Dear fellow GMs,

I sort of ran into a problem in Tattered Fates (---INCOMING SPOILER---) and could need your advices how to handle it.

My players finally got into contact with the White Scholar in the Chancel Athenaeum (sort of library) and began talking to each other in a secluded area, when finally four Pilgrims of Hayte with heron masks appeared from nowhere. After a short dialogue a fight ensued and while the PCs clearly had the upper hand against the three knife wielding Pilgrims, the accompanying witch of the Pilgrim remained in the background and used her sorcery (i.e. mainly the Major Arcana called Curse (Blind) from DotDG) on the PCs. While the groups Psyker and Tech-Priest shrugged of the effect with successful WP-tests, the groups Assassin failed the test with five degrees (after failing it with six degrees and using a Fate Point reroll). The effect was that his eyes exploded and he got a critical head injury (as well as loads of fatigue and insanity) and he ‘refused’ to burn a (one of his four…) Fate Point (for whatever reason). While the latter effects one can live with, an Assassin-Sniper without eyes less than 24 hours before the adventure’s climax has the potential be an overall let-down (at least for him).

So, to cut a long story short, what shall I do? Xicarph does not seem to be the city with the greatest medicae-facilities or Collegium Cybernetica Machine Temples, and the PCs just spent their last 100 Thrones to rent a villa for one night anyway. Has anyone an idea how I can solve the mess without – on one hand – doing some obvious ‘dues-ex-machina’ and being too nicely to the Assassin player (otherwise he feels vindicated for not burning a Fate Point) and – on the other hand – being too strict and hard-line thus ignoring any negative consequences it could possibly have on the overall plot and a fulfilling gaming experience for all?

I appreciate any ideas. Thanks in advance.

Regards
LH

Hi Luthor,

you asked "What should I do?"

I would say "Relax!". If you really try to "baby-sitter" a pc whose player decided to take the damage you can stop harming them in the first way. Since all your players have to is to say "naaah... I do have the money but I refuse to spend it on food... my brother is to give me some free food when I am hungry".

If the player is fine with loosing his eyes... he is fine with loosing his.

If the players want new eyes, let them come up with the idea of "how" and feel free to say "yes" or "no" or "only if you pass the following test & sócial scene". Be prepared to tack a price to it (the price for the bionic plus something more for the Tech-Priest doing it in the Shrine of Kybernetics).

Luthor Harkon said:

Luthor Harkon said:

Seems like you did everything right. Sucks to lose eyes, but So did a PC in my game (Dark Eldar can be nasty). Now I think the city, which caters to some of the richest people in the sector, actually is not unlikely to have treatment and bionic eyes available. The time it takes to get an appointment and recover from surgery is a challenge, but even that can be bypassed as there is no set time when the Conjunction must happen, it's basically up to the GM when exactly they are invited to the mansion for the climax.

That still leaves the financial problem - the acolytes have nothing in what is probably the most capitalistic city in the sector. The White Scholar might have some money but probably not enough. So if the other acolytes want to a possibility is to start money-making schemes. Scum can scam here, combat characters can fight in the arenas and gain prizes. Certain groups of people could be reasoned with and the party might be able to strike deals with them - which might force the acolytes to have to do dirty jobs they don't want to. Lot's of opportunities in other words. There are plenty of criminal elements who would not be adverse to support a financially desperate group of extremely competent people. The idea is that the character in question will have to work for it, and possible get indepted to people he don't want to or his own cell. All this for refusing the generous option of burning fate.

If this is out of the question there are very few options left:

1. Let the player play another character while his own is hiding and crying (or trying). After the adventure, assuming the acolytes win, he can get surgery and play the character again later.

2. Tell it to him straight. He can either burn fate and be able to continue play right away, or accept that he is blind, cannot use range attacks, and that it might be a long time before he will get a chance to fix things. Meaning he will either burn fate, try to cope with the flaw, or leave.

