We were lucky that there was another one of those healing devices in the room behind us given the damage we had taken. Once the machine was done working it's magic, I once again felt refreshed. My ally however was less than pleased for having to use a machine made by the 'Ghaik' as she calls them. Which prompted me to tell her she can either heal up before we face our enemies at the helm, or die like an idiot. She wasn't too happy about my phrasing and crossed her arms as I decided to spend that time looting. There was no way I was heading into the helm with a disadvantage.
Looting the bodies of the dead on the ship I surprisingly found some gold. Admittedly, I wasn't sure I would even use it any time soon, considering that I don't normally go to settlements for anything, but it wouldn't hurt to keep in case I needed it. Hells, if we get out of this I may need to use it to help with any unforeseeable complications in our quest to get rid of this tadpole in our heads.
Quest? Wow, really? I was already referring to it as that. I better cast such notions from my mind sooner rather than later. There was no way this Githyanki and I were going to end up being adventuring companions. Besides, groups like that tend to need more members than just two martial combatants. Healers, people good at getting in and out of places. I mean I'm no slouch at lockpicking and stealth but I'm sure there are professionals out there that spend more time in cities and such and have way more practice than I do. Not to mention having some kind of magic inclined wizard or sorcerer wouldn't be the worst thing.
What am I talking about. We aren't doing that. We are getting off this ship, and we are going to get these tadpoles out of our heads. Like the Gith said, we are going to part ways afterwards.
Shaking my head as I climb up onto the elevated platform, leaving the carnage behind us, we come to another entrance. Walking forward, I see the Gith woman raise her hand and wave it to the side, which causes the skin like barrier to retract and leave an opening for us to walk through. I note briefly that it kind of looks like an anus, and wondere if the Illithid were aware of that at all.
Inside the room looks to be a similar chamber to the one my companion and I woke up in. The major difference is there is no pool of tadpoles here. There are pods along the outside wall, with two doors, one ahead, and one to our right, but in the centre is some other device with beds. The beds are occupied by people and they seem to be unconscious. In front of the device, directly ahead of us, is a terminal with three slabs with writing on it and controls.
"Istik! Back! Touch nothing without knowing it's purpose." I roll my eyes at the obvious strategy when dealing with shit you don't understand. I avoid verbalizing it however, for I've already insulted her once today, and calling her the 'Queen Obvious' will probably piss her off.
I move towards the terminal and as I do, focus on the script, etched into the tablets. Failing to understand the first, but capable of reading the second and third.
"Aggression... and... I think that says Annihilate." I turn to the Gith woman who looks at me with scrutiny. Undoubtedly less trusting of me, seeing as how I just deciphered the language of the Mind Flayers.
"I used to study a lot. Illithids were interesting, though the materials I had on them were limited, and largely, we don't know a lot about them. I used to think they came from the Underdark, but..." The woman scoffs as she walks forward.
"It matters not. We must continue, instead of wasting our-"
THUMP THUMP THUMP
Turning my head, I see a pod that appears to be active, showing signs of life within.
"Damn it!" Yeah, definitely somebody in there. The voice was feminine, and definitely distraught. The pod is sealed tight enough that I can barely pick up her scent. Before moving over to her however, I look down at the people in the chairs, and see that they are catatonic, but alive. At least, I can hear a heart beat in all of them.
Curious as to what might be causing this, I wonder if the 'Aggression' Sigil is any indication of what this machine is for. It's likely that 'Annihilate' will kill them, so I was hoping, like an idiot, that the first button I failed to decipher, would wake them up.
And she just old me not to touch anything I didn't understand, and I rolled my eyes. She was totally right about me.
Touching the knob and having the machines appendages wrap around my hand, I command it to activate and... nothing. I could hear something whir to life, like an engine of some kind, but it resulted in nothing.
"These people... they are prisoners in their minds."
"It doesn't matter."
"You would leave them like this?" I was quite appalled by the notion. I'd never want to be left like this. If I was doomed to be a vegetable forever, than I'd rather die.
