As you may remember, I have once mentioned that it might be a nice idea to convert the Eisenhorn trilogy into a DH scenario. Here goes the taster of what I had in mind - first two chapters of Xenos (where Eisenhorn hunts down Eyclone in the Processional Two-Twelve).

For those who haven't read the trilogy: SPOLER ALERT.

Your comments are appeciated.

Being a resume of the Dark Heresy scenario
based on Xenos novel by Dan Abnett

Introduction.

The scenario begins with Acolytes being inducted into the service of an unknown inquisitor, and urgently transferred out of Calixis Sector – unknown to the Acolytes – to Scarus Sector (Helican subsector). The Acolytes are not given any information whatsoever regarding their next assignment, however they are more than less sure that they are not being driven into a trap.

In a few weeks of warp travel their ship Regal Akwitane under command of the Trade Master Golkwin emerges in the subsector, and for a few days more the ship remains on the orbit of Gudrun without any explanations given for the Acolytes. Afterwards, the ship travels to the orbit of planet Hubris. As she reaches the orbit they are given the details of their next task. The Acolytes are given general information on Hubris, and then requested by their new mysterious inquisitor (who doesn’t reveal his name or appearance) to go to the surface of the planet immediately and hunt down some dangerous heretic called Murdin Eyclone and his band of followers.

Orbital descent.

As far as the intelligence goes, Eyclone and his men have just entered the atmosphere on Hubris to trigger the thawing process in one of the hibernation tombs on Hubris (Processional Two-Twelve). The Acolytes are given a pict of the their quarry and any other additional information. Acolytes’ orders are as follows:

– track down Eyclone and his men (dead or alive) at any cost;
– prevent or revert (if possible) the thawing process.

The Acolytes are expected to depart in ten minutes, in an Aquila Lander (see Apocryphy Vehicles p.19) bound to Hubris. They are given frost suits, which they are expected to wear when on surface, The descent goes without any specific problems. However, if there are pilots amongst the Acolytes, and they pilot the Lander, they automatically detect another spacecraft descending through the atmosphere, heading in the direction hibernation tombs.

The Acolytes may either ignore this, or follow the vessel. The vessel doesn’t respond to any radio hails. Succeeding on a [?????} test with two or more degrees of success, allows to follow the vessel unseen for a few hundred kilometers.

The vessel is actually the orbital pinnace intending to carry Eyclone to safety after he sets off the thawing process. It is not too heavily armed or armoured, and is barely a match to the firepower of the Acolytes’ Aquila Lander.

Once that pinnace detects the chase, it will do its best to flee the area, and to avoid any dogfight. However, it will shoot back if attacked.

If there is no pilot among the Acolytes, then the Aquila Lander will be piloted by a mere pilot (or even servitor?) with very modest stats. Although, even in this case the NPC pilot is allowed to roll the test to notice the pinnace.

If the Acolytes didn’t pay attention to that suspicious spacecraft at all, or did not pilot the Lander, succeeding a [???????] test will allow them to intercept a coded message from that pinnace (provided they listen to radio). It will take a successful Cipher test to crack it, which will indicate that the pinnace is approaching the target zone and requesting that Eyclone (of course, no names are mentioned there) transmits his exact coordinates. A minute later, it will be possible to intercept Eyclone’s reply with the coordinates requested (it is coded as well).

As an outcome of this Episode, the Acolytes may either:

– destroy the pinnace thus cutting the ways of retreat for Eyclone;
– get behind the pinnace or miss the whole pinnace thing, in which case they will have to deal with it later on the roof of Processional Two-Twelve (P2-12).

Going to P2-12.

Once down, the Acolytes find themselves at the Tomb Point, and they enter into contact with tomb custodians, who are ready to transfer the Acolytes by rail to P2-12.

On a successful Inquiry test, when talking to the custodians accompanying them it is possible to learn some bits of information on the facility: a) currently there are almost no custodians at the P2-12; b) P2-12 houses 12,142 members of Hubris ruling elite, sleeping in hibernation until the Thaw.

The P2-12.

