[Dark Heresy] Unthrinn Chronicles: Illumination

[Xachariah]

This game will be run by Inquisitor/Sideus.

It is the 41st millenium. For more than a hundred centuries, the Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die.

Yet even in his deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the daemon-infested miasma of the warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor's will. Vast armies give battle in his name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst His soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: the Imperial Guard and countless planetary defense forces, the ever-vigilant Inquisition and the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat from aliens, heretics, mutants – and worse.

To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruellest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods.

=][=

Chaos claims the unwary or the incomplete.
A true man may flinch away it's embrace,
if he is stalwart, and girds his soul
with the armour of contempt.
   -Gideon Ravenor,
   the Spheres of Longing

The Inquisition moves amongst Mankind like an avenging shadow, striking down the alien, the heretic, and the mutant. For one reason or another, you have been handpicked by an Inquisitor to serve beneath him. Be it riches, be it fame, be it a chance to become a full fledged Inquisitor yourself, or the chance to have your name written in gold and stored beside the Immortal Emperor's sacred Golden Throne for as long as the Imperium weathers the brutal hand fate has dealt him.

=][= Summary of Dark Heresy and 40k

Welcome to Dark Heresy, the Warhammer 40k table-top RPG. You'll be playing an Acolyte, an agent of the Imperium's Inquisition – the Spanish Inquisition of old, thrust 39,000 years into the future, given access to fearsome and dangerous (not to mention little-understood technology) and real threats. The mutant, the witch, the xeno, and the heretic. Mankind is beset on all sides by the insidious alien, invading and corrupting, as well as from the forces of the Warp, an otherworldly and alternate dimension made up of currents of emotions and Chaos, where malicious gods and foul daemons seek to mettle in the real world, and break down the gap between the forces. The Imperium rots from within, by corruption and cults to dark forces that seem to dismantle, or simply those who rage against the status quo.

The Imperium is a bleak place of absolutes. Technology is seen as an arcane and magical force, only understood by the Adeptus Mechanicus of Mars – men made machine, who worship their technology and keep knowledge of it's inner workings a close kept secret. Humans only in name, a race a part but forever intertwined with Man. The Imperium trudges on by sheer tenacity of will – however, society has stagnated for ten thousand years. Ignorance is considered a quality that should be desired at all costs. Knowledge is power, sometimes too much power for one man to hold.

The unifying force of the Imperium is not wealth nor power – indeed, what interaction most planets have with the Imperium is when her ships arrive high in planetary orbit and request men and supplies, before departing once more, sometimes for centuries – but faith. If there is one thing that is the same throughout the thousand thousand worlds of the Imperium, it is the staunch belief in the God-Emperor of Mankind. The belief of Him is different on every world, but He is still there in some form.

As an acolyte, your job is to root out heresy in whatever of a myriad of forms it may appear as. The Inquisition moves independently and is feared universally – however, not everyone is completely afraid of stepping in your way.

=][= Setting and Background

You have been sent by your master to the planet Iocanthos, a planet with a population of nearly 5 billion and one habited continent, a near-feral world, just barely civilized at all. It's only export of note is the odd substance known as Ghostfire pollen, used in many of the combat drugs distributed across the sector. This strange flower only seems to grow on Iocanthos, around the remains of men on blood-soaked fields.

Your journey begins in a small room on a barely space-worthy bulk freighter by the name of the Brazen Sky, accompanied by people you've never met before, and must now entrust with your lives. You have most likely just left your world for the first time in your life, and will land on a world where you know nothing, and that means nothing to you. All you know is that you will land at Port Suffering, the only Administratum-controlled settlement on world, to meet a man by the name of Aristarchus the Seer.

Good luck. The Emperor Protects.

=][= Description of Game, Basics

This game is from the back of the Dark Heresy rulebook, which will be supplied below. DO NOT READ THE CAMPAIGN: READING THE CAMPAIGN IS ABOVE YOUR CLEARENCE LEVEL! TO DO SO IS HERETICAL!

