100 - Trade-Offs
They were out of options.
The aboleth’s attack had proven that it could see through the illusory wall it had generated, which placed it in an advantageous tactical position. The ideal course of action, Lex knew, would have been to fight a defensive battle until the full spectrum of its powers was known, and then take the appropriate countermeasures. But that would have required time that they didn’t have, as more enemies were closing in on them every second.
The only viable alternative, then, was an offensive maneuver of overwhelming power. But their current forces weren’t capable of pulling off such a thing; even with enhancement magic and armaments, Lex knew that their current band was still just a rag-tag collection of noncombatants who were grossly out of their element. Fighting a brief defensive battle against a mob of pony-sized monsters with, from what he’d seen, no magic of their own was already pushing their limit. Defeating a gigantic monster with magical abilities and the intelligence to use them to greatest effect was completely beyond what they could hope to accomplish.
As though to confirm his evaluation, several ponies – apparently heartened by having seen Cozy heal their comrades – charged forward, giving rousing battle cries as they disappeared behind the illusory wall. But after a moment their brave shouts turned into pained screams, which abruptly cut off an instant later. The display was enough to break the morale of the ponies that made up what was left of the vanguard, who slowly backed away from the wall, fear written all over their faces.
For an instant, Lex could only stare in mute horror at what had most likely been the deaths of those courageous ponies. Deaths that you led them to, came the wordless accusation in his mind. Dimly, he heard Sonata falter in her singing, her voice losing its intensity, and through his shock he realized that unless something happened immediately, those ponies wouldn’t be the last ones to lose their lives.
There was only one chance left.
“Cloudbank, use Severance and kill that thing!” ordered Lex, looking behind him as he spoke. Although he couldn’t actually see either of them, he could make out an odd, blurry image a few feet back where the rain didn’t seem to be falling the right way, the result of the water hitting their invisible forms.
“What?” came Cloudbank’s disembodied voice, heavy with uncertainty. “But you said I shouldn’t attack until-”
“There’s no choice!” hissed Lex, internally cursing Severance. He was sure that if he told it to go and attack on its own, when he was too depleted to do so himself, he’d run afoul of its warning about becoming “dependent” on it, causing it to abandon him. The only remaining option had been to entrust it to another pony to use, for which Cloudbank had volunteered.
He’d been holding her in reserve with an invisibility spell, cast by Aria, for when they made it to the kraken, but that wasn’t an option anymore. “The others can’t beat that thing on their own, which means you-” His words were cut off as he heard several clatters from behind him, Aria’s gasp of alarm punctuating that a new disaster had just happened.
Turning his head, Lex saw that the remaining ponies at the head of their group had all lowered their weapons and were staring upward, mesmerized by a large patch of colorful lights that slowly shimmered and shifted in a steady pattern, clearly visible despite the pouring rain. Even Cozy had been affected, her jaw slack as she gazed upwards raptly, completely defenseless against the threat of the monster lurking behind the illusory wall.
Knowing that she and the others would be the aboleth’s next victims if they didn’t do something, Lex tore open his haversack, pulling out the remaining scroll that he’d taken from the dragon’s hoard. He heard Cloudbank and Aria ask what he was doing, but he ignored them both. It took only an instant to rattle off the contents of the scroll, activating its magic, and another second to toss it aside and lunge towards the watery blur that was Cloudbank. As his hoof made contact with her body Lex heard her give a yelp, knowing that it meant the spell contained within the scroll – a spell designed to let the recipient see through all illusions for a few minutes – had taken effect, and that to her eyes the wall that thing conjured had vanished.
But they didn’t have time for her to be surprised. “Go!” Lex roared. “Kill that thing right now OR WE’RE ALL DEAD!”
“R-right!” Not hesitating another moment, Cloudbank charged forward, brandishing Severance in her mouth. Knowing that nopony else could see her, she dodged and weaved around them as she ran forward, wishing that she could fly but knowing better than to try spreading her wings during such a fierce storm. Trying not to look at the unmoving forms of several other ponies between her and her goal, it took only a few seconds until that “aboleth,” as Aria had called it, was right in front of her.
Not slowing down, Cloudbank tightened her jaws around Severance’s handle. I’m only going to get one shot at this! Aria had told her that, while her spell of invisibility would last for several minutes before expiring on its own, it would immediately end if and when she attacked something else. Moreover, Aria had driven home that she didn’t have enough magic to cast that spell a second time. She needed to make this count!
