DEATH HOUSE DESCRIPTIONS

"There's a monster in the basement, and children in 1. ENTRANCE (PG. 212)

the attic. Two monsters—the Dursts. Elisabeth and
A rusted wrought-iron gate rattles from amidst the mists
Gustav. With open arms they welcome you to the
Death House." that strangle the street. The wind moans like a neglected
child, but all you find within the manor is swollen silence.
FOREWORD
A nyone that's peeked at Death House, the optional
prologue for Curse of Strahd, will notice that,
FOYER
Once the adventurers enter the manor, read:
unlike most modules, the areas lack descriptions, and Ignoring a shiver, you escape the clinging mists and cross
the information is as dry as the nursemaid's bones.
This often leads to the DM reading aloud the the stone portico into the house. A chill hangs in the air.
provided information and possibly giving away Oaken doors stand before you, silent and brooding. You
spoilers ("This room contains a bed, a wardrobe, and find yourself in an immaculate foyer, decorated with
a mirror behind which is a secret—oops!"). With this
handout, you can keep a handy-dandy script at your portraits and heraldries. A family of stony-faced
side. aristocrats watch you with disinterest; the plaque on the
DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR
frame reads "the Dursts" in dull, gold lettering.
THE DEATH HOUSE MODULE; YOU WILL STILL NEED
TO REFER TO THE MODULE. On the southern wall you find a shield emblazoned with
a coat-of-arms: a golden windmill on a red field.
CHANGES MADE TO DEATH HOUSE Mahogany-framed doors lead deeper into the manor.
Because of the lack of interaction with NPCs or
meaningful exploration, I've added a few simple,
optional variants to Death House: 2. MAIN HALL (PG. 212)
• A harpsichord plays from the Conservatory (Area It's almost breathtaking. In the gloom beyond the foyer,
10), heard as soon as the players enter the Main Hall.
• Once the adventurers reach the second floor, Baby the main hall glitters. Its wood-paneled walls are ornately
Walter can be heard crying from Area 15, and a carved with idyllic scenes of frolicking nymphs and
woman seemingly sings to him a lullaby.
satyrs. At one end of the hall, a sweeping red marble
• The ghouls in Area 29 have been scattered across
the dungeon, their guttural snarls echoing throughout staircase climbs to unknown heights; at the other is a
the depths. black marble fireplace, cold and unlit. Mounted above the
These noises add ambiance, and serve to frustrate
mantelshelf is a longsword, a windmill cameo worked
the players, who can never seem to find the source
before it ceases. into its hilt.

