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[Ashen Lilies]

[Cass' Tower]

((This is a reference post))

Standing in plain sight on a hill overlooking the village of Aelfisborough, a tall basalt tower stands like a foreigner amongst fields long left fallow by locals wary of the imposing structure's shadow. Once home to an alchemist with limited social graces and an unfortunate enthusiasm for kidnapping villagers and transmuting them into insectoid abominations to pursue his research, the tower is now home to the sorceress Cassandra, the previous tenant having been evicted by fire and sword. And also bullets.

Within the nearby vicinity of the tower, inside a wildflower meadow clear of the surrounding fields, are a greenhouse and a pond, where once grew valuable plants for an alchemist's practice. Under the sorceress’ oversight, the pond has been cleaned up and subject to significant landscaping, recessed and sheltered from outside view in an enclosure of decorated shrubs and a rock garden. The greenhouse is also currently under some form of renovation, with the rear wall having been knocked through completely, and covered with a tarp for the moment. The approach to the tower is a stone path, which cuts through a discreet ha-ha, leading up to the front door, with another path around the side splitting off to the greenhouse and the pond. The entrance to the tower itself sits well above ground level - a climb of nearly two meters vertically up a staircase that leads up to a sturdy wooden door. One gets the sense that whoever built this tower, they expected to be able to deny access to the tower as they please, though currently it seems easy enough to make the climb and knock directly on the door's prominent metal knocker, if they wished to do so.

The inside structure of the tower looks much the same on every floor - each floor consists of a single circular, open room with basalt walls and a wooden floor. Small windows dot the walls to let in some natural light, though for the most part illumination is provided by soft glowing magical spheres, which nestle inside small recesses in the walls and ceiling. The walls on every floor but the top and bottom are hugged by a staircase which snakes around the tower both up and down, granting access to floors both above and below.

Spoiler: First Floor

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This floor serves as both a general living space, and a kitchen, which takes up roughly a rear third of the floor

The forward space has been set up with a pale grey sofa and matching squishy arm-chairs ringing a glass-topped coffee table and flanked by a small bookcase. Most of the books, of course, are not in the bookcase, but rather tend to be scattered across the table, the arms (and seats) of the sofa, or on the floor. Behind the sofa, a large, well insulated reptile enclosure sits upon a low counter, serving as a home to Ptolemy and Alexander, Cassandra's pet lightning lizards. A curved flat-screen TV (Trismegistus brand, wide-screen HDTV, sorcerously powered) hangs on the wall opposite the sofa, close to the front door. The remaining space has been decorated with woodblock flower prints.

The rear part of the room is a functional kitchen with plenty of counter space, a refitted “electric” oven range, and most of the various modern appliances and amenities one would expect to find in a kitchen, albeit most of them seem to run on magic, rather than electricity. A double row of pegs above one counter is home to various knives and kitchen tools, within easy reach, and underneath some flying cabinets is a rack of hanging wine glasses.

Spoiler: Semi-Basement & Cellar

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Underneath the first floor, this bare, un-decorated room which sits half-above ground and half-underground currently serves as a larder of sorts. A number of shelves around the room hold stocks of dry and canned goods that didn’t fit in the pantry of the kitchen above, but most notable is the number of wine racks, as well as small casks, sporting a burgeoning collection of fine wines of various varieties, mead, cider, beer, and other booze.

Below that, a second room serves as a cellar, currently largely empty, except for a small number of chests and crates filled with whatever junk Cass didn’t want to have lying around.

Spoiler: Second Floor

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The second floor room is a cozy library and study. The walls are lavishly decorated with a number of sorcerous-looking wall hangings and scrolls, giving the room an enclosed, warm feeling, with one side decorated with a large stone slab with the fossilized imprint of a squid sprawled across its face. Underneath this slab is a large writing desk, scattered with a few paper journals and a laptop computer, with a tall desk chair. The rest of the room is arranged with a number of bookshelves, filled with magical tomes, indexes, encyclopedias, treatises, and other intimidating looking books, though at least one shelf is instead partially stacked with a row of servers, connected to a pair of routers and an odd device that seems to be magically powering the whole set-up. In between the shelves is a very plushy armchair, big enough to curl up into, and a small side table, in front of a magical fireplace, completing the cozy atmosphere of the room.

