Afternoon Chaps.

Gregorius, Saldre and Darth Smeg, I've been writing a campaign that I HAVE to put up for others to see. Think the tiny good bits of Shattered Hope (being underground, mostly) combined with At the Mountains of Madness and Quatermass and the Pit. The result? …mayhap, Pure terror…? I'll finish and playtest it some point soon.

But what I really came to discuss… My players are pretty Dangerous, now. Really, quite dangerous indeed. I'm thinking… I think it's time they played Maggots in the Meat .

I'm having real trouble getting round to a Chaos storyline, so I thought a Feudal World with some Aliens of the Cthulhu-stoked variety would suffice. Don't you agree? But, it's obvious that changes need to be made to the opposition. The addition of modern-armed mercs for the Baron Faltrish, tougher musketmen, smeed and Smoot actually being DANGEROUS (Booby traps, for example) dangerous Xenos pets, and The Prince of Olrukan allowing an Audience with the Acolytes (if they swing their status around) and perhaps…

A longer campaign than it suggests! The Slaugth escape into Olrukan! The Acolytes must hunt them down! I don't see how the Slaugth could find out about thje Acolytes but one must assume rumours. Perhaps the Battle began when a sign from the emperor was seen (The Slaugth ship crash-landing into the swamp) made both sides open up the hostilities, or that the Slaugth's connectees, the Alamarthine Syndicate, are at work…

Emperor Island - As the Campaign with opponents made tougher (more wounds, more skills, more prickish)

Olrukan and the cannon barges - unchanged… it's a good test of the Player's nerve.

The investigation & Occurances - if they investigate at night, they'll fight one/a pack of the Creatures… or watch them drag a hapless victim off to the Sky-mill. Make the Xenos pets look like Brown Jenkin. Otherwise… the same?

The Mill - knowing my players, they'll take an injury, flee, take their firebombs and burn it to the ground. The Slaugth use their cloaks to glide away, back to Olrukan or to some location, like their downed ship, awaiting pickup or something. Hell I could get the Logicians acting alongside for sh*ts and giggles! (probably trying to Hunt the Slaugth down, knowing the Churgeon…)

I'll likely be starting this on Sunday. For Rank 4's they're pretty Badass, and I don't think I have time to obtain 'Purge the unclean'… Let's therefore make Maggots in the Meat pure Awesomesauce, or else I'll have to run it 'by the book' with tiny, tiny mods.

"You summoned me…?"

*reads* thanks for the information, I will love to see your material put up…but even if you did not asked for anything…

The blockade
I would suggest to make it a REAL blockade, instead. But a certain ship is allowed free passage… a very small ship that carries a ranking priest of the Ecclesiarchy so he can talk to the local members of the Ministorum, bring THEM some provisions and is ready to take them with him if things get nasty & the clergy decided to leave. The PC could either try to negotiate a passage with the Priest (even if he knows that they are Inquisition he is reluctant to allow this abuse of his free passage as he sees himself honour bound) or could try to sneak themselves onboard.

Wow! My Summoning Engine! It worked! *Cackles Manically*

I know you didn't ask dude, but I thought I'd share - a friend introduced me to Quatermass and since he wanted to try Dark Heresy, I thought it only fitting. Ancient things in ther Deep, dark mines… I love it.

The blockade
So, as in, NO ships are allowed through? Ah.

I always felt it was an interesting test of Nerve though…well the moment cannons turn most PCs will get twitchy and start blasting musketmen, because killing people pointlessly is what they like to do.

So what your saying, is that a single ship carry a priest and some provisions is on a rescue mission to the city, to pick up Ministorum clerks? and the Acolytes must convince the priest to let them be taken along? (or sneak aboard, obviously.)

OR, They could take the normal route as suggested, but the Blockade is a 'surprise'? and they actually will need a fight to get into the city? (Ie. there's no paid passage, the Blockade has appeared as part of the Baroness's final offensive.) The ship they're on comes under fire, and tries to turn round, so they must swim? or take a boat? (with the priest?)

THE 'CASTLE' - I personally think there should be more to the prince Orcan's castle thing on the hill. Perhaps Orcan called the Imperials? He's worried about the attacks, but the Baroness started her final push for his land, and he forgot (as it takes a month or two for the Inquisition to get Wind and Respond?) This would give the war more meaning, and make him a little less caring of the Acolytes Job as all his people are dying of Starvation and Musketfire rather than the 'random' attacks now.

Post Skymill -the Slaugth are gonna be tough, but knowing my Acolytes they'll burn the Sky-mill down. This would be an unfitting end, so perhaps a slaugth should slip into this city?

It's difficult, because I don't know how the slaugth got to the planet, never mind trying to leave…Chasing the Slaugth through Murky, misty Swamps sounds cool, or into Caves, or onto Dark Swamp Islands?

