rogue trader - dark frontier

8/4/2019 Rogue Trader - Dark Frontier

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AN INTRODUCTORYROGUE TRADER ADVENTURE


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Lead DeveloperRoss Watson

Dark Frontier Written byOwen Barnes with additional writing by Sam Stewart

Editing

Leigh Anne Reger

Graphic DesignKevin Childress

Cover ArtImaginary Friends Studio

Interior ArtMatt Bradbury, Colin MacNeil, Karl Richardson

Art DirectionZoe Robinson

Production ManagerGabe Laulunen

Managing RPG DeveloperMichael Hurley

PublisherChristian T. Petersen

GamesWorkshop

Licensing ManagerOwen Rees

Thanks to all sta o the GW Design Studioyour work is

an inspiration.

Licensing & Acquired Rights ManagerErik Mogensen

Intellectual Property ManagerAlan Merrett

Head of Legal & LicensingAndy Jones

Special Thanks to Our PlaytestersAll Records Expunged Sean Schoonmaker with Cli Drozda,Nate Grover, Andrew McDonnell, Eric Ullman, No Guts, NoGlory Sean Connor with Mathieu Booth, Karl Lloyd, StephenPitson, Benn Williams with Kat Glass, Chris Lancaster, Matt

Ricciki, Rebecca Williams, Eric Young

FANTASY

FLIGHT

GAMES

Fantasy Flight Games1975 West County Road B2

Roseville, MN 55113

USA

Copyright Game Workshop Limited 2009. Games Workshop, Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer 40,000 Role Play, Rogue Trader,the oregoing marks respective logos, Rogue Trader, and all associated marks, logos, places, names, creatures, races and race insignia/

devices/logos/symbols, vehicles, locations, weapons, units and unit insignia, characters, products and illustrations rom the Warhammer40,000 universe and the Rogue Trader game setting are either , , and/or Games Workshop Ltd 20002009, variably registered

in the UK and other countries around the world. This edition published under license to Fantasy Flight Publishing Inc. All rightsreserved to their respective owners. No part o this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any

orm by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission o the publishers.

Product Code: RTP2

For more inormation about the Rogue Trader line, ree downloads, answersto rule queries, or just to pass on greetings, visit us online at

.FantayFigtGame.com

Credits


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Dark

FrontierYou think man is the only race to dabble in the darkness o the

warp? No my riend, there are creatures ar older and evil than us

out there among the cold starsaliens whose worship o the warpmakes humanity seem as naughty children screaming at the sky.

Interrogator Milos Helacania, Lost to the Warp 673M40

This adventure ollows the events detailed in Forsaken

Bounty. Ater acing o against malign inuence o

the Psycharus Worm, the Explorers fnd themselvesin possession o both the Emperors Bountyand the ell Halo

Device that led to its demise. Unortunately or them, their

actions have had more ar reaching consequences than theycould imagine, and in deeating the thralls o the Worm,

they have stirred up dark orces and ancient alien powers. Inthis adventure, the Explorers will learn o the true power othe Worm and catch a terriying glimpse into the legacy o

its creators. Their vessel and crew will be subverted by the

power o a terrible xenos race known as the Yuvathan evilthought by most to have been long since extinguished rom

the galaxyand they will be drawn into an ancient trap romwhich they must fnd a way to escape or become lost orever.

OVERVIEw

This scenario picks up where Forsaken Bounty let o withthe Explorers in possession o both the Emperors Bountyand the

Halo Device known as the Psycharus Worm. Ater strippingthe ship and deciding what to do with the Wormkeep it,

discard it or destroy itthey make a transition into the warp

leaving the battlefeld behind. At this point things begin to gowrong or them; it seems that whatever powers they quelled

aboard the Bounty have inected their own vessel and takenpossession o their ships systems. Out o control, their vessel iscast into the deep storms o the Maw and swept ar o course.

When the Explorers fnally still the horrors that rage across

their ship and return to real space, they fnd that the Wormhas taken them somewhere ar inside the Ragged Worlds to

a remote system where an ancient alien space station hangsin the void in place o a star. This solar ortress was created

long ago by the dark and alien Yuvath and seems to have

complete mastery over the system and a gravity shadow strong

Runningthe AdventuRe

You do not need a copy orogue trader to play thisadventure. It can be run using the characters and rules

presented in the Forsaken Bounty booklet (available

or download rom the Fantasy Flight website). Howeveri you do possess a copy o theroguetrader rulebook,

guidelines have been presented to allow the GM to

expand on certain encounters and challengesaddingsuch things as space battles and alternative enemies.


