Adventure: Warp Wrecked

By: Ken Schleich

Plot Introduction:
The story begins in route to a mundane summons, delivered by a nondescript messenger, bidding the
party make haste to for a very extraordinary planet, the center of Imperial space, earth. A monotonous
journey aboard your ship, the Delphi, is broken when instability in the gheller field forces the ships
captain to drop into real space. His navigator aims at the nearest stellar mass, which the ships star charts
show belongs to a system devoid of planets, containing only a medium sun and an insignificant asteroid
belt. However, emerging from the warp, the ship finds itself less than a light-second from a large earth
sized world. Only split second decision making from the ships captain and emergency thrust far in
excess of the vessels rated capacity put you into a stable orbit, albeit aboard a badly crippled ship.
Damage reports are still coming in when a vox signal from the surface appears on the com station. It is
an automated message, looping, in a dialect of high gothic so archaic it is unintelligible without study.
Damage reports soon make it clear that your party will have to make planetfall, if only to acquire
sufficient raw materials to limp back to imperial space. Luckily, the ship is carrying a Hathor pattern
mobile mining/refinement platform. Deployed on planet, it could produce the required goods in a
matter of weeks. Whether your party tries to answer the question of why a planet exists so close to the
imperial core without being marked on any star chart, or simply gathers the necessary materials and
flees the system, following good imperial doctrine of leaving secrets lay, better unknown, is up to you.
And fate.











GM Plot Synopsis:
The party is either being guided to this planet by unseen forces or has happened upon the planet by
random bad luck. Either way, the plot advances the same way.
Aboard the Delphi, Before Planetfall
There are several sources for the party to gain information from before making the critical decision of
how and where to make Planetfall. Asterisks denote information gainable through conversation,
otherwise test noted skills for success or failure.
Ships data about the planet (Navigation (surface) or geology related knowledge)
Orbital Details: *The planet orbits a sol-like sun, but at roughly twice the the orbital radius. This
puts the planet outside the predicted habitable zone, with maximum light levels reaching
twilight levels at local noon. The planet has a single large moon, which could be expected to
exert significant tidal forces.
A detailed scan (navigation(stellar) )reveals a small manmade object orbiting the
planet at its L3 point. A short shuttle ride and a spacewalk reveal a small space station covered
in heinous runes of chaos, scratched into its metal sides by its crew. The crew still lurk,
desiccated space worn corpses lit from within by warplight, arm bones sharpened to razor
points by centuries of carving the stations metal surfaces. A investigation (knowledge(tech))
will reveal this station is of no known pattern and would be priceless to the right cult of
techpriests.

Planetary Geography: *The planet is estimated to be 80% landmass, consisting almost entirely
of volcanic mountain ranges emerging from a shallow ocean. The volcanic mountains are so
numerous that the ocean resembles nothing more than a planet spanning network of wide slow
moving rivers. This is a result of a very hot planetary core, which maintains average atmospheric
surface temperature at 19 degrees C. The peaks of these numerous mountain chains are visible
poking through thick cloud cover that hides the rest of the planets surface in a white mantle.
The clouds are hot, obscuring the surface from infrared observation, and radar returns are
confused and of little use.
A detailed analysis of sensor data (navigation (land) and biology related
knowledge skills) will produce a working knowledge of the planets biomes, detailed in Appendix
B: Biomes.
Navigators information about local warp environment: *If questioned quickly after the return
to real space, the navigator will tell the party that the light of the god emperor is dim in this
system, and that this planet is only a faint shadow in my true sight this is an unhallowed
place man should never have come here.. He trails off, his eyes glassing over and he slowly
slumps in his chair, frost forming on his face. An examination reveals his eyes and head are
frozen, with his third eye too cold to touch, even through his thick bandana. If not questioned
quickly, he is found in this state.
A psynascience test by a party member reveals the veil is weak, as well as the
presence of the space station crew, their warp tainted state, and a warp incursion in a lower
port cargo hold. Upon investigation, a crew member is missing, and the party finds a single drop
of blood on the floor of the hold, slowly spreading as they watch into strange angular patterns
which make the viewer nauseous. The patterns can be easily wiped off, removing the effect, but
the drop of blood reappears moments later to continue spreading, falling from thin air. The
further use of warp goggles, a witch hunters oculus, or psynascience reveals the shadow scene
of a tall spindly demon (see appendix D: Demons) holding the missing crew member up by a
foot. Blood is running from the mans eye sockets, spreading in a large pool on the floor before
flowing into a vessel at the demons feet. Every time a drop hits, the single drop on the floor
reappears. The party cannot affect the scene without tearing a hole into the warp, and the
demon finishes and leaves in a few moments.
Automated Landing Beacon: *The com console can triangulate the signal to the peak of a
particularly tall extinct volcano in the planets northern hemisphere, and the navigation data
appended to the end of the message corresponds to a point low on the side of the same
mountain. Strangely, while the message is unintelligible, the ships cogitators recognize the
machine language perfectly. The ships communications officer will offer his opinion that this
means the beacon must be standard pattern in the imperium. The captain will warn that the
fact that the beacon activated when the ship arrived suggests a planetary defense network that
is active.
A difficult intelligence test by a party member versed in high gothic will decipher
the message, which is in high gothic, but is so archaic that some of the pronunciations must not
have been spoken aloud for a thousand years. The message is a recording of a mans voice,
computer estimated at 80 +/- 5 years old, and is as follows:
[A spiritu dominatus, Domine, libra nos, From the Darkness and the Shadow,
Our Emperor, deliver us. {Pause, rasping breath} This is Brother Scipio, watchman of the abbey.
If you are listening to this, it is because I have failed, or fallen, and was unable to return to my
post. I know that according to creed I am to stay here and guard the cathedral, but the
townspeople are pounding at the door. They say one of them has come into the village, through
the wards, and they are crying out for the protection of the god emperor. How can my soul stay
unstained if I stay here and do not answer their cries? I am taking a witch lance from the
armory, for brother Caliphus took the last 4 bolter shells when he left last month. {Pause,
rasping breath} I will seal the door behind me, and the abbey will have to look after itself while I
am gone. I have set this beacon to trigger on the blessed chance that the Divine Light returns
from its journey to Earth with reinforcements from the ministorum. If it is the inquisition, or if
the emperors light shines, the Grey Knights, and they come while I am away, I would be
excommunicated if the PDS shot them down... I have done all I can to make amends for the
abandonment of my post, but I can hear screams from the village now, carrying across the
water, and I must go. ]
Landing Coordinates Follow and message repeats.









