[Dark Heresy Adventure] Peace Sells Act 3

Hey, I'm splitting this up into two parts, Act 1 and 2, and Act 3 because blogger is being weird again.

Act 3: The Source

      The Confluence Point is located inside a dead volcano in the middle of one of Desoleum's oceans. The ship has the coordinates to the inside of the mountain top which contains a snowy rocky plateau the size of four scrumball fields (around 0.4 kilometers). The place is a windswept tundra with blankets of snow that cover outjutting solid stone along with giving way to slippery sheets of ice. This plateau has two main difficulties with it. One, the storm above it that is caused by the ongoing build-up of the ritual to send a planet-wide pulse to select hives. Two, the leagues of ambushers waiting to stop anyone coming to interfere.

Damnation from the Skies

The first league of ambushers are not on the plateau top proper but guard the periphery air space. There in whatever air vehicle the acolytes have they will have to face two hellkites and one flying archaeotech warsuit operated by someone calling themselves the Wight Osprey. The hellkites are armored with autocannons and their first move will be to sidewind the front of the aerovehicle's cockpit by sneaking from beneath to destabilize the pilot's senses via their overpowering hallucinogenic musk. (Look at the Tome of Excess profile for the Hellkites. It is a Black Crusade splat. Also change their flying speed to be equal to the aerovehicles so they won't be able to easily escape).
Wight Osprey's stats:

Wight Osprey, if he falls, will burn his one fate point and scream that the house of Glaw will have their revenge.

The Storm

      There is a large problem with getting through the storm. The fact that it is essentially a haywire field covering the airspace on top of the mountaintop means that aerovehicles are not getting in. It has the top covered even down to the boundary of stone that surrounds the plateau. That also means that grav chutes are not going to work either. Instead, the acolytes will have to use ornichutes, or antique style parachutes with no added technological facets. This means they have to take a Challenging (+0) Agility, Acrobatics, or Operate (Aeronautica) test to steer themselves down to the plateau through an eldritch storm. Speaking of the storm, it is essentially a buildup of the Pandaemonium's loss energy kept by the places of power on the planet. Which means that it is a haywire storm and an ethereal squall that will induce horrid visions upon those that have to pass through it. This will take the form of a Challenging (+0) Willpower test which is not affected by any talents that help against fear. What the acolytes will see will not be banal to their sense of horror but of existence itself. If they fail the willpower test they must take another Agility, Acrobatics, or Operate (Aeronautica) test at a -10 penalty as their focus will be shattered and the conditions of the storm which are both physical and ethereal will make their descent harder. Follow the rules of gravchutes when failing these tests.
   At the end of all of this the acolytes will land in rock cover near each other either prone and hurt or perfectly fine. That is when the first ambush occurs.

Ganger's Paradise

The pyramid scheme rant.

Taking cover behind snow-covered jutting stones, nine figures make ready to attack the acolytes. They are not exceptionally stealthy,  being mainly two-bit hoods upgraded with Tau Pulse Rifles (obtained from Who's Got the Vibe adventure). Aside from the thugs ready to fire, there is Sirgev Gach, holder of the Umbra Malefica (see The Tarot and Sirgev Gach and the Underworld War blog posts for his story and stats). He is covered head to toe in his shadowy construct that makes him looks like the early portions of a pict negative brought to life. With him, a woman clothed in a dark robe and encased in metal armour that interfaces with her brain and organs stands in cover a few yards away. This is Anaesthesia in her Iron Maiden armour, and in her chest she holds the Machina Penumbra, a device that fired a haywire field in an arc. Gach will open this attack with a speech about him finding the Inquisition's hiearchy funny because it reminds him of gangster cartels like the Insuratti. He tells them he learned in this life there is an undeniable truth. For anything you desire, you have to tear it away from the undeserving and any that would spit on you. That's how he's going to be king of this planet with help from the Masque. He punctuates the speech by unveiling his face and screaming that's what he's done and what he's doing now. There's something wrong. Black tendrils wrack up along his skin and look to reach up in their brain. He's used the Umbra so much that the daemon kept inside it has been able to exert more and more influence on him. It has been trading its deeper power for his corruption whenever Gach could not summon the willpower necessary to control it. After this, they attack. Anaesthesia should stay back and keep trying to disable the acolytes. If they begin to close, she can take her power glaive (like a large scalpel crackling with power) to meet with them. Gach similarly would stay back and use the powers of the Umbra to disable them. He has a power that allows him to summon tendrils underneath their feet from fifty meters away and knock them into the air while damaging them.

At the end, Anaesthesia will shut down if killed (but burn a fate point and fall down to be resurrected later through the Standard Template Child's work [read the Tarot blog]). Gach will die for real, but his body will be fully taken over by the Umbra. The Umbra resembles living being's fear of darkness, being born out of the collective fear of it. It can take shape into whatever it wants and will fly away. Its weakness being intense light. It is anchored to the materium via Gach's body like a pseudo-daemonhost. After that, either immediately or in a carefully considered location, a much more organized ambush occurs.

Depending on the pacing and damage of the acolytes, you can switch who the acolytes encounter first between the decap brigadiers and the khornate warband. Also, allow the acolytes to have two chances for first aid. The first in the plateau and the second in the temple proper.

A Warrior's Creed

The lost dignity rant.

