To start with, I absolutely loved the House of Lament when I read through it the first time. It's a great ghost story, heavy on the exploration, with unraveling secrets, compelling characters, and some fun rewards to players. The intro is fantastic, and the body is solid as well.
But, I don't love how it ends. I realize there are 3 stories here, and the same party could run this thing 3 different times, and get 3 different plots out of it. Yet, 2 of them are intimately connected and, honestly, more interesting when told together.
So, here is my rework: the first seance brings in Dalk/Garland. He sets up some deception, playing as an entombed nobleman, and leads them towards the axe. With more exploration, the players are bound to discover some of Mara's dark history, as well as Dalk's. Plenty of ambiguity there as to who-dun-it to make Garland's story believable.
The second seance brings in Mara this time. She denies there ever was a Garland. If the party grabbed the axe, she (prompted or not) identifies it as Dalk's. She makes her own case as the trapped and tormented victim, and sends them after the leaper. More he/she said, but she can show that Dalk was lying thanks to the axe. Removing the leaper will make fighting Dalk easier, plus opening the tower for the hopeful discovery of the armor makes the next seance all the more interesting.
For the third seance, it's back to Dalk/Garland. It runs pretty much the same as the book with one change. If the party has the armor from the top of the tower, which seems likely after killing the leaper, Dalk drops all pretenses, and is particularly irate towards Mara as though she is in the party, demanding she remove the "evil relic", "vile armor", etc. from the room. His final demand is the same, and it still triggers the haunting of the house, and his own release from the alcove.
Mara still provides the usually assistance, and possibly imparts a nice parting gift (living shadow, anyone?). She also drops her third seance request at this point. Yep, I think you should fight both Dalk and Mara, because they're both clearly messed up people who REALLY need put to rest. I would give out level 4 at this point, because Dalk is no joke. I would also highly recommend a long rest, or some magical equivalent ("as the spirit of Mara departs back into the house, you feel rejuvenated"). It likely took some spell slots and hit dice to drop him.
So now it's down to the basement to deal with Mara. This all plays out exactly as her normal story arc does. Using the medallion may not be as essential here as it would be at level 3, but it also shouldn't make this fight trivial. If it does for your party, let Mara swing every other round, or every round but with disadvantage. And maybe some of those tentacles grow back after a round. Also, if you've been having the companions aid the party, this time they feel like staying at the top of the hole while the party descends. You know, general DM stuff.
And that's it! Weave the stories of Mara and Dalk together, since they already are, add a bonus fight to the end, and then let the party walk out of there.
As an aside, I plan to use the house as a base for my party, leaving a shard of amber behind with the power to "jump" the house to other realms with amber sarcophagi that need dealt with. It also ceases to be haunted in my campaign, so dealing with both of the most horrible inhabitants seems appropriate. The chimney witch may stay though. She's.... useful.
Anyways, how have you changed this adventure? Do you like my tweaks, or have recommendations on what you would do?
Can I just say because no one else has - thank you for this, it’s great. I totally agree with you that the narrative and characters are very vague and disconnected. I love the way you give it some narrative drive. Personally, I don’t like Mara’s demands - evict the chimney witch, evict the leaper. They don’t seem pointed enough to me, so I’m going to introduce it with the first seance where she’s going to say “Intruders in my father’s home - evict them all”. At least then there is some sense to the tasks other than just the adventurers “proving themselves”. It’s evict all the intruders: chimney witch, leaper and finally Dalk. I do also feel that there aren’t enough ways for the players to work out the background to the whole Dalk/Mara business (which is pretty elaborate) apart from”oh, the characters have a dream in which…” which is the weakest exposition device ever. Anyhoo, only four years late - thanks for the EXCELLENT tweaks, I will be running with them!
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To start with, I absolutely loved the House of Lament when I read through it the first time. It's a great ghost story, heavy on the exploration, with unraveling secrets, compelling characters, and some fun rewards to players. The intro is fantastic, and the body is solid as well.
But, I don't love how it ends. I realize there are 3 stories here, and the same party could run this thing 3 different times, and get 3 different plots out of it. Yet, 2 of them are intimately connected and, honestly, more interesting when told together.
So, here is my rework: the first seance brings in Dalk/Garland. He sets up some deception, playing as an entombed nobleman, and leads them towards the axe. With more exploration, the players are bound to discover some of Mara's dark history, as well as Dalk's. Plenty of ambiguity there as to who-dun-it to make Garland's story believable.
The second seance brings in Mara this time. She denies there ever was a Garland. If the party grabbed the axe, she (prompted or not) identifies it as Dalk's. She makes her own case as the trapped and tormented victim, and sends them after the leaper. More he/she said, but she can show that Dalk was lying thanks to the axe. Removing the leaper will make fighting Dalk easier, plus opening the tower for the hopeful discovery of the armor makes the next seance all the more interesting.
For the third seance, it's back to Dalk/Garland. It runs pretty much the same as the book with one change. If the party has the armor from the top of the tower, which seems likely after killing the leaper, Dalk drops all pretenses, and is particularly irate towards Mara as though she is in the party, demanding she remove the "evil relic", "vile armor", etc. from the room. His final demand is the same, and it still triggers the haunting of the house, and his own release from the alcove.
Mara still provides the usually assistance, and possibly imparts a nice parting gift (living shadow, anyone?). She also drops her third seance request at this point. Yep, I think you should fight both Dalk and Mara, because they're both clearly messed up people who REALLY need put to rest. I would give out level 4 at this point, because Dalk is no joke. I would also highly recommend a long rest, or some magical equivalent ("as the spirit of Mara departs back into the house, you feel rejuvenated"). It likely took some spell slots and hit dice to drop him.
So now it's down to the basement to deal with Mara. This all plays out exactly as her normal story arc does. Using the medallion may not be as essential here as it would be at level 3, but it also shouldn't make this fight trivial. If it does for your party, let Mara swing every other round, or every round but with disadvantage. And maybe some of those tentacles grow back after a round. Also, if you've been having the companions aid the party, this time they feel like staying at the top of the hole while the party descends. You know, general DM stuff.
And that's it! Weave the stories of Mara and Dalk together, since they already are, add a bonus fight to the end, and then let the party walk out of there.
As an aside, I plan to use the house as a base for my party, leaving a shard of amber behind with the power to "jump" the house to other realms with amber sarcophagi that need dealt with. It also ceases to be haunted in my campaign, so dealing with both of the most horrible inhabitants seems appropriate. The chimney witch may stay though. She's.... useful.
Anyways, how have you changed this adventure? Do you like my tweaks, or have recommendations on what you would do?
Can I just say because no one else has - thank you for this, it’s great. I totally agree with you that the narrative and characters are very vague and disconnected. I love the way you give it some narrative drive. Personally, I don’t like Mara’s demands - evict the chimney witch, evict the leaper. They don’t seem pointed enough to me, so I’m going to introduce it with the first seance where she’s going to say “Intruders in my father’s home - evict them all”. At least then there is some sense to the tasks other than just the adventurers “proving themselves”. It’s evict all the intruders: chimney witch, leaper and finally Dalk. I do also feel that there aren’t enough ways for the players to work out the background to the whole Dalk/Mara business (which is pretty elaborate) apart from”oh, the characters have a dream in which…” which is the weakest exposition device ever. Anyhoo, only four years late - thanks for the EXCELLENT tweaks, I will be running with them!