Worthy Core

Gilda, of course, keeps her concerns about Grassbrook's chances to herself. "A little premature, aren't you? My people paid quite a reckoning to your forces last night, and Grassbrook remains unmarred. We didn't come here to stand around and look pretty."

Cerise Darktouched smiles, as if the last comment weren't directed at herself personally. "Of course not. By the way, might I mention what an honor it is to meet you, Lady Highbranch? I've heard much about you and your skills with runes. Will your husband be joining us today? Or perhaps your sister?"

"My family is no concern of yours...Emissary Darktouched. But tell me, is that ridiculous statement the only thing you had to say? You needn't have gone through all of the trouble in that case."

The succubus shakes her head. "As I said, I'm here to discuss terms - we're not demanding an unconditional surrender. Not yet, anyways. But I should tell you, in case you are unaware, that the Grassbrook garrison has fallen. Commander Paulados has already surrendered to us, and he and his surviving forces are now in our custody. There is also no Rainlander army marching down from the north to save you. Grassbrook is alone and isolated, and one way or another it shall return to the Domain by this time tomorrow."

While the noble herself has no intention of fighting to a last stand, part of her still feels irritated to hear that the commander had already surrendered the fort. They're soldiers, dammit - couldn't they have bought Grassbrook a little more time? A full day, at least? But the more rational part of her realizes that the fort had been facing a battle far outweighing the skirmishes that had occurred around the town, and she's in no place to second-guess the man. Avoiding that matter for now, Gilda responds with a question. "Fine - you have terms? Let us hear them. It might be entertaining, at least."

The demon smiles, quite unfooled by the younger woman's bluster. "We promise no harm shall come to the residents or defenders of Grassbrook. Local citizens will be allowed to return to their homes and businesses, provided those resources are not required for the war effort. The Challengers who have joined your 'militia' will be granted a chance to recant their resignations and retake their oaths of neutrality, and will be allowed to return to challenging designed dungeons in the south if they choose. Any who do not, along with any army soldiers in the town, along with you and your household, shall be taken into custody as prisoners of war until the end of the conflict or a negotiated prisoner exchange. Of course, we recognize your rank, and are willing to offer you and your family superior accommodations in Dragon's Jaw itself."

The half-elf has to admit - it's more generous than she would have expected, given that it would allow virtually all of her militia to escape imprisonment. Aside from herself, Raylin, and their retainers, Gilda would suspect there'd be less than a dozen others that might actually end up in custody. Still, she didn't organize all of this to give up at the first flowery words. "And if we chose not to accept this gracious offer?"

Cerise's smile turns toothy. "Well, we would actually still offer the same terms - to the survivors, at least. If we unleash the full scale of our military might upon this town you've put so much effort into, not much of it might remain intact after - and that doesn't help either of us. But we will do so if required, and in the end you will have gained yourself nothing."

"Your might hasn't seemed all that mighty so far. Even your dungeon monsters which you put so much effort into still fell like any other beast before our experienced delvers."

"Would you say so?" Cerise turns her face skyward, shielding her eyes with one hand. "Actually, I would say you have quite a good sense of timing, as it happens."

Gilda restrains herself from following the demon's gaze for a moment, but a brief flash of shadow passing across the land breaks her resolve, and her eyes likewise turn upwards. She doesn't shake at what she sees there, but only because the sudden fear roots her to the spot.

A massive, golden-scaled dragon has passed over the entire town in the time it took for her to turn and look, and even now it's almost blinding as the sun glints off of its metallic scales. Worse, that's not even all of it - there's several groups of winged figures following along, perhaps draconics or winged demons, but on top of that some of the followers are clearly monsters. Several are also dragon-shaped, if much smaller, while some appear insectoid, along with one giant eagle. For a moment Gilda fears they're about to swoop upon the town and destroy it in moments, but instead the aerial armada continues heading north.

"The...the Dragonlord?"

Cerise nods. "I see you recognize our sovereign."

"But they haven't left the south in a century! I've heard they barely even leave Dragon's Jaw!"

"They had no reason to - and now they do." Seeing a question in Gilda's eyes, Cerise answers it unprompted. "Grassbrook is, of course, a minor footnote in the grand scale of things. Today our sovereign flies north to crack open the true defenses of the Rainlands some miles from here. But no worries! They'll be returning tomorrow. If you'd rather not offer your surrender to me, perhaps you'll last long enough to offer it to them. Meeting the Dragonlord in person is a great honor, as I'm sure you're aware."

"Of course. Forgive me if I do not display my excitement at the thought." Recovering herself, Gilda's spine straightens, and she offers the Emissary her answer. "I'm afraid I cannot offer you our surrender at the moment. Perhaps after I consult with my advisors..."

"Of course - you do have a little time to consider. But use it wisely. It may be shorter than you might hope..."

Gilda nods and returns behind the barricade, as the demon fades away. An illusion spell? Invisibility? Perhaps just showing off...another thing to consider, on top of everything else. As she gets a hundred paces or so into the town, Raylin joins her. Sweet of course had been within a moment's reach the entire time, if perhaps a bit out of view.

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"You saw it, yes? It - it must have been the Dragonlord! What did the messenger say?"

Gilda sighs, and looks into her husband's eyes. "Raylin, my love? We. Are. Fucked."

Gilda hadn't actually been planning to reconvene her war council so soon, but her plans had shifted slightly. Everyone in the room had seen the dragon flying overhead along with their followers, but none of them seems to want to be the one to bring it up first. As the noble in charge, Gilda does so herself after passing along Darktouched's terms. "It would appear that my calculations have shifted."