APPROACHING THE MANOR THE HARPSICHORD

From the moment the adventurers enter the Main
When the adventurers approach the Durst Manor,
Hall, they hear music from the Conservatory (Area
read the following:
The streets are choked with mist, out from which looms a 10) on the second floor. Read:
Music floats down the stairs—a harpsichord. It's all right.
tall, brick house that's seen better days. The windows are
It starts and stops. Sections are oft repeated, this time with
dark, grimy. The gate trembles in the wind, squealing
gusto. Whomever is playing the instrument clearly is a
softly on its hinges. The neighboring homes have all been
novice.
abandoned, their windows and doors boarded up and left
Once the adventurers are halfway up the stairs to the
for greener pastures. Upper Hall (Area 6), the music stops.
CLOAKROOM PANTRY
When a character inspects 2A, the cloakroom, read: When a character inspects the pantry, read:
You open upon a closet, stocked with several black The pantry is cramped, and well-stocked. Casks labeled
cloaks. Someone's left a top hat on the high shelf. Fancy. as "wheat" and "ale" sit at the far-wall, next to a sack of
old potatoes. There are pouches with dried jerky, nuts,
WALL PANELING
When a character inspects the walls and succeeds on seeds. An entire shelf is devoted to spices, with three
a DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check, read: racks. The Dursts, you notice, are out of salt.
You marvel at the craftsmanship of the ornate walls, but
The food is kept fresh, but stale, by Death House; the
soon realize that that between the nymphs and satyrs lie jerky, as you might guess, is human flesh and chock-
serpents and skulls, all woven into the design. Maybe it's full of protein.
metaphorical. DUMBWAITER
When a character inspects the dumbwaiter, read:
The dumbwaiter yawns before you. Craning your neck
3. DEN OF WOLVES (PG. 212)
upward, you can see that its narrow stone shaft leads
Out from the darkness loom wolves, their snarls frozen
upward to two floors—the hinges on the hatches above
forevermore. A stag's head is mounted above the unlit
gleam in your lamplight. It works, you see, via a simple
fireplace. Fine chairs draped in furs face the hearth, with
rope-and-pulley mechanism. A nest of cables lines the
a cask of wine and a pipe rack on the table between them,
shaft, connecting to a brass bell in the kitchen. The entire
the goblets dry and empty, the candelabrum gleaming in
thing is too cramped for anything but a child to fit into.
your lamplight. The wax has melted over, leaving little
white islands on the table. Cabinets line the walls. In one
darkened corner of the room, a chandelier hangs over a
5. DINING ROOM (PG. 213)
A crystal chandelier glitters above the dining room,
cloth-covered table.
watching over eight empty chairs. The chairs are high-
CABINETS: backed and cushioned with velvet—velvet that matches
When a character inspects the cabinets, read: the silken drapes covering the windows. Like the main
Armed with your lamplight, you squint through the glass-
hall, the walls are ornately carved with elegant images of
paneled cabinets. In one, you find an assortment of wine
deer flitting among ancient trees. The table is set, all
glasses, and a small wooden box. The other is locked,
silverware polished to a dazzling shine.
sporting behind its glass three crossbows: one of heavy
A painting of an alpine vale is mounted above the unlit
oak, one of a lighter frame, and the other shaped to fit into
fireplace. A tapestry depicting nobles hunting wolves
a single hand. Three cases of bolts lean against the frame.
from horseback hangs from the wall. This, you see, is
privilege at its finest. The Durst family lives well and lives
4. KITCHEN AND PANTRY (PG. 213)
large.
The kitchen, gloomy as it might be, is tidy. The shelves
are neatly stocked with dishware. The worktable has been WALL PANELING
wiped clean, a cutting board left behind as the only When a character inspects the walls and succeeds on
a DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check, read:
oversight. The iron pipes of the oven snake out like a
Peering at the wood paneling, you notice twisted faces
willow tree caught in a windstorm, twisting up and into
carved into the tree trunks. Wolves lurk in the shadows,
the ceiling. The door to the pantry hangs ajar, and a
ever-ready to snap at the unsuspecting doe. The circle of
dumbwaiter sits in the corner, its gate yawning open.
life at its finest.
6. UPPER HALL (PG. 213) SHELVED TITLES
A cold draft sweeps down the marble staircase as it Your players are sure to ask what sort of titles can be
found on the shelves. Here are some suggestions. As
delivers you to a darkened hall. Above the mantelpiece noted in the module, all books rot if taken from the
hangs another portrait of the Durst family: Rose and manor.
Thorn smile down on you. Their mother, her face
• Destruction of the Dusk Elves
• Alchemical Secrets Best Left Unknown
darkened with a hint of scorn, cradles a swaddled baby. • Blades of Brass by Walt Whitdwarf
Two mahogany doors are intricately carved with dancing • Ways of the Wildfolk
• Political Theory in Dismal Days
youths. Suits of armor flank these doors, clutching spears,
their gazes empty beneath wolf-shaped visors. A third, 9. SECRET ROOM (PG. 214)
thin door stands to the right of the stairs, which continue The bookshelf swings open, hidden hinges squealing in
climbing upward. the gloom. Dusty shelves line the walls of a cramped
room, packed with tomes decorated only in eldritch runes
WALL PANELING
When a character inspects the walls and succeeds on and ominous symbols. You spot a heavy chest at the end
a DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check, read: of the hall, squatting as if it harbors some coveted secret—
The youths aren't actually dancing you see but fighting off
a secret worth dying for, apparently, if the skeleton in
swarms of bats. Aren't we all?
rotting leathers is any clue to the insidious danger you've
all found yourself in.
7. SERVANTS ROOM (PG. 213)
The room is dusty and undecorated. Two lumpy, straw- BLASPHEMOUS TEXTS