In the white snow and whirring winds the acolytes trudge on. The gate is closer. They seem to have gotten a reprieve from the last fight. They may attempt to steel themselves for the fights awaiting them in the temple. However, something is off. Roll Awareness vs the Stealth of the Kasrkin group awaiting them in cover with their hotshot rifles, volley guns, and grenade launchers (See Cilleathe, Decaps, and The Rook post). They are clothed in white camouflage coverings along with having greased their scopes to prevent the light catching on them. The decaps have been lying in wait in cover to begin a suppressive fire on them to then hold them up and blast them out. Once the surprise round is decided, eight figures attack the acolytes. Six are highly trained and corrupted members of the Kasrkin known as the Decap Brigadiers, veterans of the failed campaign of Cilleathe (see Cilleathe, Decaps, and the Rook on the blog). One is their officer and the man that recruited them, Finn Greely, ex-colonel of the 211th Kasrkin division. He has a grudge to settle with the acolytes from the adventure Greene's Lament (if he actually died during that adventure, replace him with a Kasrkin officer named Ferris Killian and up his stats by 5 along with giving him Halo of Command and Adamantium Faith). Greely was treated like shit even with his service to the Imperium. Abandoned on a backwater world lightyears from Cadia. He wasn't even able to join a front again with what little resources and influence he had. He became resentful and enraged. That is when someone from the Tarot offered a hand to him. Now he's fighting to regain his dignity as a warrior and to gain revenge against the Imperium for throwing away him and his comrades. If the adventure Sublime happened, then he will also be resentful towards the acolytes for in his words "corrupting" or killing Roscoe Tyruss, the vigilante terrorist known as the Rook, one of the greatest soldiers he had ever seen. One more terrible figure flies into the fray with a horrifying screech. The cursed swordsman Mallaithe in his unleashed form (see the Tarot page) swoops upon them with increased daemonic features stretched upon his black armour along with a deadly pincer-like tail. He is there in his possessive armour and sword to tie them up while the Kasrkin set up their perfect group attack. If Greely dies here he dies permanently in his rage at his mistreatment by the Imperium for serving it. On the Decaps blog, one can see that there are colors associated with their weapons. These represent dots one can put on tokens in Roll20, but you can use those colors to differentiate Kasrkin between what they wield. They can wield normal hot-shot lasguns, hot-shot volley guns, grenade launchers with three selections of loadouts, or missile launchers. These soldiers are then replaced by well-bloodied warriors in the next attack

Sad but True

The-realization-that-they're-just-alike speech.

Five figures menace the acolytes now. Two, aspiring chosen of Khorne in feudal plate wielding chainswords. Two, hulking beastmen similarly in alignment to Khorne with great weapons. They are based on malatants from the CB but upgraded. Finally, there is Rhiogain, Chosen of the Brass Host and embodiment of the prowess of Khorne. He wears rune stricken blackened armour and holds in his hand a halberd made of one of the claws of the Brass Prince, his patron, and a shield that holds the torn out eye of the Count of Slights, a greater Tzeentchian daemon. All but him are frenzied. He speaks in a calm and cool monotone to the acolytes throughout the fight. (This is meta, but try to use their existence as characters whose main deal is to kill folks and learn how to get better to kill folks against them but don't break the fourth wall). He admires their tenacity and martial prowess. He will tell them how the Imperium is a great feat of pageantry that was shown as a microcosm on his birth planet of Wylde. This empire is a gigantic ongoing tribute to Khorne. Imperials, including the acolytes, may deny it and try to dress in delusions of righteousness or godliness to a false god, but the truth remains. They are exactly like he is if they would tell the truth. He is more human than they could ever be. For him, to be human is to struggle. It is to survive. It is to kill. What organization wields more power over life and death than the Inquisition of Man. He fully respects them as warriors but will pull no punches nor limit his repertoire to fight them.

This chosen of Khorne and his warband will show up either in two places. The gate that enters the temple of the Confluence Point, or in the side paths of the plateau that make up winding valleys that are alternate paths to the gate. If they are faced in the valleys and have something powerful enough like a lascannon or a vehicle weapon from an aerovehicle circling outside the haywire storm, they do have the chance to put the odds in their favor with those weapons. This is possibly the most dangerous adversary they've ever faced and there is five more right behind him. What they can do is attempt to bury the warband in rock and snow. The valley walls are made of stone with layers of snow on top. Bringing them down or at the very least causing a localized avalanche can put the khornate warband out of commission. If someone is making a ballistic skill test, then every degree of success will stun one member of the six for 1d5 rounds. Except for Rhiogain, thanks to his changed physiology and strength. If somehow the degrees of success overlap and go over five for the less gifted members of the warband, then it will cause the death of a random one of the warband besides the chosen. The only certainty they have is for the prophet of the Brass Prince to engage with them.

If there is a younger acolyte in the warband that dies (or burns fate) during the fight, he will do something odd. He will kneel down next to them and hold their hand while they are dying while muttering to himself, "Oh Tadalia, why do you have to leave me once again," in a strange moment out of character. This can be used against him later. Tadalia was his daughter and fellow knight on Wylde. She was struck down in the attempt to stop her father from leaving the planet due to the Wyldians misconstruing her presence as her being part of his heresy. If he dies, he will fall and the runes will fade. However, he will have a fate point to burn and be revived by his patron in the warp to fight again. These figures guard the entrance into the temple that holds the confluence point.

Rhioghain Stats:

Aspiring Champion Stats:

Khornate Beastman Stats:

Bring the Ruckus

The hypocrisy rant.

The gate to the temple is this odd smooth onyx-made thing. The gates are already open and the inside shows great whisps of vapor as the temple appears to be warmer than the plateau outside. Moving inside the acolytes find themselves in a stone hallway with strange shapes adorning the walls like abstract pieces of art. Beneath them they find the paved stone give way to some odd blue granite color. In what looks like a junction between two rooms, one a dead end, the granite is circled by water in some sort of organized shape. In the other room lies four figures hidden in wait. Roll their Stealth rolls vs the Acolytes' Awareness. The first figure to strike is the mercenary and martial artist Wu Tang (If he survived Tenorlied of Traitors and Sonata of Secrets) (See the Tarot page or his blog post). He has upgraded his arsenal with Dueling Gear, a set of gauntlets, greaves, and knee guards that accelerate his blows with magnetic accelerators (see Malice Overhaul Part 1). The second figure is the criminal psyker known as the Jiangshi who specializes in telepathic and biomancy powers. If the acolytes faced him before and destroyed parts of him, he will return with bionic replacements. If they stole his Cavalry Sword in Tenorlied of Traitors he will target the acolyte that has it. The third figure is a muscular red-headed man in leather wielding Power Gear (Overhaul Part 1). He fights in a mixture of berserker and street brawler. This is Alabaster "Crimson" another son of the Mirror Guard (see Mirror Guard post). The final figure is the Mirror Guard Ivory, wielding his Soul Spitter power rapier and flashing in and out with his specialized archaeotech teleporter. He has been waiting to kill the acolytes since the adventure Sublime. During this fight, Wu will rail against the acolytes for their hypocrisy borne from the Imperium. He will tell them that the Imperium will do horrid shit then be surprised when the dog bites back. That's what Chaos is to him, just a bunch of people tired of be treated terribly and deciding to rise up. The Imperium creates the issues it has to deal with over and over and over again. If they just, "don't care," then they're insipid children for not giving a fuck. The crippled corpse that the Imperium embodies is the result of self crippling and poisoning. He especially hates enforcers and arbitrators and will target thoem if the acolytes ar either of those. He finds it "hilarious" that they seem to not think that turn-about is fair play. That when you take someone's livelyhood they won't strike back. That when you brand a ten-year-old for stealing bread for his family he won't come back and kill every enforcer in his village and steal his aggressor's hat that he's wearing right now. Ivory will have a cold edge to his fighting and words. He will tell them if, he doesn't know it was them, that he's a bit angry because his mother died. If they throw it in his face that they were the ones to do it then he will target whomever claims the most responsibility.

