168 - Pieces of the Puzzle
Her idea isn’t a bad one.
Lex Legis had never considered himself to be a pony that was unreceptive to new ideas. Quite the contrary, he prided himself on being willing to accept new information when it was presented to him and integrating it into what he already knew. Although there wasn’t anyone whom he’d ever accept as a teacher – that would require submitting himself to their instruction, and he submitted to NO ONE – he was willing to hear and consider any alternative points of view.
Unfortunately, what he’d discovered was that most alternative points of view simply weren’t worth his time to entertain. Again and again throughout his life, the opinions, beliefs, and ideas that he’d heard others spouting were shortsighted, foolish, or completely irrational, and it never failed to enrage him. He knew that he was intelligent – far more intelligent than almost anypony else he’d ever met – but he simply couldn’t bring himself to countenance the horrifying degree of idiocy that virtually everypony exhibited. Just because they weren’t as smart as he was didn’t mean they needed to be stupid, after all.
Still, every so often someone managed to offer an idea or make a suggestion that was worthwhile, and in this case it was Thermal Draft’s idea that she be the one to go to Las Pegasus in Sonata’s place. Given Sonata’s inscrutable refusal, somepony else would have to go anyway, he knew. He’d originally planned on talking Sonata out of whatever obstinacy had seized her – logic and reason would win out in the end, he was sure – but Thermal Draft hadn’t been wrong in pointing out that, while sending someone else would have decreased the overall chances of success, it also allowed him to retain Sonata’s talents here, effectively negating any opportunity cost wh-
“Sir?” A female voice came from beyond the tent flap, one he didn’t recognize. “Are you awake?”
Lex glanced in that direction. “What is it?”
A moment later an earth mare entered, her lab coat clearly denoting her as being one of the medical ponies he’d brought with him. The sight of her mane, with its alternating stripes of green, made Lex frown as he realized he’d seen her somewhere before. It took him a moment to remember that she had been the one that had been there after Pillowcase died, worrying about Cozy’s praying…which reminded him that he needed to find out if the crystal mare had followed his instructions about contributing to the general welfare of the camp.
The doctor, oblivious to Lex’s thoughts, spoke up. “I was told to inform you that we’ve finished the autopsy on Block Party.”
That commanded all of Lex’s attention, and he put the matter of Cozy aside for a moment. “And?”
The doctor shrugged. “The cause of death was asphyxiation. There was also some damage to the esophagus as well as abrasion marks around the neck, all of which were caused by the noose.” She shook her head sadly. “Other than that, he was a healthy adult stallion. There was no indication of disease, trauma, malnourishment, or even any injuries except for, um…a few scrapes on his fore-hooves.” She looked down as she said that last part, her voice lowering.
Lex’s brow furrowed at that. “Why were those there?” The doctor didn’t answer, instead giving him an unreadable look and shuffling in place slightly. “Why were there scrapes on his fore-hooves?” asked Lex again, his tone making it clear that her not answering was not an option.
The doctor swallowed. “Given their location and the lack of any scabbing, it looks like…like he’d been grabbing at the noose before he lost consciousness.” A shudder ran through her as she spoke, clearly unnerved by what she was saying.
Lex, however, was oblivious to her discomfort. “You’re suggesting that his death was murder, rather than suicide?”
“I…this isn’t really my field. I mean, I’ve worked with dead ponies before, but that was always when they’d been in an accident or a surgery wasn’t successful. Something like this…”
But Lex was pitiless, giving her a level look. “I need to know what happened to Block Party in order to ascertain what needs to be done as a result. Since I’m not a medical expert,” he’d always eschewed medical knowledge in favor of more conceptual disciplines, something he was beginning to regret now, “that means I require the services of one, and right now that’s you. Now tell me: are you of the opinion that Block Party was murdered?”
Biting her lip, the doctor folded her ears back uncomfortably, but shook her head. “I don’t think so. I mean, the injuries on his fore-hooves might be because he,” she paused for a moment, swallowing, “because he changed his mind at the last moment, and it was too late…” Letting out a shaky breath, she continued. “And besides that, there weren’t any other injures or marks or anything on him. Since I’d presume that there’d be a struggle if someone was trying to kill him, that would probably rule that out.”
Lex could think of any number of potential exceptions to the sweeping generality she’d just made, but that was beside the point. If there was no concrete evidence to suggest that someone else had killed him, then they were back to the question of why Block Party had taken his own life in the first place. Although Lex knew that he had no skill in understanding somepony else’s motivations, the idea that Block Party would suddenly succumb to a bout of guilt so intense as to induce suicide struck him as incredibly far-fetched, but everything he’d seen and been told so far seemed to validate what Nosey had said. And then there was the mystery of Block Party’s having that unknown necromantic aura around him, which…which…
I overlooked something.
Lex’s ruminations ground to a halt as he was momentarily overpowered by the absolute certainty of the thought. There was something that he’d neglected, a piece of information that he’d missed-, no, that he’d observed but had failed to properly consider. It was there, he felt sure of it, but somehow he hadn’t given it proper analysis, and now the realization was lurking just beyond the edge of his conscious thought, tantalizing him with whatever bit of knowledge he’d picked up but failed to properly comprehend.
“Um, sir?” The doctor, noticing that Lex had apparently spaced out, waved a hoof tentatively to get his attention. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” muttered Lex distractedly. “You can go.”
But the doctor didn’t move. “Um, I know I said this before, when I spoke to you regarding that poor crystal stallion, but we’re not properly equipped for preserving a body…” she trailed off.
Lex – for once able to pick up on what was being intimated – sighed, forcing himself to put the issue of whatever it was that he hadn’t realized aside for the moment. I don’t have the luxury of concentrating on only one problem at a time, he knew. “Bring his body to me. I’ll cast a preservation spell on it.” It was fortuitous that he’d put three castings of that spell into a gemstone previously. Although he could have simply prepared another instance of it – he hadn’t used Severance to replenish his thaumaturgical spellcasting today – at the moment the prospect of going through the hour-long process that was necessary to recharge just a little of his magic sounded exhaustingly difficult. “That should give us enough time to contact any family or friends he may have had here in camp.” It was basic etiquette to turn a corpse over to the deceased’s loved ones, whoever they were.
A relieved look crossed her face at that. “Okay. I’ll have somepony bring it over immediately.”
Lex snorted. It wasn’t like the issue of disposing of Block Party’s remains would be dealt with if he had any relatives here. Although Lex knew he could keep the body from decaying for an indefinite period with repeated castings of his preservation spell, that was hardly a long-term solution. Quite the contrary, it’s a harbinger of what’s to come, though I doubt anypony here has bothered to consider that, thought Lex disgustedly.
While Cozy would doubtlessly be taking Pillowcase’s body back to the Crystal Empire with her, Block Party’s body would need to be dealt with here, and it would be the first among many that would have to be inhumed. After all, every ghoul was a corpse that would need to be disposed of after being put down, and Lex felt certain that there were other cadavers – ones who had died for reasons other than the sickness spread by the ghouls, and so hadn’t risen again – quite possibly a great many of them, scattered throughout the city. All of them would need to be found, identified if possible, and then interred.
And the sheer number of bodies that they would likely need to deal with, some of them likely not completely intact and all of them having started to decay, meant that there’d almost certainly have to be at least one mass grave dug before the city was reclaimed. The thought was enough to make Lex’s stomach turn, the food he’d just eaten shifting uneasily. How many ponies lost their lives here? he wondered. How many didn’t survive the flooding, or the horrors that came after it?
“Um, before I go,” piped up the doctor, again intruding on his thoughts, “I wanted to tell you…that crystal mare, Cozy, came to the field hospital last night to help. She did a good job.”
Giving a grunt of acknowledgment, Lex waved a hoof at her dismissively. At least that was one thing that had gone the way it was supposed to. But in the meantime, he needed to focus on what else he could do to solve the bevy of problems involved with restoring this city’s prosperity. Unfortunately, at the moment that involved little besides recuperating…and trying to unravel the mystery of what it was that had made him feel like he’d missed something about Block Party’s death. Something about that mysterious aura he’d had around him, maybe?
Or was he focusing too much on that? Frowning, Lex activated his circlet; although its store of reserve energy for powering spells had been expended, it could still let him see into the magical spectrum, and he utilized that now as he looked at himself, looking at the overlapping auras from his own magical effects and items. Stronger auras could obscure weaker ones, he knew. Perhaps there’d been some lesser aura around Block Party that the necromantic one had masked? Maybe he’d caught a glimpse of something so faint that he hadn’t even noticed it at the time? If so, that wouldn’t help now, since any lingering aura would long since have faded into nothing, but perha-
“Is there anything else you need?” asked the doctor, half-turned towards the tent flap.
“No,” spat Lex, annoyed that she’d broken his train of thought again. His glanced at her in irritation…and then he did a double-take, his eyes widening as he looked at her again. “Wait! Stop!”
