A Haunted House (3.5e Quest)

A Haunted House

Intended for four level 8-10 adventurers.

Every city and an most villages should have a Haunted House! In this variant the players try to put a Paladin's remains to peaceful rest by completing the mission he failed.

• Prep Time 1 hour
• Play Time 4-6 hours

Hook

Although this patron obviously already had a few fillings, he insists on raising his tankard to this party of stout heroes (that's you!). Too surprised for a witty response you also take another swig of your drink when he starts to tell his story.

"You surely have seen Dringle's house if you came here from the market place. The one with windows and doors boarded up. It once belonged to Dringle the mage, who was quite a dubious person, but had some reputation as a capable wizard. If you had the guts to ask him, and the money to pay his price, you could get every magic item from him, you better believe this!"

"He earned a fortune from this business, but one day he suddenly didn't open the door anymore. Then strange howling and growling sounds could be heard from inside. People passing in the dusk swore that they saw dark things with glowing red eyes lurking behind the curtains of the windows."

"Jimmy Trusk went inside, to be the hero who cleaned up the mess. And probably to have a look at Dringle's money chests, which still must be in there. They found him the next morning, in the street below one of the upper windows. At least partly, since most of the left side of his body never made it there."

"Then there was this shiny guy passing through, what was his name? Letholdus I think. Or was it Lethalius? Whatever. He went in there, and indeed came out alive, though quite mauled, and his shiny armour splattered with gore all over. After consulting with our Father Sertan from the temple, he ventured in once more, never to be seen again!"

"Nevertheless things settled down a bit after that. It's still an eerie feeling passing the site, even though some lads found the courage to board up everything, to keep inside whatever is in there. If you're bold enough to go there after dark you still can hear moans and muffled screams from inside!"

"Now I bet this would be a challenge for such a glorious group like yours..."

Background

Most citizens in the vicinity can tell the same story, with varying details and elaborations. Probably everyone agrees that there is something very weird about the house, even those who suspect an independent cause of Jimmy Trusk's death, who was a known swaggerer and thug.

Dringle was secretly studying the sinister arts of demon summoning. Though he was quite careful, in one night he was not careful enough. He had created a device which opens a gate to his basement laboratory from any other plane, in case he got stranded in another plane. Jannith, a Babau and one of the demons that were gated in by Dringle, stole that device, without Dringle noticing it. After being back the the Abyss, Jannith decided to pay Dringle a little surprise visit by using the device.

After he took care of Dringle, Jannith set up his lair in the house. He was responsible for the initial strange effects, killed Jimmy Trusk, and may be responsible for a few other mysterious deaths in the vicinity. Every now and then another demon found his way through the gate and Jannith had to fight for his little lair.

Letholdus was sent to the area to investigate the topic, after rumors had spread to a bigger city nearby.

When Letholdus entered the house he was able to kill Jannith in a hard fight. He found Dringle's journal as well as the gate in the basement, and did guess correctly that the device mentioned in the journal is responsible for the gate. He met with Father Sertan of the local temple to discuss the topic and Sertan agreed that, to close the gate, the device has to be brought back to the material plane or it has to be destroyed (or both). Sertan gave his Orb of Demon Blocking to Letholdus as a backup, in case something went wrong.

Letholdus then placed the Orb and ventured through the gate into the Abyss to find the device. But while searching the cave in the Abyss for the device, he instead found a Magic Jar with another Demon imprisoned in it, and got possessed just as he destroyed the jar. Though he managed return to the house, he died there and became the ghost which is the cause of the current unrest.

Father Sertan is a cleric of Merikka and cares for a small temple. He is quite old and will not join in any adventures.

After Letholdus did not return from the house, he asked Merikka for advice and got the order to wait patiently for the arrival of a group of Adventurers, which the deity will send. At least that was how he interpreted the omens.

For the DM

• Dringle indeed was a mid level wizard who did trade in magic items for a living.
• He accidentally allowed a demon to open a gate from the Abbyss to the basement of his house, and met his fate by the claws and teeth of the demons seizing the opportunity.
• Letholdus, a paladin, managed to confine the demons to the basement by the Orb of Demon Blocking, but while trying to close the portal he got possessed by a demon.
• He made it back to the upper level of the house, but as he realized that he was loosing the battle against the demon in his mind he chose to kill himself, just to return as a ghost.
• The demon was placed in a permanent Magic Jar as punishment. It was taking over Letholdus' body just the same moment when the paladin destroyed the demon's jar. This leaves both souls trapped in the body, fighting for control over it.
• Normally both souls would be "killed" if the host's body dies, but a cruel quirk of fate turned Letholdus and the demon into a possessed ghost instead.
• In his ghost form, sometimes he can control himself, then he tries to give hints and warnings to the party. At other times he is incoherent and confused, while most of the time the demon controls him. The demon in turn is desperately wild and will attack anyone viciously.
• Letholdus' soul can be put to rest by closing the portal, in which case the demon's life force will be destroyed.
• As guessed correctly by Letholdus and Sertan, the device must be brought back from the Abyss, or destroyed, to close the portal.