Upon entering the P2-12, the Acolytes discover the dead body of a custodian near the entrance. Upon successful Awareness test, the Acolytes may notice that the water is dripping off the walls. Additional degree of success will allow to notice that in occasional tombs the bodies may be seen stirring. Upon Tech-Use (or other?) test the Acolytes will understand that the temperature is above any acceptable levels usually used in hibernation facilities. Tech Priest Acolytes will point that out automatically. Two degrees of success will mean that the Acolytes know that this kind of rude rousing is lethal if applied after long-term hibernation, like the current one. And this is not to mention the suffocation hazard, as the caskets the sleepers are stored in are hermetic.

Hibernation tombs.

After examining the locking mechanisms the Acolytes will notice that these are not the conventional locks, and they could be opened via some centralized means. They may want to search for the control room to open the caskets and free the awakening sleepers.

Before doing this, the Acolytes must realize that doing so will purchase Eyclone more time to effect his plans, maybe even trigger more revival processes elsewhere. Second, the Acolytes are allowed the [???????] test to understand that a mere opening of the caskets will not save the prisoners, as the necessary resuscitation teams are not present.

In any case, however, the Acolytes are free to stop chasing Eyclone and go to search for the control room. The room is rather easy to find, but the Acolytes will need a successful Tech-Use test to open the caskets. Failing this test or acting without it, the Acolytes may imply tinker with various controls with a 15% chance of opening the caskets.

The caskets will open and the bodies will eventually pile over the floor, moaning, agonizing and dying slowly. The Acolytes don’t have necessary equipment and skills to save them. In addition to that, the Acolytes witnessing such nightmare will have to roll a Willpower test or gain 1d3 Insanity points, and one Corruption point each (regardless of the WP test). The Acolytes will have lost enough time for Eyclone to finalize his objective, reach the roof safely and wait for the orbital pinnace which may or not arrive. In this case, the roof hatch will be Overwatched by Eyclone and his men, meaning more pain for the Acolytes.

The chase.

Going through the complex, the Acolytes will eventually come into first combat with the Eyclone’s men. There will be 8 of them plus one for each Acolyte present. Upon successful test the Acolytes may notice that their opponents seem to be a bit out of their minds, as if acting under some kind of hypnosis.

It is possible to capture them for future interrogation (see below). Examining their corpses will not reveal anything of importance.

If the Acolytes didn’t search for the control room to release the sleepers, the next encounter will be the combat with Eyclone and a few of his men. Eyclone will participate in the combat, shooting from afar, and shouting obscenities at the Acolytes, while his henchmen will approach the Acolytes to the front. Eyclone doesn’t intend to fight to the death here (as he is not cornered yet), and when seeing that his men suffer casualties, he will run into the darkness. The Acolytes should roll an Intelligence test to recognize their quarry.

If Eyclone is cornered or otherwise seriously threatened, he will fight and use his Psychic powers. If things go badly for him, as a last resort he will release the worm-thing from his finger. The worm-thing is not dissimilar to Sinophian Boreworm (see Creatures Anathema, p.62), however it will grow to larger proportions once exposed to the air.

During this combat, however, it is still possible to kill or capture Eyclone, although rather unlikely. If he is killed, then the Acolytes will have to ensure that he is transported back to their ship. In this case the Acolytes will be able to count on their master’s special gratitude. If he is killed, Eyclone’s body will be deposited in the mortuary for later examination.

In any case, they will still have to deal with Hubris authorities, who will first have to convinced that the atrocity could not have been avoided (this episode is described below).

The cryogenerator.

If Eyclone is still alive by this time, the Acolytes will eventually find the cryogenerator. A few tests will be required to find the maintenance door, to identify that it has been pried open, and that this is a cryogenerator of the P2-12.

Once inside the Acolytes will have to navigate through very uncomfortable cryogenerator maintenance chambers and corridors. Using Tech-Use skill (Tech Priests gain a +20 bonus for that test), it is possible to find the control room. There, a very complex machinery is located. On a closer inspection and subject to an Intelligence roll, it is possible to identify that this is the main control room, from where Eyclone has triggered the revival process. An additional successful [???????] test will tell the Acolytes that the one who has done this, has a lot of resources, either from the off-world, or somewhere among the locals, as it is next to impossible to figure out how the whole system functions.

