Introduction to the House of Stone

This is perhaps the ultimate haunted house!
This adventure can be used anwhere in almost any campaign that allows moderate magic and supports undead and outer planer creatures.

Early History of the House of Stone
The House was constructed about 550 years before the begining of this adventure. Originally, this was just an mansion made of wood and river rock. It was the home of an adventurer named Revelant Ralph who made a tiny kingdom for himself that encoumapsed the area around the river Hooto. He ruled this kingdom for 30 years then passed the lands and the House to his son Rampant.

Rampant was also an adventurer and roamed the lands around his kingdom seeking gold and gems to expand on the mansion his father had left him. During one of these adventurers he discovered an item of vast value. It was discovered at the bottom of one of the deepest lakes in the land (Lake Lateate). It was a live-sized carved human heart. When the item was cleaned of the thick crust of silt, it turned out to be made of purest unflawed ruby. Overjoyed with his discovery, Rampant took the huge gem back to his house, intending to sell it.

But once in the house, the gem began to beat like a real heart. Consulting the local priest, it was found the item was very strongly magical. They didn't suspect that the item was now "alive" and begining it's work of ruin on the family Ralph.

The Origin of the Heart
Originally, the heart was part of a dead god whose name is left for the DM to determine. Long ago, there was a battle among the gods and the dead god lost. Knowing they could not really "kill" the god, they decided to make it as difficult as possible to reassemble him. So, his physical body was cut up into 15 pieces and hidden all over the multi-verse. His soul was also dismembered into 15 parts and each was hidden on a different outer plane. The Heart of the House is one of these parts. The spirit part of the heart is in the Outer Plane of Hell where is suffers perpetual heart ache. It is tortured by the devils for all time. This has turned the heart into an evil thing that seeks to subvert anyone coming into contact with it.

The heart is now a cursed magical item similar to a mithal (a artifact power magic item that affects a very large area). It is in the shape of a heart carved out of a gigantic ruby. The influence of this magical heart is cumulative and it's influence on successive generations is devistating.

The Ralphs Corruption
It began working it's influence on Rampant as soon as he arrived at the House. Rampant never sold it. He began spending hours watching the gem beat finding it beautiful and fascinating. Unknown to him, it was turning his thoughts to evil. Soon this began to affect his behaviour. His rule became brutal, his attitude irritable and his actions violent.

Rampant had two sons. They were the only ones that Rampant would allow to see the heart. They too fell under the influence of the cursed item and turned to evil as well. Rupert became an evil priest and Relit was trained to take over the kingdom when his father died. On the death of his father Relit assumed the kingship and began a rule of terror and conquest. This is how it began.

The family Ralph contined to become more evil with each succeeding generation. About 300years ago, this culminated with Renig Ralph who was the human tool the heart had been waiting for. He was massivly intellegent and obssed with the study of magic. Through his adventures in his early life, Renig gathered much wealth and brought it home to use in his research.

The House Becomes Stone
The subject of this research was suggested to him by the heart. He was investigating a way to bring the house to life! With the help of the heart and his obsessive study Relit became a 25th level mage. After a lifetimes study, he set his plan to convert the house to a living thing. On the night he planed to perform the final step in the conversion, he held a fete and invited (commanded) all the local royalty to attend.

While the people danced and made merry below, he worked in the Wizard tower and at midnight, cast the final powerful spell. The power of the spell killed everyone below 4 HD immediatly and trapped their souls inside the house.  The rest were affected and also turned into a variety of evil creatures. The wood and stone of the house were turned into the living stone that now makes up the house. This is the place where the Ralph's dynasty ruled. Each generation added their own touches to the evil that makes up the house. And so, the House of Stone still stands as an evil blight spreading it's evil over the countryside.

The Hook
There are a number of ways to get the party interested in visiting the house. One is to spread a roumer that it contains the most valuable ruby in the world; it is worth the ransome of two kings. Another could be that members of the local community contact the party for assistance in overcoming the evil the house has spread. Still another could be that the gods the party worship tell them to remove the house that has become a nexus point of worship of their gods enemies.