Pestilence of Ruin
Introduction
The acolytes will receive a tip by courier. He gives a piece of paper with the message, “Baeza Guild Hall. Grandmaster's office. Dawn. Important. Dress safe.” The message was sent anonymously, given by some ganger-looking type. The guild hall is located in an area of the city, district Baeza; also called the “Scrip” corner. A wealthy district in the upper hive, Scrip corner was home to powerful mercantile interests. It contained a large, imposing guildhall at its center. The guildhall contained the riches and business of the merchants. The guildmaster, Harket Baeza, oversaw all of the district's enterprises.
The district became quarantined recently. A deadly plague descended upon it. The plague had a pernicious nature, beginning in many as a common colds and eventually breaking out into dangerous necroses. The victims have terrible lesions and growths. The district is seen as a lost cause. There is one functioning medicae temple still in district Anais. It is ran by the sisters of the order hospitaller. They work because they cannot escape either. They try to ease the suffering of the plague victims.
District Baeza Outskirts
District Baeza lies near the edge of the upper hive, and has few entrances. The standard entrances to district Baeza are closed. Their plasteel gates are covered by messages on boards stating “Warning! By the order of the Consortium, this district is quarantined and off limits. Trespassers will quarantined inside. Attempted escapes will be forcibly stopped”. All of them are protected by Sanctionaries with valkyrie gunships and chimeras.
The acolytes will either have to negotiate their way through the dispassionate sanctionaries or find an alternate entrance. The sanctionaries will not respond well to intimidation. Using charm, deception, or throwing some scrip their way through influence could work. If all fails, there's always the sewers. However, if they go by an alternate way and the sanctionaries see them trying to leave, the sanctionaries will open fire on them to contain the plague.
The Dead Corner
Entering the Scrip corner, the situation is dire. The smoking wreck of an autocarriage lays slammed against a wall. The owner's dead eyes show shock. Blood lays caked on the upholstery. The wheel of the autocarriage has caved in his chest. Several windows and doors are broken in. A consistent droning warning for all inhabitants to stay indoors plays over a vox caster located on the ceiling of Baeza.
Dead bodies lay on the street. Their skin has been clawed to the bone. Weapons lie around some bodies. Casings are found around them. Hiverats have been feeding on the corpses. They are affected by the plague. A white haze fills the air. The district is humid. The quality of the air is suspect. An unidentifiable pungent odor fills the air. It smells similarly to a swamp.
If the acolytes have not brought protection against the infected air, they will continually take challenging +0 toughness tests at each scene change. Failure results in taking in the Sterile Rot Pox
1DoF: The Acolytes take 1d5-TB levels of fatigue each day for 1d10 days.
3 DoF: The Acolytes take 1d5-TB levels of fatigue each day for 1d10 days and must take a toughness test each day. Failure on each day loses 1d10-TB of characteristic damage to toughness, perception, and strength.
Twin coiling snakes of a medicae center can be seen in the distance. There are black shapes stacked around the corner of the building. Smoke floats in the air behind it. The other is the guild hall. It is a grand three story building that is held up by columns. A large symbol of an open golden jewel encrusted gauntlet marks the front face of the building. It has a courtyard with a prominent broken marble statue.
As the acolytes continue on, a group of hive rats pass by in a local alleyway. Glass breaks loudly. A group climbs out of a broken window. They are wearing makeshift gas masks and long clothing. One carries a full sack full of valuables (They contain extremely rare (-40) jewels). A man with a major chest wound tries to follow them. He falls out of the window they went through. He looks like a mercenary and he is armed with a las pistol. He wears a very basic medical mask and a flak vest. The man falls unconscious.
Silver Wings Medicae Temple
The front doors are shut and barricaded. The black shapes are body bags. Piles upon piles lay upon the street. Near the top of the piles are bare corpses. They were thrown from the windows and roof of the medicae center. The bodies are being progressively burned, a pyre of flesh made from the dead. The smell of burnt meat fills the air. Dead lie all around. The entrance from the ground floor is blocked. The diseased moan at its doors. The acolytes can talk to the order hospitaller sisters to get inside. There are also tall buildings adjacent to the temple. The roof of the temple can be grapneled onto.
Inside
Patients fill every room. Medicae templars try their best to treat the afflicted. They all wear full environmental suits. They wear the symbol of the Orders Hospitaller. Anesthetic is in short supply. Amasec is passed out to the patients to dull pain. The groaning of the dying fill the air. Some patients have lapsed into comas. Some temple staff have fallen ill.
The head of the medicae center is found treating a patient. She is mother superior Lucia of the orders Hospitaller. She is an impatient older woman with faded blond hair. She can tell them some things. A week ago there were problems in the ventilation system that techpriests were supposed to fix. She thinks this isn't a normal epidemic. It's too quick. The air quality suggests an airborne pathogen. She has never seen a disease like this except during her time on the Spinward front. At that time, she was serving as a medicae templar, healing troopers behind the front lines. They were facing a specific cult built around the worship of disease. The troopers died slow and painfully. Now she is. She is afflicted. She offers her pain to the Emperor and continues to work in his name.
Baeza Guildhall Outside
The building lies near the center of the district. Marble steps lead up to it. The courtyard is dirty, vandalized, and in ruins. The guildhall has broken doors and broken windows. A dead mercenary and a dead servant can be seen on the ground.
Baeza
Guildhall Inside
The guildhall looks like a mix between a small cathedral, an administatum office, and a stock floor. Marble columns gilded with gold line the sides of the hall. They have been picked at. The floor contains offices and furniture separated by low walls. The desks are tossed about, their contents looted. Near the back of the hall, bordered on two sides by two sets of stairs, a large guild charter lays laminated and framed. Arma glass and a ceramite frame holds the charter. Radial cracks and blast marks cover it.
Armed groups argue in the hall. Tensions are high. They are arguing about loot. There is a group in stylish clothing and expensive equipment near the left side of the hall. They have masks that cover the eyes. They look like performancers more than gangers (Style Killers- The Joy Troupe). On the right side of the hall lies a heavily augmented group. They have extensive body modification and bionics. Their bodies are painted or gilded brass (Brassmen). In the middle of the floor there are more standard gangers. The leader is the one who sent the message.
The acolytes appearance can agitate all the gangers around. They can try to talk everyone down or instigate a fight.
Fight: A free for all occurs between the groups. The stylish cloudboys assume artful stances, their every movement flowing smoothly. Some jump nimbly and gracefully behind cover. The tech gang brings out their weapons. Their leader holds out his hands and voltage crackles between them. The ganger leader will move up the stairs, leaving his group to fend for themselves and telling them to take care of the other groups and not hurt the acolytes.
(Baeza) Magister's Office
The office has wooden walls and wooden furniture. A big desk sits in the middle and a couch lies in the corner. The contact is a smuggler, one Koenradd Sylvain, and “concerned citizen.” He knows of the acolytes through their prior work. He bribed a sanctionary to follow them and take notes on what they were doing. The contact sits in the executive's chair, and rustles around the desk. He finds four glasses and high class amasec. He pours the glasses, and says he has an offer.
He knows why the plague is happening. He takes out a clear vial. Inside of it is an opaque substance. Before he tells them what it is, he negotiates his terms. He wants protection for his business in exchange for telling them what happened, who caused the plague, and where to find them. That means talking to the enforcers, paying off the auctoriates, and using Inquisitorial authority to take any heat off of the smuggler. In return, he gives them information on the disease, they get a contact into the Faceless Trade, and will be given one more piece of information they will receive after their job is done.
A smuggler named Gosef Knecht gave Sylvain a free sample of the stuff. He said it was some exotic narcotic from Calixis. Sylvain was suspicious. Taking the vial to some knowledgeable “friends”, he found out what it was. It is called Rot Pox. It is a biological warfare agent. Through his underworld network, Sylvain learned that Gosef has travelled to the underhive to hold an auction for a case of the stuff. The auction is to occur two weeks from now in a place called the “Fell Fortress,” an ancient fort forgotten in the Underhive. Gosef will reach out to buyers at an underhive settlement called Kingsnest. It's ruled by a man named the Rat King, the leader of a powerful gang named the Deeprats. Several shady characters will be there to take potential buyers to the fort. The acolytes will first have to make their way to Mourtariam bloc Verdant and then through its underhive gates as the start of their journey to Kingsnest.
Sylvain will give them directions to Kingsnest. Kingsnest is built around the Spine, the monolithic structure that rises through Desoleum Primus. It will slightly simplify the journey to the city. The Underhive is a grand matrix of caverns and underground passages. It is filled with warring factions and other dangers.
Sylvain knows this is a great opportunity for the acolytes to purge a large group of heretics and perhaps kill off some of his competitors. Gosef will have the agent on him. Gosef has information on who made it and why he has it. A vehicle is recommended. The Underhive is full of dangers. He tells them good luck, and reminds them: if they come back and the job is done, he has something they want.
Drive to the Underhive
Hive Primus is of gargantuan size and has a complex layout. Journey is not easy. The Desoleum Primus cartography guild has tried its best to draw the layout of the hive and even they have trouble navigating it. Their maps can help the acolytes navigate (+10 bonus) if they purchase one. It would take the acolytes about a week to vertically move to the bottom of the hive. It is five days to travel to Kingsnest. That time includes stops at night to camp. The acolytes can travel through the night at the cost of fatigue to halve the time rounded up.
Challenging +0 Inquiry:
nDoS: Add +10 to Navigation test
Along the way, you are able to find help getting around.
1DoF: The acolytes have to navigate by themselves.
3DoF: -20 to Navigation
You are inept at asking for directions. You have made many enemies this day.
Navigation Surface +0:
Failure: You have a lot of trouble finding the gate. Unfortunately, you have wasted a lot of time. You have five days to find the Kingsnest and the Fell Fort.
1 Degrees of Success: You are able to make it to the gate in nine day's time, you have six days to find Kingsnest and the fell fort.
2 Degrees of Success: You have seven days to find Kingsnest and the fell fort.
3 Degrees of Success: Through past experience with travelling through the hive, you are able to make very good time, and you make it to the Underhive gate in six days time. You have eight days to find Kingsnest and the fell fort.
At the end of the journey, the acolytes find themselves at a guarded gate to the Underhive.
Underhive Gate
The gate is an imposing sight. It looks to be 30 by 60 meters large. Armored plate shows an Imperial aquila. A sizable gatehouse is located on the top of the gate. It contains the controls and mechanisms for the gate along with a sizeable barracks manned by sanctionaries. Automated heavy bolter turrets loom out of stations built into the sides of the gate. Two tower forts lie one both sides of the gate. Sanctionaries patrol or stay at attention. There are large lascannons on top of the towers.
