PU, Chapter 1 - Arrival

8/10/2019 PU, Chapter 1 - Arrival

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Campaign Data File:Provincial Unrest

Chapter One: Arrival

An Adventure by: Macklen Scribner



Chapter Overview:

The Acolytes have been recently recruited into the service of Inquisitor

Leonard Mkenzie, although they have yet to ever personally meet him. All of their

recruitments were conducted through high ranking members of his staff or viaholographic astropath communication, and as such the acolytes have never met

each other until now either.

The Imperial world of Malbede in the Askellon Sector is greatly troubled.

Tau dignitaries have long been in communication with local merchants and

political leaders, and nascent desires of open trade have been growing among the

population. The planetary governor fears that even now Tau agents may be

working to ferment revolution or sabotage his forces in order to allow the Taumilitary to plant a foothold on the planet. The acolytes are in route to Malbede

aboard the Piercing Light , an old space freighter that ferries troops and

dignitaries between the various systems of the Askellon Sector.

Unbeknownst to them, a small section of the crew are Tau sympathizers

who have sabotaged the vessel’s Warp Drives in order to strand it in the middle

of the void, where Tau pirate ships will be able to board it and capture the

dignitaries aboard in order to draw information from them. The acolytes will be

responsible for investigating the cause of the malfunction, uncovering the Xenos

cult, and repairing the systems in order to prevent the capture of the Piercing

Light and the passengers aboard (not to mention themselves!).

After finally completing their voyage and arriving at Malbede, the acolytes

will have to dig deeper into the Xenos threat in that area, which is obviously a lot

worse than previously anticipated.



Part One: An Invitation to Dinner

Warp Transition Test:

All players must make an Ordinary +10) Toughness or Willpower test (their

choice) or lose their stomachs due to the strain of entering the Immaterium. This

has no other effect than to set the mood for the 40k universe.

GM’s Narration

After boarding the Piercing Light you all settled into your quarters inthe officer’s section of the ship. Despite being proclaimed as the best rooms

available, the rooms are rather shabby. Lights flicker as if they haven’t been

changed in a long time, while the beds and furnishings have fading patches.

Indeed, the vessel itself appears poorly named, it barely seems capable of

emitting a faint glimmer of illumination, let alone a brilliant piercing ray.

Nevertheless, Inquisitor Mkenzie was quite clear that this is the vessel you

were to board.Soon enough the vessel departs for Melbede. A vague feeling of gentle

movement accompanies the slow transit through real space to the outer

reaches Juno’s solar system. Suddenly clarion alarms begin ringing. Metal

guards shut over the viewports, power levels seem to lessen as the lights dim

even further, and the Piercing Light begins to shudder ever so slightly. With a

dimension rending lurch the ship plunges into the Warp, transitioning from

real space into the realm of foul beings and nightmares.



The Dignitaries:

These men are Imperial Dignitaries en route to Melbede in order to assist the

governor in dealing with the Tau ambassadors and encroachment. They only

GM’s Narration:

Immediately after entering the Warp you receive notice from a ship’s

rating that captain, Marvin Entioch, has invited you to dine with him in his

personal quarters. The rating grudgingly gives a slight bow and leaves.

GM’s Narration

Traveling up through the ship’s interior you reach the captain’s quarters

on the floor above your rooms, where you are ushered into a large room, well

lit and extravagantly decorated. Obviously the funds that should have gone

into maintaining the rest of the rooms onboard have been directed to more…

luxurious purposes. In the center of the room is a large rectangular table, with

enough places to sit at least 20 individuals. Currently only 4 of those places are

filled. Several staff members and servants wait on the edges of room, taking

care to be noticed as little as possible.

At one end of the table sits a man dressed in a rather impressive looking

uniform of dark grey material, crossed with a red sash and sporting several

medals. From his seat of honor you gather that this must be Captain Entioch.

His dark, long hair is complimented by a clean-shaven face and alert,intelligent looking eyes. His appears to be middle aged, though in hearty shape

and a youthful vitality

Seated around him to either side are three men, dressed in long flowing

robes marked with Imperial insignia of some sort. They are all middle aged,

with creased faces and countless worry lines. Apart from this they could be

described as rather non-descript, and certainly look out of place next to the

vaguely martial person of Captain Entioch.



Social Encounter:

At this point you are free to take any number of actions, including:

Talking amongst yourselves to become acquainted

Talking to the captain or his guests

Simply consuming vast amounts of food and drink

For each glass of amasec an acolyte consumes he must take an Easy (+10)

Toughness Test or receive a -5 Perception and Intelligence Penalty for the next

hour.

