#its almost a 1-to-1 of kp from Children of Sicarus

[ask-the-crimson-king]

Tales from Black Crusade... Kind Of

It's been a while since I've made any sort of post like this, be it Warhammer TTRPG related or other-TTRPG related. For those who are wondering or care, I am currently in 3 campaigns -- playing in a Pathfinder 2e Campaign, and DM'ing a Dragonlance game and a reboot of an old campaign that I've wrote about before here on Tumblr.

That campaign being Black Crusade, which fell apart almost a year ago now. But we tried a reboot, and some things are happening.

This will just be a mini-post about one snippet of last night's session, purely because the scene was just amazing and I'd like to try and share it with other humans.

However, before I can even do that, I'll briefly introduce the player characters, even though the scene in question only really involves two or three of them:

ZACHARIAH CAIN - Former World Eater, current diabolist attached to the 17th Host of Word Bearers. Has recently mutated a lot due to the destabilizing presence of a Slaaneshi daemon prince, and is on the verge of either ascending or becoming Chaos Spawn, neither outcome seeming very appetizing.

SOHN'IK ERINACEUS - An Emperor's Children raptor who is all about extreme speed and is generally always in a good mood. Happily will run into danger for fun. If you get the meaning behind his name, you get a cookie. Also as an aside, this character is unironically genuinely amazing, their player plays him SUPER well and he's a treat at the table. I'll discuss his exploits in a later post, potentially.

SOLOMON GRUNDY - Death Guard who was attached to the Lords of Silence and generally doesn't remember much about his life because he died and came back holding a seed from a Barbaran oak tree. Grundy also has befriended a tiny nurgling and is the fire support for the party.

Finally, and potentially controversially,

ARTORIAS - I would list out all of his names but there's too many. Artorias is a renegade Custodian who was lost out in the Warp for millennia, its exposure slowly breaking down the geneforging that locked his mind into being happy to be used as a tool and weapon of the Emperor. He was later found and convinced that his way was a way of slavery, and that he could find freedom elsewhere. He acts as a hidden guardian of Apostle Ans'ar of the 17th Host.

Artorias deserves a post all on his own. Some people may be rolling their eyes but bear with me, I promise his lore is not completely gary stu cringe. I allowed it because the campaign is being done in Wrath & Glory, and the party is at Tier 5, and there was some acceptable homebrew to make a Custodian. Trust, I am generally someone who likes to err on the side of canon and lore. Plus my player really wanted to make a renegade Custodes, and I didn't want to "no, but" him, and it's led to some really great storytelling and moments in the campaign.

BUT this tale is not about Artorias. This is about the current exploits of our new band of Misfits.

Zachariah sends out a call to try and get the ear of Kor Phaeron. Already this may sound insane but bear with me. The party has come up with a very long-winded plan that involves the creation and maintaining of several Warpstorms in and around the Eye of Terror. There's several other aspects including Titan Legions, Knight Houses, the Dark Mechanicum, at least three other Legions [not in their entirety, but a decent showing of force], and potentially the Blood Pact, but that would require maybe an additional 5,000 words to explain the context for.

The party is in pretty good standing with the Word Bearers, and they needed someone who was a very adept ritualist with a large reach to assist in this endeavor. So they shot for the stars and, with dice on their side, they got what they wanted.

One of my players happens to have a very good voice for Kor Phaeron, and he offered to take up the role for me. He's played the old bastard in the past for a campaign, so I agree to let him do it. I set the scene a bit so he can understand Kor Phaeron's current mindset, and he gets to work.

I basically tell him where we last had seen him at the end of Throne of Light, explain how he probably feels in the aftermath, and a couple of additional campaign-specific details.

I cannot express in words alone how this man nailed his character so pristinely.

Zachariah gets in contact with the Dark Cardinal himself, and invites him to this grand theatre of war that he, the 17th Host, and the small band of Misfits are putting together alongside allies within the Emperor's Children. Most of the plan he is relaying is the brainchild of Solmon Grundy and Sohn'ik Erinaceus, with some add-ons by Zachariah and Artorias. It's a very, very ambitious plan, and one that, if executed very well, can and will work. What he is not saying is how this is all connected to an insane idea that the Apostle currently has, because the Apostle knows it's an idea that could absolutely get him killed and the 17th disbanded.

Kor Phaeron takes a moment to think. He then asks why he -- and his Legion, in particular -- would really be interested in such an engagement. Surely this is something the III Legion can handle on their own. Why should they be meddling in this great conflict to come?

Zachariah says that there could be glory to be found in an alliance here, and that Kor Phaeron's own expertise is needed. The old man says that he cannot see how, and presses Zachariah on why this conflict matters so deeply to him. Again, this sounds like the business of another Legion, yet he's speaking with urgency and is trying desperately to sway him. Surely there must be something else here.

And then Zachariah makes what we in the industry call a "Gift of Gab moment".

Zachariah sells out the actual intentions of his Apostle.

And immediately my player who's playing Kor Phaeron starts doing his villain laugh.

"He said it in character, I do not want to do takes-backsies, let's roll with this."

I could feel everyone tensing at the table and I decide to have Ans'ar, the Apostle who just got sold for 62 cents, jump in and try to defend and explain himself.

Kor Phaeron then says, "You have from the time I walk from my personal chambers to the strategium deck to explain the reason for the 17th not deserving chastisement or reorganization."

They can hear the tread of his heavy boots upon the decking and the clicking of his claws as he speaks.

So he tries to sum up everything neatly and as swiftly as he can, with Zachariah occasionally butting in to offer some extra details. Out of character, the table is tense and everyone is saying "oh fucking no".

What is the plan that could get all of them absolutely wiped without a second thought? Well.

Ans'ar and several other Apostles have come up with a plan to force the primarch out of his seclusion using a massive ritual. They need the ritual to go off because they hope to empower Lorgar so that he can kill the burgeoning Star Child and also bring a measure of order to the Warp.

With such a daring plan, there are obviously many ways for this to go wrong, but if it goes right, it means Lorgar is out active in the galaxy again, and that could be bad news if you're depending on him not being out and about for the next while.

Kor Phaeron has heard a few murmurings and rumors about a number of Hosts who seemed to be conspiring about something, but the nature of it was mostly veiled or it seemed not to be of great interest. And now he is very, very interested.

Of course, involving Kor Phaeron would absolutely and inevitably mean that the cat would get out of the bag at some point, but this was absolutely not the time. This was just supposed to be a quick "will you help us?" and if he said no, proceed without him. This was a Hail Mary, a "hey, wouldn't it be hilarious if we could do this?" and I let them roll for it.

If he DID say yes, they tell him the plan when the pieces are already in place and the board is set. That way, even if he objects, there's not much he could do to stop it or interfere.

In this instance, the pieces have just been outlined, nowhere near to being put into place. Which now means that Kor Phaeron can now have free reign over the entire plan and twist it to his whims.

SOOOO now Kor Phaeron has a very vested interest in knowing all the ins and outs of this plan, when it is being conducted, and by whom. He expects all of these answers when he meets with Ans'ar in person. He tells the Apostle that he is, for now, "grounded", and is to remain in place until Kor Phaeron arrives.

And right before he cuts contact, as he enters the strategium and everyone hears the tensing of Terminators in greeting, he has a few final words for Ans'ar in quiet Colchisian:

"My son will not return by your hand."

The connection drops dead.

Plans begin changing fast. The nature of Artorias's very existence is a secret to all but those within the Host, and if Kor Phaeron finds out, then Ans'ar may be in bigger trouble than planning a massive primarch ganking ritual. However, at this point, Artorias is demanding to be at the Apostle's side as part of his honor guard once Kor Phaeron arrives. So is Zachariah, as one of his Masters of Possession, much to Zikar-Sin's protesting.

Grundy & Sohn'ik both have to depart in order to begin organizing their parts of the grand plan -- Sohn'ik to try and find and recruit the Riotous Host, Grundy to go find the Lords of Silence. Of course, other allies are also being contacted -- we're going to be having a small cameo next session of an Alpha Legionnaire from a past player who just couldn't schedule the game in -- but I'm very excited.

Now I get to plan out a LOT of potential networking, combat, and the arrival of the bastard himself. That's all going to be very fun.

Since his PC is going to be Away -- not a decision made so he could continue to guest NPC as Kor Phaeron, that was already decided on before Zachariah's PC decided to be like "hey, could I try Skype calling him?" -- Grundy's player will probably be playing him again with me handing him some rough bullet points and notes on what I want to have hit with him.

Very excited to see where this goes, we're only a few sessions away from the end. Will the party have a skill issue and die in this massive confrontation they planned? Maybe. Odds are they probably will. BUT I trust them not to. They can be very keen strategists.

I hope you enjoyed this tale, I'll try to post these on occasion if things of note happen. Expect one for Dragonlance to be posted soon as the party is about to confront Dragon Emperor Ariakas at Sanction.