In front of the gate is group of sanctionaries transporting a large group of strange robed individuals. If one looks closer the taint of mutation can be seen. They look to be following the sanctionaries willfully, if fearfully. If the acolytes ask: They are sanctioned mutants being transported to a work camp in the underhive, mining for glass silicate and minerals in an area too dangerous for pure humans.
The autoturrets in the towers automatically lock onto the acolytes (and their vehicle). A sanctionary will walk up to their vehicle and asks for credentials to pass. If the acolytes do not have rosettes or some documents allowing them passage, they can try to bribe or persuade the sanctionary in some way to let them pass . Once given, the sanctionary will order the gate open. Anyone can cause this. The grinding of gears can be heard, as the large gate's mechanism lifts it up. This takes time.
The first site of the underhive is a grand cavern. It is a few kilometers wide and stretches for a few kilometers in length before splitting into several paths. One of these paths leads to the mutant work camp. Another is one that Sylvain pointed out in his directions. This is the beginning of a series of caverns that lead to Kingsnest. The others are unknown.
As the gate opens to its maximal point, a large cloud of dust has been kicked up in the air. Rumbling can be heard. There is a horde of shapes. Shouting and ululation pierce ears. A legion of mutants surrounds the gate. They are all armed with an assortment of weaponry. Leading them is a particularly corrupted individual with dark symbols burned onto his face. His body looks ravaged by disease, his limbs and guts are swelled. Flies circle around him. His face is an awful contortion of features. From a hoarse and loud voice he booms, “The father has blessed this ravaged body of the hive. Despair, wastrels, for the inheritors of Nurgle have come”. The mutants advance.
Sanctionaries start firing, and one shouts to close the gate. The gate closes as slowly as it opens. The blasts from the heavy bolters and lascannons pierce the corrupted masses. They charge on.
The acolytes will have to attempt to power through the horde. The mutants fill the cavern from side to side. They have a chance to barrel straight through, but they may have to fight and thin the horde if they are stopped. The mutants will attempt to disable their vehicle and kill the occupants. Use a mixture of the mutant profiles from the Dark Heresy 2E core rulebook.
Operate Surface +0
Failure: You get stuck near the front of the masses. They look at you madly and start to attack.
The acolytes will have to clear their way through about twenty mutants before they get room to try to ram through the horde again.
Success: You are able to ram through many masses of bodies, and although you make it through the main mass, the car's works are stuck with guts. You are in the middle of the horde.
Success 3 Degrees: You find a part of the masses that are weaker in number. You ram right through and make it on the other side.
If they get past: The horde attempts to shoot with the vehicle with rifles and RPGs as the acolytes escape to the end of the cavern onto the path to Kingsnest.
Travelling in the Underhive
The underhive is a dangerous place where resources are scarce. Various gangs and groups war for resources. Some have gathered a large amount and have established settlements, like the Deeprats, the Monsoons, and the Stormlords. Most have to fight to survive. Besides the gangs, mutants, dangerous locations, artifacts, abominations, and worse things lay here. They fight in the caverns and the remnants of ancient colonial settlements.
Gamewise, the acolytes will have to look after their rations and promethium. They will start with five days worth of promethium and five days worth of rations if they haven't tried getting more. Each day they will consume one unit or day's worth. If they choose to drive through nights, they will consume 1.5 units of promethium to travel 1.5 day's worth for 1 day. Each day the acolytes will deal with Underhive Events, different scenarios containing dangers or oddities in the Underhive. These events are in a separate blog post/document.
One advantage to having a greater number of days to find Kingsnest is the ability to find paths around these dangers. The acolytes may spend a day going around rather than face danger.
In Summary: The acolytes start with 5/6/7/8 Days; 5 or more units of rations; 5 or more units of promethium. Each of these will be deducted by one each day, more depending on the use of the resources.
If the acolytes run out of rations, consult fatigue and starvation rules in the Dark Heresy 2E Core Rulebook.
If the acolytes run out of promethium, their vehicle is stopped until they can find more
If the acolytes run out of days, they will miss their opportunity to stop the heretics and a virulent plague will spread across planet Desoleum.
The Journey
The first day is smooth. The directions Sylvain give are reliable. The myriad of paths still make the journey difficult. The acolytes drive over rubble. Gravel and dirt gets interrupted by the corpses of large sections of old settlements. Some the same design as the blocs of the city above. Others look strange, perhaps older than the Imperium.
The main source of light are the silicate crystals embedded in the cavern walls and roofs. It gives the area the illusion of moonlight. Dim lighting conditions, along with other areas of pitch blackness, are the norm. Flame and portable glowglobes give limited light in the distance, but they belong to hivegangs, nomads, exiles, and mutants. In some areas, different types of fungi can be seen growing. Some are the proscribed Desoleum fungus that narc-dealers peddle in the mainhive. Others are more mundane fungi that are a source of nutrition. They are fairly bland and tasteless but keep one living day to day. The day is spent driving through the paths and caverns.
Underhive Event
The end of the first day comes near. The acolytes can tell by their chronos, if they have any, and by their natural sleep cycles. Out of the relative calm, the acolytes see a speck of something in the distance.
(Awareness -20)
1DoS: You notice some kind of vehicle, but you can't tell exactly what it is.
3DoS: Looking very closely, you think you see some sort of grav lifted bike. The design is peculiar, almost like a floating pointed blade. The driver can't be seen easily.
If looked at with a preysense sight: You do notice a heat signature that looks like a figure, but its heat is similar to the bike's and you aren't able to see a lot of detail.
Either: The vehicles then veers off, disappearing from your field of vision.
Failure 1 Degree: You think it might just be some ruins.
(This is an Eldar grave bike ridden by a harlequin. He has his own agenda to stop the heretics in the underhive to prevent a calamity to the local Craftworld Miandrothe.)
Ashville (Next Day)
Remove units of promethium and rations, and roll an underhive event for the day. Do this for all subsequent days.
A new day begins. Far off engines and gunfire can be heard. The twilight of the crystals seems to numb the senses of newcomers to the underhive. The droning of the engine and the crunch of the wheels keep the acolytes company. Something is kicking up dust in the distance.
Challenging +0 Awareness
1DoS: You pick out an autocarriage in the distance. It doesn't look armed. It drives away. Looking through a scope, one can see heavily augmented men with binoculars.
1DoF: You focus on it and see more ruins.
Underhive Event
Ashville
The acolytes come upon an ancient settlement. Ashville is the ruins of an abandoned colonial segment. It is like a small dense city. One sees dilapidated rockcrete and blasted buildings. There is a way around and a path straight through.
Path 1: Through Ashville
Path 2: Around Ashville
Through Ashville: Entering the block there are immediate signs of prior habitation. There are fortifications and banners around the buildings. The banners look like a crude drawing of a lightning bolt through a gear (This is the symbol of the Stormlords). There are shell casings, aged and dried blood, bodies in states of decay, and holes blasted into some of the buildings. The bodies looked to have been picked through. They lack weapons, ammo, and some even seem to have no armor. A few look to have bionic parts taken away. A hive rat chewing on one of the corpses. Using scrutiny, it can be determined that this battle seems to have been a while ago.
There is one interesting corpse. A huge brute, charred black, looks like he was two or three heads higher than the acolytes. Its arms and hands are larger than a human's. A bandolier of teeth larger than any human's lies in tatters around him. His remaining muscles are large. His head is gone. The hab block seems to be silent. Continuing on there are no vehicles, no gang markings near the middle of the district. The acolytes come upon a four way intersection. There is rustling around them.
Difficult (-10) Awareness (In vehicle) vs Stealth +0 opposed tests.
1DoS: You hear muffled footsteps. The silence is broken by movement at all four corners of the intersection. You see the assault coming and are not taken by surprise.
3DoS: You hear the rustling of weapons, catch what looks like a spear head barely poking from a window. You start to listen, and you hear some unknown tongue. It is guttural, harsh, and sounds like no form of Gothic or indigenous language you have heard. “Ghashul sha thrakishi” is heard.
1DoF: You think you hear the scurrying of a hive rat and nothing more. (The acolytes will be Surprised).
From the four corners leap out sinewy green figures with spears, bows, and autoguns. They shout a warcry and charge from all directions. Eight by themselves push ruined autocarriages to block the roads. These vehicles have no wheels. The ones with guns begin to fire. There are eighteen in total and they come in waves of six every five turns over the course of fifteen turns
(GM Note: These orks arrived from a Regia Occulta, a spontaneous portal through the warp, that will be a major plot point in the later parts of the adventure. Their presence in the underhive is purposefully strange.)
(Savage Ork Fight).
Use the profiles for Misshapen Orks from Enemies Beyond on page 95. Replace shootas with human autoguns, and give them an assortment of bows and arrows and spears. Depending on the intended difficulty, consider them trained with human solid projectile weaponry or not.
Difficult (-10) Operate test to ram the ruined autocarriages out of the way.
Two turns in. From a broken third story window, a geyser of flame erupts. Behind the flames, a man with a makeshift flamer can be seen. The figure looks like a brawny man wearing leathers and a metal protective mask. The man runs to the side of one of the buildings and shouts at them to get up a fire escape he places down. He pulls it up after the acolytes have climbued up.
The orks will attempt to climb or find their way through the building the man is in. He takes them inside the building he was firing from, checks the halls, and leads them to the room he has been living in. He takes off his mask to reveal a ruggedly handsome man with a close shaved head. He says his name is Ibram Cassius. He explains that he is an exiled priest stuck in the underhive under threat of death and he has been surviving down here for the past two months. (He was framed and exiled by bishop Gaius Lotharius who he tried to expose for temple tendency). He came to Ashville for shelter but got stuck hiding from a huge hivegang fight and was forced to stay longer due to the appearance of the greenskins.
At this point, savage orks pour into the building. The whole of the tribe has fifty warriors and they will assault in waves of six every five turns just like before. Cassius tells the acolytes that the fastest way out of this mess is to get back to their car and drive through. Down on the street, the acolytes find a group of orks trying to tear their vehicle apart. The cars will take a Challenging +0 Athletics/Strength test in order to push the vehicle away from the road. It will take three full turns to do this.
(If they escape) The remains of the horde firing behind them. They don't give chase but instead shoot at the car with bows and arrows and autoguns. Cassius gives a “whoop”, and states he hasn't felt this way since his days as a munitorum priest.
Around the Hab Block: The city should be able to be bypassed in a few hours. Around the periphery of the hab block are broken down vehicles modified for ganger use. They are customized with armor, have their tops broken off to allow for more passengers or more gunners, or have heavy stubbers mounted on their backs. A battle seems to have taken place here. Bullet holes and the effects of explosives can be seen around and on the vehicles. Corpses in states of decay are seen. There is something worrying about the scene however.
