Dear fellow GMs,

My PCs are in the middle of Tattered Fates and finally reached the surface of Quaddis/Xicarph ready (well, sort of…) to become part of the revel. I want to include Myrchella Sinderfell (under her pseudonym Lady Orlea Grey) therein, but wonder what kind of protection she could have and what kind of power she could have at her disposal. She seem to be a non-combatant so to speak, but according to her description seems elusive and/or resourceful enough to avoid being killed/detained by Inquisitors and Judges. Her description furthermore mentions that she surrounds herself with all kind of xenophiles, warp-dabblers and flesh-crafters (i.e. anything that sounds heretical enough so to speak). Still, I am not sure what kind of (martially able) hangers-on she could have and how she could be protected against a snipers bullet for example.

So, I would appreciate if anyone has ideas in regard to a possible retinue and/or ‘powers’ of dear MS.

She is a Slaanesh-worshiping hedonistic noble woman .. she must be someone who indulges in every vice, from narcotics to sadistic torturing to unsafe fleshy intercourse. As such she may have a thorough knowledge of the human body and its anatomy. Maybe she is adept in using poisons or other substances, or she uses needles which she can apply on pressure points on the body to paralyze or render an opponent helpless.

Her coterie may consists of slavering maniacs who just want to taste and feel everything they can, who wallow in a pool of depravity and sin and may even welcome their own deaths as a new experience. Or else they will be drugged and delirious and charge headlong into battle with whips and barbs and ropes and wicked knives.

Or perhaps they have playthings, near mindless walking flesh puppets and pleasure golems, who do everything Myrchella says, including attacking Acolytes.

****, my own thoughts disturb me

Yep. Though she probably wouldn't be using the Lady Gray pseudonym either, what with the whole Red Vaults of Luggnum thing. I believe her mansion was also located in the Tattered Fates locale as well, and if memory serves, there was a small matter of her home getting annihilated by the arbites/inquisition, so she might be a bit well known there.

Well, for personal protection you could easily justify any number of Daemonettes or other Slaaneshi warp spawn bound to her, or items in her possession. The chance to manifest through her or items she has would be very welcome to any number of chaos creatures. You could even make it even more deeply disturbing by having the Daemonette manifest in a way that's bordering on something sexual and perverse, portraying the possession as an almost orgasmic opportunity that the players have granted her. That depends a lot on the maturity of you and your gaming group though, and what suits you. Either way, having a Daemon consort or consorts would be very in keeping with her personality and reputation.

Alternatively, or supplementally, Myrchella or her servants could be affected by substances that function like the most effective battle drugs in existence. Turning even docile adepts and bureacrats into frothing maniacs that need to be all but dismembered before they die. Especially if these drugs are chaos tainted...

Both she and her servants could also be able to reverse the effects of pain and suffering, becoming almost more energized and disgustingly pleased as they are maimed and mutilated, until finally brought down by spectacularly messy critical effects.

To protect against a sniper's bullet you have 1.) Fate points. 2.) Some form of Sorcery or chaos artifact that gives her warnings when she is in imminent danger. IE as a sniper is drawing a bead on her. 3.) Some kind of demonic pact that transfers all damage (or just critical damage) to a nearby servant. IE the sniper's shot is dead on, but its her nearby servant's head that detonates messily.

Its a bit cheap, but hey, she's Most Wanted so I think you're allowed to make it hard to kill her. Personally I think she's a great addition, and I might do the same when its time for Tattered Fates. I put Tobias Belasco in my House of Dust and Ashes game (at the inspiration of someone here on the board) and haven't regretted it for the sudden extra intensity it has added. I consider them sort of like bonus targets that the players go after but should only manage to bag if they do really well and take full advantage of all opportunities presented to them...

First, I have to to agree with Asgard in one thing. I do not think she will use the same pseudonym again. And you should not as well.

How about Lady Saragenta Barthelmy? (or anything else).

Talking her defense against snipers and stuff.
Hmm... why so warp-bound, my brethern? Men have more ways then the warp. Energy field are especially en vouge among the rich and noble. And one still has his/her soul ...even if only to bargain for something else. A person like Lady M might have displacer fields or all kind of expensive things.

