Having been granted rulership over the city of Vanhoover, and confessed their feelings for each other, Lex Legis and Sonata Dusk have started a new life together. But the challenges of rulership, and a relationship, are more than they bargained for.
“You’re completely full of it!”
Sandbar laughed along with everypony else at Scrubby’s heckling him, waiting for the mirth to die down before he continued. “No, I’m telling you! I was fighting off four of them all by myself at one point! Two of those fish-people, one of their big lobsters, and one of those little lobster-eel things. So there I was, just barely holding my own-”
“That part I remember,” interrupted Ocean Spray, triggering another round of laughter from the assembled ponies, more raucous than before.
“Keep it down, fellas,” admonished C. Shells gently. “Don’t forget that the doctors are still working on Lex and Thermal Draft.” Sandbar and the others looked properly chagrinned at that, and C. Shells couldn’t help but glance toward at the far end of the shelter, where several sheets blocked the view of their makeshift medical area.
They had come back inside after fighting off the monster army about two hours ago. The fact that they’d been able to do so was itself a minor miracle, since Lex had been slipping in and out of consciousness by then, barely managing to open the doors for them before passing out completely. At that point he and Drafty had been whisked away by several of the doctors, Sonata and Cloudbank following after them, while the rest of the ponies were left to recover from their ordeal.
A minor emergency had almost immediately struck, however, when the ponies that had been injured by that “aboleth” thing had begun to complain of severe discomfort less than fifteen minutes after coming back inside. Aria hadn’t known much about it, but a quick exam by some of the doctors had shown that they were suffering from severe dehydration despite having come in from the rain only a few a minutes prior. Utterly lost as to how to treat their condition, the only result anypony could come up with was to keep them moist while they tried to figure out what to do.
That had caused a mild panic, since Lex’s wards prevented them from going back outside where the rain and the harbor could have kept them from drying out. The situation had only been resolved when Cloudbank had come out to take up Severance and literally cut the doors apart, much to everypony’s chagrin; there would need to be another bout of repairs soon. Once that was done, the afflicted ponies had quickly rushed back out into the rain and almost immediately reported feeling better. Eventually, a few of the doctors – along with an assortment of other ponies, including Cozy and Aisle – had decided to stay out there with them, just to be safe.
Despite that, and the presumed severity of Lex and Drafty’s wounds, most everypony was in a state of giddy exhaustion. A few had flopped back down and fallen asleep, but most were gathering into groups and talking or playing games. Despite the apparent joviality in the air, C. Shells knew that they were trying to find ways to deal with the accumulated stress and fear of what they’d been through. Speaking of which…
“Ocean Spray,” she called, causing the ponies in her group to look at her as she stood up. “I need your help with something.”
“Hm?” A curious look on his face, Ocean Spray made his way over to her. “What is it, captain?”
Fully aware of the eyes on her, C. Shells had her response ready. “Our ship is a total loss, so we’re going to have to start coming up with plans to finance getting a new one.”
Ocean Spray blinked in confusion. He’d never once done anything with the ship’s finances; his special talent had always been to see to the rigging. “Well…I’m not sure how much I can help with that. And right now-”
“I just want to go over some options. Follow me.” She didn’t give him time to respond as she headed towards the door, intent on going out into the wider warehouse…where they’d have some semblance of privacy.
“Okay, but…OH!” Understanding blossomed on Ocean Spray’s face, followed instantly by a blush as he quickly trotted after her, grinning. The sound of the others giving knowing chuckles followed him as he left the shelter.
Just before he passed beyond the sound-dampening barrier of black mist, he heard a slightly petulant voice from inside. “She picked him? He doesn’t even have a cool scar!”
Cloudbank sat next to Sonata, silently waiting for the doctors to come out and tell them something about how Lex and Drafty were doing.
Unable to keep from fidgeting, Sonata glanced over at Cloudbank, who was staring into space without moving, Severance hovering several feet away from her. Except for when she’d gotten up to go cut open the doors so those ponies that had been drying out could go back outside, she hadn’t moved, let alone said anything, and the silence was driving Sonata crazy. Finally the urge became too great to bear, and she licked her lips, speaking up a moment later. “So, um, I’m totes sure that Lex is going to want to thank Drafty a lot when he wakes up. He’ll probably, like, give her a big medal or make a proclamation that today will be Drafty Day or something.”