At the end of the fight, they find the closed doors to the final chamber of the temple and the site of the Confluence Point.

Matchstickmen and You

The foundations rant.

There are fourteen figures in this room. Five are made up of a squad of corrupted Kulian Janissaries armed with carapace armour and lasguns along with their officer. Seven are sweet whispers, witches from the Incandescdent Slaaneshi cult and former disciples of their mistress Luxa Tentare. Two are hulking figures. They are ghosts of Astartes, Thousand Sons Rubrics that have been imbued with the memories, knowledge, and skill by Oniboshi. The beings that think they are these things are Mora Motanaro and Otamo Soren, members of the elite six-string band of the dead Emperor's Flames chapter, bodyguards of the chapter master. Once Yoshihiro Takane and Togo Katoichi's friends (See The Last Flames of Yaketsuku). The last figure in the room is Uriah Davrus, the Matchstick Man, former performancer and now a pyromancer psyker and follower of the Masque. He has been leading the channeling of the Confluence Point and the pulse along with the sweet whispers.
Luckily, the heretics are not aware of the acolytes at first. The room they inhabit looks oddly like a human temple. If the acolytes have ever encountered the Ry'Thri's ruins before, they know this is some sort of glamour. To the side there is a path that leads behind where the ritual. In front of them are seemingly ruined pews, columns, and a set of three side rooms, two to the left and one to the right. The upper one on the left has a pathway that leads around the temple and to the stained glass before the alter. The acolytes can stop the ritual by taking Davrus out of commission or disrupting it enough by killing off 5 of the Sweet Whispers. They would have to contend with the rubrics after, however. They could try to assault all the heretics at once, and the psykers at the very least are distracted by the ritual, but the issue is facing down the six-string samurai. One has an astartes heavy bolter and the other has a best-quality power maul (in the shape of an ornate tetsubo). There is also the issue of the trained janissaries that of course have lesser equipment but are trained to suppress while the six strings can advance without fearing suppression due to their rubric nature.

SPECIAL EVENT: FULL BURN
In the case that the party TPKs, do not end the adventure there. Let them burn their fate points, and lie dying in either the ivory plateau or the temple. In their collapsing gaze, they might be able to see the shape of someone parachuting down on the plateau. This person sets down and then with psychically augmented speed seeks the acolytes. One of them may have a focus crystal upon them from the Pristine City adventure. Otherwise, he will find them with unnatural senses and his own psyniscience. Perhaps with their last gaze, they will see a man walk up in robes over carapace armour and an odd dark ornate mask. He will lift them up with telekinesis, and touch each of them in turn. He is using essentially an extreme and pushed version of the Endurance power. He will heal sinew and bone, cable and steel, brain and skull, and bring the acolytes back refreshed with their full wounds back. This will take a toll on him and he will collapse into the snow with a large nosebleed that drips from under his mask. If the acolytes look beneath the mask, they will find a man that looks to be in his early fifties with olive skin and short black hair. Searching further, they will find a rosette of the Ordo Xenos upon him. This is their inquisitor, Korudon Rondos, bleeding in the snow. Why he chose to heal them rather than use his vast power against the heretics themselves they will not know. He chose this due to his detached mind and for pragmatic reasons of not calling attention to himself by either the power psykers of the Tarot or the ethereal storm above. He will explain later how he operates.

Along with this, if the acolytes seem like they need extra help, then two choices can occur. Inquisitor Encenzo Fidele along with his retinue made up of Dies Irae, inspector SR Dec, and lady Lacrymosa will land upon the plateau with the scribe Canta Firma having flown them there. One or two of these characters will go on with the acolytes while the rest, including a sizable force flown in by Inquisitor Fidele, face reprisal from a mixture of stolen valkyries, aerofighters, and hellkite abominations. (See Inquisitor Fidele for their stats)

The other choice comes not from a thorian but a recongregationist. Inquisitor Laria Ziddayne will have gained knowledge of the plateau through Inquisitor Rondos receiving it from his lieutenant, Harkonn Straussheim, via the acolytes. She will land upon the plateau her copper-colored stormtroopers along with her special Order of the Fang knights. The acolytes will receive help from a squad of the Order (of well-disguised beastman abhumans) in attacking the temple while the rest fight off an attack that is similar to the one above.

Order of the Fang Stats:



One more choice is available. Depending on past events, they may earn the help of the Joy. She is a harlequin and the secret master of the Joy Troupe cloudboy gang. She has come to help not in the interest of mon'keigh, but to protect the secretive craftworld Miandrothe. Attempting to control the power of the pandaemonium can only spell doom for the craftworld.

