The situation is this: My group is stuck on a zombie-infested world where money now means little. They've taken the advice of an Eldar Pathfinder, at the advice of their Inquisitor, who is stuck in orbit, which was to trust him. (Needless to say, their Inquisitor is more than a touch Radical).

The Pathfinder has taken them to this shrine built around an old Webway gate, by which he means to leave the world, and leave the group stranded, so the zombies may finish destroying civilisation and leave it clear for the Eldar to mop them up, for reasons that I won't recall, in case the group is actually ignoring my advice and looking at this thread.

The thing is, I feel (slightly) bad in having led the party on a merry dance to hell and back, only to leave them stranded and alone outside the city, without any shelter, and soon without any assistance from the Eldar, so I'm trying to think of a suitable consolation prize for having survived this far. My characters are pretty powerful, as I tend to give them good stuff and well-equipped enemies. Any thoughts?

Let me see.... they co-operated with an Eldar Pathfinder whom abused them as Bodyguards on his way to this WebGate which only allows HIM to get out...

Perhaps, he leaves something for them. Do you have the "Creatures Anathema"? Leaving them an Eldar Shuriken Pistol (with two clips), two best quality Eldar Monoknives and an Eldar Amulett (charm) could be a "gift of passing" the Eldar leaves behind. Even if they will not put the weapons to good use, they might be worth a hefty sum of thrones on the black market. Otherwise, you could allow one of your pc to buy the skill to actually handle the pistole (after spending a number of shots for training) and give the amulett some actual use (perhaps the wearer gains the same benefit of "regaining fate points" a void born got...perhaps better?).

If you deem other items fitting, they might find them inside the shrine (which the pc may start to loot anyway after the Pathfinder disappeared and didn´t come back).

you could allow them to buy the talent

hatred xenos (eldar)

as a result?

I'm missing this - why cant they go into the Webway? Either by jumping in at the same time as the Pathfinder or the Psyker/Adept/Tech Priest doing something to make it open?

Alternatively let them find a Rhino to go zombie squishing as they hare off to make it to the last Aquila/Valkyrie leaving the planet.

Also- if they know the location of a Webway gate, they can probably trade that for a ride to orbit from their Eldar-loving Inquisitor.

SJE

SJE said:

One point to make here is that navigating the Webway is not easy, particularly as it doesn't follow the laws of physics in a consistent manner (it's more reliable than the Warp, but it's still an extra-dimensional space that allows rapid travel across interstellar distances). Wandering into the Webway blindly is a recipe for becoming very, very lost indeed.

Maybe I'm missing something (or maybe I'm just a very cynical GM) but why do they need a consolation prize? they trusted a xeno (an eldar even!) and they got screwed, their price for this is that now they know not to trust the eldar and I would think that is enough.
If you really wanna give them something I vote for the "hatred: Eldar" I see no reason why the pathfrinder should leave them to their deaths and yet, gives them weapons etc, just play it as it is: the pathfinder left them there to die so let them find their own way of the planet with the knowledge that you can't trust the blasted eldar.

Elurindel said:

After they've been ditched let them stumble across a working Rhino APC with some supplies (food, water, ammunition) inside it. There are several ways to introduce it all depending on what theme you like to use:

1) Last thing Eldar said before ditching them on the planet was something about "Taking shelter below red eagle". When Acolytes really, really need it have them run across an old bunker decorated with rusted aquila. Miraculously the bunker door is open and inside of the bunker seems untouched. There is a Rhino APC in the bunker. I guess that Eldar was right about something...

2) Have the Acolytes spot something gleaming spot in the horizon. When the Acolytes come closer they spot an old bunker decorated with gilded aquila that shines in the sunlight. Miraculously the bunker door is open and inside of the bunker seems untouched. There is a Rhino APC in the bunker. I guess the Emperor has blessed the Acolytes and given them yet another lease at life...

3) Have their Inquisitor to spot the emergency beacon of a Rhino APC from the orbit and provide Acolytes with radio instructions on how to find the Rhino. Once the Acolytes get there they find two zombies that have managed to get on the Rhino. They have pretty much pushed every button in the Rhino and managed to activate it (along with the emergency beacon) just to get themselves unceremonously squashed when they accidentally slipped between the tracks. I guess both the Inquisitor and the gods of Fate still love the Acolytes...