Spoiler: Third Floor

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This floor of the tower serves as somewhat of a sorcerous workshop. The back of the room is centered around a slightly raised platform, with a heavily smoothed and polished hardwood surface. A shelf on one side of the platform is laden with summoning supplies - chalk of different colors, tin boxes of dried incense and reagents, a set of iron tongs, and a small stool. A tall locked cabinet and some chests are filled with various magical devices and tools. More of them, including a number of magical artifacts looted from the original owner of the tower, hang from a pegboard, the way one might expect mundane tools to be. Below them, on the other side of the summoning floor, are a bunch of workbenches with some scraps and parts of magical items that she was making.

Spoiler: Fourth Floor

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The next floor has been converted into something resembling a mishmash of an armory and a personal gym/training space. Hanging from the walls are several racks meant for holding weaponry. For the most part, these are currently occupied by several staves, some appropriately magical looking, and some not, but also several small swords, rapiers, and daggers. The middle of the floor is covered by a large mat, and a few pieces of physical training equipment, pull-up bars, weights, and the like, are pushed near the wall opposite the weapon racks.

Spoiler: Fifth Floor

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The top floor of the tower is the only room which breaks with the otherwise, enclosed atmosphere of the rest of the tower. Here, large windows open up in four cardinal directions, allowing for both plenty of light and outside air to circulate freely through the room. It's pretty sensible, then, that this most pleasant of rooms serves as Cassandra's bedroom - to the back of the room is a large bed footed by a thick green rug, and the ceiling is decorated by stylistic tapestry with creeping wildflowers, perfect for tracing the eye across while anxiously awake at 3 am. Near the bed, a large chest, wardrobe, and small bookshelf and table carry a variety of personal belongings, and a small stand with a vase filled with dried flowers and herbs gives a pleasant scent to the room.

To the front quarter, opposite the stairs, a set of tall screens printed with wildflowers have been set up, dividing off a bathroom with washstand, large bathtub with a shower, and other necessary bathroom things. How plumbing works in a tower like this, it's probably best not to ask. The answer is probably 'magic' anyway.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Cassandra's Tower]

A platinum blonde woman comes walking easily up the road to Cassandra's tower, looking around at the scenery, before stopping at the tower itself and knocking on the door. Hopefully the owner is home; she hates to impose, but from what Fayyaad told her, Cassandra is just the person she needs to talk to. She waits patiently after knocking, a pleasant smile on her face. At least it's a nice day to be out for a walk.

[Cassandra's Tower]

The tower is easy enough to find, even if the village of Aelfisborough itself is a little remote by Nexus standards. Hard to miss a tall black structure sitting on a hill in the middle of an open field. Where did all this basalt come from, anyway? Assuming there aren't any quarries nearby, that's a long way to haul some volcano rocks for an aesthetic.

Electra will have no trouble getting up the stairs and using the knocker, which is shaped rather ostentatiously like a dragon's head. It takes a few minutes before there's an answer, though, the door opening inward to reveal a young elven woman with straight dark hair cropped at her jawline and pale grey skin with a slight bluish undertone. Eyes, typically, tend to be difficult to discern at many conversational distances that aren't intimately close, but Cassandra's may be noticeable for a striking lack of color - pale silvery irises blending smoothly into the whites to produce a disconcerting empty look.

Despite Electra turning up essentially unannounced, Cassandra doesn't look too caught off guard - she's managed to appear in a nice casual blouse and respectable trousers. If Electra knows anything about the habits of sorceresses, it's probably not too outlandish to believe she triggered some form of magical warning on her way here. No mysterious sorceress living at the edge of town ever achieved great notoriety receiving guests in a t-shirt and sweatpants.

[Recaiden]

"I've got a lot of chances," Batu admits. "Many people helped me get here. It's only right that I give some of it back."

"That's not something I hear a lot of people saying. Much less people cast out of their family. Who's helped you along your way?" Cleo inquires. Batu seems like such a nice kid. Maybe they should test him right away. Maybe he's just young and innocent and someday will be dragged back down by the real world. Hard to say.

Inside, the tower is much more reasonable to look at, no indistinctness or temporal anomalies. There's an entryway, a living room wrapped in a spiral staircase up and down, and littler rooms like the kitchen off to the side.

"What are you curious about? Anything at all?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Wizards' Tower]

A sweet smell wafts from the kitchen. Meanwhile, Spako trots down the stairs. He might look a bit odd, with his wizard's rod and Deck hanging from their belt on his shoulders, but dragon or not he wasn't about to stop carrying those around.
"Oh, Cleo. You brought a kid? What do we owe the pleasure?" Spako says politely to Batu, dipping his head slightly. Never know when someone's actually a super powerful angel or something disguised as a hormonal teenager.

[Morty]

[Underside]

Iknika scurries off, as gracefully as she can. She returns with a glass of a green drink that smells of strange herbs.

[Wizards' Tower]

"There was Cessie Mithar, who directed me to her brother. He sheltered and taught me, then sent me to Zaff's. The people there were helpful too... well, some of them. Then there were the people in the temple of Inari. And Inari herself. The god who made me into a were-crocodile... jury's still out on him," Batu decides.

"Oh, um, hi. I'm a new member of this order. I think."

[Felandria]

((Guest house. The picture seemed to look like there were stairs.))

((Gotcha))

Felandria waves him goodbye.

Enjoy your stay!

And Fel heads back into the house, and grabs herself some fruit juice.

[Recaiden]

Hmm. Maybe crocodile god will be trouble. Probably something to look into eventually.
"An apprentice. He's still learning his magic. Batu, this is Spako Highclaws, the Brass Wizard. Spako, Batu. I think he'll be fit to wield a staff once he's further in his education."

[Deathkeeper]

Wizards' Tower

Spako clicks his claws excitedly.
"Oh, an apprentice! Are we your official extra-curricular activity now?" he asks in good humor. He's heard of Zaff's.
"You want a ride while we give you the tour? You'll fit right in. The Stormguard isn't supposed to be reptilian but somehow the place ended up with two- err, one kobold, three dragons, four hatchlings, and now a crocodile." he laughs.

[Morty]

[Wizards' Tower]

"A were-crocodile," Batu corrects. "But a crocodile all the same, I suppose. A ride... as in, on your back?"

[Recaiden]

"It's, well, it's not coincidence, but it wasn't intentional! Back in the old days all the Wizards were more or less human. It's just that you start to notice dragons more, and people come to you with questions about dragons, and they field you for all the dragon-problems, and before you know it-"

But for all that, Cleo remains in her mostly-illusory human guise, shaking her head. "Go on. Spako used to be very small, you know. Likes to show off now that he can. Here in the main tower we have common things, the infirmary and enchanting room and library, and up at the top each wizard has their rooms. Down below there's a nice ordinary cellar. Below that are secrets. None of us told everything we built in the roots and foundations, so now it's left full of mysteries."

[Deathkeeper]

Wizards' Tower

"Well half of the critters here are your family Cleo so it might be a little intentional." Spako says, flicking his tongue at Cleo blabbing his secrets he made no move to actually remain secretive about.
"Very secret, since my little tower is part of my wing and not the main tower. You can see mine if you'd like but I don't think we should surprise Keiko. Of course on my back. You can return the favor later sometime." Spako says jokingly.

[Morty]

[Wizards' Tower]

Batu shrugs.

"Might as well add riding a dragon to the list of weird things I've done lately. Will I get my own quarters, as an apprentice? And can I investigate those mysteries below?"

[Recaiden]

"On the one hand, we have a lot of space, but I don't think you can get into the three empty towers, and hmm, as long as you don't miss windows, we have a space you can stay. I'll set things up, you show him around, Spako."
Cleo nods.
"Sure, look around as you like. Just stay away from the lake."

[Deathkeeper]

[Wizards' Tower]

"It's not weird. All kids want to ride dragons. It's a very reasonable thing to do. But as for staying here, I can't move as fast as Cleo. You'll have to ask her if you intend on going from here to your school in the morning." Spako insists, lowering himself for Batu to hop on.

[Gullara]

[Underside]

Iknika scurries off, as gracefully as she can. She returns with a glass of a green drink that smells of strange herbs.

