First supper in a new castle

With the plan decided on and all that remains being to iron out the details you call a break. You can tell that while you and Bonius are still sharp the rest have already passed the point we’re they can focus effectively. Better to call a break and let them rest, at least mentally. Telling the women you will be with them shortly you take the time to help get Bonius settled. Fortunately, the sage brought accommodations along with him. Exercising your ability to control your new castle you expand an aria adjacent to your keep. After some tweaking and fine tuning, Bonius pronounces the foundation ideal and with a gesture a tower was added to your castle. The thing was massive, and amazing the structure was clearly not solely in this dimension. Looking closer you had to whistle in amazement. This tower would look like another part of your castle to almost anyone else. To your eyes it was a towering monolith of mind bending arcane architecture.

Shaking your head you wished Bonius a good evening and headed into your keep. You suddenly realized you hadn’t made plans for dinner. Fortunately, someone had been more on the details ball than you. An elven maid steps up and curtsies. “My lord, queen Illenwyn informed the staff you would be joining the queens in the small hall for supper. I can show you there?” You nod and she promptly begins to lead you through the halls. While your connection to the castle will let you navigate the halls effortlessly it’s honestly just more fun to have a maid lead you. Plus, her dress and figure make the trip much more enjoyable. Soon you are let into the small hall and realize you are the last to arrive. Your companions are all seated at a table, and look to be enjoying plaits of appetizers. The conversation comes to a halt as you enter.

Before your women can move you raise a paw. “Ladies, please don’t stop for me. Stay seated.” You move around the table and find a couch like seat waiting for you. You take a moment to settle yourself. Before you begin eating another maid was at your side with a bowl of soapy water and a towel. Mentally thanking whoever implemented this practice you wash your hand paws and dry them with the provided towel.

With everyone present you begin to enjoy the meal. You do take the time to listen to everyone’s conversations. As best you can tell given your male debuf to social interactions involving women you feel that things seem to be going better than you had hopped. The women have formed sub groups and factions around the strongest personalities. Fortunately, the leader to follower ratios are so heavily tilted to leaders that the group rally can’t form into consolidated power blocks.

Another blessing is a lack of the sniping and verbal sparing you had dreaded. These are women of action from a world of blood, steel, and sorcery. You listen in to the warriors discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the castle. Their inspection and assessment have determined that this is one of the strongest fortifications any of them have ever seen and with its innate magic it represents a stronghold that would require a powerful dragon to attack. If properly maned and staffed with warriors and mages along with subservient dragons under your command this may become a truly invulnerable fortress.

Your now former priestess was able to locate and inspect the medical facilities and found them equal to or better than those of any temple of healing she has ever been in. While she could not utilize it to its fullest by herself she in absolutely confident that with a suitable group of healers she could keep any defensive **** healthy and tended to in all but the most dire of situations.

The maid who had led you here was actually the head made Dellesan, she was able to give you direct answered from the old staff that were now trying to get acclimated to the new castle. Fortunately, there was some kind of connection between the castles staff and the structure itself that helped them find their way around so no one had gotten lost yet. They had been able to locate all the supply rooms, finding them fully stocked. The living quarters, an upgrade from before. And many of the rooms that would need regular service, the castle was still susceptible to dust buildup.

As the soup course was brought out you took a moment to ask about your smith. Dellesan signed, “he is still in his workshop my lord. I have tasked one of our more patient staff members to ensure he has food and drink. We expect the excitement of his new wealth of Dragonite to keep him going until he passes out in a couple days or so. The master crafters of the dwarves clans are famous for their obsessive crafting sessions and wisdom suggests we simply let him go until the initial rush is spent.” You chuckle and nod along. Fortunately, you should be able to give Master smith Ignar time to experiment before bringing him your personal list of things you wanted him to make for you.