Lex was silent as he walked back into the shelter, Severance floating behind him leisurely.
Although he was aware of everypony looking at him as he rejoined them, he ignored their looks and whispers as best he could. Even Sonata warranted only a brief glance in her direction, which resulted in his making eye contact with her for just a second before she sharply looked away, making it clear that she was still upset about their fight. But even that did little more than cause Lex’s perpetual frown to deepen. After what Aria had told him, he couldn’t get worked up about such minor details.
Making his way back to the makeshift medical area that the doctors had set up, Lex glanced at the nearest one of them even as he telekinetically pushed Severance off into a corner. “Finish your treatment,” he ordered the other ponies curtly, moving back to lie down on the hastily-made examination area. He barely noticed as the doctors and nurses moved to obey, starting to wrap bandages around him and apply various topical disinfectants. Even the painful sensations of the shards of glass in his lower body being dug out were distant concerns.
According to what Aria had told him, they were up against a force of significant size and strength. While she didn’t know the total number of sahuagin, her estimate was that their community numbered over two hundred altogether. While Lex didn’t think that individual sahuagin were anything to be overly concerned about – a least so long as they weren’t exceptional specimens the way Lirtkra had been – Aria had indicated roughly a tenth of the population were divine spellcasters, with the strongest four being the so-called “Mighty Ones” who led the community.
That was bad enough, but they apparently had an auxiliary force of other undersea monsters, of which Monitor and Aria herself had been a part, and according to her each member of that retinue was a force to be reckoned with. Certainly, her descriptions of those creatures had been horrifying enough. Intelligent manta rays that were not only spellcasters, but vampires. Gigantic three-eyed tentacle-fish with psychic powers. Some sort of creature whose main feature was a single large eyeball, along with having crab-like pincers, a serrated maw, and two smaller eyestalks sprouting from the top of its body. And those were only a few of them.
But the worst had been the one that led them all, the so-called “Great Lord of the Deep.” Just the thought of that thing…
Resisting the urge to bite his lip at the enormity of the forces arrayed against them, no, against him, Lex’s train of thought was interrupted as one of the doctors, a light blue unicorn stallion in a lab coat, approached him. “Sir? My name is House Call. I need to ask you some questions before we go any further.” He flipped a page on his clipboard before he continued. “First, do you have any allergies or adverse drug reactions that we should be aware of?”
“No,” replied Lex curtly, barely giving the doctor a glance as he tried to resume thinking about what to do about the veritable army of monsters arrayed against him. But a moment later the implications of the doctor’s question occurred to him, and he looked at him directly. “You’re not to give me anything that has debilitating side effects.”
House Call’s brow furrowed as he processed that. “Sir…”
“Nothing that could inhibit cognitive function, impair reaction time, or cause drowsiness.”
“Wh-, that…” House Call struggled for a moment to process the outrageous instructions. “That would limit us to just basic painkillers and…a general antibiotic-”
“That will be sufficient.”
“Sir, please, be reasonable.” House Call frowned, exasperated with how his patient was acting. “This isn’t a ‘take two and call me in the morning’ situation. You’re severely injured and we’re working with minimal equipment already. If you won’t let us give you proper medical care, this won’t just be an issue of pain control. We need to give you stronger antimicrobial drugs to stop any possible infections, to say nothing of possible internal bleeding!”
This was House Call’s preferred way of dealing with difficult patients; outline the worst-case scenario, and let that impress upon them how serious things could be if they didn’t listen to their doctor’s advice. But in this case, his patient just shot him a glare, clearly unimpressed. “I’ve already used one of the Night Mare’s healing spells on myself, so I’m not worried about possible complications,” replied Lex flatly. House Call opened his mouth, but closed it a moment later. What could he say to that?
Lex continued. “Nor does ‘pain control’ concern me. What does concern me is if we’re attacked again and I’m unable to respond to the threat because I’m incapacitated due to your treatment.” Not that there was much that he could do at the moment if that happened. He was completely out of divine magic, was running low on dark magic, and what remained of his prepared spells weren’t suitable for combat.