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enough to hold orbiting planetary bodies, snare ships crossing

the Koronus Passage, and worst o all, create some kind opowerul warp-lock preventing their escape. In addition to thebrooding presence o the Yuvath Fortress, the Explorers will

also discover that they are not alone; others have been drawn

here and are equally eager to escape. Using their cunning andskill, the Explorers must unite these marooned travellers and

lead an assault against the Yuvath Fortress to break the warp-lock and escape back into the void.

PART ONE:A DEADlY TRANsITIONThe adventure begins when the Explorers are preparing tomake a transition into the warp, at which time the Worm will

become active once more. When exactly this happens is upto the GM. I the adventure ollows directly ater ForsakenBounty, then this can be at the point that the Explorers arepreparing to leave the Battleground ater stripping much o

the Bounty. Alternately, any amount o time could go by with

the Explorers pursuing other opportunities and adventures,unaware that the Worm slumbers within their ship until

at some point, when making a transition into the warp (a

common occurrence or Rogue Traders), it stirs to lie. I thisadventure is used directly ater Forsaken Bounty and is

being played using therogue trader

Core Rulebook, theGM should allow the PCs to spend experience gained romthat adventure and to acquire new items (it can be imagined

that they are salvaged rom the Bounty) beore pressing on.As the Explorers ship begins its transition, read or

paraphrase the ollowing:

As it has done countless times beore, your ship once again

prepares to pierce the abric o the immaterium and plunge intothe warp. Like a sickness rising rom the pit o your stomach you

eel the warp engines roar to lie a dozen decks below your eet

and the charge in the ships stale air as the Geller Fields empyrealweb envelops the vessel. The ships structure shudders and groans

as the transition begins and then

Something is wrong. All o a sudden the bridge is plunged

into shadow and the ship seems to buck under the weight o someunseen orcethe very deck underoot rippling and bending. Allaround you servitors cease their mindless tasks and throw their

heads back screaming out o ruined mouths. You are struck by the

unshakable eeling that something terrible has just happened.

Although the ships Gellar Field is active at this point,the ship is wholly within the warp and the proximity allows

the Worm to regain its power despite the Fields intererence

(incidentally, this is what also happened aboard the EmperorsBounty). The Worm has inected their vessel with a Yuvath

Dark-Energy Construct known as a Warp Maggot which hasbegun to attack the ships machine spirit. This means that theExplorers will lose control o their ships helm and systems

and servitors all across the ship will go berserk as they are

tortured by the presence o the Maggot writhing aroundinside their sensory links and power eeds.

The Explorers may attempt to use their Gellar Field todisrupt the Worms control. Unortunately, while they are

in the warp, the Gellar Field will have no aect on the

Worms powers.

descentinto dARkness

At this point, the Explorers will probably be screaming to fndout what is going on and why their ship is ailing all around

them. Finding out that their ship has been attacked by a WarpMaggot (since ew people will even know what a Warp Maggot

is) is not going to happen straight awayi at all. Instead, theGM should have them treat the symptoms o the problem and

show o their leadership skills by putting out some spot fres

caused by rampaging servitors and the Maggots assault on themachine spirit. These can include:

Warp Engine Overload: The Explorers must direct

power relays away rom the warp engine as its energyfeld uctuates. This task can be perormed over the vox,

requires a Hard (20) Fellowship Test (although orthe Rogue Trader or Void-Master, the Test is Challenging(+0) instead), while personally aiding the Enginseers

requires a Challenging (+0) Tech-use Test.

Hull Breech: A section o the ship is open to the warp

and must be sealed switly. This can be done over the

vox, but requires Difcult (10) Intimidate or Charm

Test to convince the crew to sacrifce those trapped in

the compartments. It can be done linking with the core

cogitator, requiring a Challenging (+0) Tech-use Test.Finally, Explorers near the decompressing section can

personally seal the pressure doors using an Ordinary

(+10) Strength Test.

WheReisthe WoRm?

At the conclusion oForsaken Bounty the Explorers

will be in possession o the Psycharus Worm, thoughit will seemingly be inert. The Worm is linked to the

warp, and able to phase in and out o real space, so

attempts to destroy it, discard it, or lock it away willail as it creeps about (though never when the PCs are

observing it) and attempts to stay on their ship. I theExplorers do choose to discard or destroy it, then itwill simply vanish (the GM can lead them to believe

they have been successul) and hide within their vessel

until the time is right. The GM can take advantage tothis to heighten the PCs anxiety by having it strangely

move across a table when they look away, or having acrewman discover it in a vent decks away rom where

they let it. For more details on the Psycharus Worm

and Halo Arteacts, see page 17 in Forsaken Bounty.


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Catastrophic Lie-Support Failure: The atmospherewithin the ship is ailing (see page 18 o ForsakenBounty or running out o air). This can be fxed in the

same way as a Hull Breech above, however the increaseddifculty modifes all Tests by 10.

Failing any o these Tests should not be atal or the PlayerCharacters, but the GM can go to lengths to describe the rising

body count to the rest o the crew and the brutal damage their

ship is suering. The Explorers may also jump to the conclusion

(rightly so) that the Worm is behind the chaos, and try to fndit. A thorough search will locate it attached to servitor where

it released the Maggot into the machine spirit. By this stage,the Maggot will have completed its subversion o the machine

spirit and disappear (perhaps to return later) and control o

their ship will return. At this time (several hours in game time)their ship will abruptly drop back into real spaceheralding

the beginning o more pressing problems

PART TwO:UPON A DARk NOwhEREWhile they were fghting the Maggot and the eects o itsrampage, the Worm has guided their vessel into the waiting

web o a Yuvath trapa region o warp space altered to snare

the unwary and draw them toward an ancient alien ortress.As soon as they return to real space and take their bearings

scanning the near void to fnd out where they areread orparaphrase the ollowing:

Probing the darkness with your ships sensors, you slowly

assemble a picture o the near void around your vessel. At rstyou think you must be in deep spacesuch is the emptiness that

presses down upon your hull. However ater a ew moments you

begin to detect the presence o what must be a remote solar systemcontaining little more than ragments o cold dead rock and a

ring o gutted space hulks. At the centre o the systembeyond

the rocks and ring o debrisa tiny black star burns and fickers

against the darker void beyond.

At this point, the Worm will also vanish rom wherever it

linked into the ships machine spirit, and will not be seen again

on the ship. The Worm used the Sovereign Ventureto fnd its wayback to this ancient alien ortresswhich had been its goal

even when it took over the Emperors Bounty. Now that it hasarrived, it cares little or what happens to the Explorers.

WARp-locked

The dark star is in act a Yuvath Fortressan alien arteacto unimaginable power orged long ago by a twisted andcorrupt xenos race. Equal in size to a medium-sized world,

it hangs in the void like a black sun, arcing with power and

blotting out the stars behind it. Across its surace, hundredso small islands orm a matrix o power relays and energy

webstheir true purpose unknown. What is apparent is thatthe Fortress emits a tremendous gravity feld across the near


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voiddrawing asteroids, hulks and even rogue moons into itsorbit. Its presence is also elt within the warp, where it creates

a deep shadow across the immaterium preventing ships romescape. Furthermore, the station is protected by Yuvath Void

Waspssmall crystalline and dark metal needle-like rigates

with substantial frepower. These dark vessels constantly patrolwithin the upper orbit o the station.

All o these acts will quickly become apparent to the PCs,

either rom scans o the systems core, readings rom the warp

engines, or reports rom their astropath concerning the shadowin the warp emanating rom the star. This should leave them

with the knowledge that they have somehow been broughthere by the Worm and trapped or some unknown purpose.

From the edge o the system, they will also be able to track anumber o celestial bodies orbiting the starmost notably a

small moon and broad ring o debris. Closer inspection will

reveal that there is some kind o settlement on the moon andthe presence o a vast space hulk hidden in the debris ring.

They will also begin to pick up vox trafc.

Another detail they will quickly realise is that their vesselis locked into orbit around the star. Neither their plasma

drives nor their warp engines will operate. It appears they arecompletely trapped. Luckily, the mysterious orce that pins theSovereign Venture in place has no aect on their smaller gun-

cutter, which they can use to get around the system.

A hostile shoRe

The Explorers are not the frst people to have been drawn

into this cursed system by the ancient Yuvath. Both xenos andhuman vessels have been plucked rom the Maw, either by the

malign power o Halo Devices like the Worm or by strayingtoo close to the Yuvaths web within the warp. The ate o

most o these crews and their ships has been a slow death

trapped in the orbit o the ortressunable to ee through

the warp or through realspace. A ew, however, have survived,and while no living xenos remain, two distinct human actions

have taken up dominion over this evil place. The largest is amotley band o void-arers, ex-Imperials, and mutants led by

an old naval midshipman named Martek the Just. Martek and

his survivors have an established base on the systems onlytrue planetary body: the nameless moon. The other settlement,

known as the Brotherhood, is much smaller and led by a clericnamed Palar. Marooned pilgrims, they have taken up residence

in a space hulk within the debris ring and see their time

here as a test by the Emperor himsel. Both groups will beunderstandably interested in the Explorers arrival and more

importantly the presence o their powerul vessel.

