1.1 Arrival (Patreon)

1.1 - Arrival

Taylor:

“Did the Mindflayers really go out of their way to collect a gaggle of children?” Astarion scoffed. “Honestly, where did they even find so many?”

“Judging by their manner of dress,” Durge rumbled, “these four were all found in the same place.” 

I barely listened to the exchange. Of all the fucking people that could have survived…

I tried to remind myself that it was wrong to wish them dead. I tried very, very hard.

It was only a small consolation that both Emma and Sophia looked rough, Emma far more so than Sophia. Their clothes were torn, both were littered with small cuts, and Emma was leaning on Sophia for support. Maybe her leg was broken or her ankle was sprained. Both of them were covered in the same gooey fluid from the pods, just like Madison and I.  The worst I could see on Sophia was a nasty cut along her ear that was bleeding sluggishly all across her neck and shoulder. 

"Shit." Sophia spat. "Of all the fuckin’ people-"

I narrowed my eyes. And once again had to remind myself that I shouldn’t wish them dead. 

Durge, with his red eyes never straying from us, was the first one to step forward, clearing his throat rather obviously. Sophia stiffened, and Emma, just like Madison and I had done just moments earlier, stared at the large pale reptile. 

“Judging by your expressions, you know each-” His words were cut off, and I felt his worm pulse, Sophia and Emma’s own answering in kind. I’m not sure what he saw, but I think I could see the barest hint of a smile forming on his lips.

“I see,” he said.

“What the fuck-” Quick as lightning, Sophia pulled a knife from somewhere. She gripped it tightly, staring at the Dragonborn. “Master Effect!? What the fuck was that?”

“The Tadpoles.” Durge answered, unphased at having a knife pulled on him. “The ones we’ve each been infected with.”

“Tadpole I don’t remember any f-” She stopped, her eyes suddenly widening. Next to me, Madison also seemed to be breathing quickly, hands rising up to claw at her head; I heard her whimpering.

“It… It wasn’t a dream.” No mistaking it. She was hyperventilating now, and she began to scratch at her face; her movements becoming ever more frantic. “Get it out! Get it out!!”

It almost looked like she was about to claw her own eye out before Shadowheart stepped forward, grasping her wrist. “Stop. Keep calm. Breathe as I do.”

As the woman helped Madison calm down I let my mind… reach. The pulsing tadpoles in each of our skulls shone like silver lights in my mind's eye. I could feel the connection.

I met Emma’s wide and scared eyes, my own gaze remaining neutral.

Our worms connected. 

Like with Madison before, it felt like I took a slap to the skull, the dull throb of almost pain making me wince- but I was ready this time, sealing off my mind in an instant and finding the folds of hers parting like a book left open.

And right then, I was tempted… so, so tempted. To search, to find the answer.

I’d like to think I would have resisted the temptation.

But before I could decide either way; Sophia’s mind collided with mine. 

It wasn’t like with Madison. It wasn’t like Emma. Sophia’s brain and mine struck each other; a head-on car crash. I saw her stagger, hell, I fell down onto my hands and knees, my heart was a jackhammer inside of my rib cage, my whole body breaking out in cold sweat.

I couldn’t stop it, couldn’t shield myself, and neither could she. We exchanged [DATA], the whole of her life unfolding before me in an instant. Warm blood trickled down my nose and Sophia collapsed face first into the sand.

I saw it. I saw her. Every bit of it.

It all swam in front of my eyes. Flashes that I barely even made sense of, but there was something I did notice, that I couldn’t stop myself from noticing. 

The Vigilantee. The Ward.

Shadow Stalker. 

And she saw me too.

“Sophia!?”

Emma screamed. I wiped the blood from my lip,, leaving a smear of red. Sophia was still dazed, out of it. I, on the other hand, was fully aware.

And I was seeing red.

“What’s going on!?” 

Shadowheart’s voice was a distant thing, trapped outside the red haze around my thoughts. Her healing hands came back, hovering over me, but the forest just a few feet away came alive with the angry buzzing of insects.