Hi Jean

Jeans_Stealer said:

I am sorry, I got my sentence wrong. I wanted to say "Sorry for spamming your topic with unrequested ideas of mine about blockades, I know that YOU (Jeanstealer) did not asked for it) But since it seems to be welcome…


The blockade was something that annoyed me in the adventure. What is the point of a sea blockade if EVERYONE is obviously allowed through?

[The Ministorum Ship]
I guess that none of the parties involved in this civil war want to annoy THE IMPERIUM and so the local Ministorum clergy (they are ADEPTA, after all!) will have demanded special rights and "untouchable status" in exchange for being neutral in the conflict.;
The PC will either need social skills to convince the Priest to break his word of honour and thereby endanger his colleagues (I would say +10…or +20, the PC do represent the Inquisition, after all)

Alternately, the PC could try to sneak onboard the ship. This should be a routine(+20) affair (Silent Move and Concealment later on) but should have the difficulty increased if the the tried to negotiate a first passage.(and failed).

[WE ARE THE INQUISITION!]
If push comes to shove, the PC can always demand a free passage..but this information would spread within a a day and would give the Slaught a good warning (and the GM an excuse to trump up some additional constructs and additional bonus to Awareness tests

[Andrew Demerth & the wailing Berta]
An ex-IG with a fast hovercraft lives on Emperors Island; Andrew Dammerth & the wailing Berta. He used to bring people over to Olrankan if they paid the price but know the old guy is not making any money and spends his remaining coin on cheap booth (the PC might meet him in a seedy bar, he sticks out for still wearing the almost complete guard uniform of his forma regiment. The PC could hire him as blockade breaker, bringing them through…but this will need some thrones or some very good appeal to him being a reckless guardsman "oh…did not thought that one of the 24th would be afraid of some primitives with blackpowder weapons"

If you plant two or three "offworld merc sharpshooters" on each gun barke you could have a "running long range firefight" for 10 to 15 rounds as the the "wailing Berta" breaks through between the larger ships, only the LongLas of the off-world mercs in range …going for the hovercraft and the PC need to fire at them to disencourage such (or even pick them of with sniperfire of their own…from a fast moving hovercraft…)

[Through the swamps]
Of course the PC could hire someone with a fisher boat to bring them to the swamps near the city and then try to sneak in by foot…diving in through the harbour later. They would need to bypass both the siege troops AND the plumes guarding the harbour, so!

[black Market]
Clever Inquiry will point the PC to a local merchant buying foodstuff and wine on Emperors island…and sailing with them elswhere… but returning each day (or each other day). The merchant knows the Captain of the Blockade fleet and gives him a share of his black market gains for an allowance to get food and wine insde. These are for the family and household of Prince Olrankan and the officers of the Plumes…the Harbour guards know about the arrangement but keep it a secret to the wider body of armsmen and the populace of the city.

This should provide enough different options so that PC will find ONE way to get into town

[The Prince of Olrankan]
Hmm… how to involve the highborn into this…? Since he is a planetary noble on a backwater feudal world I would not make him "running for the Inquisition" if something minor happens. Life s brutal, people get killed, I do not think that he might have called for anything.

Of course, it would be clever by the PC to inform the Prince to get support from the Plumes (sooner or later) or least to ensure that they are not messed with or released immediately.

If you want to involve him…how about him "playing things down"? He is PRINCE, not KING. I guess he was somehow entrusted with the city and does not want to look like he would have no control over the matters. Especially not with all this rumours about monsters from the swamps and witches…he would have reason to be afraid of the Inquisition starting some witch-hunt, burning down his town in the process. If you want to link him to the slaught, these fears could be fuelled by an off-world advisor that is still with him…one merchant Emissary normally selling guns and ammo to his Plumes …a merchant Emissary belonging to a Captain whom belongs to a certain syndicate…

[The Slaught on the Planet]
The slaught might to be the reason for the forma cult in the swamps…but might have used the legends and the shunned place as a basis of operations after the AS brought them planetside. The fact that this war errupted was concidence and has nothing to do with the Slaught…this was just a small operation of a couple of slaught harvesting bodies and eating brains…producing constructs to be shipped elsewhere (the Captain selling guns to the plumes makes a regular drop by into the swamps to get the constructs). The war now leads to great opportunities for the slaught. …but it is still a local operation, not real world domination scheme or such.

[smeeth & Smoot]
They worship the Slaught as "Dark Goods" and thing they worship chaos as they harvest bodies for the Slaught. They are not afraid, they (and their family) are fanatics. It is not about "missing bodies" in this mission but about "strange deaths" that occured even before the war. Smeet and Smoot conduct "regular business" in gather corpses ("bring out your dead!"). As the PC inquer the death, they are pointed to "the corpse collectors" since they handled the corpses afterward and might remember.