The point of this game is to drum up some interest in my favorite setting, Warhammer 40k. It is bleak and unforgiving, but lovable all the same. Dark Heresy is a noir-detective sort of game, with brutal and unforgiving combat. Your acolyte needs to be able to search, as well as he can fight.

Illumination will be open to anyone who contacts me and is interested in the game. This is an introduction to DH and to Warhammer 40k as a whole. You do not need prior knowledge of the setting to play – you will pick it up as you go along, no doubt. Do not worry! Just come speak to me on AIM, MSN, tK, or via email. We will work something out. Anyone interested can post/contact with me with the class they're looking at, and what days and times they're available during, preferably in EST.

All characters begin at rank 2, with 500 EXP, and 50 additional throne gelt to spend. The Inquisitor's Handbook is a usable resource. Any special backgrounds must be requested and approved. All gear must come from your specific background. No Sororitas.

=][= Contact Information

tK:

Sideus
Sleeze
Inquisitor

AIM:

Zorrn the Great

MSN:

zorrn_the_great at MSN.com

email:

sideus at gmail.com

Dark Heresy Corebook:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QXZPC7VB

Inquisitor's Handbook:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XNN0AG12

[Moondog]

Ooh, can I play a female Space Marine? =)

[Xachariah]

So, uh, yeah. Sideus/Inquisitor generally hangs out in the OOC Lobby, if you don't feel like using IMs or email. He's looking for four to six players, and at least two people've already expressed interest, so let him know if you want to join.

[Xachariah]

Alright. Game recruiting is closed. Game time is 6 or 7 Friday to midnight.

[sinistar]

      The first session of the game began within the ramshackle ship the Brazen Sky; the characters Stubber Victus, Fray Midkiff, Omega Galatia, Krael Bones, and Hack Havelock introduced themselves and attempted to get more information about their destination out of the purser Sebek. Sebek, who had thus far been helpful to a fault, had nothing to tell the group about Iocanthos. The transfer between the ship and the planet's surface didn't go quite smoothly; all characters refused sedatives for the atmospheric reentry, and as a result, all or nearly all of them lost the contents of their previous meals all over themselves and the small transfer ship. Needless to say, the crewmen must not have been happy.
      Once on the ground in Port Suffering, the group was handed off to an Administratum clerk who was to lead them to their next contact, Aristrarchus the Seer. Along the way, the party was thrust into conflict with several irate natives. Though the team through no fault of their own fared rather poorly throughout the encounter, they were managing until the psyker Krael attempted to draw upon a psychic ability. The ability malfunctioned, and failed much more than it succeeded. The glitch resulted in an eldritch storm overhead, the force of which struck everyone (irate native, party members, the psyker himself, innocents) within over seventy meters. This knocked two of the group-members into critical condition and killed several of the attackers; the rest sensibly ran.
      They limped the rest of the way to their next contact, Aristrarchus. Through the kindness of their current host and their new comrade the cleric Yacobi Wolfe, they were healed to the point of not-dying. They were given and took the option of touring the local market for last-minute supplies; upon returning, they slept.
      The next day they set off for Stern Hope, the destination of the next step of their task. The journey took two days, and during the first and only night, the group had a harrowing run-in with an eyeless, (un)dead "person". On their way the second day, there was a image of a man off the side of the road that flickered out of sight after a bare moment. The party was sent to investigate, and while they found no image, and no man, they did find a rock with the symbol of Saint Drusus freshly burned into it. Finding nothing else of note, they returned to their truck and finished the rest of the trip without incident.
      Once at Stern Hope, the party met Brother Lamark, who set them up in the Crying Clota inn for the night. The session adjourned here.

