FitzTheRuke
Legend
The Daggerfordians made their way toward Phylund Lodge. The journey was only about a half a mile, but they stayed off the road and followed animal trails, which caused the journey to take nearly an hour. Helgrim's neck was sore, but Tommi's berries and Viarar's healing spell had done its work. The wound would not trouble him beyond the discomfort.
They were happy to be away from the gnoll camp, where the forest had seemed to be dim in spite of the midday light (though the weather was not good, but that did not seem to be the culprit.) As they approached the lodge, around two hours after noon, the dimness returned. The lodge was bathed in shadows, in spite of being on something of a hill, dotted by trees, but with no source of shadows. The grey skies were lightly raining, but were sufficiently bright above them.
Travelling up the hill, using the sparse trees for cover, the Daggerfordians came to an enormous, two-story dilapidated stone building. It had once been surrounded by a wooden palisade with a gatehouse and outbuildings, but those were all gone now. The wood that had formed it were lying all about, rotten and useless. On the north side of the hill was an apple orchard, now overgrown and wild. The east and west courtyards were so overgrown that they almost melded with the grassy hill around them. Among the overgrowth roamed four giant hyenas.
The two-storey building consisted of three sections attached by second-story passways: A southern servant's building, a long central main building (the eastern half was a single-storey stables); and the older, northern building, whose south-west corner was dominated by an ancient standing stone. The rooves were in poor repair, but the buildings stood proud and strong.
They were happy to be away from the gnoll camp, where the forest had seemed to be dim in spite of the midday light (though the weather was not good, but that did not seem to be the culprit.) As they approached the lodge, around two hours after noon, the dimness returned. The lodge was bathed in shadows, in spite of being on something of a hill, dotted by trees, but with no source of shadows. The grey skies were lightly raining, but were sufficiently bright above them.
Only a noble would describe Phylund Lodge as a simple hunting lodge. For generations, members of the Phylund noble family of Waterdeep came to the Ardeep Forest to hunt and trap beasts of the woods, using a smaller hunting lodge as their base. They’d invite noble friends or those with whom they would make alliances, treating them to a tenday or more of leisure. As the family’s fortunes improved and the popularity of their hunts increased, the lodge was replaced with ever more elaborate structures. It became the primary residence of the heads of the Phylund family, who used it as a center for their beast-training trade and hunt guide businesses. Thus the lodge was equipped with stables, gardens, guest rooms, wine cellars, and even underground cells for the more dangerous creatures the Phylunds captured.
The fortunes of the family eventually fell after a series of deadly “accidents” at the lodge, culminating in the bloody revelation that Lord Urtos Phylund II was afflicted with lycanthropy. To help put that period behind the family, the Phylunds departed the lodge to live in Waterdeep. They left servants to protect the lodge from looting, fully intending to return to their family seat when fortunes improved. It appears that their fortunes never improved.
The fortunes of the family eventually fell after a series of deadly “accidents” at the lodge, culminating in the bloody revelation that Lord Urtos Phylund II was afflicted with lycanthropy. To help put that period behind the family, the Phylunds departed the lodge to live in Waterdeep. They left servants to protect the lodge from looting, fully intending to return to their family seat when fortunes improved. It appears that their fortunes never improved.
This hill once was a sacred site to a tribe of ancient hunters. The Phylunds erected the lodge using an old megalith as a corner stone. The stone was carved with the symbols of Malar, an older god of the hunt. The Phylunds carved oathes to Tempus alongside those of Malar and dubbed the stone "the Phylund Lith"
Travelling up the hill, using the sparse trees for cover, the Daggerfordians came to an enormous, two-story dilapidated stone building. It had once been surrounded by a wooden palisade with a gatehouse and outbuildings, but those were all gone now. The wood that had formed it were lying all about, rotten and useless. On the north side of the hill was an apple orchard, now overgrown and wild. The east and west courtyards were so overgrown that they almost melded with the grassy hill around them. Among the overgrowth roamed four giant hyenas.
The two-storey building consisted of three sections attached by second-story passways: A southern servant's building, a long central main building (the eastern half was a single-storey stables); and the older, northern building, whose south-west corner was dominated by an ancient standing stone. The rooves were in poor repair, but the buildings stood proud and strong.