Aftermath

After the ritual is thwarted, for the first time in centuries, the storm above dissipates and the volcano becomes active. The acolytes have to run out of the temple and find a way off of the plateau. Luckily for them, their inquisitor, Korudon Rondos, has been searching for them during this time and shows up in a valkyrie with stormtroopers and their followers in tow. Rondos is a man between five and six feet, and looks to be physically in his early fifties with black disheveled hair and dark olive skin. He wears a mask at most times, which seems to be a psychic dampener to help him keep stable with his extremely high power rating. He is possibly the most powerful psyker in the sector. He takes them to behold the steely fury of Inquisitor Laria Ziddayne.

Read Oz Swein: Agent of the Inquisition, if Roscoe Tyruss was chosen or gave himself up to be mindwiped at the end of Sublime. This is where agent Swein will enter, giving a hand to the acolytes to help them board the ship.

Rondos takes them to a mustering battlefield. Two lines of tanks stare down each other at a natural trench in the badlands. Alongside them are PDF troopers. Their kind number in the thousands. They are locked in silence. Sweat trickles down faces. Nerves are frayed. The heat beats down upon their brows. All awaiting a signal to fire the first shot. Then a broadcast rings out on all vox frequencies of the battleground along with those of the Consortium and selected nobility and merchants. The signal states, "Insipid children of Desoleum: I, Inquisitor Laria Ziddayne of the Ordo Hereticus, by the authority entrusted in me as a hand of the God-Emperor's will, command you to cease this vapid squabbling or face the Emperor's rage embodied by the Battlefleet Black." At that point, the shapes of ten voidships enter the view above the clouds of Desoleum. Their broadsides are pointed down to the planet. There is a hesitation by the pdf troopers. Then all retreat to their respective hive. Inquisitor Ziddayne follows up the message by requiring all Consortium members and selected members of the nobility and mercantile class to attend a special edict given at the grand palatial Consortium court of Desoleum. Rondos orders their valkyrie there to witness Inquisitor Ziddayne's judgment upon the planet.

Epilogue

The grand court is filled with thousands of nobility from across all strata of Desoleum. Numbering in its entirety are the members of the Consortium excluding lord Jastilus Kotrohman. Present with them are numerous high aristocrats, merchant princes, and even a select few of the lower gentry and the mercantile class. Thousands sitting, standing, and milling about. Lord Kotrohman enters with an entourage. The Old Guard of the Consortium meet his entrance with hard stares and hateful glances as the Kotrohman Coalition seclude themselves as far away as possible from the old powers. The court becomes silent with the opening of the gate behind the thrones of the Consortium. The lock-step beat of dozens upon dozens of boots fills the air. Around two hundred copper-colored stormtroopers fill the room and surround its periphery. They stand with each other as their weapons are readied all around the room. The court attendees become nervous. Next comes the sound of less graceful but heavy footsteps entering the room. Soldiers with ornate, bulky carapace armour stylized in the visages of ancient Terran animals such as the lion and the wolf march packs of five. These soldiers are of lesser numbers than the stormtroopers but have an intimidating effect upon the rulers of Desoleum. They find their places in select locations around the room near the stormtroopers. They bring their boltguns to bear while having sheathed chainweaponry adorn their backs and sides. They are at a standstill when one final set of boots rap upon the floor in graceful beats. A woman with dark brown hair styled in a ponytail wearing a black and dark green overcoat walks in. On her chest lies a rosette on a chain seated in front of a tanned dark green leather vest and white shirt. At one side is a bolt pistol holstered on her hip. On the other is a power sword swinging in a scabbard at her other hip. Most peculiar is what she holds: a baby swaddled with a large white cloth. The child seems to be asleep, making no noise as the woman sits down into the high throne of the court to the chagrin of planetary governess Auld Killian.

She gives a moment of pause before beginning her speech.

She states that for too long Desoleum has been burdened by the games and grudges of aristocrats. Centuries of plotting, scheming, assassinations, and the like have culminated in this insipid display of a brewing civil war. The contribution to the tithe is weakening. The hives, thanks to the nobles' reactions to the pulse and events further before, are weakened and beset by rioting citizenry, upstart renegades, and the whims of criminals. The system of sanctionaries in place does not even make crime-fighting a priority. How do these rulers even have authority when the most basic necessity is furloughed for the games of the Consortium. Productivity lowers. Resources lower. Manpower lower. The contribution to the tithe dangerously lowers to the point that a possible indictment is considered by the administratum. They wouldn't know about that of course. They've been busy sabre rattling against each other. This recent rash of idiocy isn't even fully the fault of their rivals. They have been using the actions of a conspiracy that explicitly have been proven in pict form to be using the weaknesses of Desoleum society (if the acolytes captured pict or audio footage back in Sonata of Secrets) and have used it to blame those rivals on the flimsiest of justifications.

No more.

As of today, the planet of Desoleum will be under the control of Inquisitor Laria Ziddayne. It will be considered a commandery under the control of Supreme Commander Ziddayne. The aristocrats, if they satisfy her requirements, will keep their positions and titles. The room grows still. She makes her first edicts in the silence. First, all aggression between the Desoleum Old Guard and the Kotrohman Coalition shall cease. This is met with murmurs and concession. Second, the enforcers upon the planet shall no longer answer to the Consortium nor individual masters of the nobility and gentry. They shall be under the control of a joint leadership overseen by Marshall Jugend Volkmar of the Adeptus Arbites in an overseeing capacity, Inquisitor Ziddayne and the delegates she chooses in a direct fashion, and finally one lady Aya Rosa of the Rosa Initiative. Lady Rosa, a Consortium member, looks shocked. This begins an uproar. It is preposterous that so much power would be given to an upstart and only recent member of the consortium.

Inquisitor Ziddayne continues on. The riotous citizens and criminals that have been incapacitated during the recent flare-ups of food riots and general chaos will be arrested and transported to work camps in the wastelands of Desoleum. Ziddayne has brought with her a temporary food relief in the form of voidships filled with food and a continuing trade path between Desoleum and another agri-world other than the one they usually deal with. This is not enough. The work camps shall become their own settlements that the offending and their families will live in. They will begin work on mining out great underground farms that will grow a fungal crop. This fungal crop will be provided by the Rat King, ruler of Kingsnest, the underhive settlement, and keeper of an STC. The Rat King, a ginger-headed well-dressed ratling, will be present in the court. In the archaeotech bunker his settlement has been surviving from is a great store of seeds and tools.