[Underside]

"Hey, thanks." Claire takes a drink, her eyes on Iknika as she tries it. "That's not bad at all. What were you worried about?" She giggles. She certainly doesn't seem to be putting on an act for the goblin's sake.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Cassandra's Tower]

Electra's deep blue eyes flit up and down once, looking the sorceress over. The platinum blonde reploid has chosen to dress in her normal civilian attire, black cargo pants, a white tank top, and her brown bomber jacket, along with a pair of black combat boots. She's wearing her long hair up in a tight ponytail, but even so, the mass of it reaches the small of her back. The only indication that she might be something other than human are the white domes with blue lenses in their centers where her ears should be. Her pleasant smile doesn't waver before she speaks briskly.

"Cassandra, I presume? My name is Electra, my friend Fayyaad mentioned that you might be able to help me with a decision I'm trying to make. Might you have a few minutes to chat?"

[Murkus]

[Cloudy Castle]

Artie will receive a... knock? On the fluffy door to her private domocile. Azren is surely somewhere around, but he doesn't volunteer to answer.

When she does, there is a veritable crowd of men who look something like Azren standing outside. The whole party is carrying some form of furnishing, or a stack of boxes with their donations to Artie's house inside. Some of them are burly, some are skinny, most are in varying states of undress. All are tan of skin and dark of eye. All but one, the man in front, have a pair of antlers. The front Frescot only has a single pointy piece of bone jutting from the right side of his head. He wears a pair of the most primitive seeming spectacles one will ever see, hazarded together with what looks like a combination of leather straps, metal hooks, and two dirty lenses, one of which is cracked. A cigarette rolled from a dried leaf droops from the corner of his mouth.

"...Is this where Azren's staying?" He asks in a lean, naturally contemptuous falsetto. It's hard to approximate his reaction to Artie, but as the men around the door start to get glimpses of her she'll hear muttering and small comments begin to pass between them.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Cassandra's Tower]

Electra's deep blue eyes flit up and down once, looking the sorceress over. The platinum blonde reploid has chosen to dress in her normal civilian attire, black cargo pants, a white tank top, and her brown bomber jacket, along with a pair of black combat boots. She's wearing her long hair up in a tight ponytail, but even so, the mass of it reaches the small of her back. The only indication that she might be something other than human are the white domes with blue lenses in their centers where her ears should be. Her pleasant smile doesn't waver before she speaks briskly.

"Cassandra, I presume? My name is Electra, my friend Fayyaad mentioned that you might be able to help me with a decision I'm trying to make. Might you have a few minutes to chat?"

[Cassandra's Tower]

"Yes, of course," says Cassandra, opening the door wider. "Fayyaad did mention you when we last spoke."

She'll invite Electra into the living room, which Electra might note is undergoing the tail-end of a bit of an emergency clean-up, scattered notes and books and trash having been... gently persuaded to fly back into their assigned spaces or in the trash, whichever is more appropriate. She might also recognize that despite the rustic setting and the archaic aesthetic of the tower, Cassandra is no stranger to technology. At least, there's a laptop resting closed on the coffee table, charging cable hooked up, and the little blinking LED light of a wireless booster off to the side somewhere. Like the plumbing, it's probably best not to think of how the electricity works here either.

"Would you like a... uh.... do you drink? I have... water."

[Deathkeeper]

Cloudy Palace

Oh, dear. Artie would have worn her kimono if she knew there was going to be guests she needed to impress. Instead she's only wearing her top Azren picked out, and in her natural shape no less. She flinches, shrinking back from all the eyes on her.
"Um, yes, this is the place. Would you like to...come in?" she asks nervously. How did they even get up here, she wonders?

[Morty]

[Underside]

"Uuuuh." Iknika's ears twitch and dip awkwardly. "I just didn't want your first contact with goblin cuisine to be bad."

[Wizards' Tower]

"What do you mean, 'don't miss windows'?" Batu asks, awkwardly climbing on Spako. "And why should I stay away from the lake?"

