Politics at my gaming table isn’t expressly forbidden, but it is discouraged. If someone starts talking about real world issues during our dice-rolling escapism, they will be politely, lovingly (and somewhat jokingly) booed.
Fantasy politics on the other hand, now that’s a different thing. Learning the underhanded espionage and deep-rooted corruption of a pretend place is deeply interesting, and comes with no burdens. So long as the lore is not based on the real world with all the names changed…
With that in mind, Layer 5 of my megadungeon concerns pretend global terrorism.
The Terror Prophecy
The world once attached to this dungeon has been through a lot, even before it exploded. So far in the timeline, the TBD planet has run out of food, been hit by a solar flare, suffered a pestilence and avoided a supervolcanic eruption.
Having seemingly bested nature, this Facility/Dungeon was soon tasked with solving world-altering problem number 5.
The Terror Prophecy told of a worldwide network of multiple organisations that would soon destabilise civilised society. Through the use of violence, sabotage and cyber attacks across the entire world, millions of people would be killed. The world economy would collapse, the ruling elite would fall into chaos, and the common folk would turn to manic chaos in their despair.
It would be just two years before the first terrorist group revealed themselves – The Voice of Lost Souls admitted to an attack on a city’s commercial trainline that had led to thousands of deaths and an almost complete shutdown of all travel and business with the city limits.
After that, more groups emerged. The greatest and most widespread of them all were the FreeThinkers. This group was the most international, the most devious, and seemingly had connections with dissenters in political circles.
Whilst this could have been disastrous for the world, the New Layer of the Facility was now operational. This level of the complex, supported by the floors above, was part penitentiary, part investigation office filled with bleeding-edge technology, part interrogation rooms and part propaganda machine. Whilst law and order institutes performed their work all over the world, it could all be centrally accessed and coordinated from here.
Deep underground, unseen and unfettered, the investigators could also do whatever needed to be done to end the terrorism threat. No matter what, they would root out these criminals and bring them to a righteous (and terrible) justice.
Week 18 – 126 Rooms Complete
This is how Layer 4 looks now it’s finished, and how Layer 5 looks so far:
These are the new rooms added to Layer 4 & 5:
120. Bunker 3
– well decorated Bunker dedicated to high status refugees
– No sign off Grimworm carnage; the residents were able to seal the door
– 2 of the original residents still remain, along with an technician from layer 3
– these 3 live off the ration boxes (some of which were hastily dragged in from Bunker 2) after decades, supplies are dangerously low
121. Sorting office
– originally designed to ‘sign in’ criminals in custody; E door leads to the penitentiary and interrogation rooms, doors to the W lead to the offices and surveillance chambers
– a dead Grimworm Adolescent is curled up at the fort of the ramp, riddled with bullets wounds; clues to the two sentry turrets hidden in the roof of this room, which attack unregistered people without warning
122. Guard’s Office
– A Guard Droid is still stationed here. If the command phrase is spoken or ID shown, the Druid stands down. If not, the droid seizes the nearest creature, restrains them, and takes them to a cell.
123. Lock Box
– only 1 set the heavy metal doors will open at a time. Once 1 door locks, neither can be opened again for 1 minute
– autoturret at the S wall targets any violent action
124. Prison Cell Block D
– A Guard Droid matches up and down this corridor, monitoring the six cells:
4a – a withered corpse
4b – 2 Salubrious Technicians that came to offer services three months ago
4c – empty
4d – an unlucky Enforcer that misplaced their ID
4e – a Host Soldier. The Grimworm is almost too large for the host now
4f – empty
125. Prison Cell Block C
– A broken Guard Droid limps up and down this corridor, sending out electrical sparks across the walls:
5a – empty
5b – a lone creature from Layer 6 [TBD]
5c – an elderly FreeThinker, imprisoned for decades, senile
5d – decayed body, hanging
5e – empty
5f – a malfunctioning Guard Droid, attacks anything on site
126. Prison Cell Block B
– no sign of a Guard Droid
– signs of battle damage and the doors are all open
– signs of an escape attempt, outcome is unclear
– all the rooms are empty, though some are heavily damage
In Summary
If you’ve been reading along, you might have picked up on the fact that this world, when it was surviving, was not a pleasant place for everybody. An international terrorist network must exist for a reason after all. My timeline last week hinted at a very, shall we say, ‘totalitarian’ way of dealing with issues.
This is an aspect that will be developed as the dungeon develops from this point onward. With the environmental disasters out of the way, the Facility will have to tackle some social and political events. The nature of solution to these prophecies will reveal a darkness to the forgotten History of the lost world.
Thank You For Reading
Want to see how my Dungeon23 journey began? Look here!
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Gamer Peak 