character get exorcised.

Zearoth Kilrathle said:

My first thought is where are they putting him? With a daemonhost, its a psyker who get possessed and it often seems there is little of his mind or personality left in control. However, if they're just putting Vogel in there will it supress the person who's body it is completely or will he be MPD? Or a hybrid personality? Or

Another thought, just because Vogel thinks he's the soul of an acolyte (or even has presented it as such to the players) doesn't mean its true. He could be a daemon in a long drawn out plan to do something.

Or maybe instead of the soul of the real Vogel he's just an echo formed by Vogel's death with no real soul, just a lingering warp presence.

Or maybe the events surrounding the death of a psyker like Vogel resulted in enough turbulence in the immaterium that it maimed/nearly destroyed a nearby daemonic entity, and the damage was such that to keep itself together the being latched to the only pattern it could comprehend at the time, that of Vogel. The result being that it believes itself to be Vogel and does not have any idea that it's actually an incorporeal daemon suffering from an identity crisis (in which case you could almost use normal daemonhost creation)

Other things to reflect on: Will Vogel still be a psyker in the new body? If he's just an echo or reflection, maybe not. Even if he is the soul of the original Vogel the trauma of death may have screwed up his warp connection rendering him a) not a psyker, b) starting over as psy rating 1, or c) maybe make him a nascent psyker as the pathways of control in his old brain and body are completely different in the new one and must be re-learned.

You could also play all sorts of games with his memory as well as the memory of the host or anyone else involved in the ceremony.

Do they intend to bind him like a daemon host. If not, they really don't know what they are creating. Who knows how dangerous it could be? If so, once-, twice-, thrice- ? And how will Vogel take that?

Just some ideas since you asked.

Well... Vogel was "made" into a ghost due to the death of a Greater Daemon slain by his old master, Adurjin,, as was everyone aboard the Black Ship they were in, which was then eaten by the Warp in an ensuing storm. The containment fields and wards of the Black Ship ended up "preserving" those Shades, of which Vogel was the most powerful one, most likely due to being a trained and disciplined as Psyker. It is mentioned in the adventure itself that this condition had nasty effects on his sanity, but he constantly fought to contain it.

He went through three bodies since the group "acquired" him; Adurjin and two prisoners they acquired. The first had her soul destroyed by the Daemon about three hundred years ago, and the later two he destroyed their souls through psychic assault (there's that power in Disciples of the Dark Gods, I believe) before moving in. He spent most of his time in Adurjin's body in a catatonic state, for obvious reasons; but was more in stride with the later two. He did make full use of his Psychic disciplines in the past though, so he's still in touch with them.

One thing he's quite concerned about is the choice and preparation for his permanent vessel. This is likely going to lead to further problems down the road, as he carefully chooses a "perfect" host; he did, after all, make mention that he would need the body of one touched by the warp (read, a Psyker) as well as of pure soul (namely, no corruption points) as anything worse would aggravate the process.

They aim at an once-bound ritual, since the group's purpose is to stabilise Vogel in a non-rotting form. A character with forbidden lore (Daemonology) could probably recognize the bindings, which adds further complication. I am seriously considering now to keep those effects at a minimum, so his growing corruption and madness become more subtle threats, until something absolutely needs to be done.

The idea of having him a Daemon with identity issues is a great one, but I think a well-intentioned (and quite damned!) acolyte is actually more of an horror.

I wouldn't make the new PC Vogel, though the idea was mentioned in the game table, first because plenty of his characterisation is due to privilleged information he has; and also as he's not the sort of character that player enjoys running with (he prefers badasskicker or masterminds).

Oh yes, and about the Assassin/Arbiter/Spectre affair, how are you dealing with his hidden rolls that the other players are not supposed to know anything about? I've usually dealt with these sneaksy bits by having a one-on-one with the player, confabulating between sessions or the passing of notes, but I can't see an easy way of rolling dice the rest of the group shouldn't even know they were rolled without using an app on your Blackberry in an angle only the pair of you can see.

Zearoth Kilrathle said:

How we dealt with this one is that before each session he sits down and rolls a series of rolls (usually about a dozen or two) which we write down just as a list on a piece of paper, which I then keep. Any time he would need to roll he raises an eyebrow (pre-arranged signal), I look at the next number on the list and either give him a nod or a headshake. I then mark that number off the list, and use the next one down for the next roll.

If I think he needs to roll, and it hasn't occured to him I scratch my ear, then give him the nod or shake. When we need more detailed info than just, "roll required, fail or succeed" then we pass notes, but that isn't too big a deal because most of the issues are simply is the spectre able to pull a given fact out of the assassins mind or not.

Zearoth Kilrathle said:

So has Vogel (or any of the happytime acolytes helping him) considered the moral implications of destroying the soul of an uncorrupted (i.e. innocent and likely valuable to the Imperium) psyker just so Vogel can have a body? Good RP fodder there.

You could ask your PC if he wants to be a greater deamon of tezench maskarading as "Vogel', Could be an interresting plot twist.

I know for a fact that the player would say "HELL YES!" at that. But really, adding another antagonist would be overkill at this point, they have a bunch of very pissed off Dark Eldar and about three (somewhat related) conspiracies to deal with already. Also the complications from their recent activities, so yeah, enough is enough, don't want the plot to become too convoluted.

@DocIII: I feel kind of silly now, because I used the very same technique when running Promethean a couple of years back. I tell you, all this technology is burning my problem-solving synapses.

Surprisingly enough, only our Inquisitor is concerned about what has to be done for Vogel, she's the one in our party burdened by conscience. Tsk tsk, poor girl. I can see the discussion that will come up tomorrow.

I am also sad to announce that no heresy shall be done to the burnt carcass of our Adeptus Astartes. The player has decided to return with an absolutely terrifying Mechanicus Secutor, and the rest of our group has been inflicted with sobriety, for now. : (

I mean, uh... Apart from the Sorcery action, which even the Tech-Priest wants to get into once she has the required Forbidden Lores.