Berrywilde

Berrywilde was a large country estate located just outside of the city of Innarlith on the Lake of Steam in the mid–14 century DR.

Geography
The Firesteap Mountains were visible to the south of the estate. It covered a large area that was miles across from one side to the other.

Trade
The estate was owned by Senator Inthelph and it was used as a source of income for his family. It included a winery, a vineyard, a cattle ranch, a chicken farm, and a berry orchard. Saltpeter, one of the main ingredients in smokepowder, was also produced and sold from the estate.

History
The estate had belonged to the same family since the 13 century DR. Construction on the country estate house was started by the great-great grandmother of Phyrea, the daughter of Senator Inthelph. Over time, more features and parts were added to it. By the mid–14 century DR, the main estate house was large enough to comfortably house one hundred people and entertain more than one thousand. At some point in its history, an unknown male had been buried in a secret crypt hidden underneath the estate with an enchanted sword.

In 1364 DR, Senator Inthelph decided to build a winery on the grounds of the estate. Ivar Devorast, a Cormyrean engineer was one of the workmen on the site.

Phyrea, who visited the estate during the summer when she went away from the city, was at the estate at the same time, although she was in the estate house, which was several miles from the site where the winery was being constructed. Phyrea had dismissed all of the staff of the house while she was there because she didn't like being watched by other people. However, she began hearing voices from inside the empty building and came to realize that it was haunted by ghosts of her ancestors. They eventually drew her to a secret door that led down to the crypt beneath the estate, where she discovered the enchanted sword and took it.

She encountered Ivar Devorast while he was there and became infatuated with him. She requested the foreman of the winery construction send him to do work on the wall around the house. Devorast ended up sending Vrengarl Hardtoil, a dwarven friend of his, in his place to do this. Phyrea felt humiliated by this and became enraged at the foreman. However, Devorast came to her on a different occasion and they had an affair together at the estate, before Devorast left to go back to the city when he was summoned by Ransar Osorkon on account of his plans to build a canal to connect the Lake of Steam to the Nagaflow. .

Phyrea got information from Vrengarl about the location of the foreman's tent and secretly went to find him at night. At the urging of the ghosts, she killed the foreman with the enchanted sword. Some time after this, there began to be reports of disappearances of workmen from the site. The workers thought that it was perhaps wild animals, but the ghosts that Phyrea could hear were gleeful at what was happening, which made her decide to try to investigate it herself. Phyrea came back from the city and found that the foreman she had killed earlier had been transformed into a ghast. The ghosts revealed to her that this was the power of the sword, namely that it raised its victims as undead creatures. Phyrea then killed the foreman a second time with the sword and he then died permanently.

Phyrea could not get herself free from the ghosts after that summer and she continually saw and heard them, even after she left the estate, although they were invisible to other people. She tried to stay away from the estate because their power seemed to be stronger there, although they kept urging her to return to Berrywilde and stay with them forever there.

Marek Rymüt, a clandestine Red Wizard operating in Innarlith, had visited the estate before and was one of the few people other than Phyrea who was aware of the fact that it was haunted.

When Ivar Devorast was ordered by Ransar Osorkon to begin construction of the canal, he got Phyrea to bring him saltpeter from Berrywilde in carts in order to help Surero, an alchemist, to produce smokepowder that would be used to help in excavating the canal trench.

Rumors & Legends
Although the estate was thought to have been named Berrywilde because of its berry orchards, in fact it seemed like the name for this location predated the estate, although no one was sure of its origin.

Notable Inhabitants

 * Phyrea: the daughter of Senator Inthelph.
 * Senator Inthelph: the master-builder of the city-state of Innarlith..

Appearances

 * Whisper of Waves
 * Lies of Light