Thanks in part to a recent influx of affluence, a new Keep has sprung into being, fueled by the tireless Nexus contractors that create all buildings while no one else is looking. The walls stand at a daunting twenty five feet high, cast from seamless black granite that glitters faintly under the morning sun. These very walls surround an eighty foot wide courtyard on five sides, forming a pentagon of safety over the inhabitants. At each of the five corners sits a squat tower, ten feet higher than the walls it is connected to, from which defenders can protect the flanks of the nearest two towers in a near perfect net of safety. Surmounting the towers are gleaming black adamantine spikes, crafted from the Mithar treasure hoard and used to fly flags bearing the crests of the Therishein and Mithar Houses.
Immediately as you enter through the gates you can see two square, flat-topped granite outbuildings flanking either side of the short road leading up to the keep proper. The right most building holds the forge, where Harnel himself works tirelessly to turn out high quality adamantine arms and armor. The left is his armory, stocked high with the fruits of his labor.
The keep itself retains the outer wall's pentagonal theme, five sides of glittering stone reaching almost fifty five feet in height. It is capped by a flat roof that acts as a flight deck for Harnel to take off from and land on. To this end imposing black spikes have been installed to act as perches, so that he and his future children will have no trouble landing in extreme weather.
In the first apex of the Tower walls from the gate there is a door set deep into the stone. Beyond this door is the ground floor, more specifically the entrance hall where Harnel greets his guests. The room is oddly shaped, a sort of wedge that gets wider towards the exterior walls. Towards the center it converges into three doors, one leading off to the kitchen on the right, and another to the living room on the left. The one in the center leads up a spiral staircase to the next floor, and the ones after that eventually. Also on the first floor is a washroom and Harnel's personal study. All of the rooms are arrayed around the central staircase in the unique wedge shaped pattern.
The second floor is a bit more esoteric, holding only three rooms. On the apex facing the gate is a small space for storing alchemical ingredients and curative potions. The recreational room take up a double sized wedge on the west side, while the east is a room for the safe practice of rituals and other potentially catastrophic magic.
The third is where the family makes its home, including a double sized master bedroom and two guest rooms, one already set aside for the little one on the way. Another bathroom can also be found here, to eliminate the inconvenience of running down two flights of stairs in the middle of the night.
The fourth and final floor was left open and converted into a massive library as Harnel's gift to his lovely Cessie. A place so well stocked with lore, both arcane and mundane, that I'm certain no one could possibly read every tome amongst its shelves. From here the stairs only lead upward to the Aerie, which has been equipped with guard-rails and no slip coatings to ensure that no one takes a nasty tumble to their doom while enjoying the pleasant view.
Because honestly, who builds a tower with roof access and then doesn't install guard-rails? Incompetent contractors, that's who.
Other things of note include the extensive tunnel complex the land was built on, now fully integrated into the design to allow quick access to all of the buildings on sight without exposing the people inside to an enemy siege. These tunnels also join to a rather well built cellar/bomb shelter and Harnel's underground hoard of adamantine bars. An interesting fact: All the metal fixings, including faucets, doorknobs and hinges, were made from this very stash.
The keep is overlooking the city of Inside, on a cliff above. Built into the cliff are natural caverns. Though most have been collapsed, a few, the only entrances remaining leading to the towers themselves. This is where Harnel stores his treasure horde, including the massive stockpile of adamantine.
Keep in mind, the whole place, like so many other locations in the nexus, is dimension locked and warded against scrying.
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Assuming Harnel follows Cessie along to the keep without any trouble she will lead him into one of the empty guestrooms where the windows have been reinforced by some type of transparent force field.
"Here we are..." She says as they enter, slowly turning to him. "Do you think you'll be okay?"
Cessie sigh and sits down in the bed, "So how do you feel? You look so different, surely something must feel odd somehow right?" She asks as she looks at him with a hint of curiosity.
"I don't know," Harnel says, "I never really thought about the way I feel before, and I haven't really had long enough to look at the way I act around things like this. I couldn't tell you."
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She nods, "I guess. You'll tell me if you start feeling different though right? It's important I know so I could help you. I'm your wife and I will always be there for you if you need me."
"I don't think anyone wished this happened Harnel, but it did and now we need to deal with it. Look at it on the bright side, you don't seem to have undergone any major personality changes in all this time and the others are probably already under their way of finding a cure." Cessie replies. "Besides, I think I can arrange something if they take too long, so you will be cured. It would take time okay?"
