[Dark Heresy Adventure] Peace Sells Acts 1 and 2: The Finale to the Domino Orchestra Campaign

Peace Sells

Act 1: Finding Luxa

Outline:

Trying to Find Luxa Tentare, leader of the Incandescent

-Starting off with the information given by Zax Holthane

-Reminding them of potentially helpful assets: Gotrek Eorring, Jugend Volkmar, Tracius Geneon, Balthazar Surena, Lady Aya Rosa, Zax Holthane, RISD captain Benjamin Breeg, Magos Kaecipher, Veljack, Titus, Jaspar Bones, Marius Rosa, The Wildcard.

Authority

Volkmar, Rosa, Breeg, and Kaecipher can use the resources from their legal organizations to help the acolytes find Luxa by lending personnel that can stake out locations, ask questions, and possibly confront her.

Subtlety

Gotrek, Tracius, Balthazar, Veljack, Titus, and Marius can be used to infiltrate noble circles, use their abilities to track Luxa, or serve as individual spies.

Underworld

Zax Holthane and the wildcard given by the Eldar could use their illegal resources to find her through seedier elements or through learning rumors.

Calling Jaspar will have him attempt to get them to meet with them somewhere to ambush them. Jaspar is now under the thumb of Sirgev Gach, the risen shadowy kingpin of Desoleum Primus. Gach takes orders from the Masque, a head of the Tarot.

-Meeting with people that complicate matters: S.R. Belle, Big Smile Siggy, The Masque

Dec

Dec is following the acolytes. He is keeping watch on them for Inquisitor Ricasso to see how they act in this investigation. Belle is not looking to engage the acolytes. He will not run if he is found out. He will remain calm and keep watching them unless they lose him somehow.

Big Smile Siggy

If the acolytes use unsubtle actions to attempt to find Luxa, then Siggy will roll up in a limo autocarriage to speak with them. He offers them help in find her because his master wants the Tarot dead. He is also interested in Eldar artifacts she is holding on the Litany of Dawn including filled soul stones. He wants their help in exchange for getting up there and helping retrieve them.

The Masque

The Masque will show up if they are having trouble in their investigation. He wants them to find Luxa so that Lascivious will be driven to action from the complacency he has been in her his sons and assets have done more than he has. He also knows that Lascivious is traveling with her but won’t tell the acolytes.

The Apex

Beginning the investigation proper in the upper hive. The apex is a big place full of the upper class.

Luxa Tentare and the Hunt

-The Tentare family was a minor noble house in Desoleum Primus. It fell to ruin three decades ago with the mysterious deaths and disappearance of their young scions. Along with Luxa there was Sombra and Umbra. There were rumors of sorcery being the cause of the ruin although that was never publically picked up on. Unofficially a search through the family’s holdings could not find proof of sorcery.

-Luxa has been in disguise as Ostia Bellante, minor but fashionable and up-and-coming rogue trader visiting from the far off subsector of Aurelia of the Typhon system in Segmentum Ultima.

-She has changed her form to look like a brunette with hazel eyes and a short stature.

-Luxa has been spending time with various nobles in public, at events, or in private.

-Luxa can be found in three places: Lady Kuradil’s night time ball and gala attended by apex nobles, a fancy restaurant called Infinity that serves mainly the lower strata of the upper class, or privately found at the manse of a noblewoman named Camillia Perroy.

-Luxa under her pseudonym is to be leaving upon the Litany of Dawn in a few days.

-The Litany of Dawn is a cruiser docked at Kapellax Space Station. The ship is a legitimate rogue trader cruiser with a full crew but its actually one of Reyk Javik’s smaller crusiers while he lent to Lascivious’s branch of the Tarot while he spies on Inquisitor Rondos’s search for the Theoclast. It does have in its logs the name of the archaeotech ship the Tarot reside on known as the Fist of Fate.

-They can use assets or personal skills to get on the trail such as inquiry, charm, intimidation, or deception.

Big Warning

This adventure assumes the group has played through most or all of these adventures in near this order: Greene’s Lament, Polonaise of Pestilence (Can be done any time before Sublime), Dirge of Gore, Sonata of Secrets, Tenorlied of Traitors, and Sublime. Otherwise the references made with in, time of events, and reasoning will not make sense. Starting with this one requires a gigantic change in background and possibly characters.

Peace Sells Introduction

Act One: The Sound of Silence

Peace Sells is an adventure for Dark Heresy 2E. It contains three acts that begin the with a hunt for a cult leader in the recreational Immemoria sector, escalating to a catastrophe in motion that the acolytes must escape the hive to get away from, and finally journeying to dangerous locations and ancient xenos structures to prevent the final destruction of Desoleum that would lead the planet into mass confusion, death, revolt, and civil war.

Luxa Tentare is the leader of the Slaaneshi cult known as the Incandescent. She infiltrates into the spaces of the highborn and seduces them to her cause and the cause of her master the sonic sorcerer Lascivious, an ex-Emperor’s Children traitor librarian and noise marine. She has been at the periphery and center of various plots by the group called the Tarot, a grand sector-wide conspiracy made of an alliance of Chaos worshippers, renegades, mercenaries, and worse others. Luxa has been tracked through informants working for the Inquisition to sector Immemoria, a staple of hive Desoleum Primus owned by the Consortium house Grym-Zollern. Immemoria is a recreation of old Terran cities and a neutral ground to conduct business. Luxa has been there disguised through biomancy as Ostia Bellante, newer fashionable Rogue Trader. She has a Rogue Trader cruiser to back it up as well in the form of the Litany Unto Dawn. Luxa and Lascivious’s coven of combined Slaaneshi cults have been working in Immemoria to infiltrate noble houses and persuade those through tempations to take upon the profane and corrupting influence of She Who Thirsts.

The acolytes begin with the knowledge that Luxa Tentare is to be found in Immemoria. They know she has been moving about the sector and in a place of thousands of guests can be hard to find. They will need to put investigative skills to use to find her. However, with her capture, incapacitation, or death will come the wrath of her lover and the acceleration of the Tarot’s plans.

Sector Immemoria

Sector Immemoria is a sector at the edge of spire Grym-Zollern found in the Apex. The Apex is a part of the hive that stretches above the upper hive that is home to the richest and most influential members of the Consortium, the legal ruling body of planet Desoleum. Immemoria was made as a mixture of a neutral safe space for the lower gentry and high nobility of Desoleum to do business peacefully along with acting as a recreational district. It was designed by compiling a number of Civilized World city layouts into one unified design so that it resembles a rough estimate of an ancient Terran city with a port. It is accessed by aerovehicle and via ground travel through grav lifts and travel through habways between spires.

The sector’s ground is made of cobblestone and paved streets which create a grid layout. To the north and the east pre-fabricated farm fields and meadows have been set up to simulate old Terran rural landscape. The majority of the sector is made up of buildings that range from two to five stories of height made of stone, wood, and brick. These buildings are a mix of recreated ideas of old Terran living and functional hotels, restaurants, dance-halls, ballrooms, temples (to the Creed), theatres, race-tracks, museums, and other attractions. The air is selectively opened to allow natural cloud forms to enter the sector while using machinery to create artificial clouds to simulate rain. The sun of Desoleum’s system can be seen from Immemoria.

Every business is staffed by Grym-Zollern servants. Other houses and merchants can invest and own businesses in Immemoria but the Grym-Zollern have the last say. The main people who go to Immemmoria are of the lower gentry and mercantile class. They fill this area where those of much higher rank can afford to travel to other planets or luxurious recreational satellites and the like. There is the rare Consortium member or Apex prince in Immemoria that travel there to serve as a medium between the high nobility and the low nobility. It is also a popular spot for travelling rogue traders and space travelers as they are from the middle space of hierarchy between the mentioned classes while somewhat existing out of it.

The Edicts of Immemoria

The rules of Immemoria are simple. Do not arrive with weapons other than those that designate one’s office or are part of a special role such as an Omnissian axe for techpriests. Do not arrive with retinues of bodyguards. Do not cause trouble. The Blackwatch define what trouble is.

Blackwatch are veteran guards of house Grym-Zollern dressed in all black carapace and helmets that conceal their faces. They respond to any and all transgressions. They have an odd role in that they are to remain as invisible as possible to the guests of Immemoria. This is taken as to have them stand still, stationary, and silent in ways that feel performative in a way. For some examples, one group will stand completely still at guard in front of specific Grym-Zollern businesses with their hot-shot lasrifles on their shoulders. Others will sit stock-still at cafes almost in a facsimile of other guests. Moreover, many are located at specified guard posts that look like enforcer precincts but only the precincts’ outer spaces can be seen and what are seen are Blackwatch guards in different stages almost like statues. Different guards and stations are switched out with other guards where they will move with military precision in lock-step with each other.

The Blackwatch have warrant to quash any sort of civil disobedience or transgression they see. This will take the form of quick brutal reprisals of physical violence and open firing in some cases. A few decades back, two lower noble family scions brought their baggage to Immemoria and began to fight in the street with the weapons they were allowed. They were commanded to stop but they resisted arrest and were shot down in the street. When the families attempted to sue house Grym-Zollern for the killings, the Consortium was found in favor of house Grym-Zollern for keeping the peace after laying out their very strict neutrality rules that the nobles broke. The houses were forced to pay in oaths for wasting the Consortium’s time.

The guards and guests of Immemoria expect a certain etiquette and standard of dress. The guests wear a mixture of leather and high-class material-containing clothing such as silk, linen, and the like. Expect great big ostentatious dresses, expensive frock coats and three-piece suits, and clothing with expensive and complex designs. The lowest one can go is an outfit that is mainly leather that a chartist captain would wear. Anything seen lower than that like an Imperial Guard uniform, hive leathers/rags, coveralls, and the like will be seen as uncouth, passe, and garish. Those out of the ordinary will be picked out of the crowd immediately and receive greatly increased scrutiny from guard and guest alike. That is not to say anomalies do not exist. Similar to its status as a place where the higher born patricians and lower born gentry can interact, it is also a place where those same people can interact with members of the underworld or at least less savory types. A majority among them being Cloudboy gangers. These types do not flaunt their weaponry or gang symbols in public and often are found in clothes that are similar but often lesser to their legitimate employers.