filled mattresses sit on worn out bedframes, from under Your players are sure to ask for the titles of what can
be found on these shelves. Here are some
which footlockers loom. Servants' uniforms hang in an
suggestions. All books rot if taken from the manor.
open closet. The dumbwaiter yawns like a tired youth • In the Light of Osybus
with no knowledge left in his head. • Rituals of the Life-Caller
• Heart of Midnight
• Fantastic Devils and Where to Find Them
8. LIBRARY (PG. 213) • A gnarled tome in Infernal that can be translated as
The library has already been detailed in a true script "Got Ninety-Nine Problems and a Demon Ain't One"
in the Prologue. However, not to be outdone, the
following, alternative text has been written for you, 10. CONSERVATORY (PG. 214)
to save you from turning the page. Read: A harpsichord looms out from the dark, facing a nearby
Here is a place of great study. A wealth of knowledge sits
standing harp. The brass-plated chandelier casts a dull
on floor-to-ceiling bookshelves: weighty tomes of untold
sheen in your lamplight, as if to half-heartedly warn you
worth—novels, treatises, encyclopedias, poetry, histories.
away. The fireplace lies cold, decorated by alabaster
So vast is this library that a rolling ladder is necessary to
figurines of dancers neatly placed on the mantelpiece.
reach the high shelves. An exquisite desk faces the hearth,
Velvet upholstered chairs line the walls for those that
upon the mantelpiece thereof hangs a framed portrait of a
would be serenaded with what would no doubt be
windmill perched atop a rocky crag. Two reading chairs
beautiful music. It's lonely here. A chill hangs in the air.
flank the fireplace, stuffed and lovely and inviting.
THE MANTELPIECE 12. MASTER'S SUITE (PG. 214)
When a character inspects the fireplace, read: You squint at a pair of double doors, paned with stained
Now that you stand near the fireplace, you see that the
glass. Wiping away some of the dust, you can see it
some of the figurines are actually skeletons carved from
depicts windmills. The hinges squeal at your touch,
alabaster. Art makes ascetics out of us all.
revealing a magnificent suite choked with dust and
neglect. A rotting tiger-skin rug lies before the ashen
11. BALCONY (PG. 214)
fireplace, watched over by a wilting portrait of the Durst
The red marble staircase delivers you to its full height: the
parents. The four-poster bed's curtains hang open,
third floor. The air is choked with dust. The walls—
revealing yellowing sheets while the wind rattles a door
carved with autumn woodland scenes—are mounted by
leading out towards a balcony.
unlit oil lamps. An infant's cries cut the silence into
Where are the servants? you can't but wonder, demand,
tattered chunks while a cobwebbed suit of armor stands in
even. Where are the Dursts? How might the first two
eternal vigilance, facing the balcony railing. Facing you.
floors be so immaculate, while the third is such a rotting
THE ARMOR ANIMATED travesty?
If the characters pass within 5 feet of the suit of
animated armor, it attacks. Read: CLOSER INSPECTIONS
Metal scrapes against wood—a fist suddenly seizes you Once a character searches the darkened room, read:
by the hair and slams its offhand into your jaw! You look The wardrobes are empty. Completely empty, everything
about the room and see no other person, only a shifting gone. Not even a single hanger remains. Elisabeth's vanity
suit of armor—and it draws back its scaled fist for another is caked in grime and dust. A greasy jewelry box sits on
blow. the desk. The dumbwaiter yawns half open, the gate
almost stuck in its frame. You find a dusted mirror set
WAILING WALTER
As soon as the adventurers begin ascending to the upon a closet door, and beyond your confused, disgusted
third floor, they hear the cries of baby Walter from expression you see in the reflection only the gloomy
the Nursemaid's Suite (Area 12). Read: neglect of the suite.
It starts slow at first, but soon a baby begins its wailing.
After a few moments, you hear feet on the floor above,
13. BATHROOM (PG. 215)
and a door creaking open.
As written in the Death House module, the pipes in
the bathroom are dry, the cistern empty. Read:
WALL PANELING As you approach this door, you hear water dripping from
When a character inspects the walls and succeeds on
a DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check, read: a spigot. It's the mold that hits you first, assailing your
Between the that autumn decadence, between the trees senses, twisting its tongue down your throat like a rabid
and falling leaves and dancing critters, corpses swing lover. The wooden tub of this bathroom is furry with
from the branches while worms burst from the ground in moss. The hand towels hanging from a rod—once
teeming swarms. This is getting ridiculous. embroidered with golden windmills, you see—are now
tattered rags. You look for the source of water, that slow
thundering, and find that the spigot is dry.
14. STORAGE ROOM (PG. 215) VARIANT: UNDER THE SHROUD
The door creaks open onto a cramped storage closet. Rather than the specter attacking immediately—
surely a deadly fight, this—you can instead trigger it
Rotted sheets and moldy bars of soap sit on the shelves. if the adventurers lift the shroud over Walter's crib.
A cobwebbed broom leans against the far wall. The baby cries until someone does or until after the
specter attacks. It offers one last chance for the
THE BROOM OF UNNECESSARY VITRIOL players to avoid a deadly encounter. If so, read:
When a character enters within 5 feet of the broom You approach the wails of baby Walter, pushing open the
of animated attack, it animates and attacks. Read: door. His dreary nursery is decorated in strange toys—a
As you turn to leave, something tickles the nape of your
mobile of black and white bats, a rocking chair in the
neck. Bristles. Rough bristles. You look back—and freeze
shape of a wolf. A black shroud embroidered in windmills
in shock as a broom rears back, free of any earthly hands,
covers the crib. No woman can be found—perhaps she
and swings at your skull!
left for the balcony—but still Walter cries from his crib.

