Session 1: The Sins of Durst Manor

Our story resumes on the third floor of the eerie estate, in the unsettling silence following the party's clash with a suit of animated armor. The air, thick with dust and the weight of years, seemed to shift as the heroes pushed deeper, leaving the pristine illusion of the lower floors behind for a place twisted by time and sorrow.

The Mirror and the Maid

Their exploration led them to a bedroom, elegantly appointed yet choked with cobwebs. A grand, full-length mirror, framed with carved ivy, dominated one wall. It was here the house first showed its true, malignant nature. The adventurers’ reflections wavered, showing them not as they were, but as skeletal, starving versions of themselves. One such reflection turned, looking over its own shoulder at something unseen before vanishing entirely.

In a somewhat reckless act, Getafix shattered the mirror with his quarterstaff. The glass fell away to reveal not a wall, but the clean, unmistakable seam of a secret door. This hidden passage opened onto a narrow, spiraling staircase, leading up into the oppressive darkness of the attic.

Before ascending, they discovered a nursery, where the ghost of a spectral woman appeared. She remained placid until the door to the nursery was opened, at which point her form would darken with rage. After a tense series of experiments—opening and closing the door like a bizarre Looney Tunes sketch—the party deduced her ire was tied to the nursery itself and opted to leave her to her silent vigil.

A Mother's Ghostly Watch
The spectral woman was later identified by the ghostly children as their Nursemaid. Her strange behavior, tied directly to the nursery, hinted at a protective obsession, though the object of her protection remained a mystery.

Phantoms in the Attic

The climb to the attic was a journey into decay. Dust hung in the air so thickly it seemed to swallow the light. Here, another grim secret lay in wait. Behind a locked door, they found a child's room, and within it, the tiny skeletons of two children, dressed in tattered but familiar clothing. Lying with them was a stuffed doll, identical to the one clutched by Thorn, the young boy who had first greeted the party outside.

As the truth dawned, the ghostly figures of Rose and Thorn flickered into existence. They were not lost, but long dead, murdered by their own parents who had locked them in the attic to "protect them from the monster in the basement."

Moved by their plight, two of the adventurers offered the children comfort. The ghosts surged forward, not to attack, but to possess them, desperate to escape their prison.

The Children Within
The two party members became hosts to the spirits, gaining new, troubling flaws:

Guided by the possessed children, the party found another secret: a hidden door in a storage room, revealed by studying a dollhouse that was a perfect replica of the manor. But before they could explore it, they made another horrifying discovery in the same room. Stuffed inside a wooden trunk were the desiccated remains of a woman—the Nursemaid. The moment her body was disturbed, her vengeful spirit appeared, ready for battle. The fight was harrowing, but the party managed to destroy the specter, putting the tormented spirit to rest at last.

A House of Ruin

The mystery deepened as the party explored the rest of the decrepit house. In the master bedroom, they found Gustav Durst, the master of the house, hanging from a noose, a desiccated corpse swinging silently before a faded portrait of himself and his pale, unreadable wife, Elizabeth. A note left on a table spoke of a darkness they had brought upon themselves, an obsession that had led to their damnation.

With the upper floors explored, the party returned to the attic and the secret passage the children had revealed. The spiraling stairs plunged downwards, deep into the earth beneath the house.

The stairs opened into a series of crude tunnels dug from earth and rock. From the moment they arrived, an eerie, incessant chant echoed through the subterranean maze, the words indistinct but the intent malevolent. Their exploration led them to a chamber centered around a deep well. As they lowered the bucket to test its depth, a ghoulish creature surged from the black water, and the party was thrown into a desperate battle for their lives against not one, but three of the creatures.

The session concluded in the bloody aftermath of the fight, with the party battered and wounded, but victorious. The ghouls were defeated, but the ominous chanting from the depths below continued, a promise of the true monster that still awaits.

Session Spoils

From the dusty corners and forgotten chests of the manor, the party claimed a few keepsakes of their grim journey: