Tomb of the Rocketmen - AREA III - The Encysted Tomb

AREA III - Encysted Tomb

Lighting	Tiny glimmers of bioluminescent fungus scattered about the room most is reddish, but with some purple and yellowish green.
Odors	Rot overpowered by a cloying perfume odor.
Traps	Wall Fungus is infectious and poisonous
Treasure	8 Tomb behind the wall fungus may contain treasures
Encounters	2 Mobile Growths and 6 Zombies guard this chamber

The ladder enclosed in the white ceremicrete tube leading from AREA IV or AREA V is divided by a small landing when it reaches this chamber, and an obvious exit hatch that is notable only for the large red star and skull stenciled onto it.  Close examination of this hatch will show small sweet smelling tendrils of slimy reddish mold creeping around its edges.

Entering from AREA II can only be accomplished by open the sealed and ‘tone locked’ hatch.  However there is

a large glowing green button next to this hatch on the AREA III side, which will open the sealed door is pressed.  The entire interior side of the hatch is covered with a thick bubbling mat of yellow and red fungal slime that, like the other fungus on the walls of this room, is highly toxic to the touch.

The chamber itself has lost all semblance of an artificial space and is completely covered in oozing red,  yellow and purple growths of spongy fungus.  Notably two huge lumps of fungus, with leg thick trailing tendrils mound up on the slick floor.  The first is near the hatch to AREA II and the second along the Northern curve of the room.  These large piles quiver occasionally and odd round orifices on them seem to open and close rhythmically.  Almost invisible beneath the pulsing layers of fungus it appears that the marble walls of the room once contained sealed niches (12 of them) widely spaced around the room.  Six of these niches appear to have been smashed open, and fragments of stained marble are scattered on the ground near them. 

The massive fungal mounds are Mobile Growths , the stellar fungus’ defensive antibodies.  Concealed in the shattered niches are also six Space Zombies all of these creatures are well concealed by blankets of fungus and mold.  If not aggressively probed via something that can damage them (an arrow or spear) they will wait to attack until there prey is well within AREA III, and then do so with a 1-4 chance of surprise.  While attacking the zombies will seek to protect the mobile growths, but the fungal horrors have little strategy beyond luring their enemies into an ambush and overwhelming them unless the colony has greater knowledge of the party’s own tactics (see detailed description in New Monsters section).

Tomb of the Rocketmen - AREA 1 and AREA II

 AREA I - Primary Entrance Hatch

Lighting	Soft Yellow light fills the room from a chandelier of metal orbs, but leaves the chambers recesses in deep shadow.
Odors	Faintly musty, with a hint of a sweet perfume like odor.
Traps	None
Treasure	Chandelier Ancient metal globe chandelier, worth (300GP), will take 2D6 turns to remove safely. Weighs 200lbs and bulky.
Encounters	None

Several feet below the murky waters of the slough a mound of earth and rust colored alien fungus almost completely covers this ancient alloy tube, set with a round set of double doors.   The doors are two feet thick, a forged of ancient alloy stronger than steel, and cannot be opened easily by force, a difficulty that is increased because they are submerged.  The doors a sealed with a mechanical lock, which though made of ancient technology and so resistant to force (requires a roll under Strength at +15) to force with tools, can be picked by a competent thief or opened by magic (Knock).

Fungal Zombies Lurk in the Darkness

Beyond the doors is a 10’ diameter alloy tube that will rotate to act as an airlock, once the outer hatch is closed, revealing a domed chamber extending Westward in the form of an oval, 60’ long and 30’ wide.  Water from the airlock will quickly drain through grates around the edges of the room’s slightly concave floor and once drained (1 turn) reentering the tube will cause it to rotate, again facing the exit hatch.  The chamber is empty, except for a few encrustations of teal and cyan fungus on the ceiling and walls.  

The walls, floor and ceiling of the domed chamber are themselves made of a smooth white glazed ceramicrete.  The only sign of decoration in the entry chamber are a set of benches molded into the longer walls and a dangling chandelier of metal globes hanging in the center.  The chandelier is heavy and worth only a few hundred GP as a curiosity if a dedicated individual spends 2D6 turns carefully pulling, prying and cutting it from the ceiling.

