Sea of Stars - OOC III

[Haval]

Hmm, so it should still be buried down there.

[Destro_Yersul]

I was going to do this back aboard the ship, but I've edited my last post with something for you, Potato.

For his part, Kennoch is eager to get back to the ship. He very much wants to talk to Sargon.

Oh, and there's a minor bookkeeping note for Destro at the end of my spoiler, just to be sure that I catch your attention on it.

Ah yeah, suppose i never did put him in there. I'll add him.

[Destro_Yersul]

Oh, in case it's not clear, I do need someone to actually do a thing before I can provide an update. I don't want to take direction strictly from OOC spitballing.

[Blarghy]

Ok, so, my thought process here is that you've worked well with Mathius before, and as I recall, he's shockingly liberal for not just an Inquisitor, but a citizen of the Imperium in general. The last time you encountered him, he told Macharius to chill on accusations of heresy toward some members of the crew and urged him to approach such matters with more nuance. I don't think he'll come into this situation all fire-and-brimstone, or "disappear" us for the things we've seen. Instead, it's my hope that he'd provide cover from interference by his more grim colleagues, along with knowledge and resources. To do...something here. I'm not sure what, from an OOC perspective (obviously Kennoch just wants the Eldar gone and is fine employing violence to do it), but currently there are powerful psykers hanging out underneath an Imperial communications hub between Calixis and Koronus, where important messages are passed psychically. Surely that needs to be looked into, even before considering the Engine.

I think Mathius might be up for a sneaky and clever solution, to be largely determined by us, if that's the route we want to go. Destro has always been reluctant to let an NPC direct the story for us, so I doubt that your friendly Inquisitor will take over the matter, or toss us in prison for knowing too much. Kennoch won't be thrilled if we somehow make a deal with the Eldar and part ways as allies, but it's probably no worse than harboring a powerful AI. Speaking of, hiding Galimina from Kohl strikes me as the biggest task here. My sense is that this is a mid-to-long-term subplot, and if we involve Mathius, we'd essentially be trading a complication (good story drama) for additional support.

In general, I don't have a strong personal interest in 40k aliens; they're fun in the same way as the rest of the setting, but my focus in this game is on the Warp, the psykers who utilize it, the daemons who populate it, and the heresies that surround it. I feel like I got a ton of center stage time during this chapter, so I really don't want to also dominate whatever we do next. Thus, my suggestion for the moment is to take our shuttle back home. Those of you who've actually met Mathius and Kohl, and who're more invested in xeno-business, could decide the details of how you want to proceed. Kennoch has already established his position and isn't likely to change it, so he would use this time to meet with Sargon; I expect that conversation will take a bit and I'd like to make time for it.

[Haval]

Anika's just being an advisor. I'm not saying Macharius shouldn't pass on information, just that we might want to be careful about how much we pass on.

The Thousand Son thing being a case in pont. Although having the conversation with the Inquisition about it might be funny.

[Destro_Yersul]

Alright, giving Echo a chance to kick off talking to Sargon, and the rest of you a chance to do anything you'd like to aboard ship, before you get back to Footfall and start the next chapter.

Speaking of, any hooks you'd like to follow up on? I haven't planned the next part incredibly far in advance, so if there's things you're interested in, let me know.

[rax]

Hannabel would want to check to see if we're still transporting bounty hunters on the Sting. Spacing them here now that there's a functioning Astropath base is probably not a good idea, so we'd need another plan to deal with them.

She's also interested in finding out if Ahriman was successful in turning the Thousand Sons from Chaos and - now that she's met some in the (psychic) flesh - she's going to start studying the Eldar and maybe try to learn their language.

[Blarghy]

Anika's just being an advisor. I'm not saying Macharius shouldn't pass on information, just that we might want to be careful about how much we pass on.

The Thousand Son thing being a case in pont. Although having the conversation with the Inquisition about it might be funny.

I can agree with not telling Mathius about Ahriman. I'm trying to think of what evidence there is of him being here; we should check if the opening battle still happened, who remembers it, and if there's hard proof. I wonder if the people in the tower met with him. The Eldar would presumably remember. So we might struggle to fully hide it, but I think we could perhaps muddy the waters and at least not say his name. He'd be wearing his old-timey armor in any pictures (including Echo's), so he isn't obviously a Thousand Son. I feel like there's wiggle room here to keep us out of trouble.

Definitely agree with doing some research to figure out how, if at all, Ahriman changed in the past. Perhaps Galimina would know. Sargon implied that he knew at least a bit about Ahriman, back at the beginning of the episode, and it's one of several topics Kennoch wants to discuss with the old man.