Just taking a guess here, but if their Inquisitor is radical enough to openly work with Eldar then chances are pretty good that he is a psyker. Webway portals resonate with psychic energy, especially when they are active, so you don't really even need to provide a suspiciously intact, fueled and loaded Rhino to give the acolytes a chance. Give them a bit of broken up scenery to take cover behind for a bit while they chew through their prescious ammo for a while. Make sure to let things get really desperate and dramatic first, then have a nick-of-time flyover by an Aquilla lander, Guncutter or something similar... Inquisitor to the rescue! Heavy bolters and frag missiles raining down from above is a fast road to doom for the acolytes' attackers so they get a nice big flashy rescue scene and their borderline-heretic boss gets to build some major loyalty cookies with his agents; coin that might need to be cashed in at some future date when an Amalthan or Monodominant Inquisitor shows up with a writ of "Excommunicatus Traitoris". Should they ask how he found them he can reply something about having sensed the webway portal going active and then shutting down, but still could sense some of their presences on the planet below. Who knows, he might have even been concerned for their safety?

What if the pathfinder doesn't screw them over ?

Instead he says something like "Goodbye and thank you for your help. I must go through the webway, a place that drives humans mad in an instant. If you contimue a few miles further you will find a research station/military outpost. They can help you get back top the spaceport/evacuation point"

If they follow his direction they come to an imperial installation, now overrun by zombies, but the eldar was right about one thing. There is a vehicle they can use. A giant armored road-train/landcrawler is parked outside a storage building complete with cupola mounted heavy weapons.Unfortunately the battery is dead/the tires are flat/the sparkplugs have lost the sparks/whatever.

Time for a Scavenger hunt for the missing parts and some quick repairs while fending of zombies.

A wide concrete road leads through the wilderness in the right direction.

Then it's time to leave . . .que Madmax vs. zombies style road mayhem ! . . . the catch ? if they drive the thing of the road they have to walk the rest of the way. They have to stop for the night, and thats when the zombies come out to play !!!

Eventually they find a way off planet.

Meanwhile the pathfinder arrives safely at his craftworld and reports to his farseer.

The farseer decides that this group of humans are just naive/greedy/stupid/unscrupulous enough to be useful in the future.

Perhaps the pathfinder will contact them in the future with and offer them wealth/eldar weapons/xeno art/ info nedded to complete another mission if they will just do him/the Eldar a little favor . . . without telling their inquisitor !

Thank you everybody for the multitude of feedback. I'll try and address the points put before me.

Why can't they enter the webway? Because there will be a squad of Guardians brandishing shuriken weaponry covering their fallback. Even given that any of them may be inclined to jump after them into a Webway gate, there's no guarantee that they'd come out in the same place.

Punish them for their actions? I've already let them factor the Eldar into their future plans, and have him earn their trust, only to follow him to a completely unknown place, fighting Emperor knows what to have him leave them there with a tip of his hat. I'm not suggesting that he leave them weaponry, as his intention is for all humans on the world to die, but as a GM, I'm not about to give my players this kind of adventure and then not give them anything to show for it. Access to Hatred of Eldar will just be a bonus. What I was thinking was something suitable for them to stumble across, which I now have some ideas for.

Not screw them over? Unfortunately, this is not an option. My players have trusted the Eldar far too much, and one of my Acolytes has, as a Divination, Kill The Alien Before It Can Speak Its Lies. This is an opportunity that cannot be passed up to make a Divination horribly relevant.

Finally, I'd rather not have the Inquisitor sweep in to save the day if I can help it, as, whilst it can be rather cool, it can really rob the players of a sense of empowerment.

Thank you again.

Again I really have to say that I don't understand why they need a consolation prize (but like I said it could just be me being a mean GM), this is the grim darkness of the far future, not the kindly forgiving not-so-distant-future and yes I can understand that from a players point of view it may not be that great, especially when you're used to games like dungeons and dragons and certain MMOs, but aren't roleplaying about capturing a certain atmosphere? about being another person in a completely different world? so it shouldn't be forgiving, this is a perfect way to show of the cold, merciless world that the 40k universe is!