As soon as the PC show up and ask questions Smeet & Smoot think they are uncovered and turn on the PC…unleashing the "pets" their masters left with them …

Our discussions are always helpful. The Campaign for the Angelus Carbine goes well!

Regarding: The Blockade
Genius! That is how I will overcome that: With several of those options, combined with the RECENT and SUDDEN news that the Baroness's final Siege has begun and the blockade is ON LIKE DONKEY KONG and has been for. The Acolytes will be forced to think on their feet. I especially like the airboat option.

Regarding: The Prince
Agreed, some backwater snooty is not going to have called the inquisition. Him trying to 'play down' the rumours to these outsiders sounds very fun, especially as I can see my players dragging a Slaugth corpse back to his chambers (probably a bit toasty after they burnt down the Sky-mill.)

Regarding: Post Sky-Mill Battle
The PCs (and several plumes if they convince the Prince) have to hunt down the Remaining Escaped Slaugth (if one/several escape) in the woods as the final night battle for Olrankan happens? I'm starting to like Crashed-ship (the fireball of it's descent caused the Baroness to foolishly think she should start the war on Olrankan.) The Slaugth made an emergency landing after being chased by an unknown ship and badly damaged, and cannot repair their vessel… but the War on Olrankan was a good place to sit tight, and wait for possible extraction…

I think I need to keep the players on track against the Logicians, not add the AS into it. They really, really hate the Churgeon and Cord Luntz with a passion.

Regarding: Smeed and Smoot
Making these 'Steptoe & Son'-like gits tougher is a good start, but it should be about the Constructs, you're right. Convinced they're Chaos Worshippers? Humm. The fact that they're grave-diggers and Body Disposal, and an opportunity for riches has appeared? humm.

Another Alternative to tracking the footprints (which PC takes tracking, anyway?) is to actually spot Smeed & Smoot Taking corpses from a street battle that's already happened in the middle of the night, or something of their body-thieving nature.

Making them absolute weeklings is another alternative! The Xenos pets/contructs attack during the questioning, antd they Try to kill smeed and Smoot! The Acolytes must protect them!

@Body thieves
This "body thief" element is another thinig of the adventure I consider "bad style". Let´s face it: in a city under siege somebody NEEDS to take the bodies of the street. If the would left their to rott, plague and famine would come to claim the populace and one does not want to slumb the bodies into the water either.

I thereby suppose Smeet & Smoot to be "regular body haulers"; one of a class of people in the city whom collect the corpses and bring them to a certain "dumping ground" (perhaps a large crypt or something)….with the exception that they DO NOT but give them to the Slaught. The "they thing themselves to be chaos worshippers" is just a little add in to confuse the players. No mandatory, of course.

Making the two tuffer is hard unless them with Slaught weapons..which you should not. You do not want slaught weapons to be "healthy to use" in the hands of humans, otherwise your PC will cash in as many as possible.

@Foot Prints & Blood
To me, this was another laughable point of the "adventure". Odd splots and splashes of blood on the streets of a city where CANON BALLS fly in over the walls? Oh really? If you ask me, nobody will take notice off such things under that circumstances. If such things started before the war (which I guess they did), PC will able to inquire and might be pointed towards "the body snatchers" during their inquiry ("Ask them, they handled the bodies last and will for sure be able to tell you more about them").

Great balls of fire
While I get your point with this, I would advise against it. If you establish this there is a HIGH chance of the PC completely ignoring the vents in the city, headiing straight to "the crash sight". Never ever facing the monstrs in the sky mill. This does not mean that their is no crashed ship…but it will not have come down as a visible ball of fire.

Regarding: Body Thieves
Absolutely right. I would have left it like this had you not discussed it. Yeah, I will direct the players to "Corpse Management" when they inquire about the bodies. But Smeed and Smoot: Don't make them any different! leave them as is, have them weak and feeble… and the Constructs come to kill them when the Acolytes appear, asking about the bodies. The Acolytes must protect them! This will be beautiful with my group…

Humm… so the changes… It Turns out that, as you say, Smeed and Smoot haven't been disposing of bodies they way they should have. They ran out of space / Furnace fuel, and have been dumping the bodies in a pit by the Old Sky-Mill in the middle of the night. While there on their third dumping mission, something spoke to them, in broken, squealing rasps out of the darkness, in the voices of many people in pain… speaking of a bargin - the bodies for trinkets.

If Smeed and Smoot are the Dead-collectors, then they must loot those dead as soon as they get them…? unless they only get the stipped bodies from the garrison & locals, in which case their's only the pay for collection and nothing else. This deal with the Slaugth
I'll assume that they get bodies to destroy/remove. But the Trinkets and Items they get from the Slaugth are from the Bodies the Construct Attacks bring back? I think it best that the constructs drag the corpses off to the Sky-Mill, and the trinkets are left by the Slaugth in exchange for MORE Bodies.

