Death House Revisited
W
elcome to the realm of Ravenloft! This set of
ideas has been put together to help make a
more terror-filled experience in the Curse of
Strahd bonus feature, the Death House. Every
bone chilling addition written here was used
in my campaign to much success. Enjoy the
screams of your victims...I mean players.
Walter's Tears
If the players explored the house, most likely they have met
each member of the family including Rose and Thorn as well
as their parents Elizabeth and Gustav Durst. However, not
much is said about Gustav's stillborn bastard child Walter.
This section is dedicated to adding more story that relates to
this character.
So for the new story, we add only a few things while leaving
most of it the same. Gustav had an affair with the nursemaid
who gave birth to Walter. Elizabeth was upset and took the
life of the handmaiden stuffing her stabbed body in the attic,
however, this was not it for revenge. She hated that Gustav
had a child even though it was stillborn she still had to make
it worse for him. She decided to use Walter in their cult's
sacrifice.
Letter for Elizabeth
I put this letter in room 27 but It can be placed anywhere
you'd like throughout the house. This letter was written by
one of the cultists letting Elizabeth know that they are ready
for Walter to be sacrificed. This is the first tell to the players
that something is wrong and is a clue for Walter's upcoming
appearance. The following is the note found. Read aloud or
paraphrase it and for the Dungeon Master that prefers to go
all out, create an actual handout for your players to read
from!
Dear Elizabeth
The altar is being prepared for the ritual. We will be ready for
the bastard within the hour.
This letter did make it to Elizabeth, it just ended up back in
the cultist's possession when they died in the room you find
their bodies. The letter can be found with an Intelligence
(Investigation) check DC 10 or a Wisdom (Perception) check
DC 15
Durst's Remorse
When the players reach the Durst's bedroom in the basement
(Room 34) they will meet the parents in the form of Ghasts.
Allow the players to leave unharmed if they proceed to tell the
Dursts that they want to help their children be put to rest.
They should not know about Walter's transformation yet but
if they suspect or are talking about Rose and Thorn, the
Dursts will feel a sort of remorse for killing their children and
will let the players go free if they succeed a Charisma
(Persuasion) check DC 13 or a Charisma (Deception) check
DC 17 if they are dishonest. They will follow the players to
the stairway and watch them walk down to area 35 but will
not follow.
Shambling Flesh Mound
Shambling Flesh Mound
When the cultists demand a sacrifice on the alter, normally
the players would meet a shambling mound when denying
them. However, I reskinned it to be made of flesh with Walter
being the heart inside. The ritual for Walter was a success or
failure depending on whos perspective you are looking
through and the bodies of all the fallen adventures including a
few betraying cultists were killed and used as a fleshy mound.
The statistics are the same as a normal shambling mound
but now when a player is swallowed they see Walter inside
grafted into it. If they stab Walter, they will be thrown up as a
result. Read aloud or paraphrase the introduction to the
monstrosity:
"You deny us a sacrifice? Then we call for Lorghoth the
Decayer, awaken!" In the far corner of the room in the naturally
formed alcove, the water begins to bubble as red-stained flesh
begins to pierce the water's surface. You see one arm reach
out and grab part of the wall and another grab the opposite
side. Dozens more arms begin to pull this massive form out of
its hole and now its large gaping mouth stretching across the
entire body is visible dripping with blood and yellow ooze. You
see faces melded with other bodies with looks of terror as
their arms flail, eyes pierced with pain. As the lumbering
monstrosity barrels towards you it cries out for mommy as a
child would when scared and in horrible pain.
Escape from Horror
The original escape scene in the Death House is pretty short.
In this version, we try to ramp up the intensity as the players
rush for safety outside the house. If the players kill Walter,
then the escape continues as outlined bellow however if they
decided to flee...
