838 - Do Unto Others
“Don’t move.”
It was all Nenet – still in her humanoid-sphinx form – could do to hold in a scream of fright as the words took her completely by surprise. Though the fact that a long, serrated blade came to rest against her neck didn’t help either, the sharp edges pressed against her skin. It was only after the initial moment of shock had passed that she realized she recognized who had spoken. “P-Paska?”
A confused grunt came from behind her. “How do you-, Nenet?!”
The shock in his voice was audible, and Nenet risked a glance backward. Sure enough, there was Paska, staring at her with a thunderstruck expression. In another context, that might have been funny, considering how stoic he usually was. But somehow, Nenet couldn’t see the humor in the situation now, instead managing a weak smile. “I, um...I’m back...”
She waited, trying hard not to shake as he stared at what she’d become. Paska had never abused her the way Grisela had, being mostly content to ignore her. Even so, he’d always struck Nenet as being a menacing figure; quiet, competent, and focused on whatever task Mother had given him, she’d made sure to stay out of his way as much as possible.
As such, she couldn’t resist a sigh of relief as he slowly removed the sword from her neck. “What’re you doing here?” he demanded, his voice reverting back to the neutral tone she’d grown so used to hearing from him. “And what happened to you?”
Her heart racing, Nenet licked her lips, desperately trying to think of a cover story. “I heard Mother in my head a little while ago. She said that everyone else had been killed, which meant that I was the only spellbook she had left, and that I had to come back. So, uh, here I am!”
It was all technically true, even if it left out a few important details. But when Paska’s only reaction was to give her a flat look, Nenet knew she needed to supply those details, and fast. “Oh, and um, the reason I look like this” – she twisted in place, glancing down at herself...only for her heart to jump into her throat as she saw her master’s mark on her flanks, having forgotten that was there – “is, er, because I, um...when I escaped I came across Mas-, I mean, Lex’s body, and I...ate it.”
Paska arched a brow. “You ate it?”
“Mm-hmm.” Nodding rapidly, Nenet tried to remember what Lex and Solvei had told her about what had happened to Sissel. “Not all of it, I mean. You see, after I escaped I was, um...starving. And his body was right there, so I just, sort of...ate his h-heart.” She brought one hand up to her face and pantomimed biting into something, but faltered when she saw that Paska’s expression was unchanged.
“S-so after I did that, I just sort of went poof” – even as the word left her mouth she felt herself wince inwardly; Poof? Really? – “and, um, turned into this! With his mark on my hips and everything,” she finished with an awkward laugh.
“Just like his pet wolf.”
“Exactly!” added Nenet, relieved that he’d finally said something...only to start sweating as she realized that what he’d said was closer to an accusation than a statement of confidence. “I mean, sort of. Oh, and I ate her heart too. For, um, good measure...”
This time Paska didn’t say anything, simply staring her dead in the eye, and Nenet could feel herself starting to sweat. It was only after several long, tense seconds had passed that Paska slowly broke eye contact, his gaze drifting downward...
To the quill that she was carrying.
“Oh, uh, this thing?” babbled Nenet. “I found it nearby. It was, I mean, I figured Mother might want it, since, you know, Ma-, Lex killed Hvitdod with it.”
“I have to admit that I’m impressed,” Paska said at last, and Nenet felt another rush of relief as her tension ebbed.
But then he continued speaking. “Especially since I saw that spear, or quill, or whatever it is, stab the last person who tried to grab it.”
He’s not buying it he’s not buying it he’s not buying it he’s not buying it!!!
“R-really? Wow, that’s...I don’t know what to say,” she sputtered, desperately trying to think of some new lie to explain that. “I mean, if M-, Lex put a protection spell on it, it must have worn off by now. Or, you know what? Maybe it’s still active, and it just thinks I’m him...what with the heart-eating and everything...”
Paska went silent again, just staring at Belligerence for several seconds, until he raised his eyes to hers again.
This time, however, Nenet couldn’t bear the silence. “So, er, what are you doing here? And, uh...” She paused as she took in the particulars of his appearance, her fright having caused her to overlook what he was carrying. “Why do you have all that stuff?”
That was the mildest way she could put it, as Paska was loaded down with gear...almost all of which was, to her eyes, glowing with magic. And just like with Grisela’s puppets outside, it took Nenet a moment to realize that she recognized several of the magical auras. “Wait...that’s the chalice that Sissel always used to make sure her meals weren’t poisoned! The whetsone that Vidrig used to keep her axe supernaturally sharp! Grisela’s torture staff...”
