CONTENTS

0 PART FOUR:

INTRODUCTION AFFLICTION
ASCENDANT IV
Introduction..................................... 4
Adventure Summary........................ 4 Running This Showdown............... 17
Additional Rules for Psykers............ 5 The Descent.................................... 18
The Tora Armis Insurrection............. 6 The Ascension................................ 18
Taskforce Endless Struggle............... 6 The Return..................................... 19

I
Resolution ..................................... 20
PART ONE: Awarding XP ................................. 20

DROP Profiles........................................... 21

Preparations..................................... 6
THE DEADLY
The Drop.......................................... 9
BATTLEFIELD
No Safety.......................................... 9
Hard Landing................................... 9
Planet Strike................................... 10
Ancient Signals.............................. 11 Rites of Battle................................. 23
Battlefield Ruin.............................. 24

THE PITII
PART TWO: 1st Company Veteran...................... 25

Under Construction........................ 11

III

PART THREE:
THE VAULT

No Heroes Buried Here................... 15

The Eternal Prison.......................... 16

2
 CREDITS
Cover Artist: Felix Tisch Cubicle 7 Creative Team: Dave Allen, Emmet Byrne,
David F. Chapman, Walt Ciechanowski, Tim Cox,
Artists: Dániel Kovács, Sam Manley, Zak Dale-Clutterbuck, Cat Evans, Runesael Flynn,
Jamie Noble Frier, Erin H Rea, and Felix Tisch Ben Fuller, Tim Huckelbery, Dániel Kovács,
Elaine Lithgow, TS Luikart, Rachael Macken,
Writer: Martin Lloyd Rory McCormack, Dominic McDowall, Sam Manley,
Pádraig Murphy, Ceíre O’Donoghue, JG O’Donoghue
Editor: Lynne Marie Meyer
Publisher: Dominic McDowall
Proofreader: Christine Crabb
Special thanks to the GW team.
Graphic Designer: Rachael Macken
Published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd,
Producer: Cat Evans Unit 6, Block 3, City North Business Campus,
Co. Meath, Ireland. Printed in China.
Cubicle 7 Business Support: Tracey Bourke,
Anthony Burke, Elaine Connolly, Andrena Hogen, First edited: November 2021 V1.0
Donna King, Kieran Murphy, and Cian Whelan

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in an retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers.

Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Wrath & Glory © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2021. Warhammer 40,000
Roleplay, the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay logo, Wrath & Glory, the Wrath & Glory logo, GW, Games Workshop, Space
Marine, 40k, Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, 40,000, the ‘Aquila’ Doubleheaded Eagle logo, and all associated logos,
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licence. Cubicle 7 Entertainment and the Cubicle 7 Entertainment logo are trademarks of Cubicle 7 Entertainment Limited.
All rights reserved.

3
 AFFLICTION ASCENDANT

ADVENTURE
INTRODUCTION
SUMMARY
Affliction Ascendant follows a squad of Absolvers The Death Guard captain and Chaos Lord Putradyne
Space Marines as they join the battle for Tora Armis Corporis is on the brink of ascending into the Realm
and attempt to hunt down and kill the Death Guard of Chaos as a Daemon Prince. He orchestrated the
officer Putradyne Corporis. In doing so, they unearth uprising in Tora Armis and is using the psychic
secrets from the ancient past and encounter long- energy unleashed by the resulting battle to open his
forgotten foes. route to Nurgle’s Garden. He has constructed psychic
conductors to channel the energy he needs and has
This adventure is suitable for Tier 4 characters with the attached them to the foundations of the city spire.
IMPERIUM and ADEPTUS ASTARTES Keywords. At
the GM’s discretion, other characters might be added to While constructing the psychic conductors, Putradyne
the team if they have a sufficiently strong relationship unearthed something that appeared to be an ancient
with the Absolvers of the Gilead System. missile base containing planet-killing virus bombs.
Putradyne diverted some of his workforce to investigate
After completing this mission, the characters could go this and hopes to detonate the bombs as his first act
on to further adventures. Alternatively, you might want after Ascending. Doing so has the potential to turn
to play one of the other mini-campaigns in this series Gilead Primus into a fecund garden of plagues, a grand
and join the fight for Tora Armis from the perspective gift to Nurgle that’s sure to earn his favour.
4 of characters at Tiers 1, 2 or 3.
Putradyne doesn’t know that three thousand years ago,

SENSITIVITY
members of the Absolvers Chapter battled the Great
Unclean One, Botuthrax Clostidia, in this very location
and trapped the daemon inside. Is it coincidence that WARNING PART ONE:
Putradyne is digging in the exact location where a Great DROP
Unclean One is buried, or is this the hand of Nurgle at This adventure features the horrors of warfare
work, seeking the return of a beloved servant? in the 41st Millennium, corruption, madness, PART TWO:
mutilated corpses, biological horror, evil magic,
THE PIT
Putradyne’s plan is progressing, but he is about to and mutation. This is all normal fare for
PART THREE:
encounter several problems: Warhammer 40,000, but it is possible that some THE VAULT
content might make members of your group
u A team of Imperial Agents have learned the uncomfortable. After you’ve read through, check PART FOUR:
location of his planned ritual (in the preceding Tier in with each of your players and change the AFFLICTION
ASCENDANT
3 Adventure, Lord of the Spire), and a team of adventure to suit their needs, if necessary.
Astartes have been dispatched to stop him (the THE DEADLY
players’ Agents). BATTLEFIELD

u There are no virus bombs, just a weakened greater

daemon hungry for power. Part Four: Affliction
Ascendant
The Agents’ orders are to track down Putradyne In the final battle, the Agents must choose whether
and kill him before he can ascend. The presence of they want to:
the recently released Great Unclean One Botuthrax
Clostidia complicates their task. u Stop Putradyne’s ascension.

Part One: Drop u Destroy their ancient foe, Botuthrax Clostidia.

The squad’s transport encounters the lingering effects
of a Warp-storm that formerly raged above the spire, u Spare the spire.
and they must battle daemons within. At their landing
site, they find the first evidence that Astartes have Affliction Ascendant is a roleplaying game set in a
been here before. battle. There’s plenty of combat, but there should be
some social interaction as well. Keep the tempo high
Part Two: The Pit and impress the confusion and mayhem of the situation
The Agents encounter Putradyne’s psychic conductors on the players. Be sure to read the whole adventure
and the disguised daemon Botuthrax Clostidia. before playing the first session and familiarise yourself
with the key events.
Part Three: The Vault
The Agents discover the site of an ancient battle and Additional Rules
an empty prison. When the Agents learn the identity for Psykers
of the escaped prisoner, ancient protocols are triggered, Throughout this mission, psykers must roll 1 additional
giving the Agents sanction to call in vortex missiles, Wrath Die on all Psychic Mastery Tests, as Putradyne
potent weapons that will obliterate the entire city of Corporis's actions weaken the borders between reality
Tora Armis. and the Warp.

5
 THE TORA ARMIS PART ONE: DROP
INSURRECTION
From low orbit to the surface in a matter of minutes.
Tora Armis is a minor spire located on the equator of Buckle up.
the hive world Gilead Primus (Wrath & Glory, page
304). Three months ago, the ruling van Staten family
reported food riots and then fell silent. Eighty-seven PREPARATIONS
days after contact was lost, Imperial forces launched
an attack to retake the spire. The assault is now into Seen from Fury’s Blade, the surface of Gilead Primus
its second day, and the Gravediggers' penal brigade, is a red wasteland, partially obscured by clouds of
backed by Leman Russ tanks, has succeeded in toxic fog and punctuated by spots of metallic grey.
breaching the main gates of Tora Armis. Armoured From this height, even the vast spires look small and
columns are pushing into the spire to destroy the insignificant. Only the immense floating platform of
remaining rebels. A small squad operating on behalf Brassyl is a recognisable landmark.
of the Inquisition has uncovered evidence that a
Chaos Lord and former Death Guard Plague Marine is Magnifiers on the observation deck have been trained
behind the uprising. These events are explored in the on Tora Armis for days. The edges of the spire crackled
preceding adventures (Bloody Gates, On the Wings with light a day ago as the Astra Militarum launched
of Valkyries, and Lord of the Spire). their assault. Now the only sign of fighting is the
smoke clouds that pour from the spire.

