The Edge of Darkness An Introduction to Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Dark Heresy

Design and Writing: Alan Bligh Thanks to: John French

Editing: Mike Mason Black Industries Manager: Mike Mason

Graphic Design and Layout: Adrian Wood Head of BL Publishing: Marc Gascoigne

Cartography: Mark Raynor

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www.blackindustries.com 1 The Edge of Darkness

It is the 41st Millennium. For more than a hundred centuries the Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die.

Yet in his deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal vigilance. Mighty battle fleets cross the Daemon-infested miasma of the Warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor’s will. Vast armies give battle in his name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst his soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio- engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: the Imperial Guard and countless planetary defence forces, the ever-vigilant Inquisition and the Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name but a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat from aliens, heretics, mutants—and worse.

To be a man is such times is to be one amongst untold billons. It is to live in the cruellest and most bloody regime imaginable. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of the thirsting gods.

“The greatest resource our Holy Imperium possesses is the fathomless multitudes of humanity itself. No power is mightier and no force more dreadful when turned to a single purpose. By human hands alone we have remade stars in our image. By this token the wise know that true power lies in the mastery of blood and bone, in the very meat of mankind.”

—Quastor General, Brantus Hurst, Departmento Munitorium Penitential Command.

2 recommended, as each will have more Introduction than a fair chance to shine as the adven- Using the Edge of ture progresses. Darkness The Edge of Darkness is an investigation- In order to help out novice GMs a far based introductory adventure for use with amount of advice on running the adven- This adventure is intended Dark Heresy. It is intended for a group of ture and using the rules has been included as a prelude to Dark two to four players and will probably take in the text. Heresy—Black Industries’ three or six evening sessions of play to com- forthcoming role playing plete. The adventure starts with a mysterious Adventure game of intrigue, adventure death connected to a forlorn district of the and horror in the 41st Mil- vast hive city of Scintilla. The circumstances Background lennium. This adventure surrounding this death have piqued the focuses the Acolytes being interest of the Inquisition and the player- Heresy and evil takes root most readily and “undercover” agents. Edge of Acolytes will be called upon to act covertly most easily in forlorn and forgotten places, Darkness is a self contained to explore the matter further. If you’re plan- be they on distant worlds, in isolated com- adventure intended for ning to play an Acolyte in this investigation, munities or, as here, in a place that has Acolytes fresh to the Inqui- you should read no further—as you’ll spoil become the victim of disaster, economic sition’s service and can be the mystery! However, if you are going be starvation and slow neglect. In the shadows used as a taster for some of the Game Master (GM), then read on. of the mighty spires of Hive Sibellus on the the themes and stories that world of Scintilla, in a run down and decay- the game focuses on, as GMs Briefing ing district called the Coscarla Division, a well as, an immersive intro- duction to the whole The Edge of Darkness is a mystery criminal and heretical conspiracy has taken Warhammer 40,000 universe. adventure and has much in common hold. Using the destitute and fearful popu- The adventure also with a detective story, with the first lous as a shield and a ready supply of makes an excellent prelude “clue” being the discovery of the body “material” when needed, an individual going to a start of an ongoing of a hab-worker named Saul Arbest. by the name of “the Churgeon” and her series of adventures if you From here the PCs are presented with a lackeys have set up a hidden medical facility already have the Dark number of different leads to follow, to conduct horrific and forbidden experi- ments. In order to mask their activities, the Heresy Core Rulebook which in turn will generate further clues in your hands; in which and information, leading them ultimately tech cult has infiltrated and secretly usurped The Edge of Darkness control of both a local Alms House and the case just ignore the Quick to the uncovering of a conspiracy of Start Rules listed here. heretical science which, if not stopped area’s enforcers to further their ends, and is supplying chemical serums to criminal For obvious reasons, the by the Acolytes, could lead to the deaths full extent of Dark Heresy’s of a great many more people. narco-gangs in order to induce their com- plicity in the cult’s dark plans. rules and systems cannot be As with many such investigation and repeated here, however a interaction based adventures, there is no The Churgeon is a renegade tech-adept in the employ of the heretical cult known as sampling of basic game exact “right” or “wrong” path in Edge of mechanics can be found in Darkness. Although some approaches the Logicians. She is a bio-sculptor whose particular area of interest is the creation of the Quick Start Rules on and pursuing certain leads will be more page 25 (we suggest that effective than others. Indeed, the wrong (illegal) alchemical serums and artificial organs to augment human biology. She GMs print off these rules question in the wrong ear, or the overt pages for their players to display of force too early in the adven- requires live human subjects for experimen- tation and the downtrodden people of use as handy reference). ture will have very unpleasant Additional rules and GMs consequences as the villains of the piece Coscarla have proved a ready source of vic- tims. She has no care for the lives of her tips have been strategically will become aware of the PCs investiga- dotted around the sce- tion and consequently come “gunning” servants or for those her macabre experi- ments kill or mutilate, and already her nario—do make sure to for the Acolytes with possibly fatal read through these rules results. Open adventures (like this one), servants have “vanished” scores of Coscarla’s people. One such abducted experimental carefully. Six introductory reward clever, imaginative and involved Acolyte Player Characters players, and unravelling secret plots, subject, a man named Saul Arbest, managed to escape before dying on the transit rail. It (PCs) have also been cre- pursuing the truth behind strange ated for your use and these events and uncovering dark conspira- is his body, once discovered, that sparks the Inquisition’s interest in the matter and the can be downloaded from cies in this fashion are some of the core the Black Industries web- themes that Dark Heresy deals with. involvement of the Acolytes. Once the Churgeon’s current round of site. Other than this This is not to say that adventures such adventure, you’ll need some as this lack action, or indeed horror, far tests are concluded, she intends to cover her tracks by releasing a biological agent to ten-sided dice (d10) ideally from it, as in this case the villains two per player, and of behind the plot are monstrous individu- mimic the effects of a plague outbreak, killing perhaps tens of thousands of people course some willing play- als guilty of gruesome crimes who will ers! have to be stopped by force. In addi- in the process. She has done it before, and if tion, the setting itself is a dangerous not stopped, shall do it again. one, where violence threatens at any moment. As a result a mixture of com- bative and more cerebral characters are 3 h deo Darkness of Edge The Synopsis of the Adventure of the Churgeon’s alchem-lab are revealed— From Shattered one way or the other. The results of this Hope to the exposure may well force the enemy into the Edge The adventure is divided in to three distinct parts, open and the Acolytes will find themselves the first is a narrated introductory section where fighting for their lives with no escape readily the Acolytes are brought together by the Inquisi- available. If this comes to pass, the Acolytes Dark Heresy’s first pub- tion and briefed on the matter at hand. In the lished demo adventure will have to be smart to survive and overcome second part, the Acolytes are left to their own ini- the Churgeon and her minions, perhaps enlist- Shattered Hope was an tiative to explore and investigate the dead man action-oriented adventure ing help from some unexpected sources to do and the Coscarla Division district where the so. Triumphing over the evils of the Churgeon that dealt with events at the adventure’s action is set. Depending on the fruits Gorgonid Mine on the will be difficult but rewarding, and ultimately of their progress (or indeed as a consequence of will save a great many lives, as well as proving world of Sepheris Secun- their blundering,) the third part of the adventure, dus. This adventure, the Acolytes’ worth as new agents for the where the uncovered conspiracy must be fought Holy Ordos. however, assumes no need and defeated, can kick in at any point, proving for that demo to have been the adventure’s conclusion in a fast-paced kill or played first and starts with be killed conflict. a group of newly recruited Dramatis Personae Acolytes for convenience of Part I: Among the Missing play. You can of course Here are several important Non Player Char- carry on one adventure The Inquisition’s attention has been stirred by the discovery of a body on the Sibellus transit acters (NPCs) involved in the adventure, from the other (in either detailing their personalities and motivations. order). If you wish to fol- rail. This is not in itself an uncommon occur- rence; however the body, under forensic Owing to the adventure’s set up and freeform low on from Shattered Hope, structure, there are quite a few characters then it is reasonable to examination, showed extensive signs of surgi- cal tampering and illegal organ-grafting involved, not all of these characters may actu- assume that sufficient time ally come into play as their roles in the has passed for wounds to indicative of heretical science. The Inquisition has kept the body and the incident under adventure are dependent upon the Acolytes heal, during which the and how your players approach things. Acolytes will have been wraps, and has determined it to be that of a missing hab-worker called Saul Arbest. Arbest thoroughly questioned and Interrogator Sand: A senior agent of the tested for contamination. was reported missing over a month ago by his sister, from his home in the dilapidated Inquisition, scholar and medicae. He comes Both this adventure and across as a superior and somewhat jaded man. Shattered Hope make for Coscarla Division area of Hive Sibellus. The Inquisition is interested in just how this hereti- Sand is the one who charges the Acolytes to excellent preludes to Illumi- undertake the investigation into Saul Arbest. nations—the larger starting cal biocraft wound up in the body of this otherwise unremarkable citizen and will brief adventure contained within Saul Arbest (Deceased): Saul’s fate is the the Dark Heresy rule- the Acolytes as to what is known and dispatch them to covertly investigate matters. root of this investigation; this missing worker’s book. corpse and, in particular, its hidden modifica- tions are the reason for the Acolyte’s Part II: The Twilight City involvement. In life Arbest was a man on the Here the Acolytes travel to the Coscarla Divi- slide, laid-off from his indenture, without sion to investigate the dead man and gather as work and without a future, he drank too many clues as they can. They will find an area much, used his mouth too freely and paid a of the city dying from slow urban decay and very heavy price. held hostage to a nameless fear, and if success- ful, they will uncover evidence that something Lili Arbest: Saul’s sister, Lili is a young woman truly evil is coiling at the heart of things. grown old with worry before her time. She is a There are opportunities for numerous encoun- skilled worker who fears to leave Coscarla before ters here, including interaction with local the mystery of her missing brother goes NPCs both fair and foul, and although combat unsolved. However, when the Acolytes first is by no means guaranteed, the Acolytes may encounter her, she will be in fear of her life and end up in a violent confrontation with local about to flee. criminal gangs, corrupt enforcers, murderous dregs or even a barroom brawl. If the Acolytes Warden Locan: A simpering, middle-aged man, are circumspect and successful, they will be Locan is the corrupt enforcer officer nominally in drawn to what goes on behind the public charge of maintaining order in the Coscarla. façade of the Tantalus Alms House for their Abandoned to this “graveyard posting” by his answers. If they have aroused the suspicions of superiors in the Magistratum, Locan is an obscura their unseen enemies, they might find them- addict, a shadow of his former self and long since selves dragged to the Alms House as the compromised by the local narco-gangs. He is Churgeon’s latest victims. now under the direct control of the Logicians and his troopers replaced with their own. Torn Part III: The Chamber of Horrors between his addiction and his terror, he will The true face of what lurks behind the fear make a poor show of the pretence of normality if 4 gripping Coscarla is exposed and the horrors encountered. Advice to Novice GMs: of what’s going on in your head and respond to whatever plans and ideas your On Running Edge of player’s might come up. The key things are Darkness to be firm but fair; don’t be afraid to have NPCs act or react adversely and violently if The Edge of Darkness is an adventure based the Acolytes’ actions make this the logical on an ongoing situation into which the outcome, and of course reward quick think- Acolytes are drawn and as such, the events ing and good ideas on the players’ part with and characters involved in the conspiracy in additional clues, information and assistance Coscarla have their own motivations with as warranted. Also, even more than with which the Acolytes, as outsiders, interact. more linear adventures, it is important to be Once inside Coscarla’s environs the familiar with the details of the adventure Acolytes have a free hand about how to itself, not simply so you know who is where proceed and what leads and clues to follow, and doing what, but also how the signifi- and it is up to you, as the GM, to respond cant NPCs will react to the unexpected, and to their actions as you feel appropriate. so you can add to things as you go along When GMing a “non-linear” adventure like without risk of messing up your own plot! this one, you should always feel free to Although it may sound obvious, a handy embellish the details, come up with new notebook to record names and the like as encounters and have events and individuals you go along, or to record what the react to the Acolytes’ actions as this will Acolytes have learned so far, is heartily rec- always make for a tighter story, a sense of ommended! If this all sounds like a fair empowerment for your players and, accord- amount of work for the GM, that’s because ingly, a better game all round. it is. But at the same time, if you’re some- Adventures like this one can demand a thing of a storyteller at heart, it can be a little more from the GM and you’ll be very rewarding game experience indeed. required to think on your feet, keep an idea The Edge of Darkness Evard Zed: Another victim of the district’s “Chord” Luntz: A hatchet-man for the economic woes, Zed was one of Saul Arbest’s narco-gang syndicates, Luntz is here to take drinking cronies. He was with Saul on the the syndicate’s due from the Churgeon and night that he vanished and holds some of the has a dozen stubjacks and gang blades at his secrets of Saul’s disappearance. He is laying beck and call. Privately he has is own reserva- low spending his time in the templum, helping tions and fears about the Churgeon’s other out and hoping to go unnoticed. activities (and worsening death toll), and is taking out his anger on the patrons of the Preacher Fayban: Wine-soaked, dishevelled Third Worker’s Union Hall, where he and his and thoroughly useless religious minister of gangers have taken up residence. the Imperial Creed. He rarely leaves his small templum and conducts faltering services for Director Sybas Moran: The director of the the faithful. Sorrowful, maudlin and broken in Tantalus Alms House, Moran presents himself as spirit, he is wilfully ignorant of the extent of a cold but efficient adept, administering a dwin- the suffering and fear around him. dling supply of alms and assistance for the good of the workers on an ever-decreasing budget. In Sikes the Reclaimator: An itinerant scav- truth he is a practiced deceiver and ruthless killer, enger and tech-reclaimator, Sikes has set up an but one on who the mask of charity is wearing impromptu business in a burned out store sell- thin. An senior agent of the Logicians, Moran ing and bartering odds and ends of scrap with would rather see the Churgeon’s work done and the impoverished locals. Sikes is an outsider to the Coscarla choking on its own dead, so he can the district, making his living parasitically move on to greener pastures. from its troubles, however, there is a good deal more to him than meets the eye. The Churgeon: The woman known as the Churgeon is more machine than human and Hosteller Maxus Drayelok: Proprietor of quite insane. A renegade tech-adept she is hidden the district’s only hostel, Drayelok is a gaunt, behind the scenes of the Alms House where she tattered figure and his establishment sinister works her profitable alchemistry to win over the and dilapidated. A psychotic obscura addict, compliance of the narco-gangs so that she may barely in control of his cold sweats and continue her murderous experiments uncon- twitches, Drayelok has the unpleasant habit of tested. The spate of disappearances in the district using down-hiver dregs to murder his guests are largely down to her need for fresh test sub- in the night so he can rob them to fund his jects, and her appetite for new stock is beginning vice. to prove hard for her lackeys to hide. 5 h deo Darkness of Edge The an unique opportunity to go far and see much, GM Advice: Part I: Among or as the first step on the path to fame, glory Know Your the Missing and power, or simply as a way to survive), is a Acolytes! matter for their player to decide. Regardless, it can be assumed, that with some measure of The adventure begins with the summoning of trepidation, they each answer the call at the This slightly tense journey the Acolytes to service for the first time as down the elevator shaft and appointed time, taking with them any gear operatives of the Inquisition, and their brief- they possess and saying farewell, perhaps for walk down the grey corri- ing into the mysterious circumstances dor might be passed in the last time, to their temporary and anony- surrounding a death. mous lodgings. stony silence, alternately If you haven’t played before, ensure that this might be a good place If your players have any last minute ques- your players each have an Acolyte character to tions about their Acolytes, the rules, the for the players to have their play and have familiarised themselves with the Acolyte’s converse with Inquisition or Scintilla, now’s the time to Quick Start Rules. Tell them that they are all answer them the best you can, in particular the each other for the first fresh recruits to the service of the Imperial time—suggest that your Black Industries website holds a lot of infor- Inquisition and that they have been chosen to mation you can add to what’s presented here player’s describe their serve it as Acolytes—agents, experts and spe- Acolyte’s physical descrip- at www.blackindustries.com/calixis cialists. They are to become front line soldiers tion and demeanour to each Once your players have sorted themselves in the Imperium’s shadowy war against the other. This is always a good out and have a handle on the import of what forces of corruption within and the horrors thing to do with a new is happening, read or paraphrase the follow- without that wish to subvert and overthrow group of characters as it ing: the rule of the Golden Throne of Terra. Hav- helps everybody (the GM ing undergone initiation and testing they have included) set the scene in At the appointed hour, you have made been left waiting, concealed in plain sight their own imagination. your way through the bustling faceless among the teeming billions of Hive Sibellus masses of the Administratum quarter to on the world of Scintilla, capitol of the Calixis an unmarked service elevator platform Sector, awaiting their new masters’ summons. set in the rear of a vast and imposing building covered in bas-reliefs of skulls, The Tradesman’s half draped urns and other symbols of Entrance death, crowned by an immense statue of a weeping saint. It appears that you are Read aloud or paraphrase the following: expected; the wizened face of the plat- form’s inbuilt servitor studies you and After being singled out and inducted pronounces “Pass” as you climb on into the service of the Inquisition, things board. As the note implied, you were not have not quite gone as you had imag- the only person called, and you make for ined them. Removed from your past life, an uncomfortable and diverse looking you have been tested and measured, group standing in tense silence as the questioned and interrogated. But aside crowds throng by. The servitor control from a few lectures given in darkened chimes active as the last one of you chambers that left you sick to your stom- boards the platform and the elevator ach and a seemingly endless stream of descends as the hatchway closes above codes and ciphers given you to memo- you all with a thunderous boom. The rize and destroy, you have been left platform continues downward for some largely to your own devices. Lodging minutes through maintenance levels, under a false name in an anonymous deep into the bowels of the government hab-block in Hive Sibellus, on Scintilla, district. the capitol planet of the Calixis Sector, you have bided your time for weeks At the end of the elevator’s slow decent the waiting for the call from your masters, Acolytes will be deposited at the end of a wide and perhaps, their verdict. grey corridor, lit by pale lumen globes in the At last that call has come and a shape of cherubs holding torches. Only the blank-eyed courier has delivered to you first part of the corridor is lit and the rest trails a note featuring the cipher of the Holy off into darkness. As they step off the platform Ordos. The message within was simple more globes will illuminate to show them and perfunctory, containing a time, a their path and, as they walk forward, more date and a location. The instruction to will flicker into life before them, while those come prepared and expect company is behind them will extinguish. There is but one signed off with a single epithet—“The path, the corridor is featureless and smells Emperor Protects” faintly of chemical disinfectant. After about five minutes, the corridor ends Just what each Acolyte thinks of the sum- in an armoured metal door, which unseals and mons, (whether they see it as a chance to prove unlocks with as hiss of pressurised air and 6 themselves, a chance to fight the good fight, opens with a loud grinding of heavy gears. For the GM: should impose a modifier to their Tested score in + or – increments of 10, to a maximum modifier of +30 or –30 to Tests and Difficulty the Tested number (this is the number you need to roll equal to or under, not the dice roll itself ). Not all activities are equally difficult and certain things It’s always up to the GM to determine whether a Test that would in the normal course of events be considered is appropriate and how difficult it should be, and you quite easy, suddenly become a lot more difficult with bul- should never be afraid of simply stating that with perhaps lets ricocheting around you! The GMs principle task in a little time and effort a character simply succeeds, or on adjudicating a character’s Tests is by setting a Difficulty the other hand can’t even hope to try—whichever seems rating for them. The baseline for Difficulty assumed in appropriate to you. From this point on in the adventure, Dark Heresy is Challenging (+0) for a Test that posses a where a Test is suggested the text will list what Charac- reasonable challenge to a competent character’s level of teristic or Skill should be Tested and a suggested ability. Difficulty level for that Test. This is of course all subject Depending on what a character is trying to do and the cir- to the GMs own good sense of what’s actually going on cumstances in which they are trying to accomplish it, the GM their adventure!

