01-07 Shrine of The Errant

Shrine of the Errant is on the eastern edge of Misty Tops, high on a hill overlooking plains of the Ride. It is said that in days of yore a champion on Tempus known only as The Errant, fighting alone,  defeated an army of marauding horse lords here and saved the Dalelands from their outrages. He took 7 mortal wounds but Lord Tempus, pleased by his tenacity in battle, saw fit to give him strength to carry out until last of the foes lay dead. Ten great barrows crown the hill, nine for the slain horsemen  and one in the middle for The Errant. The shrine itself is a plain marble dais on the Errant’s barrow. The hill is fortified with crumbling stone walls and would make for a fine defensive position. Once there was an order of clerics standing guard at the shrine but their number shrank as Zhentil Keep rose in power. Now there are but 3 left - father Elekos (HM, Clr 8) and brothers Pereon and Basilio (HM, Clr 3) his acolytes.

Of the acolytes Pereon was his favorite but the “boy” has gone missing. Elekos tells that he went on an errant quest to the hills some months ago, searching for a ghostly wolf that is said to haunt the northern parts of Misty Tops. He has not come back and Elekos’ worries are mounting. He is willing to pay good price (1000 gp in money, services or goods) for knowledge of Pereons fate, and if the worst might come to pass, his remains to be brought to the shire for burial.

Brother Basilio is younger of the acolytes and far too lax in his devotions to father Elekos’ tastes. The boy claims to come from Phlan but when questioned displays only passing knowledge in the city. His knowledge of the faith of Tempus is shallow as well. Since Basilio is Elekos’ last remaining acolyte he is unwilling to banish the boy on hunch alone and needs for someone to find solid evidence of the boy’s misdeeds. A perfect way would be to follow Basilio on his monthly supply run to the nearby waystation “Fox and Hare” and see what he does there and who he meets. For this father Elekos is willing to give 10% discount for his goods and services. Should the adventurers find Basilio guilty of any wrongdoing Elekos wishes them to mete out any punishment they see fit.

Basilio is in truth a devout of Bane sent from Zhentil Keep to keep tabs on the shrine. The church of The Black Lord aims eventually to send an assassin to rid them of the priest and bring an end to the Shrine of the Errant. At Fox and Hare he meets with his contact.

Father Elekos carries compliment of priestly potions and scrolls up to 300 gp in worth. He also provides priestly  spells (up to 3rd lvl) and counsel.

Monster: Gamma Bear

Gamma bears are offspring of the pre-war bear population. Due to wide range of  bone twisting mutations they are smaller and slower than their ancestors. In exchange they have become impervious to most toxins and actually emit strong radiation.

TRAITS

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4 (A), Spirit d8, Strength d12+4, Vigor d12

Derived: Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 9

Skills: Fighting d8, Guts d10, Notice d8, Swim d6, Climb d6

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Radiation: Anyone within a Medium Burst template of the bear or bear corpse must make a Vigor check every 10 rounds or suffer effects of high Radiation  (SWEX pg. 106).

Toxic Attack: Gamma bears spend most of their time rooting around toxic environs, eating whatever they can find.  Wounds caused by their attacks need double time to heal naturally and carry -2 to any Heal attempts.

Immunity: Poison

Attacks: Claws: Str+d6.

Size +1: These creatures can stand up to 6’ tall and weigh over 320  pounds.

01-06 Hill City, MN

In the ruins of Hill City, MN a family of farmers toils on their fields, raising a meager crop of tubers and corn. Their walled compound, built on Quadna Mountain overlooking US 169, contains one notable feature - a windmill used to pump water and ground flour is built out of the rotor of an Arizona National Guard Cobra attack chopper that once stood on display in the local veteran’s park.  Other parts of the chopper like the canopy and weapons pods have also found use as building material. With suitable technical know-how the parts could be used to aid building a workable helicopter.The Hill family is naturally reluctant to part with their windmill and will either require a new, better windmill (5 build, 2 weeks) or 8 Food.Lately a pack of Burst Wolves (1 per PC) has been haunting the area, causing harm to the farmers and scaring away game. Dealing with the pack will see the farmers more willing to co-operate with the PC:s, their price demand in food halved.

Scrap value: 1 (max 1)
NPCs: 8 Farmers (Broken Earth pg. 161), 6 children.
Threats: Burst Wolves (Broken Earth pg. 151)

Vigil System & Vigil Flotsam

Vigil is an insignificant three planet system orbiting a giant blue star on the rimward border of Drusus Marches. Once it’s main planet, Vigil III was the centre of an advanced civilization of unknown void faring species. Now it is listed as a dead world on the Imperial Astral Charts. Its original rulers were wiped out by vile xenos slaught many millennia ago, them in turn driven off planet by adeptus astartes. Today there is an imperial ban on the system, upheld tenuously by Battlefleet Calixis. Their hold on the world is eroded to such an extent that pirates and scavengers claim it as their own.

