[#14] The House that became a Friend
Sometimes the walls really do have ears. And arms. Legs too if you're lucky
A child who’s lost their house is normally a sad affair, however this time the house is literally missing. If the giant footsteps are any indication, it appears in this case the home ran away from the child.
In this session the adventurers have been called in to locate a missing house they are informed was inadvertently enchanted by a child who was trying to make their doll dance. They need to take it down before it does any further damage to the area, and pursue it once located. When the adventurers have immobilised it, they discover it is a mimic colony, and the child who has hired them is another mimic attempting to move in on their territory.
Setting:
This narrative takes place around the Undercity outskirts; which is usually a hive of deadly dance clubs, high octane night markets, and less morals than you can count on one finger. In this narrative though we move towards the suburban areas where families live. If you would like more information on the setting, I go into more detail here (TBA).
We start in the early to mid evening at a point where the streets are empty. The session takes place in the same locale it starts as the house is not able to roam very far.
Story Beats:
Finding a house in this market
Chasing a good deal
Bursting the property’s bubble
Finding a house in this market:
The adventurers have been contacted by a distraught child named Csilla. They were trying to teach themselves the art of enchantment, however instead of carving the symbols onto their doll to make it dance, they misunderstood and carved them into the floor surrounding the doll and causing the house to come to life around them. The authorities just laughed when they tried to report it, and so now the adventurers are their last hope.
If the characters don’t already know each other for this session, then a suggested opening is simply everyone being the only people who responded to a hand drawn job advertisement on a message board.
Arriving at down a street of near identical suburban houses, the adventurers see Csilla holding a stuffed rabbit standing in front of a vacant block, complete with a broken off water pipe spraying water over the exposed foundation, and a crackling electricity wire. She explains they’ve been staying with some relatives while this is fixed, and she hopes the adventurers can convince her house to come home. All they should need to do is erase some of the symbols, and that should be enough.
Locating the house thankfully should not be too much a challenge for most adventuring parties. There are signs indicating which direction the house went, such as giant footsteps impacting the road and broken tree branches every so often. They lead to a house that despite not moving, gives off the same energy as a child caught with their hand in a cookie jar. This house also sits unevenly on top of a pile of debris, like it was dropped from the sky onto an identical house.
Chasing a good deal:
This is indeed the house they adventurers are looking for, and it’s not immediately hostile to their presence, even if they feel like it is watching them. If they so choose, they may take the time to sort out a plan before moving in. When they step onto the front lawn, or any equivalent distance surrounding it, the debris of the original house flares up like makeshift stakes, and garden hoses snake out to ensnare the adventurers who seek to make it return to simply being a regular dwelling.
Baring it metaphorical fangs at the party, the house extends up on two great legs resembling thick tree trunks constructed from wood scraps. If the adventurers aren’t quick enough the house attempts to retreat again, thundering down the street hoping to escape.
As the adventurers pursue it, the house starts ejecting furniture at them in an attempt to slow them down; which they’ll need to avoid if they’re to keep pace. If anyone gets too close, the wooden endings of the house tear limply off and swipe like jellyfish tentacles at adventurers.
In return the adventurers may also attempt to slow it down by attacking the legs, or otherwise throw it off balance causing it to crash into nearby houses. If it manages to out run everyone, then it becomes caught on power lines temporarily paralysing it with a taser like effect.
Bursting the property’s bubble:
Once the house is temporarily subdued, the adventurers may approach it in order to enter and erase the symbols. Drawing close, the house once again lashes out and grabs an individual member, consuming them into the living room. For everyone on the outside attempting to get in, it fights in big slow motions, throwing parts of the local environment and spraying water like a firehose to keep the other members back.
The adventurer inside the house though can see the truth of the matter. Standing on a softer than expected carpet and being attacked by a coffee table, this isn’t an enchanted house but a mimic colony residing unnoticed in this neighbourhood for who knows how long.
Assuming those inside find a way to communicate with those outside, or vice versa, the adventurers should realise they will need to come up with another plan.
Burning the house from the inside and defeating any remaining mimics will in a way solve this dilemma. After facing the reality of the situation though, the house will cease hostilities and attempt to bargain with the adventurers. Lacking vocal cords, it communicates via a crackly radio.
It informs the adventurers they’ve been deceived by another of its kind in a bid for territory. They’ve lived in this neighbourhood for years without harming the residents, hence why no one’s realised its true nature, and this upstart seeks to harm others.
This present the adventurers with a choice:
Side with the house against the upstart “child”
Honour their original mission and slay the house
Honouring their original quest, the house attempts to inundate the adventurers with smaller mimics in order to drown them before they can alight it from the inside. As they fight their way inside, the walls rearrange themselves and shelves attempt to wrap themselves around the adventurers to make them easier prey.
Siding with the house reveals the child to be a mimic, however returning to where they last saw them reveals no trace except for the stuffed toy rabbit. They may explore the area, however still cannot find them. Returning to the mimic colony they will find it as a regular house, still and lifeless. It is at this stage the child mimic will appear to take out near whomever is the most isolated from the everyone else, before scattering into the shadows again to plan another ambush. Understanding that the adventurers likely will not rest, it will continue until either they or it are dead.
Defeating either option will reveal a cache of gold in the house, which is what it was using to pay taxes and other bills over this time, and that the party may graciously take as payment for a job well done.
Assuming they depart quickly as well, they won’t be responsible for cleaning up the house that’s now crashed by the side of the road. It’s not like the neighbours are going to report them to the council for littering.
Although their houses might.
What did you think? Any ideas, feedback, or do you intend to use this in a session? Let me know!
This session was originally written with D&D in mind, and the original prompt for this session was possibly the 2006 film Monster House (I’m not 100% sure to be honest).
Cowritten/Edited with the assistance of Alsanna.