Ages ago, the vicious warlord Dalk Dranzorg ravaged the countryside at the head of a @Bandit army. After conquering the lands of Count Cordon Silvra, he took the lord's fortress, Castle Laventz, as his own.
Months later, the relentless @Knight Mara Silvra received word of her father's defeat. Calling in debts and intimidating mercenaries, Mara forged a small army during her grueling march home. Upon arriving, she expected to find her homeland's nobility ready to rise to her cause, but they'd been cowed and terrified by reports of Dranzorg entombing captives and rivals in his castle's walls. Calling them cowards, Mara drove her troops harshly on, suffering daily ambushes and desertions. When Castle Laventz finally came into view, Mara led less than a dozen irresolute knights. Shouting her frustrations into the night, Mara was answered by a voice from the shadows. This sinister force would give her the power to take back her home and rule her lands, but she would never leave Castle Laventz again. Without hesitation, Mara accepted the arrangement. In the same instant, Dranzorg's troops swept in and took Mara and her knights captive.
Within the castle, Dranzorg showed Mara and her followers the hollow walls where they'd be buried alive. Mara's troops pleaded for their lives. Wickedly, the @Warlord promised to spare them if they watched their leader's entombment and spread the tale of her failure. As they agreed, Mara unleashed her rage with a supernatural, ear-bloodying scream. She slew Dranzorg barehanded and then, taking up his axe, felled the warlord's troops and her own traitorous followers.
Soon after, local @Nobles received invitations to come to Castle Laventz and celebrate Mara's victory. When each aristocrat arrived, though, they discovered they were the sole guests within a crimson-stained castle. Passing judgment on each noble for abandoning her family, Mara bricked them into her castle's walls. Rumors swiftly spread of Mara's vengeance and the castle whose walls cried. Mara was never seen again, and Castle Laventz came to be called the Castle of Lament.
Centuries passed, and Castle Laventz fell to ruins. Eventually, the successful merchant Loren Halvhrest purchased the land. By then, only one of Castle Laventz's towers remained. The frugal Halvhrest incorporated the tower into the construction of a lavish manor for his family. The Halvhrests lived peacefully in their new home for several years before mysteriously vanishing. Those who investigated found no trace of the family but were deeply unsettled by the house. Grim tales rapidly resurfaced, providing the roots for all manner of ghastly tales and a new name for the structure: the @House of Lament.
The characters arrive at the @House of Lament after a mysterious message leads them into @The Mists or after entering a different haunted mansion. At the door, they meet an investigator(s), such as @Triska Stojanovska, who invite them to participate in an exploration of the building. As the party initially surveys the house, it manifests subtle hauntings. The characters are then invited to participate in the first of several séances, allowing them to commune with the spirits of the house.
Depending on the spirit summoned during the séance, the characters learn about one of the tragedies that transpired in the house. Additional séances and discoveries ultimately wake the collective spirits and sinister forces lurking in the manor, trapping the characters inside the house. Escape requires the party to defeat an ageless evil. If they don't, they'll become another group of lost spirits imprisoned within the @House of Lament.
The @House of Lament is a catastrophically haunted structure. It doesn't rush to reveal its terrors, though. Rather, its history, threats, and phantasmal inhabitants reveal themselves gradually and in a variety of ways. Before leading adventurers into the house, be familiarized with the varied ways the house's hauntings manifest.
The @House of Lament is both a domain and a Darklord, a collective of tortured spirits trapped within a single structure. The majority of these shades are nothing more than faint, rageful impressions, but a few powerful personalities remain. These remnants belonged to inhabitants of the house, desperate individuals like Mara Silvra and Dalk Dranzorg. Fractured and angry, the collective spirits within the house brood amid bitter dreams. Yet when strangers enter the domain, the spirits gradually wake, energizing the one instinct they share: to add to the number of souls bound within the house's walls.
The @House of Lament is capable of imposing itself over other lands and can appear in other Domains of Dread. A version of the house stands in western @Borca, and the structure can be accessed there no matter where else it appears. The house travels at the whims of the Dark Powers and might appear and linger for days or years before vanishing.
When the @House of Lament closes the borders of its domain, a powerful thunderstorm surrounds it, bringing with it strong wind and heavy precipitation. Anyone who braves the violent storm discovers that @The Mists surround the house in all directions. The Mists affect those who enter them as detailed in the Featured Domains & The Mists lore article.
A mysterious malevolence lies beneath the @House of Lament. More a force of nature than an individual being, the Entity is a bodiless intellect that nudges those in the domain toward wickedness. As characters explore, use the Entity as a lurking manifestation of the Dark Powers, a vague glimpse of a terror even the house's spirits fear.
When the party enters the house, few menaces initially present themselves. As characters explore, though, spirits gradually stir to life, transforming the house into a supernatural deathtrap. The haunting within the house has two states:
Dormant. When living beings arrive at the house, the haunting is dormant. During this time, the unassuming structure seems typical of an abandoned house. Impressions of past events and subtle, ambient haunts transpire during this time.
Awakened. In the course of the adventure, the activities of the living alert the house's spirits. Once this occurs, the @House of Lament closes the domain's borders, surrounds itself with @The Mists, and conjures a powerful storm. Dangerous haunts occur throughout the house at this time.
The house reveals its full haunting at a dramatic moment. The adventure notes events that wake the house, many surrounding the events of the third séance (see the following Séances section). Use ambient haunts to drive the adventure toward a dramatic scene where it feels appropriate for the house to reveal its full malevolence.
If characters prove especially persistent (or destructive), the house might wake earlier. If this occurs, the adventure's horror takes on a more in-your-face slasher quality, but there's nothing wrong with that—ditch the subtlety and go for wild shocks. Triggers that wake the house early include deliberate damage inflicted by its visitors and entering and then leaving.
After waking, the @House of Lament will not become dormant again for several weeks.
At certain times in the adventure, characters have the opportunity to commune with the @House of Lament's spirits, contacting them directly through a series of séances involving a @Spirit Board. These séances reveal the goals of the house's spirits but also determine the adventure's climax and how the party might ultimately escape the domain. These details are presented here for ease of reference, as the séances occur at multiple points throughout the adventure.
Prior to running a séance, choose or randomly determine which spirit the party will contact. The key spirits, the tone of their communication, and what they fixate upon include:
Dalk Dranzorg. This manipulative murderer wants the party to trust him so they'll free his corpse. He gives his name as "Garland Kordz," an anagram of his actual name.
Mara Silvra. This rageful spirit expresses her anger at traitors and trespassers. She urges characters to find the Amber Cavity, hoping to trade their lives for her freedom from a bargain she made with the Entity.
Theodora Halvhrest. The sorrowful former lady of the house hides the spirits of her children. She's wary of trespassers but sees them as a way to free her children.
Séances reveal the mysteries of the @House of Lament through atmospheric encounters. These events all take place in the house's parlor. Before a séance, consider how to run the encounter and what information it should convey.
Timing. The spirits of the house are willing to be channeled only once per day, so the party must wait until after the following dawn to conduct another séance.
Conducting a Séance. The investigator(s) leads each séance. Narrate the start of the séance and encourage each character to ask a question. As they do, control how the spirits within the house respond. Use the investigator who isn't running the séance to ask basic questions or ease the party into engaging. Provide short, mysterious answers.
Séance Pacing. None of the spirits immediately blurts out their desires. The characters are strangers in the spirits' house, and before the dead accept the trespassers, these spirits try to build a rapport through at least three interactions. More séances may be run as seen fit.
Unanswered Questions. Decide what questions a spirit will or won't answer. If a spirit chooses not to answer a question, they might affect the parlor's lighting or decorations in some ominous but noncommittal way. A character can ask another question if a spirit doesn't answer.
At the end of a séance a spirit might convey an unprompted message that may serve its own goals or grant it peace and a final rest. These messages may lead characters to different parts of the house to achieve a certain task, but are short and vague, often between three to six words, so the directions are not entirely clear.