The midnight casino is held in the Trechenbac Theatre found in Rathi Park in Steppeland. It is not a regular casino and has been converted into one. Gambling is illegal on Sestra by the moral authority of the local Adeptus Ministorum. The place is full of thugs that work for one Felkel "Blind Fingers" Parker. Have the nature of the local SPED precinct shown by having a squad of enforcers show up that are quickly paid off to tolerate the presence of the place. The vigilantes can gamble here and with either a Challenging (+0) Charm, Inquiry, or Awareness test can learn information about figures around Sestra.
-The Black Rook began operating five years ago with a stripped-down outfit.
His first known act was the destruction of the Hellions, a gang operating out of Downback.
He has a $50,000 pooled bounty on him by the underworld forces of Jaq's Crook.
-There was another vigilante that took down a pair of serial killers known as the Hellenbrecht sisters.
They are only known as their earned pseudonym, the No-Show after their blank white face mask.
They also took down a spook smuggling ring and alerted arbitrator authorities.
-There is a community in Absolutia in a small city called New Rantik where the locals tend to be close-knit. The remaining elders of them tend to have purple eyes. They tell the stories of places called Cilleathe and Desoleum which none of them know the location of anymore.
-The Brass Skulls, a Crook-based Techgang, have a bounty out on a group known as the House of Pain. They will pay $100 for each head taken. They also have beef with the Killer Bees who are much larger than them.
-The arch-bishop of Sestra is very sick. He has an obvious successor in the young impassioned Fr. Valdred Fluss. However, Fluss has competition in the forms of the older, well-known, and calm headed Fr. Osric Dassel and the firebrand Mother Heile Schuler. Heile Schuler has the support of the local Adepta Sororitas, Dassel the senior clergy and Fluss the support of the younger along with several secular figures in Sestra Primus.
-Zeidegger Chymicals is the majority shareholder in the Albatross resort. This is odd as it only has one location and they are a pharmaceuticals company.
The players can use this casino to their fancy but this is an underworld casino so make it clear that if they win a little too much they might be subject to the ire of Blind Fingers Parker and his gang.
Past the polychromatic saunas and deeper into the mountain a great complex has been built into the mountain. Part legitimate pharmaceutical company and part legitimate animal menagerie it houses different venomous, toxic, or otherwise chemical-using species from Absolutia and actually some species from beyond the planet's airspace in other parts of sector Manifestum. What the Zeidegger Chymistry company does not show visitors are the inner fight pits of the place that have disappeared unfortunates fight the beasts to the death. The fights are said by the higherups of Zeidegger Chymistry to increase the number of chymicals and venom out of the beasts. These fights have bets placed on them by those in-the-know and are done by time to death rather than betting on which party would win. Included is a gene-modified version of a carnosaur using newer heretekal technology that makes the beasts spew toxins and be more aggressive. Where they received this technology is a secret and the search for it is left in the hands of others. It can be found in the files of the place if searched deep enough. It turns out the chymicals used to affect the beasts are actually a mix of Dark Eldar-made ingredients and a proprietary blend made by Gallina chymcals. This is extremely illegal by Imperial standards. Finding a way to present the chymicals to planetary authorities that would listen is a good way to not have to have the vigilantes just murder their way up a corporate chain.
The place is protected by decently armed security guards and kill-teams with flak armour everywhere, autoguns, shotguns, and shock mauls. They are decently skilled for guards and come from different backgrounds of frontiersmen rangers, hardened criminals, enforcers without inhibitive control, and other such veteran killers. They will shoot to kill and any priority for new subjects for the fights is secondary.
This place is a great source of chems that the players can steal, a secretive cabal to kill off, reward in the form of about 100,000 gelt. Also amazing for Gallina Chymicals profit margins if Zeidegger were to fall to a scandal or literally had executive members executed. One Carla Moescher, director of the Sestra Primus bureau of Gallina Chymicals, may have a reward for the vigilantes then.
It will actually turn out that the place has little to do with Gaunt-Face. While later it will be learned he facilitated the kidnapping through a proxy agent at the request of a client, it turns out the Albatross is generally a nasty place that had a convenient place to smuggle the child in from. What they can find, however, on the cogitators in the place is that the person who ordered the kidnapping was the man who will now have died of his defective heart, Claus Richthofen the established business magnate. Along with that, they will find the proxy's name was Veit Sudener, whom they can find if they ask in the right circles. He is heavily involved in the entertainment sectors of Sestra Primus. He has a club beneath the wall in Peaksangle called the Satin Dream.
