937 - Sage Advice
As far as Lex was concerned, the arrival of that “Odin” person changed very little.
His sole reason for reaching out to the Aesir – opening a portal with Heart’s Desire and identifying himself as the one who’d slain Kryonex – had been to exploit whatever investment they purportedly had in Fenrir, the wolf whom the ice demigod had slain and absorbed. Given that Lex had remnants of the demigod in his possession, his hope had been to use those to leverage the Aesir into making Vystalaran stand down.
But that plan had failed spectacularly, with Sleipnir not only agreeing to turn him over to the elven avatar, but standing aside while Vystalaran had interfered with his attempt to save Branwen. At that point, there had been no choice left but to take the incredibly risky gamble of loosening Belligerence’s restrictions. Fortunately, that had worked out better than anticipated, and Gladoneral’s avatar had been wiped out.
Which meant that the Aesir held no interest for Lex anymore.
“I’ll leave this to you,” he announced, shooting the Sun Queen a contemptuous glance before turning back toward the adlet village, not giving Odin a second look.
The solar goddess had, in his opinion, been no help whatsoever. While her pleading had managed to delay Sleipnir and Vystalaran long enough for him to let Belligerence loose, her snatching the avatar’s dispersed divinity – apparently in hope of placating its owner, much to Lex’s disgust – had more than undercut the small amount of accidental assistance that she’d provided. Handling Sleipnir’s “High One” was the least she could do to make up for her uselessness.
Especially since Lex still needed to see to the safety of everyone else.
But before he’d taken more than two steps, he found his path once again blocked by Sleipnir.
“How dare you show the High One such disrespect!” snapped the larger stallion. “Apologize immediately!”
The wires that made up Lex’s body thrashed faster, even as he slowly raised Belligerence to point it directly at the eight-legged pony’s face. “This is the second time you’ve gotten in my way,” he intoned, his voice dire. First Vystalaran, then Gwynharwyf, and now Sleipnir; he was thoroughly sick of being talked down to. “Do it again, and you’ll leave here as a proper quadruped.”
Sleipnir’s eyes narrowed, and Lex could see a trickle of blood sliding down his cheek from where he’d struck him before, the blow having been heavy enough to break the skin. But before the larger pony could say anything, Odin’s voice cut through the air.
“It’s alright, Sleipnir.”
His posture relaxed and his steps unhurried, Odin strode over, reaching a hand out to stroke the back of Sleipnir’s neck. “Go ahead and return to Valaskjalf.”
Sleipnir’s ears folded back at that. “But-”
“I’ll handle things here,” repeated Odin. “Besides, I’d like to speak with the lad privately.”
Lex frowned inwardly, not because of the patronizing term by which Odin had referred to him, but because of the presumption that they’d be conversing. “I have people whose safety-”
“-is well in hand,” answered Odin, turning his one eye toward Lex even as he canted his head in the direction of the adlet village.
In the same instant that he spoke, Gwynharwyf’s presence vanished.
That was enough to give Lex a moment’s pause.
He hadn’t been completely unaware of what was happening back in the village. Gwynharwyf had made no attempt to hide her presence, practically flaunting her aura as she’d gone after Solvei and the others. While there had been little Lex could do about it while in Vystalaran’s presence, something the eladrin had no doubt been counting on, he had calculated that if all ten of his charges – his three soul-bound servants and the seven emissaries of the lesser titans – worked together, they’d be able to hold the eladrin off. Not for very long, and even then only because Gwynharwyf wasn’t intent on slaughter, but long enough that he might have been able to get there in time.
Branwen’s death, however, was a sign that things hadn’t worked out that way.
Why was unclear, though Lex strongly suspected that his damaged connection to Solvei, Nenet, and Mei Li was at least partially to blame. As it was, the only reason he hadn’t raced directly to their side the instant that Belligerence was once again restrained was because he’d sensed that they’d all been suddenly moved off-plane...leaving Gwynharwyf behind.
Solvei, tell me what’s happening.
Master! Everything’s gone crazy! We were all fighting with each other for some reason, and then that Gwyn-whatever woman killed Branwen, even though Nenet tried to stop her, and suddenly that guy from Darkest Night showed up, and now we’re in some sort of maze, and-
Calm down, he ordered her, trying to suppress his own concern. Someone from Darkest Night had come here? That had to mean either White Wraith or Sanguine Disposition; neither was someone that Lex trusted. If you’re not in immediate danger, tell me precisely what occurred.
R-right... Despite her emotional state still registering as extremely anxious, she began relating what had happened.
At the same time, the Sun Queen approached, still holding the gathered divinity aloft. “I wish I had time to give you a proper welcome,” she began, her smile apologetic as she looked at Odin. “But the sooner I return this to Gladoneral, the easier it will be to work toward reconciliation.”
