Chpt 1. The Nautiloid
Trigger Warning: Hell and Violence.
I came to with the sensation of my brain splitting open, my body having felt like it had been opened up endlessly. I remember nothing else of myself, no images from my past, no clue as to how I got here. My mind is an empty vessel. Suddenly a recollection about my present state, a tadpole behind my eye. I feel delirious but gather my senses. I am lying awake inside my own coffin. No… I'm upright and I can see out into a chamber with the acidic pool of illithid tadpoles, damaged and spilling out. The surrounding area is made of soft tissue and chitin cobbled together in an abominable living vessel. I'm on a Nautiloid, an illithid war ship hurtling through some cursed realm. I feel the ship violently swaying. I… I'm inside of an illithid pod.
I search myself, I'm only wearing rags and I have no weapons on me. I press against the glass in front of me to see if I can shift the lid open. No such luck. With my back lying flat against the pod for leverage I press my foot against the door with all my strength but it doesn't budge. I then I realize I have the key on me. I close my eyes and reach out to the pod with the psionic power of the tadpole. ~Release~ Suddenly the lid opens and I'm able to climb out. Why I know about illithid mechanics I'm unsure, but the knowledge was there non-the-less and I'm grateful for it.
I can see through the broken hull of the ship. Looking out at the rushing land below me and smelling the pungent scent of sulfur I instantly recognize where we are. Avernus. I see the blood war raging below me. Suddenly the entire ship lurches as it's struck by attacking forces. The ship loses altitude and shudders. I know I don't have much time. I quickly run oven to a large sphincter, a door, and my presence commands it to squelch open for me. As I step into the next chamber I begin to run toward what I can only hope is the helm, but I can't be sure.
I hear something calling to me with psionic energy. A desperate and frightened voice; an intellect devourer. I see it trapped inside the skull of an oozing corpse. I feel it hum in a self soothing manner and as I approach it buzzes with anticipation, "Friend! You've come to save us!"
I eye the creature's gelatinous body and my mouth begins to water. I ignore the sensation. This creature could be useful at navigating around the ship, it would be a boon if we're to escape, "What do you need, little friend?"
"Free me from this body, we must go to the helm."
"Do you know where it is."
It squeaks with anticipation, "Please, I will take you there. We must hurry! The enemy is everywhere."
I lean forward and observe the condition of the brain. It is stuck due to edema caused by the trauma to the skull. It was supposed to have been removed hours ago, but instead it was left to sit in the cranium while the pressure around it built. This creature's abominable birth was interrupted by the attack. With deft fingers I use blunt dissection to loosen the swelling cerebral tissue from the meninges lining the skull. When I feel a reassuring shift of the brain as it comes loose I begin to lift the creature from its prison. The feeling of ripping tissue as the base of the cerebrum separates from the rest of the cranium sends shivers down my spine.
Where I've gained such knowledge and skill of anatomy I do not know, but the intimate nature of this rescue gave me profound pleasure. I must have been a doctor in my last life, at least at one point in time. I don't have time to dwell much on it now, the creature suddenly leaps from my hands and pauses as if communing with an unseen voice.
"What is it?"
"They are calling for Us. We must get to the helm, we must get to safety."
"What do I call you."
"Us. We are Us."
A blast from the hull, another attack. I see a red dragon fly past the Nautiloid. The ship is being attacked by Gith raiders. Of course. The Githyanki and the Illithids have been mortal enemies for centuries. I run across the room and crouch next to a door that leads to an exposed corridor. One wrong move and we could go flying from the ship into the burning lakes of Avernus. I wait for an opportunity of relative calm and when I feel the chance has come Us and I run, Us predicting my movements through our psionic connection. The corridor hugs the edge of the ship and I feel the pull of the open sky. As we reach the other side we are waylaid by a Gith warrior.
With a flourish she blocks our path to the next chamber. An utter nuisance as she yells with power in her voice masking her growing panic, "ABOMINATION. This is you end!"