Key to the House

Map

1: Wizard Shop

Dringle earned his living by trading magic items and spell components. This room was where he did receive potential customers.

There are several displays which show some fake magic items (carved sticks with Nystrul's Magic Aura cast on them) and flasks of cheap potions. In the many drawers of the counter most low-cost spell components can be found. Obviously everything which needs to be fresh has spoiled in the meantime.

2: Kitchen and Servant's Room

This was the realm of Belinda, Dringle's cook and housemaid. A cupboard beside the outer door still contains her personal belongings. The dress she was wearing during the day before Jannith's arrival still hangs from a coat hanger on the wall. Her leather pouch containing two keys (one for the kitchen and one for the store's doors) is lying on the cupboard.

Belinda was sleeping on the bench. The rest of the room contains the same things as most other kitchens do: an hearth, cooking utensils, some food and other ingredients, most of which have spoiled in the meantime.

3: Living Room

In this area Dringle had his meals, also less important visitors and suppliers were hosted here. The cupboards and shelves are mainly used to store tableware, one of the closets contains some bottles of exquisite wine, liqueur and brandy.

4: Library and Bodyguard's Room

In better days this room was used by Dringle as his "presentable" library. The books and tomes on the shelves, though valuable and partially magical, were of the sort which would not compromise Dringle as a meddler in Demon's affairs. Important visitors were invited here if Dringle wanted to show off.

This room was also the residence of his bodyguard Gosdan. His bed and private area in the north-eastern corner was hidden from visitors by a folding screen.

On his way to Dringle, Jannith swiftly killed Gosdan before taking care of Dringle himself. Afterwards, when making himself at home in the house, he nailed Gosdan's corpse to the wall beside the door to Dringle's room and destroyed most of the books. At the time the characters enter here, the corpse is reduced to a skeleton, still nailed to the wall.

Jimmy Trusk was ejected from the house through the right window (when facing the southern wall), his skelettonized left arm and leg are still lying in the southwestern corner of the room. Jannith opened the windows before disposing the corpse, so the window itself is still intact.

Letholdus also has found his resting place here, his mummified remain leaning at one of the shelves, still wearing his Breastplate+2 Invulnerability (DR 5/magic). Letholdus' Ghost is linked to the Breastplate. So, while a player can take and use the Brestplate, if Letholdus' soul is not put to rest, the Ghost will reappear every 2d4 days (or more often at your discretion) and attack the new owner of the Breastplate.

The Paladin's weapons, a Longsword+1 Demon Bane and a masterwork Shortsword+1, are also lying here. They are not affected by the Ghost and can be taken away, though this will always provoke the Ghost to attack when present.

Searching through the remains of the books will produce some usable remains, a scroll with Scorching Ray and another one with Rainbow Pattern.

5: Private Room

This has become the final resting place of Dringle, whose remains are still lying on the large bed, with the extremities tied to the bedposts. Blood splattered at the walls and sheets drenched by bodily fluids suggest that Jannith took some time to teach the wretched wizard the risks and downsides of meddling with the dark arts.

Letholdus has placed Dringle's diary back on the table before he ventured into the gate. If the players read it, they can conclude the following information from it:

• Dringle made numerous experiments to summon and gate in demons and devils. Several times he escaped death by a hairbreadth, but he has also managed to force some of them to carry out some tasks, including the killing of one of his adversaries.
• He obviously feared to be stranded on one of the outer planes.
• He has never tested the device himself, but it should enable him to return safely.
• The device can easily be carried in one hand.
• The device has a trigger which opens the gate back to the laboratory if it is on any of the outer planes.
• The device seems to be pretty.

6: Mundane Storage

The players may notice that the stairs are unusually long, descending 30 feet down. This allows the laboratory to be high enough to accommodate large creatures.

Here, Jannith planned to ambush Letholdus, but the Paladin managed to survive and kill the Babau, whose corpse remains here.

