Stormbreak
Index
· 2 Introduction
· 3 The Trial
· 6 Prisoner
· 10 Crossbones
· 11 Saint Jansen’s
· 13 Bloc Havelock
· 15 The Hellion
· 17 Port Eisen
· 18 An Opportunity
· 22 Ending
Introduction
Stormbreaker is a Dark Heresy 2nd edition module where the acolytes investigate the different facets of the attempted assassination of Rainmaker Part Two to clear the name of lord Jastilus Kotrohman. Starting with the beginning of the Consortium’s court trial, the acolytes will be sent around hive Desoleum Primus and hive Jarzin to investigate cults and collaborators that enabled the assassination and dragged lord Kotrohman’s name into the mud. In their investigation, they will find terrible proof that the heretics intend to take advantage of the trial to destroy the ruling families of Desoleum and drag the planet into war and chaos. The acolytes are no longer a reactive force. They are the keen eyes and hands of the Inquisition. They root out heresy and do not wait for it like before. They have the chance to stop the madness and break the coming storm.
The Trial
The acolytes begin sitting with their handler (captain von Graf) in the Consortium’s grand court of the Oaths Involute. The Consortium’s court is an imposing, impressive place. Covering it is a gargantuan dome with intricate art of Imperial saints. The court is a colossal room with rows of desks and chairs circling around a raised platform with thrones to hold the members of the Consortium. The thrones hold great leering, scowling stone gargoyles that look down upon people in the room. Behind the thrones is a grand golden statue of the Emperor holding the Imperial scales of justice in one hand and a large oath cog in the other. His stern gaze falls upon all. The room is lit by floods lamps and lumen-globes. The lighting gives a harsh edge to the place, casting deep shadows. The light makes the Consortium’s visages look grim by the contrast. Their faces are like the glares of saints around a temple.
The room is filled by hundreds of noblemen and powerful mercantile magnates. Their wealth and power can be determined by where they sit and their chairs’ quality. The members of the Consortium sit at their thrones. Lord Jastilus Kotrohman stands before them on lower ground. His hands are locked with manacles. The space is guarded by sanctionaries of the bonds involute.
The court is at the center of a series of encircling hallways that contain court offices, records, and scribes. The court is often used for negotiations of noble houses and mercantile interests. It is rarely used for trying the peerage for oath-breaking. A criminal trial for the powerful is a significant event.
The trial begins. The bailiff calls the trial to order, and the Consortium members announce the charges lord Kotrohman is standing for: Conspiring with heretics and supplying them with powerful weapons for terrible acts (The Brotherhood). Conspiring with xenos to serve as saboteurs and assassins to cause mayhem and disorder (Kaevena, the kabalites, and the mind-bug). Worst of all, forming a conspiracy and personally providing vehicles and equipment in an assassination attempt against the planetary governor (Kotrohman owned vultures and Valkyries).
Lord Kotrohman will deny all accounts. Lord Kotrohman will accuse lady Gotha of enabling the attack to occur by forcing hive surveillance systems to ignore the breach of airspace by the attackers (She did). He will deny any dealings with the Brotherhood by claiming their survivors in the battle are lying about his involvement. He will deny working with xenos stating that their teleportation signature came from orbit over Desoleum Primus and not Jarzin. He knows this through his contacts with the Mechanicus who maintain surveillance systems over the planet. He will deny his use of Kotrohman assets to attack spire Gotha by claiming those fliers were stolen. He will accuse her of allowing a false flag to occur.
