Entrance A stable hand is available to look after any steeds offered to him. There are 8 steps that lead up to the doorway, owing to the manor being built on a hill. The outside of these doors is adorned by a pair of shoulder-high stone dragons, rearing as if to strike. The rune covered doors themselves are locked with a good quality lock and are adorned with a pair of talon-shaped knockers. The entrance is lit with a pair of mirrored candle sconces. Standing under sconces are two elven guards. There is a view slot in the door for visitors to be recognized by through after they knock. Once the formalities with Liann are concluded, you are allowed into the foyer.
Foyer Inside, the floor is the same lovely warm gray stone of which the manor is built. The foyer is lit with a several mirrored candle sconces. Standing under sconces are two suits of elven maile armor, with robust guards inside. The weapons cabinet, carefully designed to hold what weapons of sharpness and magic which might be brought to Darkmoor. Fresh flowers in cobalt blue vases stand on chests along the wall of the foyer. A long piece of handwork of blue and silver threads "May all who enter as Guests leave our home as Friends" on the wall to your left. The wall on the right has many pegs on which to hang cloaks and hats.. a table for out-going missives, large shell half for receiving calling cards, and a poor box for the orphanage. A colorful, fringed rug covers runs towards the arched doorway of the greatroom.
Greatroom the decor of the greatroom is a mixture of local craftsmanship, Scottish tartan swags, the banners of each of the Darkmoor knights, and Kashmir/Persian influences in the piles of floor pillows and rugs of the room ... comfortable chairs and several couches add to the available seating in the greatroom. Inconspicuous Elven guards are standing around the room to assist the household. Twin tallboy chests stand to either side of the fireplace, herbs and the pillow pit often has several felines lounging about in it, please check before sitting. Points of interest in the greatroom are the hearth, the fan, the mantle and the tapestry.
Library A quiet library… this quiet, tranquil room is decorated in soft shades of ivy green and primrose. The bookshelves, as well as the chairs and tables are all carved so as to resemble trees and woodland foliage. The whole decor creates a feeling of being in a secluded forest. A tree-shaped pedestal sits in the center of the room. Secured lamps sit on reading tables surrounded by cushioned, high backed chairs. A colorful, detailed mural covers the high, domed ceiling overhead. To the south is the door leading to the greatroom.Leather bound tomes fill the ceiling high shelves lining the walls of the library. There are no magical tomes here, just normal books like “Fishing Dos and Don’ts”, “Cavern Fish of the River Styx”, “How to Train Your Pet Roethe”, “Mechanus for Dummies”, “Troll Etiquette”. There is a very nice collection of foreign language works including, “Poems of the Olinree”, “History of Goblin Military Campaigns”, and “Growing Violet Fungi”. Prominently stacked on a chair are copies of “Death on the Morning Tide”, “Wimples, Hats and Circlets”, and “In Darkest Sigil” by Granus Mikalin.
Kitchen A large table is in the center of the kitchen. On another table are three loaves of bread, still quite fresh. Two wooden crates hold some redroot (a radish-tasting red carrot), turnips, potatoes, nuts, dried fruit, a spice box or three, etc. While in use, the table is piled to overflowing with bowls of ingredients, food that is in various stages of preparation and tools; knives, mortar and pestle, cups, spoons, scoops, wooden trenchers for the manor's guests and bread trenchers for the diners at the !community house. The other main feature of the room is the huge hearth with it's left and right chimney cranes (with large pots and cauldrons), various gridirons, and a pair of andirons for holding the roasting spit. On the mantle above the hearth is pewter serving trays, tinder, flint and steel, candles and candleholders. In the back of the hearth is an iron fireback with "998 A W" engraved in the stone. In one wall of the hearth is a large oven for making pies and cakes. At the other side of the hearth is an enclosure for additional firewood. Sausages, hams and other meats are hanging in the back of the hearth being smoked or dried into jerky. Some of the equipment includes a bellows on the wall, and an interesting belt and gear system, which turns the roasting spit and the rotating smoking racks in the chimneys. Note that the windows set high up on the walls to provide plenty of light, and hoods over the fireplaces to vent the smoke. Ventilation was obviously a necessity when working with open fire; the manor kitchens have chimneys to draw the smoke up and away from the workers. The fireplaces were wide and shallow, rather than deep. The kitchen has huge cooking ovens, some large enough to roast two or three oxen at the same time. The oven was 14 feet in diameter. Sometimes the kitchen ovens would even be used for military purposes, as sand and missiles would be heated for use with the siege engines. The kitchen contained also forges erected in them, as everything necessary for the use of the household was provided on the spot. Large cauldrons and pots sitting in or hanging above surprisingly high flames dominate the kitchen scene. You see several perforated spoons hanging on the wall behind a cook, who is gutting a huge hare. There are also two gutted animals hanging on the wall, and a large bucket of live fish on the floor Here again, we see a cook surrounded by many pots and pans of differing sizes, many of which appear to be haphazardly piled on the floor. Some of the equipment includes a spice box on the table, a bellows on the wall, and an interesting belt and gear system to turn the roasting spit. Also, the kitchens contain sculleries where the scullions would wash dishes over sinks. Sinks made of stone were built into the walls and drained into the drainage system of the manor. There are separate sculleries for pewter and silverware. There is also a scullery, which shows one man washing dishes while another sharpens knives on a whetstone; more knives lie waiting on a nearby table. Pots, pans and cooking utensils fill shelves lining the south wall. A cool breeze blows in from an open window over a sink to the north. Swinging double doors lead south to the dining room. Darkmoor and its environs provide an ample supply of partridge, pheasant and grouse, as well as quail, duck and guinea-fowl eggs — and no fewer than three types of honey. The estate grows its own herbs and some of its own vegetables on a four-acre patch. Fish is brought daily from nearby Bartleton on the Hibernia Sea. During the spring and summer months, food stuffs were in ready supply, and included: "starlings, vultures, gulls, herons, storks, cormorants, swans, cranes, peacocks [often displayed in full feather after cooking], capons, and chickens... dogfish, porpoises, seals, whale, haddock, cod, salmon, sardines, lamprey, dolphins, tunnies, and eels (Kenyon, 1995)", as well as mullet, sole, shad, flounder, plaice, ray, mackerel, trout, crab, crayfish and oysters. Fruits were also eaten, as were onions, garlic, peas, and fava beans. So what fruits were available? Wild cherries, grapes, and plums. Apples and pears were usually cooked. Roasted apples were popular. Citrus fruits are imported; fresh and pickled lemons, and also Seville oranges. Other imports included dried currants, raisins, figs, dates, prunes apples, apricots, peaches and berries. In addition to containers for fresh ingredients, long-term storage was needed for safely keeping foodstuffs. Meat and fish were often salted, smoked, or dried and hung high up on walls or in cold-storage rooms; fat was rendered and kept in glazed earthenware crocks. Greens were similarly packed in salt or brine in crocks, while fruits, nuts, and vegetables were stored in honey. Preparations are made during the rest of the year to ensure the availability of meat for winter. Wild animals could be hard to find during the winter, so most of the cattle were eaten. Beef had to be dried, though, or would rot if kept for any length of time. !Bird coops were built to house and breed poultry during the year; when winter came, the birds were killed for the tables of Darkmoor. Fish from the manor's lake are also gathered to augment the winter's food stores, as were others from nearby rivers or the sea. Like meat, fish were salted or smoked for longer preservation. Spits roasting meat and large, iron cauldrons bubbling with soups and stews were all part of the kitchen's daily routine. Lambs, cattle, pigs, and fowl are tethered or penned nearby. |