Scenario for a Dark Eldar raid

[CommanderCax]

Dear all,

For a Dark Heresy (40k RPG) scenario I intend to have an Inquisitorial outpost raided by a few Dark Eldar and I need some help and input in regard to how such a Dark Eldar warband would act “realistically” according to the background.

The Inquisitorial outpost is a hidden archive on a moon like asteroid in an Imperial system with a single habitable planet (i.e. a shrine world). The outpost is not well defended as its main security asset is that about no one (even within the sector’s Inquisition) knows about it. There are a few sentry guns (twin-linked autocannons and lascannons) on the roof of the main building as well as a few battle-servitors and maybe Inquistorial Stormtroopers as guards. A very old Inquistor-Emeritus is in charge of the outpost/archive and the PCs (Inquistorial Acolytes) are sent by their patron Inquistor with a letter of recommendation to consult the Inquisitor-Emeritus in regard to some occult texts.
Unfortunately for them, a certain Dark Eldar warband led by a Haemunculus got their a few hours in advance (they were hired as mercenaries by a certain cult to get the very same information (without any letter of recommendation of course…)).

Now the question arises, how the Dark Eldar would do this. The warband consists of their Haemunculus leader as well as ten Wyches and is allied with two Mandrakes. My idea was that the Mandrakes somehow infiltrate the compound and let the Wyches in so that they can slaughter everyone within and torture the Inquisitor-Emeritus of any information.
The PCs will reach the outpost a few our later and already wonder on the shuttles descent why they get no vox-reply from the compound. On the ground they find the first two decapitated battle-servitors and within the compound they find further decapitated guards and adepts (i.e. an overall massacre).

Now my questions: First of all, is it viable for the mentioned Dark Eldar warband to infiltrate and raid such a lightly secured outpost in such a way or in any other way? Secondly, how would the Dark Eldar react to the new arrivals (i.e. the 5 PCs)?
The PCs are rather martially minded and do not look like civilians. How arrogant are Dark Eldar and Wyches in particular? Would they ambush them with all force or would they see it as a hunt or game? Are they so overconfident to send only a single Wych at first in the assumption that 5 Mon’keigh are not a threat or challenge for more than one (or maybe two, three?) of them? Would they try to talk to the PCs or maybe try teasing, provoking or leading them into a trap?
I want to illustrate them as alien and as vile as possible without playing them dumb or absurdly arrogant due to false overconfidence (i.e. sending Wych after Wych to be killed one after the other by the PCs).

I really appreciate any helpful comments and ideas for this scenario.

Cheers

[DruidNei]

It's a bit strange for a Haemonculus to have retinue of Wyches instead of Wracks, but certainly possible. Normally I would expect the Dark Eldar to ride in force of few Rider crafts loaded with mercenaries/Wyches/Wracks, disable the guns and then wipe out all opposition inside. The Haemonculus in question might not have enough resources for that.

DE are arrogant about their combat prowess, but definitely not stupid. Wyches are not known for their patience, but they wouldn't run straight at the guns of PC party either. I would say they will likely try to ambush the party, or maybe throw some grenades and close the distance if ambush is not possible. They certainly will try to end the combat close and personal.

[The Devourer]

I would think they would know better than to send 1 or 2 witches in alone. The Mandrakes seem like the most appropriate troops to send against the PCs since they can attack before the PC realise who the enemy is. However the witches aren't going to want to miss out on the fight. They are definately arrogan enough not to send in all 10 so their attack would probably consist of the a small number of witches (3/4) ambushing them and the madrakes appearing when they are distracted. They probably wouldn't confront them directly before the attack but luring them into a trap would make sense. If the Haemonculus is arrogant enough or if he has time to take a break from whatever mission led him to attack he may try and get the characters captured rather than killed.This would be especially likely if any of the characters had special traits that would make them even more interesting toys. Obviously the witches would want to go for the kill but they could still attenpt to capture some.

[Gorbad Ironclaw]

On the other hand, unless the Wytches are actively doing something else I can't seem them waiting around and letting someone else have the fight just to make it "fair". So unless you can find something for them to do odds are that they would just ambush them with overwhelming force, make it an easy fight, hopefully capture them alive and then have some sport. You don't play with your food until after you have taken their sting away.

