Catsky Manor

A Place of Wonder

The Castky Manor is an infamous residence that has been in continuous construction for over 1147 years. The manor is the titular home of the patriarch of the Castsky family of Catskys Necromantic Oddities fame. The building houses more than 270 phylacteries of long forgotten necromancers and liches.

The house only permits persons who are related to the Catsky family by blood to enter. Herman Catsky, the first Catsky patriarch and founder of Catsky's Necromantic Oddities set up the defensive systems of the house only allowing blood relatives to enter and leave freely due to repeated threats to his life, family, and property from superstitious peasants, celestials, unruly adventurers, and all-round obnoxious do-gooders. Non-family members were permitted to enter the mansion in through a by-name exception in the original spell, and during his lifetime, Herman Catsky added others he trusted as his wife and business dealings dictated. Interestingly, Herman never made an exception in the spell for his second daughter's first husband, saying "The guy's a loser who took advantage of my Rose to get his hands on her inheritance. Rose can do what she wants with the money I leave her when I die, but until then he can sit outside my house in the carriage and wait."

When Herman Catsky died, he took the secret of the defensive spells on Catsky Manor to his grave, and has refused to divulge the secrets of the spell to any of the dozens of necromancers who have since raised him to request it. The first of these was sent by Rose herself as she intended to live in the family home and naturally wanted her husband to live there too. This plan met with vehement disapproval (the exact quote was "Like hell I'll tell you how to let that ******* in my house"), and the old ghost has been stubborn about it ever since. Various necromancers have reported that Herman has become increasingly annoyed and disgruntled about the repeated requests. The latest three necromancers to attempt contact have gone so far as to question the patriarchs emotional stability in the afterlife.

The Loophole

Fortunately, the spell on Catsky Manor has a loophole which has allowed the premises to be used as a residence and even a place of business over the years. During the later years of Herman and Priscilla Catsky's lives, Priscilla decide she wanted a ballroom addition and formal gardens to be added to the estate. Herman, not wanting to be bothered with by-name exceptions for workers, included a specifically worded exception that allowed workers "who actually did construction work or repaired the building, not some damned supervisor" to enter and leave the building.

This has created a most unique situation, and leads to the record of Catsky Manor being the most constantly repaired and constructed building in the world. When the manor is occupied by living people, boards, nails and hammers are provided at the front gate for guests to bring in. The spell requires a tool, and a piece of material to be brought with the person in order to enter the grounds or building. That material and tool must be used to construct or repair something by the person carrying it into the grounds or manor in order for the house to allow them to leave.

The house is wildly creative and has access to the fevered imaginations of over 270 bored necromancers and wizards to tap for "capital improvements" and "defensive actions". The house has been known to manifest undead and tear non-conforming visitors to pieces and feed them to Hadley's Pit of Unending Darkness in front of other visitors to make its point. The manor has thus an enormous assortment of odd architectural features such as doors that open onto blank walls, windows that open into interior rooms, stairs that go nowhere, strange passageways, secret rooms, an interior door on the third floor that if opened and gone through will drop a person to the ground floor, and a ridiculous set of additions that make it a nightmare and safety hazard to navigate.

And When Magic Fails...

Since the Jordbani, magic has become increasingly unreliable, yet the protective spells on Catsky Manor continue to function perfectly well. The family bloodline is no longer traceable, so ownership and custodianship of the building is ambiguous like virtually all of the possessions of the ancients. Occasionally scroungers or adventurers will attempt to enter the building, but they rarely have the understanding necessary to avoid catastrophic consequences.

The Manor is a true mystery, it's rooms are rumored to be filled with potential treasures and necromantic goodies - or curses. No one knows what condition it has been left in - or what a brave adventurer will find in it's halls.