The trial goes on, and in the audience is Desoleum’s Marshall of the Adeptus Arbites, Judge Jugend Volkmar. He is an older man with short white hair and a white moustache. He has come in dress clothes and is sternly watching the trial proceedings. He will notice the acolytes’ handler and go to speak with him about the trial. This trial is very close to being in the jurisdiction of the Adeptus Arbites for interfering with the Tithe. By his word, Volkmar may contact the capital planet of Juno and the greater Imperium to intervene in a situation that can spiral into a civil war and a disrupt the Tithe. He distrusts the situation. He has been working on Desoleum for decades. He knows the machinations and greed of the nobility and their abuses of power. He knows Kotrohman is just like the rest of them, but from experience with house Kotrohman and reports from his arbritrators in Jarzin he doesn’t think Kotrohman would do anything like this. Lord Jastilus is one of the most powerful rulers on Desoleum. He is Hive Jarzin. There are multitudes of subtler ways to sabotage and assassinate a political rival if that was his goal. The blatant attack doesn’t sit right with Volkmar. It seems like a way to rile up the powers on Desoleum. The greater Kotrohman family will not stand for lord Jastilus to be executed or punished for a crime they deny. They have allies among the smaller hives. If anything were to happen to lord Jastilus, then the Kotrohmans would feel justified to use force to protect their position. (Von Graf) thinks the same way. The note from the cult hideout (in Rainmaker Part One) and the predicted attack is too obvious. That, the sudden plague in Baeza Trade Bloc, the brazen weapons theft a month ago (in the Curious Case of Elias Greene), and other rumblings in the hive suggest that there is some great machinations going on in hive Desoleum. The handler and the marshall both agree that the only way to prevent a civil war from breaking out is to prove lord Jastilus Kotrohman’s innocence. To do so, they will have to bring evidence that the three charges are false and lord Kotrohman is innocent.
The acolytes have some time. Due to the different oath rituals, deliberations, arguments, recitations of Imperial and local law, and the slow pace of record keeping by the Adeptus Administratum, the acolytes have a month before lord Kotrohman will be convicted.
Captain Koennrad says the easiest one to crack will be the weapon supply. Hear-say from the acolytes witnessing the deal between the Joy Troupe and the Brotherhood of Var’Nahesh will do nothing for the trial. Finding Darial Eizen, the militaristic leader of the Khornate Daemon cult, or “Smiler” Siggy, the face of the enigmatic Joy Troupe, and making one of them confess to the deal should be enough. Judge Volkmar will offer help in this matter. His arbites are spread thin but he can gather up info from them and their contacts in the sanctionaries and the Rosa Initiative. House Rosa cannot be relied to help at this time. They stand to gain from the fall of house Kotrohman’s monopoly on Jarzin’s wealth. However, the RI may be persuaded to give them information.
Volkmar will take time to gather information on leads. The acolyte has two leads. Jaspar Bones, the minor Insurrati lord. He knows “Smiler” Siggy, the Joy Troupe’s face. They can find him in his bar, Crossbones. The other is the prisoner they took from the end of the battle. The prisoner, depending on who it was (Check the Aftermath section of Rainmaker Part Two), can send them to where they need to go or lead them on a wild goose chase.
The Acolytes Mission: The acolytes need to gather evidence that lord Jastilus is innocent. Many of the surviving heretics in the attack pointed at him as a ringleader. The note in the Brotherhood of Var-Nahesh’s hideout and the Kotrohman made airships that were used in the attack also implicate him along with statements from traitorous cadre troopers. The acolytes will either need to bring living witnesses to confess to the court or bring evidence in pict or document form to prove lord Jastilus’s innocence. They also are trying to prove the attack was a false flag, and that there is a conspiracy seizing control bit by bit on Desoleum.
Prisoner
Rainmaker: (Hard -20 Interrogation vs Challenging +0 WP)
Rainmaker has been interrogated before. He will be very difficult to crack. He is also a master liar and manipulator. No matter where he’s being kept, he also knows the other members of the Tarot and their servants will break him out. However, if the acolytes can crack Rainmaker, they will get key information from him. They get one piece for each degree of success. Rainmaker is a cult leader as well. He will bedevil them with blasphemous and heretical speech. If the acolytes fail in their interrogation test, then they will have to roll a willpower test. On a failed test, the acolytes roll 1d5. Rainmaker will be rescued by a fellow head of the Tarot, Oniboshi. Oniboshi is a chaos space marine sorcerer with the head of an oni. He will open a gate of infinity to the interrogation room and using his powers will disable the guards and rescue rainmaker. The gate of infinity will cause a fear (3) test, as this is an opening in the warp.
1DoS: There is a rogue trader ship called the Hellion piloted by one “Reyk Javik”. The acolytes will want to see what is on it. (Skip to Hellion section)
2DoS: Darial Eizen, leader of the Brotherhood of Var’Nahesh can be found in a hideaway in commercial bloc Havelock. He is to meet with a man named “Finn Greely” and another unkown figure. (Skip to Havelock section)
3DoS: The acolytes will want to talk to commander Tybalt Xanthis of the Involute Cadres. He is the PDF commander of air forces for hive Jarzin on port Eizen.
4DoS: Rainmaker is part of a conspiracy known as the Tarot. They cause chaos and disorder in the sector to hide their true purpose. They seek the power unleashed by the Catalyst, a grand cataclysmic event that occurred five years ago. Rainmaker will refuse to tell any more.
5DoS: The trial was set up to get the heads of the great houses and countless other nobles and merchants in the same room. They are placing demolitions to destroy the courthouse. They will bring the dome down on them and the ground beneath them will crumble.
Darial Eizen (Difficult -10 Interrogation vs. Challenging +0 Willpower)
Darial is a military veteran. He knows what its like to be under duress. He is also ready to die for his cause. Darial can only tell what he knows.
1DoS: Darial was approached by a group called the Tarot. They have been making waves in heretical circles. They contacted him a short time ago to invite them to their conspiracy. They supplied him with the soul stones he paid the Joy Troupe with to obtain the stolen Godwyn-De’az bolters with. They set the assassination attempt up.
2DoS: Darial was transported to hive Jarzin in the days before the attack. He was brought to port Eisen. He didn’t know who supplied the Kotrohman made valkyries and vultures. (Skip to Port Eisen section)
3DoS: Darial was supposed to meet a man named Finn Greely in commercial bloc Havelock. Greely is connected to the Tarot somehow. They were going to meet in a Kotrohman autocarriage warehouse near the center of the bloc at dusk in three days. Greely is the one who supplied the heavy weapons the heretics used. (Skip to Havelock section)
4DoS: Darial was not privy to the Dark Eldar assassination. He did hear one name from Rainmaker. The Hellion. (Skip to Hellion section)
Kabalite (Difficult -10 Interrogation vs Challenging +0 WP)
The kabalite does not speak low Gothic. It sees itself above the mon’keigh that interrogate it. The kabalite also only knows what he, the other kabalites, and mistress Kaevena were to do and how they were approached. The kabalites do not know much about the other parts of the assassination. The acolytes either must speak Drukhari or find someone or something that will help to talk to the xeno.
1DoS: The Seratta, a Dark Eldar group that preys upon the Askellon sector, was approached by a man in a purple coat and a sinister smile. He appeared one day and offered them a chance to gain riches and slaves from a wealthy noble house. Lady Kaevena supplied the mind-bug, a Drukhari invention used for the intrigue of Commoragh. She supplied the mind-bug and the poison to a cult leader that works for the Tarot. She is known as the Brood Mother, and she leads the Brood. Lady Kaevena agreed and that is how they became involved in the conspiracy.
3DoS: Lady Kaevena and a select number of kabalites were brought to a voidship called the Hellion. There they tested a profane teleportation system created by a heretek working for the Tarot. Their first purpose for the teleportation system was to have a quick way to get in the spire and teleport out with wealth and slaves. The second purpose was a fallback plan in case the mind-bug did not work. That is how they got inside.
Heretic: Var’Nahesh brother (Challenging +0 Interrogation vs Challenging +0 Willpower)
This heretic was mostly kept in the dark. He only knows what his master was doing. He was a cadre PDF trooper that joined Eizen for a sense of purpose.
1DoS: The master was supposed to meet someone named “Finn Greely” in commercial bloc Havelock (Skip to Havelock).
3DoS: They were taken to port Eisen in hive Jarzin before the attack.
Mallaithe
This is not an interrogation. It is a fight. Mallaithe has been biding his time in captivity, waiting for his armor to heal critical damage. The armor is impossible to take off; it is fused to his flesh. The armour can shift his gauntlets into terrible rending claws. He will attempt to retrieve his sword. The daemons that infest the sword and armour are brother and sister. They strengthen each other and their human puppet.
Crossbones
The bar “Crossbones” is located in manufactorum bloc Dufaux where many people on the street are dregs or criminals. Crossbones is a sizeable bar (50x70 meters) and has a big sign with the name “Crossbones” on top of it with a skull and crossbones logo (Check Rainmaker Part One for the rest of the interior description). Bones knows the acolytes and will let them in. Bones knows the face of the Joy Troupe, “Smiler” Siggy. Siggy is a mysterious figure from offworld. He speaks in a strange accent and his lower jaw has been entirely replaced by a bionic replacement. The metal has been engraved to look like a sharp wicked smile, hence “Smiler”. It makes him look like the Cheshire cat. The Joy Troupe is an offshoot of the Style Killers gang of Cloudboys. They dress in stylish clothing and act like performancers. They have been responsible for criminal dealings including smuggling and assassination in the mainhive. They have done deals in the past with Bones, including one (in Rainmaker Part One) where Smiler offered Bones the first pick of a shipment of bolter weapons. Bones does not know where the Joy Troupe’s hideout is. He has a line to Smiler and can set up a meeting with him. He does not want to lose a valuable contact, so he will have to be persuaded to do so. Take an opposed test with influence or any social skill against his (challenging +0) willpower. The acolytes can also pay him off with a hard (-20) influence test. If the acolytes cannot get the information out of him, and are willing to sever ties with him, they can try to take it out of him by force through a challenging (+0) interrogation. Doing this will gain them the talent Enemy (Criminal Cartels).
