Death House is an introductory quest
to the Curse of Strahd adventure module. It takes players from levels 1 to level 3
and sets the tone for the gothic horror atmosphere that follows. As written, Death
House is a macabre tale of cult activity, human sacrifice, ritual suffering and
childhood tragedy. If that sounds like fun to you, let's turn it up to 11 and
get ready to traumatize your players. The first thing that we have to do for Death
House is move it outside of the village of Barovia and towards the eastern gate,
more in the wilderness area. We do this because it's more of a remote location,
it lends to the creepy vibe of Death House, and it makes it a lot easier to
get your players in there without railroading them with the closing of the
mists that is written into the module itself. With this being the only bastion
of civilization for miles around and the first one that the players encounter,
they're going to be a lot more willing to walk inside. If they're inside of the
village, they're going to want to explore around and again we don't want to
railroad them by closing off the mists and saying, "You have to go in here." The
second thing that we're going to do is: we're going to stop calling it "Death
House". It's "Durst Manor" from here on out, at
least to your players' faces. If you call it "Death House"... well that's a bit on the
nose, it's gonna put your players on guard, and they may not even want to go
in. And speaking of putting your players on guard, don't ever show your players
pictures of the Durst children that are in the book. It's wonderful artwork—don't
get me wrong—but they look freaking evil. Your players aren't going to trust them,
they're not going to want to follow them into the house, and it's just gonna set
the whole thing up for a bad time. So before I get too far into this, I want to
give a big thanks to MandyMod, DragnaCarta, and all the other Reddit users
that helped compile a bunch of fantastic advice for running Curse of Strahd.
We couldn't have done this without them, and you have all helped us make a better
adventure. Next we're going to change up the Durst family history. In the module
the Dursts are just your typical run-of-the-mill cultists who cook their
victims and serve them to their cult friends. That's all well and good, and it's standard D&D fare, but it's very one-dimensional. We're gonna kick this up
a notch and make them into three-dimensional characters with some
sort of believable—and maybe even relatable—background. We'll change things
up a bit by making Mr. and Mrs. Durst minor nobles landowners and well-to-do
merchants right around the time that Strahd took over Barovia. When Strahd
turned into a vampire and darkness consumed the land, that darkness infected
the Dursts. Mr. Durst became sullen and withdrawn and Mrs. Durst became cold and
obsessed with youth and vanity. Mr. Durst, in search of the light that had left his
life, turned to the childrens' nursemaid Margaret. Their affair ended with
Margaret's pregnancy and the ire of Mrs. Durst. Mrs. Durst, driven mad with
jealousy and vanity turned to the legends of Strahd and his immortality. She
started a cult dedicated to finding the secrets of eternal youth at all costs.
Mr. Durst found himself drawn in and complicit with their dark deeds as they
drew in travelers, neighbors, and strangers to their house and sacrificed
them on the stone altar in the basement of Durst Manor. Nothing ever came of
these vile deeds, however. Week after week, they slaughtered more passers-by only to
be met with silence from the darkness. During each sacrifice the Durst children,
Rose and Thorn, were locked away in their attic bedroom by their parents, only let
out once the cult's activities had been cleaned up. In a world of darkness,
depravity, and vileness, this was at least a genuine act of kindness. Eventually,
the bastard son of Mr. Durst and Margaret was born. Baby Walter, they named
him. This snapped something inside of Mrs. Durst. One night she locked away her
children in their attic bedroom and stole the way to the nursemaid suite
with a knife. There, she murdered Margaret in her sleep. She then took baby Walter
from his crib and took him down to the cellar. She placed the innocent child on
the stone altar. She chanted an unholy prayer into the darkness and sacrificed
the infant. This time her prayers were heard. Norganus,
the finger of oblivion had seen the vile act of Mrs. Durst, and listened to her
prayer. Amused by her desperation and her
wickedness, he deigned to grant the wish of Mrs. Durst and her followers. He
made them immortal by turning them into ghasts and ghouls. Mr. Durst, amidst his
transformation, discovered the heinous deeds of his wife. Driven mad with
despair, he hung himself in the master bedroom. Mrs. Durst and the remaining
cultists were driven insane and quickly lost themselves amidst the catacombs of
the Durst manor cellar. With no one left to check on them or let them out of
their room, Rose and Thorne and sadly expired after several days without food or water.
The story doesn't end here. Through the violence and the depravity of his death,
Walter's spirit did not find rest in that unholiest of places. Instead his spirit
was bound to the remains of the other sacrifices that still remained in the
cellar. Now, instead of a shambling mound, a new horror awaits your players: a Flesh
Mound sits in the deepest part of the Durst Manor with baby Walter at its
heart. You'll find the stat block to this new monster in the description down
below. Now that we've reformed the history of
Death House--AKA Durst Manor--it's time to lure some players inside. With this
version of the house now on the Svalich Road, well outside the village of
Barovia, you can now place Rose and Thorne on the Svalich Road itself, waving down
any passers-by for help. They look distressed and worried and plead
with your players to come and rescue their baby brother from the monster in
the basement. Their parents went down there hours ago, they say, and they
haven't returned. They're starting to get worried. Unless your players are vile
beings--which, in that case, they'll fit right in with the rest of Barovia--
they're probably going to rush off to the aid of these children. The children
will, of course, willingly lead them up to the house, but as written are
not going to enter into the house stating that they're far too afraid to
go back inside. As the players approach the house they see three buildings: the
first, of course, being the stately manor house itself looking well-maintained and
clean and pristine, and then on either side they see servants' quarters and a
stable. Both of them ruined and moldering and just fallen into complete disrepair.