The roleplaying of the Acolytes will have a significant effect on the impression

they give Captain Entioch, which will matter in the next part as he tasks them

with investigating the soon to happen occurrences of the ship. They Acolytes may

make a Challenging +0) Fellowship

test to impress the captain, although this maybe modified if they roleplay either favorably or unfavorably first.

Up to 50 XP may be awarded for good roleplaying, although it must actually be

GOOD.

GM’s Narration

Waving you into nearby seats, Captain Entioch greets you warmly.

[Entioch] “ My friends, welcome. I knew that honored guests such as thepersonal envoys of Lord Mkenzie must not be left to eat the fare given to

common crew members, but that they must dine with myself and enjoy the

bounty of my table. Please, eat, drink, and enjoy yourselves. Perhaps I may

regale you with a tale, or you might do the same for me after you are finished.”

With that the food is brought forward and served, the staff moving

quickly about their duties.



Part Two: An Unexpected Stop

Say: What would you like to do?

The players would do well to guess that they have exited out of the Warp,

as this would impress Captain Entioch as well as the dignitaries. They may also be

wary, and prepare themselves for danger, or merely continue on eating as if

nothing has happened. Either way, give them a small amount of time to carry out

whatever actions they like, except they will be asked not to leave the room.

GM’s Narration

After having carried on socializing for some time, the food and drinksare nearly gone. Suddenly, the ships shakes and groans as if it is tearing itself

apart, then jolts forward as if sprung loose from a tight squeeze. Plates, cups,

and food go flying off the table. Those standing in the room are thrown to the

ground, while those still seated cling to their chairs and the table.

GM’s Narration

Finally, a harried looking crew member rushes into the room,

approaches Captain Entioch, whispering in his ear. After done listening, he

turns to you and says:

[Entioch] (If acolytes guess Warp exit): “It’s just as you suspected, our

Warp Drives have malfunctioned and we made an emergency stop. The

navigator has fainted from the strain of this sudden transition, although he

appears to be fine.”

-or- “It appears that our Warp Drives have malfunctioned, which is most

troubling. We are fine for the moment now, having made an emergency exit

from the Warp. Our navigator has fainted from the stress of the transition.”



Exploration Encounter:

Say: What would you like to do?

At this point the Acolytes are free to explore the ship as they like, although the

quickest and most expedient course is to go straight to the engine room.

GM’s Narration

[Entioch] “I have some immediate matters that must be attended to if weare going to have a delay in our travel time, but please do me a favor and go

look at the engine room, see if you can ascertain what has happened. Here,

take this map of my ship’s layout onto your dataslates, I am sure that it must be

difficult to navigate a star-faring vessel without guidance.”

With that, Entioch leaves the room in a hurry, the dignitaries moving out

after him.



Engine Room:

NPCs:

Enginseer Bryant, a man almost entirely covered in cybernetic

enhancements and wearing a cog-patterned facial mask, his red eyepieces glow from beneath flowing Mechanicus robes. Byrant believes that Howard

is somehow to blame for the dilemma.

Rating Howard, a common member of the crew, he is entirely clean shaven

with a single braid running down his left side, and wearing a filthy crew

uniform. He denies having anything to do with the problem.

Clues:

A Forbidden Lore (Tau) test at Challenging (+0) level will reveal that the

braid worn by Howard is similar to those the Tau leaders sport.

GM’s Narration

Upon entering the engine room you are immediately struck by crampedand warm it is. Data terminals line the walls to your left, displaying various

readouts of the ship’s internal systems and functions. The ceiling in covered in

tubing and conduits leading every which way, and it would take forever to be

able to map out where they all go just by observation. The wall on the right has

several workbenches covered in tools and supplies along it, as well as various

schematics.

At the end of the room is where you find the engine systems, vastmonstrosities of metal, plasma, and other energies. You can see that two men

are angrily gesturing at one another and the engines. They pay no heed to

your arrival, being too involved in their own argument.



An Ordinary (+10) Perception Test will reveal that Howard’s left sleeve is

melted away as if by acid or some other corrosive material.

o 3 DoS on this test will reveal that Howard has a stub revolver

carefully tucked into his uniform, as if to minimize the chance of itbeing noticed.

A Hard (-20) Tech Use Test will reveal that the warp drive on the left has

strange marks next to one of maintenance access points, as if the point had

been shut while energy or liquids were coming out, and that force moved

down the side.

o The acolytes could ask Bryant to examine the machine himself, in

which case he will automatically succeed at noticing this himself,

being intimately familiar with the workings of the drive.

