"...Huge, empty, silent as a church, waiting, as the bat was waiting. And now the cobwebs grow and the dust thickens in here as it does in me--"
--Frank Miller, "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns"

• While exploring an ancient dungeon, the PCs stumble upon an odd find: a room full of cogs and pistons complex machinery beyond imagining. This wondrous thing lies dormant, that is, until they wander too far into its depths. Of its own accord, the monstrous machine comes to life, attempting to guide the PCs away from the vaults it guards with increasingly devious and deadly traps.
• A lone monk has sat in meditation in an abandoned temple atop a mountain for over half his life, and has come to a revelation. The gods hold no sway over the material plane, and there is little reason for most to worship them as they do. When he comes to the city and begins preaching his heretic's gospel, will the PCs protect him from those who would cause him harm, or will they sell out to the powerful churches and end his following before it begins?
• The last paladin of a defunct order was once a stalwart warrior, but he is haunted by the memory of his wife, who his enemies turned into a vampire and he was forced to kill. Now, his wife is back in all her undead glory, and she's tougher than ever. Can the PCs convince him to reveal her weakness and, indirectly, cause her death again?