“Then you should just use that floating scythe of yours.”
Lex glanced up as Nosey approached, frowning at her suggestion. Making use of Severance wasn’t a bad idea at all, but it was one he was wary of utilizing. That was because of what had happened barely fifteen minutes ago, when he had suggested exactly that when speaking to Aria. The words had barely left his mouth when Severance had informed him that, should he come to be dependent on it, it would abandon him. Lex had tried to press the living weapon for clarification – what exactly constituted “dependent” was hideously imprecise – but it had refused to issue any.
It had been a sobering reminder that while Severance might currently be serving him, he was not the weapon’s master. Rather, it was more like the weapon was an attaché or a liaison rather than a servitor, which meant that there was little Lex could do but grit his teeth at the vague warning and try to plan around it as best he could, because the alternative was completely unacceptable. Not only was Severance an extremely powerful weapon, but it was currently the only method he had of reliably replenishing his strongest magic. If it left now, Vanhoover’s future prospects would go from being grim to completely hopeless.
Ignorant of that, Nosey spoke up again as she saw the sour look on Lex’s face. “It can watch this place, just like you told it to before. And we can help. When those things attacked the ship last night, the ponies on board did a great job holding them off. Plus Sonata has really strong magic too. You don’t have to be the one to do everything.”
Lex opened his mouth, ready to tell Nosey in great detail exactly how she was wrong, but before he could another voice cut in. “She’s right. We can do more than sit in here all day and be protected, isn’t that right guys?” C. Shells looked around as she said that, and in response the members of her crew gave a cheer. Smiling, she looked back at Lex. “We might not be dragonslayers or wizards or whatever, but we knew this wasn’t going to be an easy assignment when we took it. If there’s anything we can do to help, then you should tell us.”
“In that case, we need to fix that door,” spoke up Aisle. Seeing several ponies look at him, he licked his lips before glancing at Lex. “You said you put wards on this place, and some of them were on the doors, right? Keeping them closed and covered with an illusion?” He didn’t wait for an answer before turning to face C. Shells. “If we repair the door, I’m guessing those wards would kick back in, and we’ll be a lot safer once they are.”
“Two doors,” added Sonata, heaving a sigh as she stood up. Giving Lex the briefest of looks, she turned to face the rest of the crowd. “I kinda had to blow a hole in the outer door to finish getting outside so I could go help this big jerk,” she waved a hoof in Lex’s direction. “So we’re totes gonna have to fix that one too.”
“Hold on,” Lex tried to interject, but that was as much as he could get out before Cloudbank piped up.
“I’ll help with that. I’ve been through that confusing fog that’s filling the place up, so I’m pretty sure I can help get everypony through it and back again without too much trouble.”
“I’ll go with you,” volunteered Cozy. “I still have some of Lashtada’s blessing left, just in case any of those things have gotten inside.”
“Don’t forget to set some traps after you’re done,” added Drafty. “Even if they just slow them down, they can still make a difference if worse comes to worst.”
“Alright everypony,” said C. Shells, projecting her voice as she looked around. “Let’s get to work! First, I want you to make two teams, one for the inner door and one for the outer door. We’ll start divvying up tools and repair materials so that the outer door group has to make as few trips as possible. We’ll also need some suggestions on traps,” she nodded towards Drafty, “just to be safe. Now hop to it!”
“Ooh!” yelled Sonata, smiling for the first time in a little while. “We can totes make a song out of this!” She trotted forward happily, starting to hum a tune that was quickly picked up by everypony else.
Almost everypony. For his part, Lex was frowning severely as the singing ponies started to get to work, and began to get up. But before he could, Nosey gently pushed him back down, giving him a warm look as she did so. “Don’t. Let them do this.”
“If any of the monsters from outside have gotten into the warehouse…” started Lex warningly.
“Like I said before, have your floating scythe do it,” she responded lightly.