The CEO of Albatross is Hans Zeidegger and he is busy in the Sestrite Parliament.
The Property
The Albatross resort itself is a luxurious building that is about 400 by 700 meters in terms of how much it covers the mountain. It is built on a strong foundation on the side of mount Rathi. It lies within the 5 kilometers of land owned by the Zeidegger corporation. The resort is on an isolated part of the mountain that ends in a plateau. The area of the plateau covers about 3 kilometers of the 5. The only way onto the plateau is either by climbing a sheer cliff surrounding the resort found 2 kilometers into the land that has a height of 20 meters or taking an air vehicle to it which is how they receive their food, drink, and necessities along with how guests arrive. The Albatross does not allow aero vehicles into the property airspace except its own. The perimeter of the plateau and the proper edge of the property is patrolled by Zeidegger security forces. Pict-recorder tech is not present on the outside of the resort building mainly due to maintenance reasons. There are a number of pict recorders seen all around the proper building and into the secret bunker laboratories that lie beyond the VIP crystal spa.
Entry
Legally, one has to be a trusted Zeidegger Chymicals employee or a guest to enter the property. A basic 700 throne group package is available for 5-8 meant for four couples. All guests and employees enter through aero vehicles. They get on these vehicles either from Windwrap, the aeroport of Sestra City or other aeroports around the Liebowitz or Sestra prefectures. All guest luggage, both carry-on and everything else, is searched through and tested to see if they are poisons or weapons. A metal detector is used. A syrette with a special fluid is used to catch poisons by changing color based on ingredients. There is also a special light projector they use to search for digiweapons and hidden weapons. Employee luggage is usually let through. Those allowed on the property are vetted from working for other Zeidegger businesses. Many workers at the resort live in a small town found on the property about half a kilometer from it and stay there for work. They are paid rather decently for servile labor but there can be a rare case of discontent every once in a while.
GM Note: All of this is important for the players in seeing how they want to reach the resort to investigate it.
Security Guard Stats:
The Resort
The Resort has dozens of room and is made up of around five stories. The dining services, entertainment, and check-in is on the first story. The mountainside spas, beautiful locations made of marble with wide hot baths along with massage and cosmetic parlors lie on the second. The third story holds guest rooms along with the VIP crystal spa, a special spa that is in fact built into the mountain holding a natural rolling Hotspring using thermal energy from the mountain itself. The fourth and fifth stories hold more guest rooms with the fifth holding suites including a honeymoon sweet with a balcony. The resort's main attraction are the beautiful ski-slopes that can be accessed on the southern side of the building. There are multiple slopes and ski-lifts and there are cabins found on the property as well. One slope can be followed farther than usually allowed to the cliff of the plateau.
GM note: This can be used if any enterprising players wanted to stash equipment to use for later, however, using the security guard stats above, roll Awareness once to see if the patrolling guards catch the equipment or possibly the character in the act of climbing.
The Crystal Spa
The VIP spa requires a presentation of VIP passes to the group 8 guards that stand watch at a tunnel to it at all times. Owing to the way the tunnel to the spa was built into the mountain, the tunnel has no door and the 8 guards are split into two groups of four on either side of the lip of the tunnel. The spa has essentially a stream running extremely gently across the middle of the indented stone. A generator that runs on the thermal energy found in the mountain lies near the back along with a table filled with food and drink. No employees are allowed into the tunnel so it's not obvious how it remains full between visits. A Difficult (-10) Scrutiny check will allow the characters to see rather advanced holo-projectors hiding a gate with a card reader in the back. The card reader accepts the VIP pass and a security pass, but the VIP pass cannot be used on the card reader on the other side of the door, but a security pass can. This to trap nosey visitors to the spa.
