TOMB OF THE STAR PRINCE

Hook: You stand before an odd sight... Stairs... carved from the limestone, itself, lead up from the forest floor to a strange entry. A larger-than-life marble statue depicting a man in skin-tight clothing, equipped with the most unusual gear, including what looks like a crossbow without the bow attachment sitting in a quiver at his hip, looks out, pensively, over the forested hollow you just passed through. He stands on a plinth to your left, at the top of the stairway. He resembles, in style, the statues you saw, earlier, flanking another set of stairs, but, those were much larger, also marble, and depicted a strange kind of lizard monster with wings folded at thier sides, sitting cat-like on their haunches staring impassively out at the lower valley. You mount the steps and find yourself under a shelf of rock sheltering an entry that is not stone, nor wood, but, some kind of metal. Its surface is silvery and unmarred and warm to the touch. The ground at your feet is bare stone... No markings on the metallic surface give any clue as to what this place is. A door ahead of you gives more indication, but, you can't make out what the symbols on it mean. They seem to be letter forms, of some kind, like runes, applied in red to a flat, rectangular metallic surface. A seam runs up the centre, which may indicate it opens there... You are about to touch the door, when a sound, a screech reminiscent of a hawk, but, tinny and higher, and undulating in a way you have never heard any other animal make, cuts through the air behind you. You are not yet above the tree line, even at the top of the stairs, so you cannot make out what it is, but, you know it's large by the brief glimpse you caught through the leaves...

Details: Many centuries ago, a now-long-lost Keltic tribe was led by a most unusual individual. His bloodline remains in the genetics of the people, but, it is thin and his way lost with his tribe. They were absorbed into another group of people. The man, dubbed The Star Prince, fell from the sky in a metallic, flying chariot. The people met him, and he joined them in a struggle against goblins - an army of large trölls - and evil humans, marching down on them from the nearby foothills. The man bore a laser gun that shot fire. With it, and other useful items from his ship, he easily defeated the army. The tribe attempted to make him their leader, afterward. He refused, but accepted the title of prince, not king. He desired simply to serve a local sovereign as his champion. The man was unable to repair his ship, but, instead, built for himself a shelter incorporating as much of his technology as possible. It still functioned, by solar power, which still works, to this day. When he died, his body and weapons were placed inside. He could only charge his laser there, as well as anything else that needed electricity to function. Some of the complex has collapsed as earth has shifted. The interior is made of the same metal as the entry. The tunnels are shaped like round, hollow tubes with strange, gentle lights and sounds emanating from the walls. The same symbols found on the door can be found upon the tunnel walls. The control centre for the man's downed ship is in the southern chamber, including a console and large screen that can be used to relate the events leading to his crashing on the planet. All technology requires a key-card. It may be in the treasury of some ruin, found there, with a prophecy saying something to the effect of: When the time is come, The key will grant access to the gifts of the gods to bring victory to the oppressed...' Something. Or, maybe they just have to break in? Which would trigger the robots to attack. Another key card can be found within. If the key card can be used, or some other way to turn on the machines is discovered, characters will find in the databases a history of the prince's people, as well as his name, Argon Darnoc, but, beyond that, the language is too alien to understand. Unless destroyed, the solar panel will fuel the space, indefinitely, aided by small robots that scurry about the complex from small compartments to tend to the tomb's maintenance. Any damage or tampering will lead to the machine sending a guardian, a metal humanoid taller than most people (7'). There is another tomb, a kind of capsule, that bears the body of a female who accompanied Argan, but, did not survive the crash. The animal lairing in the caverns up on the cliffs is a creature Argon brought with him that has lived in the mountain valleys, since, but, hasn't spread much beyond them. They enjoy the eco-system, eat prey as large as large deer, but, don't mate often, and produce low yield when they do. They're a type of salamander lizard with a set of strong wings and scaly hide and short, whip-like tails. They're green and gray with yellow bellies, and have long, black, hook-like talons for climbing the cliffs. It has been many years since they were tamed and used for riding. They have become wild and natural predators in the area. This one is hungry and female, tending to a nest of young she needs to feed. The database records them as odomōk.