There be Humans Coming!!! (ATTN Patrick O'Conner)

[Dyste]

Castle Courtyard
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Tynah and Axi complied to Rosa's requests, making sure he was comfortable in the bed that used to belong to Frenze and assuring the sleep spell was maintained. "I hope I can still cuddle with Guts when he gets bigger," the princess said, a little envious of how close Holo and the Colonel were.

Once they were done, they left Rosa be in the room. "If you require anything, Rosa, I will be in my study," the Sage said, "And as for Tynah, well... actually, normally she would go to her knightly duties, but since those duties entail escorting you and your husband, well..."

"I am staying right here!" Tynah sat at the end of the bed, waiting in anticipation. "Oh, there are a lot of places I would like to show him once his leg is better. Like the Fire Drake Mountains! Axi told you about Fire Drakes, yes? Well, there is this place to the north filled with them. One of our Druids keeps the peace there, and she... well, she is a little rambunctious and reckless, but a lot of fun!"

"Sounds rather familiar, I say." Axi snorted. "Either way, we can continue your magic studying later on, being with your spouse comes first, as I have found in our long marriage," before heading out of the room.

[Patrick OConner]

Castle Courtyard
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

"Thank you Axi for being so understanding."
Rosa walks over and sits by the bed and watches her husband.
"We have not yet reached a decade in out marraige but it feels like it has been much longer and I hope for it to be longer still."
Rosa listen to Tynah and snorts
"He will like that. Patrick is a rebel at heart and loves causing trouble."
Rosa watches as Holo lays down next to the bed where Patrick can reach her.
"You wear your heart on your sleeve Tynah. I may not be as good at reading people as my husband but I can tell two things. First you are jealous of my husband and Holo. Don't be because to get this way he lost everything and all that was left was her and his best friend. Second is that you are very curious now and it is not my place to talk about ask him...when he is very very drunk. Otherwise he will get angry."

[Dyste]

Tynah's Living Quarters
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Tynah pouted, looking a bit like a kobold as she did so, "Aw, I am that obvious? But, I do not care, subtlety is not my strong attire. I admit that my life was never as harsh as the Colonel's and probably never will be. But I am hardly some pampered noble, I learned how to fight when I was fifty... er, for us that is like your teenage years if I recall." Looking over at the Colonel, she sighed, "I hope he takes well to the change, it is not every day one gets a leg restored."

Mishera came into the room, nuzzling against the princess's leg, "Oh, hello, Aunt Mishera. Lavian told me you are going to get healed soon. Rosa, did anyone actually tell you what the deal was with her? She is not a wolf in reality, this is just the form she can manifest currently. She is a long-time family friend, and one of the wisest people I know." She gave Mishera a head rub, causing her to lick her back.

[Patrick OConner]

Tynah's Living Quarters
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

"Trust me, readjusting will be no problem for Patrick."
Rosa snorts
"You need to have story time with him then. Get him drunk enough and he will spill his life story. Ask him where he learned to weild pistols like he does."
Rosa eyes Mishera, hesitantly
"No I do not think we have met. It is a peasure to meet you Mishera." Rosa offers her hand to the wolf "No one has told me her story. I m sure it is fascinating."

[Dyste]

Tynah's Living Quarters
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Mishera put her paw in Rosa's hand and shook it. She looked at the human with her blank white eyes. She opened her mouth as if to talk, but no words came out. Her ears drooped a little, making her look a bit sad.

"Aw, Aunt Mishera, do not be sad, she likes you," Tynah said, rubbing the dire wolf's head. "Mishera is actually a drow, a type of elf. You heard about the Black Fangs, correct? Mishera was one of my father's adventuring partners, and she could turn into all sorts of animals, though wolves were always her favourite. She also served as one of our heads of law enforcement once Dyste was founded, since she swift forms and knowledge of the terrain allowed her to patrol better than anyone else. But, about a century and a half ago, there was this plague that came to Dyste, and she managed to contain the disease within herself, but had to turn into a tree to prevent dying herself. Ever since, she has been able to manifest herself as animals, such as this, but we are getting close to letting her get her proper body back. She used to stay near that tree, but recently she got lonely, so she came to visit us here in the castle, hence why she is staying with us!"

