Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

875 - Foxhole Conversion

A vial of anti-adhesive solvent. A scroll to make closed wounds open up again. Sissel’s poison-detecting chalice.

Outside of the barrier Lex had raised, a swarm of ghostly figures cavorted, shrieking and wailing as they attacked the obstacle between them and their targets.

Grisela’s torture stick. A feather that, when it’s broken, turns into an oversized paper fan. A potion that lets the drinker understand any spoken or written language for ten minutes.

Because the dome her master had raised was slightly smaller than Adagio’s chambers, Nenet – crouched down in her Three Feet in the Evening form – could see the spectral figures surrounding her. Some scratched at the enclosure, others battered it, and a few simply threw themselves at it. Worse, none of them had tried to cast a spell, giving Nenet no opportunity to use her countermagic, which meant that all she could do was wait for the barrier to come down...if the corporeal undead currently stumbling through the hallways didn’t make it there first.

A pouchful of dust that makes anything its sprinkled one easier to see. Vidrig’s whetstone. A scroll with a spell on it to let you read scrolls with spells on them.

Nenet threw that last one aside with a strangled scream of frustration, letting it join the growing pile of useless magic items that she’d spent the last several minutes digging through. She’d promised Solvei she’d keep their master safe, and now he was outside fighting an entire army of the living dead – to say nothing of an evil demigod – while she was cowering in here sorting junk!

“Nenet, stop wasting time on that garbage and give me back my voice!”

Knowing better than to waste her time on what Adagio was whispering, the sphinx ignored her as she went back to rooting through the assortment of magic items that she hadn’t sorted through yet. Even as she did, another ghost – or wraith, or specter, or whatever it was – slammed into the barrier, giving a screech that was like an angry version of nails on a chalkboard when the dome held.

But it didn’t escape Nenet’s notice that the barricade, which had previously shown no reaction to the attacks directed against it, was now giving a flicker whenever it was struck.

Whether it was because they’d noticed the same thing, or because their frustration was mounting, the phantasmal monsters outside of the dome redoubled their attacks, striking the barrier with renewed ferocity, and Nenet knew that she was running out of time.

“Damn it, Nenet, I know that sphinxes can lift curses!” Despite herself, Nenet glanced over at her moth-, at Adagio then, the Siren still lying on the floor of her cage despite several specters huddled over the part of the dome that was closest to her. “I can blow these billowy bedsheets away with one scream! Hurry up and let me use my magic!”

Nenet shook her head, not in answer to the whispered orders but to reaffirm herself that freeing the prisoner she’d been assigned to watch over wasn’t an option. Not that she was sure she could anyway; while it was true that she had an innate power to remove curses, she had no idea if that was true for a curse that her master had laid down.

And even if it was, it’s not like that would be any better, Nenet reminded herself. While she had no doubt that Adagio could make good on what she was saying – even without any aristeia left, she was still a Siren, able to command powerful magic – she was equally certain that even if she could set her free, she’d be targeted as soon as the undead were gone.

That was just the sort of person Adagio Dazzle was.

As it to remind Nenet of how true that was, she caught sight of her own tail, thwapping so hard that she could see it out of the corners of her peripheral vision.

Digging back into the rapidly-diminishing pile of magical paraphernalia that she hadn’t already examined, Nenet paused as she came to the enemy-detecting rod that Paska had waved in her face before.

“This thing won’t hold out much longer!” A glance at Adagio showed that the Siren was grimacing as she looked past the bars of her cage at how the barrier was flashing with each hit it took now. “Do you want us both to be killed?!”

The question made Nenet bite her lip, her resolve crumbling. Freeing Adagio was the wrong move; Nenet knew that for sure. But right now she was running low on both time and options. Maybe, just maybe, the Siren had the wherewithal to realize that they needed to work together, at least until Lex had dealt with Kryonex.

Gulping, Nenet picked up the rod, which immediately began to buzz in her grasp. She knew that it reacted to hostility that was directed toward the wielder, and that with over a dozen malicious spirits right outside the barrier it would be in a perpetual state of alert, but maybe she could filter those out.

Closing her eyes, Nenet concentrated as she narrowed the rod’s focus, trying to center it only on Adagio-

The length of iron vibrated so hard that she almost lost her grip on it.

Wincing, Nenet resisted the urge to throw the thing away, confirming that it was reacting to the Siren personally. If anything, the enmity it was picking up from her eclipsed that of the monsters trying to kill them. As it was, the only person who didn’t seem to want to kill her was currently laying on what was left of the luxurious bed, stirring as her eyes began to flutter open.

And then gave a terrified scream as she caught sight of the monsters besieging them.

“Zhe shi shenme?! Zhe shi nali?!”

Like all of her kind, Nenet had omnicomprehension, the ability to understand any spoken or written language. But even though she knew that the pale-skinned woman was asking where she was and what was happening, that didn’t mean that she knew how to respond in kind.

