Hello all once again. For my next adventure im planing on having the Acolytes arrive on dusk to investigate the disappearance of all its human inhabitants. When they arrive there they will find a Dark Eldar Archon, a Medusae and a Haemonculus waiting there for them. The Archon wants something from them, specificly a annointed weapon that the Cleric has, Excalibur(a power sword). He belives if he has it he will be able to fend of she who thirsts and her minions.

If the acolytes refuse to hand it over to them, he will order the Medusae to remove its visor. If the acolytes are willing to hand it over he will step towards them eargly to have it in his hands. Either way a Collum of green warp fire appears between the acolytes and the Archon. Once the flames die down what looks like to be a mandrake in a greenand tatered robe stands there blocking the archons path. The mandrake reveals himself to be the Eldar Farseer Xavfire Moonshadow and says that he will not let them have Excalibur. The archon retreats grimacing, with the medusa and haemonculus following behind. Before the acolytes can react the Farseer turns around and greets them calmly, explaining that the Dark Eldar killed the Inhabitants of the planet in search of a ancient webway gate hidden here. He also states that if they kill him that they could lose their only advantage, the support of a group of eldar on the planet

Be careful of mary-sueing the Eldar Farseer. I'd make sure hints are given (and overall plot determines) that the Farseer has his own plans for the world, the webway, and perhaps even the wielder of Excalibur... and that those plans eventually go against the PC interests.

I'd suggest, also, having someone other than juuuuust the Farseer chasing off the Dark Eldar; perhaps Banshees? Perhaps Harlequins? Farseer Saves'the'day can still come in and intercept the Archon, but the Archon should probably not give up without 'testing' the Farseer's defenses, and the PCs should be given options; trying to stay and help in combat (putting it in a dark setting, giving the Archon a Shadow Field/Blur Suit/whatever, and perhaps even allowing it to kill off one of the Farseer's support team WHILE holding off Farseer Mah'resu using terms like 'inhuman grace and speed' should allow the Archon to remain in the encounter before 'tactically retreating' long enough to at least make the PC's respect its dangerous nature), running to a previously-noted 'bunker' from which they can mount a proper defense, etc.

Its a fine line between demonstrating the dangerous nature of one's opponents and allies, and making the PCs bit players in the dramas of NPC Demigods. Make sure the PC's choices matter in something other than a trivial way, and allow them stakes and goals of their own (beyond their survival, anyway).

I have to agree, be very careful with the Farseer. Eldar are my favorite race, and likely he would have warlocks and probably Dire Avengers with him. Likewise the Archon would probably have Incubi or Wytches with him. This needs to be a fight that the players CAN NOT win, and they need to know it before they decide to interrupt you and start shooting. And both groups need to have their own agendas with either the planet or the sword, or something that may even not be evident yet. And don't just give the players the choice of joining one side or the other, give them a chance to side with neither and defeat them both.

As a convenient way to keep the players from acting but have them there to see whats happening, you could have an Eldar Vampire transport fly over and combat drop the troops and a Vibro Cannon, it knocks anything in its line prone, immobilizing the players and some enemies, giving the Archon a chance to escape. There is a Gravity Gun in the RT book that is close enough for mechanics purposes.

okay. I will put 10 dire avengers with the Farseer but I feel keeping the Medusa and Haemonculi with the Archon because when i read the medusa fluff it seems logical once it removes its eye guard that anyone who catches its eye wouldbe hit, so I would allow the medusa to hit anyone facing it with its eye beam thing. Though i think the assasin pcs would challenge the Archon to a one on one dual because he is arogent. He has a agility of 60 and dodge +20. plus if they manga to force hte archon away the assasin will plainout attack the farseer and his body guards just becuase he has a grudge(for no reason) against a random farseer they met on a space hulk

I'm not really cool with how both factions are portrayed, actually. Here is why.

The dark eldar are some of the sickest, most cruel and uncaring creatures in the galaxy - on par with or beyond any chaos marine, cultist or daemon. Lesser races are less than nothing to them. If they want something, they won't demand it, they will take it - so they will either attack without warning, or toy with the PCs - haughtily demanding it and then attack regardless. They WILL take what they want, and they WILL kill/maim/capture whoever crosses their path. Not doing so is unthinkable. If you go by the "toy with them" route, make sure you have the Archon fuming at their insolence if they refuse (with a good amount of threats to eternal pain or the like) or gloatingly tell his associates to deal with them if they accept.