TASKFORCE ENDLESS While the Space Marines await the order to deploy,
they can do the following:
STRUGGLE
u Select a Rite of Battle, the benefits of which they
Taskforce Endless Struggle was dispatched by may trigger during the adventure by spending
Archdominus Aexekra Vakuul to bring the rebellious Glory (see page 23).
spire back under control. It comprises mechanised
and artillery regiments of the Gravediggers, with u Select equipment. Any Adeptus Astartes character
support from the Order of the Sanctified Shield, the may trade their basic equipment for Wargear of an
Tech-Priests of Avachrus, and an airborne company equivalent value +10 (or simply take an additional
of Tempestus Scions. The taskforce is commanded by 10 points of Wargear) from the armoury aboard
General Hacker of the Astra Militarum, who has contact Fury’s Blade.
with the battle cruiser Fury’s Blade of the Absolvers
Chapter, aboard which 15 Battle-Brothers are available u Take ammunition. The squad receives three reloads
for rapid deployment. for each of their weapons.

Describe the Chapter’s Servitors and orderlies reverently

preparing the squad’s weapons, reciting the names and
histories of each piece of armour as they dress their
superhuman masters, and patiently making minute
adjustments to the built-in cogitators and targeting
systems. Note that their Power Armour includes a vox-
caster that transmits their location and everything they
say back to the Fury’s Blade: no matter how dangerous
their mission becomes, their battle-brothers are with
them in spirit.

6
Twenty-eight hours after the assault begins, Astra a great harvest. What he seeks was never there. I
Militarum command reports a major daemonic see a prisoner, starving and weak. I see twelve cold
infestation, but they are confident they can contain it. guardians, their bones as white as their armour.’
Six hours later, you are called to a briefing chamber.
PART ONE:
A flickering hologram of your commanding officer Blood drips from Makrina’s ears and nose. His hand DROP
Captain Menon addresses you. One of the Absolvers’ spasms and knocks the unused cards to the floor.
Astropaths is physically present, standing at a tall, PART TWO:
white lectern, his bowed head and deep hood hiding What do you do? THE PIT
his blind eyes.
If the Agents awaken Makrina from his trance the PART THREE:
THE VAULT
‘Brothers. Inquisitor Dikaisune has informed me that a Astropath collapses in pain, weak, but alive. The Agents
team operating under her auspices has found evidence gain 1 Glory. If the Agents allow him to continue scrying PART FOUR:
of a Traitor Astartes within Tora Armis. Her team are he says the following, his voice becoming louder and AFFLICTION
ASCENDANT
doing all they can to learn the location and identity of more distressed with every word:
this individual. I want you ready to deploy the instant
THE DEADLY
coordinates are available. ‘I see a garden, rich in bounty and full of life. Behind BATTLEFIELD
it lies a mountain. There is a pathway to the mountain
‘Further, Astropath Makrina reports disturbances in that must not be walked. I see a grin that splits the
the Warp. I have asked him to undertake a scrying sky. I hear laughter. I am hungry, so very hungry.
prior to your deployment. Astropath Makrina?’ There is joyous laughter. The spire city is gone. Only
the laughter remains.’
The Astropath pushes back his hood and begins laying
out cards of the Emperor’s Tarot, placing them face The blood dripping from Makrina’s eyes and nose turns
down and then slowly upturning them, one by one. black, and boils erupt through his skin. His body bloats
There is a pause as his mind reaches out into the and rots rapidly, and he screams, clutching his head. In
Empyrean, then he speaks in a whisper. seconds, the bleeding swells from a trickle to a tide, and
Makrina collapses, dead. The GM gains 3 Ruin, and all
‘I see angels falling forever toward a rotten city. I see present must make a DN 3 Corruption Test (DN 4 if
a warrior, bearing gifts for his lord. He has brought Makrina exploded).

7
 ///++1111010011110
0110100011011101
001111++
//
MAJOR INCIDENT LOG: ASSAULT ON TORA ARMIS.
COMMENCING MAJOR INCIDENT LOG.
ZERO HOUR GST 3.433.211.
STANDARD SOLAR INCREMENTS.

3.433.211 ASSAULT ON THE WALLS LAUNCHED. PENAL LEGION CASUALTIES WITHIN

PREDICTED PARAMETERS.
4.433.211 CONFIRMATION OF HERESY AMONG DEFENDERS.
5.433.211 OUTER WALL CAPTURED. ARMOURED COMPANY DEPLOYING.
8.433.211 THEOTHANATOLOGICAL HERESY REPORTED. JUNIOR ENEMY COMMANDER
IDENTIFIED AS CRAVAX.
22.433.211 AIRBORNE ASSAULT LAUNCHED, STRIKE TEAM INFILTRATION INITIATED.
23.433.211 GATES BREACHED. STRIKE TEAM REPORT WITCHCRAFT IN UPPER LEVELS.
25.433.211 BREACH STORMED, BEACHHEAD ESTABLISHED. CRAVAX TERMINATED.
ARMOURED COMPANY ENTERS SPIRE. SCIONS REPORT HEAVY FIGHTING AT
PERIPHERAL LINE.
29.433.211 LOYALIST FORCES CONTACTED, MILITARILY INSIGNIFICANT. ENEMY
COMMANDER IDENTIFIED AS RAUROK, A WITCH. TERMINATION ORDERED.
31.433.211 ASTRA MILITARUM REPORT ENCOUNTERING ZONE ANATHEMA, HAMMER OF
THE INQUISITION DISPATCHED. MAJOR DAEMONIC INCURSION REPORTED,
CENTERED ON CATHEDRAL OF THE EMPEROR TRIUMPHANT. CATEGORY 1 WARP-
STORMS DETECTED OVER TORA ARMIS. ORBITAL PERIMETER ESTABLISHED.
32.433.211 ASTRA MILITARUM REPORT OUTBREAK OF WALKING PLAGUE. ESTIMATE 90%
OF SPIRE’S POPULATION INFECTED. ARMOURED FORCES ESTABLISHING
DEFENSIVE PERIMETERS.
33.433.211 BEACHHEAD UNDER PRESSURE FROM DAEMONIC ASSAULT. REINFORCEMENTS
CUT OFF BY WARP-STORM.
35.433.211 HAMMER OF INQUISITION CONFIRM ZONE ANATHEMA.
37.433.211 HAMMER OF INQUISITION REPORT PRESENCE OF TRAITOR ASTARTES.
<< SQUAD VINDICTA PREPARE FOR DROP. AWAITING COORDINATES. AWAITING GO.>>
38.433.211 STRIKE TEAM REPORT RENDEZVOUS WITH SCIONS AT PERIPHERAL LINE.
CATEGORY 2 WARP-STORMS DETECTED. ASTRA MILITARUM REPORT
SIGNIFICANT STORM-RELATED CASUALTIES.
40.433.211 BEACHHEAD SECURE. STRIKE TEAM ENGAGED WITH RAUROK. CATEGORY 3
WARP-STORMS REPORTED OVER TORA ARMIS.
40.655.211 HAMMER OF INQUISITION REPORT LOCATION OF TRAITOR
ASTARTES. LEGIO XIV CONFIRMED. CLASS IV EMPYREAN
BREACH INDICATED.
40.656.211 <<GUNSHIP MAILED FIST DEPLOYED.
PRODITORUM INTERFICERE. INVICTA ASTARTES.>>
COMMENCING MISSION LOG.
8
THE DROP NO SAFETY
A Warp-storm raged over Tora Armis until mere hours
‘Proditorum Interficere. Invicta Astartes.’ The words ago. Even after it dissipates (see On the Wings of
PART ONE:
of the traditional Absolvers exhortation sound in your Valkyries), minor disturbances remain. The lingering DROP
ears and are followed by the clank of the ship’s anchor tendrils of the storm brush against the Agents’ craft on
points disengaging. Your harness clamps tightly onto their way into the spire. Trapped in the Empyrean time PART TWO:
your armour. A moment later rockets fire, and you feel has no meaning, and the legions of Nurgle waiting THE PIT
the pressure increase as your Thunderhawk Gunship, above Gilead Primus attack the stranded ship.
a precious resource in the Gilead System, accelerates.
PART THREE:
THE VAULT
On the door before you a chronograph reports the time All Agents start strapped into seats for the drop.
until planetstrike. 48 seconds. 47 seconds. Each counts as Hindered (3) until they release PART FOUR:
their harness. This is a Free Action. AFFLICTION
ASCENDANT
The temperature begins to rise as the Thunderhawk
hits the lower atmosphere. The only sound is that of In the confines of the passenger hold, any BLAST or
THE DEADLY
the thin air rushing past outside. 34 seconds. FIRE weapons will hit every combatant. BATTLEFIELD

