74 - Bitter Pill
Lex couldn’t keep the horror off his face as he looked at the creature barely a dozen feet in front of him.
It was a pony…or at least it used to be. Now its coat was tattered, revealing grey flesh that was itself sloughing off in large patches, showing shriveled muscles underneath. That same musculature was unnaturally thin and stretched tight over its frame, giving it an emaciated look. Most of its mane and tail were gone, though a few wispy patches still clung to its skull.
But as warped as its body was, its face was far worse. Its eyes were yellowed and bloodshot, sunken within their sockets. Its lips had pulled back, revealing a mess of sharpened fangs, and a swollen tongue flicked over them in a display of hunger.
The thing, the pony in front of him was quite clearly dead…and yet it was still standing, still moving in complete defiance of that fact. There was, Lex knew, a word for such a creature. As he stared at it in mute shock, that term floated to the front of his mind.
Undead.
“Five little ponies, lookin’ so sweet” sang the creature, the corners of its necrotic lips turning upwards in a smile that was horrible to see. “No more games, it’s time to eat!” With that, it darted forward, its grin exchanged for a snarl as it rushed at him, jaws opened wide.
Screams came from behind him, but Lex didn’t hear them. Nor did he hear the sounds of splintering as more of their makeshift barricades failed, admitting more of the undead monstrosities. All of a sudden he was back on Everglow, frightened and weak and struggling to understand what was happening as the bodies of what had once been good and decent ponies were corrupted and violated into hideous, unnatural things…
It was all your fault. And now it’s going to happen again.
The voiceless, spiteful words slid through his consciousness, instantly snapping Lex out of his flashback to find that the monster was right in front of him. He reared back, but it was too late as the thing tried to sink its fangs into his face. It was only because of his ever-present protection spells that its jaws didn’t find purchase, raking harmlessly just under his eye.
Lex rattled off a spell instinctively, sharply chanting the words and making the necessary gestures without even thinking about it. “GET AWAY FROM ME!” he screamed as the spell completed, jabbing a hoof against the thing. It wasn’t a sharp blow, and by itself would barely have been a tap. But as he made contact with the thing his spell discharged, releasing a massive amount of kinetic energy into the creature. It was instantly lifted off its hooves, its body bowing from the incredible force as it was launched into the air. The blow sent it crashing into the far wall of the store with a loud crunch, before it fell to the ground, unmoving.
The other creatures seemed not to care, continuing their advance as they entered the store. The sole exception was one of the things whose entry point put it right next to its downed comrade. Instantly, it turned towards it, and for a moment Lex thought that it was going to try and administer some sort of aid. But instead, the thing sank its teeth into its defeated companion, tearing free a chunk of cadaverous flesh with a loud moan of “Delicious!” The sight was enough to make his gorge rise, but a wail of pain from behind him made Lex spin about.
His moment of panic had left the others vulnerable.
Cloudbank had one of the creatures sinking its teeth into her wing, desperately trying to hold it back from Drafty, who was trying to hold off another one with her makeshift cane and failing miserably. A hoof that was more bone than anything else lashed out at her, catching her in the side and almost knocking her over. Cozy was momentarily free of attackers, being covered by everypony else, and was gripping her holy symbol and uttering a prayer to Lashtada, asking her to grant them courage, but if there was any effect Lex couldn’t detect it.
Aisle was the worst off, however. Two of the monsters had ganged up on him and had knocked him to the ground. Even as Lex realized whom he needed to help first, he saw one of the undead ponies strike the other stallion across the muzzle. Aisle reeled under the blow, but only for a moment. An instant later, his entire body locked up rigidly, limbs halting their flailing in mid-motion even as his mouth hung open in a silenced scream. Only his eyes could still move, looking between the monsters in absolute terror of what was about to happen as one of them lowered their fangs to his throat.