Odin shook his head. “Your heart is in the right place, lass, but you won’t find a partner for peace with him. Better to give it to his wife. She’s a bit of a wild one, but she loves her husband dearly, and I doubt she’d be unhappy to see you returning most of what his misadventure cost him.”
The Sun Queen smiled. “That’s a good idea, thank you. I’ll bring this to Bristala, then.”
“Take them with you,” snapped Lex, waving a wire-claw at Loraestil, Thilaera, and Burly; only the former was still conscious, clutching his head as though he was afraid it would split apart if he released it. “I want them out of my sight.”
Sleipnir scowled, and Odin had no reaction to the command. But the Sun Queen herself looked saddened by it, though Lex couldn’t have begun to guess why. “I can return Blaze’s champion to Viljatown,” she murmured. “Her blessing doesn’t allow him to stray far from the bounds of Iliana’s dominion anyway. As for the other two...”
She waved her horn at the elves, and although it didn’t glow, Loraestil immediately let out a moan of relief, lowering his hands from his head. Thilaera likewise groaned, her eyes fluttering open. “Wha...?” she murmured in Elvish
“Don’t be afraid,” replied the Sun Queen in the same language. “I’m going to bring you back to Foelvan, if you’ll allow me.”
Thilaera didn’t answer, instead looking around as though dazed. But when her eyes came to rest on Lex, she turned pale and began to shake, her remaining arm moving to grip the ruin that was her opposite shoulder. Seeing that, Loraestil interposed himself between her and Lex, giving the latter only a brief glance before shuddering and looking away. “That would be most kind of you, goddess,” he muttered, unable to meet the Sun Queen’s gaze.
She nodded in reply, moving to stand near them even as she sent one last look Lex’s way. “The Night Mare has placed a great burden on you by making you the steward of such a dangerous entity. I hope that you’ll do her proud in bearing it responsibly.”
“I have so far,” shot back Lex, resenting what sounded like an implication that he’d been wrong to unleash Belligerence against Vystalaran. “And I’ll continue to do so in the same vein.”
If the goddess was upset by his rebuke, she didn’t show it, instead giving him another motherly smile. “Then she truly chose her champion well.”
Without waiting for him to reply, she gave another bow to the agents of the Aesir. “Lord Odin. Lord Sleipnir. I wish you both warm days and clear skies.”
“And to you, lass,” replied Odin, reaching up to touch the brim of his hat.
“I hope we can meet again!” blurted Sleipnir, taking a step toward the Sun Queen. “Under more pleasant circumstances!”
The Sun Queen’s smile widened. “I’d like that as well.”
Then she vanished.
Sleipnir grinned, shooting Lex a smug look before bowing to Odin. “Then, High One, I’ll take my leave.”
“As you will,” nodded Odin.
Sleipnir trotted to the portal with a spring in his step, entering it without looking back.
Leaving Lex alone with the one-eyed human god, who sighed. “My apologies for Sleipnir. He’s like you, young and hot-blooded, and so when he had the chance to show off – in front of a young and pretty goddess, particularly – he went a little overboard.”
The comparison made Lex’s lip curl. “That imbecile is nothing like me.”
“No?” chuckled Odin. “He made a mess of an important negotiation because he wanted to impress a girl, whereas you threw caution to the wind and risked unleashing a god-slaying monster to avenge a girl.”
Lex growled, eyes narrowing. “The two are not comparable.”
“And of course, you’re both proud and ambitious,” continued Odin. “Looking to make your mark on the world, eager to pick fights with anyone who looks down on you. All the hallmarks of youth.”
He didn’t hold still as he spoke, instead walking around and poking his walking stick at several large pieces of rubble. Coming at last to one that refused to budge when he prodded it, he sat down atop it and fished around in his cloak, withdrawing a pipe.
“Not that I’m throwing stones, mind you,” he added as he snapped his fingers, conjuring a small flame at their tips which he used to light the end of his pipe. “I was young once too, and had more than my fair share of misadventures. If anything, I should praise you for being so dutiful toward your women. I stole many a maiden’s virtue, without honoring the promises I made to convince them to part with it. Poor Gunnlod...”
He fell silent then, seemingly lost in a memory as he puffed on his pipe.
The sight made Lex frown, not in disapproval but in confusion. This wasn’t how he’d expected a conversation with someone who was – based on how Sleipnir had treated him – a high-ranking god among a prominent pantheon to go.
...which itself begged the question of how this god was even here. Sleipnir had flat-out stated that Odin had no presence on this world, which should have meant that he couldn’t come through the portal Lex had opened. And yet he had.
Even stranger, Odin had no divine aura that he could detect, no matter how he manipulated his senses. Nor were there overlapping manifestations like Kryonex had displayed. If not for the fact that his future couldn’t be seen, and that there was no magical aura corresponding to a foresight spell around him, then Lex would have thought he was using the same sort of mortal disguise that Vystalaran had.
But that wouldn’t explain how he was able to enter a world where he had no-
“There’s a trick to it.”
Lex blinked. “What?”
“Hm, did I guess wrong?” Exhaling a puff of smoke, Odin glanced over at Lex. “You looked curious, and I thought it was about how I’m here in the first place. There’s a trick to it, a different one than that prick of an elf used.”
He took another deep inhalation from his pipe then. “Honestly, I’m shocked he bothered to disguise himself like that at all. He’s the elves’ god of nobility, propriety, and tradition, you know. Even for an avatar, disguising himself as something less than he is was quite out of character for him. He must have been very nervous about confronting you.”
“Rightly so,” rumbled Lex, not sure what else to say. Odin’s laid-back, informal nature was throwing him off-balance, all the more so since his mystic senses weren’t able to make up the difference of whatever cues he knew he was missing. The result left Lex feeling the same way he had as a mortal whenever he’d tried to talk to someone else, awkward and unsure of what to say next.
“Indeed,” nodded Odin. “That weapon of yours is truly something. I’ve only seen one other like it, and while yours isn’t as strong, it’s still quite potent.”
That was enough to dispel Lex’s discomfort. “There are other weapons like Belligerence?!”
“Just the one, as far as I know,” answered Odin. “Which isn’t to say that there aren’t more of those black spheres out there. But even if they are more of those unborn monsters instead of being copies, being able to shape them like that...well, I’d say that one you have only worked because the creature was a newborn. Binding an adult, like that other one I’ve seen, would be a difficult undertaking even for an entire pantheon working in concert.”
That was enough to leave Lex stunned, glancing down at Belligerence as he tried to imagine what an “adult” version of the thing sealed within it was like...
“Speaking of pantheon leaders, that lass just now was quite dutiful,” continued Odin, as though he hadn’t just mentioned something shocking. “A bit naïve, but still very conscientious, offering to return her enemy’s divinity like that.”
“Her attempts to curry favor with her enemy are pitiful,” murmured Lex, only half paying attention to what Odin was saying. “She’d have done just as well to stay in her realm, cowering.”
Odin shook his head. “Ah, lad, you’re wrong there. She was working quite hard to stop the situation from escalating. For instance, were you aware that the reason she arrived so late was because she was working to keep your war goddess, Blaze, from putting in a personal appearance? Or that she personally contacted this country’s pony queen, ordering her not to send her strongest warriors here to investigate what was going on?”
Lex tore his eyes away from Belligerence to stare at Odin, deeply suspicious of what he was being told. “How could you possibly know that?”
Chuckling, Odin took his pipe out of his mouth, tapping the end of it against his eyepatch. “I may only have one eye, lad, but what I traded it for made the loss plenty worthwhile.”
The indirect answer, clearly meant to confound rather than illuminate, left Lex thoroughly unamused. “What does that mean?”
“That fighting fate accomplishes little,” answered Odin, standing up at last. “While accepting it, and working with it, opens up surprising possibilities. For instance, do you know why you can’t see my future?”
“Because you’re using some sort of spell or artifact to hide it from my sight,” retorted Lex, “one that itself has no visible emanations in the magical spectrum.”
One corner of Odin’s lips turned upward. “Incorrect. It’s because here, now, I quite literally don’t have a future for you to see.”
Lex scowled, trying to figure out if he was being toyed with or not. “That answer is pure nonsense.”
“You’ve stepped into the realm of gods now, lad. When you can overturn the universe through will alone, ‘sense’ is simply how someone else thinks things are supposed to be. When you stop accepting that, and start wondering just who made it so things are the way they are – and why – that’s when you can really start to explore what it means to have moved beyond mortality.”
“You’re just spouting cryptic gibberish!” growled Lex, his frustration rapidly boiling over. After having had multiple gods and titans – all stronger than himself – trying to impose their will on him, his patience for being condescended to had reached its limit. “If you can’t elucidate some practical aspect to what you’re saying, then it does me no good!”
Odin smirked again, taking a cloth out of one belt-pouch and proceeding to clean out the bowl of his pipe. “Like I said, young and hot-blooded.”
“You-”
“But I suppose you have a point,” continued the Aesir deity. “I can recall being frustrated at the ramblings of my elders too. So here’s a bit of advice that I think you’ll find eminently practical.”
Lex scoffed, unwilling to bother hiding his disdain. “And that is?”
“That even without the slightest dollop of divinity, there’s a way for titans to grant spells to their followers.”
Lex froze. He’d been prepared to jeer at whatever the old man had been ready to say, but there was no way he could do that now. Not when what Odin had just said, assuming he was telling the truth, opened up so many incredible possibilities...