Laboratory 1
There are three laboratories. The first laboratory is essentially a bunker where kidnapped people are kept. It is made up of five rooms and connecting hallways and the entrance to the second is in a large chamber. The halls are not actively patrolled but there are about 16-20 security guards in this place. 8 are guarding 4 hostages in a room to the east. 8 Are relaxing in essentially a breakroom that lies after a moderate-length hallways to the west. The room is connected to an armoury to the north and another hallway that leads to a larger room that looks like a barracks before ending to the main hallway that leads to the great chamber. In the armory of the place, there is a Leviathan Heavy Sniper Rifle (see Malice Overhaul) [Leviathan Heavy Sniper Rifle: 2d10+5 I Pen 5 S/-/- 5 Round Clip 2 Full Action Reload Accurate, Heavy, 300m Range 1,500 Local Currency 25kg Extremely Rare] that is there to deal with troublesome carnosaurs. Along with there being about 1d10 autoguns, 1d5 combat shotguns, 1d3 clips of ammo for each gun there, 1d4 stun grenades, and 1d5 full flak armour sets. To the northeast that leads around to a central hallway guarded by 4 guards in front of a large door. Behind the door is a large chamber and four hostages left with shock mauls. The doors are heavy metal things that are hard to open and close and are worth 16 AP of defense. From the floor of the large chamber will rise a carnosaur with exposed musculature that sweats venom. This poor thing is the result of an experiment mutating it with multiple venom sacs. It produces venom naturally, but when it is in an adrenaline-driven state, it produces more naturally. The venom is gathered from the creature once subdued to use in Zeidegger Chymicals' products. Prisoners gathered from suspected employees, whistleblowers, and business opponents (including an attempt to kill Erika Weiss, inspector of the Administratum and the secret vigilante known as the No-Show that she declined) make for excellent fodder. The carnosaur is constantly in a frenzied state and can only be taken down by a very gas sedative that is given through vents of the chamber. Unfortunately, the console that controls the gas is laboratory 3. It also is toxic from the chemicals running through its veins that seep out into its skin and any that hit upon it risks the attacker being burned. To the west is a set of doors that leads to a room of large vats of the venom that can be applied on weapons to gain the Toxic (1) quality. The exit is a door that requires a security card to be scanned by a reader.
Laboratory 2
The second lab is extremely strange. It looks like a gothic dungeon of sorts. The walls are made of old stone, spiderwebs abound, and the first thing the players will see is a real skeleton bound to a wall. A large oil painting of a wide sneering man making an approximation of a smile can be seen on a wall to their right with the name Hiero Zeidegger on a golden plate at the bottom. The pathway is a simple stone hall that leads to a northern room. There are two doors on either side of the hall. In the second room is an intersection of four doors and a coffin. The coffin requires an athletics test to open.
In a coffin containing the skeleton of Rosalia Zeidegger there lies a Sapphire RIng, Gold ears, Em ring, Strange Necklace. The first leads to a larger chamber with a skeleton in a throne that is labeled Hiero Zeidegger. Nothing happens in this room. The second leads to a similar place with another skeleton except this one is named Falkus Zeidegger and there are four loathsome white-fleshed creatures with no eyes and horrible jagged teeth and blades on their arms that crawl on the ceiling of the place and will attempt to get a surprise round on the acolytes. In a laboratory to the north, the acolytes will find a lab report that says these are called Zeidegger Horrors and they are special weapons being developed by Zeidegger to sell to rogue traders. They are mutated creatures using a Xenos animal that Zeidegger chymicals buys from the Dark Eldar raider captain, Gradovur Hrakt. He also supplied a special control for them that uses the thoughts of the user. He did not mention that this controller was not designed for the use of mon'keigh and drives them insane with 1d5 points of insanity for each use. Four more lie at the exit of this lab. Four others will attempt to ambush the acolytes at one point.
The end of the hallways has a hulking caprine creature silent inside of a pod cradling an axe. Reading a cogitator near the thing reveals that this is subject C. Subject C was once a goat beastman that was kidnapped by Zeidegger Chymicals and injected with a number of psychotropic and strength expanding chems to make it thrice the size it was and increased its toughness and ferocity. It is similarly designed to be sold as a weapon or even a laborer. It is similarly controlled by the controller that is right now in the hands of Lans Zeidegger who is watching the player characters' intrusion into his labs as he waits for his brother, Sifrit and the shareholders in the third lab. The black sheep of the family and driven to madness by the controller he is prone to outbursts and temper tantrums but his genius has allowed the corporation to thrive. Lans hopes to kill the vigilantes off before Zeidegger's annual meeting. The beast breaks out of its chamber at an opportune time and attacks the acolytes.