He glowered at her, but knew that his reproach was verging on petulant, and instead glanced at where Severance was floating. As loathe as he was to admit it, Nosey was right; guarding the ponies in his care was something that Severance had done before, without any warnings about overreliance. In theory this should be no different, but Lex couldn’t help but hesitate for a moment, knowing what he stood to lose if he was wrong.
Nosey cocked her head, curious at his hesitation, and that was enough to galvanize him. He would NOT have a moment of weakness, especially in front of Nosey of all ponies! “Severance,” he called out sternly. “Go with the ponies heading for the outer door. Do not let anything harm them!” It immediately moved to obey, and Lex let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
Nosey, for her part, grinned. “You see? Everything’s going to be okay, so you don’t need to worry so much. Now will you let the doctors treat you the way they want?”
Lex didn’t answer her question, instead frowning at her for a long moment. It was enough to make her slightly self-conscious, and when he kept it up she eventually couldn’t help but ask. “…what?”
“You’re acting different,” said Lex plainly.
The statement was incongruous enough to make Nosey blink. “Huh?”
“You’re usually more annoying than this,” he elaborated. “Pestering ponies for interviews or demanding access to information. Not…this,” he waved a hoof at where the repairs were already getting underway.
Ignoring the comparative insult, Nosey looked down, slightly embarrassed at being called out. “Yeah, well…” She paused for a long moment, then admitted in a soft voice. “I had fun, before.”
“Hm?”
“Yesterday, when we were all cleaning out this warehouse. I had fun.”
Lex couldn’t keep the confusion off of his face. What did that have to do with anything?
Sensing that he didn’t understand, Nosey lifted her eyes as she explained. “I hadn’t done anything as part of a group in a while. I missed the last two Winter Wrap-Ups while I was out chasing stories, I didn’t go to my parent’s house for Hearth’s Warming Eve last year because I caught a cold, and I usually work on my birthday. That and, well…” She paused to adjust her glasses, fidgeting slightly before continuing. “A lot of ponies don’t want to hang out with a mare whose special talent is ferreting out their secrets and publishing them,” she admitted.
Lex was silent, trying to figure out what she was leading up to. For her part, Nosey looked away before continuing. “Cleaning this place out was really hard work. It was smelly and gross and awful, not to mention boring and strenuous. But even so…it was fun. I got to work with everypony, and even though it was difficult, we all helped each other out, and by the time it was finished, I really felt like we’d become a group, instead of just a bunch of ponies who happened to be traveling together. And that was because of you, since you made me participate.” She looked back at him then, that same warm smile back on her face.
“It feels nice, working with everypony else to be a part of something,” she continued. “That’s what everypony else is trying to do right now. They know that you’re trying your hardest for them, and they want to do the same for you.” She smiled wider as she came to the point. “That’s what being friends means. You get it now?”
For a long moment, Lex didn’t reply, his eyes shifting back and forth between Nosey’s earnest smile and everypony singing as they worked to repair the doors. Eventually, he licked his lips, and answered her honestly.
“No.”
Given such information about his enemies, even approximately, about teh best he can aim for is them to feed small groups and induviduals in at a rate then can be dealt with and recovered from, while looking incompetant enough that its not deliberate. Because as stated, he realises perfectly well that if their enemies decided to make an example of power by overkill, everyone there would if they were lucky, be so much fish food.
Ah, social graces. I feel for you, would-be ruler. An entertaining story and well worth the read so far.
That last line just made me laugh out loud
Given the information Aria gave Lex about the sahuagin and the other creatures residing in the waters around Vanhoover and followed by the segment with Block Party, I can only imagine what Lex and the others will be facing in the coming chapters. Since the shelter's location remains hidden from the sahuagin, I predict that the ship will probably be destroyed as a display of the Great Lord of the Deep's power, ensuring Lex and the ponies from Tall Tale are stranded Vanhoover with no way to retreat.
Severance's name now has a whole new meaning due to the condition that it would 'severe' ties with Lex should it be relied upon too much. I feel like the condition is part of Night Mare's...creed? Her followers likely must carry out their goals on their own power with little to no aid from others. That's what I believe at least.