She trailed off then, recalling how the staff had been used on her more than once. It was technically a healing item, as it stimulated the body’s natural recovery abilities, but did so in an incredibly painful manner, making the victim feel like they were being flensed with red-hot knives. The sight of it now – just one among a panoply of magic items that Paska was loaded down with – was sobering enough that she momentarily forgot her nervousness...
And that was when she realized what Paska was doing.
“You’re taking their stuff,” she breathed, incredulous. “They’ve been dead for less than a day, and you’re looting their valuables.”
“They don’t need them anymore,” replied Paska matter-of-factly. “I do.”
“Mother won’t approve.”
“Mother was happy to sacrifice all of our brothers and sisters just to get a few drops of godsblood. I don’t think she’d mind my helping myself to the leftovers.”
Slowly, he reached behind his back, grabbing something that was tucked into his waistband. “Besides, taking someone’s magic items is a common battlefield practice. Just like this one which I picked up while I was draggng Vidrig’s carcass out of that river after that pony turned our ambush back on us.”
It was already unnerving how talkative Paska was being, but when Nenet looked at the two-foot long steel rod, she felt her heart lurch in her chest, remembering what she’d heard Lex say just before they’d fought him and his travel companions outside of that shrine they’d been headed to.
“The rod detects hostility directed toward the one who bears it,” intoned Lex darkly, glaring at Shadow Star.
Her throat suddenly turning dry, Nenet felt tremors run through her. Lex’s pegasus friend had been the one carrying that! Had she lost it when they’d all jumped into the river? “Th-that...”
“I figured this would be good to have, since I was basically sitting on Hvitdod’s doorstep, waiting to be ambushed,” continued Paska, his tone still even. “But I guess this thing has a range limit, because it didn’t start going off until right before that old adlet jumped me. Fortunately it was a lot more helpful when I was fighting him in a fog cloud later on.”
His other hand raised the serrated sword again, and Nenet stumbled backward as he pointed it at her neck. “You might be Mother’s spellbook, but I’m the one she sent out to do her dirty work, and I’ve gotten to be quite good at it. So naturally, I was rather surprised when I noticed a scrying sensor in here, especially such a sloppy one.”
Nenet bit her lip, silently regretting ever having cast that spell. Not only had she not learned anything, she’d completely given herself away! How did I not think of this?! Mother knows all about scrying, that’s why she has these wards up! Of course Paska would know about it too!
“Then, a few minutes later, this rod starts buzzing,” continued Paska, “same as it did right before the fight at Hvitdod’s lair...and then you walk in with a new body, a crazy story, the same mark as that pony’s wolf, and the quill that stabbed me...”
Behind her, Nenet could feel her hideous tail thrashing, betraying her agitation. Paska might still be injured, but he was an experienced fighter, and Nenet knew full well that the spells she had – both those that were inherent to her as a sphinx, and those she’d prepared – would only be of limited usefulness if things came down to a violent altercation.
I can’t beat him in a fight. I don’t even know HOW to fight! But if I run away now, I’ll never recover Master’s spine! I’ve got to talk Paska down...but how?
Swallowing, she eyed the sword pointed at her throat, only able to come up with a single idea. “I’m still Mother’s only remaining spellbook,” she murmured, barely able to keep her voice steady. “If you kill me, she’ll be furious.”
“I don’t care what Mother wants anymore,” retorted Paska, his face still calm and composed, as though he hadn’t just said something shocking. “She’s sacrificed all of her children to get what she wants. I’m not going to wait around for her to do the same to me.”
Hope flared in Nenet’s chest. “Then-”
“But I can’t have you telling her that I took off with all the treasure I could carry,” he finished. “It’s not like she’s taken an inventory of what Sissel and the others left behind, so if I vanish now, she’ll just think that I’m out guarding the place like she told me. By the time she realizes I’m not coming back, I’ll be long gone.”
“I-I won’t tell,” whimpered Nenet, backing up. “Paska, I swear, I won’t breathe a word-”
“And if she doesn’t have access to any of her spellbooks, she’ll have a harder time tracking me down,” he continued, tucking the steel rod back into his waistband. “At the very least, it buys me some time.”
For a moment Nenet could only stand there, overwhelmed by what she was hearing. Then she stumbled backward, almost tripping over her own feet as she lifted Belligerence, waving it at Paska. “S-stay back!” she yelled, though it came out sounding more like a plea. “I’m warning you!”
