A Castle Atop a Dungeon

In The Lonely Heart of Lune, the local hegemon is Neamo Paleto, a powerful space trucker of renown, whose enormous freighter C4-Z4-L3 (pronounced cah-zah-ley) is akin to a baron’s mighty keep. By maintaining a geosynchronous orbit over the beleaguered city of Man-o-War (f.k.a. Absence), Neamo and his loyal truckers control all shipping in the system, and shipping is the lifeblood of colonial Lune’s survival. But Neamo’s reign is very recent, his enemies are many, and the lovelorn trucker is distracted…

What’s Here?

• A keyed map of Neamo’s 14-module freighter, C4-Z4-L3
• Ship stats for Monolith 1e
• Five NPCs, including Neamo Paleto and his cronies
• Random tables for Neamo’s activity, PC hooks, and weird vendors

Map

Neamo Paleto, Trucker Baron

10 HP, 2 Armor, 13 STR, 10 DEX, 15 WIL, smart uzi (d6+d4 blast)

• A heavyset man with a long, waxed, curling mustache. Rarely caught wearing the same jacket twice, but each one is spectacular. Booming voice, loves talking over quieter speakers.
• Has been planning his takeover of Lune for a long time, and reacted quickly to the Flare, securing his current position of dominance over Man-o-War and the dome towns.
  • The Lonely Heart of Lune has been manipulating Neamo for months, trying to make him fall in love with the Mustang Seahorse (R+1). It’s working, but Neamo’s obligations keep him too busy to do much but daydream and write love letters.

Where is Neamo?

When PCs arrive at C4-Z4-L3, roll 1d6 to see where Neamo Paleto is right now.

1. On another ship in Lune’s orbit, securing a deal.
2. In a meeting room in Crew Quarters (5), arguing with Jovia Plume.
3. In the Trucker Bar (4), entertaining 1d6 visiting truckers.
4. In the Chief’s Quarters (6), daydreaming.
5. In the Bridge (7), commanding the crew.
6. In the Smuggling Compartment (12), securing the contraband.

What are you doing here?

Start at the Visitor Dock (14) unless otherwise established.

1. You’re traveling mercenaries who just dropped in.
2. You’re long-haul space truckers stopping over at the bar.
3. You’re Solar Society agents undercover as bar-bound truckers.
4. You’re on a trade mission from Man-o-War (O.0).
5. You’re on a trade mission from Titan Cockle (J+6).
6. The Lonely Heart of Lune sent you to lure Neamo to Sea Squirt (R+1).

Map Key

1. Loading Dock

• 1d3 vac-suited crew & loaders to guide docking ships, or repel unauthorized dockers.
• Neamo only allows docking here during vetted, approved cargo trade deals.

2. Container Bays

• 1 crew guard, 2 idling loaders.
• Four bays for containers packed with trade goods. Three bays are occupied with locked containers. The fourth holds an empty, open container.
  • A container full of hand-made clothes from Absence. Insured for 10kC.
  • A lead-lined container full of fresh-mined uranium. Shipped as “fissile materials” by a mining concern further out-system from Earth. Insured for 50kC.
  • A container equipped for life support, holding 6d6 amphibious monkeys bound for Mars. Shipped as “terraforming supplies” by a genetic foundry on a station in the Ingvar system. Insured for 150kC.
• The door to the Maintenance Hub (8) is keycard-locked.
• Plastic flaps hang in the open passage to the Loader Garage (13).

