Hi all,

Ok, its not strictly DH, but I think its close enough that this thread isnt completely out of place here (plus you guys are the best source of ideas for this I can think of...).

I'm planning an Inq28 (Inquisitor rules, slightly modified for 28mm tabletop) game with a friend. He's going to take an Ordo Hereticus warband and the premise will be that hes entered a hive slum area (favela-style - shacks built on shacks, plenty of multilevel terrain and cover) to investigate rumours of a powerful unsanctioned psyker holing up amidst the various muties/societal dregs that reside there. My band will be the psyker (who may in fact turn out to be a daemonhost), 3 or 4 mutie scum thug-types and a radical inquisitor.

So far, so good. What I want to do is tie up a good narrative for the encounter, and also plant it firmly in the Calixis sector (in the hope that I can tie it into future DH sessions) so here are the questions I'm looking for possible answers to:

- Where is the slum? Suggestions for a fluffily suitable planet for the encounter to occur on?

- Whats the story behind the psyker/daemonhost?

- Why might a radical inq be encountered at the same time and be willing to fight on the daemonhosts side?

- Also any cool suggestions for other possible members of the psyker/daemonhosts to add some variation to the mix and present more of a challenge to the Hereticus would be more than welcome.

So, its all a bit vague and hopefully not too tabletop to put you all off, but I'd really like to see what backstory others would apply to this if it were a scenario in their own DH campaign.

Thanks,

Anodyr

Anodyr said:

-Speheris Secundus might fit even though it is not a Hive per se. The population of Sepeheris Secundus consists mainly of serfs (workers/miners) living in shacks and the surface has plenty of multilevel terrain and cover due to the extensive earthworks.

-Maybe some mutant cult (Broken Chains…) or the rogue psyker himself summoned the daemon by accident or in some sort of ritual.

- Because he is looking for the Daemonhost himself and...

...because he is a Xanthite and wants to enslave the Daemonhost to get all sort of occult information from it.

...because he is an Istvaanian and wants to set it free so that it causes havoc on the planet thereby provoking some serious attention by the Inq and/or the Imperial Guard.

- Mutants, big mutants, dregs, miners with huge steam drills attached to their shoulder/torso/arm, mind-controlled PDF troopers (i.e. Royal Scourges in case of Sepheris Secundus), some sort of cult magus (maybe with some minor sorcery at hand), other cultists, any sort of acolytes/agents/servitors the radical Inquisitor could have brought along etc.

Hallo Anodyr!

1) Slum: if you want a slum, I’d say Magnagorsk or Volg on Fenksworld are what you’re looking for.
In Magnagorsk violence and death are common but its inhabitants are happy they haven’t been born in Volg, the worst place in the whole sector, whose toxicity and terrible conditions are on the limit of human survivability.

2) Psyker’s background: he manifested psychic powers since childhood. Therefore, he was taken by the authorities to be handed over to the black ships: yet an Administratum’s employee - who’s a Temple Tendency cultist - noticed him and managed to deliver him to the Temple, in order to train him as a prized (for his psychic powers) cult’s agent.
As for his demonic possession, the «something went wrong and the psyker got possessed» explanation would work fine.

3) Your inquisitor: I’m fond of the Temple Tendency (Disciples of the Dark Gods, pag. 31). Your inquisitor is both an inquisitor and a member of the Temple and is protecting or employing the psyker: your inquisitor does indeed work to eradicate the most obvious heresies (like the other inquisitors) but his agenda includes operations against the cult’s enemies or in the cult’s good.
If possible, I’d make him unaware that the psyker is a demonhost. Even better, I’d get rid of the demonhost hook and make the whole scenario an inquisitor vs inquisitor one: your inquisitor wants to get rid of the Ordo Hereticus’, who’s on his track; or the Ordo Hereticus’ is investigating about the Temple Tendency (and about your inquisitor) and stumbled into your party.

