A CLOSE SHAVE - Grapes Of Wrath Dungeon

William Blake

"A mad king crawling like a hunted beast into a den among the rocks; his tangled golden beard sweeping the ground, his nails like vultures' talons, and his wild eyes full of sullen terror. The powerful frame is losing semblance of humanity and is bestial in its rough growth of hair, reptile in the toad-like markings and spottings of the skin, which takes on unnatural hues of green, blue, and russet."
Alexander Gilchrist (1863)

THE SHRINE OF THE LIONEATER

In the sunny lands of Urth's equator, the potentate of Shamash the Lioneater descends into anarchy. After a failed campaign against rebel forces, the Nephil's armies of Urmahlullus have been scattered and the god-king himself is rumoured to have been horribly maimed. 

The golden-haired cripple was last spotted on a pilgrimage to his cult's mountaintop temple. There's been no word from him or his cultists since. If there was ever a time to rob a demigod, it's now. 

Get in and get out before someone beats you to it.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Shamash was indeed crippled in his battles against Zoanthrope heretics; his eyes were struck out. 

Retreating back to the temple of his hero cult, the godling was tended to by exultant priests who attempted to cure his mangled sight. Unfortunately, transplants from lesser beings wouldn't suffice, and it wasn't as if he could easily source a Nephil's eyeballs without starting another war.

At their god's insistence, his priests attempted an experimental procedure involving grafting the flayed skins of dwarves onto Shamash, hoping to transplant their blindsight to him. The experiment backfired, with the Nephil driven insane by sensory overdrive and the shame of his newly disfigured appearance. Shamash went on a rampage, killing all his servants and collapsing much of the temple.

HOUSEKEEPING

10' squares, 20' ceilings. The entire structure is built for the convenience of 12' giants first, 7' elves second and normal-sized people dead last. Stairs are uncomfortably tall, doors are slightly oversized. An uncontrolled fall down to the bottom level inflicts 2d6 damage. A controlled fall only does 1d6. 

Treasure is calculated low. The assumption is 200 silver pieces is the amount required to get a 1st level character to 2nd level. Adjust accordingly for your game.

The dungeon is illuminated with lightbulbs shaped like coiled snakes. If the ENGINE HOUSE is powered, the entire dungeon becomes brightly lit. Conversely, you could strip the tungsten filaments and copper wiring for 10 SP per keyed room. You fucking philistine.

TEMPLE ENTRANCE

1. BRASS MAIDEN
Lion-headed mechanical contraption that crushes, squeezes and juices corpses placed inside. Exquistely painful - it has to be in order to extract adrenochrome in the victim's blood. Various levers can adjust the size of the chamber for smaller sacrifices. A large handcrank operates it.

There isn't any release catch, the maiden only opens after crushing its victim to death. Surprisingly, the Nephilim don't bother installing safety mechanisms on their orphan crushing machines. Someone with mechanical expertise could open it, or it can be forced open with MOVE (AC as chain). You could also rotate the crank to crush the victim inside for enough blood to open THE GREAT GATE.

Dismas (Burl A, 7 HP), a bronze-skinned agricultural slave is currently inside, half-dead from dehydration. If freed and watered, he explains that his overseers caught him stealing food for his pregnant wife, so decided to engage in some financial liquidation. After sticking him in the maiden, they left to investigate noises from the OFFERING CHAMBER. Strangely enough, they never came back.

2. OFFERING CHAMBER
Stone shelves filled with shattered jars of grain, olive oil, wine and vinegar. A thick tangle of golden hair hangs from the room's ceiling. Examining the ceiling spots the corpses of the overseers and some local dinosaurs tangled up in a mess of cancerous flesh and hair.

A pair of BARNACLES hide amidst the rotting detritus, awaiting more prey. If they're dealt with, the dead slavedrivers contain enough blood to open the temple's lock. One corpse wears an oversized silver fascinus worth 20 SP. Conversely, the monsters' nooses can be recycled as makeshift ropes.

A fissure in the floor leads to the ENGINE HOUSE. Rushing water can be heard below.

Each of the offerings labelled with the names of supplicants and small prayers pleading for the Lioneater's mercy. A careful search (exposing one to the BARNACLES) can find a terracotta amphora decorated with images of Shamash dismembering a lion, filled with wine worth 50 SP.

3. THE GREAT GATE
This heavy polished brass door is secured, in lieu of a traditional lock, with a yawning lion's mouth stained with old blood. It only opens if 4 HP worth of blood is poured inside, a significant offering equal to a human corpse. Only the rich or the desperate would be willing to sacrifice a GP worth of blood.

Behind the door is a golden ritual circle of AZOTH, primordial power of creation and transmogifrication. Shamash's cultists worked their miracles here for desperate supplicants and loyal chimeras. The floor is clawed to shit, covered in matted hair and the bodies of dead exultants. The remaining gold can be scraped up for 20 GP, but not without awakening the three BEZOARS nesting among the rotting corpses.