I didn’t care what was in these woods. Spiders, flies, scorpions, anything I had on hand - I wanted to drown Sophia in them. And as clarity returned to her eyes I saw her shift into shadow. Much to the startled shock of people around us.

I bared my teeth in a feral, savage snarl, and I noticed, in a distant sort of way, that both Emma and Madison recoiled from me..

The first of the swarm reached Sophia and passed right through her body  I knew her weakness from the worm. Electricity. I didn’t have any on me but I didn’t care. I was going to hurt her!

I reached, my ethereal grip taking hold of that thing, that worm in her skull. And I yanked.

Sophia screamed as she came back to corporeality, clutching at her head. My vanguard of bees and spiders arrived and began to sting, barbs and stingers finding purchase before she faded again.

And I pulled again.

She was forced back, stumbling into the sand as her rush to reach me was foiled by the real world. Now she was angry, desperate, I could feel her rage boiling over as I hurt her again. 

I was going to make her choke on it!

“Kneel!”

Shadowheart’s voice crashed into my awareness, and just like that I was kneeling in the sand, but that didn’t stop my swarm, they bit and clawed and stung, Sophia knelt on the sand, a litany of pain beginning to overwhelm her body. Behind her, exiting the forest came a blanket of chitin and skittering wings the beach floor darkening with countless tiny bodies.. Emma and Madison screamed and, Emma tried crawl away as the outskirts of the tide of insects threatened to engulf her.

“Shit, don’t make me hurt you!” I was vaguely aware of Shadowheart pulling that mace she’d had strapped to her belt into her hand, threatening to cave in the back of my skull.

Then, I heard the snap of fingers. And just like that the whole world went dark.

—

Durge

He watched the girl, Taylor, fall forward, the sleep spell taking hold immediately.

But still he could feel the worm in her skull, the compulsion urging the swarm to attack.

They’d lost cohesion, coordination. But the forest was teeming with bugs all coming straight to them with the intent to cause harm.

“It's not stopping!” Astarion was beginning to look ever so slightly worried. 

“Take the girls.” Durge barked. “Run. Get out of her sight!”

“Get out of- You’re going to wake her up?” Shadowheart asked, naked incredulity in her voice. 

“Her anger is with them-” And oh what anger it had been. He’d seen their minds, their histories. These three girls were talented tormentors for ones so young. “Get them out of her sight and I’ll calm her.”

“Right he’s volunteered to get eaten by insects, move!” Astarion said without preamble, and without even bothering to grab any of the girls the Elf turned and ran.

Shadowheart had quite the creative vocabulary when irritated.

She shoved Madison, urging her to run and then grabbed ahold of the red-headed one, Emma, hauling her to her feet to help her flee.

Durge saw Sophia stand, shifting into her shadow form to get the insects off of her before shifting back. Her fury was a raw, palpable thing, and the knife she had in hand was being gripped with a very real intent now.

He was curious then, what would happen if he let her have her way. If he stepped aside and let the knife come down over and over again, until blood coated the sands and young Taylor was corpse pale. 

But he didn’t. Not now, because he’d sensed it… seen it. 

Taylor did have some control over these tadpoles.

And that was far too valuable to lose.

So as Sophia stepped forward, Durge laced his voice with magic, the command and compulsion taking hold. “Flee.”

Sophia turned and ran, just like that, though she was fully aware of what was happening.

His mana was already depleted, just from those spells. He likely did not have enough strength for any real fight, but this girl was no real fight. 

The knife was sheathed along the back of his belt, ready to be used, but only just in case. 

Just in case. Not before.

The swarm hissed and crawled along the beach, whole swathes of the sandy surface now covered chitin and spindly legs

He marched forward, the distant crunch of boots on sand telling him the others were still fleeing, nearly out of sight. Kneeling at her side, he rolled her onto her back.

And then slapped her.

The slap wasn’t hard, not by his standards, but the girl’s head whipped to the side, the shock of unknown pain washing over her perplexed features.