The rushing gets louder. Your helmet displays report The creatures attacking the Agents are Plaguebearers
that Fury’s Blade has fired orbital lasers, punching a (Wrath & Glory, page 350), and there are two of them
the hole through the top levels of the spire. You’ll exit for every Agent. While the Thunderhawk is under the
the ship and enter the spire there. 22 seconds. effects of the Warp-storm the Plaguebearers’ Plague
Swords gain −2 AP. After three rounds of combat, the
A tendril of black nothingness flickers briefly inside the clock ticks over to 11 seconds, the daemons vanish,
ship, then vanishes. 16 seconds. and the ship emerges from the Warp-storm and
plummets toward the ground: the crew didn’t survive
Components whine as several of the ship’s systems the brush with the Warp energies.
shut down and restart. 14 seconds.

Silence. 12 seconds. HARD LANDING

Silence. 12 seconds. As the ship drops, the Agents have two choices: attempt
to steer it to a safe landing, or hope for the best. One
Silence. 12 seconds. Agent may attempt to pilot the Thunderhawk safely
to the ground with a DN 6 Pilot (A) Test, preceded
Hideous shapes drag themselves through the walls of by a DN 3 Strength Test if the character attempting
the ship as though it were soft rubber. They clutch it doesn’t have the ADEPTUS ASTARTES Keyword.
long blades of nothingness in their scrawny arms. You may also spend Ruin to reduce the number of
Each has a single eye, which is fixed on you. successes, up to a maximum of 3 Ruin.

HARD LANDING
Result Landing
Failure Guidance Failure: The ship collides with the side of the spire and eventually comes to a halt on its side.
Everyone takes crash damage: Damage 14, 6 ED. Add 2 extra ED for anyone not in their drop harness.
Exiting the pod takes a turn and requires a DN 5 Athletics (S) Test.

Success Rough Landing: On landing, everyone takes crash damage: Damage 12, 6 ED. Add 2 extra ED for anyone
not in their drop harness.

Shift Safe Landing: All Agents are unharmed.

9
 The Corpsetide
THUNDERHAWK The crypt is packed with ten thousand Poxwalkers
GUNSHIP (Wrath & Glory, page 351).

Thunderhawk Gunships are rare and precious Each round, the squad can fire to hold back the
resources in the Gilead System. They’re primarily Poxwalker tide that surges towards them. Tracking
intended as transports for battle-brothers of individual casualties is senseless when fighting a
the Adeptus Astartes, but they're also heavily horde of ten thousand foes. Instead, any Agent armed
armed, with a Turbolaser, Lascannons, six with one of the following May make a DN 6 Ballistic
Missile Pylons, and numerous Heavy Bolters. Skill (A) Test.
To deploy a Thunderhawk indicates what a high
priority this mission is to the Absolvers. u A weapon with Rapid Fire

If the Thunderhawk lands safely (see Hard u A weapon with a Salvo rating of 3 or more
Landing, page 9), the Turbolaser (use Lascannon
profile, Wrath & Glory, page 217, but increase u A weapon with a Blast rating of 6 or higher
ED to 6) is still operational, and an Agent in the
ship can fire it using their Ballistic Skill. u A weapon with the FIRE keyword

u The Thunderhawk's Turbolaser

PLANETSTRIKE On each round in which the majority of Agents

succeed, they kill enough Poxwalkers to hold back the
The ship’s weight and momentum drag it through tide. Each Shift on an attack counts as an additional
layers of the hive spire, the structure weakened by the Agent succeeding.
assault of Fury’s Blade’s lasers. When the movement
finally ceases, you are deep below the surface of Gilead If the Agents fail to hold back the tide, the Poxwalkers
Primus, in the pitch darkness of a pit many miles close to melee. The Poxwalkers fight as two Mobs
deep. A little light trickles down from levels above, of 30, giving them a maximum of 15 extra dice on
giving you just enough illumination to see the utter each attack. At the start of each round, the Mobs are
devastation around you refreshed to full strength unless the Agents score four
successful shooting attacks against the tide.
Hundreds of corpses surround your ship. Without
more light, it’s not clear if they were incinerated by the Reaching the Exit
laser fire from Fury’s Blade or destroyed by your own It takes two rounds for most Agents, including Space
landing. In your earpiece, you hear a mission update. Marines in Power Armour, to reach the exit. It takes
‘You are in a crypt, and that crypt should not be. These three rounds for Space Marines in Terminator Armour
bodies should have been recycled immediately. Proceed to reach the exit. If the Thunderhawk landed off target,
with caution: all is not as it should be. Scans show add an additional round.
access to deeper structures at the following location.
May the Emperor’s strength steel you.’ Pict-icons in Each round the Agents are in melee combat counts as
your helmet point the way to a target 75 metres away. half a round for the purposes of Movement.

In the shadows of the crypt, between you and that The exit from the crypt is a heavy plasteel door set
target, thousands of humanoid shapes lurch clumsily in an ancient bulkhead and locked with a keypanel.
in your direction. Opening it requires a DN 5 Tech (Int) Test and takes
one round. Closing it from the other side takes an
GM Note: If the Thunderhawk Gunship suffered a additional round.
guidance failure, increase the distance to 100 metres,
and add a round to the time needed to leave the room Alternatively, the Agents can destroy the door. It has a
10 (see Reaching the Exit, right). Resilience of 12 and can take 10 Damage.
If the Agents destroy the door, they will have to think
of a way to seal it once through, although the narrow
PART TWO:
space means they’ll only have to hold off one Mob or
score two shooting successes each round to hold back
THE PIT
PART ONE:
the corpsetide while they do so. DROP
A long-dead signal echoes from the depths.
If the door is destroyed, the Poxwalkers eventually PART TWO:
force their way through, no matter how the Agents THE PIT
seal it. From Part Three onward, you may use the UNDER PART THREE:
Battlefield Ruin option The Corpsetide (see page 24).
CONSTRUCTION THE VAULT

Once the door is sealed, the Agents may pause to PART FOUR:
Regroup. If they do so, you gain 2 Ruin. Sergeant Valance’s recorded warning continues to AFFLICTION
ASCENDANT
play. Thousands of bodies futilely dash themselves
against the door behind you. Before you, a broad
ANCIENT SIGNALS passageway leads to a deep pit 70 metres wide and
THE DEADLY
BATTLEFIELD
bounded by a broad spiralling ramp. In the sides of the
The moment the Agents have the door open, their pit, you can see layers of ancient construction, most of
armour detects an encrypted broadcast on an Astartes them crushed and compacted by the weight of the spire
vox channel. above, strata of plasteel and rockcrete laid down over
millennia of Human settlement.
‘Warning. This is Sergeant Valance of the Absolvers
Chapter. This sector is under the protection of the Three huge pillars rise to the ceiling, each one
Absolvers. Withdraw or face destruction. I repeat. assembled from ancient bric-a-brac and crudely
Withdraw or face the Emperor’s judgement.’ smelted alloys mined from the walls of the pit. Waves
of nauseating energy radiate out from them.
The warning repeats every ten seconds.
Two dozen Servitors line the sides of the pit. Even from
Aboard Fury’s Blade, Tech Adepts set to work to see if this distance, the signs of decay and mutation in their
any record of Sergeant Valance can be found. organic components are obvious.

Any Agent entering this area must make a DN 3

Corruption Test (DN 5 for psykers). As well as the
normal consequences of failing a Corruption Test
(Wrath & Glory, page 286), any Agent who fails
becomes Vulnerable (Wrath & Glory, page 200) until
they leave the pit. They repeat the Test each time
they re-enter the pit until they succeed. Agents who
succeed are immune to the effects, even if they leave
and re-enter the pit.

Level 1: The Servitors and

the Survivor
This pit was excavated by hundreds of labourers
recruited from Tora Armis, assisted by Servitors.
When they finished the work, the labourers lined up,
expecting to return to the surface. Then the Servitors
massacred them. The corpses form a charred mass
throughout the whole of Level 1.