[TheDoctor]

-You should try to include a few wracks in there. A Haemonculus would probably never go anywhere without a few of his creations.
-As to why he is there, possibly there is some xenos artifact, possibly from one of the Eldar Maiden worlds.

-The inclusion of witches seems a bit of a stretch. Witches are in it for the slaves and the fight.
--However, the Haemonculus in question could have some power over the witch cult in question, but the mind of the alien is unknowable (haemonculus probably has body parts of the succubus)

-Mandrakes would probably be near the outer edges of the compound, and would ambush the PC's after detection. Witches come later, as they have been busy preparing the slaves for transport.
-Haemonculus and his bodyguards are at the end, as they have been busy doing whatever you wanted them to do.

[ctsteel]

As a side question - why would the haemonculous desire books of the occult? Dark Eldar have no interaction with the daemonic. Unless these texts are believed to be occult by the Inquisition, but are in fact some ancient Eldar texts or such? Which could lead to a situation (if you so chose) where the party finds themselves caught between the Dark Eldar raiders, and a small Farseer-led band intent on saving these texts from both sides. Would the party try to side with one or the other, will they duck and wait for the dust to settle? etc.

[mdman1]

Since this is the thread for DE raids, could someone please describe to me how they would attack a planet for slaves? i.e. which units get deployed and how etc. edit: I'm planning a scenario for a game.

[CommanderCax]

Thank you all for your input.

It's a bit strange for a Haemonculus to have retinue of Wyches instead of Wracks, but certainly possible. Normally I would expect the Dark Eldar to ride in force of few Rider crafts loaded with mercenaries/Wyches/Wracks, disable the guns and then wipe out all opposition inside. The Haemonculus in question might not have enough resources for that.

DE are arrogant about their combat prowess, but definitely not stupid. Wyches are not known for their patience, but they wouldn't run straight at the guns of PC party either. I would say they will likely try to ambush the party, or maybe throw some grenades and close the distance if ambush is not possible. They certainly will try to end the combat close and personal.

It is indeed more stereotypical for a Haemoculus to have Wracks or Grotesques as a retinue, but my PCs already encountered this Haemonculus once and therby he was accompanied by two Grotesques (old rules more similiar to the nowadays Wracks). Furthermore, I thought Wyches are better suited to a lightning fast raid. Your idea (i.e. ambush - grenades - close combat) sounds really good.

I would think they would know better than to send 1 or 2 witches in alone. The Mandrakes seem like the most appropriate troops to send against the PCs since they can attack before the PC realise who the enemy is. However the witches aren't going to want to miss out on the fight. They are definately arrogan enough not to send in all 10 so their attack would probably consist of the a small number of witches (3/4) ambushing them and the madrakes appearing when they are distracted. They probably wouldn't confront them directly before the attack but luring them into a trap would make sense. If the Haemonculus is arrogant enough or if he has time to take a break from whatever mission led him to attack he may try and get the characters captured rather than killed.This would be especially likely if any of the characters had special traits that would make them even more interesting toys. Obviously the witches would want to go for the kill but they could still attenpt to capture some.

The Haemonculus does not realize who the PCs are at first and so does not really care about them. Your idea (i.e. 3-4 Wyches in ambush - Mandrakes attack when distracted) sounds really good as well.

On the other hand, unless the Wytches are actively doing something else I can't seem them waiting around and letting someone else have the fight just to make it "fair". So unless you can find something for them to do odds are that they would just ambush them with overwhelming force, make it an easy fight, hopefully capture them alive and then have some sport. You don't play with your food until after you have taken their sting away.

I think I will ambush them with 3-4 Wyches first and then later with overwhelming force, when they realize the PCs are not easy targets (i.e. the first Wyches are killed by Power/Force Weapons).

-You should try to include a few wracks in there. A Haemonculus would probably never go anywhere without a few of his creations.
-As to why he is there, possibly there is some xenos artifact, possibly from one of the Eldar Maiden worlds.

-The inclusion of witches seems a bit of a stretch. Witches are in it for the slaves and the fight.
--However, the Haemonculus in question could have some power over the witch cult in question, but the mind of the alien is unknowable (haemonculus probably has body parts of the succubus)

-Mandrakes would probably be near the outer edges of the compound, and would ambush the PC's after detection. Witches come later, as they have been busy preparing the slaves for transport.
-Haemonculus and his bodyguards are at the end, as they have been busy doing whatever you wanted them to do.

