Wadi Shogach | My Flooding Dungeon
"Who is this king of glory? Shogach, strong and mighty, Shogach, mighty in battle!"
Psalms of The Storm
WADI SHOGACH
A dry river-valley forgotten in the outskirts of a fallen desert kingdom. Scholars and mystics find mention of it in obscure scriptures, the supposed site of a shrine to The God of that land. Shogach was his name - he was their Elohim, called The Rider Upon the Clouds - the locals call the dry river basin by a similar name: Wadi Shogach.
Tracing forgotten secrets and implications of ancient spoils, many travel far and wide to the remote desert region that is home to the Wadi. Locals shake their head, say they cannot give them passage to the site. "We do not trespass there. It is an angry place, not for you nor I. You will drown in His anger, if you were to make the journey."
Still, the promise of gold is enough to lure many a robber. The locals of Elesh do not intervene: the place will handle them all the same.
Elesh is a small town of <200 people, and the only settlement for week's journey around Wadi Shogach.
It takes one day / exploration turn to travel from Elesh to the Wadi, and vice versa. It is an arid desert with blistering heat in the day and freezing cold at night.
VIBE
Who takes seriously the threat of storms when you're surrounded by sand?
Take a look at this video of flash flooding in the ruins of Petra in modern day Jordan:
If you're inclined to Dungeon Synth, I highly recommend Vandalorum's Mesopotamian Death Cult for its incredibly rocking synthesis of modern beats and ancient instruments.
PROCEDURES
This dungeon uses both random encounters and a timer to act as time pressure.
When outsiders descend the tall staircase down beneath the sands, a countdown/timer begins at 20. This represents the God of this place stirring in his ancient slumber, sending a storm to drown outsiders.
For every room explored by outsiders (or any time sufficient lingering occurs) a TURN passes.
For every TURN, a random encounter is rolled: the random encounters include wandering monsters, supply checks and the rolling of THE STORM DIE to decrement the counter.
When the timer runs out (see below) levels of the dungeon are flooded in stages. Spelunkers are faced with a decision: continue up the strange caves to try and find an escape, or swim down in the murky depths? Traveling with packs full of loot will make their swim even more difficult.
Another hindrance are the Carrion: several dead bodies full of loot are scattered throughout the dungeon. When the storm waters rise, these corpses reanimate and restock those rooms, becoming bitter, flesh-eating zombies with a swim speed.
There's no good choice, only risk and reward.
RANDOM ENCOUNTER TABLE
For every room explored by outsiders (or any time sufficient lingering occurs) a TURN passes.
For every TURN, a random encounter (2D6) is rolled.
2 An Unclean Spirit steals an item at random from a PC. (chance to notice its theft)
Roll the storm die!
3-4 D4 Pit Vipers nest around D20 gold
5-6 2D4 Skeletons + Roll the Storm Die
7 Stone falls from ceiling: Test Agility to avoid D4 damage
8-9 Uneasy feeling that you're not alone down here. Roll the Storm Die
10-11 Lower SUPPLIES (torches, rations, etc) by 1 [if using a system where resources do not automatically decrement down].
Stones shift underfoot, revealing 2D20 gp in a hidden niche
12 Players encounter the congenial and even-tempered spirit Pazzuzu, who bears a horrifying and gruesome countenance.
Players Test Mind. On success, they lose 1 Exhaustion. The next random encounter roll is made with advantage, from Pazzuzu's protective aura over the party.
STORM DIE
Every time the storm die (a D6) is rolled, decrement the counter by that much. It begins and resets to 20. The storm die can explode (take the highest result, roll it again and add that to the total).
If
the storm die ever reaches 0 exactly, it instead resets to 3.
Threaten that the storm has broken, and rain is falling across the desert above, water noticeably falling down the central staircase. Exit is not blocked...yet.
If the party rests inside the dungeon, the storm die increments in size: D6 -> D8 -> D10, etc.
When the storm counter plunges below 0, Shogach's deluge comes to drown the outsiders.
Part of the dungeon floods: at first rooms A, B, C, D, E and G fill up with water over the course of a turn, and if the party is still there they must make Agility checks to scramble out from the water. They can only scramble towards the nearest rooms, not up the tall and imposing staircase.
Failure batters them, soaks them and has the potential to rip them below the tide to a nearby room at random.
The timer resets to 20. When it next plunges below 0, the flood waters surge up to engulf rooms F, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O and P. Failure batters them, soaks them and has the potential to rip them below the tide to a nearby room at random.