If they persuade him to set up a meeting, then the acolytes shall meet Smiler the next night at a restaurant called Saint Jansen’s in Bloc Trantor. It should take only a few hours to get there as manufactorum bloc Dufaux is only a couple dozen kilometers away. If they force information out of Bones, then he will give them the address of Saint Jansen’s where gangers of the Joy Troupe are known to hang out in Commercial Bloc Havor. They will have to wait for them.
Saint Jansen’s
Saint Jansen is the patron saint of cooks in the Imperial Creed. He was known to miraculously cure poison from a lord general’s meals. Saint Jansen’s is an expensive high-class restaurant in Hab Bloc Trantor. The inside is designed to be like a palace’s garden in a Garden World. Greenery is grown all around marble surroundings and fancy wooden tables. A reservation is required to dine. Smiler has already made one under the name Siggivere Dein. He will be sitting at a table near the back of the space with a bottle of amasec and glasses waiting. He is wearing a nice suit and his bionic metal jaw is covered up by a leather clasp that is fashionable among nobleman. He will be welcoming but have Joy Troupe members around Saint Jansen’s. He knows where Darial Eizen is going after the failed attack on spire Gotha. He will have to be persuaded to give it up, as he does not want to lose a trading partner for nothing. He will accept scrip, but he is very interested in the Dark Eldar that attacked Spire Gotha. He cannot tell the acolytes how he knows this-his Eldar harlequin master told him-but will accept knowledge of where they are as payment. If the acolytes are successful in persuading him, then he will tell them that Eizen was supposed to meet with a man in commercial Bloc Havelock. Siggy has a Joy Trouper watching Eizen. Siggy was misled about the type of men he was dealing with. Siggy is a cultist of Cegorach and his harlequin master, but he loathes Chaos. The deal for the soul stones blinded him somewhat. He acted too fast in setting up the meeting. His master wants errant soul stones. Specifically, they were meeting in a Kotrohman autocarriage warehouse on a date that is two days from now. The man is a source of heavier weapons than the bolters that the Joy Troupe traded the cultists. If the acolytes bring up the bolters, the Joy Troupe will say that the trade was just business. The crates “dropped off the back” of a charter captain’s ship that was heading to an Adeptus Sororitas convent on Juno. What the cultists did is their business. If the acolytes attempt violence against Smiler, his fellow gangers will try to stop them. There are eight of them. They are heavily armed with chainswords and bolt pistols and all are skilled and agile fighters. In the improbable situation Smiler’s friends are fought off and they attempt to interrogate him, it will be a difficult (-10) interrogation test opposed by his willpower to reveal anything. Many his fellow gangers and their true master will show up to attempt to save him.
In the middle of the meeting, four fine cars drive up to the restaurant’s side. Out of them come twelve men dressed in suits. A tall man in a red tie opens the door for a shorter man with short black hair and angry eyebrows. He is Sirgev Gach, and up-and-comer of the Desoleum Underworld. He will advise his men to stay outside while he walks in to parley with “Smiler”. He is looking to absorb the Joy Troupe into the cabal of gangs he is gathering. He wants to take the Insuratti’s power. He wants to give Siggy a cut for giving his organization resources and doing favors for him. Siggy will refuse, state he knows who Gach’s true master is, pull out a photon grenade, and tell him to leave. Gach has a power that Siggy knows about. Siggy also knows its weakness. All of Siggy’s men have at least one photon grenade. Gach will not be happy about this. Gach will have to be talked down from bringing his men inside to fight. If the acolytes cannot do this, then Gach will leave. Gach’s soldiers will soon open fire with autoguns. Depending on how the acolytes acted, they could be targeted by one or both groups. If they were courteous or at least inoffensive to Siggy, he will quickly take them to the kitchen before the shooting he knows is coming starts. They can also run. They can also run if they have the information from Siggy or not.
