At a certain point in my table’s upcoming Waterdeep campaign, they are going to earn the deed to a haunted inn / tavern called “The Cloak & Stagger Inn”.
This establishment has fallen into decrepitude, having been closed for decades, and part of the campaign will be them restoring it back to it’s former glory.
The property is also very…VERY…haunted.
We’re talking The Overlook from “The Shining” levels of haunted…and I cannot wait to mess with the players as they discover all the terrible secrets this hotel has to offer.
I’ve got various ideas already loaded up…mimic up the chimney…necrichor in the basement…a ghost who died to “Tasha’s Hideous Laughter” and now wanders the halls…Grazz’t occasionally manifesting in the bathroom mirrors…a walk-in closet with “boneless” hanging from the coat hangers…LOTS of poltergeists…etc.
And I very much welcome any ideas for further spooky mischief inside this wonderfully terrifying inn.
Suggestion; a mirror image.. kind of the inn in the ethereal. Sort of mirror. occasionally the party sees the mirror rather than the regular inn. And images of people.. actually skeletons, and zombies.. but trapped in the ethereal. They actually need to get to the ethereal to clear the monsters that people see.
And all the other creatures have some kind of base.. in the same gothically warped ethereal.
A monster that I really like is the shadow. It's only CR 1/2, but several of them can be a pretty serious threat with the strength drain feature. Characters that have a low strength score will be closer to dying from their attack, and those who have a high strength score will lose their main attack stat. There's no save, it just always happens on a successful hit. Imagine that these shadows lunge in to strike and weaken characters, then fade through cracks in the walls (Amorphous) to haunt them again later. Combine it with anything that needs a strength save, and it could be pretty terrifying.
I mean... if you want to open a world of possibilities, just go full "Monster House" by having the whole tavern be a Mimic. Walls and doors can move, ceilings can drip acid, the halls can giggle menacingly. As the party spends more time in the tavern, the surfaces can grow slimy and flesh-like.
A 4 room side note can seem to become a labyrinthine horror.
I mean... if you want to open a world of possibilities, just go full "Monster House" by having the whole tavern be a Mimic. Walls and doors can move, ceilings can drip acid, the halls can giggle menacingly. As the party spends more time in the tavern, the surfaces can grow slimy and flesh-like.
A 4 room side note can seem to become a labyrinthine horror.
There is a notable “crack” within the basement area, which, with further exploration, leads down into the Underdark / Undermountain.
It is from here an infestation of mimics has slowly crawled their way up to the inn.
Aside from the strangling one up the chimney, there will also be a mimic disguised as one of the beds, a stove, and an armoire…
But I am fully prepared to add more as needed. ; )
An extension which is a charnel house, full of bodies from rolled up adventurers (quite literally, if you want that Tzimisce factor). In the main area of the inn they appear randomly at a seat in front of someone rolling three six sided dice on a table, noting down the numbers. Sometimes the adventurers are outfitted in another room. Sometimes they're not.
Oozes in kegs, ready to be tapped into unsuspecting adventurers' tankards.
Taken from the AD&D adventure The Apocalypse Stone, nail beds could be made to look and feel serviceable, and meat pies could be made from the slain.
Things that aren't there. Have the players roll saves without telling them the result or what for ("no reason" is a genuine answer), and roll your own dice just to put them on edge (it especially helps to give a self-satisfied smirk every now and again).
Borrowing from the Bethesda school of world building for a moment, why is the inn haunted? In your world it wasn't made to be a funhouse side quest for a single adventuring party to participate in. Here's some ideas behind the haunting:
A disaster had killed its inhabitants, who perform their routines unknowingly (or perhaps knowingly, for fear of The Consequences™)
The inhabitants cannot let go of this inn that meant so much to them (genuine affection, or demonic influence and addiction?)
The inhabitants cannot leave until one who told tales of an exotic magical brew has fulfilled their quest to find it (I suggest Yorkshire Tea, myself)
"Indeed, why is it haunted?"
That may serve as some inspiration for the sorts of things that could happen. Was the 'disaster' natural, a bar fight gone horribly wrong, or did a wizard do it? Was there something that kept the people in their cups: a drink that was just too good to give up, or did a wizard do it? And so on.
There's also the question of why hasn't the haunting been dealt with before? Are your adventurers the only ones who stand a chance of clearing it out? Here's further ideas that may lead to inspiration:
The hauntings are recent, or are only perceived by certain people.
Waterdhavian bureaucracy and politicking has pushed land ownership, deeds and the legalities of this matter to the bottom of the pile.
The guards are too scared to go in there. Monsters are one thing, but g-g-g-ghosts?!
The clergy have tried and failed to deal with the presence of undeath... or so they say.
I hope all this helps. I wish you luck in your making of the inn, and spooking your players!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
A coven of hags has taken over the brewing facilities in the basement using them to cook up horrible things
Different haunting depending on the phase of the moon - e.g. they players finally think they are getting to the end of the clearing when full moon strikes and those werewolves return for the monthly feast.
Several guest rooms the are effectively riddles/side quests for the resident ghosts. They can slay the ghost, but next night they are back until that special trinket is passed on, or those remains are found and buried properly.
Animated kitchen with all the flying knives, meat cleavers, etc that goes with it. Crickey, even the oven is trying to eat them!
The impenetrable door at the end of the corridor. When within 40ft there's a strong bright light under the door, and the corridor effectively does a full 360 flip tossing characters about, giving only a brief opportunity to latch onto the smooth door and get inside to find ...something :)
At a certain point in my table’s upcoming Waterdeep campaign, they are going to earn the deed to a haunted inn / tavern called “The Cloak & Stagger Inn”.
This establishment has fallen into decrepitude, having been closed for decades, and part of the campaign will be them restoring it back to it’s former glory.
The property is also very…VERY…haunted.
We’re talking The Overlook from “The Shining” levels of haunted…and I cannot wait to mess with the players as they discover all the terrible secrets this hotel has to offer.
I’ve got various ideas already loaded up…mimic up the chimney…necrichor in the basement…a ghost who died to “Tasha’s Hideous Laughter” and now wanders the halls…Grazz’t occasionally manifesting in the bathroom mirrors…a walk-in closet with “boneless” hanging from the coat hangers…LOTS of poltergeists…etc.
And I very much welcome any ideas for further spooky mischief inside this wonderfully terrifying inn.
Suggestion; a mirror image.. kind of the inn in the ethereal.
Sort of mirror. occasionally the party sees the mirror rather than the regular inn.
And images of people.. actually skeletons, and zombies.. but trapped in the ethereal.
They actually need to get to the ethereal to clear the monsters that people see.
And all the other creatures have some kind of base.. in the same gothically warped ethereal.
Itinerant Deputy Shire-reave Tomas Burrfoot - world walker, Raft-captain, speaker to his dead
Toddy Shelfungus- Rider of the Order of Ill Luck, Speaker to Friends of Friends, and Horribly big nosed
Jarl Archi of Jenisis Glade Fee- Noble Knight of the Dragonborn Goldcrest Clan, Sorcerer of the Noble Investigator;y; Knightly order of the Wolfhound
A monster that I really like is the shadow. It's only CR 1/2, but several of them can be a pretty serious threat with the strength drain feature. Characters that have a low strength score will be closer to dying from their attack, and those who have a high strength score will lose their main attack stat. There's no save, it just always happens on a successful hit. Imagine that these shadows lunge in to strike and weaken characters, then fade through cracks in the walls (Amorphous) to haunt them again later. Combine it with anything that needs a strength save, and it could be pretty terrifying.
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
Not to mention the fact that the shadow of anyone they kill becomes one...
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
I mean... if you want to open a world of possibilities, just go full "Monster House" by having the whole tavern be a Mimic. Walls and doors can move, ceilings can drip acid, the halls can giggle menacingly. As the party spends more time in the tavern, the surfaces can grow slimy and flesh-like.
A 4 room side note can seem to become a labyrinthine horror.
There is a notable “crack” within the basement area, which, with further exploration, leads down into the Underdark / Undermountain.
It is from here an infestation of mimics has slowly crawled their way up to the inn.
Aside from the strangling one up the chimney, there will also be a mimic disguised as one of the beds, a stove, and an armoire…
But I am fully prepared to add more as needed. ; )
Oh, there's got to be a clown, Tony!
Some ideas as to the what could be there:
Borrowing from the Bethesda school of world building for a moment, why is the inn haunted? In your world it wasn't made to be a funhouse side quest for a single adventuring party to participate in. Here's some ideas behind the haunting:
That may serve as some inspiration for the sorts of things that could happen. Was the 'disaster' natural, a bar fight gone horribly wrong, or did a wizard do it? Was there something that kept the people in their cups: a drink that was just too good to give up, or did a wizard do it? And so on.
There's also the question of why hasn't the haunting been dealt with before? Are your adventurers the only ones who stand a chance of clearing it out? Here's further ideas that may lead to inspiration:
I hope all this helps. I wish you luck in your making of the inn, and spooking your players!
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
- The Assemblage of Houses, World of Warcraft
Some additional ideas:
Fair enough.
How about…every time they look out the window, they see a clown standing beneath the lamppost at the entrance to the inn, staring back at them.
Attempts to investigate result in the clown disappearing each time.
But it’s out there…somewhere…