Laboratory 3
The final lab leads to a round room with a large table that the shareholder meeting commences on. To the reluctance of the other shareholders, the group gathers in robes carrying ritual knives at the request of Lans. They are horribly uncomfortable and hate coming here every year but the ten of them do because that's how much they benefit from Zeidegger Chymical's business. This is also where the controller is that Lans keeps on him at all times. Each of the businessmen and Lans himself counts as Merchant Magnates for stats and equipment. Also kept in this room is a large safe with 100,000 gelt. Essentially safety money if Lans ever had to run. This lab lies at the end of a cave with a secret aeropad at its beginning. Right now two shuttles lay on it. Lans will be immediately hostile to the vigilantes but not tell the shareholders about the whole ordeal because he wanted the meeting to go off and he was so sure of himself that he could deal with the intruders before it. Lans will threaten to cut off the members' shares and have their families killed if they don't help him kill the intruders. Each member will roll a willpower test. Failure means that in the heat of the moment they pull out bolt pistols and help. Success reminds them that Lans does not own shit and his brother Richter could actually do that and he's not going to risk them on his insane brother's whims. Also, there is a shareholder named Markus Oswald joining the meeting that really does not like the Zeidegger siblings and would be amenable to possibly paying the vigilantes off to allow him to live. Especially if they had blackmail on them in the form of footage or picts of the laboratories and especially footage or testimonies of the hostages. He would be willing to keep his life and both parties' mouths shut for a 10 influence permanent payout to the PCs until the deal is destroyed.
Side Mission - Rose Glass - Possible Continuation of the Domino Pact path
Rose Glass's real name is Dekmar Vogel. He is a disgraced chymistry professor from St. Aspira universitariate. He was working on a formula for a solution that would allow lesser dosages of painkiller drugs to achieve increased effects. This research was to be sold to the PDF of Sestra and him along with the universitariate would receive a large reward for doing so. He was fired and his doctorate rescinded when it was found that he was using the drugs on willing participants to his program. These included the scions of the nobility who experienced terrible side effects as a result of the testing. The same nobility that gives donations to St. Aspira and was none-too-happy that their sons and daughters had been permanently altered by Dr. Vogel. Kicked out on the street with a target on his back, Dekmar had to escape to the underworld to find protection. He found it in the Pact Master, Sigrich Weiss, the charismatic leader of the Domino Pact. Weiss was invested in Vogel's work as the ability to maximize the output of narcotics while using fewer resources was too good of an offer to pass up. He set Vogel up to work in a well-stocked and well-staffed private laboratory. He also got Vogel unwilling test subjects to experiment on including those students of St. Aspira that ratted him out. Vogel's work for finding his perfect catalyst is a constant goal. It has received many setbacks and he hasn't found the right formula to perfect it. Dozens upon dozens of unfortunates have been left on the street convulsing and tortured by variations of a serum that seeps into their brain and destroys it slowly. It seemed like Weiss's investment in Vogel's work was not fruitful, and Weiss had planned to kill off the chymist who had wasted so much of his money.
That is when the House of Pain approached Rose-Glass. The House of Pain is a relatively new group in Sestra, only being active for perhaps a decade or so. It is said they used to be a devout Imperial creed-based death cult until new masters opened their eyes to greater things. These masters are the ones that supplied an ingredient to Rose-Glass that finally got him closer to perfecting his formula. There is one issue with that ingredient. It is not native to Sestra, and only the House's masters can supply it with fair trade. Rose-Glass supplies the House with slaves and the House will supply him with the ingredient. This will ensure Rose-Glass stays under the influence of the House until the end of his days.
If the acolytes follow the Domino Pact or interrogate members of the House of Pain, they will be gradually led to Rose-Glass. He will be found at a coal farm in northern Sestra, just a few hundred kilometers from Sestra Primus. Getting to the coal farm and waiting for both him, the Domino Pact, and the House of Pain's masters will reveal a terrible revelation. The House of Pain's patrons are Dark Eldar. Indeed, a mixture of kabalites and sslyth will land a cloaked shuttle down near the coal farm to deliver a package of the ingredient into Rose-Glass's hands. From here, the vigilantes can interfere, but it would be wise to emphasize the danger of the Drukhari's presence as to convince them to allow the Drukhari to leave the place and then attack the Dominos and Rose-Glass.
Interrogating Rose-Glass will reveal he has been cut out of the network set up by Gaunt-Face. Gaunt-Face has a zero-tolerance policy of dealing with xenos to curb possible investigations by the Adeptus Arbites or, worse, an inquest by the Ordo Xenos. He was warned by proxies to not interact with the House of Pain or suffer ex-communication. He ignored them and along with the Pact Master's willing patronage of him did enough to be kicked out. Rose-Glass can tell them that he knows a man that can tell them more about Gaunt-Face. His name is Veit Sudener and he runs a club named the Satin Dream.
If they kill him, they will find that he possibly visited the Satin Dream not too long ago. In his pocket is a matchbook case with the place's logo on it along with certain specifications towards the type of "company" he wanted to keep during his stay.