Renter can't hide a snort. "Have they, ah, my lady? I mean...we did know we were going to lose this fight sooner or later..."

"Indeed, Mr. Forst, but I believed that perhaps we might buy something with our resistance. Delay the enemy advance, bleed them of their scouts and whatnot." The noblewoman shakes her head. "But if their opening attack involves that flying force striking us tonight or tomorrow? Even if the dragon themselves does not participate, our defenses would be annihilated in moments. Without support from the fort's garrison, we simply lack the ability to counter an aerial assault of that scale. At that point we would have no time for backup plans or emergency evacuations. Anything we're going to do, we need to do now." She rubs her forehead. "It seems we're not even buying the kingdom any time, if we've simply been skipped over like this."

Thaddeus offers a counterargument to that point. "Aerial forces, dragon or otherwise, are great for quick strikes but not for occupying territory. They would be cut off until their ground troops can link up with them, and that would be risky if we were indeed still fighting them here. I doubt they intend to truly seize or even destroy the defensive line this early - it's likely more of a morale strike, and to cause confusion among the gathering forces. An attempt to delay the kingdom's response."

"A fair point, prince, but it doesn't change our situation much. The amount of time we can buy them is optimistically measured in hours..." Gilda sighs. "And likely with the lives of everyone who attempts to defend this town. I may have delayed my response to that succubus for now, but I think my path is clear - I am going to have to surrender Grassbrook before that flying swarm returns."

Nalina frowns. "So...that's it, then? Mr. Forst here might be able to go back to being a simple Challenger, but the rest of us are signing up to be prisoners of war for...months? Years?"

"No." Gilda's eyes are firm as she turns them towards Thaddeus. "We simply advance the evacuation plan. Prince Thaddeus, other than myself and Sweet, I request that you escort everyone in Grassbrook at risk of imprisonment to Worthy Dungeon, to shelter until reinforcements arrive or another opportunity presents itself. And I request that you do this within a few hours, if at all possible."

It's obvious that Raylin wants to argue again against at least one part of this plan, but the previous discussion is still too fresh in his mind. Instead, he simply steps closer to his wife and embraces her in a hug. "I understand you want to ensure the safety of the people here - and I love you for it. But don't think that I'm going to give up on you."

The half-elf can't hide a small smile as she returns the embrace. "Don't do anything too foolish, Raylin. Besides, I'm sure that dungeon will have enough foolish ideas of its own without adding your own to the mix."

As the two part again, Thaddeus gives his response. "I believe all of the nobility in the town are represented by those present here, but I will confirm that, and whether or not any Rainlander soldiers are among the militia. My wife has already been preparing for this, so we should be ready in about an hour...although I would request one thing."

Gilda raises an eyebrow. "Oh? And what is that?"

"A distraction. We were planning to do this either under the cover of night, or once battle was underway. I'm aware the Domain has skilled mages of their own, and I would rather not test them without something else to draw their eye."

Nalina immediately speaks up. "We'll handle that, my lady." Gilda is obviously about to deny her, but the dwarf raises a hand before continuing. "Not that we intend to remain behind - although I would wish to do so. And certainly not that we intend to sacrifice ourselves! However, having taken the measure of the forces surrounding us at the moment, I am confident that we can make some noise before meeting up with the prince's team later. Or making our own way to the dungeon entirely, if required. We're not without our own tricks, you know."

The daughter of the duke takes a deep breath before nodding. "Very well. We'll meet again in an hour and confirm that everything is prepared. I'm sure I'll say it again then, but - I wish you all the best of luck."

Renter grins and tosses the prince a lucky rabbit foot's charm, which he catches. "And a lil extra for the road, eh?"

As Nalina's spear impales her fourth kobold of the day, the dwarf can't stop the grin from spreading across her lips. Despite everything - the dire situation in Grassbrook, her inability to protect her charge, the potential fate of the very kingdom - at this particular moment the spearwoman feels complete. Forget fighting dungeon monsters - this was what she had been training for all these years! A true opponent, not some tried-and-tested challenge that had already been defeated by thousands of others before her.

Not that the kobold and demon scouts they'd been engaging were anywhere near her level, but still. The unpredictability of it sends her heart beating in a way it hadn't since she was a young Challenger. As a mass of shadows nearby congeals into the form of her companion, Tinter, she says as much out loud. "Ah, what a lovely day for a battle, isn't it? I suppose we can take a moment to rest - we don't want to lose our pursuit too quickly. Are you enjoying yourself, Gloomroot?"

"I ran into a pack of slime mages!" The half-dwarf throws his hands into the air. "Five elementalists like they were doing some sort of coordinated theme group or something! I thought slimes wouldn't be able to get this far north!"

The field commander frowns. "Not under their own power, but they could be transported. Likely a sign that their main forces are already arriving, and we're not just facing their rapid spearhead forces. ...They didn't give you any trouble, I assume?"

The Shadow Supreme scoffs. "Slimes? Of course not. Just took me a bit by surprise, that's all." If there's any further grumbling, it's interrupted by the appearance of Red and and Glory. Going by the splash of blood on the paladin's warhammer, it seems obvious the two have been having their own excitement. Red's mood is a little more somber than Nalina's, though.

"That mystery prince's team should be well on their way down the path to Worthy Dungeon by now. Shall we follow along?"

The dwarf gives one last glance towards Grassbrook before turning back and nodding. "I suppose we shouldn't give the Domain time to come up with any surprises. But we'll take the long way around, just to keep them on their toes." Her grin makes one more appearance. "And to give them a taste of what to expect the next time we meet in battle..."