Entry in the Unique Space Station Contest.
summary: orcs in old dwarven citadel
Thunderhead follows the stereotypical pattern of dwarven
citadel ships. Dwarves find asteroid, work it until it is
finished, and leave. The ship then floated around in an
asteroid field for a long time, suffering a couple of
damaging impacts with other rocks. Recently, it was
discovered and occupied by a band of orcs. IMC, they are a
resupply base for a humanoid alliance resisting Scro
domination. But they could just as well be pirates who have
established their own base here. They are quite well armed
with greek fire.
The original, finished appearance of Thunderhead was that of
a towering cumulus cloud, whose top has begun to be streaked
and stretched by the upper atmosphere. The stone is smooth
and grey basalt. Inside the ship was hollowed out into a
vast gallery, with rooms and terraces built into the sides.
It measures about 250 feet high and 200 feet wide.
ascii sideview:
<-- fore aft -->
__________ top side
9 / ___ |
8 ( | | }
7 ( | | )
6 ( | |__)
5 --( | __| ------ gravity plane
4 ( | | )
3 ( | | )
2 ( |___| )
1 \_______/
bottom side
The tail section on the top side has been broken off (level
9). Vines drape down the side, and mosses and lichens cover
the outside. Scaling the outer walls is straightforward for
Thieves, +5% to Climb Walls. The interior is now unlit, with
standard penalties for darkness.
Level by Level description
Top side: covered in small trees and brush. One orc sentry
is on watch here, with a crude signal gong nearby. There are
3 overgrown, closed stone portals here, which open onto
shafts leading into the gallery below. These once provided
fresh air and sunlight. An open stone hatch opens onto a
ramp leading to level 9.
Level 9: A corrider encircles the gallery here, but only
opens into it via 3 small portals. There are 3 weapon bays
on this corrider (fore, starboard, port). The weapon bay
hatches to the outside have been closed and mortared shut.
There are two ramps down to level 8 and one up to the
topside. In the stern section a corrider runs fore and aft.
Several empty rooms line the corrider. After the tail broke
off, this corrider opened into space. The orcs have sealed
the end of the corrider with rubble.
Levels 6-8 and 2-3 have similar floor plans. Consider 4
concentric circles, labeled A (inside), B, C, and D
(outside). Between A and B is a terrace extending out into
the gallery. B is a thin wall with many door-sized openings
and a few thick structual elements. Between B and C is a
corridor. There are two ramps leading down in this corridor
and two ramps leading up. Ramps only take up 1/2 of the
corridor width, and have no guard rails. Between C and D are
chambers. The chambers are separated by radial walls and
have doors opening on the corridor. Outside D is the solid
outer rock of the ship.
Level 8: Workshops and Forge. The forge room is in the aft
area. It is now empty, except for a clay golem, shaped like
a huge dwarf. The golem will attack any non-dwarf who does
not speak the now-forgotten passwords. Behind a secret panel
are two large stone levers. Pulling either activates secret
mechanisms that collapse one of the "rooves" into the
gallery. This was intended as a sort of emergency escape
route. Anyone out in the gallery would be killed or
seriously injured if this occured.
Level 7: Workshops and Storage. empty rooms
Level 6: Hangers and Storage. There are some large openings
in walls "B" and "C" here to allow small ships to be
hangered. These are now used to stable the mobats (see
below). They are guarded by several orcs and mobat-riders. A
corridor leads to an arrow slit above the outer doors to
level 5. There is one orc sentry here, armed with 4 molotov
cocktails.
Level 5: Hangers and Weapon Bays. This level is split by the
gravity plane. It is closed off from the outside by a set of
large double stone doors. These are opened/closed by
hand-powered mechanisms in adjacent rooms. Each door is AC 0
and can take 15 hull points of damage before breaking. They
open into a wide corridor leading into the gallery. Flanking
the corridor are two weapon bays, much like those on level
8. Their field of fire is towards the stern, but ships
within 150' of the doors cannot be targeted. The dwarves had
unusually large war engines here that floated in the gravity
plane. The orcs have unsealed the starboard portal and
mounted a heavy ballista, but is an awkward arrangement that
gets a -2 to hit.
Three large hangers open off from the gallery on level 5. At
the end of the foremost hanger is another weapon bay. The
Tradesman is docked here.
Ramps from levels 6 and 4 lead to the gravity plane. The
dwarves had elevator-like mechanisms for crossing from one
side to the other, but now the the ramps just terminate at
abrupt angles.
Level 4: Quarters. Just like level 6, but without the
hangers and mobats. The orcs live in this area.
Level 3: Quarters. empty rooms
Level 2: Quarters and Temple. Mostly empty rooms. In the aft
area is a temple to Moradin, guarded by 2 clay golems,
identical to the one on level 8. The dwarves left a symbolic
stash of treasure under the altar. The amount is left up the
DM, but it should not be very large.
Level 1: Just like level 9, but without the living quarters.
Bottom side: just like top side, only not as big.
CURRENT INHABITANTS
All are standard orcs, as per your favorite Monster book.
Warchief Ignut, 6th level fighter, 32 h.p., AC 3 (chainmail,
ring of protection +2), two-handed sword.
Head priest/shaman Aftak, 7th level cleric, 31 h.p., mace
Acolyte, 3rd level cleric, 15 h.p., staff
Acolyte, 2nd level cleric, 9 h.p., staff
9 mobats (huge bats) and 9 orc riders. The riders are
completely deaf from being exposed to the bats' piercing
cries for too long. The bats are trained to not scream while
inside, although there are some lapses to the irritation of
the regular orcs. The riders communicate with a crude sign
language, which is only well-understood by themselves and
Ignut. In battle they carry light crossbows, shortswords,
and greek-fire cocktails.
30 regular orcs:
2 carry sword and flail, 1 carries sword and battleaxe, and
3 carry axes. These close meleers are supposed to guard the
clerics.
3 carry sword and spear, 3 carry axe and spear, 3 carry axe
and polearm, 3 carry only spears, and 3 carry only polearms.
These are suppose to form spear walls, rush at enemies, and
chop them up.
3 carry axe and crossbow, and 3 carry axe and bow. Their
mission is to stay back and above melee, and to snipe at
enemies who may be spell casters.
Tactics:
At any given time, 3 of the 9 mobat/rider teams are out on
patrol. If located in an asteroid field, patrols are also
hunting trips to feed the hungry bats. These have a 50%
chance of spotting any ship approaching Thunderhead.
A sentry on the top or bottom side will spot any incoming
ship eventually unless it is hidden somehow. When they see
any ship, they ring the gong for 1 round. IMC, the sentries
are trained to then try to signal the ship to see if it uses
the codes of a friendly vessel. If it does not identify
itself correctly, they flee into the lower levels and seal
the hatch.
The remaining bats and riders will be sent out to intercept
hostile ships, or to escort questionable ships. They will
try to draw the ship into the field of fire of the ballista.
They will use greek fire against strong-looking ships,
dropping flasks in high-speed passes. Against weak-looking
ships that could be plundered, they will make a sniping pass
with crossbow, then land and dismount to melee alongside
their mounts. If a rider is slain, its bat will seize him
(50%) or a tasty-looking enemy (50%) and return to its nest
in Thunderhead.
If attackers seem weak, they will be allowed to enter the
gallery, where the orcs can drop rocks and greek fire on the
intruders. If an overwhelming attack seems imminant, the
band will board the tradesman and try to break out, using
the asteroids to hide. They are likely to surrender under
such circumstances.