[Patrick OConner]

Tynah's Living Quarters
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Rosa reachs down and pets the odd wolf.
"Yes I do like you. I am used to be around wolves and big scary animal. Why i am even married to one." Rosa smiles micheviously
"You have a fascinating story, Mishera. I only wish I could talk to you."
On the bed, Patrick stirs and groans a bit then his eyes flutter open
"Thirsty" he rasps
"Oh He is awake" Rosa says before rushing off and then quickly reappearing holding a glass of water that she then hands to Patrick. He takes the glass and downs it.
"Thanks sweety....So how did it go?" He asks
"It went fine." Rosa says
"Great., but now I am stuck in a wheel chair...oh well....Tynah...has some large containers arrived yet? They have some stuff for you and your father."

[Dyste]

Tynah's Living Quarters
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Tynah was pleased to see O'Conner wake up, and while she considered seeing if her magic was at least good enough to create water Rosa beat her to it, though she supposed Axi might've made it for her sake. "Ah, glad to see you are awake. Are you in any pain? The Healer asked me to make sure of that..."

She was about to say more when the Colonel brought up something about containers, "Er, I do not think so, at least I have not heard about it yet. Is it some sort of gift or tribute?" Looking out into her window, she signaled a kobold walking nearby to check about this. She would've searched herself, but she did not want to go too far from O'Conner at this point. "We should hear back shortly about it, news travels fast in these walls. Either way, I think the chair Axi picked out for you is pretty nice, at least you will be comfortable, right?!"

[Patrick OConner]

Tynah's Living Quarters
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Patrick drinks some more water
"Yeah I am fine. I do not feel..."
Rosa glares at him
"Drop the tough guy act now..."
"Okay I feel a bit of discomfort but nothing major...as for the container...yes they hold many things for both you and the king. things I know both of you will like."

[Dyste]

Tynah's Living Quarters
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Tynah heard a commotion outside, some kobolds were speaking about something, and one of them shouted up at her window, "Arrivedbold!" And scurried off to the entrance. "Oh, it looks like those containers have made their way here. If you want to come along, the chair my husband got is here for you." She saw a few Draconids lugging along the containers towards the Throne Room, clearly wishing to present it to the king. She flew out of the window to meet them there, giving time for the O'Conners to join her if they so pleased. Whatever was in those containers really excited her, she was not used to getting gifts from foreign lands.

[Patrick OConner]

Tynah's Living Quarters
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

O'Conner smiles.
"Finally. Sweety help me"
Rosa nods and helps O'Conner into the wheel chair. An expression of disdain breifly crosses Patrick's face but it quickly disappears and he mumbles something about getting out out of it ASAP. Then Patrick wheels himself to the throne room.
After a breif trip through the castle they both arrive at in the throne room to meet Tynah and her family.
"I am not one for formal procedure and what not but it is tradition back home to bring gifts when visiting someone home for the first time. One container contains such gifts for all of you. The other is for Tynah and Lavain. It is training gear for them to learn to ride. As for the gifts open it up."
At this a few kobolds manage to open it inside are various crated items. Patrick wheels himself over and rummanges around and removes a massive ream of leather.
"I here you people like capes...well I have materail here to make some for all of you. This is no ordinary leather. This is drakon hide leather. There is more inside. We have books about our history for the more scholarly and weapon for the more warrior ones."
Patrick wheels himself inside and opens a crate to reveal a set of revolvers sized for drakon. They were ornate and heavily decorated and engraved but still fuctional.
"These should be some rifles as well somewhere. Please come look and check them out there should be enough for the whole family."

[Dyste]

Throne Room
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Tynah rummaged through the one for her and Lavian, "Training gear, you say? Well I hope this means that once they get big enough I can finally start riding Guts!" The Light Draconid arrived a few minutes later, having been in a different part of the castle when the containers arrived, Terror in tow.

Tyroth for his part inspected the drakon leather, "I see, I see... we will have to run some tests on this to see how receptive to magic it is. If it works well, it can be a good choice for my family and certain prominent figures. I might even wear one for a backup or when not on official business! I am not sure if you knew, Ambassador, but my mantle alongside my scepter are the monarch's regale." Evidently a crown was not included for Dyste, though he had pragmatic reasons for these two items. "See, my mantle is actually blessed by Bahamut, so it is a sign that the God of Dragonkind had officially acknowledged my right to rule these lands. And as for my scepter, Sarisa crafted it for me on my coronation day. I have other reasons for carrying it with me..." pressing one of the scales on the dragon pattern, two blades popped out, making it shaped like a battleaxe; another button turned it into a spear, and yet another turned it into a flaming sword. After one last press, it forms back into the scepter. "I am more fond of my chain flail, but it makes a fine secondary weapon."

