Corvidholme

> *”That's the old passage to Corvidholm. We don't go there anymore.”*
> -Spalyx Vance, commenting in The Forgotten passageway to freedom, warning Scorden Freeman not to go into the old town.
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## Corvidholme (A.K.A Ravenholme)

Corvidholme is based on the Half Life 2 area, Ravenholme. It is very similar in layout and such. Alongside with encounters and with a more “outlands” moniker to it.

### Location

Boarder of outland mountain range near Black Fang Mountain, and Gorge of Eternal Depth.

### Inhabitants

Zombie-like Predator Plants, Father Grigori.

Corvidholm is a former Raven mining town and later, a Forgotten Resistance stronghold located Aside the Black Mountain. It was previously inhabited by refugees who escaped from Combine-controlled Cave 17 to join the Forgotten but is largely deserted and infested with Carnivore-plants, and leftover Black Overwatch defensive weapons by the time Scordon Freeman passes through.

## Overview

> *"In Ravenholm, you do well... **to be vigilant**."*  - Father Grigori's obvious battle tactics here.
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The town of Corvidholme mainly consists of small to medium-sized houses that are mostly traditionally built, being made from concrete, brick, and wood. Several high-rise apartment buildings can also be seen in some sections of the town such as the area near the coastline and the area near a room with dismembered outland “zombies” inside. These buildings, along with the streets, appear in an eastern European style, complying with the style of buildings seen throughout Scorpion build codes. It would seem that the town remained under the radar for some time, but it was eventually discovered by Sector 17 Overwatch, so instead of attacking it head on, they launched a massive bombardment of Plant Shells, causing the town to become completely overrun with outland plants and predator plants being linked to Aperture Mesa East via a tunnel, the entrance to the town was sealed shortly after the bombardment using a heavy gate, two barricades guarded by stolen Sentry Guns and a permanent guard detachment to prevent outland foliage from reaching the facility.

Spalyx Vance points the gate to the town out to Scordon Freeman during his tour of the laboratory and explains with a hint of fear in her voice, thus, hinting that she was either there before or had heard about what happened to the refugees living where it leads to and that it was "sealed for a reason". Later, Scordon is forced to escape through the town when the universal union forces laid a raid at Aperture Mesa East. Many areas of the town are littered with propane cylinders, barrels of flammable materials and Booby traps which had been contrived and placed by Father Grigori. The entire town is also littered with deceased ravens and crawlers that had been hanged, burned, sliced and suffered other horrific fates by Grigori's traps or killed by the surviving refugees of the town. Due to the relative lack of ammunition in the area, Scordon must rely on Grigori's traps and the Gravi-Chi Gun with which he could launch blades, barrels and other heavy props to use as projectiles to kill the outland living foliage. Grigori set up many traps and structures in order to dispose of the adversaries more efficiently and help to move around the small town. The traps were engineered so that outland foliage could easily stumble into them but that could be easily avoided by normal crawlers. In addition to the traps, Grigori and the remaining survivors separated the town into closed districts using wooden and scrap metal barricades so that the enemy could be found in a more organized manner and therefore could be more easily dispatched.

### The Traps of Corvidholme

> "*You are to be **commended** for avoiding my traps. The work of a man who once had too much time on his hands, and now finds time for nothing but the work of **salvation**.*"  -Father Grigori commending RP'ers whom use or avoid his traps.
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* Car traps are makeshift traps created from a rope, a pulley, a car and an engine. The car is tied with a rope from a pulley to the engine. When activated, a lever on the engine removes the tension on the rope, causing the car to drop and crush anything beneath it after which the engine immediately pulls the car back up again.

* Electric traps simply shock and repel the outland foliage trespassers. Only few of these can be encountered due to how crowded and narrow the streets of Corvidholme and the RP’er has to deactivate it to proceed onwards, but has to reactive them to keep them doing their job.

* Propane traps are attached to irrigation sprinklers that when opened and released, fills a small area with flammable propane gas. The gas could be ignited with a gunshot or an electric spark from the red switches stationed near the propane tanks to create a large fire that quickly incinerates any enemies in the area.

* Propeller traps are found all over the town. They are constructed with car engines and long, makeshift serrated blades that appear to be made of steel sheets and scrap metal. The engine rotates the sheet and uses it as a horizontal rotor. The rudimentary blade spins in a waist-high arc and will immediately dismember any passing enemy. Regular chimians can easily avoid this trap by ducking and crawling underneath the blade. Standard outland plants, however, are unaware of the dangers and proceed unaware into the range of this deadly contraption. Poisonous outland plants are capable of decommissioning the working propeller traps. The blade of at least one of the propeller traps will detach when activated and when picked up, it will automatically position itself horizontally, much like circular saw blades, it can then be thrown with the Gravi-chi Gun.

## Story Importance in *The One Free Man*

> *"**Farewell, Brother!** I fear I deliver you to a **darker** place! May the Light of Lights **illuminate** your path!"*  - Father Grigori sending farewell to Freeman.
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After being separated from Spalyx during Black Overwatch's raid on Aperture Mesa East, Scordon Freeman is forced to travel through Corvidholm. Armed with his newly-acquired Gravi-chi Gun and an assortment of weapons, Scordon traverses the desolate, outland-infested town, all-the-while utilizing bizarre traps. While fighting off hordes of sentient zombie-like outland plants, Scordon meets the last known inlander chimian occupant of Corvidholm, Father Grigori. Grigori provides some assistance and advice to Scordon, such as arming him with a shotgun and eventually leading him to an abandoned mine to escape the town.

## Trivia

* It can be noted that when standing still long enough, above the actual sounds one can hear voices, screams, breathing, crying, and cawing. These are said to be the survivors of Corvidholme. A child can be heard among the voices. Furthermore, If one stands long enough near the building where Scordon meets Father Grigori, one can hear a distant screeches of bats.

* Corvidholm's Russian name is *Рейвенхолм* and if translated to English, Corvidholme’s name is spelled *Reyvenholm*.

* The church in Corvidholme doesn't have a crest on the top of its dome. It may be a reference to the Soviet politics in early years when all churches were made over into warehouses and had its crests removed from the dome.

* Near the car trap sections of Corvidholme, there are Black Overwatch propaganda posters on walls. This is most likely a previous attempt to annex the small town under Black Overwatch control.