Hello! Welcome to my first bg3 fic, this one has been lingering in the back of my head for awhile now. I love the dark urge playthrough, and I couldn't help but wonder how things would play out with a few tweaks here and there. So here we are, this is a slightly different version of durge based off what I think could be interesting to explore.

TW: In this chapter specifically, blood idealization, hunger for humanoid flesh, and for obvious reasons, violence.
If any of this bothers you, no worries, I hope you find something else great to read!
If you don't mind, then welcome! I hope you enjoy.


The Nautoloid

When her feet landed on the ground with a thunk, pain shot through her like an arrow.

A gasp ripped from her mouth as she stumbled forward and wobbled back, she ended up collapsing back against the pod that once contained her.

Her limbs shook, as if they weren't used to moving, her nerves stung bitterly, like every part of her was on fire.

Letting out a shuddering breath she used the pod for more support, leaning heavier against it.

Head throbbing with pain, and body stinging bitterly, she gently lifted a hand to her face, trying to relieve the pressure that gravity seemed to impose upon her.

There was a hum from the ship beneath her.

Ship.

She was on a ship, or rather, she had been captured on a ship.

Slowly lifting her gaze, she let her hand drop from her face, the surroundings looked familiar, but like one from a dream. There had been…a creature, a green woman…and a…

A worm.

Her hand flew up to her eye so fast she smacked herself and hissed with pain as the throbbing in her head increased tenfold.

But it wasn't like that mattered.

There was a fucking worm in her head.

A full body shudder ran over her, and her hand over her eye closed into a fist, tingles ran over the limb. She itched to claw into her eye and rip out the worm, crushing it under her boot, its guts spilling out everywhere like sludge.

A shaky breath escaped her and despite the painful itch in her hand she forcibly ripped the extremity away.

She didn't need to injure herself further.

Taking deep and controlled breaths, she did her best to focus. She was on a ship, and she did not want to stay on the ship.

Lifting her gaze, she let her eyes sweep over the room, fire danced to her left, the containment pod directly across from her was knocked over and opened.

That's where the green woman had been.

The strange pool that contained some kind of yellow liquid-

The worm.

Right, that's where it had come from. That strange squid-like creature-Illithid-had gotten the worm from the yellow liquid.

Idly she wondered if it was supposed to mimic the fluid in people's brains.

Blinking, she rubbed at her throbbing head and stole a deep breath.

She needed to get moving, she needed to get out of here and-

Swallowing, she rubbed at her face again and stole another breath, this one shakier as she exhaled it.

The black void lingered behind her conscious thought, occasional thoughts and images came from it but nothing substantial, nothing to tell her how she'd gotten here, or-

Who was she?

She felt her heart lurch in her chest at the thought, but it was soon proceeded by the ship following suit.

She couldn't linger, she could ponder her existence when she wasn't on a damaged ship.

Body still stinging with pain, she pushed herself off the pod and stumbled forward.

Fire was bursting from several areas in the room, and as she went searching around for an exit, all she was met with was the pods, the fire, and a strange circular fleshy thing within an alcove.

Having stumbled her way over, her legs seemed to tire with the effort, punishing her with dull aches. She grit her teeth and pressed on, but her steps grew increasingly wobbly as she approached the only thing in the room that looked like a door. But as soon as she entered the alcove, her knees buckled beneath her and she was sent flailing forward until she collided with the fleshy thing. A groan escaped her as she slumped against the slimy wall.

At contact however, there was a squelching sound before the flesh pulled back, revealing an opening that she fell face first through.

She hardly felt any additional pain as she dropped to the ground, a dull shudder of pins and needles radiated over her, but it was nothing more then she'd already been feeling.

Half of her just wanted to lay here, the vibration of the ship was almost soothing, almost enough to cause her to ignore the throbbing of her head, and the prickling pain that radiated over her.

But, she knew she couldn't just give up like this, so, with a groan, she used her hands to push herself up, and then used the doorframe to drag herself to her feet.

When she was finally standing, she lifted her gaze. The room was larger then the last, ceilings higher then she wanted to consider, and directly before her there was a hole in the wall, revealing a dark sky with an even darker landscape.

She had no idea where she was, but a strange and mysterious land was better than wandering about the vessel helplessly.

As she stepped away from the strange fleshy door, another squelching noise told her that it closed behind her, and a quick glance confirmed it.