[Recaiden]

"I mean it'd be underground. But Spako raises a good point. We're really quite far from Inside. Don't get a lot of guests, and they're usually in need of emergency magical help."
"As for the lake, it's not meant for you. Could end up disintegrated." Cleo then slips down the staircase. There might be times Batu is here for longer studies, and it wouldn't do to have him stay in the medical bay, or the kitchen floor, or anything like that.

[Deathkeeper]

[Wizards' Tower]

"Right!" Spako declares, and trots giddily up the stairs in a way that might be uncomfortable for Batu. If he's wearing shorts, it will likely be very uncomfortable as his legs rub against Spako's scaly neck.
"So this is where all the Wizards' doors are. That's mine, the brass one. And the other active one is Cleo's but we'll wait for her permission first because we don't want to surprise her wife. Never wake a dragon's brood too early." he warns, and opens his own door, leading to a cozy little study in what seems to be an entirely separate tower.

[Morty]

[Wizards' Tower]

Batu shudders.

"Underground, without windows? I couldn't live like that. So I guess I won't be staying here just yet."

He takes a look around.

"This looks comfy, though."

[Gullara]

[Underside]

"Uuuuh." Iknika's ears twitch and dip awkwardly. "I just didn't want your first contact with goblin cuisine to be bad."

[Underside]

"Well you know, where my family comes from, we used to live underground too. I bet there's a lot of overlap in the kinds of food." Claire guesses. "Just uh, skip anything with meat. Not a carnivore."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Cassandra's Tower]

Electra's smile widens as she follows Cassandra in. She looks around, politely ignoring whatever remnants of the mess Cassandra was cleaning up might be about, then nods at the elven sorceress.

"Water is fine, thanks. This place is impressive, might I ask how you managed to acquire it?"

[Deathkeeper]

Wizards' Tower

"This was once the basement of my tower, so it doesn't have any windows. But the upper level does..." he says, going up those stairs to the small sitting room and dining room and kitchen that make up the first level.
"I haven't had a roommate in ages. Sadly I think the place is a bit small for you. It was built for a kobold and a bookwyrm, so probably not the right size." he admits.

[Murkus]

Cloudy Palace

Oh, dear. Artie would have worn her kimono if she knew there was going to be guests she needed to impress. Instead she's only wearing her top Azren picked out, and in her natural shape no less. She flinches, shrinking back from all the eyes on her.
"Um, yes, this is the place. Would you like to...come in?" she asks nervously. How did they even get up here, she wonders?

[Cloudy Palace]

"We sure would!" One of them pipes boisterously! And the small army of handsome men will start to file in, some tipping raggedy hats or hoods to her, some smiling and giving little waves or nods.

"We got your stuff!"
"What kind of place is this?"
"Did Azren snag a goddess?"
"Why would she need us if she were a goddess?"

And so the chatter goes. Their apparent speaker is one of the last ones in, and he remarks only as he passes, "You've made a terrible mistake."

[Morty]

[Underside]

Iknika brightens up.

"That's great. We can go get something to eat after you're done. It's the least I can do for drawing me on a beetle, right?"

She leans in to check how the drawing is going.

[Wizards' Tower]

"Probably. I don't do well in cramped spaces. It's in my blood, I guess," Batu says. "I mean, our family yurt wasn't very big, but we weren't all inside, most of the time."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Cassandra's Tower]

Electra's smile widens as she follows Cassandra in. She looks around, politely ignoring whatever remnants of the mess Cassandra was cleaning up might be about, then nods at the elven sorceress.

"Water is fine, thanks. This place is impressive, might I ask how you managed to acquire it?"

[Cassandra's Tower]

Cassandra heads to the back of the room, retrieving a couple of glasses from a cabinet and filling them with cold water.

"I'm not sure who originally built it. All the locals know is that it's very old. Its last occupant, however, was an alchemist who eventually took to kidnapping villagers for his experiments. So another adventurer and I killed him, and the locals were happy to let me stay."

The old "murder someone and take their stuff" maneuver. At least it can be reasonably claimed that he deserved it.

This time.

[Recaiden]

Here's a visitor!

Possibly, they are waking up in or around the bed inside. Possibly they have just climbed carefully up the ladder and let themselves in after traipsing through the forest just daring a giant spider to try something.

Either way, it's Alexis.