Post Convulsers - Making a deal with the Killer Bees
The House of Pain is not a well-liked group. They are mainly known for being sadistic assassins for those that can pay and sometimes the rewards they ask for raise eyebrows even for the criminals of Sestra's underworld. However, with the killing of the House of Pain agonizers and butchers and the Lost Bepir, the vigilantes now have an opportunity to get closer to the Killer Bees and possibly trick them. The uniforms of the House of Pain hide the face and most of the form so it will not be hard to convince gangers that they are true members. If the vigilantes have been paying attention, they know that the Killer Bees have beef with the Brass Skulls. They both are sabre rattling for an all-out gang war. They can attempt to contact the Killer Bees through their street gangers and have them meet for negotiation under the guise of being part of the House of Pain.
If a group were to come around and promise the Killer Bees they could get rid of this problem or weaken it in some way or another, the Killer Bees might give them a proper reward. The Killer Bees are after something else, however. They don't like that the Domino Pact might get sole rights to Rose-Glass's formula. They want a piece of that pie. If the vigilantes kept the serum the HoP member dropped at the attack on the Lost Bepir, they could prove to them they have the serum and allow the Killer Bees to try it. It will produce a gigantic high and convince the Killer Bees that the vigilantes are the real deal. They will demand a part of Rose-Glass's serum when it goes into full production. They will set up a meeting with one of their higher ranking gangers to make sure this happens. This member is named Volkin Barthelm and he will meet them in a bar found across the street from the so-called "Hive", the circling apartment blocks that make up the headquarters of the Killer Bees and the center of their territory. The bar is called the Honey Tap.
The location the Killer Bees will set the meeting at is an abandoned Primer Educatory (essentially a highschool) in a part of Jaq's Crook within their territory. They will meet outside on the southwest corner of the school with about ten of their street soldiers armed with a myriad of low-tech melee weapons and stub automatics, four of their autogun-toting "workers", and an elite drone who is in charge of the negotiation. Inside the Primer Educatory is a possible target for the vigilante personas to attack. It is a drug lag run by the Killer Bees. Most of the work is in the former cafeteria. The halls are guarded by a roving pack of six Killer Bees. The gym is now the common room that houses about six worker Killer Bees that carry around their autoguns and essentially chill out and wait to be called along with a Drone. The Cafeteria contains ten Killer Bee guards, two worker bees, and a drone watching over the two dozen people packing and making the drugs. The stimm and morphine-equivalents here could be sold, but the real prize is the 1000 gelt stored in a strong box that lies within an alcove in the northwestern corner of the drug lab.
Outside the Hive
The Honey Tap isn't quite the lowbrow place you would think a bunch of gangers would go to. It's not high class either but it's a rather homey place with its first floor split between the main bar space, a private room near a set of stairs, and a second floor that leads to a hidden meeting room, and hidden past the hidden meeting room is a chest with 2,000 gelt. They will be met here with Volkin who will receive them in their House of Pain armour or not. He wants to look good to Queen Bee and move up in the gang so a deal like this would be a big steal. He also knows the secret elevator into Queen Bee's honeycomb, her personal space for holding parties and meetings for the higherups of the Killer Bees and those they are dealing with. He can let this go with interrogation. However, if a lot of noise gets made the vigilantes are literally a street away from the center of Killer Bee territory. They will be hunted if they start blasting or insulting bees in this neighborhood.
Underneath the Platinum Waterfall
The Platinum Waterfall is a difficult location to get to. Requiring a perilous hike through the hinterlands around Mount Rathi, it takes time to get to. If there was transport to the waterfall itself it would have to take place through flying vehicles. However, if one is in the know, then there are routes through caves and caverns found near lower elevations of the mountain one can travel through. Some of these are rather large, and could have 18-wheeler autocarriages fit in, although it would be much safer to travel to their mouths.
Within the waterfall is the Killer Bees' jewel: their central narcotics lab that runs 24/7 (Terran equivalent) that not only supplies them but their customers. It is filled with dozens upon dozens of Killer Bee members including their lower workers, higher drones, and some of Queen Bee's personal best: the royal guard. The lab is found w/in 0.25 kilometers of a winding maze of tunnels found on the southwestern outcropping of the mountain that allows a view of the platinum waterfall. Journeying through these without a guide would need a Difficult (-10) Navigate Surface test. The journey actually will wind around the periphery of the base to deposit those journeying on the northeastern side of the lab. Also, the Killer Bees have installed a freight elevator that leads to a small hidden aeropad that they use sparingly when speed is required. They have smaller autocarriages designed to transport freight and travel through the caverns to the outside. Recently, they have begun using merchant house Zuriner's textile transport autocarriage trucks to hide shipments in.
