22. Death House Dungeon
25C - The footlocker containing the eyepatch contains a cultist’s logbook, bound in grimy black leather. This journal maintains a list of names, physical descriptions, and details of some sort of event. (Don't read =One of the head cultists maintained this logbook as a record of the cult’s victims.)
The second column maintains the physical description of each victim named in the first column, while the third column bears gruesome details describing the sacrifice, such as “Struggled profusely” and “No sedative given.”
28. Larder - The grick in this alcove is coiled on the ceiling, and drops onto its victim when they enter. A DC 17 Wisdom (Perception) check allows a PC to determine its presence before entering. Rather than reptilian, the grick’s skin has been flayed away, rendering its species unrecognizable and its body a pink, fleshy substrate with tendon-like tentacles.
29. Ghoulish Encounter - Either 1 or 2 ghouls appear and attack the party as intended, however as they approach the hallway, inform players that it an overpowering stench of death and decay.” If nothing else, this alerts your players that something dangerous lies down this hall, and potentially prepares them for battle.
As the ghouls are the undead forms of the former cultists, they retain some vestige of their former selves. They mindlessly repeat any or all of the following phrases as they attack the PCs: “Beautiful. We’re so beautiful”; “Nothing can hurt us”; “We are perfect. We are immortal”; and “Help us live forever.”
30. Stairs Down - There is a locked door which can only be opened by a key around Mrs. Durst's neck, located in area 34
31. If you want to have the encounter (depending on PC health), have it so the shadows appear in waves of two and that they are aware that the shadows come from the five ashen spots on the wall. If no combat, inform them that they feel a dark and ancient evil turning its eye on them. In either case A character that approaches the orb can hear many voices whispering: “His gaze burns upon us”; “the Darklord’s eyes are always watching”; and “He is the Ancient; He is the Land.”
33. Cult Leader's Den - Remove the mimic, allow regular door.
34. Cult Leader's Quarters - Only one ghast appears, that being Mrs. Durst. She appears from the portrait when someone takes the items from the chest.
Unlike the ghouls, Mrs. Durst retains the ability of speech. She has retained her memory, but has completely succumbed to her own dark whims. She wears a tattered, once-beautiful red dress, and she wears gold earrings and a golden necklace around her neck. Her lips and gums have gone black with rot, and her smile shines with madness. At this point, she bears only a vague resemblance to her own portrait.
Mrs. Durst has gone completely insane. She is arrogant to an extreme, and shuns her dead husband, calling him a lecherous traitor who deserved his death. She speaks unkindly of Walter and the nursemaid, and writes off Rose and Thorn as “bothersome nuisances.” She is vulgar to a fault, and speaks in a hissing, gurgling voice.
Should the players ask her what she did to Walter, she invites them to descend further into the basement and “see for themselves.
” If reduced to half hitpoints, Mrs. Durst commands the PCs to leave, and defensively backs herself into the corner.
When she is killed, the key to 30 is acquired.
35.Reliquary - Replace some items with: an angelic feather a wooden figurine of a black knight bearing the emblem of a rose severed raven talons a small chunk of amber resin that exudes an evil aura a cracked egg containing the remains of a skeletal infant dragon
36. In the prison cell with the skeleton, a note is found in dried blood. The note says: "I am sorry, I should never have questioned our cause. I should never have questioned the Dread Lord. I am a fool and I shall wrought in darkness forever more"
38. Ritual Chamber - When the PCs enter this chamber, you can inform them that they can see a blanket of mist rolling off of the top of the dais beneath the altar, and specifically draw their attention to its resemblance to the fog outside. This will suggest to them that something about the altar is causing the fog outside. When the ritual is completed, the fog disappears, signalling that the PCs can now escape.
A small, white bundle is visible atop the altar. When approached, it resembles the size and shape of an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes. It instead contains a rusted, serrated dagger painted red with dried blood.
When the Mound is summoned, the cultists chant instead: “Come, demon! We awaken thee!” A small earthquake shakes the foundations of the house above, sifting dirt and dust from the ceiling above.
When the Dark Power accepted Mrs. Durst’s final sacrifice, Walter was transformed into a terrible monster: a vessel for the cult’s hatred, arrogance, and depravity bound within an innocent babe. If the PCs refuse to make the requested sacrifice, the cult is angered, and summons Walter. If the PCs make the requested sacrifice, the cult chants victoriously, and summons Walter anyway. Either way, your players should feel as though they have just made a grave error.
