Okay, first of, if you are Tim, Mick, Mats or Quinten in the Netherlands, stop reading. (I'm guessing there aren't more Dark Heresy groups in the Netherlands whose members have exactly the same names as mine…)

Okay, now to unveil some part of my evil plot. One of my player's main adversaries is a Radical Inquisitor. My player's know he's an Inquisitor, and that he's done some, well, Radical things, and see him as a villain, as they should. However, I intend to have this Inquisitor give the Acolytes some 'gifts' - of a Radical nature.

The largest problem I have is the Redemptionist cleric - at the moment I intend to, at some point, hand him a Daemon weapon, and put him in a situation where he'd be desperate enough to consider using it - but I don't quite know how to set up such a situation. I suppose I could find a way to just toss him, that weapon and a Daemon into a pit or something, but that seems a bit forced.

For the rest, I need some ideas for what to give them. Other then the redemptionist, there is a Psyker, an Assassin and a Techpriest in the party. I will probably hand the Psyker some dark tome (sent to his room, or found during an investigation with a note reading "To Solomon (the character's name), From A Friend" attached to it or something like that), and offer him the the sorcerer talent if he reads it, but I don't quite know what to tempt the Assassin and the Techpriest with. (The Techpriest has the Malgrysian Tech-Heresy background package, so maybe something related to that would be interesting).

So, any ideas how and with what to tempt these Acolytes to the path of the Radical?

Hi,

first and foremost FORGET ABOUT giving an -obvious- daemon weapon to the Redemptionist. He likely will "turn it in" or "get it lost" right from the start so your tempting moment will come without the weapon being nearby.

@The Firebrand
Give him a book about saints. One that helps him with "Faith Acts" (some bonus on this or that role on Common/Scholastic Lore (Imperial Creed). LATER, the Firebrand will learn from his studies that it contains passage he has never heared of in regular canon. Nothing like a "known heresy" but something HE has nevered heard of till now. Will he excuse himself with "the creed is vast, I do not know all of this" or will he try to find out…with the danger of getting branded for having used a heretical tome (IF it turns out to be a heresy).

@The Tech-Priest
Similiar game. Give him some very usefull device. Perhaps one from a regular equipment list. Some point later, it will break down and the Tech-Priest will want to repair his useful little toy. As he does…he notices that the interior functions are not really following the patterns he does know of. Will he research to find out that this is the product of the god-head "Innovation" and some heretec-tempering performed by traitor to Mars with a skill of at least a Tech-Priest? Or will he close his optical shutter to this and go on?

@The Assassine
Is this PC a "hired killer" or a "cult assassine"….?

Burning Heretic said:

--- MASSIVE TATTERED FATES SPOILER APPROACHING ---

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In my campaign at the end of Tattered Fates my PCs were fighting with the Widower after it had cut down the Beloved (i.e. a False Prohet of Pilgrims of Hayte). The Widower got rid of all opposing PCs, apart from the sniping Guardsman who came down from his balcony (after looting a few dead nobles "for the return flight from Quaddis", as he told the other players shaking their heads in disbelief), picked up the (Daemon) Sword of the (allegedly) slain Beloved, made his WP-test and cut the Widower in two pieces with Righteous (erm…) Fury. Well, he earned a few Corruption Points, dropped the smoking sword and lived to tell the tale. All this was without any intention on my side to tempt him somehow, but perhaps I should have elaborated a bit on this…

Maybe this can be used as an inspiration how to tmept your Redemptionist. Let an evil villain drop such a weapon and let this weapon be the allegedly only weapon to save a cathedral and its priesthood from marauding mutants…

First of all, Gregorius as always has some good ideas. I agree that you should be more subtle than to hand him a sword he won't use. I CAN see that happening if there's a situation where he and his cell will die unless he uses that weapon, but you will have to work out a good way to introduce it when they're at death's door and when it would make it possible to take down an unrepentant heretic who is taunting him at the same time. I always think of Eisenhorn's major step along the path to Radicalism when he summons the daemon-host to destroy a renegade Titan. These situations are VERY difficult to "plan" though because the players are so unpredictable. The Burning Heretic gave you a good example of the sort of antics your players will get up to on their own.