All around Vigil vast debris fields of a dead warp ships float. These are the tattered remnants of the Imperial battlefleet sent to assist the Adeptus Astartes of Storm Wardens chaplain during action known as “Cleansing of Vigil” hundreds of years ago. Using their warp craft the nefarious xeno slaught caught many of the ships by surprise, teleporting their boarding parties on board from the planet surface. Ships burned, fired on each other and made suicidal ramming assaults as slaught forces took control. Although Storm Warden's vessels made it to Vigil and the space marines overcame the xenos after bitter fighting, the imperial fleet was almost completely wiped out.

Afterwards Battlefleet Calixis sent salvage missions to de-arm the derelicts but their work concerned mostly main armaments. Vast amount of other tech, equipment and promethium was left on the voided hulks. Today the Vigil Flotsam sports a healthy mix of scavenger clans, pirate crews and other shady entrepreneurs making a living on what the debris field provides.

Lore of the Vigil

After the Cleansing adepts of the Historical Revision Unit purged most records of Vigil’s past. Some knowledge remains, however:

Challenging Common Lore (Calixis Sector/Imperium)
Success	Vigil is an insignificant system on the rimward border of Drusus Marches. It’s three planets orbit a blue giant. Voidsmen rumour of solar flares, dust clouds and gravity riptides in the system.
Success +1	There are vast debris fields in the system, remnants of some ancient naval battle.
Success +2	Vigil III is inhabitable but suspiciously little data can be found about the planet in common archives.

Difficult Common Lore (Adeptus Astartes) or challenging Forbidden Lore (Adeptus Astartes) or very hard Common Lore (War)
Success	Storm Wardens chapter fought an action called the Cleansing of Vigil in the last years of M41.600.
Success +1	The action was fought against xeno race of unknown origin. Most of the fighting took place in tunnels beneath planet surface.
Success +2	The adversary was a heretical xeno race called slaught who used infiltration tactics to break the astartes combat discipline.

Challenging Common Lore (Navy)
Success	Vigil system has been cordoned off by the Navy for hundreds of years
Success +1	A naval action was fought in the Vigil system in the last years of M41.600
Success +2	During the last few decades the watch on Vigil has been reduced to merely a single cruiser.

Hard Forbidden Lore (Xenos)
Success	Pre M36 an advanced xenos race ruled Vigil III, later to be wiped out by some calamity.
Success +1	The planet is believed to been invaded by xenos slaught, later driven out by imperial forces.
Success +2	Slaught are nightmare things from some unknown dimension. They are adept at infiltration and assassination.

Challenging Common Lore (Underworld)
Success	Vigil system has been hotbed of pirate activity for quite some time.
Success +1	Ship parts, promethium and even whole attack craft have found their way to black market from the Vigil system.
Success +2	Some say that Cold Traders have been making a neat profit from xeno artefacts of Vigil origin lately.