The craftworlders, on the other hand, are way too self-centered to do something like jumping in the line of fire for any human - farseers more than anyone else. These are master manipulators, making plans within plans within plans to minimize the risk of a single (craftworld) eldar life being lost. They'd be much more likely to use the PCs as pawns, attacking from the rear or flank with a barrage of shuriken, laser, or psychic attacks just as the Dark Kin close in for the kill (presuming they want the PCs alive anyway). In fact, why do they care if the PCs live or die? It's much easier for them to just fire at everyone in the melee. The dark kin are nothing to them - traitors and renegades who cling to the corrupted ways that brought down the old empire. The humans are less than that. If they want the PCs alive, they need a good reason (even though they probably won't tell them) - so what is it? Also, if they believe the sword IS any good against She-who-thirsts, why do they NOT take it by force? I personally consider all 4 eldar branches quite interesting, but the fact of the matter is, they don't like humans much, and have little reasons to do them any favors. So... why would they?

Oh, and once again, ixnay on farseers ever getting in line of fire. Those guys are rare , and very, very valuable . They don't often go to risky missions unless they foresee that their presence is needed, and even then they and the entire warhost do their utmost to make sure the farseer doesn't take unnecessary risks. Instead, consider having the medusa beam misfire somehow - you know, one of those one in a million chances that happen more often than not when fate-bothering psychic powers are around. Have the archon's face betray a momentary confusion - and then realize something's going on.

The_Shaman said:

Ohh! I like that idea, and that is definitely the way a Farseer would work. Remember that they can see the many branches of the future and see the most probable path to take them to their goals. Farseers are cunning bastards, and you only get to be that old and powerful by being able to outsmart every daemon, adversary, and obstacle that you run into; and making a medusa misfire is an excellent way to reduce the risk to your own superior troops and make it so that the stupid monkeys owe you and will make them do the dirty work till you dont need them, then all it takes is shooting them, their flesh is weak and your warriors are strong.

Also, challenging an Archon to a 1 on 1 fight... that just seems like a bad idea, unless your a universe famous Hero or something with 300 wounds and a 99 for every stat... Archons are beasts, thats why they are in charge, they can kill everything they come across if they want to. IMHO if your assassin does attack it, don't kill the Assassin, just have it put it to negative wounds and then mock the frail monkey body, which, in the mind of the Archon, will put the lesser creature (the Assassin) in its place of servitude.

I'm rather looking forward to what you decide to do :-D

The_Shaman said:

I never said they were craft worlder eldar for the first thing. Im using my own custom Eldar group, specificly a Exodite world so most of the guardians/aspect warriors really havent seen dark eldar much(Besides their farseer who is questionable in his own apperance). Plus the guardians would not relize that dark eldar are evil but creepy looking guardians. The archon is not attacking them because he knows that the Assasin has a daemonic blade and would rather not try it because what if it is a daemon of she who thirsts in the blade(which it is not. Its a daemon of Malah) Plus im going to combine the Farseer and ManDrake stats so thats what he essentialy is.

The archons other goal on the planet is to aquire the anceint webway gate so taht they can have a much much faster travel between planets. Thats were the Farseer is coming in. He and the Exodite eldar go to planets to try and find and take back ancient eldar artifacts to their home world.

Artanyis said:

Ill allow the archon take down the Assasin but of course my other PCs. A medusa misfire...to try to take down the Archon of course. But if they assasin does attack the Archon the Archon will atfirst play defensivly. As the battle progress the Archon will relieze that the blade is not a deamon of She who thirsts but a simple deamon(which it is not). The reason the Farseer is not using the Acolytes is because Marumasa,the deamon in the Assasins sword, is blocking his predictions so the farseeer is winging it and will see what happens.

Makes sense, I look forward to hearing how it comes out and how the players react to it. Good Luck :-D

Thanks..Im still working on the plot for the Mission because I don't want it to be all hack and slash type adventure but actualle roleplaying in it. Any suggestions?

@ Belfire: Ah, I see. The thing is, technically only craftworlders have the path system, so if there are aspects and farseers, then you are dealing with craftworld eldar. Exodites have psykers of some sorts, certainly, and these will likely have some expertise in divination, but the term "farseer" only applies to those who follow the path of the seer for so long they become lost on it. Likewise, they have warriors, possibly even a warrior caste, but no aspects. Of course, there's no guarantee the PCs know that . As for the exodites not knowing who/what the dark eldar are... Hmm, one of the harlequins' duties is to remind eldar of their own history, and thus likely teach eldar of the pleasure cults, the fall, and those who kept the "bad old ways." Then again, exodites do see most other eldar as morally corrupt, so they might not appreciate the difference.

