Castle of Skulls

The Castle of Skulls, also called the Palace of Skulls, was an abandoned castle built entirely of skulls, located in Llyrath Forest on the island of Gwynneth in Moonshae.
==Location==
The castle stood in a stagnant fen in Llyrath Forest near the rugged, rocky southern coast of the kingdom of Corwell in Gwynneth. Approaching it through the Forest required traversing a narrow and treacherous ravine, and the castle itself was cloaked by trees and weeds, making the task of finding the castle a quest in itself, let alone conquering the horrors to be found within.
==Structure==
The castle was built of human skulls, which had been placed in neat rows as if they were bricks or stones. These skulls gave the castle's walls, turrets, and parapets a whitish gray color and an uneven texture. The main entrance was a looming foot placed in the center of the rectangular structure, and was framed by three massive thigh bones that were over long.
==Interior==
The entry hall was a wide corridor with walls of grinning skulls and a floor of smooth stone. Enough light filtered between the exterior skull wall to dimly light this room, but the interior was dark beyond that. At the far end of the entrance corridor was a three-way intersection of hallways also lined entirely with skulls.
Deeper inside was a labyrinth in which the lower levels were somehow even more gruesome than the macabre upper levels. It contained many burial mounds as well as galleries and vaulted chambers supported by arches of bone and filled with niches and alcoves. The castle contained a grand ballroom and a grim arena known as the Circus Bizarre: a deep pit surrounded by benches of bone where captives were once forced to fight to the death.
Over a millennium after its construction, the air within the castle was odorless and extremely dry.
==History==
The castle was built in the , to celebrate an epic battle against the Northmen in which the Ffolk were victorious. The fortress was raised by High King Gwylloch and his son, Prince Ketheryll, using the skulls of all the enemies of the Ffolk who had fallen in battle. Gwylloch was so impressed with the morbid pile that he made it his permanent residence and moved his court there from Caer Callidyrr. The castle was also the headquarters of Prince Ketheryll's so-called Doomed Legion, who reveled in watching innocents be put to death in the Citcus Bizarre.
High King Gwylloch continued to augment the citadel with the severed heads of all who opposed him—Northmen and Ffolk alike—and launched military expeditions to gather heads and captives. Eventually, the sinister stench of death and decay within the castle walls drove Gwylloch, Ketheryll, and his court insane. On the evening of the Summer Solstice in the , all of them turned on each other with murderous blood frenzy. Tales also or alternatively claimed that the wizard Flamsterd, in concert with the Earthmother herself, blanketed the castle with a black fog that caused it to simply vanish along with all occupants save for a disgruntled follower of Ketheryll named Garius.
Regardless, the castle was abandoned by the living from that point on. Over the following centuries, the castle passed into legend, both as a site haunted by a cursed Prince Ketheryll but also a place filled with treasure. It became a topic of tales told to frighten children.
In the , the halfling adventurer Pawldo and his companion Stefanik sought out the castle after the latter found a valuable dagger bearing a skull insignia. The pair dared to delve into the castle seeking treasure, but encountered the monstrous Ketheryll. They survived, but acquired only a pair of rings that had belonged to the ancient king and queen of Corwell, Durnhal and Morgan, who had long ago been killed by Ketheryll.
==Inhabitants==
The castle was guarded by the spirits of those who had died there. The upper floors were infested with monstrous reptiles including basilisks, giant snakes, and (it was rumored) a green dragon. The subterranean levels were haunted by powerful undead that guarded the buried remains of warriors, knights, and kings with their rich and magical treasures. These undead included ghosts, specters, and a lich. This was the undead remnant of Prince Ketheryll, who would lure travers into the castle with illusory treasure only to transform them into such treasures.
==Rumors & Legends==
As of the mid–14 century DR, local legend claimed that the castle only appeared once in a generation in the period between the new and full moon of the Summer Solstice. It was thought that somewhere within the castle was hidden the unholy artifact known as the cauldron of doom.
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
===References===
Category:Castles
Category:Dungeons
Category:Locations on Toril
Category:Locations in Faerûn
Category:Locations in West Faerûn
Category:Locations in the Moonshae Isles
Category:Locations on Gwynneth
Category:Locations in Corwell