Slaugth are in a Win-Win situation.

This Chaos Worshipper thing now makes them feel guilty, as they agreed to the deal in fear for their lives, and fear they're corrupted… (which they are, as they shouldn't speak to the Alien…) They'll spill this last part, and knowing my players… KABOOM NO HEAD

Regarding: Footprints & Blood
Agreed! They can still find out that the attacks happened near the wall, and that one of the plumes can direct them to a 'survivor' (An ex-plume missing his legs, who's being tended to in a Makeshift Alms house) but the survivor can only tell them that it was like a big wolf or dog, and didn't really see it (but it left him for dead and dragged off his comrade or something) but he knew where he was when he was attacked (this might not work, as why would the creature leave someone alive? it'd just carry two bodies off…) Perhaps it was a Hobo? The Hobo, watching Crazy things from the Shadows?

Regarding: Alerting the Slaugth
Are they monitoring the Port Authority's Radio Transmissions or something? Or is it Rumour and Hearsay? Smeed & Smoot passing the Info on? Wierd that.

Regarding: Great Balls of Fire
Agreed! You got it right there. They will just look for a crash site, I didn't think of that. Cheers dude.
Okay so no fireball crash, but I still like the idea of a crashed ship in the swamps that any Escaping Slaugth try to escape back to (and get hunted down either on the way or there, most likely…) so I might keep this… perhaps, if they roll well on some inquiry somewhere, they find out that… a new star flickered for a moment in the sky, many weeks ago? Something tiny. Something Minor. Something they won't think about… A crazy man in the street yelling about a star? (My players know nothing of the Tyrantine Cabal or the Komus Star…)

I think I'm getting somewhere. Does it sound like I am?

Regarding: The survivor
What if suddenly more Plumes showed up, opening fire on the shadow in the dark? If the construct was "programmed" to disappear if too many eyes start to show up, this could explain why the one plume was able to escape with his life (sans one limb).

Regarding: The deal with the devils
Yep, this is a tricky one indeed. What if their is NO DEAL at all? Image this…the Slaught Infiltrators moved into the warehouse where Smeed & Smoot store the corpses BEFORE they…dispose of them. The Infiltrator broke in…but got caught by Smeedt & Smood. But the Slaught and his constructs changed plan: instead of just robbing corpses or getting a quick feast on brains they scared the **** out of smeed and smoot. If both have family living in the building, the constructs could be "guards to the hostages" which would turn Smeed & Smoot into desperate people working under immense pressure..knowing that if they slip there family will end up as food to these…daemonic things

Regarding: Constructs and Killings in the streets
What if the Slaught found out that they could improve their logistics if they do not have to create constructs that are big enough to carry dead bodies? They started with this, but saw the emminent danger of getting spotted. Then, they started to just build smaller "kill beasts" and planned to simply rob the warehouse of the corpse collectors each night after the dead…and refined the plan even further after the stumbled upon Smeed & Smoot? They needed to refine the plan "on the fly". After all, they first needed brains to understand how this society works and THEN could start to form a better plan.
Now, Smeet and Smoot dump the corpses at the Sky Mill at night. The dead bodies that were killed a night before as the kill-beasts did their job.

Regardin: Link to the crash site
This could become tricky….what will lead the PC to the site. Perhaps the Sky-Mill includes some early and crude killer-constructs. Some really close to the original material. Or even better…the constructs DO show that they are "Frankenstein Patchwork" (the lab at the ship is not THAT good) and if this "patch work" is examined closer and for a longer time (a couple of days) one will be able identify some local beast (predatory or not) that can be found "in the bedamned swamp; the witch-place where this cult once reigned"


EDIT: Another clue might be the "voice device". Perhaps the voice use a local dialect. If described to the Plumes or some other local people they might be able to point out that this dialect is spoken "among the swampers". (the slaught killed a small swamp village to "feed" their voice devices with local data samples)

Regarding: The survivor
PERFECT (10 points to you sir!) This WILL happen. (I was writing a campaign based entirely around such an incident…)

Regarding: The deal with the devils
This is a good idea too! It puts a different face on Smeed & Smoot. I'm tempted to stick with the pressure of "accept this deal in the night or die horribly now" but the sword of Damocles hanging over their family is a really evil twist. One of the beasts hides in the furnace, the other lives in the dog-pen in the backyard, in the space between the Corpse-building and the Smeed/Smoot hovel. Perhaps Smeed & Smoot find out that the Constructs have attacked… when they hear the screams of their family being torn apart as the Acolytes are interrogating them.