4. SPECIMEN STORAGE
Huge glass tubes with clawed bronze feet, metal hatches and enchanted lifesign crystals contain floating bodies of various creatures. A golden-maned lion, five eyeless humans and a pair of skinned dwarves. All of the crystals pulse a steady red, except the lion's - it pulses green. The noble beast is still alive.

A fissure in the floor leads to the CROSSROADS.

The dwarves are undead monsters, SKINNERMEN. If exposed to light, they reanimate and begin rocking their tanks back and forth. Unless steadied, they topple over in a shower of glass and amniotic fluid. The SKINNERMEN attack, ripping out their victims' hair and plastering it on themselves. 

The zombies are almost totally blind, but are enraged by light sources. If the PCs quench their torches and retreat, the undead will totter around aimlessly and eventually fall down the fissure.

If freed, the LION has a badly injured leg from its capture by Shamash's armigers. It attacks anyone between it and fleeing the dungeon, or just hide if escape isn't available. Healing the injured paw gets its cautious approval; those who can speak with or train animals could then recruit it as an temporary ally. Conversely, the beast can be killed and skinned - its golden mane is worth 100 SP intact.

The tanks are excellent improvised weapons. If dropped down the fissure they inflict 4d6 damage if they land on someone. They still inflict 1d6 even if they miss - glass and metal shrapnel scatters everywhere.

5. WATCHROOM 
Quarters for the temple's guards. Their expensive cushions are soiled, clawed and generally defiled to the point of worthlessness. A rack containing of four heavy bronze clubs sits against the wall. 

A dead Urmahlullu lies in the corner of the room, his head and right forelimb ripped clean off. The chimera carries 3 GP in amber jewellery on a leather necklace, as well as SEEK MY LOVER, a medium +1 antenna sword decorated with polished fulgurite. The weapon allows the wielder to teleport along electrical currents at the cost of 1 HP - crisscrossing the wielder's body with vivid Lichtenberg scars. 

The stairway leading to the FLOODED LEVEL is collapsed, filled with rubble. A spelunker could squeeze down a coffin-gap with SNEK roll. Failure means they get stuck. Remaking the roll costs of 1d4 HP due to exhaustion and scraping. 

FLOODED LEVEL

6. GODLING'S LAIR
The insane SHAMASH has made his lair here, piling stinking corpses, fine fabrics and matted hair. There's a respective 2-in-6 chance at any given time the godling is either slumbering fitfully here, soaking himself in the river and eating cave fish or wandering the floor aimlessly.

Among the detritus is a necklace of gold coins worth 20 GP, each a little idol of a chained man -  a macabre reminder the currency is backed on a 1:1 ratio with the sum total blood of an adult human. There's also a pair of BEZOARS hiding among the mess, who snap at anyone rooting around for loot.

7. BRIDGE
A crumbling stone bridge carved from the very rock itself by enslaved dwarves. An ornate handrail of stone prevents falling into the dark waters. A concerted effort with the right tools could weaken the bridge to the degree it wouldn't support the giant's weight.

A huge brass waterwheel sits downstream, shaped like dozens of six-fingered hands scooping the water. Anyone who falls into the river must roll MOVE to dodge the waterwheel, else they'll be crushed to death. The river eventually terminates in a heavy brass grate matted with golden hair.

A BARNACLE hides in the darkness - plastering its noose hairs to the ceiling. Slightly offset, if it grabs someone from the bridge they'll hang directly over the water, making it harder to save them.

8. ENGINE HOUSE
The waterwheel powers a complicated series of gears, all matted with golden hair. Naturally, four BEZOARS are nesting here. A clever mechanic could readjust the gearing to crush the little bastards. 

Clearing them out allows the waterwheel to begins powering a large Baghdad Battery hooked up to the dungeon's lighting systems. Small quartz crystals show the battery's charge. If fully charged (takes about an hour), it deals 4d6 damage and stuns anyone within 15' of it if thrown into water. 

A fissure in the ceiling leads to the OFFERING CHAMBER.

9. CROSSROADS
Two BEZOARS try to get inside a smashed glass tube as a SKINNERMAN fends them off. His flesh is already plastered in the remains of one of their companions. The undead can be appeased by letting him cover himself in the teratomas' hairs. He could help access the VAULT by melting the door open.

A fissure in the ceiling leads to the SPECIMEN STORAGE (where the dwarf's tank fell from).

10. VAULT 
A massive brass bulkhead secured by electromagnets. Impossible to force open without powerful magic, acid or explosives. Will only unlock if power is restored in the ENGINE HOUSE.

Inside the vault are twenty glass vessels that weigh 10-slots each. The vats, filled with adrenochrome-enriched blood, are shaped like screaming men, women and children being tortured to death. As each contains the vitae of ten human sacrifices they're worth 10 GP - for a total of 2,000 SP.

11. LIVE BURIAL
A warped brass door blocks entrance to this room. It can be battered down with appropriate tools or forced open with MOVE, both of which might attract SHAMASH's attention. Inside is a collapsed chamber that might've once housed the godling's harem or living quarters of his cultists.

