History: Many years ago, a silver gateway appeared in an obscure corner of the Underdark. No one knows who made it or how. The gateway appeared to lead nowhere but some people saw a room through it. When those people entered the gateway, they vanished and most were never seen again. Those that survived came out damaged and reported only horror and suffering. The Dark Room is an evil denizen of Ravenloft that thrives on pain and misery. No one knows exactly what it looks like because no one has seen the outside of it. Perhaps, it is an abandoned cabin in the woods or a mansion the size of a continent. Or perhaps it has no outside and is only the room. Is it a spiritual creature or a cursed place? Perhaps it is a manifestation of nightly terrors made solid by the cruel spirits of Ravenloft. No one truly knows. The nature of the Dark Room is shrouded in mystery. What is known is that it is extremely dangerous. Most victims who enter the Dark Room are destroyed physically, mentally, and sometimes spiritually.

Appearance: The Dark Room can take on many forms and may even duplicate existing known rooms. It can be as lavishly furnished as befits a king or as dismal and run-down as the most disheveled hovel. A lot depends on the victim it lures into its trap and what they expect or want to see. Time does not flow as normal in the Dark Room. A day inside can be a minute to the outside world or vice-versa. There are tales of people entering the Dark Room and emerging years later not having aged a day or of a young boy who goes to bed one night and wakes up the next morning as an elderly man. Windows in the Dark Room always reveal a vague mist–covered landscape in a low light suggesting either a time just after sunset or before sunrise. Creatures or individuals encountered in the Dark Room are all mere extensions of the room and speak for it.

The Trap: There are thirteen known gates that lead to the Dark Room from the Underdark. A few of the gates have been melted down because they are composed of exceptionally high quality silver that radiates a non-tarnishing enchantment. If forged into common goods like silverware or even weapons, the silver is harmless. It only becomes dangerous if it is used to build a doorway. If any part of the silver gate is used in the construction of a door (handles, braces, keyhole, knockers, bolts, decorations, or even a silver key) then the door becomes another potential entrance to the Dark Room. Entering the Dark Room triggers the trap and transports the victim to Ravenloft.

Upon entering the Dark Room, a victim cannot leave until certain conditions are met. Attempts to crawl outside windows will result in the victim falling back into the room and taking 2d6 bludgeoning damage. Attempts to break through the door or a wall will take the victim into an identical room just like the one they left.The Dark Room suppresses all magical attempts to escape including Teleportation, Dimension Door, Banishment, Word of Recall, Gate, and even the Wish spell. The only known way to escape the Dark Room apart from death is that the victim must conquer three challenges, each one uniquely designed to play on the victim’s fears and personal history.

The Three Challenges:

1. Terrifying Thoughts – The first challenge involves the victim’s fears. This can happen over the course of several hours with small events leading to bigger ones. Larger and larger spiders will crawl out of the walls. A clown laughs at the victim from a mirror. Slimy mold grows on everything. Undead hands burst out of the floor. That sort of thing. This will eventually culminate in the manifestation of a creature that embodies the victim’s worst fear emerging from an unexpected place and attacking. The creature will be ½ the CR of the victim’s level (find an appropriate creature in the Monster Manual) but the victim suffers the frightened condition for the duration of the battle. The creature must be defeated by the victim in order to move to the next challenge. If someone else interferes then the challenge starts anew. On the final blow, the victim must succeed on a Wisdom check DC 15 or the attack does no damage.

2. Tortured Body – The second challenge involves physical pain. Things happen to injure the victim. A lamp crashes on top of them. An apple has tiny hidden blades inside it. The victim trips on the rug and falls onto a protruding nail. That sort of thing. Eventually, this culminates in a terrifying transformation of their body that causes physical pain to the victim. A hand turns into a claw. Painful scales grow out of their body. The victim’s eyes freeze in their skull. They catch fire and are left horribly burned. The victim must make a Constitution save DC 15. On a success, they suffer one condition. On a failure, they suffer two. Choose an appropriate condition that the victim suffers: blind, deaf, dazed, poisoned, the loss of a class ability, the loss of four points to their preferred Ability score, or the loss of two class levels. There is no healing of these conditions while the victim remains in the dark room. It will be seemingly permanent. (This condition does end if the victim escapes but the victim can’t know this). 

3. Tormented Soul – The third challenge involves shame and regret. The room will provide the victim at this point with a method to kill themselves: A hanging rope, a bottle of poison, a guillotine, or some other means. It continually presents this object to the victim and will use voices of people the victim loves and respects urging the victim to end it all. In addition, the victim lives out their worst nightmare or greatest failure. Pull on the character’s backstory to find an event that will have the most emotional impact. The dark room can take on the appearance of whatever environment that best suits the event. Here are a few ideas for blank slate characters:
   1. The death of a parent or sibling.
   2. An adventure gone wrong.
   3. Making a fool of oneself at a social event like a dance.
   4. A forced marriage.
   5. The loss of a deity’s blessing for clerics or paladins.
   6. The anger of a patron for a warlock.
   7. Getting caught in a heist for a thief.
   8. A terrible performance for a bard.
   9. The destruction of a beloved forest for a druid or ranger.
   10. A humiliating defeat for a fighter or monk.
   11. Uncontrolled magical disaster for a sorcerer or wizard.

In order to overcome this final trial, the victim needs to force the room to take on the form of a person by succeeding on an Intelligence or Charisma check DC 15. If the victim demonstrates a positive response to the traumatizing event by demonstrating character growth (note: not caring or engaging in amoral silly actions do not count as character growth) give them advantage on their roll. On a failure, the victim takes one level of exhaustion and may try again. On the second failure, the victim takes two more levels of exhaustion and may try again. On a third failure, the victim takes three more levels of exhaustion and dies. On any success, the room takes on the form of a friend, loved one, or hated enemy who will taunt and condemn the victim. The victim is able to escape the room by attacking and successfully hitting the illusory person. The amount of damage doesn’t matter so attacks that miss and still do damage will not count for defeating the room.

Escaping the room: Escaping the Dark Room counts as a harrowing experience. As such, the victim gains the experience needed to go up one level. However, no one survives the Dark Room completely. Every victim permanently suffers one scar. Either choose for the victim based on what’s most narratively appropriate or let the victim choose one of the following scars.

Dark Room Scars: All victims who escape the Dark Room suffer one of the following:

1. Physical scar – The victim loses one point of Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution.
2. Emotional scar – The victim loses one point of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma.
3. Psychological scar – Whenever the victim is reduced to half hit points, they must roll on the short-term madness table.
4. Spiritual scar – Roll on the indefinite madness table and add the flaw to the character.

Destroying the Room: There is no known way to destroy the dark room. It will absorb and repair all damage dealt to it. 

Story Hooks:

• A room at an inn inadvertently lands the players into the Dark Room thanks to a silver key made from one of the silver gates.
• The players encounter a silver gateway in the Underdark.
• A young boy named Philo is trapped in the Dark Room and the players may enter the room in order to save the child who is currently stuck on the third challenge. He refuses to attack his “mother” who is berating and beating him. The players must defeat the first two trials themselves before they can get to the boy and help encourage him. Then they must escape themselves.
• A good deity has found a way to destroy the Dark Room. She has an artifact that will force the Dark Room to reveal its true form but it must be placed in the heart of the room. The players must get to the third challenge and place the artifact on a pedestal to force the Dark Room to take on the form of a monstrous house. Use the stats for a Pit Fiend (see Monster Manual) for the Dark Room. Upon defeat, the players escape the room and gain the experience for defeating the monster (as opposed to the level) and don’t suffer a scar.