The room was the storage for everything mundane: foodstuff which is mostly spoiled now, a barrel containing quite decent wine, a small cask of good brandy, which may be sold for 100 GP, bed sheets and table cloths, extra chairs and pillows and so on.

The door to room 7 is broken in the middle, each of the parts still hanging on one hinge.

7: Magic Storage

This was the room where the more valuable magical merchandise was stored. Lots of broken or bent wands and smashed vials can be identified, which were destroyed by Jannith in a fit of rage. A search of the room reveals one Immovable Rod, which still seems to be intact, when passing a DC 15 check.

Besides the magical items, this room also contains Dringle's treasure chests, standing against the southern wall, still intact though quite a bit scratched. One of them (the left one) contains 2.000 copper coins and 5.000 silver coins. The right one contains 500 platinum coins and 2.500 gold coins, as well as a small bag with 50 gemstones worth 50 coins each (bloodstone, onyx, zircon). Both chests are locked by a mundane DC 25 lock and an Arcane Lock. In addition to that, the more valuable right chest is trapped by Explosive Runes inscribed on a piece of paper covering the coins. All spells have CL 10 (Dispel Magic DC 21).

The door to the laboratory is shattered, the Orb of Demon Blocking is placed in the middle of the passage.

8: Laboratory

This was the secret laboratory Dringle used to further his research. It's ceiling is almost 20 feet high, a big pentagram is painted on the floor in the northern area. A workbench on the southern part of the room was used for alchemical experiments, in the center of the room a big book stand is ready to hold magic books. Jannith has removed everything magical and valuable from the room.

The pentagram was used to confine Demons gated in, but it has to be customized for each specific try. So it's currently for atmosphere only and has no effect on Demons or magic.

The portal to the Abyss is placed near the northern wall, it connects to Jannith's lair in the Abyss. Through the portal a comfortably furnished cave can be seen. When examined from the back side it is transparent.

While the party enters the cellars, a Vrock Demon has just noticed the portal from the abyssal side and is inspecting the room. It has already noticed that it cannot leave the room through the door. It will be eager for a fight with the party and will try to lure it into the laboratory, provoke them to attack, or even convince them to remove the Orb so it can rampage through the city.

Remember that its Stunning Screech and telekinesis abilities will work through the Orb's barrier. The Laboratory is big enough to allow the Vrock to use its talons attack, while it is somewhat restricted in the other rooms of the cellar.

It won't fight to death, preferring to flee through the portal if the situation gets dangerous for him. At your discretion it may return with reinforcements through the portal or to Jannith's Abyssal Lair.

Jannith's Abyssal Lair

Map

This is Jannith's original lair in the Abyss. The portal at the eastern wall connects to Dringle's laboratory.

Though it looks like a natural cave there is some furniture. A carpet, a round table, a padded armchair and a sofa can be seen through the portal. The combination looks a bit random, but not uncomfortable.

The small northern alcove in the wall contains several shards of a red crystal and a bent and broken socket of silver wire. These are the remnants of the magic jar which got destroyed by Letholdus. They are not magical anymore and practically worthless.

Letholdus' Wand of Detect Magic (with 45 charges left) got shoved under the carpet when Letholdus and the demon were fighting for control over the body. It registers a faint aura of Divination to a Detect Magic (Spellcraft DC 15).

In the western part of the cave, the floor is strewn with several skeletons, the remains of other demons who tried to drive Jannith out of his lair. They were left here as a deterrence for other potential competitors. If examined, it is obvious that the creatures were roughly humanoid, but with claws, horns and wings. A passed DC 20 check on Knowledge (The planes) identifies the bones as remains of a Dretch, a Babau and a Succubus.

The cupboard at the southern wall hides an alcove in the wall. If it is removed, a DC 18 Search check reveals that the bricks of the wall behind it are loose and can be removed to allow access to the secret compartment behind it. Beside some gruesome mementos of the late demon, Dringle's device is hidden here. A Detect Magic effect shows the strong Conjuration aura (Spellcraft DC 24) of the device even through the wall and cupboard.

The creepy organ standing against the northern wall shows a weak aura of Conjuration (Creation) to a Detect Magic effect, Spellcraft DC is 17. This results from the magical bellows which allows the instrument to be played. Beside the quite loud music there's no special effect if a character tries to play the instrument. At your discretion, the sound may attract some nearby resident of the Abyss.