The insides are well lit and well equipped with food, water, energy, chemicals, equipment, and a lot of weapons. The halls that run around the base are around 2-3m in width. They lead to eight main chambers that range from around 6mx10m to 20mx25m in width and length. The rooms can be arranged however the GM wishes, but generally, a character would be able to move between them with routes that connect 2-3 rooms at a time. There is a general common area that will hold around 10 killer bees, 3 drones, and 2 royal guards. This leads to three places: first place is an unlocked armoury with many solid projectile and low tech weapons along with at least 20x frag grenades. There are at least 3 sets of mono-modified blade gears (see Malice Overhaul Part 2), and 2 sets of Imperial Guard Flak Armour. The second place is an inner room that hosts at least a dozen industrial-scale ovens and other industrial appliances for drugs. The third place is the first drug lab with at least 10 killer bee troops working and five autogun-armed worker bees. The third location is another drug lab with a similar setup. Going along a hallway to the east are six expensive-looking industrial-scale cryonizing devices. Each has to cost at least 5000 gelt but they are also around 100 kg big and deadbolted to the floor. From that hallway, one can get to the first drug lab, a secondary drug lab, and a third one with a safe located in it. Each of these will have at least 6 killer bee troops, 2 drones, and 1 royal guard, with the final room having 4 royal guards within guarding 10 killer bee troops. Also all around the place are wooden crates upon wooden crates of chemicals and supplies. Check the Sestra page for enemy stats.
Taking out this lab takes out Killer Bee revenue by 40%. Queen Bee will be storming angry and will be on the warpath to earn back face and recoup losses. This will include increased racketeering, mugging, and stealing meaning Jaq's Crook is going to a mess for a while. It would also be the time to take advantage of the situation or for other gangs to step in and take territory and possible deserters from a bevy of gangers that are losing their source of revenue. It is also when those loyal will be desperate to accept any deal. Including deals with xenos or the worse types (or the vigilantes disguised as a helping hand [give them the hint to get to Queen Bee]).
In a safe located in the southeast corner of the final lab:
-$36,000
Also within is paperwork of drug shipping
- Names of Bulk Buyers
- The Comedians and Wasters of Baltzerdorf
- Veit Sudener of Sestra
- Ella Warrenburger, shipping captain that transports between Greenburg and Port of Penance, Absolutia
-Shipment of Frenzon to Silhouette in Steppeland.
- Mayor Richter Eckeharte of Sestra and owner of a number of hotels, taverns, and lodges. He sits on the council of Sestra's federal government and directs tithe contributions. He used administratum flyers in the transport of narcotics at least once.
He is involved in Tithe affairs. Meaning the Adeptus Arbites now has a reason to investigate the Killer Bees if they are given this.
3 - Up the Chain
All the Lights in the City (Following Veit Sudener)
Veit has a well-armed security force at all of his establishments including the Satin Dream. The Satin Dream is a riverside resort with many attractions including the secret pleasures found within that includes narcotics. Veit wants in on the Rose-Glass serum and has gone outside the network to obtain a supply. This is worthy of excommunication from the Network if Gaunt-Face finds out but he thinks that Gaunt-Face is pulling the wool over everyone's eyes to get out of his obligations to the Network. Veit knows that the "angel" program that Gaunt-Face is working on is for a personal satellite of his that he wants to make legal. If he gets it, he would obtain his own fiefdom that would allow him to control who
Veit knows Gaunt-Face's real name: Volker Frei. Veit works for the man and as part of Frei's hierarchy is situated at the dead middle where often he carries messages from past the wall down to Sestra Primus proper and the rest of the planet. Veidt does know some of the other members of the network but due to the nature of the conspiracy and the atmosphere of deniability it keeps he only knows a few. He knows about Richthofen, Zuriner, and a few others. The club he runs is a gift from Frei and was a long-time dream for him. He does have the wherewithal to realize he is part of a network of couriers and middlemen and often passes messages down. He does have one piece of knowledge that Frei would kill him for other than Frei's true name. He knows the name of Frei's close confidant and assistant. His name is Roland Sweeney and he lives in Wallside. Veit knows nothing else.
Veit has a safe at the Satin Dream with 60,000 gelt inside with a code only he knows. He also has a daughter that is apprenticing in Baltzerdorf named Grite Sudener.
