House of the Red Moon

Origins

The House of the Red Moon was originally built by Wick of the Chibiloft Crew during his time on Toril. He named the House for the red moon Lunitari of Krynn, which is the astrological symbol for the goddess of the same name who founded and serves as patron of the Order of the Red Robes to which Wick belonged.

Toril

The House was built on the outskirts of Beregost in the Western Heartlands. The dominant building materials were oak and cedar wood, sandstone and granite. Construction on the House started and ended sometime between 1321 and 1330 DR, and was based largely on designs supplied by Wick.

Originally, the House of the Red Moon was a one-storey building, centered upon a herb garden Wick used to grow his own spell components. Its main features were:

• The central Garden. Open to sun and weather, this was where Wick cultivated a number of plants, both common and rare, from which he derived a number of spell components and spices for cooking.
• The Library. In this windowless room Wick collected, studied and even wrote books containing lore about arcane magic and swordsmanship. Part of the Library hailed from his native Krynn and part from Toril. Wick travelled frequently, and was always eager to add new tomes to his collection.
• The Sparring Room. This was a fairly large chamber with eastern exposure and large windows, devoted to the sword and its use.
• The Shrine. A small chamber with western exposure, this grey-tiled chamber was initially devoted only to the Krynnish goddess of Neutral magic Lunitari. As Wick's experience with Toril grew, he added an altar dedicated to Mystra, supreme goddess of magic on Toril. When Chadrezzan Ilmiskir came to live in the House, he added an altar to Tempus.

The House also contained two bedrooms, of which one was meant for guests, a small larder and a kitchen.

Between 1359 and 1362 DR, Chadrezzan Ilmiskir took over the House and made alterations.

• As Chadrezzan was initially unable to use and renew the various everyday magics that made the House comfortable, he expanded the kitchen and added on a dining room, warmed by a hearth.
• He roofed over the central herb garden, having relocated the plants to the east of the House, andplanted additional plants that were edible. He turned the now vacant space in the middle of the House into a rock and sand garden, for meditation purposes.

During construction of the House, Wick placed various wards about it, in order to protect his belongings from theft and vandalism. He refreshed and added to these magics every time he spent any amount of time in the House, until they became ingrained into the stone and woodwork. After he took possession of the House, Chadrezzan made sure to maintain the standing protections and added several that were far more lethal in character than what Wick had intended.

When Chadrezzan Ilmiskir cast the spell that killed him in 1362 DR, the whole House and its Garden were wrenched into the Demiplane of Dread.

Demiplane of Dread

Kartakass

From 702 BC until 728 BC, the House came to rest in the Ulvskoven of Kartakass. In 714 BC and 720 BC, it was the temporary lair of the undead villain Tressac.

Tressac made his own additions to the House during the winter of 714 BC:

• Off the Library, Tressac built an additional room: the Study. This is a large room with windows to allow in natural light, doors connecting both to the Library and one of the bedrooms, and features all the comforts needed for someone to spend long times here in study or writing.
• Tressac created a false hearth and chimney off the Study, wholly unsuited for warming the room as he actually used the brickwork to create a secret storage space, wherein he hid his journal and a handful of other items.

Arkandale

The House relocated itself from Kartakass to Arkandale in 728 BC. During this time it was largely ignored by the world around it.

Verbrek

In 754 BC, the House relocated itself from Arkandale to Mourning Ridge in Verbrek. In the winter of that year, it was discovered by the scholar Mu from Gothic Earth, who was seeking seclusion. She moved into the house and would return there semi-regularly over the next ten years, considering it her winter home.

Mu added further wards to the House's defenses, but also installed mechanical traps and created construct guard to monitor it when she was absent. Other changes she made include:

• Adding the Laboratory to the House by expanding its root cellar into a space sufficient for her to craft magic items and constructs, and study alchemy under controlled circumstances. This space also includes sleeping quarters.
• Mu spent a considerable amount of time in the Library and the Study, both to partake of the knowledge recorded in Wick's books and to write her own texts, containing knowledge of magic and science from Gothic Earth and various parts of the Core.

Dorvinia

In 764 BC, the House relocated itself from Mourning Ridge to Ziyden Woods in former Dorvinia, currently Borca. Although Dorvinian peasants found the House, none were able to claim it - in part because Ivan Dilisnya claimed ownership of everything in his lands and demanded rent, and in part because the House's wards kept them out. The House would remain unclaimed until 766 BC, when the Chibiloft Crew came upon it, seemingly by chance. Wick recognized his old home, although he did not understand how it had come to be in the Demiplane of Dread; the House recognized its old master.

As the Chibiloft Crew took up the House of the Red Moon as their new headquarters, further changes have been made:

• The old bedrooms have been repurposed as storage space; the kitchen and dining room have been expanded in response to the greater demands on both.
• A first floor has been constructed on top of the ground floor. This first floor is composed mainly of bedrooms and the bathroom.
• The Shrine now also features altars to Mytteri, Mistress Lethede, Notre Dame des Brumes and Ezra in addition to the preceding altars. Aubert considers the Shrine to be more or less his main area of concern; his bedroom is above the Shrine and connects to it with a hatch and a rope ladder.
• Dr. Julio Huevo has overhauled the Laboratory, expanding the alchemy section and relocating most of the books on science from the Library here. The equipment Mu used to create constructs has been carefully disassembled and stored in the sleeping quarters located in the cellars; Dr. Huevo does not wish to sleep underground, and no one in the 'Crew is capable of crafting golems or homunculi.
• Wick has claimed the Study for himself alone, and warded it to the hilt. He uses it to study magic and experiment with new spells. Although Dr. Huevo has made sure to provide ample space for any crafting Wick might like to do in the Laboratory, the Wizard prefers to keep his work separate from the good Doctor's forays into combining science and sorcery. He has removed most of the books on arcane magic that were in the Library upon finding the House and stored them here. Wick's nominal bedroom is directly overhead, but he prefers to sleep in the Study.
• The Sparring Room has been expanded and now includes a target range. Comoară considers the Sparring Room to be 'her' place in the House, although she is banned from firing her pistols while inside. Her bedroom is overhead.
• Although Wick cleaned out the Library of most magical texts that were there when the 'Crew arrived and has largely avoided it since, Slice, Dr. Huevo, Ooglie and to a lesser extent Slap have been adding new books to its shelves and spend a fair amount of time there. Currently, the Library is a glorious mess, with books piled up on the floor because the bookcases are stuffed full not just with tomes, but also with various knickknacks and mementos of the 'Crew's adventures and misadventures.
• The Succubus Slap has dug an additional cellar, one which does not connect to the Laboratory, but has a secret exit tunnel that leads all the way underneath the Strecura River and emerges in the Tainted Woods. Here is Slap's lair, where she sleeps and stores items of personal importance.

Dangers

• The magic effect that caused the House to teleport randomly was apparently caused by Chadrezzan Ilmiskir's attempt to combine Conjuration with Divination to find Wick; in a sense, the House has been trying to find him all this time. With House and master reunited, Wick was able to unravel and halt the magic, which means the House is currently stationary. If Wick should die, become comatose or otherwise insensate, however, the House of the Red Moon may start transporting itself again - and who knows where it will end up as it tries to find its master?
• Tressac's secret journal is still hidden in the false fireplace off the Study. As it is an item of Shadow Weave magic, and warded besides, Wick has not detected its presence. The bleak despair and self-pity imprinted on the book's every page may be leaking out past the magic, however, to taint the old Wizard's mindset. Worse, if he ever finds the book and discovers the existence of the Shadow Weave and its promises, he may well fall for it; what better way to further distance himself from Lunitari and Mystra?
• Mu's construct-making equipment may be safely disassembled and stored, but at least one of her guardians is still active in the House. Shaped as a suit of armour, this construct has not yet betrayed what it is. But the accent is on 'yet'; any day, a member of the 'Crew may violate one of the rules Mu left for her creation. Others of the witch's creations may be buried in the earth around the House, awaiting the call to arms...