[Jean] Chapter 18: Hostilities

[pringerbeam]

Agility

Rolled 1d20+25 : 13 + 25, total 38

[Throndir]

Kherngolarr - Palace
Day 10 (Jean), Day 12 (Rosalie) - Time: Mid-Afternoon

"Jean!" Lili's voice echoed behind you just when the weapon was going off.

You manage to get out of the way of the blast, positioning the weapon just slightly to avoid most of the damage. The energy blast still stung, but it was far from lethal for someone like you. From being injured, you were now badly wounded.

The high priest however, who couldn't dodge at all had the energies wash right over him. Once the flash of light dissipated, you could easily tell he was unconscious. The high priest was still alive, but barely; he was dying. The priest's face disfigured, his skin sagging and burned, looking as if it had been melted.

Everyone was silent at what occurred, the first one to break it was Lili, who immediately rushed to your side. Her alarmed look quickly softened realizing you were still standing, even as the blast of energy left the floor immediately surrounding you red-hot.

Lili, with her metallic boots sighed in relief as she stepped closer, ignoring the scalding floor that was probably cooking the high priest still lying on the ground. "Ye hud me worried, bit a'm glad ye'r nae... disintegrated, Jean." The dwarven princess said as she began looking you over worriedly.

[pringerbeam]

     Jean ignored Lili as he looked down at the priest. "You blind moron..." He said as a grin slithered across his face. "Let's see just how much your god cares for you now." He bent down to the priest's face and inhaled the smell of his charred and melted flesh. "If you survive and dare oppose me ever again, I will make sure that the pain you experience now feels like a mere tickle of your ballsack. I've met the gods and they have shown me ways of inflicting suffering you would be glad to know have never even been glimpsed in the darkest shadows of your nightmares." He took in one more deep inhalation of the ragged breath of a life teetering on the precipice of oblivion and stood up, invigorated and with the rage he felt before quenched.
     He turned to Lili and yet again swept her off her feet.  "My dear soon to be first wife! We can't have you burning your feet here! What if I develop a foot fetish? We have to keep those puppies pristine in case I can't get hard without a toe in my mouth and a heel crushing my foot or... other things." He said as he pranced across the hot floor and made his way to the loyalists. "Moving on! Damage report! How fares my consort and what's the status of the king and the ceasefire? Also all the burning flesh is making me think of barbecue. Is there anything to eat around here? Maybe a sandwich?"

[Throndir]

Kherngolarr - Palace
Day 10 (Jean), Day 12 (Rosalie) - Time: Mid-Afternoon

"A toe...? Heel crushing...?" Lili echoed your words. It only took her a moment to picture what you were saying and began to immediately blush as you swept her off her feet.

When you made it to the loyalists, the dwarven survivors were still processing what had just happened. They were in shock that you weren't completely blasted away from the cannon the high priest had fired. It was actually the king who first broke the silence.

"Ye' deserve mair than a sandwhich wi' a' ye'd done." The king replied while his retainers were still in shock. The king did beckon to two of the dwarves, and you noticed that it was the same two dwarves who had dragged Ren's body back to behind the bunker. With the attention on the dwarves, they stepped to the side revealing Ren's unconscious form. She looked completely metallic, and a few of her appendages were already missing. She was still breathing, but she seemed unconscious. Her wounds looked pretty severe. There were various sections of her body that seemed missing altogether apart from the tentacles. A part of her side, a chunk of her leg, and half of her head squid flaps were missing. If not for the fact that her body looked metallic, you imagine that she would have been much more a grotesque mess. Her metallic form did not bleed, however, so at the very least it didn't seem as if her condition was getting any worse; she was stable.

"A dinnae ken whit manner o' creature she is, bit she pat up a fight protectin' me and me guards. Ah'm hopin' the fightin' is dyin' doon... We'll get oor best healers to help patch her up."

"Faither..." Lili said, still in your arms. "Ye'r nae saying that confidently."

The king shook his head. "She toorned pairts o' her body ta metal when she was wounded enough. It stopped the bleedin', but even if she were ta undo thait noo, th' wounds she has on her body are pretty serious. We doon have th' magic of old ta close wounds magically, but we can do oor best with th' tools we 'ave."

[pringerbeam]

     "Hmmm...." Hummed Jean as he looked at Ren. He pulled and poked at her metallic flesh a few times before giving her butt a good squeeze and frowned before giving Lili's rump a squeeze as well for comparison. "Some kind of stasis? I don't think she's dead, I'm pretty sure I would know. For now I think we can only wait to see how she recovers on her own until we can get some proper magical healing. In the meantime we have an appointment to keep."   He took out the dungeon core. "Another casualty to keep an eye on. Same deal as before." He said as he sent Ren into the core. "Well then you're highness, I belive we have a truce to negotiate on the palace steps. Shall we?" He asked a he put away the dungeon core and gestured towards the front of the palace.

[Throndir]

Kherngolarr - Palace
Day 10 (Jean), Day 12 (Rosalie) - Time: Mid-Afternoon

The king blinked his eyes in surprise as the metallic Ren disappeared into the core. The core itself then disappearing into your Inventory. To his credit, he took it in stride though.

"Aye, th' truce... Wi' howfur tense things wur, A'm surprised they agreed tae it. It felt as if something wis compelling us fur peace. We heard yer voice ring oot, 'n' my men stopped fightin'. Either wey, we'll git mah guard tae secure th' steps, 'n' we'll wait fur th' lords then."

State any preparations you may want to do before the lords appear, feel free to split the post with [hr] tags for each piece so we can tackle things in parallel. If there are things you want your companions to do, feel free to mention it. As reference, the lords you remember Goldroic Tulach telling you about.

Lord Goldroic Tulach, loyalist, descendent of a mining clan before the Shifting. Not a true 'noble', but he and his clan were brought up to nobility by decree of the current king due to their loyalty and work in excavating the tunnels. Has his troops separated out through the city trying to hold points.

Lord Eilig Catach, loyalist, had ties to nobility from the old Kingdom, stationed troops mainly at the refineries, and helping the royal guards at the palace. Is an old dwarf, but is no friends of current king's father.

Lord Gowan Puidreach, loyalist, head of a craftsman clan that had ties to nobility from the Old Kingdom, they were a lesser noble house until the Shifting but had moved up in position due to the events. His troops are stationed at the refineries, along with helping other groups from lord Goldroic Tulach retake the city.

Lord Cambeul Peucag, separatist, head of a merchant clan, controls most buying and selling in the city.

Lord Cruim Loudain, separatist, apart from the Seadhg clan, his clan is next in line as the most noble clan in the city.

Lord Gilleabart Druimeanach, separatist, a warrior clan who typically leads the explorations deep in the tunnels. They're known to support the clergy of the city.

[pringerbeam]

     "One of many powers I have acquired in my tenure as a mighty hero."
Not what i would consider a sporting trick but it was either that or I slaughter the insurrection to a man. By the way, Karn, if you could look to the palace architecture? Repair what you can to the exterior. I would like to project the appearance that the insurrectionist assault was unable to do much damage. I'll see to the bodies." Replied Jean as they left the throne room. "Tell me, are there any particular formalities to hostile negotiations among your people that I should know about?" He asked the king as they started down the corridors, putting any bodies they came across into Dungeon Core.