Hotel Fen (location)

**Hotel Fen** is a remote resort in the Scandinavian Mountains, a four-hour drive from the city of Oslo in Norway. It is a luxury hotel with a vintage feel and a Norse mythology theme, and it's a popular place for long vacations and for those who simply want to get away from the world for a while. It is the setting of *Hotel Fen*, the first book of the *Ragnarok* trilogy.

## Locations

### First Floor

#### Lobby

The lobby of the hotel is warm and gives off a welcoming feel. There is a sitting area with a couch and a couple of love seats in warm green fabrics around a coffee table to the right just inside the door. Three paintings hang opposite the sitting area on the wall, the art cohesive among them to easily know they are meant to be hung together: one depicts a large serpent rising out of the water and wrapping around a ship, the middle one shows a wolf bearing down at a man tiny enough to look more like an ant than a person, and the final one looks to be of a beautiful woman, though the more one stares, the more one realizes half her face is missing its skin and only shows its fine bone structure.

The reception desk sits against the back wall of the lobby area and has two wolves carved into the dark wood. The wolves are set on a curve to give the impression they are chasing a sun and moon between them. The desk is set up with three check-in computers. Behind the desk, on the wall, are several clocks depicting different hours depending on the city listed beneath it, though New York City's clock seems to be stuck, the second hand ticking along with the others but never moving so time doesn't advance.

There's a back door to the left of the reception desk that leads out to some of the activities on the guests' itinerary. About mid-lobby there is a hallway to the right, just after the sitting room, that leads to the elevator and first floor amenities. To the left, across from the hallway, are a set of double doors that lead to the hotel's restaurant.

#### Restaurant

There are several tables for individuals or small families, as well as one large party table that seats ten at a time. There is a bar with stool seating along one wall. The restaurant has some Norwegian classics, but also sells burgers and salads for those a little less adventurous in trying out the local cuisine.

#### Pool

The pool is found on the first floor, down the hallway by the elevator. Several panels of the outside wall and the wall the hallway shares are glass so people passing by can see into the pool area. There's a small corridor that leads to restrooms and changing rooms that one can move through to enter the pool itself, where there is normally a life guard on duty. There's also a small hot tub in one corner of the room. Pool hours are 7am - 11pm.

#### Gym

The gym can be found across the pool. It contains a couple of treadmills, a few weightlifting machines, and some free weights for guest use. Gym hours are 7am - 11pm.

#### Business Center

The business center is next to the gym, and it contains several computers for guests to check their email, look up fun things they might be able to do in Oslo if they want to take a day trip to the city, or check their flight information.

### Second Floor

#### Conference and Meeting Rooms

The second floor is comprised of several conference and meeting rooms. A couple of the rooms are set up with large tables and lots of chairs for a board meeting kind of seating. The other two rooms are arranged in a way that allows for a seminar or lecture, complete with a podium and chairs facing the speaker. All rooms contain phones and presentation equipment.

### Third to Eighth Floors

The room floors are fairly simple with ten rooms apiece. Some rooms have adjoining doors between them. Some rooms have two full beds while others have a single King. The rooms all hold a dresser with a TV on top, a small desk and desk chair, and an overstuffed comfy chair. The bathrooms are also simple, with a shower/tub combo, a sink, mirror on the wall with the sink, a towel rack, and a hair dryer. One of the nightstands next to the bed, there is an old style telephone with a number pad that's a play of a rotary phone. In keeping with the Norse mythology theme, the carpets are rune-patterned and there's a metal mounted wolf's head in the bathroom.

### Others

#### Elevator

The elevator is just inside the hallway off the lobby. There is only one elevator car and it is extremely old, so it takes time to go up or come down. There is no music playing to ease the ride while you're inside. The elevator itself is nice, clean, and looks almost vintage in its appearance. What's interesting is the large wolf face carved into the metal inside the doors, which comes into view when the doors close, though if one's not really looking it could simply be mistaken for an abstract design.

#### Vending Machines

There are some vending machines on the first and second floors that can be found and used. They are set in pairs so one has various snacks for sale from chips to cookies and pretzels, and the other has various drinks, sodas, waters and a couple energy drinks. While people do buy from them, they never seem low in stock. The set on the first floor are in the corridor by the bathrooms where you enter the pool area, while the set on the second floor are both just right in front of the elevator.

#### Stairs

There are two stairwells for the hotel. One set is next to the elevator and one set is at the end of the hallway. There is an emergency exit at the end of the hall for the first floor next to the stairwell.

### Outdoors

#### Mountains

Behind the hotel are lovely snowy mountains. It's the tail end of winter, but it's still cold and snowy enough that skiing is currently available should a guest wish to take to the ski trails.

#### Hill

Closer to the hotel is a small hill that has some snow shoe and regular hiking trails that make for a good walk, but also the hill is high enough that the view from it is beautiful. There is also a statue at the top of the hill, of a wolf carved out of old stone, and it looks like it's been resting on this hill, watching over the hotel for centuries.

At the base of the hill is a small cave that the hotel also offers caving, all overseen by a staff member with safety equipment, of course.

#### Forest

Along the road that leads up to the hotel and framing the front of the hotel is a forest. It looks like the forest was actually split to allow the road to travel up to the hotel, with the trees trying to crowd back together in some places. The sunlight doesn't penetrate the trees well but there are some hiking trails that wind shallowly into their depths, never pressing too far or too deep before winding back around.

#### Stables

There is a small stable that houses four Norwegian Fjord horses that can be signed out and ridden around the grounds. There are a couple trails along the hill that will make a giant loop back to the stables or into the forest and back to the stables.

#### Lake

There is a small lake on the edge of the property that, during the winter months when it's frozen over, offers ice skating. The surface of the lake isn't solid enough to ice skate on, unfortunately, but it's also too frozen over at the moment to offer canoeing at the moment. For now, it's a nice place to hike to, to maybe take a small picnic lunch to, and just explore.

Though, if you see a shadow below the surface, it's best not to creep too close to inspect it.