The Faded House is one of those creepy houses everyone has in their neighbourhood somewhere- that one where that guy killed his wife, that one where someone totally saw a dead guy through the window, that one that's been empty for years, and yet somehow the town council haven't gotten around to condemning it. Animals won't even go near the place, no matter how much you drag 'em. And everyone knows that means a place is evil!
And yet... And yet you feel like you should explore it. You feel drawn to this place. Even crossing that picket fence seems to feel a chill on your skin, no matter how many layers you wear. Colours bleach to almost black and white, and your breathing comes just a little faster, with a lump in your throat. Something doesn't want you here, and you've entered the Invisible World, out of step with mundane reality. Those who can Pierce the Veil can sense that the Faded House and its grounds have a strong supernatural aura, concentrated in the windows or whatever parts of the inside of the house can be glimpsed. They can also sense a strong feeling that the House itself is somehow aware of them, as well. While piercing the veil, normal colours and scents can be seen, but they fade again swiftly if someone stops concentrating. The House itself varies in layout- use whatever haunted house layout you can get your hands on. It doesn't always match up to the external dimensions of the building, either. The inside is always dim, and any light sources brought in are unreliable, dimmed, or even unable to function at all. The curtains are nearly always drawn, and the furnishings seem very old - dusty velvet-upholstered lounges, bentwood antique dining chairs, and ancient and heavy oaken doors. The inside of the house seems to drink up sound, leaving each room curiously isolated and heightening the sense of aloneness. The worst feeling seems to come from the attic, or the basement, or the secret room behind the wardrobe in the master room, or that dark stain on the floorboards in front of the fireplace in the ballroom. Piercing the Veil inside the house leads to an immediate sense of overwhelming gloom and a dread attention drawn to the observer, a feeling of lurking and immediately impending doom. Those who continue to concentrate draw the attention of animated shadows that seem to crawl across the floor, defying any natural light direction, and swarm the character (1d4+2 Lesser Shadows). Certain things within the house will give clues as to the identity of the house's owner- the diary of an angry stockbroker who just snapped one day, letters from a hateful dowager determined to choke the joy from her ungrateful descendants, hallucinations of a young mother who shook her little daughter just a shade too hard one day. Interacting with each of these hints is likely to conjure up resentful spirits - a Shadow and a number of Lesser Shadows, which will enact their rage on any creatures nearby. Finding the clues within the Faded House leads to grim understanding of what the master did, and why, then inexorably leads back to the place which has been found- the odd stain, the secret room, the attic staircase or basement door, and finally to the master of the house itself, an embittered spirit sustaining itself on hate and murdered victims, drained of all life energy. This is a Greater Shadow, which first calls up flickering lesser shadows to wear down its foes before descending upon them, to savour their last moments itself. Canny player characters might try to pull aside the curtains and weaken the creature with bright sunlight, reducing its Strength damage to 1d4 points per attack. This reduces its lethality, but still makes it a dangerous foe. With the master of the house's final death, the object anchoring it can be recovered and burnt- the stockbroker's account folder, the dowager's prized jewel necklace, the mother's baby blanket. This fire quickly spreads, even if the object is taken out into the grounds, and the house seems to shudder and spit fire from each of its orifices, quickly collapsing into a smoldering ruin. How you can use this in your game: - Much like one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, a powerful Goetic Spirit (or maybe even an archon, but don't say it too loudly) is strengthening its power by causing a Faded House to come into being. It has manipulated events like dominoes to force a situation, meddling until someone snapped. Breaking this anchor will slow the spirit's plans... hopefully. - A foe or informant has fled into the Faded House to try to hide out from your player characters, desperate to evade them. Can your players find the target before the master devours their soul, and the knowledge they hold, forever? - The Faded House may also play a part in a player character's origin, with the supernatural events that opened their third eye having been caused by surviving the events within. Returning to confront the spirits within could wrap their story up, making it a personal arc rather than as part of the game's overall story arc. Comments are closed.
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AuthorI'm Luke. He/him pronouns. Archives
May 2022
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