This causes a greater uproar. That is manpower lost for work in the manufactorums and reduces their ability to pay the tithe. The palace is filled with shouting. Ziddayne snaps her fingers. The copper-coloured storm troopers and the carapace-wearing soldiers fire three shots in the air. The silence resulting is deafening and the point is made clear. It is not enough. The baby in Inquisitor Ziddayne's arms starts crying. She looks down to it and mutters with all to hear from the vox caster she has been using. "Impudent, infantile, and un-cooperative. I have no use for characteristics like these." She hands the crying babe to one of the carapace-clothed troopers. They move towards an openable port. The window is opened. The babe is thrown out. The room is shocked.

Have the acolytes roll an Awareness (-20) test at this point. If they succeed, they will find that if they follow the arc of the swaddle, then once it dips barely out of view a blue-purple electric arc covers the swaddle. It has been teleported away.

Someone in the room asks Ziddayne if she has no shame. She responds by tilting back in the throne, and stating that she can make more if she wants to. She follows up by asking what that means for them as she gestures towards the audience.

The room is filled with silence again.

She continues, and states a great inquest shall begin upon the planet. The bishop and ruling cleric of the planet has been found guilty of consorting with xenos, using their power to empower illegal forces under their control including local frateris milita, and doing unspeakable acts while using their power to cover up their ill deeds. She snaps her finger again and a pict feed is projected upon the back wall of the court. The feed is filled with pict recordings and still images of the bishop carrying out deeds and speaking with Dark Eldar along with overseeing trades of Imperial citizens to the xenos in trafficking. Then a live feed is displayed. The bishop is tied to a stake. He is surrounded by six of the animal-visage bearing soldiers wielding flamers. He pleads for his life. He is burned in display to the audience.

Ziddayne then states that as the current group of priests and underlings of the now-burnt bishop are all suspect for colluding with the bishop, a new one will have to be chosen. She gestures toward one Ibram Atteiu, the exiled and wrongfully accused priest (that the acolytes would have found and been helped by in Polonaise of Pestilence). The once-popular priest steps forward in new vestments and accepts his new position with honor. He was involved with bringing the bishop down.

Ziddayne continues on with her authoritative edicts as the audience is captive. One involves the cooperation between the Rat King, the Selvanus Binarian ambassador Magos Kaecipher, and the Consortium in bringing the found STC to Selvanus Binary. Those that help will be rewarded. Along with that is an announced alliance between Inquisitor Ziddayne and the house Surena that has contribute much to the battlefleet Askellon. She continues.

The acolytes can be visited by a number of figures at this point. The biomancy and physically disguised leader of the Joy Troupe, the harlequin known as the Joy, herself will ask to speak with the acolytes. She is mainly interested in what they plan next and with the fate of one Rosco Tyruss, the Rook. She works to protect the secret craftworld in the sector. She also wants to make sure that someone who has killed a lot of craftworld and exodite Eldar is truly dead or the next best thing. She will be continuing her work on Desoleum. If they still have the wildcard given to them by the Argent Mask in Polonaise of Pestilence, she will explain that they can use this to gain temporary truces and possible negotiations with craftworld eldar and corsairs. This will be useful during the next campaign, God Dust Crusaders.

A second figure is the Masque himself, founder of the Tarot, disguised with the body of some palace attendant and aided with the lack of psykers in the palace unable to reveal his true form. He is extremely irate at them for messing up his plan to make Desoleum the first domino to fall in the sector which would make his goal much easier. He plays it cool. He attempts to get them into a room alone outside the court. He talks to them. He then grows multiple fleshy phalange and attempts to eat them and their souls. Have the acolytes roll individual Willpower or Toughness tests versus the Masque's willpower (which is 70). Every two DoF rounded up for the acolytes becomes a point of fatigue as the Masque is absorbing their essence and their bodies. Succeeding breaks his hold. If he is caught, and he could possibly be caught by the daemon of the Umbra Malefica now released, he will jump out a window and grow wings with his shapeshifting abilities. Whoever comes to the acolytes rescue including the acolytes themselves are most likely no match for the masque, but he can't deal with the fallouto f getting caught.

Finally, they will be asked by one of Ziddayne's acolytes, a sharp-dressed pyromancer named Enoch Perrin, to speak with her in an inner chamber. She will be found sitting down in an armchair with the babe in her arms again along with twelve of the order of the fang, the animal visage troopers, around her. She mainly wants to speak with them about their inquisitor's plans, and honestly just have a casual chat. She will explain why she's taking the approach she is taking if they ask. She informs them that she, Rondos, and Inquisitor Fidele are forming a sort of temporary cabal in their hunt for the Tarot. She will be lending knights of the order of the fang along with Enoch to assist and watch over Rondos's actions.

She lets them go after a while. Their inquisitor takes them up to his personal voidship, the Silk Spinner.

The Silk Spinner and a New Beginning

Inquisitor Korudon takes them to the bridge where the acolytes have gathered along with one Oz Swein, one Rolf Sternn, one Jeremiah Alsley, one ratboy, along with the company of Inquisitor Fidele's acolytes Inspector S.R. Dec and scribe Canta Firma. With them also is Enoch Perrin surrounded by Order of the Fang knights. Korudon tells them of their situation and what he has been doing for the past five years. He has used the Ry'Thri Victus and its psychically attuned nature to find pieces of the Theoclast, a weapon used by xenos in an attempt to destroy the pandaemonium. The pandaemonium is now known to be the congealed mass of the dead god Malal. The theoclast was unable to be used before the pandaemonium destroyed the Ry'Thri and turned survivors into the warp-thralled beings known as the white ones today. The Tarot wants the theoclast for various reasons. Rondos, the cabal, and the acolytes will stop them. The road is fraught with perils not only from the Tarot but of other powers in the sector. Whispers of a kabal of Dark Eldar seek the theoclast as well to continue their own power. Along with them, the sector wide Nurglite conspiracy known as the Billious Legion seek to destroy the Tarot and stop use of the theoclast for fear of what control of banality itself could do. Craftworld eldar may seek entrance into this conflict to stop all other powers from controlling something with the power to destroy a god. Then there are possibly inquisitors, iistavanians which want to use the power themselves. Rondos makes it clear he seeks to rid Askellon of the pandaemonium and nothing more. He dismisses them to their new quarters, lavish suites of bridge of the Silk Spinner. The ship leaves the space around Desoleum to its new crusade. The end.