The room inside has a jumble of dusty metal to the drama of things. For more information crates (branded with unintelligible symbols) on Tests and rolling dice see page 25. stacked against one wall, while a hospital gur- If your players are novices to role playing ney complete with restraint straps has been left games, you may wish to help them out by sug- toppled over on one side against the other. gesting the following Tests that they can make The room’s most striking feature is a wide mir- or they may volunteer their desire to know ror which fills the upper half of the opposite more themselves. The following are all appro- wall from the entrance. The mirror will slowly priate Tests in this situation and all will tell clear to transparency to reveal a glittering steel them a little more about the mysterious figure chamber beyond. Inside the chamber looking behind the glass: out is a tall, thin-faced figure wearing white

medicae robes with (rather incongruously) a A Perception Test at Routine (+20) —if The Edge of Darkness red leather coat draped over his shoulders. successful will reveal that the man’s leather Behind him, covered by a mottled grey sheet, coat conceals armoured panels in its construc- is what looks like a body on some sort of tion and that the bulge under his arm can only frame raised upright for inspection. While be a gun of some sort. above them in the air, a pair of white enam- elled skulls, encrusted with a variety of brass A Common Lore (Tech) Test at Ordi- instruments and long hypo needles, hover nary (+10) —if successful will identify the expectantly. hovering skulls to be medicae servo-skulls of the highest quality; machine-spirit controlled Sizing up the Situation drones, fashioned from preserved human skulls and fitted with sophisticated medical systems (and an introduction to whose secrets are restricted to the highest Tests) orders of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Given the unusual and somewhat sinister A Common Lore (Imperium) Test at nature of the unfolding situation, it is likely Challenging (+0) —if successful will your players will want to know more about recognise the small, stylised raven and scroll what’s going on and see if they can notice any insignia on his robes as belonging to the pertinent details beyond the obvious. This is a Hetaireia Lexis, a distinguished and famous good point to introduce the game system for order of scholars. Tests. Tests are the most basic and widely used set of rules in Dark Heresy, in essence they are dice rolls made on the character’s abilities The Body in Question to achieve something tangible, like performing a physical activity, solving a puzzle or recall- The figure in the chamber will beckon the ing some particular information or, as in this Acolytes up to the glass with a gloved hand case, spot fine details not noticed by a causal and after a static rattle, his voice will issue observer. from a small grill set into the ceiling: Tests aren’t needed for every single action and idea that the Acolytes have, far from it, but “Greetings Acolytes, I am Medicae- rather should be used when what they are Interrogator Sand and you are the new blood, attempting is important, difficult, has impor- are you not? Worthy additions to our holy tant consequences if it is botched or excelled war? Well we shall see, far be it from me to at or when the Test’s success or failure will add doubt my betters’ judgement, eh? 7 h deo Darkness of Edge The “Well to the matter at hand. I represent the “The surgery was expert, but by the lesions Holy Ordos of the Imperial Inquisition that and tissue stresses, I doubt any care was given we all serve. Our masters have called you here to whether or not it was painless. In fact, by to assist us in the investigation of a matter of the damage to his vocal cords, my guess was interest that has recently and unexpectedly that he probably screamed as long as he was come to light. able to. “Oh, yes, for your information, you are now “But this little monster is what concerns us. in the depths of the Templum Mori, the house Oh, you don’t need to know the gene-lore or of the dead where the Lords Prefecta Mortem the Omnissian edict, just that this is not only hold court and the fallen and the lost of the illegal, it is forbidden, it is heresy. Merely tam- great city are named and counted. It will not pering with this kind of dark tech is enough to surprise you then to know you are here to view warrant a death sentence from the Holy Ordos, a corpse, I doubt it will be your first, but it is, the Arbites or the Mechanicus. shall we say, quite singular!” “And I’m sure that you, as well as I, am won- dering how such a rare and vile thing ended up Sand will causally brush aside any questions wrapped round the spine of some anonymous and carry on with his lecture, pulling aside the hab-prole from the dusty end of the stacks. grey sheet to reveal the dissected and eviscerated Well, the Inquisition would like you to body of an adult human. As he continues to talk, find out. the servo-skulls will dip and bob out of sight to “The man has no prior criminal record, he reappear with messy looking organic specimens was rendered invalid by indenture—laid off if in tests tubes and jars, clutched in their dextrous you will, some sixty days ago now and was brass callipers, displaying them in turn for the reported missing thirty-two days ago by his sister, Acolytes’ edification: one Lili Arbest, resident of the same hab-stack. More than enough time to get himself into all “Now if you will kindly attend and pay heed, sorts of trouble, I’m sure you’ll agree. These I will take questions afterward. grafts are no more than eight or ten days old at “The body has been positively identified as most. We have nothing else on him. that of one Saul Arbest, male, 23 years of age, “This is to be a shadow investigation, no hive worker, unskilled labourer certified. For- open official involvement and no notification merly of the Tantalus Indenture, registered of the local authorities, and no one knows he’s habitation: chamber 6/23 stack 7-17# here either. Coscarla’s down hive, so a covert Coscarla Division, southern zone, Hive approach will draw far less attention than a Sibelius. boot through the door, and be far less likely to “Subject found dead on the mid-hive tran- kill any leads to our heretic. sit rail three days ago as the car returned to the “Find out why and where if you can, better main depot. Preliminary examination at the yet, find out how. Best of all, find out who is scene suggested death by drug overdose. Post responsible. Go with the grace of the God- mortem performed by the biologis forensic, Emperor, oh and additional samples would be however revealed certain anomies that necessi- a blessing if you can procure them. tated our involvement. “The cause of death was in fact total sys- At this point the players (or at least the temic failure brought on by tissue rejection of Acolytes at any rate) will no doubt have a an implanted synthetic graft organ. Said organ number of further questions and Sand will destroyed his central nervous system while happily answer anything reasonably put to attempting to overcome the immune response. him. He has looked up what little the Ordo “In short this…” has on the Coscarla Division and has a brief for them (see Appendix III on page 34) and The servo skull displays a sample jar con- knows much of its sorry recent history. How- taining a ten centimetre long whitish cord of ever, his information is all facts and figures, he waving glassy tendrils, still in motion, still knows nothing of the reality on the ground or alive. the corruption and terror reigning there. What he wants is for the Acolytes to do is some old “…crushed the life out of him from the inside. fashioned ground work, trace down the leads “What’s it for? Unknown, but my opinion that may remain as to Arbest’s fate and get a would be, in a word, ‘control’—neural and feel for what might have happened and, if pos- synaptic override, perhaps worse. sible, uncover the facts of any conspiracy “There were other grafts and surgery of a involved. The head of the heretic on a platter less singular kind also; one lung replaced by a would be a considerable bonus but not some- concealed storage cavity, possibly for his use as thing he is expecting as a likely outcome. a courier. Also, one optic nerve removed, skin Sand has procured for them a “kit” of addi- flayed from his stomach, I’ve no idea why. His tional equipment but won’t acquiesce to any system’s awash with alchemic traces, clotting demands for further arms or manpower as he 8 agents, panimmune and the like. believes the Acolytes well armed enough to defend themselves, and that they should be some equipment for their use, which he will talented enough to adapt and overcome if talk through with them. needs be. Added to which, he feels that any flashy displays of high quality gear will only Coscarla Pass Tokens: (One per Acolyte) get them noticed more easily and be counter- These coded devices, each about the size of a productive to the investigation. small thick coin, will allow them legal clearance Any request to confirm Sand’s authority to for the Coscarla Division and free passage on the be able to send them on this mission, or to see transit rail around the mid-hive area. his bone fides, he will meet politely and with- out irony or scorn. His credentials are all in Coblast Assay Cognomen: (One per order and he is operating under the seal of a Acolyte) These encrypted metal punch cards legate investigator of the Holy Ordos. He has are identity markers, there is one tailored for every right and title to send them where he each of the Acolytes and they include an wants, and an astute Acolyte might notice, the enforcer code tag allowing them to carry arms right to pass judgement on them too if they for self defence. They signify that the Acolytes prove unworthy. are “bonded agents for the Coblast Assay”, a If any of them complain that they are of insuf- Sibellan mercantile operation of somewhat ficient skill or ability to accomplish the task, need dubious repute but not inconsiderable power, more weapons, or go so far as to ask if their specialising in tech salvage and “manpower Inquisitor will accompany them, or perhaps hold services”. Note that these are not “false” iden- forth with other uncertainties, feel free to read tity cards, the Coblast has actually been a out or paraphrase the following: secret Inquisition organisation for some time.

“Yes, well I’m afraid the great chapters of the Hand Vox: (One per Acolyte) These are Astartes and the Blessed Choirs of the Saints cheap and battered looking personal commu- Militant are all busy right now, so you’ll have nication devices that use a private encrypted to do... channel, and are good for a range of a few “But I am being churlish. Let me instead ask kilometres in the hive. Sand will happily you a question: What do you imagine the Inqui- explain that thanks to signal interference in sition seeks for in its agents? Are you to be slavish the areas of the hive where they are going, vox The Edge of Darkness lackeys? Simpering torchbearers to trail around traffic is almost impossible over any real dis- your master, fawning and muttering his praises? tance or between levels, except by wire station, Of course not. Such creatures are commonplace, but these hand vox will let them keep in touch turn over any rock in the Administratum or, with each other at least. Emperor save us, the Ecclesiarchy, and you’ll find a score of such worthless invertebrates wriggling Low Hiver’s Overcoats: (One per Acolyte) out. No, our wars are best waged with agents to These voluminous and somewhat tattered patch- whom action and intent are things bred in the work leather and canvas high-collared overcoats bone—we need initiative and will, cunning, are common low-hiver garb in Sibellus and will savvy, courage and purpose. No, an Acolyte that easily fit over anything the Acolytes are wearing. cannot act on their own to help overcome They are also quite tough and will provide them mankind’s many foes had better die quickly lest with 1 Armour Point (see the Combat Rules on they kill others with their shameful inadequacies! page 26). “Well, enough of that talk, I’m sure this matter will be a simple one, a mere skirmish Chem Lamps: (One per Acolyte) These with the foe at best. All we are asking of you small portable lamps use a chemical reaction to is that you carry out a basic investigation, provide light and operate continuously while something that should be well within your their shutters are open. Such lamps will illu- capabilities, dig out a few facts, question, minate an area of about a three metre radius probe, charm and dissemble. See what you can around it or provide a six metre directed beam find out about our dead man here without of whitish light. making too much of a mess. It’s a chance to see how you perform in the field as well, consider Coded Data-Slate: This worn-looking this a test of your quality, because in many brass cased data-slate carries basic copies of ways, that’s just what it is.” the information found in their briefing, a series of maps and data about the Coscarla and Outfitting for a Trip Down (largely empty) files on the Arbasts, including Hive pictures of them and addresses taken from the Administratum register. The slate also has Once the Acolytes’ questions are answered basic short range audio and visual recording and Sand has cajoled, lectured and perhaps and playback functions. The slate features a chided them sufficiently, he will direct them five key input code which Sand will give them, to one of the larger storage crates lined if it is accessed without this, its core memory against the wall where he has had prepared will be wiped. 9 h deo Darkness of Edge The Bio-Sample Kit: Added as something of a further they go the more depressed, ill- Lies, Damn Lies hopeful afterthought, this satchel carries three maintained and decayed things will become; and Acolytes small bio-storage tubes and a small bio-auspex these are the lower stretches of the mid hive, with a range of about a metre or so. Set for beyond these no transit rails run. Beyond this The cover identity that human tissue, the indicator on the auspex will outer circle is the underhive where no law holds Sand has provided for them flash red and whine with increasing volume in sway. Long stretches of the journey will be spent is that of roving agents for the proximity of anomalous tissue. The kit also in the stale tainted air of the wormhole-like the Coblast Assay. Such comes with a long bladed, razor edge mono tunnel passageways within the Hive’s thick men and women are known scalpel (this will inflict 1d5–1 plus the wielder’s supporting bones and in the nameless black voids in hive “cant” as regula- Strength Bonus (SB) Damage and ignores the of deserted spaces between, the car’s lights flicker tors—hired guns, couriers, first 2 Armour Points (AP) of the target). If one and fail regularly. tracers, manhunters, merce- of the Acolytes makes mention of the scalpel and After your players have had sufficient time to naries and other specialists. kit and just what they are expected to achieve, converse or lay out their plans, read or paraphrase Coblast’s less than savoury Sand will shrug and smile saying, “Well I’m not the following before allowing them to explore: reputation makes their expecting deft surgery, but try not to hack at it like an appearance in Coscarla an underdone Grox steak and get it in the jar, eh?” Alone in a single car, now deserted but for “easy sell” to the casual your group, the rattling carriage breaks observer, and their cog- Money Pouch: This pouch contains 120 into another vast and dilapidated hab-vault nomen of course will stand Thrones in loose coin and used notes, “For sun- and begins to slow. You look out upon a up to any official scrutiny. dries and bribes. I’m sure if you need more you can vista of vacant and decayed buildings in a Indeed, if the Acolytes con- be resourceful,” Sand puts it. worse state than any that you have seen up tinue to look and act the until now, stretching beyond sight into a part, award them a +30 It’s up to the Acolytes how they distribute the dark horizon beyond. bonus to any Deceive Test gear and gelt, and Sand is eager for them to get The rail car shudders to a stop and to carry such an impression on their way. Sand will also encourage the the doors open onto a wide, raised plat- off. Acolytes to converse with each other if they form devoid of passengers save for a This deception is of haven’t already done so, pointing out that their single huddled figure dressed in rags. course entirely up to them lives may well depend on at least a passing The figure quickly bundles themselves and they can claim to be knowledge of each other’s abilities in the field. onboard, flashing a pass to the door who and what they like, but He will also impress on them that he expects mechanism with unseemly haste and the more wild or unbeliev- them to co-operate to get their mission accom- takes up a seat as far from your group as able the story, the more plished as befits the Inquisition’s chosen, and to possible. A moment later a dull, crack- likely the wrong people “defer to the wisest in their own field when needs be”. ling servitor intones: will come to hear of it and Coscarla is no more than a few hours away “Coscarla Southern Railhead. Passengers wonder. Claiming to be ser- by transit rail car. Telling them he expects to Coscarla to disembark. This conveyance vants of the Inquisition is their report in, “A few days, no more,” the will depart in…” The rest is lost in a howl of course going to be con- Acolytes are now on their own of static. sidered an outrageous and This is Coscarla and you have arrived. dangerous lie by most in Coscarla, to whom the Part II: Holy Ordos is a near The Acolytes’ Progress mythic entity of distant The Twilight power and terror. In fact, Up to this point the Acolytes’ course has been the only ones likely to take set for them, now it’s up to their own initiative such a claim on face value City and abilities to get the job done. Hopefully are the Churgeon and the Part I: Among the Missing should have Logicians, if it comes to The End of the Line given them an idea of what they are up to, the their ears—the tech- situation they face and what the Inquisition heretics are always in dread expects from them. Now it’s up to them to The journey to Coscarla will take several hours of such discovery. If this deliver the goods and investigate the life and by transit rail car, during which time the happens the consequences death of Saul Arbest. are likely to be direct and Acolytes will have to change rails repeatedly The inhabited southern portion of the unpleasant for the Acolytes. (into increasing dilapidated and vandalised Coscarla Division is open before the Acolytes cars), and their pass tokens and cognomen will and they have around four hours left of the day be repeatedly checked by suspicious Magistra- cycle to use to their best advantage. Their most tum enforcers, dull-eyed carriage servitors and obvious clear leads are the dead man’s home and unctuous looking officials. seeking out the sister who reported him missing, As their journey progresses they will pass both of which will lead them to the same hab- from the relatively open spaces and clean air of stack. Other clues, suspicions and leads will be the government district, down and across whole thrown up by their own actions, observations hive levels, passed collapsed finery and the fallen and progress in conducting the investigation, and architectural splendours of the “good of olden the course they may take can have a wide variety days” and through vast steel sky vaults filled with of permutations and paths. With this in mind, endless rows of hab-stacks and kilometre after rather than provide a linear list of events, much of 10 kilometre of thunderous manufactora. The Part II is laid out as a series of locations, each Desolation and Urban Decay: The and even the occasional curtain of dirty rain lasts too briefly to wash the grime from the streets. Sights and Sounds of Coscarla There are people living in Coscarla, thousands of them in fact, but they are so swallowed up by the vast and darkened Coscarla has the feel of a buried and abandoned city, shrouded spaces around them that they seem very few, nor do they linger in darkness beneath a steel sky. It is a cold and empty place, outdoors, rushing silently to their destinations with their col- where whole tenements and hab-stacks are blacked by fire, or lars turned up and their heads firmly down. They are stare silently with a hundred vacant smashed-window eyes, dishevelled, threadbare and have the look of frightened men while ancient and seemingly purposeless columns and arches and women, determined to get on with life the best they can. of black granite soar high into the darkness. As the night cycle comes on, the whole district takes on a The power supply is poor and the streetlamps along the main truly nightmarish aspect as the power fades, the light-level falls thoroughfares flicker and cast a pale twilight, while refuse and and the inhabitants scurry to place bolted doors between debris clogs the alleyways where shapeless and half-hidden forms themselves and the night. Now the darkness becomes total and of dregs (and perhaps worse) haunt. The skyline near the southern oppressive, the hab-stacks stand like cyclopean tombstones in portion of the district is criss-crossed by the overhead rail lines of some immense graveyard. Such light that remains comes from Sibellus’s mass transit network, which clatters and sparks intermit- patches of luminous mould growing in the cracks of the rock- tently through the cycles. Far above, in the high shadowed skies, crete buildings, radiating a faint and eerie glow, and the few the periodic exhalations and clamour of the hive’s vast air pro- harsh pools of illumination found around locales such as the cessing network is muted into distant thunder, the action of which Workers’ Union and the transit railhead, seem like mere falter- materialises later at ground level as squalls of sudden chill wind, ing islands of light amid an abyssal sea.