mARteks suRvivoRs

Martek commands a settlement o several thousand men andwomen in a vast shanty town on the nameless moon. Created

rom the wrecks o ships, the settlement stretches acrosskilometres o the moons airless surace. The inhabitants have

constructed makeshit habitats out o the crew quarters and

lie sustainers o scavenged vessels. Like all the inhabitants othe system, they survive by scavenging and arming the ew

ungus and ood rodents that can live in such a claustrophobic

environment, and searching the debris feld or ice-asteroids

they can convert to water and air. The settlement also boasts asizable mutant populationdrawn rom the bilges o countless

vesselswhich play a vital role in its maintenance. Even withthe limited resources available to him, Martek has observed

the surace o the Yuvath Fortress or years and watched howits energy matrix binds the detritus o the system together.

His attempts to land on the ortress and break the matrix,

however, have all ended in ailure as he lacks the power toget past its deences.

Ting to no about te survivor:

Martek believes that everyone in the settlement is

equalbeneath him o course.The Survivors settlement is dyingwithin a generation

or two, its population will all be gone.The mutant population are restless and will soon

outnumber the non-mutants.

Martek speculates that to end the inuence o the Fortress,its power matrix (relayed through its crystal towers) must

be destroyed. He has even determined a particular crystal

tower that seems larger and more energetic than the rest,and thinks that i that particular tower is destroyed, the

orce that keeps ships rom leaving will be disrupted. He

even has a weapon capable o pulling it o, the warhead

the YuvAth

More than two thousands years ago, during the timeo the Lord-Militant Angevin, the Expanse was home

to an ancient and alien evil known as the Yuvath.

Twisted servants o the warp, they built an empire ona oundation o dark sorcery, soul slavery and daemon

worship. For years the Crusade ought a bloody war

against them, slowly pushing them back in the ace omassed slave armies and vile warp-technology. Finally

Saint Drusus himsel struck the fnal blow and endedtheir domination over the Calyx Expanse. What was

let o their worlds and arteacts were destroyed and

their locations purged rom Imperial records and overtime their existence was slowly orgotten. Whispers

persist however that they were never truly deeated and

there are Yuvath worlds still hidden deep within thedarkness o the Expanse.

GMs can allow any Explorer with the Scholastic

Lore (Occult) or (Legend) Skill to make a Difcult (10)Test to know something o the tales o the Yuvath.

Alternatively some o the NPCs they encounter in thisadventure may be able to pass on dark rumours.


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rom a vortex torpedo scavenged rom the wreckage oa ship. However, he has no way o breaking through the

Void Wasp blockade that surrounds the planet to plant

the torpedo.

the BRotheRhood

The Brotherhood is the remnants o a pilgrim ship that was

plucked rom the Maw by the power o the Yuvath Fortress.

Led by Palar, it has become more a monastery than a truesettlement and survives mostly by scavenging rom the debris

ring. Far smaller than the Survivors settlement (numberingonly a hundred or so souls), it has nevertheless endured and

resisted Marteks attempts at assimilation or two key reasons.

The frst is that many o the Survivors respect Palar and hisollowers and their aith in the Emperor, believing that his

presence somewhat alleviates their own hopelessness and thedamned nature o their predicament. The second is that the

Brotherhood is home to Lynara Cobolt, a pious ree captain

and commander o the Penance o Iocanthos an armedtransport ship. For his part, Palar has also restricted ties with

Martek because o the mutant population o his settlementwhich he sees as an aront to the Emperor. The Brotherhoodwill welcome the Explorers, as long as they come in the name

o the Emperor.

Ting to no about te Broterood:

They are religious anatics that ollow only the word othe God-Emperor.

Lynara is more interested in status and wealth than pietyand might be open to a deal that involved her and her

ship joining the Explorers dynasty.

Lynaras armed transport is trapped in an orbit much

closer to the Fortress than the Explorers vessel. In act,her guns are in range o the Void Wasps. However, she

is unwilling to fre on them or no good reason, since itseems like a bad idea to provoke them.