15. NURSEMAID'S SUITE (PG. 215) THE NURSEMAID'S SPECTER

When a character approaches the suite, read: Whenever or however the characters rouse the
Just as you reach for the door, you pause, craning your specter, read:
You lift the shroud—and nothing's there. The wailing?
ear. The wailing of a newborn echoes throughout the
Gone. The baby? Nowhere to be found, just an empty
suite. A young woman tries to quiet the child, poorly
bundle… And then you hear her on the bed behind you: a
singing a lullaby. Gently, you tease open the door, finding
weeping woman, skeletal-thin, dressed in a soiled, white
no one inside. Instead, the cries come from behind a thin
gown. She looks over her shoulder, hair hanging like
door to your right.
rotted vines. Her face stretches impossibly far into a
"Hush little baby," the woman sings, "don't say a word.
ghastly visage, and she screams! The flesh falls from her
Mama's gonna buy you a Blinsky toy... And if that toy
face in tattered chunks; one leg shifts through the bed, and
don't work... Walter, stop crying. Please, stop crying.
in a single stride her bleeding claws are at your throat!
Morninglord's light, please just stop crying."
Might the gods take pity on the poor fool that's about
When a character enters the suite, they find no to learn the first lesson Curse of Strahd the hard way.
woman, no light, only gloom and neglect. Read:
Cobwebs are everywhere in this room: along the
16. ATTIC HALL (PG. 215)
windows, between the the posts of the bed, stretched
The attic is choked with dust and cobwebs. A padlocked
across the wardrobe. Even the mirror set into the wall is
door stands nearby, from which the sounds of children at
draped in the eerie silk. Stained glass doors lead to the
play float.
balcony you saw from outside, and gloomy, dust-choked
air haunts this place like a distant memory. Walter's wails
17. SPARE BEDROOM (PG. 215)
come from behind a door to your immediate right. The door squeals open onto a spare bedroom choked with
dust. The wardrobe lies open and empty. The desk is
THE MIRROR
If a character inspects the mirror, read: stained red—wine, perhaps?. A rocking chair rocks
The full-length mirror sits in an ornate frame carved in the slightly with the draft you've created, while a doll in a
likeness of ivy and berries. Eyeballs, you notice, are lacy, yellow dress smiles at you. Webs drape her head like
scattered amongst the berries. Fitting. The eyes truly are a wedding veil.
the windows to the soul, aren't they?
18. STORAGE ROOM (PG. 215) THE CHILDREN
The chamber is packed with old furniture draped in If the dollhouse or chest is disturbed, Rose and Thorn
appear. Read:
yellowing sheets—chairs, coat racks, coaches dappled A sudden chill seizes your spine. Two children appear on
with mold, standing mirrors, mannequins that loom out a nearby bed. Rose and Thorn. Cradling her little brother,
from the shadows like forgotten widows and witnesses to Rose scowls and asks, "Are you here to play with us?
ruin. A wooden trunk sits nearby, its cover slightly ajar.
21. SECRET STAIRS (PG. 217)
THE NURSEMAID'S SPECTER Once the characters have met the requirements to
If the characters disturb the remains, the nursemaid's materialize the door, and they find it, read:
specter comes a-reaping. Read the following: Where once there was nothing now stands a thick, black
You swing open the trunk and almost recoil at your
door that leads only down into darkness.
newfound treasure: a frail, bleached skeleton, wrapped in
If the characters descend (which they will, because
a bloodstained bedsheet. You hear a rustling sound behind the train's already left the station, let's face it), read:
you. The sheet of a mannequin falling to the ground in a A tight staircase spirals down into darkness between walls
windless room—and in that moment a hand seizes on your of mortared stone. Cobwebs and dust are everywhere, the
wrist! A scream shatters the silence! A woman's face citizens of this cramped passage. Down and down into the
phases through the trunk, her entire body coming through depths you go, the shaft growing tighter and tighter. The
the floor, flesh falling from her bones in tattered chunks! air is stale, even bitter. Just as you can handle it no longer,
just as your lungs are fit to burst, you find yourself before
19. SPARE BEDROOM (PG. 215) an archway that leads to a tunnel of carved earth and cold
You open upon a spare bedroom smothered by cobwebs. stone.
Spiders crawl from the wardrobe in droves to greet their
new visitor.
22. DUNGEON LEVEL ACCESS (PG. 217)
The tunnel forks left and right, both leading into darkness.
And then? Floating out from that utter blackness, from the
20. CHILDREN'S ROOM (PG. 215)
From behind the door float Rose and Thorn's voices. nighted depths? Chanting. Ethereal chanting by a score of