Alright, giving Echo a chance to kick off talking to Sargon, and the rest of you a chance to do anything you'd like to aboard ship, before you get back to Footfall and start the next chapter.

Speaking of, any hooks you'd like to follow up on? I haven't planned the next part incredibly far in advance, so if there's things you're interested in, let me know.

I would quite like to go to Footfall, and I assume after that, we'll at least briefly swing by Port Davis to drop off the materials and Tech-Priests we gathered for the Terminus. There are a few little things I want to do, and I have a suggestion for the chapter as a whole, if nobody has another idea.

On Footfall, I plan to talk IC about the Rings and Kennoch's plans for the parts they could play in the Absalom Dynasty. He wants to leave about 10% of them on Footfall for future shady background endeavors, and another 30% at Port Davis, establishing a guild hall on the space station. I'll keep thinking about the details and discuss it further then.

Also on Footfall, I'd like for Anika to make inquiries about the Pyrel and Captain William Mayes, that agent of Misson's, who's (maybe unknowingly) harboring a Castermare Navigator. Anika and Hannabel have rightly pointed out that looking for a single pirate in the Expanse is a pretty tall order, so I don't expect it to happen quickly, but hunting down that ship will advance Kennoch's personal goals, while also letting us get another piece of Misson's map, and maybe another space station, if we don't blow it up this time.

Next, I keep meaning to try to chart the Warp-route between Footfall and Port Davis, for Kennoch's joint project with Remalia Brabazon. That route seems like it'd be quite useful, especially once we're ready to open the port to outsiders. I've repeatedly meant to roll for it, then forgotten to follow through.

Before we left for Calixis, I'm pretty sure we sent several ships out on background endeavors. Curious about how those went.

Finally, if we're going back to base, I want to make at least a quick trip down to the planet's surface and check out the colony. We've only been there once, again very briefly, back before we went to Viatrames. Since then, a good bit of time has passed, and we've sent them heavy machinery, land vehicles, beast trainers, and a crate of webbers. Maybe other stuff too. I'd like to see how they're coming along.

If the rest of you want, I'm happy to make that the focus of the episode: properly check out the planet, see more of its wildlife, maybe uncover some terrible mystery that's been hiding here for ages, and so on. The usual exploration endeavor. I recall Destro saying he "has stats, so many stats," or something to that effect last time, so there's got to be plenty to do. If anyone has a personal side-quest to pursue, I'm fully happy to do that, but if not, that's my suggestion. Also gives time to think, research, and contact Mathius, if we do so. We could even send one of our ships to pick him up, if he gives a location.

[Haval]

Right, the bounty hunters. Anika is available to help with that if needed. Also for any rolls in Footfall or later. I'm going to go through the thread again.

For the moment Anika is going to do some research to see if she can work out what changed or if she can find out anything specific on the Thousand Sons or the Heresy. I assume I might need more books to get anywhere though, so maybe I can look around in Footfall.

[Destro_Yersul]

Oh yeah, there's totally still bounty hunters. And you did run some background endeavours, but it's been a while, I'll have to go dig through things and figure out what the results were.

I'll go ahead and advance us to Footfall, at least. You can take stock from there, since Echo doesn't want to use this relay in case Nasty Tricksy Eldars are listening in.

[rax]

The ship was painted red and gold, and the prow bore an emblem they all recognised, having most recently seen it on Ahriman's pauldrons. A few moments after they had identified it, a hail came through on the vox.

"Lord-Captain Macharius Absalom. My name is Captain Sutekh, of the Thousand Sons First Company. We have been waiting for you. Permission to come aboard?"

Oh yeah, totally just some minor changes to the timeline...

[Blarghy]

Nasty Tricksy Eldars

We hates 'em, Precious.

Oh yeah, totally just some minor changes to the timeline...

Yes, well. Maybe we won't need Mathius after all. Or anyone else, ever again. Maybe we have all the friends we'll ever need!

[Destro_Yersul]

Oh yeah, totally just some minor changes to the timeline...

Relatively speaking, of course. As wham lines go, I was rather pleased with that one.

In terms of the game, all the big changes to the setting happened either a really long time ago, or to places you're unlikely to visit, or both. There was a fine line to walk here between making what you did meaningful, and not invalidating previous things you had also done and/or making the setting completely unrecognisable. All the previous adventures you had still happened, your assets and friends and so forth stay in place, and while there might be a few minor differences (and I now have a convenient excuse in case I ever forget about something, hah) broadly I wanted things to maintain parity. But I also wanted an appropriate payoff for the gauntlet I just put you through.

