Description: This vessel is a standard 700 ton Dwarven
Citadel, formed from an asteroid and long since mined out completely.
The entire vessel appears to be a time worn work of beauty, and should
adventurers pass it they often marvel at the craftmanship of dwarven smiths.
The Citadel appears as a handsome dwarf carved from a mountain, to his
left and right are a mighty hammer and anvil (respectively). The
anvil is large
enough to allow most vessels to land. It also possesses facilities
for fully repairing any stone or metal ships, as well as dry dock areas
for other more crude manner of vessel. The hammer acts as a lookout
tower, the head rising several stories above the rest of the vessel.
Sadly, as the mines have played out, the ship is left adrift, its mighty
forges cold and barren, the original occupants having all left for new
conquests.
This Vessel is NOT however, devoid of life...
In a series of exceedingly random and terribly unlikely events, it has
been colonized thoroughly by a clan of Krynnish Gully Dwarves. There
are from 10 to 16 hundred of the daft creatures on board. It is impossible
to accurately count, asking the Gully Dwarves themselves results in an
answer of 2. Furthermore, none stay still long enough for anyone
insane enough to try, to count them. Suffice it to say, there are
several hundred years worth of them infesting the place.
Just before the cataclysm, Krynnish Tinker Gnomes were just spreading into
space and amazingly enough, one of their sidewheelers required a cooking
staff (the prior chefs having made the mistake of attempting to prepare
an Eye Tyrant a la mode) As they were stopping off at Krynn for repairs
from the subsequent meal preparation, they happened upon a small (4) clan
of
Gully Dwarves, two of which claimed to possess food making skills.
Later it was learned that the Gully Dwarves had never heard of fire, or
in fact cooking or indigestion. The gnomes tolerated the wretched
things until they caught the Gully Dwarves trying to gnaw through their
Giant Space Hamster cages, at which point they promptly locked them away
and deposited them at the first safe place they could, which just so happens,
was a giant Dwarven Citadel, long since abandoned.
4 Gully Dwarves soon beget many many more and after
not so very long the Citadel was brimming with them. Plants installed
by the Dwarves had pretty much taken over, keeping the atmosphere refreshed
and clean. Fungi growing in the deepest mines provided nourishment
for the omnivorous Gully Dwarves. With no predators to cut down their
population, they spread like wild fire, rapidly filling every crevasse
with bits of trash and broken trinkets the Mountain Dwarves had left behind.
On the bright side, the original Gully Dwarves were on the high end of
normal Gully Dwarf propensity towards intelligence and their descendants
have a minimum intelligence of 6. There is a clan structure, though
it is so simple that non Gully Dwarves can not comprehend it. There
is a grand king who is merely the poor sap who accidentally sat on the
grand throne in the grand throne room (a small dais in the old forge area).
He gives orders but they are rarely heeded as the main goal of any grand
king is to convince someone else to sit on the chair and give orders, thus
he is never to be trusted (at least by any Gully Dwarves) The current
Grand King is High Gazut the First, a wise and just ruler, who has as yet
lasted 10 years on the thrown without successfully convincing someone else
to sit there. He is widely thought of as the best Grand King
ever, and any order he gives is 25% likely to be obeyed.
He's attended by the Shaman Takulat who has no priestly powers but does
possess a rather rare and mysterious dried up lizard.
Personalities:
High Gazut the First (Gully Dwarf Fighter 6, 34 hp)
Current Grand King, is considered wise and just by those
who think of such things (which is to say not many) He possesses
and wields a mighty rusted short sword, symbol of the Grand Kings.
He is rather fierce in battle, utliziing the sword as an eyegouger or toe
smasher, though he'd rather cower and offer his seat to would be attackers.
Kalugat the Mighty (Gully Dwarf Fighter 4, 28 hp)
The previous Grand King (Coincidentally, at the time was
also known as High Gazut the First). He has in his possession the only
magical item of value on board, an old artifact ring, gives its wearer
the following powers, protection from evil, invisibility, flight (as flight
spell), immunity to acids and cold, and the ability to cast charm person
3 times a day. It also heals wounds at a rate of 2 hp/round.
He knows not of its powers, but it is still awfully pretty. The ring is
intelligent and rues the day a Gully Dwarf found it.
Takulat (Gully Dwarf Shaman, 18 hp)
A mighty shaman indeed and one that commands much respect
amongst her colleagues. Her spells and charms have no effect on outsiders,
but she raises the morale of all Gully Dwarves around her. An attack
on Takulat is one of the few acts of aggression the Gully Dwarves will
regard as worthy of risking their lives to avenge. She too once held
the thrown but Takulat reigned for only a day. Any commands given
by Takulat have a 75% chance of being obeyed, thus when she and Gazut agree,
the Gully Dwarves will obey. This rarely happens of course,
her pet mouse (who is quite dead) doesn't like the Grand King very much..
Any adventurers who can not tolerate filth, poverty, and
utter stupidity are advised to avoid this Dwarven Citadel. In addition,
it is most unwise to attempt to take Gully Dwarves off this vessel as they
are utterly deplorable (if Tinker Gnomes couldn't tolerate them, then noone
else stands a chance). Nevertheless, the anvil landing pad
still maintains full facilities for repairs of pretty much any ship in
space. There are several caches of gold and silver
on board, worth a total of 10,000 gp. Recovering them is something
else entirely as they are most likely deep within trash mounds and such.