When the storm counter plunges below 0 for a third time, rooms Q and R are drowned, placing the whole dungeon underwater.
LOOK UPON MY WORKS, YE MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR!
Players descend a dusty staircase from the desert surface to Room A:
Room A
Solid stone staircase from the surface. One TURN down, two TURNS up.
Flagstones worn smooth, mud and dirt caked in grout lines.
Bronze door to the North, stalagmites guard a raised passage to the South.
Three desiccated corpses: each hold 10gp.
Four clay pots: each hold 2D4 (1-in-6 chance they have an antidote or 1 day of drinking water inside).
Room B
Dusty, bone-strewn flagstones. Wall niches full of bones and funerary loot.
Encounter: 2D4 Skeletons
Spend a TURN looting the niches: 600gp and wheel of moldy tomb cheese (2 slots, ???) + Incantation Bowl of Shulak.
Two-foot-wide clay bowl inscribed with runes of lapis lazuli. The runes swirl around a depiction of a demonic lion upright on two feet.
While resting, you can deposit a day's worth of drinking water into the bowl and sing to it. Doing so consumes the water, and allows all living creatures nearby to make a Physique Test to save versus disease or illness.
Room C
Ash from a cold fireplace, dust from a dry fountain.
Spend a TURN searching and find 4D4 gp hidden beneath the dust.
Room D
Altar on a raised stone step. Empty sconces, dried wax in the grout lines.
Bundle of incense hidden behind altar (worth 25gp).
Spend a TURN burning incense at the altar: the next random encounter is rolled with Advantage.
Two desiccated corpses: each have 20gp on them.
Room E
Large room, oily metallic smell.
On a raised stone dais is a solid-gold statue of a large bull with sapphires for eyes. They twinkle in bright light! A stone well in the ceiling leads up to Room F.
Encounter: 2D4 Skeletons
Characters with a combined Physique of 40 can move it at a rate of 1 Room / 2 TURNS, and a rate of 1 Room / TURN with a combined Physique of 65. Its horns and wide legs could be purchase for ropes and pulleys...
Golden Calf: 100+ slots, 10,000gp. Sapphire eyes: 100 gp and way easier to carry.
Room F
Cramped space. Wooden shelves furnished with clay tablets. Wooden chest on South wall. Only exit is the vertical stone well in the middle that descends to Room E.
In the chest: 2000gp and 2 gems (each 100gp).
Spend a TURN searching the shelves: find D4 scrolls (as normal, but in form of clay tablets!)
Room G
Long hallway. Flagstones give way to rough cavern. Stalactites hang overhead like knives. Blood stains and pools in dry patches. Staircase visible just beyond sight...
When traversed slowly (such as in caution or stealth) the stalactites rumble and drop down. Agility check to avoid D8 damage. When moved through swiftly, the stalactites do not budge!
Room H
Wide rectangular catacombs, rubble on South wall from a cave-in. Doorway to the East and West, locked bronze door to the South (see below).
Two clay pots: each hold 2D4 gp (1-in-6 chance they have an antidote or 1 day of drinking water inside).
Three desiccated corpses (each with 30 gp).
Encounter: D4+1 Pit Vipers writhe upon the corpses.
Behind the locked door: an unlocked chest!
It's trapped: Agility save or take D6 poison and be paralyzed for a TURN.
Inside: 1000cp, 3000sp, 3 gems (10gp / each) + The Sword of Shogach
Cracked leather sheathe holding a khopesh of remarkable quality. It's a +1 weapon, +3 versus sheydim (demons, unclean spirits, etc).
Once the blade has been drawn from its sheathe, it cannot be put back until it has bathed in fresh blood.
Spend a TURN decanting a coffin:
1d6 x 100 GP + 50% chance of 1 scroll (in clay tablet form) + 25% D4 potions of healing
(10+X% chance an Unclean Spirit being released, where X = the number of coffins decanted).
Room I
Intricate gate depicting a storm cloud throwing bolts down upon fearsome, yet cowering armies.
Through the gate is the Lamassu D'siymat whose bottom legs are pinned beneath rocks from a prior cave-in.
D'siymat: Melancholic, contemplative, her speech rings in the ears as the listener's native tongue. Will be happy to recount how she served other Gods and was taken as "living spoils" by Shogach in ages long passed. Cannot leave dungeon until she solves The God's riddle:
The Lamassu's Riddle: "And out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came sweetness."
She cannot provide clues, since her confusion keeps her imprisoned. If freed by a character finding the riddle's answer, she will grant that character a boon.