3. Ad-Hoc Trading Hall

• 1d6 visiting truckers.
• Truckers set up shop in this cavernous hall, trying to offload excess trade goods and exotica purloined in far-flung systems.
  1. Cadroe, peddling seventeen ‘miracle stones’ he claims are musical instruments, contain valuable minerals, or were once the brains of ancient geniuses, depending on his mark.
  2. Beavins, offering mag-tape depictions of alien methods of procreation.
  3. Pellet, selling bottles of alcohol produced on a distant tide-world. Bioluminescent algae in the drink causes imbibers to glow softly while buzzed, and brightly while hammered.
  4. Mister Shit, hawking free first doses of stimulant powders produced in Man-o-War.
  5. The Limner, an eerie alien looking to hire agents willing to utilize his treasured artifact, the Pattern Hook. By piercing the ear of an intelligent being, the Pattern Hook can rip out a discrete set of knowledge such as a language or a recipe, leaving ragged blank spaces. Those affected find it nearly impossible to re-learn the lost information. The Limner pays up to 1000C for such extracted sets, depending on their size & rarity.
  6. Old Gill, a fish-man desperate to sell his freighter, the Helena Blavatsky. His shoddy briefcase full of “beautiful” print-outs spills open all the time. Helena is a small ship with plenty of tools for escaping, and few for fighting. He asks 20kC but will settle for half in cash, plus a ride down to Lune.

     Psy-sensitive, Old Gill was polluted by the Lonely Heart’s manipulation of Neamo; the fish-man has resolved to give up trucking and put down stakes at Sea Squirt (R+1) - debt be damned! Befriended, he can teach Whispers.

• A locked hatch hidden behind an enormous fern provides access to the ship’s Smuggling Compartments (14).

4. Trucker Bar

• 1d6+3 crew, 2d6 visiting truckers.
• A cozy pub with beer on tap, sports on TV, and peanut shells underfoot. A greasy spoon in the back serves up fried vat-meat and cyanoodles. The fridge in the back of the kitchen connects to the Life Support module (10). The door to Crew Quarters (5) is reinforced and keycard-locked.
• Neamo’s place is famed across systems but virtually unknown to non-truckers. A great place to settle a trucking dispute, celebrate a successful run, or reclaim a shred of humanity lost in the vacuum of space. Cold drinks, exotic snacks, entertainment, and hot showers are all available for reasonable rates.

Hamilton Mess

4HP, 1 Armor, 14 STR, 11 DEX, 10 WIL, stun-bat (d8, shock)

• Dour bartender in a dirty smock. Never smiles but all the truckers say he’s the kindest man they’ve ever known. Speaks seldom but when someone tells him their troubles, he’s quick to offer a helpful suggestion. Notices everything that goes on in the bar.
• Holds a crew-access keycard and a book of Jovian poetry.

5. Crew Quarters

• 1d6 crew, relaxing between shifts.
• 1000C in cash, mundane gear and goods, distributed in apartments, meeting rooms and storage lockers.
• The door to the Chief’s Quarters (6) is reinforced and locked to Neamo’s keycard only. An open arch leads to the ramp up to the Bridge (7).

6. Chief’s Quarters

• Luxuriously appointed penthouse suite, complete with shag rug and in-room jacuzzi.
• Animal pelts from half a dozen planets, dirty dishes and personal items litter the bed areas.
  • Red-Gold Spectacles
  • Odd Flask
• A closet full of excellent jackets, all XXXL.
• A liquor collection worth almost as much as the ship.
• An ornate writing desk with a corner of paper sticking out from the drawer.
  • Love letters scrawled by Neamo, addressed to The Mustang Seahorse (R+1).

7. Bridge

• 4 crew, piloting the ship. Responsible for monitoring the ship’s systems, keeping an eye on nearby traffic, communicating with dock-bound visitors, and engaging the weapons in combat.
• A surprisingly small, boxy room full of computer interfaces. A raised pilot’s chair behind the others is the only one with a big, vintage wheel (leatherbound, 24” in diameter) and a set of 7 baffling levers. This is C4-Z4-L3’s unique piloting system - only Neamo and Grunton know the precise lever configuration necessary to get the most out of the ship. Neamo also loves honking the horn.
  • Miniature holographic system map, zoom-out-able enough to view all territory covered by the space truckers, Ingvar system and at least 3 others.
  • A box of Neamo’s old music tapes. Grunton’s personal mix is in there too.
• A hatch leading to maintenance access for the shields, weapons & comms systems, eventually trailing back to the Maintenance Hub (8).

Grunton Shrugly

6HP, 1 Armor, 13 STR, 8 DEX, 11 WIL, dual blasters (2d6kh)

• First mate on C4-Z4-L3, commands the ship in absence of Neamo. His face gets lost in his scraggly beard, so it’s hard to discern his emotions, but he pays closer attention than he appears to, and reports loyally to Neamo.