"Rock! Paper! Scissors! Shoot!" little Thorn shouts. The souls, chanting that echoes off of every stone and corner

padlock clinks noisily as you work on its lock, then of this wretched place, rising and falling in intonation, the

clatters to the ground. The children hush as you open the words too distant, too faint to discern, but eerie and

door. The gloom strangles this place. You spot two child- incessant. The chanting caresses you like an old lover, too

sized beds, a toy chest, and a dollhouse—it's a perfect far-gone to be touched, but too close to be forgotten.

replica of the Durst Manor, you realize. What's most

23. FAMILY CRYPTS (PG. 217)
unsettling is that the room's sole window is bricked up— Crypts have been hewn from the earth, some sealed by
that is until you spot the small skeletons dressed in slabs, some left ajar. The dirt and grime is too thick to read
tattered but familiar clothing. The smaller of the two the names engraved upon the slabs, until finally curiosity
cradles a doll as if it alone could've changed the future. gets the best of you.
If a character disturbs the coffin in Elisabeth's crypt
(Area 23D), a swarm of insects surge from the wall, VARIANT: SINGING GHOULS
attacking the heroes who still have yet to cut a break. Instead of a likely-lethal encounter with no chance for the
Groaning, you haul the stone coffin lid from its frame… adventurers to detect, you can instead scatter the ghouls
found in Area 29, letting their guttural, mindless snarls echo
and find nothing but dust and dark air inside. Something
throughout the dungeon. From Area 22, characters can hear
rustles behind the clay wall—crumbled heaps drop to the one ghoul in Area 24 meandering about. Another can be
floor as a teeming mass of insects boil out from the earth. found in Area 25, and the remaining two shamble about in
Area 29. They all can be heard from adjacent areas.