An archway partially overhung with the thumb thick tendrils of cyan fungus provides the only interior exit to the entry chamber and leads down a twisting and uneven 180’ stair that descends at least 40’ into the darkness.  Along the stairway, molded into the cermicrete walls are the mottos “Through Adversity to the Stars”, “From the Stars Knowledge”, and “The Conqueror Returns”.

AREA II - Chamber of Arrival

Lighting	Dimly lit by the soft amber glow of the central crystal
Odors	Damp, rot and a sweet perfume odor that increases in the Western half of the room.
Traps	Teleportation Crystal Instantly transports to area IX if touched by hand.
Treasure	Panels (200 x 50 GP) panels require time and luck to remove, each ways 25lbs and is bulky. Quartz Crystal (25 GP)
Encounters	None

The stairs from AREA I disgorge into a huge rounded vault, 80’ in diameter with a ceiling lost over 100’ above in the gloom.  Drips of rank water occasionally fall due to seepage from the slough, and light shined upward will reveal ropey, striped (yellow and brown) fungus snaking from above, though none reach more than 20’ from the floor.  The room itself has walls made of a greyish alloy, molded into bas reliefs of man’s conquest of space. Moving clockwise from the archway that leads to the long stair this sculpture show: Sputnik floating above the earth, The eagle lander, Astronauts on the moon, Scientists toiling in a laboratory, Rockets emerging from silos, Men in space suits battling four armed Tharks, Rocket ships battling above a canal covered world, Spaceman tortured on a giant wheel by bug eyed amazons,  Beasts surround a submarine in the frozen seas of Uranus, Robots marching on a crater rim fortress,  A supernova, Identical women stand in formation armed with sabers, Yuri Garagrin emerging from a sunburst and A giant rocket dreadnaught battling a swarm of saucers.  While fascinating, these panels conceal no secrets, though they can be pried from the walls with great care and considerable force, to reveal girders of black alloy beneath.  

Individual panels are worth 50 GP each to the wealthy of Denethix for decorative purposes, but while the alloy is sturdy it tenders to shatter if torqued and each panel will take 1D6+2 turns to remove, requiring a successful D20 roll under Int -2 to avoid destroying.  There a 50 panels in all, though many simply show geometric designs vaguely resembling starscapes. 

In the center of the room floats a strange crystal growth, at roughly chest height.  It is a cloudy white, but vague clouds of amber light move within the crystal’s depths.  The crystal is suspended by an amber beam of light three inches wide and cannot be knocked free by a blow doing less than 20 HP of damage (AC 2).  Nor can it be grabbed, as it is a terminal for a teleportation system, immediately whisking anyone who touches it to AREA IX.  Is somehow removed the crystal loses its magical appearance and proves to be a large lump of quartz worth 25 GP.  

A stairway with ornate alloy hand rails leads down to AREA VI. On the Eastern wall of the chamber is a hatch almost identical to the one leading to the surface.  It is sealed from this side, but will open if the same tonal key is used as in AREA I, leading to AREA III.

D100 Random "Minor" Science Fantasy Treasures

Below is a list of randomly generated "minor treasure" for the South of Denethix, where the Tombs of the Rocketmen and Obelisk of Forgotten Memories can be found. I like this sort of list because it provides random treasure for unexpected encounters, with a great variety.  Generally putting some odd valuable objects in place and then some coinage where appropriate is more fun then using classic treasure tables.

In addition to description and value I have included two other columns. Weight and fragility. Weight is based on the LOTFP "significant item" rules, and the modifications of that play are increasingly common in the games I've been playing.  A character may carry 1 significant item for every point of Strength. Exceeding that limit means the character is encumbered and cannot act normally. Fragile helps determine the possibility of the item being destroyed if it is dropped suddenly, caught in a fireball, or otherwise subject to destructive force.

100 science fantasy treasures on the table below.

Tomb of the Rocketmen - 1st Playtest Report.

