Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

83 - The Limit of Relentlessness

A coruscating ray from the Cripple flew by Lex’s head, just barely missing him as he spun in place to dodge Monitor’s kick. There was no time to launch a return attack, however, as Lirtkra was diving at him, claws bared and howling with rage. Gripping the trident in his mouth, Lex gave ground, parrying the rain of slashes and answering with two of his own, stabbing the trident deep into the sahuagin’s lower claw before tearing it out and trying to do the same thing to Lirtkra’s face, but missing.

The sahuagin was bleeding from over a half-dozen such injuries, but they seemed to be having little effect on the four-armed creature. In fact, the only noticeable reaction he was having to the accumulated wounds Lex had inflicted on him was to become even angrier, howling and cursing as he fought on. In contrast, Monitor was fighting much more defensively, darting in for quick strikes – often while Lex was busy with Lirtkra – and then retreating before he could turn his full attention to the pudgy thing. All the while, the Cripple kept peppering him with spells from afar, never getting close enough to make itself a target. Most of its attacks weren’t anything Lex couldn’t handle, but there were a few that had been painful to wade through, and they were beginning to take a toll on him.

By Lex’s rough estimation, approximately thirty seconds had passed since he’d used that scroll, and the fact that he hadn’t put even one of his enemies down had eroded the bravado he’d felt so recently. Although he felt reasonably sure that none of his foes knew that he was operating under a time limit – only a dedicated spellcaster should have been able to determine that, and the Cripple hadn’t said anything to its comrades about trying to draw the fight out – they were nevertheless making use of a strategy that capitalized on exactly that.

Again Lirtkra lunged for him, and this time his claws found purchase, opening up a gash on the side of Lex’s neck. But before the sahuagin could try and find enough purchase to tear his throat out, Lex thrust upward, spearing the sahuagin’s arm just under the shoulder, preventing him from moving in further. But it was a small victory, as Lirtkra instead focused on the weapon itself, grabbing the shaft and stepping backward, trying to wrench it from Lex’s grasp. Lex immediately dug his hooves in, but a second later a wooden chair, thrown by Monitor, smashed into him from the side.

The attack had little effect on Lex in his current state – between his defensive enchantments, his magic items, and the body-strengthening effect of that scroll, the chair felt like it was made out of paper – but it distracted him long enough for Lirtkra to give another sharp tug, pulling the trident away. Cursing, Lex turned to grab the rope trailing from the weapon in hopes of renewing the impromptu tug-of-war before it was too late, but at that moment the Cripple hissed another spell. Instantly, the ground under Lex became covered in a layer of slippery grease, causing him to stumble as he tried to keep his balance.

That gave Lirtkra all the time he needed to rip the trident out of his shoulder, apparently uncaring of the blood that immediately began to pour from the wound. Snarling, he moved around the now-greased patch of the floor – right through, Lex noted bitterly, where his acid pit spell had been before it had expired several seconds ago – and launched another attack.

With no weapon except his hooves, Lex was forced to fall back under the assault, moving onto solid ground as he parried the trident with his horn. He didn’t have a chance to even attempt to launch a counterattack before Monitor was suddenly there, aiming a punch at his face. Lex ducked under it, and answered with a punch of his own, but the fish-creature’s body was surprisingly solid, and he doubted that the blow had inflicted much damage. Still, it was enough to cause the thing to back off, buying him a small amount of breathing room. Or so it seemed, but a moment later a black ray lanced down from above to strike him directly on his back. Immediately, Lex felt fatigue coursing through him. It wasn’t enough to completely exhaust him, but already he could feel his breath coming heavier, his muscles starting to feel the strain of extended use, even with the scroll’s magic enhancing them.

Moving away from his enemies, Lex realized that unless he changed tactics, he was going to lose.

The magic of that scroll was going to wear off in less than thirty seconds, and he had yet to bring even a single one of his foes down. He had wounded Lirtkra badly, and Monitor somewhat, but not enough to incapacitate either of them, let alone defeat them. Worse, he no longer had a weapon to fight with, and although he’d regain his ability to use magic once the scroll wore off, Lex had serious doubts that he’d be in any condition to do so. He’d already been hurt badly when he’d used it, after all, and he’d taken several more hits since.

Retreat was the only option left, but at the same time Lex knew that it was no option at all. Even if such a thing had been palatable, there was no reason to believe that the Cripple couldn’t continue tracking him. And even if it couldn’t, they knew where the other ponies were residing, and Lex had no doubt that the defensive spells he’d laid on the place would fail to stand up to any sort of dedicated assault. No, the only acceptable option was to find a way to turn this around...without his magic, without a weapon, and in the next thirty seconds.

The reality of the situation was obvious to more than just Lex, however. Lirtkra sneered as he advanced on the retreating pony, baring his fangs in anticipation of what was to come. “What now, poh-nee? More itkul to help you? Another maa-jik power? How will you survive this time?” Behind him, Monitor and the Cripple hung back, remembering what Lirtkra had said about what would happen if they got in the way of his kill.