24. CULT INITIATES QTRS. (PG. 218)

Alcoves line this filthy room, each stocked with a moldy 26. HIDDEN SPIKED PIT (PG. 218)
straw pallet. At the end of the hall, a wooden table leans You follow the tunnel, its packed-earth walls crawling
on uneven legs, its surface scratched and stained. A with insects. They seem to move only in between
slender hallway crawling with insects leads to a short set syllables of that eerie chanting.
of stairs. As described in the prologue, a character must
succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check to
VARIANT: SINGING GHOULS notice the trap, lest they fall in. The first character
If you're using the Singing Ghouls variant, also read: that falls takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage plus 2d10
The stench of rot taints the air. Something shuffles about piercing damage.
in one of the nearby alcoves, snarling in a guttural
27. DINING HALL (PG. 218)
language better left unknown by the men of this world.
Long benches flank a scratched, wooden table. Bones
litter the floor like ripped up chunks of carpet. You
25. WELL & CULTIST QTRS. (PG. 218) accidentally kick one, sending it sailing through the
Past curious worms and roaches you go, down the stone-
darkness. The chanting grows louder, ringing off every
carved steps. A bucket hangs atop a well in the center of
edge until finally infesting your teeth like vagrants. You
the room. Alcoves line the walls—no doors, no privacy—
try to get it out of your head, but can't... and find yourself
with moldering straw mattresses and padlocked chests
humming to it instead.
inside.

VARIANT: SINGING GHOULS 28. LARDER (PG. 218)

If you are using the Singing Ghouls variant, one of A grick haunts the larder for some reason, with no
the ghouls is in the well, chanting to itself ("He is the rhyme nor reason as to why it's there. I'm not one to
Ancient. He is the Land") in a guttural language. judge, clearly. Anyway, if a character passes within
Read: 5 feet of it, the beast attacks. Read:
Guttural noises bounce off the stones of the well, ringing Something stirs—wet flesh rasping against dry stone.

out across the room in a rhythm. Something seizes your arm! Something sharp, something