with its own NPCs, details and encounters, utilities for some time and consequently are a which the Acolytes’ may or may not visit and gaunt, often sickly and half-starved lot. They interact with. It is up to the GM to facilitate this are not evil, nor are they complicit in the process, handle any bridging material or descrip- troubles of the area, but they are trapped in the tion as needed and mark a reasonable passage of Coscarla through a mix of poverty, legal time within the game as they think is appropri- constraint (many are still bound by a worker’s ate. Indeed, several days and nights may pass, indenture to the Tantalus Combine) and by The Edge of Darkness and the Acolytes, being human, will need to rest; virtue of simply having nowhere else to go. finding a safe place to do so might prove to have The key point to get across when portraying its own dangers. GMs are encouraged to embel- the hab-citizens of Coscarla is that they are lish the details provided here, add more afraid; this it not simply a matter of their encounters and modify things in reaction to the economic plight as they are used to hard times way that the Acolytes’ behave and how well (or (even though these are harder than most), but poorly) they are managing things. genuinely fearful of what is going on around The Acolytes’ investigation into the twi- them. They fear the narco-gangs and the light city of the southern Coscarla Division violent strangers who have started coming and will continue until one of two events hap- going in the area. They fear what will happen pens: firstly, they may settle on the idea that should the Tantalus Combine abandon its Saul Arbest ran into of his dark fate at the involvement with them entirely. They fear the Alms House and investigate that place fur- dregs and the vermin prowling the derelict ther; or, until you as the GM decides that habs in ever-greater numbers. But most of all, either through incompetence or ill fortune they fear what is happening in the night with (on the Acolytes’ part), they arouse the increasing frequency, red-eyed shapes direct suspicion of the Churgeon or Moran glimpsed moving in the darkness and another and the Logicians take direct action against citizen added to the roster of the missing by them. In either of these cases, proceed to morning. Part III: The Chamber of Horrors. The Shadowed Masses: Talking to the Locals The People of The best way to get information from the peo- ple of Coscarla is to interact with them and Coscarla simply to talk to them. Your players may choose to play through these social situations The inhabitants of the Coscarla Division are a or you may wish to have them employ Social sorry and diminished lot, worn down by Skill Tests—for example, an Inquiry Test poverty, uncertainly and, more recently, ruled made after an hour or so of picking up stories by fear. Most would be described as “unskilled in the market area, or by using the Charm skill labour” by work designation; poor families, to converse freely with a particular individual the old and the infirm. They have been living and overcome their natural wariness of armed on a reduced food supply and with failing strangers! 11 h deo Darkness of Edge The Getting information from the citizens of Two Successes “Don’t get caught outdoors in For the GM: the Coscarla has a Difficulty of Ordinary the night cycle my friend. You Degrees of (+10), although this may vary depending on think it’s dark now… When Success and what questions are being asked and how the the power level drops what approach is made. light is left will go with it Failure The Inquiries in Coscarla table (following) and… well… Throne help shows a spread of rumours and information that you if you’re caught out in the Often it’s useful to know might be gleaned from the common citizenry— black, that’s all I’m saying.” how well a character suc- rumours, reports and opinions both true and false Or ceeded in a Test (or how (although believed by the speaker), and the GM “All those dead, burned alive in badly they’ve failed) as a is encouraged to add to these as they see fit. The their habs in the blackouts. guide for you to determine better the Acolytes’ do, the more that people are Souls burning still… can’t rest the outcome of things. likely to open up to them and express their fears, easy I say. A friend of mine Dark Heresy uses as sys- and in doing so let important nuggets of infor- swore she saw wraiths lurking tem of degrees to grade mation slip out. the other night as she was hur- success and failure in this rying home late from the way, and working this out Inquiries in Coscarla railhead. Where? Oh, out long is simple: just compare the Test Result Information passed the square. Their eyes results of the Test with the Standard Success “Since the Combine sold off so burning red in the dark. tested Characteristic and many indentures and the black- Coscarla’s a cursed place now.” for every 10 full points by out fires, the whole district’s gone which the score is passed, 1 to ruin! Now I can barely keep Three or More “There have been disappear- degree of success is clothes on my back and food in ances… vanishings, you know. achieved. Similarly if a Test my children’s mouths! I don’t People won’t talk about it, not is failed, each 10 full points indicates a degree of failure. know where we’d be without the right out, but everyone knows For Example: Junt has Alms House some weeks.” its happening. At first people ducked into an alleyway and is Or said it was just desertion, but trying to climb a wall quickly “This used to be a good place, people don’t just up and leave to escape a mob of mutants. but now, it’s as if the Emperor what little they own behind… The wall is quite high and slick has forgotten us. I don’t know, do they? Some whisper it’s the with rain, and so the GM calls perhaps we sinned and are those dregs you see in the aban- for a Challenging (+0) being punished.” doned stacks or maybe that Climb Test. Junt has the Or blade scum hanging round the Climb skill and a Strength “This place is dying and the Worker’s Union, but you don’t Characteristic of 38. Junt’s carrion rats have come to feed see them too eager to run player rolls a 14, beating his on the carcass. The narco- around in the dark either, eh?” characteristic by 24 and pass- gangs, the scum at the Worker’s ing the Test with two degrees of Union, the dregs, scavs and Bribery and Other Means of success (24/10 = 2). Thanks reclaimators too… no insult Persuasion to his fine success, the GM intended. It’s the way of the judges that Junt is up and over hive I know, but I wished I There have been enough strangers around the wall quickly before the hadn’t been here to see it.” recently—mostly scavengers and reclaimators, mutants round the corner, mak- as well as, some “dangerous sorts” hanging ing a clean getaway. One Success “I don’t know anything, make it my business to keep my head around the Workers’ Union—that the Acolytes down and my door locked at will be noticed as newcomers but won’t be sin- night. But if your looking for gled out unless they do something to draw answers, go talk to that attention to themselves. Most of Coscarla’s res- reclaimator, Sikes. Out by the idents will react poorly to threats and burned out technomat. He’s the intimidation (imposing a –10 penalty to Tests curious sort, seems to know too made to interact with them), but will open up much of everyone’s business. considerably if the Acolytes spread a little cash Or around. A few circumspect bribes in the right “It’s that black pit that worries place will do wonders (worth an additional me, caved-in during the big +10 bonus or +20 bonus on interaction Tests). fires a year or so, way up at the As a marker for working out such bribes, a north end of the Division. monthly wage for a common hab-labourer (if Empty up there now. Leads they are lucky enough to draw the work shifts right down into the under- with Tantalus) is about 25-30 Thrones. hive—all the way down. That’s where it’s all coming from, the Have you seen this man? dregs, the vermin and the bad luck. All from that black pit One specific course of action is for the 12 like the breath of hell!” Acolytes to question the people of Coscarla directly about Saul Arbest or his sister. The transit rail service and a single main exit to the answer from most will be “never heard of hive’s arteria network, through which heavy Opposed Tests them” which is quite true, however, a generous goods vehicles and a few battered looking GM might allow the Acolytes to encounter quad-wheelers pass very infrequently. There Sometimes a character will some citizens who are acquainted with them. are other portions of the Coscarla Division be called on to match their Such people are likely to be those who have still inhabited and operating outside of the ability or Skill directly served on work crews with the Arbests in the malign influences described here, they are also against that of another past or who live in the same hab-stack. With clustered around a functioning railhead, but (such as an arm wrestling sufficient persuasion they may bring forth these are all tens of kilometres away through a contest or trying to sneak some information: wasteland of abandoned and desolate habs. passed a guard without them noticing), this is Saul Arbest: Information gleaned about Saul Welcome to the Night Cycle called an Opposed Test. will paint him as a solid worker, but someone When the night cycle kicks in and the district’s In this case, both partici- whose temperament and behaviour has worsened power fades down to emergency levels, the pants make a Test and the recently with his increasing hardship. Some will Acolytes are left with a whole new range of one with the greater degree of success wins. In the case have seen him running his mouth off and drink- problems. Outside the immediate areas of lamp of a draw, the participant ing at the Workers’ Union and “no good’ll come of light or the pools of illumination provided by with the higher Charac- that”, but no one will have seen him for ten or a few buildings that have their own power teristic Bonus wins (with twenty days or more. If told that he has been supply, it is almost pitch black and Perception standard success). If the reported missing or is dead, the speaker is likely and Awareness Tests (such as finding your way participants’ Characteristic to quickly fall silent and find urgent business if lost), as well as attempts at gunplay and the Bonuses are also equal, the elsewhere all of a sudden. like all suffer a –30 penalty. Moving around in the night also has the GM can decide that either a deadlock has been reached Lili Arbest: Clearly thought well of by those chance of attracting some very unwelcome atten- (neither has gained the that know her, it will be harder to get any infor- tion. For every hour that the Acolytes spend upper-hand this round) or mation on her than with Saul as people will not outside and away from the light, they risk a 20% that the Test should be re- wish her any ill (consider this a Difficult (–10) chance of being pounced upon by 1d5 Body taken etc. as suits the Charm, Inquiry or Intimidate Test). If Snatchers (see page 33). The Body Snatchers will situation. Acolytes can allay the fears of those they are ply- retreat if met with stiff resistance, retrieving their fallen comrades and vanishing into the dark. ing for details, they will discover that Lili is a The Edge of Darkness young widow, her husband having died in the blackout fires a year ago. She is a literate and Lockdown! skilled worker, with no ties to hold her here but her brother, some wonder why she has remained Should the Acolytes battle or kill any of the in Coscarla so long. Churgeon’s Body Snatchers or the enforcers, or rouse any of the Logician’s suspicions for any Getting Around Coscarla reason, Moran will order a lockdown until fur- ther notice. When this happens armed guards The only practical way to get round Coscarla is will be placed on the transit rail and access to the on foot. Whilst this in itself doesn’t present a arteria will be completely blocked. All wire vox- problem on the main thoroughfares which, while lines in the area (save for the one in the enforcer strewn with old rubbish and abandoned debris, station) will be cut, effectively sealing the are broad and built to accommodate far more Acolytes in. It’s up to them now… foot and road traffic than they now handle. Away from these broad streets, the side alleys and The Vanishing gantry walks between the stacks are a different matter, and many are choked with old refuse, The reason why so many of the Coscarla’s res- scorched wreckage from the blackout fires and idents disappear during the night is because worse. The footing is treacherous and you never that is when the Churgeon unleashes her know when you’re going to stir up a nest of ver- squads of Body Snatchers. These dark tech- min or if that bundle of rags you accidentally augmented servitors, created from her victims, tread upon will turn out to be a maddened dreg. target and abduct members of the citizenry Anyone moving at any speed faster than a and take them to the Churgeon’s facility (con- “careful walk” through the worse areas must cealed within the Alms House) for take a Challenging (+0) Agility Test or they experimentation and organ harvesting. Waste will loose their footing, or perhaps some other bio-matter and failed experiments are then unpleasant incident occurs. (See Appendix II (horrifically enough) disposed of by “recy- for the Dreg and Vapour Rat profiles). cling” them into the Alms House’s food handouts. The Churgeon’s experiments are Looking for the Way Out reaching a critical stage and she has increased Astute Acolytes, who pay attention (an Ordi- her quota to four victims per night, as a result nary (+10) Awareness Test), will notice that the situation is starting to spiral out of control there appears to be only two viable ways in or for Moran, and the fake enforcers’ abilities to out of the Coscarla Division: the intermittent control or cover up. 13 Important Locations in the Southern Coscarla Division Coscarla Southern Coscarla Key Union 1. Transit Railroad 2. Enforcer Station 3. Southern Square 4. Trade Markets 5. Tantalus Alms House 6. The Coscarla Hostel 7. Arteria Exit (Tunnel) 8. Hab-Stack 7–17 9. 3rd Tantalus Workers 10. Sikes’ Yard 11. Southern Templum 8 CITY BLOCK AQUADUCT CITY BLOCK 11 10 CITY BLOCK ARCHWAY CITY BLOCK 9 4 CITY 6 BLOCK 7 3 CITY CITY BLOCK BLOCK STATUE 5 2 1 HIVE HIVE WALL WALL

