Hello All

So- recently, my players have fought tooth and limb agaisnt a sorcerous cult in a small mining district in the underbelly of Hive Tarsus. But the battle (Which is actually not quite finished, there's one session to left to the game) has taken a HEAVY toll on them. One is dead, all of them are into heavy critical damage and four (out of seven) have actually lost from 20 to 30 points of toughness (One of them has actually been reduced to 1 Toughness after burning a fate point to survive being at 0 and rolling a D5…)

But still, as faithful servants of the Imperium- I expect them to succeed and defeat the remaining cultists… which means I need to start planning ahead.

With the players so heavily injured (and a couple of them wanting to be Pyroclasts)- I figure that a trip to Reshia, the "Hospital Planet", is a perfect way to tie up that plot-line, while adding a few others on the way…

Entire the Pale Sepulcher: as described in the Radical's Handbook [Page 139], its a "Ferry for the dead and dying" which carries people and bodies across the void to a requested final destination. Its not that farfetched that some of these bodies are preserved in vats and such and transported to Reshia to be used in surgical processes and organ donations- as such, its not that far-fetched that one of the players' Inquisitor would book them a flight with this ship.

Now my main problem started out as a mechanical one: most of my players are rank 3, going into four. None of them are close to the 3k Exp required to join up with the Rank (Especially considering the rate with which they earn now, deliberately reduced in order to slow down progression…) so I needed to pad out their trip- make it more interesting, and, at a rate of about 150exp per session, get it to last a good 5-6 sessions.

Obviously, Inspiration arrived, and I realized that by the end of the trip there would have to be a zombie infestation. Suddenly, the Pale Sepulcher was no longer a quick, "down time" trip to Reshia but a full campaign in its own right.

I figured I would both keep a log of my ideas here and if anybody wants to chime in and contribute to bringing this place to life (no pun intended), feel free- comments and brainstorming are, in my opinion, the best ways to write up a good story.

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Loose ideas for SEVERAL items, opponents and events that will be happening aboard:

1) Sneaking aboard as a corpse is clever- but the players aren't the only who can pull it off. A Heretek Magos Biologis has managed to secure passage for several of his samples cleverly concealed within corpses and/or dying individuals. But this Cargo is feisty- Vore Weapons [CA p36] have quite the appetite. When guests start being murdered behind locked doors, and the only way into the crime scenes are too small for anyone human to squeeze trough, people start asking questions….

2) A decadent noble, suffering from a severe case of ennui, has been spending the remainder of his/her days in a private Mausoleum (Need a 40k name for it? ) aboard the ship's "palliative care" wing. Her/his idea of passing the time involves a healthy cocktail of Heresy: sorcery and necrophilia abound in this Slaaneshi worshipper's abode. Whose to care if a couple of bodies go missing? Certainly not the other passengers he's invited to the party….

3) Making use of the vast amounts of samples available, a Heretek has spent the better part of a 100 years studying and replicating the dreaded Sarcossan Wave generator. Hidden in secret laboratories in forgotten sections of the ships, he sends out his undead servitors with receptors implants which they place on new corpses, bolstering his "army". He works in secret, leaving relatively no traces behind (as he needs neither food nor drink to supplement himself or his army)- but is growing bolder with every raid, grabbing more and more corpses to fuel his experiments.

4) The Main Plot: Members of the "Night Cult" Conspiracy- have learned that the ship is currently transporting the body of a supposed "Saintly" Martyr from Tarsus to Maccabeus Quintus. Firm believers, they've infiltrated the Keepers in order to bring out the Saint's resurrection. During the Warp-Journey, they enact the plan: with the help of rituals, chants and unholy spells- the sealed vault at the bottom of the ship writhes with life once more. The saint is resurrected- unfortunately, he came back wrong. Fueled by his unholy energies, corpses all over the ship begin to rise, a shambling mockery of their former selves. The Pale Sepulcher is now infested with the undead and the acolytes have to deal with the Night Cult and the thing they called…

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Should be enough material there to fuel a good 6 Sessions at least- maybe even seven. I will post up expansions on each individual point soon- starting with investigation ideas to flesh out the first two items.

It may be too obvious and ham-handed, but… PIRATE ATTACK!

