In the forests surrounding Meridell, well into the mountains, is a cave.
You might not immediately recognize it as such, for built into its mouth sits a cabin, with an enormous oaken front door.
The door, as it happens, is much older than the cabin (though probably younger than the cave) for it was stolen from Eidrokin Castle four years ago by a draik named Strabonis.
Strabonis now lives in the cabin in the cave, with the door and three other companions.
The cave-cabin has no electricity. Strabonis despises modern technology, and nothing more sophisticated than an old wind-up gramophone runs in the house. What gadgets there are to be found are part of Strabonis' hoard - a mountainous pile of stuff beyond the livingroom, as you exit the back of the cabin and enter the catacombs of the cave beyond.
The largest "rooms" of the house are the cavernous chambers of the cave itself. The catacombs in the south corner open into a far larger cave-system beyond. Strabonis claims that if you know your way, you can go all the way into Terror Mountain and enter the tunnels of the mighty Snowager himself.
The northern half of the cave is kept warm by the Firegarden - a rocky opening set back into the hillock and filled with churning lava. The molten lake laps at the edges of adjacent rooms and builds up a crust of basalt rock against the walls. It is no surprise that one of these rooms, Strabonis had chosen as his den. Though whether he sleeps on the pile of gold and treasure, or the warm furry bed, is not known.
To the west, at the north and south sit the watchtowers, two narrow stone pillars reaching high above the treeline. They are old buildings, in a state of some disrepair. The stairs in the South Tower have long since rotted away, and the North Tower's rickety steps only reach up to the first floor. The second can only be accessed via a trapdoor in the ceiling, or the window, if you can fly.
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