Challenging +0 Awareness:
1DoS: You see that some of the vehicles seemed to have been blasted from their underside.
3DoS: The blast marks suggest mines. The acolytes have stumbled into a minefield.
1DoF: You think that the way autocarriages were destroyed suggest enemies of great strength did this.
There are tracks of some large vehicle in the ground. Bullet holes there and large blasts have marked on the autocarriages. In the air there's a trace of something that smells like sulphur. The acolyte get about halfway around the Ashevile and they see more destroyed autocarriages. Under them there seems to be something shining.
Challenging +0 Awareness: One Degree of Success- Before you drive into them, you brake immediately before you run into the field of mines in front of you.
One Degree of Failure- You notice nothing out of the ordinary. As you continue on, a large explosion can be heard from below the autocarriage, and you are lifted up into the air. The Trautenburg is now on its back (Roll 1d10: 10 hits another mine)
(Krak Grenade Mine)
Past the hab block the way ahead is clear. Less than a kilometer away from the district, there is wreckage of some larger vehicle. It has the symbol of a cog on it. If the acolytes investigate they will find an adeptus mechanicus vehicle
Difficult (-10) Knowledge: Adeptus Mechanicus to know it is a Macrocarid Explorator, a rarer vehicle for explorator mission use. Inside there are corpses. These have been decaying for some time. A challenging +0 medicae test will tell them it has been two weeks. The techpriests and skitarii have been stripped of bionics. There is no ammunition or weaponry around.
Sweet Music
The acolytes drive into the night. They think you're clear, you think you hear something.
(Challenging +0 Willpower Test)
Success: You keep journeying on, not noticing anything different
Failure: You hear some really good music, and although you know you can't see its source, you feel it in your heart and know where you can find it.
(Challenging +0 Awareness)
Success: Over the engine you hear what sounds like guitar strumming.
Failure: You can't figure out what the sound is and go on.
If Success: You find the source of the sound. If they follow it they will hear singing going along with the guitar strumming. A man walks alone. On his back held by straps is an amplifier. He holds an electric guitar. He wears a leather coat, with a dark blue vest underneath and a green and white patterned checkered longsleeved undershirt. He doesn't appear to be armed. He has raven-black hair and a fair skinned face. He has no oathcog.
He will be surprised, but he will greet the acolytes with a friendly tone. He says his name is Castor Titus. He's surprised to see more than hive gangers and mutants down here. He's a perfomancer and troubadour, and he has been commissioned to perform at some lord's hall.
He asks for a ride and promises to pay the acolytes if they can get him to his destination. He was approached by a man in a lower hive tavern and promised scrip if he would make it to his master to play. He was paid some in advance and was given directions. He states the man couldn't help him. He tells the acolytes that the place he's going to is on the way to Kingsnest and that Kingsnest is his next destination. The place shouldn't be too far to find and they can drop him off a kilometer or more off from it. Night approaches, or so it feels.
It takes five days to reach Kingsnest. One can fill the two days without narrative events with Underhive Events. The three days lie between the times one finds Ashville and Kingsnest.
Kingsnest
(Henchmen) 6 Food 2 Promethium (2 Days Left)
The city is raised on a plateau. It is slightly angled, with a keep rising at 90 Degrees near the top. The fortress looks built into the ground. The spine lies behind Kingsnest. It is a solid wall of dark green. Large spotlights rake the grounds outside the city. They lie on top of large walls made of rockcrete and metal. The spotlights are located in towers manned by guards. Heavy stubbers scan the horizon. The gate has a large engraving of a set of fangs.
Around the city are kilometers of farmland and outlying villages around the city. The villagers are made up of pure humans and mutants. Grox and fungus are raised and grown. Glassteeds are used pulling carts or as mounts. The villagers are well fed. Their fields are patrolled by gangers aligned to the city. The gangs patrolling are of different types.
A line is formed at the gate made of villagers, gangers, and trader. The guards on top of the gate ask what their business is. The traders tell them of their cargo and then have to show it. Some gangers are turned away. Others reveal something to the guards to let them through. (A tattoo that looks like a set of fangs). Villagers with crops are let into the city..
The guards will ask the acolytes to state their business and reason for coming to the city. The acolytes, depending on how they conduct themselves, can get in easily or be turned away.
If the acolytes bring news of the ruined Adeptus Mechanicus expedition or if one of them is a techpriest, the gangers will look worried and call to the citadel. The acolytes will be brought in directly to the Rat King
Kingsnest Inside
Inside is a mix of rockcrete structures and shanty buildings made of simple stone and metal. The city has crowds walking about. Craftsmen and others work. Gangers patrol the streets. Some of these groups are going around collecting materials, equipment, scrip, and signatures on parchment. There are marketplaces and living spaces. There is a system of vox speakers placed around the city.
The front of the city is guarded by a group of Deeprats led by a man nicknamed “Lungs”. The man has a very raspy voice. He blames it on working in the mines. He is a skinny man in heavy hive leathers, and has a red band around his head of short blonde hair.
This is Kingsnest and it has the amenities and services one finds from any civilized town. As a ganger citadel it is also a place where black market goods pass freely. There are taverns, inns, blacksmiths, autoshops, weapon salesmen, and more.
The Rules of Kingsnest
There are no gunfights nor fights with weapons inside Kingsnest. Travelers and citizens are allowed to keep weapons but using them will result in hard labor or hanging. They are to be stored away. Angry assholes will have to result to fists and kicks to work their beefs out. Gangers are allowed to come in but if they cause trouble they are banned. The Rat King and his Deep Rats want to keep the place upright. Citizens are not to be accosted and arguments between them are to be settled by a court between them. It will be overseen by the Deep Rats and held by fellow citizens.
The Setup
Gosef will have men looking for buyers from uphive and for potential buyers around Kingsnest. The acolytes will have to look for them. They need to sell to Gosef's men that they are earnestly interested. They will be brought to the fell fort and accompanied by the contact.
Kingsnest Regions
Ovensmoke
Near to the citadel is an area that smells of cooking. This is known as Ovensmoke, and is the breadbasket of Kingsnest. These are where the slaughterhouses, butcheries, and bakeries are held. These are distributed to the community under Kingsnest and given to eating halls around the city. One does not buy food directly from here. There is a constant stream of workers between Ovensmoke and the Citadel, where industrial level ovens and tools are held that keep the city fed.
Ironworks Sector
The smell of burning metal and sulfur fill the air here. Ammunition is crafted from mined and recycled metal. Autocarriages used by the Deep Rats and other gangs aligned to the Rat King are worked upon here. They are reinforced and modified with weapons. Melee weapons and ranged weapons are also crafted here.
The Trough
This pub is the most popular in Kingsnest and has been around for a long time. They have several deals with traders, including those who can travel to the mainhive, to bring in amasec and vittles that gangers and travelers can find comfort in when resting. Its plaster floors and walls are kept rather clean by its owner, his son, and other workers. Those who stop here are to be on their best behavior and are not to make a mess of the place. It is under the protection of the Deep Rats.
The Glass Factory
A close second in popular eateries, the glass factory is more like a wide messhall rather than a pub. It is named for its side business of producing glass eating ware. It is known to be the home of “home remedies” and special types of moonshine sold only by the Factory. Its floors are mostly dirt and gravel. It employs a large staff. It is often frequented by rough and tough ganger types.
The Sleepy Nest
The nest. Outside is a stable for glassteeds and other living vehicles. It contains a common room that is of (Common Availability). The common room is filled with mostly squeaky metal frames and simple cots. A common washroom lies in a room adjacted to it. It has a well and a bucket but no soap. There are six single rooms with three on the bottom and three on top. These are also simple but nicer than the common room. They have stronger and better made bed frames with larger mattresses and pillows. They also have three chairs and a simple small round table inside. These are of (Average Availability). The place is actually ran by an older Deep Rat. His name is Darius “Scurry” Lichten. He has graying hair, an eyepatch over his left eye, and a common quality bionic arm. He was a scout for the Deep Rats before he got too old for the job and he settled down managing the tavern. He lost his arm assuring his fellow gangers that he knew how to disarm a mine. The mine disarmed him. He carries an older shock maul he calls “Battery”. As a Deep Rat he is able to carry weapons around. He has a few younger Deep Rats helping him keep the place orderly and clean.
The Cog and the Rat King
The tallest part of the city sticks out from the rest of it. The building material is different. It is thick. It has an odd shape, like a cog on its side rising. Walls were raised around it. Gangers patrol them. The ground around it looks paved. It goes down deep. This is the ratking's keep. He makes announcements and proclamations there. His personal men and gangers that have pledged loyalty to him gather here. The place is five stories tall, but it is ten stories deep. Past the walls of the Cog the acolytes can hear gunfire and find melee drills taking place outside of Kingsnest. Firing ranges and sparring rings have been set up.
Ratking's Leverage
Deep in the keep is a millenia old archaeotech lab. Many parts are locked off. There is one chamber that is the ratking's greatest leverage and secret. It contains the STC for making a titan variant. Anyone in the sector who gets their hands on it becomes a big power in Askellon. The Adeptus Mechanicus was specifically coming to Kingsnest to check the validity of claims from the Rat King. He has been corresponding with a Magos named Kaecipher. He is a midranking member of Selvanus Binary's hierarchy and is an ambassador between Desoleum and Selvanus Binary. Kaecipher wants the STC before the Desoleum branch of the Mechanicus finds out. If Kaecipher finds out the expedition is dead, the rat king will be worried that Kaecipher will think he ordered them to be killed. In exchange for a favor, that is not giving them the STC, he will ask the acolytes to find who blew the explorator expedition up. He is desperate enough that he will give them anything they ask at the beginning.
He knows the gangers bonded to him would not dare make a move against him. He has a couple of suspicions. The explorators would have been going through the Monsoon's territory, a gang of speed freaks that have adopted a tribal culture in the underhive. The next group that would go after the expedition are the Stormlords, techgangers that are the second strongest hivegang in this region of the Underhive. They are always on the lookout for tech, bionics, and vehicles. The third group may be Gosef's group. The rat king knows the least about them, but they give him a bad feeling. It was the stormlords.
The Rat King and Gosef
If the acolytes bring up Gosef and the auction for the serum, the Rat King will be understandably pissed as something like that could be used against Kingsnest. It will be a surprise to them. Actium did register at the gate but his accomplices would have not claimed to know him. Zel will follow the acolyte's lead on what they want to do with Gosef's crew. If they ask, the Rat King can give them a crew of his guys to assault the Fell Fort. Use a crew of eight thugs with autoguns to represent the crew. They will bring their own autocarriages with heavy stubbers.