Give the acolytes 2,000 XP for finishing a campaign

Give them +5 Influence

They now have access to assistants, secretaries, personal guards, and assets they do not have to burn influence on to use.

The hunt begins anew and ends in the final campaign of the Malice series:

God Dust Crusaders

(yeah it's kind of a JoJo reference but they are actually crusading over the dust of a god so, eh)

[NDH] The Beyatuans: A History and Society of a Gnoll Culture

This is lore I created for my friend's DnD world. I wanted to make lore that would give gnolls nuance and a more distinct flavor from other conventionally "barbaric" races like orcs. I made this because I have two gnoll characters that I made for his 5E game. A monk named Kae'Arh Ess'Wun and her brother Em'Cee Ess'Wun, who is a rapper bard named Katt Dogg. The lore came out of wanting to make how they make sense and fit better than always hungry gnoll types. I used this homebrew to make my character. https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/3803-gnoll.
A big change to that homebrew is that these gnolls reach adulthood at ten years old. I don't have a problem with the homebrew's decision, it's just that for my characters from this culture going through life-changing events when they're four years old felt off.

The Legacy of Be'ya'tu

Once, the badlands known as Kiwokunan were a savannah. This place was called Wanlamwa. Here there was a bounty of good land, strong predators, plentiful game, and endless water. The god of nature blessed the rains on this place and kept the balance of all beings there. It allowed the sapient kin of humanoids into the land if they were to treat the land with respect and take with moderation. Not all respected this balance. A large pack of hyenas, known as the Anyunwa, grew gluttonous and disrespected the balance of Wanlamwa. They took more than their share, claimed absolute dominion over other creatures, and, in a terrible slight to the god of nature, killed and tore apart the Royal Eland, a multi-color avatar of the god in the form of an antelope that represented the god's commitment to balance in that region. The eland would sacrifice itself for the nutrition of others during a set time. The Anyunwa fed upon it far before its time. 

The Curse of Gluttony

That is when the god's anger rose. Rather than destroy the pack, it thought of a more cruel and appropriate punishment. It cursed them with constant hunger. It raised them upon two feet to shamble unnaturally off-balance from how they were made. It gave them the curse of sapient cognizance that could recognize its hunger pangs and the inherent sin of its form but with no guide to reconcile their existence. These were the first gnolls. The Ayunwa's gluttony had brought ruination upon Wanlamwa and the balance represented by the Royal Eland. Its bounty was drained. It became a series of scarce badlands named Kiwokunan. In time, nature would reclaim parts of it but not to the splendor it had before.

The Anyunwa's hunger drove them to be predator and scavenger. Naturally driven out of their homelands, they sought sustenance. They would eat the carcasses of sapient and beast. Often watches by humans were set up after a funeral, for like the animal they were, the Anyunwa would feast upon the bones of the dead. They were often too weak and uncoordinated to fight hand-to-hand with other sapient kin. The curse upon them grew them to large sizes and heights of over seven feet to eight feet tall on average. Rather than being a boon of constitution and strength, it made them hungrier to support the amount of mass they had. In that time, their civilization was barely functional. It was despotic and cruel. Their kind was sure to die out due to their hunger and inability to support themselves, living in uncertainty and damnation.

Be'ya'tu

Then came a savior born within the Ayunwa. Not a messenger of the gods, but a female that after seeing the hardships of her people decided to use their "curse" of cognizance to aid the disparate packs into self-sufficiency. She traveled into the badlands and sat beneath a bent tree, one of the few reclamations nature had made upon the land. There, she meditated for fourteen nights. She was no supernaturally willed and blessed monk unable to live without food or water. She hunted for streams in the badlands and took only what she needed. She looked for prey and took and used only what was necessary. Along with her meditation, she found that through her will she could permanently dispel the gnawing hunger and find peace. This gnoll was known as Be'ya'tu, whose name the tribes of Kiwokunan would take on. She returned to her people and spoke of what she had discovered. To destroy the hunger and bring peace to the packs of gnolls, they must do these things. Eat, drink, hunt, and create with moderation. Reflect on the effort and the sacrifice of your fellow kin along with the sacrifice of prey and food and do not take sustenance lightly. Make peace with your neighboring tribes for peace without garners peace within. Turn your laughter from cruelty to express joy and pain. Finally, return to the place of birth of the gnolls and wander that place and survive with these teachings. She helped a great many. In her honor gnoll society adopted a style of lineage similar to their previous forms and made matriarchal societies and passed down matrilineal lineages. Her disciples, who translated the dry truth of her words into relatable poetry, music, and histories became the first griots, spoken-word troubadour storytellers and historians. The Beyatuans, now named, returned to the badlands to live in harmony with what they created and what nature had reclaimed rather than rake the lands. 

Modern Kiwokunan

Struggle still exists in Kiwokunan. Those with certain lineages or claims to land or even upstart warlords attempt to take more than what is needed. Tribes ally and bicker and outright war at times for resources, politics, and over the true meaning of Be'ya'tu's words for the more zealous at times. Due to the remnants of their curse, gnoll druids are extremely rare among the Beyatuans. That is one of the reasons they have not been successful and trying agriculture in Kiwokunan. There have been attempts at hosting druids of other lands and races but without a consistent guide for the ground and with fears of being taken advantage of these attempts have not been successful. 