Talking her offense:
As already mention, a lot of ill-doers might be part of her retinue. Deathkutist which revell in acrobatic slaughter. Warpusers and summoners for your daemonic need (if one does insist). Chem-gelt bodyguards. Arco-Flaggellants. Unsanctioned Psykers. Falsemen. Whatever.

Thank you all for the input. Great ideas all the way.

@The Laughing God
Is she really a worshipper of Slaanesh? Actually, this is not the direction I want to have her, as the Pilgrims of Hayte on Quaddis are diabolical enough and I do not want to overshadow their workings with those of Myrchella. Thus, I somehow want to focus on things that are not that much daemon- and/or warp-related.

Good idea regarding poisons and pressure points. In fact I plan to equip her with a Draethri Pain Gauntlet (from RH).
Furthermore, I will let her be accompanied by two hooded murder-gholams from the Beast House (DotDG) as her playthings…

@Asgard
Yes, her mansion was on Quaddis itself and its casting down could be seen from Xicarph. One of the reasons she will be there again (you know, psychopaths tend to come back to the scenes of their crime). I won’t use the pseudonym Orlea Grey then ( I was not aware she used it on Luggnum), even though I wanted to give the PCs a hint who she is (I do not know how else the players could realize who she really is).

@Bladehate
As said, I do not want to focus on diabolical/daemonical stuff too much as this is the playground of the Pilgrims of Hayte in this scenario (TF) and they have to be the main villains (whereas Myrchella is only an optional extra objective so to speak). So I do not want to use any Daemonettes for example and the chaos artefact transferring damage on a servant is already in possession of the ‘Beloved’ in my game (as he has the stats and equip of the false prophetess in DotDG instead of the meagre one in TF).
Furthermore, the summoning of Daemons need time and preparation, whereas I want to have it that Myrchella came back to Quaddis quite recently.

Battle drugs are a good idea and nice option for her and her servants indeed.

I suppose I have been the ‘someone here on the board’ in regard to Tobias Belasco in HoDaA and it was for us also great and ‘intense’ to have him included (even though the PCs could not get hold of him).

@Gregorius
I will burrow your name then

Interestingly enough, I also thought about a displacer field, even though I fear my players will start moaning by being confronted with an energy field again (after HoDaA). Two acrobatic Death Cultists were already the bodyguards of Tobias Belasco in my game, but chem.-gelt bodyguards might do the trick either for her.

I would really appreciate even more such great input.

Myrchella I had pegged as "Special" ever since the PC's came very close to capturing her at a blackmarket auction where she purchased a halo device.

Not a boring old cultist of slaanesh, every long term 40k player at the table will just shrug and go "meh", we've all seen that before and its kind of predictable. So instead I have her marked out as the old fashioned kind of baddie, who's just an utterly psychotic, selfish and completely f*cking evil bastard in the literal sense of what evil actually means.- No redeeming attributes and no sense of subjective right and wrong, mixed in with an almost supernatural ability to convince others to participate in her shennanigans for HER sole amusement.

The motivation- selfish amusment at others cost.

Last line of defence- herself and at least 2-3 alternative escape plans when the crapola hits the fan and justice comes knocking on the door, keep them simple and effective.

Closest- at least half a dozen elite mercenaries and assassins, very well paid or well blackmailed to the point they'll fight to 0 wounds, but more importantly tie up pursuit of Myrchella long enough for her to get two steps ahead of the inquisition or arbites.

Median line of defence- hordes of for lack of a better word, complete shitheads that follow her around because they actually believe what she says. The variety and quality varies depending on her last "project", but they'll be at least noisy when they die, giving just that bit more warning.

First line of defence- Sink hooks into influential or informed people, blackmail, hard cash, poontang, whatever works to have them pick up the proverbial phone when someone "interesting" arrives on the scene, either as a threat or a potential source of amusement... or both.

Which reminds me, she is due for a reappearance and striking now when some of them have so much to gain at this point in time, would be highly amusing...

Luthor Harkon said:

I'm betting she is. But that doesn't mean it has to be obvious, not even to herself! She is portrayed as a hedonistic pleasure seeker who dabbles in warp sorcery. And she's hot All that perversity and dark sexuality point to Slaanesh. But naming the Chaos God is not necessary, it may even be detrimental as it takes away some excitement and mystery. I've never liked the Chaos gods and factions to be so neatly categorized for Acolytes, they should not have that kind of knowledge. Far more disturbing if all that dark excess cannot be named and labelled.
I think it's best not to associate her too much with Chaos and let her sinister and depraved deeds speak for themselves. Don't explain things away.

Oh and hey, make your murder gholams sexy and terrible!

Ah, sorry, I missed out on not wanting to involve Chaos too much. Sometimes reading a whole thread can lead you away from the topic =).

And it is also a valid point that making her "just another Slaaneshi pain addict" might turn her from a unique character into just another cultist.

Perhaps you could build on the clues that the Beast House are aligned with a cabal of Dark Eldar, and that she herself is enamored of the sadistic and wicked Eldar. Having the PCs run into her murder golems and recognize them as more then just human work could be a good way to introduce them to the possibilities. Perhaps recognizing her as the unique soul that she is, she's actually managed to earn a bit of respect from a Wytch or Wytches. Perhaps enough to have a Dark Eldar Mandrake or even an Incubus assigned as her bodyguard and/or consort. This elite Dark Eldar (possibly with some prediction magic or just some very advanced Eldar tech) could step out and block a sniper's shot, and generally cause a great deal of trouble for any would be assassins. The Mandrake would have the edge in remaining undetected, but a fully armored Incubus with a power halberd would be a major combat threat to any group of acolytes.

Depending on if your group has run into Dark Eldar before it might be a cool way to introduce a new foe or an old enemy, without resorting to chaos.

It might also raise some interesting questions concerning what interest the Dark Eldar might have in Haarlock and the Tyrant Star...and what knowledge that might be ripped from their shattered bodies by the victorious acolytes...

Also, thanks for the inspiration to use Belasco =). I didn't remember who it was, but its been fun so far and the conclusion coming up here in a couple of days will see my players struggling to bag Belasco while surviving the death trap at the end of HoDaA.

The Laughing God said:

PC's mentioning "any" chaos god by their name at the table during play automatically get 1 free corruption point, (it knocks out metagaming quick smart) Mention it more than once and I've got good reason to turn a baleful eye of misfortune on those who utter it...

That's an interesting thought about the Dark Eldar, they're soon to have a major run in with them at some stage due to 'conflicting interests' of hunting grounds... and it would be most unfortunate if Miss Sinderfell turned up as well somewhere as something of an intelligence gathering asset and probably just to watch them get flensed alive. Have something of a bit of a love-hate thing going with dark eldar, on one side I hate space elves, but on the other- they are a genuinely A-Grade, non chaos race thats just pure evil, which makes them somewhat unique in the WH40K setting.

Hi Luthor,

how about one ore three of these as an potential bodyguard?
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=101&efcid=3&efidt=409036&efpag=0#409037

While a temporary thing, they could be something Lady Sinderfell just purchased for the party. They can be easily masked during the revel as just another case of slap-muscled chem-gelded slave bodyguards.

As you do not want to use personal energy fields again, protecting the Lady Barthelmy from Snipers gets a little tricky. A rather odd (and old) trick: she and some of here closed reintue walk inside a silken tent (!) carried on poles by a number of slaves. No line of sight, no clear target, always an excuse to to bite the bullet.

Another option: she is wearing some xeno talisman (perhaps Eldar?) which warns of possibly occuring violence. Thereby, she would be warned a round ahead. Couple this with a strange arcano-technical device producing a field of darkness ("Into the Storm" featured something like this, me thinks) and everything is fine. Well, as long as you make her burn a fate point.

Having another being (human, clone, xeno, whatever) in her shape is another good trick. In this case, Lady Myrchella Sinderfell would be disguised as her own "mouthpiece", speaking loudly "on her Mistress behalf" who herself is to noble to raise her voice above a whisper given to the ear of her mouthpiece. Of course, this mouth-piece would be masked.

Third Option: Cherubim that dive in to get the Lady out of the way. This sounds cheesy, but the IH introduces dodge rules for just that. And a couple of Cherubim are never wrong for somebody of standing. Insert your own gross pedohile scenes, if you REALLY want to disgust your players.