“Wake up!”

His voice was a rumbling bark, and when she looked at him it didn’t take more than a second for her to look away in search of her previous target. “Not here. Calm down!”

“I’m gonna fucking kill her!” The rage was all too real, tears born from the sheer overwhelming nature of that emotion were overflowing from her eyes, something raw and vast and rotting at the center of her chest unable to be contained in its long pent up fury.

He saw her eyes dart past him, sensing where they were, as the Swarm began to move. A single organism turning with one mind and one purpose back onto its target. 

Durge could let her, just as he could have allowed the Sophia girl to do as she wished. But he didn’t. Shadowheart and Astarion, at the very least, were potentially useful and the more people with them the more answers they could glean regarding the Mindflayers’ intent, the Nautiloid and other unknowns. He needed to calm her down.

And so, he delved into her mind.

Unlike the others, her mind was a fortress,raw stubborn will forged into steely iron that refused to budge or bend. She would break before she yielded even an inch.

He could find no easy answers there, and so he went with the baseline, the simplest manipulation that he knew to be true, because it so often was, especially at her age. 

“You don't want to kill anyone.”

She glared at him. Anger was better, easier than hate and that was progress enough.

The flies and bees and other insects buzzed around them. Durge paid them no mind. 

He stood up. “You wish to go home.” He said, guessed really. “Back to your father.” She did have a father, he’d gleaned that much from… yes; Emma’s memories. Hmm. “He could not survive losing you.”

And like that, clarity returned to her gaze. The raw fury ebbing away.

“In order for that to happen, we need to cooperate.” And thus the coup-de-grace.

The swarm still buzzed, it still hissed and spat.

But the attack had ceased and for now, that was enough.

—

Taylor

The anger still bubbled and frothed under my skin. It coagulated with every step I took as I followed after Durge,, forming a black ball of rotting, malformed hatred inside my stomach.

Sophia was Shadow Stalker.

She was a fucking Ward.

I could still feel her mind, her thoughts, their echo against my own, the sheer satisfaction she had when hurting me knowing she could get away with it. Knowing with all the certainty of the sun rising in the morning that she would never see a single ounce of consequence.

Every shove, every sneer, every taunt and insult, I’d relived them all in an instant and even as I tried to calm myself down the hate still threatened to overwhelm me all over again.

The insects buzzed, and some were even killing each other, reflecting my mindset right now.

But after a far too short walk up the length of the beach, we found them again. Shadowheart had apparently healed Emma and Sophia, which just spiked my irritation even more.I chose to distract myself by looking at the mulched, bloody ruin that was the remains of the tentacled ship that had brought us here.

It was a wreck, a carcass broken and bleeding across the landscape. Its bulbous body had cracked open like an egg shell, its tentacles splayed across the beach like a dead Kraken.

“All’s well?”

The question was given with a cautious wariness courtesy of Shadowheart. Astarion was fingering a knife, cleaning fingernails with the tip as he watched me with open suspicion. Emma was looking at me like she didn’t recognize me, and Madison was staring at the floor, meek as could be. 

Sophia glared. And as I glared back I could feel her own hostility, her indignation and wounded pride.

It made me smile.

Her glare grew heated and oh, I knew I wasn’t her match physically, but if she came at me right now, with the way I was feeling? I was willing to tear her fucking throat out with my teeth.

“As well as can be established for now.” Durge answered. His red eyes flitted between me and Sophia. “Let me be clear, this enmity between you- we do not have time for it. We’ve been infected with a Mindflayer tadpole. At best, we have days to live without a qualified healer. If we must waste time mediating between you two, none of us will survive. One more outburst and you’ll be left behind to find a healer on your own. Given your… foreign nature, I do not give you good odds.”

“Days?!” Madison sounded horrified. 

“Quite.” The Dragonborn nodded. “Ergo, let us move. We’re burning daylight.”

And just like that, he turned and began to march up the beach, towards a path that led up the cliffside.

