Psssst-CHK!
A hiss of steam.
The mind flayer pod slowly opened, showing our protagonist
Fin's eyes blinked open slowly.
He didn't gasp. He didn't scream. He simply… stared.
He sat upright, his breath fogging the viscous air, and dragged himself free from the slick confines of the pod. His bare feet pressed against the cold metal floor. He was half-naked, and only a tattered cloth clung to his waist like an afterthought. But his body… it had changed. Hardened. Defined muscles cut across his body.
It was in stark contrast to the dried-up look he had while imprisoned; it seemed that the mind flayers had rejuvenated his body slightly, and yet, even now, something itched behind his eyes. A pressure. An awareness that did not belong to him.
Fin raised a hand to his temple, brow furrowing.
"...So they put it in me after all," he muttered.
His voice rasped with disuse, deeper than it had been. Not aged, just… weathered.
He knew this part. He knew the ship. The parasite.
Fin stepped out, scanning his surroundings.
Pods lined the walls, each containing writhing, unconscious figures. Some human. Others... less so.
He stepped forward, body slightly hunched.
"Pause", Ali chuckled.
A shimmer of blue flickered into existence beside him.
Ali appeared in the air, hard-light boots touching the fleshy floor with a quiet hum. Her new form stood more grounded than ethereal than she was originally.
She now wore a sleek black bodysuit lined with hexagonal fractal seams, something between military and magician. Her brown hair was tied in a messy braid that hung over one shoulder, a few strands curling along her cheek.
He blinked again, adjusting to the red-pink haze of the Nautiloid's interior. Tendrils of organic wiring pulsed gently along the walls like arteries. Strange bulbous growths formed doorways and panels. The air stank of wet meat and ozone and smoke.
Fin started walking forward, scanning his surroundings. He crossed toward a pool of brine. The pod pulsed as he drew near, as if sensing his presence. It was within this pool of brine that he could make out his reflection.
Fin leaned in.
His reflection stared back. He had his hand around his chin, a large, unkept beard, and small scars littering his face. The left eye is slightly bloodshot. Beneath it, a faint bulge in the iris. Twitching.
A tadpole.
He let out a long breath.
"...Not ideal."
The mirror shimmered, and then, just for a second, it changed. His reflection… shifted. Became younger. Dirtier.
"Not bad for someone who hasn't had a mirror in two decades," she said, folding her arms. Her tone was light, but her eyes searched his face carefully. "Could use a shave, though"
Fin didn't smile.
"How long was I out?"
"Six minutes, give or take. Long enough for the ship to cross into the Nine Hells. We're flying through Avernus now"
A sudden quake jolted through the wall beside them, followed by a deafening roar as a red dragon screamed past the viewport, its rider lashing out with a silver spear that tore through the membrane wall like tissue.
"What's your plan?" she asked.
Fin rolled his shoulder, muscles cracking audibly.
"Finding the Lae'zel and Shadowheart for starters," he said. "Then getting off this ship."
Ali raised an eyebrow. "Straight to the classics, huh?"
Fin didn't answer; his eyes were already scanning the hallway ahead. Ali walked beside him as he moved.
"So," she said, glancing sideways at him, "was the whole 'get tadpoled' thing part of the plan, or are we winging it again?"
Fin snorted quietly through his nose.
"I planned to escape," he said. "The parasite was… a side effect. One I'll fix once we're off this flying tumour."
Ali tilted her head, braid swinging behind her.
"Right. Because brain worms are famously easy to fix."
"I've lived with worse in my head."
"Rude."
He stopped in front of a pulsing wall, its surface a glistening, muscular membrane shaped like a twisted sphincter.
Fin stared at it.
Ali made a face.
"I'll never get used to the doors in this place."
Fin simply approached the slick surface. It shuddered once, then peeled open with a wet, flesh-tearing squelch, revealing the corridor beyond.
"Try not to think about it too hard," he said, stepping through.
Ali wrinkled her nose but followed, muttering something under her breath about "horrible biology" and "tentacle architects."
...
"I take it you remember where you're going?" Ali asked, shielding her eyes from a burst of flame that tore down a far-off corridor.
"Mostly," Fin replied.
"Ah, classic. Walk through fire toward the throne of body horror. Love it."
While Fin could recall the larger plot beats of the game, the finer details were smudged at the edges of his memory.
He remembered something that should have happened here.
What that something was… he wasn't sure.
He moved fast, bare feet slapping against the slick floor. He then entered a familiar chamber, and ahead, he could see Avernus itself outside, as fires continued to blaze. In the centre of the room, a metal platform pulsed with a dim glow.