	Vigil System Details
Drusus Marches	“Abhor the Night, it is the Light that Endures!”	Dead Planet
Calixis Sector		Restricted Access
Segmentum Obscurum		Aptus Non
System Features
Mighty star (Blue)	Pirate Den (5 Wolfpack raiders)	Ruined Empire (Xenos Ruins)
Inner Cauldron	Main biosphere	Outer Reaches
Vigil I	Vigil III	Gravity Riptide
Large and dense rocky planet Burning World High gravity Moderate toxic atmosphere Inhospitable 3 landmasses 2 lesser moons	Large rocky planet Temperate World Normal Gravity Thin tainted atmosphere Verdant ecosystem Large asteroid companion 2 landmasses, 4 territories Expansive forests Highland swamps Fertile plains Frozen swamps 1 industrial metal resource (sustainable) 2 radioactive material resources (limited) 1 archeotech cache (minimal) 1 xenos ruins (significant, unknown species) 3 colonies (pirate, basic industry) Small herd animals Stalker predators	It takes a Hard (–20) Scrutiny+Detection Test to  spot a gravitational rip-tide on the ship’s auger arrays, and a  Challenging (+0) Pilot (Space Craft)+Manoeuvrability Test to avoid one. If a helmsman chooses, however, he can  pilot his ship into the tide’s gravity well while making a Hard  (–20) Pilot (Space Craft)+Manoeuvrability Test. Success means the helmsman has built up enough speed for his vessel  to “shoot the rapids”—using the speed generated by the tide’s pull to shoot out the other side at tremendous velocity. For  every degree of success, the GM should subtract a day from the travel time to the starship’s destination. If the helmsman fails  the test—or the starship fails to spot and avoid the tide—the  ship takes 1d5 damage to its Hull Integrity ignoring armour  or void shields, and must make a Hard (–20) Pilot (Space Craft)+ Manoeuvrability Test to break free. If it fails it  takes another 1d5 damage and must make another test. This continues until the ship escapes or is destroyed.
Vigil II	Starship Graveyard	Starship Graveyard
Large rocky planet Burning World Normal Gravity Moderate corrosive atmosphere Inhospitable Single landmass Moon	Fleet Engagement The graveyard consists of 13 hulks, and includes vast fields of unexploded mines, spent volleys of torpedoes and drifting attack craft.	Skirmish The graveyard consists of 6 hulks, all broken beyond repair but containing salvageable parts.
Solar Flares
Each day a ship remains in this area, roll 1d10; on a result of 10 or higher, the ship is caught in the effects of a Solar Flare, unless it can find shelter in a safe orbit behind a sheltering object. Treat the effects of a Solar Flare as inflicting 1d5 hits from a Macrobattery with a Damage of 1d10+3. This  Damage is stopped by Void Shields. Further, the effects of the flare are spread across such a vast area that it does not inflict Critical Hits like a weapon with a Crit Rating. Damage past the Armour of a Crippled ship still inflicts Critical Hits normally.
Dust Clouds
A successful Difficult (–10) Navigation  (Stellar)+Detection Test is required to pass through a cloud on a proper course. Success means the ship makes its way through the cloud quickly, but failure means the ship is delayed. For every degree of failure, the ship must spend an extra day getting to its destination.  In addition, the maximum weapon range for ships in a dust cloud is limited by the it’s density (roll 3d10 at the start of battle, this is the furthest that all ship’s sensors and weapons will operate). A ship making a Silent Running Manoeuvre gains +30 to its Manoeuvre Tests. Any Tests using a ship’s auger arrays within the dust cloud are made three steps more difficult.

Resources on Vigil III

Archeotech Cache – The old battle base of Storm Wardens still lies deep in Vigil’s marshy highlands. Eroded earthworks and parts of plasteel ramparts are visible from orbit. Pirates have taken over the base and made a colony there. Among the ruins they found an ancient Navis Prima detailing an alternate approach to nearby star systems as used by Storm Wardens all those years ago. Using this knowledge they have been able to raid the shipping lanes of Thical and Archaon with impunity and make their escape to avoid reprisals.

Local threats: Pirates, Predators

Xenos Ruins – In many places on the planet crumbling ruins of unnamed cities can be spotted. These are all that remains of the unknown xenos species that ruled this star system many millennia ago. In the ruins one can find entries to vast, continent spanning network of tunnels and caves the xenos used for their own indecipherable ends. Perhaps they were built for transportation between cities or as a means of defence against invaders. Whatever the use, the slaught took over this network and used it to great effect against the Storm Wardens.

No-one has taken the effort to map out these tunnels in any meaningful way. Even though a large wealth in xenos artefacts could be found in them the pirates and the hulkers avoid these dark places like plague. They say that vile unnameable beasts haunt the tunnels, ready to snatch anyone stupid enough to venture into them.

Local threats: Pirates, Predators, Slaught Vassal Constructs, Madness

Resources in Vigil Flotsam

Promethium - There is great wealth in weapons grade promethium to be gained from the derelicts. Finding and siphoning it is hard work, and dangerous.

Void  ship parts - Circuitry, cogitators and other things, mostly in poor repair. No major ship parts can be found on the hulks but there is always something worth selling on them.

Whole attack craft - All cruisers of the fleet carried Lightning and Marauder wings, not all of which were destroyed or found. These are few and far apart however.

Xenotech - Slaught biotech is vile and repulsive but highly sought after by some heretical parties. Necrotic Sceptres, Shroud Cloaks and even viler things have found their way into Cold Trade from the Flotsam.

Local threats: Pirates, Hulkers, Perils of the Void

NPC parties in Vigil System

Hulker's Alliance 

Hulker’s Alliance is a loose "nation" of scavenger tribes that claim the Flotsam as their own. They have a complicated system of traditional scavenging rights, marriages, trade partnerships and dependencies that binds them together. Hulkers take a dim view on anyone trying to encroach on "their territory". The nominal leader of the tribes is thain Eniac. He seeks to find better ways than pirates to get their haul off Vigil but hitting a balance between tradition and profit may be harder than he thinks. The hulkers have claimed Vigil III’s asteroid companion as their own territory, though they mostly live on 5 hulks they have patched up over the years.