14 Location 1: The Transit Railhead one side by the railhead and several broad road- The railhead consists of three raised metal transit ways radiate out from it, populated by hab-stacks GMs Option: rails, held up a hundred metres off the ground by and the numerous important locations of this Getting Locan to an ornate skeletal framework of riveted girders adventure. The square’s most singular feature is a Talk and beams. A cluster of huge metal platforms, fifty metre tall granite statue of a winged felid. winches, hoists, gear houses and signal boxes The statue is millennia old and headless, a testa- make up the embarkation area, while a score of ment to when this entire region was once a single If the Acolytes can get wide, metal spiral staircases and gantries provide great noble’s estate. Locan to talk to them and if the GM wishes to give access to the division’s ground level. Clearly built them a few more clues, it is to accommodate thousands of passengers at a Location 4: The Trade Market possible (but not easy) to time, the railhead now has a barren and empty Occupying the area of the Square furthest force out of him some of look. Rust and decay clings to everything, win- away from the Enforcer Station, this ragged what is going on; this dows are smashed, the paint flaking and signs sprawl of stalls, pedlars, open-air cook shops should be a Challenging that once contained inspirational slogans for the and scavenger piles is now what passes for (+0) Charm or Deceive workers that passed this way have all been van- open commerce in southern Coscarla. At any Test. Torn between guilt, dalised and torn down. time during the day cycle, fifty to a hundred fear and self-recrimination, The railhead’s control room has been sealed hab-citizens, as well as reclaimators, dregs and he might let slip dark hints closed and the process is now entirely auto- a handful of cocky gang blades, will congre- about what is going on, mated. A public wire vox-terminal has also gate here to do business. The goods on offer mutter the name “Logi- been deliberately vandalised and smashed. are such things as salvaged and ill-repaired cians” or warn the Acolytes household items, patched clothing, food against going near the Alms Location 2: The Enforcer Station rations supplemented with barely edible House or Moran, or mutter A squat, rockcrete pillbox three stories high, cooked vermin. The Acolytes can purchase lit- about the vanishings or tle of worth here, however information can be the enforcer station sits in a permanent state of anything else you see fit. gathered from the people. About an hour of shuttered lockdown. Most of the division’s It’s worth noting that while listening and questioning is enough to allow real enforcers are now dead and those on dis- Locan is allowed to wander, play are in fact Sybas Moran’s men. Only their for an Inquiry Test (See page 12). the Logicians keep him on figurehead leader, a broken obscura addict This area is also an excellent place to fit in a short leash and there named Locan, survives from the real Magistra- any additional encounters or events you may should always be another tum force to maintain a façade of normality wish to add, whether to provide extra clues for enforcer or one of Luntz’s The Edge of Darkness with his distant and uninterested superiors. the Acolytes or the chance to run a small com- blades somewhere nearby, There are twelve Logician agents posing as bat scene. These might include a chance keeping a discreet eye on enforcers at the station, stone killers all. Locan, encounter with a group of surly gangers look- him, a fact the Acolytes when not passed out in an obscura-fuelled haze ing for someone interesting to bully and rob, a might notice. in his chamber in the station, can sometimes be display of heavy handed enforcer tactics, a found wandering fitfully around the market area robbery from one of the stalls or a hysterical or drinking alone in the Third Workers’ Union. woman screaming for a child or husband van- The false enforcers limit themselves to bru- ished in the night. tally enforcing order over the area of the Square and making periodic sweeps, killing Location 5: The Tantalus Alms House vermin and dregs when they grow bored. Any Provided in Coscarla’s better days has as attempts by the Acolytes’ to get information display of the Tantalus Combine’s power, out of them will be firmly and flatly rebuffed. benevolence and largesse, this is large build- The current batch of enforcers have an evil ing is fronted with green marble, decorated reputation with the hab-citizens and a Rou- and over-sculpted, prominently displaying tine (+20) Perception or Awareness Test the Combine’s crest of a gilded scarab will notice that the two-man foot patrols that before a crossed pair of burning torches. pace the Square occasionally are given an The building’s ground floor is made up of abnormally wide birth by the wary proles. large refectories, a lecture hall, kitchens and Importantly, while the enforcers represent a store rooms, while its upper floors comprise direct danger to the Acolytes if they suspect a medicae wing and offices. Like the rest of them, they are mindful of the deception they Coscarla, the building has become dilapi- must maintain and so the enforcers will not dated and run down, most of its services openly come after the Acolytes, unless the have been closed down and its staff reduced Acolytes themselves are foolish enough to give to a single director—an adept called Moran, them an excuse by overt lawbreaking or firing who has but two juniors and a few servitors first. Instead the Churgeon will use her own to help him. Once a day, at the mid point of tools for the job. the day cycle, the refectory serves a bowl of Profiles for Locan and the enforcers can be protein gruel and a hunk of starch-bread found on page 29. from its soup kitchen (until its vats run dry) to all that can provide a valid citizen pass or Location 3: The Southern Square pay the demi-Throne for the meal. The Southern Square operates as the hub of this While these food handouts are vital for the portion of the Coscarla Division, it is bounded at community, Moran himself and his attendants 15 h deo Darkness of Edge The are not well liked, both because Moran is a issue with and robbing them to fund his drug cold and authoritarian figure and because they habit. If the Acolytes’ stay in the hostel for represent the Tantalus Combine—who are to more than one night, it’s likely they will have be blamed for much of Coscarla’s woes. Those some unwelcome callers (see Room Service with connections to Coscarla’s darker side also at the Coscarla Hostel). suspect that there is a link between Moran and Acolytes with an enforcer, Arbites or crim- the narco-gangs, imagining petty corruption, inal background can make an Ordinary pay offs or drug-running involved in the food (+10) Scrutiny Test to realise, with certainty, shipments to the Alms House, accounting for from his appearance and mannerisms that some covert comings and goings between the Drayelok is a drug addict, and far on along the Alms House, the Enforcer’s Station and the path to ruin. Workers’ Union. The truth of things is much, much worse What Drayelok Knows than is commonly suspected, Tantalus actually In his capacities as informant, addict, trafficker suspended alms shipments months ago and with dregs and nocturnal murderer, Drayelok covertly the Logicians and the Churgeon knows a surprising amount about what’s really moved in. The building is now a front for the going on. He will volunteer none of it unless Churgeon’s work, its upper floors a chamber forcibly interrogated or pleading for his of horrors and the contents of the gruel are worthless life (a Routine (+20) Intimida- best not described… tion or Deceive Test in this circumstance). A Though they may not guess it, venturing to success gleans the following information: the Alms House is walking straight into the heart of the enemy for the Acolytes and a sure “South Coscarla’s knee deep in blood and way to get into trouble if they are not careful. there’s worse than my sins going on out in the More on the Alms House’s ugly secrets can be black of the night” found in Part III: The Chamber of Horrors Profiles for Moran and his helpers can be If pressed about what he means, he found on page 31. will claim (though he hasn’t seen them himself ) that the dregs are frightened to Location 6: The Coscarla Hostel leave their bolt holes in the dark hours This crumbling tenement building of knocked because of: through dwellings is marked by the cracked paint of the sign above the door as the “Red eyes they call them, body snatchers “Coscarla Hostel” and is the only option in the that carry men and women off… and no, I area for a paid night’s lodgings. Even com- don’t know where and I don’t want to know! pared to the rest of the area, the hostel is in an Spire knows there’s enough hab-proles gone awful state, the walls are blighted with damp, missing, dozens, scores perhaps, but they’re all the plaster peeling and the furnishings covered too terrified to say it!” with patches of mould and unidentifiable stains. The hostel’s proprietor is a bulbous- Drayelock knows nothing of Saul Arbest, headed, sickly looking man with large but if severely frightened or if the questioning bloodshot eyes and pale clammy skin, perpet- Acolyte gains two or more degrees of success ually drenched with sweat, who calls himself on their Test, he will also offer the opinion Maxus Drayelok. Despite his fawning preten- that even Luntz, the narco-boss currently rul- sions of grandeur, his only workforce consists ing the roost at the Third Workers’ Union of his seemingly mute, withered-looking won’t let his men out far after dark unless they wife—a minor mutant with a skeletally thin go together and well armed, and that: build and a badly malformed right hand. Drayelok offers his twelve double rooms at “The enforcers are involved in it… the miss- a rate of a half-Throne a night—“light and bed- ing proles I mean. Stands to reason, as ding generously included”— and at the moment, anybody who complains too loudly that such- save for the occasional overspill from the and-such has vanished, soon vanishes too.” Workers’ Union, he gets very little trade, which is perhaps just as well. Profiles for Drayelok and the dregs can be Drayelok is addicted to spiral black, a par- found on page 28. ticularly potent variant of obscura. Drayelok is in debt to Luntz at the Workers’ Union and he Room Service at the Coscarla Hostel will inform the gang boss of anything he can In the dead of the night cycle, if Drayelok has find out about his guests, the Acolytes determined to kill and rob the Acolytes in included. Drayelok has developed one partic- their beds, he will open the back door for his ularly unpleasant sideline however, and in “friends”. A number of dregs (equal to the league with several of the area’s vilest and number of Acolytes lodging at the hostel +2) most far-gone dregs, he has taken to murder- will stalk up the stairs, the lead one having 16 ing any guests that his paranoid mind takes been given a pass key to the upstairs doors by Drayelok. The dregs will attempt to be and the lock broken. It is a simple eight metre stealthy on the way to the Acolytes’ rooms, but by eight metre box chamber with a water will attack savagely and recklessly when the closet and a single arched window. Making a time comes—more than willing to batter fairly poor job of hiding behind the bed in the down doors if needs be. The dregs will only corner is a frightened looking woman, hud- retreat if half of their number are killed or dled in an overcoat too larger for her and incapacitated. clutching a rucksack to her chest. They will Sleeping Acolytes may take a Challenging recognise her from her pict—this is Lili (+0) Awareness Test to detect the dregs Arbest. approach as they mount the rickety stairs and fumble at the locks. If the Acolytes are sur- Lili Arbest’s Story prised, the dregs will get a free round of Lili will seem relieved when she sees the attacks as they try and murder them in their Acolytes, however her level of co-operation beds, gaining a +30 to hit any surprised with them will depend entirely on how they Acolytes in the first round of combat. treat her. She is intelligent and believes, quite If the dregs are defeated, Drayelok will shut rightly, that she is in immediate danger and himself behind the flimsy door of his office, that her brother is most likely dead. She will weeping until the Acolytes come for him, respond better to the truth than some fabrica- while his wife will flee into the darkness, not tion on the part of the Acolytes. to be seen again. If the Acolytes’ give her proof of her brother’s fate she will be appalled but satisfied Location 7: The Arteria Exit to know the truth, and open to any questions Southern Coscarla’s other exit point to the rest that they might have if they indicate they are of the hive is a yawning roadway tunnel looking to deal with whoever is responsible. entrance, wide enough to fit two huge macro- If the Acolytes threaten, overtly lie or with- haulers through at once. During the night hold information from her, she will tell them cycle, the arteria exit is blocked by two auto- no more than she must in order to get away mated steel and mesh gates which drop down and flee if she feels threatened. to cover the tunnel’s lower half. The only con- The following are a few pertinent answers

trol system for the gates sits safely inside the that she can give to the Acolytes; read out or The Edge of Darkness Enforcer Station. paraphrase the following as needed:

Location 8: Hab-Stack 7-17 On Saul’s disappearance: “To my Hab-Stack 7-17 is a boxy, grey ten-story block shame, I didn’t know he was gone till days decorated with arched window surrounds and afterwards. I’d had a contract to work up-hive stacked tiers of carved scarab blazons. The stack and was too worn-out to care. To be honest, sits about twenty minutes walk along one of the Saul had been drinking a lot, drowning his main roadways from the square. It can be iden- sorrows and sleeping it off. By the time I tified by what’s left of the roadway signs that realised that he’d vanished he’d been gone for haven’t been vandalised or burned with a Rou- days. I looked everywhere. I even went into the tine (+20) Intelligence Test, or by getting Worker’s Union to look for him, even though directions from the locals. Despite a generally the place makes my skin crawl. Everyone just dishevelled appearance, it seems outwardly to be stared blankly back at me and I knew, I knew! in as good an order as any in the area. Something terrible had happened.” Inside, the main entrance doors have been broken open and much of the foyer has been On reporting Saul missing: “I was vandalised and thoroughly scavenged. The frightened to report him missing at first, but I elevator doors are stuck open, displaying a saw Warden Locan on his own in the Square, black void, the only way up is by a stairwell he looked… I don’t know… lost. I told him decorated with damaged murals depicting Saul was gone, he seemed angry at first, then active and happy workers, stylised representa- he just went quiet and looked like he was going tions of hive nobles dispensing bounty from to break down in tears right there. He made me on high and icons of the city’s powerful. swear by the God-Emperor and by Saint Aside from some muted noises from behind Drusus not to mention this again, especially a few shuttered doors, the whole building not to the other enforcers. It was strange but I seems empty, silent and devoid of activity. believe he was even more frightened than I Acolytes may take a Challenging (+0) Per- was. I had no idea he’d actually reported it.” ception Test or a Routine (+20) Psyniscience Test. Succeeding at either will Why she is so frightened: “I’d made my confirm that a definite abiding sense of dread mind up to leave; There are more vanishings hangs over the place, far worse than anything every night, I don’t know how many and they have encountered so far. nobody will say anything! I stayed here last Assuming the Acolytes make a beeline for night, just one last night, hoping he’d come Saul’s chamber, they will find the door ajar home, foolish I know, but it saved my life. 17 h deo Darkness of Edge The Optional Encounter: service door, as well as several other locks in the place. A Devil’s Bargain Luntz can also arrange for the enforcers to be “occupied” by diversions if needs be. He will tell them all he knows, which isn’t much: he knows his end of the deal, which he was put If word comes to Luntz that the Acolytes have proven par- on to by “high grade players in the narco-syndicates” and he’ll tell ticularly effective in “dispatching” gangers, Drayelok’s them how badly things have soured over time. As for the murderous dregs, or (better yet) disposing of some of the Logicians, he knows the organisation’s name, but nothing enforcers or Body Snatchers, Luntz might approach the beyond the fact that they’re some kind of “tech cult” and Acolytes to do a “job” for him. Luntz believes the Acolytes “highly connected.” He knows that they are up to something at are new blood for hire and wants to hire them to kill the Churgeon at the Alms House. He believes this “decapitation” the Alms House and he believes that that is the cause of the of the top boss will allow him to make a clean break with night cycle disappearances. In addition, Luntz knows that his ill gotten gains and his skin intact. Moran and the enforcers are “stone cold pros, mercenaries would Luntz will pay the Acolytes 500 Thrones each for the be my guess—the expensive kind”. He has met the Churgeon task and arm them with shotguns and as much ammo they only once and she scared the hell out of him. can carry for the job. Importantly, he will also give them a Whether the Acolytes take this bargain with Luntz is copied passkey that allows entry to the Alms House’s rear entirely up to them.

When I went back to my chamber this morn- Location 9: The Third Tantalus Workers’ ing, on level three, the door had been smashed Union off its hinges and the place torn to pieces, there The Workers’ Union hall is a bar and venue was nothing taken. If I’d been there…” that was provided by the Tantalus Combine for the use of its workers, a common practice What she’s planning to do now: that attempts to empty their indentures’ pock- “Escape. I was just waiting till the work shift ets of what little coin the masters have paid returns and the last rail cars come in, and then them. The establishment has suffered greatly I’ll make a dash for the last car out. I have an old under its current sponsor, the Sibellan narco- friend who works as a scrivener in the Porphyry gang syndicates. Vandalised, brutalised and District, she’ll let me stay with her if I ask. Not bullet-ridden, the bar is not a welcoming place much, but it’s better than dying isn’t it?” for the Acolytes, filled with nervous gang blades, morose drinkers and smashed-up The Acolytes have no reason to detain her and addicts. The only regular clientele are the gang she has no reason whatsoever to stay. She does boss “Chord” Luntz and his crew who use the not know who took Saul, only that she is in dire upstairs rooms in the hall as a base of opera- peril and there is nothing left for her but “evil” in tions. Various drifting scum, gangers and Coscarla now. If they try to detain her she will recidivists regularly come to arrange deals scream blue murder just as the work shift returns with Luntz. and the Acolytes will have some very awkward The Workers’ Union is not a place to gather questions to answer as several dozen angry rumours or ask direct questions, as the clien- labourers appear to find out what’s going on. If tele and staff are well aware of what Luntz the Acolytes try to help her, perhaps offering would do to them for talking to strangers. money, providing her with a weapon or even However, some time spent here and a success- escorting her to the railhead, she will favour ful Challenging (+0) Inquiry Test will find them with one last fragment of information in out that the hall is clearly being used as a cen- gratitude before she flees: tre for illegal drug distribution, a narco-boss called Cord Luntz is in charge and for what- “You might try and find Evard Zed, he was ever reason, he is not a happy man. A failure one of Saul’s friends. They used to drown their on this Test could be enough to start a poten- sorrows together. He’s a drink-sodden fool, but tially lethal bar fight (and the Acolyte’s he’s been avoiding me and might know some- behaviour might do this anyway regardless). thing. I think I saw him at the Templum when Such fights are common in the Union and I went to light a candle for my brother’s soul unless the Acolytes make a point of storming this morning.” Luntz’s operation on the upper floor, no par- ticular repercussions will ensue. Stake Outs Enterprising Acolytes may come up with a “Chord” Luntz, Gang Boss plan to stake out Lili’s or Saul’s chamber that Luntz knows this should have been a sweet night cycle in the hope of discovering what’s deal for him as the supply of sophisticated afoot. In either case they will be rewarded by chemicals from the Churgeon has brought him the appearance of one or two Body Snatchers huge profits. However, as time has passed the 18 in the dark. (See page 33 for their profile). deal appears to have soured; trade is drying up because word is getting out that Coscarla is a Or “bad place to do business” and Luntz is begin- “Alms House eh? Well I’ll ning to realise that he is trapped in a situation have none of it, any man that where things could easily turn for the worse. offers you something for The Churgeon represents something far worse nothing, well, that just means than he is used to dealing with and, with what he wants ain’t so obvi- Moran’s killers posing as enforcers, Luntz ous, nor as clean as coin—so knows that he (and his crew) are outclassed they say in my trade.” and outgunned. Profiles for Luntz, and his gangers can be One Success “Enforcers, hah! Have you found on page 32. seen ‘em, the way the stand, the way they watch? The Location 10: Sikes’ Yard utter disinterest in an honest Sikes is a reclaimator from out of the district bribe or two? If they’re local (from the deep underhive if truth be told) and he, Magistratum lads, like what his two “apprentices” and their crudely aug- you get in this neck of the mented vermin hound have set up a stall filled wastes, then I’m Miss Fancy with all manner of refuse, buddle rags, scavenged Knickers, Queen of Blood- tech and megre goods in a burned out techno- Soaked Malfi!” mat’s shop, just off from the trade market. Sikes is a wily, mercenary character and has lived this Two Successes “Oh I’ve seen ‘em and they long by keeping his eyes and ears open. He has aren’t ghosts either, the ‘red an idea about what’s going on even if he hasn’t eyes’, they’re as solid as this got the full story.Sikes has discovered some good scattergun. Stalking about salvage in Coscarla, however, with developments here and there in the night, being what they are, his self-preservation instinct dragging off honest proles. is kicking-in and he feels that he should be mov- Odd that, when you think of ing on soon. it, isn’t it? No sudden drop in Sikes is quite willing to barter information for the dreg numbers, nor are me