Fin stepped onto it, raising him towards a... dead body?
A body slumped in a high-backed chair. At first glance, it seemed dead. A humanoid husk and its exposed brain, dressed in only some pants. Fin knew what was there, the body began to convulse and twitch, before a voice entered his mind.
Fin narrowed his eyes.
"...Not dead," he said.
This Psionic Presence entered Fin's mind directly.
"Yes! You've come to save us from this place; from this place, you'll free us!"
The voices were a twisted amalgam of people raised to a much higher pitch, and the brain of this body seemed to quiver as it spoke.
"Please, before they return. They return."
"That's not a thrall. That's a Devourer. A half-formed one." Ali whispered.
Fin muttered, "Servant-class for Mindflayers. I remember now."
The voice cracked with desperation, twitching in his skull. It made his temples throb.
He crouched, inspecting the brain more closely.
"I think you'll help me during the next few fights," he said flatly. "So, lucky you."
With a resigned sigh, he reached forward and placed his fingers along the slimy ridges of the brain. It squirmed under his touch as he tightened his grip.
Screeeeech
The feeling was horrific. The tissue was warm, wet, and almost suctioned to the skull. Viscous fluid slid over his knuckles as he pulled.
The corpse gave a final twitch, and then, with a sickening wet pop, the brain came free. Fin held the trembling organ in his hands. It twitched violently, and he dropped it.
The moment it hit the floor, it began to change.
Thin, tendril-like limbs sprouted from the base. Clawed feet unfurled. The folds of the brain convulsed as it dragged itself upright. It stood now on four limbs like a grotesque spider of thought and meat.
"We are free. Our freedom is ours. Friend."
Fin's eyes narrowed as a strange feeling tickled behind his forehead.
The tadpole inside him… pulsed. Answering. Recognizing.
Fin instinctively pressed two fingers to the side of his head. "Yeah, I felt that too."
"We must go to the helm. At the helm, we are needed."
The brain-creature waited patiently.
Fin gave it a look.
"...What should I even call you?"
"Us. We are Us."
Fin stared at it, deadpan.
"Sure. That's not going to get confusing at all."
Ali snorted behind him. "You're really bonding. It's sweet."
Fin looked down at his fluid-covered hands, then down further, bare feet, exposed chest, only a dirt-caked cloth hanging loosely from his waist.
He wiped his hands on the cloth, grimacing.
Ali appeared beside him again, arms folded.
"You know, at this point... might as well go full nude. The aesthetic is already there."
He gave her a flat look.
"Not helping."
Ali smirked. "Wasn't trying to."
Fin's eyes drifted to the corpse on the chair. Brain gone. Face Slack. But the pants...
He stepped closer, squinting. Still mostly intact. Fit looked close enough.
"...At least one good thing came out of this."
He crouched again, reaching for the waistband.
"Alright, scoot over, Us. Time to borrow your ex-roommate's pants."
...
After that unsettling introduction, Fin and Us made their way toward a descending fleshy ramp that led to a large, gaping exit. The stench of smoke and psionic discharge was thick in the air.
As he stepped outside into the Nautiloid's outer hull, the world outside hit him like a fever dream. The hellscape of Avernus unfurled before him; it was an endless crimson sky torn open by flame.
Red dragons soared in the distance, their scales glistening like molten steel as they unleashed infernos upon the Nautiloid. The ship itself responded in kind, its turrets bristling with purple energy, blasting volleys of plasma into the sky towards their draconic assailants.
Fin shielded his eyes against a flash of dragonfire. He moved quickly, barefoot against the searing deck, heading towards the opposite end of the balcony. That was the plan.
Until something soared overhead.
It landed with a heavy, purposeful thud, right in front of him.
A figure rose from the impact crater, sword drawn.
The Githyanki herself, Lae'zel of Creche K'liir.
Seeing her in person—no, in flesh—was… jarring. Like watching a memory step out of a screen and into blood and heat. She was exactly as he remembered.
She stood poised in the smoke and fire. Her skin was a pale, stormy green mottled with darker specks that followed the line of her jaw and temple. Her golden eyes were sharp slits under heavy brows, narrow and angled like a hawk eyeing its prey. Her ears tapered to vicious points. Braided strands of auburn hair were swept tightly from her scalp, the ends cascading down in a thick tail.
She wore a set of silver plates, almost chitinous in design, fitted over black leather and lattice-weave cloth. The plating was engraved with symbols and adorned with red gem-like nodes, as though some twisted fusion of psionic steel and gith craftsmanship. It wrapped around her in layers, shoulder guards with hooked barbs, and gauntlets tipped with claw-shaped edges.
Her blade gleamed, sharp and alien. She pointed it directly at Fin's chest.
"Abomination. This is your end!"
Fin instinctively raised both hands—not in fear, but to stall her long enough for his mind to process what was happening.
Then, the world shuddered.
Pain lanced through his skull. His vision fractured. Wings. A silver sword. Her face, his face, seen through her eyes.
The throbbing stopped. The heat of the blade eased away from his chest.
Lae'zel staggered slightly, pressing fingers to her temple.
"My head. What is this...ugh."
She sheathed her sword, eyes narrowing but no longer filled with immediate murderous intent.
"Tsk'va. You are no thrall—Vlaakith blesses me this day! Together, we might survive."
Fin lowered his arms. His voice was calm, but clipped.
"Unless the plan is to let a red dragon chew through the hull, I'd like to head to the helm"
Lae'zel's eyes darted past him. Behind a twisted outcrop of bone-metal, a group of demonic imps crouched over a fresh corpse, their teeth tearing into flesh with savage glee. Their mouths were slick with blood, eyes glowing like cinders.
Lae'zel pointed her blade toward them.
"Then we are in agreement. First, we exterminate the imps. Then, we find the helm and take control of the ship. We will address the matter of a cure for this infection once we reach the Material Plane."
She then looked down at Us.
"And as for that thing, it will remain tame as long as it believes we are thralls. It may be of use in the fight to come."
Without hesitation, she surged forward toward the cluster of creatures, her expression etched with holy wrath.
The imps hissed and shrieked, wings flaring wide as they turned to face her. The brain-thing scuttled beside her, clicking its claws.
Fin rolled his neck once and moved to follow, cracking his knuckles
"It's been a while, lets see if I've still got it"
"Htak'a!"
The trio rushed towards the three imps ahead.
One imp reared back and threw a Firebolt in Fin's direction. Fin simply tilted his head slightly left, before stepping into a loose Kali stance, his weight low, bare feet skimming the warm fleshy floor of the Nautiloid. The bolt struck the wall beside him, searing through the deck with a screech and a gout of ash and smoke.
Lae'zel was already airborne. Her longsword came crashing down on another imp, catching its shoulder. The creature screeched in pain, twisting in midair before slashing back with its claws.
Lae'zel didn't falter; she moved like a spear.
To Fin's left, a second imp broke into a dive, claws extended, mouth open in a too-wide grin.
Fin stepped into it as he wrapped cursed energy around his hands.
His left arm shot up, deflecting the claw swipe with his forearm as he stepped inside its range. His right hand blurred with two quick strikes to the creature's throat and ribcage.
Crack. Crack.
The imp staggered, surprised, wind knocked from it. Cursed energy laced the edges of his movement, subtle, coiling around each impact point, twisting deeper than muscle.
He pivoted, hooking the imp's neck with his arm and pulling it down while delivering a knee to its gut. The imp screeched, throwing its claws out.
Fin tilted his head aside to avoid it and slammed his elbow down on the creature's skull.
Then, using the broken rhythm of its flailing wings, he twisted its wings and spun it round, sending it crashing to the ground. He followed it down.
One elbow.
Two.
The third strike drove a burst of cursed energy directly into the imp's eye socket.
It stopped moving.
Black ichor pooled under Fin's knees. He panted once. Quiet. Steady.
"One."
Behind him, Us darted forward, its grotesque claws skittering across the floor as it intercepted a third imp mid-pounce. The two clashed violently, Us slashing at the imp's legs while the creature screamed and twisted in the air.
It staggered.
And Lae'zel didn't hesitate.
Her sword glowed with a dull gleam as she leapt from a raised outcrop, bringing it down in a vicious arc. The imp tried to scream, but it came out as a gurgle as her blade split its head clean in half.
Lae'zel landed lightly beside the twitching corpse, already turning toward Fin.
"You fight well for one so underdressed," she barked. "Do not slow. One remains."
Fin once again tilted his head down as the final imp lunged at him from behind.
The creature chased, hissing.
Fin caught its wrist. He let it come toward him, using its momentum. The cursed energy moved with him, lacing through his forearms like a second skin.
The imp spun.
Fin's elbow caught it in the jaw. He shifted again, stepped behind it, grabbed its wing joint, and snapped it.
The scream was awful.
But Fin was silent.
He wrapped his arm around its neck and dropped his centre of gravity.
The imp flailed, clawing wildly. One caught Fin's shoulder, drawing a deep line of blood.
He didn't flinch.
"Quit wriggling", Fin said.
He dragged it backward, locked the hold in deep, and drove his heel into the back of its leg. The limb snapped, causing it to collapse
Fin followed it down, choking the life out of it in quiet, deliberate silence.