11
 The Agents’ arrival triggers the Servitors to attack. ‘Have you got any food?’ he asks, ‘It’s been days. I
Use the Combat Servitor profile (Wrath & Glory, page haven’t eaten in so long.’
334) for the Servitors. Four Gun Servitors are spread
out around the top of the ramp in heavy cover, and two Once, this person was Blojak Craijic, a labourer who
groups of six Combat Servitors with Servo-Arms and survived the massacre. Now the body is little more than
high-intensity Plasma Cutters (Plasma Pistols, Wrath a flesh puppet for the Great Unclean One Botuthrax
& Glory, page 218) patrol the rest of Level 1. Clostidia, who is weak, exhausted, and desperately
hungry after his escape from the vault. Botuthrax
When the fight is over, a solitary survivor emerges found Blojak in the rubble, took control of him, and is
from the rubble. using him as an additional mouth and stomach.

With a clatter of metal, a figure appears from beneath If the agents give Blojak food, he devours it in seconds,
some panels. He stands up and peers at you nervously. cramming it into his mouth and asking for more. If
He’s a Human male, dressed in shabby overalls, asked for information, he’s vague on details of what’s
seemingly of a kind with the deceased workers. He happened in Tora Armis. He says he had to work ‘so
stumbles toward you, shaking and sweating, running hard, so very hard for so long’, but he doesn’t know
12 his fingers nervously through his greasy brown hair. what he was building or why. He reveals:
u A giant armoured warrior accompanied by Servitors have a single round to act. If they attack the swarm
went into the vault. with flame or Melta weapons, Botuthrax is weaker
when the Agents encounter it again in Part Four:
u They returned later and headed into the cavity in Affliction Ascendant (see page 17).
PART ONE:
Level 3. DROP
Level 2: Route
Detecting the Daemon to the Vault PART TWO:
THE PIT
When the agents encounter the survivor, Botuthrax’s Descending to Level 2 reveals a large cavity excavated
disguise is almost perfect, but it deteriorates over time in the side of the pit. It’s currently storage space
as the daemon's nature corrupts Blojak’s corpse. Ten for construction equipment. There’s evidence that
PART THREE:
THE VAULT
minutes after meeting the Agents, Blojak’s skin is Servitors moved something heavy out of the tunnel
blotchy. After 20 minutes he’s covered in sores and (the bodies of five Absolvers in suspended animation, PART FOUR:
lesions. After half an hour, his stomach tears open taken away on Putradyne’s orders). A dataslate on the AFFLICTION
ASCENDANT
beneath his overalls. Agents with a Passive Awareness floor holds a single entry from over 3,000 years ago.
of 2 or higher see that something isn’t right with his
THE DEADLY
belly. Around this time, Blojak’s eyes turn yellow and BATTLEFIELD
his tongue grows immensely long. He slavers and licks
the air, and his transformation is unmistakable.
///++110101001011
At any stage, psykers can make a DN 3 Psyniscience 01010111011011
Test to establish that Blojak is controlled by some kind 101101110++//
of Warp entity.

What Botuthrax Wants OUR VILE ENEMY COULD NOT RESIST

Botuthrax has very little idea what is going on, and its THE POSSIBILITY OF CAPTURING
first desire is information. It assumed Putradyne had THE VIRUS BOMBS, AND NOW THE
come to free it, but the Death Guard ignored Botuthrax BEAST IS IMPRISONED WITHIN THE
and left, taking the sleeping bodies of five Space LIVING BODY OF ONE OF OUR MOST
Marines with him. Botuthrax wants to know: VENERATED BATTLE-BROTHERS,
CAPTAIN ANTIMONUS, THE HERO OF
u How long has it been imprisoned?
VULKARIS. MANY BROTHERS FELL
BATTLING THE DAEMON, INCLUDING
u What’s going on?
CAPTAIN ORIS AND LIBRARIAN
TRANT, BUT BOTUTHRAX CLOSTIDIA
u Who was the Death Guard who opened the vault?
IS NO LONGER FREE TO UNLEASH ITS
u Who are the Agents and what are they doing? PESTILENCE ON THE GILEAD SYSTEM.

For each question Botuthrax learns the answer to, you

THE BATTLE BROUGHT THE HIVE
gain 1 Ruin. If Botuthrax somehow learns of the Great DOWN ATOP US, AND THERE IS NO
Rift, you gain 2 Ruin. PROSPECT OF RESCUE. WE WILL
SECURE THE AREA AND ACTIVATE
Dispatching the Daemon OUR SUS-AN MEMBRANES. WE HAVE
At some point, Botuthrax will no longer be able to hide THE SATISFACTION OF KNOWING
the fact that Blojak’s body is unnatural. The body is THAT WE KEPT OUR OATHS, AND THAT
weak, with the stats of an ordinary Imperial Citizen OUR GREAT ENEMY IS HERE WITH
(Wrath & Glory, page 327), and Botuthrax puts no US, IMPRISONED FOR ALL TIME.
effort into keeping it alive. When the body is destroyed,
it dissolves into a swarm of writhing maggots, flies,
and worms, which sink through the floor, leaving no
trace of their passing. While this happens, the Agents 13
 When the Space Marines encounter the name If the Agents don’t discover this for themselves,
Botuthrax Clostidia, their vox-casters crackle into life, Captain Menon’s voice once again comes over vox:
and Captain Menon addresses them.
‘This is a terrible power indeed. Astropath Makrina
‘Brothers, Chapter records reference the daemon speculates they are conductors, carrying the energy
Botuthrax Clostidia as a threat greater than anything of a million suffering souls from the battlefields above
we expected to encounter within the spire. I am to somewhere deeper in the spire. May the Emperor's
ordering you to divert to investigate this prison. But strength steel you.’
make haste. May the Emperor’s strength steel you.’

If the Agents press for more information, Captain

Menon supplies:
DESTROYING
‘Botuthrax Clostidia is the reason Vulkaris became a THE PILLARS
plague world. Its work complete, it moved on to Gilead
Primus — but here, we stopped it. We lost many of our Simply shooting the pillars won’t work, even
finest. We cannot let their sacrifice be in vain.’ with something like a Plasma Cannon. They are
too large, tough, and heavy for that. Given time,
Level 3: Deeper they could be brought down with Chain Fists or
and Deeper Power Fists. The moment someone cuts into a
A giant cargo elevator squats at the bottom of the pit. rod, they must make a DN 10 Corruption Test
Faded signs suggest it leads into an ancient mine. The as twisted, decaying energy courses through
elevator is a giant metal platform 10 meters wide on them. Persisting long enough to destroy a pillar
each side. It descends into the tunnel at a 45-degree requires a melee weapon able to do at least
angle along a metal track. If the Agents don’t trust the 15 damage with an AP of at least −3, a DN 8
platform, they can walk down the mineshaft. Willpower Test to fight through the pain, and a
DN 20 Corruption Test on completion.
Once the Agents start their descent, go to Part Four:
Affliction Ascendant (page 17). If the Agents brought a substantial supply
of Melta Bombs or Krak Grenades, they can
The Pillars attempt to demolish the pillars. Destroying
The pillars that descend from the ceiling to the depths one pillar requires sufficient weapons with the
of the pit are vast agglomerations of metal salvaged EXPLOSIVE Keyword to do 50 points of damage
from the sides, melted and roughly reformed. It’s in total (e.g.,, a Krak Grenade does 14 damage;
clear that these parts have been fused together with four of them inflict 56 points) and a DN 5 Tech
extraordinary heat. Agents looking at the pillars feel (Int) Test to rig the explosives. Destroying the
uneasy, and anyone approaching them feels nauseous. pillars this way avoids Corruption Tests.
Characters with the PSYKER Keyword have a much
stronger reaction. They feel feverish as well as For each pillar destroyed, it takes Putradyne an
nauseated, and to their eyes, the pillars pulse with a additional turn to achieve his ascension and
sickly energy. Botuthrax restores one fewer Wound each time
it uses Hideous Growth (see page 21).
A DN 5 Tech (Int) Test reveals the pillars are aligned
with the pillars that support Tora Armis. A DN 5
Psychic Mastery (Wil) Test reveals the pillars are
conductors, channelling energy to a point somewhere
beneath them. It seems that the earlier Warp-storm,
the Poxwalkers, and the psychic energy of the battle
raging above are generating the energy coursing
through the pillars.
14
PART THREE: The dust of three millennia covers the floor, but in
places it has been disturbed by the deep imprints of
THE VAULT Power Armoured boots and the only slightly lighter
tread of Servitors’ feet. Dirt and oil from the digging
PART ONE:
outside muddies and softens the ground. DROP
A long-dead conflict comes to life as an ancient foe
is revealed. Signs on the walls indicate this structure is an ancient PART TWO:
missile silo. THE PIT

