The
transition from the frozen world of the ice ages will be a jolting contrast. As
with the earlier jumps, the party will arrive unconscious, but this state will
last a bare few seconds. When they scramble to their feet, they will find the
interior of the mountain changed almost beyond recognition.
Huge
silent machines shrouded in gloom pack the interior space of the mountain, and
the area where once the boneyard was is now a level stone floor. Above, the
gash in the summit has been enlarged and in the gathering dusk outside the
party will be able to pick out a few faint stars. The function of the machinery
is incomprehensible. Towering over the gem platform is some giant machine that
vaguely recollects a striking T-Rex of the far past. Many of the machines have been crudely dismantled, parts
littering the floor; the reason for the vandalism is unclear.
In addition to the original tunnel network, is a new
passage on the north wall, cut as straight as the eye can see.
Outside, the ruins of a vast city sprawl, chimneys belch plumes of
smoke skywards. The dirty brown pall obscures the horizon; in the west the sun
is a lowering ball of orange-red. The stifling air is thick, suffocating,
rasping irritably at the lungs. Noises are weirdly distorted, sudden
concussions of sound beat at the eardrums while other sounds are oddly muted.
Passing
more looted machinery you come at last to a grand promenade. Here the raw offal
of man and machine trickles along open sewers into foul smelling stagnant ponds
and canals. Alongside, stately buildings of another age stand begrimed by
generations of soot, exuding an air of past greatness. Of better times long
forgotten. The streets are quiet, and the door fronts of the buildings heavily
barred.
Beyond
lies an old industrial district. Here warehouses and workshops crowd together.
All about is the clamour of industrial processes, the screech of saw, and the
percussive staccato of hammering, yet the streets are strangely empty of life.
The
streets will remain empty until sundown, when sirens will blare out for a long
minute and if the party is still on the streets at this time then:
Hundreds,
thousands of hunched, horribly grotesque figures boil out of the buildings onto
the road. Despite their physical abnormalities they move with an incredible
shuffling speed, and before you can retreat you are surrounded.
Grimlocks
AC as per FF, Hp average; they are well armed.
The
grimlocks will seek to capture the party, clubbing at them with bare fists, axe
handles and the like. When subdued, they will drag the hapless party members to
the Ziggurat where they will be imprisoned within the Hall of the Ancestors. Here
they will encounter a party of pure strain humans similarly being held captive.
If
the party investigates the workshops they will find tens of thousands of
weapons being churned out as well as suits of armour.
An ancient observatory now crowns the summit of Old Bald Crag; here the party will gain a view of the coastal plain despite the layer of foul, choking brown smog that smothers the metropolis day and night. In daylight hours, despite the smog it will become apparent that large parts of the city have been reduced to a lifeless, cinder plain, every building and every monument razed to the ground. At night the lights of furnaces feeding the vast grimlock industrial machine can be seen burning as far as the eye can see.
The
Thri-Kreen came from the clean wind whipped grasslands of the eastern steppes.
Encountering the grimlocks a generation ago they have waged an unending war
ever since in their efforts to cleanse the earth of the stain of man and his
works. The situation the characters will encounter is a virtual deadlock.
Decades of constant war has weakened both sides, but despite the seemingly vast
chasm that divides the two races, the party will find that both societies have
much in common, being harsh, repressive, militaristic and ultimately alien to
the parties outlook.
Fearful
of the sun, the grimlocks worship the moon at a vast ziggurat
set amidst the smoky fires of their furnaces. Here they offer sacrifices every
full moon, those of men, thri-kreen and of last resort, themselves.A blood
drenched altar occupies the summit of the ziggurat. On the night of every sacrifice, tens of thousands of grimlocks
form a jostling sea around ziggurat as they chant a primal paean to the moon
above.
1. Hall of the Ancestors. A single passage descends into the
heart of the pyramid, and then debouches into a large, high vaulted hall. All
around are sculptures and works of art depicting pure strain humans.
2. Beyond a tunnel leads into another wide hall, which is lined
on all sides by cells, most of which are empty, but one contains half a dozen
thri-kreen who regard the party with their inscrutable multi faceted insect
eyes. If released they will immediately attack the party, seeking to kill them and
take their weapons. In another two cells crouch groups of men and women – all
pure strain humans of fair complexion and light coloured hair. They will regard
the party fearfully at first and then hesitantly attempt to communicate in what
seems to be a foreign dialect, but if the characters listen carefully, they
will identify a few similarities with words (the language is a descendent of
common, 8000 years into the future).
If communication is established, it will be found that the
entire group was part of an expedition from some remote islands, far out to sea
(think of the Hawaiian islands or perhaps the Azores in the middle of the
Atlantic). They will implore the party to help them escape and return to their
home islands.
The Devastator
The metropolis is divided north-south by a large river (which
the characters will know as the Avon in their own time), additionally a complex
series of lochs and canals have been constructed by the grimlocks in defence of
their home warrens.
Through
this system, the grimlocks operate heavily armoured monitors (iron clad
warships), typically these have two turrets (manually rotated by a crank
mechanism) afore and abaft of a central superstructure. They are steered and
driven by a combination of poles and a simple steam engine (although they also
include a light sailing rig).
If
the party responds to the plea’s of the pure strain humans, then one of these
monitors will be a natural ship to steal (other vessels mostly being simple
flat bottomed barges, or towed along the canals). At present, the closest
moored ship is the Devastator.