Commercial Bloc Havelock
Warehouse Setup
Havelock is a decent part of the hive. It is filled with merchant owned businesses, homes, and warehouses. The streets even have a bit of greenery growing underneath artificial growing lumen lights. Autocarriages are common here along with couriers and servoskulls delivering messages. There seems to be a sanctionary every three blocks. Hive gangers must do their business subtly here.
The warehouse, Kotrohman Warehouse Alpha-Delta-06, is found near the middle of the bloc. It is large building with an arched and round roof. It has been vandalized. Windows are broken. Most of them are high on the walls. The building has not been burglarized. A large notice has been placed on its entrances that the building is closed until further notice due to the trial. There is a door near the side of a large gate to the inside. There is another like it on the other side of the warehouse.
The inside opens to a rockcrete walkway that leads to a set of stairs to an office on the second floor. The office is very basic with a desk, a chair, a filing cabinet, and a cogitator in the corner. Around and past the office is a catwalk to a platform on the other side where boxes of Kotrohman goods are kept. The platform runs across the entire side of the warehouse. Many autocarriages are on the floor of the warehouse. They are lined up and clutter the floor. They are placed next to each other and they block each other from being moved without those at the front near the gate being moved.
Depending on the timing, Finn Greely and Darial Eizen will not be at the warehouse for a time. They may be making their way to the warehouse or waiting for the other to show up elsewhere. The acolytes can stake out the warehouse, set up a screamer, set up a vox bug, or do anything they can think of to alert them when the heretics come in. If the acolytes are clever and sneaky enough, they may even set up traps or modifications to the abandoned warehouse to catch the heretics. Roll 1d5 for how many days pass until the heretics meet.
A block away and on the opposite street of the warehouse is a mid-tier inn (Average availability) called the Armchair Inn. It usually serves merchants. It goes up about four stories. Some of the rooms have windows that face the street the warehouse is on, giving acolytes a view. The inn has a restaurant inside called Ribeye. It is the equivalent of a grill. It serves grox steaks among other meals. It also has a bar inside with a full stock of liquor.
If the acolytes dine at the Ribeye or hang around the Inn, they will meet a man wearing a dark purple suit and purple hat. The man will seem like a friendly sort. He will look like a man in his forties with short dark brown hair and a widow’s peak. He is always wearing a smile and speaks like he’s trying to contain himself from bursting out into a laugh. He looks and sounds excitable. He will talk to them very casually. He is also subtly menacing. This is Happy Jack, the man who brought the Tarot together and is one of its leaders. He is something that began as a man but now is both that but also something terrible. He is a shapeshifter, but he is a selective one. His current form is a man named Fero Pyruss, who was a Gudrunite crime lord until Jack absorbed him. After talking to him, and if they check around, they will find a man vivisected in the inn’s garbage. His blood will be all over the garbage. He will be separated into different parts, including his head which will be split in four uneven ways. His entrails will be out. From his eyes this was a horrible death. This will incur a Fear (1) test for the brutal state of the man’s remains. Jaded acolytes are exempt. The man’s skin will look like it was drained of vitality. It will be grey and coarse. The man has the garb of the Joy Troupe. This was the man who was watching Darial Eizen. If, for some reason, the acolytes became aggressive and attacked him he would quickly flee. If they tried to follow him, he would trick them into a place he can trap them and try to kill them with a power sword he pulls from his flesh; or he can attempt to subject them to a worst fate and absorb them. Jack places a hand on his victim. Jack rolls a willpower test opposed against a challenging toughness test. Every success by Jack and fail by the opponent regains Jack vitality and loses the opponent one fatigue for failure and another fatigue for every additional two degrees of failure. Unless the acolyte burns a fate point to be saved from Jack consuming his soul and being, at twice the acolyte’s fatigue Jack consumes him. He can now take the acolyte’s form and the acolyte’s soul is trapped within Jack’s reliquary of souls to be used as he pleases. If the acolyte succeeds his toughness test by 1DoS, he does not lose fatigue. If he succeeds by 3DoS, Jack’s grip on the acolyte will be lost and the acolyte will be free to act.
If they succeeded at their navigation check to find the warehouse, they will show up before Happy Jack kills the Joy Troupe informant. They can ask him questions.