Aboard the Delphi, Planning Planetfall
After collecting information, the next step is for the party to plan how they wish to make Planetfall. The
majority of the crew(6 men) volunteer to venture planetside with the party, muttering about how death
in a strange jungle is better than being taken by the warp. With recent events weighing heavily, the
consensus is that no time should be wasted in getting the mining platform deployed, so as to be ready
to leave as soon as possible. The mountainous terrain is rich in the required minerals, but the ships radar
suggests steep peaks and deep river valleys beneath the cloud cover that will make landing anywhere
difficult. However, OMalley, the mining platform operator, assures you that after penetrating the
clouds the platform will automatically guide itself to a suitably flat target. (see appendix M: Mining
platform operation, for more details).
If the party has decoded the message, they know the planet has a defense system, so they must choose
between launching the mining platform and hoping it is not shot down, or landing at the beacon and
disabling the PDS before launching the platform. If they choose to launch the platform, and it lands
safely, they must then make another choice, do they follow the platform down and guard it while it
mines, risking getting shot by the PDS themselves, or do they follow the beacon down and investigate it
while the platform mines? If they choose to stay aboard the ship, either shoot down the platform or
have villagers disable it to force the party to land. If the platform is shot by the PDS, the choice goes
away. The platform is damaged, It needs a crew on site to repair it before can begin mining. They will
have to either brave the PDS fire, or descend to the beacon and then hope to glide the rest of the way to
the platform once they are below the mountain tops. For this reason, regardless of plan, the Platform
should land relatively near the beacon, so as to minimize travel time between the two and keep the
story moving.
Planetfall, Option 1: The beacon
The shuttle breaks free from the Delphi with a lurch and a hiss, thrusters fire, and the planet, seen on
the small viewing plates in the shuttle hold, grows larger rapidly. Atmospheric buffeting grows to a
crescendo before dying away. Anyone sharing the cockpit with the pilot servitor sees warning notices
flash on screens as PDS radars lock on, but nothing more than range finding lasers from mountain peak
batteries are detected as the servitor guides the shuttle carefully down the proscribed flight path. The
shuttle descends into the clouds, obscuring all vision for several moments before clearing. The valley
walls are close by when the cloud falls away, the shuttle flying several hundred feet above the tree tops,
following the terrain downhill. Twenty miles distant and two miles below, four tiny red beacons flash,
outlining a landing pad in the twilight. A single beam of white arc-light slowly sweeps around from a
tower near the landing pad, illuminating the wide river flowing along the valley floor and the steep roofs
of a city on the valley floor across the river. The organic twinkle of firelight flares from thousands of
points among buildings, giving the city cheery warmth in comparison to the surrounding darkness