The Rat King is willing to go along with the acolytes since them finding who destroyed the Mechanicus expedition may be a matter of life or death for him and his city.
Castor Titus
If they never encountered Titus in the Underhive, then they will meet him first here. He is down in the Underhive after stumbling into a Joy Troupe's hideout, The Joy Troupe is a spin-off of the style killers (who are Harlequin wanna-bes and secret Cegorach worshippers). He was on the run and received an offer to play at the Stormlord's fort. He was not payed as he was promised and is quite miffed. He is hoping that the Joy Troupe has forgotten by him now and now just wants a ride back to the surface. He is hoping to escape to Sizzum or Jarzin after.
They will find him in the middle of the city's market place playing his guitar. If they had never met him before, they will recognize the music as the same that was heard when they passed by Ashville. He is playing for scrip and has a guitar case on the ground. He has an amp strapped to his back. He will search the acolytes out himself if they are brought to the Rat King first. He knows the Stormlords destroyed the Mechanicus expedition because they asked him to play for them at their fortress and then didn't pay him. He will tell them his story and says in return he wants them to give him a ride back to the mainhive. At the end of the trip, he can give them the address of a Joy Troupe hideout.
Father Ibram Atellus
If the acolytes go around the city, they will find a group of people gathered around Ibram. He is giving Imperial Mass and reading from a Lectitio Divinatus. A few people there grip prayer beads with aquilas on them. He will be near the end of his sermon, and the acolytes will notice that his homily does not mention the oath system prevalent in Desoleum and in the local creed branch's dogma. Deep Rats, commoners, traders, and travelers will be among his congregation. Some passerbys, mainly gangers, will look at this gathering like they're strange. The mass ends and the people go. If the acolytes ask, he will tell him his story. If Ibram gets the idea that the acolytes are Inquisition or if one of them has worked for the Adeptus Arbites, he asks if they can look into Lotharius and see if he's guilty of temple tendency among any other sins. He will also tell the acolytes to watch out for Asheville on their return to Primus. Of all things, Greenskins have been found inside trying to ambush people. He barely got out with his life. He had the good fortune for one of his congregation scouting out that way. He has no idea how they got in. He passed by the wreckage of the Mechanicus vehicles and knows the ganger vehicles are from the Stormlords.
Yankee Rose
“'Yankee' Rose”
“Yankee” Rose will introduce herself by throwing out three Ripper gangers out of a bar called the Glass Factory. Rose will walk out, stinking of booze and having bloodied knuckles. The man in question threatened one of the serving girls there after being rejected and then insulted Rose by calling her a “mannish oaf”. She shouts at him to stay out and then goes inside to get back to her drink. Yankee is having a bad day. She was sent down here to find the explorator expedition and report on their activities or bring them back, but when she looked she couldn't find a single one. Not wanting to go back to the Mechanicus and Magos Kaecipher with nothing in hand, she has been searching for who destroyed the expedition. She will ask the acolytes if they are looking for them, and then asks if she can join them and help. First things first, she will ask them to scare the fear of the Emperor into the Rippers to not visit the Glass Factory again. She doesn't want any trouble for the bar or the girls there. If the acolytes want a reward out of this, she will offer half of the bounty the Mechanicus promised (+30 Requisition Test Bonus). If the acolytes refuse or keep information from her, she will be suspicious and try to follow them to see if they're lying to her.
The Chrome Pintle
A shade climbs over the walls and slips into the city at night. Nothing can be seen of them except for a telltale shimmer. It is a harlequin, and it has been chasing the acolytes for some time. It parked its grav bike outside of the city coaked. It will sneak into the acolytes place of residence and will stick a blade in their face. It will say its not there to hurt them. It's not an enemy, it just knows how humans react to his presence. It just wants answers to some questions. What happened to the Eldar Warlock in the Pristine City? What ritual did they see? What came out of the ritual? What was in the Pristine City? It will mention that dark forces are arising in the sector. His dark brethren are more active. The separation of the materium and immaterium is not as clear. The pandaemonium rise again. If they answer his questions, he will leave quickly. He will flee any fight the acolytes try to instigate.
The Trough
The acolytes will be pointed toward a tavern called “The Trough”. It is a bar near the edge of the city. It is a decent place if simple. It is run by a heavyset middle aged man and his family who is somewhat of a simpleton. His name is Rutherford B. Grell. He is always going about the place admonishing gangers for their language and dirtying it up and will often repeat “This is a respectable business”. He likes keeping the place clean. He is very loyal to the Rat King. His wife died of fever a few years after having their son.
Rutherford has a radio that is going on the fritz. He will bang on it and say its broken. He likes to keep it on and have the records they play from the citadel. The citadel has a radio channel that gives public announcements to Kingsnest's citizens. It is used along with a vox speaker system that spreads across the city. It can be fixed, and if Rutherford sees that one of the acolytes is a techpriest or owns some high tech devices, he will ask them if they would fix it for free drinks. This will get Ruth to like the acolytes.
The Grell's don't know where they came from. They have always been in the Underdark as vagabonds of a sort. Then they found Kingsnest. After work in the fields for some years he was asked to work in the Trough and later inherited it from the dead founder. His younger son is the barkeep and a youth of seventeen named Gunther. He is a mischievous and excitable fellow. He has been making buddies with a local hivegang called the Rippers. The head of the Rippers is named Rickart. He thinks they are the coolest. His father doesn't want him mixing with gangs of that type. The Deep Rats keep to the city and its protection and receive resources through trade, the Cog, and the farmers. They have an interest in keeping the place proper. The Rippers are regular gangers through and through and go out on raids against other gangs and inhabitants of the Underhive. The Rippers also visit the bar and regale Gunther with tales of their adventures. Ruth will ask the acolytes to either scare his son off or tell the Rippers to leave his son alone. If the son goes out with them the son can die if the acolytes do go out to save him. Rutherford can tell them about “Scryer” if they help.
Scryer
The man the acolytes will be looking for is named “Scryer” Harken. He's a skinny wiry man that has been looking for customers. He is naturally suspicious of everyone though. He's afraid of the inquisition. He will ask several feeler questions and if given time will look into where the acolytes come from. If he agrees, Scryer will tell them to meet them outside the city at the northeast gate and he will lead them there. He has his own autocarriage. Scryer takes them about a day's travel around the spine.
Stormhold
The stormhold is an underhive gang citadel. It is large imposing structure that rises into the air. It is the remains of an ancient colonial structure that was abandoned when the hive was built upward and outward. It is difficult to attack from the front with a fleet of modified vehicles, defenses, walls, and emplacements set to deal with invaders. It is built into the remains of a mountain that was not fully mined out or flattened in construction efforts or battle.
Inside a few kilometers around the stormhold lie supplicants and serfs that serve the Stormlords. They farm a fungus type root used as food and perform work for the gangers. They are treated badly and are mainly slaves that were captured from other parts of the underhive. They are malnourished and are in terrible states but do not leave in fear of reprisal.
Near to the fort are the camps and outposts that the majority of the stormlords live and work in. A fleet of vehicles including modified autocarriages, motorbikes, and even heavier ordinance such as scavenged chimeras lie outside. These are repaired, modified, and worked upon by the stormlords and their serfs. Rations and resources are kept inside the fort.
A large gate leads to the inside of the fort. It lies underneath walls, machine guns towers, and anti-armor weapons set up around. A series of voxcasters and intercoms can be found this point on.
The interior of the stormhold is made up of three large chambers and two smaller ones. The entrance leads to more living quarters and a large garage to work on chimeras, perform bionic surgery, and two more gates. A northern gate leads to a large throneroom. A southern gate leads to the walls and to a makeshift firing range set against the mountain. From this point on cameras connected to a security system located in the brig watch the place. There is one near the entrance, one in an inner part that watches over the garage, and one near the northern gate that watches the same thing.
The inside of the walls contain a firing range. There are gangers at times training in melee out there as well. Stairs to the walls are found. A store of munitions for the firing range are also kept outside. There are no cameras.
The throneroom is a large place held up by grand pillars. A great stone throne lies near the middle. This is where the stormlords receive orders and decrees from the Stormking. It is mainly a gathering place for that purpose and an area to be defended if the fort was under attack. There is a gate to a fight pit and a gate to the Stormking's personal chambers and lab. A camera lies near the middle of the place placed on a southern wall. Another lies on the northeast wall.
The fight pit is a rather basic design, and may have been at one time a place to hold animals. It is ten meters lower than the ground floor of the Stormhold. There are two gates in the pit that are reached through two separate pathways that can be reached from the brig. There is a gate to the throne room and a gate to the brig. There is only one camera set to watch the pit.
The brig shows the age of the fort. Clinical metal walls and floors cover the area. There are five large cells that are manually opened and closed and locked by consoles controlling the physical locks of the doors. These are slide doors, they open by moving up and close by moving down. Each cell has a small port that is barred. The area is patrolled by gangers and two combat servitors are on standby at all times. They can be activated by an executor. They do not alert the fort of intruders. Near the end of the brig lies a security room, where cameras and a console lie. There is almost always an executor and a retinue of gangers watchng the cameras. Two more servitors lie inside. There is a klaxon alarm and a vox speaker system that can relay messages throughout the fort. Also near the end of the fort are two tunnels that lead down to tunnels. On tunnel leads to two splitting paths to the gates of the fight pit. The other tunnel leads to an escape route that goes through the mountain for about ten kilometers. At the end of that tunnel lies a small outpost manned by a skeleton crew of the stormlords.
Also in the brig is a group of feral orks (of the group brought through the Regia Occulta), a group of Deeprats, and a group of Monsoons (A nomadic ganger group face painted with wind imagery). They were all captured and were to be used in the fight pit. If the groups notice the acolytes or are let out of the brig by them, then they will assist them in killing the Stormlords. They will have to pick up weapons dropped by the Stormlords or be supplied by the acolytes themselves. The orks, after being brought out and picking up weapons from the Stormlords, will turn against the party or just leave. One cell holds a human skull. The last cell holds a creature that looks like a big dog with pants. She starts lying down like a dog. She has various scars on her and a collar with a dog tag that says “Veljack; Command Me” on it. This is Veljack (or whatever you want to name it), an Elquon Manhound. She is a trained bodyguard. She will not reveal her true form as a humanoid fighter until she is in a fight. She has been mistreated by the Stormlords and will begin reluctant to interact with people. If the acolytes earn her trust, she will follow them as new masters and happily follow their orders. Her profile will be placed in the character section of this module.
There is a ten kilometer long tunnel that serves as an escape route out of the Stormhold. The tunnel is mined into the Underhive's foundation and opens into an outpost. The outpost is a small walled place that should have around ten guards. It contains two autocarriage technicals for scouting. It also contains an alarm system that can be triggered by a central barracks building. The heretek adept here is a man called Vourke who earned the ire of the Storm King. He entered the Storm King's chambers in the middle of an experiment. He knows the password to enter the Storm King's personal laboratory and living quarters. It is an alternate pathway into the Stormhold that Castor Titus knows of and will happily give if one gets in his good graces. He is angry at the Stormlords for requesting his presence as a performancer and then not paying him when he performed.
The Stormking's laboratory contains his experiments. There is a vox-operated door with words in an archaic form of High Gothic. It asks “Quot jacet super nos? Quid est ira telum suum?”. The translation after a successful challenging (+0) linguistics: High Gothic test is “What lies above us? What is the weapon of its anger?”. The answers are “Caelum (The Sky)” and “(Fulgur) Lightning”. They will open the door. A symbol of the Dark Mechanicus is engraved into the floor. Mutilated remains of subjects lay around, embalmed in glass and hung around for further use. A large mechanism/healing pod lies near the back, and it contains the form of the Stormking in his slumber. It contains proscribed archaeotech nanomachines that modify and repair the heretek. If an acolyte tries to use the chamber, they will have to take a difficult (-10) willpower test or be horribly transformed by the nanomachines which will incur 3d10 damage with no armor bonus. Inside he keeps notes on experiments and his interests around. He will have six active combat servitors inside protecting him at all time, and six smelt-rat kings. He has turned adepts of the adeptus mechanicus into servitors, forcing the lobotomies and invasive procedures upon them. They are turned into wretched beasts that are beyond saving. Inside is also a journal of the Stormking's that details his history and notes on parts of the Underhive.
The Stormlords
The current owners of the Stormhold are the Stormlords, a tech-gang that scavenges for and steals bionics and technology. They value metal over their own flesh, and fit their limbs and body parts with whatever bionics or metal they can find. Many are simple hivegangers with a bionic fixture that were driven from the mainhive. Some were too reckless for more mainline techgangs like the brassmen. They are augmented with various machine parts and metal grafted on. This supplements their scavenged flak armor in protecting them. The foot soldiers of the Stormlords, the pneumators and the wrenches, mainly use lasguns and chain weapons. The foot soldiers are lead by the executors, corrupted mechanicus adepts. These men contain heavier weaponry and stolen luminen equipment. They lead with the cold indifference of a machine. They also control combat servitors, lobotomized augmented slaves that were either ad-hoc made from unfortunate prisoners and victims in the underhive or stolen from the mainhive. The combat servitors are not activated until the executors activate them through a phrase in binary. The servitors are only activated by executor voices specific to a servitor. The Storm King can activate them all. Otherwise they will stand inactive and not react to anything. These combat servitors attack on command, and open up on enemies with the rapid-fire of a heavy stubbers replacing arms and slice into enemies haphazardly with implanted chainaxes. These are well armored and are without emotion or fear. The executors also control the strange terrible cybernetic vermin called smelt rats. Usually acting independently, the leader of the Stormlords have turned these gnawing scratching meshes of flesh and machine into his personal attack animals. His executors can even command them to merge into smelt-rat kings, amalgams of smelt-rats that hit hard.
Deep Rat's Aid
If the acolytes were successful in killing the Storm King and bringing his head (or proof of his death) to the Rat King, he will be very grateful. For the last favor of bringing proof of the Rat King's reparations to Magos Kaecipher of the Selvanus Binarians, he will help the acolytes in their quest to capture Gosef and claim the poison as the Rat King pledges his forces to the attack upon the Fell Fort. The Rat King will show them to a window facing the cavernside of Kingsnest past the walls. The acolytes will see the Deep Rats drilling for war. They will see shooting ranges and melee spars. They will also hear screaming projectiles landed against the empty cavern walls. The Rat King will explain that among the forges, ovens, and other resources of the Cog the Deep Rats found munitions and mortars. There is even a working artillery piece, but it is in disrepair and none of these gangers are quite enginseers or artillery cadets. The Deep Rats have practiced with the mortars before when the greenskins suddenly appeared in the underhive, but they did not have a reason before to use them.
The Rat King will also inform the acolytes that one of Gosef's men, a man named “Scryer”, was captured in the middle of the night and is held in one of the Cog's locked and empty rooms. He is available to be interrogated by the acolytes for more information about the Fell Fort. Scryer has no hope to be rescued in the belly of the Cog. Interrogating him is an opposed interrogation test of ordinary (+10) difficulty versus Scryer's willpower.
Scryer's Interrogation
1DoS: Scryer will tell the acolytes that the auction is a setup. He and the men at the fort were never loyal to Gosef. Gosef thought that he could trick them into getting rid of the pox rot plague for him by making a false play that his former masters wanted the auction as part of his plan. His reasoning was that selling the pox rot plague as a bio-weapon could cause a massive chain reaction in the hive where the people using it could just as easily get infected as the people they were using it on and it would spread. It was his effort to run from the Bilious Legions, Gosef and the cultists' true masters. Scryer and the loyal cultists will bring Gosef to their true masters.
2DoS: Scryer will tell them that the mutants attacking bloc Verdant is the opening part of an Nurglite led invasion of hive Desoleum Primus. The members of the Bilious Legions (and the Callers of Sorrow) have been engendering mutants from the Dark and the Underhive to their cause.
3DoS: The cultists arrived at the Fell Fort a few months ago under the guise of being more hive gangers. They have been performing rituals around the Fell Fort and are interested in its bridges. Scryer didn't know the specific details, but something about the bridges gives the energy and aligns in a certain malefic shape that is bringing about something.
4DoS: There is a separate group of Nurgle Cultists that is affiliated with the group Scryer is a part of. They have been infesting Desoleum for centuries. They helped Gosef, Scryers, and the rest of the Bilious Legions' passaged through the hive to the underhive and fell fort. That's all he knows.
5DoS: There is a new group of players in Desoleum, but they have been Askellon for some time. They have been butting heads with Nurglite cults and warbands. They have been making big waves in heretical circles. From what Scryer has heard, they may have had something to do with the Catalyst that is causing the Immaterial Shift right now. No one knows who leads them nor the number of people under them. All they know is a name. The “Tarot”.
Fell Fort
The Fell Fort was built long ago by pre-Imperial colonists. It served as a rest stop and military fort for a mountain pass that was forgotten when the hives were built. It served its purpose and was later abandoned to be occupied by manner of ganger, mutant, and cultist. The fell fort was placed upon ground touched by the immaterium. A cabal of witches once tried to open a Regia Occulta, a compressed portal through the war, in the fort to swallow Desoleum. The daemons that came out claimed their lives and their souls. The foundation of the portal remained and spontaneously opens at time. The bridge provides energy and aligns into a large eight pointed star as a ritual to open the gate. The gate before was unstable and random. However, since the catalyst (the event that activated the pandaemonium and is drawing Desoleum into the warp) the separation of the materium and immaterium is not becoming as clear. The orks that can be met in Ashville came from the Regia Occulta. It periodically opens but was never able to be forced to open. A nurglite cult lead by plague marines can manipulate both ends of the regia occulta to open in their secret fortress in Askellon and the fell fort by using psyker manipulation and the conditions built by the Catalyst. They want a full invasion of the planet, and are coming to supplement the opening waves of the mutants.
This fort inspires dread. Blackened rockcrete walls standing at ten meters tall and two meters wide surround the place. It is placed close to mountains that surround the spine. The walls are manned by men wearing hoods and stitched together helmets. Their faces are covered. Many of them have autoguns and shotguns. There are some that stick out. They are either larger or shaped strangely from the others. They all wear a similar stitched together leather uniform. There is a pass set horizontally through the mountain located above the fort. This may have been a traveling outpost at one point. A large bridge made of two parts extends from the top of the fort. There is a guard tower on one side next to it. There appears to be one gate inside. Autocarriages, glassteeds, motorcycles, and other vehicles are parked inside. The autocarriages are used by the cultists. They are modified with heavy weapons on them. Inside lies a barracks, an armory, and a stockhouse. Guards surround the place. They are found on walls, on the ground, and near the bridge. There are about fifty of them. At the western side of the fort is a set of steps that lead up a pathway to the path the bridge allows passage to. On the eastern side of the fort next to the eastern half of the bridge is a tower that contains the controls to the bridge.
The profiles for the cultists all come from the Enemies Within section of the Dark Heresy 2E core rulebook. The Strain Infector, Fleshbent, Malatant, and Warp Priest profiles are used. Strain infectors gather in squads of six that are lead by a warp priest. Fleshbents work in teams of two and malatants fight individually.
Important
The party needs to be pointed to the bridge towers or the bridges themselves either via dialogue by the cultists or Gosef or through the Storm King's journal. Unless those bridges are destroyed through hacking, explosives, or some other means, then the Bilious Legions will be free to invade hive Desoleum from the Underhive. This is a failure condition.
Two of a Few Possible Pathways
The party may have made their way directly to the Fell Fort. The party may have gained the Deep Rats or other people in the Underhive as allies at this point. The way the party can approach the Fell Fort is up to them. There are two general versions one can work from that will be detailed here. These are not the only choices and they can even overlap with each other or be disregarded for another type of plan. The important part is for the party to kidnap Gosef, take the Rot Pox, and disable the Regia Occulta. An infiltration with the warband and whomever they bring, or a siege with the forces of the Deep Rats and the gangs allied with them. An infiltration will require stealth, cunning, and/or a way to distract the Bilious Legions cultists for the warband to complete their mission. The siege will have the warband carrying out objectives to help their allied forces to get inside. Once again, these don't have to be mutually exclusive. A cunning player may distract the cultists into leaving the fort to investigate a possible attack and be ambushed, or have the Deep Rats on standby in case the infiltration goes wrong and the cultists need to be distracted.
Do not try to have the full force of the cultists in a structured battle. In the infiltration (if the warband messed up) or the siege version have the PCs face waves of around ten NPCs max. This is to not have the combat slow to a crawl.
The Infiltration
Here are some options to reach this situation or a variation of it:
The Warband finds the Fell Fort on its own.
The Warband has an NPC lead them to the Fell Fort through trickery, intimidation, or bribery
If the Acolytes chose option 1, then they may try to make a case that they are buyers to trick their way into the fort. If they have prior knowledge, they may even trick the cult to thinking they are cultists themselves. If any of the characters has knowledge of Nurgle, they can earn bonuses to deceive and the other social skills to convince the cultists. The acolytes may also attempt to scale the walls and sneak into the fort. If they do this during the auction, they will have a hard time due to the cultists spreading out on the walls to keep a watch out (and to kill the buyers) during the auction. If they do this before, then the cultists will be much more spread out over the fort, the mountain pass, and patrolling around the area around the fort. This will allow gaps in security and the ability to sleuth around.
