There were up and downsides to everything. Downside, and mentioning it first because it is an important one, my absolute bitch of a mother had finally snapped and killed me. I could be somewhat wrong about that, but I was fairly sure that, given the last things I heard in life, that she was responsible. And for the crime of not finishing at least half of my fanfics, I was sentenced to the Infernum. Which was... harsh but fair. And so I was thrown into the Infernum, even as those that had enjoyed my work tossed me a bone. For I was NOT a damned soul.

Okay, in a real sense I was a bit less than a Dretch in terms of native combat ability, a touch better than a Mane, with little in the way of fancy magical abilities. What I did have was access to the Evolutionist class as my 'racial hit dice' with the ability to take a slightly modified mysterial class as a gestalt. But, that was the only homebrew I had access to outside of spell research. Yes, there were third party options... But you know what? I was going to go for a build that was technically not combat focused. After all, even if I was a fiend now... That just meant time to git gud.

Now, one of the things I did first was securing shelter for the simple reason of being alone and needing to heal after any fights. That and hiding from anything that I could not otherwise deal with. Some of my mutations had been spent on natural weapons, but I had not needed to get the fire resistance due to the heat, thanks to being a human with the daemonic template. And natural armor because of the rough, volcanic rocks and I didn't have damage reduction yet. So, restrained options yes, but at the same time... I had options.

Paths forward, even if some would be riskier all said and done. But if one wished to go beyond mere survival, than there had to be risks taken. Which is why I would leave, even if I had gotten the dwarven fungal rations working. As it turned out, while I could not use my own waste for the mulch, I could use a portion of my resin as feedstock. Between that and a spell-like ability to create water, I had food, water and shelter taken care of, leaving just the most vital thing to be worked on.

Power.

In a realm based on D&D, to say nothing of the realms of demons, devils and daemons, and likely yet more fiends besides, the only way to have surety in the world was to have power. To be able to force others to do as you wished, even if that was to simply leave you alone. So what was a man given a second chance at a life in the Infernum to do, but to seek out and kill until I grew fat on blood and death?

Jhenesa

Now, in a very real sense she was barely more than property. Valuable property, but still property, given that she was a tiefling half fiend. Oh, she was aware that that to the mortals she was three quarters fiend, while to those that actually mattered she was still burdened with a quarter of mortality. Just something that she could not escape from, as she pondered her mothers orders. On the one hand, she was being released from the towers and given nominal command over some of her mothers slaves for the duration of her task.

On the other hand, her mother had implied that she expected said task to be done promptly. With little time for diversions or networking, or even just some side slaughter. Mostly, because as she pondered things, it was just more jockeying for influence among the harem, hence the little raid she was being sent on to attack one of her mothers rivals. She was not exactly privy to all the details, or more than she was required to have to fulfil her tasks to be entirely honest, but it fit in with her experiences. Even as she pondered something a touch different.

Not very different as she took her flaming whip to the slaves, goat headed schirim laying around and canine therofiends alike. Even on wing it would take her a day and a half to reach Shatterspine, the outpost of infernal tainted mortals that worked in the mountains, which also had, to the best of her maps and intelligence, a forest close by, Not a very large one, but enough to provide regular shipments of sinew wood in addition to the metals and Hellglass from the mines. To say nothing of the mortal blood and generational soul harvests.

And she had to disrupt the operations there for a time. With said mortals regularly able to slay Night Oaks and Suicide Willows. With her mother's fodder, and without being too obvious about it. Lovely.

Matt

There was an actual, factual human village in the Infernum. Well, a village of fiendish humans, but as it turns out that demons dislike manual labor and so while they are occasionally snacked on by their owner, apparently they are by and large left to their own devices. Because yes, while they could press daeobelinus (vicious goblin like fiends) or dretches to the task, apparently there were a number of reasons to use human slave-labor instead.

But after a little... polite disagreement involving some poison meant to knock me out so they could either sacrifice me or sell me to their succubus overlord (there was one beyond them, referred to in whispers only as the 'the great master'), they were fairly forthcoming with some information about some of the local dangers and threats. Generally going over them in lurid detail, smiles and chuckles on their faces, hungry looks as they speak of monsters and lesser fiends that 'the mistress' has not yet destroyed.

Better fare in some ways than the dretches I had been preying on... even if they were likely leaving significant things out to help get me killed.