[Moondog]

Psykers can unleash powerful warp based phenomena, but can they see why children love the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

[sinistar]

         The second session of the game picked up just where we’d left off—the group had been set up at the Crying Clota, but had not yet gone to their rooms. Members of the party tried and failed to glean information from what few people were still awake around the inn at this late hour, but to no avail. The group sampled the local drinks menu before retiring.
         The next morning, the group breakfasted and then Aristarchus led them through the town to the priory door. There they greeted Brother Lamark, who let them in to meet Abbot Skae. The man and his assistants apprised them of the situation in Stern Hope as they understood it (disappearances, deaths, strange lights in the hills, cattle dying, and strange noises) and requested their aid in figuring out what was responsible for the phenomena. The abbot insisted heavily that the entire populous of the planet was thrilled with the construction of the cathedral, and no scrutiny by various members of the group revealed anything of off note. The visit with the abbot concluded, though Brother Lamark remained with the group.
         After the visit, Aristarchus left the group for a time—the man’s haggard appearance perhaps bellied the disturbance in space that he and the psyker Krael had mentioned, and he required rest. Between themselves, the party decided to split off into groups and question different members of the populace. The only people who discovered anything of any note were the arbitrator Victus, who persuaded the bartender through word and coin to tell him about the Ashleen wise woman Esha Raine, and the cleric Yacobi, who spoke with Brother Lamark; Lamark said emphatically stated that the planet’s faith was wholeheartedly set with the Emperor, which clashed with some of the bartender’s words.
         The split-off groups met up after an hour to go on their foray into the hills. The walk was a struggle for most, but their troubles were eased by Lamark’s happy nature. Hours of simple walking passed. Then, suddenly, a random encounter. A beast that solely attacked the psyker. Luckily, he didn’t draw on his ferocious psyker abilities, and the rest of his group remained unelectrified. Upon defeating it, the party found that, like the encounter with the ‘person’ several nights ago before reaching Stern Hope, the animal appeared to have long been dead, and was missing its eyes. The party decided to return to the city after this, and nightfall was well under way by the time they made it back. They quickly retired to their rooms to fall into a fitful sleep.
          The next day was the day for the consecration of the cathedral; the group assembled for breakfast in time to hear a commotion that signified the arrival in town of the warlord Kos’ke and his entourage, including Esha Raine. The acolytes returned inside to be spoken to by Aristarchus, who instructed them that it was necessary for them to appear at the pre-consecration ceremony, though he himself could not join them. We adjourned here, an hour before said dedication.

[sinistar]

      tl;dr?

[sinistar]

We picked up with the third session of the game with the ceremony about to begin; the townspeople, church members, and Acolytes were assembling. Suddenly, the warlord Kos’ke and our own Acolytes broke for the cathedral door—Stern Hope was under attack! Thirty or so dirty warriors had set siege to the city, some targeting specifically the living tents, the Cathedral, or the generatoria. They were armed with their own weapons, torches, firebombs, and in one notable case racing for the cathedral, a live bomb strapped to his chest.
   In an impressive attack by the pskyer Krael, he threw his axe at the suicide bomber; it cleaved through the man’s shoulder and set off the bomb. The man to the bomber’s right “exploded like a balloon filled with blood”, the shotgun shells in a belt another man nearby was wearing went off due to the concussion, ripping him to shreds, and  “two others are tossed away by the shockwave, screaming at their entrails as the lower half of the body no longer exists”.
   The group finished off that pod of attackers and came into contact with another group of fanatics. After defeating them, they were privy to the scene of Aristarchus killing the last remaining Voicer warrior poinht-blank; the man then insulted Esha Raine and the warlord Kos’ke, who rode out in a huff. Victus, Hack, and Fray went to visit Brother Lamark at the priory. They found out from the man that several members of the church had been up to something late the previous night, but bid the brother goodbye without finding out any more useful information. Questioning the local natives and the guards helping to rebuild the town proved fruitless. We left off at the Crying Clota to get some rest.