Rubbing at her thighs to try and calm the prickling stings, she looked around the room, there was fire all around, the ground made of a strange grey scale-like material. She approached the center of the room where a disk like platform was held above a foggy pit by three ramps, she cautiously stumbled across one of the ramps curious to poke at the strange device at the head of the disk-

"We…are here…"

The voice made her jolt and spin around wildly.

"Who…who is that?" she demanded, her own voice, raspy and unused made her frown and touch her throat, she didn't know her voice...but even she knew that didn't sound right.

"Here…" the soft voice said, and she couldn't help but frown as her ears twitched.

It sounded-though that might not be the proper word-like it was coming from the platform to her left.

Lifting her gaze she wet her lips, could it be a trick? A trap? By whomever had captured her? Those…illithid creatures?

She had no reason to seek out the voice.

"We are trapped…" the voice trailed, its soft, childlike quality making something in the back of her head buzz nosily.

But the odd feeling gave no reasoning for its existence.

She let her eyes drift over the platform, with its back to the upper platform, there was that strange device, it looked like a creature's mouth, with side jaws spread revealing an odd round orb that spat out glowing red tendrils that surrounded an equally red and glowing orb.

Cautiously she approached it, the tendrils shuddered as the ship shook, they wiggling loosely, as if trembling at her approach.

Rubbing her finger pads together she eyed the device, the door had reacted to touch, perhaps this was something similar? But would it cause the platform to drop from under her? Or would it lift the disk up to the higher platform?

A quick glance around informed her that there didn't seem to be any visible way to get up to the upper area.

Her tail curled itself around her leg and her ears lowered a fraction, she glanced between the strange device and the platform that the voice came from.

Was it worth it?

No.

It wasn't.

Eyes lingering above, she backed up a step and took the ramp off the disk. She needed to get out of here, she didn't need to linger.

Hot wind greeted her before she'd even stepped outside, and it soothed some of her buzzing nerve ends, so she more than willingly exited the threshold.

The landscape that they flew past at rapid speeds was greenish and sickly, jagged mountains covered in a smoky fog. She caught sight of fires below, and as she headed over to where the ground dropped slightly, she stopped just short and looked around.

A red dragon flew past, a purple bolt of light striking where it had once been. There was a roar accompanied by another dragon's passing flight.

She stepped back and stole a deep, shaky breath.

None of this was familiar, and despite not knowing what was familiar, somehow, she knew this wasn't it.

The thick smoky smell made her hair stand on end and her tail coil over itself. The ship was going to crash, the fires had spread, the exterior was demolished, there was hardly any hope of a pleasant landing.

Letting out a breath that made her shoulders slump, she tried not to consider that she would probably die upon imp-

A shudder ran over her frame, her ears lifted, and an insistent itch told her to turn around now.

Just as she shifted her weight to do so, the faint sound of metal hitting itself caused her eyes to lift.

Above her soared a green woman silhouetted by a red dragon that crossed just above her. She flipped midair and landed right before the amnesic woman. Causing her to stumble back and tense up as a long silver blade was directed at her.

Her body buzzed with the urge to lung for the woman, blade be damned, and ease the prickling pain with the soothing warmth of a body's blood.

"Abomination." The green woman growled, and then raised her weapon, eyes narrowing, "this is your end." She lurched, and it was mirrored by the amnesic woman.

But a sudden skull splitting pain caused both women to keel over, the githyanki crying out in surprise, and her tiefling counterpart reaching up, fingers twitching to rip the very horns off her head to redirect the pain someplace else.

A different kind of tingle rushed over her, causing goosebumps to rise, images, unbidden began to flood her mind, a dragon's large wing, a glinting silver blade and a pale, scarred tiefling locked within a pod.

Is that me?

The thought returned void, and she was soon sent stumbling back, as the hand that gripped her mind and forced images into it released her.

The githyanki gasped as they were released, she let out heavy pants, "gah…my head." She hissed, "what…" her eyes lifted to her, "what is…this…? Nagh…" she groaned, bent over.

The tiefling gazed back at her, the pain in her head having faded back to the usual throb. Her skin prickling and hands twitching.

She could take her sword, arm herself…skewer the gith through the gut and toss her over the side for the very dragons meant to serve her people to feast upon.

Her eyes drifted to her sword; it was within reach-

"Tsk'va…" she gasped, meeting the tiefling's gaze, "you are no thrall – Vlaakith blesses me this day! Together we might survive." she said, and the tiefling blinked, her tail twitching behind her as her ears lifted.