The imp went still.
He let the body drop.
The wind blew hot ash across the balcony. Somewhere above, a dragon's death cry echoed across the sky.
Lae'zel stood at his side again, bloody blade in hand, chest rising and falling in rhythm. The chamber was now silent, save for the heavy breathing of Fin and Lae'zel. The floor was littered with the bodies of the imps, their blood staining the ground a dark crimson. Fin wiped the sweat from his brow, looking around at the carnage they had wrought.
Then—
[YOU HAVE UNREAD NOTIFICATIONS]
Fin's brow raised, he then raised his hand an a familiar menu opened.
+10 PP Earned – 2 Confirmed Kills (Hellborn Imp)
PP Total: 7 → 17
Fin blinked.
"...Huh."
It was the first time in twenty years he'd seen that notification. Not much opportunity for point gains underground with nothing but himself and a bratty AI.
It wasn't a huge gain. Just 5 per imp. But it meant everything.
Fin let out a breath through his nose, half a scoff, half a smile.
"Finally."
Ali's voice drifted in, materialising faintly beside him, her tone teasing.
"Aw, your little numbers are back. Should we throw a party?"
He ignored her, but a quiet satisfaction flickered behind his eyes as he dismissed the window.
Not much. But it was a start.
"Not too bad", Fin mumbled, closing his menu.
Lae'zel nodded, wiping her blade clean on the cloak of a nearby corpse before sheathing her blade.
"You have proven surprisingly adequate in battle, istik; what is your name?" Lae'zel asked.
Fin looked up at her, "Uh, thanks? My name is Fin, but we can do proper introductions later, we need to leave"
Lae'zel nodded again, "Of course, to the helm"
The wind blew ash across the balcony, curling around the smouldering corpses of the fallen imps.
Fin took a deep breath.
He could still feel the ache from the claw that raked his shoulder earlier, the sting setting in now that the adrenaline had ebbed.
Not fatal. But annoying.
He stepped over one of the corpses, eyes scanning the nearby platform. A second thrall lay there, half-melted from dragonfire, but still clothed in something intact, a long, black robe made of a material somewhere between silk and resin.
Fin knelt and tugged at the robe.
No holes. No blood. Just enough coverage that he wouldn't look like a deranged cultist running around in stolen pants and shoulder wounds.
He slipped it on, the soft fabric cool against his skin. It hung loose at the sleeves but fit well enough around the shoulders. A wide belt cinched around the waist.
Before he could adjust the collar, a voice cut in.
"Are you quite finished playing dress-up?" Lae'zel spat.
"Yeah. I feel marginally less like a feral prisoner now."
Ali appeared beside him, hands on her hips, smirking.
"Aw, clothes? And here I was enjoying the mad monk aesthetic. You know, half-dead, half-nude, morally ambiguous."
Fin muttered, "Only one of those is still true."
Ali winked. "Exactly."
Lae'zel, unaware of Ali's presence, was already marching ahead, her longsword resting across her shoulder.
Fin followed.
They passed through a corridor twisted by fire and stress. Fin slowed as they entered.
At the centre of the chamber stood a strange structure, a mass of illithid biotechnology coiled like a blue tentacled conch shell. Smooth, fleshy metal stretched out into curling spouts and ridged conduits, each ending in what looked like flexible, ribbed tubing.
It resembled a faucet grown in a nightmare.
Lae'zel stopped short, narrowing her eyes at it.
"What is this thing?"
Ali stepped forward, peering at the construct. "Illithid restoration unit. Full biochemical reset on all connected neural and muscular systems. Kind of like a spa, if spas were built by brain-eating squid monsters."
Lae'zel scowled. "It stinks of ghaik. I will not touch it."
Fin approached the structure, brushing his fingers along one of the dangling tentacle-conduits.
"I know what it does."
Ali nodded. "Pull the tendril. Let the squid-juice do the rest."
Lae'zel stepped back warily.
Fin wrapped his hand around one of the thicker tendrils and pulled at it.
The machine twitched.
A surge of faint blue light pulsed through its ridges, washing across the room. The air filled with a low hum, like a breath held across dimensions.
The glow swept over Lae'zel as well, much to her disgust.
Fin watched the cut on his shoulder slowly close, the skin sealing itself without pain. The soreness in his muscles faded. His hands, raw from striking bone and flesh, steadied.
His stamina returned. Breathing eased.
All of it… gone. Reset. Restored.
He exhaled slowly.
"Could get used to that."
Lae'zel looked down at her arm, now clean of blood, the gash near her bicep completely gone.