In an instant the psionic energy of the tadpoles in our brains connects us. I am pulled into her mind and I see myself in her own eyes. Her focus and presence of mind gives me nothing else outside of the here and now. I jolt back into myself.
"Tsk-va!!! What is… NNNNGGGG!!!!" She is taken a-back, "Hold on… you are no thrall. Vlakith blesses me this day! Together we might survive!"
"Yes, we are headed to the helm."
"We?" She glances down to the intellect devourer and her eyes grow wide.
She lifts her sword to strike but in a flash I wrap my hand around her throat. I do not press but merely push her back, disrupting the attack. I quickly remove my hand but step in front of her, blocking her from Us, "We need it if we are to make it to the helm. It knows the way and it trusts me."
The Gith woman scowls at me and brushes her hand over her throat as if to remove my filth from her skin, "Do not touch me in such away again unless you intend to lose your hand, istik."
I hold up my hands, "I was merely trying to stop you from striking the creature."
She suddenly grabs me and pulls me into the next chamber as a bolt of flame erupts behind me. Us jumps to safety in the same instance. A red dragon had flown past in the midst of another attack. As we are thrown to the safety of the next room we are suddenly met with three imps who had flown aboard to feast on the corpses littering the Nautiloid.
Lae'zel jumps to her feet and raises her sword with a wild battle cry, "HTAK'A!"
An imp charges fast at her and she swings her sword, cleaving the imp in two, one of its halves flinging it's self in my direction from the momentum of the strike. Another imp flies directly into me, clawing, scratching, screaming. With no weapons of my own I attack in kind, grabbing the creature by the wings and ripping them from its back. No longer able to fly I throw it's useless body overboard as it continues to scream and claw at the air. Us charges forward and with a swing of its paws it slashes the last imp to pieces before it gets a chance to strike back.
Lae'zel braces her sword seeking any other enemies that could be stirring, everything is still. I see some arterial mesh crawling up the side of the Nautiloid and dash over to it, climbing to the upper level of the ship. Lae'zel and Us follow. I feel the psionic force of Us's instruction permeate my thoughts. I know where to go. We enter a new chamber, this one with dozens of pods lining the walls. I hear a screaming woman trapped inside one of them, she's over to the left and I see warding runes circling her pod, connecting it to the control panel next to her.
I run past her because something sparks in my mind. A chest, and the sense of something familiar. She screams harder as she watches me pass, it rouses something deep within me and I get a faint hint of pleasure from her rising panic. Through a door just past her pod I make my way to the back of another pod-lined room, the chest is sitting anchored to the floor. I quickly throw open the lid and a wave of relief comes over me. My personal effects. I recognize them in an instant. I quickly rip off the stinking bloody rags and pull on my clothes. As I unfurl my cloak something clangs at the bottom of the chest. My great sword. Paladin, I'm a Paladin, but I can't remember the nature of my Oath, or to whom I've sworn my blade. Yet another question that will have to wait.
Feeling a new resolve I hear the cries of the woman trapped in the other room once again. A body on the floor next to the chest catches my eye. Clutched in her hand is an illithid rune. I somehow know it is a key. I grab it and dash back to the control panel connected to the panicked woman's pod.
"GET ME OUT!!!" She pounds her fists in futility against to door of the pod, her panic a sweet symphony to the chaos around us. I step up to the control panel next to her and slot the illithid rune into it, placing my hand on the dash to activate it. Suddenly my tadpole squirms and writhes in my skull and I flinch and recoil but it soon settles as I feel it connect me with the psionic power of the controls. I give the command. ~Open~
The controls obey and the lid to her pod slides open. She falls to the ground exhausted and shaking. Lae'zel and I wait for a moment as she gathers herself. I mourn the loss of her hopeless screaming.
The woman finally tries to climb to her feet, "I thought that pod was going to be my damned coffin."
I reach out a hand, "Are you alright?"
She takes it, "Yes, thanks to you."
Lae'zel chimes in, annoyed, "We don't have time for idle chatter. We must find the helm!"
