Last gamesession we found a planet in a region of lost imperial space, in Segmentum Tempestus.

On a deathworld we found ancient religious constructs dedicated to emperor worship. We've marked 4 of them as 'cathedrals' of sorts and decided they should be first on our list of investigations.

In the first one our Deathcultist found a series of catacombs where the bodies of long dead priests had been interred. In a central room he found a sarcophacus, on which he found a vaguely discernible name. When he reported this name over the vox, my hierophant recognized it as the name of a long lost Imperial Saint.

I went down to investigate and once we opened the thing it turned out to contain the bones of the dead saint as well as a pristine power-armor from way back in ye olden days, and one of the lost daemonhammers of the Angevin Crusade.

Naturally I got on our lander's vox and ordered our rogue-trader (guy who gives us rides) to immediately send out an order of the highest priority, calling on the adeptus ministorum to send a missionary fleet and immediately declare the world a Shrine World. They're due to arrive in a week.

Here's where things get interesting. My GM tells me that my character (we're all from the calixis sector mind you) believes this saint should be returned to calixis (since he was lost during the Drussian times, fighting to bring calixis under imperial control). Also he's told me that my character firmly feels, without a shadow of a doubt, that the Emprah gave him the Daemonhammer, and that it is his and no other's right to wield it, while my hierophant yet lives.

We get a message from the local ministorum, signed by Arch-Cardinal Ignato of the calixis sector (who I actually have as a contact and old friend), telling us that we are not to remove the sarcophacus.

This made me and my Inquisitor (who was himself a cleric before turning witchhunter) a bit uneasy.

Were these really the wishes of the Calixian synod? Or were they forgeries of the local ministorum, not wanting us to claim the glory of this find for the calixis synod?

Should we leave the sarcophacus, place the remains in stasis and bring them straight back to calixis, or should we wait for the missionary fleet, while we investigate the remaining cathedrals?

What do you guys think we should do?

Scavenge what we can and head for calixis, risking the ire of the local ministorum, but securing great praise in our hometurf?

Wait patiently and hope that everything sorts itself out and that no foul play is brewing?

Prepare to make for calixis, guns blazing if it turns out to be a power-grab from the local ministorum?

I am still very new to the hierophant and would like to know how you guys view our situation. Also on a scale from one to OMGWTFPRAISETEHEMPRAH, how important is this find?

As always, your input is very much appreciated.

-Nearyn

First of all, what? I don't get how a Daemonhammer from the Angevin Crusade, which happened in Segmentum Obscuras [which is literally on the other side of the galaxy in relation to Tempestus] wound up half way across the galaxy. The other thing is, how and why are you, a lowly group of acolytes, half way across the galaxy as well?

But the obvious answer to your question: Hit something with it. Preferably a bad guy, but not necessarily. You could squish a half-way bad guy instead.

well... the location you name are a bit 'off' as was stated previously, but if we let that slide, the following:

1. finding a saint: BIG DEAL ministorums will go OVER EACHOTHERS DEAD BODIES to retrieve it, so its very safe to assume that its a forgery, although if you're wrong then you're screwed. In short try to contact the Cardinal more directly through an astropath (small chance) to verify. Note that this might take a while and that might also be your first clue: how fast did that local ministorum respond?? Could they actually have had contact with the Calaxis sector in the period of time between your 'heads' up and their response??

2. your character 'feeling that the emprah gave it to the saint and no one else and thus is for no one else to wield' is... to say the least: misguided. There are numerous stories also known to you Hierophant about hero's accross the empire that wield weapons of saints. The matter in question is always that it can only be wielded by someone 'worthy' the latter is always decided by a nice mix of Prowess and Politics. What you do know without a shadow of doubt is that the Emprah created weapons to defeat the enemies of the Empire NOT to be buried together with its original wielder. Dito the power armour.

Is my guess correct that you are ascended characters? and that your inquisitor is with you? This makes it a bit more interesting as a local ministerum would then choose to go directly up against an Inquisitor... which I would not expect them to do very quickly unless see 1 AND the inquisitor currently wields 'little' power (in other words, how big is his influence??)

One thing you can do to play it more safe is to check if there is any navy around and ask for their 'assistence', this can however turn into a nice 'pickle' of politics

good luck!

DJSunhammer said:

I wondered that myself actually. But I believe what my GM is going for here is that, since the saint just up and vanished, and his hammer with him, we're dealing with a Warp-jump gone horribly wrong or something along those lines. But I don't know for certain.

DJSunhammer said:

Ahh the days of being an acolyte (Nostalgia).... but no, not acolytes any longer my friend, Ascended Characters. And we're on a pretty long chase across the galaxy, searching for the organization called the Serrated Query. Our leads have so far taken us into tempestus, where we happened upon this deathworld. I'll not go into details but circumstances made us visit the surface, where we discovered the remains of imperial buildings, mentioned in the opening post.

wolph42 said:

Very good point. I'll make sure to verify this with the other, more tech-savvy people we've got with us. And if time permits, take direct contact to the Calixian Synod. Until that time I'll assume foul play, since you make a logical case for why my character should think so. My Hierophant got near-saint status with the bolter *******, so I think I might send a message to Ophelia VII.

wolph42 said:

Ah! This is just me, failing to properly write what I was trying to convey. The person who my Hierophant believe the Emprah wants to wield the hammer is himself. I am to wield the hammer, and noone else, while I yet live. Though I was not the one who found the sarcophacus, I was the one to verify that the one inside was a saint, and the first to gaze upon him for a very very long time. Also I was the first to speak the words of the Emperor over him for as long a time. In response, my GM said that my character knows in his heart, that the Emperor meant for him(my hierophant) to wield this daemonhammer of a lost saint. No such feelings on the power-armor though

wolph42 said:

You are correct sir. Actually the message from we got from the local ecclesiarchy specifically stated that "Under no condition was I permitted to relinquish these relics into the hands of the inquisition", which my Hierophant took with a grain of salt seeing as there is no person in this sector who has higher standing with the church than he does, (with the hierophant, in the great scheme of the Ecclesiarchal hierarchy, being just beneath the saints, who are beneath the Ecclesiarch himself, who is beneath the Emperor) so naturally they can stick their 'order' where the sun don't shine.

Also yes, our Inquisitor IS with us and our influence at this point is 48. (Note that we have not been given influence in accordance with the system guidelines of 1inf to every 1000exp,) Experience wise we are quite a bit higher than 48inf would suggest.

Also the Navy idea is good. I think in general I will prepare for a bit of political power-stuggling and call on: "whomever will come to the banner of the Emperor's messenger"

Why is your GM telling you what your character thinks?

bogi_khaosa said:

Potentially because it is integral to the plot. I have 'given' characters dreams before and told them explicitly what has happened in them. This is not a case of a GM wanting control, more the chance to put something across that the player would not otherwise know of . This then allows the player to act on that feeling/thought/dream from an RP point of view. Its also much more fun when its done in secret....