Gritting his teeth, Lex continued backing up, until he felt himself hit the wall. Except it wasn’t the wall, he realized as he glanced behind him quickly. It was the bar, the one that Monitor had kicked him through barely a minute ago. The gaping hole that his body had made was still there, the ends of the wood dripping with his blood and the contents of broken bottles.

Broken bottles…

The plan came together in Lex’s mind instantly, and he moved back through the hole he’d made so that he was behind the bar again, speaking even as he fell back. “By killing you,” he shot back, filling his voice with disdain. “It should be easy considering what a pathetic weakling you are.” He saw Lirtkra growl at him, and knew he’d need to lay it on thicker for this to work. “You’ve failed to finish me off how many times now? And you’re the best that your tribe can put forward? No wonder I was able to butcher the rest of your kind so easily!” Even as he kept speaking, Lex surreptitiously glanced around, looking for something, anything, that would make this work…there!

“Poh-nee! I will eat you while you’re still alive!” roared Lirtkra, Lex’s goading having worked. Without hestitation, the sahuagin charged at Lex’s position, hopping the bar and landing directly in front of Lex in the narrow space behind it. Instantly, he stabbed forward, but Lex had been anticipating exactly that move. Crouching beneath the wild strike and then springing upward, he knocked the blow aside…directly into the wooden rack holding the bottles that were kept behind the bar, quite a few of which were still there.

Lirtkra’s lower arms shot out, raking their claws over Lex’s face painfully even as he yanked on the trident, trying to retrieve the weapon from where it had sunk into the rack. But the barbed points of the trident refused to let go so easily, and it was with a frustrated grunt that Lirtkra yanked harder, failing to withdraw his weapon but succeeding in ripping the rack off its supports and fall forward, dumping its bottles onto both of them. For a moment the air was filled with the sound of shattering glass, the pungent smell of fermented drinks immediately filling the air.

Even as that happened, Lex flung himself to the ground, ignoring the shards of glass cutting into his body as he reached for the metal serving tray he’d spotted before. He’d no sooner gotten it in his hooves than he heard Lirtkra snarl, and looked up in time to see the sahuagin toss the wooden rack away with his upper pair of arms, even as his lower pair – now holding his trident – stabbed down at his prone position. Bringing the serving tray up, Lex grit his teeth as he interposed it between himself and the descending trident, even as he calculated the angle most conducive to increasing the friction between the two objects. The trident collided with the tray a fraction of a second later, and instantly the tortured scream of metal on metal rang out, producing a shower of sparks. Both Lirtkra and Lex stared at the sight, the former unfamiliar with what was happening, while the latter silently hoped that the ponies of Vanhoover enjoyed drinks that were a lot stronger than cider…

His hopes were answered a moment later as the sparks hit the spilled contents of the bottles, starting a blaze that instantly spread over both of them, setting them on fire.

Lirtkra’s scream was different from his usual howls, being filled with pain and fear. Instantly, he began to flail, thrashing madly and stumbling to try and get away, his trident falling to the ground as his arms slapped at the flames, trying in vain to beat them out. He turned to leap back over the bar and get away from where the fire was spreading, only to step on a large shard of glass, piercing directly through his foot and causing him to stumble and fall back into the flames, screaming louder as they covered him more.

Lex, by contrast, was silent as he moved, despite his entire body being on fire. Although he felt a vague sense of warmth, that was the sum total of the effect the flames had on him thanks to the still-active protection spell he had used back when the Cripple had cast a fireball at him and the other ponies he’d been escorting. That scroll might have prevented him from using magic, but it didn’t shut down the spells he’d already cast! Knowing that the sudden flames had likely caught Monitor and the Cripple off-guard for only a moment, Lex lunged towards Lirtkra’s discarded trident. Although the motion put him well within his enemy’s reach, the sahuagin was too distracted by the pain of its burning body to notice. Grabbing the weapon in his hooves, Lex heaved himself onto his hind legs, raising it high over his head. A moment later he brought it down, unleashing a scream that was equal parts fury and triumph as he plunged it towards his enemy.

It was the roar of anger and victory – one that he’d made so many times in the past – that finally got Lirtkra’s attention, and he looked up…just in time to see his own weapon punch through his chest, pinning him to the floor. The motion brought Lex’s face within inches of his own, and he saw a look of hateful satisfaction that would have been right at home on any sahuagin’s features cross the poh-nee’s face. “Just like I said,” hissed Lex, “with your own weapon.”

Lirtkra tried to snarl a curse, tried to reach up and tear the trident free of his chest, but the pain was so bad that he couldn’t work up the strength to do so, even as the agony grew with each passing moment. Eventually, he abandoned the attempts and instead reached out to try and grab the wretched poh-nee that had done this to him, jaws snapping with the desire to sink his teeth into that miserable thing that simply refused to die. But he couldn’t reach…couldn’t move his claws…couldn’t kill that…poh…nee…

It was Lirtkra’s last thought before he died.

Author's Note:

Lex gives it everything he has and manages to kill Lirtkra!

Now he just has Monitor and the Cripple to deal with.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Lex use of enviroment has improoved his odds from k(1:9) to k(1:4) where k is relative effectiveness of each sides combat ability. Odds will be improoved even more if at least one of the remaining decides that getting information back to leaders is more important than dieing and leaving them ignorant?

[Alzrius]

8017133 This seems more like a case of Lanchester's linear law than his square law, but overall you're right that his odds of survival have gone up dramatically.

Now the question is whether or not the others will keep fighting, or give up and go home?

[Not so New Brony]

Let no one say that Lex is not a stallion of his word, and Lirtkra's brief comparison of Lex's expression to his race was pretty nice touch. With one enemy roasting to a crisp in the fire and armed with a weapon, Lex now has a chance to turn everything around. Though I doubt the Monitor nor the Crippled would make it easy for him.

Anyways, I've noticed that Lirtkra and the others worked surprisingly well together in terms of combat since none of them missed a beat in their attack on Lex in this chapter. Such animosity and distrust within a group hardly makes for a good team, even if it was a temporary one. I doubt they've worked together before so I assume that they're experienced enough to not get in each other's way.

Quick question:You once mentioned that the 'Transform' spell's duration was somewhere over a minute, is the duration affected by the caster's level and if so, is it the same case for other spells with time limits?

[Alzrius]

8018141

Let no one say that Lex is not a stallion of his word, and Lirtkra's brief comparison of Lex's expression to his race was pretty nice touch.

I'm glad you liked that, as that was one of the things I wanted to play up. Lex may be the protagonist of this story, but he has a dark side to him, and it goes deeper than the nature of the powers and abilities he uses. That inner viciousness tends to come out during his worst moments, whether he's arguing with Sonata or engaging in a battle for survival.

With one enemy roasting to a crisp in the fire and armed with a weapon, Lex now has a chance to turn everything around. Though I doubt the Monitor nor the Crippled would make it easy for him.

Quite so; Lex has downed what might have been the most dangerous foe in the battle, but the battle itself is not over.

Anyways, I've noticed that Lirtkra and the others worked surprisingly well together in terms of combat since none of them missed a beat in their attack on Lex in this chapter. Such animosity and distrust within a group hardly makes for a good team, even if it was a temporary one. I doubt they've worked together before so I assume that they're experienced enough to not get in each other's way.

I have to take a moment to compliment you on your insight; I was frowning over this exact thing as I wrote several of these chapters.

The issue here is that there's a disconnect between how fights happen in D&D/d20/Pathfinder - which is my basis for a lot of this fic - and how they're portrayed from a more realistic standpoint (e.g. narratively). The latter tells us that a fight where multiple attackers are concentrating their efforts on a single enemy are going to need to have some sort of coordination, otherwise they'll get in each other's way, whether by issues of friendly fire, getting in the way of targeting, preventing allies from moving in to engage, etc. d20 combat, by contrast, doesn't really take this into account; other than a few minor instances of coordination/disorganization (e.g. soft cover, flanking bonuses, shooting into melee, etc.), there's not that much coordination necessary between party members. Everyone just moves into their square on the battlemat and does their own thing. If three different people want to attack one enemy, they don't need to pay much attention to each other while doing so.

The middle ground I tried to take in this fic was to make it so that each enemy Lex was facing had a different fighting style, to the point where they complemented each other almost inadvertently. The Cripple, being a spellcaster, is a long-range fighter; it hasn't tried to use any touch-range spells, you'll notice. Lirtkra, in comparison, was a melee-type; he preferred to get in close so that he could pummel his enemies with his weapons (both manufactured and natural). Monitor sort of split the difference; being able to move so fast and so agilely made it a striker, that can dart in and out whenever an opening is spotted.

The three of them seemed to work well together largely because they didn't have any overlap in their fighting styles was what I was going for, in other words. As for how well that worked...I'm honestly not sure.

Quick question:You once mentioned that the 'Transform' spell's duration was somewhere over a minute, is the duration affected by the caster's level and if so, is it the same case for other spells with time limits?

The transformation spell does indeed have its duration set by the caster's level. A significant number of spells have their duration measured this way, though not all do. An instantaneous spell is just that, instantaneous. Likewise, a permanent spell is one that will persist until something shuts it down, and a "concentration" spell will require the spellcaster to concentrate to maintain its effects (though there'll often be a hard limit on how long that can last even with concentration).

The kicker, insofar as that scroll goes, is that the "caster" is the one who created the scroll, not the one who activated it. In that case, the default rule is to use the minimum caster level necessary for a spell of that level, which in this case was 11th...ironically, that's Lex's caster level anyway, so in this case it makes no difference either way.

[James Fire]

Typos!

Most of its attacks weren’t anything Lex couldn’t handle,

This just seems... Off. I suggest rewording.

and he’d taken several more hits since.

I read this as "and had taken more hits since."

Finally. Now, just keep up that genocide of Sahaugin. They need it.

[Alzrius]

8238930

This just seems... Off. I suggest rewording.

I'm gonna be honest; I don't see the problem here.

I read this as "and had taken more hits since."

Again, I'm not convinced that this is any better. "He'd" seems perfectly fine, and I'm not sure why "several" shouldn't be there.

Finally. Now, just keep up that genocide of Sahaugin. They need it.

One down. Many more to go.