hq The Scarab's Lair

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In their long-running series Tomb of The Scarab, Castle Comics popularized the idea of "The Scarab's Tomb," a secret base "deep beneath the Earth, from which the crimson-&-gold-clad hero pursued his tireless crusade against Evil." Several citizens of Freedom City have been inside over the years, aided and protected by the psychic hero. But through a combination of his mental powers and more mundane methods like blindfolds and sedatives, the actual location remained hidden. Only a few allies (mostly his comrades in the first Freedom League) knew The Scarab's true identity, or the whereabouts of his Lair.

 

The Lair is a triangular structure vaguely reminiscent of an Egyptian-style pyramid, located under a heavy layer of rock directly beneath the foundations of Pyramid Plaza on Wading Way, in the heart of Downtown Freedom City. Its mechanical and electrical systems and utilities are capable of either operating independently, or "piggy-backing" off of Pyramid Plaza, so their presence and operation are concealed from scrutiny.

 

 

 

 

The Scarab's Lair (PL15 HQ) [35EP]

 

The Scarab's Lair is an underground pyramid buried beneath the foundations of Pyramid Plaza. Though decorated with an Ancient Egyptian motif, the aged facades are purely cosmetic. Concealed behind them are the highly advanced technology which maintains the complex, courtesy of Daedalus and Doktor Archeville. The Lair is detailed in Freedom City Atlas #2, and it is updated in this thread.

 

Size: Huge [3EP]

 

Toughness: +15 [2EP]

 

Features: [30EP]

Communications

Computers^Masterwork

Concealed 2 (+15 DC)

Defense System (Blast 15) (Scarab-Bots*)

Fire Prevention System

Gym

Holding Cells (Nullify 15)

Infirmary^Masterwork

Laboratory^Masterwork

Library^Masterwork

Living Space

Personnel (Scarab-Bots*)

Pool

Power 2 (60PP)

Power System

Security System 5 (DC40)

Self-Repairing (Scarab-Bots*)

Treasure**

Workshop^Masterwork

 

*The Scarab-Bots are tiny robotic scarab beetles, made from a gleaming gold/titanium alloy. Swarms of them scuttle throughout the Lair, guided by a rudimentary artificial intelligence. Each Scarab-Bot is equipped with a powerful miniaturized energy blaster, used as much for utility as for combat. Their primary function is to maintain, repair, and defend the Lair, though they are capable of other basic tasks.

 

**This Feature is for the chamber in The Scarab's Lair described in Freedom City Atlas #2 as follows:

 

The vaulted Great Hall is home to many of Alexander Rhodes’ prized ancient artifacts and trophies, including an entire Egyptian chariot, carved pillars and statues from Giza and other parts of Egypt, glass cases of jewelry, frame papyrus scrollwork, and archeological curiosities from other time periods, associated with his other lifetimes.

 

Powers: [52/60PP]

 

Teleport 10 (200,000 miles ["Earth To The Moon"], Extras: Accurate, Duration 2 [Continuous], Portal 2, Flaws: Limited [Others], Limited [To/From HQ], Feats: Change Direction, Progression [Portal Size] 1 [10ft x 10ft]) [52PP]

 

The Scarab's teleportals appear to be giant glowing golden ankh-shaped holes in space. The portals are lined with crackling lightning. Air in the immediate vicinity rushes into the portal, creating a light wind.

 

In order to open a teleportal, the subject must either be in the teleporter junction room of The Scarab's Lair, or else they must have a Scarab's Lair Teleport Beacon, a small device about the size of a quarter which sends a radio signal to the computer controlling the teleporter. Any power which interferes with Radio Communication or Radio senses can block the signal, in which case the character should receive a Hero Point for the Complication.

 

Possession of a beacon requires that the character pay 1PP for a Benefit or Feature, and that the character be on >the list of characters to whom The Scarab has granted access.

Edited January 15, 2016 by ShaenTheBrain

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The following people have unrestricted access to The Scarab's Lair, and most* of its resources. They can come and go as they please.