The woman's face falls and she puts her hand on a small satchel on her hip, "She's right…" A pulse of psionic energy from her mind, subtle, but I catch it. She doesn't trust the gith woman, and her distrust is mixed with hate and fear.
"Come with us, we need to get moving, now. I'm Vash Neel."
She focuses her attention back to me just enough to give me a grateful smile, "Shadowheart." Then the briefest flash of realization. "One moment…" she walks back to the pod and attempts to inconspicuously grab a small device from it and slip it into her satchel.
I ignore it for now, and we charge forward. As we pass through the final sphincter we step into absolute chaos. One last living mind flayer in battle with a cambion who appears to be some commander in the blood war, imps, and hellsboars guarding the helm at the front of the bridge.
Lae'zel and I pull out our swords and Us braces it's self for battle once more. I feel static in the air as Shadowheart glows with a cleric's holy power, her power comes from somewhere dark, forbidden, but potent. Lae'zel makes quick work of an imp that charges in from the left, Us charges and gains advantage on the imp to the right, slashing a gash into its chest. It falters but strikes back at Us with a fire bolt.
In front of me a hellsboar charges me with flaming rage. I dodge the attack and reach into the air, beckoning my god to grant me divine favour. An emptiness begins to fill me, it is cold and breathless, like the presence of death. I feel a draining of energy from my outstretched hand that permeates my entire body. Have I been forsaken? No… I have been forgotten. Suddenly a surging of power fills the void, but to my surprise it doesn't come from above, but below. The whispers in my head grow wild and my blood begins to roil. I feel embraced by something dear and loving. "You've returned to me…" a voice echoes in my mind as my hand begins to spark with acrid magic. "Go forth with vengeance." Whoever my god is, I have been granted it's favour, and purpose. I grasp the power charged in my hand and with a flourish I pound my fist against my chest, and my entire body glows with an unholy embrace. With that I smash my sword down on the hellsboar's skull; it bursts into radiant flames and collapses, dead.
Shadowheart rushes past as the cambion and mind flayer exchange blows. The cambion slices and cuts at the illithid, silver blood gushing from the strikes. She looks at me and points, "The sword!" In an instant I see it glowing bright with hell flames as the cambion continues to brutishly swing at the mind flayer. I understand and begin to rush the cambion.
"Impero tibi" She commands the sword from the cambions hand, but it fails. It proceeds to take another swing at the mind flayer which misses. The mind flayer responds by hitting it with a psionic blast that dazes it. I see Shadowheart gather her powers once again, "Impero tibi" at that the sword drops from the cambion's hand, but it quickly comes to and ducks to retrieve his weapon. I dive and grab the sword out from under him before he gets a chance to arm himself once again. As I slide past him he begins to chase me but the mind flayer lets loose another psionic blast and the cambion is nearly knocked off his feet. He turns and takes a swing at the illithid with his bare fists, burning with fury. I get to my feet and shout, "Lae'zel!"
Lae'zel turns and sees me toss her the hell sword, she snatches it from the air and then takes a swing at the bleeding imp before it gets to make another attack against Us. It crumples to the ground in a helpless pile. Shadowheart, Lae'zel, and Us are all running toward the front of the bridge, not too far behind me. Lae'zel engages with the final hellsboar as Shadowheart and Us take on the remaining imps. I make it to the helm and I feel a psionic instruction from the mind flayer behind us, "Connect the nerves…" I see in its mind's eye exactly what to do, and quickly connect them. Suddenly the ship lurches and we are all thrown to the ground. I begin to slide back to the entrance of the bridge and land hard on my back. The ship lurches again but this time throws me midair back toward the helm. I grab onto it in desperation, dangling helplessly as I try to orient myself. The ship is going down, it's in a nose dive. I begin to climb upward toward the nerves and with a swift tug I pluck the nerves to transport us to a new realm. The ship instantly blips from Avernus to the wilds of Faerun, the red dragons nowhere in sight, but the damage is done.
The ship rights itself momentarily but is losing altitude fast. It shudders and jolts, I am thrown from the bridge out of a crack in the hull, my head smashing into it as I fall. I black out.