Tell me Lies (Following Rilker Zuriner)
Rilker knows Gaunt-Face's real name: Volker Frei. Other than that, he knows Frei offered him the chance to join a network of connected figures in Sestra. The point of this network was to raise their statuses and fortunes by working as a cartel of sorts where different nobles and merchants would be able to communicate and cause changes on Sestra to their benefit. To this effort, Frei created an intricate system of communication that is supposed to keep their connections and dealings separate. He also works as the ultimate middle-man and with his resources, he is able to work in the shadows and use a series of proxies to carry out his work. He doesn't know where Frei lives, what his future plan are, or what he truly looks like more than what the vigilantes already know. He can tell them there is a man closer to him that could tell them more. His name is bishop Valdred Fluss, and he is the most likely candidate to succeed the dying puritan archbishop of Sestra, Andris Leich. Rilker does not know why he is close to Frei.
The Point of No Return
Killing one of these two higher ups causes Volker to get desperate. He finally hires Maemon's Host, a group of resourceful but dangerous heretics. He also goes on the warpath and sets the corrupt HEAT team members under his thumb against the vigilantes when he can. He makes sure they are seen as a threat through local media. He makes sure every lowlife in the city knows each member has a $10,000 bounty for their heads. At this point, he will contact Queen Bee to make that latter point known through a mass graffiti campaign.
If they have befriended him at this point, Malek will respond with a graffiti campaign of his own. He'll bomb over the art and make it anti-Killer Bee propaganda. He also has help in the form of the Sound of Silence, a newer vigilante using a special maneuver gear, razor sharp claws, special grenades, and other weapons and tools to fight crime. She is also secretly Simone Steiger, a black-eared felinid and twin-sister of Simon Steiger, the regular from the Lost Bepir.
The bounty will also invite new enemies to the city. First, a chapter of the Ivory Riders, once kicked out of the city a decade ago and forced to lick their wounds in Baltzerburg, are returning in a force of 45 to take the bounties and gain revenge on the No-Show. Second, the Axemen, a secretive group of hitmen disguised as firemen and EMTs that use their disguises to get into locations and bring out bodybags with hacked apart bodies with no one the wiser. Third, the Silhouette organization offers their services. Silhouette was started by the heretek Bartisch Schwab, who created a new muscle toning, brain indoctrination, and chemical modification system that allows him to imbue the copied abilities of others into anyone willing to buy. This is offered along with much more expensive body-enhancing services and his own slew of troops.
If one of the above members between Veit Sudener or Rilker Zuriner is killed, Maemon himself will be divining the future of the other and attempt to directly stop attacks by disguising himself and his followers as charming bystanders and leading away the targets. He will not be around every time nor be able to keep an eye on every Network member, but when he is he can be sure to send out his followers statted below.
4 - Sin and Piety
Following Roland Sweeney
Roland Sweeney lives a rather precise life. At 5 AM he is up with the day and exercising. 7 AM has ten variations of the same breakfast he has been eating for ten years. 8-12 AM he reports to Volker Frei. He is let off for lunch and always returns fifteen minutes before 1 PM. From 1 PM to 7 PM he relays many messages as the first in the chain of the Network's communication system. He gives instructions to those lower on the chain of what ciphers to send out. He commands Frei's personal agents and assassins acting as the mouthpiece for Frei. He attends creed temple service at St. Ober's every Sunday at 8 AM. He has no wife or children. No lovers or paramours. He receives Saturdays and Sundays off which he spends reading, painting, flower arranging, horse riding, and experimenting with cooking. He rides horses in Malkaset Valley which is behind Mount Rathi surrounded by high-tipped mountains. This very boring man is possibly the second most powerful person in Sestra. He is an employee, confidant, and good friend of the first.
Getting to Sweeney means the vigilantes are in the endgame. Losing Sweeney would be a giant personal and professional loss to Frei and would require him to take drastic measures. Sweeney would rather die than give up any information to the vigilantes and will act rashly to protect his boss. Sweeney is also shadowed by about ten separate elite mercenaries and later the followers of Maemon's Host. Finding his home will be difficult. He lives in a penthouse three floors from the top in post-wall Peaksangle. He is often either with Frei or in transit. One of the best places to find him is after Sunday service. However, he will be in postwall Peaksangle which has a heavy enforcer presence. Along with that, his guards shadow him every step of the way. A safer bet would be to find him at the Trechenbac Retreat Acres, an extremely exclusive club found in a valley that splits Mount Rathi behind the city.
