This folder contains short adventures for the Dungeons & Dragons 5e tabletop role-playing game.
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APPENDIX B | Death House 11 Treasure The crystal orb is worth 25 gp. It can be used as an ar- cane focus but is not magical. 32. Hidden Trapdoor The staircase ends at a landing with a 6-foot-high ceil- ing of close-fitting planks with a wooden trapdoor set into it. The trapdoor is bolted shut from this side and can be pushed open to reveal the den (area 3) above. Development Once the trapdoor has been found and opened, it re- mains available to characters as a way into and out of the dungeon level. 33. Cult Leaders' Den The door in the southwest corner is a mimic in disguise. Any creature that touches the door becomes adhered to the creature, whereupon the mimic attacks. The mimic also attacks if its takes any damage. A chandelier is suspended above a table in the middle of the room. Two high-backed chairs flank the table, which has an empty clay jug and two clay flagons atop it. Iron candlesticks stand in two corners, their candles long since melted away. 34. Cult Leaders' Quarters This room contains a large wood-framed bed with a rotted feather mattress, a wardrobe containing several old robes, a pair of iron candlesticks, and an open crate containing thirty torches and a leather sack with fifteen candles inside it. At the foot of the bed is an unlocked wooden footlocker containing some gear and magic items (see "Treasure" below). Two ghasts (Gustav and Elisabeth Durst) are hidden in cavities behind the earthen walls, marked X on the map; they burst forth and attack if someone removes one or more items from the footlocker. The ghasts wear tattered black robes. Treasure Characters searching the footlocker find a folded cloak of protection, a small wooden coffer (unlocked) con- taining four potions of healing, a chain shirt, a mess kit, a flask of alchemist's fire, a bullseye lantern, a set of thieves' tools, and a spellbook with a yellow leather cover containing the following wizard spells: 1st level: disguise self, identify, mage armor, magic mis- sile, protection from evil and good 2nd level: darkvision, hold person, invisibility, magic weapon These items were taken from adventurers who were drawn into Barovia, captured, and killed by the cult. 35. Reliquary The ghostly chant emanating from area 38 fills this room. Characters can discern a dozen or so voices say- ing, over and over, "He is the Ancient. He is the Land." The cult amassed several "relics" that it used in its rituals. These worthless items are stored in thirteen niches along the walls: • A small, mummified, yellow hand with sharp claws (a goblin's hand) on a loop of rope • A knife carved from a human bone • A dagger with a rat's skull set into the pommel • An 8-inch-diameter varnished orb made from a nothic's eye • An aspergillum carved from bone • A folded cloak made from stitched ghoul skin • A desiccated frog lashed to a stick (could be mistaken for a wand of polymorph) • A bag full of bat guano • A hag's severed finger • A 6-inch-tall wooden figurine of a mummy, its arms crossed over its chest • An iron pendant adorned with a devil's face • The shrunken, shriveled head of a halfling • A small wooden coffer containing a dire wolf's with- ered tongue The southernmost tunnel slopes down at a 20-degree angle into murky water and ends at a rusty portcullis (area 37). 36. Prison The cultists shackled prisoners to the back walls of alcoves here. The prisoners are long gone (their bones litter the floor in area 27), but the rusty shackles remain. Secret Door A secret door in the south wall can be found with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check and pulls open to reveal area 38 beyond. Treasure Hanging on the back wall of the cell marked X on the map is a human skeleton clad in a tattered black robe. The skeleton belongs to a cult member who questioned the cult's blind devotion to Strahd. Characters who search the skeleton find a gold ring (worth 25 gp) on one of its bony fingers. 37. Portcullis This tunnel is blocked by a rusty iron portcullis that can be forcibly lifted with a successful DC 20 Strength (Ath- letics) check. Otherwise, the portcullis can be raised or lowered by turning a wooden wheel half-embedded in the east wall of area 38. (The wheel is beyond the reach of someone east of the portcullis.) The floor around the portcullis is submerged under 2 feet of murky water. 38. Ritual Chamber The cult used to perform rituals in this sunken room. The chanting heard throughout the dungeon originates here, yet when the characters arrive, the dungeon falls silent as the chanting mysteriously stops.