The Black House
This ancient dwelling, which does not suffer from the ravages of time, shelters the sorceress Alix Podivar and her young apprentice. This small house, located on the edge of the forest, is very close to the hamlet of Giverald. The construction stones’ blackness gives this building a lugubrious and frightening appearance, yet the interior is strangely quite charming and rather welcoming. The ground floor is composed of a main living room and a small vestibule overlooking a small salon dedicated to the practice of divination. If you are an honorable traveler interested in your future, Alix will certainly read your good fortune in this cozy lounge. A sturdy staircase leads to the upper floor where one can find a hall, Alix’s room including a storeroom, a beautiful guest room with terrace, and a small alchemy laboratory. The statue of St. Brienne, mother of all oracles, proudly stands on the large terrace, where she watches over the property and protects the inhabitants of the home.
The basement access is in the laboratory via a spiral staircase concealed by an illusion spell. The atmosphere is radically darker and evil in the underground. The apprentice witch is confined in her room and the main cellar, where Alix has installed a small desk for her learning and magical experiences. Ghastly groans resonate from the cells where true abominations are detained. Alix devotes herself to the vice of Chaos, experimenting all kinds of mutations on human beings in order to obtain the perfect combination. Those monstrosities are mostly uncontrollable and Alix always ends up sacrificing them during extravagant ceremonies in the octagonal room, provided for this purpose. Alix takes refuge in the room protected by a powerful immobilization spell, applied to a pentacle drawn on the ground, to cast her incantations. A hideous gnome, recently captured, languishes in one of the rusty cages waiting to endure worst atrocities.
The witch has built an access to the caves and the underground river. Sometimes she stumbles over future victims, undoubtedly explorers too curious who find themselves isolated in the caves’ network that runs along the river.
The well dug outside of the house allows the water to be drawn from the underground river and serves as a water source for a large part of the local population.
Your interlocutor will probably have informed you that it is possible to access the underground through the well, but he is certainly not aware of the presence of the three gargoyle statues guarding the entrance.
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