Sarisa was more interested in the books, being not as fond of weapons like her daughter and husband were. "Hmm, some good reading material for the next few months. I truly appreciate these gifts. I shall make sure Mahks gets some and shares them with his children." Tynah's younger brother was the head of the largest casino in Dyste.

When it came to the weapons, Tynah was the first to try her hand at the new weapons, "Wow, and I thought Mighty Milly was well-suited for Draconids! You have really outdone yourselves! I suppose that you wanted to show what sort of things your factory was capable of? Well, I am impressed for one!"

Tyroth felt he had to curb his daughter's enthusiasm a little, though he also appreciated the design, "Of course, we should get some instruction on proper use of these. Like any weapon, they are dangerous if not properly utilized. Either way, I thank you for these gifts. Actually, the firearms remind me of this human gunner I knew a few hundred years ago, when guns were a fairly new invention. He used 'mage shots', basically bullets with elemental properties. Perhaps with a bit of work we can recreate that, though I am not sure who still remembers how to make those... but, I digress. You honour us with these lovely gifts. I hope that our hospitality had been up to your standards, Ambassador; it is the least we can do for you."

[Patrick OConner]

Throne Room
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Patrick smiles
"I under stand Tyroth. I assure you it is the highest qaulity drakon leather. A while back people used to use it as body armor even into the gunpowder age. Why I even have several jackets made from this and they are actaully certified to stop most pistol rounds. This stuff is tough and working with even more so. As for magical properties, I am sure that it can be enchanted."
Patrick turns to Tynah
"Of course these are better. These were built from the ground up for draconids and not rigged up at the last minute. They were desgined and built by the finest gunsmiths from my nation. Enchanting them will be...interesting. I am sure your people can figure out a way to do it. Oh and I will be happy to personally supervise training on these. I am an expert marksman and have a thing for revolvers. As for you and Lavain training we can get started as soon as we get some people up here to asssemble the gear. It had to be broken down for transport."

[Dyste]

Throne Room
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Sarisa picked up part of the leather and cast a spell on it, before breathing a light frosty breath on it. "Hmm... will need a bit of fine tuning, but I think they can enchanted just fine. Perhaps I shall send some to the Jarlsberg Institute to run some tests. Speaking of that... Rosa, I hear Axi-aru has been teaching you about the arcane arts? Have you only been going through theory, or has he gotten to get you to practice any? I know he can be on the slower side of teaching, but he is the best magical teacher in Dyste... at least, ever since I retired." Axi-aru was one of her own students, though her duties as queen eventually meant she had to give up her teaching position, instead mainly using her books as a way to educate young hopeful mages.

Lavian, who had been mostly quiet until now, spoke up with regards to the training, "That would be quite acceptable, Col- er, I mean ambassador. Speaking of which, I had been given reports on what the soldiers have been doing since they arrived. I would like to say they have all been exemplary... but it seems that some have been more rowdy than others. Granted, this is just hearsay, and none of them have committed any crimes, so it is fine for now. But we wished to know if there was anything we ought to do regarding that? They are not our own subjects,after all."

[Patrick OConner]

Throne Room
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Rosa shakes her head.
"I am still studying the theory of magic and I have not gotten to actually apply it yet but I am in no rush yet. Slow and steady is best in this extremely unfamiliar territory"

"Great Tynah and Lavain we an begin training as soon as we find somewhere to put the equipment- it is rather large by necessity- and assemble it. I m pretty confident that i can get some of my people up here to do it but I am sure that you can get some people here faster."
Patrick sighs upon hearing about the rowdy men
"Well as long no laws were broken on either side then we are good if you wish for them to settle down send me the reports and I will see that they sent to the proper men, assuming they don't know about it. It is probably the enlisted men,I will just get there commanding officers to sick there NCOs on them and I can garuntee no more issues"

[Dyste]

Throne Room
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

"You say you need something assembled?" Tyroth overheard the Colonel talking abut the equipment. "Say no more, I have just the people for you." He spoke a few words in a language Rosa only had heard a bit from her training, and some kobolds rushed in. Looking at the equipment, they nodded, and started to form the parts up (the throne room was rather large and the pathways wide by necessity due to the size of Draconids). In spite of never seeing these before, they were able to start working at a speed that was astounding to those who were not used to the little reptiles.

