119 - Let's Free Them
Twilight and Lex made a hasty retreat from the cave, leaving little but a few confusing scents behind for the gem gnolls to worry about. They swiftly returned to their waiting friends. Twilight appeared first, pointing back at the cave with a wing, "They're using half the species of Everglow as slave labor in their dirty mine!"
Applejack raised a brow, "Huh. They're just like the diamond dogs ah was giving a right thrashing to back in Equestria."
Rainbow perked an ear, "When were you fighting diamond dogs? I wanna hear about that."
"Tweren't nothin', y'se--" Applejack's monologue was interrupted by a scowling Twilight.
"AJ, no time for that. We have a problem right here," she berated, "We'll all happily hear about your adventure after we finish with the one we're soaking in."
"We should find a way to draw them out in the open," interjected Lex. "If we try to fight them on their terms, they'll have a significant home advantage. Worse, the captives might be injured in the fighting." He turned to Sonata, "do you have magic that can lure them out here?"
Sonata smiled, "Besides shouting? I bet they'd come to check that out." She looked proud of her direct but elegant plan. "If you don't like that, I could totally tell the guards to get their friends and come over here, but I'd, like, need a good reason for them to tell their friends."
Lex paused, considering that for a moment,"You could tell them to come out here because you've captured a pony that you want to sell them." He gestured to the group. "One of us will go with you and act as bait, while the rest lie in wait to ambush them. A simple plan should suffice to defeat such simple creatures."
Sonata bobbed her head, "I can totally do that." She looked to the others.
Applejack snorted, looking uncertain, then Rainbow stepped up. "I'll do it. If they start looking at me funny, I can fly away, after kicking them in the face."
Sonata was given a rope, which she put around Rainbow's barrel, avoiding her wings, then led her towards the guards before the cave. She trotted like she was meant to be there. The guards raised their spears towards Sonata, "Where you going?"
Sonata locked eyes with the one that spoke, "I'm here to trade a slave, of course. You knew that."
"I knew that," repeated the guard before slapping the other one, "Slaver! Go get the gem counter."
Sonata shook her head, "I have more, but they're being totally silly. You should go get all your friends to help subdue them. I'll give a big discount for your help." Her lashes fluttered, but her subtle magics did most of the lifting, making her words seem so... reasonable.
The gem gnoll bobbed his head, "Discounts is good!" And off he went, rushing into the darkness. The other gnoll waited impatiently a moment before advancing on Rainbow, looking her over.
"Big, strong pony. She'll dig real good," he said in a complimenting tone.
Sonata raised a hoof, "Careful, she's a kicker."
Rainbow stomped on the ground to emphasize the point, peering at the gnoll balefully.
The gnoll snorted, "We'll break her in the first day." He crossed his arms, still holding his spear.
A group of six gnolls emerged from the cave. "Where are troubled slaves?" one of them asked, peering at Sonata.
Sonata pointed to the ambush point with an innocent smile, "Right that way. You're such gentlemen, I'll give you half-off for all your hard work."
Around a nearby bend, Lex's eyes were again glowing as he strengthened the shadows in the area, making the ponies around him difficult to see from a distance. "Here they come," he warned softly, moving to the back of the group. Hopefully the others would be able to handle this, saving him the trouble.
He was used to using a combination of minor-but-easily-replenished magical reserves that he had accumulated, along with Sombra's power and the small amount of divine magic that he'd somehow been granted, to avoid having to dip into his primary magic. But between healing and feeding the survivors of the wreck that morning, calling on his circlet to cast that rope trick spell, channeling his invisibility magic through his body, and having used Sombra's power earlier in the day and again now, his bag of tricks was rapidly depleting.
And if he had to start casting spells directly, it would be weeks before he could replenish them...
Twilight suffered no such particular limitations, and stood with a ready expression. Applejack and Spike lurked behind a large rock, also ready, while Soft Mane hung further back, just barely able to see the others at the edge of her restricted sight.
When the first two gnolls suddenly fell into a pit, the ambush was sprung. Spike leaped from cover, giving the remaining four an electric welcome just as Applejack charged past him. She narrowly ducked a thrusting spear before driving a hoof into the gnoll's belly, driving him to the ground under a jangle of jewelry.
Twilight reared up on her hind legs. "Feel the fury of harmony!" Rainbows cascaded around the gnolls and Applejack, drawing pained barks from the hyenas while leaving Applejack untouched. The gnolls had little chance.
Spike stepped up towards the pit, peeking over the side. His footing became slippery on the sloped surface and he started to float instead. "Ow..." He looked down at the gnolls that had fallen into the spike-laden hole. At least it appeared they went quickly.
