Richten House
At a glance
A beautiful estate hidden beyond the Shroud inside its own small, mist-bound domain. Investigation within established that it was the home of Dr. Rudolph van Richten, whose armory, laboratory, and research remain inside.
Access
- A silver Mist talisman given by Vidic guided the party through the blinding Mists.
- Crossing the Mists led to a cobblestone lane and the border of Richten House’s separate mini-domain.
Areas explored
- Grand foyer and drawing room: Contained a woman in a torn nightgown and an ivory urn marked Ingrid van Richten.
- Dining hall: Contained a chair mimic and strangely dust-free portraits.
- Chapel: Displayed religious objects from many faiths.
- Circular bedroom or study: Held silvered weapons, silver dust, and powerful spell scrolls.
- Upper parlor: Contained a smiling ghost searching for Van Richten.
- Girl’s room: Cobwebbed and haunted by a child clutching a doll.
- Boy’s room: Contained an object engraved “Erasmus.”
- Laboratory: Equipped for herbalism, poisoncraft, and alchemy and filled with monster-hunting literature.
- Blue mourning room: Blue furnishings and stools surrounded a medical-style bed holding an unnamed bandaged undead woman.
- Cellar: Wine storage opened onto a séance chamber with a charcoal pentagram, five groups of candles, and the corpses of earlier adventurers.
- Pantry: Haunted by an angry cook endlessly peeling potatoes.
- Ballroom: Haunted by a red-haired, violet-eyed hunter whose death left Van Richten burdened by guilt.
- Trophy room: Held vampire-hunting equipment and memories of the red-haired hunter’s sacrifice.
- Maid’s room: Haunted by a housekeeper hanging from a noose; yielded supplies for a healer’s kit.
- Circular gallery: Displayed beautiful but disturbing paintings of winged monstrosities and deranged people.
- Battlements: Crowded with ravens, including an unidentified creature that grew to the size of a turkey.
- Orchard: Contained a tall black oak with a stool placed before it near the domain’s misty boundary.
Known dangers
- At least one piece of furniture was a mimic.
- Several ghosts haunt the estate.
- The domain is enclosed by Mists, with ravens circling in the distance.
- Lighting the cellar’s five candle groups summoned a hostile vampire-like creature.
- An unidentified bandaged undead horror rested in the blue room.
- Darkon’s erosion of memory continued during the party’s latest rest here despite the estate’s separation as a mist-bound mini-domain.
Last known condition
The haunted estate remains a refuge and is now confirmed as the company’s inherited home. Van Richten does not intend to return after his final hunt. The company has selected its bastion rooms, but has not yet returned to inspect or operate them. Earlier dangers have not been freshly inspected.
Related story threads
Related sessions
Bastion facilities
Van Richten confirmed the company as his heirs in Session 27. The rookery and séance parlor were offered as options, not automatically granted facilities. In Session 28, the company selected:
| Character | Selected rooms | Purpose established at the table |
|---|---|---|
| Rage | Barracks and Garden | No further operating details established |
| Carver | Arcane Study and Workshop | No further operating details established |
| Ignatius | Séance Parlor and Library | Occult and mundane studies |
No rookery was selected. Staffing, orders, construction timing, and mechanical benefits remain unestablished. The relationship between Ignatius’s selected Séance Parlor and the previously explored cellar séance chamber has not been specified.