A warp-sorcery trick would be a version of the "Hell Heart" amulet featered in DotdG on p. 130/131. Lady Sinderfell (surrouned by warp dabblers) could have aquiered the secret of fabricating this item (so the fluff says otherwise) and might have tricked some lover-companions into functioning as her trade-in victim.
If you do not want to contradict DotdG (which says: False Prophets only!) you can make it something just like the hell-heart. Perhaps it needs to be charged and a sentient living being must be sacrificed for every 1d5 points of critical damaged negated (gaining 1d5 CP for every sacrifice seems fair, so).

Bladehate said:

While the idea of BladeHate (adding Dark Eldar to her retinue) is great, I personaly have a bad feeling about DarkEldar "recognizing" any Mon-Keigh as an equal. But the idea is very very nice.

How about bringing this "Mind Grubs" from the RH into the mix? Perhaps there is a version working on DarkEldar? Buying a DarkEldar Slave treated like this from the BeastHouse could be nice. Or perhaps a good old exploding collar would do the same trick to bring a Wytch in line. If she knows that the signal is connected to the LifeSigns of the Lady Barthelmy. No life signs = boom. Would make for a quiet eager bodyguard, wouldn´t it?

Hmm..why do I put up competition to my Kelash Abominations?...ah, well! Since BladeHates idea was good.

Well, if you feel the Dark Eldar are far too elevated to ever serve a human, you could twist it a bit.

Myrchella could have invited the Dark Eldar to the revel in Xicarph, perhaps as a favor repaid, or as an attempt to curry future favor with the fallen ones. The presence of revelatory Dark Eldar on the hapless innocents and her own former noble class would definitely amuse Myrchella to no end, and possibly be the only substantial goal she has. It wouldn't necessarily help save her from a sniper, but the presence of Pilgrims of Hayte clashing with a cabal of Dark Eldar amongst the revelers, turning the marble clad streets and elegant gardens of Xicarph into an abattoir strikes me as quite epic.

I think I might do something similar...

If this is the chosen route though, the real prevention of a sniper would be the coterie of Dark Eldar hanging around her. Meaning the moment a sniper is setting up the shot, he's likely under observation by a Mandrake or two, and who might make life very difficult for any would be assassin...

Alternatively, the Dark Eldar could have gifted Myrchella with their version of an Eldar holo field in gratitude for the feast of pain and blood that they are about to enjoy. Meaning when its active, her shape is transformed into dozens of dancing shadows and half-seen visual "echoes". Any sniper attempting to take her down would be uncertain just which one of the shapes is the real one... Obviously this would be a tool best activated after combat has broken out, since its likely to have a wholly disturbing effect on any nearby civilians. But it would be an effective counter to any mid-combat snipe attempts.

@MKX
I won’t make her a follower of Slaanesh, let alone naming Slaanesh by name anyway (nice idead in regar d to the Corruption points btw). Escape plans for her are important and fit her description of being elusive indeed.

@The Laughing God
I will do so for sure.
Even in WFRP, where naming the Chaos Gods seem a little more fitting I used some of their pseudonyms (e.g. Char, Cron, Loesh, Nurgal etc.) most of the time. In DH I think it is even better to have them as very distant entities and concentrate more so on certain daemon princes (like Balphomel). But I run off the topic…

@Baladehate
My players ran into a Haemonculus (and his Dark Eldar retinue) from the Cabal of Crimson Woe in Shades on Twilight as allies/mercenaries used by the Serrated Query. So, I would use them again (as most of them survived the encounter with the acolytes) most probably and do not think they would not categorically work for humans. An Incubus bodyguard for Myrchella seems a bit overdone in my view though. Not sure how to tie the Dark Eldar into the Tyrant Star mystery so far, but maybe they have some ancient myths regarding it (especially as the Eldar of old were more or less responsible for it in my campaign) and want to prevent its appearing.
Maybe I give Myrchella indeed some sort of ‘Shadow Field’ or something…

@Gregorius
Your creatures are great and I will use them for sure one way or the other. A displacer field is different then the ‘normal’ energy barrier-type of power fields, so I might give it to her none the less. The ‘Hell Heart’ is what I meant when I said “chaos artefact transferring damage on a servant” in response to Bladehates first reply. It is already in possession of ‘the Beloved’ in my campaign and thus out of question. Exploding collar linked to Myrchellas life signs on a Wych might indeed do the trick…

Luthor Harkon said:

I really like this idea. Although something as simple as a bomb collar might not be sufficient. Perhaps a life bonded pain inducer that can be used for control, as well as sending the victim into a fatal feedback loop if removed from the Inducer's very close radius.