"Kobolds are not to be underestimated," Tyroth spoke the the O'Conners, "While they might not have our power or your adaptability, kobolds are quite dextrous and good at working in teams. They are quite group oriented, compared to us Draconids where even the most social of us tends to be quite individualistic. Every species has their strengths, and there will always be roles they can fulfill." The kobolds finished working on the equipment in a surprisingly fast time, to which the king offered them muzzle rubs for their hard work. "Granted, if you wish to double-check their work, be my guest, but not bad for ones that had never seen these before."

[Patrick OConner]

Throne Room
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

"Wow that is impressive." O'Conner wheels himself over and inspects it. The device is basicaly a mechanical bull but scaled up for a draconid and reinforced for there size and weight. It even had a saddle on it.
"Well they did a great job. Tynah and Lavain this is what you are going to learn to ride on. Since your little wargs will not be large enough to ride for sometime we will may do with the next bet thing. So shall we begin?"

[Dyste]

Throne Room
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Tynah was eager to get ready, "Yes, let us do this-"

"Tynah," her mother was quick to point out, "I would strongly recommend not doing this in the throne room, please? We have enough things to deal with here without two Royal Knights riding on fake wargs."

"Fair point," Lavian had to agree. "Come on, we can take these to one of the training rooms." Lavian held up one device seemingly effortlessly as Tynah did the same to the other, making it clear just how strong the species were.

The training room was in fact the same one that Lissah and Freeman had their little sparring match in. It happened to be a favourite of the Royal Knghts thanks to its close proximity to the throne room; were they needed to protect the royal family, it was only about a minute away, possibly shorter if they rushed. "So then," Lavian said after she set down the device, Tynah doing the same, "Now I think we should begin."

[Patrick OConner]

Training Room
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

With the gear now set up in the training room O'Conner instructs Tynah to mount the mechanical warg.
"Okay Goldy locks put you foot in the stirrup the dangly bit there and then swing you other leg over into the other stirrup...Yes like that. Now sit still and hold on.
Patrick turn on the machine and Tynah is immediately throw off and lands in a undignified heep on the floor.
"Now what did you do that for? I said hold on." Patrick says with a grin "Now lets try again this time grip with you thighs and dont tense up. Ride easy and move the beast."
Tynah remounts and they try again this time she manages to hold on
"Great now Twinkles get on. And don't fall off" Patrick says
With Tynah's example Lavain mounts and manages not to fall off the first time.
"Great now lets turn it up" Patrick increases the speed and bucking of the mechincal monstrocity until she does fall off.
"Aow Come on now. I figured a night would be able to ride. Again" Patrick says
For the next few hours the three go at it through many more falls until Tynah and Lavain are sore. Finally they stop.
"Well you two seem mildy competent now. Not great riders but good enough to generally stay in the saddle. Tomorrow we will up the difficulty even higher. But for now we are done."

[Dyste]

Training Room
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Tynah and Lavian didn't seem particularly worse for wear from the training, but perhaps it was harder to tell with Draconids; they didn't show bruises, and their species were incapable of sweating, after all. Regardless, they both seemed relieved to be done. "That machine has knocked me down more then my last year of training," the princess remarked.

Lavian had taken the time afterwards to find any minor injuries the two has sustained. "Well, I think you might be right, a knight should be able to ride a mount. It just is a little hard for us to find anything to ride into battle, until now." She helped to moved the machines to the corner, as to not have them in the way in case someone else wanted to use the training room. "Have you been taking it easy, Ambassador? Nasir has asked me to make sure you were not overexerting yourself. Like going to the Fire Drake Mountains," she shot a look Tynah's way.

Tynah pouted, "Come on, who told you that? I was not saying he should go right now, but I thought he might enjoy the view. And besides, I would be with him. But I guess you are right..." she didn't want to just keep O'Conner in the castle all this time, but she was hardly going to let him go against healer's orders.. when someone was watching, at least!

[Patrick OConner]

Dockyards
Statesboro
Timocratic Republic

Patrick leans forward with a wicked gleam in his eyes.
"Fire Drake Mountains you say? Sounds like-"
"Trouble"
Patrick head spins around and he sees his wife.
"Oh yeah ...I am supposed to be taking it easy.... and I have been. Maybe later." Like when someone is not looking
"I think we need to move on to firearms now. That will be fun for all of us."