NO HEROES The breach the Agents enter through connects to PART THREE:
THE VAULT
a corridor that makes a circuit of the whole base. A
BURIED HERE hundred meters from the breach, an airlock leads PART FOUR:
deeper into the installation. It was sealed but has been AFFLICTION
ASCENDANT
Beyond the triple-sealed blast doors you see the interior carved open with cutting tools. On the far side of the
of an Imperial military base. Messages carved into the airlock, two sentry guns have been torn apart by Bolter
THE DEADLY
walls in front of you read: fire. The corpse of a Servitor sprawls in the doorway. BATTLEFIELD

‘Turn back. There are no heroes buried here. There is A DN 4 Tech (Int) Test reveals extensive, recent, and
no treasure here. There is only death. Bury this place rapid corrosion on the sentry guns, consistent with the
deep. There is only death here.’ blighted weapons of the Death Guard.

These words are repeated again and again on the Not far from this entrance is what was once a
walls. They are written in High Gothic and Low Gothic, barracks. The door is marked with Imperial biohazard
in the native dialects of Gilead Primus and the battle runes. Inside are 40 neatly arranged body bags,
cant of the Absolvers, in the Cant Mechanicus and the each containing a skeleton. Every corpse wears an
slang of long-dead hive gangs. The same message is Astra Militarum dog tag, identifying the wearer as a
broadcast across every wavelength your vox-casters Gilead Gravediggers trooper. A DN 4 Medicae (Int)
can receive. The only exception is Sergeant Valance’s Test reveals the soldiers were killed by an extremely
announcement, on an encrypted Astartes channel, virulent bioweapon that warped their bones.
seemingly coming from deeper within the base.

15
 The next significant location is a control room. Four ‘Oaths of vengeance have been sworn against
chairs face long-deactivated banks of cogitators. A DN the daemon Botuthrax Clostidia. Chapter Protocol
5 Tech (Int) Test indicates the cogitators are loaded Unceasing Vigilance activated. Use of orbital vortex
with what look to be firing protocols for virus bombs. bombs authorised. Repeat, launch of orbital vortex
The cogitators have not been accessed for 3,000 years. bombs authorised.’

Beyond the control room, a tunnel leads to the launch A minute later, a previously unknown voice addresses
bay, where a yet more curious sight awaits the Agents. the Agents via their vox system.

‘This is Lord Militant Taleria Fylamon. Under no

THE ETERNAL PRISON circumstances, I repeat, under no circumstances will
I permit a vortex strike on Tora Armis. Acknowledge.’
This chamber is 30 metres in diameter, its sides
scarred by Bolter and plasma fire. An adamantine While the Agents are responding, a third voice comes
plinth dominates the centre, a suit of Power Armour over the vox.
enthroned atop it. Twelve Power Armoured figures
stand before the plinth, their hands folded on their ‘This is Company Captain Menon of the Absolvers.
chests and their weapons by their sides. Their Power The Lord Militant has no authority over the Adeptus
Armour bears the livery of the Absolvers, but is Astartes. Lord Militant, this is no longer your fight,
marked with acidic burns, deep slashes, and signs of and no longer your decision. Brothers, Fury’s Blade
rapid corrosion. Among the dead are a captain and is standing by for vortex deployment at your request.’
librarian. Within the armour only skeletons remain.
If the Lord Militant makes any response, her
A DN 4 Investigation (Int) Test reveals that the Space transmission is blocked.
Marines died in battle against a massive creature of the
Warp. Their armour is damaged and without power.
However, there is enough Bolter ammunition for each
member of the squad to take one reload.

As the Agents explore the room, they can see the

plinth in more detail.

The ruined figure chained to the throne is a suit of

corroded Absolvers Power Armour, a badly damaged
skeleton still inside it. The bone has rotted, and a
stinking, putrid sludge coats the inside of the armour
,which is even more corroded and decayed than the
exterior: something vile was trapped inside, held
captive by purity seals and holy tablets as well as
sturdy chains. The armour is too badly damaged for
the Agents to glean any useful information. This was,
however, the staunch Astartes whose physical form
and iron will held the Great Unclean One in check.

A few moments after the Agents establish that

Botuthrax Clostidia is not in the vault, they receive an
automated transmission.

16
PART FOUR: u Round 5: No developments in this round.

AFFLICTION u Round 6: If he has not ascended by now, Putradyne

is transformed into a Chaos Spawn (Wrath &
ASCENDANT Glory, page 352).
PART ONE:
DROP

u Round 7: If the Agents haven’t defeated it, PART TWO:

Beneath the spire, two evils struggle for supremacy. Botuthrax Clostidia regains its strength. The Agents THE PIT
can continue to assault it, but their weapons can’t
Deep beneath Tora Armis, so deep down that the damage its pestilent bulk. The vortex bombs fall PART THREE:
THE VAULT
chamber is surrounded by real rock, the air thrums soon after. The entirety of Tora Armis is destroyed,
with psychic potential. The raging battle above has including the daemon’s corporeal form, and the PART FOUR:
released masses of psychic energy, which Putradyne’s Great Unclean One returns to the Realm of Chaos. AFFLICTION
ASCENDANT
conductors are delivering to this deep cavern, where it
will provide the power he needs to open a path directly
to Nurgle’s Garden. But Putradyne’s plans have gone RUNNING THIS THE DEADLY
BATTLEFIELD
awry. He had hoped to celebrate his ascension by
releasing virus bombs on Gilead Primus, but they SHOWDOWN
turned out not to exist.
Players are used to winning. That’s certainly a
Worse still, the Greater Daemon Botuthrax Clostidia, possibility here, but it isn’t likely. Both Putradyne and
whose liberty is Corporis’s last great gift to Nurgle before Botuthrax are formidable foes, and together they’re
his ascension, is now devouring the psychic torment more than a match for the Agents. Still, here are some
he needs to fuel that ascension. The Great Unclean tactics that might work if the Agents are intent on
One means to help, knowing that in its full power and defeating both of them.
with Corporis ascendant, they can claim Gilead Primus
for the Great Corruptor. However, Botuthrax regaining Delay Them: Without intervention, Putradyne ascends
its strength delays Corporis’s progress, for which the in four rounds. Botuthrax is fully restored if he reaches
Agents should be deeply grateful, because if Putradyne 60 Wounds. Finding a way to delay either of these
ascends, the world of Gilead Primus becomes a grand outcomes creates a space for victory.
offering to Nurgle. What comes next will be decided
in battle. Distract Botuthrax: Putradyne is absolutely fixated
on his ascension. But Botuthrax has been nursing a
Keep track of what happens in each round of this fight. grudge against the Absolvers through 3,000 years of
famine. Annoy it, and it stops feeding to concentrate
u Round 1: Putradyne summons Plaguebearers and on destroying his ancient foes. Needless to say, this is
begins his journey to Nurgle’s Garden. a two-edged sword.

u Round 2: Rocks begin to fall from the ceiling. You This encounter is set up such that the Agents face a
may spend Ruin to trigger the Rocks Fall Battlefield choice. Do they call in the vortex bombs, sacrificing
Effect (see page 24). Putradyne’s progress slows. their lives and obliterating Tora Armis? Doing this
means they defeat either Putradyne or Botuthrax but
u Round 3: Botuthrax arrives. Putradyne’s progress allow the other to escape. Or do the Agents attempt
slows even further. to defeat both and risk unleashing both evils on the
Gilead System?
u Round 4: If he has not been delayed or destroyed,
Putradyne ascends at the end of this round.