Together?

The githyanki put her sword back in its sheath on her back, and the tiefling's eyes followed it, it would be harder to reach now.

Why did she want to skewer her again?

"…who…are you?" The tiefling managed out, finally tearing her eyes from the sword.

"Who am I?" She asked, leaning in enough to make the tiefling recoil. "Your only chance of survival." She said, and the tiefling blinked.

"Right…but…your name? Who are you?" She pressed her tail fidgeting behind her.

"Tch, I do not think this is the time for introductions. But if you insist, I am Lae'zel." She said briskly, and the tiefling opened her mouth.

She at least knew that introductions worked both ways.

But with a slight jolt she remembered…that she didn't remember.

Fuck.

Saying she didn't know…especially after she insisted…

Her eyes went to her hands, she flexed them a moment, was there anything significant about her? Any identifying thing?

That face, that was hers, wasn't it?

It had a scar on it.

"We do not have time-" Lae'zel started, and the tiefling snapped her attention to her.

"Three." She cut in, and Lae'zel looked at her for a moment, her brows furrowing.

"Three?"

"Yes…my name is Three."

There had been three claw mark scars on that face, which she now confirmed was hers as she reached up, brushing a finger down each scar.

Three.

It seemed important.

"I see." Lae'zel sent her a side eye but seemed to accept it. Her attention went to the room adjacent to them. "Now, first, we must exterminate the imps. Then, we find the helm and take control of the ship." She brought out her sword, "we will address the matter of a cure for this infection once we reach the Material Plane." She said making Three turn to her.

Infection?

Was she referring to the worm?

But Lae'zel's eyes were back on the imps.

And Three's gaze followed; she felt her body tense for a moment as she inhaled sharply, the coppery scent of blood greeting her like a wall. It slammed into her, setting the painful prickling ablaze anew with a strong resurgence.

There were three small creatures, their skin red and taunt over their bony frames, wings hung off their backs and they hunched over, feasting on a half-naked corpse of a man. They had horns protruding from their skulls, thorny spikes jutted out from their forearms. They were a grotesque sight.

But Three's eyes were fixed on the corpse they feasted on.

Lae'zel said something, something like a war cry, but Three hardly paid her mind. Blood pooled beneath the corpse, chunks of flesh were missing, ripped from his body by the knurled mouths of the imps.

Was his blood still warm? Did they rip all the good flesh off him?

Her mouth felt dry, her hands were twitching, ears raised, and tail coiled up, she shifted her weight and felt her legs tense-

"Three!" Lae'zel called causing the tiefling to jolt and blink a few times before turning to the githyanki. "Where is your weapons? Your armor?" She demanded, and Three blinked, the prickling dulling to a fainter buzz. She looked down at herself, only to find she was in something close to rags. Bloodstains covered her attire.

And she was entirely without weapons.

Lae'zel tsked again and then withdrew a small glinting dagger from her belt. She held it out to Three and when she grasped it by the blade before Lae'zel had flipped it the gith shot her a disgruntled look but didn't comment.

Warmth flooded over Three's hand but she didn't get a chance to savor in the sensation before Lae'zel turned to face the imps.

And one of them screamed.

Three snapped her attention to them, and as Lae'zel went charging over, the imps left the corpse, the blade in her hand felt warm, but pushing aside the soothing sensation. She grabbed it by its hilt with the other and looked over the scene.

Lae'zel had gone directly to the nearest imp, bringing her long sword above her head and striking down upon it, the stupid creature didn't move in time and the blade embedded itself into its shoulder and wing, it writhed and screeched, blood spouting from the wound and spraying out when Lae'zel ripped her sword away for another strike.

The buzzing had returned tenfold, but Three didn't want that corpse.

She wanted to make one bleed on her own.

Her eyes fixed on the one closest after the one Lae'zel challenged, and with all aches forgotten and shoved to the back of her head, Three sprinted for the beast.

It shrieked and darted to the side, but Three didn't let it escape, she chucked the dagger at it. The blade embedded into its wing, and it screeched out sloppily flying before dropping to the ground in a twitching heap.

It turned and tried to remove the weapon, but Three was already on top of it, knee to its back pinning it to the ground. She felt herself shaking, and without hesitation she ripped the dagger from its wing and plunged it into the squirmy thing's skull.