Gosef will be waiting and practicing his auctioneer lines in the barracks. The party can come up with a number of plans to get him out of the Fell Fort and kidnap him and take the Rot Pox. However, if the cultists find that the Rot Pox has been taken out of the fort, or Gosef is not around to have his punishment exacted then the Regia Occulta will be opened.
If the acolytes are caught, they can try to make up a story or do something to distract the cultists. Otherwise, the fort and the cult will be alerted and they will have to face waves of mutants and Nurglite cultists. If the warband is successful at defending themselves for a couple of waves but have not taken Gosef and the Pox Rot, then the cultists will lift the bridges and bring the Regia Occulta into being. This brings out a nurglite Chaos Space Marine, two malatants, and a warp priest.
If the Acolytes chose option 2, a gaggle of buyers has shown up. Gangers, nobleman, and shadier individuals have shown up. They carry cases of scrip. They are gathered around the middle of the fort. There is a pedestal set up on a raised dais. The auction will be announced later. A tall lanky man with long black hair and a beard will walk toward the pedestal. He looks like he hasn't slept in weeks. He looks somewhat nervous. This is Gosef Actium. At the same time, a group of the guards start to move up to the bridge tower.
Here is where the warband can avoid some trouble. If the acolytes choose to try to get to the bridge tower before the bidding takes place, then depending on whether the guards have moved up to it, they will face light or heavy resistance in trying to disable the bridges. There will be an NPC attempting tech-use tests to lift the bridges to open the Regia Occulta. The acolytes need to stop them to make sure the portal does not open. The cultists and mutants will attempt to protect that NPC. If they can kill or disable that NPC before they use the bridges, they will not face the Chaos Space Marine and his small retinue. If they do not stop him in time, they still have the ability to destroy or disable the bridges through tech-use or some other way, but the traitor Marine and his retinue will have come through.
At the time of the auction (and if the warband has not decided to disable the bridges), Gosef will start the bidding, and then suddenly the bridges will begin to rise. Gosef is terrified of this. Once the bridges are raised the acrid smell of the warp fills the air. The bridges form an aligning symbol that opens the Regia Occulta. The place was prepared beforehand with rituals to make sure the portal opened, and the Catalyst provided Immaterial presence for its control. The Bilious Legions of Nurgle using sorcery and the immaterial drift have found how to target the Regia Occulta to two specific places. The bidders will be mowed down.
The portal is circular and dark pink. A Nurglite warp priest and two malatants walk through it. Then a hulking figure wearing bile colored armor armor and a large chainsword walks through. His face is somewhere between a burn victim and a leper. Under the armor flesh slips out. This corpulent form has flies and miasma rising from it. This is a plague marine. The cultists have tricked Gosef into returning the Pox Rot serum to them. They have summoned one of their masters, the traitor marine formerly known as Goriah Lesh but whom now is named Pustulus, to punish Gosef as he sees fit. The marine will grab Gosef and taunt him. He will chastise him with the tone of a disappointed parent. The traitor marine says that Gosef took away the serum before father Nurgle could bless it, and became a stopgap on their plans in Desoleum. He says the children of grandfather Nurgle are not to worry, for their mutant brethren and the power of the immaterial shift caused by the catalyst will allow them to strike the hive at its soft underbelly. He states he is taking Gosef to the Bastilla of Pus for his punishment.
On the right side of the fort there is a ladder to a tower with the bridge controls. These tower has guards in it. The bridges need a tech-use test to override the controls or to set explosives if the acolytes have any. The controls can have their mechanisms overworked to crash them upon the fort. This can be a way to kill the mutants more easily and make sure the portal will not be opened again. If the acolytes burn fate points here, they will be taken to the Bastilla of Pus, a Nurgle Warband's citadel in a secret place in Askellon, with a chance to escape back to the fort and destroy it.
The Siege
Deeprats Aid: They will bring a fleet of vehicles, gangers, mortars, and what they need to siege the fort. They will mainly act as a distraction for the defenders of the fort. They will also join the fight in the fort proper when the Regia Occulta starts to spit out Nurglite cultists and mutants. They can be asked to accompany the acolytes inside, and in that case the acolytes will receive a minimum of a group of eight (use the Thug profile in Dark Heresy Core Rulebook with lasguns and autoguns). The Rat King will also give them extra help in the form of mortar strikes. He will give them a hand-held targeter and his vox-comms channel. They get one mortar strike every five turns. If the acolytes fail, the Deeprats will be driven back to Kingsnest.
If the acolytes have brought the army of Deep Rats with them, then the introduction to the fort starts with a bang. The walls are armed with mounted heavy stubbers and missile launchers. A krak rocket from one of the launchers will hit an ally's car or go right over the acolytes' vehicles. A torrent of lead and explosives then begins to hit the war party as the Deep Rats fire back. The Rats will attempt to get closer, and form a front around 200 meters away from the fort. They are trying to return fire, and are trying to set up mortars to counter the onslaught. The acolytes need to help the Rats in a few ways. They can either try to forge ahead into a dangerous cavalcade of fire, where two squads on the walls each with one heavy stubber and one missile launcher focus on their vehicle as a distraction. They can take it further and attempt to climb the walls to breach the defenses. They can try to snipe the emplacements to allow the Rats time to set up. There are other ways to turn the tide in the Deep Rats' favor if the acolytes can imagine them. After the Deep Rats have set up their mortars and their own missiles, they can blow up a gate or part of the wall to allow the acolytes to go in. The Deep Rats, with their few hundreds of men, will keep the majority of the cultists busy and distracted as the acolytes go in and capture Gosef and/or the poison and destroy the bridges.
Regardless, when the acolytes enter the fort the bidders will all have been shot to death. Gosef will be horrified. Then the bridges begin to raise, giving the energy and the mystical alignment that allows the Regia Occulta to open.
The Regia Occulta counts as a “Warp Shock” Moral Threat. It is also a Fear (2) source. Failing the willpower test will incur two corruption.
The portal is circular and dark pink. A Nurglite warp priests and two malatants walk through it. Then a hulking figure wearing bile colored armor armor and a large chainsword walks through. His face is somewhere between a burn victim and a leper. Under the armor flesh slips out. This corpulent form has flies and miasma rising from it. This is a plague marine. The cultists have tricked Gosef into returning the Pox Rot serum to them. They have summoned one of their masters, the traitor marine formerly known as Goriah Lesh but whom now is named Pustulus, to punish Gosef as he sees fit. The marine will grab Gosef and taunt him. He will chastise him with the tone of a disappointed parent. The traitor marine says that Gosef took away the serum before father Nurgle could bless it, and became a stopgap on their plans in Desoleum. He says the children of grandfather Nurgle are not to worry, for their mutant brethren and the power of the immaterial shift caused by the catalyst will allow them to strike the hive at its soft underbelly. He states he is taking Gosef to the Bastilla of Pus for his punishment.
The acolytes need to destroy the portal by bringing the bridges back down. Their inquisitor wants Gosef alive, so they need to confront the traitor marine. If the acolytes have come alone in the midst of the dozens of Nurgle cultists, then Pustulus will be amused and will fight them one-on-one. If the acolytes came with the Deep Rats, then the cultists will be too busy with them, and Pustulus and his cohort of heretics can fight the acolytes as a group. Pustulus will taunt the acolytes with blasphemies against the Emperor and the Imperium. He will taunt them by telling them if they survive the battle, they will be taken to the Bilious Legions' citadel, the Bastilla of Pus, to experience grandfather Nurgle's love and joy.
After the acolytes have dealt with Pustulus there will be cultists and mutants walking through the gate that will open fire against the acolytes. They will come in large numbers, forcing the acolytes to figure out a way of destroying the portal. They will see the bridge tower containing the bridge controls. If the acolytes successfully defeat Pustulus, the cultists will be dismayed, but their morale will return after their brethren step through the portal.
On the right side of the fort there is a ladder to a tower with the bridge controls. These tower has guards in it. The bridges need a tech-use test to override the controls or to set explosives if the acolytes have any. The controls can have their mechanisms overworked to crash them upon the fort. This can be a way to kill the mutants more easily and make sure the portal will not be opened again. If the acolytes burn fate points here, they will be taken to the Bastilla of Pus, a Nurgle Warband's citadel in a secret place in Askellon, with a chance to escape back to the fort and destroy it.
Back to Verdant (It takes 3-5 Days)
The acolytes travel through the underhive back to the mainhive once more. Roll on the underhive events for each day and keep track of rations and promethium. The acolytes will also be attacked by roaming mutants from the invasion of the lower hive. The mutants were supposed to one part of a two part invasion, and even if the acolytes have the stopped the Nurglite warband from using the Regia Occulta, the bloc that the mutants invaded through the underhive gate will be in flames. Sanctionaries and the Involute Cadres will be sent in to destroy the mutant invasion.
There is a large war camp past the gate to the lower hive. Mutants are posted all around and patrol the camp. A stream of mutants, witches, and cultists emerge from the Dark to join the invasion. Vlagg the Boil, the leader of this horde, and his Blessed Children control the gate. The gate needs to be closed to stop reinforcements from coming in. Sanctionaries and guardsmen have been sent to quell the invasion, but the mutants are many. They are ferocious. They are filled with zeal.
The Gatehouse
(I am going to flat out tell you I used a rip of FF6's magitek factory online that I used to design the gatehouse. Specifically, I used the left side of it and then the room with the electric bulbs as the final room)
The acolytes will have to go to the gate house. It contains the mechanisms and controls of the huge gate. It is also patrolled and guarded by the Blessed. One can get into the gatehouse by a set of stairs found at the side of the gate leading to an inner installation. This inner installation was built of rockcrete and lies at the top of the gate.
They will pass through four rooms, each with different passages to the next. These rooms are a decent size that that there are different paths through them that one could bypass encounters or stealthily kill the guards if one wished. If the guards are alerted and one gets away to alert the war camp or the inner gatehouse, then the party will be hounded through the gatehouse. The majority of this horde does not have microbeads and voxcasters. They have been spending time in the Dark.
There are four rooms to walk through to get to the gate controls. The first is guarded by a squad of mutants. There are two pestilenants, two fleshbents, two warp callers, and a warp seer. The next room contains the same. The third contains four malatants at the southwest and northeast corners of the rooms. The fourth contains cultists of the Callers of Sorrow. There is a contagion demagogue, five strain infectors, and five pestilenants.
