Castle Umbra¶
The home of the Order of the Abyss — the "grandfather order" of all Blood Hunters, hidden deep in the mountains, far from civilization. The order vanished from it without explanation. Its current contents and precise fate remain unconfirmed.
Overview¶
Per Additional Materials/Blood_Hunter_Lore.md, Castle Umbra held the Abyss's chained vaults of secrets and records, guarded so closely that only the order's grandmaster ever knew the full extent of the Hunter's Bane ritual performed there. The castle's deepest levels are said to descend into the Underdark, "though nobody knows for certain."
The Order of the Abyss disappeared from the castle without a trace — "no bodies, no blood." Rumor (per Farrow, in Older Trout Stories.md) holds that the order was "dragged down by demons, to the literal Abyss" after bargaining with them for too long, but this is explicitly unconfirmed even by the setting's own authoritative lore reference — see Order of the Abyss. Farrow separately claims to have actually located the castle itself in the present day, though he admits he "haven't given it a proper look" and wants Grandmaster Trout's help — and manpower — to investigate.
History¶
In Older Trout Stories.md (Bridge Material, set after the events of the Ending Outline), Farrow approaches Trout at Castle Orion with this proposal. Trout, skeptical of Farrow but unwilling to let him roam free near his home with unverified information, agrees to meet him at the site with a small team (Hephaestus, Samson, and Gamble). The vignette ends as the party arrives at the rendezvous — what they find at Castle Umbra, if anything, is not recorded in the source material.
Unresolved Threads¶
- Whether Castle Umbra was ever actually investigated, and what (if anything) was found there.
- Whether Farrow's account of the Order of the Abyss's fate is accurate — see Contradictions and Open Questions.
Sources¶
Older Trout Stories.mdAdditional Materials/Blood_Hunter_Lore.md