Post by Lady Thorn on Sept 18, 2008 12:38:37 GMT -5
Though it looks only a few hundred years old, the history of the Villa Rosa stretched much farther back. It stands on the site of a ruined Elizabethan home, which itself occupied the ground of a medieval house, and the story stretches right back to the Roman villa which stood there not so long after the invasion of Britannia.
Clues to this history are visible, if one knows where to look. In the basements, which are extensive, and in the grounds themselves, which host ruins of a plethora of origins, and occasional finds of archaeological interest, such as coins and pottery fragments. These are nothing, however, to the interest one finds inside.
The walls are hung with pennants and banners of a clan long scattered, and there are trophies grisly and macabre. This is not a house which openly welcomes those of lycanthropic origins, as is plainly told by the heads on the walls of the drawing room, and the big rug which lies before the fire. In fact, there is a warning, or was, scratched into the stones above the doorway, but it has long since been obscured by the ivy and roses, and so it is lost to all eyes who care to look.
The décor, once one looks beyond the dead and the bloodied symbols of war, is tasteful yet opulent, if a little dark. Emphasis is placed on red and stained oak, with hints of ebony and green. Not that many ever see it. Only the invited enter here. If a thief managed to cross this threshold, he would soon learn the error of his ways... fatally.