The final room contains the gate controls between two large generators. The gate controls are connected to a cogitator. A tech-use test is required to access the controls to lower the gate. Also on the cogitator are monitors for pict recorders that show the gatehouse's rooms, underhive side, and the lower hive side of the gate. The final room connects to the headquarters of Vlagg the Boil. Vlagg, either before or after the acolytes attempt to close the gates, will enter to put a stop to them. He will drag along with him two beasts of Nurgle that he had summoned to break through the hive's defenders. He will also explain that summoning them was easier due to the effects the Catalyst had on Desoleum's split between the immaterium and the materium.
After Vlagg and his beasts are dead, the reinforcements of the mutants are cut off. The acolytes can view the inside of the bloc through the gate house's balcony. The closing of the gate and the timing of the hive's defenders will lead to a devestating attack upon the mutant hordes.
Return
The acolytes find ash and destruction in Mourtariam Bloc Verdant. Charred bodies lay on the ground. Craters made by explosive ordinance litter the area before the hive gate. Looking past the underhive gate, the inner city is in ruins and looks like a burning hellscape. Spires and blocks have been burned. Fires still rage in some. Whole buildings have crumbled. Remaining buildings have been blown up. The place looks like a demilitarized zone after a gigantic battle. Corpses of mutants, sanctionaries, troopers, men, women, and children litter the ground where they have not been picked up.
Involute Cadre troopers are sweeping the outskirts of the gate. They will meet the acolytes. They will have to explain themselves and be brought to lord-commander Ravion Grym-Zollern. If they were successful in closing the gate, he will thank them and offer his services (gain peer). They will meet him in a forward-operating base, where he is also meeting with their inquisitor/handler. Commander Ravion will know of the acolytes nature through their handler. He will tell them that the bloc they came through and a few of the lower blocs have been ravaged and destroyed. Several Mourtariam guilds have been destroyed, as well as Irokian-bile fly pits. There will be food shortages that will have to be met by increasing demand on agri-worlds. Food riots will break out.
This is also a terrible time for this to happen due to the possible war with house Kotrohman and its allies [See Rainmaker Part Two]. Kotrohman material was used in an attack and attempted assassination against lady Aud Killian and lady Principa Gotha. Surviving attackers swear Kotrohman ordered the assassination. Conspiratorial evidence has also been found that implicates house Kotrohman in dealing with heretics and xenos. The lord has brought himself to Desoleum to be judged by the Consortium. He denies all charges.
The inquisitor/handler has another cell working on that, but he may require their help. In the meantime, he wants the acolytes back up to the Galloping Aethexe. The contact they met in the Scrip Corner has news for them.
The Galloping Aethexe, and The Final Reward
After a week's worth of travel, the acolytes make it back to the Galloping Aethexe. Inside lies a newly installed servitor bartender, and the man from bloc Baeza. He will congratulate them on a job well done, and then give them the reward he promised them. He tells them the secret headquarters location and leader of a hivegang who has kept his identity secret until now. He tells them the headquarters are found in a hive bloc in a large tenement structure called “Velvet Block”. The leader of the Babyfaces, Callidon Ventium, holds a base and home there on the top half of Velvet Block that is infested with hundreds of babyfaces. Ventium is a slumlord and supplier of the babyfaces. He was once a dissolute noble that made his fortune off of operating substandard hab block tenements among other businesses. He is brought tribute by the baby faces who receive equipment, contacts, and the forces of the gang in return. No one had bothered looking for him due to bribes to the sanctionaries and payments to other nobles and administratum figures. The contact received this information from a customer of his, a woman with silver-blond hair and a beautiful face.
The inquisitor/handler wants Callidon captured for interrogation and the hideout and gang destroyed. The Babyfaces have contacts in more vile groups and in the proscribed Faceless Trade. They may even associate with the group that thought up the Elias Greene incident. The inquisitor/handler knows that even with his retinue of stormtroopers, he may not be able to assault a ganger bastion alone. Callidon will have tricks up his sleeves and the scrip and influence to build in heavy defenses. The inquisitor/handler reached out to two groups. One, the arbitrators of Precinct 246-Alpha and the Grand Marshall Provost, Jugend Volkmar; and two, and this is when Lady Aya Rosa walks down the steps of the Galloping Aethexe, the sanctionaries of the Rosa Initative. Lady Rosa steps down to the floor of the Galloping Aethexe, and introduces herself confidently as the acolytes new best friend.
Canonically, this module ends a day after Rainmaker Part Two ends. It leads to the next module, Velvet.
Gosef Actium's Interrogation
Gosef knows he has no leverage. He has no allies, he has been caught red-handed, and he has no fallback plan. He will be easier to crack as an interrogation subject. Test an ordinary (+10) interrogation test opposed by Gosef's willpower.
1DoS: Gosef will start near the beginning. He is a native of Juno, the capital planet of Askellon. He became a cultist out of discontent in his life. He became a nurglite to rebel against the Imperium. He didn't know the full extent of what being a cultist meant. He was shown something that horrified him. He wanted out of the Bilious Legion. He worked as a smuggler on Desoleum to get resources to other Nurgle cults' work there. He was entrusted the poison as his masters did not know of his true intentions. He was supposed to drop it off on a street corner in front of an aid house in commercial block Havor. When he got there, he saw an aid house that had been exploded and no one to pick it up. He decided this was the time to try to break out. He tried to hock the poison where he could, including other smugglers. He thought the Bilious Legion would be on his tail. He grew paranoid. He decided that the furthest away he could go and maybe make a profit off the poison was the fell fort. As he traveled down-hive, he marketed it as a bio-weapon. He thought that would attract the attention of gangers, unscrupulous nobles, and other cultists. It did. He made his way to Kingsnest and the Fell Fort. He knew of the fort from other Legion cultists. Apparently the Legion was trying to use the Regia Occulta found in the place. They may have set off the portal that allowed the orks in on accident or as a test. These cultists were supposed to be cut off from the mainhive and the other branches of the Legion. They would be easy to fool. He told them the Legion masters wanted him to sell the pox rot in order to spread it throughout the hive. He didn't know Scryer knew what he was doing and told the cultists about him. He also didn't know the cultists had used the Immaterial Shift and manipulation by the Legion's psykers to focus the Regia Occulta to the Legion's hidden citadel, the Bastilla of Pus.
2DoS: Desoleum is not the Legion's main operational area. It has small groups scattered about, but there is another nurglite group has laid claim to Desoleum. He does not have a full picture of them, as he was just a mediator between the Legion and them, but he knows their name. The Callers of Sorrow. From what he does know, they have been around for centuries. They are secretive. He does know that the dead drop he was supposed to make may have been for them.
3DoS: He knows another group in Desoleum has been at war with the Nurglite cults on the planet and in the sector. They have laid claim to the entire sector. They seem to be a conglomeration of different cults and groups. One can find, khornates, tzeentch worshippers, slaaneshis, chaos undivided worshippers, and anyone who has grown to hate the Imperium. They have been gathering cultists and followers to their side. He knows this from the information he gained from his former masters in the Bilious Legions and his work as a smuggler between Nurglite groups and other cultists. He even heard they had something to do with the Catalyst. They are known as the Tarot.
Rewards:
+500 XP
+1d5+2 Inf
+Aquila Lander
Characters
Ibram Atellus
He was once the bishop of bloc Raltus. He was popular among the clergy and the parishoners. He was a prime choice to become the archbishop of Desoleum. Then the bishop of District Abnett, Bishop Lotharius of the Grand Shrine of the Oath, had him framed for pederasty and heresy. Lotharius thought it would be cruel to send him to the Underhive. Atellus was once a Munitorum priest that shipped out to the Spinward Front. He knows how to handle himself. He mainly keeps to the Underhive wastes, trying to right wrongs and bring the Emperor's light to those who would quash it in the Underhive. He also acts as a sort of parish priest, giving sermons and last rites to anyone that asked for them in the settlements of the hive. He wants payback and he thinks Lotharius may be dirty.
“Yankee” Rose
Rose Hazael was once a girl growing up in a small settlement outside the spires on Harakon. One day, a group of bandits pillaged her settlement and hung everyone. When she was up on the gallows, the rope snapped as she was dropped. Her throat was damaged as she fell below the platform. Underneath, she found a corpse gripping a stub revolver with five shots left. She took the revolver, and ran out of her village, shooting at bandits that had killed her friends and family. She barely escaped.
That event left permanent scars all around her throat, a hoarse voice, and a lust for revenge. She was taken in by a bounty hunter passing by the outskirts of her village. He taught her how to hunt and kill. Taught her the tools of bounty hunting. Years later, she tracked down her family's killers and killed every single one. She now wanders the Imperium as a mercenary, scout, and bounty hunter hunting people like the ones who killed her family.
She is in the Underhive to find the doomed Explorator expedition. She found the wreckage at Ashville and the symbol of the Stormlords, but knows that she can't survive assaulting a gang's fortress. She is looking for a group to help her bring the Stormking's head to Magos Kaecipher, the magos who hired her. She brings years of skill with her along with a chainsword and grenade launcher.
Castor Titus
Titus is a proud performancer. He has dark brown hair with bangs and looks like a rockstar. He often wears a leather coat and scarf and straps a an amplifier on his back that he uses as he plays. Usually this makes them fall in love with his music. His electric guitar is somewhat mundane. He has had it for years. He got into hot water with the Joy Troupe, a offshoot of the Style Killers Cloud Boys. He was hounded everywhere he went and decided he needed to lie low in a place no one goes.
He is also a latent psyker. When he experiences great emotional stress, he becomes his alternate personality, Castorius. Castorius is a repressed expression of Titus's interaction with the Immaterium. He is a psyker of PR (6). He does not speak, but he does sing. He uses his powers by using his music and voice as a sort of makeshift psy-focus. His use of powers change based upon the music he is playing. He can contact others telepathically. He is adept at telepathy and has divinating powers. He can dominate the minds of men, and will do so inadvertently during the journey. Castorius can be cruel. He will force men to kill themselves if it suits his purpose. When he speaks to others telepathically, a deep voice that is like a tiger's growl can be heard.
Castorius is an unbound Psyker. It may be up to the acolytes to bring him to the Black Ships if there are puritans, or they may find him as an asset if their Inquisitor is more of a radical.
Ortho Sturmweller
He is known as Ortho Sturmweller, the Storm King, and he has forsaken his humanity. Once a respected magos, his studies into the prohibited secrets of the mechanicus and proscribed archaeotech made him the target of more puritan magos. He is specifically interested in the revival of the men of iron and the works of the Dark Mechanicus. He wishes to replace all biological parts of himself with bionics. More machine now than man, Ortho is a hulking figure of mostly metal with only vestiges of humanity. He has a full set of mechandrites on his back. One medical, one optical, one ballistic, and one utility. He wears corrupted mechanicus robes that are the color of aged blood. They contain blasphemous symbols. His arms are good quality bionic arms. His legs are gone, replaced by a writhing mass of metal that moves him forward like a snake. He revels in his inhumanity. He has no respect for his men, they are just resources to throw at problems. He attained his position through his power and intimidation. His men are kept in line by his executors. He beats them as well as his enemies with a power maul and burns out men's skulls with a plasma pistol. His form gives him unnatural strength (4) and he has modified himself greatly (machine [5]).
“The Rat King” Zel Franz
The Ratking's true name is Zel Franz. He is a ratling. After serving a tour as a marksman for the imperial guard, he was sent to Desoleum to work. He found trouble and escaped to the underhive. Zel cunning and slowly gathered power and men in the underhive. He came upon the Cog by accident, but inside found a fortress and tech to build Kingsnest. Also inside he found Gulliman, a haemonculus experiment that was an attempt to make Astartes strong soldiers. Instead they made a gargoyle looking thing with thick gray skin. Gulliman was taken out of a stasis field and was raised by Zel. He taught him anything he could find. Gulliman protects Zel. (Profile Pit Mutant). Gulliman is of below average intelligence.
The ratking's ultimate goal is a planet all to himself. A new frontier world that him and his people can inhabit and rule. He is attempting to trade an STC to the Mechanicus in exchange for a planet charter. The planet would be one the explorator fleets have laid claim to. There is a literal ton of explosive built around the labs, set on a dead man's switch. No one gets the STC without the ratking having a say in it.
The Chrome Pintle
The Chrome Pintle is a child of the Laughing God. He wears a metal chrome smiling mask. He is one of many harlequins spread throughout Askellon helping to keep the Eldar safe. The Chrome Pintle has contact with craftworld Miandrothe, the secret craftworld hidden in Askellon. He knew of the warlock Talban Fanseith that perished in the city that held the Catalyst. He has searched for survivors of that event after the Pristine City was bombed to dust by Inquisition aligned voidships. He hopes the acolytes can illuminate him to what happened. The divination of the Eldar cannot.
The Silver Pintle has a second goal in trying to stop the Regia Occulta from being used. Farseers of Miandrothe have seen that a total invasion of Desoleum can result in a future where the craftworld is found and destroyed by Chaos or the Drukhari. (Use the Harlequin profile from Dark Heresy 2E “Enemies Without” for his stats)
Veljack
Veljack looks like relatively large dog. She looks like a German shepard who on all four paws has a length of 1.82 meters (6 Feet), a width of 0.8 meters (2.6 Feet), and a height to the top of her back of 0.9 meters (2.9 feet). Standing up, she is 2.1 meters (7 feet) tall. She has strong legs, a powerful jaw, and is generally built like an athlete. She is an Elquon Manhound, a luxury export from the planet Elquon. Elquon Manhounds are dogs that are put through transformative surgeries and procedures to turn them into loyal humanoid bodyguards that can swing a chainsword as well as their powerful jaws can bite down on anyone who threatens their master. Veljack is one of a litter grown on Desoleum Primus as part of a domestic breeding program. After the merchants who organized the process found that their investment would not pay off as well as they liked, they released them into the Underhive to bury the project. Veljack is a survivor. She was captured recently by the Stormlords to fight in the pit. (Veljack's Elquon Manhound profile was taken from https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/15601-elquon-manhound-a-new-type-of-familiar/ by Lightbringer. It has been modified.)
Stormking's Journal
(The title of the tome reads "Of my Rise" in low gothic)
(The tome is old and worn. Its pages are yellowed by time. Some have been ripped out.)
Index:
Free
The Outpost
Understanding
Servants
Beginning
Followers
Fool
Catalyst
Fellfort
Explorators
Journal Entries:
450.670.M41 "Free"
I am free. The loathsome judges think me dead. My cretinous puritan brothers chant to their dead Omnissiah and forget me. Halbrel betrayed me for them and left me to die. They all underestimated me. Of course, they did. They are not enlightened.
They do not know the truth of the Men of Iron. They were and are mankind's next stage of evolution. Men replacing their weak flesh completely with rational metal. The war was for man's ascendancy against the lowly degeneracy of the flesh. My thick "brothers" keep this secret even as they seek to emulate them incompletely. These ten thousand years of stagnancy and death will give way to millennia of evolution and control.
No longer shall I chant to the deaf ears of the machines. No longer shall I raise praise to the carrion lord. I will raise myself higher than the corpse god. I will become a Man of Iron and become greater than them. All will submit.
I need a domain to begin my ascendancy and plans.
500.670.M41 "Stormhold"
During my wandering in the Underhive, I stumbled upon a sturdy fortress protected by the earth that holds up the stinking edifice of Primus. The front of the place had the word "Storm" written in an odd version of Low Gothic. The place has torrent and lightning imagery on the walls along with imagery of some mythical figures. It reminds me of a mix of Imperial Creed temples and Mechanicus shrines. The inhabitants were probably as backward and asinine as them. The place's insides are anachronistic. The construction suggests pre-Imperial colonization. The technology and tools suggest later occupation. Smelt-rats seem to have stolen most of the outer rooms' resources. Cogitators and electrical devices are torn away, but rations and simpler tools are found.
The inner sanctum was tricky. A message laid upon its gate. It had an ancient dusty voxphone hidden around it. It relied on a voice command in some archaic form of high gothic to be opened. In the night, one of the chaplains of the mutant work camp very kindly obliged to teach me an approximation of the words before he donated his body to my servitude. The words were "Fulgur et Caelum".
I now have a true laboratory. This looks to have archaeotech. Cogitators of ancient make, intricate tools, and pages of notes lie here. They are in the same high-gothic. Too bad the kindly priest cannot read me these. The pod is a self-maintaining container. I looked closer with my optical mechandrite and find infinitesimally small machines. I took the chance and stepped into the pod. The machines invaded my body. I felt searing pain. They improved me.
600.670.M41 "Understanding"
The machines speak to me. They course through my being. They whisper the truth to me. They uplift me.
They realize my true ascension and evolution. I will become a beautiful evolved rational construct of metal, energy, and circuitry. I will be a storm to encompass the galaxy. I will lord over the sheep and the lowly. I will drink their tears like the sweetest wine and hear their cries like the most beautiful music. I will shatter their sky.
The machines guide me. They know of my will, and I know of theirs. Through my will, they are bound to my essence like a soul to a body.
700.670.M41 "Servants"
The odd group passes by this place. The first group camped out at the outer chambers of the place. They had a dispute. All but one died. He thought he was safe. A jolt from my luminen capacitors taught him otherwise. I thought to kill him, but he was of strong stock. I set to work on him to serve his proper place. Now I have a new servant.
Smelt rats have come back recently. I smited them with the swing of the maul I found in the inner sanctum. I worked on the ones who lived. I have made progress in bending them to my will through the machines.
800.670.M41 "Beginning"
I begin my ascension. I replaced my legs with interlinking parts controlled by the machines. They work outside of the pod in this form. My mobility has increased as a mass of the things control interlinking pieces of chain and metal. The experience is liberating.
900.670.M41 "Followers"
I have found others like me. Adepts and techpriests decried as hereteks for their efforts. They committed the sin of true understanding. They ignored the cries of the simpletons and moulded heretical designs to improve them. They were hunted. They escaped to the underhive.
I find them wandering the underhive as I searched for resources and more places like this. They marvelled at my ascended form. They asked to follow me. A few of the more prideful ones did not recognize my superiority. The remnants of their bones litter the ground.
920.670.M41 "Fool"
One of the adepts sought to understand the machines. He snuck in while I was away from the laboratory. I found his remains when I returned. He was less of a corpse and more of a sopping mass of bloody flesh. They rearranged his cells and did not return them to their original position. From his eyes his end was terrible.
What does this mean for me? Am I truly chosen by them? Was it the strength of my will? Was I the first to step into the pod?
It matters not. They lead me to glory.
010.679.M41 "Catalyst"
Fear is a stranger to me. I have not felt its touch for a time. When the scouts came back from the mainhive, I felt its breath on my neck.
What they described to me could only be some great blast of pure warp energy. My scouts tell me the event is called "The Catalyst" in the mainhive among the heretical circles. How we are not beset by fiends interests me. What purpose could it have served?
The aetheroscope exploded during the event. Damned thing. The last time I saw one I was running from a raid by sanctionaries.
Scouts have reported all manner of strange phenomena. Sudden chill. Disembodied voices. Laughter in the dark. Dead comrades come back as wisps and then disappear. The men found the body of some pale thing the other day. It looked pathetic but also had a certain menace about it.
The division between immaterium and materium is becoming less clear. Phenomena like this have been reported during warp storms, but the changes have been gradual. Perhaps the lower to the planet one goes, the more pronounced the effects.
300.682.M41 "The Fell Fort"
My scouts have come back. They found what spawned the greenskins. A regia occulta. A spontaneous pathway through the warp. I never knew such things were real. The horde of greenskins proves their veracity. The Fell Fort's superstitious past is well known in the underhive. Of course, it's all rumor and legend. The warp's nature is fickle and random.
A regia occulta's opening is often times started by some surge of power. They are found in areas where the immaterium and materium's separation is not complete. They are drawn by certain patterns and phenomena. My scouts found that a group was at the fort. It was made up of mutants and heretics adorned with the eight pointed star and some other symbol I am unaware of. They were doing something with the bridge that lays on top of of the fort.
When I was back with those ignorant tools, we were allowed to read an Inquisitorial briefing for research on Immaterial energy. The briefing detailed a young inquisitor investigating a series of strange murders. The murderer was found to be a greenskin crossing the threshold of the warp through a regia occulta. The portal lie under a gigantic bridge that connected two cities across a dangerous river. The energy provided by the bridge plus the location gave the conditions for the thing to open. A similar situation may be occurring at the Fell Fort with the heretics trying to force open the gate. With the catalyst, perhaps they found a way to direct the Regia Occulta's other side. The halves of the bridges leading through the mountain pass may supply enough.
Maybe I can use the warp energy found inside for my own work.
(Last Entry)
240.683.M41 "Explorators"
A joyous day. An explorator fleet from Selvanus Brinary was sent to negotiate with Franz. I know now what he hides in that fortress of his. A standard template construct of a Titan variant. The insipid tools underestimated the Underhive's terrain and dangers. The expedition was weakened through attrition. We destroyed them in their weakened state. First at the edge of the Monsoons' territory. Then at Ashville I made the coup de grace.
Gamewise:
At the end, reading this tome requires a willpower test. It details tempting proscribed archaeotech, warp knowledge, and blasphemy.
Failure means 1d10 corruption
