Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)

[DM B]

Dark clouds obscure the light of the rising sun, painting the world in reds, pinks and purples. Dark clouds of dust and ash, made from burned bodies, scorched fields, and flaming promethium. Every night the black rains try to wash the skies clean, but all they do is coat the world in grey mud and putrid slime. Sprinkled with hefty doses of irradiated substances and toxic compounds. It would not do to be outside in such rain. The wise and the wary seek cover within the ruins of the great Hemshin Hive. That has it's own dangers of course - the hive may be broken, but there are still millions of savage Cadians hiding in the underhive. Every effort to stamped them out has failed. Of late there haven't been much effort in that direction at all. Let them sit there and starve until they eat one another and save you the trouble.


Cadia was once a world pretty close to the Terran standard. Great oceans, continents, varied topography. Breathable atmosphere, diverse biosphere. The world had a human population running in the tens of billions. Divided between a handful of major fortress-hives ('Kasr') and countless outlying settlements (equally heavily fortified). Pretty typical of many developed Imperial worlds. Cadia was also one of the most militarized worlds in all of the Imperium - and that's saying something. On Cadia children learned to use weapon as soon as they can walk. It was a world were every man, woman, and child was a potential soldier. It had to be this way, for Cadia was a world under siege. Looking up from the planet's surface you stared straight into the Gates of Hell - or the primary path into the baleful glare of the Eye of Terror, the greatest Warp anomaly in the Galaxy of Man. How many times Chaos reavers had fallen upon the planet no-one really knew. How many had died was an equal mystery, but it must have been trillions over the course of more than ten millennia of war. You've been told the world has actually fallen several times, but always been scoured clean and repopulated - the Imperium is very loath to give up that which it has claimed.

But this time Cadia will not rise again. The world is dying. Actually it should have died long time ago, but these Cadians don't seem to know when they have been defeated. For sixteen years they've been at war this time. For all intents and purposes it died ten years ago when Abaddon returned and destroyed the Imperial fleet. Everything after that was just mopping up. Ten years of mopping up and still your not done. Ten years you should have been up there, among the stars, following Abaddon against Terra. They say he's reached the Segmentum Solar already and makes ready for the final assault on the ancient womb of humanity. And here you are in the mud, with nothing to show for your sacrifices...


Last night was no different from the rest, save the distant booms of half a dozen gigaton warheads going off somewhere to the distant east. It's been a while since ordnance of that magnitude was used around these parts. You've no idea if the targets were Imperial or not. The vox sets are all screwed up because of the blasts. You can barely make out some Imperial propaganda bleating on one channel. The only other station within is Radio Liberty: Transmitting from somewhere deep in the hive ruins. It's issuing a warning to the Liberator forces that the Imperials have deployed killer-swarms in the eastern fringe sectors. The usual droll drone.

A sentry interrupts you; something big has been spotted overhead. Stepping outside you scan the skies above; something indeed: A raider-class voidship lumbering across the leaden sky, pursued by a trio of xenos-looking fighter craft. As you watch one of the fighters are pulverized by defensive turrets, but not before scoring a crippling hit on the raider. The ships disappear from view behind burned-out hive spires. The craft briefly reappears, long enough for you to see another fighter smash into the wrecked hive. The last of the smaller craft pulls away. The voidcraft is in trouble, but it still has power and maneuverability - you know it will be forced to land somewhere in the wilderness zones further inland. Cold it be a way to get off this gods-forsaken ball of rock?

[DM B]

OOC: All the players (and their warbands) are in the same situation; they are more or less trapped in or around a ruined hive on a large peninsula on one of Cadia's continents. The hive fell long ago. It no longer represents a threat to the Liberator armies. There are still some die-hard Imperials hiding out in the lower levels and there is still some resistance out in the wilderness areas east of the hive. Supplies ran out long ago both for Liberators and Imperials, leaving you to scrounge up whatever you can in an attempt to survive. By now you realize you've been pretty much abandoned by the Crusade - and you are all looking for a way out of this mess. The ship you all saw go down in the wilderness may just be that way out.

The above description is conceptually the situation as witnessed by a nameless Champion. It's intended to provide inspiration. The players will have to describe their own starting position as variants of the above.

[DM B]

Week 1 (6.666.015.M42): Ruined hive, somewhere on the Cadian coastline

You are presented with a relatively simple choice:

1. To investigate the crash site of the downed voidship. It didn't look like it was shot down as much as forced to land. It could be a way out of this place. The downside is that the eastern wilds can be quite hazardous.

2. Continue with your daily routines (please describe in some detail what this is if you pick this option).


For simplicity's sake were using Weeks to track time. The game starts on Week 1. The corresponds to 6.666.015.M42 for those into such things (i.e. about 2/3 through the 15th year of the 42nd Millennium).

[Lurk Skywalker]

Lector Severus and his men approach the ship from the rear, on the starboard side, they pause for a signifcant amount of time outside of what the Lector estimates would be the range of engines heat should they restart.
As silently as possible the Scouts are divided into two equal groups one led by Adorus Galrek, the Lectors' second in command and the other by Roldar, the promising assassin. Once both teams have taken positions on some higher ground to scan the area the Lector and his Marines take their own position, lowering themselves in a circle of bristling weaponnery, surveying the happenings at the ship and around them. The Marines, their weapons readies, clearly seem expectant of some local investigative presence coming to the site of the ship's landing.

Edit: typoes

[DM B]

Lector Severus and his men approach the ship from the rear, on the starboard side, they pause for a signifcant amount of time outside of what the Lector estimates would be the range of engines heat should they restart.
As silently as possible the Scouts are divided into two equal groups one led by Adorus Galrek, the Lectors' second in command and the other by Roldar, the promising assassin. Once both teams have taken positions on some higher ground to scan the area the Lector and his Marines take their own position, lowering themselves in a circle of bristling weaponnery, surveying the happenings at the ship and around them. The Marines, their weapons readies, clearly seem expectant of some local investigative presence coming to the site of the ship's landing.

Edit: typoes

Your warband's small size and combination of stealth and firepower means you're uniquely well suited to exfiltrating from the ruined hive; the weak stay clear of you, while the strong never see you at all. 

Beyond the outermost shield wall awaits leagues of no-man's land; a land so devastated by the exchange of heavy ordnance that not a single feature of human civilization or natural terrain remains recognizable. The world beyond has been turned into a seemingly endless quagmire of filth, rot, and putrefaction. Despite the dangers the area has been picked over by scavengers; the odd useful item can still be found, but do not expect great treasures.

You follow the checkerboard pattern of a hundred burned-out and rusted heavy tanks across the wasteland; it is a route well known to the Lector's men and unlikely to hold much in terms of unpleasant surprises. On the other side, beyond the range of the fallen hive's defensive guns lies a range of forested hills - or they were forested once, now the only tree that remain are burned-out stumps, silhouetted against the eastern skyline.

The voidship went down up there. Finding it will not be difficult, for there is a pall of heavy dark smoke above the landing site. Or should we say crash site?

No further progress until the other players have had a chance to catch up.

[Stonecrown Coster/MB (Rune)]

Gaius watches as the ship disappears just beyond the nearby hills. Had they found him? Would they take his freedom? "Avenge us...." He does not think that last thought was his own. He has heard the voice before, he knows it. "General, I think it would be prudent to send out some scouts to check on that ship, don't you?". As always the old man nods and barks an order at someone. Shortly after a small group of armed med is heading towards the landing site.

Gaius settles down in front of the fire, staring into it. He lets his mind roam free for a few seconds, before he locates one of the scouts and gently enters his mind. Hiding in the back of his subconscience, he is able to see and hear what happens around the scout.

[DM B]

Gaius watches as the ship disappears just beyond the nearby hills. Had they found him? Would they take his freedom? "Avenge us...." He does not think that last thought was his own. He has heard the voice before, he knows it. "General, I think it would be prudent to send out some scouts to check on that ship, don't you?". As always the old man nods and barks an order at someone. Shortly after a small group of armed med is heading towards the landing site.

Gaius settles down in front of the fire, staring into it. He lets his mind roam free for a few seconds, before he locates one of the scouts and gently enters his mind. Hiding in the back of his subconscience, he is able to see and hear what happens around the scout.

OOC: I'm assuming scouts involves your bodyguard - since your other troops are so shitty.

Your psychic presence stays with the scouts as they make their way across the blasted landscape, ensuring they remain motivated and coordinated. Your mind's eye is also there to spot trouble before it can find your men - twice you have the squad divert and take another route rather than walk into roving swarms of hunter-killer servo-skulls.