-Maybe spin off a storyline about who the pirates have lined up to buy dead bodies, and why…?

Be warned: Acolytes in service to His Majesty the God-Emperor's Holy Inquisition literally loosen the bolts on void ships. They will call out their authority and open doors that even senior command officers have no business going beyond, so be prepared to have a plan for every…and I mean every location within the hull. And outside of it, too. Your in for a tough time, otherwise. I'm just saying be prepared.

Mini-Update!

I was thinking Pirate attack at first- Orks crashing into the ship. Just because the players are supposed to Ordo Xenos. But- I forgot that they all had heavy critical damage, lots of toughness damage, no gear and relatively few fate points. So this next "Campaign" should focus more on horror, running away from the zombies, bypassing them and figuring out how to beat the few, (relatively) low powered bosses that are controlling the lot (except for the eldritch abomination in the vaults- but I will have to work something out for that.)

I would like to somehow include some Xenos. Maybe Eldar, but done right. NPCs that are willing to help- but for a price. My players, Firebrand Puritans, are likely to refuse- but hey! They are Ordo Xenos… Confronting them with the situation would be cool. Any Ideas of how to sneak those in…

In order not to have too many cults spawning on the same ship by some weird coincidence, someone suggested I tie everything in together: as such, here's a new outlit.

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Magos Biologis and his Vore weapons are snuck aboard by the night Cult as potential weapon to take over the ship. A rich decadent noble signs his names on the appropriate documents and pays the appropriate fees, fully aware that he's going to die- but promised unbound pleasures, knowledge and true ressurection at the end of the Journey. He is rewarded with heretical knowledge, spells and the like- which he uses to enjoy the last moments of his old life. One of these items is a Sarcossan Wave Receiver (Which he uses to reanimate a single undead servitor- Lurch type servant).

This receiver has been provided curtesy of the Night Cult member whose been on the ship the longest: the magos lurking in the forgotten holds [Perhaps a student of Magos Vathek himself.] When he heard about the Saint, he was the one to inform the remainder of the cult.

They arrived soon after his summons and infiltrated the Keepers, taking key positions at the top. Their plan is secret- and nothing can deter them from it.

The action starts when the Vore-weapons decide to feed- they escape the Magos Biologis' control and start murdering nearby nobles. The acolytes are woken from cryo-sleep to investigate. Resolving that little mystery, and looking into HOW the Magos even got on board, the noble's name comes up. Seeing the noble isn't as easy as they would think: with most of the people on the ship being dead or dying before it docks again, there's no real threat the acolytes can throw at them. Perhaps there'll be a party that they'll have to Infiltrate. Some sort of macabre gathering where the noble recruits into his cult [

At this point the acolytes have to be Proactive: asking around, checking Pict-logs, examining missing body reports… Until they find the hidden lair of the Magos responsible for its creation. After an intense battle or some such, with the magos defeated- the players assume they've won… But the hidden members of the Night Cult make their move and flicker the warp shields, causing a real zombie infestation. The players must make it all the way back up to the main deck in order to gain control of the ship, perhaps rescuing some friendly NPCs that can provide assistance along the way. They must also travel to the Vaults and defeat the creature unleashed by the night cult before it rends the Pale Sepulcher apart- or before it reanimates its entire crew and cargo as a massive army…

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Alekzanter, you are COMPLETELY right! I figure that this is a great chance to flesh out the ship, a la "Damned Cities". That location is great! The amount of locations and potential was so good, I managed to stretch out the adventure for over five sessions by adding the Slaught, a radical Inquisitor's Daemon-host and Amicus Toles as extra factions in the fight for Haarlock's legacy.

I figure we could give the Pale Sepulcher the same treatment: It doesn't have to be extremely detailed, but just enough that we could draw a map of the ship and several key locations with some flavor to them.

For example:

The ship is essentially split into three main parts: The Life-Temples (?), the Corpse Halls & Spirit's Catacombs- and one secret part: the forgotten underworld.

The Life-Temples: (Or Resting temples? something else?) These are the areas of the ship where one can find the few "living" passengers- amongst other things.