If a character passes within 5 feet of the well, the slimy, and wet and ravenous. A beast with four fanged
ghoul attempts to seize them, making a grappling tentacles for a mouth lunges for you!
check. Read:
Fingers tickle your wrist—then seize onto your arm. From
the black waters a rotted face splits into a fanged, yellow
smile!
29. GHOULISH ENCOUNTER (PG. 218) THE SHADOWS ALIVE
Four ghouls lay in this passageway, ready to make a If the characters touch the statue or take the orb, the
bad day worse for our intrepid, unlucky adventurers. five shadows manifest and attack. Your players will
The air is thick with rot and filth. Your steps sound... probably be slaughtered like defenseless, mewling
sheep, so if you want to give them one last chance to
hollow. Dust chokes the four-way tunnel, harshly boogie back from the edge of ruin, read:
throwing back your lamplight. As you venture further into A foul wind sweeps this place—one by one, shadows
the dark, the earth begins to churn! Rotted limbs burst amass into thin figures, each hissing, shrieking,
from the clay: four corpses shamble toward you, their demanding, "Return the orb! Begone from this place!"
howls rending the nighted depths!
32. HIDDEN TRAPDOOR (PG. 219)
VARIANT: SINGING GHOULS To notice the secret door to this area from Area 31
If you're using the Singing Ghouls variant described requires a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Perception)
above, only two ghouls are present in this area, and check, as noted in the module.
they can be heard with a passive Perception score of Behind the clay-layered door, stairs climb to a cramped
12. Mindless now in their hunger, the ghouls snarl
and shamble throughout the dark. Read: platform from which a ladder ascends... and above it, a
As you creep throughout the dark, the tunnels close in. trapdoor, bolted shut from this side. With an acrid taste in
Dust smothers the crossroads of the passageway. The your throat, you steel yourself, undo the bolt, and throw
stench of rot and filth invades your throat like a would-be open the door. First you notice the paws of a wolf—and
conqueror—and in the distance come echoing guttural you soon realize you're back in the den on the first floor
snarls as foul creatures shamble throughout the depths. of the manor. Curious, since you never spotted even the
hint of a trapdoor earlier.
30. STAIRS DOWN (PG. 218)
Stairs fall before you—and it's in those black depths that 33. CULT LEADERS' DEN (PG. 219)
that wretched chanting comes. The lizard at the back of The chamber is barren but for a rusting chandelier
your throat warns you away, begs you to leave this place... suspended over a table flanked by two high-backed chairs.
but there is only one way but forward. Dare you? The candlesticks standing in the corners of the room have
long since melted away. Two doors lead to nearby halls.
31. DARKLORD'S SHRINE (PG. 218)
Skeletons hang from rusty shackles. The chanting echoes MIMICRY OF A DOOR
dismally in this place. At the far end of the hall stands a Because this place wasn't deadly enough already, a
mimic has made itself into a door. If the characters
painted statue carved in the likeness of a gaunt man
approach the southwestern door (possibly from Area
dressed in a black cloak, his hand on the head of the 31), the mimic attacks the first creature to touch it.
faithful wolf at his side. In his right hand, the statue holds Read:
You reach out for the door—it doesn't budge. You try
a smoky-gray crystal orb that casts a pale sheen across the
again, failing, and when you find that you can't pull away
floor.
your hand is when the panic sets in. The door shivers,
sprouting a pair of glossy eyes and far too many fangs.
Snarling, this, this thing closes its jaws on your arm!
34. CULT LEADERS' QTRS. (PG. 219) 37. PORTCULLIS (PG. 219)
A spacious but dinghy chamber sweeps out before you. A The stairs descend to murky water, ending at a rusty iron
bedroom. The moldy feather mattress rots atop its portcullis. Beyond your reach, you spot the edge of a
bedframe. A wardrobe leans against the earthen wall. At wooden wheel embedded into the wall, and beyond that
the foot of the bed sits a footlocker. lies only darkness. Darkness and chanting: "He is the
Ancient. He is the Land."
MEET THE DURSTS
The lovely hosts have somehow managed to pack
themselves up behind a faux wall of clay, waiting for 38. RITUAL CHAMBER (PG. 219)
the day that Death House lures more fools into its The waters lap hungrily at your ankles, sending ripples
godforsaken halls. When a character takes an object
throughout its black surface. The chanting, that insidious,
from the lockbox, these two ghasts attack. Read:
The footlocker is unlocked, and full of assorted wretched, incessant, unforgiving chanting falls short.
possessions—a cloak, a yellowing leather book, a flask of All's quiet. All. A ledge lines this chamber, overlooking a
strange liquid, four scarlet vials. As you're digging dais that rises from the dark water. Chains suspended
through it, you hear something shift behind you. Nothing from the ceiling swing above a bloodstained altar carved
but the earthen wall. You turn back to your loot, pulling with gruesome depictions of grasping ghouls.
out a chainmail shirt. Then comes the sound again. Just as
"ONE MUST DIE!"
you turn back, the wall crumbles in a great clatter! Two Once a character climbs the dais, the show starts and
ghastly black-robed figures burst from the wall, snarling, death dances around the corner. Read:
You climb the dais. The bloodstained altar stands before
their claws long and yellow! These undead crouch, then
you, whispering its tales to you. Red tales. At the far end
leap forward, shrieking out a dirge—a dirge for you.
of this vile chamber, a mound of refuse—bones,
detritus—molders in a small alcove.
35. RELIQUARY (PG. 219)
Alcoves stocked with grisly trophies line the chamber—a Shivers dance up your spine. It's as if the entire chamber

severed finger, a mummified hand, the shrunken head of awaits you with bated breath... And just as you reach the

a halfling, and more. The chanting has swollen into one final step, an ill wind blows throughout the depths—

great song that shakes the very stones of this wretched thirteen shadowy figures manifest on the ledge, wielding

place, and at last you can discern its lyrics: "He is the black torches that seem to swallow light. Their faces are

Ancient" a legion voice sings, "He is the Land. He is the but voids, and in one great union they chant, "One must

Ancient. He is the Land. He is the Ancient. He is the die! One must die! ONE MUST DIE!"