To recap:
- You accepted a quest to go to an absurdly haunted planet and poke it with a stick.
- On the way, you accidentally activated a Thousand Sons relic, summoning the Heresy-Era version of Ahzek Ahriman, who got into a fight with the modern version of himself on board your ship.
- You took exception to this and decided to also fight Modern Ahriman. After the fight, you found out who Heresy-Era Ahriman was, and immediately armed him with considerable knowledge of events he hadn't experienced yet just to see what he would do with it.
- He was understandably upset to learn that his Legion had fallen to Chaos, and vowed to put a stop to this given the chance. You decided this was a capital idea, and offered to help him see it through.
- Upon arriving on the haunted planet, you poked it with a stick and discovered it was indeed super haunted for realsies. Investigating further, you learned this was because the center of the planet was a warp-corrupted Eldar future prediction device turned time machine.
- Deciding that this absolutely could not in any way stand, you kicked in the door and challenged a Keeper of Secrets to come have a go if it thought it was hard enough.
- it was not hard enough
- With the daemon vanquished, you turned over the time machine to Heresy-Era Ahriman and did everything in your power to make sure it worked the way he wanted it to.

I think that level of dedication to the madness deserves some sort of payoff.

[rax]

We hates 'em, Precious.

Just wait till Kennoch finds out that our efforts have now resulted in humanity and Eldar being besties forever!

- You took exception to this and decided to also fight Modern Ahriman. After the fight, you found out who Heresy-Era Ahriman was, and immediately armed him with considerable knowledge of events he hadn't experienced yet just to see what he would do with it.
- He was understandably upset to learn that his Legion had fallen to Chaos, and vowed to put a stop to this given the chance. You decided this was a capital idea, and offered to help him see it through.
- With the daemon vanquished, you turned over the time machine to Heresy-Era Ahriman and did everything in your power to make sure it worked the way he wanted it to.

So what you're saying is we're far too trusting?

[Destro_Yersul]

So what you're saying is we're far too trusting?

Borderline criminal disregard for the integrity of the timeline, more like.

[rax]

Bah, that's for the Ordo Chronos to worry about!

[Haval]

If you don't poke something with a stick there's no point in being a PC.

I mentioned the Keeper to someone and they suggested we try negotiating with it. That would have been plan B.

[rax]

I mentioned the Keeper to someone and they suggested we try negotiating with it. That would have been plan B.

"Let me go and do as you please with all the rest!?"

[PotatoGolem]

This is a great twist! Really enjoyed it. And hey, now we don't need to worry about the Inquisition learning we worked with a Thousand Son! He was a proper hero of the imperium.

I'll get a bigger post up when I'm not on my phone at work. How long is the voyage from the planet to here? The senior praetorians are going to start training promising crewmen to become the next crop.

[Haval]

"Let me go and do as you please with all the rest!?"

Just got to see what if it wanted anything . Better then dying anyway.

[Destro_Yersul]

I'll get a bigger post up when I'm not on my phone at work. How long is the voyage from the planet to here? The senior praetorians are going to start training promising crewmen to become the next crop.

Only a couple of days, if that. The Stations of passage, of which the Witch-Cursed World (needs a new name, hah) is one are all inside the Maw. Footfall is right at the end of it.

[Leon]

Only a couple of days, if that. The Stations of passage, of which the Witch-Cursed World (needs a new name, hah) is one are all inside the Maw. Footfall is right at the end of it.

Witch Cleansed

[PotatoGolem]

This has been the greatest week of Macharius' life, even with the whole "almost got eaten by a daemon" thing. Being saved by the Emperor and then honored by a Space Marine chapter? I'm not sure a more personally meaningful reward is even possible.

To recap:
- You accepted a quest to go to an absurdly haunted planet and poke it with a stick.
- On the way, you accidentally activated a Thousand Sons relic, summoning the Heresy-Era version of Ahzek Ahriman, who got into a fight with the modern version of himself on board your ship.
- You took exception to this and decided to also fight Modern Ahriman. After the fight, you found out who Heresy-Era Ahriman was, and immediately armed him with considerable knowledge of events he hadn't experienced yet just to see what he would do with it.
- He was understandably upset to learn that his Legion had fallen to Chaos, and vowed to put a stop to this given the chance. You decided this was a capital idea, and offered to help him see it through.
- Upon arriving on the haunted planet, you poked it with a stick and discovered it was indeed super haunted for realsies. Investigating further, you learned this was because the center of the planet was a warp-corrupted Eldar future prediction device turned time machine.
- Deciding that this absolutely could not in any way stand, you kicked in the door and challenged a Keeper of Secrets to come have a go if it thought it was hard enough.
- it was not hard enough
- With the daemon vanquished, you turned over the time machine to Heresy-Era Ahriman and did everything in your power to make sure it worked the way he wanted it to.

