5 the Penal Brigade Framework

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SampleWrath & Glory originally designed by Ulisses North America file

2 Last Edited: June 2021 THE BLOODY GATES

The Bloody Gates follows the fate of Fireteam 123-B RUNNING THIS of the Gilead Gravediggers Auxiliary Penal Brigade during an assault on a rebellious hive city, Tora Armis, ADVENTURE on the Hive World of Gilead Primus. The Agents will face fierce fighting, and must keep their wits about The Bloody Gates is a roleplaying scenario set in a them if they are to make it through the battle. battle. There’s plenty of combat, but there should be plenty of social interaction as well. Keep the tempo This adventure is suitable for Human Tier 1 characters high and impress the confusion and madness of the with the IMPERIUM Keyword. The adventure takes situation on the players. Be sure to read the whole place entirely on a battlefield, making it most suitable adventure before playing the first session. for characters with a military calling. The Agents will be organised into a battlefield squad. While it would Throughout the adventure the player’s characters, make sense for all the Agents to have the Imperial referred to from here on as the Fireteam, are just a Guardsman Archetype, a personnel shortage has handful of individuals on a battlefield. Everywhere forced the Astra Militarum to sweep up all kinds of they look there will be other things happening, other individuals and send them into battle as part of the Imperial soldiers fighting other foes and pursuing their Gilead Gravediggers’ Penal Brigade. own objectives. The rules in The Deadly Battlefield (see page 25) simulate this through the use of Glory AfterSample the adventure the Agents could continue to and Ruin, but you should include descriptionsfile of the further adventures, or as a group you might want to unfolding battle in your general narration. play one of the other mini-campaigns in this series, and join the fight for Tora Armis from the perspective 3 of characters at Tier 2, 3, or 4. The Fireteam is given orders at the start of each section Each of the four parts has the following structure: and then largely left to their own devices. If your players like the idea you could appoint one of them as u Orders: The Fireteam are given their mission. Fireteam leader, with the right to issue orders to the others and take decisions for the group. It’s up to your u Equipment: If the Fireteam is issued with any special group to decide if this will add to the military feel, or equipment, it is detailed here. Any special support just create unnecessary tension around the table. they can call in by spending Glory is also listed here. Use your discretion on whether the Fireteam are allowed to keep this equipment after a specific mission ends — the Departmento Munitorum might not track a single smoke grenade, but a missing Sensitivity Warning stack of 50 sandbags would be noticeable and impractical baggage for the Fireteam. The adventure features the horrors of warfare in the 41st Millennium: combat u The Mission: This details the fixed moments in the deaths, summary executions, mutation, and mission that the Fireteam have to deal with. Any ethical dilemmas. This is all normal fare battlefield effects the GM can trigger by spending for Warhammer 40,000, but some of this Ruin are listed here. content might make members of your group uncomfortable. After you’ve read through, u Map: A map of the battlefield, if required check in with each of your players about what they’re comfortable with, and change the u Stats: Page references for any stat blocks required. adventure to suit their tastes if necessary. THE TORA ARMIS INSURRECTION ADVENTURE Tora Armis is a minor hive spire on the Hive World of SUMMARY Gilead Primus, located on the edge of a vast chemical runoff basin that was one of the planet’s seas Part One: Blood and Acid millenia ago. Three months ago the ruling van Staten The Fireteam are ordered to scale the dam that family reported food riots then fell silent. It is now surrounds Tora Armis and destroy a gun emplacement. 87 days since any communication with Tora Armis, They find evidence of heresy among the defenders. but reconnaissance by a squad of Absolvers Scouts revealed that the hive spires’ defences have been Part Two: 1000 Metres reinforced. Tora Armis is an important centre for the Between the Fireteam and the hive spire are 1000 manufacture of ball bearings, without its output parts metres of ground. They need to clear a path through of the Gilead System will literally grind to a halt. the minefields so their supporting armour can advance. Taskforce Endless Part Three: Forlorn Hope Struggle The gates of the hive spire are blown open; now the Lord-Militant Fylamon has dispatched a taskforce breach has to be taken. In the fighting for the breach, under the command of General Hacker of the Astra the depth of corruption within the city becomes clear. Militarum to bring the rebellious spire back under control. It comprises mechanised and artillery Part Four: Checkpoint regiments of the Gravediggers, with support from the From within the hive desperate refugees swarm toward Order of the Sanctified Shield, an airborne company Samplethe imperial lines seeking aid, but the traitors launch of Tempestus Scions and a secondmentfile of Tech-Priests a counter-attack. of Avachrus. General Hacker also has contact with the Absolvers battle cruiser Fury’s Blade, aboard which 15 4 battle-brothers are available for rapid deployment. TIER 1 ARCHETYPES

Tier Framework Typical characters Typical enemies BLOOD & ACID 1 Penal Brigade You have all been sentenced to service Any Human Enemies your in a Penal Brigade of the Gilead Gravediggers. After the character with the commanders Great Rift occurred the number of crimes which could IMPERIAL Keyword. believe can be 1000 METRES lead to penal service was dramatically increased. overwhelmed At the GM’s discretion any member of the party may receive with quantity, THE BLOODY a bonus dice when attempting an act of extreme bravery not quality. GATES — provided an officer is present to witness them.

CHECKPOINT The Penal Brigade Framework Senior officers in the Gravediggers view the Penal The Gravediggers’ Penal Brigade presently holds over Brigade as cannon fodder for the most dangerous THE DEADLY 80,000 Imperial citizens who have been sentenced to battlefield tasks or clandestine, deniable operations. BATTLEFIELD military service for a term ranging from five years to In return legionnaires are promised freedom (which life. It is possible to earn freedom through acts of valour, never materialises) but usually paid in death. although it is more common for penal legionnaires to have their sentences commuted to regular service — being transferred to the Gilead Gravediggers’ regiment where they receive pay but remain within the Astra Militarum. Early Interactions

To introduce this adventure with some social interactions before the horrors of war Tier 1 Archetype commence, , you can use Fireteam 123-F, encountered in Part Two: 1000 Metres, as Though the Imperial Guardsman Archetype The Fallen. is most suitable for this Framework and the adventure Bloody Gates, the players are free As the Penal Legion travel to the battlefield to choose any Tier 1 Archetype when creating aboard an Imperial Cruiser on a tedious and characters. If you are creating characters for lengthy voyage, O’Garan attempts to gruffly this session, your group should keep in mind ingratiate herself with the Fireteam, asking the potential crimes they may have committed them why they ‘signed up’. to land them in the Penal Legion. These ‘crimes’ could range from breaking any of the u She’s on Fireteam 123-F, and believes they numberless strictures of the Pax Imperialis, will be on the same mission as the Agents to simply being in the wrong place at the will be assigned to Fireteam 123-B. wrong time. The ‘crime’ itself is an excellent u Her Fireteam all know each other. They opportunity to build character backstories, and were caught distributing rations to the even bring your group together to establish needy whilst holding an unsanctioned the start of their shared story. choir group in Hive Gulgatha on Gilead Primus, and immediately recruited to the Archetypes like the Ministorum Priest or the Penal Brigade. Sister Hospitaller may have been seconded u She has heard rumors that they will be to the penal legion without committing a battling against an insurrection, and crime, employed to support the noble cause of suspects it will be over quickly, as other Sampletaskforce Endless Struggle. The Inquisitorial hivers don’t know how to fightfile as well as Acolyte may even be swept up in a recruitment Gulgathan gangs. drive whilst undercover — the possibilities for u She doesn’t think the Agents will last more your party are almost limitless. than five minutes out in the battlefield. 5