"'Asmodia was up to something'? That's your take?"

"Yes, sir, that is what I believed and still believe, though with much less information than you."

"And so you told the Security to bully her because she was probably up to something?"

"No, sir. I confronted her, and said that she wasn't serving Cheliax, and that her priorities were a product of her disloyalty, and that I thought real Asmodeans would steer the project better. I think in dath ilan it would've been not my judgment but her superiors', but they, uh, seemed willing neither to make that judgment nor to ask me to stay quiet about mine, as I would have done if ordered. 

Then Security started giving her a hard time because of how she was a traitor."

"She wasn't, you idiot. A heretic, yes, but a traitor, no, not until you made her one by showing her that Cheliax didn't value her and didn't have anything worthwhile for her and was fundamentally not possible for her to respect."

"Why was she working on roads, sir?"

"She was muddled. So are you. Forcing people to resolve their muddles in the direction of non-Asmodeanism is not in Asmodeus's interests, nor mine, nor yours."

"Sir, it was my hope that Asmodia would change course to work on weapons, to prove I was wrong and she far more valuable to Cheliax than I was. I didn't intend to push her away from Asmodeanism, but to challenge her to do something that mattered to save us."

Avaricia believes what she's saying, which is only a testament to the power of Splendour for use at lying to yourself. "Liar," says Carissa all the same. "You wanted her to crash and burn so you'd get promoted and everyone would see that you're better than her."

"- both seemed like a satisfactory resolution, sir. I would win if I was stronger and she would win if she was; that's how it works. I don't begrudge my superiors their superior positions, if they have them for their merits."

"And if Cheliax burned in the meantime?"

"She was working on roads!!!  If you were counting on her to save us she wasn't doing it! If there was a complicated operation to gradually win over her loyalty and not make her do anything that offended her conscience in the meantime, like with Keltham, Maillol and Subirachs didn't tell me of it. And if we need roads for some bloody reason Asmodia didn't herself seem to know it."

"Stop - reshaping yourself around the story you picked - you'd have done this even if she'd been working alongside you on spellsilver refining, you were chafing at being under her even on the Project where her job was absolutely essential -"

"I never acted or spoke against her when her job was essential, sir."

"Do you know what I think of you? I think you did this entirely out of pettiness, dislike of having to answer to someone who wasn't as Splendid as you, and the desire for power, and made up all the Asmodean justifications after the fact."

"- those are Asmodean justifications, sir."

"I have pride, I don't like being beneath my inferiors. I want to rise as far as my strength takes me. I want to crush my defeated enemies beneath my boots. You are enjoying the benefit of the ridiculous rumors that you're going to ascend and be a Power of Hell, if Cheliax does conquer the world under you you'll be in a position to genuinely attempt it, do you think Asmodeus will promote you just for having given him a lot of value? He's not fucking Abadar! There are eight dukes of Hell and if you want one of their jobs you will have to resent them, and challenge them, and crush them, and take their job from them."

She switches to Infernal, to a common prayer. "Asmodeus, may your will be done in this world as it is in Hell."

And back. "You know this, Sevar. What do you think you're doing to Maillol?"

"Succeeding! Unlike you."

"See, that's fair. 'You lost, you're going to suffer for it', that's what this meeting is about, that's what this life and the next are all about. But don't name me a bad Asmodean for trying."

"Sure. Congratulations. You're a very good Asmodean. Do we have any torture chambers not presently in use."

      "I think there's still one," says the Security at her door. 

"Get her out of here, then, and I guess delay the rest of my meetings until we have a vacancy."

How about if she works on that Splendour headband now. She's honestly feeling kind of burned out on crafting but her brain is full of - something she doesn't quite like - and crafting feels like just the thing to quiet it. 

She only really needs to sleep tonight if she wants her spells back in the morning, and given how busy she presently is, she's not sure that's worth it. 

When she calls Pilar in eight hours later she looks slightly manic but she has a +6 headband of Splendour to present to her. "Please use it to eat Cayden Cailean alive," she says flatly.

"Acknowledged.  I'll try, but even if I succeed I can't promise that's not exactly Cayden Cailean's plan."  Pilar takes off her off her old Splendour headband without this having any effect large enough to show up in her expression, puts on the new one.  "I have twenty people who I chose from around Avistan, I hope, I pray, on the basis of them doing great from enduring whatever you think is necessary to create true ilani and Keepers.  Asmodia seemed to think that all of the previous, mess, happened simply because I didn't act without orders.  Or even try to advise Maillol and Subirachs.  My curse says that I could have retained Asmodia by being more proactive about what I knew would serve Asmodeus, which would've at worst have saved tens of thousands of Asmodean lives over the next year and at best have ruined Cayden's plan and left Asmodeus holding all of its gains."