Illustrious Castle: The Upstairs of the Castle

Wandering Encounters

There is a 10% chance of a random encounter every hour. The blood hawks and the crowns of eyes are nocturnal, and will be skittish during the day. Usually they’ll be in their nest but if they hear noise they may either investigate or hide.

At night, there is a chance that the ghost of Tragos d’Illus will haunt the castle. See The Scepter of Tragos d’Illus.

General Features

The upstairs is in worse shape than the downstairs. There are holes; walls have caved in, and if it has been raining it is wet. Mold covers everything. The inner walls upstairs are wood, as is the floor. If the characters are not unreasonably loud they will probably hear occasional bangs, or bumps, as the shutters in room 8b slam shut in the wind, open, and slam shut again.

Most of the structural damage occurred before the castle was looted. The walls and towers caved in, at least partially, when the demon was summoned. Thus, some things could not be looted without moving stones; some stones were never moved, and axes were used to separate what could be looted from what could not.

Through the holes in the walls in rooms 8a, 10, and 11, jumbles of stones from the walls and rocks and dirt from the mountainside form a ramp that allows travel from here to the first floor, and vice versa.

Storeroom (1)

Dust settles on the floorboards of a vacant room. There are hinges in the doorway, but no door. On the inner wall are crudely carved notes: “Rick Overton, 1943”. “I have 3 chairs. may sell. Dan Filwood”. “Emma & Peter, 1953” carved in a crude heart.

Just about everything has been scavenged by the locals. Even the door is missing.

West Intimate (2)

Stones from a gaping hole at the end of the hallway partially block the entrance to this room.

You step over the stones. Inside, a wooden bench runs along the east wall, and a waist-high shelf along the west.

An intimate is a place for small parties or discussions. These each have a couch at the north end, but no chairs (they’ve been removed), a bench at the east end, and a waist-high shelf (bar) at the west end.

Middle Intimate (3)

Beneath a large hole in the ceiling lie a few shingles and rotten timbers mixed with green branches and long grass woven into a bowl-like structure. Sunlight from the ceiling glints sharply off things in the branches and grass.

Two fat birds sit within the green branches and brown grass. They glare at you with red eyes and raise red-tinged wings as they lift themselves upon taloned feet. Rawk!

The north wall is covered in a weathered etching of a great city with a small, winding river going through it. Women wash clothing within the river while men gather carts together and fill them.

A large hole is in the ceiling, and beneath it lie timbers and rocks. Fewer timbers than there should be, most have since been taken. One was taken before the roof fell in, and may be part of why it fell in.

Two blood hawks, drawn to the demon’s power, nest here. Blood hawks have a reputation for nastiness, probably due to the prized nature of their eggs; they won’t attack unless approached. Within the nest are some items scavenged from other parts of the upstairs. These include a tarnished silver ring worth 75 shillings, a diamond ring worth 275 shillings, and a gold necklace worth 250 shillings.

The black-encrusted silver ring is an intricate twist of wires into the shape of perhaps a hundred tiny ants crawling about each other. It is one symbol of the Insect Queen of the True Family. Inside the ring is engraved “none cures just riches”. It was taken from the ruins of the castle, and belonged to Wendell Redstar. Wendell took it from the Stigmas di Cristo. The other two pieces of jewelry were taken from the goblins.

The hawks are here all day. At night, there is a 60% chance in spring, summer, and fall or 35% after the first snowfall, that d2 of them will be here. In spring, the female hawk will lay seven eggs which will hatch in June; the female will be here all day and all night protecting the eggs, while the male will be here 20% of the time at night.

The north wall is covered in a weathered painting/etching of a great city with a small, winding river going past.

2 blood hawks: fantastic 2; survival 8, 9; move 8/25; claws d6 and bite d6; defense 3.

East Intimate (4)

You enter through an empty doorway. Inside, a short wooden bench runs along the west wall, and a waist-high shelf along the east wall. On the north wall is a faded etching of a man riding over a desert hill on a donkey. The man’s path crosses between two fig trees, the one on his left is shriveled and barren.

