The Xhorhaus

The Xhorhaus
Fan art of the Xhorhaus, by BlackSalander.
General Information
Full name	The Xhorhaus
Type	Mansion
Floors	2 main, plus tower and cellar
Occupant Information
Affiliation	Mighty Nein Den Thelyss
Owner(s)	Mighty Nein
Staff	Vedalla (housekeeper)
Location Information
Plane	Material Plane (Exandria)
Continent	Wildemount (Kryn Dynasty)
Region	Xhorhas
City	Rosohna

The Xhorhaus is a castle-like mansion and the home of the Mighty Nein. It is located in Xhorhas, in the Firmaments district of the Kryn capital city of Rosohna. In recognition of their service to the Bright Queen and their newfound status as "Heroes of the Dynasty", the Mighty Nein were awarded this mansion by Shadowhand Essek Thelyss.

The Mighty Nein currently employ a housekeeper, Vedalla, to clean and watch over the Xhorhaus.

Description

Official floor plan, by Jared Blando from "Domestic Respite" (2x62).

The Xhorhaus is a two-story mansion paneled in vermaloc wood, painted a dark maroon color with a lighter stone foundation. The roofing is dark, near-black clay tiling with a single balcony on the second floor. It has a short tower built into the back right corner that raises to a third story, with a large oak tree growing from the top. Two stained-glass windows installed towards the front are similar to those in the Lucid Bastion.

First floor

• Dining room, located toward the back of the house and accessed through the main hall
• Kitchen, access through the dining hall and connected to the basement via a trap door
• Training room, located at the front of the house and accessed through the main hall, converted from a chapel at Yasha's request
• Library, study, and laboratory, located at the back of the house and accessed through the training room. Originally solely a library, but it was converted at Caleb's request to accommodate a study and a laboratory, complete with alchemical equipment for Nott, which Caleb paid for himself.
• Caleb's room, located at the back corner of the house and accessed through the library
• Spa, created via Stoneshape in the base of the tower at the front corner of the house

Second floor

• Guest room, located adjacent to the tower. Temporarily inhabited by Dairon.
• Fjord's room, located at the back corner of the house, across from the guest room and adjacent to Jester and Beau's room. Its windows were fitted with shutters. Fjord offered to share the room, but no one took the offer.
• Jester and Beau's room, adjacent to Fjord's room
• Yasha's room, at the center of the house. Yasha, who never lived in a house like this before, chose to stay in the small bedroom with balcony access so that she can sleep outside if she felt "squirrely". Later, Jester snuck into the room and painted a mural of a field of wild flowers on the wall as a gift.
• War room, a meeting and planning room located at the end of the hallway with access to Yasha's room and the happy room. The Nein felt it was ironic it was located next to the happy room.
• Happy room, a shared space accessible through the war room. Though Caduceus wondered if one had to be happy before entering or if it was a room one became happy in, none of the group knew the answer nor decided which it was.
• Nott and Yeza's room, accessible through the happy room. Jester pushed its twin beds together to allow Nott and Yeza to cuddle together.
• Balcony, also called the patio or the porch, accessible through Jester and Beau's room, Yasha's room, and the happy room
• Root room, located in the second floor of the tower, which is otherwise unusable save for the roof access ladder

Tower

Fan art of Jester's drawing of the Xhorhaus, by Joanna Johnen.

Caduceus Clay resides at the top of the Xhorhaus tower, which he has converted into a garden with Jester's help. Its most iconic plant is a 60 ft. tall, 5 ft. diameter oak tree (grown with Caduceus's feather token). The tree has made quite an impact on the Mighty Nein's neighbors: not only being the only green-leafed tree in Rosohna, but also dramatically increasing the Xhorhaus' overall height.

Because the tree and garden had a need for daylight, Caduceus and Jester came up with a system to provide it by means of glass flasks filled with enchanted liquid, strung together on lines. This too was a point of interest for the neighbors and also a source of awe and jealousy.

Caduceus has a bed off to the side inside a garden shack-like structure.

There is also a small shrine dedicated to the various gods or godlike entities that the Mighty Nein follows:

• a wood-carved idol to the Wildmother (Caduceus)
• a wood-carved doorway to the Traveler (Jester)
• a stone idol to the Knowing Mistress (Beau)
• a small pool of water for the Wildmother (Fjord)
• a small wood-carved shield with thunderbolts for the Stormlord (Yasha)

Basement

The basement contained rat droppings, chewed wood and a red wine stain. Caduceus considered this room, initially used as a wine cellar, suitable to be re-purposed as a root cellar.

Trivia

• The appearance and floor-plan for the Xhorhaus were based on the Frozen Mansion: a fantasy mansion designed and drawn by Jared Blando on DeviantArt (@TheRedEpic on Twitter). The narrative developed for the original Frozen Mansion was it was located somewhere in the mountains and belonged to a rich wizard-lord who dabbled in too much sorcery, unleashing something that froze their home and escaped after taking its revenge.
• Caleb (and Liam) wanted to name the house the "M.T. Home", in honor of the deceased Mollymauk Tealeaf. He was out-voted by the rest of the party, and the name "Xhorhaus" stuck, although the group decided to name the spa room as the "M.T. Spa."
• Caduceus' tower-top tree adorned with hanging lights bears a striking resemblance to The Birthheart, one of the most prominent temples to Caduceus' patron goddess Melora. Whether or not this is intentional is unknown.
• When the house was named, Ashley sang "Xhorhaus" to the tune of Our House by Madness.
• The Xhorhaus' role is similar to that of Greyskull Keep and later Castle Whitestone in Campaign 1, serving as a base of operations for the player characters.

References

Art: