20. Children Bedroom

Entries

The door to this room is locked from the outside but can be opened with the Key from the library or Thieves Tool with DC 15 Dex

Sensory & Appearance

This room contains a bricked-up window flanked by two dusty, wood-framed beds sized fr children. Closer to the door is a toy chest with windmills painted on its sides and a dollhouse that's a perfect replica of the dreary edifce in which you stand. These furnishings are draped in cobwebs. Lying in the middle of the floor are two small skeletons wearing tattered but familiar clothing. The smaller of the two cradles a stuffed doll that you also recognize.

Denizens

(The Durst childre, Rose and Thorn, were locked in this room when their parents performed their ceremony and starved to death after their parents were turned to ghasts.)

The skeletons of two children lie in the middle of the floor, plain as day, wearing tattered clothing that the characters instantly recognize as belonging to Rose and Thorn. Thorn's skeleton cradles a stuffed doll.

Contents & Furnishings

There is a toy chest in the southeast corner and a doll house to the southwest. Opening the chest reveals an assortment of stuffed animals and toys. Searching the dollhouse with a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check finds all the secret doors in the house, including the one in the Storage Room containing a spiral staircase

Hazards & Traps

As soon as either the toy chest or dollhouse is disturbed, both Rose and Thorn appear in the room, though now its far more apparent that they are ghosts. The children are still frighten and while Thorn isn't aware he's a ghost, Rose had recently figured it out.

They explain, if asked how they died, that their parents locked them in their room to protect them from the monster but died of starvation. She asks the players for help, because she thinks her mother took her baby brother, Walter, into the basement last. She didn't remember before but now did. She points to the dollhouse to the way to the basement.

During the interaction, Thorn breaks one of the toys and Rose fixes it with the Mend spell. She explains she learned some magic from her father's books and points to her diary. If the players try to leave, the two try to possess one of them, the player can feel that this is not malicious. They are just lonely.

Type

Room, Common, Bedroom

Connected Rooms

• 16. Attic Hall

Ghost

Medium undead, any

Armor Class 11

Hit Points 45 10d8

Speed Hover: 40ft

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STR

7 -2

DEX

13 +1

CON

10 0

INT

10 0

WIS

12 +1

CHA

17 +3

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Damage Resistances acid, fire, lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks

Damage Immunities cold, necrotic, poison

Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11

Languages any languages it knew in life

Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

Ethereal Sight. The ghost can see 60 ft. into the Ethereal Plane when it is on the Material Plane, and vice versa.

Incorporeal Movement. The ghost can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 1d10 force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.

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Actions

Withering Touch. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 17 4d6+3 necrotic damage.

Etherealness. The ghost enters the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, or vice versa. It is visible on the Material Plane while it is in the Border Ethereal, and vice versa, yet it can't affect or be affected by anything on the other plane.

Horrifying Visage. Each non-undead creature within 60 ft. of the ghost that can see it must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. If the save fails by 5 or more, the target also ages 1d4 x 10 years. A frightened target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the frightened condition on itself on a success. If a target's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the target is immune to this ghost's Horrifying Visage for the next 24 hours. The aging effect can be reversed with a greater restoration spell, but only within 24 hours of it occurring.

Possession (Recharge 6). One humanoid that the ghost can see within 5 ft. of it must succeed on a DC 13 Charisma saving throw or be possessed by the ghost; the ghost then disappears, and the target is incapacitated and loses control of its body. The ghost now controls the body but doesn't deprive the target of awareness. The ghost can't be targeted by any attack, spell, or other effect, except ones that turn undead, and it retains its alignment, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and immunity to being charmed and frightened. It otherwise uses the possessed target's statistics, but doesn't gain access to the target's knowledge, class features, or proficiencies.

The possession lasts until the body drops to 0 hit points, the ghost ends it as a bonus action, or the ghost is turned or forced out by an effect like the dispel evil and good spell. When the possession ends, the ghost reappears in an unoccupied space within 5 ft. of the body. The target is immune to this ghost's Possession for 24 hours after succeeding on the saving throw or after the possession ends.