They will only ollow Martek or the Explorers i all themutants are purged and Martek submits to a ritual o

purifcation and supplication to the God-Emperor.

gm guidAnce:

Runningthe FActions

This section o the adventure has been let open or

the GM and players to proceed as they chooseeither

with or without the help o the actions. At its mostbasic, the PCs can arrive, make contact with either

action and learn what they know about the Fortress

and its inuence, and learn the act that they cannotbreak its deences with their vessel alone. From here,

they can then stage an assault with either or bothactions aid and destroy one o the ortress relay

towers, thus breaking its power matrix and allowing

them to escape.

mAking deAls

Both o the actions have something necessary to

escape the system. Martek has the plan and the bomb,

and Lynara has the shipboard weaponry to blow a holein the Yuvath deences. The Explorers have several

possible options:The Explorers can unite the actions through words

and diplomacy. This will require the Explorers to

speak to each action in turn, making Challenging

(+0) Charm or Intimidate Tests to convince (or

coerce) each side to ollowing the Explorers orders.

Marteks action will be especially susceptible tothreats o violence in the orm o Intimidate Tests,

whilst the Brotherhood may be easily persuaded

by a member o the Imperial missionary makingan Ordinary (+10) Scholastic Lore (ImperialCreed) Test (or a Charm test at the same difculty)to convince them that their aith allows them

to work with unclean mutants, as long as thosemutants are used to urther the accomplishmentso the aithul.

They can ally with one action, then overcome

and take what they need rom the other. Thiswill require the Explorers to fght or trick the

opposing action. Trask, or example, can make a

Challenging (+0) Deceive Test to trick a actionleader into letting him enter their stronghold with

a compliment o armed individuals rom his crewor an opposing action, at which point they can

attempt to take it over. Or, i the GM has access

to the rogue trader Core Rulebook, he can use

some o the NPCs and Adversaries and set up afght that the Explorers must overcome.

The GM is encouraged, however, to draw out thissection o the adventure and orce the Explorers to deal

with both actions in order to get inormation aboutthe ortress and also the resourcesships, men, and a

bombto take it out.


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PART ThREE:AN AlIEN wAROnce the Explorers have the support o either Martek or Palar

(or both), they will have the men and ships they need to stage

an assault on the ortress. As mentioned above, Martek has aplan to destroy the ortress which involves getting a bomb

inside one o the ortresss energy towers and setting it othough the PCs can ormulate their own plan along theselines once they learn this is the key to breaking the warp-lock.

However, a feld akin to void-shielding protects the islands

rom orbital attack, so whatever their alternate plan is, it willhave to involve shuttling down to the surace and destroying

the tower rom the inside. To do this, the Explorers will needto blast a hole in the patrols o deending Void Wasps while

they shuttle over to the structure and plant the bomb. This is

where Lynara and her ship will come in handy, though theplayers may eel that they are skilled enough pilots to evade

the Void Wasps without her help.

The Explorers have two options to get through the Void

Wasp patrols.Lynaras vessel can begin a long-range bombardment

o the planet with her macrobatteries, fring as muchordinance as possible. Meanwhile, the Explorers in their

shuttle or gun-cutter use their voxes to direct whoever isfring the ships weapons. One o the Explorers should

make a Challenging (+0) Ballistic Skill Test. I he

succeeds, the gun-cutters pilot must make anEasy (+30)

Pilot (Space Crat) Test to y the gun-cutter through

the blockade. I the Ballistic Skill Test ails, the Pilot Test

is Routine (+20) instead.I the players want to proceed without the covering

fre, the pilot must make two Challenging (+0) Pilot(Space Crat) Tests instead.I any Pilot Tests are ailed, everyone inside the gun-cutter

will take 1d5 Wounds (ignoring Armour and Toughness),as the gun-cutter is hit and bueted by fre rom the Void

Wasps. I there are any NPCs with the Explorers, a ew o

them should die horribly as stray energy bursts puncture oneo the passenger compartments. However, the gun-cutter

will still make it to the tower whether the Tests succeed

or ail.

Once the Explorers get close enough, they can erry the

bomb across. As their gun-cutter approaches the ortress, reador paraphrase the ollowing:

gm guidAnce: spAce BAttle

The assault on the station as presented here has beendesigned so that the GM does not need to keep track

o the space battle. Instead, it is assumed that it will be

raging in the background as the Explorers make theirlanding and proceed to an energy toweressentially

allowing them to make their landing without beingblown out o the sky. In this case, the GM shouldemphasise the titanic struggle raging above the PCs

heads as the Yuvath Void Wasps clash with the human

eet, flling the sky with fre and death.However, i you are running this adventure with

a copy o rogue trader, you will have access todetailed rules or space battles and ship profles. I this

is the case, the GM should eel ree to esh out this

part o the adventure, having the Explorers fght theirway past several Void Wasps beore they can get close

enough to launch their gun-cutter.

This battle can most easily be done with inormationound in the rogue trader gMs toolkit, which has

inormation on Void Wasps and intersystem ships. The

GM can also build Lynaras ship using a VagabondMerchant Trader as the base hull (although the GM

should remember that her ship is locked in place andcannot move). I you do this, keep in mind that the

Explorers goal is not to destroy all the Void Wasps,

but simply get close enough to the planet to launch agun-cutter.


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Your gun-cutter is bueted and shaken as it fies across the

void between your ship and the black star. All around, the darknessis alive with the vivid slash o beams and fashes o exploding

ordinance. Soon however, even these ade into the background as

you get your rst good look at the alien installation. Thousandso kilometres across, it appears as a great ball o liquid darkness

seething and rippling against the stars. On its surace, massive

honeycomb islands glitter and spark, spewing orth streams o

insect-like interceptors to attack your allies in space. However,one island stands out, larger than the others and crowned bya crystal tower connected to the others by fickering streams o

energy. As you draw closer, your gun-cutter passes through some

kind o pressure curtain and is immediately assailed by wind andblack tar-like rain thrown up rom the dark surace below. More

alarmingly, the gun-cutters instrument panels begin to ficker

erratically.

As the Explorers approach the island, their gun-cutter willbe assaulted by energy ribbons and electromagnetic static

causing its systems to icker on and o. The GM should havethem make one fnal Challenging (+0) Piloting Test toput down saely on the islandi they ail, then their gun-

cutter will land hard and all Explorers must make a Ordinary

(+10) Toughness Test or suer 1 point o damage (ignoringArmour or Toughness) as they smack against the gun-cutters

internal components. Such a landing will also disturb thebomb, and the GM can have a ew tense moments as it is

thrown about and makes ominous noises. Whether or not

they make a smooth landing, the Explorers will not be ableto get urther than the shore o the island due to the power

feld surrounding the structure, and will be orced to processon oot toward the tower to plant the bomb.

The GM should determine the size o the vortex torpedo

warhead. It can either be as large as a bed and ar heavier,requiring it to be carried by several men (thus orcing the

PCs to go slowly and protect its bearers). Or it can be smallenough to be carried by a single Explorer (though this means

it can be more easily lost should the bearer be lost or lose his

backpack).

the mind mAze

To reach the crystal tower at the centre o the island, the

Explorers will need to navigate through a maze o closed and

open tunnels o veined black diamond. The route is long andwinding, and the walls alternate between blank corridors that

all look exactly the same and claustrophobic tunnels coveredin disquieting pictographs depicting unnatural rites and

rituals. The real peril here, however, is not getting lost but in

losing their minds.I you are using rogue trader, have each Explorer make

a Challenging (+0) Willpower Test or suer 1d10 InsanityPoints as their minds are assaulted by the Yuvath pictographsthat cover the tunnel walls, Otherwise, the GM should simply

impose a 10 penalty to the Ballistic Skill and Weapon Skill

Tests o any Explorer who ails the Willpower Test during thenext combat (the Crystal Garden).

At the GMs discretion, i the Explorers are accompaniedby Martek or Palar and their ollowers, they can have some o

them go mad and either run o, turn on the group, or even

try and set o the bomb. Beyond the maze they will fnd thecrystal garden.


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the cRYstAl gARden

The tower is ringed by an open area flled with a orest o

what appear to be crystalline treestheir deadly sharp edgesglinting in the light given o by the tower. Many o the

trees have shed their branches so that the ground crunchesunderoot with broken crystal. Fighting in here is dangerous,

and any explosions, such as grenades or bolters, have a 50%

chance to cause a rain o razor sharp crystal leaves. I this

occurs, have everyone in the combat make an Ordinary(+10) Agility Test or suer 1d10 points o damage (this is

reduced by Armour and Toughness as normal). In additionto the dangers o the trees, several Shardspiders (used by

the Yuvath to maintain their structures) prowl the orest

their crunching ootsteps audible to any who care to listen(an Ordinary (+10) Awareness Test to detect beore they

attack). Shardspider attacks should be in groups equal innumber to the Explorers and their allies.

shARdspideRs

Another construct o the Yuvath, these deadly little creaturesare ashioned rom bruised purple crystal and are about thesize o a large dog. With twelve legs and a tiny central body

they scuttle about with alarming speed. They also have a set

o needle-like mandibles which they can alternatively use tomend broken crystal or plunge into an Explorers sot esh

sardpider Profe

ws Bs s T Ag Int Per wP Fe

39 44 41 51 16 37 20

Movement: 5/10/15/30 Wounds: 10

Skills: Stealth (Ag)