Moving Forward:

If the acolytes notice that Bryant is suspicious and begin to interrogate him,

Part Three will trigger as his fellow Xenoists come to assist and prevent

their plot from being stopped.

Otherwise the players may need to look elsewhere to pick up on the fact

that the ship was deliberately sabotaged.



Crew Quarters:

NPCs:

The four crewmen who were discussing in a corner all have styles similar

to that of Howard from the engine room, some with single braids and clean

faces, while others have clean shaven heads and faces. The rest of the crewmen are in good physical shape, with buzzed haircuts.

Various tattoos on their shoulders or arms are a common sight, as are scars

or burn marks earned during the course of their duties onboard the

Piercing Light.

Clues:

All crew members are initially distrusting of the acolytes, not recognizing

them as superiors from the ship, or as known guests, and so all Fellowshiptests suffer a -10 penalty until a successful Charm test is made to ease the

tension and suspicion.

GM’s Narration

The crew’s quarter is a simple long hallway, lined with enough bunksand bedrolls for the around 50 ratings that sustain the functions of the ship.

Various decorations, mementos, and trinkets adorn each spot, many of them

containing images of family or lovers from wherever the crewman comes

from. At the far end of the room is a large open space filled with workout

equipment, improved goals for football, and other training areas, an obvious

recreation center to keep the crew from going stir crazy. Several members of

the crew are currently sleeping in their bunks, four of them are talking in a group over in the rec-room, and the rest, a majority, of spots are empty. The

talking crewmen look up and move to approach you as you enter.



A Challenging (+0) Scrutiny Test will reveal strange tattoos on all four of

the shaved crew, on their left shoulder just below the usual line of their

uniforms.

o

3 DoS will reveal that they carry some knives and stub revolverssequestered about their persons.

o Forbidden Lore (Tau) at Challenging (+0) Level will reveal this as the

symbol of the Tau Water Caste, their political branch.

Moving Forward:

If the acolytes notice the suspicious or Tau affiliated trappings of the 4

crewmen and desire to ask them about it, the crewmen will invite them to

the Cargo hold to demonstrate that they belong to a club hangout, instead

of some sort of secret group. This is a trap where they will ambush the

Acolytes in an attempt to kill them off in a safe location.

o If they notice the Tau-ist trappings but desire to move off without

arousing suspicion they may do so, but it will require a Hard (-10)

Deceive Test to come up with an acceptable excuse for their exit.

If the Acolytes attempt to search the belongings of the crew members, they

will be met with outright refusal unless they invoke the name of the

Inquisition, which will result in the 4 crew men leaving as the rest of the

crew relents in stunned silence.

If the Acolytes attempt to restrain the 4 crew, they will enter into a fight

which will wake the remaining crew, who join in on the side of the 4 crew,

unless the Acolytes can convince them with a Hard (-10) Command Test or

use their Inquisitional Authority.

If the Acolytes fail to gain any clues they will have to investigate elsewhere.



Cargo Hold:

Clues:

A Challenging (+0) Awareness Test will reveal that some of the paneling in

the room to the right looks as if it has been removed from the wall recently.

Investigating further will reveal a book describing the Tau doctrine of theGreater Good, a strange looking knife, as well as several compact pistols of

unknown design.

o A Very Hard (-20) Forbidden Lore (Tau) Test will reveal that the

knife is a bonding knife used to group Tau citizens together in trust

and unity. The pistols are pulse-pistols with a single clip, weapons of

last resort for Water Caste operatives.

GM’s Narration

The Cargo Hold is a large area filled with countless containers, boxes,and various other storage devices of varying make. To the left of the entrance is

an large office, filled with data terminals and record keeping supplies, while to

the right of the entrance is a second, smaller hold where more fragile pieces of

cargo can be kept.

(If players came alone, end narration).

-or-

(If players are lead here by Tau-ist crew members) The crew members gesture you towards the right, stating that their stash of amasec and lho-sticks

are kept there to keep them safe from damage.



Captain’s Quarters

Notes:

Captain Entioch will react to the information the acolytes bring him in several

ways: If the Acolytes bring proof of Tau-ist leaning, he will send his security team

with the acolytes to arrest the 4 crew members. The crew members will

initiate a fight, being willing to die for the greater good and not wanting to

be captured.