The Lamassu's Boon: Gain +1 to each of your stats. When you encounter future riddles, you have a 2-in-6 chance of divining the answer on the spot.
Room J
Thick layer of dust disturbed by what appears to be chicken footprints going West. Mural on the ceiling flecked away in places.
Spend a TURN studying the mural: discern men in priestly garb depicted chasing after strange specters with chicken's feet (Unclean Spirits), leaving footprints in the sand.
Two clay pots: each hold 2D4 (1-in-6 chance they have an antidote or 1 day of drinking water inside).
Room K
Flagstones crumble and give way to natural cavern. Five pillars hold up the bowed ceiling, one fallen into rubble at the far end. Dust speckled with footprints, some even fresh...
Encounter: D3+1 Unclean Spirits lurk here in invisibility. Attack those who go off alone.
Room L
Stalagmites. Damp and warm.
Four corpses (each have 40gp) lie in the room. One of them holds Detritus.
Room M
Faint dripping from a crack in the ceiling onto four granite statues. It's enough water to tantalize, but not enough to drink.
Three statues to the North are of men in cleric garments (similar to mural in Room J).
The fourth is different: depicts a lion laying recumbent with its belly slit open by an invisible sword. Honeycombs spill out, alone with little bees of silver ornament (worth 100sp).
Spoiler: This statue is the answer to the Lamassu's Riddle "And out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came sweetness."
Secret hinge in the East cave wall can be found with a TURN's search. It reveals Room S (see below).
Room N
Humid, faint offal smell. Cave dominated by a nest of corpse parts, huge insect atop it.
Encounter: Ant Lion (1-in-6 chance it slumbers).
One clay pot: each hold 2D4 (1-in-6 chance they have an antidote or 1 day of drinking water inside).
Ant Lion's Nest Horde: 800gp, 3 Diamonds (150gp/each), Lapis Lazuli amulet of an eye (800gp, +1 to saves versus curses when worn).
Room O
Rubble and dust speckled with chicken prints.
Two corpses (each have 50gp) lie in the room.
Beautiful flecks of mica speckle the stalactites above, making a beautiful refraction when torchlight enters the room. It is harmless and a wonder to behold.
Room P
Worn cavern gives way to too-smooth brown floor. Two stalagmites in the back corner are the only contents of this room. Exit in Northwest corner across the patch.
It's quicksand! Failing to jump or swing will require a TURN spent by allies fishing them out (or escaping on their own). Being swept randomly into this room would certainly be a death sentence.
Room Q
The last shrine to Shogach that has not crumbled into dust. A raised dais holds an altar, flanked by two flat tablets and two rectangular stone columns. Writing on them has since faded. To the west, an empty stone alcove. Behind the altar, niches in the walls hold four wooden chests.
Atop the altar is a bundle of incense (worth 100gp), and a statuette of the Rider Upon the Clouds as a humanoid fashioned from strange red-gold metal. Lore reveals it to be made from orichalcum, the lost metal of antediluvian wizard-cities long-since drunk by the ocean waves. It is worth 5,000gp.
Taking the statue summons the malachim (angel) Makshuel.
Makshuel: Orbiting rings of red-gold metal studded with too many eyes. Circles core of ball lightning. Cries out to "BE NOT AFRAID". Cannot be defeated, only placated.
Three successful prayers / supplications return it back to the heavenly realm.
Every turn of combat, Makshuel bolts a random target for D8 lightning and causes The Storm Die to be rolled.
Wall Niches:
Chest 1 3 diamonds gems (500gp each)
Chest 2 2400 sp
Chest 3 Hand of Shogach pendant made from diamonds (1000gp)
Chest 4 5000 cp + 2 Potions of Healing
Searching the room reveals the Western alcove to contain a natural chimney proceeding up into the dark (leads up to Room R).
Room R
Worn stone chimney leads up to a warm dry room. There's only a 5' shelf of flagstones to stand on, passage barred by loose gravel blocking further passage.
A group with a combined Physique of 45 can clear the rubble in a TURN.
Beyond the rubble is a vertical staircase leading up, back up to the surface through a secret door above the now-flooding gorge that holds the entrance to Wadi Shogach. This staircase is now available as a means of entry, for those bold enough to return...
Room S
S for Secret! Giant treasure pile:
1100 gp, 4 diamonds (500 gp / each) + The Wars of Shogach
Three clay pots: they each hold 2D4 gp and each have a total of 1 torch, day's worth of drinking water and 1 antidote.
