Eldritch House

What is the purpose of this building?

It's the house where Adam and Rhea live!

How does this building look and feel?

To get to the Eldritch house, you first get to "the hill", which is obvious without people pointing to it. At the base of the hill, you'll see the dirt path leading up it after you notice the mailbox with the name "Eldritch" painted in fancy script. A short climb where the property is revealed in bits: first, the smoke rising from the chimney; then, the towering roof from the second floor before the elegant front of the house shows itself. It's stone wed with wood, and it looks surprisingly new - but more on that later.

Before you take in too much of the house (the large wooden porch and a wreath of flowers on the wooden door), you notice the land it's sitting on. The sky is wide and blue here where the trees have been cleared so the dog has room to run around. Adjacent to the house, there's a stable in the same style as the house, two horses inside snuffling as they pay you no mind. The dirt path you're on fans into different directions to take you to the house or the stable or it veers left beyond the stable to a pond you can see from where you stand. The forest looks somewhat eerie beyond, even though you see clearly that the path keeps going directly into it.

You stick to your right, though, following the stone fence that suddenly cropped up, and apparently for good reason as it prevents you from tumbling down the hill's eastern side, which is significantly steeper than what you just climbed. Peering below, you can see new houses in the recently cleared space below; several more yards east from the houses, the lake looms large and beautiful.

The porch looks like it gets attention since it holds two chairs and a small table between them, but you pass them by to get to the front door, pulling it open and stepping inside.

You can tell the main room has recently had some building done because you smell freshly cut wood and the dusty scent of recently laid stone. Otherwise, this room is spacious and filled with lanterns to keep it well lit, though the fire would do a good enough job for anyone on the long seatee in front of the fireplace. A rug also takes up space here between the seating and warmth - a perfect place to sprawl out with a good book (or to take a nice nap). Behind the furniture, a table with space for drinks close to it while a chess board is set up on the other side.

You see a door on your left, a door on your right, and a door on the other side of the room to the right of the fireplace. There's also a narrow wooden staircase that hugs the wall to the left, its base close to that door. You'll go there last, you think, so you head first to the right to enter that door.

Here, you see the clearest signs of renovation yet because the kitchen is being expanded as indoor plumbing is being installed, and you see the eastern wall is missing, planks in place to serve as a fence since the drop-off is nearby on the other side. There's still a table and chairs in here, pushed against a row of cabinets. The brick oven is untouched, the wall around it being torn down to build the new wall around it.

You back out, moving next to the door next to the fireplace and walking into a wonderful, sunshiny back room that seems to be some sort of study. On either side of you, bookshelves flank the door you just walked through, and they're nearly filled up with an assortment of books you don't have time to look through. You see windows along every wall except the one behind you, which is why this room is so bright. There's room to walk straight through it, but on the right there's a small piano and a guitar leaning up against a stool; on the left, two narrow desks face each other, each covered with various papers, writing utensils and framed photographs, though one has more clutter while the other holds an old-fashioned typewriter.

To your surprise, there's another door on the other end of this room if you walk between the music area and the writing-desk space, so you quickly cross over to it, gasping with delight when it opens out to a garden that still looks magnificent despite all the building tools and supplies now taking up space in the area. Looking up, a scaffolding tells you the primary work to the house is being done on the upper floor at this time, allowing the house's inhabitants to occupy the main floor while they wait for the work to be done.

Back in the main room, you go to the door you skipped on your entrance - the one that was to your left when you came in and by the stairs. It's another room that's recently had work done, and you think you know what; it's a bathroom with a recently installed toilet and a pump-operated shower. There's still only a water basin instead of a traditional sink, and you see a wooden bath that you wonder how the water inside is warmed. On the counter where the basin sits, you see a cup with two toothbrushes, and if you had peeked around to the other side of the door before leaving, you'd have noticed the two bathrobes hanging on hooks on the other side of the door.

Instead, you pop back out to the main room, deciding you'll see what the upstairs looks like mid-renovation.

Surprisingly, you step onto a wooden platform that feels like it's been there for years. A mattress and trunks are up here, so this is presumably where the couple is currently sleeping. You start down what looks like a hallway, only to realize it was an optical illusion; a sharp turn brings you to more planks that stop you from stepping out onto a half-finished room and whatever else will be added beyond.

What will it look like when it's finished, you wonder? You'll have to come back some day to find out!