“Hm? What is it?” Halfway out of the tent, the mare turned as she heard Lex’s sudden command, almost falling over as she hurriedly reentered. “Is everything alright?” Lex wasn’t listening, however, instead staring at the magic aura surrounding her. It wasn’t very strong, but it was there, and the type of magic…
Lex grit his teeth so hard that his jaw hurt. “Get me Sonata.”
The doctor blinked. “What? Why?”
“Just get me Sonata. Right now.”
Sensing that something had set Lex off, the doctor turned and all but ran from the tent, leaving Lex seething. Enchantment magic, he snarled internally. She enchanted that mare! He had no idea why she’d done it, but it didn’t matter; that was a severe breach of that mare’s rights! I told her never to do that unless it was an emergency! After all of the grief she’d given him this morning about not respecting Nosey’s feelings, she had done something so unbelievably egregious! The hypocrisy of it was infuriating!
Forcing himself to swallow his mounting rage, Lex took slow and even breaths. He didn’t know for certain that Sonata had laid that enchantment. Auras didn’t have any sort of personalized signature, after all. Aria could have done it, or perhaps even Cloudbank…but Sonata, with her predilection for enchantment magic was the prime suspect. And if she had, and there hadn’t been a justifiable reason for it – and he felt certain that there couldn’t be; after all, if there’d been an emergency, she surely would have told him – then what she’d done was beyond unacceptable. It was criminal.
I’ll give her one chance to explain herself, he decided. But if she’s guilty I swear I won’t show her any leniency!
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This feels off to me for some reason.
Uh oh, Sonata's busted and I bet Aisle is going to try and take the blame for it since he knows Sonata is pretty much the only buffer between Lex and everyone else, including Cozy. I just hope that between the two of them, they'd be able to convince Lex not to do anything drastic though he won't be able to do anything for the time being due to his weakened state.
Block's autopsy seems to indicate that he was a living pony possessed by the same thing inside Nosey at the moment though if that is the case, then why did they need to dispose of Block Party? He could have continued to cause problems for Lex by using Spit and the other lieutenants though that's evidently not the intended goal since he was disposed of.
8547639
Whoops! Fixed now.
Sonata does look like she's in hot water, doesn't she? One can hope that cooler heads will prevail, given that Lex seems to be enraged; of course, the fact that he and Sonata have been fighting all morning doesn't help. Don't forget, although he's been weakened he is far from helpless at the moment; he still has his dark magic and probably some of his "normal" spells at the ready. But hopefully whatever happens next won't require any of them. Hopefully...
As for Block Part's autopsy...well, we're slowly getting the mystery pulled back, but there's still quite a few questions that need answering! Hopefully the resolution, when it's eventually revealed, will be to everyone's enjoyment and satisfaction!
Is Lex going to let his first thought rule all with the feelings he hatesto have corrupting his thinking, or is he going to realise that once again he failed, when Nosey comes in to try break his mental defenses with remorse as Lex is dealing with Block Party? Or will that be the turning point where Lex starts to try and fight?
8547544
i have a vary good idea as to what is going on with nosey. but i am willing to admit when i am wrong, time will tell.
8548091 Indeed.
a good chapter with lots of clues.
8548014 This strikes me as one of those cases where there's failure to go around, insofar as Lex and Sonata's current fight is concerned.
8548283 Thanks!
8548091 I'm still not sure, if only because between various undead, outsiders, and aberrations, there are still too many beings in Pathfinder who could have done this to narrow it down yet for me. I am now convinced it was a possession, and poor Block Party was released only once the noose was around his neck, so the being doing it could watch him die.
Oh boy, Sonata is in trouble. I think I've spotted the pattern in Kara's advice: she tells someone how to achieve their goals in the short term, usually the love of someone else, but in such a way that it causes more problems down the line, so the petitioner needs to keep coming to Kara for advice to hold on to their lover or whatever. Very sneaky.
8547639
You're assuming that Block Party willingly allowed himself to be possessed. Most likely BP was killed to keep him from warning anyone about the creature.
8549414 Little by little, clues are revealed and the answer becomes more and more clear. At what point will the final curtain be drawn back, though?
As for Kara, you've pretty much got her modus operandi down pat. She's essentially offering herself as a problem-solver, which is a good thing since there just so happens to always be another problem that needs solving. Isn't it a good thing you've got her watching your back?
Again, nothing obvious.
8709361 Excellent.