𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒂𝒕𝒆'𝒔 𝑴𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉丨𝔅𝔊3𝔛𝙷𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗!𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

𝚋𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚕𝚕

"𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨. 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨. 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨." 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒓 𝒄𝒓𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇..

Lae'zel was semi-struggling to cut an imp down she'd chased head on, it was flying above and below and all between her, taunting and shrieking.

You stepped down from the jagged steps, a bit more fast paces but you were still out in the open while the ship was crashing. Us scuttled ahead, and went head to head with an imp. It wrastled the imp around with its swinging tentacles, and plunged its long claws into the imps frail chest, striking again and again.

You were not exactly sure where to start. You were sure you had some sand in your pockets. for no reason in particular.

Ah! the matches you carried, and the tongs and hammer attached to your tool belt. You unclipped the long mallet from your side, and swung towards the imp that was left at the body it feasted on. It growled like a Shih Tzu at war.

You missed, clank'k'bonk, you missed, squashed the body it was eating, you missed again, "𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙡! 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙩 𝙢𝙚!" sorry Lae'zel.

Your new pink veiny friend came to the rescue and pinned the imp like a cat to a bug, which gave you a clear shot of squishing the imps head. You took the swing and the ripping stretch of leather flesh and crackling bones and cartilage sounded in the air.

Thick hot goop hit your cheek and neck at the blood of the squashed imp.

"𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧, 𝙄𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙠. 𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙." Lae'zel commented from behind you.

"𝙄-𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚."

"𝙔𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙢𝙨𝙮 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙬𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙣, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣." she tucked her sword behind her and crossed her arms on her chest "𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙬𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙤𝙣'𝙩. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙤𝙣, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙃𝙚𝙡𝙢 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧."

"𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙬𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣." you promised to her "𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙃𝙚𝙡𝙢 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚."

Your previous knowledge of this game was handy. You weren't physically as strong and resilient as Lae'zel, but what she lacked in knowledge of this realm and situation, you can make up for.

"𝙒𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚, 𝙤𝙣𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙." and she gestured for you to keep walking. You were not into looting those bodies. That was just too foul, and you'd already proved yourself squeemish and frail in front of Lae'zel. Nor, did you didn't know how much time you had left before you were met with the mountains of Avernus.

Wasting no time, you trudged up the flesh stairs, clipping your long brass-head mallet back to your belt. It was slick with warm blood. You fingers grasped the slime webbing, made of tissue like gristle on a chicken tender. You wobbled your way up to the next fleshy level, Us spending very little time keeping up with you. It bolted by, and waited at another asshole-ish looking door.

"𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 '𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜' 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙮 𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡. 𝙄𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙨 𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙨 𝙠𝙞𝙣. 𝙒𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙂𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙠." Lae'zel huffed and used her arms to lift herself on the ledge, standing up from there.

"𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝘿𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙧, 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 '𝙐𝙨' 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙, 𝙞𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙." You said catching your breath in between words.

The nasty 'backdoor' opened wide and led you into a fully walled room. You could see Shadowheart trying to get your attention as soon as you walked in. You were focused on the bodies that were semi-conscious in front of the console. The console all the way to the right, away from Shadowheart, killed all of them. You had played the game through, many, many times. The beginning was the most fun, Act 3 was confusing and scary and time consuming. Act 3 was fuzzier but right now you were exactly where you could be useful.

You jogged up to the console, Us keeping close to your legs like a puppy.

"𝙂𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙠 𝙢𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞-" Lae'zel started but you slammed your hand down as hard as you could, like it was a Chuck E. Cheese Cyclone game and you were hitting the button for jackpot.

The bodies lifted from the slanted tables and slumped back down, heads lolling to the side. Silence washed over you and the others in the room.

"𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙖 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙣𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙉𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙤𝙞𝙙 𝙈𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙡, 𝙞𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙃𝙚𝙡𝙢 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨. 𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙡 𝙃𝙚𝙡𝙢, 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙄𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙪𝙣𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙉𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙨." you looked back and gave Lae'zel a thumbs up before running into the next room, passing Shadowheart, and to the puckered door closest to her. You'd get the key and leave. You didn't need to touch any Illithid manuscripts, it was easy peasy lemon sq-

You tripped over the body by the door entrance.

"𝙤𝙬𝙬𝙬." you moaned. You hands caught you but it still hurt your knees. Lae'zel rolled her eyes and walked towards your location.

Getting back and brushing off your knees, you went to the chest, grabbed the leather-y lid and flung it open to see a wavy scrap of metal sitting at the bottom of the narrow chest.

"𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙤~" paying no heed to the infinitely creepier surroundings of this room, you ran back to the console next to Shadowheart and slammed the mechanism into the fitted plate, and attempted to connect with the console.

Shadowheart was still banging on the orange illuminated glass.

"𝙂𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚!"

A hum of life washed over you and the board beneath you, and the controls were at your fingertips, like commanding your own body you only had to have the gumption to do it. A deep breath in, and out. You opened the console, imagining the pod hissing open.

and it did so.

Lae'zel had finally caught up to you and Us, chasing you around like a cat to string. Shadowheart and Lae'zel made eye contact with each other.