Tomb of the Rocketmen Playtest - I ran a playtest of Tomb of the Rocketman the other night, the party was fairly successful, losing one member to a trap and most importantly they showed me that the Tomb isn't instantly deadly (as I had feared) or impossible to enter.

THE PARTY

A crack team of skilled graverobbers, killers and antiquarians assembled at the personal orders of the Grande Vizier of Denethix.

Grisham Everyman – A perfectly mundane man of middling years, with mud brown hair and hard brown eyes.  Only his armor, a suit of white ceramic plates, marked with blue designs is remarkable. Fighter 6

Dogrok – A cyclone of anger from the beleaguered tribes amongst the Feasting Trees.  This warrior wears elaborate fluted armor made of the finest steel and his hammer is the living heartwood of a Feasting Titan. Fighter 6

Mo-Mo – Moktar Warrior from the Certopsian, Deadly with a black Zweihander from a dusty serpant man tomb and favored by his ancestors.  Moktar 6

Marina Cleric of Theosaurid – Worshipper of the gilded god of dinosaurs, a devotee of the most savage faith amongst the orbital gods (or so they claim – Rarge God of Savagery disagrees).  She is always accompanied by her Doberman convert and guardian, Lt. Dog. Cleric 6

Gamma Ray – Sorcerer of the Sword, a well built warlock who is fond of  grandiose gestures.  His past is unknown to any but himself, and he hints at retaking a tower somewhere in the Worthless North.  He carries a powerful artifact of lost sorcery. Magic-User 6

11 – An ancient machine of rust and impenetrable armor plating, unearthed near the home warrens, 11 destroyed the foolish dwarf nobles that thought he could be bound by chains of compound interest.  Its drills and magma cannon still function, and now 11 is a heartless bounty killer. Robot 6

Space Zombies (Tomb of the Rocketmen)

In ancient times humankind (and it was only humankind then, the elves, dwarves, goblins, & moktar are younger races) traveled to the stars.  As the Temple of Science recites, the Orbital Gods hint and the University moguls know,  each star is a sun, and each sun surrounded by plentiful worlds.  Amongst the worlds around distant stars the Rocketmen discovered: wonder, wealth, and power, but mostly they discovered strange death.

'Space Zombies', and the entire infestation of the slough with alien fungus, are the product of deadly spores, buried with one of the long dead Rocketmen.  The spores predictably broke free of the corpse they hibernated within, animating it as shambling corpse, grew into huge colonies in the sealed and abandoned environment of the Tombs and then faded and died due to lack of fresh air and water, only to be revitalized again from spore when Feh Ling invaded the tomb and reactivated it's power and water systems.  The fungal colonies have infested most of the larger tomb chambers and reanimated a large number of mummified Rocketman within.  The alien fungus will aggressively try to infest biological organisms, but has ignored Feh Ling and his offspring because they are not living creatures susceptible to fungal spores. The zombies and the fungus colonies that create them represent four different types of monsters: Fruiting Bodies, Mobile Fungal Growths, Space Zombies, and Floating Spores.

Tomb of the Rocketmen - AREA XIII (SAMPLE AREA)

XIII – Satellite Zeta Mu

Lighting	Dim light from various instrument panels and searing unfiltered sunlight from portholes.
Odors	Sterility and ozone
Traps	Uplift of party member to Orbital God Hood or die of starvation and thirst.
Treasure	Grave Goods worth 5,200 GP
Encounters	None

When the shimmering, nausea inducing matter transportation effect wears off the party will find themselves on an extremely cold grated metal floor.  The room is a small round cornered rectangle, with a high roof that vanishes above in a mass of fluted conduits.  At the center each wall is a 7’ diameter dome made of different materials.  The Northern dome is especially notable as it is made of cut crystal, while the others are metal.  Small screens, dials, buttons and other instrumentation cover the walls between domes.  Searing natural light pours through randomly spaced porthole like windows of thick smoked and unbreakable endura glass. Looking out the windows the viewer will quickly realize that they are at the peak of a large ovoid metallic structure that appears to float amongst an ocean of stars.  A scientist or the more intelligent sort of cleric will be able to identify their location as “in orbit” likely on a “god’s star”.  Looking out all the portholes will eventually spot the world floating in the distance, its dry continents and the still glowing death wastes clearly visible.   The only other item of note in the chamber is a small pile of human bones, brittle with age and wrapped in scraps of orange cloth, that rest near the crystal dome.  The domes are as follows:

Tomb of the Rocketman - Table of Sarcophagi

So I stumble along working on Tomb of the Rocketmen.  I figured I'd post some of it as a goodwill gesture.  Below is a table of random "Notable Rocketmen Sarcophagus Pods" There's only a 10% or so of finding one of these (and a 5% chance of finding a special encounter) amongst the 300 odd pods, put I like rewarding diligence and providing strange tables.

A Rocketman I presume...

The Treasures of Feh Ling (Tomb of the Rocketmen)

The Treasures of Feh-Ling consist of a great mound of broken machine parts, spoiled foodstuff and valuables looted from military convoys heading toward the Certopsian, plucked from ancient tombs and found in various ruins.

Obviously some of the more valuable items in this hoard are terribly heavy and unwieldy.  Without a dragon to move them a great deal of labor and a large amount of cables and tackle will be required to remove them from the tomb through the large airlock door and then up through the mud and water to the surface. Such activities will take 1D4+2 weeks for a large party (50 plus) laborers and several heavy carts will be needed to haul the larger treasure items back to civilization.  During this time the laborers will need to be protected from the denizens of the woods and slough as well as overseen to avoid thier stealing the bulk of smaller valuables.  Additionally is returned to Denethix, both the government (in the case of the military supplies) and  powerful private individuals (in the case of the roadster, furs and anything else they think they can claim) will seek to recover the plundered items and pay only a small 5-10% salvage fee to the party.  Protracted legal wrangling and the use of high priced lawyers or bribes may resolve these disputes in the PCs favor, but these will be costly.

I believe this is a Talbot-Lago T-150.  It seems appropriate in this hoard

Feh Ling the Dragon (Tomb of the Rocketmen)

Dragons are creations of the Apocalypse. The first dragon was born with the initial salvo of planet busters and hell burners that began the final war between ancient empires, over 3,000 years ago.  Dragons were birthed by the psychic reverberations of the millions who died in the collapse of humanity's golden age and embody the various varieties of destruction that humankind brought upon itself.  The monstrous wyrms have no souls or culture, and seek only to propagate themselves and finish the ancient Apocalypse that created them.

Verdiginous Dragons are relative late comers to the spawning of dragonkind, creatures of hopelessness, failure and want.  The desperate spasms of starvation and inequity created by societies struggling to maintain a technological way of life after the collapse, but failing tragically, birthed Verdiginous dragons. Physically Verdiginous dragons appear more machine like than animal, a conglomeration of rusted and corroded cogs, conduit and engines, coalesced into a monstrous animal shape. Unlike more warlike dragons born from instantaneous death and destruction, Verdiginous dragons are not often whirlwinds of fury that lay waste to vast regions.  Instead, these dragons are hoarders and collectors of machines, technology, supplies and wealth, which  they guards jealously while their hoard decays and corrodes beneath them, giving birth to numerous verdigionus dragonlings which swarm about their parent's lair until they become big enough to flee or are devoured. 

Feh-Ling (Adult Verdiginous Dragon)

Hit Dice: 13 (78 HP)
AC:0
Attacks: 3 (Up to 5) THACO(10)
Damage: Claw 1-8/Claw 1-8/
Bite: 2-20 (or breath)/Tail 2-12/Buffet 1-6
Move: 30'/120' Swim/60' Fly
Morale: 11
Save As: F10
XP: 5100

Attacks: Feh Ling may attack any creature in a 180' arc in front of him with his bladed bronze fore claws, as well as a crushing bite.  Targets to Feh Ling's sides may be buffeted by his wings, huge sails of ragged plastic, rubber and leather strung between umbrella like ribs of hinged metal.  Enemies behind Feh Ling can be lashed with his powerful tail.  Both wing buffet and tail slap attacks by Feh Ling require any struck to roll a D20 under Dexterity to avoid being knocked prone, stunned or tossed back, and unable to act in that round or the next.