The Reposoleums - Situated on top of the Corpse Halls at the back of the ships, The Reposoleums consist of [relatively] small but intricate chambers and mausoleums built to house the few living, but ultimately terminal/doomed, passengers of the Pale Sepulcher. Powerful and Rich nobles reserve these private burying chambers for themselves, their treasures and entourage- whom they could not bear to part with, even in death.

The Hallways to Heaven- These immaculate Ivory halls are lined with massive golden doors, leading to the Reposoleums, and decorated with large familial crests sewn into hanging tapestries to identify the owner/inhabitant of each of the complexes. Large statues of Saint Aret the Lethecant are here there, along with several gothic gargoyles and priestly statues which seem to stand eternally vigilent or in suplication. Cherubims float about the halls carrying incense and several servo-choirs provide the apropriate solumn atmosphere with a constant, but low key, funeral hum.

The Memoriams- Whereas the statues of Saint Aret provide a place to divulge forbidden secrets and the like, There are those who would have their final days, or perhaps their lives, forever immortalised in writting, vox or pict-feed. For those few who can afford it, the Memoriams puts at the noble's disposale a dedicate Remembrancer (member of the keeper's guild), who will see to it that their clients are never forgotten- even after they pass. These private, individual suits often open to the vastness of space, offering a relaxing view and a pleasent atmosphere- and in a large, central Auditorium, one can even display his story for the remainder of the guests to see.

The Corpse Halls: Are split into three levels: ??? Need to give them cool names- though, for the last ones, I was thinking "The Vaults ". This section of the ship takes up the vast majority of the space- the Hallways to heaven eventually merge with the corridors that run the lenght of the ship.

Top level: Servitor Central. Hanging like puppets perhaps? The mechanisms that operate the large servitors that move about the Corpse halls beneath are found here- not to mention some sort of central, manual control for the remainder of the servitor crew. A few keepers perform the propre rites of maintance to make sure that the servitors remain operational.

Main level: As described in the book: rows and columns of brass racks filled with corpses bound in shrouds. This is the economy service- the corpses are partially exposed to the void.

Bottom level: The vault- where the elite are kept. Here, large private tombs containemassive sarcophagi and rumored vast amounts of treasure belonging to dead lords and ladies, Gouvernors, ranking High Priests and other people of importance. Some say that Martyrs and Saints are carried with high honors, while other darker rumors speak of proscribed corpses- of monstrous creatures or heretics being taken to some secret or hidden location. A maze of sealed vaults, tight passages and steelwalls designed to deter graverobbers and protect this most precious cargo. A few kill servitors even wander the halls…

The Spirit Catacombs: (Gonna do this section quick seeing as I am getting a bit tired)- This is where the Keepers stays and live.

Purgatoriums: The Keeper's living quarters: a tiny section compared to the Reposoleums. Seeing as the nobles are expected to care for themselves, bringing in as much food and water as they believe they are going to need (or can fit in the complex)- the keepers primary mendate is to take care of the corpses. Their rooms are small, undecorated, solemn and grey- like the rest of this section of the ship. They mostly come here to pray, to eat and to sleep.

Spirit Chapels: Spread almost everywhere around the ship, these small chapels are dedicated to the ship's machine spirit: each has its own keeper, a certified techno-adept, firmly loyal to the ship and its machine spirit. From these concoles, they monitor the ships (and their immediate surroundings) condition and functionnality. The biggest of these is at the end of the ship: the enginarium.

Nirvana: The main deck- where control and piloting of the entire ship takes place. Here you have the navigator's Ocularium, central control and security.

Finally: The forgotten Underworld: There are two major things here: mainly a sluice of preservative sludge and embalming liquids which are redericated across the ship to fill some cryo chambers and coffinss and the deep mechanical systems of the ship which operate by themselves.

Secondly- hidden systems and sections long forgotten by the keeper themselves. These connect using secret hallways to virtually the entire ship. Furthermore, there is a secret laboratory- previously a war chamber before the ship adopted its current function. Here is where a heretical magos works his experiments replicating the Sarcossan wave generator.

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So, thats that for now: still requires a lot of work, but I think its progress. So… Any ideas on how Eldars could be squeezed into the plot?

Fleshing out the ship further would also be cool- I'd love to hear what you guys think.