Hulker Tribesman:Voidfarer, RT Core Rulebook, pg 371

Scav Lighter: Arvus Lighter, Into the Storm, pg. 180

Scav Attack Craft: Fury Interceptor, Into the Storm, pg. 180

Pirates

Part pirates, part smugglers, a number of independent pirate crews use Vigil III itself as base of operations. They haunt the space around Thical and Archaon, hitting the shipping lanes and vanishing quickly back to Vigil system. The pirates also ship scavenged materials from the system. Their relationship with the hulkers is tenuous at best. Their smuggling operations are useful to the scavengers but there are frequent clashes too.

Many of them are currently employed by Regis Triplex, seeking and smuggling what they believe to be xeno sculptures on the planet and in the Flotsam.

Vigil Pirate Captain: Void Pirate Captain, RT Core Rulebook, pg. 373

Vigil Pirate: Renegade, RT Core Rulebook, pg. 373

Wolfpack Raider: Wolfpack Raider, RT Core Rulebook, pg. 209

Commander Immacolata Marziani, an Aptus Non Agent

Immacolata is an officer of the Battle fleet Calixis and commander of the only proper fighting ship resident to Vigil system. Her ongoing mission is to cordon off the planet and monitor the system. After 40 years on duty this corpulent woman has pretty much given up on trying to execute her mission. She is more than happy to take bribes (she's always on lookout for new entertainment to break the tedium) and let things go on. Her ship, Truth From Error, is a Light Cruiser built during the Angevin Crusade, way past her decommissions date. Much of the ships operation is handled by servitors, actual human crew numbering in few thousand.

Immacolata Marziani: Navy Officer, RT Core Rulebook, pg. 372

Truth From Error: Dauntless Class Light Cruiser, RT Core Rulebook, pg. 196

Regis Triplex, Agent of the Amaranthine Syndicate

Fomon, Slaught Infiltrator

The Amaranthine Syndicate has special interests in Vigil and Regis Triplex is their agent for the area. He resides on the hive world of Thical, posing as a curio dealer and art afficinado. Regis uses his servants and agents to do business in Vigil system. His aim is to find and recover slaught xenotech left in the Vigil after the Cleansing. He currently employs the pirates to do his work for him, but to his tastes they are rude, rough and unreliable. Should someone more suitable come along he would gladly sell out his former retainers and take on new ones. The savings in commissions owed alone would be astronomical.

In truth Regis is nothing but a hollow shell of a man controlled by his closest “servant” Fomon. He is a tall, gangly man of few words and unpleasant countenance. Fomon is a slaught infiltrator in charge of operations on Vigil. He keeps Regis going and in check by doses of slaught drugs. He has also embedded a slaught kill parasite into Regis’ brain. Under interrogation his fragile mind will break and activate the parasite which will turn the man’s brain into bloody mush.

Fomon uses Regis to gather slaught weapons and other tech and smuggles them to Malfi. His ultimate goal is to find enough parts to construct a gateway to the nightmarish home dimension of his people and bring a force of slaught on the war torn planet.

Regis Triplex: Freetrader Captain, RT Core Rulebook, pg. 371

Fomon: Slaught Infiltrator, Game Master’s Kit p. 21

Slaught Vassal Construct

Most slaught on Vigil III were driven out or killed by Storm Warderns during the Cleansing. The vast subterranean tunnel networks were too big of a task to clear out even for mighty astartes, however. A few of the dread slaught battle hulks still haunt the dark caverns, lying dormant for decades and centuries until brought back to action by creatures disturbing their slumber. Once roused they are terrifying adversaries indeed.

Slaught Vassal Construct, DH Ascension, pg. 209

Possible ventures

Liquid Gold - With heresy on the rise in neighbouring Malfian subsector there is renewed need for flamer fluids. If someone could truly industrialize the promethium trade from Flotsam they might make a fortune in thrones.

Pirate Hunt - Rulers of Thical and Archaon feel the pirate threat mounting. Elements of Battlefleet Calixis have been drawn to Malfian subsector to fight new threats there and the marauding bastards have become ever bolder. Should someone be able to eliminate the threat they would be well rewarded.

Vanishing Remnants – Regis Triplex of Amaranthine Syndicate is interested in slaught xenotech. Finding such things will not be easy or nothing short of gravest heresy. Never mind the perils of Inquisition but who is to say that all slaught were destroyed during the Cleansing? If the characters are not into Cold Trade Regis spins a tale of “xenos sculptures”, harmless remnants of Vigil’s distant past. The sculptures are corroded pieces of unidentifiable bronze coloured metal, varying in size from small rods to pieces larger than a lighter. They seem to be arbitrarily shaped, some almost graceful but most clumsy and even downright ugly. These are in truth various pieces of slaught xenotech, weapons, armour and ship pieces.

Links

Vigil - http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Vigil#.UeQ_H0Evhws

Slaught - http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Slaugth#.UeQof0Evhws