The words had barely left her mouth when Paska lunged forward, sword raised. The sudden charge made Nenet shriek, swinging Belligerence wildly.
She came nowhere close to striking Paska, who easily sidestepped her undisciplined strike as he brought his sword around. Its serrations caught on Belligerence’s barbs, and before Nenet realized what was happening, Paska pulled his arm back, yanking the quill out of her hands and sending it skidding across the hallway.
“Too easy,” he muttered, pointing the sword at her again.
Nenet could feel her heart pounding in her chest, knowing this was a fight she couldn’t win. “P-Paska...don’t do this...please...”
He didn’t reply, instead giving her that same inscrutable look...and then he lowered his sword.
Nenet had just enough time to breathe a sigh of relief before he reached into the pack he was carrying and withdrew a scroll. “Mother would be suspicious if she found blood in the hallway.”
Then he unfurled the scroll and started reading.
Nenet had a half-second to wonder what was going on. She hadn’t even known that Paska knew how to read spell scrolls; his magic was just to improve his abilities as a warrior! And who had he taken that scroll from? Had Sissel been hoarding them?
But all of those questions fell away as she heard the incantation he was reciting, and realized what he was about to do to her.
NO!
As Paska recited the final syllable of the spell, the scroll’s aura flaring as its power was unleashed, Nenet felt the magic reach out to grab her.
...and she unleashed the greatest power her master had given her.
Before, she’d only had a few small, inherent spells. Those powers, determined by biology, had been increased many times over by her transformation. Moreover, she was now able to actually cast the spells she’d been made to learn; not many, and only the weaker ones, but she was still able to make use of them nonetheless.
But there was a third form of magic that Lex had bestowed upon her. One which, while far more limited in terms of what she could do with it, was much stronger in those situations where she could bring it to bear.
Countermagic.
A thought was all it took for Nenet to call upon that now, reaching into the deep well of power that Lex had imbued her with, drawing out the largest quantity she could and flinging it at Paska’s spell.
Able to see into the magical spectrum, she watched as the formless mass of energy she’d hurled struck the power from the scroll head-on, two auras colliding with each other and twisting around as they both tried to overpower their opponent. But while Paska’s spell was trying to break through her own with all the single-minded determination of a charger attempting to trample everything in its path, her own was far more insidious.
Before her eyes, she saw her countermagic twist and morph, its aura fluctuating as it rearranged itself to better fight Paska’s magic. The edges of it turned into tendrils, coiling around and strangling the other spell’s momentum, breaking down its resistance even as it invaded and began unmaking down the spell’s underlying structure, replacing it with its own.
In the space of a second, the struggle had ended, and Nenet’s magic was the victor...and her eyes widened as she realized that she had a window of opportunity. If she did nothing, her spell would continue to overwrite and break down Paska’s spell, completely dispelling it until there was nothing left, at which point her own spell would expire...
Or she could arrest the takeover, leaving his spell intact, but commandeer it for herself.
Without pausing to think about it, Nenet chose the latter.
An instant later she’d reset the scroll’s target, and Paska’s spell reversed course, hitting him dead-center.
Immediately, the magic took effect, and Nenet could see the leakage as the Ethereal Plane reached out to envelope him.
Paska’s eyes widened as he felt something wind around his limbs, the ether solidifying as it made contact with the physical realm. But even as he brought his sword around to try and cut it off, more crashed over him, as though he were standing in front of a dam that had burst. It almost knocked him off his feet, covering him from head to toe in an instant, slowing his movements as though he were trying to fight his way out of a gelatinous mass.
And then the planar tear reversed itself, pulling the misplaced ether back onto its native plane...and taking Paska with it.
With her innate ability to see invisible creatures, Nenet was still able to watch Paska struggle, fighting his way free of the ether that had bound him, his lips moving as he looked at her again...but she couldn’t hear across planar boundaries, and so whatever he was saying wasn’t audible to her. After a moment he lunged forward, and she couldn’t help but shriek as his sword went directly into her chest, his reluctance to kill her with his weapon apparently gone.
But the blade passed right through her without the slightest hint of pain or resistance, not did it so much as scratch her, despite the sword sinking in to the hilt, and it took a moment for Nenet to calm down.
Paska was on a different plane of existence now. He couldn’t reach her from there.
And besides, he had other things to worry about.