Lightfall, capital city of the fiefdom of Drusia
One of the largest cities on the planet, Lightfall is a medieval city in every sense. Filthy, crowded, smoky
and dangerous to the unwary, almost 50,000 people pack inside the stone wall which defines the city.
Geography
The city is small, even a poor manse on an imperial world is larger. There is a mile of shoreline
protected by the walls, and the city extends a half mile inland at its widest point. The majority of the city
sits on a low flood plane at the base of the mountains. The river flows at the foot of the last row of
buildings, with the city walls extending just far enough out for the foot of the towers at the tips to be
submerged. The river does not flow, per say, because it is simply a narrow portion of the planet
spanning ocean, but tidal action causes the apparent direction of flow to reverse twice a month.
Government and Social Structure
Lightfall is nominally a religious oligarchy. However in function it is a bloated bureaucracy. No
living resident of Lightfall remembers the last time the priests of the abbey came across to the city, so
the city just grinds along, with the various layers of government propping each other up. Almost all the
government officials wish to do as little work as possible, but some of the citys most memorable purges
and manhunts are the result of an official driven to rage by being forced to act against the criminal or
antigovernment factions in the city. The city is rife with crime, but most of it is small, and dealt with at a
low level. When a dangerous criminal is on the loose, especially the ritualistic serial killers so common in
Lightfalls late night pub gossip, citizens generally just lock their doors extra tight and hide at night.
Eventually Witch Hunters will be sighted in the city, and soon after the killings will stop
Districts & Layers
The city is divided in 5 districts and 3 layers. The districts are Waters Edge, Plaza, Wall, Temple
Docks and The Warrens. Each district is divided into 3 layers, Upper, Lower, and Under.
Waters Edge
Bordered by the river on the west, the temple docks to the south, and residential
districts of the plaza and the warrens to the east, an astute observer looking down on the city
can pick out the Waters Edge district easily. While 3-4 floors exist above the stone avenues of
Upper districts in other parts of the city, in Waters edge these stone walkways become wooden
balconies, where there is access to the top floor of many warehouses, for even at the highest
tides, all goods must be taken to the Lower in order to be put on board ship. Waters Edge is the
commercial and industrial base of the city, with the sound of tide driven machines droning in
background, the cries of dock workers, fish mongers, and haggling business men ringing out
constantly. Come Blacknight, when the moons orbit locks the tides stagnant and the night
skyare pitch dark for days on end, the factories fall silent and the streets of Waters Edge are
abandoned as workers move inland to spend their time off. Dimly lit at the brightest twilight, at
these times Waters Edge becomes a dangerous, Surreal place, with reality seeming to vanish
into the blackness at the edge of your torchlight, and all sound smothered by the warm fog
rising off the river. The worst and darkest know they can get away with anything in Waters Edge
on Blacknight, heinous murders are common, and tales of oar driven smuggling ships creeping in
and out under the noses of the city watch are common. When the rumor of witch hunter
activity in the city, invariably they enter and take away the body on one of their black boats ,
sailing into and from Waters Edge under cover of a foggy Blacknight.
The Plaza and The Warrens:
The Plaza and the Warrens are the residential heart of the city, with the Plaza being
more Upper residential oriented, with most buildings being a single families homes. These
homes feature a small Upper street level garden, making Upper Plaza streets too narrow for
most carts, even if such things were allowed. The few shops in Upper Plaza simply resell goods
made by the best craftsmen of the Warrens, for the sounds of a craftsman at work would
disturb the serenity. All cart traffic takes place on Lower Plaza streets, where the homes have
their service entrances. Small shops exist in Lower Plaza, mostly groceries and sundries stores
serving the cooks live-in servants of the households of Upper Plaza. Lower Plaza is the only
district of the city where the grates which allow water to rise and fall through the street deck,
the Tide Drains, are chained and locked. This means that Under Plaza is rarely visited by those
who use the Under with good intentions, as being in Under Plaza when the tide rises means
death by drowning.
The Warrens is a shopping district, with the best craftsmen and wealthiest merchants
being able to afford to rent a storefront on the Upper Warrens Streets and the up and coming or
lower brow stores operating on the Lower. The Craftsmen and their workers/families typically
live above or below their shop, depending on wealth. The wide streets are crowded in both the
Upper and Lower Warren. While some of the nicer shopping streets attempting to mimic the
Plaza by limiting Upper street access to commercial traffic, their clientele would never think of
walking among the lower class pedestrians, so they jam the streets with their carriages. The
Under Warrens practically bustle with activity compared to other districts, at least during low
tide. Under Warren is the site of the Market, the cities conglomeration of pawnbrokers and flea
market stalls, and street meat butchers. Any black-market dealings will take place here, far from
the eyes of the authorities. Of course, all must flee the Under when the tide rises, so all the
businesses operate from boats or folding stalls, lending a mobile fair atmosphere to the Market
at most times of the month, and a frantic one at other times.
The Wall
The Wall is not a concentrated district; instead it refers to the buildings which share a
