Ruins with Dark Tree

A ruined castle on a hill in the forest. The forest surrounding the fortress is completely dead. Mold covers the leafless remains of the trees, and splintered pieces of bark hang down like shredded shrouds. The ruin stands on a small hill, surrounded by an old moat. Not much is left of the buildings. Only a few collapsed walls and rotting timbers can still be seen amidst dead brushwood. Only the keep rises up, broken and jagged. Dense cobwebs are stretched over everything, from which a quiet chirping comes. In the castle courtyard rises a huge black oak, its wetly gleaming, barkless branches moving with a creaking and groaning. A hate-distorted face stares out from the trunk and emits an eerie howling. The once-paved courtyard has been literally torn apart by the roots of the oak. In the northern part, dense cobwebs are stretched, among which hang cocoons with the eggs of the forest spiders. Of the kitchen building up in the courtyard, almost only the outer walls are left. Spider webs are strung across the beams. Beneath the rubble, a trapdoor is half-hidden, leading down into the cellar. The keep on the upper right of the courtyard makes a fairly well-preserved impression from the outside, but no longer on the inside. Years ago, the roof collapsed and dragged everything down into the depths. A half-buried staircase leads down amidst spider webs. In the charred rubble of the manor house on the lower right of the courtyard lie the skeletal remains of the last castle inhabitants. The conquerors struck them down and set the building on fire. The wooden southwest tower on the lower left of the courtyard also fell victim to the flames. Only the three-meter-high foundation still stands. Inside, there is a hole in the floor. Anyone looking for a way into the cellar here must pass numerous webbed-in and stinking animal carcasses. The ruin is surrounded by a moat that was once two paces deep. By now, castle debris, earth, and decades of leaves have fallen in, and a good part of the water has seeped away. What remains is a barely half-pace-deep, foul-smelling broth, spanned by the remnants of a bridge. Thanks to the fallen stones, the moat is easy to cross in several places. The well in the courtyard is largely shattered and overgrown with thick moss. Shreds of mist linger in the air.