[Dyste]

Training Room
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Tynah pouted, causing Lavian to roll her eyes. Knowing her, she'd probably whisk him away when they were alone together. All the more reason to stick around. "Ah, yes, firearms training. I think this room would also be acceptable for this," it was rather large, due potentially being used to train dozens of Draconid soldiers. "If there are any other concessions needed, they can be arranged."

Tynah seemed to get over her disappointed quite fast; say what one might about her, she was hard to keep down for very long. "Oooh, new weapon training! I felt like I needed to take a break from melee weapons anyways, and while I have been learning archery, learning more long-range combat will be handy!" Tynah never turned down the opportunity to try new weapons out. Unlike some Draconids, she embraced the changing times and was quite adaptive to new styles of combat.

[Patrick OConner]

Training Room
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Patrick looks around the room studying it.
"Yeah this will do. Sweety can you help me set up up stuff?" Patrick says
"Yes I can" Rosa responds
Rosa helps Patrick set up some targets and then he enlists Lavains aid in setting up some tables and such and then finally they brake out the fire arms.
The weapons are huge scaled for a normal sized Draconian but Patrick has one sized for humans.
"These are not the ones we made for your military these are based on an older desgin and are lever action meaning you have to work this lever" Patrick demonstrates by working the curved lever on his model that is mounted on the lower portion around the trigger " to chamber a fresh round from the magazine. Now before we get started there are some rules we need to go over."

For the next hour Patrick lectures them on firearm safety before moving on to the technical terms and then demonstrates proper trigger discpline and various firing position and how to reload.

"Now then pick up a couple and lets see you guys do it."

[Dyste]

Training Room
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

The two Draconids listened to O'Conner silently, making sure to absorb everything he said. When they went to load their own rifles, however,they seemed to have much more difficulty with it than he would've guessed. Lavian fumbled the gun at several points, try to get it into the correct position, while Tynah actually broke the lever off when she pulled with too much force. "For the love of Bahamut, what is wrong with these things?!"

Lavian sighed, taking the rifle from her, "It is not the firearm's fault, Tynah, we are the problem here." using a mending spell, she fixed the gun. "My apologies, Ambassador. Your teaching was perfect in most respects, but Draconids have two weaknesses when it comes to this sort of thing. For one, our own strength can backfire when handling something like this, as it did with Tynah. The other is, our dexterity is inferior to a human's, particularly in the hands. For instance... we cannot use pens or pencils. We devised a spell in order to be able to write, as our hands lack the dexterity to write normally, and either way most writing utensils would break in our hands." She sighed, "Perhaps firearms might be too difficult for us after all..."

"Nonsense!" Tynah said, holding the gun correctly this time. "It just takes a bit of practice, that is all! Do you think I gave up on the quintuple flail because it was too complex?!"

"No, you gave up on it because it was a horrifying monster of a weapon that injured-"

"Anyways," Tynah was quick to cut the paladin off, "I think I am getting the hang of this, but I suppose I must practice more. I would not want this to be a lucky fluke, after all!"

[Patrick OConner]

Training Room
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Patrick watches and takes notes.
"Hmmm good point we will need to modify the weapons so suit a draconids physical traits...should not be too hard. Tynah grab a spare and we can continue if you so wish. I need to contact some people and make some modifications and talk to some engineers. I thought we had this taken care of but I was wrong. Oh well time to improvise adapt and over come."
Patrick seams deep in thought as he makes plans for weapon modifications and is smiling happily about it.

[Dyste]

Training Room
Castle Dyste
Draconid Monarchy of Dyste

Tynah tried a bit more with the gun she had, but things didn't seem to go well. After a while longer, she set down the gun and looked at the time, "Oh, wow, where did the time go? I think it should be time for supper soon! Father requests that the two of you and the other senior members of the delegation join him in the Great Hall for a feast."

"Chances are His Majesty just wanted an excuse for a feast," Lavian remarked, but she was getting rather hungry as well. "I am not sure if you were aware, but His Majesty, so long as he is in the country at the time, spends every supper with the people, sometimes with a guest, or guests in this case, of honour. It would naturally be considered rude to refuse, and besides, the food at these is great. Surely you will be willing to attend, Ambassador?"