@Greg
Well, I am rather relaxed; I just wanted to get some input how others would handle the situation. Anyway, I think there is no major presence of the Machine Cult in Xicarph apart from the Hub and the Spaceport maybe (both of which are more or less out of bounds during the revel). Apart from that you are mainly right, I just want to be well prepared for any funky ideas the Assassin player may pull out of his head…erm…hat…

FotD@
It is indeed up to the GM when the Great Conjunction happens, but I unfortunately already told them that the Revel of Darkness in Gabriels Chase (and thus the conjunction) is on the next day.
I contemplated a lot about the availability and access of cybernetics and surgery on Xicarph, and came to the conclusion, that – as you said – fine surgery and medical service should be available in the form of private physician of nobles (but highly expensive), but cybernetics might be a problem due to the (in my view) low presence of the Adeptus Mechanicus on Xicarph (apart from a few Enginssers responsible for maintenance (of the dome etc.)). Maybe a renegade Tech-Priest or sort of Reclaimator may be found in the Shattered Ramparts, but only bulky Poor Quality cybernetics might be available. Recover from surgery might also be a problem, but I could sort of punish the player with some Fatigue Points due to the after effects. It somehow reminds me of the end of the last Eisenhorn novel where he got some badly working provisory cybernetics for walking.

Still, the players have no money left and the money they spent was earned through those ‘money-making schemes’ you mentioned. To get enough money in that short time and for that kind of surgery and cybernetics, the groups Guardsman would have to fight a Carnodon in an arena only with melee weapons one-on-one and I fear he would lose more than just his eyes in the process…

So, time is essential unfortunately and this is the major problem in my eyes...

Still, your two options are indeed worth it. I might ask the player whether he wants to play the White Scholar for the time being. Regarding the retroactive burning of a Fate Point, well, I am not a fan of that. I could propose it to him though, but not for magically gaining his eyes back suddenly a few hours later, but more for a more or less absurd chance encounter with a helpful Magos Biologis or something similar weird and unexpected…

Thanks for the help both of you. Appreciate any more input and ideas.

There is one other option I can think of .... the mysterious stranger.

The eyeless one is approached by a very well dressed individual with a small entourage.. and made an offer - replacement eyes now (good quality bionics or even cloned stock), in exchange for a "favour" in the future.

The stranger is as good as his word and in mere hours the assassin is good to go. The stranger just bows and leaves, never mentioning his name or allegiance.

So now they can get on with the mission and all is well.... is it not?

Who is the stranger - maybe a Slaugth agent (they have the biotech to do it), an agent for another inquisitor for an opposed faction, or a demon in human form and the player has unwittingly entered a dark pact!

The eyes - they secretly record everything that the assassin sees and sends it back to the stranger. Or maybe they let the assassin see things that are not there as well as those that are (bound to confuse the other players at the very least). Or maybe he begins to get visions of the original owner of the eyes!!

The favour - maybe must miss a critical target; or slay the scion of Haarlock; or later on let Haarlock through!

And with this option you can get the player right back in the action, and bitterly make him regret not spending those fate points in the first place

DW

From reading most of the above, i would suggest a blackmarket/back-alley/underground/unlicenced medicae facility, that has developed a new procedure which would drastically improve the recovery time of surgery. Drawbacks: unlicenced medical facility, new and untested procedure, risk of death or even worse injury.

The shady-doc could offer it for free, with no guarantees. You can roll random tests if you want, but a cool/amusing outcome would be if the surgery was successful, and the assassin gets new eyes, and he can then see from them, but something is wrong. He can no longer see colour, or he has good night vision but is practically blind in daylight, or they are perfectly normal eyes but every night, he sees things that don't conform with dreams or his present surroundings, like he is watching the previous owner of the eyes do horrible things and it slowly drives him mad?

Or if he wants bionics, they could be fully functional, good quality eyes, only the doc added the obligatory control chip that he or someone else could then use as a manchurian candidate type deal, and unlock a criminal conspiracy, etc, etc.

Goofy and traditional surgery themes, but could be fun in the 40k.

Luthor Harkon said:

Luthor Harkon said:

[Wonderdrugs]
A while I ago I thought about a way of patching characters back to use in very quick time.. but with a huge drawback. I came up with some healing method that involes a straight 24h hours of induced coma and a wash of very potent and delicate drugs that speed up the healing process of the body immensely.

But the candle that burns brightest...

A similiar thing might be at and in Xicarph. Since the best doctor costs about 500 Thrones for a one-day treatment, I woud say that a very special treatment could be anywhere between these 500 thrones and up to 1000 thrones. In addition to whatever he has to pay for the eyes. If he decided to just afford one eye know (always an option!) this does not change the price for the treatment or any of the following side effects.

Since we are not talking "full body accelration" but just the optic nerves I would call for a a hard(-10) Toughness test. The pc will loose 1d5+2 points of the Perception attribute permanently. One point less for every two level of success he achieves on the test, one more for every level of failure.

The attribute loss simulates immense irritation that come for migrane attacks or other sensual irritation that is a drawback-result of the force-grown sensory organs and stimulus to the sensory centers of the human brain. (total medi-techno-bubble, I know).

[i shall be your eyes]
How about a servo-skull, a modified gun-servitor to be precised? But not flying around but latched onto his shoulder. The servo-skull could be linked to his gun with a 1m cable and equipped with a vox-unit. The skull could thereby (if the gun is modified with some sensor, things) see through the weapon and tell the pc where to move his gun. Of course, his BS would be the one of the skull drone and he would lose any and every benefit from talents and would always go LAST in combat and would be unable to make use of the aim manouvre...but he could keep fighting. This idea is inspired by "Once upon a time in Mexico" where an agent played Johnny Depp used a small boy as "gun guide". Hillarious, but entertaining.

[blind Gun Saint]
Does your sniper have good hearing? Is he proficience with pistoles? Perhaps he wants to whip out the autopistoles and try a "the devil may care for colleteral" approach. Asking for Perception tests(from challenging to very hard) before allowing a spray (and nothing but a spray will do it!) which is -20 (already INCLUDING the fact that this is full auto!). Yes, it is hillarious. But it would be very 40K. . And very heroic. Ask Zatochi, the blind Swordsman

[Deal with the devil]
While the blind assasine is alone somewhere where it would not be unreasonable for some-one else to show up (waiting in the doctors room to be seen) the pc is adressed by sure, fatherly voice. Asking what happend to him. What this new condition means for his life. That there is a possibility for help, but for a steep price. Woe to the pc that answers with "I will pay it, no matter what". Giving him a tailored dark pact (say, he eyes back right now but with a changed colour. Green or ice-white or brown-yellow or very-very dark. And +10 on BS and the Darksight Trait) and some corruption points. but for what price?

"So, close you empty eyelid and just repeat the answer you just gave me..."

Having the Crow Father offering a deal would be just to sweet, wouldn´t it?

[Just fix me up! There is work to do!]
There was scene early in an Novell of Dan Abnett where Eisenhorn decided to get a quick-and-dirty-kybersurgery to get back into fighting condition. Knowing that this would mean that his nerves would be damaged so no matter what would be attached later, it would be no good.
In that spirit, give him a good doctoro (150 Thrones, if they have to pay of it) willing to install something rather quickly and do alot of non-reasonable things to give him back his ability to fight... with a permanent -10 to Sight and BS skill. (which is even more friendly then the -20 suggestes by the core rules for "Bad CyberSenses".

Hmmm...

One has to wonder, is this the first fate point that he has ever had to burn, or has he burned them in the past?

The point being, either he has had to burn them before and now feels picked on (I honestly know that feeling as I quit a group recently wherein I have had to burn no less than 4 fate points over time and many adventures and the GM's toon has never burned one, but I digress....)

OR

is this the first fate point he has ever had to burn, and therefore is just having the reaction of a 15 year old boy, who may be losing a favourite toy?

If it 's the second, I'd just tell him to suck it up, as you blew your chance to burn one, and now you have to play a blind character for the duration. If you feel that he has been somewhat picked on, possibly by your own error, or just him making multiple mistakes, then I might go with one of the above options with mysterious strangers, and let him deal with the consequences later.

If he can't handle the rough world of DH, tell him to go play D&D where you have hundreds of hit points and character ressurection easily available.

Keep an alternative character sheet close by so that the player can switch when his assassin finally croaks.

@Traveller
Uh, that is evil…and great! Though I wonder whether that might possibly overload the current scenario with new adversaries like the Slaught or a daemon at the moment, as it could distract the players a little too much and divert them from the scenarios real climax.

@Asgard
I might indeed try it more or less as you described, as this is the only real option, but still only if the Assassin really works for it. I won’t have the shady-doc knock on his door though…

@Greg
The "servo-skull idea" is great, especially because the White Scholar has two of them at hand, so the groups Tech-Priest possibly could jury-rig it to his visual nerve somehow – maybe with the help of some mad doctor...
“Blind Gun Saint” is a little too high fantasy for my liking. These guys normally get a bolt round to the cranium rather fast in my games, and while I could sort of live with a blind melee combatant, a blind sniper is just silly somehow.
“Deal with a Devil” could overload my game as mentioned above, even though the parallel to the Crow Father theme makes it tempting…
“Fix me up” is what I also sort of have in mind and mentioned in context with good old Eisenhorn.

@Denmar
I am not that sure. It could be that he already burned a single one quite a while ago, but no more than one for sure. In comparison to the groups Guardsman and Psyker (and to a degree Tech-Priest) who burn Fate Points quite regularly, he mostly came out of anything rather unscathed (thus his 4 Fate Points). But he is also more cautious than for example the Guardsman (who mostly charges headlong into any enemy with Chainsword swiniging irrespective of his Wound score) and tends to keep his head down when the bullets start flying.
Another player indeed said he seems to collect Fate Points and his reaction was in a way akin to a 15 year old losing one of his favourite toys. Telling him to “suck it up” is fine, but I fear that the whole gaming experience could suffer this way and in the end we GMs are story tellers responsible (at least mostly…) for having a good time together irrespective of how rough the world of DH is.

@Laughing God
Before he really croaks, he most probably would burn a Fate Point though…

In my games I always let the team do as they will, I've gotten to the point where I write a beginning and an end and almost nothing for the middle. In this case, its the PC's problem. The system has a clear defined way to avoid this horrid fate and hes chosen another path, let him deal with the ramifications. I'm sure he will find the final battles very difficult and next time he will choose the easier path. It could make for some awesome roleplay though too, and in reality, had this fate befallen him, he would literally just have to deal and adapt to it. We had a blind samurai in a shadowrun game years ago, granted he could look into the astral (mirror universe) and see but there was a disconnect. It made things interesting and fun, especially when somehow he ended up on a birdwatching expedition or acting as a foreman at a construction site. Go with it, you may enjoy the results. I can forsee him shooting madly and being teh one who destroys the steel clock.

Your group has a Tech-Priest? With Medicae?

Suggest that if the group wants to be "all it can be" they raid one of the Augmeticist facilities serving the wealthiest population in the sector, prior to the grand conjunction to get a pair of replacements.

The resulting side-quest should be resolved with a minimum of fuss, maximum of speed, but making sure that any wounds they take from on-site security measures are recorded as they go into the Revel of Darkness. That way the group as a whole gets to pay a small but possibly seriously significant price, especially if that's the wound(s) that push another char into critical damage.

Finally, I would quite frankly tell the Assassin to roll a 1d5 and permanently subtract it from his Perception stat as he damages his optic nerves with a slip-shod and temporary fix...something he will not regain in time, even with "proper" augmetics. The Assassin's refusal to use Fate Points for their intended purpose (saving a char from unlucky dice rolls) is just foolish and should rebound on him most of all.

If they balk at this, the Assassin can pretty much spend the climax blind and useless as he's burned all his chances imo.

That way everyone sacrifices a little something. For the Emperor of course...

Bladehate said:

Yup, I have a Tech-Priest with Medicae and I already suggested to him that he could purchase some (unsanctioned and Poor Quality) cybernetic eyes (or a mind impulse unit to couple a viewer servo-skull to) he saw on some sort of Reclaimator Market in the Shattered Ramparts district. Unfortunately, the PCs are a little short on time due to the upcoming Revel of Darkness in Gabriel Chase and by the RAW it takes a couple of days to install these kinds of augmetics. Furthermore, the Tech-Priest is also a bit reluctant to try such a thing is bordering on tinkering and thus is more or less a lesser tech-heresy in his opinion (he is a rather conservative Tech-Priest…at least so far…).

Anyway, the Assassin player already dreams of some high quality augmetics with dark sight and/or photo-visor. He would never allow some Poor Quality cybernetics be installed into his skull I fear. Your idea with the Augmeticist facility could circumvent this problem, but they are still too short on time in a way. So, it seems I am left with punishing him with not gaining any XP for the rest of the adventure. That’ll hopefully teach him…

Luthor Harkon said:

I beg your pan, Luthor. But why should he get no xp furthermore? He is still able to roleplay (if he does) and his pc is still in danger (the bad guys will not spare him because he is blind, will they?). And he can still contribute to the affairs. Like a Scholar would.

Sure he will not get any of the "bonus xp" for bringing the enemy down etc. But some xp should be granted. Just my two cents.

Gregorius21778 said:

Well, it seems he will stay in bed for the rest of the adventure (he is a wimp after all…). Actually, he was carried to the Strophes mansion in the meantime, where a private physician takes care of him a little. So much for role-playing and being in actual danger (the Pilgrims would indeed not spare someone being blind I suspect…). Anyway, I fear he could not really contribute anything as a Sniper/Assassin, as he is ‘only’ able to do two things without being blind, namely sneaking and shooting. On top of this he has an Int score of 27 to help the others PCs ‘like a Scholar would’…
I will most probably let him play the White Scholar instead.

Sorry, but I keep my pan…

Luthor Harkon said:

That´s hardly an imperial mindset. Staying in bed while deeds need to be done. For throne´s sake! If everyone would behave like this just because he or she is mortally wounded we would lack a lot of colorful.... Well, in that case you are totally right for not giving much xp to him.

Has your team meet with the Spider Bride yet? As a potential option, your players could make an agreement and have one of the augmentic spiders that take head 'graft' itself to your player, perhaps even giving him the equivalent cybernetics that he wants, but now they are beholden to the Spider Bride. And it would probably take a great deal of 'pay back' to get to position for her to remove her pet. Perhaps the price increases each time they approach her about it. And the nice thing is it fits nicely both into the scenario as well as into the overall Haarlock Legacy since she is apparently another creation of the Haarlocks.

Salcor

Salcor presents an interesting option...but if the Tech-Priest is really that conservative it likely won't fly either.

If this assassin is really so much of a wimp, that he's not willing to take a little permanent damage "for the Emperor" then I don't personally understand what the group is doing with him. If I were in that group as a player, I would likely present it in another way to the PC: Either get yourself useful to the Emperor (we'll help you), or be considered dead weight and fit only for a mercy killing. At the very least, their Inquisitor should be VERY unhappy with such a coward in his service after the mission is complete.

In terms of the time plan, you could easily say that the Revel of Darkness has been moved one or two days. Big scandal on the predictions but apparently it wasn't as precise as things first seemed. Is it slightly cheesy and deus machina? A little...but better then the other options.

Also, as concerns the time to install items...that's where I would wave my hands and rule that the nerve and brain damage is the price for the speed of the installation.

Currently in DC, I had two characters that had to burn fate points to save themselves. They spent about 24 hours in the care of the Tech-Priests going through a mild cyber resurrection and having all kinds of augmetics stuffed into them. They lost permanent points in Fellowship and Intelligence, and although they are operational, they have been warned by the tech priests that any further heavy damage will result in permanent and crippling physical damage. Once they have the time to go through the process properly, augmetic limbs and body parts can be fully installed.

Its a price they gladly paid to serve the Emperor and to get to be there as the group goes to confront Skarmen and the Empty Men at the Folly...so off the group goes, with fully half their number already wounded, and their boots full of their own blood. But the Emperor Protects right?

Bladehate said:

"…those who protect themselves."

After all I think the Spider Bride won’t survive the Inquisitorial purge of Quaddis after the incident (i.e. the visiting Tyrant Star) anyway.
Moving the Revel of Darkness one or two days is out of question for me as my players would laugh at me for being such a wimp myself and it would totally destroy the suspense that grew during the last few sessions.
I also thought about speeding up the instalment of Poor Quality augmetics so that he could be present for the 13th hour, but I suppose he is not even interested as already mentioned. Regarding your mentioning of ‘what the group is doing with him’, it is not for the group to decide. Some of the group are already a little dissatisfied with him, as he recently kept a Rosette found on the body of a dead Interrogator for himself and did not hand it out to the groups Prime. Still, he is a formidable weapon and this is the reason the Inquisitor is not that unhappy with him; though it might indeed change after the current ‘mission’. Maybe I could encourage the other PCs dissatisfaction a little further in the future…

Luthor Harkon said:

Indeed, which is one reason I sometimes let my players get away with a few things...that and many of them are very new players and completely new to the game setting. Effort and common sense count for as much or more as setting knowledge and "correct" RP in my group. Obviously I give what guidance I can without rail roading things and so far it seems to be working fairly well.