Anyway, as I'm seeing it, the biggest problem to making it a more interesting adventure lies with the motivation of the two groups. Why are the eldar helping the PCs? if the seer is sensing that something about the acolytes blocks his/her divinations, I'd imagine he'd like to make sure they get away asap. Generally, if something is weird enough to mess up their psychic powers, it's dangerous. Dangerous things are best kept far away (ideally sent at your enemies) or handled via said enemies, who risk their lives instead of yours. What do the eldar have to win from acting like they do, that they can't win by launching the equivalent of an air strike on everyone and then going back home for tea and biscuits? As I see it, there can be several reasons for the eldar wanting the PCs alive:

- they owe the PCs a favor, and want to repay it. The PCs need not know what or why - perhaps a great-great-ancestor of one of the PCs did something to help the eldar?,

- they (the seer, from what you write) don't care about the PCs themselves, but wants to deny the Archon a victory.

- they want the PCs to do something for them; saving their lives is a favor the PCs have to repay. That's likely the most likely motivation - but what, and why are the PCs necessary here?

BTW, regarding the archon's motivation - dark eldar already use the webway travel, they are arguably even more skilled than most other eldar (except harlequins and pathfinders). Perhaps s/he wants to capture this particular gate to open a channel which is more convenient, safer, bigger (thus useful for larger vehicles) or some such. If he thinks a blade held by the party is a daemonblade of Slaanesh, or a similarly dangerous weapon, though, why wouldn't he also try to kill the PCs from afar rather than risk combat? Humans are worthless to an archon, but a blade of she-who-thirsts is dangerous.

The_Shaman said:

Do they owe the PCs a favor? No

The Seer does want to Deny the Archon of his victory and hopes that the PCs and the Dark Eldar will kill each other

The thrid one is only possible(which it will be) is if he saves the PC's because he knows in the future that a planet will over team with the Chaos Gods forming Chaos Undivieded to try and gain a major foot hold in the Calxis Sector and that the PCs could possibly avert it

I never said that the Archon and his group had acess to web way travel. His web way gates were destroyed by a group of space marines before they escaped in a high jacked human ship. The archon believes that the Medusa could paralyze the PCs if they refused and steal Excalibur then retreating and letting off a hail of splinters at then, and of course the Medusa has a 'misfire' against the Archon

Now the reasons the Pcs are here in the first palce they are tasked to investigate the disappearance of the Human population on the planet(dusk..thought it was the most appropriate) and thats how they are in it.

@ The_Shaman: The Exodite worlds do have the paths, just not to the same extent that the Craft worlds do, and the only place the followers of the Path of the Warrior can get training to be a Ranger or Pathfinder is on one of the Exodite Worlds. Remember the Exodites are the Eldar that left the Craft Worlds and Core Worlds before the Fall becuase they did not condone the excessive way of life that was becoming common. There were plenty of Path Followers and even Farseers that left the Craft Worlds and Core Worlds to live truly in a pursuit of their Path on a far away world where law and civility allowed them the structure to do so. And yes, the Exodites do use the Webway as well, just not much as they prefer to be left alone. The primary group guarding the Webway is the Harlequins who, thanks to the Laughing God and their piece of the Infinity Matrix, still have good maps. Unfortunately the other Craft Worlds forces and the small amount of Harlequins do not have enough forces to patrol all of the tunnels all the time and they are being take over by Daemons, Dark Eldar and even collapsing becuase of the constant shifting of the warp and failing Webway Portals and Gates, there is just not enough resources to keep it all running.

So, if this Exodite world did have some shrines to the Phoenix Lords and the Warrior Paths then there could be any number of Aspect Warriors there. Also, if they are fighting the Dark Eldar than that means that their Planet is probably reasonably close or at least connected fairly directly to that planets Webway Gate, and probably that the Farseer involved is old enough to have been around for the Fall and the birth of the Dark Eldar, giving him an added hatred for them as they are still following the same ways that led to the Fall.

Also, every Eldar life is sacred to most of the Exodite worlds, if the Farseer thinks the PCs are powerful enough to be useful in his endeavors to A) capture / secure / destroy the Webway Gate or B) destroy the Dark Kin, then he will probably use them, then kill them to make sure that any information they learn is lost. Exodites do not go to war very often, usually only when their world is directly threatened, there is a good chance that if this is an old Farseer he saw the coming of war on his world and saw this as either the best, simplest or most efficient way to stop it, and the PCs happen to be just the tool to do it.

Artanyis said:

Yes he wants the Pcs to secure the Webway gate adn destroy the dark kin.

He wants to kill the Pcs after every thing is done but knows that they are not ready to be killed yet..he knows they have 1 more important purpose to the exodite world. Their world is the one that has all the eldar statues on it(cant remeber the name). and I belive its near a pleasure planet that will be over wealmed with the Demons of Chaos

Yes the exodite world has Shrines to the Phoenix Lords. Is the Farseer old enough to be around the fall..i have yet to decide that yet.