Castle Drachenfels is real?

"The first recorded observations of Castle Drachenfels, the accursed house of hell, were brought to us by Oskar Lefevre and Jean-Pierre Lafontaine of the city of Quenelles in the year 184 (Imperial Calendar)." Not in my wildest dreams did I expect that this staple building of Warhammer's Old World could be real. But there I was in the year 2020 (Gregorian Calendar). And what started as a pleasant visit to the 19th century (faux/neogothic) castle Drachenburg turned into a (potentially) harrowing journey to the darkest place imaginable.

Castle Dragenburg is a very pretty castle. If I ever do find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow I'd very much like to live there. 

There I was visiting the second prettiest castle of Germany (after Neuschwanstein) when a subtle feeling of dread overcame me. A slight chill down the back of my neck. The feeling of being watched. Was that the sound of hollow laughter just beyond the edge of hearing? Something was not quite right here.

The chance of eating lunch here is about equal to eating in the Chamer of the Poisoned Feast.

Or maybe it was just my empty stomach playing tricks. I briefly considered lunch in the not at all ostentatious Nibelung setting of the dining room. A stern security guard and a fence blocking access to the table changed my mind. Why not just take in the sights and eat later? It was a beautiful faux-castle after all. But why was it so hard to set one foot in front of the other? What was holding me back?

Good thing the sign wasn't painted by hand, it would be unreadable due to shaking .

Walking the grounds, the answer presented itself. I was but 600 meters removed from the site of the most depraved horrors of the World That Was...But how did it get here? Was this the result of the End Times? Had the Great Enchanter just moved his evil to our world? According to my sources Old World sketches showed the fully formed castle Drachenfels, with its seven towers, as it stood in 184 (Imperial Calendar) yet: "Mechaela Menis, who traveled the land only a season earlier, says nothing of such an edifice." With the chance of Drachenfels just teleporting in real, I had to find out. I squared my shoulders  and followed the direction indicated...

Sure it looks like an innocent Eifel path now, just wait until the unseasonable rain storms start.

The journey started out lovely enough. Down a green and pleasant Eifel path winding uphill. Was that the soft howling of ghosts I heard? Or just the whisper of fellow tourists disregarding the German habit of naming the distance without giving an indication of the gradient? Would this end with me gasping for breath in the grip of the Great Enchanter or just me painting because six hundred meters in a steep ascend takes the wind out of you? Time would tell.

Is that one of the dreaded towers of Drachenfels I see through the trees?

It wasn't long before I spied the walls of Drachenfels proper through the trees. It looked like a ruin to my tired eyes. But greater minds have been fooled by the evil lurking those halls. After all Drachenfels, disguised and dissembling, duped many souls. I would definitely not be the first victim.

I'm willing to bet this chain is animated at night by the poor soul bound to it for eternity.

Even the mountain was trying to flee the Great Enchanter. To no avail. He put walls in place to hold the stone in position. But why was there a rusty chain attached? Who's evil fate was planned here? Or had something transpired already? This was bigger than me. I had to go up the long, long mountain road to find out if our civilization was in danger.

Who's callous enough to petrify a treeman? Constant Drachenfels, that's who.

The further I climbed, the clearer the signs became. A petrified treeman hidden in plain sight. This poor guardian of the forest never stoop a chance. Now doomed to loom over a path no sane mortal should ever take...

That arrogant Enchanter could al least try to properly hide his secret entrances.

Going further up I found more evidence of strange goings on. A poorly hidden secret door in the rock face covered by the soot of a fire. What dark and disgusting rituals had taken place here? Was that a scream I heard just around the corner of this steep and winding path? Less then a kilometer's walk? Really? Or was that bad indication the first vile trick played on me by Constant Drachenfels?

What's hidden beneath this pile of rocks? Did I see a pair of red eyes blinking in the darkness there?

Howling emanated from between fallen rocks. Or was it just in my mind. Ignoring the sound of loss and sorrow I softly invoked the name of Sigmar and moved on. Not long now before reaching the top...

As I ascended the bedrock of Drachenfels became visible.

Around another bend in the road and Castle Drachenfels showed me the bedrock it stood on. A solid and steep rock-face jutting up from the landscape to hold the bastion of evil in its place. No chance to climb, all I could do was follow the winding path.

Another badly hidden entrance to the castle's deeper dungeons...

Spirits moved at the edge of my vision as I found yet another poorly hidden sally gate carved from the hill's rock. I'm quite sure I heard the rumble of this entrance slamming shut as I approached. What game was being played here? This could not just be thirst now, could it?

Is that one of the seven towers I see there?

Just out of reach I saw the supposedly crumbling tower of Castle Drachenfels sticking out above the tree tops. Was it the Tower of Exhaustion? Starvation? Despair? Was this real or just a fever dream caused by the strain of my steep ascend? Was this truly Drachenfels?

Turns out its a different Drachenfels...or is it???

An obviously braver soul than me had already answered my last question. The placard near the top of the mountain could not be clearer. Although the only evil I found was a restaurant and the surety I had to walk back down again to reach the car. Turns out this was not the Castle Drachenfels I was expecting. All I did was conquer the 'highest hill in Holland'. Well if you are going on vacation, why not act the tourist. I'll be back to more regular rambling about a scale below 1:1 next time, but I had to the hang of writing again after a few weeks off. Stay safe and always be mindful that Constant Drachenfels might just be lurking around the corner ;)