Just as it began to bite down, Lex finished his next spell. Instantly, three red beams of light shot out, one striking each of the monsters attacking Aisle, causing them to howl as they sizzled and fell to the ground, the stench of charred meat wafting up from their motionless bodies. A third lanced at the monster assaulting Cloudbank, but their struggling caused it to miss, striking the rear wall of the store and scorching it.
Lex immediately darted towards Aisle, standing over him protectively as he readied his next spell. Looking over at the mares showed that they were holding their own, albeit barely. As he watched, Drafty ducked under the swipe of a rotted hoof before bashing the undead pony across the face with her pipe, staggering it. Cloudbank had managed to free her wing, and had traded places with Cozy, who clumsily swiped at the thing with her knife, missing but buying herself some breathing room. Had they been alone, their situation would have been dire, but Lex could feel his alarm ebbing. So far each of his spells had been enough to defeat these things in one shot. He felt sure that he could put an end to this before they-
It was at that moment that three more of the monsters plunged into the room, replenishing the ones he’d just finished. Worse, the one that had been devouring its companion seemed to have finished its meal, licking its lips as it stood up and turned its attention back to them. Two of the new additions glanced at the charred remains of their fellows, and then lunged…but not towards the ponies.
Instead, one of the remaining creatures knocked over the candelabra, snuffing out the candlelight even as the other smashed the lantern that Aisle had put down when he’d tried to reinforce the shelves. Immediately, the room was plunged into darkness, and Lex heard the three mares cry out as they lost sight of their opponents. With his own darkvision still active, Lex could see that the creatures didn’t seem to have any such problems, and the last two of them immediately charged towards him, thinking they were about to get an easy meal.
Lex knew he only had enough time to cast one spell, and that if he didn’t use it to help Cozy, Drafty, and Cloudbank they would probably die horribly in the next few seconds. But if he didn’t use it to cover himself and Aisle, then the paralyzed stallion would almost certainly be targeted by one of the charging creatures, based on how eagerly they’d devoured one of their own. It was an impossible choice, and he had less than three seconds to decide what to do.
But that was all the time Lex needed.
When he’d set out to explore Vanhoover, Lex had made sure that his astral pony spell was one that he’d prepared, just in case he found himself in dire straits again. It wasn’t just one of his strongest spells, but also one of the most mutable, allowing for the specific parameters of the constructs it created to be varied with each casting. One of those parameters was whether or not to focus the gathered astral matter into a single powerful construct or multiple weaker ones. As the last syllable left his lips, the last gesture completed, Lex made use of the latter option…and instantly five astral ponies sprang into existence, startling the undead ponies as they suddenly found themselves outnumbered.
“Destroy those monsters!” yelled Lex, ignoring the burning pain in his chest; that spell was still stronger than he could cast normally, requiring that his body make up the excess amount. Heedless of their creator’s pain, the astral ponies – having appeared alongside the monsters that were currently besieging them – instantly obeyed. Needing no eyes to see, their hooves lashed out, bowling the undead ponies over and advancing on them mercilessly.
“What’s happening?!” screamed Cloudbank, hearing the sudden escalation of violence but unable to see what was causing it. “Drafty?! Where are you?!”
“I’m okay!” yelled the other pegasus. “I’m right here!” She tentatively reached out and managed to make contact with Cloudbank, who jumped and almost pulled away before she realized who was touching her. Meanwhile, Cozy did the sensible thing and gripped her holy symbol, chanting a short prayer that made it begin to glow. In a moment, it shed radiance as bright as Aisle’s lantern had, and the ponies looked around, gaping at what they saw.
The constructs were making short work of the undead ponies. Although their weakened nature meant that they were taking several blows from the hooves and teeth of the monsters, the constructs didn’t care, mechanically lashing out with their own hooves. As the ponies watched, one of the monsters had its skull crushed by a powerful buck from one of the astral constructs. Another took a blow to the chest, a wet snapping sound accompanying its ribs caving in.
“Fall back!” hissed one of the creatures, immediately turning and running for a broken window, diving through and disappearing into the night. The others made to follow their retreating comrade, and the astral ponies pursued them, intent on following their orders to the letter. In only a few seconds, Lex and the others were alone inside the store, the sudden silence eerie for how quickly it enveloped them.
“Wh…what just happened?” croaked Drafty, looking at Lex for answers.
He didn’t have a chance to answer before Cozy rushed to Aisle’s side. “Aisle! Oh no!” She immediately moved to confirm his condition, before letting out a sigh of relief. “He’s alive! Thank Lashtada!”
“Lashtada had nothing to do with it,” snarled Lex, more sharply than he meant to. Turning back to Drafty he addressed her earlier question. “I summoned reinforcements. But they won’t last for very long. We need to leave before those things mount another assault.” He turned his eyes back to Cozy. “Fix him,” he ordered curtly.
The last time he’d talked to her about her magic, it had been to call attention to her powerlessness. This time he was being sincere, but Cozy’s reaction was the same. Wincing, she couldn’t meet his gaze. “I can’t. I don’t have much magic left, and none of it can cure paralysis.”
“You do it,” said Cloudbank, looking at Lex. Her voice was tense and angry, as though daring him not to. “You said you were going to protect us, so you fix him. That’s the least you can do after you caused this.”
“Cloudy, stop it!” Drafty shot Lex a worried look, as though afraid of his reaction to the other pegasus’s words. “He just saved our lives!”
“From a trap that he led us into!” shot back Cloudbank. “You were the one who said that we should go around it, remember?! But no, Mr. Big Shot here couldn’t stand the thought of not having somepony else to show off to, and look at what almost happened!” She turned back to Lex, her features tightening into a look of controlled anger. “If Aisle doesn’t recover-”
As though he’d heard her say his name, Aisle suddenly groaned. Gasps of relief came from the other three as he started to move, and even Lex couldn’t help but let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Cozy helped the other stallion to his hooves, despite his shaky protests. “I’m okay, really. Whatever that…thing did to me, I can feel it wearing off.”
“Good, because we’re leaving,” announced Lex flatly. He could already hear Cloudbank starting to say something, but he cut her off, looking at Cozy. “How long will that light you conjured last?”
“Not long. About ten minutes.”
“That’s not long enough,” frowned Lex.
Cozy seemed to take that as a personal affront, and looked at Lex defiantly. “It might not be very long, but I can keep casting it over and over! If we hadn’t been worried about staying quiet up until now, I’d have been doing that since we left!”
“Fine, then there’s no reason to delay.” With that, Lex turned away from them and stalked towards the door. He could hear the others whispering behind him, probably Drafty and Cloudbank again, but he didn’t care. Let them say whatever they wanted about him, it didn’t matter. He refused to let it matter. Their petty indictments and accusations meant nothing to him. Less than nothing. He had been right to check this place, and wouldn’t be swayed by their pettiness or small-mindedness.
Continuing to silently reassure himself, Lex led the others back out into the darkness of Vanhoover.
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Undead are bad enough. Smart undead are really nasty.
A fast way to lose spells when going even short distances when decent brute force isnt available to seperate the undead from existance?
Lex definitely made things harder for himself but his choice, regardless of the outcome was correct as bringing back more survivors to safety was his goal in the first place. Of course, his standing with Cloudbank and Drafty seems to have worsened, which might affect what they'll do when they find the supposedly safe shelter under siege...well, provided the warehouse was discovered.
Admittedly, I'm a little disappointed by the reveal of the creatures' identities, not at you but at myself because I initially dismissed the possibility of zombies due to biased views of them being unintelligent(even though the signs indicating their identity was obvious in retrospect
). Though I wonder how they became undead in the first place. Because as far as I know, undead in D&D settings can only be created through necromancy or curse, unless there are different rules for this situation?
7946713 You've identified one of the main weaknesses in Lex's current situation; he's relying on a finite number of spells that are diminished every time he uses them. Whereas a martial character doesn't get weaker every time they attack, Lex can only go on the offense for so long until he's depleted. That's why having Severance was such a big boost to him (and not just because it let him renew his spells with regularity). As for now...he's going to have to manage it.
7947058 Okay, time to pull back the proverbial curtain on these creatures. I made sure to drop plenty of hints as to their identity in this chapter, but if you're not a D&D/Pathfinder gamer they might not have been obvious. To make it clearer, these creatures were ghouls.
The big giveaway there was their inflicting Aisle with paralysis, which is the signature ghoul power. That and their nature as ravenous devourers of the living (Pathfinder says that they prefer to eat corpses, but that they will eat living creatures if they need to), which is fairly archetypal for them in D&D. Remember Drafty's illness? The one that Lex cured? That was ghoul fever, which is spread via their bite.
That explains where they came from...mostly. A lot of D&D/Pathfinder undead are self-perpetuating, in that they can kill in a manner that makes their victims into one of them. That's part of what makes them so dangerous; they have the potential to act like a plague, spreading rapidly until they're everywhere. That doesn't answer the question as to how the first one in a given area came about, but as you noted there are other ways for that to happen.
As for Lex's relationship with Cloudbank...it's hard to say who's right and who's wrong. This is a point about whether or not you should put principle above or below practicality, and there's arguments both ways. Cloudbank is clearly very concerned for Drafty, and is upset that she was put at risk, especially since that turned out to be for nothing. Does that mean Lex was wrong? Well, he doesn't think so. But then, he never does. How this will shape up in the future is anypony's guess.
7947678 So the ghouls can create more ghouls through their bites...good thing Lex showed up when he did or else Drafty might have died and became one of them. That would have been a nasty way to die...though given the number of ghouls, many of Vanhoover's remaining populace most likely died that way. It's sad to imagine ponies desperately trying to help cure their loved ones of the strange illness only to lose them and subsequently have them return as a ghoul which turn on them.
Wonder how many survivors are actually left and if there are even enough to warrant retaking the city. Of course, with the sahuagin in the waters, Lex can't even take the survivors back to Tall Tale without risking the possibility the sahuagin might sink it before they get away so he and the others are essentially trapped in Vanhoover.
Typos to banish! They just keep coming back. Seems they know Necromancy too.
I don't think I even need to say anything.
If they are eating each other, they must all be starving. Not enough ponies to go around. This then leads to the conclusion that most of the ponies in Vanhoover have either been turned, or have left. Either way, it's not good. A way that the ghouls got there could be the same way an Everglow dragon, and the sahaugin, got there. It would seem that the elemental bleeds were not constrained to elementals only.
I am going to feel VERY bad about this after, but... You could say it was a gangbang!
Yep, I feel horrible.
Honestly, even Aurthur (my OC) would have trouble dealing with all this. Any one of them would be a challenge, but all of them together? You must have much faith in Lex if you are throwing this at him. Of course, having what seems to be insurmountable odds makes for a very interesting story, so keep going!
8083789
Well, so long as I have you anti-typo/necro editors, it should be okay.
D'oh! Fixed.
I can't say too much without giving away later chapters, but part of what's going on here is the nature of ghouls, which I see as being pack-ambush predators. As to why there are ghouls running around in the first place, part of it is that ghouls are contagious, spreading via ghoul fever, which they inflict via their bites. A lot of undead are self-perpetuating like that, which makes even one of them a significant danger to an unprepared locale.
I'm of the opinion that, while power fantasies where the protagonist stomps all over the opposition CAN be fun (though that's hard to do), it's more preferable to have the heroes be underdogs, who need to struggle against uphill odds in order to achieve victory. As such, the opposition needs to be more powerful and/or more numerous than the protagonist(s), so that they have to figure out how to win a fight that, by all rights, they should be losing.