All terms in this list:

excommunication: The act of excommunicating or ejecting; especially an ecclesiastical censure whereby the person against whom it is pronounced is, for the time, cast out of the communication of the church; exclusion from fellowship in things spiritual.

stench: metaphorically, a foul quality. (124)

gaunt: haggard, drawn, and emaciated. (125)

presently: In the near future; soon. Immediately, at once; soon. (121)

agape: Being in a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention; as with mouth hanging open.

conciliatory: willing to conciliate, or to make concessions

beguile: To deceive or delude (using guile). (129)

flounder: To make clumsy attempts to move or regain one's balance. (present participle) (129)

reprieve: To cancel or postpone the punishment of someone, especially an execution. (129)

retaliation: Violent response to an act of harm or perceived injustice. (129)

adamant: resistant to reason; determined; inflexible; unshakeable; unyielding (130)

cleave: To split or sever something or as if with a sharp instrument. (132)

disputation: The act of disputing; a reasoning or argumentation in opposition to something, or on opposite sides; controversy in words; verbal contest respecting the truth of some fact, opinion, proposition, or argument. (132)

tantalize: to bait (someone) by showing something desirable but leaving them unsatisfied