Castle Tarjeng

Castle Tarjeng is a location in Southern Etrand.

Layout and location
Castle Tarjeng is located in the swamplands of Southern Etrand. The ruins of the castle itself are surrounded by a swampy forest so dense, that it practically qualifies as a jungle. Inhabited by man-eating lizards, meat-eating plants, and other unsavory beings that prey upon the living - be they adventuring Humans or indigenous Lizardmen - the area in itself is no fairy tale to pass.

The castle's walls are mossy and moldy. The entrance to the castle itself is rusty iron gate. Inside the castle, after having went through the entrance, adventurers are greeted with two doors on the floor, and two stairs. One of the two doors leads to the kitchen and feasting room, the other to the library. One of the stairs leads up to a door, which in turn leads up to the bedrooms and treasury/armoury, while the other stairs lead down to the dungeon, containing the wine cellar, as well as the prisons of the castle.

History
It is not known precisely when was Castle Tarjeng built, but it is assumed that the castle must have been built during the reign of King Tondbert I of Etrand, as a southern outpost against Orcish raiders, as well as a means of projecting power towards the local lizardmen tribes - the name Tarjeng itself is a Lizardman word. In any case, by the late 3rd century, the castle has been abandoned, fell into disrepair and ceased being mentioned.

Off course, this does not mean the end of Tarjeng's story. Ever since that, Tarjeng has changed hands many times, becoming a hideout, place of refuge and headquarters of bandits, orcs, necromancers, and so on. It is widely believed that, that the current occupier of Castle Tarjeng - as of 831 - is a Necromancer or a Lich.

The FRPG and offsite
While Terjeng wasn't named as such, it appeared during one of the adventures on the Hungarian-language version of the FRPG. Metalhead33 also tends to use Castle Terjeng as the preferred location for dungeon-crawling in private roleplaying sessions.

Among Stephanus Tavilrond's other non-canon offsite adventures, Castle Tarjeng made an appearence in Explosive Exploration and Adventuring with a Fairy. In Knight and Knightess, Stephanus and Nerida made it their decision to refurnish the ruined castle after taking ownership of it.

The 2012 game
While not named Castle Tarjeng, a building whose description is eerly similar to that of Castle Tarjeng does appear in the 2012, albeit as a sub-location within the Forest of Hate. A vampire owns a mansion whose internal layout - the presence of a ground floor, a first floor, a library, a kitchen - is almost identical to Castle Tarjeng's. After the player defeats the vampire, the building gets refurnished, restored, making it the player's home.