The idea with the Haemocnulus having body parts of the Wych leader and thus power of them sounds really fitting. Your attack procedure sounds good, in the meantime I decided to have the Mandrakes infiltrate the compound and use a portable webway portal to let the Wyches and the Haemonculus in to slaughter all opposition.

As a side question - why would the haemonculous desire books of the occult? Dark Eldar have no interaction with the daemonic. Unless these texts are believed to be occult by the Inquisition, but are in fact some ancient Eldar texts or such? Which could lead to a situation (if you so chose) where the party finds themselves caught between the Dark Eldar raiders, and a small Farseer-led band intent on saving these texts from both sides. Would the party try to side with one or the other, will they duck and wait for the dust to settle? etc.

The Dark Eldar are of the Kabal of the Crimson Woe that (according to the Dark Heresy setting) acts mainly as mercenary raiders and pirates. They do these sorts of deals rather often to get hold of human captives. The cult they work for is rather powerful and beyond the limit of a single sector. In this case they need information about a certain pattern of daemonic summonings that could destabilize a whole sector. Maybe the Dark Eldar are even accompanied by a human “cultist” in this case. To cut a long story short, they are in because of the promised human captives and do not care about anything else s far.
Nice idea in regard to the Farseer, but I keep my game rather low-xenos for the moment with Dark Eldar and Slaugth being the only ones of note so far.

[Son of Sanguinius]

Now my questions: First of all, is it viable for the mentioned Dark Eldar warband to infiltrate and raid such a lightly secured outpost in such a way or in any other way?

It is certainly viable. You can come up with almost any justification.

Secondly, how would the Dark Eldar react to the new arrivals (i.e. the 5 PCs)?

It depends. If the Dark Eldar are aware of the situation, the Wyches would likely wish to take on the challenge. If not, the Mandrakes would probably go out first and investigate. I doubt the Haemonculus would leave his endeavors until he is finished or his life is in real danger, and that extends to keeping at least some of his bodyguard with them.

The PCs are rather martially minded and do not look like civilians. How arrogant are Dark Eldar and Wyches in particular? Would they ambush them with all force or would they see it as a hunt or game? Are they so overconfident to send only a single Wych at first in the assumption that 5 Mon’keigh are not a threat or challenge for more than one (or maybe two, three?) of them? Would they try to talk to the PCs or maybe try teasing, provoking or leading them into a trap?

I'd guess that the Wyches would relish a challenge, but one that favored them. Regardless of what some say, being a successful warrior has as much to do with choosing proper opponents as it does with actual skill. You're trying to balance risk with odds of success. This is a little symmetrical, but you could lead with one Wyches, then two, then three, but leaving the other four and the Mandrakes to defend the boss.

To my mind, arrogance should be a downfall in one of two ways, if not both. Either the arrogant party assumes they have all details about an environment and are shown to be missing something critical (but not something obvious), or the arrogant party assumes something about their antagonists that they are incorrect about, be it skills, knowledge, physical qualities, etc. Just try to make it a clever thing - arrogance is not an excuse for stupid villains.

[Gorbad Ironclaw]

This is a little symmetrical, but you could lead with one Wyches, then two, then three, but leaving the other four and the Mandrakes to defend the boss.

I know it's traditional, but that entry on the things not to do as an evil overlord should be headed. Don't feed the heroes your forces piecemeal gradually building them up. Logically to me the only thing that makes sense is that all available forces just jump them. Now depending on the group this can actually work really well. Running into overwhelming forces, having to withdraw and come up with an alternative approach than just a frontal assault could make for a very good session, however it requires the players to not just charge headlong in and expect any and all combat to be a straight up fight they can expect to win.

[Son of Sanguinius]

My only reservation about your point, Gorbad, is the confidence of the Wyches and my belief that they would relish the opportunity to take on the five pcs at once. Perhaps another would be the self preservation instinct of the Haemonculus. He's not going to want to leave himself exposed.