As I said, you could easily rule that a big part of the reason that implant installation takes so long is to avoid damaging the recipient's brain and nervous system (more then it already is in the case of battle damage). Slapping a pair of LQ implants on and risking some attribute damage seems like a viable option. Since of course the Tech-Priest won't want to be involved in such a slapdash and unsanctioned process, you could perhaps have the Assassin roll the Augmeticists Medicae check. Have him start at -5 Perception, reduced by 1 for each MoS with a minimum of 1 point loss. That way the player deals with the mess himself.

Your group sounds quite...hardcore in their RP, something I am not currently enforcing with my own guys. As such, it also sounds like this guy has basically made his own mess and I really wouldn't offer him an easy out. If he misses out on the climactic final battle of the story arc all because he refused to use the options (both in game and meta) available then I really wouldn't lose any sleep over it personally.

Speaking of Rosette's, I changed the way they function slightly. Rather then a sort of WH40K Sheriff's Badge, I made them into gene-locked artifacts that take a great deal of skill to code onto a person. On top of that, the recipient is schooled in a series of codes (depending on the rank of the player) that must be used when presenting the Rosette to Imperial authorities such as Arbitrators, Astropaths, other Inquisition agents, military officers or high ranking members of the Administratum. The idea that all you needed was to "flash your badge" to high-jack a Navy cruiser was always slightly odd to me. Of course, the un-calibrated Rosette could still be used to gull the ignorant or un-educated, but by itself it wasn't enough to access anything really high level in the Imperium. How do you handle Rosettes in your game?

Bladehate said:

So far, my Rank 5 acolytes have not been given access to them. Their investigations have so far always been quite covert, even in Damned Cities.

Bladehate said:

You are right, it is indeed a viable option and I will propose it to the Tech-Priest player. The Assassin player won’t accept it most probably anyway.
I am not sure whether we are hardcore in our RP, though I have never really seen another group to compare. Still, it is an RP-game after all and we try to emulate that in a way. (We needed five four hour sessions for chapter two of TF alone so far by the way…).
I will surely not lose any sleep over it, but I still think about some sort of punishment, so that he might realize in the end that it might have not been the very best decision to not burn a Fate Point in the first place.

The Assassin player did not even used the Rosette, he just wanted to keep it and give it to their Interrogator/Inquisitor personally.
In my game I use the Rosette similar to a Sheriff’s Badge, no more, no less. It is just a badge of office (a very powerful office though) and if used with the right authority (legit or not) to back it up, it is a very powerful tool. An Inquisitoria Seal on the other hand, is something that often has (gene-)coded extras and can be used to gain access to almost any cogitator or data-loom within the Imperium.
Just recently the groups Psyker (and Legate Investigator) used the Rosette of the deceased Inquisitor Karkalla in TF to order the Manse Guards of House Strophes to give them their weapons. This only worked because the Psyker made a Command test (with a huge bonus due to the Rosette) though. So, not every down-hive dreg could wave a Rosette and hijack a Navy warship.
So far, I hadn’t given the PCs a Rosette directly by their Inquisitor, even though it is just a symbol. Most missions are undercover anyway and in those that are not, the Legate Investigator had a Sigil of Question or something similar. I intend to send the PCs to Sepheris Secundus next for the Baron Hopes scenario and think about giving them a Rosette for that mission only, because it is an official Inquisition involvement, but I am not really convinced yet…

Well, in my group I did the low-power grunge stuff during Edge of Darkness and House of Dust and Ashes + extras. At the conclusion of EoD, they were given a choice to serve either Globus Varak of Ordo Hereticus or come work for Silas Marr. They chose Marr and immediately embarked on HoDaA + some extras sessions connecting them.

At the conclusion of HoDaA, the players pursued Tobias Belasco and successfully brought him to justice. In the process, he had melded with a Halo Device and unknown to the group, he was in the process of resurrecting even as they returned to Marr. When asked what should be done with the remains, the players devoutly submitted to Marr's authority but respectfully suggested that verification and disposal of the remains be given over to Rykehuss and his Black Regiment Storm Troopers as a way to honor their participation in the closing events of HoDaA. Marr granted their request, and both he and the Acolytes scored some major points with Rykehuss (which may come in very handy later as conflicts with the Tyrantine Cabal come into play).