Warehouse Confrontation
Greely and Eizen will appear at the warehouse in 1d5 days. This time may be used to stake out the warehouse, purchase items, heal in an extended rest or otherwise, or whatever the acolytes want. Someone does have to keep watching the warehouse, and the acolytes may want to take shifts. Magnoculars and other devices to help them watch will help them catch the heretics in an awareness test. If the acolytes are neglectful, they may lose the chance to interrogate Eizen or Greely.
They do come. If the acolytes let him go inside the warehouse, Finn Greely will be waiting in the office on the night of the meeting. He is meeting Darial Eizen there. Greely will appear to be alone, but he has ten corrupted guardsmen (use Involute Cadre Trooper profile on page 395 of the DH2E core rulebook) waiting to be called into the warehouse at a moment’s notice if something goes awry. Greely is an older man in his fifties with a black receding hairline, widows peak, long hair, and beard. He is a veteran of Cadia. He was mustered out around a decade ago onto Desoleum after serving a deployment in the Spinward Front. His unit was abandoned on Desoleum due to Adeptus Administratum inefficiency. Von Graf’s acolytes have met him in the past. He is a servant of the Tarot. He has overseen the conversion of Involute Cadre troopers to the Tarot’s cause. He has also been involved in weapons theft. He was the previous owner of the Galloping Aethexe, a tavern that Koenradd von Graf now owns that serves as a hideout for the acolytes he oversees. He is there to speak with Eizen about the procurement of more weapons and further operations. The attackers of spire Gotha are to lay low and let the other members take charge. They suspect an inquisitorial presence in Desoleum. They mention their expanded operations in Jarzin with major Tybalt Xanthis acting as head of the local Tarot there. He is corrupting guardsmen to the Tarot’s side.
The acolytes will want to capture one of these two men. Eizen has more information pertaining to the trial, but Greely has deeper information into the Tarot. If fighting starts, the corrupted troopers will come shortly (in three turns). There are ten of them. Both men will try to run. If Darial is taken, he can be interrogated for information about the Hellion and more information about Xanthis. He will tell them what he knows in the interrogation section of this module. Greely knows about Xanthis and the Hellion too. If either are broken in interrogation or recorded, they can be used as witnesses or recordings can show their guilt as part of the false flag attack and conspiracy. Their admissions of guilt will not be enough for the Consortium to free lord Jastilus Kotrohman, but it will begin to cause the members doubt. Evidence of all three parts are needed.
The Hellion
The Hellion sits near Kappex Orbital trade station. It is a large voidship, a warp-capable spacefaring vessel. It is owned by Reyk Javik, a rogue trader uses his charter to explore frontier worlds and perform services for the Imperial Navy. The Hellion does not accept visitors out of nowhere. The acolytes will either must talk or sneak their way in.
The Hellion is like most voidships. It is 5.1 km long, 0.7 km from abeam at fins (wide). It weighs 30 Megatonnes and has a crew of tens of thousands. The interior of voidships are like tiny cities that sailors, naval marines, and ratings eat, pray, and work in. Some may never even know terrestrial living.
The Hellion’s interior is broken up into different compartments. Simplified, they are split up into the ship’s hold near the bottom of the ship, ratings quarters near the middle of the ship, naval marine barracks near the back of the ship; the captain’s bridge, quarters, and personal retinue quarters at the top of the ship; and armaments at the sides.
The acolytes will need to make their way to the personal retinue quarters near the top of the ship. There they shall find the Drukhari getting ready to leave. Depending on the events of Rainmaker Part Two, they will be figuratively licking their wounds or taking count of the slaves and treasures they took from spire Gotha.
The acolytes will need admission on pict recording that lord Jastilus Kotrohman had nothing to do with their part of the attack on spire Gotha. The Dark Eldar on the Hellion are members of the Serrata, a Drukhari group that preys upon the Askellon sector. They are led by Lady Kaevena. They were contacted by Oniboshi, a powerful chaos space marine sorcerer and a leader of the Tarot. They were offered the chance to steal and take slaves from the Gotha ball. They were transported to the Hellion to teleport to spire Gotha to sabotage its defenses if the saboteurs inside the spire had failed.
The surviving spire Gotha saboteurs are taking refuge on the Hellion. They can be found in the retinue quarters. They can be brought back planet-side to testify that lord Kotrohman did not have anything to do with them. They will have to be convinced to do so.
If the acolytes have been subtle up to this point, they can sneak off the Hellion without captain Javik being any the wiser. If they have been causing noise, Captain Reyk will be sending ship security to kill them. There are arvus lighters in the hold the acolytes can use to escape.
The Dark Eldar did not know who supplied the Kotrohman owned fliers. Nor do they know the troopers and cultists that assaulted spire Gotha personally. Captain Reyk as a senior member of the Tarot knows, but he will be very difficult to get to as he is always protected by a personal retinue in the locked off captain’s quarters and bridge. The acolytes do always have Jaspar Bones as a contact to lead them to the other parts of the investigation.
Port Eisen
Port Eisen is a military port. It is the indirect bridge between the Imperial Navy, Imperial Guard, and the Planetary Defense Forces. It is held by the involute cadres, but it also has a smaller naval section used to coordinate troop and equipment movements. It serves as a military base and is the home of thousands of troopers. Training and weapons practice occur here. Enginseers of the Mechanicus can be seen chanting litanies and communing with the machine spirits of transports and warmachines. Port Eisen is shut off from regular civilians. Only those with military or lordly credentials are allowed in.
The port is separated into different pieces. There are the headquarters in the middle of the port where NCOs and commanders decide on military policy. They designate men and cadre resources for the Tithe. They coordinate with other navy and guard leaders. The naval outpost lies near the western edge of the port, a five-story tower that contains communications systems for contacting voidships and naval installations orbiting Desoleum. Vehicle workshops are centered around a Mechanicum shrine that lies near the northern edge of the port. A large barracks, commissary, and mess hall are located on the southern side of the port.
That colonel is very well liked in hive Jarzin. He treats his men well, he's won several victories for the Involute Cadres. However, there's a pernicious rumor that he specifically delayed an air response to the attack on house Gotha to allow the attack to occur. The flyers used in the attack came from Jarzin wearing House Kotrohman's sigil, a closed gauntlet. Now, one actual reason that could be false was house Gotha hushing any information about the attack so it was allowed to occur. They could have been trying to catch house Kotrohman in the act. The matron of the house literally said this to von Graf and the acolytes and warned the assassination target, the planetary governor, from coming to the ball.
House Kotrohman owns a virtual monopoly on Jarzin and is a rival to the other great houses of the Consortium. However, one reason any air response from hive Jarzin was delayed was the fact that the colonel was not actually at the naval base that day. The involute cadres and the navy need clearance to act on planet since they're linked to the Tithe, unlike sanctionaries. He was gone the entire day, out sick according to his confidants. Where was he really? And why is he seen leaving his manse in a inconspicuous car when the acolytes catch up to him?
That's when Wu and new lieutenant Cao Lo, or the "Jiangshi", shows up asking after the acolytes. They know the acolytes on the trail because they found Darial Eizen's corpse in a magrail maintenance tunnel. Surviving members of Eizen's cult also saw their faces and retreated after the psyker did two psychic phenomenas and their squad leaders were killed. This was after they saw Eizen handcuffed and taken into custody.
Tybalt Xanthis is the local commander and the supplier of the Kotrohman made air vehicles in the spire attack. His men are loyal to him, but most are unaware of whom he conspires with. He was contacted by Rainmaker after being introduced by Finn Greely in the lead-up to the attack. Xanthis is a dissenter in the Imperium and was corrupted further by Greely’s words. Xanthis will not confess easily. He will set his men upon the acolytes, both the loyal and his corrupted circle, if they give him the opportunity. Xanthis corrupted the commander of house Kotrohman’s forces, Darell Ravel, and mediated between Ravel and the Brotherhood to give the brotherhood transport to spire Gotha. He also covered the secret launch of the Brotherhood from port Eizen. He mixed them with other cadre patrols and drills and sent them off together. The attackers eventually split apart from the troopers.
Xanthis can be questioned in the base, but it will take a silver tongue to make him let loose information. Non-corrupted troopers are loyal to him, being oblivious to his treachery. An easier way to catch him is to follow him to his manse in the upper hive during the evening. He will leave that night in an inconspicuous Hectin autocarriage. Xanthis will travel to a condemned and dilapidated hab block. It was shut down due to corroded metals making the water and pipes toxic. Xanthis can be found on the ninth floor, where a group of figures in blue and gold cloaks welcome him into a penthouse, perhaps the old block attendant’s living quarters. Inside, they have set up a ritual where nine men in golden masks circle around Xanthis. They begin to chant and ethereal blue energy fills the air. Xanthis’s eyes glow, and a voice is heard. Xanthis speaks to Oniboshi, one of the hands of the Tarot, and his new master. They will speak about Xanthis’ corruption of Ravel and the plan. Xanthis and Oniboshi will remark on the attack, and Oniboshi will command him to keep low for a time. The bard and the clown will be taking over operations on Desoleum for the time being. The acolytes can record this on a picter and it will be sufficient evidence that lord Kotrohman did not command Ravel to attack house Gotha.