Throwing herself forward, Cloudbank gave a loud yell as she swung Severance around, feeling it bite deep into the monster, causing it to give a loud, guttural cry of agony…but not of death. Glancing back, Cloudbank saw that her swing had caused Severance to slice right through one of the creature’s eyes and carved a deep gash in its head. But apparently that wasn’t a mortal wound, since its other two eyes were still open…and fixed squarely on her.
Sonata watched as Lex spoke and gestured at an empty space where, she was pretty sure, Cloudbank was. She wasn’t entirely sure what he was saying – although she was only a little over a dozen feet away from him, it was hard to hear anyone else due to the combination of the storm and her singing at the top of her lungs – but he seemed to be gesturing for her to go do something. A second later he pulled out a scroll, then tossed it away and touched what was probably Cloudbank.
Although she didn’t stop her upbeat tune for a moment, Sonata felt her brow wrinkle in confusion. What was he doing? Having Cloudbank go out now wasn’t the plan; she was supposed to wait until Lex was keeping that big squid-thing busy, and then go attack it. But then, the plan hadn’t called for them to be stopped by what looked like the world’s ugliest catfish either. So maybe he was doing something about that?
If he was…then maybe she should change what she was doing too? Lex had just told her to “keep singing, no matter what” before they’d gone out, but he hadn’t told her exactly what to sing, beyond something that would “bolster everypony out there.” She hadn’t really known what “bolster” meant, but it sounded kinda like “booster” or “buster,” so she’d chosen something to make everypony really brave and aggressive. But maybe it was time to change that up? Maybe something totes better for defending, rather than attacking?
Giving a mental shrug, Sonata decided to give it a go. The magic in her voice always took a little while to fade away, even when she switched to another song, so it wasn’t like everyone would lose all those combative feelings right away anyway. This way they’d be able to make the switch from attacking to defending super easy!
Pleased with herself, Sonata smoothly began to sing a song about staying tough and never being beaten.
Aria frowned as she heard Sonata quite literally change her tune, recognizing what she was doing immediately. She glanced at Lex, wondering if he’d caught the changeover, but he hadn’t moved from where he was leaning against her and gasping for breath, apparently drained from his exchange what Cloudface or whatever her name was. The sight worried Aria, not because she cared what happened to him, but because her life would be forfeit if this insane plan fell through.
As though he felt her eyes on him, Lex looked up at her, and she felt relieved to see that his gaze, at least, was still strong. Then he spoke, and she felt her relief fizzle.
“Move…forward…”
“Wh-, are you kidding?!”
“We need to…get everypony moving,” he panted.
“You heard what happened to those other ponies! If whatshername doesn’t kill that aboleth…”
“Then we’re…dead anyway. But if she… does then…no time…to lose.”
Aria glanced at the illusory wall, having heard the initial cry of pain that had doubtlessly been from the aboleth a few seconds previous. But Cloudface hadn’t come back, which meant that there was a chance that she’d already been taken out. Either way, Aria didn’t want to be the one to have to go find out how the battle had ended. “Great, so send somepony else to go check and report back.”
Lex shook his head. “It has to…be me.” He took a deep breath and held it for a moment, exhaling slowly. Although he still felt winded, it was enough to let him speak without having to pause for breath every few syllables. “If everypony sees me pass through that wall, that might be enough to galvanize them to follow me. Otherwise, we’re going to waste the chance that Cloudbank has provided us.”
“You mean if she’s not dead already,” muttered Aria, but she slowly started to shuffle forward, escorting him along.
As they moved forward, the ponies at the front looked at them in surprise, but Lex didn’t return their gazes. Instead, he kept his own eyes fixed firmly ahead of him, moving closer to the wall without showing the slightest bit of hesitation. Behind him, he could hear Sonata starting to follow him…and a moment later he heard the others start to do so as well.
And then he passed through the insubstantial barrier.
Cloudbank grunted as she threw herself to the side, dodging a third slime-covered tentacle in as many seconds.
After her first strike had failed, the aboleth had paused for a long moment as the two of them eyed each other. Nothing had happened, and Cloudbank had the distinct impression that it had tried to do something and failed, surprising it. That opening had allowed her to score a second deep wound on the creature, after which it had stuck to using its tentacles to try and flatten her.
That she’d managed to avoid that so far seemed like a minor miracle, as the aboleth was able to wield its natural weapons with terrifying speed, as though they were living whips. Luckily, she’d somehow been able to not only dodge them all, but strike back, opening up more gaping wounds on the thing. But so far none of them had proven decisive.
Skidding on her hooves, she barely registered something out of her periphery, approaching from back where Lex and the others had been. But she couldn’t afford to turn her head and confirm what it was; there was already a fourth tentacle sweeping in from the side, too low to duck under but high enough that it would catch her if she jumped…but not if she flew.
