[ the far shore ] the temple in the forest, the temple of tapio

While the grounds belonging to Tapios temple is fairly vast, it's nearly entirely covered by a forest with wild animals that are surprisingly friendly; elks, deer, foxes, owls, rabbits, and other animals common in Scandinavia are easy to come across here. There are a fair share of wild berries and mushrooms to be found in the areaas well, though watch out, some are poisonous.


The temple itself is a natural-colored, two story, wooden cabin with a grass-covered, slanted roof, located up the side of a rocky mountain mostly covered in trees. While there are stairs leading up to the cottage, seeing the god of the temple actually use those stairs would be a one in a million chance.


At the bottom of the stairs is a bench and a picnic table, and cheerful flowers growing wild in the area, and somehow, you can see a lake from there, and from the windows facing that direction. Was there always a lake in that direction? There is a small orchard where it's possible to find several types of trees ripe with fruit all year round. Apples, pears, plums, cherries, nuts, and more. There are a few odd tropical trees to be found, though generally, it's mostly trees found in the cold North growing in this particular orchard.


To the side is a small stable with a few friendly horses, and there are plenty of cats roaming around the place. Maybe they're guarding the chickens that walk around in their pen. There is even a little sauna close to the cabin, and a hot tub. It's also easy to find the area for archery practice down below, an equipment shed next to it, and next to that, a storage shed filled with firewood, ready to use.


The inside of the temple is just as much wood as the outside, with pretty carvings, worn furniture, old woven carpets, and fur pelts in the comfortable arm chairs. The door holes may be a little low and the windows might be a little small, but it's still bright and warm inside. This temple is clearly more made to be a comfortable place to be in, rather than a place where people would expect a god to live. Who wouldn't want to curl up in a blanket on the little wooden porch a summer night, or in front of the fire place inside during winter. There are several cozy bedrooms, and there is an old-fashioned little library at one end of the cabin - though every bedroom has a shelf going around the top of the walls, in case the occupant wants to store their own books or other belongings on them. Even the loft has its fair share of free space available.


Follow a trailing forest path down the mountain from the temple, and you reach the lake, where a small rowboat rests in a crevice in the rocks. It's a bit of a walk, but it's worth it. There may not be any wonderful, endless beaches here, but the smooth, big rocks are warm and comfortable to sit on. The shallkow water stretches far and generally, the temperature is pleasant. A bit from the water are stones in a circle ready of a camp fire, and wooden stubs for seats. Instead of a pier, a long stretch of stones reaches far into the water. Was it always possible to see the northern lights in the Far Shore? It seems to be possible in these temple grounds, at least.