What if he sends the Wyches and keeps, say, a Hekatrix and the Mandrakes nearby? Sort of a compromise between our positions

[Gorbad Ironclaw]

See, the problem I have with the "confidence" argument is that it's assuming that they are acting with one mind who feels it only needs to send one or two and they then go and do it. Even if each Wych believes they can take them on their own the others aren't going to hold back.

Ultimately I think it should come down to how the PCs themselves behave. If they are being reasonably sneaky, clever and efficient about it then they should be able to pick on isolated individuals or groups of 2, maybe 3 until the alarm is raised. If they just charge into it headlong, shooting all around them and makes a lot of noise they will bring everybody down on themselves. So reward the players for thinking and planning, and make it hard on them if they just want a last-man-standing brawl. Unless of course that's the kind of game you are playing, but then they should reasonably expect to be challenged that way anyway.

[Son of Sanguinius]

Good point.

A thought occurs - what about a random number, like D3 or D6, to indicate the whims of the Wyches?

[FashaTheDog]

Read Path of the Renegade by Andy Chambers. It is currently the definitive primer on the Dark Eldar. It has a range of raids in terms of scale, participants, and objectives and really focuses upon how the denizens of Commorragh live and operate.

Now as for your specific situation, the above source makes Mandrakes a truly terrifying enemy for Dark Heresy, add in Wyches and unless you have some Ascension or close to it level acolytes (or just gave them the keys to the Inquisitional armory and told them to "go nuts"), they can easily find themselves doomed unless you exercise your "benevolence of the GM that is really just another turn of the screw." The Wyches would happily work in concert with one another while competing for both kills and grace of blows while the Mandrakes would ooze from the shadows and strike before melting away, possibly leading/forcing the PCs into situations where only the grace of the Wyches to literally fight on a razor's edge allows anyone secure footing. Taking a more "I have little time for such matters" approach for the Haemonculus would allow you to reasonably stage a less organized assault on the PCs and give them a chance.

Also, don't be too worried if the Haemonculus takes a fatal blow too soon as the fluff clearly indicates that death is just an expensive and painful coffee break for the Dark Eldar (also rather amusing to others) so long as some portion of the body is retrieved and the deceased has the will to live and suffer true death (which is easily their greatest collective fear). Also, the length of time in which they have been dead is more a matter of difficulty than anything else. Because of this, Dark Eldar tend to retrieve their dead, or at least a part of them since they would prefer that their allies would be more inclined to do the same for them as well as avoiding retribution from the deceased other allies for leaving them to suffer true death (after all, Commorragh is held together through Vect, revenge, paranoia, pain, and ever shifting alliances as everyone scrabbles for more power at the expense of others).

[CommanderCax]

To my mind, arrogance should be a downfall in one of two ways, if not both. Either the arrogant party assumes they have all details about an environment and are shown to be missing something critical (but not something obvious), or the arrogant party assumes something about their antagonists that they are incorrect about, be it skills, knowledge, physical qualities, etc. Just try to make it a clever thing - arrogance is not an excuse for stupid villains.

The arrogance of the Wyches is indeed as you mentioned the assumption the PCs are normal Mon-keigh ready to be slaughtered by a superior species. They did not know (until it was too late) that the Mon-keigh will suddenly pull out power weapons and bolt guns and are even able to use them to effect.

I know it's traditional, but that entry on the things not to do as an evil overlord should be headed. Don't feed the heroes your forces piecemeal gradually building them up. Logically to me the only thing that makes sense is that all available forces just jump them. Now depending on the group this can actually work really well. Running into overwhelming forces, having to withdraw and come up with an alternative approach than just a frontal assault could make for a very good session, however it requires the players to not just charge headlong in and expect any and all combat to be a straight up fight they can expect to win.

What if he sends the Wyches and keeps, say, a Hekatrix and the Mandrakes nearby? Sort of a compromise between our positions

Ultimately I think it should come down to how the PCs themselves behave. If they are being reasonably sneaky, clever and efficient about it then they should be able to pick on isolated individuals or groups of 2, maybe 3 until the alarm is raised. If they just charge into it headlong, shooting all around them and makes a lot of noise they will bring everybody down on themselves. So reward the players for thinking and planning, and make it hard on them if they just want a last-man-standing brawl. Unless of course that's the kind of game you are playing, but then they should reasonably expect to be challenged that way anyway.

