Hey GMs,

Was wondering if someone could help me out here. I need to think of a reason Tyranids would be led to attack a planet (going off of the 'mysterious circumstances' that the Inquisitor found out while investigating Lordsholm). Here's the skinny so far:

We're on a bridge between missions at the moment (just finished Final Sanction ), and the last event to happen was that the Kill-Team killed the Lordsholm Broodlord and exterminated the nest. I had planned to use the canned Final Oblivion last stand and extraction from Lordsholm, but they screwed the pooch on protecting the Astropath during the tower assault. I had decided that she only just started her astropathic message and nothing of note got out except maybe "Lordsholm + Tyranids = we nee- * astropath dies to a volley of grenades *.

So, I was thinking instead of a nearby Guard/Navy fleet showing up or receiving assistance from the Deathwatch, I would have a Rogue Trader pop into system with a small but capable fleet, and bargain with the surface/Kill-Team that he would provide assistance/extraction for VIPs in exchange for some help securing some 'personal belongings'. I have an idea for a future story arc that includes this Rogue Trader being a Xenos-tech dealer/gun-runner of sorts and I would love the chance for him to help the Kill-team before they find out. *The Kill-Team chose to skip over the Armoury/Storage Facility section of Lordsholm so I could place the artifact here or somewhere else on the planet that was kept a secret.*

So I need to come up with something that would be extremely valuable for a Rogue Trader may want to keep a secret, yet come retrieve once he gets word that it may be lost to him. I need that same object to possibly attract the Hive Fleet to this unassuming planet. Does that make sense?

TL;DR:

• What kind of artifact would attract a Tyranid Hive Fleet splinter?
• Should I have it placed in the Storage Facility near the Starport or have it placed somewhere else of note?
• Should the artifact be recognizable to the Kill-Team? (I'm thinking no, to keep intrigue.)
• I'm still planning on having a 'last stand' battle at the Starport… not sure if I should have the Trader intercede with his own specialized forces or not. The Kill-Team has plenty of PDF left over from the previous mission.

So, potential artifacts I can think of, feel free to add your own ideas … .

• A captured Tyranid Synapse (Zenothrope?) creature kept in containment found by the Genestealers when they infiltrated Lordsholm.
• An Eldar artifact of some sort that was smuggled for the Trader to pick up and nobody knows (including the Trader) that it works like a Tyranid beacon.
• A dormant C'Tan Shard? I haven't read much of the new Necron fluff but perhaps the energy could be detected by the 'Nids and they are attracted to it/need to destroy it?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

*A gene-sample one of the RTs servants managed to take of a purestrain genestealer. The RT has an illegal genetor lab on a nearby world, and he's looking at cloning and lobotomising purestrain genestealers in order to convert them into incredibly deadly Murder Servitors.

*The Negation Sphere. A smooth sphere that hurts the eyes to look upon. Auger scans will determine that the volume of the sphere appears to be (4*radius*pi^3)-1, breaching the commonly held laws of euclidian geometry. This sphere was designed by a lost, warp-tainted xenos race that were seeking a way to destroy the warp storms surrounding their homeworlds. The device, when activated, should calm the Sea of Souls in its region, allowing smooth and rapid warp transit. Sadly, as teh race that built the Negation Sphere discovered, it is also an irresistable lure for the Tyranid hive mind for some reason.

*Saint Ioan Kasserin. A patron saint of military strategists, Saint Kasserin was mortally wounded in the opening years of M37. His shattered body was placed within a stasis field and preserved inside the Bascilla of Light Incarnate on the planet Ghaisn in a nearby sector. When Ghasin was attacked by orks, the Ecclesiarchy evacuated their holy relics. Sadly, the ship that was carrying Saint Kasserins stasis pod was lost to the warp. The Rogue Trader has tracked the ships warp passage to this sector and is hunting down the simple, unadorned pod containing the living saint in order to buy a pardon for his many sins. During a recent encounter with a small tendril of Hive Fleet Dagon, the Rogue Trader lost a number of command staff to a creature that managed to infiltrate his vessel. The lictor consumed the minds of several of the higher level command crew before it was destroyed, and it managed to report back to the Hive Fleet a powerful strategist and military leader on a nearby world without understanding the deathy state of the Saint. The Hive Fleet's automatic response has been to find this individual and consume it, in order to gain whatever knowledge it has.

Wonderful ideas. I was actually hoping to have them fight a Lictor in the storage facility if possible, so the third idea sounds great to me. Thank you, sir!