Fief Name: Ainsworth Tower

Fief Purpose: Oracle Temple, War Rooms & Intel Center

Fief Layout: Ainsworth tower is seven floor tower, six floors and a basement. The decor is floral in aesthetic, and littered with spheres wherever applicable.

Basement level: Reflection Springs
The basement of the tower is a reflection pool for meditation. It branches off into several private deprivation tank-like chambers. Here is where most astral projections and interfacing with the hive-mind takes place. Visitors and members of the Pantheon can also be guided into meditative states.

First level: Adventurer’s Guild
The ground floor is a place for adventurers as the world begins to populate. A quest board is maintained and handled by a receptionist. Quests are written using the intelligence collected on the upper floors. There is ample seating arranged in rings for parties to meet and gather. There is also a modest bar so drinks and a limited menu can be served.

Second floor: War Room
This space is reserved for qualified personnel and the Pantheon. Ornate meeting rooms are made available for comfortable cooperation. The most opulent of all is the one reserved for the Pantheon to wage war against the Gods.

Third floor: Spymaster Gallery
Spies and intelligence operatives meet here for debriefings. It also serves as an archive of objects, trophies and other spoils of war. They are displayed here for study as well as vanity.

Fourth floor: Clockwork Dormitory
Just as it sounds, these are quarters for the mechanical servants and the upkeep of their bodies. Unused bodies are also stored here with the expectation they will one day be filled with the consciousness of other Callisti who are indoctrinated into the Pantheon's cause.

Fifth floor: Prophecy Repository
Here an archive of prophecies and intel is stored. One must have the highest security clearance to reach this level and the precious records are always guarded heavily by servants.

Sixth floor: Temple of the Oacle
The top floor is a beautiful temple, decorated in golden flowers. There is a throne for Azalea at the apex. The throne is shaped as a large flower in bloom. Above hangs a larger, golden flower with a large silver orb at it's center, reflecting the original form of the Callisti. This floor has a high, domed ceiling, giving the tower the illusion of seven above-ground floors from the outside.

Fief Servants:

The servants of Ainsworth Tower are mechanical in nature. Many are fully bipedal, meant for physical tasks. Those meant for computational and administrative tasks are shaped as orbs, smaller than Callisti. Naturally, they are lesser versions of herself.

Azalea's other self manifested in her tower. She drifted from floor to floor, appreciating the design, the handiwork, with no small measure of misplaced pride. It was exactly as she'd imagined and deserved as a stronghold and tribute to the glories she would soon achieve. Most especially the throne, that she was quick to adorn with it's greatest treasure, herself.

It was perfect, all of it, and her presence only made it moreso. And as these halls filled with her triumphs and trophies, she would give this world something worthy of worship.

Peals of her laughter rang out through the throneroom. She couldn't help it. The wheel of fate finally turned for her! Sure it had cost her old life, her old world, but if those ingrates at Kaptain Kraken's could see her now... well, they'd certainly have not skipped over her for management for so many performance reviews. She was clearly, obviously suited for power.

The lesser 'Callistones' that imitated her form and function to a far lower floated into the throne room from below, using small 'marble-chutes' discretely carved into the walls to allow for easy navigation between floors for the orblings.

They chimed musically, the smaller ones chiming like bells and the larger sounding more gong-like. The settled around her, assuming orbital paths that resembled an orrery once established.

[<- From Starspire]

Sarolt released their mimic of Starling and resumed their mimic of Atilla. The more athletic frame helped speed Sarolt's movements, allowing them to exit the Starspire at great speed, make sharp turns (sometimes even bounding off of walls), and enter new sections of the house with much less physical exertion. Less time gulping air, meant more time to talk!

Into Ainsworth Sarolt sprinted. Up stairs. Up stairs. Up stairs. Pausing only to ask for directions or guidance from passing spheres. Several offered to provide an escort. One of them actually did.

Sarolt slid to a stop before the throne of the Princess of the Unconscious. A slide that slid so far that it threated to get awkward as they almost lost control and tumbled face-first into the dais bearing the throne itself! But Sarolt recovered, and quickly came to standing; returning to their original fat rat form and nodding their head deferentially. Maybe it wasn't necessary, but it's kind of hard not to give at least a little bow when confronted with someone sitting on a literal throne.

What other name had she used? Valence? Azalea? Sarolt decided to go with the later.
"Azalea! Hey! We haven't had much of a chance to talk. So, I hope this doesn't come across as rude or too familiar... but, I need your help. Specifically, I'd love to have your permission to use Mimicry on you. As I understand it, you have an ability to enforce truth? Or at least, parse lies spoken in your presence? Is there a name for that talent? The other me in the Ratworks could super use that right now!" They stood up on their haunches and rubbed their ratty hands together somewhat nervously. "Please?"

