The Anchorage Situated on a hilltop on the northern coast of Elviscr, this castle overlooks a stone staircase (with crane and winch atop it) which winds down some 100 yards to sea level where the anchorage itself is located. The Anchorage is essentially a stone “shelf” in the steep hillside where the water is safe to moor up. There are no rocks, reefs, etc.

An Anchorage is different to a harbour in that there is no natural cover from the elements (the sea arms or natural bay of a harbour limits wave action, wind, and so on).

Njord’s Town is most of a day’s travel on foot, sticking to the best roads and assuming a good hiking pace. Horses would cut this time considerably.

The Surroundings The surrounding area is flattish leading up to the castle’s hill. There are at least 200y of “dead ground” around the outer wall, with no cover or concealment of any kind. There is a decent chance of spotting approaching groups even at night.

There is thorny foliage (blackberry bushes, nettles, and thick undergrowth) from the foot of the wall some twenty yards out, which might conceal skirmishers but would slow groups considerably.

The Wall The outer curtain wall is a ruin. Now it averages only two yards in height, and is made of tumbled grey stone. It still provides excellent cover from direct fire, as the rumpled shape forms natural . Many areas are climbable from both sides, although attempts have been made to patch the worst spots with wood.

A simple is in place, little more than a great stone arch with an iron gate in place. The gate is badly damaged, but patched again with wood and debris. The gatehouse has no actual “inside” but guard alcoves cut outside and within, as well as a ladder leading to the flat roof where more guards may hide behind battlements.

Attempting to circle around the entire outer wall to the courtyard or castle is difficult. It would be impossible for a horse or formation of infantry. Lone skirmishers may try to do so, but would be obvious to defenders (standing on the cusp of a hill, without cover, backlit by the sky) and require climbing rolls to stay upright and make good progress. For information about climbing to the , see below.

The Main Courtyard The courtyard is half cobblestone and half grass, with the plants slowly overtaking the remaining stone. It is 100 yards wide and 40 deep. It is mostly level, and has two buildings currently standing in it. The Stables Building This was once a four-horse stables, and is now a burned-down ruin. A water pump is still in evidence here, though it will need repair.

The Barracks Building This is a wood-and-stone traditional Helvan hall type building. On the inside are enough bunks to house a garrison of twenty men, plus sundry weapons racks, boxes and barrels. A latrine trench has been dug nearby.

The Anchorage Stair One side of the courtyard is given over to the top of this impressive stone staircase. Cut into the steepest side of the hill facing the sea, this zig-zags down to a stone “shelf” at sea level, with great iron posts and rings for mooring sailing ships. The staircase has undergone heavy bombardment, but then received field repair of ropes and wood. It is suitable for a single file of people to cross at the moment, mostly without risk.

The great crane allows a team of laborers to lift a three-yard-square wooden platform up from sea level, and bring it safely to the top of the stair. This is a long, hard task for a dozen people, and impossible in foul weather. The platform can be replaced with a simple hook for appropriate cargo, if desired.

The Keep The Keep of the castle is a steep-roofed stone fortress built more than a century ago. The walls are five to ten feet thick throughout, and resistant to bombardment. The roof is strongly built from multiple layers of slate tile, high enough to be hard to bombard by sea, and very resistant to flame. It is steep and without chimneys to resist snow. Fireplaces have grated, diagonal flues leading directly out of the wall from their room.

● The Keep has its own narrow stone stair to the sea (drawn here as a simple rectangle) that leads to a narrow shelf suitable for embarking a sailboat or ship’s boat. For more detail, see the Dungeons level. ● In the following maps North is to the right edge of the page. The Anchorage steps, courtyard, etc. are off the left edge of the page. The scale is three yards per square, a little under ten feet. The above ground levels are approximately five yards (fifteen feet) tall each, giving rooms high ceilings. ● Narrow triangular gaps in the walls represent cross shaped slits for firing projectile weapons out. Each one has a metal-fronted board nearby that can be picked up and slotted into place to keep out cold wind or projectiles. ● Immediately in front of the Keep is a , two yards deep and quite steep sided. It is designed to limit the options for enemy engines by toppling rams, etc. It can also be populated as a trench for a defensive gun line. The bridge into the keep is permanent and made of stone. ● Scaling the steep hillside around the castle itself requires a Strength and Climbing -4 Task for every ten yards (three squares here) of movement in any direction. As the hillside is immensely steep, but not vertical, a full fall into the sea would cause D4*10 LP (choose hit location, but limb damage is not capped). ● Scaling the walls of the keep themselves is not possible for a normal person, and no arrow slit or flue is wide enough to admit a human being. ● All doors are reinforced, heavy ones made of banded oak. Some have keyed locks (which will be noted) and all have means to be barred from the inside at top and bottom. ● The upper floors and staircases are made of wood, and built extremely robustly.

