Better late than never. Here’s my entry for the Dungeon Poem Challenge. Map by Dyson Logos, of course.
Shelter 15
An adventure for Death is the New Pink (now on sale) or Into the Odd. BADassery = Strength; Dodge Some Shit (DSS) = Dexterity; MOXY = Willpower.
Why are you here?
- The air-purifying device in your shelter has broken and no one knows how to repair it, but it is possible to find a replacement, and the logical thing to do is to look for one in another shelter.
- Communications with Shelter 15 were lost a little over a year ago; it’s time to send someone to investigate.
- Due to bad behavior, Shelter 13 held a vote. It was democratically decided that you could no longer stay at the shelter, so they gave you some weapons and equipment and “let you go”. The Overseer, in an act of good faith, revealed to you that perhaps in Shelter 15, a few days’ walk away, you might find asylum.
1. Living Quarters
The access door is made of one meter thick steel, and displays the ‘Shel-Tech’ logo. It’s slightly open, allowing passage.
4 abandoned tents.
- Rotting blankets.
- One shoe. 3 gold bits inside.
- Two skeletons hugging each other. On closer inspection, it’s a single skeleton with extra limbs.
- The booklet “The March of the Pigs”. It takes 1 day to read. Once per adventure, you can create 1d4+1 Molotov bombs using improvised materials (1d6 damage per round to all inside the area; one extra point of damage to cops, sheriffs, soldiers, politicians and other enemies of freedom).
a) High above the doorframe to the west corridor, a plasma shotgun is pointed towards the floor. A motion sensor detects anyone passing under the rifle, emitting an energy discharge (1d8 damage). If the victim suffers critical damage, they are turned into a green sludge.
2. Cleaning Room
The lock has been melted as if by intense heat.
A shovel (1d8 damage).
A clutter of metal sheets with the ‘Shel-Tech’ logo engraved.
The observer notes that they are made of lead and can protect from some forms of harmful radiance (yes, like laser and plasma weapons).
3. Flowerpot
A pot filled with soil and a healthy-looking flowering plant. Above it, on the wall, a small painting depicting something you have never seen in real life: an autumn landscape. Looking at it for a moment fills you with vitality (either your hp or MOXY are replenished, only once).
Hidden in the pot’s soil, a sophisticated green bronze key.
The key opens the safe box in area 6.
Eat a mouthful of soil and in your next fight your attacks will be Enhanced. Only works once.
Eating the plant has no effect.
4. Latrines
Six holes in the floor reveal the original use of this room; a foul odor escapes from the holes.
Graffiti on the wall reads, “The Overseer is a son of a bitch.”
Roll 1d6
1. 1d4 lurking mole rats, mutated mammals with no fur and a bad temper due to their constant pain. There is a 2 in 6 chance of being hostile and trying to eat one of the PCs (they all attack at once). BAD 10, DSS 14, MOXY 6, 4hp, Bite (1d6).
2-5. Nothing.
6. The huge tail of a scorpion pokes out of one of the holes. A DSS roll allows cutting it without suffering damage (1d6 BAD poison damage). The poison gland allows creating 1d2 doses of antivenom in one day, not while adventuring.
5. Workshop
The room is full of old sawdust and rusty carpentry machinery.
A saw in good condition can be a nice weapon if someone manages to adapt it (1d8 damage).
A ditch was partially plugged with sand and sawdust. Someone buried a body there, only the bones remain but the blue uniform of an Overseer with a white 15 on the back remains intact.
6. The Safe Box
A safe with the ‘Shel-Tech’ logo; to open it, a key is required (area 3). Explosives destroy the box with all its contents and due to its construction, there is no way to pick the lock or use a crowbar.
Inside the box are 2 scrap pistols (they fire nails, nuts and bolts, and all sorts of similar-sized junk, 1d6 damage), a hammer and a sickle with red hilts (when used in each hand, they deal 2d4 damage; separately, 1d6), and 500 gold bits.
1 in 8 chance of encountering 1 aquatic marauder just chilling out here; mutated human with pisciform characteristics and radioactive psyche. BAD 12 DSS 10, MOXY 14, 6hp, 2 claws (2d4), Horrific gaze (1d6 MOXY damage). In water, it always wins initiative.
7. The Underground Stream
Its limpid waters flow towards the south-east.
Drinking the water heals replenishes but causes 2d4 BAD radiation damage; dipping into it, causes 1d6 dame, and other 1d6 each hour you spend there.
2 in 6 chance of encountering 1d4 aquatic marauders, mutated humans with pisciform characteristics and radioactive psyche. BAD 12 DSS 10, MOXY 14, 6hp, 2 claws (2d4), Horrific gaze (1d6 MOXY damage). In water, they always win initiative.
8. The Boat
The remains of a stranded boat.
Among the debris is a human skull apparently made of gold but it’s bone. Its possessor can automatically succeed on a MOXY check, once per day, but also suffer 1d4 BAD damage (it’s radiation!)
1 in 8 chance of encountering 1 aquatic marauder just chilling out here; mutated human with pisciform characteristics and radioactive psyche. BAD 12 DSS 10, MOXY 14, 6hp, 2 claws (2d4), Horrific gaze (1d6 MOXY damage). In water, it always wins initiative.
9. Common Area
A wall is full of notes and messages corroded by time, only three are legible:
- Sergei, I left your box key in the geraniums. -Cass (includes a flower doodle)
- Sergei, the water filter needs maintenance. -Foner
- Everyone, emergency meeting today at 23:00 to discuss the Overseer’s disappearance. -Gyllenhaal
10. The Mushroom Garden
Inedible mushrooms and mildew flourish in this area.
When entering it, make a BAD check to avoid inhaling the spores floating in the environment (1d4 BAD radiation damage each round of exposure).
There are 3 pedestals holding urns.
- The ashes of the first Overseer of Shelter 15.
- The ashes of the second Overseer. Actually, a formless black sludge. Attacks on “sight”, so DSS check for initiative. BAD 14, DSS 7, MOXY 1, 4hp, Lashing tendril (1d6), Black spit (1d6 BAD damage). Fire deals 1d12 BAD damage to it.
- The ashes of the third Supervisor. Among the ashes, two gold teeth and a glass eye.
11. The Overseer’s Office
The door can be opened with either a BAD check, with a crowbar, or with explosives.
- A successful BAD check reduces BAD by 1, a failed check reduces it by 1d4.
- If explosives are used, there’s a 1 in 6 chance that the stagnant air in the shelter will react, causing rooms 5, 9 and 10 to explode (1d20 damage, and 1d6 each subsequent round for 1d4 rounds).
In an open locker there’s an anti-radiation suit, an air purifying filter and a rusty key (for room 13).
3 booths with working computers. The only relevant thing is a document reporting that the entrance door of Shelter 15 was designed to not close properly, as part of an experiment that allowed Shelter Technologies to investigate the effects of radiation over time on the population.
In another corner there’s a coffee table turned upside down. The table hides a trap door leading down to room 12.
12. The basement
A human (human?) skeleton holding a revolver, a hole in the skull. It appears to have died defending itself from something.
The revolver is functional but has no bullets.
Dark goo stains cover most of the floor.
13. Cemetery
From the padlocked door, a smell of decay escapes.
The remains of dozens of people lie here, unburied.
9 ghouls wearing common Shelter 15 uniforms, orange and a white 15 on the back, roam here, and will attack immediately. BAD 12, DSS 8, MOXY 6, 5hp, Sharp fingernails (1d6 BAD damage). When killed, they melt into a black goo.
Chaos Magick-User 