The Elder Scrolls: Tamriel

Once a grand open-air garden nestled between the keep’s towering walls, the Castle Volkihar Courtyard is now a neglected and overgrown space sealed off from the rest of the stronghold. Thorny vines choke the broken stone paths, and crumbling statues of long-dead Volkihar nobles loom from the fog. A dried fountain sits at its center, the basin cracked and stained with old blood. The heavy doors leading here have rusted shut, long forgotten by the vampire lords within. Despite its decay, the courtyard carries an eerie stillness, as if the very stones remember the ancient rites once performed here beneath moonlight. The scent of rot lingers in the air, and the wind whispers through the overgrowth with unnatural cadence, making even the undead hesitate to linger long. Hidden beneath the ivy is a sigil stone once used to access sealed catacombs—now inert, but still faintly warm to the touch.