Talents: None

Traits: Natural Armour (All 2)

Weapons: Monoflament mandibles (1d10+4; Pen 4)

Armour: All 2

Gear: None

the keening toWeR

The needle-like crystal tower that spears the centre o the

island has a single, large and obvious entrance ringed bystrange Yuvath markings. There is not untoward danger here;however, unless the Explorers devise some way o more easily

getting to the top, they are in or a long torturous climb. Haveeach Explorer make an Ordinary (+10) Toughness Test

or suer a 10 penalty to their Toughness or the ollowing

battle.

the chAmBeRoF Bones

At the top o the Keening Tower the Explorers will fnd the

Chamber o Bonesthe power nucleus o the island and thelair o the Bone Warden. This is a large vaulted chamber,

twisted and veined with purple light like the rest o theisland, but here, the light seems to coalesce into a single

blazing point above the Explorers head. Across the oor and

walls more o the disturbing pictographs can be seen amid

the desiccated remains o humans and xenos corpses. In thecentre o the chamber a dim luminous sphere, surrounded by

oating shards o crystal, hovers below the nexus o light.This is the Bone Warden (see below) and it will stir as the

Explorers enter its lair.

In the rear o the chamber, hovering on a pedestal o darkcrystal, the Explorers will notice something very amiliar. The

Psycharus Worm is suspended in a column o blue-purplelight. Obviously this is where it vanished to ater leaving the

Explorers ship.

YuvAth Bone WARden

An ancient Dark-Energy Construct, the Bone Warden is a ellunion o warp technology and dark sorcery. They were crated

by the Yuvath primarily to act as watchmen and guardians or

their void crypts and solar ortresses; and even now, long atertheir masters have been orgotten, they remain to ulfl their

duty. The Bone Warden has no physical orm and instead residesin a collective o dead mattermost oten corpses or other

once living remains. These corpses are held together by ribbons

and arcs o crackling black energy, the air around them chargedwith constant ashes o midnight electricity and the smell o

burning esh. Acting as a single mass, the corpses orm a cloud

o grasping, clawing hands and mouths that whirls through the


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11

air. The only way to deeat a warden is to destroy its physicalstate and thus disperse its dark energy feld. However, even as

its adversaries blast away its eshy shell, it uses its warp-shard

crowna collection o dark crystalline ragments that orbit itsenergised coreto claim more physical matter, regenerating its

rotting orm. For this reason, Bone Wardens are oten oundin rooms well stocked with the deada ready made supply o

material let by their Yuvath masters.

Fortunately or the Explorers, the Bone Warden they will

encounter in the crystal tower has aded in power with timeand the weakening o the ortress itselas such it does not

have archeo-warp weapons or its ull complement o psychicpowers.

Charged with deending the nexus and the crystal tower,

the Bone Warden will attack immediately and fght until eitherit or the Explorers have been destroyed.

Diminied Bone warden Profe

ws Bs s T Ag Int Per wP Fe(10)

58 33 54 41 31 40 32 40

Movement: 3/6/9/18 Wounds: 40

Skills: None

Talents: None

Traits: Warp-Shard Crown (see below), Cloud o Corpses(see below) Unnatural Strength x2 (see below)

Weapons: Claws and Fists (2d10+10), Warp Blast (Counts

as an Archaeotech Hellpistolsee page 5 o Forsaken

Bounty)

Armour: None

Gear: None

Warp-Shard Crown: At any time, a Bone Warden can spenda Full Action to regenerate one wound or every corpse within

20 metres as its shards burrow into their dead esh and theyare dragged into to the creatures mass. Once a corpse is used

in this way, it becomes part o the Bone Warden and cannotbe used again. The Warp-Shard Crown also has a secondary

power to disrupt energy attacks and felds in its presence as

the crystals sap their power. For this reason, power weapons(like power swords) only do hal damage against it.

Cloud o Corpses: Because the Bone Warden is not really a

physical thing but rather a collection o dead animated esh,it can also spread itsel across a large area by sending out

bodies spinning and writhing through the air. Typically aWarden will be comprised o around a dozen or so bodies atone time spread over an area o up to 15 metre radius rom

its crown. This means that anyone in, or next to, this area canbe attacked by the Warden. Furthermore, as a Full Action, the

Warden can make a single melee attack against every target

in this area. A amer or similar area-eeect weapon inictsdouble damage upon the Diminished Bone Warden.

Unnatural Strength (x2): The Bone Warden is a construct

uelled by the warp, giving it strength beyond what isphysically possible. When dealing damage with melee attacks,

the Bone Warden doubles its Strength Bonus (letting it do 10

additional damage instead o 5).

When the Explorers do leave the island with the bomb inplace, the GM can read or paraphrase the ollowing:

gm guidAnce:

BAttlingthe Bone WARden

The Warden is a powerul adversary and should be

difcult to deeat or the Explorers. It will strike at

them with its ailing corpses and blast them withwarp energy rom its crown. How difcult the GM

chooses to make this fght depends on how much he

thinks his players can takeconsidering they may bewounded already rom their journey to the tower. The

difculty o this fght is tied directly to the amount ocorpses in the chamber and thus the amount o times

the Warden can regenerate. Ten or less will make or

a airly evenly matched fght, while more than 20 willbe quite a challenge. The players may also fgure out

that the Warden draws its power rom the corpses once

they see it regenerate and choose to destroy bodiesbeore it can use them. This is a legitimate tactic as

long as they have a weapon powerul enough to shred

a corpsea bolter on semi-auto (or a amer burst)

should do it. Finally, another way to make this fght alittle easier on the PCs is to have their allies take someo the akeither Martek or Palar and their men can

soak up some o the damage. O course this will create

more corpsesI the players (or GM) are curious as to where the

corpses have come rom, an examination o the bodies

will reveal they are both human and xenos, and appearto be in varying states o decomposition. It should

be apparent to anyone who makes a Routine (+20)

Common Lore (Imperium) Test that the Explorersare not the frst to try and destroy this tower, and i

they ail, their bodies will join these heaps o corpses.

Once the Bone Warden has been destroyed, theExplorers can set their bomb and make their escape. I

the Explorers are particularly bloodied by their trialsso ar, you might want to go easy on them and simply

let them retrace their steps and then take their gun-

cutter back to their ship. However, i you eel they havea little more let in them, you can have one o their

allies turn on them, either due to madness or or a

chance to steal their vessel. Perhaps Palar or Martekmight ee, leaving some men to block their path while

attempting to reach their gun-cutter frst and leavethem stranded. Thus the Explorers must fght their

way outperhaps past more Shardspiderswhile in

the background the bomb counts slowly down


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As your gun-cutter lits o in a plume o exhaust, you eel a

shudder pass through the cabin. Turning your gaze to the imageo the dwindling alien tower, your vision is suddenly lled with a

fash o dazzling white light. For a heartbeat there is silence and

then suddenly the shock wave hits the gun-cutter and it is tossedwildly in the air. As the light ades, you can see the crackling

blue sphere o the vortex detonation hanging above the island

hungrily drawing in energy ribbons rom across the dark ortress.

In the distance, you can see other relay towers faring brightand burning out as the vortex robs them o their energy. Andthen you are beyond the pressure curtain and into the void once

morejust in time to witness the monolithic alien structure start

to implode.

CONClUsION ANDREwARDs

With the crystal tower destroyed, the Yuvath Fortress

guardian Void Wasps will explode, and its warp-lock will ail,allowing the Explorers to escape the system. The rest o thesurviving humans will be eager to hitch a ride back to the

Imperium and willing to pay or the privilege. This is the

point where the Explorers can pillage the system and perhapspick up some more lasting allies. Certainly i Lynara is still

about, she will be willing make some kind o arrangementswith them. Finally, i they are very bold indeed (and have

not had enough trouble rom xeno tech), they can attempt to

plunder the ruins o the ortress. What exactly they fnd is up

to the GMhowever it should almost certainly be trouble,perhaps even more Bone Wardens...

Finally there only remains the question o the Pyscharus

Worm and what to do with it. With the destruction o theortresss energy feld, it is now truly inert and will no longer

phase or cause more mischie. This means the Explorersare ree to keep it, destroy it, or try and sell it as they see

fto course even inert it might cause problems or them

as rumours leak out o their involvement with it to shadowy

organisations and interested parties.

pRoFit FActoRReWARds

Scavenging the system and errying the survivors

back to the Imperium: +3

Recovering any Yuvath arteacts to sell or pass on

to the Inquisition: +1

expeRience ReWARds

Breaking the warp-lock and escaping the system:

500 XPUniting the actions and getting everything they

need to assault the ortress without killing either

leader or their ollowers: 100 XP

I you have a copy orogue trader, then you can alsouse this opportunity to set up an Endeavour (as detailed in

Chapter X: The Game Master o the rogue traderrulebook) such as a permanent colony on the nameless moon

or a xenoexcavation o the ortress which could lead to greater

and lasting proft or the Explorers.

rogue trader - dark frontier

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