“I don’t know if you can speak Ponish,” she called out, giving the name of the language she’d been born knowing how to converse in, “but if you can understand me, my name is Nenet, you were saved by my master, Lex Legis, and right now we’re under attack by undead creatures created by Kryonex, so if you have any magic that can fight them off we could really use your help!”

“You don’t need her help!” whispered Adagio so harshly that it was almost a growl. “You need mine! Look!”

Nenet didn’t need to ask what the Siren was telling her to look at, the dome now flashing so badly that it was almost strobing.

But she didn’t have a chance to process that as she felt her mental shields suddenly kick in, stopping something from reaching her mind. It was enough to make Nenet gasp, wings flaring on instinct as she turned to face Adagio. How had she broken free from her curses?!

Except the Siren wasn’t moving, still grimacing as she eyed the failing dome above them. So who-

“F-forgive me,” came a halting, accented voice from the other side of the room, the dark-haired woman sliding off the edge of the bed, wide-eyed and shaking. “I am still not fully learned in conversing in this language. I tried to speak my thoughts into yours, but-”

“No, I get it, telepathy’s fine!” interrupted Nenet frantically, the barrier now flashing so much that was practically emitting an unbroken glow. “Do you have any attack magic?!”

“Yes,” answered the woman. “But almost all ice-”

She didn’t get a chance to finish speaking as a shattering sound came from above, an area near the top of the dome giving way.

It wasn’t a major breach, the hole only being a few inches wide, but it was enough for one of the specters – a translucent outline of a distorted old woman who looked far too much like Grisela for Nenet’s liking – to shove an arm through, tearing madly at the broken edges in order to widen the rupture.

Below her, another hole opened up, this one twice the size. Then a third off to the right. And a fourth above that.

“Use whatever part of it isn’t ice!” shrieked Nenet, stumbling backward.

For a half-second the pale woman hesitated, then nodded.

Then, without warning, she vanished.

And in her place...

“What the fox?” whispered Adagio.

For once, Nenet agreed with her.

Standing where the woman had been was a fox the size of a large dog. Its fur was blue, its paws were black, and its ears were tufted. But most notable of all was its tail.

Or rather, tails, since it had three of them.

Giving Nenet a quick look, the animal faced the gaps that had been torn in the dome and inhaled deeply, and in the magical spectrum, Nenet could see power gathering in all three of the fox’s tails.

Then it – no, she – breathed outward, unleashing a cone of lightning that washed over the broken barrier, prompting a chorus of pained screams from the spectral undead trying to force their way through.

But when the electrical barrage stopped, Nenet could see that none of the malevolent spirits had fallen to the attack, nor retreated. If anything, the damage only seemed to have enraged them further, causing them to struggle harder to fight their way through.

And judging by how the gaps they’d already made in the barrier were widening, they’d accomplish that in the next few seconds.

Another tingling in her mind let Nenet know that the fox-woman was trying to speak to her telepathically again, and she hastily dropped her mental shields.

My efforts were insufficient! wailed the fox-woman. Forgive me! Mortal magic has only limited effect on the unquiet dead, and I was never trained in how to properly soothe their rage!

But that was enough to snap Nenet out of her surprise at the woman her master had rescued being some sort of animal in disguise, and she rushed toward the woman-turned-fox. “Can you do that again?!”

The fox gave her a nonplussed look. Yes, but I have no hope that it will suffice to repel their advance!

Despite the circumstances, Nenet found herself smiling. “Just tell me when you’re ready. I’ll do the rest.”

The fox gave her a dubious look, but inhaled again. At the same time, Nenet called upon the metamagic that her master had given her. Alter the parameters, set it to affect magic external to myself, rather than internal, she chanted silently, still not having gotten used to this power. Amplify the output, widen the area, adjust the resonance to affect targets with coexistent dimensionality...

I have finished preparing! came the fox-woman’s voice as Nenet finished her own preparations. Nor was her announcement a moment too soon, as the holes were widening, the half of the dome that faced the back of the room crumbling away into nothing.

Immediately, the spectral dead flooded inside.

“NOW!” yelled Nenet, fighting down a surge of irrational jealousy as she reached out and grabbed the fox-woman’s fluffy tails, pouring her metamagic into them. “DO IT NOW!”

Yelping slightly at the sudden contact, the fox opened her mouth again, breathing out...

But this time what came out of her mouth wasn’t a mere blast of lightning, but a raging electrical storm. The bright flash devoured everything in front of Nenet, forcing her to let go of her partner’s tails in order to shield her eyes, and she could just barely make out the undead caught in the blast. Like she’d hoped, they were completely affected by the lightning this time, bodies contorted and heads thrown back in agony as they were electrocuted.

And when the lightning cleared a moment later, Nenet managed to blink away the spots in front of her eyes quickly enough to see them fade away completely, having been completely destroyed by the blast.