4) Other members: if you go with the inquistor vs inquisitor scenario, the ones described in the Temple Tendency’s section, such as the Chantry Guards and the Arcoflagellants, work well; the Ashen Tear assassins (described in the same handbook) are quite nice too.
If you still to go with the mutants, the Pale Throng (Disciples of the Dark Gods, pag. 52) offers some good archetypes, for the psyker as well!

Have fun!

- A blasted Uncontrolled Zone in the An-Loc hive of war scared Tranch.

- "Master" Vanus Prodigialis, a former shroud master of the Pale Throng who drew upon the power of Tzeench in a last desperate gamble to turn the tide of the losing insurrection

- Hearing rumours of a second wind being blown into the insurgency on Tranch, Radical Inquisitor sets out to locate the source only to find the Unbound Daemonhost. Before it could storm across the ruined world, the Radical inquisitor was able to bind it and bring it low but at the cost of the lives of his warband. The mutant things with the daemonhost, awed and in fear of the Inquisitor beged for their lives and absolution. Needing more muscle, the Inquisitor agreed to let them have their absolution by dying for the Emperor while serving the Radical Inquisitor. Now with a mutant warband and a daemonhost thrice bound to his will, the Radical Inquisitor begins tracking down the other shroud masters in hiding to eliminate the threat of the Pale Throng once and for all. Little dose he suspect that other Inquisitors have also come to Tranch investigating the Second Rising of the Pale Throng...

- Gewgaw, a massive Twist Hulk with a stature nearly on par with that of an Ogrin covered in incredibly thick almost rock-like patchy skin. S'uhoo Xan the Unseen, a terrible and hungry Witch-kin from the Soot Warrens who specializes in moving unseen and undetected. Jon E the Immolated, a Psychic Abomination who sets himself and all around him ablaze and though the fires seem not to consume his flesh, psychic screams of purist agony still radiate from him breaking the will of the strongest men.

~OR~

- Intrazone 223-B in the "Interior" between hives Gloriana and Atropos on the haunted world of Solomon

- A rogue witch hiding in the Interior who ran afoul of the Radical Inquisitor who is in pursuit of the legend of the Beast of Solomon.

- The Radical Inquisitor recognized a golden opportunity in the rogue witch. He used the witch's powerful mind to help encase and bind one of the many daemonic apparitions that exist on the edge of twilight on Solomon -the perfect tool to track down the fabled Beast of Solomon and coax it from the shadows to be destroyed by the Emperor's Light! Little dose he suspect that another Hereticus Inquisitor is on his way to investigate reports of a rogue witch in Intrazone 223-B.

- An Emperian Engineer and original member of the Radical Inquisitors Warband. A honourable Twist Hulk and protector of the dregs of intrazone 223-B, oath-bound to the Radical Inquisitor to find and slay the Beast of Solomon before another sacrifice must be made. A death-cultist of the heretical Astral Knives who has long acted as the Radical Inquisitors left hand of death as well as prophetic advisor. Several possessed servitors controlled by the Emperian Engineer

Anodyr said:

Maybe the Radical Inquisitor was tracking an unsanctioned psyker, and during their confrontation the psyker triggered Perils of the Warp and was possessed by a daemon. The Inquisitor acted quickly and used his knowledge of occult rituals to bind the daemon with the psyker, creating a crude, barely-controlled daemonhost. Maybe the Inquisitor wasn't originally a Radical; maybe he was a Puritan or Moderate who, during the long voyage transporting the barely-contained daemonhost back to the Tricorn Palace to be imprisoned, was slowly corrupted by the daemon with promises of glory and power...?

Aah, knew you guys wouldn't let me down!

Loads of awesome ideas there - I'm leaning towards the Tranch/Pale Throng idea I think. The idea that the Rad has just bound the daemonhost to prevent greater atrocity before the Hereticus stumbles upon him and risks undoing the binding by killing the daemonhost vessel has just the right amount of right/wrong grey area for an Inq game.

Now to go build some terrain and read up on Tranch and the Pale Throng. Cheers chaps, much appreciated.

Anodyr