Perhaps then the mercenary Dark Eldar could offer the PCs a deal after recognizing them in the streets or arenas. In return for freeing the Wych, they'll stop carrying out Myrchella's plans to unleash the Cabal against the nobility and civilians of Xicarph, and perhaps even aid them against the Pilgrims rampaging in the streets.

This would actually also be the way to protect Myrchella from a sniper's shot...since if the PCs want to save a HELL of a lot of lives and avoid creating yet another enemy, they'll need to be clever and take down Myrchella alive somehow and separate her from the inducer.

Complications could be that the Wych fights for Myrchella and also needs to be subdued without terminating her life. Or even that the Wych enjoys being dominated and owned by Myrchella (they're degenerate xenos after all...), making it even more odd to subdue her and turn her over to her sisters for proper...treatment.

Of course, the kudos earned for not only bringing in Myrchella...but doing it with the notorious heretic alive for a spectacular public execution...that's gotta be worth some Good Reputation (Calixis) and a hell of a pat on the back from their Inquisitor...but in view of the situation they'd have to pull this off in...it would be fully merited.

A clever group with a good tech-priest could perhaps take the heretical pain inducer after its been removed, and link it to Myrchella to keep her controlled for the duration...

Course, there is absolutely nothing to say she's human. Maybe she's just had a friendly haemonoculus trim her ears and do a bit of fleshy panel beating to pass off as human and goes around simply being a **** tourist... In fact, it'd go a long way to explaining the behaviour, maybe she is a haemonoculus (be very afraid)

It also opens up a proverbial world of **** with webway portals and arcane technology that might be available... yes, I think it might be time to go ret-con some of my secret notes

Bladehate said:

Oh my gosh, this is so f*cking brilliant! I will rip-off all your ideas. A sophisticated pain inducer is much better than any crude exploding collar (which is so eighties... ). Still, kudos to Gregorius for the original idea that lead here. Though not sure how grateful Dark Eldar would be for freeing one of their Wyches. They do not seem to be a very grateful race if you ask me. Still, revenge is a good motivation even for degenerate xenos. Apart from that, I doubt that even Dark Eldar like to be owned and dominated by mere Mon'keigh, degenerate or not...

To cast out devils by Beelzebub (i.e. the Pilgrims by Dark Eldar) is very fitting to DH and borders on radicalism that I always wanted my players to seduce with...

Thaks again for the helpful input!

Well, they don't have to be grateful...they just have to uphold their part of the bargain. If this was a serious concern, keeping the Inducer on the Wych for the duration might be one way to ensure the xenos hold to their bargain. Of course that does leave the question of what to do with Myrchella...

I love the "let's do this small heretical thing in service to the greater good...(whoops...my Tau sympathies are showing)" angle too. The road to hell always starts with good intentions =).

It strikes me that another possibility, linked with Myrchella's mastery of flesh sculpture, could be that she has cloned herself - ridiculously expensive, but money is no object surely? Rather like Blofeld in 'Diamonds are Forever' she can bamboozle the PCs by gaining the upper hand and having two or three versions of herself for them to deal with.

Another possibility I thought of to cut against the sniper shot is that all good snipers from Vindicare down, will need by their nature to zoom close in on the head of the target. What if there was a chaos symbol so depraved, so foul, tattooed onto her cheek that the viewer's eyes started bleeding as soon as the scope rested on the target? Or a sensation like, but much worse than, an onion gas to the eyes meant that they couldn't concentrate on the target? This would be similar to the language that causes physical pain in the 'Ravenor' books, but as lettering. This would surely appeal to a hedonist like Sinderfell, the ability to cause pain on sight or at a glance?

I love all of the ideas about Dark Eldar - they certainly make great protagonists, and uncomfortable sidekicks. I like the idea that a Haemonculus might be involved somewhere behind the scenes - those guys are really sick - and it would be easy to see how Sinderfell might have acquired some of her most diabolical arts from one. But the whole tactical situation with the Wych is too good an idea to pass on I think.

Altogether, she would use fleshworks, like Murder Gholems, or other undead constructs to enact her will - like her Dark Eldar catspaw she might use combat enhancing drugs - or she may even be bonded to a Halo device, ensuring some survivability and an inevitable return at a later time.