Also, I liked the bit with Nosey and the peek into her background. Kind of reminds me of the short stories I read as a kid about characters that start at the beginning grumbling at the task before them but by the end, they grow as a result of said tasks. Nice touch.
8070125 Lex can only hope that they continue sending their forces out in small groups, hopefully in something that resembles a step-progression so that he won't be overwhelmed...but when has he ever been that fortunate?
8070329 Thanks! I'm really glad you like it!
8070803 Lex just couldn't understand what Nosey was trying to tell him, and is probably overthinking it in all the wrong ways. That last exchange was who he is to a "T."
Given that Lex now has a better understanding of just how overwhelming their opposition is, it brings into question exactly how he plans to face such a powerful force. He's good at coming up with plans, and has a high degree of power and versatility, but even those things can only be stretched so far. Luckily he's managed to hide everypony rather well, but as you noted, the big bad himself is about to come very close to their location...
Severance's warning to Lex was indeed a reflection of the Night Mare's religious tenets, but although she seems like an overbearing deity, there's actually a good bit of subtlety there. That's actually to be expected, as the Night Mare embodies virtues that seem, on their surface, to be self-contradictory. She is, after all, a goddess who champions not only conquest and tyranny, but also self-reliance and personal strength. How, in other words, are these values reconciled? The answer, at least to me, is that she expects only certain ponies to be able to live up to the values that she espouses, with the rest being the weaker ponies that simply lack the strength to follow her tenets, and life itself being the ultimate test of meritocratic determinism to ascertain which ponies are which.
The Night Mare, in other words, is a proponent of master-slave morality. That's an oversimplification, of course, and overlooks some of her other values, but does nicely summarize the core of her outlook on life. This is the reason why Lex (who embodies master morality very well) feels such an affinity for her, and vice versa.
All of that is to say that Severance's warning wasn't about Lex using the aid of others; rather, it was becoming dependent on them, because dependence is a manifestation of weakness, and weakness runs directly counter to what the Night Mare champions. You can accept help from others without being dependent on them, and I even snuck a snippet of the distinction between the two, from Lex's view, into the previous chapter, when he caustically rebukes Sonata for calling him a hypocrite for making use of the doctors but refusing Cozy's help: if others are already letting you control their destiny, then making use of them is not dependence.
And I'm really glad you liked the bit of insight into Nosey's character! I felt that needed to be highlighted more, because the warehouse cleaning was something of a watershed moment for her, and yet it was given only a brief overview when it happened, and so needed to be gone back over here. Although she hides it much better, Nosey is also something of a misfit, just like Lex and Sonata; she just copes with it in a different way (namely, through shamelessly self-absorbed self-promotion).
Oh boy, weren't those the one's with tongue-twister names? Ixitxachitlses? I think? The only thing I remember about their names was that they start sounding like "Exit"^^°
If this were 3.5, I'd have guessed that it might be Axihuatl, because he's the only popular one of these and it would make the "Great Lord of the Deep" a real force to be reckoned with, if you know what I mean. Then again... Demand wouldn't work, so that'd be out anyway (not to mention the eerie absence of sneks)...
Other than that... An eye of the deep, right? Weren't beholders one of the things that didn't make it over to Pathfinder?
Then again, maybe the eye of the deep just lost it's beholderkin status, I don't know much about it's PF counterpart :/
And finally, Aboleths! Though that does make me wonder who the "Great Lord of the Deep" could be, because Aboleths are pretty asocial (at least to other races) IIRC... Then again, maybe it's forced to work for them like Aria was.
8071347
I suspected that you'd be the one to identify them as being ixitxachitl (which I think is both singular and plural; personally, I've always pronounced it "iks-it-ZATCH-i-til").
As it stands, these particular creatures were never released for Pathfinder; they remain D&D-specific monsters. I'm using them here because, well, I've already used a kuo-toa - which was also D&D-specific - and they're cool monsters, so why not?