The voidship went down up somewhere in a hilly area to the east of the hive. Finding it will not be difficult, for there is a pall of heavy dark smoke above the landing site. Or should we say crash site?

[LordPsycho]

This night, Maegon dreamed of Hemshin Hive devoured by a giant fire.
He is suddenly awaken by a sensation of falling, from the spire down to the underhive, right in the blaze heart.

The real world is not really better than Maegon's nightmares.
He lies on a dirty mattress put right on the ground, in a ruined fab-tower, at the foot of the Hive.
Through the broken windows, dark clouds obscure the light of the rising sun and the baleful glare of the Eye of Terror.
His body hurts, his brain hurts... Cough shakes him. He spits a bloody glair.

"Good morning, Inquisitor." salutes his Interrogator, Nemus, handing him a bowl of disgusting oatmeal.

"Morning." Maegon takes the bowl and puts it on the dusty floor.

Then he draws an ebony box containing his Tarot deck.
As everyday, read the Tarot is the first thing he does upon waking.

The Fool.
The Four of Discordia - The Xeno.
The Wheel of Fortune.
The Tower.
The Nine of Excuteria - The Missionary.

Maegon gets lost in his thoughts.
Sergeant Malavida makes him get back to reality.

"Inquisitor, you should take a look outside."

Maegon rises up painfully and follows the sergent, just in time to see a raider-class voidship lumbering across the leaden sky, pursued by a trio of xenos-looking fighter craft. As he watches one of the fighters are pulverized by defensive turrets, but not before scoring a crippling hit on the raider. The ships disappear from view behind burned-out hive spires. The craft briefly reappears, long enough to see another fighter smash into the wrecked hive. The last of the smaller craft pulls away. The voidcraft is in trouble, but it still has power and maneuverability. Maegon knows that it will be forced to land somewhere in the wilderness zones further inland.

The Inquisitor smiles and calls his retinue.
Finally, here are the factors of change that he expected.

"Nemus, Jethro. Did you recognize the raider and the xenos fighters ?"

They turn toward THX-138, the Spatha-Pattern Servitor. His autocannon is out of ammo, but his pic-recorder is still working. Images of the ships will help them to discover their identities.

"Oshgor. You saw the xenos fighter crashing into the hive ? Find its wreckage. Find possible survivors. Kill them if needed. Find operational com-systems. We could set a trap for the last xenos."

Maegon calls Caporal Usher, leading the Necromundian Spiders.
Their Sergeant died two months ago and Usher is now the most graded officer.

"Caporal, please choose five of your men and send them in recon mission toward the raider's crash site. Make sure they know the correct communication protocols."

The Inquisitor returns to his Interrogator and Savant.

"So ?..."

[DM B]

Maegon gets lost in his thoughts.
Sergeant Malavida makes him get back to reality.

"Inquisitor, you should take a look outside."

Maegon rises up painfully and follows the sergent, just in time to see a raider-class voidship lumbering across the leaden sky, pursued by a trio of xenos-looking fighter craft. As he watches one of the fighters are pulverized by defensive turrets, but not before scoring a crippling hit on the raider. The ships disappear from view behind burned-out hive spires. The craft briefly reappears, long enough to see another fighter smash into the wrecked hive. The last of the smaller craft pulls away. The voidcraft is in trouble, but it still has power and maneuverability. Maegon knows that it will be forced to land somewhere in the wilderness zones further inland.

The Inquisitor smiles and calls his retinue.
Finally, here are the factors of change that he expected.

"Nemus, Jethro. Did you recognize the raider and the xenos fighters ?"

They turn toward THX-138, the Spatha-Pattern Servitor. His autocannon is out of ammo, but his pic-recorder is still working. Images of the ships will help them to discover their identities.

"Oshgor. You saw the xenos fighter crashing into the hive ? Find its wreckage. Find possible survivors. Kill them if needed. Find operational com-systems. We could set a trap for the last xenos."

Maegon calls Caporal Usher, leading the Necromundian Spiders.
Their Sergeant died two months ago and Usher is now the most graded officer.

"Caporal, please choose five of your men and send them in recon mission toward the raider's crash site. Make sure they know the correct communication protocols."

The Inquisitor returns to his Interrogator and Savant.

"So ?..."

Oshgor leaves immediately; a short bow of deference and acknowledgement and then he's gone. Would if all your servants were as reliable and efficient.