As for suggestions of my own, I agree that any sort of corruption needs to happen slowly, and will more than likely take the shape of showing the cell the power that they are giving up by staying Puritan. Show them how effective this so-called rival is, taking down an organization faster then the cell can imagine doing. Introduce a rival set of acolytes who work for the other guy, and make them pretty dang competent and friendly (they're not such bad guys… huh) and, again, good at their jobs possibly because of some shady tactics. Maybe they work with minor criminals to gain information. The idea is that corruption for Inquisitors usually comes down to wanting to be better at their jobs.

If you can get the idea in their head that, yeah, there is a lot of power to be had in "proscribed" technology, if you have the will to resist slipping further down. Of course, the Inquisiton has access to these cool toys because only THEY can be trusted with them. Lots of Inquisitors have been using this forbidden knowledge to good effect, right? Right? Your best best is to make it their choice. As in, work on the weak members of the cell, get their buy-in, and they will have conversations with Mr. Pointy Red Hat and let him know that he's too dang literal. I mean, he knows them and they're certainly not heretics, buddy.

Don't rush into it. Just make the other guys look like rock stars, and give them chances to take it up on their own. If the Radical builds some kind of rapport, maybe he can be more direct. Otherwise, perhaps he sends certain of these criminal elements into situations where they might get busted by your guys and just happen to possess these corrupting items. Maybe that tech priest will pick up Gregorius' subtly "wrong" device when nobody else is around and pocket it for later study.

You could go down a route of a single external supply of useful items that gradually offers them more and more.

Say someone they meet on their investigations finds out who they are and what they do. Say this guy is a rich noble with 'good intentions' who offers to help them. He has more thrones than he knows what to do with, why doesn't he help them cover the costs of their work. They get shiny new toys, he gets the warm fuzzy feeling of helping with the Emperor's holy work. Later, without being asked, he supplies the PCs with gifts. There is nothing wrong wtih them, they just weren't asked for. A gun that works slightly better than the one the assassin is using right now, say. I expect they will get used to having a rich patron that helps them out no matter what they are up to (you could call him Charlie…).

Then he starts giving them stuff that is a little too effective. In terms of the daemon weapon I would have a look at some of the options that are available in Black Crusade. I'm pretty sure you could create a weapon that wasn't obviously bad, or perhaps only reveals its true nature under certain circumstances.

If you want to make it obvious maybe have this Radical Inquisitor come to the group and say they he has gotten this item that he knows is a deamon weapon. He recognises that there are some things that mortals just shouldn't mess with BUT he also has been unable to destroy it. He is worried that if it goes to the Inquisition's vaults someone will foolishly try to use it - perhaps in a thousand years when its true nature has been forgotten. He has therefore sought out the purest acolytes he could find in order that they might keep vigil over it until something more permanent can be done.

All at once your 'enemy' looks less bad and gets to hand them something they know is bad. Then once they have it and have to carry it everywherethe temptation to use it will grow and grow.

For the psyker I would suggest a force weapon. It doesn't matter who they are every psyker I have ever seen played wants one. Later let them discover that it is actually an Eldar force weapon. If they are properly puritan that should disgust him - but it has been so useful for a while…

Again, probably need a little more detail about the assassin. One idea I did have was for a headset auspex/HUD that gave a bonus to nightvision/aiming etc. but once in a while flashes up heretical images just for a fraction of second (like in Fight Club for example). Only once his brain has processed the image a number of times will he begin to realise it is happening. WIll it be too late by then? Will he be too scared of their reaction to tell the others? As soon as one of them keeps a secret about one of these items you have got them.

Alright, some good ideas here, thanks. Yes, making things not obviously heretical at first is a great idea - especially if they've already been ever so helpfull by the time the acolytes find out…

I already have some ideas of where to put some of these things…

The Redemptionist will still be the hardest to corrupt - but, that will make an eventual success all the sweeter, won't it…? Hahahaha.

(I don't intend to force anything on my players, of course - I just want the temptation for "easy" power to be there…)

Oh, and about the assassin, he's not a cult assassin - you've already given me plenty to work with though, I'm sure I can come up with something interesting now.