Her shoulders dropped and brow furrowed when only a few drabbles of blood escaped the wound as she withdrew the dagger.

The prickling was back, she wanted the warmth, clearly the skull wasn't the right place. Damnnit, where would she have to strike-

"Htak'a!" Lae'zel cried as she ran past Three and with a large side-swing struck the remaining imp in the side sending him flying against the wall. There was a crack and he slumped, but when he tried to rise Lae'zel stomped onto his wing and pierced him in the chest with her sword.

With all three imps dead, and an annoying lack of blood, Three stood and swiped her new dagger clean on her trousers. Lae'zel let out a breath and put her sword on her back, turning to face Three.

"You prove surprisingly adequate in battle." She said, almost appraisingly, Three let her eyes sweep the room.

"I'm hungry." She said, and even she knew it was abrupt, but at the sight of all the bodies around her, her stomach ached something painful and empty.

"Well…we shall have a feast when we get out of here and acquire ourselves a cure." Lae'zel said, not missing a step. Three hummed her brows furrowing as her eyes lingered on the corpse of the man.

Was he cold at this point-

"Come now, we must hurry." Lae'zel said, and Three tore her eyes from the corpse and back to her green companion.

"Yeah." She sent another glance back at it before following after Lae'zell. They wound up back outside and headed toward a mesh of fleshy tendrils. Lae'zell without hesitation began to climb it, so, with a breath Three used her teeth to bite down on the blade of the dagger to hold it before climbing the fleshy mesh.

The taste of the lingering imp blood was unpleasant, somewhere in the back of her head she knew what pleasant blood tasted like…and this was not it.

It stung and made her tongue tingle in every unpleasant way. Three was glad to be rid of the blade when she reached the top of the mesh. She did, however, frown at the additional fleshy tendrils before her.


By the time they arrived in the next room Three had used her sleeve to scrub at her tongue to be rid of the imp blood taste.

The room they were in was darker and had a distinct lack of fire.

There were two humanoids, laying on raised platforms right before a disgustingly ornate center column. Despite herself, Three wandered over, the coppery scent drawing her in.

The nearest man groaned, eyes staring lifelessly into the void, but he was alive, warm blood flowed through his veins.

The prickling intensified; her breath caught in her throat as her dagger lifted.

And that's when she heard the shouting.

Jolting, she jerked around, and Three's eyes found the source of the noise easily. There was a woman in a one of those containment pods. She as banging on the red tinted glass and shouting something. But between her being behind the glass and the ambiance of the ship. Her words were hard to make out.

With a glance back at the body, Three reluctantly made her way over to the shouting woman and lifted her ears to listen.

"…me out of this damn thing!" She shouted, banging her fists on the glass.

Three inched herself over, peering up at the pod from under dark brows.

The woman was dark haired, adorned in ornate armor, her hair all done in a updo.

When Three approached, she was renewed in her shouting and banging, enough to make Three's ears lower and her tail to coil.

She didn't have to be so damn loud.

"We don't have time for stragglers." Lae'zel said, pulling Three's attention to her. But the banging on the pod drew her attention back to the trapped woman.

She looked scared.

Three wanted to see that up close.

Her hand twitched, tightening around the dagger as she itched to make the woman quiet down. She was noisy.

"We should get her out." She said, eyes fixed on the woman.

Her blood must be warm. With all that moving she was doing.

Lae'zel scoffed but Three ignored her and approached the pod. The woman seemed excited and Three almost frowned.

She liked it much better when those big eyes were wide with fear.

All the same, she examined the contraption. There was some kind of console next to it, but it was completely unclear how any of that worked.

Instead, Three stole a breath, held the dagger in her mouth with a wince, and grabbed each side of the pod's door. She braced herself and then yanked.

It didn't come off the first time, and it took a few more tries before the door came loose and Three was sent stumbling back and landed on her rear.

The woman both stepped and fell out of the pod, dropping to her knees panting. Three looked at her and slowly approached, removing the dagger from her mouth and tightening the grip of it in her hand.

Her skin was porcelain, unblemished except for a scar crossing over her nose.

Lae'zel was littered with scars and markings. Three's own face was marred.

Scars were fascinating, and Three couldn't help but wonder about the origin of the one on the woman's face.

Just like she wondered about the origin of her own.

Her grip tightened on her dagger to the point where it too twitched with her hand, she could hear the woman's blood, rushing through her body, her heart pounding in her chest. It would be easy for it to spill out, pool under her, easy for Three to shove her stinging hands into it.

