The Death House, Continued

When we last left our heroes, they were taking a short rest. Remember, in 5e, that means resting for an hour.

Of course, the three high schoolers were absent this weeks. So they were down a warlock, a druid, and a paladin. In other words, they didn't have a tank. Those of you who remembered our Tyranny of Dragons tale will know that this is often bad. Also, the tank was the one who wanted to take the short rest to spend his hit die and regain some hit points.

Still, relaxing in the library, they found an iron key they missed before and had a chance to study some ritual books they found and learned that they were bogus. After the short rest, they  returned to the third floor and explored the last room: a dust covered and cob-webbed chocked bedroom with an attached nursery. They found nothing of value in the bedroom and approached the nursery with trepidation, recalling the mention of a stillborn earlier in the story.

Their caution was founded, when they opened the nursery a spectre of the dead nursemaid, the dead baby's mother, manifested and attacked. Thanks to some high rolls on my part and low rolls for the players, I almost killed Tathora and did kill Ap. In this edition, negative levels have been replaced by reduction to maximum hit points. It is just as threatening at low levels, but a little bit less burdensome at higher levels. Plus, spectres resist almost everything. Ap used Witch Bolt, a handy little damage over time attack spell. Lop used magic missile, and Tathora used Sacred Flame. Force and radiant damage are among the few things spectres don't resist. They aren't hard to hit, and don't have too many hit points, but can hit like bricks when they connect. I improvised a one-time free resurrection involving a bargain with a mysterious entity, and Ap came back to life with a new flaw brought on by long term madness, an optional rule in the DMG.

Checking the crib, they found it...empty. As Poe said, "Darkness there and nothing more."

They finally reached the attic. They found a dust choked spare bedroom, and a dust choked storage room. In the storage room, they found the corpse of the nursemaid, stabbed to death, wrapped in a blanket, and stuffed in a chest. They explored another dusty spare bedroom, then used the iron key to unlock the padlock on the final room: a room filled with children's toys, and toy dead children dressed in familiar clothes, on clutching a familiar stuffed animal. As they began examining the room, the ghosts of Rose and Thorn rose up from their bones and confronted the party. They revealed some final secrets: including the location of the secret door down to the basement. Thorn possessed Lop after the party promised to take the kids with them. Rose wanted to possess Tathora, but she managed to convince the ghost to just follow them instead. They gathered up the kids bones and opened the secret door and descended the twisting wooden spiral stairs down to the basement. This was their first plot milestone, and they leveled-up. Being a Diablo fan, I also granted them the side boon of getting the benefits of a long rest when leveling up.

The basement was carved out of earth, clay and rock, with narrow, twisting corridors. When they arrived the sound of chanting filled the basement. After stepping off the stair, they found a set of family crypts. They left the parents' alone, but laid Rose and Thorn's remains to rest in their crypts, allowing the ghosts to pass on and earning the PCs inspiration. They found a dining hall west of the crypts with a grick lying in ambush in an alcove. They avoided the grick, and took a corridor around the dining hall, where Tathora fell into a spiked pit trap. After pulling her out, they followed another hallway, and were ambushed by ghouls. The adventure called for 4, but with the party short and down a tank, I decided to reduce it to 2. Tathora used Turn Undead to chase away one of them, allowing them to isolate and take out the monsters. Rather than rolling on tables to determine the strength of the turning, the undead targets just make a Wisdom saving throw to avoid being turned. This makes it more powerful and more useful. Of course, this power upgrade is probably why clerics don't get it until 2nd level now. When they followed the turned ghoul to take it out, they found a room with a shrine dedicated to a statue of a pale figure petting a wolf and holding a crystal orb. Getting greedy, Lop grabbed the orb, summoning up some shadows guarding the shrine. We ended on that cliff hanger.

Hopefully, they'll have more of the party present at the next session. They might need a tank.