This is gonna be the first clue that something is not quite right here. At
this point, let your players go into the house and start exploring. Now, in the
module it states that all of the lights are off and it doesn't look like
anybody's home. Now, in my version of Death House I went ahead and I had all
the fires burning, lights were on, and it looked like people actually lived there.
On the first floor of the house, players are gonna find mainly the dining room
and the den. As they near the dining room, explain to your players that they hear
the sound of laughter and the clinking of silverware. As they enter into the
dining room, however, the sounds immediately stop the dining room is
empty save for a feast laid out on the table. If any of your players partake in
the food that's on the table, have them roll a wisdom saving throw. If they fail,
they gorge themselves and the food returns to its original state of rotten
maggot-infested and just... ew. Any player who ate any of the food will at that
point become poisoned. In the den, everything's pretty much normal except
that when the players aren't looking at the wolves, the wolves move around. Now, the
wolves don't attack or anything, at least at this point, and if the players attack
the wolves well they fall apart just like any other stuffed wolf would.
Upstairs on the second floor players will primarily find the library and the
conservatory. In the library they'll find the journal of Mr. Durst. It starts out
normally enough, detailing his trade, his life, and then as the darkness falls over
Barovia, things start to go a little off-kilter. It begins to describe his
despondency and nightmares, and then finally it ends with his
affair with Margaret and the goings-on of the cult. Additionally, one player can
find a special book that perfectly describes their own life right up to the
point of reading said book. Then it describes a monster of darkness creeping
up behind said player and ending in a final page splashed with blood. When
the player turns around, they see nothing. There isn't actually a monster, it's just
the house playing tricks on the players and giving them kind of a really creepy
vibe. But if you want to put a monster in there, go right ahead. In the conservatory,
perceptive players hear a soft whining coming from underneath the harpsichord.
When they look beneath, they find a small white dog, cute as could be, but starving
and emaciated. He's been here for several days and hasn't had any food to
eat. He certainly won't eat what's on the table, because he can probably tell what
it really is. The dog bears the name tag of "Lancelot", but you can go ahead and
name him whatever you want. He belongs to Gertruda, a resident of the village of
Barovia who disappeared about a week ago. Lancelot went looking for Gertruda and
somehow ended up in Death House. He gives the players a contrasting element to the
darkness that is to follow, and he also gives them something to sacrifice in the
altar room later on during the quest's climax. On the third floor of the manor,
players get their first taste of combat in Barovia. The animated armor here
will try its best to push players over the railing so that they fall 30 feet to
the first floor below. After they defeat the animated armor, they are left with
the nursemaid's suite on one side and the master bedroom on the other. There's also
a combat for an animated broom in here, but I recommend dropping that out. It's a
little too silly for the kind of adventure that we're running here. Upon
entering the master suite, players are greeted by the hanging corpse of Mr.
Durst, a suicide note clutched in his fist. Additionally, players will find some
missives from Mrs. Durst that detail her descent into madness, her vanity, her
her own her husband's infidelity, and her dealings with the cult. In the nursemaid's
suite, players find the floating spectral figure of Margaret, the nursemaid. If they
choose to speak to her, Margaret alternates between not knowing
where she is and being very confused and knowing that she is dead, and being very
angry with Mrs. Durst. She never speaks ill of Mr. Durst of the children, however.
If the players choose to investigate the crib that is in the nursery, that's when
Margaret starts to get a little defensive. She tells the players not to
wake her baby, to leave him alone. If the players persist, you as the dungeon
master have a choice to make. You can keep this as a roleplay encounter and
have Margaret disappear, despondent that the players did not listen to her, or you
can have her turn into the spectre that was originally written in the module and
run this as a combat encounter. Up in the attic, the players find a couple of spare
rooms as well as the children's bedroom and a storage room. In the spare rooms,
there isn't much to find except a creepy doll that sits in the corner. Go ahead
and have that start moving around like the wolves in the den ehen the players
aren't looking. It's not gonna actually do anything but creep the players out.
