This Dungeon is something those who live to get out of it are very quiet about. They also warn any adventurers gravely about entering it. Yes, there are treasures hidden in the dungeon, and yes, the people who exit it are without a doubt rich beyond belief, but they exit with a thousand yard stare and an exhaustion that take years to recover from, if ever.
The Dungeon
There are no monsters here, but there are traps. The traps are focused primarily on those identifying as men and born cis-men identifying as men.
The traps are housework related. They may be laundry, doing dishes or caring for rowdy goblin children that defiantly do not want to sleep. All of the traps are escapable by succeeding on DC checks against various abilities.
What’s the Catch?
The catch is that this dungeon was built by a housewife who finally had enough of the stupidity of having to do all the housework herself and never getting any thanks for it.
Her husband, a rich and prosperous wizard who had no interest in helping his wife with the housework, passed away in a strange accident in his lab having to do with unwashed glassware. In an effort to lure adventurers to her dungeon, the wizards wife invested some of the treasure and put the rest in the dungeon to entice adventurers to go there.
What does she want, you might ask? Only to make adventurers aware of the drudgery that all the wives and partners have to go through in order to support their adventuring significant others.
In short, she’s after a bit of revenge and a bit of awareness.
The Treasure
Those identifying as women or non-binary who enter can pretty much walk unharmed through the dungeon. No traps work on them. They can also pick up any treasure without being harmed or trapped. Keep in mind, the wizard was very rich and his wife is a clever business genius, so there’s always treasure here. The treasure table in the Dungeon Master’s Guide should be good to give an idea of what type of treasure exist in the dungeon.
In addition to that, there are a few objects that will only attune to those identifying as women or non-binary.
Wand of Fair Labor
This wand divides housework fairly between spouses, partners and adventurers. Using the Wand of Fair Labor has a downside though. You can’t pul more than your weight, but not pulling your weight causes the Wand to chase after you and give you small static charges until you get to work. This also happens to the person who uses it. The Wand can be used three times a day and recharges overnight.
The Muzzle of Mansplaining
The Muzzle can only attune to those who identify as women. The Muzzle looks like a normal neckerchief, a small scarf with an abstract pattern in red and white.
Once attuned the neckerchief turns into a gag and muzzles anyone trying to explain something to the carrier that the carrier already knows, and is better at than the person explaining. The Muzzle only goes after men. The Muzzle is constantly active and cleans itself between uses.
The Tray of Tranquility
The Tray only attune to those who identify as women. The Tray of Tranquility can be used once a day and recharges over night. The Tray can determine why a person needs it and can secure a hot meal, a cup of tea and sandwiches, hot chocolate, liqueur of the owner’s choice or any kind of comfort food the owner might need. It also establishes a zone of peace and quiet around itself for one hour or until the owner breaks the zone. Nothing can disturb the zone. Only one person can exist in it.
The Traps
The traps are all related to household work. Below are a few of them outlined. The GM is however encouraged to add more as she sees fit.
The traps only apply to those identifying as men.
The Goblin Nursery
Trying to pick up a treasure springs this trap on the unwary dungeoneer. All of a sudden the treasure us divided among 1D6 goblin babies, old enough to walk and run. Each of the goblin babies run in different directions.
It takes three DC rolls to capture every baby and put them back in their magical crib and regain the treasure. Only the person releasing the babies can trap them. Roll 1 is a DEX DC12 roll, roll 2 is a CON DC 15 and roll 3 is a WIS DC 14 roll.
The Laundry Chute
Trying to reach a treasure springs this trap on the dungeoneer. It is a DEX 15 not to go down the chute.
If the character does land in the laundry room, they have to wash one bag of laundry to the exacting standing of the overseer. In order to do that, they have to succeed with a CON DC10, and INT DC12 and WIS DC14 roll. If they fail any of the rolls the overseer issues a command, and the character is compelled to clean the laundry.
The Dishes
While picking up treasure. A large orc madam approaches the character and drags them off to the kitchen, where they are set to wash the dishes.
They are disarmed and required to wash the dishes to the exacting standards of the orc madam. They will not be released until they have completed 1D10 full set of dishes, which consists of a STR DC 12 roll, a CON DC 15 roll and per set.
How Do I Use This Dungeon?
Any way you please. The intent with the dungeon and the magical items really is to shine a light on how what is seen as women’s work is devalued. I don’t think I’ve actually succeeded, but at least I’ve made somewhat of an effort. We never talk about the women left behind when the men go do their heroics and honestly I think we should.
Leave a Reply