cash—he will give nothing away for free. He is a and my kind bothered, almost The Edge of Darkness skilled liar when he needs to be and not easily like some one thought we was- intimidated (he will meet threats of violence in n’t good enough eh?” kind). In order get anything useful out of him, a Challenging (+0) Barter or Charm Test is ThreeorMore “There it stands, the Alms called for; if the Acolytes sweeten the deal with House. They all go drudging cash, trade goods or a few choice purchases, they in and out, meek as cattle. may have a +10 or higher bonus to this Test as Ever sees it once the black the GM feels appropriate. If the Acolytes’ money comes? Pale lights burning in keeps flowing, Sikes will keep talking—he has a the dark up high and I’ve seen talent for crouching pertinent facts and leading the long shadows them inside statements in rambling anecdotes or rhetorical cast. A downhiver like me assertions, saying much without seeming to say learns to read shadows as much at all. good as an adept reads script, If successfully questioned about Saul, Sikes sees what’s coming round the will venture that he knows Arbest’s sister was corner by it. No, I’ll have looking him (she came to him and made spent my last round before inquiries herself after he brother), and if the any o’ ‘em drags me to that Acolytes pay well, he will tell them where they place.” are likely to find Evard Zed, Saul’s old drinking partner at the Templum—“Hiding under that The Acolytes may be interested in Sikes’ worthless preacher’s skirts, that’dbe my reckoning.” junk as he has a small quantity of arms and ammo for sale. He will sell five stub pistol Here is a sample of Sikes’ colourful rounds or shotgun cartridges for a Throne observations: (and has a total of 30 of each ammo type for sale). He also has a battered looking stub Sikes’ Information revolver for ten Thrones and his “star buy, Test Result Information one careless owner, regrettably now defunct”, an Standard Success “It doesn’t take a savant to see old autopistol with a rebuilt grip and two there’s something awry here, clips for 40 Thrones. (See page 27 for honest citizens going missing, details of the automatic fire rules). enforcer’s doing nothing about it and a narco-boss sitting scared in that bar yonder with his hand out eh?” 19 h deo Darkness of Edge The Location 11: The Southern Templum Who are the This small chapel to the Imperial Creed is Part III: The Logicians? the domain of an alcoholic wreck of a preacher called Fayban. Inside the icons and Chamber of The Logicians are an statuary are alight with hundreds of tallow alliance of heretic factions candles, all lit by the lost and the desperate, Horrors who have long been a each one for a vanished friend, family mem- thorn in the side of the Cal- ber or a scream heard in the night. This is ixis and the nearby Ixaniad perhaps the truest and most visual indicator The Turn of Events Sectors. Founded not of just how bad things have become in around a single charismatic Coscarla. The third part of the adventure is focused figure or dark religion, they When Coscarla burned in the blackout a around the secrets of the Alms House and it is find their inspiration in a year ago, the other Templum clerics went to here that the answers to the mystery of what forbidden heretical text help the victims and died for their faith, how- happened to Saul Arbest can be found. It is called “In Defence of the ever, Fayban stayed behind and his conscience also here that the key to the Acolytes’ contin- Future: A Logical Discourse”, has been eating him alive ever since. Now a ued survival lies. banned now for several new terror has come and Fayban’s wilful igno- Sooner or later, one of two things will millennia. The Logicians rance and cowardice has come to the fore likely occur: are a so-called “progressive” again. He rarely leaves the templum and never cult, they favour the goes out at night. He is a weak man and i) The Acolyte’s suspicions will have been advancement of mankind should be portrayed as such, which should directed to the Alms House and its part in the through progress and the strike anger into the heart of any Acolyte disappearances. Thus they will seek to find out acquisition of technology, cleric encountering him. what lurks behind its public front. believing that they should Or cast-off of the oppression ii) The Logicians themselves (their suspi- Evard’s story of the Ministorum, over- cions aroused due to the PCs actions) will Also hiding out at the Templum is Evard throw of the High Lords of come after the Acolytes—or at least seek out Zed, one of Saul Arbest’s drinking compan- Terra and put an end to the whichever force they suspect is at work against ions who was with him on the night of his smothering constraints of them in Coscarla. the Adeptus Mechanicus. disappearance. Zed is another man plagued by his conscience and once he is identified Ultimately, the Logicians In both cases, the physical location of the and questioned, getting him to unburden his aim to bring about a return Alms House is likely to pay a significant part to the mythic power of the soul is a Routine (+20) Charm or Intim- it what transpires and for this reason it is Dark Age of Technology. idate Test. A success means that he explored here in detail. Finding adherents sobbingly relates his story: through a secret network of ruthless mercantile interests “I was with him the night… the night he The Logicians on the Hunt and power-hungry nobles, vanished. We were drinking in the Union, they are a haven for not much you understand, just enough to As previously noted, once the Logicians’ suspicions are aroused they will seal off the hereteks and rogue tech- pass the time… Anyway, this gang blade, I area as a precautionary measure (see Lock- priests, and are highly didn’t know him, hadn’t seen him before… down on page 13) and conduct their own organised and well Anyway, this blade takes issue with Saul. investigations into who has come to oppose resourced. Although no Well he was being very loud, running his them. Even if they don’t know for sure that Daemonic force or apoca- mouth, you know. Well, this blade goes and it is the Acolytes, given the Logicians’ lyptic agenda lies at their cuts him, not bad you understand, just resources, they effectively “are” the local law heart, the Logicians are still enough to show him who’s boss… just a cut a phenomenally dangerous enforcement and the fact that they can use in the chest, we’ve all had worse at the man- Luntz’s criminal contacts and informants to group, utterly callous in ufactorum a dozen times. their pursuit of power and track down the group of “strangers” who are Well we weren’t wanted at the Union asking too many questions, it only a matter unceasing in the hunt for anymore, not that night, so we turfed out. I ever better weapons and of time before the Acolytes are exposed. was for heading straight for home, but Saul, Once this has occurred, the Logicians will tools by which to achieve he was moaning about that cut, wanted to their ends. firstly seek to move covertly against them and go to the Alms House, see if one of them will seek to capture rather than kill them out- charity sirs would stitch him up or, you right—at least while this seems a viable option. know, give him something for the pain. The The reasons for this are twofold, firstly the Logi- lights were on you understand —in the cians (justified) paranoia works against Alms House. We could see it over there, them—despite their obvious power, they are shining in the dark. Me though, I went completely outnumbered by the local population home, that old place gives me the shivers. and Moran is under no illusion that the balance That was, you see, before all the vanish- of terror they have created will not last long if ings really started, Saul, he was one of the they have the enforcers opening fire into crowds first.” or setting loose the Churgeon’s playthings in broad daylight. Secondly, they will not be con- 20 tent just to kill the interlopers, they will want to find out who sent them and all that they know, and at the Churgeon’s hands this will not be a The Layout of the Broken Tiles and pleasant experience. Alms House Lingering If the Logicians take the offensive in this Screams: Setting way, Moran will co-ordinate matters from the Enforcer Station, leaving the defence of the The Ground Floor the Scene in the Alms House to the capable hands of the Chur- Alms House geon and her creations. Security and Dispositions at the Alms House The Alms House is a large During the day cycle the Alms House Moving against the Acolytes and ornate building, its maintains a deception of normality, Once the Logicians have identified their tar- architecture and scale Moran and his two aides carry out the gets and where they might find them, they designed to impose and business of the food distribution, aided will wait until the next night cycle to send out leave those who humbly by the kitchen servitors, while the upper the Body Snatchers. Such a hunting party will enter its halls with no floors are barred and off limits. During contain several Body Snatchers (one for each doubt as to the power and the night cycle, Moran (unless called of the Acolytes is advised), lead by a plain- wealth of the Tantalus away) and the others sleep on the sec- clothes enforcer armed with a silenced weapon Combine. The building is ond floor, while a Body Snatcher patrols and a dark vision visor. The hunters will stalk fronted and tiled inside the ground and second floors once every and try to overwhelm the Acolytes with brute with a funerary green mar- hour. Each night, two to six Body force, as long as they can avoid crowds in ble, the ceilings are high Snatchers are sent out to “collect” the doing so. They plan to capture alive as many and vaulted, and the walls night’s crop of subjects, while the of the Acolytes as possible in a surprise attack. studded with mouldings remainder await, hooked-up to chemical This capture team will retreat if they take and statuary. Now largely canisters, on the third floor. The Chur- heavy causalities, attempting to take their disused and abandoned, geon and her two homonculites do not fallen with them. If they fail, they will escalate tiles cracked and statues sleep. matters and try again on a subsequent night. vandalised, the building’s However, if their entire force is overwhelmed, scale and largely empty The Main Portico and Reception rooms are filled with dust, they are obviously betrayed by Luntz or chamber become the subject of a mob attack, then leaving it with a haunted, The main entryway is made up of a set of high desolate feeling. Moran will instigate their destruction protocol The Edge of Darkness bronze doors, flanked by wide marble The rooms of the first instead (see Countdown to Destruction) columns; these doors are open during the day before dissolving their operation and escaping floor, beyond locked doors cycle and barred shut from within during the and outside of public in an armoured cargo hauler (with enforcer night. Within, the wide lobby is covered by a escort) he has concealed for this purpose out scrutiny, are in a worse con- mosaic floor featuring the icon of the Tantalus dition with broken and in the waste zone of Northern Coscarla— Combine, now mostly obscured by a thick killing anyone that gets in the way. overturned furniture, scat- layer of grime and dirt. A wide archway to the tered papers, torn draperies left leads to the refectory area, while its paral- and the occasional old Countdown to Destruction lel, to the right, leads to the lecture hall. It has always been the Logicians’ plan to cover bloodstain from the Logi- Directly across from the entrance, two inward cians’ unobserved takeover. their tracks with an act of mass murder by a curving stairways ascend to the landing on the The third floor, origi- biological weapon in the shape of a concen- second floor and beneath them a high marble- nally set up as a small trated plague bacillus. This will only occur faced reception desk stands, bracketed by two medicae facility for the during the adventure if they feel that their tall and grim statues depicting robed adepts Combine’s workers, is whole operation is threatened or if their posi- holding burning torches aloft. Day or night, where the Churgeon has tion in Coscarla has become untenable. the waning light from lumen globes mounted her lair and is a place of Their original plan (once their work in the within the statues’ torches is the only source of unspeakable suffering and Coscarla was completed) was to taint the Alms light, casting long shadows across the dirty horror. The air is filled with House’s last food hand-out with a dilute solu- floor. Behind the desk a doorway leads to a a coarse disinfectant reek, tion of the plague bacillus, which would have disused office and storeroom and off to one barely covering the stench the effect of a widespread contamination (the side, is a locked cage elevator. of blood. The lights flicker infected also becoming carriers) providing a When food is being handed out, one of and the filthy walls and suitable delay while the Logicians could Moran’s men poses as an adept at the desk and floor are sticky wet in escape. However, if they feel the game is up in checks citizens for their identity or takes coin, places and covered in drag Coscarla, their method will be far cruder and before allowing them to pass into the refec- marks, blood splatters, des- blatant. Any surviving Body Snatchers will be tory for meals. At all other times it is deserted. perate scratches and hand dressed with bandoliers of plague vials, hid- prints. den under dreg’s clothing. They will then The Refectory Wing smash the vials systematically in the entryways This long, square hall is able to seat up to a of hab-blocks, public buildings and the like, hundred at a time on long, battered tables set causing a huge diversion while the Logicians with miss-matched benches and chairs. The flee. If this attack occurs, then burning the walls are lined with inspirational scripture and Body Snatchers (preferably from a distance) is scenes. Food is served through a series of the only even vaguely safe means of counter metal hatches from the kitchens. A large attack. cracked mirror has been set into the wall 21 h deo Darkness of Edge The beside the hatch—an Ordinary (+10) Per- The First Floor Getting In ception Test will reveal that this mirror is a relatively recent addition. The landing and the Empty Offices There are a number of ways Breaking the mirror will reveal that it is that the Acolytes can gain Accessed either as the first stop upward on the two-way glass and that a false compartment elevator or from the landing, the majority of entrance to the Alms has been set into the wall, forming a com- House: they could break in, this floor is made up of a series of unused pact booth. Inside there is a scanning device offices or austere (former adept’s) chambers use a passkey (all of the and a small portable cogitator. A Routine Logician agents carry such dived into corridors by thin partition walls. (+20) Tech Use or Common Lore (Tech) a key) or even try and hide Many are filled with scattered papers and three Test will reveal these to be a bio-auspex, set among the crowd entering have been used as quarters by Moran’s aides. to take readings from those who pass by the for food and conceal them- The cage elevator from the lobby stops on the mirror, while the cogitator contains medical selves till later. landing and, behind a locked side door, a stair- and personnel files for the Tantalus Com- Most of the internal case leads from the end of the landing to the bine’s workforce. Note that the cogitator’s locks and the rear door use wards on the upper floor. liquid-core data cell can be removed for evi- the same passkey (unless dence. noted in the location), The Director’s Chamber attempting to overcome Accessed from an ornate locked door off the The Lecture Hall these sturdy mechanical landing, Moran has maintained a pretence Conceived so that the workforce could receive locks is no easy task—treat of normality in this room and the imposing edifying instruction on the value of unques- this as a Challenging (+0) chamber has been maintained in a pristine tioning obedience and the joy of tireless toil Security Test. Forcing the condition. The room is dominated by a large for their masters, this austere auditorium has lock—treat this as an “auto- mural of the Tantalus Combine’s symbol on long been entirely disused and has no viable matic hit” attack against an the panelled wall behind the director’s light source still working within. object with a combined marble-topped desk. Toughness & Armour value The desk contains a functioning auto quill, of 10, thus requiring a total The Kitchens and Stores neatly stacked layers of clean parchment and a of 12 or more points of The kitchens and stores are dusty, dirty and small (deactivated) matriculation engine of damage in one hit to break entirely unsanitary. The main storeroom nickel-plated metal. The desk draw is locked it—although this second contains surprisingly little by a way of food (only Moran has the key) but easily forced option is likely to be very except for some stacked crates of protein open with a Routine (+20) Strength Test. noisy, especially if it takes concentrate and a vat of fungal medium. An Contained within are several bound parch- the Acolytes numerous hits area has been set aside with a supply of con- ments, some data-slates and a laspistol with a to break the lock. centrated military-style rations, complete spare charge pack. When moving round the with is own sets of cutlery and utensils; A quick scan of the data-slates from the Alms House, stealth is these (unlike the rest of the kitchen) are desk (taking about five minutes) and a success- likely to be the order of the scrupulously clean. The main kitchen area is ful Ordinary (+10) Search Test, will reveal day, fortunately the build- dominated by two huge soup vats with gas a receipt acknowledging of the director’s ing’s solid construction, burners underneath, beside which a pair of request to the Tantalus Combine to suspend general abandonment and ancient and decrepit looking servitor drones normal food shipments some thirty days ago. layers of dust make this sit deactivated when not in use. A small side door from the chamber leads fairly easy. Each Acolyte A locked pair of metal doors lead from the to a sleeping cell that Moran has kept like a wishing to move stealthily back of the stores to a yard at the rear of the soldier’s billet. must make an Ordinary Alms House (locked with the standard (+10) Silent Move Test passkey), whilst a pitch-black lift shaft leads The Alchemistry Lab Opposed by Awareness upwards. There are several side doors from the What was a washroom area at the very end of (35) for any patrolling kitchen leading to small storerooms and the floor has been converted into an alchem- guard in a position to dis- pantries, a palpable smell of blood issues from istry lab and is filled with benches stacked cover them. one of them (see The Protein Store). with bubbling glass crucibles, sparking appara- tus and whirling centrifuges, tended by at all The Protein Store times by one of the Churgeon’s Homonculites Entered through the locked side door from (see page 33), which will attack intruders the kitchens, this box room contains a series remorselessly until destroyed. of stacked, metal drum canisters and smells This is the lab where the Churgeon’s cover heavily of blood. If these heavy canisters are business as a dealer in illegal formulas and pried open, they will reveal a thick, clotted reagents for the narco-gangs is carried out. red liquid whose coppery stench will be The apparatus is delicate—stray shots or overpowering. Close inspection will reveal smashed vessels might result in a fire or even codes and dates stamped onto the sides of perhaps a small explosion. them. If the Acolytes have already looked at the cogitator data from the hidden room, an The Third Floor Ordinary (+10) Intelligence Test will realise the code patterns tally. The Medicae Wards Realising what the contents of the canisters Two medical wards dominate the third floor, 22 are is definitely worth a Fear Test (see page 25). with the main cage elevator from the lobby ascending to a central reception point between At the centre of it all is the Churgeon. Read them. Curtains of semi transparent rubberised or paraphrase the following: The Doctor is slats hang at the entrances to the two wards, in… while the lights overhead flicker and pulse The centre of the chamber is dominated The Churgeon is obsessed, slowly, as if power was being bled away. On by a large operating table, surrounded far from sane and at a criti- the other side of the ward reception area a by all manner of strange instruments, cal juncture in her work. If blank armoured door has been fitted recently flashing cogitator displays and arma- the Acolytes are detected in (the previous door lies on its side nearby.) tures ending in clusters of blades, the building, she will dis- The two wards are draped with crude par- manipulators and drills. patch any remaining Body titions made from plastek sheeting and torn On the table, strapped down and laid Snatchers to deal with the cloth, behind which twenty blood spattered open as if an anatomical exhibit, his problem and vox Moran gurneys are hidden from view. Eight of the heart still pumping in his splayed and the enforcers to come gurneys are currently occupied by the dead ribcage, is a young man, clearly con- and assist her. She will not, bodies of the Churgeon’s mutilated victims, scious and terrified out of his mind. however, stop her work, no covered by sheeting. The sight of what has Looming above him is a narrow and matter how badly things been done to these unfortunates is truly hor- impossibly tall figure, shrouded in black are going until the Acolytes rific, beyond any “normal” violence or sane robes edged with a blood-red cog-tooth enter her operating theatre. mind. A shelf along one wall holds jars of har- pattern, who can only be the architect vested organs and limbs in fluid suspension, and master of this chamber of horrors. while in the far corner a lone “survivor” can be Perched on the figure’s back is a heavy found. This comatose man has fresh surgical mass of burnished metal, surrounded by scars on his chest and is hooked up to arcane dozens of twitching mechanical limbs, looking machinery and drip fed chemicals, like some obscene clockwork spider. while a cogitator next to him chatters and The cowled head turns toward you spools a printed sheet into a waiting hopper. and as the light catches the face within, you can see what remains of a living The Armoured Door woman’s face stitched to an iron skull. The armoured door is icy-cold to the touch Glowing lenses set in the woman’s dead and is featureless except for two diagonal face focus on you and a grating artificial voice issues forth: metal notches at waist height—the lock. A The Edge of Darkness special encoded accessor key is needed to gain “Foolish meat! In coming here you have entry and these can only be found in the per- only hastened the harvesting of your unworthy sonal possession of the Churgeon, Moran and flesh!” the Homonculites. Getting through the door by force would need heavy weapons, explo- Viewing the Churgeon at her work in this sives or cutting equipment, alternately the chamber of horrors requires a Fear Test (see Acolytes could wait for something to come out page 25). and then wedge it open, as the heavy pres- surised door swings very slowly. End Game

