Valjevo Castle

Valjevo Castle is the central seat of rulership in the Moonsea citystate of Phlan. While it has changed hands several times over the course of its existence it has continued to acts as a seat of power in every known iteration of ownership.

Apearance
The castle itself resides within the Old City District of Phlan, and consists of three major layers of defense. The first is an exterior wall approximately 30 ft tall with corner towers and multiple gates for entry into the outer ring. The second is a bailey wall only approximately ten ft tall with only two gateway points of entry and small watchtowers at each corner. The third and final defensive feature is the keep itself, sometimes referred to as the central tower.

The outer ring between the exterior wall and the Bailey is filled with service building that lean against the exterior wall. Some of the buildings in this ring include barracks, officers quarters, lavatories, armories, a kitchen, a messhall, a records room, a scribes office, a launderer, a smithy, a charcoal storehouse, a smokehouse, a chapel, a well, a jail, and numerous guardposts.

Inside the bailey wall was a complex hedge maze create in the days when the castle was occupied by the Lord of the Ruins in 1340 DR. In those days the hedges were filled with razor leaved plants that could kill anyone who was cut by them instantaneously. Somewhere within the hedgemaze was a secret door leading to a subteranean passage that held a Teleportation Circle linked to the Valhingen Graveyard outside Phlan. It was through this teleportation circle that the Heroes of Phlan gained access to the castle in 1340 DR.

The keep, or central tower, stood at the center of the hedgemaze and the center of the castle as a whole. As of 1340 DR a large hole had been smashed into one corner of the roof of the keep as well as the floors below, leading down into a large subteranean chamber beneath the keep itself.

This large subteranean chamber served as the lair of Srossar, an ancient Bronze Dragon occupied  by the possesing spirit of Tyranthraxus. In the center of Srossar's lair was the crescent shaped pool of glimmering liquid known as the Pool of Radiance. The pool was drained of its power after the Heroes of Phlan defeated Tyranthraxus, leaving it as nothing more than a normal pool of water. Beside the pool was a stone pedestal known as the Figure of Power, which somehow allowed Tyranthraxus to better control the powers of the pool by setting ioun stones into it. Off of the large chamber was also a smaller subchamber seperated from the rest, which was where Porphyrys Cadorna retreated during that battle between Tyranthraxus and the Heroes of Phlan.

History
The castle was built some time around the cities founding, and acted as the predominant feature of the Old City District. In the ancient days of Phlans past it was clear that the castle and the Old City behind Stojanow Gate were the first major establishment for the city, and that expansion branched out from there.

At some point a Pool of Radiance apeared beneath the castle, and Tyranthraxus managed to convince the ancient Bronze Dragon Srossar to enter the pool, thus allowing the malignant entity to posses the dragons body. With the powerful draconic form Tyranthraxus proceeded to claim most of the city and amassed a powerful monserous army that he intended to unleash in a campaign of conquest across Faerun.

In 1340 DR the Heroes of Phlan worked together to drive Tyranthraxus and his forces out of the castle and reclaim the city. In the process the power of the Pool of Radiance beneath the castle was extinguished. From there the castle was reoccupied by the human residents of Phlan.

Novels

 * Pool of Radiance (novel)

Sourcebooks

 * Ruins of Adventure