Corporal Usher receives the order and prowls away to pick his best scouts for the mission. The Necromundans are reliable fighters with a penchant for close-quarters gunfights. Those left to you have largely shed their almost superstitious dread of being in the open, replacing it with an uncanny ability to find and use cover.

Jethro has jacked him cogitator into one of THX-138's access ports and is reviewing the imagery.

"It would appear it is a Chariot-class vessel Sire. The Imperial Navy would classify it as a light raider-type ship, barely large enough to be warp-capable and useless in a pitched battle. The Chariot is primarily used in and around the Finial sector Sire. Mostly by rogue and renegade elements, but some hulls can be found in the hands of the wealthy - as personal pleasure craft, fast couriers, or priority transports. The pattern is unusual in appearance to say the least, but it is uncommonly well suited for planetary landings."

Nemus adds: "The makings are faint and inconclusive. Could be an Imperial craft - or not. So hard to tell these days."

[Dragon Lord]

The ruins tremble slightly as the voidship flies dangerously low over the hive, pursued by a trio of fighters.  Azrael sees it from the window of what was probably once some faceless Hive administrator’s office. He watches them intently, first one, then another of the fighters is despatched, but not before scoring a hit on the voidship. The final fighter pulls away back in the direction they came from, and the voidship lumbers on, but it is clearly wounded. Voidships are not his speciality but Azrael captured the sequence to his memory buffers and re-plays the scene over and over again.

Azrael muses to himself, "Hmm, a deep wound, crippling, but not fatal, it will be forced to land out in the wastes.  High probability that it was a chariot class raider, popular in the Finial sector, uncertain warp capability but even if it can just get us out of the atmosphere that will be a start.  Probable crew complement between two and three thousand, but it looks like it has had a good deal of customisation, it isn't even clear whether it is Imperial or Chaos, or just some unaligned pirates."

He breaks from his reverie and calls in Derryck, Lukas and Irena.

"I presume you probably saw that ship just pass overhead?" Azrael asks, to which they all nod.

"You want us to check it out?" queries Lukas.

"Yes," replies Azrael, "choose a couple of men to form a scout team.  I'll follow separately with a second team, I need to inspect it up close to assess the damage.  This could be our ticket off this forsaken rock, but only if it is repairable.  While we are gone I want you to put feelers out to some of the other local warbands Derryck, take some assistance if you need it, even accounting for losses due to damage sustained there are probably at least 2000 crew on that ship so we are going to need allies if we are going to take it.  Irena, I want you to take charge here and get everyone ready to move out at a moments notice if Lukas and I report good news, we won't have been the only ones to see that ship go down and although we are going to need allies we need to act quickly before the scavengers descend."

Derryck, Lukas and Irena indicate their agreement and the four of them discuss some particulars about the mission, call signs, etc. before Lukas and Azrael set out across the wastes to scout out the ship.

[DM B]

Azrael muses to himself, "Hmm, a deep wound, crippling, but not fatal, it will be forced to land out in the wastes.  High probability that it was a chariot class raider, popular in the Finial sector, uncertain warp capability but even if it can just get us out of the atmosphere that will be a start.  Probable crew complement between two and three thousand, but it looks like it has had a good deal of customisation, it isn't even clear whether it is Imperial or Chaos, or just some unaligned pirates."

He breaks from his reverie and calls in Derryck, Lukas and Irena.

"I presume you probably saw that ship just pass overhead?" Azrael asks, to which they all nod.

"You want us to check it out?" queries Lukas.

"Yes," replies Azrael, "choose a couple of men to form a scout team.  I'll follow separately with a second team, I need to inspect it up close to assess the damage.  This could be our ticket off this forsaken rock, but only if it is repairable.  While we are gone I want you to put feelers out to some of the other local warbands Derryck, take some assistance if you need it, even accounting for losses due to damage sustained there are probably at least 2000 crew on that ship so we are going to need allies if we are going to take it.  Irena, I want you to take charge here and get everyone ready to move out at a moments notice if Lukas and I report good news, we won't have been the only ones to see that ship go down and although we are going to need allies we need to act quickly before the scavengers descend."

Derryck, Lukas and Irena indicate their agreement and the four of them discuss some particulars about the mission, call signs, etc. before Lukas and Azrael set out across the wastes to scout out the ship.