If the Acolytes merely accuse the crew members, he will ask for proof

before restraining them, and all further relations with him will suffer a -5

penalty unless the Acolytes manage to apologize. If the Acolytes ask about his ship he will insist that despite appearances, the

ship is incredibly well maintained and the Warp Drive could not have

malfunctioned on its own.

He will under no circumstance leave his quarters. If the acolytes attempt to

enter he will move to stop them, and will only allow them in under

Inquisitional authority. In his room are the 3 dignitaries, each with

weapons nearby and wearing body armor.

GM’s Narration

Upon approaching Captain Entioch’s quarters you are stopped by 2security guards dressed in full combat gear who inform you that Captain

Entioch has sequestered himself in his quarters for the time being and that

unless you have specific information for him, he will not see you.



Part Three: Further Complications

GM’s Narration

Something to this effect depending on course of

investigation):

Having successfully ascertained that there are Tau-ist sympathizers

among the crew, it becomes readily apparent that the Warp Drive must have

been deliberately sabotaged. To make matters worse, Enginseer Bryant arrives

with dire news:

[Bryant] “Sirs, it appears as if our ship has been broadcasting an

unknown signal, and I fear that it may be our location. The Tau have been to

pirate vessels stranded in real space, warp jumping in to capture the shipbefore leaving just as quickly to avoid the Imperial Navy. I have disabled the

signal, but as I did so one of the conspirators struck me over the head and I

blacked out. They left me… cough cough… for dead, but I have recovered, no

weak flesh have I. Still, my cogitation is severely impaired, I shall require

assistance to repair the damage to our warp drives.”

You leave quickly with Bryant in order to return to the engine room,

where upon you see that he has already opened up the Warp Drive to accessits interior pieces. All available data terminals now display crucial information

about the Warp Drive.

[Bryant] “Alright, help me to repair the circuitry inside the Warp Drive.

Do it now, or we may get caught out here, vulnerable as we are!”



Notes:

Depending on how the Acolytes have done so far, you can use several of the

following options.

1.

The Acolytes must defend Byrant against Tau-ist crew members who attackthe engine room.

o If the Acolytes are defending Byrant, he will require 5 rounds to

complete repairs, at which point the ship will enter back into the Warp.

After another 3 rounds Captain Entioch will appear, with security

guards who subdue the Tau-ists.

2. The Acolytes must simply assist Byrant in repairing the ship just as a Tau

vessel appears to begin the attack.

o If the Acolytes are assisting Byrant, they will need to pass a Very Hard (-

20) Tech Use Test in order to repair the Warp Drive. Every time they fail

the Piercing Light takes fire from the Tau ship.

An Ordinary (+10) Tech Use Test on the data terminals will reveal crucial

information about how to repair the Warp Drive, giving +10 to all attempts to do

so.

3 DoS will yield a +20 bonus instead.



Part Four: Destination Reached

Notes:

Captain Entioch will also reveal further information depending on how well the

Acolytes did and how much trust they earned from him and his crew.

His vessel is actually an old military scout ship, with the guns removed in

favor of more speed. It is used to transport important emissaries and

officials around the sector in relative safety, as the non-descript ship isunlike to attract attention.

Several Rogue Traders operating out of Malbede are aware of the Piercing

Light’s true purpose. He suspects that some of them may also have dealings

with the Tau, which are always lucrative. He himself doesn’t want to the

run the risk of Inquisitional wrath at dealing with Xenos, but suspects his

peers may have traded information about his job as escort in exchange for

alien archeotech. The dignitaries are willing to connect you directly to the governor of

Melbede in order to aid in whatever mission you happen to be on, in

repayment for helping stop their abduction.

GM’s Narration Something to this effect depending on course of

investigation):

With the Piercing Light safely back on her way to Malbede and the

traitor crew members subdued or killed everyone breathes a sigh of relief.

Particularly the dignitaries who reveal to you that the Tau were likely trying to

capture them in order to gain access to classified information regarding local

Imperial Guard force dispositions. Captain Entioch summons you once more to

his quarters, where he expresses his thanks for helping in the restoration of the

Warp Drive and the subduing of the traitors.



Rewards

1. 200 EXP per Acolyte

a. +50 Additional EXP if the Acolytes Roleplayed well

b.

Forbidden Lore (Tau) may be taken at half cost if purchasedimmediately.

2. +2 Influence

3. Optional Rewards:

a. Contact: Captain Entioch of the Piercing Light

b. If the pulse-pistols and bonding knife were recovered, Captain

Entioch may allow the Acolytes to keep them in order to study them.

PU, Chapter 1 - Arrival

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