Regarding: Constructs and Killings in the streets
I thought about this, but Smeed and Smoot would loot the bodies before the Slaugth ever saw them. It works, however, if their families are under threat, as the Slaugth don't care about the items… and this is something Smeed & Smoot find really strange.

Regarding: Link to the crash site
I just felt that once my players beat 1 or 2 of the Slaugth, they would leap from the Sky-mill, change into basic flying/gliding wings, and their dark forms would head off for the swamp, north of/south of/away from the Skymill. Once the players investigated the Swamp, they would come accross the downed vessel (or it's impact scar, which would lead them to the downed ship.) Once there, they would find the ship (probably transmitting a distress signal…) And the final Slaugth would attack out of the mist.

The voice Device Idea sounds cool though, but it'll be powered by Human-dehabilitating Technology… this could be impossible to fathom for my players though, they're not the Subtle type…

Regarding: Constructs and Killings in the streets
Perhaps like you say, the constructs originally couldn't carry people away, but now they can. The extra material supplied by Smeed & Smoot has allowed them to create larger and more deadly creations from the Human parts, medically altered and mutated into their fiendish constructs. The 'threat to your family' and 'bodies for trinkets' angles can both be played this way (as at first they did have to break into the Smeed & Smoot Body Store.)

These constructs… will 4 players mince through 12 constructs and 3 Slaugth at lvl 4? Depends how hard I make the constructs, I suppose, but these constructs have got to be good night hunters and killers of plumes/people/unsuspecting Baroness musketmen. I would say… it suits the story, throw the constructs at them…

Regarding: Post-Skymill
Just a thought: As the Players Head off into the Swamps, the final major battle for Olrankan begins, the Baroness going for the final push. The players can hear the battle occuring in the background as they hunt through the Marshland, unsure of Wether Prince Orcan will be in Charge when they return…

Oh Also… The downed ship is not imperial. The Slaugth have their own vessels, right? Well if they didn't, they do now. Slaugth 'upgrades'.

Regarding: Some sturdy constructs to fight
What are your players again and what will be at their disposal at this mission? I will gladly try to help in brewing up some construct…but I guess next week

WARNING!: "..and on to the swamps"
There is a SIEGE going on, you remember? After entering the city, the PC cannot simply "venture to the swamps". But this is not a total game-killer. It just calls for some scenes and ideas for getting out of the city in one piece

Slaught Vessels & Flyers
I am not sure. They are able to build some planet-bound fliers (see "Dead Stars") but if I am not sure if they have their own voidships. But if you want one, they have one.

Regarindg: the Slaught Escape
Personally, I would not allow them to form „wings“ of any kind. It just turns them to much into shape changers. The are a mass of writhing worms, after all, not able to form membranes or such.
But flight is a very good idea, it explains why they are here and even explains the sky mill. How about the equivalent of a large hover disk? I would even use non-biological devices, flat and seemingly made of tarnished copper. The Slaught would only use it at night (dark sky & not to many people looking up anyway).

Regarding: Acolythes heading to the swamps
First and foremost, the Acolythes could try to use a guise of Priests (or the support of the local priests) to gain free passage in leaving the citiy.

If they use “white flags” and identify themselves as Inquisition the forces of the Baroness will leave them be and eve might hand them a hand full of musketmen (depending on their success on a social skill/Fellowship test). If the test is failed, the Acolythes are simply delayed (which gives the Slaught more time to prepare themselves).

Of course, they can try to sneak past the forces of the Baroness at night…if the Plumes/the Prince allows them to leave the city. Otherwise, they will need to sneak past both of them

Regarding: the Slaught Escape
I think I'm going to disagree with you on this one - I'm not talking about becoming 'Birds' though, more like 'Living Parachutes' as their Shroud cloak can help with this, forming a parachute-like membrane. They are Shapeshifters, though? They can flatten and stretch their body. I'm thinking like flying Squirrels. That's what it said in the campaign book. (they are so fr*kk*n horrible it is unreal…)

The Flying-disc Tech sounds like a good Add-on - They Have a Wierd metallic disc that turns into a small glider. I just need enough for them to get off the mill and glide/survive to the ground… and make their escape (in a river, out of the walls, toward the swamp… Hell they can squeeze through a portcullis according to the book. otherwise they have to glide from the mill over the city wall! this is too much, and way too much like the wonder-twins.)

HA! Imagine if the Acolytes went into the Sky-mill at night! Sh*t-scary! They wouldn't, they're the kind of guys that understand that night-fighting is BAD. The (Remaining) Slaugth will fly as far as possible at night, potentially disappearing entirely (bad news!) so I need to think of a way to let the Acolytes know - HEY WE'RE IN THE SWAMP. they don't have a Vox to collect the Slaugth signal… Ooooo a beam of light into the Sky? No that's cheesy, and it would have been spotted by now. erm… humm.

OOooo OOO Map in the Skymill, painted on the wall in blood, indicating the position in the swamp compared to the Skymill. one of my players has total recall - he'll just record the marker in his mind and indicate it on a local Map! either that or they find a locator in the Slaugth's equipment that indicates the direction of the slaugth ship (takes a (+20) toughness test to use, falling by 10 every round it's active. failure indicates gaining a level of fatigue.)

Regarding: Acolytes heading to the swamps
Those are good options. I might just have to ride with what my Acolytes try… And be amiable about it, as if the plumes stand in their way, My Acolytes with probably murder them. Time for coded signifiers, indicating their Acolyte status. that should fool/convince some backwater feudals.

The prince will likely let them if they drag a Slaugth body back to the palace… which I know one of my players is Won't to do.

Regarding: Some sturdy constructs to fight
Lol Thanks to you I've been getting better at Bads - your Metallican Gunslingers have scared the pants off the Acolytes - they're hard! OH NOES I'll think of a good "Brown-Jenkin-esque" beastie and creep them out. Or Orangutans with Bald, flaky skin. heheheheheheheeee

WARNING!: "..and on to the swamps"
GAH Bugger you're right. The Skymill is in the city, inside the walls… It's not a game killer. The only place I can see a half-submerged Slaugth escape pod is in the swamps, so it'll have to be so… They're not exactly going to have Crash-landed inside the city…

Slaught Vessels & Flyers
They Shall have an escape shuttle! Their mothership is dead. Or Dormant…

Jeans_Stealer said:

Not really. If you read their abilitis in this regard you will recognize that they are the same as for a "swarm creature". And that is what comes closest to them (at least, if you ask me). A "gestalt worm creature" emulating a humanoid form (for whatever reason). Compare to the entry for the Biomancy Shape changing. Reads quiet different, doesn´t it? The Slaught might be very much like clay or putty or a blobb…but they are NOT shape changers who can morph into this or that.

Anyway, if you want them to have such CLOAKS, I say "go for it!". It was written that they have all kind of special pseudo-bio-equipment doing …stuff. So, why not adding limitied flight/gliding to the list. Go-go, Fly-Cloak!

GAH you're just too good, man! Gestalt Maggot entities… that's what they are, not polymorphs.

…BUT With the Shroud-cloak assisting, They WILL be able to make themselves into Parachutes, at least. The Skymill is alone, to the north, facing the Swamplands. If it's an especially trecherous marshland, the Baroness's troops won't have many patrols… and the north gate is therefore not heavily defended. Their escape will be similar to the T-1000 squeezing through the Bars, I can see it now… heheheheheheheheheeeeeee

Have a read of the Shroud Cloak entry - a useful piece of kit that helps them to hide and ALMOST pass for humans…

So.

Emperor's Island - done

The Wharf and entry to the city - Done

The Investigation - Done

The Prince - done

Smeed & Smoot - Done

The Constructs - Done (One Strong, orangutan type, one small, predator type)

The Skymill - Done

Post-Skymill - Done

This will be one fecking Scary Campaign… 27 wounds, TB10… and a SKYMILL FILLED WITH CORPSES

Sorry for being late to the party.

Some comments, after having skimmed the whole thread.

Jeans_stealer said:

While there on their third dumping mission, something spoke to them, in broken, squealing rasps out of the darkness, in the voices of many people in pain… speaking of a bargin - the bodies for trinkets.

The "deal" with the corpse collectors could have started out simply by the lads finding gadgets and loot where they dumped the corpses last time. The bodies are gone, but some loot is left in it's place. They certainly aren't going to raise alarms, as doing so would involve explaining why they were dumping bodies there in the first place. And the bodies disappearing are just an added bonus to the free gadgets. Don't ask, don't tell. The Slaught may or may not have "formalized" this working arrangement later, but of course at that time it would be too late to complain

As for the Slaught, they are some mean sonomabitches! As statted up in Disciples of the Dark Gods, they are much harder to kill than the ones in the GMs Kit (especially for Psykers, the Untouchable/Blank rules were changed quite a bit). Our Psyker used Spasm on a Slaught trying to climb down the outside of the Mill. Fun! With the revised rules this would have had no effect. And besides, the whole flying away bit is much better!

In a stand up fight, I think most groups will find themselves wiped out. Unless the GM forgets to play them right, forgets all the bonuses, etc etc. Or is just generally nice and unwilling to kill his players. Soft, kind hearted GMs are all over the place

Between their Fear ratings, Necrotic Sceptres and regeneration I think they will be a hard match for a Lvl4 Group.

Or you could keep the statline from the GMs kit.