The Joy Troupe in the Hunt

The Joy Troupe is one of these gangs. The Troupe is an offshoot of the style killers that act as legitimate acrobatic performancers while carrying out illicit activities using their skills and high-grade equipment. They are hired to be thieves, assassins, spies, and muscle. They are also secretly a Cegorach-worshipping cult that is led by their harlequin master known as the Joy. They are headed by Big Smile Siggy, or Siggivere Du Bornae, an enigmatic individual with a large intimidating replacement jaw bionic that has the visage of a monstrous smile running from ear-to-ear. One could learn more here, https://darkheresychainsofmalice.blogspot.com/2019/03/dh2e-npc-cast-big-smile-siggy-and-joy.html. He is looking for Luxa as well and wants to kill her and gain access to her ship where she has been acting as Ostia Bellante, the Litany of Dawn. His master is an old enemy of Chaos and uses the Troupe to act openly where Eldar footprints would raise extreme alarm including exterminating cultists. If the acolytes are having trouble finding her he will attempt to find them if they fail subtlety checks, have been rather loud in their investigation, or have witnessed and interacted with them before such as in the adventure Tenorlied of Traitors, https://darkheresychainsofmalice.blogspot.com/2018/05/adventure-tenorlied-of-traitors-wip.html. His offer will come in the form of an expensive purple autocarriage driving alongside the acolytes and wanting them to come in or meet them somewhere. He will give the terms very simply: in exchange for having the Troupe watch places that Luxa has been rumored to frequent and alerting the acolytes immediately when they find her, the acolytes will help him and a group of Troupers onto the Litany of Dawn, a Rogue Trader cruiser docked outside of Kapellax Orbital Trade Station. There he wants to find information about the Tarot and specifically their ties to the rogue trader Reyk Javik and the movements of the Tarot on Desoleum. The past number of months have had the Tarot seemingly build up slowly to a large event and in the meantime lead to the severe weakening of their rivals like the Callers of Sorrow in the adventure Sublime, https://darkheresychainsofmalice.blogspot.com/2019/02/dark-heresy-2e-adventure-sublime.html. The acolytes could refuse but they would miss out on making their jobs easier. Nothing will befall them if they refuse. They will be dropped off near their vehicle or the last place they were picked up from.

Inspector Belle, Envoy and Psy-Hound of Inquisitor Fidele

Another figure follows them intently. His name is S.R. Belle and he is an acolyte of the puritan inquisitor Encenzo Fidele. Belle was a detective of the planet Sagittar now turned hound for the Inquisition where he uses his psyniscience and cryomancy powers as a sanctioned psyker to hunt for Inquisitor Fidele. His mission is to observe the acolytes to see how they operate and how they would respond to Inquisitor Fidele, also known as Don Fidele from his old days as a parish priest of planet Baroquia, taking over Inquisitorial control of Desoleum. Belle will not run from the acolytes if they decide to confront or approach him. Part of his goal of judging the acolytes is seeing how they respond to psykers. He will not attempt to ruin their subtlety or interfere with malicious intent in their investigation. In fact he may choose of his own accord to help them as an acolyte. He is mainly to observe and document. He is followed by a personal warband of Inquisitor Fidele's. They are meant to stay hidden away as they do not have his skills of shadowing and scrutiny. These are the scribe Canta Firma, the converted death cultist lady Lacrymosa, and the sister of battle turned interrogator Dies Irae. Their profiles can be found here: https://darkheresychainsofmalice.blogspot.com/2019/03/dh2e-character-cast-inquisitor-cavello.html They may help the acolytes as well or harm them if they decide to be antagonistic and straight up attack Belle.

Something Wicked

If the acolytes are having a lot of trouble, a much more sinister character could show up to help them. This is Happy Jack, The Living Masquerade or the Masque for short. He is one of the four heads of the Tarot and a bizarre and terrifying figure. He is a selective shapeshifter, an extremely dangerous fighter, and ambiguous creature that is somehow both more than human and less than human that leads his own branch of the conspiracy. Much like a few times in the past like the halt of the Bilious Legion invasion, the underhive mutant invasion, and the weakening of the Callers of Sorrow (https://darkheresychainsofmalice.blogspot.com/2018/05/adventure-malice-pestilence-wip.html; https://darkheresychainsofmalice.blogspot.com/2019/02/dark-heresy-2e-adventure-sublime.html) they want the acolytes to succeed and kill Luxa. Now, the reason he would want another member of his conspiracy hurt would be to drive Lascivious into action. Lascivious has been complacent and happy to let his sons, the Mirror Guard, and the cultists he controls to do work while he engages in hedonism and slows down the grand plan the Masque has. The Masque thinks of the long game and is very dangerous because he can turn what look like failures on the surface into leadups of greater plans. The Masque knows hurting one of his favorite mistresses would light a fire under him and force him into action where the other heads of the Tarot have had to pick up the slack. Of course, this would be the final nail in the coffin for the acolytes’ usefulness in getting rid of problems for him and would set the forces of the Tarot upon them. He has actually been withholding information from the other Tarot heads of the location of heir hideout in the mainhive known as the Galloping Aethexe, a bar stolen from a Tarot lieutenant. With this final act, he would let open the floodgates and they would be hounded. They’ll be hounded by touching Luxa anyway, but he wants to make sure it happens.

The Incandescent Obscured

Through their investigations using inquiry, charm, intimidation, deception, and other social skills the acolytes will find out where Luxa frequents. They will learn a recent staple of Immemoria, the rogue trader Ostia Bellante, is actually Luxa in disguise. She chooses to play a short charming brunette. They can also learn she has been travelling with what is assumed to be a suitor, a very handsome blonde man often found wearing a stylish pink frock coat that seems to possibly be another rogue trader but much less is known about him. This is actually Lascivious who is using a mixture of biomancy and his archaeotech mist armour to change form to a six-foot bachelor of sorts to protect one of his favorite lovers. The mist armour was made for him by the Standard Template Child, a surviving man of Iron hidden in a secretive planetoid that contains a forge and seemingly all known STCs that the Tarot have a difficult relationship with. It has created other things for the Tarot and will be important in later adventures. If the acolytes have seen either him or a member of the mirror guard before, they will notice with either a Difficult (-10) Logic or Scrutiny test that Luxa’s entourage looks an awful lot like what a younger Lascivious would look like or looks very similar to one of his sons.

The acolytes will have to put in multiple tests and chase multiple leads to find three places she frequents and speak with different nobles and workers. A high-class restaurant called Infinity, a ballroom owned by a Lady Kuradil, and with a noble of house Perroy named Dionne Perroy at their Perroy manse near the pre-fabricated countryside. The GM at this point rolls a 1d3 and chooses which she would be at in a night with Infinity being 1, the ballroom being 2, and the Perroy Manse being 3. They will also learn that Luxa is leaving in four days back to her ship which leaves as soon as she gets back.

The choice of place determines the layout the acolytes have to deal with, possible social challenges, and density of people in the area. Infinity is a sizable upscale restaurant with live entertainment. It is somewhere between The Ivy and Darcia in fanciness. It is also fairly populated with guests and restaurant staff. Luxa can be found in the main room somewhat to the side in her glamour form. Lascivious will be in his disguise playing on stage. The Kuradil Ballroom is also a sizable place with a large four room layout. The proper dance floor is in the east. An open bar is found to the north where Luxa and Lascivious will be. There is also a southern reception area and a western dining area. The Perroy manse is a two-story building found near the edge of Immemoria proper. It’s somewhat modest for a noble manse in size. Luxa can be found in the second floor bedroom with lady Eilla Perroy and Lascivious. To be meta, as I often use online maps but don’t like to just plop them into these adventures because that is probably plagiarism, I do have three maps I use for these but can’t give.

The place that is rolled for will be where the acolytes will find and decide what to do with Luxa. The obvious is kill her but they could attempt to capture her for interrogation. Unfortunately, Lascivious will also be with her. The GM should emphasize that Luxa is the target and Lascivious is a gigantic threat that possibly can’t be dealt with at this time. Whatever happens to Luxa, Lascivious will be furious. If the players kill Lascivious, then the Masque will accelerate the final plans himself and this will begin act 2.

For the GM

As a GM, emphasize that Luxa’s ship is of importance. Have the Litany Unto Dawn mentioned by Luxa or Lascivious. Rogue Trader cruisers are sizable ships that contain thousands of crewmen. Even if it isn’t her ship but another member of the Tarot’s named Reyk Javik, something that sizable has to hold information about the Tarot’s plans or part of the Tarot’s manpower. Siggy can lead your players to it by making it part of his condition. After the business with Luxa is done, he will want their side of the deal to be upheld. With their clearance and equipment, which will include an aquila lander provided by the inquisition, they should be able to find a way on-board. Found on Luxa’s person is an emblem of Javik’s warrant of trade which is a disguised device that is used to access the cruiser’s shuttle bay. It looks like a V and an I on top of each other that are circled around their periphery in an odd three-pronged symbol. On the back of the emblem is the name Litany Unto Dawn.

The Joy Troupe's Involvement

If Siggy is involved, he will tell them of the founding member of the Tarot. By this time, the players may have been menaced by an enigmatic figure named the Masque with clear shapeshifting abilities and a horrid Fear (4) visage if looked upon with psyniscience that comes with it the sense that one's soul is being cloyed at by the warp spirits the Masque has consumed and added to his collection. Along with a horrid existential choking and drowning feeling the sight of the Masque in his Immaterial form is a terrible thing. The most horrible mangled fascimile of the Laughing God of the Eldar would be beheld with great hypnotic lights shifting through his form. The souls he has consumed in agony begging to be released and holding on to anything and everything they can while a consuming and malefic smile plays upon what can barely be considered the lips of the form of the Masque. Siggy tells the acolytes that his name from centuries back in history was Happy Jack, the Living Masquerade. He now goes by just the Masque. He is a figure that is both less than human and yet more than human. He emerged from the Warp centuries ago and it is rumored that he was a mortal man once. Now he is an abomination that has hunted and taken the lives of many including the children of Cegorach. He is the one that brought the Tarot together with an extraordinary silver tongue and the means to manipulate the highest and haughty. He has been hunting Siggy's gang, the Joy Troupe, for around three years most likely out of spite for those who would worship the thing that mangled him so. It is not a mission for him. It's sport out of vindictiveness.
Siggy has set a comm leech on a ship suspected to be one of the Tarot's in disguise. This would be the Litany Unto Dawn, nominally Ostia Bellante's ship but truthfully one borrowed from the hidden rogue trader traitor Reyk Javik. The Troupe has been listening for something to use from the Dawn's communications, but the nature of the Tarot is secretive and they are very good at keeping silent. That is until recently when the access codes to the Dawn's flyer bay were transmitted down to the planet. This transmission included the name "Rhiogain" which appears to be someone underneath one of the head's of the Tarot, Erioch Karpath aka the Rainmaker. Other than that, no more usable knowledge was obtained.