A six-fingered hand and crushed face sticks out from beneath the rubble. The Nephil's high priest, Azazel, survived the destruction of the temple - barely. The exultant has kept himself alive with constant use of magic, healing his crushed body and enlarging cave moss for sustenance.

Horrified by his maimed body, the elf begs for death, but is too cowardly to face it. If sedated - the wine in the OFFERING CHAMBER would suffice - he promises to bless someone before being euthanized. Azazel has the following spells available, with a single MD to spare for casting:

• Enlarge (target adds [sum] to HP and [dice] to STR for an hour).

• Heal (target heals [sum] + [dice] HP).

• Invigorate (target adds [highest] to SAVES for an hour).

MONSTERS

BEZOAR 

1 HD (3 HP), AC as leather, 9 morale 

Head-sized teratomas of gristle, golden hair and teeth. Lots of teeth. They bud upon Shamash's ruined body and then fall off, born from a perverse pathogenesis. 

Movement: Too fast. Like a cockroach scuttling towards you. 

Morality: A hungry animal. 

Intelligence: Ambush predator. Camouflages itself among trash and corpses before attacking.

Attacks: +1 to hit chomp (1d4, results of 4 indicate the Bezoar has latched onto someone and will automatically hit with subsequent attacks. Can be pulled off with MOVE or pried off with a blade). 

Anklebiter: Bezoars attack at a +4 to hit from surprise. 

BARNACLE

1 HD (5 HP), AC as chain, 9 morale 

Larger bezoars that learned to hang from the ceiling, dangling nooses of tangled hair to ensnare prey. 

Movement: None. Suctioned to the ceiling with impressive strength. Automatically fails SAVES. 

Morality: A slightly lazier hungry animal. 

Intelligence: Smart enough to pick the lightest victim, who tend to be the weakest. 

Attacks: +1 to hit noose (drags victim up to ceiling next round, a strike with a bladed weapon versus AC as leather frees them)
+4 to hit head chomp (1d6+1) 

Hangman: Barnacles attack at a +4 to hit from surprise.

LION

5 HD (18 HP), AC as leather, 9 morale 

The king of beasts, a golden maned alpha predator in the lands of the sun. Hunted to near extinction by Nephil like Shamash - obsessed with proving their dominance over all that walks, flies and crawls. 

Movement: Crippled hind leg. If healed, wickedly fast and capable of leaping 30' without warning. 

Morality: Predatory instinct tempered by a dim sense of nobility.

Intelligence: Excellent at planning ambushes, knows when to cut and run. Won't fight to the death. 

Attacks: +4 to hit two claws (1d4+1) and a bite (1d10+1) 

Injured Pride: Can only make bite attacks until its paws are healed.

SKINNERMAN

2 HD (12 HP), AC as unarmoured, 7 morale 

A skinless dwarf, trapped in blind agony by the removal of their primary sense organ. 

Movement: Unbalanced staggers, arms outstretched. Classic zombie, but for all the wrong reasons. 

Morality: IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS
Intelligence: Terrible eyesight, terrible hearing, good spatial memory. Navigates by touch. Can vaguely sense light and reacts violently to it. 

Attacks: +2 to hit grasping hands (1d4, dissolves the AC of metal armour first until it hits leather, then they move onto ripping hair and skin off you to plaster on their naked bodies). 

Blessing Of ALKAHEST: Metal weapons that strike a Skinnerman are automatically notched, then destroyed on a second hit. 

Undead: Doesn't need to breathe, eat or sleep.

SHAMASH

8 HD (24 HP), AC as unarmoured, 6 morale 

An eyeless giant, 12' tall if he wasn't hunched over and crawling. Long golden strands cover his entire body and trail all around him. They appear to be hairs, but are actually nerve endings - a failed experiment in curing his blindness. The flesh beneath this sensory carpet is marred with diseased wounds. 

Movement: A shuffling crawl or flailing sprint. 

Morality: Insane, feverish and starving. Driven mad by overstimulation. 

Intelligence: Mindlessly attacks new stimuli - finds them agonising. Blind, but his exposed nerves detect anything he brushes past. 

Attacks: +4 to hit dismember (2d6 + 4, but only on his next turn, grabbed targets can attempt a MOVE roll on their turn to escape).
+0 to hit wild flailing (1d6 + 2, attacks all creatures within reach) 

Exposed Nerves: Shamash's sensory carpet is covered in large clotted lumps of mud and blood. Striking one requires a roll against AC as chain and does no damage, but causes the giant to drop anyone he's holding and instead make a wild flailing attack on his next turn.

THE MAKING OF

A countless teeming multitudes of protoplasmic thanks to PRIMEUMATON, who introduced me to the GLOG, drew the maps for this adventure and helped playtest it. Talk about nepotism.

Inspiration was taken from Mellonbread's "Saturnalia" scenario, re: a maneating giant-king that goes mad and devours or dismembers all his worshippers. The setting of Grapes of Wrath also draws heavily from the work of Matt Rhodes in his burgeoning DEAD gODS comic series.