#I did NOT expect Selene to get to keep Us y'all

[writer86]

More adventures with Selene Windcaller coming up!

Getting out of the first room turns out to be easy - there’s only one door. The next appears to be a workspace of some sort, complete with a desk and a number of rune slates, one of which contains the schematics for the Nautloid itself - as much living being as ship.

Selene finds it odd to be fascinated by her surroundings, but she can’t help herself. This is uncharted territory where she’s concerned, and that’s become a much rarer find with nearly six hundred years behind her. She knows she should be moving more quickly, but…

We are here - here! We are trapped. Help us! Release us!

A gentle, frightened voice calls out, and Selene will answer. But what she finds on the second level comes as something of a surprise:

Yes! You’ve come to save us from this place, from this place you’ll free us!

*The exposed brain quivers in expectation.*

Please, before they return. They return.

[Intelligence: Arcana] Fail.

Selene is utterly baffled as she studies the sight before her; has she ever heard of a creature like this before? If she has, it’s been so long she’s forgotten it.

“Who am I talking to - a man or a brain?” she wonders aloud.

The creature answers within her mind, and she dimly realizes that’s how it’s been speaking this whole time: A newborn. Born new from this husk.

That, Selene decides, answers a question and raises a new one: the man she hoped to help is dead - but what of this creature? Admittedly, the chances of finding something docile and friendly on an Illithid Nautloid seems… unlikely. Still, she must ask:

“You sound afraid. Why?”

It answers: The enemy. So many enemies.

Which doesn’t do much to clarify if the creature itself is friend or foe. With a faint sigh, she presses, “I think you’re past the point of saving. Tell me what to do.”

Remove us from this body - from this case free us. Please!

Selene has carried out a number of very strange conversations in her time on Toril, but this, she thinks must certainly rank among the strangest. She is speaking to… a brain with a mind of its own? And it wants to be free. How exactly it can live apart from its former host, she isn’t sure, but if there’s a way…

[Investigation] Inspect the exposed brain. Success.

*You notice oedema - a swelling of the brain causing pressure where it strains against the shell of the skull.*

[Medicine] Attempt a cerebral extraction, staying mindful of the swelling. Success.

*The brain lifts from the skull, but you notice an opportunity - you could cripple the strange creature, making it more subservient should it prove a threat.*

Admittedly, the thought does cross Selene’s mind - she doesn’t know what this thing is, not exactly. But she’s helped it along this far - she may as well see what comes of it now.

Spare the creature - any injuries might weaken it.

Thus far, it seems to be the right choice. The brain falls to the ground, then sprouts legs and tendrils. She stares at it, curious to know what it will do next. It does not disappoint.

Our freedom is ours. Friend!

She never thought a brain could be so adorable, but then -

*The creature pauses, listening. Something behind your eye seizes in recognition.*

So it is an Illithid creature, she realizes with a start. She’s about ready to attack when it speaks again: We must go to the helm. At the helm we are needed.

Curious. The creature does not regard her as a threat in spite of the fact that she should be. Not a threat: friend. And a needed one, at that.

“What’s at the helm?”

*The brain tenses, as though querying an unseen advisor.*

Do you not hear it? We will not survive here. We are needed to navigate - we are needed to leave this realm.

Selene doubts she’d know what to do once she got there, but perhaps the brain has a clearer idea that she ever will. Admittedly, it is a newborn. Then again, in a way, so is she, with the tadpole now stuck firmly behind her eye. Perhaps she’ll experience a fit of clarity when they reach the helm.

“What should I call you?” she asks.

Us. We are us.

It’s about as clear as anything else it’s said. She nods firmly and says, “All right. Let’s go.”

Us is excited about that: To the helm we go! We are going to the helm!