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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Koren" data-source="post: 6856774" data-attributes="member: 6802236">Yep, I'm opening with custom hooks into Ravenloft for each of my player's characters, which will dump them out separately in the woods or around the village as a storm approaches and day is giving way to night, followed by presenting them with the hook for Death House after they unite, but with some changes.  I agree with you on the picture in the book.  I'm replacing the boy with an identical twin sister for Rose (still nicknamed Thorn, short for Thornwalda), who doesn't speak or respond to characters at all, but screams if touched.  My twins will be auburn-haired, pale-skinned, with green eyes and wearing simple gray dresses/cloaks, maybe look a bit old fashioned, but they should seem no stranger than anything else in this strange land.I'm lifting the "kids aren't deceased, but are in a magical sleep/stasis" plot device from the thread:  "challenge: rewrite Death House to avoid a key feature (spoilers)" - search for it - I can't link as I'm a first-time noob poster.I hate the heavy-handed use of the mists, so the party will be free to leave Death House until they find the secret door to the cellar revealed after they wake up the twins).  At that point, the door from the attic back to the third floor slams and is magically sealed by the house, leaving the crawl through the cellar as the only way out.This could lead to the party deciding to forgo the adventure entirely, but such is the danger of a sandbox.  I'd rather have to throw some extra encounters with wolves and zombies at them to get them to the appropriate level than go all deus ex mistica on them at every turn if they don't want to explore the house (cue Eddie Murphy's bit on Haunted houses "Too bad we can't stay, baby").I did some fudging around with some other spots in the adventure to tie into the sleeping girls plot line.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The spectre will make a couple of quick "out of the corner of the eye" appearances) but not attack or reveal herself until someone tries to wake up the kids (she's "keeping them safe...for eternity").  </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If the girls are with the party when they run into the parents' ghasts down below, the mother attempts to grab Rose and move down the stairs and into the ritual chamber (closing the portcullis behind her) in order to sacrifice her to complete the ritual.  Rose wiggles free and runs, giving the party time to follow.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If that fails, one of the characters will have a vision of themselves sacrificing Thorn while Rose intones creepily "She was too broken to live".  I don't expect them to actually go through with it, but it will certainly attract the Dark Powers if someone at my table does! </li> </ul>Also making some cosmetic changes to some of the loot to make it more Ravenlofty.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The cloak of protection has a knife hole and blood stain that returns even if Mending or a similar spell is cast.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Replacing the alchemist's fire with a vial of blood that never coagulates or dries (and refills the next time it's out of sight if dumped out)</li> </ul>Other than that, no major changes.  Assuming they rescue the twins, this should get the party interested in moving on from Barovia to find the girls a home before heading up to knock on the castle front door.  No one in the village will want to take in a couple of 200 year old curse-babies, so Vallaki it will have to be!  Or maybe those nice old ladies at the mill...The story of the twins won't end here.  At some point before the adventure's conclusion, at least one of the two will make a reappearance.</blockquote>

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