The Operating Theatre The Churgeon distains physical confrontation Beyond the armoured pressure door is the and if attacked, will detach her “scalpel familiar” Churgeon’s domain. It is a large chamber from her back and call on the Homonculite made from knocking down several partition tending the bio-tank, and any remaining Body walls and crudely sealed off with tape and Snatchers in the chamber, to attack the Acolytes sheet metal plating. An open lift shaft, cov- while she attempts to withdraw to the rear of ered by a grate, sits off to one side. The room the room, giving her the opportunity to take is icy cold and a heavy mist of vapour hangs shots at the interlopers with her laser. If it looks above the floor. The walls are lined with a like the fight is not going in her favour, she will tangle of hissing and crackling machinery, lit quickly programme the machinery to overload by corposant arcs of energy, rack upon rack (this will take two combat rounds) and flee of bubbling sample tanks, containment ves- down the waiting lift shaft, her internal maglev sels and bewildering alchemical apparatus. system allowing her to escape swiftly and safely One whole wall is given over to a series of down the shaft. hanging canisters— the Body Snatchers are Alarms scream, arcs of electrical dis- hooked up to these between missions. The charge will cascade around the room as the opposite wall holds a single large transparent machinery begins to overload. Soon after chamber, filled with a clear fluid in which the various tanks start to shatter, spilling floats a large whitish mass. The thing in the foul smelling ichor on to the floor and sur- chamber is being tended by a Homonculite. faces. The Acolytes have about five minutes Acolytes may realise that the thing in the to grab whatever evidence they can and get chamber is a far larger specimen of the for- clear before the power chamber goes critical bidden bio-construct Sand showed them at and blows the top off the building in a fire- their initial briefing. ball of plasma. 23 h deo Darkness of Edge The Moran and his enforcers are trained profes- little tasks that might suit your talents. Why, now I sionals not insane fanatics and if the Alms House think on it, I have the very thing in mind…simple is destroyed or the Churgeon is killed (or has job off world, a restful journey on the way, why it’ll fled), he and his men will seek to cut their losses be no trouble at all…” and attempt an escape. In doing so, they will set fire to the Station House and flee through the Developing the Plot Further arteria network in an enforcer half-track unless Many questions may lay unanswered at the stopped. A running gun battle with Luntz’s men end of this adventure. What were the Logi- (and possibly the Acolytes) will ensue as they cian’s wider plans? What other horrors or make their break for it. conspiracies might fester in the wasteland of the Coscarla Division? Were there elements The Aftermath in the Tantalus Combine responsible for turning a blind eye to the situation? Is some If the Acolytes are victorious in defeating or suc- faction in the Combine involved with the cessfully driving off the Logicians, they can conspiracy? How deep do the links between quickly re-establish contact with the wider hive the Logicians and the rulers of the narco- and an Inquisition-backed sweep by the Magos syndicates (far above the likes of Luntz) go? Biologis and the Adeptus Arbites will soon fol- And, on a more practical level, if Moran, low. The sweep will round up everybody who Luntz or the Churgeon escaped, the hunt hasn’t already fled (there will be no sign of Luntz for them will continue apace. or Sikes) and the local inhabitants will be One other mystery that remains lies with processed, while forensic teams will sift through the missing; Moran’s fake adepts kept meticu- the evidence with a fine-toothed comb. lous records of those they had targeted for The Acolytes will be checked over for con- abduction along with their eventual fate, and tamination and thoroughly questioned about once their encryptions have been broken by the matter. Sand, speaking to them over a vox the merciless minds of the Mechanicus, it will from his own lab, will grant that they “Haven’t be noted that they simply do not tally. Some performed too badly,” and he’ll be particularly six test subjects, Saul Arbest among them, pleased with any samples that they might have appearing to be the most successful and stable preserved for him. of the Churgeon’s creations, are not accounted The long-term outlook for the Coscarla for—where are they? The conclusion drawn will be bleak. For the people of the southern by Sand will be that they were dispatched to district, rumours will begin to circulate as to some other locale for study, “Site X” as he will what took place, some of them true, some dub it remains to be found, and the supposi- verging on the heretical. Soon horror and tion occurs that Saul Arbest, who’s dead body mass hysteria will take hold, and as the found on the transit rail started all of this, was rumours spread the Coscarla will become an not escaping from Coscarla at all, but rather even more shunned and blighted place. died trying to return home… In all these cases, with their first hand The End? knowledge of events, the Acolytes are the Once matters are settled, Sand will say (with perfect candidates for the job of finding out some humour) “I’m sure we can find a few more more.

Just what was the huge problem, killing the vast majority of test subjects or at best destroying their Churgeon up to? higher brain functions entirely—although these were successful enough for her to The Churgeon’s principle goal has been create the Body Snatchers. Even the better the perfection of a genetically stable, bio- ones (such as the unfortunate Saul Arbest) cultured neural control graft-organ which have proved unreliable, suffering slow would enable the Logicians to rapidly cre- deaths and regressions after periods of ate armies of obedient soldiers and servants functionality. The Coscarla, with its ready from healthy human stock. If perfected, the supply of good quality subjects, provided subjects would retain their memories and an excellent opportunity to carry out a skills (unlike common Imperial servitors), large study on rejection factors and, but be entirely controlled by their parasitic although the fatality rate has been huge, implants, which would also be able to over- the raw data gathered has been very prom- ride and regulate their pain receptors, as ising. If the Churgeon escapes, sooner or well as some other useful tricks. Unfortu- later she will move to the next stage in her nately the tissue rejection factor has been a experiments… 24 adventure (available to download from the Appendix I: Black Industries website) so you can get Fear! stuck in straight away! Quick Start Your character is its defined and Fear, horror and corruption described in a number of ways, including are all things that an Rules Characteristics which provide a rough meas- Acolyte must confront in ure of their mental and physical abilities and Dark Heresy, and are cov- are expressed as a numbered score (the ered in detail in the main The Dice and Making Tests higher the better!) and their Skills and Tal- rules. However, for this ents which define their various special areas demo adventure we use a Like most other roleplaying games, Dark of expertise, training and gifts. simplified version of the Heresy uses dice to determine chance of If you take a look at and compare the Fear Test. When your your character succeeding at an action and Acolytes provided you will see that they Acolyte is confronted by to determine lots of other viable events and each have differing Characteristics scores, something that causes Fear outcomes. Skills and Talents which make them indi- (this will be noted in the This game uses ten sided dice (d10) and vidual and different to play. adventure) they must Test it is recommended that each player have at their Willpower score least two ten sided dice of different colours Characteristics (rolling two ten sided dice to play. Most times when you roll dice in the to get a number equal to or game you will be making a Test, in order to Each Acolyte (not to mention all the game’s below their Willpower do this you roll two dice to generate a num- opponents and supporting cast of characters Characteristic), if they fail this Test they are subject to ber between 01 and 00 (100), reading the controlled by the GM) has the same set of an ongoing penalty of –10 results of one of the dice as “tens” and the comparable characteristics, these are: to all Tests while in proxim- other as “units” (which is why its handy if ity to the frightening thing, you can tell the dice apart!) with the aim of Weapon Skill (WS): A measure of skill at or in the case of a frighten- rolling equal to or under a Characteristic hand-to-hand fighting. ing opponent, until that score, usually with a modifier to that score, Ballistic Skill (BS): A measure of skill with opponent is destroyed or depending on the Difficulty of what you are ranged weaponry (guns etc.) escaped from. trying to accomplish. Strength (S): A measure of how physically

powerful a character is. The Edge of Darkness Example: When making a Test you might Toughness (T): A measure of stamina and roll a red dice and a white dice, you say resistance to injury. first that the red one will be “tens” and roll Agility (Ag): A measure of physical speed a 5 on the red dice and a 3 on the white and co-ordination. dice, so the score you have rolled is 53. Intelligence (Int): A measure of general intelligence, reasoning and erudition. The game also uses dice for other vari- Perception (Per): A measure of sensory ables such as weapon Damage, in this case awareness and perceptiveness. you simply roll the number of dice indicated Willpower(WP): A measure of mental and add the totals and that’s your result. spiritual fortitude. Fellowship (Fel): A measure of social Example: A laspistol might inflict 1d10+2 ability. Damage, so when shooting something you would roll one die and add +2 to the num- You will also notice that your Acolyte has ber you rolled for the total damage caused. a number of Wounds, this indicates the maximum amount of Damage that your Sometimes you will be asked to roll a Acolyte can take before going out of action d5, if you don’t have one handy (yes such or dying. things do exist!) roll a d10 instead and half You will also notice that the “tens” digit the result (rounding up). of many of your Characteristic scores are highlighted, this number represents your Characteristic Bonus, this is used in cer- Your Acolyte tain game rules such as the combat system.

In Dark Heresy you take on the roll of an Example: Some hand to hand weapons state Acolyte—this is the catch all title for the that their Damage is 1d10+1+SB. This many different agents in service of the tells you to roll 1d10 and add +1 to the Inquisition who are fighting a shadowy war result, then add your SB (Strength Bonus) to to keep the Imperium of Mankind safe from give a final total. its many enemies. The full Dark Heresy rules provide a plethora of options for cre- Your Acolyte also has a set of Movement ating your Acolytes but for convenience’s rates used in the combat system to define how sake we have provided you with several fast they are, these rates are listed in metres entry-level characters to go along with this and equate to Half/Normal/Charge/Run. 25 h deo Darkness of Edge The Fate The Combat Turn Chosen men and women, Acolytes have the At the beginning of a combat, all partici- hand of destiny on their shoulders. In order pants roll 1d10 and add their Agility Bonus to reflect this, each Acolyte has a number of (AB) to the result; this is there Initiative Fate Points which they can spend each ses- score for that combat. sion of play. Fate Points can have many uses Combat then occurs in the order of Ini- but for the purposes of our demo we can tiative, the character with the highest score limit them to the following: goes first, then the next highest score and so The Second Chance: You may use a on. Each takes it in turns to act (see Actions) Fate Point to re-roll a failed Test. However, until all those involved have done so; this you must take the second result even if it completes a combat turn. The combat con- worse! Any failed Test may only ever have tinues turn after turn (using the same one re-roll. Initiative order) until one side is victorious It was Just a Flesh Wound: You may or the fight otherwise ends. use a Fate Point to regain 1d5 lost Wounds when you have been injured, unless you are Making An Attack killed outright, or suffer some utterly When you make an attack, you must pass a terrible fate (so no escaping a severed head! Weapon Skill (WS) or Ballistic Skill (BS) Etc.) Test (depending on the type of weapon that you’re using) in order to hit your target. Skills The combat rules assume that your Your Acolyte has a set of Skills, each repre- enemy in any given fight is aware of what’s senting a particular field of training, going on and is attempting to not get education or expertise. Each Skill operates shot/hit etc. If you catch a target completely off a particular Characteristic which is unawares or by surprise, you gain a +30 to noted next to it (for example, Dodge is an hit during the first round of combat only Agility based Skill). In order to Test the Skill (your surprised opponent can do nothing your Acolyte is trained in you simply Test during this first round). the Characteristic associated with that Skill. Inflicting Damage Example: Jarres wants to swim across When you successfully hit your target, roll the canal. The Swim skill is based upon the the weapon’s Damage. Reduce this Damage Strength Characteristic, Jarres has 32 by your target’s Toughness Bonus (TB) and Strength, so he must roll equal to or less any Armour Points (AP) they might have, than 32 to pass the Test. the result is how many points of Damage you have caused them (they remove this Some Skills everybody can do (or greater number from their total Wounds). or lesser degrees), even if they aren’t trained If you are using a close combat weapon in them. These are called Basic Skills and you may add the value of your Strength have the word “Basic” written next to them. Bonus (SB) to the amount of damage you When testing a Basic Skill, you simply halve inflict. the Characteristic score you are Testing. If you roll a “o” (a “10” in other words) on your Damage dice, you may have Talents inflicted Righteous Fury! Immediately roll Talents are special areas of expertise or another attack Test, if this is also a success, innate ability, this wide category ranges you inflict and additional 1d10 damage. from the ability to enter a homicidal frenzy, Damage points scored against a character to manifesting psychic powers or the are cumulative. cybernetic implants of the tech-priests. A list of the effects of some pertinent Talents Getting Hurt (and Killed) can be found at the end of these Quick Start If your character is reduced to 0 Wounds Rules. then they are hurt badly, suffering a –10 to all Tests. If they are reduced to –5 Wounds Quick Rules for Combat or more, then they have been killed and are out of the game. Dark Hersey offers detailed and fast-paced Note that Non Player Characters (NPCs) rules for savage combat, including a great and antagonists reduced to 0 wounds are many options covering different types of assumed to be killed or otherwise out of damage, parrying, critical effects, body loca- action. tions and lots of weapon types, as well as, numerous manoeuvres and actions. The Reaction rules presented here are a simplified version In addition to their action in a given turn, a 26 to those found in the rulebook. character can react once per turn to a successful attack made on them by burst of fire as their attack Action if the attempting a Dodge Skill Test to get out of shooter wishes (this must be declared before the way, negating the hit so that no damage firing the gun). is rolled. You cannot dodge an attack if you A weapon’s different rates of fire (RoF) were completely unaware of the danger. will be noted in their description as S (sin- gle shot)/Semi-Auto rate/Full Auto rate. Actions When these weapons fire, they expend The following are all Actions you can ammunition equal to the number listed in take in combat turn: the rate of fire for that mode. Attack: You can make an attack with a weapon and still move up to Semi-Auto attacks benefit from a +10 to your Half movement rate in metres in hit and for each two degrees of success a single Action. made on the BS Test (see page 26) an addi- Aim: By spending an Action aim- tional hit is made against the target (to a ing a gun, or sizing up your opponent maximum number of hits equal to the in fight, you gain a +10 bonus on weapons Semi-auto rate). your next attack Action against them. Charge: You can run directly at an Full Auto attacks benefit from a +20 to hit, and for each degree of success made on opponent moving at your charge move the BS Test (see page 26) an additional hit rate and attack them in close combat, is made against the target (to a maximum gaining a +10 bonus as long as you number of hits equal to the weapons Full have moved at least 4 metres to do so. Auto rate). Run/Evade: You can run at your full running speed (but take no other Actions). Until your next turn, ranged Weapon Qualities attacks against you suffer a –20 penalty. Some weapons have very particular or Reload: You can reload a weapon unusual qualities than others, such as (some weapons are cumbersome and you enhanced armour penetration or accuracy