Unfortunately, Belasco resurrected and killed the stormtroopers guarding his "corpse", contacted his backup assets on the planet and escaped. This sparked a chase by the acolytes and storm trooper support in Valkyrie gunships as they tried to intercept Belasco and his company of mercs. They had high-jacked one of the macro-trains transporting goods from Hive Glorianna to Hive Wrath and the train's hydra batteries used to repel interior zone raider bands made things really difficult for the stormtroopers. Eventually, the player's Valk got hit and their Black Regiment pilot and co-pilot both got shredded, prompting the players to act quickly as the guardsman and tech-priest struggled to get the valk into a controlled dive rather then fatal crash. They managed to crash into the side of the train, and the Valk ended up face planted into a huge container of Imp Guard flak armor and combat webbing...and also several crates of St. Drusus stuffed toys which had broken open (the latter is not true, but a joke that went around the table at the time).

Fighting and sneaking their way up the kilometer long train, they finally faced the heavily mutated and insane Belasco in the multi-tier control deck of the train engine, finally defeating him by cutting off his legs and casting him down into the cogs and gears of the lower levels, shredding the corpse into multiple pieces and lighting the whole mess on fire.

Unfortunately, Belasco had vandalized the plasma engine powering the train and it was on a steadily increasing acceleration course for Hive Wrath. The players stood there literally watching the Hive growing on the horizon out of the front view panes and were faced with a choice: Try to stop the sabotaged engine and risk death...or make a run for it. If they didn't stop the train, the exact effect of a plasma powered 11 kilomter long torpedo slamming into the guts of Hive Wrath weighing hundreds of thousands of tons and moving at 119 kph (projected top speed at the time of impact) would make for an interesting revision of this side of the planet's surface.

The Tech-Priest braved the over heating plasma core, half his systems fusing and shorting out due to the heat and mag-fluxing from the containment field, and while the rest of the group worked with the vandalized controls, they managed to calm the raging machine spirit and begin to decelerate the train. They failed initially, meaning the train actually crashed into the terminal in the base of the spire, but only with 13 kph, resulting in a huge, messy crash (and the effects of a localized earthquake) but preventing anything apocalyptic from occurring.

After that, I felt a reward was in order. In the presence of 3 Inqiusitors, the Tech-Priests of HIve Gloriana and Wrath, the planetary governor and the Ministorum of Solomon, they were granted the Rosette by Silas Marr and empowered with some of the responsibilities and powers of the most holy ordos. At that point they were also granted a gun cutter to help them pursue the Haarlock Legacy, and gained Ascension level Influence (albeit at a lower level).

Currently the Rosette is thus more then a badge. But it does not have the access wards of the Inquisitorial Seal, but along with the codes + gene lock, any mid-to-high level imperial authority can be reasonably certain the players are who they say they are when they identify themselves. The Rosettes themselves are also quite valuable and rare, and recovered whenever possible. I feel its a pretty good medium.

Its a bit of a stretch that the players go from Inquisitorial Recruits to bearers of the Rosette in less then two years game time (approx Rank 5 in game)...but that's something I can live with I think. The players also did get to start with some advanced backgrounds, and we all agreed that a slightly more high powered and high adventure game was appropriate since this campaign is sort of the precursor campaign to spring boarding into RT.

Luthor Harkon said:

See, this attitude is one that I don't quite understand. RPing is about making some fun, interesting choices as a group and then dealing with the consequences.

If the consequence of helping the group is some minor damage or set backs, then I don't see why you wouldn't take it...

Granted, I have a Hive Scum assassin in my group who's extremely mercenary as well, but not at the expense of the group. Of course the Arbitrator and the Guardsman noble-born Prime sat him down quite firmly when he first started exhibiting those tendencies so that might be part of it.

I think Gregorius said it quite well in his post. This guy really isn't a "good imperial" or servant of the emperor. That sort of thing ought to have consequences all its own...

I got the solution to make everyone happy! The assassin will still play, he won't have crappy bionics, and he'll end up doing his duty!

1-Get the cell (assassin included) to the Gathering

2-When **** hits the fan, have another PC guide him around

3-If guiding PC is attacked, he uses the assassin as a disposable human shield

5-If the assassin survives, another PC can fire a 'stray shot' at his head

4-????

5-PROFIT FOR THE EMPRAH

But seriously, he put himself in a bad position, and want some GM-freebie-bailout type of deal. Them him you're not the Gouv. and he's not Wall Street.