"I know Harnel but I'll let you burrow some of my books, I can even be with you here if you want, but understand this is for your own safety. You could never forgive yourself..." She takes a deep breath, not even wanting to think about it.
"Just trust me when I say this is for the best." Cessie tells him with a sad look in her eyes.
Harnel nods, sighing, "Believe me, I know," he sighs and thinks for a moment before saying, "If you're willing to spend a bit of time waiting outside the door, I could get started on teaching you draconic, if you like. There's not many more productive things I could do in here."
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Cessie smiles encouragingly, "I would love to Harnel, let me just get something to eat." And take a short visit to the little sorceress room. "And you could start if you like. I'll inform Kirin about your condition as well, then you'd have someone to talk to even if I'm gone or busy with something.
Not to mention that these stairs are especially horrendous. "Kirin, I need to talk to you about Harnel, something have happened to him and he have some special needs. For example, you can't let him go out of that guest room, okay?"
"Um, how serious is this? Is it "keep the door locked" don't let him leave, or is it "Try to beat him into submission and throw him back in if he tries to get out" don't let him leave?"
A bit of a pause.
"Oh, and, what happened? And what else do I have to do?"
"I... I'm not really sure." Cessie says, looking rather awkward. "He's been changed, turned into a 'demon'. You really need to see him for yourself first." Yet somehow he looked even better, she really wasn't sure why. It felt wrong she should be horrified.
"Point is, he isn't aggressive now. He's still the same." Cessie says, summoning an earth elemental next to Kirin which offers it's hand to help the catgirl with the cart. "I'll show you."
The cart seems to have a pair of hooks on one side, which she has used to hook onto the sturdy railing to move the cart up and down the stairs. Clever.
Kirin will set the cart aside, but grab her backpack off of it and follows Cessie into the room. She's not sure what to expect.
Harnel is looking distinctly unlike himself at this point, though still similar to how he is normally. His face has become more handsome and the muscles all over his body more defined. His hands have gnarled into hooks, the claws curving wickedly, and his feet are much the same. his wings seem larger and more flexible, but also slightly ragged along the trailing edge. the alar thumb, which is that little thumb on top of the wing, has the same hooked and crooked bent as the claws on his hands, as do the ends of his wing 'fingers'. The end of his tail hes developed into a spiked ball, much like a morningstar in shape, though the spikes are barbed. This isn't even mentioning the fact that all his red scales have turned black, and the yellow plates along his neck, chest, stomach, and tail have turned blood red, as have his horns, which appear to be more... regal and large?
It is so very clear, even just from appearances, that he's a demon now. He's still asleep however.
He's not asleep at the moment, however, looking up towards Kirin with a worried expression.
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"Hello Harnel." Cessie says as she goes to sit down on the bed again. "Don't worry Kirin. He's the same, he just looks a bit different." She explains slowly. Showing no signs of fear in his presence.
"Some food, I suppose. I think I'm getting a bit hungry, so something to eat and drink would be appreciated." Harnel says, glad that Kirin isn't afraid or anything, "As for what happened, I got into a fight with a group of demon worshiping gnolls, and they infected me with something. This is the result."
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"Okay, I'll bring up something in a minute. I was actually curious about, what are they- standing orders. I'm not supposed to let you out of the room, right, but is there anything else I should keep in mind while this is going on?"
Now that Harnel mentions food, Kirin wants to take a bite out of the pantry herself. However, she figures that she should probably hear if there is anything else she should keep in mind first.
"Not at the moment Kirin, thank you. I might end up asking you to get books for me from the library, or a few other things." Harnel nods, a gesture meant to tell her she can head to the pantry now.
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And with that Kirin turns and heads out, closing the door behind her, and rushes down to the pantry. It'll be a bit before she comes back, since she wants to get a bit for herself, too. Enough time for Cessie and Harnel to talk about some things with having to worry about her overhearing if they want.
"She seems to be fitting in nicely." Cessie comments once Kirin have left. "I'm just glad we at least have one servant though. Especially with this happening so soon."
"You will get used to it soon enough, we need servants in a house this big after all." The sorceress replies. "But weren't you going to teach me dragonic now? I'm actually eager to learn it."
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[Nexus] Mithar Keep
