The Castle Manorial

The Castle Manorial of Ambuscade County was once a sprawling edifice covering roughly 40 acres of ground. No one is quite sure how old the castle is because it has been abandoned, demolished, deconstructed, reconstructed, expanded, redesigned, and added too so many times that nothing of the original castle remains unless it is part of the Labyrinth of Ambuscade somewhere.

Right now the castle sits in an area of patchily forested chalk downs but it seems clear from archaeological surveying that the area was once far more heavily forested than it is today, but even at that time the castle was already there...

The castle is laid out with a ringed defense pattern atop a large gently sloping hill that is the highest point anywhere within ten miles. Currently it consists of three rings, an outer curtain wall with towers, an inner set of fortified buildings, and a central Keep. It was once considerably larger, with a second curtain wall holding what amounted to a small city, but today it only occupies about 10 acres.

The Following Terminology will be used throughout these entries:

Building: Each time you return from a successful delve you will be prompted if you wish to spend gold and gems you have brought back to Construct or 'Refurbish' Buildings, Improve your Gear, or Increase your Treasury (Which generates a certain amount of added money while you are gone based on how much you have invested.)

Buildings Provide various 'Facilities' (See Bellow) which give assorted benefits to you, the county, the castle, or your heirs.

Facility: The Castle Manorial has a number of Buildings which do various things for the game, each of these building functions is referred to as a Facility.

To keep Facilities functioning you must have certain numbers of Workers of various kinds to operate them.

Training Hall: Each 'Training Hall' Facility for each class adds one to the starting level of your Heirs of the appropriate classes when you die in the plumbing of the Labyrinth of Ambuscade.

Space: Space Facilities provide the ability to house and feed (X) number of people.

Production: Production facilities are exactly what they say on the tin: they produce something: generally something that can help you or your heirs in delving into the Dungeon.

Defense: Defense Facilities make it harder for rivals to attack the Castle and steal your treasures or kidnap your heirs.

Special: Special facilities have unique effects, doing various things that are not covered else where, such as unlocking Inheritance upgrades for future generations.

Currently The Castle has the following buildings and facilities inside and part of it: more information on each is given in sub pages bellow. (Buildings Listed From Center To Exterior, more or less)

The Keep:

Sitting at the core of the castle is the keep. This massive squarish edifice is the oldest part of the castle that still stands, and is made of massive blocks of reddish granite. The Keep is also the most intact part of the castle, and is held by the hobgoblins that rule over the tribe of gobliniods that have seized the abandoned fortress. The keep is Four Stories high and has Space Facilities to sleep and feed a garrison of 50 people. It also serves as a Training Hall for Fighters, Rangers, and Samurai. If the PC and their arms-men can take it intact it will be the ideal location to set up housekeeping while the rest of the castle is being rebuilt. The Keep is made almost entirely of stone except some internal walls and doors, and requires no repairs other than whatever damage the PC and their minions inflict. To Rebuild it if destroyed would cost all 10,000GP of the player's starting capital. Once cleared and repaired it has a monthly upkeep cost of 100GP, not counting the pay of any garrisoned soldiers. When repaired and staffed the Keep also provides a Defense Bonus of +3.

The 'Chapel':

The 'Chapel' of the castle is actually really a Cathedral. It will cost 5,000GP to fully repair, but once repaired serves as a Training Hall for Clerics, Inquisitors, and Oracles, and has Space Facilities for 25 people. It also is a Production Facility for Potions and Wands of Cure Minor Wounds and Cure Moderate Wounds.

It is mostly made of stone but has significant Glass and Wood components, and if destroyed would cost 25,000GP to rebuild. It's monthly upkeep cost once functioning is 500GP, or 250 if not acting as a Production Facility.

The Menagerie:

The Menagerie has several functions: It has Space Facilities for up to 20 War Hounds or equivalent; 15 Horses or equivalent; 6 Elephants or half that many Mastodons; 30 Size medium Great Cats, with larger or smaller felines taking up twice or half as much space per size category of difference; 15 Hawks, again, with bigger and smaller birds taking up more or less space; and 20 Human Zookeepers*. It also serves as a Training Hall for Rangers, Druids, Cavaliers, Samurai, Wizards, Sorcerers with the Arcane Bloodline, Clerics with the Animal Domain, and Oracles with the Nature mystery. Further more it serves as a Production Facility for trained War Hounds. Hawks, and Great Cats.
*(All of which would be needed to keep it running with the full number of animals.)

The Menagerie is in bad shape, much of it's structure was made of Glass, Steel, and Wood which has been damaged by being abandoned, meaning that it would require 10,000 GP to repair, not counting the cost of stocking it with animals, which would run about another 1000 to 5000 GP, depending on how it was done. If destroyed it would cost 15,000GP to rebuild. It further has a monthly upkeep cost of 1000 GP when fully stocked.

All in all repairing the menagerie should be a later stage action for the castle.

Acanist's Tower:

This tall tower at the back of the castle once held the count's court magician, but it was abandoned even before the **** of the last heir of the previous dynasty. The Goblins have reopened it and the leader of the goblin contingent of the tribe makes his home at the top of it.

The Arcanist's Tower has Space for 12 people, and serves as a Training Facility for all kinds of Arcane Casters, but only one kind at a time, namely whichever one the PC has hired to be the Court Magician. (Or themselves if they are an arcane caster and have survived long enough to be teaching their children the Arcane Arts.) It also serves as a Defense Facility with a Defensive Rating of [Current Court Magician's Level, Minimum 5].

Unfortunately the tower is no longer fully sound and would require a total overhaul to be rendered safe, taking up a year of work and 12,000GP in expenses.

Curtain Walls:

The curtain walls are a main Defense component of the castle. In thier present state they add +2 to the difficulty of all robbery and abduction attempts. It would cost 5000GP to repair them and take about six months of construction, which would Increase the bonus to +5

Gatehouse:

The Gatehouse is the other main Defense Facility of the castle when fully stocked and manned it provides a Defense Bonus of +5.
However this is not all it does,