To the west there is a short tunnel which exits to a dusty, dirty gray landscape of plains with occasional cragged mountains, under a sky dominated by a huge dark red sun. The tunnel is only about 5 feet wide and less than 10 feet high, which makes is difficult for large creatures to enter the cave and excludes bigger ones. But keep in mind that bigger demons may well be able to rip open the mountain side and get access the hard way if they are angry enough! The cave itself is about 15 feet high so large creatures can act and fight normal once they are inside.

If you want to add some effects for an infernal mood you may roll on this table every 5 rounds:

Random infernal effect

d% Roll	Effect
01-20	No effect
21-40	An earthquake, followed by the sounds of a stone landslide from the outside. If you want to keep the party inside, this is a great way to close off the tunnel.
41-60	An earthquake which pushes up one of the other mountains outside (just in case anyone watches)
61-80	A dust storm emerges outside and blows wisps of dust through the cave entry
81-87	An acid rainstorm emerges, every unprotected creature outside takes 1d4 acid damage per round. Note that the fluid quickly drains away into the dusty ground, without leaving noticeable traces.
88-93	A dry thunderstorm breaks loose. Every round there's a 10% chance per round that someone outside is hit by a lightning causing 6d6 damage (Reflex Save DC 15 for half damage)
94-99	Blood rain starts to fall outside. This is in fact some kind of blood, not just red water. Anyone tasting or drinking it must pass a DC 15 fortitude save or suffer 1d4 points of primary and secondary ability damage (your choice, CON and STR seeming the most plausible, but this is chaos!)
00	A passing demon (your choice) is attracted and checks out the cave

Items

Orb of Demon Blocking

The Orb of Demon Blocking was used by Letholdus to block the passage leading into Dringle's laboratory in the basement. In addition to the protective magic which Dringle cast on the walls of the laboratory it was, at least up to now, enough to confine all visiting tanar'ris to the laboratory.

If you like such games, a demon in the laboratory may try to trick characters into removing the orb so it would be able to escape and wreak havoc on the village. After killing the party, of course.

Note that the Orb's aura will not project through the portal. If placed directly before the portal, a demon cannot enter the portal from the side the Orb is placed. But if one enters from the other side, it will arrive inside the aura, thereby suppressing the aura until the creature leaves the Orb's vicinity.

Dringle's device

This is the key to ending the quest. If it is brought back to Dringle's laboratory (or any other place on the prime material plane), the portal will close. If it is broken anywhere else, the portal will also close.

The DC for dispelling the portal on either end is 26. For story purpose it will re-open automatically after 1d4 rounds, while the device is still in Jannith's Abyssal Lair. Otherwise the owner of the device can re-open the portal by activating the trigger.

If you want to be nice to characters staying behind, or if you want to give a chasing demon a last chance to reach the fleeing party, the portal can flicker for 1d4 rounds before closing ultimately.

I like to imagine the device as a porcelaine Pietà figure of maybe 20 cm height, with the trigger button set into the pedestal. Of course you're free to think of anything else. :-)

The trigger button opens the portal back to Dringle's laboratory, unless the portal is already open. If the portal is closed by bringing the device back to the prime material plane, it can be activated again after being brought to another plane. This is an extremely valuable feature for any person involved in planar travel, such a person will pay 20.000 to 40.000 GP for the device.

Ending the Quest

The quest will be fulfilled if the portal is closed. One way is to return the device back to the prime material plane, for example through the portal. If the device is destroyed in the Abyss, the portal is also closed and Letholdus is released, though the party may be stranded in the Abyss.

NPCs

Letholdus, the ghost

See the page for Letholdus.

Father Sertan

Father Sertan is about 60 years old and a cleric of Merikka. He did a bit of adventuring and military duty in his youth but has long retired. He's now caring for a small temple and the spiritual welfare of the townsfolk. He received the Orb long ago from an party of Adventurers as payment for healing services. Until he met Letholdus and gave it to him, he had never seen any use for it.

Sertan has reached level 6, has the Craft Wand feat and has occasionally sold a wand to Dringle to help finance the temple, though he already suspected Dringle to be of dubious morals. He has created Letholdus' wand of Detect Magic and is willing to assist the party if they make it plausible that they want to close the portal. In fact the latter is quite easy, since Sertan sees the party as Merikka's chosen, fulfilling his prophecy, once they show any interest in the house.

Unless the characters are very rude, Father Sertan will be friendly and try to help, to a reasonable extent, but I imagine him also to be a bit bewildered and elderly. He'll cast spells or create wands for the party at cost price, but will not enter the house himself. He has no specific knowledge about demons or the outer planes, beyond anything common among clerics.

If the party describes the ghost and/or the corpse in area 4, or if they show one of the weapons or the armour to him, he will identify that it seems to be the Paladin. From what he knows about ghosts, he will guess that it will be put to rest only after Letholdus' quest to close the portal is fulfilled.

Dringle

Most useful information about Dringle is already written in the above paragraphs, he was a Wizard of 11th level, his alignment turned from neutral with evil tendencies in the beginning to a sound Neutral Evil in the end.

When targeted for Speak with Dead his remains are quite reluctant (Will Save +6), because Dringle is most of all embarrassed that his security precautions were bypassed.

It does not know how Jannith was able to enter his house. It can describe the device and its function, but is of the opinion that it rests on one of the shelves in the laboratory, covered by a brown piece of cloth.

It very reluctantly agrees that Dringle was summoning and calling demons, preferring to describe this as "magical experiments" or "research activities".

Jannith

Jannith was a Babau demon and was called by Dringle, who used a Gate scroll for this. Dringle quickly lost control over the demon, and the latter tried to attack Dringle in his laboratory. Then he caught a glimpse of Dringle's device resting covered on a shelf in the laboratory and decided to steal the nice item.

He then returned to his home plane, just when Dringle tried a pathetic Dispel Magic spell, so Dringle thought that is was his effort that banned the creature. Shaken by this experience, Dringle decided to finish his session and retire for the day, without noticing the missing device.

Jannith, back in his Abyssal Lair, examined the device closely and after a while found the trigger that opened the portal to Dringle's laboratory. Very pleased with the promise of revenge, he hid the device in his secret closet, and waited for the night to start the events described in the background section above.

If his remains are targeted for Speak with Dead, it will try to resist (Will Save +6) and give evasive and cryptic answers. If opportunity arises, a misleading answer will be the preferred one. Some potential answers may be:

* "Where is the wizards device?": "It is save, back in my home."
* "Where does the portal lead to?": "It leads to the Abyss."
* "Does the portal in the basement lead to your home?": A very reluctant "yes"
* "Where is your home?": "It is hidden deep in the Abyss."
* "How can your home be reached": "Use planar travel to the Abyss and go to the 223rd layer. Search the mountain resembling a snake's head there."
* "How did you go back to your home": "Our kind has means of planar travel" (mentioning his initial retreat from the Laboratory) 

So you get the impression, it should not be easy to get any useful information...

Belinda

Belinda was Dringle's cook and housemaid.

When Jannith entered the house she was sleeping in the kitchen. In fact, the demon passed her, sleeping in her berth, but decided to spare her for later fun, and avoid to alert his primary target.

She woke from Dringle's screams as Jannith started to take care of him, and fled to the street with nothing more than her nightgown, scared senseless. She then was employed as a handmaiden by one of the farmers in the vincinity.

Most citizen, including Father Sertan, know her part of the story and can point the party to her new residence.

Belinda is a simple woman and will be a bit intimidated if questioned by the party. She knows no details of the background story, specifically she knows nothing about Dringle's darker ambitions. But she can provide the layout of ground and upper floor of the house, and the fact that she was strictly forbidden to enter the Magic Storage in the basement. She assumes that this was only because of the valuable, and potentially dangerous magic items stored there. So she knows nothing about the Laboratory.

At your discretion she may mention that occasionally her master insisted on not being disturbed while working in the Magic Storage for many hours. On one such occasion she knocked at the door several times without getting any reaction. Of course she did never try to open the door.

She will steadfastly refuse to enter the house again, though her personal belongings are still in the kitchen. If the characters bring her back her possessions, she will be pleased and kind of flattered.

Gosdan

Gosdan was Dringle's fighter bodyguard. He was killed in his bed by Jannith quite quickly, but his corpse was nailed to the wall of the Library and Bodyguard's Room by Jannith later, who considered this a pleasing adorement to his lair. He was of Lawful Neutral alignment and a Fighter of level 7.

If his corpse is targeted by Speak with Dead it will try to resist if the caster is not of LN alignment (Will Save +1), but if it fails the roll (or the caster is LN), it will be somewhat cooperative.

At the time of his death, Gosdan knew nothing about Dringle's experiments, but had been to his laboratory once. Although he did suspect that Dringle was hiding something from him, he was not smart enough to find out more details. He was loyal to Dringle and will try to avoid answers putting Dringle into a bad light.

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