“Now then,” continued Odin, putting his pipe away. “What say you show me the remnants of Fenrir and we get down to business?”
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The way Odin made to find a stone to sit down and take out a pipe to smoke made me think of the fantasy stories I've read as a kid. Very nostalgic.
Anyways, it is odd at how relaxed Odin is. I half expected it to be an attempt to make Lex drop his guard but he's too paranoid to do that in front of someone he just encountered, especially a god from a pantheon whose own representative had been willing to just let him be taken away without a fight.
Though the advice about him granting spells to his followers is interesting since even if his wives and concubines are his immediate followers by default, the ponies of Vanhoover and Tall Tale also technically count. So does this mean that he can grant them power in the Night Mare's absence?
Speaking of which, with the Night Mare currently indisposed, how is this affecting the resistance movement's ability to fight off against the Royal Guards? Have they suddenly lost the ability to use the Night Mare's magic or is there some system in place to keep it going since I'm sure no one, not even the gods can handle hearing and answering the prayers of countless worshippers let alone granting them the powers they pray for.
p.s: The prick was the elven god of nobility? No wonder he was so insufferable. Also got a good chuckle from Odin calling Vystalaran a prick.
Whats the difference between Odin and Sir Anthony Hopkins?
Ones old, tired, watched many died, often by his own actions and been the greatest evils known to man.
The other is a god.
Wouldnt suprise me that Sliepnir finds a hay flavoured cupcake waiting for him when he gets back.
After all, at the end of the Pantheoen, Sliepnir is just an orse.
I like Odin. I am getting mischievous old Grandpa vibes from this man
11882567 Odin is a basis for "wise elder" archetypes even in the real world, so it seems apropos to have him act that way here as well.
While he does seem strangely relaxed, you have to wonder if it's because he's not interested in a fight and feels confident that Lex won't try anything, or if it's just that he's old enough to have seen almost everything before (even a weapon like Belligerence!). Either way, he doesn't seem particularly hostile, which is good news for Lex, having had to face down Burly, Gwynharwyf, and then Vystalaran, all one right after another. Another fight is the last thing he needs right now.
As for the ability of titans to grant spells to followers...that's actually a nod towards a quirk of the d20 System, in that depending on where you look among the rules, there are a lot of non-divine (and "near-divine," i.e. less than a demigod but still counted as some sort of nascent deity) sources of divine spells. And, as with so many aspects of such an incredibly varied system of rules, there are several different implementations of that particular idea. In the Forgotten Realms (which has a strict rule about divine spells needing to come from deities), a character can receive divine spells from a dead god, or from a non-divine power such as a demon lord or arch-angel, though in all such cases they have to take a feat. Dragonlance has the "mystic" character class, which uses the power of heart [insert Captain Planet joke here] to cast divine spells (although that's something of an imperfect recreation of the original concept), and even the 3.0 and 3.5 PHB allows for clerics to cast spells without choosing a god to worship (something which I think is a terrible oversight, even if it has precedent; AD&D 2nd Edition allowed for clerics to worship a faith (i.e. a god), a force (such as druids worshiping Nature), or a philosophy, and still receive spells).
Heck, it doesn't even have to be divine spells which are received this way. In Pathfinder 1st Edition, the witch class actually receives arcane spells from their "patron," which can be a divine entity, but doesn't have to be.
Of course, there's a common theme in all of these, which is that it's the one receiving the spells who has to set up at least part of the connection. Unlike the Pathfinder 1E oracle class (which is interpreted as something that the gods do to the character, whether or not the character wants it), all of those other options require that the character put in at least some amount of effort, study, or even just an agreement. The one giving the spells can't just say "here you go" if the person they're giving them to isn't trying to receive them. That's actually the case for most individuals who receive spells from gods too (as Lex himself noted way back in Chapter 134), since oracles who have spells simply shoved into them suffer some sort of harm for it (hence Silhouette's lamed leg), which drives the point home; if you want power from someone, you need to do your part to receive it.
The question, then, is how the one providing the spells does so. That's what Lex will need to figure out.
Of course, all of that begs the question (as you noted) with regard to what's happening to the Night Mare's worshipers back on Everglow. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing at the moment. Hopefully Lex will get back there soon and find out...though at this point, we're still not even totally sure about what's going on with the goddess herself.
And I have to admit, I laughed out loud when people started referring to Vystalaran as a prick in the comments, since I'd already drafted that he'd be called that in the story!
11882638 To be fair to Sleipnir, he's operating under the same idea that Lex originally did, i.e. that only a girl of his own species is attractive. Since he seems to prefer immortal mares, that means that his potential dating pool is quite small; outside of the pony pantheon, there really aren't that many horse goddesses (and worse, there are several other stallion deities out there, so Sleipnir has quite a bit of competition).
11882811 He does seem like he enjoys teasing the younger generation, doesn't he?