Be'ya'tu's ascension and legacy

For her efforts, Be'ya'tu assumed a celestial form. She has an odd relationship with the gods of the realms being a representative of her race and a mediator between different gods rather than being tied to one. The Beyatuan gnolls revere her more than worship her, seeing their salvation as one needs to be gained by their living. Those that die in the cause of others or of old age are seen as those who have mastered themselves and will meet Beyatuan in her plentiful savannah. For now, gnolls struggle. Their long-dead cursed nature is still upon the lips of other sapients. They are distrusted. Compared to beasts. However, they fight on and live as much as any other sapient race.

Gnolls as a Species

Gnolls are hyena people. They descended from spotted hyenas of Kiwokunan, but other hyena species have been seen as gnolls. They have slightly arched backs, haunches for legs, clawed feet with paw pads, sharp but omnivorous teeth, and short to moderate length claws on their hands. Their heads resemble hyenas but have the expression and variety of styles of other humanoid races. Gnolls are born with open eyes and the ability to crawl by their first day, learning to walk in around a week. Gnolls reach maturity by ten years of age and they live lifespans that average around sixty years. Compared to humans, they have a development that is about 2/3rd's as long as humans and have accelerated physical and mental growth during childhood development in comparison. It plateaus around the same amount as humans when adjusted. They have average heights of 7.5 feet and are moderately broad-chested. Females are moderately larger than the males and taller by an average of a head's height.

The Modern Beyatuans


The Beyatuan gnolls are primarily nomadic people. They repeatedly build and takedown tent settlements as they wander in the same path as their prey. While not a rule, often the different packs of gnolls have a specific animal they prefer to hunt. The badlands are a rough place where survival often depends on the distance between watering hole to watering hole and herd to herd. Along with the natural dangers from the larger prey of the badlands, warring tribes, bandits, competing predators, and monsters walk similar paths to the Beyatuans. Gnolls value strength, not in-and-of-itself, but because it is required to survive the dangers of their home. That is not to say that wisdom, charisma, or intelligence is devalued; just that these are mainly the domain of the griots. The griot tribe is descended from the original disciples of Be'ya'tu. Not by lineage, but by a long and treasured oral and musical historical tradition. They keep the histories of not only Be'ya'tu and the origin of the Beyatuan gnolls but of all prominent gnolls and other beings that have been present in their history. The weak are often given to them to be healed or raised. The griot tribe and their settlements are also seen as neutral ground for the different tribes. They speak and negotiate upon the land of the griots. Bringing weapons are met with great punishment often enforced by the gnoll packs that use the land to commune. The value of the griots is treasured as part of Beyatuan religious, historical, and current traditions. A favored art of the griots is the call-and-response song. Mixed with dance, theatre, painted art, and a tradition of pottery, artistic tradition is kept well alive among the griots. The written word is often rare with the lack of a source of paper along with the use of clay and other tablets for other pursuits. A newer form of art was made that came from mixing Beyatuan traditions and newer foreign ones. This art is known as rhythmically applied poetry. This compromise between bardic singing of the lands outside of Kiwokunan and the spoken word of the griots was popularized by gnoll migrants in the larger cities of the world. In terms of dress and gear gnolls have a variety of different vestments. Often Gnolls will go barefoot but can wear boots, sandals, or functional leather padding. Unfortunately, human-style boots will have to accommodate their foot claws. They wear many different styles of dress from leathers, to bones, to cloth, to cotton clothing purchased from their neighbors, to robes, and many other different styles. They prefer any armor they can get, and some gnolls have paid handsome prices with gains from their pelts to obtain dwarven and human plate. Often in the badlands the common armour is hardened leather.

Time Keeping
Be'ya'tuans keep time by a lunar calendar, as the skies were always clear to check during the nights of the badlands. Each month is 28 days and each year is made of 15 months. 

Child Rearing, Weddings, and Mating

Gnoll rearing habits are communal. Cubs are raised together without strong relationships to their father although the males and females of the pack do essentially raise the young together. It is not unheard of the biological father of a cub to take interest in their growth, just that with the way the society works his absence will not be felt. The mothers of cubs, due to matrilineal inheritance, are much more involved with their young on an individual basis. Gnoll females choose their mates for either love, political, or pragmatic reasons. Often the mother of the wed husband provides the dowry for her son. Gnolls give birth in litters of two or three. Those occasions are joyous, especially with births not being common as the Beyatuans follow the words of moderation given by their spiritual guide. The badlands do contain herbs that prevent pregnancies and it is not shameful to take them. The balance of Kiwokunan must be maintained. Monogamous, polygamous, and free coupling habits do exist upon the badlands and they are allowed as long as they do not hurt pack unity. Pacts between different tribes also exist and often the male promised must join the female's pack if they are wed. There are times where a wedding is not necessary for mating to occur. In those cases that the female chooses not to wed, if a child is to come from the instance, the male must pay a pseudodowry and the female's tribe raises the cubs. Matriarchs often hold a harem of three. These are her bodyguards along with being her spouses and advisors. Consistency in bloodlines, other than checking who the mother is, is not required. The harem is chosen based on political or emotional reasons to be permanent spouses. They also do not have to be gnolls.

Hybrids

Hybrid gnolls do exist. The curse brought upon the gnolls apparently made them more human in ways other than what was obvious. Humans and gnolls can produce half-gnolls, which can look like a mix between the two or are born resembling more of the mother or the father. The mother's form, due to genetics, is often more followed but there have been cases of the father's form being taken along with a down the middle form. Along with humans, those that can produce hybrids with humans can be assumed to produce hybrids with gnolls. Societally, these unions are seen as normal as anyone else's as long as the lineage of the mother is followed. There have been hybrids among the packs of the badlands. Often, if a hybrid takes after the gnoll and presents physically as a gnoll the most, the gnoll can be told as a hybrid through its fur color which will have the non-gnoll's hair color transferred on them while keeping the mane. There are stories of a pack with golden gnolls in it said to be the result of an elven bard and a matriarch whose icy cold heart was melted by the poet.