[sinistar]

   In the last session of this arc of the game, we tune into alarms sounding! Townspeople and our own Acolytes race to the cathedral, to see Aristarchus attending a bloodied Abbot Skae. The attack is myserious, as the only clue is the ‘woman-shaped’ silhouette of the instigator. Furious, Aristarchus gives the group the order to go to Esha Raine’s encampment and apprehend or kill the holy woman. The party walked for three hours in a dust storm (uphill both ways) until they found a side gorge; the storm trailed off once they entered cleft. Esha Raine stepped out of her yurt to meet them, with the warlord Kos’ke and his men in tow. The wise woman gestured for them to join her in her hut, but before they could do so, LOUD NOISES. GHOSTLY LIGHTS. LAUGHING NOISES—BIIIIIRDS! Cue Alfred Hitchcock, as the Acolytes and the warriors both are assaulted by groups of Shale Crows!     
      The group struggled, but managed to finish off the avian menace attacking them without putting Omega into the negatives—a rare accomplishment. The warriors were worse hit, but Esha Raine and Kos’ke were still standing, as well as one other warrior. They invited the party into their hut, broke bread with them, then told the group that in no uncertain terms were they going to go with the Acolytes back to Stern Hope, kthnxbai. However, Esha Raine was willing to help them to the extent of enlightening them about native legends:  “A dark spirit has returned. The Ashleen name it the Dancer at the Threshold. Others call it the Crow Father...we have seen why. It has many names and some say some of them is perilous. It is ancient and wicked and delights in the slaughter and leading men to their deaths with lies of their heart's desires. The only thing that the Crow Father feared was the damage he most loved to inflict.”
      The group inadvertently offended Kos’ke and left hurriedly, hiking back to Stern Hope Ashleen-less. The trip took much less time; when they crested the final hill, they looked down on a city that was… wrong. The gates are unlit and unmanned, and most of the town is dark. Bodies of people lie in the streets and in the houses, dead, suicide (and in the cases of children and the elderly, assisted suicide) the cause.
      Fray and Omega went to check out the inn; they found the place in shreds, their rooms ransacked, dead bodies everywhere. Fray finds a dataslate in Aristarchus’s abandoned room; reading it, she finds some babble about how the man has seen the light, and he is so fortunate to have a hand in the second coming of Drusus.
      Hack, Krael, and Stubber went to check on brother Lamark at the priory. They found dead bodies splayed around, including those of Brother Severus and some junior clerics; the men came across him in time to be privy to his last words, talk about how ‘he’ had them in the cathedral, waiting to be freed to feed. He begged the Acolytes to save his flock, then died.
      The groups rejoined and headed for the cathedral. A terrible sight greeted their eyes—they saw Aristarchus standing atop the altar at the cathedral's center, the cards of his Emperor's Tarot orbiting in the air about him, each one burning ghost white. The pews were filled with the people of Stern Hope, standing as if to attention, eyes wide in terror, tears streaming down their cheeks to their mouths, whispering words not their own. The domed space of the high ceiling boils with the tangible seething darkness – the Warp bled through. Yacobi the cleric fled the cathedral despite himself at the sight, Hack and Stubber froze in horror, and Fray collapsed in abject terror and was unable to act for the rest of the encounter.
      Abbot Skae—or, a Skae-Thing, appeared from the shadows, and its Warp-driven draw enticed Stubber and Hack to shamble closer. It attacked Stubber, breaking and tearing off his leg—mercifully, the man passed out. Bullets bounced off of the creature, swords stopped against its flesh, and only a blow to the eye did any notable damage. Another attack to the eye from the assassin, and: the daemon wheeled back, screaming in an incomprehensible language—the very essence of the Warp flowed from the empty sockets like blood. He collapsed into the altar, breaking apart the spinning cards that surround Aristarchus. The circle broke audibly—a column of black fire erupted from the altar and burned straight upward, blowing out the domed ceiling in a deafening explosion of glass and stone, lighting up the Iocanthos sky with flames that did not illuminate.
      Fray woke from her terror-inspired insanity and Stubber came back to consciousness, though his legless state wouldn’t be resolved so easily. We ended the arc here, with the group in tatters from their big boss fight.