Mad Mary's Townhouse

Running This Location:

• Mary 'Mad' tends to cry so much, she passes out. The hasn't eaten in days and is on the verge of dyeing.
• A Remnant - S.H. Version 2 (DnDBeyond) has took up residence here and is feeding off her sadness, syphoning life from here until she is ultimately dead.
• If the Shade is killed, Mary will not cry as much and will continue to live.
• If kindly approached upstairs, she will talk in a crazed fashion about how Gertruda is gone.
• She doesn't even recognize her other daughter Willa unless the Shade is killed.
• Lancelot will not approach her and curls up on Gertruda's bed.
• Mary gives the players a creepy old doll that belonged to Gertruda.

Outside The House:

The sobbing you hear appears to come from a side street just behind “BILDRATH'S MERCANTILE”.  The sounds flow from a dark, two-story townhouse, about 40’ square.  The exterior of the house is boarded up like most of the houses in this village. Old, moldy wooden planks cover the windows and doors. The crying comes from the upper floor.

• When searching for an entrance, you find an open window with wooden boards peeled off and discarded to the side.
• The sounds of the woman seem to be inconsolable and she does not respond to your calls.

Exploring The House:

1st Floor

You land in an old rotted out kitchen with a hall way leading to a set of stairs. A few rats scurry at your feet into cracks and crevices. Cobwebs and dust line every nook and cranny in this house. Dishes piled up in the sink, furniture soiled and trash overflowing the bins. As you look around the first floor, you see that the blue painted walls are a more muted/grey tone at the base of the stairs. Looking up the stairs, it appears that it is completely devoid of color. A sorrow filled sobbing can be heard coming from the second floor on the left.

2nd Floor

• There are 3 rooms on this floor: Gertruda's Room, Willa's Room & Mary's Room

The crying seems to be coming from the left at the top of the stairs, through a door slightly ajar.

Gertruda's Room

• Mary is in here crying, the Remnant is in this room as well.

Sitting in the middle of the room, a small elderly woman is hunched over wearing old, drab, colorless cloths. Bawling into something clutched deep into her chest that looks like a baby. She doesn't seem to notice you. Suddenly, sadness grips your heart. Each of you give me a CON Save (DC 10).

• If the player's fail their Con save, they begin to shed tears and have disadvantage on their first attack roll.
• If Willa is with the party, she slowly approaches her mother but, Mary doesn't notice her.
• If Willa isn't with the party, she can be found in her room to the right. She isn't crying but, she is in a slight daze.
• Mary can be console by a Cleric/Paladin, Prayers to the Morninglord, or by being held for 5 min by a PC.
• A DC 15 Perception Check will reveal that there is another entity present (the Remnant). 
• Have the players make a CON Save every 1 min with a scaling DC starting at 10+

If Consolidated:

The woman looks up at you, eyes wide as if she is looking deep into your soul.  Unnerved and too scared to move. Her skin shriveled, pale, and malnourished.  She seems weak like she hasn't eaten in days.  

• Mary will give the players a Blinsky Doll that belonged to Gertruda.  Perhaps it will help the players find her? 
• Doll: Malformed thing with a strange leer and a sack cloth dress. It is certainly a crude toy. Frayed tag stitched into the dress. It’s old frail demeaner makes you think it could be over a hundred years old. Its warn tag says: “is no fun, is no Blinksy”

Mary will say a few things if calmed and questioned:

1. My Gertruda… My Gertruda…
2. Gone, gone, GONE…. Taken from me, by the devil strahd!
3. There’s nothing left now, it’s all black.
4. My poor, precious love, oh, how my heart twists and breaks without you.
5. You must find her and bring her back to me, her mother. I cannot live without my Gertruda. These old bones wont hold up this weight much longer.
6. I haven’t seen her in a week, my faith broken, and my heart crushed. She was the last good thing in this world, now gone, gone, gone!
7. The devil has taken her into his house!
8. The castle, too close it watches over us. It’s eyes always on us. Fowl evil place, black….black….
9. There is no light… not anymore…
10. The others are all dead, because we are all damned! This cursed place has broken their bodies....our spirits. 
11. Strahd and his hords of minions, they hunt us, kill us, torture us. 
12. The wolves and the bats beware, beware! They will take you, take you, forever! We have all…..lost…..everything…..

If The Player's Don't Explore This House:

Mary will stumble her way to the Burgomaster's Mansion while the players are inside.  She will bang on the door, beg someone to help her find her daughter and die in the player's hands from malnourishment.  The Remnant has been draining her life force and will move on to the next person in town that has a missing child and begin draining them.

QUESTS: Quest: Rescue Gertruda 

Type

House

Parent Location

Barovia Proper

Owner

Mary 'Mad'