These warp priests are members of a local tzeentch cult, the portent agonists. They seek to bring doom and change to the stagnant Imperium in their worship. They are among the cultists the Tarot has called to their side. They answer Onboshi, the daemon star and traitor librarian. Among the nine warp priests are ten guards. These are Hraxian skreiga clan cultists that now worship Tzeentch. They protect the warp priests and are deeply loyal to them. They are armed with mono’d swords, mono’d spears, modified warhammers, and autopistols. They will be kept inside the room but will be on watch.
An Opportunity
The false flag operation had a second goal to trying to incite a civil war among the existing powers on Desoleum. Many noblemen, magnates, and members of the great houses are gathered in one space over a long period of time. The Consortium’s courthouse was built when an Ork invasion was infesting Desoleum. It was built with passageways underneath that knowing individuals could use to escape. The passageways all run under the main court. After years of neglect, the passageways are in a prime position to collapse. If they collapse, they would bring the court crashing to the ground. More devastating is a neglected power reactor that could detonate with a force in the tonnes. That is the Tarot’s plan.
During the trial, they have been rigging explosives in these passageways. Anyone that they could bribe to keep their mouth shut they have, and anyone they could not bribe they killed. The acolytes will have to travel to these tunnels and disable them. There are three groupings of demolitions that each must be disarmed. This can be done manually through the explosives use of the tech-use test. This can also be done by taking the detonators from the man overseeing the operation, one Cao Lo, or the Jiangshi. He looks like a handsome man that dresses like a fashionable ganger but is a lacrymole that takes many shapes. He is a servant of Oniboshi, the head sorcerer and traitor marine of the Tarot.
The acolytes can potentially disarm the explosives without alerting the Tarot. The tunnels are dark. Jiangshi can be stunned to steal the detonator from him. A protracted fight against servants of the Tarot can be avoided, and once the explosives are disarmed or the detonator taken, the court can be alerted and called to evacuate. The Tarot will not strike then. That would be showing their hand, and even if lord Jastilus is exonerated, the Tarot does not need the whole of Desoleum and other forces of Askellon trying to hunt them down. Not when their true goal is in their reach.
Ending
+600 XP
+1d5 Ifl
+Aquila Lander
If the acolytes give evidence that lord Jastilus is innocent, the Consortium will have to let them go or be seen as inciting conflict and sabotaging the Tithe by marshall Volkmar and the rest of the noble houses and magnates. Jastilus, once freed, will have words for them. (If he knows of the bomb threat, he denounces them for putting all their lives in danger). He denounces them for placing his house under interdict. He denounces them for brazenly attempting a power grab. He denounces them for putting his house and the well-being of Desoleum in danger through this trial. He cuts all ties to Desoleum Primus and the great houses that reside there. He has the ear of praefectrix Charlotta Anastasia XX and will be petitioning her and the powers of the adeptes to make Jarzin the planetary capital of Desoleum. Jarzin holds 20% contribution to the Tithe. Unlike Desoleum where its 20% contribution is split between many noble families, Jarzin and its industries are almost entirely owned by the Kotrohmans or those families who owe debt to the Kotrohmans. Lord Jastilus leaves for his spire soon after, leaving the rest of the Consortium enraged or in shock. Tensions are still high and there is a line in the sand between nobles and magnates who support the greater Consortium and those who support house Kotrohman. Civil war and greater calamity has been avoided. For now.
The acolytes are taken to the Galloping Aethexe, a tavern and hideout owned by Koenradd von Graf. They are to celebrate this series of victories. With him, he brought Inquisitorial support from the surroundings sectors.
The Tarot is not gone, but their first strikes in this secret war have been thwarted. The long war is never-ending, but the Acolytes have earned a short rest. Conquering Desoleum was not the Tarot’s true goal. Desoleum was only supposed to be a domino that would make the rest of the sector fall as the Tarot searches for its true goal. Malice never sleeps, it only stirs.
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