Ehen the players finally get into the children's, room the encounter should go
pretty much as written. Be sure to portray the children for what they are:
children. They're lost, scared, innocent, and lonely. Eventually
the players will investigate the dollhouse and find the secret staircase
down into the basement that's located in the storage room. When the players do go
to the storage room they may also find Margaret's corpse inside of a trunk. If
they've already encountered her in the nursemaid's suite, don't bring her up here--
it's just redundant. Go ahead and just let them head on down to the cellar and
be sure to level them up to level two at this point to prepare them for what's to
come. Down in the basement, most things go pretty much according to
script. Go ahead and add some flavor elements like a logbook in the cultists
quarters that detail the victims and when they died, and how they died, and
stuff like that. In the ghoul hallway, go ahead and tip your players off that
something isn't right by describing an overpowering scent death and decay. If
they go down the hallway anyway, well that's their fault. Over in the Dark
Lord's shrine let's go ahead and ratchet down the difficulty
a little bit with those shadows by describing them as black marks on the
wall themselves surrounding the statue and the orb.
Only if players actually reach for the crystal ball do the shadows become
active, sailing across the walls and the ceiling. At that point, roll for
initiative and bring only a couple of shadows out for each round of combat to
avoid overwhelming the players and having it cascade into a TPK. Speaking of
that orb: if players touch it, describe the entire party as getting a sinking
feeling in their stomach or trickling down their spine. They get an
overwhelming sense of being watched. Strahd sees them now if he hadn't before.
Over in the cult leaders den, go ahead and remove the ghast that represents Mr.
Durst. His body is, of course, up in the master bedroom. Mrs. Durst, however, is
gonna remain right where she's at. As the players are rifling through the chest at
the foot of the bed, well, she pops out of the wall as per
script and then begins berating them verbally. Mrs. Durst is absolutely insane
and vulgar to a fault. She's going to hurl obscenities at the players, and bash
her children, and Mr. Durst, and Margaret, and anybody else. If the players engage
her in conversation and ask her what happened to Walter or what she did to
him, she smiles evilly and invites them to go down to the basement and find out
for themselves. Down on the bottom level of the Durst Manor, players initially
encounter the reliquary. This is an interesting room for Dungeon Masters,
but not so much for players. As written, there's basically thirteen pieces of junk
scattered around the room in the various alcoves, and they don't have anything to
do with the story. Well, I recommend replacing these with items that will
foreshadow the adventure to come. I personally had, like, part of a roc's
feather some, crow claws, a hag's tooth, and some swamp water, among some other things.
Go ahead and think about what you want in this room and go ahead and
put it in there. Don't expect your players to latch onto it too much, but
perceptive players might write it down and then look back on it and go, "Hey whoa
that's really cool." Now, the fun part: the ritual chamber.
Players should be drawn here from the moment they enter into the cellar by
chants from the cultists of, "He is the ancient, He is the land," only now can they
actually understand what these chants are now that they're close enough. Once they
enter the chamber, the chanting stops with a faint trailing echo. Atop stone
altar in the center of the room is a white bundle. If players go to
investigate, they find the white bundle contains a rusty sacrificial knife,
stained red with blood. At this point the shadowy figures of the cultists appear
all around the ritual chamber demanding a sacrifice. "One must die," they say. Your
players have a choice, now. Do they sacrifice one of their own? Do they
refuse? Do they sacrifice the dog that they brought with them? After the players
have made their choice, the portcullis slams shut, the chanting changes. "Come
demon, we awaken thee!" At this point, describe a rolling mass of decay and
filth emerging from the westernmost alcove of the chamber. Thick tendrils of
waste wriggled from it, gripping the walls, pulling itself forward toward the
players. As the enormous thing crawls towards the party, they can see human
remains inside of its putrid body. The Flesh Mound has emerged. The first thing
the Flesh Mound is going to try to do is engulf a player. The affected player is
sucked into the cavity inside the Flesh Mound where they get a clear view of
Baby Walter, crying and afraid. At this point let, them make an Arcana check, DC
15. If they pass, they know how to break this curse: they have to take Baby Walter
out of the Flesh Mound somehow and bury him underneath the hearth (threshold) of the house.
After defeating the Flesh Mound and freeing Walter from its core, the house begins to
fall down around the ears of the players. They'll have to get out before they're
trapped inside forever. Run the escape as a skill challenge. If you don't know how
to do that, check the video above. Players will have to accrue four successes
before three failures. There's a lot to do during the challenge, so I recommend
checking out the full write-up that I've linked down in the description below.
Before you start the challenge, roll initiative. This is going to be basically
your marching order: who runs the fastest, and who runs the slowest. Explain to your
players that if they rack up three failures, the slowest player is going to
be trapped inside. Any failure beyond that is an additional
player trapped inside the house. When your players--or what is left of them--
make it out of the house, grant them level three. If they're still carrying
Walter's corpse with them, they can find shovels that they can use to bury him
inside the stables. If they do bury him, it's up to you as the dungeon master as to
whether or not the players that are trapped inside the house can escape. If
they don't bury Walter, the curse of Durst Manor remains intact. If a player
goes to enter the house again, they find that it has reset itself. It is back in
the original shape, and pristine; all the fires are lighted, the food is on the table,
and any player trapped inside... Is gone. When your players return to the Svalich
Road, they find a singular picnic basket filled with food wine and one
letter. "Welcome to Barovia," it says.
Signed, "Count Strahd von Zarovich".
