Rimzenstone

Rimzenstone is the ancestral home of Nightsong, Montand's court bard. It has a strong Gothic streak to its architecture, with leering gargoyles and ornately decorated archways and small courtyards within its walls. The walled, fortified mansion house is populated by servants who Nightsong selects, seemingly, for their ugliness. Rarely can one household ever have held so many grotesques within its walls. Its sinister appearance is not just surface deep. Nightsong is an accomplished magician, and his dungeons contain deadly traps and devices. It is rumored that Nightsong is an adept kidnapper, concealing his victims within the walls of his rank dungeons and holding them for ransom; he specializes in noble and wealthy adventurers. This may just be rumor, for those returned by their anonymous kidnapper refuse to speak of him, and cannot be magically compelled to do so. They appear not to have been ill-treated, and some speak reluctantly of sipping fine wine and sweetmeats with their charismatic, masked captor, even coming to like and admire him. They may also be amnesic for points of detail, making it harder to be sure whether Nightsong truly was their abductor.

A half-mile south of the mansion is a fortified garrison holding a hundred or so of Montand's troops. Ostensibly they are placed here to watch over the northern portions of Strychan's lands, and guard the riverway to Loutharn. But equally Montand wants to keep tabs on his bard during his absences from his court. A specialist diviner is usually posted with these troops, giving further plausibility to this alternative explanation.