17
 THE DESCENT u The Agent said nothing: DN 4

As the squad make their way into the mines they are u The Agent responded only with abuse or
contacted by Putradyne Corporis, who has gained catechisms: DN 5
access to their vox frequencies.
u The Agent argued or conversed with Putradyne:
Your vox begins to emit a static, intermittent hiss. Your DN 6
contact with mission control glitches and then fails. A
voice wheezes in your ears, the speaker struggling for u The Agent sympathised with any of Putradyne's
every breath. views (which should be unthinkable): DN 9

Use the following fragments of conversation, or Astartes encounter Traitor Marines very rarely, and the
improvise your own. experience of speaking with one is likely to linger for
many years, reminding them that even a battle-brother
‘Absolvers. You are fortunate to have come this far. may stray from the light of the God-Emperor.
You will be here at the end and the beginning. I am
ready to leave this life, this long war, and ascend to
fight a greater battle. I am bound for a realm of life THE ASCENSION
and plenty. Come and watch.
You emerge from the mine into a vast cavern of natural
‘The Emperor? Have you ever seen Him? I fought in rock. Three metal conductors are embedded in the
His Legions, when I was full of youthful stupidity. He ceiling, presumably the counterparts of the pillars
commended us for valour when we carried the gates above. The space around them is twisted and distorted,
on Vaxus. He sits, perishing on His golden throne, black slashes of nothingness breaking through reality
the galaxy clenched in His dead fist. He offers only and coalescing into unholy, impossible shapes.
stagnation and death, where the Plague Father
promises life and renewal to this suffering Imperium! One end of the cavern is filled with a thick, buzzing
cloud of flies. Through the swirling mass of bloated
‘I have Sergeant Valance here with me. Sergeant insects, you glimpse an armoured figure, one hand
Valance and four of his lackeys. They’ve been sleeping clutching a vast maul, standing in front of an altar.
at their posts for millennia, a poor way to keep an Laid upon it are the bodies of five Absolvers. As you
oath I think. They won’t ever wake. They’ll help me look on, Putradyne Corporis raises his Power Maul
onwards. A final offering from this life before I ascend. above his head and brings it down upon each of them.
I have killed so many of your kind. The Emperor’s war Fresh blood gushes from their armour. Putradyne's
has made fratricides of us all. hollow voice, artificially amplified, echoes around the
chamber: ‘Behold, Grandfather. I have brought you
‘Did you find Botuthrax? Did you see what they’d gifts. Five sons of the false emperor. He has fallen. I
done to it? The honourable Absolvers deceived it, shall rise.’
ambushed it, locked it in a cage and starved it. It was
once so full of life and bounty. It renewed so many A rip in space appears behind the altar — a gash in
worlds with its father’s gifts.’ reality through which you glimpse another realm.
It is a realm of endless death, decay, and rebirth.
Whenever Putradyne isn’t talking, the Space Marines’ As you watch, forests wither and are consumed by
connection with the Fury’s Blade is restored. parasites, their matter broken down and transformed
into billions of larvae that mature, fly, and die in the
At the end of the conversation, each squad member space of seconds, only for newer, stranger masses of
makes a Corruption Test with a DN based on how that vegetation to spring forth from their rich mulch.
squad member responded.
A path of filth leads from the altar into this nightmare
landscape. As Putradyne sets foot on the path, it is
18
clear his journey is more than physical, as every step The Agents are free to pursue Putradyne, the two
costs him huge effort. Beyond the boundary, thousands realities seeming to blend together as they do so.
of tiny creatures are waving and cheering, though it’s However, each round they spend in combat with him
impossible to tell whether they’re urging Putradyne requires a DN 5 Corruption Test.
PART ONE:
on, or mocking his attempt. Among the crowd, one- DROP
eyed daemons look on, recording every moment of The Agents can attempt to block Putradyne’s progress
Putradyne’s progress toward the Realm of Chaos. by getting in his way or dragging him back. If PART TWO:
Putradyne does not reach Nurgle’s Garden within six THE PIT
On the farthest horizon, something vast as a mountain rounds, his attempt at ascension has failed.
range, shifts and turns its attention to the struggling
PART THREE:
THE VAULT
figure of the Traitor Marine. A look of disappointment spreads across the faces
of the Nurglings as Putradyne’s progress falters, and PART FOUR:
In the first round of combat, Putradyne turns his their cheers become uncertain. As the gateway to the AFFLICTION
ASCENDANT
Plasma Pistol on the Agents, while chanting in a twisted Realm of Chaos closes, Putradyne collapses, utterly
tongue. In the second round, seven Plaguebearers exhausted. His flesh shivers and ripples, strange new
THE DEADLY
materialise to support him, dragging themselves out growths erupt out of his armour, his helmet cracks BATTLEFIELD
from amongst the corpses of the sacrificed Absolvers. open, and you catch a glimpse of his eyes — open in
This can be prevented with a successful DN 8 Deny horror as a riot of mutations run rampant through his
the Witch Test. body, reshaping flesh, bone, and nerves, until nothing
is left but a mindless Chaos Spawn.
Each round, Putradyne advances farther along his
path to Nurgle’s Garden. If he is able to progress for
four rounds, he sets foot in the Realm of Chaos and THE RETURN
is welcomed as a Daemon Prince.
In the third round, Botuthrax Clostidia enters the fray.
The waiting Nurglings erupt in cheers and whoops
as Putradyne arrives in Nurgle’s Garden. He has The roof of the cavern shakes, dislodging rocks that
crossed over into the Empyrean, and your blows and plummet downward. Then a part of the roof gives
bullets belong to a reality he is no longer part of. way, and a vast mass of maggots, worms and flies
His limbs elongate, and his armour is absorbed into drops down and lands among the rubble with an
what remains of his flesh. He raises his maul in a audible squelching noise. No sooner has the mass
mocking salute, and the portal closes. Nurgle has a landed than it starts to knit itself into a giant, bloated
new champion. form. Immediately some of the streams of Warp energy
that swirled around the altar attach shift toward the
daemon, as if drawn by a magnet.

The Great Unclean One giggles and grins as it gathers

up its guts and shoves them back inside its ruptured
stomach, along with a scattering of Nurglings who
came bubbling out of the wound. ‘Ah, Putradyne’, it
says, its voice a deep rumbling belch. ‘What a feast
you have prepared for me. A moment to gather my
strength, and I’ll hold these little maggots off for you.’
It has only been a few seconds since it landed, but
already Botuthrax Clostidia has grown larger and
more substantial.

On the pathway, Putradyne stumbles, and suddenly

his goal looks farther away than before.

19
 Should the Agents approach Botuthrax: RESOLUTION
The Great Unclean One unleashes a massive yawn
and peers at you from behind its decaying brow with If the Agents are defeated, the spire is obliterated
eyes older than stars. It blinks in recognition, and a by vortex bombs launched from Fury’s Blade, but by
great red slash opens in its face, revealing vast brown the time the bombs fall, both Putradyne and Botuthrax
teeth and a pustulent red tongue. ‘Astartes.’ Its voice have retreated to the Empyrean. The supply of ball
rumbles in your minds. ‘You cannot be the ones who bearings is disrupted, with knock-on consequences
imprisoned me. But you will do.’ Its jaw distends, and across the system. Putradyne and Botuthrax return
it vomits a tidal wave of putrescence in your direction. seven months later to wage war on Gilead Primus.

