So, one of my PCs managed to get "infected" by a demon of Tzeentch, basically a modified version of the Demon Vessel package on page 66 of the Radical's Handbook, but neither he nor his player know what's happening. However, the PC has been experiencing disturbing dreams lately, and now, worried about them, he has very politely requested an audience with his inquisitor, a skilled Telepath.

I am wondering... would a Telepath be able to detect a demon "infection" in a human being? Are there rules for this, what would he need to do? I'd rather keep the demon a secret until later on (the demon vessel is going to play a major role further down the campaign), but for a variety of reasons my inquisitor is very unlikely to turn down the akolythe's request. Any help on this?

Hey!

At this point, you have several options to deal with this- Yes, a skilled telepath would be able to detect it, I believe the "Official penalty" for the actual advance is -30 to detect it.

Option 1) The Inquisitor Rolls Badly. Everyone makes mistakes, even Inquisitors. He simply did not detect the Daemon, whose masking itself rather well.

Option 1b) This particular daemon's penalty is higher then -30, and it is quite skilled at concealing itself. Perhaps it only manifests as a whisper at night for now, that's the extent of its influence- confused and muddled along with the character's natural feelings of ambition, corruption or desire for change.

Option 2) The fates conspire against the meeting! Tzeentch is the master of change and pulls strings so that things work in his favor more of then not. Perhaps the meeting with the Inquisitor never happens, always being put off by the emergence of a new cult or a random event that requires either the character's attention or the Inquisitor's attention. I would not out of the question... Maybe something even interrupts the meeting itself, right before the process is complete?

Option 3) The Inquisitor is unable to grant the man's request! In-fact, he can't be found- at least for a while. He's gone off the radar, invoked special circumstance or is on another planet far far away. He can send someone to do the test instead- another Psyker. Perhaps that Psyker is less skilled- and won't find anything. Perhaps that Psyker is a secret cultist- and won't say even if he's found anything. Or perhaps, something goes wrong during the procedure and he is killed before he can say anything.

Option 4) Taint! The Psyker has been exposed to chaos- whether or not he's been infected by a daemon, his recent encounters have marked him under the influence! If he does not wait for it to dissipate, then there's only one outcome whether or the inquisitor finds evidence of possession. The consequences of this, if discovered, is generally death. Perhaps he should be reminded of this fact, after which he can decide whether or not to make up some bogus reason for wanting to meet the inquisitor.

Thanks for your suggestions, Saldre!

I forgot to mention above, the PC is not a Psyker (but as I understand the RH, the Demon Vessel Package is not limited to Psykers), and right now if he knew he carries a demon inside him he'd kill himself faster than you can spell exorcism, so I am really not going to blow the secret to the player

What skill would be used for detecting the demon, just out of interest? Psyniscience? Or is there a special Telepathy power?

Well, I'll be going for a mixture of option 1b) and 2), and toying around with the idea of camouflaging the demon's emerging powers with the faith talents the player is planning to buy once he's accumulated enough XP (yes, I'm trying to wear down this PC's faith and confidence in his own righteousness )

Thanks again for your input!

The Daemon Vessel package is pretty much taken from Ravenor, where no-one could detect the daemon though psychic means.

I'd say that the daemon vessel cannot be spotted unless the person looking for it is already looking for a daemon is someone.

Apologies- I must have been thinking about a Dark Pact. For the Daemon Vessel, the host simply sees to develop mutations.

However, checking out those rules out in the Core Rule Book (page 243) The mask of seeming implies you can detect corruption, warp taint and possession using divination (soul sight), telepathy (mind scan) and psyniscience.

If the fluff says you can't detect it in Ravenor, you can also go with that option. Though, between the both of us, those novels don't fit very well into the DH rules

On the other hand, whose to say that "no one detects it" in Ravenor doesn't translate into a rather difficult penalty instead of straight up negation.

Ah yes, I knew the Demon Vessel thingy felt somehow familiar - alas, poor Thonius...
But that demon was enormously powerful, I remember a scene where Carl uses his powers to destroy a young man in a gory and obvious fashion and Ravenor is sitting by, oblivious, one of the most powerful psykers of all times or what. I agree with SomVone that you'd have to know what you're looking for, but psi-screening after exposure to warp incursion might exactly do that. Ravernor didn't know that Thonius had looked into the corruped glass shard, but my inquisitor knows exactly what the akolythes have been fighting.

But well, as a servant of Tzeentch my demon might as well be slippery, cunning and able to avoid detection by constantly changing, me thinks.

Have any of you made experiences with the Demon Vessel package? Does it work, rulewise? I'm curious.

Ohh, ooh.... OOOH, Me like!

I have somehow missed this, such is the rewards of only skimming these lovely books. And now I know what t o do to my nasty Psyker , muhahahaha.

Thanks for this pointer, and thanks for the suggestion to let the player gain this ... reward ... without even knowing about it. Muhahahahahaaaa!

Glad to help @ Darth Smeg. Though I think you'll need to rewrite the Demon Vessel package a bit if you're intending to not let the player know about his predicament, atm the effects are fairly obvious. I'm still battling this problem, so if you are giving the matter some thought anyway, I'd be happy to share your ideas.

My first idea is, as mentioned, to camouflage the demonic power as Faith Talent (p. 100 Blood of Martyrs). The PC in question is an Arbitrator-Confessor and follower of the Cult of the Emperor Revenant, and the player intended to buy Faith Talents all along but I didn't let him till now. I remember one scene from Eisenhorn where Cherubael appears as pure white light. I was always fascinated by the seemingly innocent, chaste appearance of a Daemon, and it strikes me as particularly ironic that my oh-so-righteous-and-faithful-confessor should not only carry a demon but that also said demon shelters right under the light he seeks to spread.

Only a rough sketch though, need to read throught the Faith and Demon Vessel thingies again...