Hell's House

The GM: Jon

The Characters:

Game System: Dungeons & Dragons

Game Type: Campaign

Synopsis: A hundred and forty-four days after the destruction of Jerryland a new building appeared where the funhouse once stood. An obsidian house of horror. Whatever created the house made no attempt to hide the evil inside. Undead roamed near by towns. Lesser Demons flew through the sky surrounding the house and black smoke, reeking of burning flesh, belched from every window. Nankin started having horrible dreams that the house of hell was a portal into the layers of the Abyss. It had to be closed!

GM Notes: I knew if I gave the dreams to Nankin that he would be forced to investigate (he was LG) and since this was a trap for Kal-el, [Nankin} and Jerry, it worked. The Demon that took over Jerryland wanted it's revenge on Kal-el, Nankin and Jerry. It sent a bunch of minons to the prime material plane to cast Illusions and polymorph themselves into horrible monsters folling the towns folk around that another evil Jerryland like house had been built (this demon was kind of a trickster Demon and didn't like a straight up fight so he went to elaborate plans to trap his victims before dragging them back to the Abyss).

When Kal-al and Nankin arrived at the house they noticed a slightly creepy black painted house of wood. Nothing like what they had heard and nothing like what Nankin had dreamt. When they found Jerry poking around the back door, Kal-el assumed Jerry was responsible. They argued and Jerry attacked, Kal-el ended up killing Jerry with his first blow (this was an accident, Kal-el really didn't mean to kill him). But then Jerry's body morphed into that of it's true demon form. Kal-el and Nankin went into the house to investigate and met (and killed) all sorts of weird, twisted people (The evil butler that tries to posion them, the crazy rabid three legged dogs, the seductress mistress of the house). All of which are polymorphed demons. Eventually they find the real Jerry who had also been investigating the house. They uncover several clues that led them to believe the Demon that had taken over Jerryland had been a child of the Demon Fraz-Urb'luu (Prince of Deception). So the three figured they were all being confused and tricked with Illusions. But disbelieving the spells of a child of the Prince of Deception is not easy. I don't really remember how but eventually, they three escaped the house (probably by killing the Master of the House).

Memorable Moments: There was kind of a touching moment at the end of this story (which was rare when Kal-el was the hero of your stories0. What started in: The Jester War of Perpalon and continued in, Jerryland, ended here. I had planned on bringing Jerry back to pester Kal-el in the future. I ran both those campaigns about a year apart and the third story, several months after, so I figured in another six months or so, Jerry would be back!. But as the last scene played out, I knew I could never bring Jerry back. From my recolaction, it went something like:

Kal-el and Nankin were packing up their horses and almost ready to head south, back to the keep. Jerry was getting fidgety because Kal-el and he hadn't argued much, yet (Kal-el felt really bad when he killed the polymorphed Jerry-Demon and I think had decided to treat the Kender better).

Jerry says, "Um, Kal-el? Aren't you going to beat me up and take the Rag Shield again?"

Kal-el, "Why bother? You'd just steal it back."

Jerry, "But if you're not going to beat me up and I'm not going to steal back the rag shield then...then...well, what's funny about that?"

Kal-el: "I'm not playing games anymore Jerry. Nankin and I are going South. Do you want to come?"

Jerry, shocked says: "You're inviting me? As an ally? I thought you hated me!"

Kal-el: "Nah, you're not so bad. We're leaving now so make up your mind."

Jerry paused for a while then said, "No. No, I think I'll head north then. Off to Pandathaway. The wizards there hate me! It's great!"

Kal-el, "Suit yourself. Farewell."

Jerry, "Farwell."

Kal-el and Nankin went south. Jerry went north. Before they were all out of sight of each other, Kal-el called out to Jerry, "Jerry!" Jerry looked back. Kal-el said, "Take care of my Rag Shield." (At this point a perfect ending occurred to me and so I added...)

Jerry, "Will do. Oh, and Kal-el take care of Billy!" Kal-el assumed Jerry meant Nankin because, as a standing joke, Jerry was never able to pronounce Nankin's name and kept calling him simple names like, Bob or Jon or Jack.

Then Jerry rode off on his horse. Later that night, at camp, Kal-el found a small wrapped bundle tucked away in one of his saddle bags. The word "Billy" was on it. He opened it up and found a magic item. It was the very same magic item that was Kal-el's prized possession for several years until it was destroyed by an acid trap in Jerryland. (I can't remember what the magic item was).

Jerry never returned to pester Kal-el again. But those Pandathaway wizards probably hated him!

:)