Leaping into the air, she saw the tentacle change the arc of its swing, angling upward to try and catch her across her belly. But at the last moment she spread her wings, letting the howling wind fill them and drag her upward, over the tentacle’s wild swing. Straining, she pulled her wing muscles with all of her might, struggling to close them again before she was blown any further away.
Miraculously, she succeeded, and started to fall…directly in front of the aboleth’s hideous face. Without thinking, Cloudbank extended Severance as she shot by the creature, letting its blade reach out as her momentum carried her past it. For a moment there was a sensation of resistance as Severance sank into its soft body, and then there was a wet tearing sound as it cut cleanly through it, sending Cloudbank tumbling to the ground. Rolling, she came up onto her hooves, ready to dodge its next attack…only to see that there wasn’t going to be one.
Her last strike had cut the creature’s head cleanly off.
Unable to shake the tension from her body as she struggled to process that the life-or-death battle she’d been in was over – and that she’d actually managed to win – she belatedly remembered the movement she’d seen out of her periphery. Turning around, she saw that Lex and Aria were approaching her, the latter with a shocked look on her face, and even Lex couldn’t hide a relieved expression, causing Cloudbank to grin as she felt a sudden rush of giddiness. She had won! She had fought that gigantic, disgusting monster all by herself and she had totally kicked its fishy butt!
Despite how much of her stamina that fight had eaten up, she couldn’t resist striking a pose, giving Lex a cocky smirk. “Now that’s how you kill some monsters, you know what I mean?”
“That was the easy part,” retorted Lex, his usual frown reasserting itself. “Now we have to actually put an end to all this.”
He pointed a hoof as she spoke, and Cloudbank glanced in that direction, seeing him indicating a pier dead ahead. There were no other monsters between them and it, and it took Cloudbank a moment to realize what that meant. But when she did, her grin grew wider.
They were almost there.
Tlerekithres narrowed his eyes as he watched the scythe-carrying pony suddenly appear from out of nowhere and engage his aboleth slave. More astonishingly, the little herd animal seemed to be holding its own, as difficult as that was to believe. Was that the ponies’ secret weapon?
Intrigued, Tlerekithres activated one of the magical sigils tattooed into its flesh, the runes – drawn with his own ink and imbued with spells long ago by some slaves that had since been killed – flashing a deep purple for a moment as they released their stored magic, allowing him to view nearby magical auras in intricate detail. His eyes now glowing blue, Tlerekithres looked at the scythe again, only to immediately squeeze them shut in pain from how brightly the weapon was shining.
When he opened them a few seconds later, Tlerekithres was no longer amused. That weapon was an artifact of staggering power, enough to make even a herd animal into a legitimate threat. And more than that…
Concentrating his vision on the ponies that were even now approaching him, he quickly found what he’d been expecting: there was a pony down there with a great deal of arcane magical prowess. Not the greatest he’d ever seen in his centuries of life, but still considerable. And it wasn’t the one wielding the artifact…which made sense. The spellcaster would doubtlessly engage him with magic, while the scythe-wielder attacked physically. It was a combination that he’d seen numerous times over the years. But he knew how to deal with that.
As the ponies approached, more of Tlerekithres’s tattoos began to glow.
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Yay for magic items :D
No typos dared to show themselves in the pitched battle.
8136897 This is something I've spoken of before, that major NPCs should have gear commensurate to what you'd expect movers-and-shakers from a comparatively magic-rich world to have. In a kraken's case, magic tattoos struck me as making a great deal of sense, largely inspired by Pathfinder's flavor text for their creature entry, which mentions "the markings on its body are strangely unsettling to look upon."
That and, as the story noted, they can supply the ink.
8137098 Yay!
That's rather amazing, considering how many times I rewrote this chapter; that's usually the easiest way for typos to slip in.
Does Pathfinder have rules for Escher Runes at all? either deliberate or accidental, or would they be classed under unwanted side effects of conflicting interacting spells?
If the kraken can tell the level of teh spell caster, why is it thinking he has a full rack of spells to deal with when Lex currently is only useful if someone fly him up and tried to choke the kraken with his body?
8138580
Sorry, but I don't know what "Escher Runes" are (unless they're a generic reference to Escher's paintings). I can usually decipher what you're talking about fairly well, but this time I'm stumped as to what you mean.
Tlerekithres is currently using greater arcane sight, which lets you look at a creature and "determine whether it has any spellcasting or spell-like abilities, whether these are arcane or divine (spell-like abilities register as arcane), and the strength of the most powerful spell or spell-like ability the creature currently has available for use."