"It is of no concern of ours. Keep your wits. Would it be you wish to concern yourselves with inferiors over escaping this place." Inferiors? God damn it, she was starting to sound like my father.
Ignoring her, I decide to go check on the woman pounding against her pod. Maybe she knew how to help them... though I doubted it.
Walking over to her pod, I can see the woman's hands repeatedly slam against the surface of the pods lid. She was desperately trying to break free, to the point that she was harming herself. I could tell she's already fractured both hands in her attempts. As I approach to beseech her to stop, I catch her attention, and a look of panicked hope and fearful doubt washes over her face. When I study her more closely, I realize she is likely no older than 19 or 20. An adult by most standards, but given her pointed ears, I'd guess she's either older than she looks, or barely considered an adult by her own people. A girl, scared for her life.
"You! Get me out of this damn thing!"
"We have no time for stragglers." I figured she'd say that.
"Seriously? Look at her, she's wearing armour. She's probably capable of helping in battle, and you would abandon her here? Even if you don't like those of us from the Material Plane, leaving any potential help behind because of your sense of superiority isn't just foolish, it's idiotic. Besides, she's just a kid." She growls at me from under her breath when I'm done berrating her.
"Would it be you wish to survive this day, you will learn to speak to me with respect."
"Like I haven't heard that before." Moving towards the pod, I start running my hand along the edges and searching for a latch or something similar to release it, ignoring the Gith's building frustration with my attitude towards her.
Unfortunately, my search for a way to open the pod is fruitless. It is simply too alien, and nothing looks familiar.
"This ship is crashing! Do you intend to die for a stranger!"
"I did when I decided to have your back in that fight a few minutes ago. Why, did you not?" The woman's look of disgust tells me she thinks I'm a fool for my answer.
"If I die for anybody, it is for my Queen, not some pitiful creature as yourself."
"You're the one that said 'Together, we might survive'?" The woman sucks air through her teeth as she turns away from me in frustration, crossing her arms. Clearly displeased with my use of her own words against her.
Turning towards the woman in the pod, I shake my head, unsure of what else to do. She lowers her head, tears forming in her eyes. I can smell the fear now, that clutches her, and I'm determined to get this thing open.
"Hold on. Lean back, away from the lid." I honestly shouldn't be doing this, but given our present circumstances, I didn't have much of a choice. Hopefully, they don't ask me too many questions about how I pull off what I'm about to pull off.
Given that I was able to remove my pods lid from it's surface, I figure I can rip this one off as well. So, as the dark haired Elf lays back, I place my hands on either side of the lid, and do my best to get my fingers into the grooves where the lid separates from the rest of the pod.
Gripping the material as tightly as I can, I don't hold back as I pull at the damned thing, intent on ripping it clear off, even if the result is pulling it off and landing on my ass from the exertion, it would be worth it. Another life saved, to balance the scales.
I pull and pull, until finally I feel the lid give. The Mind Flayers did something to this pod for sure. It smells of magic, unlike the rest of the pods I've come across so far. I don't know why they thought this girl was more important than the rest of us, but I'll save the questioning for later.
I pull some more and the lid comes off more and more as I do, until finally I give one final heave and I end up hurling the offending contraptions lid off to the side of the room. It skids across the ground and falls through an opening in the bottom of the ship. I guess floating really makes it unnecessary to have to worry about falling through the holes they have in this vessel.
The raven haired Elf, stands from the pod, and as she goes to take a step out, she goes slack, and I move in time to catch her as she falls out of the pod.
"Uuugh. I'm... sorry. I..."
"Don't worry about it. I felt just as loopy coming out of my pod." Not entirely true, but definitely wasn't 100% until I touched that healing device. "Take your time."
The woman does so, taking a minute to gather herself before she stands up right on her own, in which case I release her.
"I thought that damn thing was going to be my coffin. Thank yo-"
Again, my head throbs, and my mind lurches into her thoughts. Her gratitude is mixed with wariness, because I have a Gith with me. Why does that matter?