8. Maintenance Hub

• 1d3 crew, hard at work with hand tools.
• A cramped module integrated into the frame of the ship, at the heart of its primary functions. Racks of tools and supplies for the crew to carry into the pipes and crawlspaces on the interior of the ship.
• An airlock used by vac-suited wrenchers and welders. Keycard access only.
• Loader paths loop through from the Container Bays (2) to the Engines (9).
• A long ladder leads up to a catwalk connecting to the Bridge (7).
• Follow the pipes to reach the Life Support module (10).

9. Engines

• 1d3 crew, watching the readings.
• Panels covered in system status lights. A port where loaders haul tanks for refueling. A narrow window drinking in the engines’ glare.
  • Hand-held radiation meters.

10. Life Support

• 1d3+1 crew, fixing leaks.
• Water tanks, sewer pipes, air scrubbers, and gravity balancing all run through here. Vela Cortis presides over a dim, stained doctor’s clinic where she mostly patches up folks after bar brawls.
• Wet cartpaths down featureless corridors connect to the Crew Quarters (5) laundry/garbage facilities, and disposal hatches in the Chief’s Quarters (6) and the Bridge (7).
• A frigid tunnel full of hooked meat connects to the kitchen in the Trucker Bar (4).

Vela Cortis

7 HP, 1 Armor, 12 STR, 9 DEX, 14 WIL, poisoned scalpel (d6, special)

• Doctor aboard C4-Z4-L4. Crusty appearance, dark sense of humor, but a steady hand.
• Willing to install cyberware for a 500C fee.
• On critical damage, Vela’s scalpel infects human targets with a debilitating disease such as gangrene, turbo-MRSA, or phase tetanus.

11. Loader Garage

• 1d3 crew, working on loaders.
• With the flip of a few switches and a loader moving a heavy crate out of the way, a wall opens open the Smuggling Compartments (12). This is only done in secret and under Neamo’s supervision.

12. Smuggling Compartments

• 1 sentry bot. Crew never comes here without Neamo; few others know it exists.
• Four bays for shipping containers. Two are currently occupied.
  • 500kC of drugs processed in Man-o-War, bound for buyers in the imperial core.
  • 3d6 robots produced at Honeyed Hands (F+6), now insane. They can bash their way out of the container in 1d6 days if agitated.

Smuggler’s Sentry

12 HP, 12 STR, 11 DEX, 14 WIL, smart lasers (d8+d8)

• A spider-shaped robot with glowing red eyes running around all sides. Defends the Smuggling Compartment from unauthorized entrants with quick, relentless violence, but will not pursue to other parts of the ship. Programmed to lie and obfuscate in the presence of interstellar lawmen.
• Non-electrical attacks against them are impaired.

13. Brig

• 1d3+1 crew, guarding. 1d3+3 visiting truckers in short-stay sacks.
• Decontamination and visitor processing are the first stop in from the Visitor Dock (14). Neamo’s crew takes names, organizations, points of origin and intentions aboard. Unsatisfied, they are likely to turn visitors away or lock them in the brig.
• The brig is a circular rack hung with short-stay sacks. Filled with numbing, oxygenated gel, unruly visitors can be forced into a sack and sealed up for a few days.

14. Visitor Dock

• 1d3 vac-suited crew, waiting to guide visiting ships into dock, or repel visitors who try to jump the line.

C4-Z4-L3 Monolith Stats

Large Ship

Shields: 8 HUL: 12 ENG: 10 SYS: 12 Armoring: 1 Movement: 3 Mobility: 1 Holds: 16

1. Cargo Bay
2. Smuggling Compartments
3. Ultra-Hot Chaingun (D10, bulky)
4. Damage rolls above 5 ignore armoring
5. Reinforced Plating
6. Omni-Gel Coating
7. Premium Shield Gen
8. Power Reserve (+4 Energy Reserves)
9. Jammers
10. Crew Quarters
11. Chief’s Quarters
12. Trucker Bar
13. Ad-Hoc Trading Hall
14. Vault
15. Brig
16. empty