Azalea cooed at her chiming, spherical subjects. She delighted in their orbits, perfect little reflections of her new form. A few of them chimed to inform her of Sarolt’s presence, catching her attention.

A visitor! It was a little embarrassing being caught indulging in her throne, but how right it felt being up there banished all sense of sheepishness.

“Welcome!” She called as they passed through the doors. She searched for a name, but everything lately had happened so fast, and they’d barely had an opportunity to speak until now. One of the Callistones informed her, “…Josh! You’re my first visitor. Thank you for braving all of those stairs.” She tried to return his bow with a swivel of her own, and hoped it read as such.

“Enforcing the truth…” She mused on it. "I don't know," Valence said. "It's not a talent listed on my status sheet, aside from the flavor text for my species? Maybe it's a general thing with other Callisti but with me? Maybe I can lie? I don't know. I presume I can."

Valence attempted to use [META-ANALYTIC COMPUTATION] to figure this out. "It's not a trait that I possess, it's a trait that Callisti possess, like collectively. Like, you can't lie to the Callisti because - we enforce objectivity? Is that right?" She seemed perturbed. She knew she’d done a bit of bluffing and grandstanding so far, but was it because she’d largely believed it herself?

“It might be dangerous for you to mimic my [Meta-Analytic Computation].  It would probably connect you to the hivemind of Callisti, and I don’t know if that’s something that wouldn’t cause you some kind of harm, tring to imitate a galaxy-big hivemind of reality enforcers. I'm sorry, Josh."

“BUT!” and for emphasis she lifted herself off of her throne. “I can try to help you myself. What is it you need? What has happened in the Ratworks?”
This message was last edited by the player at 18:57, Sun 25 Sept 2022.

Sarolt nodded, thinking.
"So much has happened... it's difficult to fully explain. The short of it is: I need your help to confirm whether or not the daemon in the Ratworks is being honest, or deceptive. It's acted arrogant when in power, and the moment it's cornered, it gaslights and suggests that all its ever wanted was peace. That may be so. Or maybe it truly is an enemy of the Gods, or even just a suped-up computer program, doing everything it can to survive."

Sarolt shook their head. "I'm ready for violence if necessary, but I'm not looking for a fight. If I've been aggressive toward it, that's only because of the circumstance of its sudden appearance and evolution. I needed to be cautious. For my sake, and for the sake of everyone in the house." They looked down at the floor, and began rubbing their rat paws together somewhat sheepishly. "I don't want to come across as arrogant... but I'm worried that the others are too quick to jump to trust. I fully support compassion, but... we know so little about this new reality we're in. Even the veteran Godhunter players have questions. This daemon might resent me for it, and the others might hate me for taking the choice from them, but I will not let the daemon leave until I'm sure that the other's mercy will not be taken advantage of." They gestured toward the exit. "If you would please come to the Ratworks. My other self needs you. And maybe the daemon needs you, too." They inclined their head. "... and it sounds like the others are about to try and force the issue. Haste would be very much appreciated."

"A daemon?" Azalea repeated, astonished. "You all have gotten up to so much already. How do you all manage to attend yourself in so many places at once? I've barely managed just looking around my place." she chuckled.

"I'd be happy to meet this daemon." What a fascinating opportunity. "I wonder what it might know. Perhaps I can get the truth of it. I'm so glad you came to me with this." Azalea tried to summon one of the Callistones to her side and was delighted to see it arrive. She repeated the situation to it and that she'd need an assistant for transcription of the hours to follow.

"If things get to violence, I'm going to need some kind of implement. I've been meaning to ask you about that regardless, but I thought I'd get ahead of it while we're on the subject." So it had come to conflict already. All the better that she get there quickly to get a grasp on the situation. "Well, don't you worry, Josh, I'm as skeptical as they come. If it means to do us harm, I'm sure at the very least we can get it isolated. I believe Euphoria manages a dungeon, might be a good time to break it in if we need to. If I judge that it means more help than harm, though, I'd like to offer it a well drafted accord, and we can use my meeting rooms for that, if we cross that bridge. We could certainly use more allies when hunting gods."

When Josh gestured to the exit, Azalea left her throne and donned her armor, gaining limbs and a solid weight and form once more. "Let us be off then, friend. To the Ratworks. I cannot wait to see your facilities, even under the circumstances."

[To: The Ratworks]
This message was last edited by the player at 22:15, Sun 25 Sept 2022.