"You keep dangerous company?" Turning my head, I see that the Githyanki woman in question is now standing in a wide stance, her arms still crossed, but now her almost non-existent nose is upturned towards the girl. Shit, this is not going to bode well for morale.
"Dangerous company is what you need in a fight." She smirks, and nods her head.
"Fair point. Looks like there is plenty of fighting ahead. Let me come with you. We can get off this ship and watch each other's backs along the way."
"That was the idea. I'm Alaric by the way." The woman nods gives me a smile.
"Shadowheart." She turns her head towards the Githyanki, to which I grin and follow her gaze. The Gith woman furrows her brow while looking between the both of us, scowling the entire time. I can tell she's struggling to resist the peer pressure, but now that we have a new ally, she may realize how outnumbered she's going to be if she keeps being antagonistic towards us.
"Lae'zel." She growls out and I nearly laugh as I look back at Shadowheart, who looks understandably confused.
"What's that all about?" I shake my head, too which she just shrugs and turns back towards her pod. "One moment." She heads over to her would-be-coffin and reaches inside, pulling out a small metalic object, round, with spikes, and orange lines sectioning it off. She pockets it as she walks back towards us.
"What's that?" My curiosity got the better of me. I had never seen anything like it before. I could smell the power coming off of it. It was like the Mind Flayer, Ozone, but much, much more potent.
"It's nothing. Trust me." Well, that response warrants further prodding, I think anyway. Before I can continue my questioning however...
"Enough of this chatter. We need to get to the helm, now."
"She's right. Lead on." Her gesture towards me had me stumped for a second. I'm the leader here? How the Hells did that happen?
"Uh, right. You can heal your hands with that device in the corner there." She turns to see the machine in question and raises a brow. "Just lift your hand into the feelers, they will wrap around you and rejuvenate you. It's quite a wonder, actually." She nods and walks over and places her hand in the machine as I stated, receiving the healing energies the machine provides.
"Mistress... that's..." She cuts herself off, looking at her hands, which were now fully healed. She keeps her eyes on her appendages until she reaches us. "That's quite the device."
"No kidding." Turning towards the people in the chairs, I point to them and regard her. "Do you have any idea of how to help these people?"
"I don't know that we have..." I give her a frown. Seriously, I just helped her, and Lae'zel had the same attitude about the situation. She sighs, relenting and heads towards the closest man. "...I can't promise anything, and we don't have the time to spend trying to figure it out."
"Understandable. Whatever you can do, if anything." Shadowheart raises her hands and they begin to glow with a radiant energy. It is violet in colour, and she spreads her hands over the mans body as she seems to examine him.
Oh gods, she's a cleric.
"It's no use." I am drawn from my thoughts as she calls to me. "I can't undo whatever has been done to them, it's irreversible. Or, at least that's what I can gather." I sigh in defeat, trudging over to the console, and placing my hand on the controls for 'Annihilate'. Shadowheart looks at me remorsefully, while Lae'zel, though seemingly frustrated with the time that was being wasted, seems to be giving me an approving look.
"Are we done here?" The Githyanki woman's annoyance is clear, and I nod.
"Yeah."
"Good." She uncrosses her arms, and begins to walk towards the door to the right of the chamber. Shadowheart looks to me for guidance on whether or not we are following the Githyanki and I motion for her to follow. I nearly step on Us in the process, almost forgetting that it was there.
Walking into another chamber, my nose is assaulted with the combination of that familiar scent of brine, cloying sweetness, vinegar, and Ozone associated with Mind Flayers, while the hellish stench of the Infernal beings of Avernus, blood, ash, and smoke, was permeating from the other room. I could hear fighting, blades swiping through the air, and guttural battle cries. It wasn't just imps fighting mind flyers in their, it was likely that a few devils had arrived as well.
"What is he doing?" Shadowheart questions.
"I think he's a dog." I turn to look at both women, who are staring at me as I had stopped in my tracks to focus on my other senses. Lae'zel giving me a knowing look, and Shadowheart, quirking a brow in confusion.
"What do you mean a dog?"
"It's nothing. I was raised in the woods, so my sense of smell and hearing are more developed. Had to be or I would have been wolf food many times over." Shadowheart seemed to question my response for a moment before letting it go, but Lae'zel wasn't convinced. Shit, her scrutiny isn't good. I worry the next words out of her mouth will be accusatory.
"We are nearing the helm..." oh thank the gods. "...once inside. Do as I say."
"Who put you in charge." Gods, why? "I'll trust my own judgment."
"Kainyank." I don't remember what that word means, but I know it isn't nice. "Throw your life away if you wish, Elf. Would you not cherish the gift of being saved, than you are a fool." Shadowheart's face reads indignation as she flies into a heated response.
"I'm a Half-Elf. And it is not as if you saved me..." Here we go. "...it was him. You just stood there, clearly wanting to abandon me." Great, this is what we need right now. And of course, Lae'zel is about to fire back again.
"Enough." Both women react differently to my snarl. Shadowheart jumps a bit, and Lae'zel gets into a defensive stance. "Stand down, Lae'zel."
"You don't gi-"
"I clearly am the only one here with any sense. You two were about to delve into a meaningless squabble, while we should be focusing our efforts on working together and getting off this bloody ship." I turn to Shadowheart. "Do you have weapons?"
"No. My equipment was taken from me when I boarded." I nod, pulling one of my sickles from my waist and handing it to her. She hesitates at first, but ultimately takes the weapon. "I hope this doesn't hinder you."
"It doesn't. My body is a weapon, so even if I have no blades, I can generally punch, kick, choke, and body slam things to death. Among other techniques." Looking slightly impressed, she nods.
"It's been a while since I've witnessed a Monk in action. I look forward to it." I nod, turning now to Lae'zel.
"Are you going to be able to keep a level head? You don't have to take orders from me, I just need to know that we can rely on each other in there. We are about to face Mind Flayers and Devils, among other things. We need to be ready." She looks ready to launch into a debate, but stows her anger, saving it for the enemy as she nods and draws her sword. "Good. Let's go."
Wasting no more time, the three, or I guess four of us, step through the anus door as it slides open, and as we enter the chamber, we bear witness to a battle that is probably above our pay grade.
Looking across the helm, it's clear that this place is becoming over run with Infernal creatures. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, depending on your point of view, the Illithid are no push overs. There are bodies everywhere. Likely thralls, and Intellect Devourers, Imps, hellish quadrupedal beasts that I think are named Hellboars, red skinned Cambions with flaming weapons, among other things I don't recognize.
I watch as one such creature takes a fire axe to a Mind Flayer, but the squid creature slides back, gliding out of the way of the winged assailant. Behind them, I can see another Mind Flayer ambushing another Cambion that had intended on flanking the first one I mentioned. It wraps its tentacles around the Infernal's head, and, appears to, eat his mind, before tossing the now dead Infernal to the ground. Not even the Hells were immune to the Illithids hunger. Fascinating.
The victory didn't last however, for the recently fed Mind Flayer became swarmed by imps, and despite putting up a decent fight, is ultimately overwhelmed, and perishes due to it's wounds. The first Illithid however, performs some kind of Psionic Blast, and manages to kill the fire axe wielding bastard. I'm astonished at what I'm seeing, but quickly realizing that if a devil or fiend appears, we are fucked. Not to mention if we may have to fight this Illithid and I was not looking forward to that. Imagine my rising fear as the thing turned to us and pointed right at me.
"Thrall. Connect the nerves of the transponder. We must escape. Now." It's voice was in my head. Deeper than the voice of Us. More steady, though I can feel it's desperation. I nod, deciding to play along. The realization that we had the Illithid on our side at the moment was a blessing, although I know Lae'zel probably doesn't agree.
"Do it. We can deal with the ghaik after we escape." Okay, I was wrong. Forgetting already that she's highly pragmatic.
"Here." A tap on my shoulder comes as I turn to see Shadowheart, who is now holding a shield on her left arm, is presenting to me my sickle. "I found something I'm more comfortable with." I can see a mace held in her left hand as I take my sickle back. She then wields the mace in her right hand and gives it a few swings.
"Lucky us. Let's get this over with." Turning back to the fight ahead of us, I place the sickles together into it's staff form, and begin to move forward with my companions, but stop as a new Cambion with a fire sword comes crashing through the ship, and lands on his feet, staring at us. He is followed by a few more imps, reinforcing the few that still stand, along with the couple of hellboars, before lifting his sword to us.
"I am Commander Zhalk! You will all pay for invading our realm!" He raises is sword and point it at us. "Split these intruders open! Avernus is ours!"
With his command, the Infernal abominations race towards us, and as he is about to follow suit, the Mind Flayer draws his attention by lashing at him with his tentacles.
I immediately move forward to kill the closest Hellboar before it has a chance to do any real damage. It begins it's charge towards us but I jam the point of my blade into it's open mouth and jump over the Infernal beast, hooking it with the curve of my blade, using the weight and moment of my descent to rip it through it's skull. As I'm doing this, Lae'zel fires her last crossbow bolt into the crowd of imps, before throwing the weapon at them, and charging forward with her sword. Shadowheart, before getting in close range, starts chanting, and casting what I believed to be sacred flame at the creatures. I watched as some of the imps intent on rending my flesh would combust into brilliant violet light before falling from the air, expired. If any got near here, she would club them with her mace. Before I engaged the large crowed of Imps, I used almost the entirety of my throwing knives to dwindle their numbers, and then I went to work the same way I did before, wide sweeping circular motions, cleaving through as many as possible.
We fought and fought and it felt like they just wouldn't stop coming. We did our best to dodge fire bolts, avoid taking too much damage from their claws, but there were too many. We needed to get to the transponder, or we would die here.
"I'm going to try and make a break for it!" I briefly glance at Lae'zel and Shadowheart, who are now closer to me so we can protect each other's flanks.
"Go for it!" Shadowheart yells back her approval. We dance around each other as I cleave through droves of imps and she will smash a few before having an opening to cast Sacred Flame.
"All that matters is- RAAGH! - we get escape this damnable plane!" Lae'zel is in agreement, grunting and roaring in anger as she cleaves through imp after hellboar after imp.
Slowly but surely, we were making our way closer and closer to the transponder, but we needed to get there faster. Especially since it looked like the Mind Flayer was losing his fight to Commander Zhalk.
"Alright, I'm going now!" The two, in accidental tandem move towards the front side of our formation to clear the path of imps that I am fighting, which graciously enough, worked like a charm. I have just enough of a gap as I beeline it out of that horde of imps and race for the transponder. Along the way I have to still cut down a few infernal beast but nothing to-
"Throw their corpses into the Styx!" The Cambion leader slides in front of me with the body of the Mind Flayer impaled on his flaming sword, the Illithid's attire catching fire and spreading over his whole body as Zhalk, tosses it to the side. Then he turns to me, and stands tall. I'm no Goliath, but I do stand at about six feet four inches, and this guy definitely is taller than me by a few inches. This is not good. Regardless of height, his weapon is magical, which means I'm not resistant to it, and my weapon isn't magical, which means killing him will be extremely difficult, not to mention I'm pretty sure this guy out classes me in almost every way imaginable.
He raises his sword to strike me, but a bolt of violet radiant energy slams into his face, causing him to shout in surprised agony. When he removes his hand from his face and shakes his head, I feel this surge of inspiration, and feel as if though it will be more likely that I can land a blow that would help us greatly.
I know that I don't have the tools to kill him quickly, or even at all really, but I figured that temporary blindness would probably do the trick and buy me time. Raising my staff as I go to run past him I jump up and spin, swinging my bladed staff horizontally, aiming to slash his eyes out. I strike true, and he growls in anger as he lashes out with his sword, managing to slash me across my back as I'm spinning away from him. The cut isn't too deep, but the fire isn't natural, and it burns worse than the fire bolts of those imps. It burns deeper. I nearly fall to my knees, thanking my lucky stars that the fucker didn't get a clean hit on me, and it was only a glancing blow.
I quickly shrug off the pain, and split my sickles again as I charge forward, slashing through imps and killing the last Hellboar as I get closer to the Transponder. I nearly lose my footing when the ship takes evasive manoeuvres to avoid colliding with a dragon.
"Tsk'va! Hurry! Before they strike!" Right, the vision of the dragons wing. These Githyanki were some how working with the red dragons. Insanity if ever there was an example.
"Look out!" Shadowheart's warning allowed me to dive forward and roll away as I feel the heat of a blade nearly take off my neck. The raging battle and the overwhelming smell of Mind Flayer, blood, and Cambion was blinding my keen senses, save my eyes, from everything going on around me.
As I roll to my feet I turn to face my attacker and watch as Commander Zhalk is winding up for another strike. His eyes already healing from my previous attack, though more slowly due to the radiant attack that our cleric used on him.
"Can you fuck off!" I deftly reattach both my sickles together again, making my crescent staff and step out of the way of his strike. I attempt to slash his eyes with my blades again but he moves faster than I would expect for somebody his size and he deflects my attack with his sword. This is not good. I'm going to get screwed in a fight with him.
I go low to try and sweep his feet from under him but he just flies straight up with his wings, because of course he would, and quickly drops down on my leg before I can retract it. He breaks it, and I cry out in pain. Immediately, a familiar besital rage wells up inside of me, and my cry quickly turns into a snarl and a roar.
I can't lose control here. The clawing I feel inside to let loose is tearing at me because of the pain, but I refuse to give in. I can't. I won't. I need to remain in control so that we can get out of here.
"I will claim this victory for Zariel! You fools had no chance!" He stood above me, placing all of his weight down on the foot crushing my left leg, while flipping his sword downward and raising it slightly above his head, intending on impaling me through my torso. I have half a mind to cut my leg off as fast as I can. I know my sickles are sharp enough, but I don't know if I have the speed, and if I would even be able to reach the transponder afterwards.
"FOR VLAAKITH!" The Cambion Commander looks surprised as he turns his head, as do I, in the direction of Lae'zel and Shadowheart, who at the moment are being chased by imps as they both charge the bastard standing on my leg.
He doesn't have time to react before they both slam into him, Lae'zel running him through with her sword, and barrelling into him with her shoulder, at the same time as Shadowheart slamming into him with her shield. Of the two, Lae'zel is the only one to tackle him completely while Shadowheart plants her feet before holstering her mace to aid me. The Cambion and the Githyanki scramble to the grounding losing hold of their weapons, as Lae'zel attempts to mount the Infernal creature and begin to pummel him as best she can. She is going to die that way, but I am totally attracted to her right now.
"You guys saved my ass."
"No time for that now!" Shadowheart begins making arcane hand motions before placing them together and saying a few magic words. Divine violet energy encompasses her hands again as she holds it over my leg and uses a healing spell to heal weeks of recovery, for normal people, in mere seconds. "Can you stand!" She draws her mace and faces the oncoming onslaught of imps.
"Yeah! Defend yourself and cover me! I'll get to the transponder!" Just as I say that I stand and nearly collapse again. Though my leg had been healed a decent amount, it still had a ways to go. Luckily I heal faster than most people, at least when magic isn't involved.
Still, I grit my teeth and fall to my knees, fastening my sickles to my waist and then using my hands and good leg to rapidly run across the floor of the helm. It's a good thing I spent a lot of time getting used to running like this when necessary.
I run past Lae'zel and Zhalk, just as he finally grabs her arm and pulls her off of him, standing straight up without struggle. She kicks at him and tries to free herself but it's no use. Pulling her blade out of his stomach, the Commander laughs sadistically, as he rams the blade into Lae'zel's stomach. The woman's face turns into a grimace as she screams in agony before he rips the blade out of her and throws her against the wall. He turns to me, dropping the weapon, and picking up his own, as he stalks me. I pick up the pace, but this fuck doesn't only have full use of both his legs, but can fly.
Lucky for me, Shadowheart wasn't about to let him get the better of us so easily.
I don't know what she is doing, but suddenly I can see five of her. All of her forms are moving in unison, so I could only imagine that it was some kind of illusion magic, which I wasn't expecting from a cleric. Then again, some gods are tricksters by nature, and she could be a cleric that resides in the trickster domain. Either way, I wasn't about to ask her to stop, so I use the distraction to my advantage.
I hear fighting in the background, but Shadowheart is losing, fast. I know we can't stand against, him, it's too soon. Maybe if he didn't have all those fucking imps and hellboars, we would have stood a chance with the Mind Flayer against him. That doesn't matter now. I look at the Transponder and a flash of images races through my mind, and the understanding of how to operate this thing comes to me. Grabbing two of the leathery nerves from the device, I hold them together, and I watch as their tiny appendages reach out for each other as they get closer and they connect, almost like they are embracing.
Right as I'm about to finally get us out of here, a dragon lands on the ship, and sticks it's head through an opening in the front. I don't have time to even process what's about to happen before I see Shadowheart's body get chucked across the room, flying into my view before skidding across the ground, ending in a heap near the dragon. I turn to look at the devil walking towards me, and he looks over to the Dragon as he swings his sword back and forth.
"You're mother has no dominion here, scaled one! Tiamat is a prisoner, or did you forge-" His prattling is stopped short by the young dragon spewing it's fire breath into the ship. I get knocked over by the force and shaking of the ship as it is rocked by the dragons influence. Zhalk laughs, undoubtedly because he's either resistant or completely immune to fire, and runs at the dragon.
Yeah, I'm done with this place.
Standing up, I attempt to approach the transponder, but just as Zhalk jumps at the dragon, the ship shifts into another plane. Now, the Cambion, his imps, and the dragons were no where in sight. The speed of the ship seems to have increased, and gravity works against me all at the same time.
I get lifted off my feet and tossed against a far wall. The pain would have been nothing if it wasn't for that fucking slash Zhalk took to my back. I look around to see where Lae'zel and Shadowheart are, and spot them holding on to parts of the ship. I can't believe either one of them is conscious at the moment, maybe it's out of shear will and desperation, or maybe it's a fucking miracle. I don't know.
The ship shifts again, and I suddenly feel the pressure keeping me pressed against the wall shift, and I suddenly am launched forward towards the transponder. This is my last opportunity to grab this fucking thing and bring us back to the Prime Material Plane.
As I approach the transponder, I notice that I'm actually going to miss it by a wide margin, so I quickly put my sickles together and ready myself to hook the apparatus. Luckily, I find my mark, and wedge the blades into the machine, praying to any god that will listen that it doesn't destroy the thing, and begin to climb up my staff. When I get to the nerves, I grab the damn thing and pull.
The ship shifts again, and gravity returns to normal. I land on my feet, and quickly dislodge my weapon from the machine, just in case I end up screwing it up and sending us back into one of the Nine Hells, or worse, the Abyss. I decouple my blades and fasten them to my waist again as I turn to look for Shadowheart and Lae'zel. Both seem to have finally fallen unconscious, now that they aren't needing to hold on for their lives and I decide I should go feed them some healing potions.
Fate however, has different plans.
I don't know how sky ships work, but something within the vessel explodes, and causes it to rapidly descend. I lose my footing and fall against a wall, right next to an opening in the ship. I'm lucky I didn't fall right through. Turning my head to get bearings on where we might be, I notice that there is a living, but injured Mind Flayer staring right at me. The way it was looking at me was unnerving. I don't know how to read these creatures but it definitely had some kind of interest in me, and part of me wonders if it finally realized I'm not a thrall.
My intense curiosity about the Mind Flayers has me forgetting my surroundings, which leads to me getting hit with something in the side of the head, feeling immense pain for a brief second, before blacking out entirely.