Ground Level

Area 1 is the entryway to the Keep, effectively a tall tube of solid stone devoid of cover. It is protected by a pair of . The inner has a wooden door which can be moved into place to block line-of-sight to Area 5.

Area 2a and 2b are defensive posts for guards on patrol. 2a is the place where a sentinel would challenge those wishing to enter the Keep. Customarily, one would shout (hail) from one side of the bridge, be told to cross, pass under the portcullis and speak to the sentinel at the first arrow slit inside the gateway. 2a has a brazier for hot coals. 2b has a pair of bunk beds in it, and a fireplace.

Area 3 is another defensive post with two bunks in it, a fireplace, as well as a table for a watch officer to use. A desk sits by the arrow slits here, for the processing of payments or deliveries handed through. The locked door to Area 5 has a skull-shaped iron knocker on it, and a view port with a sliding metal cover.

Area 4 is another defensive post with two bunks and a brazier.

Area 5 is a marshaling yard, a stone-floored courtyard open to the elements. It is overlooked by many arrow slits. As noted in Area 1, a door here may be closed to block line-of-sight into the yard. The walls here are five yards high. There is an entry staircase on one side of the marshalling yard, leading up into the fortress.

Area 6 is an enormous kitchen. Great pots, ranges and fires are all built into the stone here. There is a large water pump drawing from a wellspring. Several large barrels for storing fresh water are nearby.

Area 7 is a wide hall, open at either end to the elements. It leads across a stone bridge to Area 9. While solid, the iron railings on the bridge are spiked and unfriendly-looking.

Area 8 is the Counting Room and as such it has a pair of lockable doors leading to it. There are viewports with metal covers cut into the doors. Inside, a strongbox is bolted to the floor in one corner, and there are desks, bureaus, and other conveniences for administering money. A lockable iron hatch in the floor leads down to Dungeon Area 9. The hatch is nearly two yards across, but there is a smaller hinged section to admit a single person that is much less cumbersome to open. There is a mounting point for a block and tackle in the ceiling above the hatch, or a series of iron rungs to climb down.

Area 9 is a small yard, with stone planters on the leeward side (currently full of dead plants and weeds). The walls here are five yards high.

Area 10 is the entrance room of what was once a separate dwelling or apartment in the fortress. It has a few couches, cabinets, and a fireplace. The door here is lockable.

Area 11 is a store room, with crates, boxes and the like littering the main part of it. There are arrow slits here, which have found customary use as a garderobe: a place for chamberpots to be used and then emptied out into the sea.

Upper Level

Area 1 is the armory, with a lockable door. Weapon racks, a magazine for powder and other fixtures are arrayed to suit this purpose. Area 2 is the watch commander’s bunk room. The watch commander has a large comfy bed, cabinets and the like. There are no arrowslits, but small clerestory holes admit air and light near the ceiling.

Area 3 is a guard room with twelve bunks in it, as well as the mechanisms for the portcullises. During the day the door to Area 2 is kept open, so that shouted commands can be heard to raise or lower the gates.

Area 4 is an entrance hall, with stairs leading down to Ground Level Area 5. There are gloomy paintings and dusty antlers hanging here, relics of an earlier time. The lockable doors are usually kept locked, as guards use the stairs in Area 2. The door to Area 5 bears an iron skull knocker, which might be knocked upon to formally request entrance to a feast or gathering.

Area 5 is the great hall, where a long table will seat many guests, and food can be prepared. Iron chandeliers are winched from the roof (the hall is directly under the roof and thus high-ceilinged) and can be hung with lanterns or candles.

Area 6 is a cloakroom. Much of the room is given to hanging spaces for furs, displays of artwork, etc. At the far end from the door is a curtain to obscure view, a large cistern of water with a tap at the base (which must be filled by servants), and a chamber pot near the arrowslit (which empties to the sea).

Area 7 is the master’s room chamber. Part reception room, part office, this is where deals might be struck, cases heard, etc. The chamber is wood-panelled and somber, with a large fireplace between two arrowslits. Bookcases are mounted against the walls, also. There is a large staircase leading up into the Master’s tower. A wooden gate is set at the foot of the stair, to politely remind guests that it is not a public space beyond.

Area 8 is a comfortable living space, with its own stove (suitable for heat and cooking), water cistern (which must be filled by servants), a small dining table, etc.

Area 9 is the bedroom of this apartment. One large bed is given a prominent place, but a pair of smaller bunks indicate there may have been servants or children living here at one point also. Towers

Area 1 is a connected to the armory. It is usually very cold, and no fire is permitted to be lit there. A miserable guard post, made worse by the necessity to descend the stairwell and knock at the armory door for the watch commander to relieve them.

Area 2 is the Master’s tower. This area is the home of the castle’s resident noble or lord. It is wood panelled, has a fireplace and thick curtains to cover the arrow slits (as well as the normal shutter boards). The bed is a large four-poster, and there is a water cistern and private garderobe here. A number of strange keys are kept in an iron box marked with a skull on the mantelpiece.

Area 3 is a large guard tower, but one that connects directly to the apartment below. It is empty and very dusty.

Dungeons Save for Area 2, these rooms are pitch dark. The walls of each area have regular ironwork to hold lanterns, candles, or torches.

Area 1 is an empty room, save for block and tackle equipment suitable for use in Area 2.

Area 2 is the hall which receives any visitors to the small boat mooring below. The stairs have a mounting point for a block and tackle (to winch up goods to be collected), but are unrailed and often quite slippery. The gateway into the chamber is protected by a heavy locking portcullis, operated by a winch in the corner of the chamber well away from hostile reach. The doors here are all lockable and thickly tarred to resist sea spray.

Area 3 is a hallway with a small set of steps at one end, going up less than two yards.

Area 4 has an ominous water feature on one wall. A large archway frames a lifesize stone skull, whose open mouth trickles a continuous flow of clean water. The deep eye sockets of the skull seem to follow one around the room. Placing one’s fingers into the eye sockets and pulling a concealed catch hidden in each opens a hidden doorway, the stone archway sliding open. This leads to Area 12 The water falls (if not collected) into a basin with a drain at the bottom. The door from Area 3 is lockable.

Area 5 is the treasury. The iron door has two key locks, and is set extremely securely in the stone. Inside, the room has a great many shelves lining the walls, a heavy table in the middle for counting, and several deep stone coffers with iron lids for sealing away precious items (literally using wax to prove none have tampered). Area 6 is a cell, intended to hold multiple people. These might be petty criminals, or prisoners of war. There is a feeding slot with a metal cover in the door, and straw mattresses in the corners of the room. The door is locked with a key and usually barred from the outside (unlike most other doors in the castle)

Area 7 is a cell for a single person, but otherwise much like Area 6.

Area 8 is a jailor’s room. There is a desk for the jailor to record names and sentences, iron rings to secure manacles to, racks for weapons (one long truncheon still hangs by a leather thong), and the distinct smell of despair.

Area 9 has the bottom of the ladder from Ground Level Area 8. A fallen block and tackle lies here. There are also several old lanterns with varying levels of fuel still in them. The doors here are lockable.

Area 10 is a cold storeroom, where wine, cheese or other objects may be stored. The door is lockable.

Area 11 is also a cold storeroom, much like Area 10.

Area 12 is a musty old space, with an iron hatch (much like Ground Level Area 8) in the floor leading to a ladder. The door back to Area 4 can be opened here by a simple lever, and the mechanism locked from this side also. There is a block and tackle hanging above the ladder for ferrying things down the long chute. The ladder ends in the Secret Basement, Area 6

Secret Basement This level is pitch dark.

Area 1 is a natural cave, slimy and stinking of the lightless sea. The floor is uneven, covered in scuttling white crabs the size of peach pits and squishing nameless sea things. Occasionally, dangerous sealife like Crawmen find their way down here. The door by Area 1b is tarred iron, locked and barred on the corridor side. It requires serious effort to haul open on the correct side.

Areas 2a and 2b are cells, much like Area 7 of the dungeon. There is no evidence of the prisoners having a light source of their own in this place.

Area 3 is a jailor’s room. By the looks of things, large stores of simple food and barrels of water were kept down here, to lengthen the time between visits to this dank oubliette. A luckless jailor could have lived down here too, though with the benefit of candles and a hammock to sleep in.

Area 4 is a storeroom, much like the treasury (Dungeon Area 5), for hiding the most secret of the castle’s valuables. It has iron-doored coffers in the walls, which could be padlocked if desired.

Area 5 is tucked away behind another heavily-tarred door. It contains two rowboats, plus their associated tackle, oars, etc. There are also oilcloth bundles containing warm blankets, purses of gold, and stout old-looking short swords. There are also bundles of heavy stones in the boats, though only wrapped in sailcloth. The bundles are lashed into the boats so they will not fall out even if tipped.

Area 6 is the bottom of the ladder from Dungeons Area 12, and is otherwise empty. The door is lockable.

The Escape Route The flooded tunnel from Secret Basement Area 1 leads back into the sea. Anyone with Navigation, Engineering (Civil) or the like will determine the following information. Swimming the pitch-black tunnel is a harrowing task. The character must pass forty yards of tunnel, then twenty more yards to the surface. The chances of getting into difficulty depend on the character’s Swimming skill, but the consequences are bleak. However, the builders of the fortress had an ingenious idea for making use of the cave. By flipping over a boat and trapping air in it, they could safely navigate to the end of the smooth tunnel, and then be dragged swiftly to the surface by buoyancy once away (having cut loose their bags of rocks).

The chances of anyone being able to free-dive down to the bottom in the correct location, find the cave opening, and then make the resulting swim are laughably remote, even if they knew to look for such a cave to begin with. Thus, an extremely safe one-way escape route.