When the Flesh Mound is summoned, the dirty water filling the chamber ripples as something moves beneath the surface. A host of bones, flesh, and disparate body parts come together from the water, collecting into a massive, shifting heap of gore.
During this battle, you may use the modified stat block for the Flesh Mound, which can be found here. While far too powerful for a group of level-2 PCs to defeat, a clever group of PCs can still overcome this monstrosity. Throughout the battle, the Mound will prioritize grappling and engulfing any PCs nearby. At the center of the Flesh Mound sits a small cavity that contains the body of baby Walter: a crying corpse attached to the rest of the mound by dozens of sinuous ligaments bound into three central “cords.”
An engulfed PC can see this infant form from their place within the Mound. The ligaments form a protective “heart” around Walter, which has AC 10 and 5 hitpoints. Destroying the heart causes the entire Flesh Mound to fall apart, leaving behind Walter’s silent corpse.
If you wish to force the PCs to engage with the Mound, consider allowing the cult to shut and lock the portcullis that serves as the room’s main entryway. Do note that this may well cause a TPK. Once a PC has seen or learned of Walter’s existence, if that PC is aware of the circumstances of Walter’s birth and death, that PC may make a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) or DC 15 Intelligence (Religion) check to learn the source of the curse upon Death House. A PC that succeeds on this check learns that the spirit of a murdered infant, unwanted by a parent, can incite a powerful curse upon its household, tormenting its killers and chaining their souls to the place of its death. The only way to remove the curse upon Death House, this PC learns, is to bury Walter’s corpse at sunrise beneath the threshold of the dwelling.
Ending - The House begins to break apart and the PCs must escape using Skill Challenges
Hazards & Traps
Swarm of Centipedes
Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature's space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny centipede. The swarm can't regain hit points or gain temporary hit points.
Actions
Bites. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target in the swarm's space. Hit: 10 4d4 piercing damage, or 6 2d4 piercing damage if the swarm has half of its hit points or fewer. A creature reduced to 0 hit points by the swarm is stable but poisoned for 1 hour, even after regaining hit points, and paralyzed while poisoned in this way.
Ghoul
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 9 2d6+2 piercing damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 2d4+2 slashing damage. If the target is a creature other than an elf or undead, it must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Ghast
Stench. Any creature that starts its turn within 5 ft. of the ghast must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the start of its next turn. On a successful saving throw, the creature is immune to the ghast's Stench for 24 hours.
Turn Defiance. The ghast and any ghouls within 30 ft. of it have advantage on saving throws against effects that turn undead.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 12 2d8+3 piercing damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 2d6+3 slashing damage. If the target is a creature other than an undead, it must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Swarm of Centipedes
Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature's space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny centipede. The swarm can't regain hit points or gain temporary hit points.
Actions
Bites. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target in the swarm's space. Hit: 10 4d4 piercing damage, or 6 2d4 piercing damage if the swarm has half of its hit points or fewer. A creature reduced to 0 hit points by the swarm is stable but poisoned for 1 hour, even after regaining hit points, and paralyzed while poisoned in this way.
Grick
Stone Camouflage. The grick has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in rocky terrain.
Actions
Multiattack. The grick makes one attack with its tentacles. If that attack hits, the grick can make one beak attack against the same target.
Tentacles. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 ( 2d6+2 ) slashing damage.
Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 ( 1d6+2 ) piercing damage.
Flesh Mound (Walter)
Walter's infant corpse lies at the heart of the Flesh Mound, crying and afraid. If engulfed, have the player roll a d4. On a 2 or 4, they see Walter within the flesh and gore. Walter's heart has an AC of 10 and 5 HP. If Heart is reduced to 0, Flesh Mound dissolves and leaves behind the dead corpse of Walter
Actions
Slam Melee Weapon Attack +7, Reach 5 ft, one target Hit: 13 (2d8+4) 2d8+4 bludgeoning damage
When he makes a slam attack and succeeds, it can grapple the target instead of doing damage. The target must exceed on DC Athletics/Acrobatics on its turn to escape grapple
Engulf Melee Attack +0 Hit: 2 (1d4) 1d4 Bludgeoning damage
It engulfs a medium creature it is grappled with. The target is restrained and cant breathe and must succeed on a DC 14 Con save at the start of its turn or take 1d4 damage. When the mound moves, it takes the prisoner with it.
A host of bones, flesh, and disparate body parts come together from the water, collecting into a massive, shifting heap of gore.
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