Gamaro and Moragspace Pt 2

GAMARO - OVERVIEW
        Just over fifty years ago the scro arrived in Moragspace. The readily
available resources and the long dead gammaroid presented themselves as
boons of fortune. The discovery of the dormant witchlight marauder was
deemed a boon of Dukagsh. Colonization began quickly.
        Gamaro base is a purely military center.  It has been used as a command
center and diplomatic meetings with various powers have been held there
as well.
        Gamaro retains the majority of its skeletal structure, it lacks only the
tail. The base has many defenses and features, but the most significant
is that the entire base has been animated and is a great undead beast.
        This fact is common knowledge to the Warpriests, Black scromages and the
hierarchy of the scro. Others may guess, as the base is unusually chill
for one so crowded. The proliferation of another scro innovation however
keeps the temperatures comfortable to those aboard.
        As an undead animation the base retains many of its former abilities.
Gamaro retains its motive ability, allowing a tactical SR of 6 but no
spelljamming speed. This specimen of gammaroid was very old and large
having a thick shell and great amounts of gathered stone and dust
clinging to it. Thus attacks on the shell are futile unless they can
inflict 100 HP or more in one attack, thus making it impervious to any
standard large weapons.  Powerful magic, disintegration, collision with
large comets or meteors are the only likely means of inflicting such
damage. The gammaroids shell is up to fifty feet thick and reinforced by
stones and dirt accumulated over the centuries.
        Other parts of the gammaroid are not so well defended. The head and legs
have an AR of -2 having been covered over with steel plates to reinforce
and strengthen the already formidable bones of the beast. The natural
claw/claw/bite routine is still available as well but the dmg is 3/4 that
of a living beast. The 500 ft head is considered to have 3000 HP to make
it unable to attack, and 5000 HP to destroy it. Each limb is considered
to have 2000 HP to neutralize and 3000 HP to obliterate.
        As a vessel Gamaro is on a par with the Spelljammer herself. For
movement and combat purposes Gamaro has the following stats:

Tonnage 1.1 Million
HP              3000 (Head), 2000 (Per Limb)
AR              -2 (Head and Limbs)
SR              6 (Tactical Only)
MC              F
Saves As        Best of Stone and Steel
Keel Length     2500’
Beam Length     2000’
Height          600’

        Because of its sheer size (nearly a 2x2 hex) Gamaro’s armaments have to
be handled differently, but a summary list follows.

6    Great Bombards
48  Heavy Dual Ballista
48  Medium Dual Ballista
16  Heavy Catapult
32  Large Catapult
32  Heavy Jettison
4    Fireseed Guns
14  Crank Guns

Animated Attacks
Bite- Gamaro’s lunging jaws can bite at a ship up to one hex away up to
500 tons (as a single ship or any combination up to that limit within the
target hex), inflicting 40d4 HP damage. A hull holed critical hit is
automatically inflicted and two other random criticals as well. Ships
less than 200 tons the helmsman must make a save (if alive) vs.
paralyzation at -3 or the ship is trapped and crushed again the following
round for 20d4 HP and another random critical. Another save at normal
odds is allowed every round thereafter. Ships over 200 tons are normally
expelled and attacked again until broken down into manageable chunks. The
creature attacks with a THAC0 of 5, and can sense ships in a six hex
forward range of its head. It can be controlled by the high warpriest of
the vessel who can “see” through its senses and choose to attack specific
targets. The vessel can also be left to attack at its own preference
(first come, first serve) or kept in abeyance to lure unsuspecting
vessels closer. Gamaro cannot sense or attack any objects under 10 SJ
tons.

Claws- The 300 ft long foreclaws have a reach that can target any vessel
over 10 SJ tons within one hex of the limb THAC0 is 5, and damage is 8d8
HP per limb a hull holed critical and one other random critical hit. All
vessels in the hex can be targeted but only the primary ship is struck at
THAC0 5. Each additional ship gains a +2 AR bonus for each ship before it
that was struck. So the first is THAC0 5, the next is 7, then 9, 11,13
and so on until 21 is reached at which point no other ship in the hex can
be affected by that claw attack in that round. Thus a maximum of 8 ships
can be struck at once by a claw attack.

        Because of the beasts size and undead status it can only strike 1/2
rounds with its physical attacks.

        Destroying Gamaro’s head or claws will not destroy Gamaro base, but it
does make an approach somewhat safer. In most cases Gamaro is kept
dormant and not actively looking to attack. It should be noted that
unless under a warpriest’s control the beast will attack any ship or
beast within ranges of its bite or claws, scro vessels are not immune in
that case. Further because of the beasts size as noted before objects
smaller than 10 SJ tons do not gather the beasts attention. That is not
to say that it might accidentally swat one in striking at others, or that
a warpriest could not expand his own senses to detect such ships and
direct the beast to strike. Further a swarm of ships in the same hex
greater than 10 SJ tons in total will draw its attention.
        Gamaro’s natural defenses are formidable but limited to forward
attackers. That’s where the scro defenses come into play.


TOPSIDE
Gamaro’s Breath
        As frightening as Gamaro’s bite is its bark, 6 forward mount Great
Bombards
affixed to the shell 3 above and 3 below the head. They gain a +2 bonus
to THAC0 against any targets in a straight forward hex line. The crews
are all scro and are all trained as weapons loaders for the Great bombard
and three are trained weaponmasters for the Great bombard as well. The
weapons when used are normally fired in series allowing a constant
barrage if need be. When all are fired at once there is a tremendous
racket and all aboard call it “Gamaro’s Breath”.
        The bombards are covered by reinforced steel domed shields giving the
crews 90% cover (+10 bonus to AC) They are open only at the mouths of the
Great bombard. The only certain method of delivering an attack inside the
shield is to make a strafe run that dove low enough to strike through the
open front of the dome. A ship performing this attack with a MC less than
B can be shot by the weapons if a load is ready when they make the run.
THAC0 is +2 as above for the attack. The other methods include magic or
pulverizing the shields with weapons fire. The domes are AR 2 and have
100 SP (Structural Points = Hull Points).
        Because of the conditions the crews here face each scro has been issued
an enchantment upon their toregkh that grants fire resistance like the
magic ring. This helps them combat the searing heat that builds up under
the domes.

Weapon Platforms
        Mounted above each leg on large main platforms built right into the
shell are the main anti-ship defenses. The main platforms are large and
sturdily built steel constructions that house three smaller turreted
platforms. Each carries two ballista platforms and one catapult platform
near the edge of the shell where a greater field of fire can be had. A
ballista platform mounts 4 Heavy Dual ballista and 4 Medium Dual ballista
and a catapult platform mounts 2 Heavy catapults, 4 Large catapults and 4
Heavy jettisons; all are in shielded turrets (+4 AC to crew). All are
normal weapons and crewed by bugbears, hobgoblins or scro. All crews have
at least two weapons loaders and weapon masters among them.

Crank Guns
        A new and unusual weapon of the scro is the crank gun. Few have seen
them in use, and they were adopted after Sark was exiled so he was
unaware of their development and use by the scro. The crank gun has ten
barrels that rotate around a central pin and ratchet a hammer forward and
back as cartridges are fired, ejected and new ones loaded from a large
brass magazine. The gun is operated by simply turning a crank set to the
weapons rear. The magazines hold 100 rounds at a time, and a single
attack cycles twice firing twenty rounds. This can be continued for up to
5 rounds, then a 3 round reload is required to remove the spent magazine
and load another. Crank guns ignore standard armor as other firearms. A
crank gun is considered a personal weapon and requires a proficiency to
operate and utilizes the gunners THAC0. Specialization in the crank
allows the gunner to get 8 attacks from a single magazine and decreases
reload time to 2 rounds.

Scro Crank Gun
        HP Dmg 0-2 (1d3-1)  Hp Dmg 4d6  ROF 1/1  Crew 2  Range 1 2 4  Crit N/A
        Cost 25,000 gp + gunpowder and cartridges

        4 crank gun platforms are mounted topside near the center of the shell,
set in a diamond pattern so any target above Gamaro is in short range of
at least one. Targets beyond that range are usually ignored and left to
the heavier weapons. Two cranks are mounted to each turret and shielded
(+4 to AC for crew) for a total of 8 cranks topside.

Flight Pits
        The first line of defense for Gamaro is the Arrow patrols that are
constantly in flight about the base. The Arrows act as interceptors and
have been specially built and equipped.

Kobold Arrows
        Tonnage 2 Tons HP 2 AR 3 SR 4 MC A  Saves As Metal (+1)
        Armament Greek Fire Projector (5 rds Ammunition), Piercing Ram, Ship
Shears

        There are several pits scattered around Gamaro that act as docks and
launch and landing points for the Arrows. A total of 193 Arrows are
present on Gamaro on base. Their are two types, those that  are stored in
large pits that house 15 Arrows are manned by Hobgoblins that are well
trained and considered “aces”. They attack as F- 3 lvl and are considered
weaponmasters with their fire projectors (+1 to hit). There are a total
of 5 large pits, 2 topside along the spine of the shell one just behind
the Great bombards and the other just overlooking the missing tail. The
other 3 are bottom side. A total of 75 hobgoblin manned Arrows are
present on Gamaro. A small pit houses 6 Arrows manned by goblins also
trained as weaponsmasters but attacking as F- 2 lvl. There are 18 small
pits, 12 on top; four along the spine between the large pits and the
other eight run along the edges of the shell set back 200 feet from the
ship docks. The other 6 are on Bottomside. The hobgoblins man 2 to an
Arrow as air is not a worry, and the goblins usually man 3 or 4.
        Standard tactics for Arrows are swarm attacks that seek to shred and
damage sails and fins for maneuverability and burn rigging and crews with
the fire projectors. A close sweep that shears a vessels rigging and
fires a Greek fire shot is common.
        The Arrows on Gamaro all gain power from an ingenious shard lifejammer
that uses the primary marauder as its source. Any intelligent creature
can sit in the helm and pilot the ship at an SR of 4 and lose only 1 hp
for a days spelljamming. It can field up to 100 Arrows for an day with no
difficulties. More vessels causes problems. For every 10 vessels beyond
100 a 10% chance of awakening the marauder. Thus scrambling every Arrow
on the base  (193) creates a 90% chance of awakening an enraged  albeit
weakened primary marauder. Additional Warpriests can join the chant
circle that keeps the marauder docile, each priest offering a 2% decrease
to the likelihood of its wakening, thus an additional 45 Warpriests could
keep the creature  docile with the whole Arrow armada active. This would
drain the scro resources from other areas though. The chance of an
awakening is made once per turn.
        There are normally 39 Arrows on patrol (15 hobgoblin and 24 goblin). All
of the Arrows have a maximum operating range of six hexes from Gamaro in
any direction. Those that continue beyond that range have the lifejammer
revert to normal function and drain them of an additional 1d8 hp to pilot
the vessel and operates at an SR relative to their own HD. During times
of heightened security  patrols are tripled (and 12 Warpriests sent to
the chant). This has included events such as parley with the drow, Ogres
of Steelspace or the threat of an imminent attack (incoming or outgoing).
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