back wall with the ancient defensive structure ringing the city, and the wide sloped avenue, Wall
Street, which runs around the city inside the wall. The wall buildings are short compared to the
rest of the city, only 3 stories tall, and are the only in the city which have no portion of
themselves below street level. In fact, there is no Lower Wall at all, because Wall Street is the
only paved ground still open to the sky left in the city, Ancient ordinances demanding it be left
clear in case it is needed for siege defense. Now the portions of Wall Street near the river are
used as a canal during higher tides, with a market called the Waterline Market following the
edge of the water up and down the street twice a month. The portion of Wall Street farthest
from the river never floods, and it is here where all the denizens of the Under districts are
forced when the water rises. The Authorities tolerate this only because it keeps them from
coming into the lower districts elsewhere, and the full time residents of the Wall, mostly retired
soldiers, law officers and Priests just bar their front doors and ignore the rabble. They can do
this because while the Wall looks like a monolithic mass of stone, it is actually riddled with
tunnels, as hundreds of years of masons in need of easy stone cut away at if for construction
materials. Residents of the Wall can use these tunnels to conduct business, and in fact many
simply live in small flats just carved from the stone.
The Abbey Dock
The Abbey Dock are the religious and governmental center of the city. Unmarried law
men, soldiers, and clerics live in the dormitories here, but otherwise this is a strictly business
district. The various governmental offices are all here, and during the day lines form down the
avenues as citizens await their chance to stand before a judge or get a seal of approval on a
license or certificate. At night however, the streets are empty and quiet, except when an official
on his way home late passes by with his retinue driving back the darkness with a flock of
torches. The center of the Abbey Dock district is the Temple Dock itself. The Temple dock is a
large stone pier, easily the longest of the city, flanked with corroded columns rising out of the
water and featuring a timeworn statue of an enthroned man at its tip, facing back toward the
city. The columns and the statue mean the pier is useless as a working dock; no ship of any size
could approach it. The dock is the ceremonial link connecting the city to the abbey across the
river, but as is apparent by the fact it is completely submerged at high tide and has not been
rebuilt, it is not used for anything anymore. Still, there is always a small boat tied to the end of
the dock.
About The Levels, Upper, Lower, and Under
The Upper, what would appear to be street level from the air, is actually the top floors of the cities
buildings. Third floor balconies were extended and bridged over the streets on occasions when the city
flooded, and eventually these makeshift bridges were replaced with a permanent system of raised
streets. The wealthy of the city live here, in the fresh air.
The Lower was once the surface streets, before the tidal shifts began to flood the citys streets for
months at a time. Now the Lower is the working class zone of this city. In most places well lit and
decently maintained, the Under is now a maze of wide stone tunnels, the walls formed by the ground
levels of the cities buildings, and the ceiling by the arching supports of the roadway above. The tunnels
are two stories tall, with wooden walkways crisscrossing the streets in the shadows overhead, for as the
moon moves round its strange orbit, the tides lap higher and higher until several feet of water can flow
through the Lowers streets. This means that during low tide a passerby must climb several steps up onto
the patios and sidewalks which line each side of the street and during high tide must navigate along jury
rigged plank bridges between shops.
The Under is made up of what was once the basements of the cities buildings, with many lifetimes
worth of tunnels connecting them all. This means that a suitably motivated individual can access the
Under from anywhere in the city, and travel anywhere, although the desire to do so would be suspect at
best. Completely flooded during the high tide, the Under is commonly used as the citys sewer system,
using the falling tide to draw detritus out into the river. This means that even during low tide when the
Under is passable, it is coated a slime of filth deposited by the dropping water. The citys worst and
poorest scratch out a living down here, searching for discarded or lost items in the darkness, hunting
various fauna to provide street vendors with their kabob meat, and taking advantage of the darkness
and mazelike nature of the Under to move across the city and avoid the attention of the cities
authorities. Moving through the Under means carefully navigating slimy stone ledges and wooden
planks above black water, and wading through the same when walkways are not available. The only
portion of the under which is maintained at all is Under Waters Edge, where during low tide the
warehouses must lower their goods down to the original river bank and move them over the river muck
on temporary wooden walkways to where the boats wait in the darkness, beached on the waterline.
Even this low tide waterline is beneath the bulk of the high tide piers, and every season there is a boat
captain who tries to load a couple more crates as the tide comes in, and has his ship crushed against the
great beams above as he loiters too long.





Possible Plot tie-ins after adventure completion:
A summons bids the party make haste to the office of the third undersecretary of the director of
reclamation and rediscovery, sector 27, Hall of a thousand wings, Earth.

Plot generation
Witch hunters
Unpaid tithes to the ecclesiarchy
Ecclesiarchy courier ship found derelict and chaos tainted, investigation of the remains gives location of
planet and hints this flight was a last ditch call for help