Crowcaller Cottage
Exterior
An old two-story stone cottage in a clearing in the woods. Built next to a tree long ago, the tree has grown and almost fused with one side of the cottage extending part way onto the roof itself. The rest of the roof is moss covered slate tiles with a large stone chimney in the middle. Attached to the far side is an additional set of rooms built from wood and with a thatched roof. Several large rose vines wrap around the front of the house, with deep red blossoms with black veins.The house itself gives off an ambience of both ancient aloofness as well as welcome. The clearing around the house contains several outbuildings, including an outhouse and a small goat shed (currently empty). There are also a number of beehives near the back of the clearing as well as a few gardening plots. Neither plot has been tended in some time, and the herb garden is rampant with weeds as well as the expected young plants.
Interior Layout
Cellar
Basic root cellar. It has a trapdoor from the scullery as well as a set of steps leading to a set of doors set in the ceiling.First Floor
Front room - Large space with a huge fireplace and an enormous mirror in a thick rosewood frame hanging above it. The frame itself is carved with flames reaching up into a field of stars. Several lumpy couches flank the fireplace with a rocking chair taking pride of place in the corner nearest it. A massive bookshelf and curio cabinet has been built into the space under the stairs and near the front door was a tall coat rack made from elk horn. Said staircase is made from polished wood and set into the wall itself and leads up to the second floor above. There is also a large window made of bricks of blown glass allowing sunlight into the space set in the front wall of the cottage.Kitchen/Dining Room - The other side of the large fireplace is in the kitchen between the door leading to the front and the one going to the Scullery. Several counters run against the far wall with cabinets both above and below and a large butchers block standing in the center of the room like an island. On the opposite side of the room there is a large round goldenoak table surrounded by five chairs. Another large window of blown glass bricks allowed light into the kitchen. Beyond them is a small pantry where the stairs cut through the ceiling and wall.
Scullery - A deep stone sink and countertop are built in along one wall. A hand operated pump stood on the edge of the sink. At the opposite side is the trapdoor leading down into the cellar. There is also another door that originally let outside, but now opens into the mudroom of the addition.
Add-on
Mudroom - A simple chamber for outer garments and boots. There is a door leading into the workroom as well as the new back door of the cottage.Workroom - This is the primary working space for the witches to work. There are several tables scattered around the room as well as a thick pad on the floor in front of a small wood stove...quite an ingenious item from the dwarves. Cabinets and shelves line the walls, crammed with various bottles, jars, baskets, and other containers. One entire cabinet was just full of bandages. The tables are covered in mixing bowls in a variety of sizes as well as scales, mortar/pestles, and distilling equipment. A door near the stove lets into the sick room.
Treatment\Sick Room - This is a small plain bedroom with a single bed and side table. The bed is covered in a faded patchwork quilt and the whole room smells strongly of mint. Usefully for when someone needed privacy or needed bedrest and watching.
Second Floor
The stairs let up into a short hall with 2 bedrooms doors opening off it as well as a trapdoor into the ceiling that let up into the low attic nestled beneath the sloping roof. The wall separating the bedrooms was quite ingeniously made and radiated heat from the fireplace below. The bedroom ceilings were low to accommodate the attic space and conserve heat. Both bedrooms have windows, with the larger having several. Unlike the lower windows, these do not have glass bricks. Instead there are oilpaper screens nestled between inner and outer shutters so that the rooms can have fresh air and light.Attic
The attic is small, somewhat cramped, and filled with the collectings of almost 500 years of witches living here. As Nero Crowcaller once said, "Everything has a use and if it is not useful today, it might be tomorrow." Various chests and crates are scattered around and a few oilskin wrapped paints lean again one far corner. The fieldstone chimney rises in the center.
Type
House
Parent Location