That and it would be rather awkward to have the Leviathan - an unreasoning creature of incarnate chaos, left over from the creation of the world, whom Axihuatl wants to semi-awaken (and thus try to control) - be in Equestria. Though demand could conceivably work against him (notwithstanding his lavender and green ioun stone absorbing it), since "vampiric" ixitxachitl doesn't mean that they're literally undead (at least as 3.5 determined things).
Correct again! Ironically, eyes of the deep do have Pathfinder stats, but by way of a third-party, as they were released under the OGL via the original Tome of Horrors for 3.5, and then updated to Pathfinder later in the Tome of Horrors Complete.
Aboleths, as commonly depicted, do have the same inherent megalomania and innate sense of racial superiority that characterizes a lot of the "evil mastermind races," such as beholders and illithids. But that doesn't mean that something more powerful can't force their obedience...
8071424
That's true. What I meant was that one can't use Demand against the Leviathan, because all Elder Evil's are immune against mind-affecting effects. The same thing also get's in the way of it being a Fjord Linnorm or a Nightwave (which was my original idea, because it's a big shark and sahuagin like sharks). However, the fact that the Great Lord of the Deep is being manipulated means that it could be a Julunggali. They are normally neutral, but if someone coaxes them into service maybe they'd become more evil?
Whatever the Great Lord of the Deep is, it sounds pretty powerful and is probably aquatic. It could be any aquatic critter. Maybe it's Tychilarius? I don't think there are too many natural enemies it'd have to worry about in Equestrian waters, given that it's got a pretty unique appearance and thus wouldn't be confused with most prey-creatures...
8071755 I suspect you'll find out what it is rather soon.
8066598 That makes me wonder: Lex is a fey-type creature, right? And they are popular in Everglow. Given how there were lots of hunter-type characters (Demon, Mortal, Illithid/Aberration, Daelkyr, Undead, the list goes on) back in the day...
Could there be a chance that he'll encounter a Feyhunter during his journey? Ponies were a big empire in Everglow and the Fey have a lot of spell-like abilities as opposed to other things (I think they even have so many that Thoth didn't bother to write a Shapechange-ability for them in Eclipse), which would make them useful as controlled support, as spell-like abilities are rather rare.
Point is: How likely would it be for someone to just have taken Channeling, ramp it up to maximum available Magitude and Intensity and then SPECIALIZE and CORRUPT these for increased effect (Turn and Command only/Only against Fey)? I mean, it wouldn't do anything against Lex (Adamant Will IS one of the best abilities in the book and he'd need to use about 21 turn attempts to affect Lex), but it would be funny to have someone who views ponies in a similar way Lex views humans?^^
(Or rather "humanoids"... Can't beat those with channeling that easily thanks to all the whacky subtype-differences)
8073666 Strictly speaking, Lex is a fey-type creature, not just in Everglow but everywhere, as a consequence of the original accident that sent him to Everglow (something that he doesn't yet realize). The reason I say "strictly speaking" is that David Silver's original stories that Lateral Movement is based on - A Dangerous Sparkle and The Apple Falls Far From the Tree - imply that, as part of the "alteration" that characters who move from Equestria to Everglow and back again experience, they change creature types (and some other details).
While I can understand why that was done, I tend to look askance on it, as I find that it opens up far more complications and potential problems than it solves. That and it's rather vague, since it implies that we're not going to be able to use what we know of the Pathfinder/d20 rules to adjudicate how things operate in Equestria, which can be a problem when a major premise is that Equestria is going to have to deal with various Pathfinder/d20 elements from now on. Again, I can understand the thinking behind that decision - that trying to run Equestria via the baseline Pathfinder rules is a very bad fit - but that's not really an issue that Eclipse has.
Which brings us to your second question...
The real issue with questions of "how likely is it to encounter X" come down to issues of presentation more than rules. 3.5 only had modest rules about the commonalities of certain Core PC and NPC classes in settlements, and Pathfinder managed to dial that back even further, which means that we can't rely on any sort of mechanics to come up with even the most basic aspects of calculating demographics. That leaves us with nothing but to eyeball a particular setting and try and make educated guesses that seem to be in line with what we can observe, and in this case that's Everglow...and that's where things start to become awkward.