I think that level of dedication to the madness deserves some sort of payoff.

This made me laugh, especially "it was not hard enough."

[Blarghy]

Being saved by the Emperor and then honored by a Space Marine chapter? I'm not sure a more personally meaningful reward is even possible.

All well and good, but all the same, I won't turn down forbidden lore and/or rare cybernetics.

[Haval]

Ninja'd by Destro

Will edit that

[Destro_Yersul]

And there you have it! Sutekh is obviously not the most perfect source, being ten thousand years removed from the events in question, but that's the alternate history I worked up for you. I spent a lot of time thinking about what all would change as a result of Ahriman leaning on a couple critical levers. It's not everything, but it's something.

Also, I ought to give you stats for your gifts, where they have them.

Witch Bolts are lifted from Deathwatch. They deal normal damage, but reduce Psy Rating by 1 for 1d10 rounds on anything they damage, and also force a Warp Instability check. Ravia can produce more of them as needed.

Hannabel's pendant grants Resistance: Psychic Powers as a bonus talent while worn, and prevents the wearer from being possessed by an external source.

The book, apart from being a priceless account of the Heresy and subsequent years, albeit entirely from the perspective of the Thousand Sons, gives +10 on Scholastic/Forbidden Lore checks regarding that period of time.

Echo's new staff is a Best Craftsmanship Force Staff. Normally Navigators can't benefit from the special qualities of a Force Staff, but this one allows its wielder to count as Psy Rating 2, as long as they have some sort of connection to the warp.

Macharius doesn't get stats, really. The dagger is a Best-Craftsmanship Mono-knife, but is otherwise not remarkable apart from what it represents. The reliquary is an absurdly holy artifact, being from Terra, but has no statistical benefit. His bonus is more the statue letting you call in Space Marine support. The Thousand Sons won't participate in battles against Imperial targets, no matter how much you hate Quinn. They also have more important things to do than hunt down random pirates, or the like - they answer to people with more authority than you. Give them a worthy target, though, and they'll send you whatever they can.

[Blarghy]

That's so cool; I love my new beatin' stick. Although if Echo is ever in a position to actually use it in melee, it means the tactical situation has gone terribly wrong. I want to make some adjustments to it in the days after this meeting, until by the time we leave Footfall, it becomes

Spoiler: Cognitio

Show

High Gothic: Cognitio, the Quill of Absalom
Low Gothic: Inquiry

Starting from the top, the ornate head of this staff depicts the unblinking eye of the Navis Nobilite. Its pupil is a brilliant green gem, and within this, rests a shard of the staff of Ahzek Ahriman, powerful psyker, fallen Thousand Son, and time traveler. Dangling from the curve of the lower eyelid are connection cables for a Memorance Implant, as well as a miniature projector lens for sharing the images locked within. These cords rattle and brush against the shaft of ancient black wood, bound in rings of platinum. Stamped into the silvery bands, line by line, is the prayer that Macharius Absalom delivered after defeating a Keeper of Secrets. Finally, at the base of the staff, is a crescent-blade for the rare occasions when this tool is used for simple violence.

Kennoch "Echo" Castermire, chief remembrancer of the Absalom Dynasty, uses the staff as both library and propagandist's tool. Not only picts and transcripts rest here, however. Cognitio also contains the psychic Warp-charts gathered for the Dynasty, particularly those connecting to Port Davis.

An invaluable resource for the Warp Guide, steeped in ancient history, encrusted with psychic energy, Cognitio, the Quill of Absalom, serves as badge of office for the Navigator Primus of the dynasty's flagship.

Destro, is all that alright? The Navis Primer says that Warp charts are stored in this kind of way, and even gives the example of using a staff, in one of the side-bars. The bit about the Memorance Implant is basically a dataslate without the usual keyboard and screen, interfaced with instead via cables to the skull, for those who have the right ports. A backup version of the adventures that we have, as recorded by Echo. And then I'd like a small, mobile projector, so that Kennoch can easily show the things he's seen. I'm not sure if the standard Memorance Implant might come with that kind of thing already; it's a bit vague, and I think we've just handwaved it in the past. The rest is just a matter of appearance.