Derryck,nodding thoughtfully: "Several thousand crew...and they would know the insides of their vessel so much better than us...and that's assuming we can find a blind spot where their defensive turrets won't rip us apart. Not liking it one bit. I'll go see who I can scrounge up; I think I saw a warband yesterday, squatting not far from us. They must have seen the ship go down. Perhaps we can make common cause." He gets up an leaves.

Irena, sounding coy: "You know killing the crew won't help much. I'm no Rogue Trade but this much I know about ships: You need crew to fly them. We're many things, but we're not exactly void capable."

Lukas, in response: "Nah, we only need to preserve those of skill. The ratings and such are replaceable; only the petty officers and such are really worth our while."

[Dragon Lord]

Irena, sounding coy: "You know killing the crew won't help much. I'm no Rogue Trade but this much I know about ships: You need crew to fly them. We're many things, but we're not exactly void capable."

Lukas, in response: "Nah, we only need to preserve those of skill. The ratings and such are replaceable; only the petty officers and such are really worth our while."

"Avoiding a bloodbath is definitely preferable, but Lukas has the right of it, there are a comparatively small number of essential crew members, and you would be surprised how small a skeleton crew most ships can get away with," Azrael says pensively, "I did consider the possibility of attempting to inveigle us aboard by offering my services in repairing the ship, but it would be rather unlikely to succeed."

[DM B]

"Avoiding a bloodbath is definitely preferable, but Lukas has the right of it, there are a comparatively small number of essential crew members, and you would be surprised how small a skeleton crew most ships can get away with," Azrael says pensively, "I did consider the possibility of attempting to inveigle us aboard by offering my services in repairing the ship, but it would be rather unlikely to succeed."

Irena: "I'm sure they would accept your services...but for the rest of us, no. A magos is always an asset. A magos with his own personal army is trouble."

[DM B]

The Marines under Lector Severus are the only group to make it by nightfall; the rest of you are camped somewhere between the hive and the crash site.

The voidship has come to rest amidst the ruins of an outlying fortress-town, high up in the hills, some sixty kilometres from the hive's outer shield-wall. It hasn't quite crashed, but it hasn't landed either: The helmsman must have struggled to reduce airspeed even as the metal behemoth plunged downwards on failing grav-coils. The end result is a great furrow carved thought the blasted wilderness. It starts at the top of a small ridge, whet the adamantium prow of the vessel has ploughed straight through and continued down the valley for several thousand metres before coming to a halt. The rear of the vessel rests on two massive landing supports, but the forward one is gone, torn away by the impact with the ridge. Fortunately the bow of the ship has demolished several ruined buildings and come to rest on top of the rubble, creating a makeshift forward support.

It looked so small up there, but down on the ground it's rather big. 450 meters, give or take a couple, from the bow to the stern. At the widest point near the rear the lifting body is approximately 117 meters, but tapers to half that towards the front. At the thickest point the body is some 60 meters - with landing supports extended nearly 75 meters separates the ground from the highest auspex spire on the ship's back.

The machine spirits wrought into your hallowed power armour struggles to aestimate the interior layout from what little data you have; the ship has an interior volume in excess of 1.5 million cubic meters and a probable mass well in excess of 3 Megatons. A veritable mote when compared to the great ships of the line, but impressive enough when viewed from the ground.

The ship looks largely intact, but there are several areas where hull plating has been torn to shreds by alien energies and exploding munitions. In short it looks battered, but repairable. There are people - about forty of them divided into smaller groups- on the outside, looking like they are trying to determine the extent of the damage. Some are inspecting the hull damage, others the landing supports, etc.

Another group, fifty or so normally-looking people with normal-looking guns - have set up a makeshift perimeter around the base of the voidship. The real danger - should you chose to move forward - lies not with these people but the ship's defensive turrets. If you are spotted no amount of armour will save you.

There are no obvious marks of allegiance on the ship - a faded Aquila and some devotional liturgy that is no longer readable. It would seem to indicate that whatever the ship is it's not an Imperial vessel.

Keywords: Wilderness, broken and burned trees, mud and filth, foul rain, downed starship, darkness falling, small shapes darting about, a ruined fortress-town, Marine scouts observing from afar.

[Lurk Skywalker]

The Lector having heard confirmation that his two scouting parties are in position, turns to Silverwrists, using the Relictor's Pilots title when addressing him:

"Aurarius Falco, can you use our gear to try and intercept communications within and around this vessel?"