Fleeing from Walter
If the players decide to flee, once they leave area 38 run them
through a skill challenge. The players will need to use a skill
they are proficient in to help them move from room to room
through the basement while being chased by Walter. If they
fail, Walter gets closer and closer eventually attacking them
again. It is up to you how hard you make the DC. If you do not
wish to use a skill challenge, just describe to them how
Walter is destroying everything as he chases the players out.
The House Refuses You to Leave
Once the players reach the house level, the House will do
everything in it's power to stop them from leaving. This still
includes some printed material from the Death House itself
and we will rewrite them here. However, there is now a bunch
more new events happening.
Death House Details: You can also skip the table and do it randomly yourself. To
All the windows are bricked up; the bricked-up windows read the table you will need the Death House map. If you roll
and the outer walls are impervious to the partys weapon the same number of the room they are already in, give it a
attacks and damage-dealing spells reroll. There are other ways to escape and that is through the
All the doors are gone, replaced by slashing scythe blades. fireplaces. The fireplaces if the players look hard enough will
A character must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity (Acrobatics) be pitch black inside. If a player enters it, they will teleport to
check to pass through a blade-trapped doorway unscathed. A room 2A. The players will also teleport there if they crawl
character who spends 1 minute studying the blades in a through the doll house wich also has a pitch black portal
particular doorway can try to take advantage of a momentary inside at this point.
gap in their repeating movements and make a DC 15
Intelligence check instead. Failing either check, a character The Main Hall
takes 2d10 slashing damage but manages to pass through the When the players finally reach the main hall, the fire is
doorway. Any creature pushed through a doorway must burning everything and the main stairway falls down with a
succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take the large crash. The difference in this room is that the door to
damage. The blades cant be disarmed. escape is wood and not slashing scythe blades as every other
Every room that contains a fireplace, an oven, or a the
stove is filled with poisonous black smoke. The room is door. When the players break or open this door they will be
heavily obscured, and any creature that starts its turn in the able to go into the room without teleporting, however, this
smoke must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw time the houses' fake version of Rose and Thorn that led the
or take 1d10 poison damage. players into the house in the first place are here guarding the
The interior walls become rotted and brittle. Each 5-foot-
empty door frame to the outside world. They scream at the
section has AC 5 and 5 hit points, and can also, be destroyed players as they attempt to leave
with a successful DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check.
The house at this point is also burning apart. Every wall is
"YOU WILL NOT LEAVE US. YOU WILL STAY HERE FOREVER
OR YOU WILL DIE.
on fire and its becoming hard to breath.
To get past them, they must try to push through. Have the
No Escape player who is leading this push make a Strength (Athletics)
check with no DC. They will push and push against the
A new addition to the escape is that everytime a player leaves House's children but the force will be too strong. The
a room either through the door or by breaking a wall they character will feel the evil energy pushing them back. It is
randomly end up in a new room in the house. Even if the only when other characters join in the push do they break
through and fall out of the house on their backs.
player decides to break the floor underneath them they still
get teleported to a new room. The End
Teleporting Rooms Table When the player's characters are spread out on the front lawn
d20 Room Number of the house they look up to see the house screaming as it
breaks down burning to the ground. Red streaks pierce the
1 3 purple sky if they look up during this time. Briefly, they will
2 15A see hands rise up from the rubble that belongs to Walter if
3 12A
the players did not kill him but are quickly buried by the
rubble falling down. As the fire burns away the sky goes back
4 17 to its normal Barovian gray and the house is just a bunch of
5 10 broken wood and stone in a large pile. However, the Death
House is not defeated for long and when the players return to
6 7A Barovia at the end of their adventure the house has been
7 11 rebuilt ready for another set of adventures to be lured inside...
8 5
Thank you for reading!
9 8
Thank you so much for reading through my additions to the
10 6 Death House. I hope you enjoy and are able to scare your
11 16 players even more than I did! Let me know what you think
12 4A
about this on DMs Guild so I can improve in the future!
-Tahlia Ann Espenscheid
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14 13
15 15B
16 19
17 9
18 Secret Spiral Stairs
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