Crime and Punishment

Transgressions such as theft, murder, and rape are dealt with in swift measure. Thieves shall find themselves thralled under those they steal from and sent to do the most dangerous work for a set amount of time. Unlawful killing will have the offender tried by the elder gnolls and their matriarch. The perpetrator will either be executed or forced to perform dangerous acts under thralldom. Rapists are immediately gelded before decisions are made about them, similarly to dealing with murderers. One form of punishment draws upon the curse from gluttony the gnolls. Hot coals will be fed to the perpetrator in a horrid analog to the gnoll's original sin. Another punishment is to be buried in the driest parts of the badlands and left for dead. Trials are communal things that receive input from the whole of the packs. Justice is swift. Those that bring down the claw and tooth too often will have their credibility and legitimacy questioned.

Funeral Rites

The Beyatuans teach moderation and consideration in all things. This includes the burying of their dead. Often wrapped in easily degradable materials, the dead of Beyatuans are laid into the ground of places with growing plants. In the badlands, the bodies are to become repayment for what the Ayunwa hyenas stole from Wanlamwa. To this point, they are laid in places where nature is slowly reclaiming the area to serve as fertilizer to help further its growth. Outside of the badlands, the bodies are preferred to be buried in places of greenery and growth to serve the same purpose to the burgeoning wild there. Some of those with families made of different species may prefer to use other funeral rites and while culturally and spiritually their ways are important to the Beyatuans they can seek compromise and still be considered devout.

The Spotted and the Striped

There exists a sort of ad-hoc grouping of gnolls based on region. Those that exist mainly in the badlands are known as spotted. Those that are migrants out of the badlands are known as striped. This is not a pejorative of any kind. Named after two species of the hyenas they are descended from, although many of the Beyatuan gnolls resemble the spotted and even those of the "striped" are spotted, this is used as a quick reference for the type of experience the different groups of the same kin have. Striped may take on the culture and norms of outside races as migrants. They may not value the badlands as much as the spotted. A few spotted could see the striped as disrespectful outsiders, but many spotted see the striped as living their own lives their own way and respecting that. Be'ya'tu may have said the gnolls should return to the badlands, but her spirit can be carried outside of the badlands as well. A sort of syncretism between Be'ya'tu's traditions and other religions can form. She serves a saint filling the slot for any religion that lacks something gnolls can grasp. The fathers of the striped also often take a larger place in their children's lives with seclusion from a communal setting not allowing the father figure to allow the tribe to raise his cub with intermittent interaction. This is especially true of those of hybrid couples such as those with humans who expect the father to be an active presence. The striped, often finding themselves in places with higher prosperity and quality of life, often have larger families than the spotted since they do not have to keep the balance of Kiwokunan. The striped made rhythmically applied poetry popular in the cities of the world outside of the badlands.

Notes

The words of places you see here are made from mix and matchings of Hausa language. I have used influences from West African culture, African American culture, and other mythologies in bits and pieces from elsewhere along with playing with the hungry gnoll thing from 5E. However, I need the reader to know that these gnolls are not supposed to be the people of color of this world. They are not transplanted to be a complete analog. There are facets of different cultures from that group but it's not a Warhammer Fantasy situation where the Mayans are all now lizard people. These are hyenas raised to be sapient. To deny any influence from those cultures is wrong, but take them as a creation with those parts of influence on them and not the cultures transplanted themselves as much as Rohan is not just literally Saxons-on-horses even if that is their aesthetic in Lord of the Rings. 

Character: Oz Swein: Agent of the Inquisition

Oz Swayne: Agent of the Inquisition

If by the end of the adventure Sublime or during events after Rosco Tyruss, The Rook, was taken to be mindwiped by his accord or by the decision of the acolytes then a new man will stand before them by the end of their next adventure. This is Oswald "Oz" Swein, a man that physically looks to be 31 years old with a short blonde haircut and a clean-shaven face. He is wearing carapace armour adorned with an aquila on the front and introduces himself to the acolytes enthusiastically and politely. He may hesitate depending on their reaction to him and not understand why he garnered it. That is because this is the new form of the Rook. He has been given rejuvenat treatments and has had his mind wiped. Along with his changed hair from raven black, he looks to have had facial surgery done upon him to differentiate him more. This may also have been done to prevent certain Eldar or their associates that would want revenge on Major Tyruss from being able to recognize him from his face. Agent Swayne's history is a good lie in that it runs parallel to the truth. He was a whiteshield. He did fight in three separate campaigns including Cilleathe. He, however, was a sleeper agent upon Desoleum Primus waiting for the day Inquisitor Rondos would return and help him conclude an investigation against a possible Nurgle cult in Desoleum. He remembers fighting in raids along with acolytes and stormtroopers. Along with this parallel, the events he faced on Cilleathe have been changed to be much less traumatic. The night he was thrown out of his valkyrie and had to be carried back to a triage center is replaced with a simpler night op against the Eldar. He does not remember his wife and children, only that during his time on Desoleum he tried at starting a relationship but was not successful. Along with the changes to his memory, the process done to him by a Magos of Selvanus Binary, Fabricator Kaecipher, has healed the brain damage sustained during his campaigns of service, the fateful night that was the birth of the Rook, and the knowledge of sedating his revived wife and leading her surely Nurgle-thralled body to her death. He has, however, also lost some of his ability due to the surgery and mind wipe but keeps much of it to be of use to the Inquisition. Oz Swayne is a new man. However, even the surest mindwipe has the possibility that the daemon in the bottle will be let loose.
 

Character Cast: The Surprise Boys

The Surprise Boys are based on exactly what you think they are

Despair Gravenspeech


Grakraku


Krorky the Ork


The Taskmaster


Renard Vichy


My players in our ongoing campaign actually fought these guys, although slightly less powerful than the versions you see posted here. Not for balance sake, but because I wanted an interesting fun fight that I could back and forth with the players since at least two of us are familiar with the Unexpectables and I kind of made them on the quick as a joke. The Taskmaster is relatively unchanged but as you can see from his talents he's clearly a reskin of an eldar profile with new toys and changes here and there. So was Krorky at first.

Might do corrupted Chaos versions of the Vox Machina cast next. Two halfling psykers, a beastman psyker, an eldar psyker, a desparado gunslinger, a feral worlder (or even Chaos Marine) barbarian type, and two highborn assassin types with one having an Ursir (6 legged bear) pet maybe.