might take several rounds to reload etc. and Dark Heresy uses a number of The Edge of Darkness them—this is noted in their description). weapon qualities to illustrate this, two are Stand up/Get into cover etc: present in the adventure: You can get on or off your feet or dive into cover and move your standard Tearing: Weapons with this quality have move rate in metres in an action. a tendency to gouge, rend and shred, when Other Actions: You may attempt rolling for Damage with a weapon with this to make any other Actions your GM quality, roll an extra 1d10 and pick the allows you in a combat turn, bearing highest result of the two dice rolled. in mind this represents only a few sec- onds of “real” time, complex actions Primitive: Certain low-tech or low- may take several turns to perform. impact weapons have difficulty in penetrating advanced armours and defences, and Armour Points are doubled against their Some Additional Rules for Damage (unless the armour also has the Gunplay Primitive quality).

Short Range: Shooting a weapon against a target that is less than half the weapon’s listed range away adds a +10 bonus to hit.

Long Range: Shooting a weapon at tar- gets that is over the range of the weapon and up to twice that distance suffers a –10 penalty to hit.

Point Blank: Shooting a weapon at a target up to three metres away (unless they are in close combat with the shooter) adds a +30 bonus to hit.

Semi-Automatic and Full Auto Weapons: Some weapons are capable of firing several shots in rapid succession or a 27 h deo Darkness of Edge The Appendix II: NPCs and Antagonists The Inhabitants of the Coscarla District

Coscarla Hab-Worker The following profile exemplifies most of Coscarla’s downtrodden and fearful population, they are ordinary men and women, enduring the worst of hard times with little more than faith and a desire to survive to sustain them. WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 20 20 30 (3) 30 (3) 30 (3) 20 (2) 30 (3) 25 (2) 30 (3)

Movement: 3/6/9/18; Wounds: 10 Skills: Awareness (Per), Common Lore (Imperium) (Int), Speak Language (Low Gothic) (Int), Trade (labourer or manufactorum worker etc.) (Int). Talents: Melee Weapon Training (Primitive). Weapons: Unarmed (1d5+1†, Primitive) or bludgeon (1d10+3† Primitive). †includes Strength Bonus. Armour: None Gear: Drab citizen’s garb, 1d5–3 Thrones, Tantalus Indenture cognomen.

Lili Arbest WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 20 20 30 (3) 30 (3) 30 (3) 33 (3) 32 (3) 36 (3) 34 (3)

Movement: 3/6/9/18; Wounds: 10 Skills: Awareness (Per), Common Lore (Imperium) (Int), Literacy (Int), Speak Language (Low Gothic) (Int), Trade (manufactorum worker) (Int). Talents: Melee Weapon Training (Primitive). Weapons: Unarmed (1d5+1†, Primitive). †includes Strength Bonus. Armour: None Gear: 28 Thrones, a battered writing kit, several changes of clothes, a worn prayer book and some family picts jammed into a rucksack.

Evard Zed WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 20 20 36 (3) 30 (3) 30 (3) 21 (2) 30 (3) 26 (2) 30 (3)

Movement: 3/6/9/18; Wounds: 10 Skills: Awareness (Per), Carouse (T), Common Lore (Imperium) (Int), Speak Language (Low Gothic) (Int), Trade (manufactorum worker) (Int). Talents: Melee Weapon Training (Primitive). Weapons: Unarmed (1d5+1†, Primitive). †includes Strength Bonus. Armour: None Gear: 4 Thrones, drab citizen’s garb, Tantalus Indenture cognomen.

Hosteller Maxus Drayelock WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 20 20 18 (1) 30 (3) 30 (3) 28 (2) 33 (3) 25 (2) 26 (2)

Movement: 3/6/9/18; Wounds: 10 Skills: Awareness (Per), Common Lore (Imperium, Underworld) (Int), Deceive (Fel) +10, Speak 28 Language (Low Gothic) (Int), Trade (Hostelry) (Int). Talents: Melee Weapon Training (Primitive). Weapons: Hatchet (1d10-2† Primitive). †includes Strength Bonus. Armour: None Gear: Badly soiled but once good quality clothing, hostel keys, hand lamp, 7 Thrones.

Preacher Fayban WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 13 20 18 (1) 22 (2) 22 (2) 30 (3) 33 (3) 25 (2) 35 (3)

Movement: 3/6/9/18; Wounds: 7 Skills: Awareness (Per), Carouse (T) +10, Charm (Fel), Common Lore (Imperial Creed, Ecclesiarchy) (Int), Deceive (Fel) +10, Literacy (Int), Performer (Orator), (Fel), Speak Language (Low Gothic, High Gothic) (Int). Talents: Melee Weapon Training (Primitive). Weapons: Unarmed (1d5-1†, Primitive). †includes Strength Bonus. Armour: None Gear: Unkempt clerical robs, a silver aquila on a chain and a hip flask filled with fortified wine.

Warden Locan WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 23 21 30 (3) 31 (3) 26 (2) 22 (2) 30 (3) 20 (2) 26 (2)

Movement: 3/6/9/18; Wounds: 10 Skills: Awareness (Per), Carouse (T), Common Lore (Imperium, Underworld), Inquiry (Fel) and Scholastic Lore (Judgement) (Int), Speak Language (Low Gothic) (Int). The Edge of Darkness Talents: Melee Weapon Training (Primitive, Shock), Basic Weapon Training (SP), Pistol Training (SP). Weapons: Unarmed (1d5+1†, Primitive) or chastisement baton (1d10+3† Primitive). †includes Strength Bonus. Armour: None Gear: Dirty and dishevelled enforcer flak coat (2 Armour Points) with tarnished rank insignia, unloaded sub automatic, and an obscura injector in his coat pocket.

Scavs and Rag Pickers Little better liked than the dregs, these types have come to scavenge and pick over the bones of the district for what they can, and are easily distinguished from the locals by their distinctive patchwork overcoats, their many bags and trinkets and the vulture’s gleam in their eyes.

WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 20 20 30 (3) 30 (3) 30 (3) 20 (2) 30 (3) 25 (2) 30 (3)

Movement: 3/6/9/18; Wounds: 10 Skills: Awareness (Per), Barter (Fel), Common Lore (Imperium) (Int), Search (Per), Speak Language (Low Gothic) (Int), Trade (ex-labourer or ex-manufactorum worker etc.) (Int). Talents: Melee Weapon Training (Primitive). Weapons: Bludgeon or staff (1d10+3† Primitive) about 50% also carry a black powder pistol (15m; S/—/—; 1d10+2; Primitive; Clip 1; Reload 3Full). †includes Strength Bonus. Armour: Leathers or scavenged gear (1 Armour Point; Primitive). Gear: Scavenger rags, trinkets, odds and ends, 1d5 Thrones, 6 bullets if pistol is carried.

29 h deo Darkness of Edge The Sikes the Reclaimator Sikes is a shrewd faced, sharp-eyed man of indeterminate middle age. He has the greyish pallor and colourless hair of the true down-hiver, and his wiry build is hidden beneath layer after layer of scavenged clothing. He is also covered in a seemingly disordered jumble of harness pockets, tool belts and bags. He perpetually carries a pump shotgun dangling on a sling underneath one arm and is a good deal more spry and dangerous than he looks.

WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 28 37 33 (3) 40 (4) 34 (3) 40 (4) 40 (4) 37 (3) 33 (3)

Movement: 3/6/9/18; Wounds: 11 Skills: Awareness (Per), Barter (Fel) +10, Carouse (T), Charm (Fel), Climb (S), Common Lore (Underworld, Sibellan Underhive, Imperium, Tech) (Int), Deceive (Fel), Evaluate (Int), Intimidate (S), Navigation (Underhive) (Int), Search (Per), Scrutiny (Per), Speak Language (Low Gothic, Gang Cant, Dark Hiver) (Int), Tech-Use (Int), Trade (Rag Picker, Prospector, Technomat), Survival (Int). Talents: Basic Weapon Training (SP), Light Sleeper, Melee Weapon Training (Primitive), Pistol Training (SP), Resistance (Poison). Weapons: Pump Shotgun (30m; S/—/—; 1d10+4; 8 Clip; Reload 2Full), Hammer (1d10+2†; Primitive). †includes Strength Bonus. Armour: Miss-matched scavenger’s garb (2 Armour Points; Primitive) Gear: Various tools, trinkets, oddments, spares, charms and tokens, 30 Thrones, a scavenged and repaired matriculator, an old data-slate with a cracked case, a water bottle and a spyglass. Plus two reloads for his shotgun. Downhive Dreg Dregs are the lowest of the low in the hive, a faceless, numberless morass of addicts, wasters, madmen, petty mutants and the lost existing scavenging on the fringes of society. Filthy, ill- conditioned and often diseased, dregs are broadly shunned and feared, not simply because of what such desperate and degenerate people might do, but because they have nothing to loose.

WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 18 18 25 (2) 25(2) 26 (2) 16 (1) 25 (2) 20 (2) 10 (1)

Movement: 3/6/9/18; Wounds: 8 Skills: Awareness (Per), Carouse (T), Common Lore (Underworld) (Int), Concealment (Ag), Deceive (Fel), Intimidate (S), Silent Move (Ag), Speak Language (Low Gothic) (Int). Talents: Melee Weapon Training (Primitive). Weapons: Improvised clubs, axes, pipe shivs and rusted blades (treat as 1d1o†, Primitive) †includes Strength Bonus. Armour: None. Gear: Filthy rags, soiled trinkets and keepsakes. Vapour Rat Solitary scavengers and carrion eaters, these mutated vermin can prove dangerous to the unwary. The taste of blood can drive them into a feeding frenzy and they readily kill and eat their own kind. Vile to look at, they appear to be almost skinless, their wet flesh glistening as they blend with unnatural ease into their surroundings.

WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 22 — 13 (1) 10 (1) 30 (3) 11 (1) 35 (3) 13 (1) —

Movement: 4/8/12/24; Wounds: 3 Skills: Awareness (Per) +10, Climb (S) +20, Concealment (Ag) +20, Silent Move (Ag) +10, Swim (S). Talents: None. Traits: Bestial (subject to Fear from fire, loud noises etc.), Quadruped, Size Puny (–20 to hit), Feeding Frenzy (if they inflict Damage with their bite, they gain +10 to attack in the next combat round). Weapons: Bite (1d5+1†; Primitive). 30 †includes Strength Bonus. Logician Agent Lean and hard looking men, Logician agents are trained professionals, calm, ruthless and efficient. There are fourteen such agents currently in the South Coscarla district, two posing as adepts at the Alms House and the remainder acting as the area’s Magistratum enforcer detachment. WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 35 35 35 (3) 35 (3) 35 (3) 30 (3) 35 (3) 35 (3) 30 (3)

Movement: 3/6/9/18; Wounds: 10 Skills: Awareness (Per), Climb (S), Ciphers (Logician) (Int), Common Lore (Imperium, Military, Tech) (Int), Deceive (Fel), Drive (Ground Vehicle), Intimidate (S), Interrogation (WP), Silent Move (Ag), Speak Language (Low Gothic) (Int). Talents: Basic Weapon Training (SP,Las), Melee Weapon Training (Primitive), Pistol Training (SP,Las). Weapons: Autocarbine (60m; S/3/10; 1d10+2; Clip 30; Reload Full), stub automatic (30m; S/3/—; 1d10+3;Clip 9; Reload Full), chastisement baton (1d10+3†; Primitive). †includes Strength Bonus. Armour: Enforcer flak coat (2 Armour Points). Gear: Enforcer uniform, two spare clips for each weapon, micro-bead vox, respirator mask, photo-visor, hand lantern, Alms House passkey. Note—Moran’s Agents: Moran’s Adepts are identical to this in profile, however they lack the enforcers weapons and armour, instead they wear green-grey adept’s robes with the insignia of the Tantalus Combine and they carry a stub auto (30m, S/3/–; 1d10+3; Clip 9; Reload Full), concealed in a shoulder rig at all times.

Sybas Moran WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 35 42 35 (3) 35 (3) 35 (3) 35 (3) 35 (3) 40 (4) 30 (3) The Edge of Darkness Movement: 3/6/9/18; Wounds: 13 Skills: Awareness (Per), Command (Fel), Common Lore (Imperium, Military, Tech, Underworld) (Int), Deceive (Fel)+10, Demolition (Int), Dodge (Ag) +10, Drive (Ground Vehicle), Inquiry (Fel), Intimidate (S), Interrogation (WP), Scrutiny (Per), Silent Move (Ag), Speak Language (Low Gothic) (Int). Talents: Basic Weapon Training (SP, Las), Melee Weapon Training (Primitive), Pistol Training (SP, Las). Armour: Moran wears a mesh bodyglove under his robes, providing him 3 Armour Points. Weapons: Autopistol with silencer (15m, S/—/6; 1d10+1; Clip 18; Reload Full), mono-edged combat knife (3m; 1d5+3†, Ignores 2 AP of armour protection). †includes Strength Bonus. Gear: Alms House director’s heavy dark emerald robes and gorget of office, micro-bead vox, a passkey and one of the accessor keys to the surgical chambers. Two spare autopistol clips. Narco-Ganger Narco-Gangs are the blight of the Sibellan underworld, made up of cutthroats and petty thieves. They are criminal scum with no loyalty but to the next payoff or drug hit. Narco-gangers are hated by the lower hivers. WS BS STAg Int WP Fel 32 28 35 (3) 30 (3) 33 (3) 20 (2) 25 (2) 20 (2)

Movement: 3/6/9/18; Wounds: 10 Skills: Awareness (Per), Carouse (T), Chem-Use (Int), Common Lore (Imperium, Underworld) (Int), Deceive (Fel), Dodge (Ag), Intimidate (S), Speak Language (Low Gothic, Gang Cant) (Int). Talents: Basic Weapon Training (SP), Melee Weapon Training (Primitive), Pistol Training (Las, SP). Weapons: Blade (1d5+3†; Primitive), Stub Revolver (20m, S/—/—; 1d10+3; Clip 6; Reload 2Full). †includes Strength Bonus. Armour: Gang shreds (2 Armour Points; Primitive). Gear: Ragged clothing marked with gang colours, glyphs and kill scores, 1d5 Thrones, an obscura injector, two spare reloads for stub revolver. 31 h deo Darkness of Edge The Gang Boss “Chord” Luntz WS BS STAg Int WP Fel 36 37 35 (3) 38 (3) 33 (3) 35 (3) 38 (3) 34 (3)

Movement: 3/6/9/18; Wounds: 12 Skills: Awareness (Per), Carouse (T), Chem-Use (Int) +10, Command (Fel), Common Lore (Imperium, Underworld) (Int) +10, Deceive (Fel), Dodge (Ag), Drive (Ground Vehicle), Evaluate (Int), Intimidate (S) +10, Scrutiny (Per), Security (Int), Speak Language (Low Gothic, Gang Cant) (Int). Talents: Basic Weapon Training (SP), Melee Weapon Training (Chain, Primitive), Pistol Training (Las, SP). Weapons: Blade (1d5+3†; Primitive), Stub Revolver (20m, S/—/—; 1d10+3; Clip 6; Reload 2Full), Custom Hand Cannon (20m, S/2/—; 1d10+5; Clip 4; Reload 2Full) †includes Strength Bonus. Armour: Armoured coat (2 Armour Points). Gear: High grade ganger’s garb marked with numerous kill glyphs, fake cognomen, silver and iron finger rings, personal vox, small chem-testing auger, obscura injector, 30 Thrones, two reloads for each weapon. The Hidden Horrors The Churgeon Very heavily augmented with cybernetic systems and implants, her only visible living flesh is the rictus- like mask of skin attached to the metallic skull that houses her living brain. Long since having left sanity behind, she doesn’t recognise her own sadistic and macabre compulsions, believing them to be purely scientific in motivation. While she makes for a vicious and tough combatant, she has no interest in physical struggle and will seek to flee to continue her work if seriously threatened.

WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 25 25 40 (4) 45 (4) 38 (3) 48 (4) 35 (3) 55 (5) 20 (2)

Movement: 3/6/9/18; Wounds: 17 Skills: Awareness (Per), Chem-Use (Int) +10, Ciphers (Logicians) (Int) +10, Common Lore (Machine Cult, Tech, Imperium) (Int), Forbidden Lore (Archeaotech) (Int), Logic (Int) +10, Medicae (Int) +20, Pilot (Grav Vehicle) (Ag), Scholastic Lore (Chymistry, Bio-Sculpt) (Int) +10, Speak Language (Low Gothic, Tech) (Int), Secret Tongue (Techno-Cant) (Int) +10, Tech-Use (Int) +10. Talents: Numerous, including Pistol Training (Las), Melee Training (Primitive), Fearless. Traits: Various implanted systems, including full life support, augmetics and maglev suspensors (can fly at speed 4), Dark Sight and armour plating. Armour: 4 Armour Points. Weapons: Scalpel-tipped augmetic hands (1d10+5†), implanted las mechadendrite (30m; S/—/—; 1d10+2 E; Clip unlimited). †includes Strength Bonus. Gear: Various scientific, surgical and technical equipment, implanted auspex, vox and cogitator systems. The Scalpel Familiar Detached from its mistress’s back, the scalpel familiar is a spider-like construct of glittering metal with scores of whip-thin metal limbs, most ending in some sort of drill, needle or blade, and is controlled by the Churgeon via an under-slung human skull equipped with dripping hypodermic fangs and multifaceted lenses for eyes. It moves with shocking speed and will bloodily dismantle anything it can get its blades into in a shower of gore. Despite possessing no visible living com- ponents, it will scream like a child and bleed heavily when destroyed. WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 40 — 30 (3) 30 (3) 36 (3) 20 (2) 38 (3) 40 (4) —

Movement: 6/12/18/36; Wounds: 8 32 Skills: Awareness (Per) +10, Dodge (Ag), Trade (Vivisection) (Int) +20. Talents: Sprint, Swift Attack (it may strike twice as an attack Action), Fearless. Traits: Natural Weapons, Machine (3), Armour Plating, Multi-legged (bonus move already included) Small Size (–10 to hit), Dark Sight. Weapons: Various surgical blades, needles, drills and saws (1d10+4†; Tearing). †includes Strength Bonus. Armour: 5 Armour points. Gear: None. The Homonculites The Churgeon’s two Homonculite assistants are gholem—biological constructs built using for- bidden science from vat-grown flesh and stolen human organs. They are horrifically distorted creatures to look at, with cancerous weeping flesh, cataract-white eyes and emaciated bodies stud- ded with gurgling pipes and chem-implants. They have no real free will or capacity for original thought, but their viciousness and cruelty is no mere accident of their twisted creation. WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 28 20 30 (3) 40 (4) 30 (3) 20 (2) 30 (3) 20 (2) 10 (1)

Movement: 3/6/9/18; Wounds: 12 Skills: Awareness (Per), Chem-Use (Int) +10, Speak Language (Low Gothic, Tech) (Int), Trade (Butchery). Talents: Melee Weapon Training (Chain), Fearless. Traits: Fear (viewing these foul creatures causes all to make a Fear Test). Weapons: Chain Cutter (1d10+2†; Tearing). †includes Strength Bonus. Gear: Bloody aprons, stained medicae robes, sewn-on cloth breather masks and chem rigs, passkey and accessor key. The Edge of Darkness The Body Snatchers The Body Snatchers are the result of the Churgeon’s failed experiments in synthetic grafted con- trol organs and made from hive workers stolen in the night. They are partly clad in tattered clothing and their waxy flesh writhes and pulses unnaturally beneath their almost translucent skins. Their joints and fingers have been re-enforced with metal bracings to stop their overpow- ered flesh from tearing itself apart and their heads have been encased in taunt, stitched-shut masks through which implanted augmetic eyes glow a dull red. As the adventure begins, the Churgeon has ten Body Snatchers, but can conceivably make more from fresh victims if needed and time allows. WS BS STAg Int Per WP Fel 25 15 50 (5) 40 (4) 20 (2) 17 (1) 25 (2) 30 (3) 8 (0)

Movement: 2/2/6/—; Wounds: 14 Skills: Awareness (Per), Climb (S), Silent Move (Ag) +10, Tracking (Int) +10. Talents: Fearless. Traits: Natural Weapon (Fist), Natural Armour, Dark Sight, Fear (being attacked by these deathly silent monsters in the dark causes a Fear Test). Armour: Naturally Resilient Flesh (3 Armour Points). Weapons: Augmetic Fist (1d10+5†). †includes Strength Bonus. Gear: Internal Micro-Bead (to receive/relay instructions only). Note: The spine, brainstem and nervous systems of these unfortunates are laced with the synthetic control tissue.

33 h deo Darkness of Edge The Appendix III: Player Handout— Coscarla Division Briefing

Reference/Subject: Coscarla Division, (Geo/Dem) Designation: Workers Habitation Zone Locale: Mastraven Zone, Lower Mid-Tiers, Landward Quadrant, Hive Sibellus Hive Co/Ord: 2345#∑/789/9870001 Preparation: Autosavant Dal Maxentia Attribution: Interrogator Omardha Sand Ordinanator: Conclave Calixis/Covenant Sibellus/Chamber Obscuro TFTD: “History is but a catalogue of counted sins”

Geohistorical and Demographic Overview: The Coscarla Division is a sub-district of Hive Sibellus on the Sector Capitol world of Scintilla. Built in the remains of what was once the splendour of the House Coscarla Estates, the district is a seventy kilometre square conglomeration of warren-like tenement-habs and their attendant infrastructure that has grown up between the vast ruined arches and fallen statuary of its noble past. The Coscarla was until recent years a relatively prosperous mid-hive district, predominantly populated by indentured labour classes, but has since suffered deprivation, disaster and a loss in status thanks to a series of misfortunes and incidents. Primary among these have been the dam- age caused buy unrestrained wildfires during the recent Rienholt Blackouts (the Coscarla being one of seventeen effected hive zones), although the long term withering of the fortunes of the Tantalus Combine, (see Addendum) had begun to have significant adverse effects long before that calamity. The Coscarla Division currently awaits Administratum revaluation of its status (projected due process time until preliminary ruling: 3-7 years standard), but unsub-data indicates over 60% of the Coscarla is now effectively a waste/scav zone and the viable population is now confined to smaller sub-zones clustered around transit and utility access points. The division’s population is also in catastrophic decline, its infrastructure remains effectively crippled and lawlessness, poor social cohesion and poverty all exponentially increasing year-on- year.

Addendum: [The State of the Tantalus Combine] The Combine, a long-standing cartel of several Houses Minoris of the Sibellan nobility has seen a drastic decline in its fortunes over the last decade. Its fall from power has been brought on by hostile competition from the Skaelen-Har Hegemony and severe damage to its assets and prestige endured during the period of intrigues and vendettas known popularly as the “Vthorran Prome- nades” [cert.ref: Activities of the Lucid Court]. The resulting effects on several districts of the Sibellus and Tarsus Hives, formerly under the Combine’s sway, have been profound. In the Coscarla Division where Tantalus was the majority power, the Combine has sold on the indenture contracts of thousands of skilled workers and the labour force that remains now works only to meet their master’s debts. As a result, whole swathes of families have been up-rooted or have deserted from the district, thus the effective economic and monetary input to the region is now negligible. The Tantalus Combine is suffering a long, drawn-out death and is kept going only by its own fading inertia and the legal wrangling over the disposition of its carcass. It has ceased to exist effectively as a cohesive organisation or political entity.

34 ARLAS VREK IMPERIAL GUARDSMAN GUARD Know the mutant: kill the mutant SCAR

MALE SVELTE 1.75m 70kg RUDDY BLACK GREEN 43

X X

4 1 Drive (Ag) X

3 7 X

3 2

3 3 Common Lore (Imperial Creed) (Int) Common Lore (Imperium) (Int) Common Lore (War) (Int) Speak Language (High Gothic) (Int) 3 3

3 1

Primitive

Primitive, SP 3 2 SP

Blessed Ignorance (–5 to Forbidden Lore Tests) Hagiography Liturgical Familiarity 3 6 Superior Origins

2 8

700 ARLAS VRAK

AXE SHOTGUN Melee 1d10+1 R0 4 1 Basic 1d10+4 I0 30m S/–/– 2 2FULL Unbalanced, Primitive Scatter, Reliable KNIFE LAS PISTOL Melee 1d5 R0 3 7 Pistol 1d10+2 E 0 30m S/–/– 30 FULL 3 2 Reliable LASGUN Basic 1d10+3 E 0 100m 60 FULL 3 3 S/–/– Reliable

Right 3 3

4 (Guard Flak) 3 1 Shotgun + 14 Shells, Axe, Knife, Las Pistol + 1 Charge Pack Lasgun + 1 Charge Pack Guard Flak, Stealth Gear, 1 x Corpse Starch Rations 3 2 Mercenary License 4 (Guard Flak)

4 (Guard Flak) 4 (Guard Flak) 3 6 23

4 (Guard Flak) 4 (Guard Flak) 2 8 3 9 6 18

13 2 DITA MINX IMPERIAL ASSASSIN SHADESMAN Even a man who has nothing can still offer his life DEVOTIONAL SCAR

FEMALE SVELTE 1.60m 60kg DARK PINK BLUE 29

X X

3 5 Climb (Ag) X

4 1 X

X 3 3

3 7 Common Lore (Imperial Creed) (Int) Common Lore (Imperium) (Int) Common Lore (War) (Int) Speak Language (High Gothic) (Int) 3 2

3 9

Primitive

Las, SP 3 0

Blessed Ignorance (–5 to Forbidden Lore Tests) Hagiography Liturgical Familiarity 2 9 Superior Origins Ambidextrous Furious Assault (on a successful attack, get second free attack) 3 7

700 DITA MINX

SWORD SHOTGUN Melee 1d10 I0 3 5 Basic 1d10+4 I0 30m S/–/– 2 2FULL Balanced, Primitive Scatter, Reliable KNIFE COMPACT LAS PISTOL Melee 1d5 R0 4 1 Pistol 1d10+1 E 0 15m S/–/– 15 FULL 3 3 Reliable

3 7

Left 3 2

3 9 Shotgun + 10 Shells, Sword, Knife, Compact Las Pistol + 1 Charge Pack Corpse Hair Charm, Bodyglove 3 0

2 9 46

3 0 3 9 6 18

12 1 ELSA CONSTANTINE HIVE SCUM OUTCAST A mind without purpose will wander in dark places NERVOUS TICK

FEMALE SVELTE 1.60m 60kg RUDDY GREY GREEN 27

X X Hive Dialect 3 3 Common Lore (Imperium) (Int) X X Blather (Fel) X

X X 4 2

X 3 4

3 5 Tech-Use (Int)

3 7

3 5

Primitive SP 3 0

SP

Accustomed to Crowds Caves of Steel Hivebound (–10 to Survival Tests) 4 0 Wary (+1 to Initiative rolls) Unremarkable Sound Constitution 4 7

700 ELSA CONSTANTINE

BRASS KNUCKLES AUTOGUN Melee 1d5–1 I0 3 3 Basic 1d10+3 I0 90m S/3/10 30 FULL Primitive Scatter, Reliable KNIFE AUTO PISTOL Melee 1d5 R0 4 2 Pistol 1d10+2 I 0 Primitive 30m S/–/6 18 FULL 3 4

2 5

Right 3 7

3 5 Autogun + 1 Clip, Brass Knuckles, Knife, Auto Pistol + 1 Clip Qulited Vest, Street Clothes 3 0 2 (Quilt)

4 0 5

4 7 3 9 6 18

12 4 EUPHRATI SALAMIS IMPERIAL ADEPT SCRIVENER Even a man who has nothing can still offer his life FAINT SMELL

FEMALE SVELTE 1.65m 55kg TAN BLONDE GREY 28

X

2 8 Trade (Copyist) (Int) X Scholastic Lore (Legend) (Int) X Forbidden Lore (Cults) (Int) X 3 3

X X 2 7

2 9 Common Lore (Imperial Creed) (Int) Common Lore (Imperium) (Int) X Common Lore (War) (Int) Speak Language (High Gothic) (Int) X Literacy (Int) X 2 9

4 1

Primitive

Las, SP 3 7

Blessed Ignorance (–5 to Forbidden Lore Tests) Hagiography Liturgical Familiarity 2 8 Superior Origins Light Sleeper Unremarkable 3 8

700 EUPHRATI SALAMIS

KNIFE STUB REVOLVER Melee 1d5 R0 2 8 Pistol 1d10+3 I0 30m S/–/– 6 2FULL Balanced, Primitive Reliable

3 3 THROWING KNIFE Thrown 1d5 R 0 10m S/–/– 1 FULL 2 7 Primitive

3 7

Right 2 9

4 1 Stub Revolver + 24 Rounds Administratum Robes, Auto-Quill, Chrono, Data-Slate Flak Vest, Throwing Knives x 5 3 7 3 (flak)

2 8 75

3 8 2 6 4 12

12 2 Garvel Wroth VOID BORN ARBITRAITOR ENFORCER A suspicious mind is a healthy mind TINY EARS

MALE Stunted 1.65m 55kg Milky Auburn Violet 56

X X

3 3 Common Lore (Adeptus Arbites) (Int) X Literacy (Int) X Security (Ag) X Common Lore (imperium) (Int) X 2 9

X X 3 2 X 2 6 Navigation (Stellar) (Int) Pilot (Spacecraft) (Int) 3 5

3 3

Primitive 2 9

SP

Charmed (when a Fate Point is used, roll 1d10, if a 9 - don’t lose it) Ill-Omened (–5 to Fellowship Tests) Shipwise 4 2 Void Accustomed Rapid Reload (all Reload times are halved (round down)) Disarm (Full Action-make Opposed WS Test, if successful your opponent is disarmed) 3 5

700 GARVEL WROTH

KNIFE SHOTGUN Melee 1d5 R0 3 3 Basic 1d10+3 I0 30m S/–/– 2 2FULL Primitive Reliable, Scatter BRASS KNUCKLES

Melee 1d5–1 I0 2 9

3 2

2 6

Right 3 5

3 3 Knife, Brass Knuckles Shotgun + Box of 20 Shells Flak Vest, Arbitraitor ID + uniform Lho-Sticks 2 9 3 (Flak)

4 2 41

3 5 3 9 6 18

12 3 Lionus Vern FERAL ASSASSIN INITIATE Thought begets heresy: Heresy begets retribution FILED TEETH

MALE STRAPPING 2.10m 120kg FAIR PINK BROWN 31

X X

3 5 Climb (Ag) X Literacy (Int) X Performer (Sing) (Fel) X Trade (Cook) (Int) X Common Lore (Imperial Creed) (Int) X X 3 9

X 4 0

3 4 Navigation (Surface) (Int) Survival (Int) Tracking (Int) 3 9

3 6

Primitive

SP 2 9

Primitive

Iron Stomache (+10 to Carouse Tests) Primitive (–10 to Tech-Use Tests, –10 to Fellowship Tests) Rites of Passage (stop Blood Loss as a Full Action) 3 1 Wilderness Savy

2 9

700 LIONUS VERN

HAMMER STUB REVOLVER Melee 1d10+1 I0 3 5 Pistol 1d10+3 I0 30m S/–/– 6 2FULL Unbalanced, Primitive Reliable

3 9 THROWING KNIVES Thrown 1d5 R 0 5m S/–/– 1 FULL 4 0 Primitve

3 4

Right 3 9

3 6 Hammer, Throwing Knives x 5, Stub Revolver + 18 Rounds Flak Vest, Aquila Necklace, Robes, 4 Candles Skull Charm, Back Pack 2 9 3 (Flak)

3 1 32

2 9 3 9 6 18

12 2