Botuthrax is here to feed. It has regained much of its If the Agents called in vortex bombs, the spire is
former strength from the energy being channelled destroyed, along with Putradyne and Botuthrax.
through the spire. Each round, Botuthrax uses its The immediate threat is ended, but the entirety of
Hideous Growth Ability to gain 5 Wounds. Tora Armis is destroyed. The loss of life — and the
hit to the production of resources — is tremendous.
Botuthrax begins this scene with 40 Wounds, unless The relationship between the Absolvers and the Lord
the Agents burned its remains in Part Two. In the Militant is soured, perhaps irreparably. Their fraught
latter case, it begins the combat with 20 Wounds and relationship leaves enormous holes in the Gilead
2 personal Ruin. If the Agents destroyed any pillars, System’s defences, through which enemies new and
reduce the Wounds it gains from its Hideous Growth old pour.
Ability by 1 for each pillar.
If the Agents defeated both foes, the spire is saved.
If Botuthrax achieves a total of 60 Wounds (it begins The supply of ball bearings is restored.
with 40) read the following:
If the Agents defeated either Botuthrax or
The daemon roars with laughter, doubling, and then Putradyne and did not call in vortex bombs, the
tripling, in size. Its bulk expands to fill the cavern, other foe escapes and the spire is saved. The supply
crushing you against the walls, which shatter, of ball bearings is restored. The foe that survived
revealing a vast nothingness beyond. The daemon’s returns to wage war on the Gilead System. If Putradyne
laughter shakes the ground. Far above you, Tora ascended, Gilead Primus becomes a breeding ground
Armis trembles on its foundations. Restored to full for new diseases, many of which become epidemics.
vitality, Botuthrax Clostidia lurches out into the void.
‘Tell your people I am coming. Tell your people I will If the squad defeated neither Botuthrax nor
devour a city for every year of my imprisonment. Tell Putradyne, and did not call in vortex missiles, the
your people their bodies will be home for my larvae, spire is saved. The supply of ball bearings is restored.
and I will turn their worlds into gardens of decay.’ Seven months later, a vast horde of daemons and
Death Guard invade Gilead Prime, having spent the
You will never be free of Botuthrax’s laughter. It intervening months massing their forces on the plague
pursues you as you retreat from the cavern. It echoes world Vulkaris (Wrath & Glory, page 309). If you’re
in your ears as you fight through hordes of daemons not planning on playing through this storyline, inform
to reach the Imperial lines. It torments you as you the players of what happens as an epilogue.
relay its warning to your horrified commanders. And
whenever you look at the stars, the Great Rift grins
back at you like the mouth of a hungry daemon.

20
AWARDING XP
Award 3 XP for roleplaying and having fun. In addition,
BOTUTHRAX CLOSTIDIA,
the following awards are available: GREAT UNCLEAN ONE
PART ONE:
Tier 1 2 3 4 DROP
Drop (0–8 XP)
u Save Makrina: 2 XP Threat E E E E
PART TWO:
u Defeat the daemons aboard the Thunderhawk KEYWORDS: CHAOS, DAEMON, MARK OF NURGLE
THE PIT
Gunship: 2 XP
S T A I Wil Int Fel PART THREE:
u Safely land the Thunderhawk Gunship: 1 XP THE VAULT
u Defeat the Corpsetide: 3 XP 16 10 4 6 10 8 10

Resilience PART FOUR:

The Pit (0–6 XP) AFFLICTION
10 + Skin Folds (3), 13 ASCENDANT
u Detect Blojak’s possession: 2 XP
u Per pillar destroyed: 1 XP Defence Wounds Shock
THE DEADLY
BATTLEFIELD
5 40 14
The Vault (0–4 XP)
SKILLS: Default 8, Weapon Skill 10
u Investigate the control room: 2 XP
u Investigate the eternal prison: 2 XP BONUSES
Architect of Ruin: The GM gains 1 Ruin at the start of
Affliction Ascendant (0–8 XP) each of this Threat’s turns.
u Prevent Putradyne’s ascension: 3 XP Beloved of Nurgle: This Threat may use Ruin Actions
u Prevent Botuthrax’s escape: 3 XP and has 5 personal Ruin.
u Avoid dropping vortex bombs: 2 XP Massive Bulk: Botuthrax Clostidia is huge and
immensely difficult to kill. It has 40 Wounds.

ABILITIES

PROFILES BATTLECRY: Pestilential presence: Anyone who sees

Botuthrax must make a DN 5 Fear Test. Anyone not
wearing a sealed suit must make a DN 7 Resolve Test
Use these profiles for the adventure’s antagonists. or gain Poisoned (7) as their nerves burn.

ACTION: Bileblade: 16 +4 ED, AP −3, Inflict

Poisoned (5)
BOTUTHRAX Lashing Tongue: 12 +4 ED, AP −4, Inflict Poisoned (5),
Inflict Staggered (4)
CLOSTIDIA, GREAT Avalanche of Flesh: Botuthrax falls on its opponent.
10 +8 ED, AP −, Inflict Prone (4)
UNCLEAN ONE Hideous Growth: Spend 2 Ruin. Botuthrax Clostidia
regains 5 Wounds.
Greater Daemons come in a wide variety of sizes, Pestilent Tide: Spend one Ruin. A wave of diseased
flesh and acidic rotting matter spews from Botuthrax’s
shapes, and power levels ranging from obscene to
guts. This is a ranged attack with the following profile:
apocalyptic. Having been chained beneath Tora Armis 12 +2 ED / AP −2 / Range 16 / Blast (4)
for millennia, Botuthrax Clostidia is weak (for a Great
Crushing Bulk: Spend 2 Ruin. Botuthrax charges
Unclean One) but still terrifyingly powerful. forward like a pestilential cannonball. Its target and any
allies within 5m are crushed under its mass. Roll to hit
once; compare the result against each Agent’s Defence
separately.
RUIN: Nurglings!: Spend 1 Ruin. A single band of 20
Nurglings disgorge themselves from Botuthrax’s guts
and act immediately.
DETERMINATION: Spend 1 Ruin to roll 10d6. Daemons
can roll Determination against Mortal Wounds. Any
Wounds negated by Determination are ignored instead
of being converted to Shock.

Conviction Resolve Speed Size

21
5 5 5 Ggtn
 PUTRADYNE PUTRADYNE CORPORIS

CORPORIS, Tier 1 2 3 4

Threat E E E E
CHAOS LORD KEYWORDS: ADEPTUS ASTARTES, CHAOS,
DEATH GUARD, MARK OF NURGLE
Putradyne Corporis has fought the Long War for years
S T A I Wil Int Fel
beyond number, and he can feel immortality beckoning.
His body is swollen and bloated, his corpse-white skin 5(9)* 7 5 5 6 3 2
blooming with disease. Damage to his armour reveals
Resilience
rotten and decayed organs spilling out of lesions in his
14 (Cataphractii Terminator Armour), Powered 4*
paper-thin skin. He is animated by the Plague Lord’s
blessing and his own furious will. Defence Wounds Shock

4 12 10
Putradyne’s Wargear is ancient. His armour is the
SKILLS: Default 5, Awareness 9, Ballistic Skill 8,
colour of decaying bone, with the symbol of the Death
Weapon Skill 8
Guard and the eight-pointed star of Chaos emblazoned
on the pauldrons. Cracks and gashes in the ceramite BONUSES
reveal his bloated frame within. His huge Power Maul Architect of Ruin: The GM gains 1 point of Ruin at the
crackles with energy, and his Plague-Spitter Gauntlets start of each of this Threat’s turns

project a corrosive mixture that rusts and decays Champion: This Threat may use Ruin Actions and has
anything it comes into contact with. 1 personal Ruin.
Space Marine Implants: Gain bonus dice and options
for Actions from Space Marine Implants.
Putradyne suffers from the Withered and Enduring
Life mutations. As Nurgle has cursed him to eternal ABILITIES
life, he must ascend or be transformed into a Chaos ACTION: Plague-touched Combi-Flamer: 8 +2 ED /
Spawn. Should the Agents slay Putradyne before he AP − / Range 6 – 12 – 18 / Bolt, Inflict (On Fire), Pistol.
ascends, his corpse immediately revives as a Chaos On a successful hit, reduce the AR of the target’s armour
by 1.
Spawn; once this is slain, he is truly dead. Power Maul: 14 +4 ED / AP −3 / Range 2 / Brutal,
Power Field
RUIN: Veteran of the Long War: Spend 1 Ruin to add
the game’s Tier as ED to all attacks this Threat makes
this round.
Death to the False Emperor!: Spend 1 Ruin to Charge,
gaining +2 bonus dice to the attack Test.
DETERMINATION: Disgustingly Resilient: You do not
need to spend Ruin to roll Determination for this Threat.
Roll 7d6. This Threat can roll Determination against
Mortal Wounds.

Conviction Resolve Speed Size

5 5 7 Lrg

22
THE DEADLY RITES OF BATTLE
BATTLEFIELD Before entering battle, Space Marines perform a variety
of rites to focus their minds on the coming conflict.
PART ONE:
These might involve optimising the configuration DROP
Affliction Ascendant introduces two new rules for of their armour and weapons for the coming fight,
games of Wrath & Glory. During the mission, Astartes rehearsing tactics with their squad, or steeling their PART TWO:
players can spend Glory to activate the benefits of mind for the challenges they expect to face. THE PIT
rituals they performed prior to arriving in Tora Armis.
These rituals reflect the way veteran Space Marines Each member of the squad with the ASTARTES
PART THREE:
THE VAULT
work as a coordinated unit, the result of decades of Keyword may choose to undertake one of the following
training and experience. rites before entering battle. These benefits can be PART FOUR:
activated during play by spending Glory at the start of AFFLICTION
ASCENDANT
You can spend Ruin to trigger effects on the battlefield the Agent’s turn.
as the Agents attempt to complete their mission.
THE DEADLY
Perhaps a far-off sniper or artillery observer takes an Note that these rites are only available to Tier 4 and BATTLEFIELD
interest in their position. Perhaps the terrain in front of can only benefit groups of Astartes who have had time
them is mined, or a patrol of enemy soldiers is about to to train together or who share a [CHAPTER] Keyword.
stumble across them.

RITES OF BATTLE TABLE

Rite Benefits
Emperor’s Wall of Steel: You fight to defend your battle-brothers. Allies with the ASTARTES Keyword within 2m of
Blade you add 1 to their Defence against melee attacks. Cost: 1 Glory.
Staggering Blow: Make a melee attack. If you hit, the next successful attack against the target by an ally
with the ASTARTES Keyword gains +2 damage and -2 AP. Cost: 2 Glory.
Fury of the Astartes: Yelling battle cries, you lead your battle-brothers into the fray. For one round, any
allies with the ASTARTES Keyword gain the Counter Attack Talent. Cost: 3 Glory.

Furious Fire Discipline: Through sharing targeting data and coordinating fire, you deny your target Cover. Pick
Fire one enemy you can see. Until your next turn, any ally with the ASTARTES Keyword who targets them
ignores Cover. Cost: 1 Glory.
Storm of Death: In carefully rehearsed patterns, the squad lay down a blanket of fire. Until your next
turn, allies with the ASTARTES Keyword reduce the Multi-Action penalty by 2 if shooting. Cost: 2 Glory.
Designate Target: Your suit cogitators analyse a priority target, sharing information on its weak points
with your allies. Until your next turn, any ally with the ASTARTES Keyword who targets them gains +2
ED and −1 AP. Cost: 3 Glory.

Strength Tactical Positioning: Your targeting systems highlight and share the locations of enemies, allowing your
Unyielding brothers to find Cover. Until the end of your next turn, all allies with the ASTARTES Keyword gain +1
Cover against shooting attacks. Cost: 1 Glory.
Danger Denied: Until the end of your next turn, all allies with the ASTARTES Keyword roll 2 extra dice
on Determination Tests. Cost: 2 Glory.
We Shall Not Yield: Any Agents with the ASTARTES Keyword who are Dying may make a Last Stand
(see Wrath & Glory, page 194) without suffering d3 Traumatic Injuries at its conclusion. They must still
spend all their remaining Wrath (minimum 1). Cost: 3 Glory.

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 BATTLEFIELD BATTLEFIELD RUIN TABLE

RUIN Cost
1
Effect
The Corpsetide: A Mob of 30 Poxwalkers have
made their way down from the crypts and engage
the Agents.
During the battle, you can spend Ruin to trigger
1 Visions: Visions of Tora Armis consumed by
different effects on the battlefield. The options available
decay disturb an Agent, clouding their vision and
are listed in the mission descriptions. breaking their concentration. They must make a
DN 5 Conviction Test or become Vulnerable till
the end of the current encounter.
You can trigger effects in narrative time or combat
time. Effects triggered in combat time take a turn, as if 2 Rocks Fall: A massive chunk of rock falls from
an additional NPC were involved. the roof of the cavern. Make a DN 6 Athletics (S)
Test to dodge the Blast (4) attack. Damage is 12
+4 ED AP −2.
2 Pitfall: The massive weight of a suit of Power
Armour sends the wearer crashing through the
floor. One Agent must make a DN 8 Athletics (S)
Test or become Hindered (3). They may attempt a
new DN 6 Test each round to get out of the hole
they have fallen into. Assistance from another
Agent reduces the DN to 4.

3 Warp Tendrils: Black ribbons of nothingness

whip toward the Agent. Make an attack with a
pool of 8 dice and the FIRE Keyword. Damage is 6
+3 ED and ignores armour.
3 Nurgle’s Miasma: Armour rots; equipment
malfunctions. Each Agent must choose one of the
following:

u They lose a point of ammunition.

u They receive −1 to Armour.
u An augmetic ceases to function.
u Fatigue and sickness cause −1 Willpower.

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CHARACTER
ARCHETYPE: TIER 4
1ST COMPANY VETERAN

SPECIES Adeptus Astartes XP Cost 330

1ST COMPANY KEYWORDS: ADEPTUS ASTARTES,

PART ONE:
DROP
[CHAPTER], IMPERIUM
VETERAN SKILLS: Athletics 3, Awareness 3, Ballistic Skill 5, PART TWO:
THE PIT
Leadership 3, Scholar 1, Stealth 3, Survival 1,
Weapon Skill 5
‘I have spent centuries at war so billions of others may ARCHETYPE ABILITY: Master of Warfare PART THREE:
THE VAULT
Add 1 to the damage of all weapons.
know peace.’
− Brother Horatio of the Ultramarines 1st Company WARGEAR:
PART FOUR:
Terminator Loadout: Terminator Armour, Storm
AFFLICTION
Bolter, Power Sword or Power Fist, Crux Terminatus. ASCENDANT
Lifetimes of warfare have honed your skills and Terminator Assault Loadout: Terminator Armour,
Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield or two Lightning
turned you into one of the most feared warriors in
Claws (S +5/ 5/ −1 -/ Brutal, Force, Unwieldy THE DEADLY
the galaxy. (2)) or a combi-weapon with the ADEPTUS BATTLEFIELD
ASTARTES Keyword, Crux Terminatus.
Sternguard Loadout: Aquila MkVII Armour, Bolt
Traditionally, the warriors of the 1st Company are the Pistol, Special Issue Boltgun (with an additional
finest, most able, and best equipped fighters a Chapter −1 AP) or Heavy Flamer or Storm Bolter or Heavy
Bolter, 3 Frag Grenades, 3 Krak Grenades.
of Space Marines has to offer. They are organised
Vanguard Loadout: Aquila MkVII Armour, any two
into Vanguard and Sternguard squads. Vanguard weapons with the ADEPTUS ASTARTES Keyword.
squads fight up close, assaulting their foes with lethal
INFLUENCE: +2
melee weapons; Sternguard fight at range, using
powerful Boltguns to devastating effect. To reflect SUGGESTED ATTRIBUTES XP Cost 40
their skill at arms and proven valour, exceptional
ATTRIBUTE S T A I Wil Int Fel
veterans of the 1st Company are awarded Terminator
Honours, sometimes displayed as a replica of the Crux RATING 6 6 6 5 3 3 1
Terminatus, indicating that they have the right to wear
SUGGESTED SKILLS XP Cost 22
Terminator Armour on the field of battle.
Athletics 3, Awareness 4, Ballistic Skill 6, Scholar 2,
Stealth 3, Weapon Skill 4
The stone Crux Terminatus is worn on a Terminator’s
left pauldron. Astartes tradition maintains that each
Crux contains, at its core, a fragment of the armour
the Emperor wore when he slew Horus ten-thousand
years ago. In this way, 1st Company veterans are
connected to the very beginnings of the Imperium, and CRUX TERMINATUS
the millennia of warfare that have sustained it. Cast in stone and mounted on the bearer’s Power
Armour, the Crux Terminatus is the ultimate
In the Gilead System, members of the Absolvers’ 1st symbol of valour in the Imperium.
Company are often trusted with missions of great Effect: +1 Influence, +1 Resolve
importance, for they command more respect than Value: 10
almost anyone else in the system. A Chapter might Rarity: Very Rare
use a veteran as an ambassador, diplomat, messenger, Keywords: ADEPTUS ASTARTES, IMPERIUM
or bodyguard, dispatch them to eliminate a particular
target, or even assign them command of supporting
troops from the Astra Militarum. As a result, 1st
Company veterans often find themselves taking part
in missions far beyond the battlefield, in the company
of unusual allies.

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