Land."
LORGHOTH THE DECAYER
If the cult is denied its sacrifice, they awaken the
36. PRISON (PG. 219) shambling mound, Lorghoth the Decayer. I, for one,
A prison yawns before you in a dismal gloom. You almost
think they have it coming.
Disgusted, you turn to leave the altar—the shadowy
even hear the creak of long undisturbed shackles. The
figures hiss, and their cries of ritual sacrifice turn to,
walls and floors are stained a dull red. A macabre trail
"Lorghoth! Lorghoth! We awaken thee, Lorghoth! Rise,
leads to a lone skeleton at the far end of the hall.
Decayer! Rise!" The chamber quivers, shakes! Dust falls
Something gleams on its finger. Something gold.
from the ceiling. The mound of refuses shudders with
newfound life, a teeming mass of vines and decay!
ENDINGS SMOKE
A choice must be made: selflessness or selfishness? The room boils with smoke black as night and poisonous
as a viper's kiss. Pain blooms in your very lungs, your
THE CULT IS APPEASED (PG. 220)
guts. You taste bile at the end of your throat and know that
If the adventurers sacrifice a creature on the altar,
Death House harries them no longer. Read: the End is on Its way.
And just like that... All is quiet. Where once the hall
RATS IN THE WALLS
thundered with cries of ritual sacrifice, there is only
The wall crumbles beneath your strike, brittle as glass!
brooding silence. The blood streams down the altar,
Swarms upon swarms of rats surge out from the walls like
running through the cracks of the dais. The full weight of
arterial blood, gnashing their yellow teeth, squealing
what you've done has yet to be realized—it is instead to
together in one deafening chorus.
manifest in your dreams for months and years to come, to
haunt your every move like a shadow, to rest in your ESCAPING DEATH HOUSE
It's up to you to narrate the party's flight from the
bones like a sickness, never quite excised.
manor. There are too many choices consider, so just
In deafening silence, you and your remaining make it your own. Here's something to start you off:
companions leave this wretched place. The halls are eerily The very manor shakes in rage—bricks fall from the

quiet, but no danger abounds. The spirits that haunt this ceiling in a shower of dust, crashing into the waters, the

place seem... satisfied. Smug, even. The air is thick with dais, sending up plumes of stone shrapnel. You race from

it. As you leave this house of death behind, you know the dungeon, the dark halls pregnant with insects, all

deep in your secret heart that here you'll stay forever. That writhing and twisting in some mute agony unheard by

no matter where you go on this earth, the Death House men. All about you sing the wails of those void-faced

goes with you. spirits, howling their wounded disgust, howling for what
they're owed: you.
THE CULT IS DENIED (PG. 220)
Death House will not be denied its due. Here's SURVIVING DEATH HOUSE
sample text for the traps it lays; refer to pg. 220. Depending on the fortunes of the adventurers, you
might need to play around with this last text:
WINDOWS Death surrounds you. Through those blasphemous halls
You peel back the curtains, and with a mounting horror you run, the wails of the dead chasing you down like rabid
find that the glass has been replaced with brick. Whatever dogs, thundering about in this endless gloom until
spirits haunt this wretched house have no intention of finally—finally—you hurl yourself out from that acursed
letting you leave. manor and into the mist.

DOORS Now, and only now, do you know why the neighboring
Where there were once doors are now slashing scythes, homes are boarded up, abandoned. Only now do you
stained red in the blood of past victims. Doors to understand the full scope of this horror—the debauchery
something new, then. Doors to death. committed in those nighted depths.
You've escaped this house of death... at a cost. Paid in
either blood or sanity or shattered dreams. Will you ever
truly escape the Death House? Or shall it shadow you
from these days and on, forevermore?
WHAT'S NEXT?
The adventurers, surely shell-shocked, some
possibly even dead, are likely to seek that one
universal solace: wine. The streets, they'll notice, are
no longer choked by mist, and at the heart of this
dismal village lies the Blood of the Vine Tavern,
wherein they will meet Ismark Kolyana. That
heartbroken, wretch of a man will turn to them with
pity shining in his dull eyes, and tell them in no
uncertain terms, "Welcome to Barovia."

CURSE OF STRAHD AIDES

Death House Script marks the second campaign aide
I've released for Curse of Strahd. If you're looking
for other ways to make the campaign easier, you can
find my other work on DMs Guild or follow me on
Twitter at @Wyatt_Trull; or contact me via
[email protected].
If you like what I've provided, please leave a rating
or a comment like "This is great" or "Wyatt, you're
handsome!" for these make it easier for me to pump
out more tools for your campaign.

ARTWORK
Credit goes to Enrique Meseguer's Cathedral,
released under the Creative Commons license on
Pixabay.com.

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