• Doktor Viktor Archeville
• Maria Hernandez
• Sofia Cruz

*Only The Scarab, Sofia Cruz, and Maria Hernandez have access to, or knowledge of, the secret secondary control rooms described in FC Atlas #2. Of course, other people who have (or gain) access to the HQ could conceivably learn of them on their own.

As of September 2009, when the new teleporter was installed, each one has been given a teleport beacon, a 1PP Feature which can be used to open a portal to The Lair as long as they are within range (200,000 miles, or within Lunar orbit). If they haven't paid for the beacon on their sheet, they can acquire use of it for a scene by spending a Hero Point or using GM Fiat. The beacon works by sending and receiving a radio signal, so any powers which interfere with Radio Communication or Radio senses will render it useless (and net the character a Hero Point for the setback).

The following are the surviving people who knew that Alexander Rhodes was The Scarab, and who know the location of The Lair. Most of them were his comrades in the first incarnation of the Freedom League. The new Scarab has changed the security parameters - none of these people are currently "authorized personnel."

• Archer / Arrow III (Ethan Keller): Security consultant for Stronghold Security.
• The Black Avenger (Wilson Jeffers): Director of the Lincoln Youth Center. Mentor to Sonic of the Next-Gen.
• The Beacon (Langston Albright): Founder of the Albright Institute. Possible shareholder in the Rhodes Foundation.
• The Bowman III / Arrow II (Fletcher Beaumont II): Heir to, and editor-in-chief of, the Freedom Ledger. Possible shareholder in the Rhodes Foundation.
• Daedalus ("Daniel Daedalus II"): He helped design and build The Lair. He's probably the only person who knows it even better than The Scarab. Active member of the Freedom League, in both its incarnations. Possible shareholder in the Rhodes Foundation.
• Lady Liberty II (Donna Mason): Whereabouts unknown. Missing since the mid-1970s.
• Pseudo (Rick Fox): Freelance journalist (and secret Grue expatriate). Active member of the Freedom League, in both its incarnations.
• The Raven (Duncan Summers): Headmaster of the Claremont Academy. Possible shareholder in the Rhodes Foundation.
• Sea-King (Theseus) : King of Atlantis.
• Siren II (Cassandra Vale): Host to the voodoo loa Siren (which retards her aging process). Active and founding member of the Freedom League, in both its incarnations.
• Star-Knight (A'lan Koor): Member of the Inner Circle of the Order of Star Knights.

Edited July 2, 2014 by ShaenTheBrain

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MAP KEY

1. Mechanical Chamber

This area contains the support machinery necessary to run and maintain the Lair, including air circulation and conditioning, power, heat, light, water, and so forth. Most of the systems are isolated and capable of operating independently. Those that are not are "piggybacked" on the systems for Pyramid Plaza above to conceal their presence and operation.

2. Practice Hall

The Scarab used this chamber to perfect his powers. Its columns are actually merely stacked cylinders of stone, which he psychically moved like giant building blocks. A few of The Scarab's guests, like Beacon, have also used this chamber.

3. Transport Hall

This hall has alcoves with concealed teleportal platforms (#4), the most common means of accessing the Lair from the outside world, since they provide no clue as to its true location.

4. Teleportal Platforms

5. Hidden Transport Stations

Special hidden transport stations in this chamber are used as backups for the main stations in the Transport Hall. The codes to operate them are in The Scarab's sealed records.

6. Hidden Control Room

The secondary control room hidden alongside the secondary transport stations is used in times when the security of the Lair is threatened.

7. Holding Cells

The two holding cells, one of which was used to imprison Nacht-Kreiger for years, are buried in tons of solid rock (Toughness 15). The only means of entering or leaving is via keyed teleportal, making them quite secure. The teleportal grid also creates a phase-differential, a Continuous Nullify Incorporeal Field (rank 12).

8. Transport Control Room

This room contains the systems and machinery to control the teleportals in Area #4, including monitors for current destinations and coordinates.

9. Central Core

The central core accesses all levels of the Lair. It's an open shaft, as Scarab was capable of flying and carrying visitors if they needed to go to other levels, although it also has a detached stone floor Scarab could raise and lower in the shaft like an elevator using his psychic powers.

10. Sarcophagus

The "Sarcophagus" is the heavy three-sided stone pillar filling the middle of the central core. It actually contains the Lair's central processing cores, although the exterior is painted in Egyptian style scenes of The Scarab's prior incarnations.

11. Unexcavated Area

The blocked corridor extended off Area #11 is a decision left up to the Gamemaster. It may be a portion of the Lair started and never finished before The Scarab's demise, an area left for potential expansion when the Lair was first built, or it could have led to other parts of the Lair that suffered structural damage during the assault by the Scions of Sobek or Nacht-Kreiger's escape and collapsed. It could even be a false "collapsed" area designed to fool intruders, much like other false and secret parts of the Lair. If it there is truly more of the Lair beyond the blocked-off corridor, it's left for the GM to design and to decide what it was used for and what is in it.

12. Great Hall

The vaulted Great Hall is home to many of Alexander Rhodes' prized ancient artifacts and trophies, including an entire Egyptian chariot, carved pillars and statues from Giza and other parts of Egypt, glass cases of jewelry, frame papyrus scrollwork, and archeological curiosities from other time periods, associated with his other lifetimes.

13. Comm and Center

This is the brain of the Lair, containing the systems Scarab used to monitor Freedom City and the world for signs of trouble, and to keep track of things going on in Pyramid Plaza above and in the Rhodes Foundation's financial empire.

14. Emergency Command Center

This smaller, concealed chamber serves as a backup Command Center, isolated from the main chamber, should the Lair's security be breached.

15. Hidden Burial Chamber

This secret chamber is where Alexander Rhodes' body is actually interred, inside what appears to be an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus. It is actually lined with advanced technology, keeping the body in an almost perfect state of preservation.

16. Living Quarters

The Lair has spacious and comfortable living quarters, although no one lived here full-time. The only people to use the quarters were the Scarab and his rare and occasional guests (some of whom were blindfolded or rendered unconscious entering and leaving the Lair to safeguard its location).

17. Burial Chamber

This appears to be a burial chamber in the ancient Egyptian style, complete with sarcophagus, which appears to conceal the mummified body of Alexander Rhodes. In truth, this chamber is a decoy, and the trappings and remains are fake, to fool and delay anyone who might enter the Lair unbidden. The chamber is also a test of sorts: The Scarab's new incarnation will know instinctively that this is not Rhodes' burial place, thus further proving his identity.

18. Mechanical Chamber

Another area containing support machinery and equipment for the Lair, similar to Area #1.

19. Control Room

This room controls the Lair's primary mechanical systems (housed in Areas #1 and #18) and monitors their functions.

20. Medical Facility

Although it looks like an Egyptian temple, this chamber is a sophisticated infirmary capable of treated nearly two-dozen patients. The Scarab was known to assist the sick and injured with the aid of volunteers; neither patient nor volunteer knew the true location of the facility, but it is credited with saving a number of lives during The Scarab's career.

21. Storage

This chamber is used for storage, filled with wooden packing crates. Their contents are left to the Gamemaster's imagination.

22. Antechamber

The walls of this chamber are covered with Egyptian style hieroglyphs showing the conflict between Prince Heru-Ra and the sorcerer Tan-Aktor that led them both to reincarnate over and over to continue their struggle. The door beyond leads into the Audience Chamber (Area #23).

23. Audience Chamber

Lined with lotus-style pillars, this room served as the place where the Scarab most often greeted visitors and went to meditate, sitting on the throne-like chair at the chamber's far end.

24. Observation Room

This room overlooks both the central core and the lower levels of the Lair. It was once decorated with indoor palms and tropical plants, but they have been removed since the Lair was abandoned.

25. Secret Passage

This secret passage makes its way to a hidden underground entrance to the Lair. It was rarely used to enter and exit, and known only to the Scarab and his close associates.