I meant it to be a kind of mirror to the staff that Evil Ahriman used before we kicked him out of existence. Minus the horns on top, at least until we kill a daemon with a good set. Kennoch was the only one who didn't watch the fight in the landing bay at the start of the chapter and see Evil Ahriman, so he won't have done this consciously. Just a fun little quirk of fate and time.

The Thousand Sons won't participate in battles against Imperial targets, no matter how much you hate Quinn.

And I was going to say that we should put in a quiet word about how Quinn is an untrustworthy jerk, just in case it matters. I think we did the same with Governor Hax. It's quite fun playing the galactic version of a mean high school student, ruining the reputations of our rival one organization at a time.

[PotatoGolem]

Macharius doesn't get stats, really. The dagger is a Best-Craftsmanship Mono-knife, but is otherwise not remarkable apart from what it represents. The reliquary is an absurdly holy artifact, being from Terra, but has no statistical benefit. His bonus is more the statue letting you call in Space Marine support. The Thousand Sons won't participate in battles against Imperial targets, no matter how much you hate Quinn. They also have more important things to do than hunt down random pirates, or the like - they answer to people with more authority than you. Give them a worthy target, though, and they'll send you whatever they can.

Yeah I don't think he's taking the super holy relic into battle any time soon. It's something very personally meaningful to Macharius, so he's pretty much over the moon. All three are really cool rewards and fit his character, as well as tying in this arc well.

[Destro_Yersul]

Yeah I don't think he's taking the super holy relic into battle any time soon. It's something very personally meaningful to Macharius, so he's pretty much over the moon. All three are really cool rewards and fit his character, as well as tying in this arc well.

Macharius was the easiest to think of arc-appropriate stuff he would like.

That's so cool; I love my new beatin' stick. Although if Echo is ever in a position to actually use it in melee, it means the tactical situation has gone terribly wrong. I want to make some adjustments to it in the days after this meeting, until by the time we leave Footfall, it becomes

Spoiler: Cognitio

Show

High Gothic: Cognitio, the Quill of Absalom
Low Gothic: Inquiry

Starting from the top, the ornate head of this staff depicts the unblinking eye of the Navis Nobilite. Its pupil is a brilliant green gem, and within this, rests a shard of the staff of Ahzek Ahriman, powerful psyker, fallen Thousand Son, and time traveler. Dangling from the curve of the lower eyelid are connection cables for a Memorance Implant, as well as a miniature projector lens for sharing the images locked within. These cords rattle and brush against the shaft of ancient black wood, bound in rings of platinum. Stamped into the silvery bands, line by line, is the prayer that Macharius Absalom delivered after defeating a Keeper of Secrets. Finally, at the base of the staff, is a crescent-blade for the rare occasions when this tool is used for simple violence.

Kennoch "Echo" Castermire, chief remembrancer of the Absalom Dynasty, uses the staff as both library and propagandist's tool. Not only picts and transcripts rest here, however. Cognitio also contains the psychic Warp-charts gathered for the Dynasty, particularly those connecting to Port Davis.

An invaluable resource for the Warp Guide, steeped in ancient history, encrusted with psychic energy, Cognitio, the Quill of Absalom, serves as badge of office for the Navigator Primus of the dynasty's flagship.

Destro, is all that alright? The Navis Primer says that Warp charts are stored in this kind of way, and even gives the example of using a staff, in one of the side-bars. The bit about the Memorance Implant is basically a dataslate without the usual keyboard and screen, interfaced with instead via cables to the skull, for those who have the right ports. A backup version of the adventures that we have, as recorded by Echo. And then I'd like a small, mobile projector, so that Kennoch can easily show the things he's seen. I'm not sure if the standard Memorance Implant might come with that kind of thing already; it's a bit vague, and I think we've just handwaved it in the past. The rest is just a matter of appearance.

I meant it to be a kind of mirror to the staff that Evil Ahriman used before we kicked him out of existence. Minus the horns on top, at least until we kill a daemon with a good set. Kennoch was the only one who didn't watch the fight in the landing bay at the start of the chapter and see Evil Ahriman, so he won't have done this consciously. Just a fun little quirk of fate and time.

Sure. You'll need to find a master craftsman to make the appropriate adjustments, but I think Ravia technically qualifies.

[rax]

Hannabel's pendant grants Resistance: Psychic Powers as a bonus talent while worn, and prevents the wearer from being possessed by an external source.

Would the possession prevention work against technological means as well or "just" Warp/psychic possession?