A Search test will discover a box, containing various electronic parts and a lot of cables. On a successful Tech-Use test it becomes evident that some vital part is missing from its socket therein. It looks like something angular, non-standard in shape. One more success will reveal that this object has its own power source. Two successes will reveal that the whole box is a series processor. Three more successes will indicate that this is not standard-made, however, most likely not Xenos.

After ten minutes or so, a group of Eyclone’s gunmen enter the chamber. An Opposed Silent Move test is needed to hear them coming.

The rooftop.

Eventually, the Acolytes will reach the rooftop of the P2-12, following Eyclone’s steps. What happens there will depend on the Acolytes’ previous actions.

If Eyclone has got there well before – if the Acolytes searched for the control room to open the tomb caskets – the latch will be Overwatched by Eyclone and his five (?) men. If the Acolytes didn’t destroy the orbital pinnace beforehand as well, it will reach the rooftop in 10 rounds. A few more rounds will be needed for Eyclone to board up, and afterwards the pinnace will fly away into the night. If they have destroyed the pinnace earlier, it is not coming, obviously .

If Eyclone just barely managed to reach the rooftop (if the Acolytes didn’t search for the tomb control room previously) the roof latch will not be Overwatched. However, once the Acolytes get to the rooftop, a furious battle will ensue. Eyclone’s fighting pattern is as described above. He will not surrender, although he still can be captured if incapacitated and his psychic powers blunted .If intact, the pinnace will arrive in 20 minutes (this is only relevant if the Acolytes retreat from the frontal assault and prefer to overcome Eyclone by some other slower means).

Soon after the fight, the custodians led by a very annoyed Nissemay Carpel, the High Custodian will find the Acolytes, and declare that they are under arrest.

Sounds pretty good though higher rank Acolytes could get the guncutter

But I have a question: why a corruption point on viewing dying people? There' s no warpcraft involved, just your "everyday" horrific violence. I'd up the possible insanity to d5 because of that too.

And the test for following the pinnace would best be pilot (military craft), coded message could be tech use, and a scrutiny test or tech use (or both!) to realize that the individual that is responsible has a lot of resources.

numb3rc said:

Thanks for the hints as regards the tests. They are noted.

I decided to attribute Corruption points much in the way like it used to be done in Rejoice For You Are True scenario, where the Acolytes, when firing at Theodosia through the crowds, would gain one CP. In my situation, that would I thought that could be done the same way... on a second thought, I think you might be right. No CP, but 1d5 CPs.

Ah, I think I read about the corruption points thing in PtU and someone mentioned that it was likely written back in the playtesting of Dark Heresy when Corruption points had more to do with your morals and less to do with your soul. That's not how they function these days, anyways (amorality is rife in the Imperium but you can bet that it doesn't cause mutation).

Thanks, it's noted.

As I can't modify my first post, here goes the full text.

Major changes include the Introduction paragraphs, as well as those closer to the fight at the rooftop of the P2-12. Moreover, two more chapters are now covered.

Your comments and questions are welcome.

I'd like to have your opinion: is it really necessary to railroad the PCs to the Thaw-view 12011 (where Eisenhorn has met Ms.Bequin, and a guy has died at the mentioning of "The Pontius")? Or is it possible for them to gather that info or meet those people elsewhere in the Sun Dome (for example, in the spaceport)?

***

Being a resume of the Dark Heresy scenario
based on Xenos novel by Dan Abnett

Introduction.

The scenario begins with Acolytes being inducted into the service of an unknown inquisitor, and urgently transferred out of Calixis Sector – unknown to the Acolytes – to Scarus Sector (Helican subsector). The Acolytes are not given any information whatsoever regarding their next assignment, however they are more than less sure that they are not being driven into a trap.

In a few weeks of warp travel their ship Regal Akwitane under command of the Trade Master Golkwin emerges in the subsector, and for a few days more the ship remains on the orbit of Gudrun without any explanations given for the Acolytes. Afterwards, the ship travels to the orbit of planet Hubris. As she reaches the orbit they are given the details of their next task. The Acolytes are given general information on Hubris, and then they are briefed by their new mysterious inquisitor (who doesn’t reveal his name or appearance at the moment, and he points out that he wants to be addressed simply as the “Inquisitor”) on the Acolytes’ next assignment. For last six years the Inquisitor has been on the trail of certain heretic called Murdin Eyclone. A few days ago a message from Eyclone has been decrypted by Inquisitor’s team, and it became known that the latter had planned to move to Hubris to presumably deliver some unknown act of terror (which has been expected from Eyclone for almost a year). Unfortunately, however, the decrypted message was already two months old, so the Inquisition didn’t have time to deploy its forces on Hubris to meet Eyclone there. Last time Eyclone has been sighted at Thracian Primaris. By now it is known that Eyclone is already on the surface of Hubris and has been seen moving towards the Processional Two-Twelve (P2-12) hibernation tombs.