Siggy wants a deal from the acolytes. They allow him and a group of the Troupe onto the Litany onto Dawn using transport from the acolytes and he will give them the access codes when the time comes. Siggy's ultimate motive is to steal a stored case of filled soul stones for his master, the Joy. She is a harlequin and the ultimate master of the Joy Troupe along with the one who trained Siggy to be her proxy on planets it would be difficult for xenos to traverse. She wants them to save the souls of Eldar in these stones that most likely taken by the Masque. Soul stones like these have been used in a deal with the Joy Troupe (see the adventure Dirge of Gore) when they were lacking information and dealing with a proxy of the Tarot. The Troupe hopes to be rewarded by their master.

Lascivious Stats:

Luxa Stats:  

Act 2: The Blowup

The Dominos begin to tip

After whatever happens with Luxa, once the acolytes leave Immemoria they will be declared open season by the Tarot; every affiliated cult, gang, mercenary band; and non-affiliated ones via a large bounty placed on their heads. They will be attacked. Their hideout will be assaulted. Lascivious, if left alive, in his grief will call upon the Tarot to advance the time scale of their overall plan and the city will begin to feel the Tarot's power at that moment. If Lascivious is out of commission or just didn't have time to call out their plan will go off a short time after Luxa's death or possible capture anyway. The city at this time experiences a taste of what the Tarot has planned.

The Pulse

Before all of this the Tarot has been planning to cause essentially numerous colossal haywire fields on most hives on Desoleum. They will begin one at hive Desoleum using separate rituals at places of ancient power found deep in the surface of Desoleum within the xenos ruins that dart its surface. This first ritual is known as the "pulse" and will hit Immemoria along with targeted areas that mostly comprise of storage sections, food silos, mortuariam guilds, and other places that would hurt the integrity of Desoleum Primus along with cutting food supplies and other key resources that allow Desoleum to function. The point of all this is to be a lead-up for the greater ritual that will push Desoleum over the edge into outright civil war and chaos by emboldening nobility or inflaming their greed and vindications along with creating the atmosphere necessary for many cults and gangs to rise and run wild.
(GM's note: if the acolytes have an air vehicle they need to use later in the adventure, try to have it placed somewhere outside of Immemoria so they have access to it. One justification being that while Immemoria has docks and landing pads on its western edge those are mainly exclusive to either House Grym-Zollern or those who pay a heavy price to keep that exclusivity.)
To do this they have spent years finding places of power amongst the ruins of Desoleum. These ruins one began to a civilization known as the Ly’Thri that used the Immaterium to power its civilization. The Ly’Thri fell to the first appearance of the Pandaemonium. One of these, a powerful central one, was used to create the Catalyst which has unchained the Pandaemonium’s few limiters and has caused the divide between the materium and immaterium to narrow. This has allowed facilitated the carrying out of rituals, summoning of daemons, and a host of warp phenomena around the planet which has spread to the sector. This has not been extremely noticeable mainly because the phenomena start deep in the earth of the planets where they begin near other Ly’Thri sites.

Why is the Tarot doing this

The Tarot want three things. One is to cause instability that will cause the factions of Desoleum to go into open civil war after the events of Tenorlied of Traitors that forced a large but already growing divide between house Kotrohman of the Consortium and their minor lord allies versus the old guard of the Consortium that mainly call Desoleum Primus home. House Kotrohman has a virtual monopoly on Jarzin, another major hive, along with a large alliance of smaller houses that hold claims across the planet and minor hives. He was accused with treason and was treated to what was one step away from a kangaroo court complete with execution and dissolution of house Kotrohman for the old guard to pick at like crows without the watchful eye of the local Arbites marshal of Desoleum, Jugend Volkmar. After being exonerated by another set of acolytes (as in originally, I had two separate campaigns one for newbies one for veterans) he declared his distaste and his decision to beseech the sector governor to name Jarzin the new planetary seat with its donation of Desoleum’s tithe rivaling Primus’s own. With that, both sides began gathering coalitions and Primus has been tense ever since with gathered domestic forces and PDF being readied for possible war. All they need is a spark. The Tarot wants to give that spark via wide disabling of the old guard coalition through a grand combined ritual. With Jarzin left standing holding the blame from the sector governor via the Tarot’s infiltration of house Kotrohman and the selective usage of the Ly’thri’s places of power. The Tarot’s opening salvo is a wide bombing campaign against Desoleum Primus’s food stores using the power and multiple psy-foci of Uriah Davrus, the Matchstickman. His foci of blood-writ items carry the possibility of being activated at a distance with multiple inferno uses. Along with this the unleashing of domestic cults, gangs, mutants, and mercenaries upon Desoleum will keep the authorities busy as well as the resultant food riots.

The second thing they want is a piece of the Theoclast. The Theoclast is a weapon that was once used by the Ly’thri to chain what is now the Pandaemonium to its now relatively stable state. That “stability” still includes the planets being swallowed by it. What it was before was a congealed mass of a dead god of Chaos. The Theoclast is a sizable structure oddly similar in design to the Cadian pylons. It is made of multiple parts spread across the Ly’thri’s old domain of Askellon and further outside of it. The nature of its size makes it extremely difficult to extract under possible Imperial scrutiny. It was found two years after the Catalyst was activated in a deep ruin of Desoleum. They needed the distraction along with the locations of the other pieces of the Theoclast given by a copy of The Ly’Thri Conquered, a tome telling of the fall of the Ly’Thri. They have found these over time using their vast influence and assets along with following one Inquisitor Korudon Rondos’s personal search. They needed a time where they could gather them all and bring them together to the Firmament on the planet of Enkidu, where the weapon can be assembled.

The third and final thing is destabilization of the sector. Desoleum is one of the most important planets of Askellon and along with Juno is one of the reasons this often vocally cursed sector is still relevant. Along with supplying a tithe of manpower through the Involute Cadres, it is also home to grand factories of lasweaponry. Exceptionally more important is the sector-changing STC found in Desoleum Primus’s underhive (see Polonaise of Pestilence). An extraction of a titan variant STC is underway by the techpriests of Selvanus Binary. It is possibly one of the most valuable items to the Imperium not only in the sector but perhaps the segmentum. Right now it is secretly being extracted under the nose of the local machine cult of Desoleum. The value of the STC will prevent an exterminatus being declared on the planet even with a full Chaos uprising. The Machine Cult will come. The biggest reason the Tarot has focused on Desoleum was to have it be the first domino to tip that starts a chain reaction of uprisings, catastrophes, and other events throughout the sector between other cults, Tarot and non-Tarot affiliated, being empowered to perform their dark deeds and secular action such a Snopes World’s disgruntled ruler finding a time to secede along with the pirate princes of Port Aquila returning to their roots.

With the combination of a civil war, planetwide uprising, an invaluable object, confusion, mayhem, possible martial law, and political turmoil for the sector the Tarot will secure their claim to the Theoclast piece along with creating the perfect storm of factors to remove attention off of them and possibly attract as they gather the rest of the pieces throughout the sector. They want the power of the dead god Malal. The Theoclast will allow them to harness it.

Who Could Stop the coming storm

An inquisitor technically could take control of the situation and demand a stop to any fighting between the powers of Desoleum. Inquisitor Rondos is still in route as is Inquisitor Ricasso. They have only their acolytes to act in their name and any authority they may dispense also assumes that the ruling nobles of Desoleum will receive them as proxies and that they can make their will known either in person or through distant means. By then the hammer will have dropped and catastrophe will have hit making that even more unlikely. However, if during the events of Tenorlied of Traitors the acolytes had given visual and audio evidence of the Tarot’s members that were present they can force the old guard of Primus to at the very least delay action. House Kotrohman and his coalition is acting out of self-defense as much as for possible gain against ancient rivals. Lord Jastilus Kotrohman, whom this all started with, can be persuaded to delay any movement as well. One noble in particular is susceptible to persuasion. That is lady Aya Rosa of house Rosa, a newly risen house and founder of the Rosa Initiative (https://darkheresychainsofmalice.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-rosa-initiative-wip.html). Her house is a relatively new member of the Consortium and if they have helped her before such as in Tenorlied of Traitors, Sonata of Secrets, or Greene’s Lament she will convince the others to stay their hand for a while.

What this means gameplay-wise

Mechanically, any tech will stop working in Immemoria and those other sections until the ritual is destroyed. Every second that passes is a tick closer to midnight on Desoleum's doomsday clock. If any of the players are using bionics or have the machine trait their parts will stop working and will receive fatigue over time to potential death. Roughly, depending on the needs of the players and the narrative and the location when the pulse hits, this can happen with a fatigue gained every five minutes within immemoria to every thirty minutes.

This is only a delay until the Tarot can be fully stopped. Hive Desoleum Primus will have half of various systems disabled by the Tarot’s beginning test pulse which has affected other hives as well. Air systems are knocked out, food purifying stations are down, and power dangerously fluctuates. That and the old guard will be chomping at the bit to blame a catastrophe on house Kotrohman whose hive of Jarzin will be left alone by follow-up pulses. Even if civil war is delayed or even stopped entirely, legions of cultists, criminals, mercenaries, mutants, and the like will rise with the first pulse to spread destruction in the wake of the seeming downfall of Desoleum.

The Acolytes’ Work

The main objective of the acolytes is to find the source of the pulse and put a stop to the series about to be created. Them involving themselves in the politics of Desoleum will help them in this effort as a planet kept at a standstill before disaster will be easier to navigate to find the source than one in freefall politically. They need the location of the source. It is assumed that they will have killed lady Luxa but they may have taken her for interrogation. She knows where the source of the pulse is. It is found on an inactive volcano island amidst a constant storm found in Desoleum’s polluted oceans. It was the Firmament of Desoleum, and there are multiple Firmaments across Askellon.

If she is dead or otherwise unavailable than the acolytes will need to get on the ship she was using from Javik, the Litany Unto Dawn. They would have found this name on the back of her warrant emblem and mentioned by her or Lascivious. Alternatively, "Big Smile" Siggy knows the name of the ship but does not have the means to access it. Way back in Polonaise of Pestilence, the acolytes may have received a card from an Eldar known as the Argent Mask. This Wild Card is credential enough to get Siggy to help them without taking the deal. He can be talked into it as well, though.

Either way, the acolytes will be hounded at every opportunity. Along with targeted attacks upon them by the Tarot and possibly the local Dark Eldar Kabal forces for actions in Who’s Got the Vibe (https://darkheresychainsofmalice.blogspot.com/2019/03/whos-got-vibe-dark-heresy-2e-adventure.html) they will have to deal with non-Tarot forces and the instability caused by the pulse. I, as a GM, don’t like set in stone encounters in this kind of open path adventure unless it makes a lot of sense for them to have to approach it from one way. However, I offer up profiles on the blog to use as minibosses. Don’t have the Tarot’s head members be part of the strikes.
From now on, with the death of Luxa the Tarot's members including their lieutenants and key operatives travel with retinues. The forms these take depends on the nature of the different members of the Tarot, but a general scheme is that those of a khornate or militaristic persuasion will be protected by khornate cultists, traitor guardsmen, and/or human mercenaries. Those with an alignment to a fact of Chaos will have their own retinues based on which facet. Slaaneshis such as Lascivious and his mirror guard will generally run with converted cloudboys, Slaaneshi cultists, and specialized warriors dedicated to sensation such as those from Guelph and Ghibelline (see Black Crusade's Tome of Excess). Tzeentchians such as Oniboshi will run with Skreiga cultists, warp priests, and rubric marines for Oniboshi and his most faithful. Those that are unaligned will have their own mix of gangers, mercenaries, constructs, and the like depending on their character.

The Litany Unto Dawn

The Dawn holds the location of the major ritual's location along with some other information about the Tarot. As said before, the acolytes could possibly find a way onto it by themselves through using the access codes contained within Luxa's sigil. They could have help from the Joy Troupe giving them stolen access codes. They could possibly have help from one inquisitor that had infiltrated Javik's ships before, one Eldrus Ivo, a radical inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos (with possibly a full retinue of Kroot mercenaries depending on how the players did Who's Got the Vibe).

The Dawn has mainly served as a decoy ship and one that holds the Tarot's mercenaries and assets. It does not hold any of the heads but has held some of the operatives of the Tarot. The acolytes will have to get in through the flyer bay unless they want to get very creative and attempt to get inside via void suit and las-cutters from the outside. That latter option is extremely dangerous, however. The acolytes will have to talk their way in past the flyer bay guards but will be helped by the nature of the ship meaning that those that are supposed to be on it are the only ones that are there. If the acolytes have the access codes then they've got a little credibility to a supposed alliegance to the Tarot. This will result in Challenging (+0) social tests.

The acolytes will have landed in a bay that is near to the bridge and a sensor station/librarium of sorts. The general path will be this: The flyer bay, to the hallways past it which includes a monitoring room for the flyer bay located near and to the side of the bay, to a fork that will either go to one of the storage bays and the other way which moves past two barracks that hold traitor guardsmen and mercenaries of the Tarot. Past that will be a sort of arterial conduit which contains four paths including the path the group would have gone down, a path towards the main ship hold that will take one to one of a number of engineering sections (which would be techpriest chapels if this wasn't a traitor ship), a path towards the bridge, and a path towards the sensor department and librarium.

(Gm's note: They want to go either to the Bridge or to the Sensor Department/Librarium for the most information. The Bridge will be harder to get onto and use the holo-console but will have more information. The Sensor Department/Libarium will have less but enough for them to find the location of the great ritual. Have Siggy tell them that they would be best served going to those two places, or if they ask around or try to think about it then they can come to the conclusion the bridge is probably the best way to go or they might have a place for records.)

On the bridge, they will have to speak to the scribes at four cogitators to convince them they can be up there and use the console. Lady Luxa is the one that has used it the most recent but an envoy from Captain Javik would also use it on occasion. They could possibly attempt to kill the scribes fast enough that no one would call an alarm but this would be difficult as the cogitator and the gates to the bridge hold emergency klaxon activators. The bridge is a sizable space that has great big void-proof glass ports covering threesides of it. It has a large throne at the back end of the room and leads to private residential cabins on its sides. It has two entrances, one large one that faces the throne and a secret trap door behind the throne for escapes. Great granite pillars line the sides. Four cogitators are arrayed near the middle and a large red silk rub leads up to the throne which sits on a diais which is climbed upon with five sets of stairs. In front of the throne a few meters in the air is a holo-console. It is controlled by a manipulator wand (basically a mixture of a computer mouse and a remote). It determines navigation and holds logs of past travels along with being connected to the ship's data stream. 

In the department/librarium they will also encounter scribes but they will be less resistant to their presence seeing them as Tarot operatives needing information for the upcoming ritual. This place is built on a sort of grid with a northwestern open and wide portion that leads to a hallway which snakes back around almost in a rectangular shape. The sides of the hallways lead to sensory cabins with cogitators connected to the mega-augurs connected to the ship which provide surveillance over the planet. Another type of room on these sides are librariums with records within them. Many of these records are rather mundane legal administratum records that Cpt. Javik needed to sign off this voidship as part of his warrant of trade, but a few can be found with a Hard (-20) Scrutiny test that may interest the acolytes. 

The Librarium Records

Within them are the names of some planets and settlements. With a success, they will find the planets and settlements listed are: Desoleum, Snope's World, Port Aquila, Kul, and, interestingly with multiple documents, Enkidu. These records are mainly summarized write-ups of the planets as what they are and what the Imperial presence on those planets are which could be found in a librarium or any record, but certain parts are underlined in the notes. In Desoleum, its ruins are underlined as important. On Snope's World, a certain few named but seemingly mundane islands are underlined. Port Aquila itself doesn't seem to be of interest but a few of the mining sites that surround it are. Hrax seems to have importance placed on some sort of badlands mentioned in the write-up. Enkidu has extensive records compared to the rest. From what is written, whomever wrote these notes were very interested in the invasion upon it from centuries past along with certain classified communique's about the planet's nature from landing forces. From these disparate accounts the planet is said to be alive.

What is most useful to the acolytes will appear on the sensory cogitators.

The Ritual Sites and the Confluence

The sensory cogitators make a lot of things clear. From their records which are clearly not complete nor comprehensive of all records the Tarot has taken, they have been on Desoleum for years. These cogitators reveal they have been interested in the old ruins of Desoleum left behind by some Xenos race back from before the Imperium ever entered Askellon's space. There are numerous ruins but the records of the cogitator point out a fraction of them that seemed to be of interest. Five of these are located around Desoleum. The records state that the first test of the pulse was successful. These records date from today and were signed off with an initial, "O." This record may have been transmitted from off the ship as there is a record of a transfer of data although these sensor cogitators do not have where it was transmitted from. There are around thirty different ruins that have been highlighted. No extra information is given from them. A large file bolded and underlined named "The Confluence Site" is near the top of the list of interest. Opening up, surveillance of what looks like a mountain permanently plagued by great storms rises out of Desoleum's ocean. Actually a pict comes up which seems to be a compilation of multiple picts possibly numbering in the hundreds that then coalesce into one pict. This pict is a combined image that shows what the mountain looks like underneath the storm. In the pict lit up is some sort of entrance that resembles the ruins on the surface of Desoleum. A title was placed on it. "The Temple of Confluence. Along with this is an active timer subtitled: Grand Pulse Activated in 25 Hours and Counting. This appears along with longitude and latitude coordinates upon the planet showing the acolytes where to find the ritual.

The Pandaemonium Reaches

A highlighted note was placed on it. "NO. TELEPORTATIONS. STORM. CONSUMES. ALL." and a pict feed is given a link beside it. In a recording, a servitor was sent via teleporter through the storm. It didn't make it. Instead, everyone watching the recording must make a Fear (3) test as they see what was the servitor's fate. The events are so mind-crushingly erratic to the cognizant brain that the user cannot comprehend what has happened. They will receive visions as time wears on. These will be played out over the next couple of sessions. For now, what looks like some sort of phalange reaches through the pict recording as if the screen was translucent and goes to seize any viewers. This is part of the Fear test but it is very real. They must make Challenging (+0) dodge, athletics, acrobatics, or toughness tests to resist the phalanges. Failure results in the thing attempting to pull the viewer through causing 2d10 damage. They may repeat these tests every turn to escape its grasp. They may also attack the thing which has 50 wounds and 8 total Toughness with no armour. If they attempt to run, the phalange reaches ever forward almost as if endless to find and pull the viewer back. Along the way, it will smash the acolytes against the walls causing 1d10+5 Pen 2 Damage with failed tests. The nature of the thing does not require it to take attack tests. It's zeroing in on the acolytes souls and its mass, sized, and single-mindedness means it will uncannily know where they are. It is a force of nature and not a being of any type. It will reach out for all indiscriminately. The only type of person that would not be affected would be an untouchable although they would still have to avoid the thing blind to its presence. Those who die without fate to burn are pulled through the screen to not be seen again. This will activate alarm klaxons if it reaches far out enough or if a scribe or guard sees it.

(What the acolytes will have encountered is an arm of the Pandaemonium. In this continuity, the Pandaemonium is the coalesced disparate essences of the dead Chaos god Malal. The banality of Malal's essence over time has created its own lunacy driven sentience that manifests in different ways. The phalanges are one of the ways. It grasps to grasp. It knows nothing else. The storm above the mountain containing the temple of confluence is created by energies connected to the pandaemonium that teleportation will send a user to die in.)

A second highlighted note is placed. "STORM. IS. HAYWIRE. FIELD." with a failed landing noted on the planet containing Skreiga cultists.

The Bridge's Knowledge

The bridge will have all the knowledge above and additional important knowledge. One, it names the Tarot's grand ship, "The Vice". It does not have a location for the Vice but records an encrypted communique between it and the Dawn. Two, it elaborates on some information found in the librarium that is summarized. On Desoleum, "Sites of power found. Securing. Theoclast piece location obtained. Securing. Pulse readied. Awaiting command." This recording appears to be from a few days ago. On Snope's World, "Inquisitor Rondos Followed. Has secured Theoclast piece prior. Keeping under lock. Inconvenient spot. Not optimal. Engage disruption pattern upon arrival." This record was written a month ago. On Port Aquila, "Multiple possible sites of Theoclast. Local nobility weak-willed. Disruption pattern setup in progress. Inconvenient, but definite location assured." This was written a year ago. On Hrax, "Inquisitor Rondos followed. His search inconclusve. Narrowed points for Theoclast. Possibly sitting upon its own confluence point with 'Skreiga' presence [Possibly local Tzeentch daemon]." Written a week ago. On Enkidu, "Great confluence point. Site of grand firmament. Theoclast construction site. Must obtain. Planet difficult."

The records for either will have the longitude and latitude coordinates of the Confluence Point and a countdown timer for 25 hours. After all of this, the acolytes need to return to their flyer or find another way to escape.