The north wall’s faded painting/etching is of Jesus returning to Jerusalem on an ass, crossing between two fig trees, one of which he has just cursed.

Old Temple (5)

Four vine-encrusted stone pillars, peeling white paint, rise up through the floor and into the ceiling, like Atlas holding up a mountain that crumbles around him. The wind whistles overhead, through the north window, and through the northeast wall, which has completely fallen in. Huge stones lie scattered about the floor, and in piles in the far corner. Behind the broken walls the side of the mountain looms across an empty gap.

On the south wall, a man in a white robe, with a golden crown suspended over his head, walks regally, almost ethereally, among what looks for all the world like a group of librarians, cataloguing, reading, and shelving tomes and portfolios. Dark clouds recede into the distance, letting a bright shaft of sunlight down to illuminate the library.

Before they used the underground complex for ceremony, this was their throne room. The throne that used to be here is in the library at Biblyon. The south wall has a painting of Jesus, a kingly figure, holding a scepter in a regal manner over the scholars, who work humbly and diligently at copying and studying the written works in their possession.

Guardroom (6)

The pile of dirt and rocks extends just slightly into this doorway. A crack in the corner to your left allows light from outdoors inside, shining in a shaft through dust suspended in the air.

Benches have been removed from the walls; close inspection will reveal this.

The Illustrious Guard used this room to wait for trouble in the ballroom.

Dressing Room (7)

The floorboards beneath you creak as you step through this doorway. Your lantern reveals an empty room, dusty and dark. The creaking echoes dully within the small space.

There are holes in the walls where once were hooks for hanging clothing, and larger holes where dowels once went for holding cloth and clothing.

The leader’s dressers waited here, and changed the leader’s garments when the ball moved on to different stages.

Retinue Rooms (8a and 8b)

Visiting dignitaries’ retinues would stay in these rooms. There would have been small, simple dressers, and cots in each, none of which remain.

Water Storage (9)

The stone wall has fallen into the room. A pile of stones, dirt, and bird droppings in the far corner extends into the adjacent room. Closer to you, broken shards of pottery are scattered about the floor. To your right, an ornately-carved oaken tub remains intact.

The broken shards are from water casks that were underneath the wall when it fell. Any casks that survived were taken by the villagers. The tub is carved with vines, thorns, and grapes. It shows its age and its exposure to the weather, but is still in decent shape. It weighs 220 pounds, and could go for as much as 200 shillings in Crosspoint or Black Stag.

This room was used for storing water, wine, food, and other items that visitors and VIPs might need.

Visitor’s Storage (10)

The partially open door opens only with a strong push. It grates against the floor. Wind whistles between the mountainside and the open back wall. Stones and dirt litter the floor.

Beneath the stones in the far end of the room are some sheets and shattered jugs and bowls. Otherwise, this room is empty. It was used for visitors to store clothing and supplies.

Visitor’s Rooms (11a and 11b)

The door is jammed against the frame and the floor, and refuses to budge.

Men’s Washroom and Spyroom (12)

The door, partially open, creaks loudly as you pull it toward you. It opens further with difficulty, and reveals a thin, wide room. A thin aqua-green shelf runs the length of the south portion of the walls.

The wooden shelf once held small water jugs and bowls to empty the jugs into. Those have all been taken decades ago. The shelf runs along the south wall, and the south portion of the east and west walls. It is about seven inches wide.

The secret door to the spy room is concealed by way of the cabinet which once held the extra water-cask. If the entire cabinet is pushed after the lock is pulled open on the inside of the closet, it moves into the spy room. It can then be pushed back and locked from inside or outside.

You push in on the cabinet and it slides right into the wall. Your light shines into a small room, musty and dry and dark. Three silver goblets on an oaken table in the center reflect the light from your lanterns. There are several chairs around the table.

The spy room was never found by the villagers, so it still contains its five chairs, the three silver goblets (25 shillings each) as well as ten half-shilling wooden goblets. There is an open cask of long-dried wine in one corner of the room.

On the east wall there is a very small hole for spying into the lounge. A small tube, with glass ends, lies beneath the hole, on the floor. One end has cracked, however. This was a wide-angle lens, made by the dwarves, and would have cost a lot of money. Even with only one lens left, it can be sold for 50 to 150 shillings today.

Lounge (13)

The door swings in the breeze as you approach it. You push it aside.

Rocks lie in the southwest corner of this wide, deep room, possibly part of a tower that has caved in.

You may want to have each player make a perception roll for their character to determine who will be affected by the sensory assurance spell. Otherwise, they’ll get suspicious when you ask for perception rolls as they poke through the bars.

Two crowns of eyes, more of the demon’s creatures, nest here. If the characters surprise the crowns in daylight, the crowns are likely to crawl quickly out of the room and outside. It will appear that they have gone down, but they will quickly circle around the damage and crawl back up the wall. If a character is reckless enough to stick their head out and look down, the crowns are likely to take advantage of this and jump the character, in hopes of surprise.

One is above the rocks, the other is burrowed into them. During the day, intruders will see the visible one rush outside; the hidden one will crawl outside as well and join the other in hopes of jumping on someone looking outside.

A grayish, rotting face on the floor turns its several pale eyes toward you. The eyes twist away from the blobby grey thing, which sprouts clawed legs and skitters up the wall. It’s eyes grow out from its head on stalks, encircling the thing like a crown. It jerks quickly across the debris in the corner, crawls up to the window and over the ledge, and disappears.

At night the eyes are likely to be out hunting for food.

2 crowns of eyes: demon 2; survival 7, 9; move 20; claw d4; defense 6; always watching, immune to non-magical blunt weapons, ¼ damage from magical blunt weapons, resistant to fire; death explosion, grip; magic resistance 1.

The north walls of the room look into smaller rooms that have permanent angular reformation and sensory assurance to make it appear that they are large enough to fill the space that is actually occupied by the secret rooms. The walls of the inner rooms are painted with biblical scenes. Iron bars separate the main room from the scenes.

West Painting

You look beyond iron bars into a deep room, all three walls and the floor and ceiling painted. A man and woman, completely naked, stand in a lush garden. Surrounding them are trees bearing every kind of fruit.

East Painting

The walls, floor, and ceiling of this deep room display a forbidding scene: an angel wreathed in flame wields a fiery sword and stands before the golden gates of a great garden. The tips of flowering trees are barely visible beyond the garden’s marble walls.

Secret Door

The secret door to 14 will require a perception roll as normal, but if Eliazu is aware of the characters’ presence and is aware that they are in this room, this roll will be at a penalty of two as he mentally distracts them.

Secret Rooms (14)

This thin hallway, walls stained with soot, is dark and cramped. Old, simple torch holders are spaced at five-foot intervals, and the wall is scratched with the story of Babel. At the far end, the tower itself is etched into the wall on the right-hand side, men climbing from base to tip like ants on a syrup stick.

The secret door is controlled by the second-to-last torch sconce on the right-hand wall.

Secret Rooms (14): 14a

You pull on the torch sconce, and the soot-darkened tower drops slightly inward.

You push the secret door inward. A wide room, dark, ringed by a small shelf, a table and chairs. Wooden goblets lay upon their sides on the table. An empty doorway leads into darkness in the far right corner.

Secret Rooms (14): 14b

You pass through the empty doorway into a small room. Two cots dominate the room, with a small table against the wall, and two chairs on either side of it.

The cots are atop chests. They lift to reveal empty chests.

There are a couple of books here, donated by the captured Night Priest Wendell Redstar: Lord Thew’s Family Tales, The Fit May Rule, and Discussing Lesser Families. They are written in Anglish.

In Discussing Lesser Families there is a piece of paper with notes written on it. See Discussing Lesser Families in the Props section for the full text.