I'm working on a Slaught plot for my campaign as well, but I think I will play them more as the aliens from V (the TV series). Infiltrating power structures, undetectable by normal means. Underground paranoid resistance fighters want to cut behind your ears to see if you have a skull or scales … nice

Darth Smeg!

(I will have to make some adjustments to my Summoning Engine) *Ahem

AH well it was something gregorius suggested in one of his comments - with all the bodies from the war, starvation and disease, the prince has put out a corpse-farmer contract with appriopriate Citizens (Smeed & Smoot, in this case) and they have been collecting the dead and disposing of them, for a (crap) fee. The Prince doesn't check in to ensure that the job is being carried out, he only knows the bodies are being disposed of.

This is how the investigations begin - there's no 'recent' attack, but a 'survivor' and/or a 'witness' in the form of A Plume amputee and/or a Hobo. The Bodies were picked up by 'The Corpse Farmers'.

After the blockade began and the war mounted, The Farmers' incinerator was running at full whack, and they still had piles of corpses to dispose of, so they searched for a dumping ground. The Old Skymill was perfect - near the outer wall facing the swamp, with few patrols, checks, or incidents to bother them.

Then the deal was struck. They were to keep dumping ALL their bodies there; They were to tell no-one or their lives and their families' lives were forfeit (they live with their families in their shack-attached-to-furnace-house, and Smeed & Smoot have seen the things that watch them in the night… I'm thinking two types of Constructs, A 'Brown Jenkin' Type and an Orangatan type. One kills people and the other hauls off the bodies… but it isn't essential to have two types. The only thing I was thinking about was logistics - Having them all as Brown Jenkins will mean that the creatures will have a hard time dragging bodies - they'd need a strongman to carry their kills.) They find the trinkets and throwaway of bodies that they didn't dump at the skymill (Smeed & Smoot have put two-and-two together to realise that attacks = trinkets) as the bodies they bring have usually already been stripped and looted (as they basically pick them up out of the streets or in a typical "Bring out your Dead!" route…) but this isn't essential as the 'Sword of Damocles' over their family's heads' is probably enough…

The Acolytes will arive at their Shack/hovel/building to find a cold incinerator, a warehouse full of wrapped bodies, and two very nervous looking gentlemen…

The Slaugth - As per the GM's kit. No doubt about it - I'd need Lvl 6-8s to face a full Slaugth from DotDG. The Ripper Ray is pretty horrible, but I think these four maniacs have got it. plus, they'll take one look at the Skymill, find out what's in it, and burn it down… and see the Slaugh make a run for it…

Your Slaugth idea sounds Awesome Darth, like John Carpenters 'The Thing' on Steroids.

The Campaign Started yesterday. Currently, three of the four (The Battle-Scholar, The Gun-sassin and the Vanaheim-toting-scum) are Blasting away at Musketmen (mowing them down) Mercs (popping open their Skulls) and generall messing up the Baroness's latest Push on the Wall, and the Noble Cleric-Politician has Disguised himself as a Servant, is trying his luck with a Palace Servant-girl and he's managed to get a place in the empty stables (Dogs, Cats and Horses came first…or their Swamp-ready equivalent indigens, of course) and is getting some INSIDE intelligence. OH and he succeeding in obtaining his Angelus Carbine.
Gregorius, the moment I said 'Cleric with a ship' they commanded the guide to take them to the Docks (and by God it worked.) The Battle-Scholar Threatened Krass and His Kronies with a Grenade, and they backed off instantly, and the Disguises and Concealments they took on Board ship were very successful, sneaking past the blockade beautifully (There was even a Ship Search! Eee Gads!)

Hey Hey!

Here's the third genie out of the bottle! A bit late, my FFG forums have been acting up massively… and I was busy finishing up university! (Graduated now, Woo!)

On a first note- I would love to hear about your mountains of madness mission! I am about to run an Ordo Xenos game myself , and Elder things would be perfect to start throwing around [My players really want to start back at rank 0, and their itching for more Call of Cthulhu atmosphere].

So I've read trough the thread, but unfortunately not Maggots in the Meat [at least not for a while now]- but I love what you guys have done with it, expanding quite a bit and fixing up a number of things that, just by reading the comments here, felt wrong in the actual mission [The body collectors or the Blood Trail…]

I can't give a lot of advice, save based on my experience with the Slaught and the Syndicate. When I ran them in Sinophia, I made a number of mistakes [from a Roleplaying perspective, to mechanical ones as Darth Smeg pointed out…. but I have a bad habit of doing that! Getting better at it though]

But from a Roleplaying perspective, especially if you want to add some Paranoia, "The Thing" is great inspiration. The The slaught's cloaks allow them to pass as malformed humans from a distance, so adding some crowds of disgruntled, malnourished and diseased population [due to the siege and unsanitary conditions] could ramp up the horror if the players aren't quite sure who to trust anymore.

As for the Swamps and the Slaught ship- Living, organic technology is always pretty horrifying. In my "Problems with the Slaught" thread, Gregor suggested a few encounters you could easily take back and adapt.

Another possible approach, if you want to keep things going, would be The Baroness's & the Prince's relation with the Slaught. I've always figured it was weird that there would be THREE Slaught on the planet instead of the one. They could easily be responsible for the entire thing- but on a brand new level: next to the prince would be his prime adviser, an old and hunchbacked Vizier which advises him on the best way to win the war. On the other side of the conflict, there's another adviser, maybe this one is young and lean but slightly crooked- and he's also pushing the Baroness forward with her military plans. Each of them would be offering new and interesting ways that would guarantee the other side's defeat. The third slaught is in charge of gathering up the bodies as "extras" - a scientist of sorts, building up the constructs in the dormant ship's laboratory.

Near the end of the conflict, to make sure it keeps escalating, they can even provide new weapons [not Slaught weapons, because those don't leave bodies behind ] but advanced weapons that would be better suited to harming the players (I don't think the muskets quite do the job).

As arms merchants, the Syndicate keeps making Thrones, keeps the conflict going, and setup a great situation for themselves to test out new technology.

Saldre! Welcome!
(This is what I get for running my Summoning engine on iGenie, the calls keep getting lost…)

Dude check your messages, I've sent you the Synopsis. I'm still putting the detail together. Congrats on Graduating… I remember those days (Fondly… now It's a way behind me )

Yeah the edits have been considerable, and the extra avenues were immediately used by my players. I've almost finished the campaign notes, I'm not sure whether to Rapidshare, Google Docs or to put them on DarkReign. Probably should do all after I've finished running the campaign. Just got to pick the constructs, now - two types to pick, do I use the monster generator or pick my own stats/skills, though? Any suggestions?

Yeah regarding the Shroud Cloak, the 'Hiding in plain sight' is a great idea - I was thinking that they would use them for sneaking out of the city by working their way through crawds of refugees if the 'parachute attempt' failed from the Sky-Mill, or would likely hide in dark trees, taking on their shape (roughly.) Then POUNCE!

Regarding three of them: I thought three was a pretty tough number, especially as they're infiltrators… Perhaps, there are two, and the third was injured in the 'crash'? - oh no wait they regenerate. ("oh no I'm hurt - wait no I'm fine now".) I want to see if my Acolytes can handle such hard opponents, it'll be their toughest yet… they'd like the challenge, I think.

Involving the Syndicate: Saldre, I'd love to, but my group already have encountered and have a strong hatred for the Logicians: Your idea is great, and the intrigue would suit (an infiltrator/agent advising the prince, and another advising the Baroness, leaves one to collect bodies and make constructs) but the Prince and Baroness would likely just encounter Syndicate Agents? Humm I like the idea, but it's sending my players down another path (and I'll lose the previous ones… They really, really want to find Cord Luntz they ask everyone… I need to let them kill him at some point so they stop asking backwater Yokels off Scintilla!)

…What if… what if there's two Slaugth Infiltrators? as you say, advising opposite sides of the conflict? They meet every few nights at the Sky-Mill to feed and to conduct their experiments, and during the day they advise on the war to opposite sides? These infiltrators got stranded when their vessel was damaged and they escaped to Agreage? (perhaps the Logicians attacked their space-vessel? go Black-Box recordings…) The Organic ship thing is cool, the sickly-green Cthulhu colour for their Moya-like escape shuttle, crashed in the misty swamps outside Olrankan…

I feel left out, now. Where's my message?

Back on topic, I really like the way the Slaught in later books were wearing "people suits" (Like the Edgar-suit from Men in Black, I guess).

Hence my V-idea of infiltrators looking just like humans, but giving of a similar aura of "wrongness" as a Null.

As for your campaign, Google Docs is pretty nifty for collaborations, and you choose with whom you share, so that might be an option I guess

hahaha Check your mailbox. I hope it hasn't cut up the message, otherwise I'll have to Post the Synopsis on the message board (or email you… but that's up to you)

These Slaugth guys are creepy as ffffffffffflying potatoes. They can hide amoungst us and they eat human brains, and are exceptionally technologically advanced - what more creepyiness is required?

Google Docs: I could do. I want something a bit more unchangeable I suppose. I just don't know where people would prefer (if at all: They may hate it!)

I'm starting to think about fewer Slaugth (2 instead of 3, with Saldre's idea of them being advisors… allows for them to be discovered in an ENTIRELY different way that one of my players is exploring as an Avenue…) and see how they do (20 rounds and several hours of 2-3 wounds followed by a regeneration test doesn't sound ideal…but my players might go for it. I don't know!