The warmth sooths.

Her hand holding the dagger twitched-

"At last, I thought I was done for." the woman breathed as she rose to her feet, Three hesitated a moment as green eyes fixed on hers. "I thought the damn thing was going to be my coffin…thank you."

"Thank you?" She echoed back her ears lifting and eyes widening. The woman opened her mouth to continue, but the skull splitting pain from earlier rushed back. Three hissed and keeled over with the newcomer. She was filled with a rush of gratitude, and wariness.

Wariness for Lae'zel.

Three was panting when the grip on her mind released her, and when the newcomer straightened before her, she sent a narrowed eyed look at Lae'zel.

"You keep dangerous company." She said, all gratitude gone from her tone, Three followed her gaze to Lae'zel, who stood with her arms crossed, unfazed by the newcomer's glare.

Three turned back to the dark-haired woman, "are you going to fight her?" She asked, eyes flickering over the woman, she had a mace at her hip.

The tiefling's hands twitched, how many hits would it take to cave in someone's skull with that thing?

She felt like she knew the answer, but it was lost within the black void.

"She would lose." Lae'zel said without hesitation, bringing Three back to the present.

"Oh? Do you want to test that?" The dark-haired woman's hand twitched as she hovered over her mace.

"Later." Three cut in, glancing between the two, "Lae'zel said we have to get off here…the ship is crashing." She turned back to the dark-haired woman, "and she said something about an infection."

The woman's eyes widened briefly but Lae'zel stepped over.

"Yes, and if we do not hurry, get control of this ship and find a cure we will transform into the very monsters who infected us." She hissed, "come with us or not half-breed, it matters not." She turned on her heel and began to march toward one of the doors. Three watched her go and wondered how she knew which door to go through.

"She's seems…nice." The woman said, and Three turned back to her, "regardless, I do think we should stick together. We can get off this ship and watch each other's backs." She said, and Three gazed at her for a moment.

"That…yeah, that sounds good. I'm Three. And that's Lae'zel." She pointed, and the woman shot her a half smile.

"I presumed. I'm Shadowheart." Then, she paused and looked at her waist. "One moment." She turned and reached into the pod, withdrawing a strange round and spiky object. She attached it to her belt and turned back to Three.

"What's that?" She prompted, trying to peer at the object.

It seemed important.

Like how the number Three was important, and how she knew warm blood would ease the painful prickling feeling.

"It's nothing." She said, a little too quickly. "Trust me." She added and Three watched as she walked after Lae'zel.

Three stared after them a moment before her eyes wandered back over to the corpses.

Her stomach sinched painfully and she swallowed before taking a breath and following the two women.

Easing the prickling would do her no good if she was dead.

As they passed through the fleshy door, and into a corridor. Lae'zel stopped and turned to them, "we are nearing the helm. Once inside, do as I say." She said, and Three just began to nod when Shadowheart stepped up.

"Who put you in charge?" She challenged, "I'll trust my own judgement."

Three glanced between them.

Lae'zel sent Shadowheart a side eye glare, "kainyank." She hissed but relented.

She did take the lead as she approached the next fleshy door, and with how Three's body ached, she didn't mind.

When they entered the room, it was a battle scene. There were two illithid, and two red and winged devils. However, one of them was dispatched by the illithid who came up behind it, wrapping its tendrils around its head and feasting upon its skull.

As the devil dropped, the Illithid that killed it was soon taken out by multiple imps who entered the fight, slashing at the creature till they hit a weak point, and he went down.

The remaining illithid was directly challenging the remaining devil in a one-to-one fight, and as he blasted a beam at the devil, he had just enough time to turn to them.

Three tensed up as his yellowed eyes met hers.

"Thrall." His voice reverberated throughout her causing her tail to coil and her hair to stand on end. He turned and pointed to the console on the other side of the room, tendrils hanging down from an upper part. "Connect the nerves of the transponder. We must escape." He turned back to them, "Now."

A shudder ran over her as the grip on her mind tightened, from besides her the two women grunted.

"Do it." Lae'zel hissed, "we will deal with the ghaik after we escape."

Just as the words left her mouth, bright lights exploded before them, a hell-dog and imp appearing before them. Three recoiled at the sight before her eyes went to the control console.

There was a good distance between them and the transponder.

The illithid had already turned back to fight the devil, leaving the women to face the creatures.

"We will cover you, go to the transponder." Shadowheart said, withdrawing her mace, Three sent a look back and found that Lae'zel had already pulled out her sword.

Three's eyes turned to the path before her, she could see it was relatively empty straight through, but her eyes kept wandering over to the bloodied bodies on the ground. They weren't warm, she knew that, but the coppery smell that permeated the room caused the prickling pain to return tenfold. The ship rocked causing everyone to stumble before stabilizing.

Three knew that while she wanted to draw every ounce of blood from the corpses, she couldn't, they had to get out of here first.

Gritting her teeth she sprang from her spot and sprinted for the control console, a imp dived for her, and she brought out her dagger to fling it at him-

"Duck!"

Without thinking about it, Three ducked into a roll and caught a brief glance at a fireball before it nailed the imp in the face, the creature shrieked and took off flying. Three rolled to her feet, spared a glance back at Shadowheart, but the woman was already striking at the imp near her.

Shaking her head, Three turned back to face her destination.

She closed in on the fight between the mind flayer and the devil, and she resisted the urge to snake between them and drive her dagger into the soft flesh of the devil's neck. Instead, she took the stairs two at a time and came to a stumbling halt when more creatures began to appear before her.

Two more imps and a devil-dog appeared in a flash of light. When the dog snarled at her and charged forward, Three quickly sidestepped and dodged a swipe from it. She kicked it in the side and despite her lack of boot the creature cried out with a snarl. It turned to bite her but she was already heading for the transponder.

There was the sound of an arrow loosed from a cross bow, her ear twitched and she shifted her weight mid run changing direction just as the arrow whizzed past her.

She ran to the transponder and stopped just short of running into it. Panting she gazed at the device, there were strange tentacles with large pads at the ends, they had red highlighted prongs. How the hell was she supposed to-

Connect the nerves. That is what he'd said.

She sent a look back to the illithid and stole a breath, she turned back to the transponder and reached out, just as she put two of the pads together, they latched to each other…and a snarl drew her attention upward.

With wide eyes, she watched as a dragon grabbed ahold of the exterior of the ship and leaned in, his eyes scanning the room before landing on her. He snarled again, lip curling up to reveal jagged teeth.

Three stumbled back, her grip on the joined tentacles slipping causing them to bounce.

Just as it did, fire spewed from the opened jaws of the dragon, when it met with the console, something reacted harshly.

An explosion sent her to the ground, the ship lurched suddenly causing her to slide on the slick surface till her back hit a wall. She grunted and as she felt the ship lurch again, she drove her dagger into the ground.

Just in time, because the ship began to tilt.

Three lifted off the ground, and her only attachment to it was the dagger that she clung to. Her arms ached with the effort. And the ship lurched again, gravity reasserted itself and she dropped to the ground with a grunt.

Something told her they weren't quite out of the woods yet. A glance outside confirmed that they hadn't yet entered the material plane.

Shit.

With a grunt, she yanked her dagger from the ground and got to her feet, sprinting for the console as the ship lurched again, gravity threatened to give out, and as she felt her foot lift from the ground, she used the other to jump forward. Gaining enough ground to grab ahold of the many ridges and groves of the console. Just in time too, the ship jerked to the side, and gravity gave out. Her legs were now higher then the rest of her as an invisible force tried to drag her back toward the wall.

The joined tentacles wobbled. But they didn't bounce like they had before, that must be how it…

Well she wasn't sure what it did, but it seemed to be taking them someplace, and if they had any chance of surviving she was going to have to take the wild card.

Grunting she stabbed the console and used the dagger as leverage to reach forward and grab the tentacles.

She only managed to brush her fingers against it, but her claws were able to reach just far enough to tug at it to make the tendril bounce.

The ship lurched hard, her grip slipped from her dagger and she was sent flying toward the wall. With a grunt she landed just next to a hole, she nearly thanked the gods above, but when her eyes lifted from it and to the illithid across from her, all gratitude was forgotten in favor of the urge to lung for the creature that got her into this mess and rip the tentacles off his face.

The sheer force of inertia kept her in place as her skin prickled, her head buzzed and her hands twitched. The ship was falling rapidly. Pieces were flying everywhere.

And one of them flew straight at her.

The blunt pain on her forehead distracted her momentarily, and it wasn't until the wind howled in her ears and air whipped her hair about that she realized she was in a freefall.

Fuck.