I say that because Everglow is a world that's built according to the Pathfinder rules (along with what new rules it introduces), which means that it hews quite closely to the class-level system that is one of Pathfinder's central conceits. This means that, strictly speaking, the people living in Everglow aren't going to be built with Eclipse at all, but should instead be made with a combination of the new rules in Ponyfinder products, first-party Paizo Pathfinder products, and maybe a smattering of third-party materials sprinkled here and there (which would be where we could squeeze in Eclipse, if at all). If we want to try and hew as closely as we can to the underlying premises of the source material, then that's what the world would look like.
Moreover, that actually makes sense for Everglow in terms of its presentation. The underlying theme in the Ponyfinder books is that Everglow was a wildly chaotic world in its infancy, but is less so now; there are multiple references to how new pony breeds kept appearing with startling rapidity. In fact, one of the latest supplements says that deity known as The Unspoken was a pony who ascended to godhood after he realized that the mutations were speeding up, rather than slowing down, and that the accelerating chaos was a threat to ponykind, in response to which he essentially gathered it all into himself, becoming a deity even as it drove him (apparently) mad. Combine that with other tales of order defeating chaos, such as Queen Iliana's successfully forming the Pony Empire, and there's a fairly clear undercurrent of things becoming more standardized and rote as the world moves forward. In that regard, it makes sense that the world would move from highly individualized progressions to set classes...albeit classes that still allow for a lot of customization via feats, variable class abilities (e.g. rogue talents), archetypes, multiclassing, etc.
That doesn't mean that there won't necessarily be Eclipse-based individuals out there, of course (heck, I once made such a write-up for Queen Iliana herself), but I don't see them as being very common, at least not anymore.
Equestria might be a different story, but that doesn't seem likely either; it's far more stable than Everglow was, and the level of power is far lower. With standardized Everglow magic coming in (e.g. Twilight's arcanist spellcasting), it seems like any alterations will be class-level based, since Lex and Sonata aren't encouraging others to go experimenting and developing new abilities (though any adherents to the Night Mare that he encourages might be an exception, and along those same lines we might see something similar with Lashtada's new disciples...though I'll tell you right now that Cozy is a standard cleric). Of course, that works well for Lex and Sonata, as it gives them an advantage, since they don't fit into the standard conception of class-based abilities that most Everglow creatures are likely to have.
8073761 Ah, okay. So it's bascially a "no" because non-classed characters are rare, then?
8073869 More like a "very unlikely," but yeah.
Eh... I think I got some spells left.
I read "he ignored the looks and whispers as best he could."
Wasn't the doctor already there? I would think he would have some difficulty approaching a patient he is already beside.
You have not yet introduced this character, and are telling from Lex's POV. I would assume that Lex had been introduced when they all got on the boat, but the doctor would not have then be referred to as "a light blue stallion" when he 'approached' him.
"Lex replied flatly"
That has an apostrophe? Then that means that Warming Eve belongs to Hearth...
Now, Nosey has glasses? Also, is it weird that I imagine Nosey as Trixie? Same colouration and all that.
8285906
What matters is what those spells are.
I concur. Changed made.
Not exactly. Lex and House Call are both in the medical area, but House Call wasn't one of the doctors who immediately started to treat Lex (e.g. was wrapping him with bandages, digging out shards of glass, etc.). Since he was still in the general area, he could "approach" Lex, much the same way that someone in the same room can "approach" another person in it.
Actually, House Call was introduced in chapter 88. As for the issue of point-of-view, I have that move around within a given scene, using context to make it clear which character's perspective is being utilized. That said, I do take your point here in that House Call's name is being dropped before we start utilizing his point of view (that happens a few paragraphs later), so I've added a brief line where he introduces himself to Lex.
This is a stylistic choice, and I'm not sure that one is any better than the other, so I'm going to leave it alone.
The apostrophe is confirmed!
She does indeed wear glasses, but she doesn't look like Trixie. From chapter 17: