Emperor Chreos charges after Harron, but without the magical punch, he strikes with little power, glancing off Harron's armor.
Harron takes the blow and returns the favor with his own. Harron then once again runs away, to try and keep his distance from the Emperor.
Harron takes the blow from Chreos, and rides off. As he ran off he shifted and grabbed the dagger out from his side. He decided, this was his shot.
"Hmph... So the demon bares the slightest of his claws.. No doubt it would injure me grievously, but his claws have never caught me yet."
Harron will try to make a hit with the dagger again. Continuing the running around, to try to keep whatever advantage he can.
"So, I'm curious, Lucielle. What will you do with the throne?"
Harron tries to run away again, but this time the Emperor's blade finds its mark. Harron falls out of his horse, no longer moving.
Lucielle quietly walked forward as Harron fell. "Well, that appears to be that." she observed as she carefully began moving towards his body, ready - just in case - to blast Harron's undead with channeled power should it prove necessary to do so.
"Is it?" Lieutenant Rosenkreuz calls out, gesturing to the three assembled forces. "Were you aware from the beginning that the rules of this competition were all a lie? Because you could have taken your brothers out in much less dramatic ways, were that the case."
As Harron falls his lieutenant begins walking towards where Harron fell, but he keeps his distance. The skeletons follow him a few feet behind him. "Will I be allowed to collect my master's remains, like the others?"
Lucielle looked at Lieutenant Rosenkreuz for a moment. Then, abruptly, her expression cleared, as if she'd realized something. "No, I was not." she said. "As I told them, I came here for one purpose, and one purpose only - to support whoever I thought was most worthy of being on the throne once Father is gone. Once more for the sake of clarity, that does not mean supporting myself. I do not plan to be Empress - only to find someone who should have that place."
"Still a girl of your word, I see, daughter." Chreos turns away to Harron's men.
"A moment, I have little desire to see him revived... again."
Chreos takes the dagger from Harron's gauntlet and stabs him once with. A great shimmer of sparks and the armor and bones sheer apart, odd given Chreos' unimpressive strength, for a divine being.
"As you will." He then turns away.
"My goal was to make sure whoever took the throne would be strong enough to hold it, and that the majority of those who would seek to usurp it dead. I consider that achieved, Rozenkreuz. Tell your master, if he is too broken to consider the throne, that I have a project that might excite his talents. That is all."
"Also, I don't suppose its likely at this point, but don't let the orb touch Verix or Harron. It's rigged to explode if it does." He says over his shoulder before beginning to walk away.
The lieutenant watches the Emperor stab Harron, and tenses up watching all of his hard work in making this happen fade away. Both his greatest creation and his master gone in a moment. He waves the skeletons forward, and they grab what is left of the armor and bones and bring it back to the rest of the men.
"Always, father." she answered. It often surprised people when they realized she truly meant the things she said - those who rarely spoke the truth themselves (and oh, how many of THOSE existed at court...) frequently found it hard to believe others could be different.
She did not follow the Emperor, though - one did not join him without permission. Instead, she made her way over towards Runcible's men. "How is your master doing?" she inquired.
"He'll recover—eventually, though it may take the aid of the kingdom's best healers before he can walk again. Commander has blasted his way out of the afterlife once before, and that's given him the resolve and skill not to walk back through that door. He may still be able to talk, now, but only with difficulty."
And, smiling, Sir Rosenkreuz adds, "But there aren't a lot of candidates left."
"One child who transformed himself into an undead, known for a brutal, merciless style. One child who fought through Hell and may have been tainted deeper than he knew. One child who would gladly abandon the Empire to rule a much smaller land... and one child who never intended to be on the throne at all. I am not sure there were any good candidates to begin with. Take me to my brother - I wish to speak with him and provide what healing I can."
"I fought with him in Hell, General, and if anything was tainted in those decades of fighting, it was the place itself."
This should have probably been enough time for Runcible's lizardman monk to return from the tower, carrying the unconscious Runcible, though his lieutenant quickly revives him to consciousness in a burst of holy magic.
[ooc](and that should bring him most of the way to full, except for the whole "snapped spine" thing)[/dice]
Lucielle watched as Runcible was healed, and she briefly covered what had happened after he had been knocked unconscious. "And so I find myself in a most interesting position now. Tell me, brother, are you still interested in the throne... or do you want to want to hear more about father's project and how you might use your talents?"
"I sought the throne for a reason, and that reason has not changed," Runcible replies slowly, as though his lungs are recovering from a collapse. "But I do not believe in making a decision rashly, without hearing the other options. Father, what is your proposition?"
Seeing the Emperor already left the scene, this time, his voice comes through the orb Lucielle still carried. "When I spoke of a desire to ascend to the stars, I meant it in a rather literal manner."
"In everlasting divinity... that sort of thing?"
"Spatially, with a bit of metaphor as to the exact destination."
"And for this, what... did you need help with?"
"While I have access to many who are skilled in the arcane and divine arts, those able to meld those arts with technology and industry are less common."
"You're not just going to ascend into the sky with protective magic and become some sort of immortal wanderer?"
"Do you take me for a wanderer? The only reason I handed the conquest over to my children was because I realized my power had already eclipsed all possible challengers on this world. Finishing a battle already won is simply tedium."
"So you would seek other worlds, not merely studies the mysteries of the cosmos. Fair enough—but what aid do I provide to such a task?" Runcible asks, his voice again beginning to carry a hint of pain.
"Would you ask what aid a poet would provide to the creation of a book? Surely, he would provide the poetry. Your aid to the task would be where you think you can apply your skill upon seeing the project."
"I would be willing to help... but perhaps we can talk further at a later time, when my bones have been given time to heal, and my men and I have had time to brainstorm what technology might be useful."
"As you will."
Lucielle nodded slightly. Runcible seemed to have decided, then, and she set off towards the tower area - all she had left to do here was put the stone somewhere nobody else would be picking it up when time was up, and she'd be done.
