Vacant Snow Castle

Written by Petter Fornes (pellep.itch.io) for the One Page Dungeon Contest 2022
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

A cyclopean castle built of snow. A thousand feet wide and spires a thousand feet tall.
A giant gate of solid ice. There's a gap to crawl through underneath.  8 Spire
No signs of life inside. Is no one home?

Impetus
 The Larson family has gone missing, and a giant trail in the snow leads off from their cabin…
 Far out on the great expanse sits a giant castle made of snow, allegedly housing the magnificent Ice Pearl!
 The snow giants have been seen in the Wood. Their castle must be left unguarded, now is our moment!
 Look there, I can glimpse spires through the whiteout! Thank the Lords, finally shelter from the blizzard.

In the Vacant Snow Castle

 Everything is 10 times larger than the size for humans – describe how furnishings look, not what they are
 Walls constructed of colossal hard-packed snow blocks, doors and furniture forged of solid ice
 Floor carpeted with loose powder snow [falling inflicts d6 damage per 20 ft plummeted, rounded down]
 All doors are too heavy to push open, but they have a foot-high threshold gap
 Pale blue light penetrates the walls, all features in a single room can be discerned
 Frigid temperature, frost mist when breathing
 When moving between locations (), taking one's time or making noise – roll d6:
1 Random encounter – roll d6, see below
2-3 Signs or spoors of random encounter – roll d6, see below

Random encounters [5] THRONE

1 21 snow giants, including King and Queen (60 ft tall shambling beings of compact snow) – Force of Nature ROOM
First time: Giants return, number of giants as room number [#] enter each room (tidying-up, inattentive) [1] ROYAL (600x600 ft)
QUARTER
Next time: Giants in the same room notice PCs, each tries to grab one [DEX save or contained in ice cage]
(150x300 ft)
2-3 Great white bear (giants' pet, hunts vermin) – 14 HP, 18 STR, thick fur [A1], jaws d12 or 2 paws d8 each
2 Lies camouflaged in ambush [when inflicting Critical Damage: drags away the catch for devouring]  5 Throne (3 steps à 10 ft)
3 Toys with its victims [when inflicting Critical Damage: leaves target alone, for now]  6 Ice chest (10 ft tall)
 3 High table
4-6 d6 werewargs (gaunt, cursed men in beast form, terrified of white bear) – 5 HP, d8 long claws or bite  Door (60x90 ft)  Door (25 ft tall)
4 Feral, ravenous 5 Fierce, territorial 6 Wretched, seeking pact
[6] FEASTING
Keyed locations ()  7 Rope HALL
1 Snow cave (2 ft tall dark opening into rudimental den, gnawed bones, droppings, d6 scared werewargs)  Door (60x90 ft)  4 Skin rug [4] GALLERY  Door (150x900 ft)
(360 ft long) (600x300 ft)
2 Long table (5 ft spoons, pickled pikes, blanched whole cabbage heads, 15 ft rowboat with honey wine slush)  Stairs  Stairs
3 High table (foot long silver toothpick [d6 damage, 500 gp], under chair – half-barrel with blood stains) (40 steps à 6 ft)  2 Long table
4 Skin rug (shield-sized azure scales, worn and torn, frost-burns bare skin upon touch) [3000 gp intact]  10 Meat hooks (25 ft tall)
(60 ft above floor)
5 Throne (pocket change – d6 tin plates in each seat [50 gp per piece])
6 Ice chest (freeze-lock, lid weighs 5 tons, mostly empty, 5 ft silver chain [1000 gp], bright red feather)  Double doors (each 60x120 ft)
 9 Tuba
BRIGHT RED FEATHER [magical, red-hot tip, pyrography quill]
 Benches
7 Rope (looped around rail, dangles down to throne room floor, hangs slackly from high up the center spire)
(15 ft tall)
PULLING with the weight of two humans turns ON/OFF brilliant silvery light illuminating rooms [4] and [5]
 11 Shelves
8 Spire (rope mechanism uncovers ceiling hole letting light in through socket with mounted Ice Pearl) (15 ft spacing)  Door  Doorway
ICE PEARL (perfectly crystalline 1 ft diameter sphere) [3000 gp, melts in warm weather] (60x90 ft)
9 Tuba (corroded brass, human-sized) [magical, plays oompah by itself, whimsical temper] [3] KITCHEN
10 Meat hooks (hanging from shelf, solid-frozen musk oxen and mooses, icicle cage with desperate folk) (150x600 ft)
[2] FOYER
ICICLE CAGE (10 ft cube, ice bars, shouts for help, hypothermic Larson family [d6 homesteaders – 5 STR])
 12 Worktop (600x300 ft)
11 Shelves (ice-enshrined capercaillie birds, fifty barley sacks, folded square linen sail)
(30 ft tall)  Gate doors (each 60x240 ft) 1 Snow cave 
12 Worktop (wooden tubs, 60 ft rope with pointy hook, two-handed curved broadsword [d10 damage])