She blinked. Then scowled.
"I still hate it."
Ali chuckled. "You know, they say healing builds trust. Or was it tentacle therapy?"
Fin turned from the node, now silently pulsing with blue light again.
"Let's move. The helm's not far."
Lae'zel nodded silently, her distaste for illithid tech unspoken, and fell in step beside him.
Ali faded from view with a shimmer, her voice trailing off as she whispered in Fin's ear.
"Just so you know, that robe makes you look mildly cult-adjacent. But in a sexy, enigmatic way."
Fin gave Ali a deadpan expression.
But he didn't deny it either.
...
The group approached another sphincter-like door, which opened on their arrival, revealing a large room with multiple pods and other individuals atop tables. A console with three large fleshy buttons was at the centre of the room.
As they entered, Lae'zel's face gained a look of disgust.
"Ghaik machinery. I can make no sense of it", Lae'zel spat
Fin looked at the table, "Neither can I-"
"Damn it!"
Fin recognised the voice, he turned and stepped toward the sound. Lae'zel and Us followed.
They found the source: a pod near the far wall. The interior shook faintly, and within it, a dark-haired woman pounded her fist against the translucent shell.
"You! Get me out of this damn thing!"
Her voice was tight with panic, but her eyes met Fin's, pleading.
Lae'zel's lip curled.
"We have no time for stragglers."
Fin hesitated.
The woman looked right at him again.
Not with desperation. But… recognition.
He wasn't sure if it was real or if she reminded him of someone long gone.
He saw her fingers twitch again, pointing.
"Try that gadget next to the pod. They did something to it when they sealed me in!"
Fin moved toward the small console she indicated, a construct with rigid, dormant membranes. His parasite stirred the moment he touched it, squirming beneath his eye. The discomfort was brief.
Then came the feeling:
Connection.
Like something was opening. Folding to him.
Listening.
He didn't speak. He willed it open.
The console pulsed once in recognition, and the pod shuddered in response. Biological locks hissed. The membrane peeled back. The woman collapsed forward as the seal broke.
Fin stepped in and caught her before she hit the ground.
Her eyes blinked open, unfocused, but only for a moment.
Then her brow furrowed, and she shoved herself upright with a groan.
"Thanks, but I don't make a habit of falling into strangers' arms," she muttered, steadying herself.
Fin raised an eyebrow. "Could've fooled me. You were about to faceplant."
She rolled her shoulders and gave him a sideways glance, brushing dust off her robes. "I was fine. You just got in the way."
He scoffed. "Yeah, alright. I got in the way of gravity."
Lae'zel exhaled sharply behind them, clearly irritated. Us clicked one of its claws, almost as if judging them both.
The woman ignored them, adjusting her armour as she took in the chamber.
Then her gaze flicked back to Fin.
"Still, I suppose I owe you something. What's your name?"
"Fin."
"Shadowheart," she replied smoothly.
Fin's mind then lurches into her thoughts. Her gratitude is mixed with wariness, because he had a gith with him.
She blinked first, then glanced over his shoulder at Lae'zel, who stood stiffly nearby, arms crossed and glaring.
"You keep dangerous company," Shadowheart said coolly.
Lae'zel hissed, unimpressed. "Watch your tongue, ghaik-slave."
Fin raised a hand, calm. "Oi, can we not do this? I already got clawed up by hellspawn today. Let's save the murder-flirting for later. We're all infected. Doesn't really matter who's dangerous anymore."
Shadowheart tilted her head slightly. "Fair enough. I'll come with you, at least until we're off this ship. We can cover each other's backs."
"Works for me," Fin said.
Shadowheart smirked. "Fair point. We're all infected anyway. Might as well die in good company."
Fin shrugged. "Exactly the optimism I was looking for."
She nodded once, businesslike. "Then I'm coming with you. We'll watch each other's backs. Try not to get in my way."
"Same."
She turned back to her now-open pod, rummaging for something in the fluid-coated interior.
"Just a moment..."
Her hand returned clutching a small metal prism, its facets shimmering faintly with psionic light. Fin's breath caught.
The Astral Prism.
He didn't ask.
Lae'zel snorted. "Are we finished here, or should we wait for more mementos?"
Shadowheart stood, brushing off her hands. "We're finished. Try to keep up."
Fin motioned ahead toward the door. "This way. Helm's close."
They moved, the tension thick, but now, at least, they were three. Three people at least, three people and an...Us?
...
[End of Chapter]
I have the first 5 Chapters written and will publish them every two days, which should mean a more consistent upload schedule. I'd like to hear what you think of the story so far, and what you think of Fin?