It came also to the attention of the Inquisition that Eyclone has got to Hubris easily bypassing planet’s defences, and even more, the ship that has delivered him three days ago on the surface had entered and left the atmosphere as an unidentified vessel, and no efforts have been made by the planetary authorities to investigate into the matter. These authorities have also missed a relatively extensive traffic of unidentified astropathic communication.

The Acolytes are requested to go to the surface of the planet immediately and hunt down Eyclone and his band of followers by the name if the Emperor.

Orbital descent.

As far as the intelligence goes, Eyclone and his men P2-12 are already somewhere on Hubris to trigger the thawing process. The Acolytes are given a pict of the their quarry, and other additional information is transferred to their personal data slates. Acolytes’ orders are as follows:

– track down Eyclone and his men (dead or alive) at any cost;
– prevent or revert (if possible) the thawing process.

The Acolytes are expected to depart in ten minutes, in an Aquila Lander (see Apocryphy Vehicles p.19) bound to Hubris. They are given the heat gowns, which they are expected to wear when on surface. The descent goes without any specific problems. However, if there are pilots amongst the Acolytes, and they pilot the Lander, they automatically detect another spacecraft moving through the atmosphere, heading in the direction of the hibernation tombs.

The Acolytes may either ignore this, or follow the vessel. The vessel doesn’t respond to any radio hails. Succeeding on a [Huh???} test with two or more degrees of success, allows to follow the vessel unseen for a few hundred kilometers.

The vessel is actually the orbital pinnace intending to carry Eyclone to safety after he sets off the thawing process. It is not too heavily armed or armoured, and is barely a match to the firepower of the Acolytes’ Aquila Lander.

Once that pinnace detects the chase, it will do its best to flee the area, and to avoid any dogfight. However, it will shoot back if attacked.

If there is no pilot among the Acolytes, then the Aquila Lander will be piloted by a mere pilot (or even servitor?) with very modest stats (for the purposes of the dogfight). Although, even in this case the NPC pilot is allowed to roll the test to notice the pinnace.

If the Acolytes didn’t pay attention to that suspicious spacecraft at all, or did not pilot the Lander, succeeding a [Huh?Huh??] test will allow them to intercept a coded message from that pinnace (provided they listen to radio). It will take a successful Cipher test to crack it, however, it is impossible to do that immediately (it will require at least a few days depending on the resources and skills available). The only thing that possible to establish immediately upon a Cipher test, is a time lag of a few seconds. A minute later, it will be possible to intercept other message from the surface (it is coded as well). The successful Cipher test will reveal that it is coming from the coordinates at which the P2-12 is located.

As an outcome of this Episode, the Acolytes may either:

– destroy the pinnace thus cutting the ways of retreat for Eyclone;
– get behind the pinnace or miss the whole pinnace thing, in which case they will have to deal with it later on the roof of Processional Two-Twelve (P2-12).

Going to P2-12.

Once down, the Acolytes find themselves at the Tomb Point, and they enter into contact with tomb custodians, who are ready to transfer the Acolytes by rail to P2-12.

On a successful Inquiry test, when talking to the custodians accompanying them it is possible to learn some bits of information on the facility: a) currently there are almost no custodians at the P2-12; b) P2-12 houses 12,142 members of Hubris ruling elite, sleeping in hibernation until the Thaw.

The P2-12.

Upon entering the P2-12, the Acolytes discover the dead body of a custodian near the entrance. Upon successful Awareness test, the Acolytes may notice that the water is dripping off the walls. Additional degree of success will allow to notice that in occasional tombs the bodies may be seen stirring. Upon Tech-Use (or other?) test the Acolytes will understand that the temperature is above any acceptable levels usually used in hibernation facilities. Tech Priest Acolytes will point that out automatically. Two degrees of success will mean that the Acolytes know that this kind of rude rousing is lethal if applied after long-term hibernation, like the current one. And this is not to mention the suffocation hazard, as the caskets the sleepers are stored in are hermetic.

Hibernation tombs.

After examining the locking mechanisms the Acolytes will notice that these are not the conventional locks, and they could be opened via some centralized means. They may want to search for the control room to open the caskets and free the awakening sleepers.

Before doing this, the Acolytes must realize that doing so will purchase Eyclone more time to effect his plans, maybe even trigger more revival processes elsewhere. Second, the Acolytes are allowed the [Huh?Huh??] test to understand that a mere opening of the caskets will not save the prisoners, as the necessary resuscitation teams are not present.

In any case, however, the Acolytes are free to stop chasing Eyclone and go to search for the control room. The room is rather easy to find, but the Acolytes will need a successful Tech-Use test to open the caskets. Failing this test or acting without it, the Acolytes may imply tinker with various controls with a 15% chance of opening the caskets.

The caskets will open and the bodies will eventually pile over the floor, moaning, agonizing and dying slowly. The Acolytes don’t have necessary equipment and skills to save them. In addition to that, the Acolytes witnessing such nightmare will have to roll a Willpower test or gain 1d5 Insanity points. The Acolytes will have lost enough time for Eyclone to finalize his objective, reach the roof safely and wait for the orbital pinnace which may or not arrive. In this case, the roof hatch will be Overwatched by Eyclone and his men, meaning more pain for the Acolytes.

The chase.

Going through the complex, the Acolytes will eventually come into first combat with the Eyclone’s men. There will be 8 of them plus one for each Acolyte present. Upon successful test the Acolytes may notice that their opponents seem to be a bit out of their minds, as if acting under some kind of hypnosis.

It is possible to capture them for future interrogation (see below). Examining their corpses will not reveal anything of importance.

If the Acolytes didn’t search for the control room to release the sleepers, the next encounter will be the combat with Eyclone and a few of his men. Eyclone will participate in the combat, shooting from afar, and shouting obscenities at the Acolytes, while his henchmen will approach the Acolytes to the front. Eyclone doesn’t intend to fight to the death here (as he is not cornered yet), and when seeing that his men suffer casualties, he will run into the darkness. The Acolytes should roll an Intelligence test to recognize their quarry.

If Eyclone is cornered or otherwise seriously threatened, he will fight and use his Psychic powers. If things go badly for him, as a last resort he will release the worm-thing from his finger. The worm-thing is not dissimilar to Sinophian Boreworm (see Creatures Anathema, p.62), however it will grow to larger proportions once exposed to the air.

During this combat, however, it is still possible to kill or capture Eyclone, although rather unlikely. If he is killed, then the Acolytes will have to ensure that he is transported back to their ship. In this case the Acolytes will be able to count on their master’s special gratitude. If he is killed, Eyclone’s body will be deposited in the mortuary for later examination.

In any case, they will still have to deal with Hubris authorities, who will first have to convinced that the atrocity could not have been avoided (this episode is described below).

The cryogenerator.

If Eyclone is still alive by this time, the Acolytes will eventually find the cryogenerator. A few tests will be required to find the maintenance door, to identify that it has been pried open, and that this is a cryogenerator of the P2-12.

Once inside the Acolytes will have to navigate through very uncomfortable cryogenerator maintenance chambers and corridors. Using Tech-Use skill (Tech Priests gain a +20 bonus for that test), it is possible to find the control room. There, a very complex machinery is located. On a closer inspection and subject to an Intelligence roll, it is possible to identify that this is the main control room, from where Eyclone has triggered the revival process. An additional successful [Huh?Huh??] test will tell the Acolytes that the one who has done this, has a lot of resources, either from the off-world, or somewhere among the locals, as it is next to impossible to figure out how the whole system functions.

A Search test will discover a box, containing various electronic parts and a lot of cables. On a successful Tech-Use test it becomes evident that some vital part is missing from its socket therein. It looks like something angular, non-standard in shape. One more success will reveal that this object has its own power source. Two successes will reveal that the whole box is a series processor. Three more successes will indicate that this is not standard-made, however, most likely not Xenos.

After ten minutes or so, a group of Eyclone’s gunmen enter the chamber. An Opposed Silent Move test is needed to hear them coming.

The rooftop.

Eventually, the Acolytes will reach the rooftop of the P2-12, following Eyclone’s steps. What happens there will depend on the Acolytes’ previous actions.

Before the Acolytes start the showdown with Eyclone at the rooftop, they will be able to detect a strong astropathic signal coming to Hubris. Their data slates (or vox devices) will record it, and later examination (upon a successful Cipher test) will reveal that this one coded much stronger than the previous messages they may have received while descending from the orbit, and that it is coming from unknown location, with a twelve and a half minute lag. This detail will be important later.

If Eyclone has got there well before – if the Acolytes searched for the control room to open the tomb caskets – the latch will be Overwatched by Eyclone and his five (?) men. If the Acolytes didn’t destroy the orbital pinnace beforehand as well, it will reach the rooftop in 10 rounds. A few more rounds will be needed for Eyclone to board up, and afterwards the pinnace will fly away into the night. If they have destroyed the pinnace earlier, it is not coming, obviously.

If Eyclone just barely managed to reach the rooftop (if the Acolytes didn’t search for the tomb control room previously) the roof latch will not be Overwatched. However, once the Acolytes get to the rooftop, a furious battle will ensue. Eyclone’s fighting pattern is as described above. He will not surrender, although he still can be captured if incapacitated and his psychic powers blunted.If intact, the pinnace will arrive in 20 minutes (this is only relevant if the Acolytes retreat from the frontal assault and prefer to overcome Eyclone by some other slower means).

As noted above, it is possible, however, that Eyclone will be able to board the pinnace and escape safely. Although this is the worst possible (and seemingly unlikely) case, the scenario is by no means “lost”, or should be considered off-rail. Obviously, the Acolytes will have to prepare a very detailed report on how Eyclone did manage to escape, and then they will be subjected to some sort punishment (the least thing should be the reduction or suspension of their monthly wages for a certain period of time). The mission, however, continues, as they will be requested to continue their investigation to collect clues as regards Eyclone’s possible destination, his mission on Hubris and any other relevant information.

Aftermath.

Soon after the fight, the custodians led by a very annoyed Nissemay Carpel, the High Custodian with his retinue will find the Acolytes, and declare that they are under arrest.

Here the Acolytes will have the following options:

First option (if the Acolytes wish to hide their identities, or simply forget of their inquisitorial powers – this happens sometimes): give up, surrender their weapons and follow Carpel in handcuffs to be incarcerated pending further investigation by Hubris authorities. After three hours of incarceration, the Acolytes will be thoroughly interrogated, and after more five hours the Acolytes will be dragged to Carpel’s office for further questioning. There the Acolytes will have to defend themselves against the charges. Questioning at Carpel’s office is described below.

Second option seems much more reasonable: to identify themselves as the inquisitorial task force. Carpel will be shocked to hear this, and he will definitely demand documentary evidence. If the necessary documents are produced, the Acolytes will have to roll Intimidate with a +60 bonus (implying almost automatic success, but some things like “00” still happen sometimes). Without these documents they lose this bonus and they will have to roll under their unmodified Intimidate skill. If the test is failed, Carpel will insist that the Acolytes are subdued. In this case, the Acolytes will have to try to establish a direct link to their master to prove their identity.

Third option would be to start a gunfight with Carpel. In this case the Acolytes are in deep trouble, as first they will have to survive, and second they will have to account for their actions (their master is by no means radical and tends more towards Amalathian ways). Still, this is an option.

If the Acolytes identify themselves as the representatives of the Inquisition, but do not show aggression, Carpel will be shocked (as noted above), however, he will politely ask the Acolytes to submit a detailed report on the happenings in the P2-12. As the High Custodian, Carpel will be mostly interested in identifying a person responsible, namely, who is actually to blame for that holocaust, and he would like to have it in writing. Preparing and submitting a standard account on their mission should take no more than four hours, however the Acolytes should point out which details they do omit, if any. A test may be needed too, if they want to weave in some bits of lies or “untruth” therein to make it look credible. After the report is submitted, the Acolytes will receive a summons to the Custodial Hall (Carpel’s office), located at the Sun Dome early next day.

The Acolytes, however, are either free to co-operate with Carpel and any custodians, or they can deny his request at all. Carpel will be seen to contain a lot of anger inside him in this case, but his fear of the Inquisition is reasonably far greater, so he will retreat. Afterwards, the Acolytes are free to move further, however, local authorities (and custodians in particular) will not prove to be too co-operative when asked. Early next day they will still receive a formal summons to the Custodial Hall, which they are still free to disregard (which will not be taken well by Carpel, and the latter will do his best to make the Acolytes’ lives more difficult while on Hubris, and preferably elsewhere).

Custodial Hall hearing.

If they have accepted the invitation, early next day the Acolytes will be present in the Custodial Hall in the Sun Dome for something one could rather call trial than hearing. Majority of Hubris non-dormant officers will be present there, as well as some dormant nobles who have been hastily aroused to be present at the event.

First, the Acolytes will be informed by Carpel that every one of the P2-12 has died during that night. What happens next will depend on the Acolytes’ reaction.

If they say nothing to defend themselves, or say something irrelevant, or even do not sound convincing at the eyes of all there gathered – they will be deemed guilty of the whole tragedy of the last night, Eyclone being conveniently forgotten. At least one Fel test will be needed, as well as all applicable social skills will be required for the Acolytes to defend. In any case, even without successful rolls and availability of skills good roleplaying should b rewarded.

Afterwards, if the Acolytes are found guilty, Carpel will detain the Acolytes pending the official investigation by the planetary authorities, for the purpose of which he will inform the planetary government. Further, if the Acolytes still do nothing, their investigation will already be seriously hindered due to the time wasted. Eventually, however, they will be freed by their inquisitor, but most likely they will be discharged of their mission (it is up to GM whether to continue the game with this kind of Acolytes).

On the other hand, the best way for the Acolytes to get through this hearing unscathed, would be to describe their intent to stop Eyclone from reaching other hibernation tombs. Second argument would be that Hubris was actually defenseless by not paying attention to unidentified spacecraft entering and leaving the atmosphere of their planet, and ignoring coded messages. As before, the Fel test could do the trick, but good roleplaying is always an option.

Continuing investigation.

After the Acolytes leave Carpel’s office, they will get a message on their personal data slates, with further instructions from their inquisitor. The instructions will request them that they continue the investigation with respect to Eyclone (whether he is dead, captured or got away). The Acolytes will be informed in those instructions that Eyclone was actually a “facilitator”, an instrument in someone else’s hands, plotting some other greater scheme he was the part of. It is not truly known why would Eyclone want to trigger this kind of atrocity, but apart from simply doing something evil, no matter how evil, it didn’t serve any obvious purpose. Therefore, the Acolytes next assignment would be to find connections between Eyclone and his masters and colleagues. Once found, the Acolytes are requested to capture any of them for further interrogation.

From here on, the Acolytes are free to pursue any line of investigation they want. They have the following leads (each one should be judged whether it is applicable or not, of course):

• Eyclone’s corpse, which will be deposited in the mortuary;
• mysterious box found at the P2-12 cryogenerator control room;
• interrogation of any survivors of the Eyclone’s band of followers;
• closer examination of the coded astropathic message the Acolytes have received before confronting Eyclone at the rooftop of the P2-12.

The mortuary.

Examining corpses will reveal the following information (subject to relevant tests of course)..

Eyclone’s men are most-likely off-worlders (judging by their skin colouration). Their clothing is blank, any tags or labels are either torn away or burnt. On one of them fresh scars could be found, as if someone used melta-torch to remove the tattoos. The other one has traces of a surgical removal of certain markers from his body.

Eyclone himself features the Seraph of Laoacus mark above his left buttock. Behind his left ear is a skin inlay in the form of Buboe Chaotica. He also has six laser scars, which might have been used to burn other marks off his body. Additional test reveals an artificial nail on his index finger – an implant with a small catch under the quick.

Eyclone’s effects also include certain items of interest (amongst other things): a small data slate with a difficult password, and a toothpick (which could give hint as regards the small catch in his artificial finger).

Once the implant is triggered a worm-thing goes out, and a combat ensues, with Surprise.

The box.

