Castle Morash Layout

• Location: Castle Morash is located in northwestern Morendor at the edge of the Black Swamp's marshlands a league west beyond the Watchtower Mountains.
  
• The Climate: this territory is sub-tropical and quite warm most of the year round. It can get cool during the winter, but cold spells are sporadic.
  
• The Sounding Bridge: A long Bridge, called the Sounding Bridge spans the marsh to the hill on which the fortress is built. This bridge can sink into the marsh on command, so unwanted visitors and enemies beware. The bridge stops short of the fortress, a draw bridge spanning the marsh between the gate and sounding bridge.
  
• The West Gates: Immense Gates are met at the end of the bridge where guards stand walk on the rampart's wall and gate towers. A small atrium which acts as an inspection yard stands between the gate towers, anterior portcullis and inner main gate. This is the ONLY Gate into Morash Yard. If the draw bridge is drawn, it acts as a third gate against the portcullis. During times of peace the drawbridge is sometimes removed.
  
• The Bastion: The rampart walls are 70 feet high, twenty feet thick and surround a sprawling, four story keep, its many towers, gardens and courtyards.
  
• The Atmosphere: From without Castle Morash appears gloomy, even ominous, while within the gardens and courtyards are lush, and most of the chambers are handsomely furnished and decked in wood panels, marble floors, and carpets of rich colors. The dungeon however is extremely grim and dank.
  
  
• The Receiving Yard: When entering the Receiving Yard from the West Gate, a mossy cobble stone road leads to the keep's main entry, forking off to the Stables built against the northerwestern corner of the rampart walls. There are only two doors in and out of the keep, the west door and east door.
  
• The West Keep Door: like the east door; the west door has double panels of two foot thick oak, is carved with scenic depictions of angels and demons battling. This door accesses the Entrance Hall in the Keep.
  
• The East Garden Door: this door is equally as immense and thick as the west door but is banded with intricately scrolled and hammered bronze. It accesses the eastern garden from the keep's northcentral corridor, and is directly across from the East Gate from the garden.
  
  
• The East Gate: in the eastern bastion wall is a large gate between two gate towers which opens into a five acre walled in pasture where the horses graze. The wall which encloses this pasture is 50 feet high and like the rest of the castle; it is warded..
  
  
• The Rampart Towers: Each of the bastion's eight towers are entered through an alcove which opens to a doorway to each tower's turn pike stairway. The guards and rangers reside in these towers. These towers access the rampart patrol walk. The eight towers are as such:
• the Northwest Tower
• the Southwest Tower
• the Northwest central tower (west gate tower)
• the Southwest Central Tower (west gate tower)
• the Northeast Tower
• the Southeast Tower
• the Northeast Central Tower (east gate tower)
• the Southeast Central Tower (east gate tower)
  
  
  
  
• The Keep Towers: Each tower is entered through an antechamber. The keep has five towers, and all but one are kept locked. The towers are as such;
• the Northwest Tower
• the Southwest Tower
• the Northeast Tower
• the Southeast Tower
• the Central Tower (Temple Library).
  
  
• The Entrance Hall: A huge Entrance Hall is entered through the West Door; immense pillars carved into balrog and baphomet goat demons rank the hall to form four, twenty foot wide-aisles. The center row of pillars leads to the main corridor's cathedral arched doorway which opens into the West Foyer.
  
• The West Foyer: on the north side of the foyer the West Stairway spirals all the way up from the main floor, to the fourth floor with landings on each floor. Gargoyals loom on either side of each landings thresholds.
  
• The Main Corridor: this wide vaulted passage leads straight through the main floor of the keep from the West Foyer to the East Foyer; spliting off to traverse two hallways forming a square at the center of the keep, only to join into one corridor again. The east and west foyers the main corridor accesses are called Passing Halls.
  
• The East Foyer: this large hall opens to the East Staircase which curls to the Second Floor's East Wing above, and to the East Garden Door which opens into a handsome garden with boxwoods hemming the paths and wide botanical terraces.
  
• The keep's East Stairway: this stone staircase leads to the second floor and opens into a foyer, where the door to the corridor outside is usually kept locked.
  
• The Stairways: There are stairwells from each floor, at the east end of the keep which lead to the floors above going from the Northeast Stairs to the third floor, and the Southeast Stairs to the fourth floor.
  
  
• The Parlor: There are four doors off the West to East main corridor, the first of which, to the right, is the Parlor-better known as the Carousal Hall, which is comfortably fitted with a well stocked bar, suite of leather furniture, and an exquistite gothically carved fireplace and mantle.
  
• House Library: The next doorway is to the left, and opens into a large Library which is also very comfortably and tastefully furnished, with shelves built into the walls from floor to ceiling with a large arch around the fireplace which is sunk into the wall. Although this library is exquisite, Mernaph's largest and most impressive library is within the Keep's central tower which is built on the turret. The loftiness and wind against the tower helps to keep it dry and preserve the valuable books. Unlike the Temple Library which does not even have doors; any resident of Morash is welcome to use the House Library.
  
• The Contest Hall: The third door is to the right, and opens into a Sparring hall, called the Contest Hall where his men can practice their combat skills and train students during inclement weather, although his lot are such a hardy bunch they can be caught amidst combat practice in raging thunderstorms outdoors, or even on the rampart walls!
  
• The Banquet Hall: The last door is to the left and opens into an immense Banquet Hall, off of which is a smaller dining hall through an open threshold to the right/east. A set of large double doors of mahogany opens into the kitchen through the north wall.
  
  
• Bed Chambers: Most of Keep's 'resident' Bed Chambers are on the second story of the keep in the west wing. The Corridors of the upper keep go around the inside of the chambers built against the outside walls, the corridor thus forms a large rectangle the shape of the keep, with smaller corridors cutting across from the South Wings to the North Wings.
  
  
• Pillar Temple: At the VERY center of the keep, is the Pillar Temple, which is a square tower which rises from the dungeon of the keep, to the turret's roof beneath the Temple Library. The temple is on the main floor, and the staircase rises up out of the dungeon all the way to the turrent roof uninterupted but by the temple's floor. The Main corridor splits off and goes around this temple but there are no doors accessing it. Four titan, dragon pillars support the Temple Library's central tower on the turret of the keep. These life sized dragon pillars give off an ominous mpression. This temple can only be accesses by arcane gate or door, which a word of power opens the way into.
  
• Central Turret Staircase: In the center of the temple, a bronze staircase corkscrews up through the keep's heart, all the way from the dungeon to a trap door which opens onto the turret of the Temple Library.
  This staircase continues its flight winding round and round to the library's floors to the turret of the library, but not the library itself, and if ever anyone needed to be whipped into shape, they only have to traverse those stairs up and back once a day. There are no doors exiting this staircase until the trapdoor on the turrent is met. Mernaph permits very few entry into the Temple where his artifacts are kept, and where he practices his more potent magic.
  
• Temple Library: The library is wall to wall books candles, scrolls, and items from crystals, rolls of parchment, pens and ink, hourglasses, mirrors, jewelry and weapons, rough gemstones, maps, skins, jars and chests full of all kinds of items, some very valuable, all the way to the top floor, which has tables and desks for study, the only other tables are on the main floor of the library, along with a very large and wonderfully comfortable couch. His most valuable books of thaumaturgy, Lore, Bestiaries, occult practices, and the standards and practices of Acheron are shelved in the tower library. Many of his books are not for anyone but Acheron's Lords and most loyal advocates to see.
  
• Access to the Temple Library: There is NO door leading into the temple library at all. Its only door manifests when Mernaph commands it to with a word of power. He alone can enter the library through arcane gates.
  
  
• Dungeon Access: the dungeon can only be accessed by key with a word of power to unseal the dungeon's wards. An antechamber off of the Pillar Temple on the main floor accesses a staircase which descends through an open threshold in the floor, which plummets steeply into the underground beneath Morash, where Morash Dungeon was carved out of the bowls of bedrock beneath the earth and swamp.
  
• The only other door to the Dungeon is accessed through an alcove off the East Foyer. Because Morash Dungeon is surrounded by marsh and springs, it is very dank, damp and musty. Algae and moss grow on the walls and floors. Mernaph holds most captives in the towers, saving the Dungeon for his hated enemies alone, if he has any reason to keep them alive.
  
• There are a maze of tunnels which lead to the various cells and torture chambers within Morash Dungeon.
  
  
• Castle Wards: The Castle is also protected by powerful Wards which Mernaph, Malcomb, and his highest in authority, Orin Conan, Kael Degaise and Sargah Blackhammer, command. The wards prevent Forced Entry into the courtyard and keep, the walls, ground beneath, and a domed area above the castle warded by the powers woven in, around and beneath the Castle and its grounds. The wards protect the walls from breeches by any means, and Mernaph and his most trusted commanders can seize subjects within the castle and gate them to either a warded cell in the dungeon, any various chamber, or select a location known to them in or outside of the Shadowlands to deliver them to.
  
  
• Gate Access: Using quantum, shadow, dimensional or flame gates, Mernaph can enter or escort others to any chamber or temple in the castle that is sealed off from physical entry.