Sonata and Rainbow were trotting back towards the group when a rough cry came from the caves. A dozen gnolls were belched out, with a larger gnoll with a mohawk seemingly leading them. The leader pointed at the group, "Get them! Clear-cut diamond for any-gnoll that brings a head."
One other gnoll began a quick spell, hurling a ball of fire that easily caught Sonata, Rainbow, Spike, and Applejack in the blast of intense heat, driving them back. It seemed the true battle had begun.
"Sonata!" Lex yelled her name without thinking about it, catching himself as he saw her picking herself up in the wake of the blast. Cursing at himself as much as their attackers, Lex directed his horn towards the onrushing horde. Waiting until they were close enough, but not so close that his companions would be caught in the effect, he adjusted his circlet again as he chanted a spell, expending the last of its power for the day. A spray of scintillating colors poured forth from his horn - though it lacked the power of Twilight's spell, he hoped it would at least slow them down.
Three of the crowd dazedly ceased their charge, staring off into space. Sonata abandoned the rope around Rainbow and dashed away from the fight with a yelp, her crisped flesh wanting no more abuse for the day. Spike and Applejack stayed the course, putting hoof and claws against jabbing spears and swinging axes. "Do it again!" shouted Soft.
"I can't!" replied Twilight, mentally lamenting that chariot spell she had cast earlier. She dashed out of cover to get Spike between herself and the gnolls and let Lightning thunder through him to the enemies behind.
"They have a wizard!" cried one of the gnolls, pointing a mace at Twilight, "Get her!"
Soft Mane dashed forward towards the battle, hands already glowing pink with a prepared healing touch.
Applejack grunted as an axe cut her shoulder open in a bleeding gash before she drove two hooves out with a lash, breaking the jaw of the gnoll who had yelled and sending him to the ground. Spike tried to stay at her side, getting his teeth around a spear as it came for him and driving his claws into the gem-studded gnoll that was holding it.
Lex intoned a single word, releasing the spell that had been contained entirely within the unuttered magical syllable, and suddenly eight ponies appeared around him. They were clearly unnatural, their bodies composed of a smoky, translucent substance, similar in appearance to extremely dirty glass. "Attack the gnolls!" he hissed, and the constructs immediately ran forward, mindlessly intent on carrying out their commands.
Twilight blinked at the sudden reinforcements, "What in Celestia's name are those?" Caring little for her surprise, they waded into the fray. They lashed with hooves and bashed against the gnolls with their bodies, creating a moment of reprieve for the besieged Applejack.
Soft arrived only moments later, slapping Applejack on the side and banishing some of the hurt in her. "Much obliged," she said as she tried to press the advantage. A small mote of fire rushed past her to explode behind their side of the line, heat washing over them. Soft got out a yelp as she fell to the ground and Applejack looked little better. Spike returned fire with electricity. He couldn't hope to reach the gnoll spellcaster, but several of the fighters fell before his fury.
"Yeaaaaaahhh!" came a shout. Descending from the sky came Rainbow Dash, landing on the gnoll that was hurling fireballs, crushing him with her full weight. She began pummeling him into the ground in a savage series of hoof punches and stomps. The larger gnoll with the mohawk advanced on her, battleaxe raised high. She abandoned her quarry to meet the leader, trading blows with the clearly experienced fighter.
As the wizard gnoll began to rise to his feet, Twilight let out a deceptively simply spell. Motes of power burst from her in all directions before five bolts of force homed in on the gnoll. He barely had time to throw up his hands before he was pummeled right back to the ground and didn't stand up again.
Lex sat back, watching for where he could make a further contribution. The astral ponies that he'd summoned were helping to turn the tide, but he knew they wouldn't last very long - he'd traded power in favor of summoning greater numbers, which meant that his constructs would rapidly fall under any kind of dedicated assault. Even if they didn't, the spell that had created them would last for a minute at most anyway.
Instead, he focused his gaze on the axe-wielding gnoll that was lashing out at Rainbow Dash. Lex's eyes glowed again as he focused Sombra's power on the creature, and a moment later it cried out as black crystals appeared over its face, obscuring his vision. Lex smirked, but his satisfaction was short-lived as the thing scratched them away, shaking off the blindness he'd inflicted on it.
Rainbow was confused, but only briefly, at her opponent's troubles. She lunged past him, driving a hoof into the back of his head and started to laugh at his plight, "What's the matter? Got a little something in your eye?"
Sonata turned around from where she fled, having avoided the second fireball in her courageous fleeing. She looked around for the most dangerous gnoll in sight. The ones in front of Applejack, Spike, and those odd ponies were being whittled away quickly, which left the mohawk gnoll. "Stop!" She ordered as she charged at the leader.
Blind and suddenly frozen, the leader could do little as Rainbow pushed him over and beat him with little remorse. By the time the rest of the party could advance to her, the leader was a mess of blunt trauma and broken bones.
Sonata pointed at the fallen Soft, "Do your healing thing, Lex!"
The battle was over, won by a narrow margin. Applejack slumped to the grass, breathing heavily, "Let's not do that again."
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And did anypony think to memorize Animate Dead? Because theres a free army of shock troops right there. You can even stick them in a bag of holding.
Flooding a dungeon with walking corpses in order to trigger all the traps and save chanting "I take 20 on searching for traps" is a perfectly valid strategy. And it makes the GM stop it with all the damn traps.
5760751 I'm not that bad with the traps, am I?
5760753
Well, it's just a sound tactic. And I have a Thing about traps.
Goddamn Tomb of Horrors.
Every form of power has its cost, and it seems that Lex pays a very steep one in terms of recovering his magic when he finally expends it. Is it just a consequence of his style of spellcasting, or is he dependent on Equestria?
That's one heck of a summoning spell he cast. If I had to guess, it was an empowered summon monster, but even that can't manage more than seven low-level creatures. Also, that is the creepiest version of blindness/deafness I've ever seen. Entirely appropriate for Sombra, but still creepy.
(I may not like the character, but it seems I can still be intrigued by the mysteries his crunch presents.)
In any case, a hard-fought victory. Let's hope that was all of them.
It probably wasn't all of them, was it?
5760821 Lex plays that particular weakness very close to the vest, since he knows that it could easily render him near-helpless for an extended period of time, and if others knew about it they'd be able to take great advantage of his enervated state.
The details regarding the summoning Lex cast is a reflection of the fact that he was built using variant rules, which include a few variant spells. Basically, he was using a magical version of the astral construct psionic power which had expanded options for summoning more creatures from a lower-level list, rather than being limited to "1d3 from the list one level lower, or 1d4+1 from the list two levels lower."
His using black crystals to attack somepony else's basic functions was straight out of Sombra's playbook, however; we saw the evil king use that same power on Shining Armor's horn to negate his spellcasting.
By the by, when you say that you don't like the character, do you mean personally (in a "love-to-hate him" sort of way)? Or do you not like his presence in the story overall?
5760885
He's certainly adding an interesting subplot to the story. I just don't like him as a person.
5760903 He's definitely not a likeable character; I'm just glad you don't think that he's detracting from the quality of the story.
Trick with the crystals, its allright to be smart with the evil tricks, but then the bad guys start using it as well.
Continous Light on eyeballs is a classic move.
That, and Dwarf Spirits. Combine them with a fire arrow, and its really impressive how far an orc goes.
Wasnt there something about natural and spell cast heightened senses, and concentrated peppermint oil?
extra period
When did they dig the pit? There was no time cut between when they made the plan and when they sprung the ambush. Did they build a whole pit trap with spikes and everything in the time it took Sonata to talk to the guards?
It seems Lex has tipped his hand (hoof?) in more ways that one. I bet he gets asked some awkward question in the next chapter.
5761485 Twilight knows a spell that makes a spiked pit. INSTANT TRAP!
5761485 I think the pit was a spiked pit spell.
I'm also not sure what you mean, specifically, when you mention that Lex revealed too much.
5760818 Pathfinder has rogue powers... one of them gives you an automatic find traps roll whenever you get within 10 feet of a trap. The Detect Traps spell does the same thing. With items and/or skill focus and the rogue's natural class bonus to finding traps, just taking 10 on your trapfinding will find almost everything. And you don't need any special ability to take 10 on finding traps while not in combat.
One of my GMs got fed up with the party ninja always finding every trap while scouting invisibly, and decided by GM fiat that the 'alarm' spell was no longer a trap, and was just utterly undetectable by any means, and used it to screw her over by enemies who listened for it and then pelted the area with a ridiculous barrage of AOE damage, most of which had no save or a fort save or something.
This really annoyed me because I'd been using 'alarm' to guard suspicious side passages and the like to avoid enemies sneaking up behind us for the entire campaign, and it had never gone off even once, even when enemies had obviously gone through that area. "Oh, they must have spotted it and disarmed it."
5761526 He used his evil Sombra powers when he was with the party. Only Sonata had seen him do that before, and she either didn't understand or didn't judge.
He also called out Sonata's name when she got hurt, revealing more about his feelings than he probably wanted to be public knowledge.
5761517 By the way, I approve of the new strategic approach. I like heroes that think.
5761726 Ah, both very good points!
5761677
Even with all the trap detection available, it still turns into a slog of "I check for traps" "I disarm the traps" "I check for traps". It's worse than the DMV. Hell, we once pissed off our GM so badly he stormed out by starting a poker game while he and the rogue were doing the "I check here for traps here and then here and then here" thing. They'd been at it for 30 minutes already while the rest of us sat around like lumps. And we had to do it because of Schroedinger's death traps. If we looked, then the traps would be simple. If we didn't, they'd be save or die.
It's why I advocate carrying a bag of holding full of skeletons if you've got a trap douche as a GM. Just send in the troops to trigger everything.
But really.. I hate traps. They waste valuable time and they are so BORING to deal with. Guardians, ambushes, curses, rolling boulders.. all fine. They give everyone something to do. But the usual garbage pit traps, darts and crap? Time to break out the DS and do something worth my attention.
5761807 The things I was mentioning are automatic -- you don't need to check, the GM is responsible for seeing if your take-10 trap detection is enough to detect his trap as soon as you get within 10 feet. So no time should be wasted on detection.
Disarming a trap requires a roll, and occasionally the rogue might screw up, or the trap might not be able to be disarmed conventionally. But yeah -- the 'I check for traps. I check for traps. I check for traps.' gets old really fast.
I prefer traps that are more complicated. Especially when some or all the parts of the trap are clearly visible but it's a puzzle to figure out how to take it apart without dooming yourself, and unless you know what you're trying to disarm you can't just roll.
The most recent spell cast at that point was Lex's (Prismatic Spray, maybe? The rainbow one that was said to be not as strong as the one Twilight used on the first group of gnolls), so without other narrative cues, it seems like Soft Mane was addressing him. Maybe Twilight was butting in to let them know that she couldn't cast it again on this second group, and Lex's weaker version was all they'd be getting just then, although it still seems like an odd exchange...
But aside from that, the only spell which the second group of gnolls had witnessed being cast against them was Lex's, right? For them to be conveniently oblivious to that display, and instead order everyone to go after the more powerful Twilight even though she hadn't revealed what she could do to that group, makes no sense. It reminds me too much of players (or a GM's NPCs) meta-gaming with out of character knowledge to gain an advantage. (Not to mention, it would be more amusing for them to be wrong about the biggest threat, and Lex's summoning of those constructs would make even more sense as a defensive measure.)
Furthermore, the fact that they were apparently trying to get to her didn't seem to have any effect on the remainder of the fight. She remained ungotten -- she didn't even have to retreat or defend herself -- and was able to fire off some magic missiles to help the others deal with the remaining targets at a distance, making their choice of "wizard target" not only confusing but completely irrelevant in the end. Given everything else written about the fight, I just think that part would hold together better if
the gnoll called out Lex as a target. Otherwise, for that decision to make sense, there needs to be some clear reason shown for that group to ignore him in favor of Twilight, and then the remainder of the fight should at least admit that in some way -- for example, noting that they're trying to move to attack her (or Lex, for that matter) but the others are intercepting them, blocking their path. (Which is effectively something they're doing either way, but tying it together with a good reason like that would help tie that in with the rest of the fight -- they're not just taking out the enemies, they're also keeping them at bay to protect their weaker friends.)
With all that said, I should add that I think you generally do a really good job writing fight scenes. Good pacing, not too drawn out or too short, not so many tiny details that it gets boring or hard to follow, and the action is clearly understandable and not too hard to visualize. I suppose that's why that one part stuck out like a sore thumb, er, hoof.
Other stuff:
That comma should be a period, since there's no 'speaking word'.
I think the dashes in the rest of that line would probably work better as commas. I don't think it's technically incorrect, but it sounds a bit awkward with the dashes.
looked
6464187 Fixes, fixes everywhere. Always kind of impressive how many people can come through and still find things.
6464258
Yeah, I know what you mean! I'm typically a very good proofreader by nature, but even I have been known to miss "obvious" errors occasionally -- especially in my own work.
6464187 Nice analysis, Tallinu! For what it's worth, Lex isn't nearly powerful enough (at this point in time) to use prismatic spray. The spell he cast there was actually a simple color spray.
6464258 bad guys get all the cool stuff, i know spike is a skydrgon but why is he not eving a little fire resistant. atleast 25 percent.
6474540 is lex yours, i just noticed because he looks kinda like what your pony looks like
7041738 Very perceptive! Lex is indeed my character (and this is his picture), and his scenes in this story (and it's sequel) were written by me! (So is the currently-incomplete sequel to this story's sequel.)