Dear fellow GMs,

My PCs are about to travel to a certain Schola on Malfi where they have a lead to. This Schola was built up by an Inquisitor, who was lost on an expedition a couple of years ago. This Inquisitor, who is in fact a Phaenonite, is actually still alive and hiding and about to “summon” the Tyrant Star into existence on a far away planet. The mentioned Schola is in fact what can be considered a Blighted Schola like mentioned in the Radical’s Handbook and the Pariah novel written by Dan Abnett. Only the Scholam principal and a handful of others really know it is “blighted”, most of the “students” do not.

To cut a long story short, the PCs will discover the “blighted” aspect of the Schola throughout their investigation and will most probably raid/destroy the facility in the end. My question to you is what you would expect in regard to a fitting combat opposition within such a Schola. It should somehow involve the highly educated and trained students without being “too heretical” (the Phaenonite aspect should not be too blatant yet) on first sight, but still strong enough to challenge rank 6-7 acolytes.

The only idea I had so far is a handfull of Maletek Stalkers in the “inner sanctum” of the Schola, even though these already seem (as mentioned) “too heretical” for my liking…

Thanks in advance for any helpful input.

I would just give the students good armour and firepower and most importantly, let the students fight smart and tactically effective against their enemies. That should make for a challange well enough without bringing in something exotic.

A normal schola produces Stormtrooper Canidates, Commissar Canidates, Sister of Battle Novices and more, it also has retired badasses as teachers. All the students have martial, combat and tactical training as well as being in good health. They have a good armory, all well equipped and are being led by seasoned veterans. Now you add the heretical aspect and the surprises there. It isn't going to be easy and a direct assault is costly

I agree with everybody so far!

You won't need to ramp up the heretical aspect to make this thing challenging: the regular students should be more than enough.

Though the deeper they get into the schola, they should start getting hints- uncovering a room with occult drawings and symbols carved into the floors, which at the first seems designed to mirror an Imperial Exorcism Ritual, but has important aspects of it removed (for example, references to the Emperor.)

Later, if the Schola starts losing- they might panic and start using "things" - Chaos Infused servitors for example, or even better a complex Warp-Grid defense system that starts frying "non-properly warded" invaders. At first people assume its some sort of Microwave, but then a couple of the attackers start mutating…

Don't forget local law enforcement- if a Schola is under major attack, most people will jump to the assumption that the attackers are Enemies of the Imperium; the local Enforcers (and maybe even the Arbites) will come down on the PCs like a ton of bricks…

In GW's original material, the vast majority of a Schola's progena are destined for a civilian profession, usually becoming Administratum scribes, whereas only a smaller part - those of a martial mindset and sufficient fitness - will ever serve in one of the Imperium's numerous military or paramilitary organisations, such as becoming Arbites or Navy NCOs. Some few may be transferred to an Imperial Guard regiment or a Sororitas convent to begin training as Commissar Cadets or Novices. Rarer still are those who are recruited by one of the Assassin Temples or the Inquisition.

The teachers, all living a very puritan and austere lifestyle, are called Drill Abbots, who usually are Imperial Guard and Navy veterans who have become too old and/or too crippled for active duty and instead "retire" to a Schola to instill discipline and purity of mind in their charges, as well as overseeing their education and indoctrination. They wear the robes of a Preacher, yet are excused from the normal duties of one such as administering sermons in order to focus on tending to the young. Most wear electro-batons intended to discipline wayward progena, whereas some also carry service pistols (remnants from their former position in the military) or staffs and hammers, sometimes equipped with a power field.

Of course, with this topic concerning a Blighted Schola, all of the above - in addition to not stemming from this RPG's own books - need not apply, and should be treated as merely one of many possibilities. Depending on what the sponsor of this illegal Schola has intended for its graduates, it could well focus on an entirely militant seminar, even for those who would not qualify under normal circumstances. To ramp up the creepy factor, it could make healthy use of psychoactive drug dispensers and invasive cybernetic surgery to "improve" the combat capabilities of the pupils, or even "recycle" failed students into childlike berserker servitors not unlike a sort of smaller, even more crude arco-flagellant.