My group and I are going to start up playing Dark Heresy again after about 2 years and I have develpoed a small adventure for my acolytes to dip there feet back into the world of 40k. Were also starting out fresh with new characters and everything.

The story that I have developed, so far, is that the acolytes have been asked by there inquisitor to do a favor for an old freind of his in a small town in the outskirts of a larger city on a hive world. The acolyes are freshly trained and this is there first mission under there first inquisitor. The inquisitors old friend is now the priest of a church in this small town that has been recently getting marked with the sign of khorne, in what appears to be blood. This is what the acolytes know and must investigate.

What I had in mind was that a cult of khorne followers from the main city had come to this church to harrass it and its members, also while trying to introduce some bloodwurms into the food supply of the locals.

Ultimately the acolytes will discover what his happeing, kill a few heretics and track the khorne cultists to the sewers of the main city where they raise these bloodworms in the filth of the sewers.

As for what happens inbetween, encounters and discoveries I dont know how to add flavurful encounters that lead the acolytes to advance in the story.

I need help adding encounters and clues for the acolytes to grab onto and advance through this idea of a story I have.

well first findings might be several houses of slaughtered people, rumous of random atacks and battles. After all, it's khorne cultists.

Sounds like a solid story to me. Though I wonder why the cultists mark the church with their symbols. Just to harass its members is not a strong reasoning in my opinion and it has no true rationale. Not that cultists need to be rational in any way….

Anyway, maybe have these bloody marks include small amounts of these worms that anyone with Medicae, Chem-use and/or Scholastic Lore (Beats/Xenos) could identify. Maybe a few lay-mebers have been abducted by the cultists to cultivate these worms in their still living bodies in the sewers. Maybe the local alms house have been broken into without anything being stolen (a detailed research shows the food was incubated with the bloodworms though). Maybe a lay-member was able to escape without remembering anything (besides waking up near the sewer entrance), then suddenly his body convulses and he collapses vomiting bloodworms and dies.

Combat encounters could include cultists with snare, shock and/or chain weapons, some of whom might even be “frenzied” in a typical Khorne manner. Corrupt Enforcers who do not like people sniffing around in their precinct armed with batons, auto carbines and/or pump shotguns and wearing light flak cloaks. Malfunctioning servitors working the sewers and/or dog-sized rats inhabiting the sewers might also be fitting encounters for beginning characters. Redemptionists with flamers and eviscerators trying to hunt the blasphemers themselves (but totally on the wrong track in regard to the true culprits (maybe thinking the PCs are responsible in fact).

Thank you gys for the help, it is much appreciated and I will use proabably all of these ideas.

I did have a question that I didnt feel however needed a new thread.

How do the other GMs keep organized a new story, two years ago when I came up with my storys I would feel the need to write it all down, in this little notbook I had. I would right down what I would say, every test that become possible to the acolytes, besides combat I basicaly wrote everything down that I had planned to happen. It became I hassle because of the spliiting of the sotry sometimes, for example, I would right down two outcomes for an encounter, and then two more for both of those, and three more for each one of those, it became impossible to keep organized.

I feel faily confident now that I could almost just memorize this story and only have to access to NPC stats to run it. I wanted to know how other GMs organize there short adventures or long campaigns.

To your original post (suggestions): you have to work in a scene where a dead body is being autopsied while the PCs watch, and the worms burst out seeking new hosts!

-As far as why the cultists are targeting this particular church: maybe it is built on the site of a pre-Imperial pagan temple dedicated to a tribal war-god (yep, a masque of Khorne), and the cultists have figured out that there is an artifact or tablets with a prophesy or some other 'McGuffin' that they want to get their hands on, so they need to get this church to shut down without alerting the authorities about what they are after.

With regard to how I prepare an adventure: I usually have it plotted out in my head, and only write down the NPC stats and other 'crunch' stuff (in spiral notebooks- I'm 'old-school'). If a particular episode is fairly complicated, I might jot down some notes listing the key points that need to be hit si I don't risk leaving anything out.

I am really liking all of these ideas! These are getting me excited and now im wondering if I can make this story much more interesting and flaverful.

I am now thinking of the idea of this entire outpost, about 200-500 population size is built on top of an ancient Khorne worship cite, and the preist of the church, and small "governer"of the outpost finds out about this information through some ancient scriptures he has access to through the church. The preist becomes hypnotized and obsessed with the idea of obtaining the Khorne artifacts underneath his small community.

The priest statrts construction on his church and his town to cover up the excovation of the ground beneath to find the artifact.

The Khorne cultist from the city get message from a prophet that an ancient sacred ground is being tampered with and that is why they start attacks on the outpost and they now too become interested in this artifact.

The priest hires the acolytes to protect the town from the attacks so he can continue his corrupted searchings in peace.

All during this time the preist is becoming more crazed and obsessed with this artifact as he gets closer and closer, and the khorne cultist get more active and there attacks, so now the acolytes are caught in a true conspiracy and have a lot to uncoverWhat

What do you guys think of this idea, and maybe some ideas for what this artifact might be and why it is so appealing to the preist.

RoBro said:

Since it's Khornate, that limits your options a bit- Khorne doesn't go in for 'light show magic' like the other Powers. Weapons and armour are the obvious choices, along with anti-psychic devices. Or a bound daemon…

What does the Priest want with the artifact? If he's secretly a follower of Khorne, conquest. If he is a deluded or radical loyalist, he could have a plan to use the item to fight evil, maybe passing off it's supernatural abilities as signs of his own faith, maybe in a bid to be elevated to the status of a Living Saint…