Unfortunately my players are neither reasonably sneaky, clever and efficient (let alone reasonable at all) nor are they good at thinking or planning…

In fact we played the session recently and I indeed ambushed them with three Wyches (one came from behind) at first. They were really fast (always acted first) and dodged a single attack per round with an 83 % probability. The groups Psyker was almost disembowelled in the melee, but when the Wyches realized the resistance the PCs were able to bring up, two of them flipped out of combat to throw a plasma grenades at their respective adversaries.
As the fight took a while and the rest of the Dark Eldar where sort of nearby, I decided that the other Wyches came in as well. It was a real bloodbath. Only the Hekatrix survived after she hit the groups Arbitrator twice on the chest with her Blast Pistol and cut down the groups Tech-Priest with her Agonizer in close combat. The Tech-Priest had to burn a Fate Point to survive, but all his grenades and ammunition exploded in the process, so that the Hekatrix could slip away in the ensuing chaos. The PCs were far too heavily wounded to pursue her right away.
I kept the Mandrakes at the Haemonculus side (i.e. out of any combat so far), but when the Hekatrix returned without her girlies, the Haemonculus sent the Mandrakes out to shadow the PCs (and to kill the pilots of their gun-cutter standing outside the compound).
The PCs - after licking their wounds – are now trying to outflank the inner compound in the hope to surprise whoever is left of the xenos, while the Haemonculus thinks about leaving.

Now as for your specific situation, the above source makes Mandrakes a truly terrifying enemy for Dark Heresy, add in Wyches and unless you have some Ascension or close to it level acolytes (or just gave them the keys to the Inquisitional armory and told them to "go nuts"), they can easily find themselves doomed unless you exercise your "benevolence of the GM that is really just another turn of the screw." The Wyches would happily work in concert with one another while competing for both kills and grace of blows while the Mandrakes would ooze from the shadows and strike before melting away, possibly leading/forcing the PCs into situations where only the grace of the Wyches to literally fight on a razor's edge allows anyone secure footing. Taking a more "I have little time for such matters" approach for the Haemonculus would allow you to reasonably stage a less organized assault on the PCs and give them a chance.

Also, don't be too worried if the Haemonculus takes a fatal blow too soon as the fluff clearly indicates that death is just an expensive and painful coffee break for the Dark Eldar (also rather amusing to others) so long as some portion of the body is retrieved and the deceased has the will to live and suffer true death (which is easily their greatest collective fear). Also, the length of time in which they have been dead is more a matter of difficulty than anything else. Because of this, Dark Eldar tend to retrieve their dead, or at least a part of them since they would prefer that their allies would be more inclined to do the same for them as well as avoiding retribution from the deceased other allies for leaving them to suffer true death (after all, Commorragh is held together through Vect, revenge, paranoia, pain, and ever shifting alliances as everyone scrabbles for more power at the expense of others).

Good hint in regard to the survivability of the Haemonculus. Regarding my acolytes, they are all rank 6 (though only 4 in number of them around atm) with a mixture of power, chain and force weaponry as well as a single bolt pistol, hell-pistol, combat shotgun, sniper rifle and hand cannons.

[Easy E]

I think you could make a really creepy mission where the PCs are sifting throught he remains of the outpost, stalked by a pair of Mandrakes. After they think they have driven off the main DE assault.

Then, the Hammie could confront them as they try to leave to get what he wants from them. He should offer them a terrible bargain in exchange for the lore he wants. I.e. the lor ein exchange for the life of the Inquisitor-Emeritus, the fact that they were poisoned by toxins he released into the bunker and if they don't give him waht he wants they will die in agonizing pain within the hour, that sort of stuff.

They will of course refuse. This will lead to a rough battle. Perhaps, allow them to lose; and the Hammie take the Lore and leave them for dead, mocking them. Then, the PCs are saved when a Inquisition response team shows up after the DE have left. This will make the PCs REALLY want revenge, and let them taste failure and learn to plan a bit.

[Denny]

. . . well that's whatever you're talking about for you . . .



To the OP, I second the idea of letting your team get beaten (or at least running a real risk of losing).
Teach them that sometimes the direct approach is the wrong approach and your games will be more rewarding in the future.