Astarion moved to follow behind him. 

“I suppose I’ll play chaperone.” Shadowheart grumbled, before looking to Sophia and Emma. “You two, ahead of me.”

“Dont fucking tell me what to do.” Sophia sneered, still glaring at me.

Shadowheart raised an eyebrow. “Should I chalk you up to the solo search for a healer now or when you mouth off again?”

It galled her to back down, even moreso as I smiled, but still she turned and began to walk. Emma was still just staring straight at me.

“You, move.” Shadowheart’s voice seemed to snap Emma free of her daze and she stood up like a robot, marching after Sophia, constantly looking over her shoulder.

Madison was still looking at the ground and as Shadowheart began to walk I took a moment to just breathe. To try and pull myself together.

“So… You’re a cape?”

“Go fuck yourself.” I spat at the brown haired girl, the insects increasing their buzzing noise all around us, making her wince.

I started to walk. I didn’t care if she followed. 

—

As we climbed the cliff, we found one more survivor.

A man named Gale.

He’d been stuck in a… portal or some such. Something he’d made to survive the crash, or the fall. I wasn’t sure. He had said he was a Wizard and that word seemed to have the same connotations I was familiar with. As in actual magic.

I kept to myself. I didn’t know these people and I sure as shit didn’t want to talk with Madison, Emma or Sophia. 

Gale spoke enough for everyone, either oblivious to or ignoring the tension.

“Where are we going?” Sophia finally demanded, the beach long behind us. “Do you have any idea or are we lost?”

“You are indeed lost.” Durge replied with a droll calm. “As for myself? No.”

He gestured out in front of himself I didn’t see anything of note, but evidently he did. 

“Wagon tracks, likely fishermen hauling their supplies to and from the beach.”

“That implies a settlement nearby.” Gale, the Wizard, nodded. “Given the nature of the terrain, and the fact that we’ve seen no smoke or other signs of habitation, I would estimate at least a few more hours walk. Likely we’ll have to make camp before we reach it.”

Durge nodded even as Astarion groaned. “We really need to sleep amidst all of this filth and urgh, We don’t even have baths.”

“Not used to roughing it, are you?” Shadowheart smirked at the man.

Astarion, primly set his nose in the air. “Mud is for swine and children.”

“Then it’s fitting we have a few children in our company,” Gale laughed.

“Let’s not dawdle.” Durge urged, glancing up at the sky. The sun wasn’t quite beginning to set, we had at least a few more hours.“We have no supplies, or equipment. So making camp will be significantly more taxing than normal. We should begin now.”

“It is still a mite early, but I understand your point.” Gale nodded. “We need to find a suitable location, firewood, preferably some game, or at the very least non-poisonous berries or mushrooms. We have our work cut out for us.”

Durge nodded. “We’ll split up. Each group for a task.” He turned, looking to me. “Hebert, you’ll accompany me. We’ll search for a location.”

“Sure you want the dead weight with you?” Sophia sneered. I clenched my fist. 

“Her ability to sense through insects should prove extremely useful in finding a suitable location.”

“I’m sorry, her ability to what now?” Astarion blinked and I noted even Gale’s open surprise. 

Durge ignored the question. “On that note, Astarion. You and Miss Hess. Try to find any kind of game to eat. Shadowheart-”

“I’ll gather the firewood.” The woman interrupted. “Madison was it? Come. You’ll help.”

“I suppose that leaves me foraging for berries and mushrooms. Luckily I had quite the collection of herbalist books and botanist treaties during my studies, it shouldn’t be a problem.” Gale boasted before looking to Emma. “I assume you’ll be my assistant then Miss-”

Emma swallowed, almost stuttering before she spoke up. She still seemed completely out of it. “B-Barnes.”

“Splendid.”

And just like that, we split up.I followed Durge, or more specifically he followed me, once he specified what he was looking for.

Priority number one was fresh water.

Easy enough.

And so we closed out our first day in this place, this… Faerun.