Taking the box to the technomagi will reveal that they don’t know anything of that, and no more. Therefore, as the logic dictates, this box doesn’t belong to that place. Technomagi and the local Adeptus Arbites will want to have it, and the Acolytes are free either to give that item away, or to deny their request – to keep it as an evidence.

Interrogation of any Eyclone’s associates.

This will reveal that these people do not seem to remember their action on Hubris. The last thing they remember they were on their home worlds. They don’t know Eyclone (truth), they are extremely shocked and they are unable to provide any help.

Coded communications.

As noted above, the Acolytes will most likely have access to certain coded messages they have received en route to the surface, as well as not long before the showdown at the rooftop of the P2-12. Now that they have more time to examine them closely, they can try to crack the code themselves (that’s where the appropriate skills will become extremely useful). If they fail miserably, or if they simply don’t have the necessary skills to do it, they could deliver that message to their orbital ship for processing. This method would work, but there are issues: a) there is a small chance their message could be intercepted, and b) it will be more time-consuming. Third option would be to find co-operation in the Sun Dome. This might not be the best option, and the Acolytes should better understand this (roll an Int test – [Logic?], if they don’t get it themselves), as there might be enemies in the Sun Dome anywhere.

One way or another, the Acolytes will not be able to crack the transmissions fully. There are certain bits of information they could gather, as follows.

First, the message they have received before confronting Eyclone had a considerably large lag time: twelve and a half minutes, while those exchanged between the orbital pinnace and (presumably) Eyclone from the surface had only a few seconds lag. If they seem to ignore that fact for too long or if they even seem to forget it, a successful Int test (Logic skill?) will help give them a hint that this message originated from within the radius of twelve and a half minutes multiplied by the speed an astropathic message usually travels at. It will be now just a technical matter to establish nearby systems within this radius. These would be Thracian Primaris, Kobalt II and Gudrun. Common Lore [?] test or a few hours sitting in a local information centre will be needed to gather knowledge on these systems.

Second, upon rolling real good under their Cipher skill, they could decode some notion used in the message, something referred to as “The Pontius”, and that this something is about to be delivered. Checking against local authorities will help establish that this communication was inbound, to a certain location in the Sun Dome. Using Inquiry and other relevant skills (and roleplaying, of course), the PCs will know that the location in question is Thaw-view 12011, on the west side of the dome, in an aristocratic district.

If however, the PCs are unable to get that “The Pontius” clue, their Inquisitor will contact them via the data slate message and request them to investigate the Thaw-view 12011, and take actions if necessary. He will also request them to search for something that could be named Pontius.

Thaw-view 12011.

The PCs are allowed to pursue other lines of investigation, but eventually they should be railroaded to Thaw-view 12011.

Finding this location doesn’t present any difficulties. Upon arriving there, the PCs will be faced with the active auto-defenses of Thaw-view 12011. Security skill will be needed there to shutdown them. Sneaking in might also work. In any case, the PCs will have some reasonable chance to enter Thaw-view 12011 undetected, in which case the inhabitants will be surprised and dealt with much more easily. On the other hand, if the PCs are detected by the auto-defenses (or cameras), the inhabitants will have some more time to repel the PCs’ attack.

Once inside, a furious combat with its inhabitants will ensue. They are well armed and rather skilled.

As an outcome of this fight, the PCs may capture at least one survivor, who will happen to be Saemon Crotes, the trade envoy for the bonded Merchant Guild of Sinesias, coming from Thracian Primaris. He doesn’t know Eyclone. If he hears the word “Pontius” he will die immediately due to an artificially induced stroke. If there are no survivors, the PCs will find the documents of Saemon Crotes stating the above information.

Moreover, if the word “Pontius” is mentioned once inside the building, the outside shutters of the Thaw-view will explode, exposing the PCs to the blizzard and extreme cold of the outside world. The PCs will have very little time to escape the room, otherwise they are frozen to death.

Please see next update at the Fan Fiction section:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_nuevo_tema.asp?efid=124&efcid=3

By the Emperor's mightiest codpiece...

This is brilliant. I don't have any complaints with it right now, I think I might run my regular RP group through it

For those interested, the newest update is just uploaded:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=124&efcid=3&efidt=208545&efpag=0#222851