Cloudbank made a sound that might have been a grunt of acknowledgment, or might have been her clearing her throat. Stewing in the non-response for a moment, Sonata glanced back towards the enclosed area where the doctors were seeing to each of their loved ones. “You know, this isn’t even really a big deal. Once Lex wakes up, he can just be all ‘here’s a healing spell’ and he and Drafty will be as good as new. Or even – you know what? – we can just have Cozy do it. I mean, it’ll be no big deal for Drafty, right? And if she does that to Lex before he wakes up then what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” She knew she was babbling, but she couldn’t help it. Anything was better than just sitting there and worrying!
She was going to keep talking, when the sheets partitioning off the end of the shelter parted and a familiar doctor – House Call, if she remembered right – exited, walking towards them. “I wanted to-”
“How are Lex and Drafty doing?!” Sonata shot to her hooves, almost bowling the doctor over as she rushed to him. Behind her, Cloudbank had stood up, and was silently fixing him with an intense look.
Letting out a slow breath, House Call tried to look as calm as he could manage. “Right now, both of them are in bad shape.”
“No…” Cloudbank’s voice was soft, her denial sounding more like a plea than a rejection of the bad news.
Sonata, on the other hoof, refused to let her worry overcome her. “How bad?”
“We don’t think that Thermal Draft’s injury is life-threatening, but we’re not working with a fully-equipped hospital here. Apparently the, er, healing spell she received undid a lot of the damage, but from what we can tell one of her lungs is still punctured. We’re making sure it doesn’t collapse, and that it doesn’t fill up with blood, but we think we’ll need to perform surgery to repair the laceration.” House Call didn’t mention the fact that he and his medical team were all in far from ideal shape to carry out such a procedure. That was simply the circumstances that they had to work with, and he felt absolutely confident that everypony would do their best.
Cloudbank’s reaction to the news was to put her face in her hooves, taking deep breaths in an apparent effort to keep from breaking into tears. Sonata gave her a worried look, but turned her attention back to the doctor. “What about Lex?”
House Call’s expression turned grim. “He was in bad shape before, and it’s worse now. The strain he placed himself under-”
“Excuse me, doctor.” Another pony, a mare in a nurse’s uniform, came out from behind the makeshift curtains. “The patient’s awake, and is asking for Miss Cloudbank.”
Hearing her name, Cloudbank’s head snapped up. “Drafty’s awake?!”
The nurse shook her head. “No. Mr. Legis. He wants to see you.”
Matching frowns of confusion appeared on both mares’ faces. “He wants to see her?!” gaped Sonata disbelievingly. She glanced back at Cloudbank to see if she had any idea why, but saw only the same mystified look that she knew she was wearing. After a moment, she shook it off. “Go.”
“Huh? No, I’m sure he meant to ask for you.” Cloudbank shook her head, an uncomfortable look on her face. “He’s probably confused after everything that happened, and-”
“No.” Sonata stomped a hoof, cutting Cloudbank off with a glare. “This is Lex we’re talking about. He never does anything without a plan. If he wants to see you, then there’s a good reason for it. So get going.”
For a moment, Cloudbank looked like she was going to argue, but the look on Sonata’s face convinced her otherwise. “Alright.” Hesitating for another moment, Cloudbank slowly walked towards the medical area, the nurse lifting aside the sheet to let her enter. Behind her, she could hear Sonata demanding that Dr. House Call finish what he’d been saying about Lex’s condition.
The medical area wasn’t that large, and Cloudbank spotted Lex immediately, slowly making her way over to him. Drafty was nearby, and Cloudbank slowed as she spotted her, starting to change direction. But then her eyes took in the tubes running to the bloody bandages around her chest, and the pony in a lab coat working a small pump in rhythmic motions that matched the rise and fall of Drafty’s chest, and she couldn’t bring herself to go any closer, her eyes filling with tears. Fighting down the urge to sob, she made her way over to Lex.
He wasn’t in much better shape, but as Cloudbank moved closer to him she saw that his eyes were open, and were locked onto her. Suddenly nervous for some reason, she gulped as she settled down next to him, momentarily feeling like she was a filly that had been called to the principal’s office out of nowhere. “Lex?” she called softly. “You wanted to see me?”
His lips moved, but he didn’t answer that Cloudbank could hear, and it took her a moment to realize that he was whispering. Lowering her head, she put her ear next to his mouth and listened closely.
Sonata had given up on trying not to fidget, shifting between positions for what had to be the thousandth time since Cloudbank had been called back. That had been a while ago – it had to have been at least an hour by now! – and she still wasn’t back yet. The tension and curiosity had been almost unbearable for Sonata, especially since there was nobody else right there to help take her mind off of it. What was Cloudbank doing back there?!
Her patience had just about reached the breaking point when all of a sudden there was a clamor behind the curtains. Voices were raised in surprise, and Sonata could hear rapid movement going on. It was more than she could take, and aware of how everyone else in the shelter had directed their attention towards the medical area, she rushed forward and yanked the sheets aside, looking inside to see-
Drafty, sitting up and stroking Cloudbank’s mane as the two of them embraced.
Confused by Drafty looking so much better than what House Call had told her, Sonata put that aside as she searched for Lex, finding him a moment later. He was also sitting up, looking at the pair with an expression that was almost a smile. The sight made Sonata’s heart leap, and she practically flew towards him. “Lex!”
He turned his attention towards her just as she tackled him, and he winced in pain as she threw her forelegs around him tightly. “Easy! I’m not fully healed!” he protested.
Sonata ignored him, continuing to squeeze him tightly for a few seconds until she was able to get herself under control. Easing up on her grip, she smiled as she looked at him. “You’re alright!” she exclaimed joyfully. “But how?”
“The Night Mare’s healing magic,” he replied simply. “A single spell wasn’t enough to completely repair my injuries, but it did help with the worst of them.” His eyes slid over to the two mares still holding each other close. Around them the doctors and nurses were clearly still struggling to deal with seeing healing magic up close. “Given that Thermal Draft’s wounds were comparatively less severe than my own, she should be out of danger as well.”
“Hang on. I thought you were all out of healing spells?” Sonata frowned, her brow furrowing.
“I am,” replied Lex. “But she prayed for some just now.”
“Huh? Who?”
Lex was still looking at the two mares – or rather, one mare in particular – as he answered.
“Cloudbank. The Night Mare’s new acolyte.”
Lex and Drafty pull through thanks to the Night Mare's new worshiper! Is this where her Equestrian church begins?
To note another milestone, this chapter marks Lateral Movement surpassing the word-count of David Silver's A Dangerous Sparkle, the story where Lex originally debuted (in chapter 100). Why not go back and re-read how the legend began?
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Lex and Cloudy can now play Toss the Scythe?
8184944 Nobody tosses an artifact weapon forged by a god!
Or dwarves!
8184950
If ever a scythe could smile.
Well, that's one way to induct a new acolyte and it helped to heal the worst of the injuries. While the price for becoming a worshiper of a goddess might be steep, I doubt Cloudbank cares since it helped her save Drafty who might become acolyte number 2 to be with Cloudbank.
Wonder what other abilities Cloudbank will have access to from her new position as an acolyte of the Night Mare. Well, beyond prayer magic that is.
Maybe she could ask Lex to teach her...then again, I recall that he doesn't know much about the Night Mare's teachings so I guess they're both on their own in that regard which is fitting, in a way. At least Lex will know what not to do with the 'accessory' on his leg.
So... she instantly learned cleric magic? Did she level up? I mean, I'd guess she would as she killed the kraken, but what enabled her to delay until she talked with Lex?
Also... is he her mentor now? Unique Training goes a long way, and 20 CP are enough for 10d6 specialized and corrupted Mana she could use with a choosen type of Rune Magic (Maybe Healing or Mentalism)?
8185093 The specifics of what being a worshiper of the Night Mare means have yet to be revealed. What'll be interesting to consider is whether or not Cloudbank will be expected to conduct her faith "professionally" as it were. That is, if she'll be expected to help promulgate the Night Mare's teachings, especially since Lex promised to make the goddess's church part of his state.
In game terms, someone who makes spreading a deity's influence part of their career is a cleric - though there are quite a few other divine spellcasting classes - but there's no guarantee that Cloudbank will follow that class exactly. After all, as you noted, Lex would be the one guiding her, and that's certainly not the class that he took.
8185278 Cloudbank did indeed level up. As for the delay, the metagame reason is that she hadn't spent her CPs yet. Once she bought divine spellcasting (the act of which was somewhat meta-contextual), she had to "spend 1 hour each day in quiet contemplation or supplication to regain her daily allotment of spells" (that link goes to the page for the cleric class, but that's not my suggesting that she took a level in that class. Rather, it's just the most convenient overview for what preparatory divine spellcasters need to do).
Remember how Sonata noted that she'd been waiting outside the medical area for what seemed like "at least an hour"? Guess who was learning how to properly petition her goddess for spells during that time?
As for Lex being her mentor, I don't think that quite meets the threshold for Unique Training...though it certainly would for her to advance using Eclipse rules rather than standard class levels.
8185913
Hmm... Well, I can see what you mean. Still... You DID mention, during your Celestia-build, that Twilight gained XP for Celestia being her mentor, and Lex is around that level of power too. Given that Unique Training can be achived by "simply spending 6 months disguised as a smith", I feel like "spending a lot of time training under a being that has as much power as those you used to consider gods" could make the cut.
8186035
That was with regards to the in-game justification for her taking the Mentor ability so that she could earn an XP bonus. She didn't have Unique Training giving her bonus CPs. Likewise, that "six months as a smith" quote is followed by the note that the GM is the arbiter of what qualifies as Unique Training, and I'm not convinced that this is at that level (at least so far).
8186078 That's fair. Personally, all I was hoping was that I didn't make a mechanical error^^
I'm all in favor for decisions like that as long as they aren't entirely insane (like that decision of a DM of mine that renders Create Artifact useless unless I actively screw other players over >.>).
What timing, just watched a video about fidgeting.
8189973 Were you able to sit still the entire time?
8190568 I cheated, reading as I was going to bed. Not sure if this came up, but for spontaneous, not instructed for years, divine action, you are better off going oracle as opposed to cleric. They can go 'pop!' overnight and be a level 1 oracle, but a level 1 cleric has more investment.
8190584
There are a few underlying issues here, which I suspect are points of philosophical disagreement between how you and I approach this particular issue. That's not a bad thing, of course; listening to different points of view is always interesting, so long as everyone can keep it from becoming acrimonious (which I think we can).
The first one is that - strictly speaking - Cloudbank isn't taking a cleric level, per se. I did reference that class's description on the PRD before, but that was for an easy explanation about the 1 hour of meditation/prayer required to acquire divine spells for preparatory divine spellcasters (which I noted there). I suppose I could have noted that section in the Magic chapter, but that seemed a bit complicated, if only because the "preparing divine spells" section basically said "it's just like arcane spells (see that section)" and so it felt weird to direct readers there.
With regards to her actual level progression, Cloudbank - like Lex (and Sonata, after I rewrote her stats) - is eschewing class-based progression in favor for the progression given in Eclipse: The Codex Persona. Hence, she spent the necessary Character Points to purchase one level of preparatory divine magic progression (and the associated caster level) - though I haven't said exactly which magic progression - and still has CPs that can be spent elsewhere (also unrevealed at this time). So per se she's not actually a cleric.
The second issue is that I see a technicality in the rules on starting ages. Specifically, those say how old your character should be when they take their first level in a particular class. Leaving aside that Cloudbank isn't taking a class per se, there's a subtle weakness of the language here: it just says that's the age you need to be to have your first level in that class - it doesn't say you need to have undergone any training up until that point.
Admittedly, the idea of "training for it" does seem intuitive. It's natural to look at that table and think "okay, if the base age for a 1st-level human is 15 years, and being a cleric adds +2d6 years onto that, that must mean that it takes 2d6 years to earn your first cleric level." However, that's a presumption. What's literally there is that humans can't become clerics before they're 15+2d6 years old. So if you have a 45-year old human who just decided to become a cleric, there's nothing that says he can't become one in a single year, or six months, or even two weeks, etc.
That might sound underhanded, but consider: it doesn't take any additional time for characters to earn additional levels, under the Pathfinder rules. You can gain everything from your 2nd level to your 20th level in a matter of weeks, at the fastest, which undercuts the idea that levels require years of time and training to acquire. Now, the natural answer to this is "well, that's true for your second levels and above, but that first level takes a lot longer. Getting your foot in the door is much harder than what comes after that." That's a good rebuttal, but we can also show that to not necessarily be the case. How? Multiclassing. You can take your 1st level in, say, fighter, and then over the course of a single adventure (which might last a few days, at most) earn enough XP to go to 2nd level...which you then take in cleric. That's completely rules-legal, and so undercuts the idea of mandatory training time (though I suppose if the GM takes your 1st-level human fighter's starting age, and then makes them roll 2d6 for how old they'd need to be to start as a cleric, they could try and disallow the multiclassing until the former number equals or exceeds the latter, but that's more pedantic than I've ever seen any GM be).
Third, I don't agree that a deity taking a sudden interest in you has to necessarily mean that you're going to be a spontaneous spellcaster. One of the themes I've had going for the last several chapters was that Cloudbank has been subtly acting in ways that showcase her worthiness of becoming an acolyte of the Night Mare. It started out with her bravery in protecting Drafty in chapters 69 and 70...but that's not enough, since Aisle was brave and protective also. In chapter 75, she began acting aggressively, challenging Lex about his competence; that wasn't exactly fair, but it showcased at least some desire to challenge those above her...which was actually borne of her frustration at being unable to do anything for Drafty herself. That frustration boiled over in chapter 76, where she channeled it into action, attacking a creature stronger than herself (Monitor) and managing to pull out a victory in doing so.
But what really pushed her over the top was in wielding Severance during the last battle. She put on a very good display when she fought the aboleth - enough for Severance to be convinced about her, and so use a portion of its true abilities when a piece of their ship was hurled at the docks. Beyond even that was her shaking off the aboleth's dominate monster power (that handy little clause about getting another saving throw if you do something completely against your nature, which in this case was her striking down Drafty). She needed a push to go attack Tlerekithres head-on, but she pulled herself together when got sucked into the tornado.
What sealed the deal was Cloudbank's angry rebuke when Severance refused to help her strike the last blow. Unlike before, she wasn't desperate nor raging impotently, but instead relying on herself to be able to do what needed to be done. That what when she earned the Night Mare's favor, which was why she sent that moonbeam to mark where to strike.
All of that led up to how, when Lex - who had previously told her about the Night Mare, and had an inkling of what was going on with Cloudbank in that regard - instructed her to pray to the Night Mare, she was worthy enough to receive spells in reply. Whereas Lex was given a small amount of magic, but also a curse in the form of his own personal tantabus living in his shadow (rather like an oracle, in fact ), Cloudbank actually prayed for magic, and was in high enough standing to be granted it. Hence why I had no problem making her a preparatory spellcaster.
Whew, that turned into a much longer reply than I expected! Hopefully though it makes my thinking clear on how I went about making the decisions that I did!
8190639 I am going to admit I kinda stopped once you said 'We're not playing by the rules you know.' That is really all I need to know.
Unless the argument is that being a trained cleric has no 'set' time, which is... not accurate. On the other hand, you can say 'Oh, but you can gain a level instantly, so...' which is a meta reason. If we made people wait to gain their levels, it would not add to the game, so they don't do it. It doesn't change the reality that learning how to do a new thing is not spontaneous. A gained level, in theory is the culmination of ALL THE EFFORT you put into learning things ahead of time. The pony in this case sure had no reason to learn how to be a cleric before they dinged. An adventurer is constantly learning and assimilating things, and instead of doing it casually, which would be a mountain of paperwork, over time we do it all at once. That's a level up. That's how level ups usually work, in character, in just about every system I know. So if someone literally got a reason to know something the day before, I, as the GM, might raise the mighty brow if they drop it into a trained class.
'I just learned about magic yesterday, so I'm putting my level in wizard!'
'Oh, you want to learn magic, great! You can do that, but let's go with a class that makes more sense. Here are some great arcane classes...' As a note, there are many to choose from that don't have the thematic dissonance of wizard to learn overnight.
8191138 Well, to be fair the fic is using the rules you know...mostly. It's just that some of the characters (so far) are using a few third-party supplements that I'm extremely fond of. You can still follow most of what's going on in strict Pathfinder terms (e.g. Tlerekithres was a kraken right out of the Bestiary, etc.).
I have to note, however, that you said that gaining a level of cleric has a "set" time. I'm nitpicking here, because "set" means "specific amount," and insofar as gaining class levels go, there isn't a specific amount of time required to gain any. The closest we have is the aforementioned starting age tables, and those really aren't much help. After all, if we use those, then it can take anywhere from 2 to 12 years for a human to gain a level of cleric, which is a very large swing when it comes to learning what are essentially the exact same abilities. Consider that it could take an elf up to 60 years, and we're looking at massive differences in time to earn the same class level between two individuals.
Now, your point of "this is a meta-mechanic that's intended to represent an ongoing process of learning by the character up until this point" is one that I agree with, though with the caveat that the game doesn't do the best job of actually representing that at the mechanical level (and there are other games that do better, such as AD&D 1st Edition, or even Tails of Equestria). The issue is just how long of a time that requires, and in that regard I think there's more reason to be flexible with regards to particular circumstances, especially where issues of the supernatural are being dealt with (all the more so when it involves a supernatural entity, like a god). In Cloudbank's case, it was certainly quick, but I believe that it made sense within the context of the story, and doesn't contradict anything in the rules.
To put it another way, what's going on with Cloudbank's new status is - insofar as the appropriateness of it under the game mechanics is concerned - firmly within the realm of "personal interpretation."
Well, that short I wrote over the past few chapters was fun, but all good things must come to an end.
Oh, and no typos.
And just out of curiousity, how long until I catch up now, assuming one chapter a day?
8378829 Assuming you read one chapter per day, and that I keep to my usual routine of one chapter every three days?
A little over a month.