Seeing Paska frown as he withdrew his sword, not having harmed her in the slightest, Nenet could only gulp as he suddenly whipped his head around, as though he’d heard something. From her vantage point, he was just looking at the stone wall nearby, but she saw him say something again as he raised his blade...
And then the astradaemons were upon him.
Despite knowing that they couldn’t harm her, Nenet couldn’t help but back up as she saw the monstrous things descend on Paska, pressing herself against the opposite wall as he tried to fight them off.
But he was outnumbered, and unused to fighting on a different plane. The astradaemons quickly circled around him – moving around, over, and under him in a dizzying pattern – and it didn’t take them long for one of them to grab him from behind, long claws and spindly tail and writhing tentacles coiling around his arms and legs. The other immediately moved in for the kill, grabbing him from the front, and she could see Paska roaring – his stoicism gone completely now – as he struggled to free himself.
Then the astradaemon in front of him opened its mandibles and clamped its teeth over his face.
From between its jaws, Nenet could see a soft light shining from where Paska’s face was trapped in the astradaemon’s jaws. A moment later, what looked like a glowing mist emerged from Paska’s eyes, mouth, and nose, flowing down into the monster’s gullet even as his movements slowed. Behind him, the other astradaemon opened is mouth in what looked like a shriek, clawing at its companion, but that did nothing to dislodge the other, continuing the drink down the shimmering light from her brother.
It continued doing so until the glow was completely gone, at which point it released Paska’s face and moved back, allowing his body to hang in the air, eyes wide and unseeing as his limbs splayed out loosely...before he convulsed once, transforming back into the sickly-looking one-eyed hound that she knew was his true form, and then went still.
The sight made Nenet recall what Lex had told her only a few minutes prior.
“Those are high-ranking daemons! They can rip your soul out without having to kill you first!”
Apparently death was a side effect of having your soul taken by astradaemons, rather than a prerequisite.
The second astradaemon, denied is meal, spun Paska’s corpse around and brought its face close to his, as though sniffing for any trace of the dead shuck’s soul. Apparently there wasn’t any, because it flung the body away as it opened its jaws, the tentacles on its back writhing, and swiped at its companion again. The other one retaliated, and for a moment the two looked like they were going to start fighting before they turned to Paska’s belongings, starting to root through the magic items he’d been carrying like vultures picking over a corpse...which, Nenet realized with a sick feeling, was entirely accurate.
Closing her eyes to the sight of Paska’s dead body and the astradaemons looting him the same way he had Sissel and the others, Nenet gingerly picked up Belligerence.
Then she fled down the hallway toward Mother’s chambers before she lost what little courage she had left.
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Seems like being passive lent well to Nenet's altercation there, but she will have to fight for her life eventually, in more ways than one.
Counter and Reflect. Two nastiest subtle passives available?
and Paska come's to a end.
Paska: Go get killed by the ethereal monsters hanging around!
Nenet: No you! *plays Uno reverse card*
11608002 Nenet got very lucky. Paska was very much a martial character, and while she's not exactly helpless on that front, it's very much not her forte, even after her transformation. But his desire not to leave any traces behind led to his using magic, which Nenet's transformation left her very well equipped to deal with, and so she was able to turn his attack back on him.
But that kind of luck won't hold out forever. It may not even hold out through her next encounter...
11608044 They're not quite "passive," in that she needs to actively use them...though she doesn't have to waste her action preparing them either, which would leave her screwed if she was readying herself to counter a spell, only for her enemy to throw a punch instead.
11608054 And he would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for that pesky sphinx!
11608377 And to think that was right after she laid down a
trap cardmagical glyph, too!Nenet saved herself in a clutch move! And while such a victory would usually boost one's confidence, it is one that does not come easy for Nenet who just had a close encounter with death. Still, this just leaves their mother who will likely not be fooled by any deception from Nenet's mouth and possibly more than capable of overwhelming her should it come to a fight.
So subterfuge will be needed though considering her lack of experience with it, save for cowering and hiding that is though given her new size, that might not work...unless she can change size like Solvei?
11609657 It's to Nenet's credit that she got through her first encounter as well as she did, though a lot of that had to do with Paska's unintentionally contributing to his own demise, as he eschewed his strongest way of fighting (i.e. physically) in exchange for one that Nenet just so happened to be able to adroitly counter. Hopefully that will boost her confidence at least a little, but even so...its doubtful that her mother is going to be so easily dispatched. Of course, all indications are that Mother is also at a seriously low ebb after collecting that "godsblood" Paska mentioned. So maybe Nenet has a chance to pull things off...