That...that was magnificent! gushed the fox, her fur standing on end from just how much electricity had been put into the air. My cousins-, no, even my aunt could not have done better! And she possesses six tails!

“Yeah, well, maybe I can borrow one sometime,” joked Nenet, not sure what the fox was talking about, but caring less about that than them having managed to survive somehow. “Especially if it’ll let me breathe lightning like you, um...”

Ah, my apologies! Spinning in place, the fox returned to human shape, the woman folding giving her a deep bow. I am Pimao Xiang Xiaoxiang Yiyang Mei Li, of the Pimao Jingzhi kumiho. If that is troublesome for you to speak, please refer to me as Mei Li.

Despite herself, Nenet couldn’t help but giggle a little, having heard the translation for her name. “Your parents named you ‘fur as beautiful as a portrait’?”

Raising her head, Mei Li blushed. Our clan are all named after the quality of our fur, and mine was born with a particularly unusual presentation. Her smile faded then. Or at least it did, before I was forced to permeate myself with the essence of the Plane of Ice in order to survive the harsh climate. Now I am-

“Look out!”

Knocking Mei Li aside, Nenet leaped forward as another specter – this one looking like a snarling humanoid of indeterminate gender – floated up through the floor in front of where the dome had been broken, hissing as it held out a hand and shot a coruscating ray at where Mei Li had been standing...and where Nenet was now.

But the beam never hit her, as the sphinx called on her countermagic, grabbing hold of the beam and turning it aside to harmlessly impact the ground.

Screeching as its assault was foiled, the specter rushed forward, but Mei Li was already back in fox-form, breathing lightning at it again. After a brief exchange with the two falling back, Nenet defending against its ranged attacks as Mei Li wore it down, the creature crumbled to dust with one last shriek.

“We make a good team,” panted Nenet, changing back into sphinx form as she sank into a crouch.

The change made Mei Li cock her head, but she didn’t say anything about Nenet’s transformation, her tails swaying slightly. I concur.

From inside of her cage, Adagio let out a low hiss, eyes narrowed as she watched the sphinx and the fox smile at each other.

But their moment of respite didn’t last long as more incorporeal undead gathered around the broken half of the dome...

Just as the door on the other side of the room burst open, a multitude of corporeal undead rushing in.

Author's Note:

As remnants of the undead horde bear down on Nenet and Adagio, they're saved by the woman – or rather, kumiho – that Lex rescued!

Will Nenet and Mei Li be able to keep themselves from being overrun? Or will they need to let Adagio off of her leash?

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

Aww, Nenet made a new friend. Oh crap, the undead are rushing in!

Which pretty much summarizes the end of the chapter for me. Funny how Nenet's friend chose Mei Li as her name. Granted, it is a pretty common name for girls in chinese families and easier to remember. Even though I'm chinese, I forgot how much of a tongue twister my native language could be at times with the tonal inflections.

Anyways, here's hoping that they'll all make it out of here in one piece cause I'm now curious about Mei Li and her origins though that would mean more stuff for Lex to do on his plate. Granted, having saved her life, Lex will probably feel that he's obligated to take responsibility to protect her and send her home.

And possibly get dragged into some internal drama or something like that.

[Booster Spice]

Pity Nenet cant Metamagic her CountreMagic so that she can drail undead to non exitance and use that drain to power up retaliations?

How is Adagio coming along with her spell resist rolls?

[Alzrius]

11718545 Even if Nenet could do that, you can't really shut an undead creature down the way I think you're proposing. While they're inherently unnatural creatures, the undead aren't powered by any sort of active magic (even if some of them are created via a spell). Rather, they're a function of a soul using negative energy to bind it to something (usually a dead body, but for incorporeal undead it can be raw ether, their own shadow, or something similarly insubstantial) in a mockery of how they normally use positive energy to stay in living bodies.

As for Adagio, well...she's apparently biding her time, since we know she has an ace up her sleeve (if she can just get to it).

[Alzrius]

11718348 I confess that I was a bit nervous about introducing Mei Li, simply because the pastiches present in the d20 System tend to freely mix aspects of numerous cultures, and I'm aware of some people taking offense to that. In this instance, a "kumiho" is a Korean creature (actually a Korean take on the "monster fox" idea), even though she's speaking Tianyu (i.e. Mandarin Chinese) and having a name derived from that language. But this is a world where kumiho can exist alongside kitsune, similar to how efreeti are different from ifrit. So the blending of things in the fiction are naturally going to occur, despite being drawn from distinct real-world cultures.

As for who she is, how she got to be where she is, and what's going to happen to her, well...let's see if she survives first! But it's fairly certain that Lex will feel responsible for her now that he's saved her life. That particular character trait of his has been on display for a very long time, since back when he was saving ponies on Equestria. So if her backstory has more drama that he's dragged into, well...that's just grist for the proverbial mill!