The Wars of Shogach
Papyrus scroll written with ink of blood and gold. Study of this reveals it to be a long-lost copy of a religious text that has been missing from the scholarly record. It describes in vivid detail the heavenly wars between Shogach and the other Gods of the ancient desert. It holds magical power: either it can be read in its entirety (destroying it) and granting the character +2 to each of their stats, or returned to a scholar in a metropolis for an exorbitant sum (10,000+ gold, if they play their cards right).
ENEMIES
Keeping this dungeon as system neutral as possible, but here are some examples of the enemies used herein. They use the Errant ttrpg verbiage (so no attack bonus) but their THREAT can be extrapolated to be a power level for said stats.
DEAD BODIES
Throughout Wadi Shogach are dead bodies. They can be looted for gold, but should remain on the GM's radar. When the storm counter ends and part of the dungeon floods, the dead bodies reanimate as Carrion to restock those areas. The flood waters do not affect the skeletons, just the corpses noted on the map.
Optionally, characters that are swimming to the exit can fight those Carrion on a Random Encounter roll of 7 (or 7-9 if you're feeling punishing).
Bodies are unclean, whether they're dry or wet. If characters ever rest in a room with dead bodies (or Carrion, somehow) they must test their Physique or contract Shulak Shivers (see Unclean Spirit below).
Privies are thus their prime hunting grounds. Their true form is something like a goat, but with the feet of roosters rather than hooves.
If you defeat it, perhaps that will lift the pallor?
Ancient protector spirit from long-fallen desert kingdoms. They use their Gods-given immortality to either act as riddle-smiths or as sages to nurture future mortal generations towards greatness.
Older Than Time - The Lamassu always wins Initiative, and acts twice.
Roar - Once per day, the Lamassu can roar up to the firmament to cure a serious injury of another living creature. Alternatively, it can use this roar to break the morale of an enemy group.
ADVICE FOR RUNNING THE FLOOD
This dungeon uses both random encounters and a timer as pressure. It should be apparent to the players that a serious threat is on their way, even if their characters do not understand. No one likes hearing that their choices lead them to a permanent end...as long as it's not telegraphed properly. The resetting of the timer from 0 to 3, the flooding in stages (one elevation, then a second, then the whole dungeon) should allow players some time to adapt to their new problem. Let them!
The central staircase that leads from the surface to Room A is purposefully very tall. It takes one TURN to traverse down and two TURNS to walk up. This is to disincentivize just running up the staircase at the first sign of water; but for it to be a dramatic choice it should still be possible.
For system neutrality, I won't tell you how to run underwater movement. What I will point out are parts of dungeon crawling that will make it more difficult for the players. It's up to the players to solve them or die trying to swim up that twisting staircase.
- Water means no light (without magic), and the desert/tomb environs mean the water is cloudy. This makes the swim an almost blind experience. Mental/navigation checks are warranted to get from one room to the next correctly without straying.
- "Finding the stuff is the first test: now it must be carried home."
Being weighed down with gold and other treasures will make swimming harder. If using an encumbrance system, use whatever threshold you see fit to add difficulty to the swimming checks. - If trying to cart home something like a Golden Calf, you can declare it impossible to swim.
- The Carrion! The rooms are restocked with swimming zombies - ideally more than a nuisance but still possible to overcome. Being attacked underwater will make it harder to do things like hold your breath, carry loot and make certain weapons (missile weapons, spells etc) impossible.
If failing a navigation check while blindly fumbling in the water (or if the party are caught in an area while it floods) roll a D8 to determine which direction they are blown. If the direction (generally) faces a room they're blown their. If it faces a solid wall, the party are battered - taking damage and threatening their ability to keep holding their breath - and get to try again.
TERMINUS
This was so fun to make. This incorporates Impulsive Necromancy's post on Flooding Dungeons (courtesy of GLOGtober this year), conversations about said flooding on the GLOG Discord (shoutout to CommonUse on discord). I used Goblin Punch's Underclock procedure for Shogach's storm timer. The Underclock is actually meant to replace something like a 2D6 random encounter roll, but here I felt like it worked better melded together.
Thanks to Andrew Sawyer of the Seven Deadly Dungeons for organizing a community dungeon zine. Even if I went too overboard for the challenge, this was the right kick to exorcise a flooding dungeon out of my head!
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| Shogach - שָׁוגֶּחָ ה שָׁדַד גֶּשֶׁם חָזַר The Plundering Rain Returns |
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