In this case, he's detecting that Lex has some moderately powerful spells remaining, which he does; they're just not ones that are suitable for combat, as Lex himself has noted previously. For instance, his scrying spell, which he's prepared but for which the focus (i.e. the mirror) is currently broken.
8138761
My apologise. I meant to imply Escher Runes, as relative to the works of MC Escher, primarily that of Angels And Demons which would effectively be palindromic or self tiling runes, or there was a very intresting animation the other day which consisted of black and white crosses, but which rotated, so at one point you had white crosses rotating on a black background, and at another, black crosses rotating on a white background, for those runes that like to deform being temporal rotations. More advanced versions occur with the spacing of followers, layout of stones in the temple, or even the planting of trees in the forest surrounding, etc?
Pity Lex cant make use of Break or such at this time?
8137500
Magic tattoos have come up a lot recently for me. In the campaign my friends and I are playing now, we're exploiting the heck out of them, since my brother's character knows how to make the basic ones, and we know an NPC who can do really powerful ones (at a price, of course). I generally have my character, the party wizard, keep an emergency cure crit wounds spell on theirs.
However, still not a fan of Severance. It's got too many downsides to be worth it to me. The whole 'dependent' thing is too ill defined, which means it's likely to go poof just when you really need it, and that's besides its alignment changing properties, and the fact that it has more strings attached than a daedric artifact from Elder Scrolls.
8140219
Just out of curiosity, what rules are you using for those? While Pathfinder essentially treats them as a slight variation on wondrous items, I've always liked 3.5's psionic tattoos a little bit more, though that was mostly after they wrote a web article that massively expanded what they could do. Since it's always been fairly simple to translate 3.5 psionics to magic (and vice versa), it's pretty easy to use them with regards to arcane spellcasting.
This comment brought a smile to my face. The classic take on major artifacts was that they were supposed to cause as many (or even more) problems than they solved, and that being in possession of one was a mixed blessing at best. In Severance's case, the alignment change is arguably the least problematic effect, though I think of it as the most intrusive one. It's obvious that you can at least touch the thing without it warping your mind (remember, in The Apple Falls Far From the Tree, Rainbow Dash snatches it and tries to lock it away), but actually wielding it seems to cause you to shift towards Lawful Evil (hence why Lex specifically told it not to do that to Cloudbank...hopefully it'll listen). And of course, it's open-ended statement about abandoning Lex if he's "dependent" on it.
In other words, as powerful as it is, Severance isn't a cure-all for anyone's problems, nor should it be (at least from a narrative standpoint).
8140239
We use the standard pathfinder rules for magic tats, in that they basically form a secondary "layer" of one-use magic item slots.
Exactly. Give me a good ol' Staff of the Magi any day. As long as you keep track of its charges, it pretty much has no more downsides than a regular magic staff. And even if you do lose track and let if overload, you still have 50% odds of 'only' getting blasted to another plane of existence, which is probably only a minor inconvenience if you're at a level to posses a minor artifact, unless your REALLY lucked out on a treasure roll early on.
And here I thought Cloudbank had been elsewhere while the others were acting as decoys. Though in retrospect, I can see why Lex did it since the weather negates any advantage a flyer might have had in a chaotic battle. That and the fact that even with an invisibility spell, there was a chance a wayward projectile or an object flung around by the winds hit her and Lex wasn't taking chances this time.
Well, except for when he sent Cloudbank to take down the aboleth after he used what I assume to be a spell to protect her mind from the aboleth's psychic powers. Still, things seem to be going in their favor though with Tlerekithres' knowing about Severance's power will likely make him more cautious in the coming battle.
8167302 Remember, the other scroll that Lex found in the dragon's hoard was a scroll of true seeing - a spell to see through any and all illusions (including ones caused by mental manipulation). That's the spell that Lex used on Cloudbank before he sent her to kill the aboleth, since it would let her ignore the thing's illusions.
Of course, that meant that he had to send her out earlier than he wanted, since he was trying to keep her hidden as part of his plan. That meant keeping her close, since otherwise she'd be out there alone where there were a lot of monsters milling about, with wind too strong to fly in, and invisibility that was only partially hiding her due to all the rain. Keeping her right in the center was their best bet...but now he's had to show his hoof. Hopefully it won't throw things off too badly...
8137502
I didn't find any either. Now, back to the narrative.
The platoon of soldiers form up, and start to advance. The mages in the back prepare their spells, the archers knock arrows, and the defenders in front raise their shields, ready for anything.