He knows everything about Frei. Including "Angel" which is a satellite named Valkyr. He wants to use it to get out of the reach of those with their thumb on him as the director of the network. Furthermore, Sweeney knows who all the members of the Network are along with having proof that would warrant multiple arbitrator crackdowns for actions that threaten the Tithe.
If for some reason they kill Sweeney before they interrogate them, he also has the key and codes to Frei's office that contains multitudes of information on Frei and the Network. Including several messages that can help them put together what Valkyr is with a Difficult (-10) logic, inquiry, or scrutiny test. These also have a great deal of the Network member identities in them, but not all of them. Leaving a possible amount that will be free after all this.
Following Valdred Fluss
Father Fluss is a young Bishop that holds service at St. Ober's Cathedral in eastern Peaksangle past the wall. Rather popular among his peers of the clergy and the people of Sestra Primus, he has earned a bit of celebrity for his charity work along with his fervent oratory during the Temple masses. He has aligned himself with Volker Frei to ensure that of the candidates for archbishop of Sestra he will be chosen. He does have rivals in the ultra-puritan firebrand Mother Heile Schuler and the calm-headed stoic institution found in the older Father Osric Dassel. Fortunately for him, he hasn't had to move against either of them and is just counting the days until Andris Leich dies for him to most likely be chosen.
Unbeknownst to all, he ordered and facilitated the secretive poisoning that made archbishop Leich's sickness progressively worse. Frei wants him to eliminate the prohibitive morality law on gambling that the Ministorum has decreed. The Imperial Creed has great power over the peoples and nations under the Imperium.
Frei needs this to legitimize his satellite, Valkyr, his own private palace and casino. From Father Fluss, they can learn that Frei wants to be free of the influence, pressures, and constant threat that his clientele and their enemies have placed upon him. Getting to him alone will be difficult. He has a militant group of bodyguards known as the Hammers of the Dawn, fellow priests that are both apostle and protector. They are heavily invested in Father Fluss along with seeing with him the ability for them to make sweeping changes to Sestra. Including pogroms of the abhumans on its surface and the increase of power the local Ministorum has over the planet. Getting to him will be difficult.
The easiest time, and that is relative, would be right before, during, or after his Sunday service at St. Ober's. Otherwise he travels in an armored and guarded convoy to and from his manse on the lower Cap region of Sestra Primus. He also meets with planetary dignitaries, merchant magnates, adeptus agents, other clergymen, and the like. Fluss through interrogation can lead the vigilantes to Roland Sweeney.
5 - The Infinite
At this point, Frei has gotten desperate. He has suffered multiple setbacks. He has suffered loss of face. He has not been able to keep promises to the Network. He needs the election of father Fluss to go off to change Sestra's morality laws to allow gambling. With this, he can finally enact his final plan that has been in action over the course of decades and retreat to Valkyr, his personal satellite palace and casino. The ultimate gilded cage, he would be away from all of those that have been more and more demanding of him over the years while keeping his influence and power. He can't leave the planet and start again. The Imperium is a wide place and the worlds differ to such a degree it feels impossible to create the position he has again. Not to mention warp travel is not exactly 100% dependable.
He has decided it is time to call upon a resource he swore he would never use. He contacts the prophet Maemon, leader of the Undivided Host. This Chaos charlatan and cult leader has access to dangerous followers, mercenaries, and weaponry. He himself is also an extremely dangerous person, being a psyker bound to a lesser god in the Chaos pantheon. With him are four close followers. Kae'Ess, the Hyena beastman martial artist and wych. She wields a specialized shock staff, is extremely agile and nimble, and is a psyker that specializes in pyromancy with her favorite power being the sunburst. Oul'Gown, the failed daemonculaba experiment and paladin of Chaos wielding two chainswords and his fiery form power to destroy the Host's enemies. Fernan, ex-performancer and now adherent of Slaanesh, the acrobatic assassin and seductress. Finally, Tim. The berzerker turtle beastman wielding a great axe and holding the Lantern of the Primordial Voices, a malefic device that increases his ability to murder while sapping his willpower.
6 - A Little Bit Closer to Heaven
Frei has retreated to the Valkyr satellite. He is now in the best gilded cage gelt could buy. His nose has been bloodied and his legitimacy questioned but he now holds his power out of the physical reach of the other Network members and his enemies on Sestra. He has put all of his forces to destroying the vigilantes' lives now knowing who they are. The clock is ticking on them and the people they care about. The vigilantes need to get up there and finish this once and for all.
NPCS
Maemon
Fernan
Kae'Ess
Oul'Gown
Tim
