A Corkscrew Never Pulled A Man Out Of A Hole

After a bit of rest and relaxation, Vidar met back up with us and we got ready to head out to the Fissure Fields. Before we left we did some barterin’. Agatha gave us some medicine for burns, ‘cos the worm could breathe fire. I wish she woulda told us that before we agreed to deal with it, but I figure since you don’t see many burns on either of us it turned out alright. We did some shoppin’ and Vidar came back from his contracts. After that we did some.. experiments. I dunno the details, but Sledge and Vebradu put their heads together and figured if they combined an empty waterskin and some powder and sharp metal, it could become some home made bomb of some sort. We figured it’d be useful for the worm.

We set out for the Fissure Fields. It’s a weird place. The canyons were tall, so tall we couldn’t quite see the top. You’d only be able to see the sun at midday. There was a buncha spider silk and such, like booby traps. We heard some poor fool screamin’ for help and went to investigate. Found a young knave or apprentice or some such tangled up in them webs. He had the banner of the Black Tower and after my vision I didn’t trust the look of him. We left him behind. He wasn’t in danger or nothin’ mind you, we wasn’t far from Halsmill. But its a dog eat dog world, and if Nylak don’t trust ‘em, neither do I. Besides. He was dumber than me.

We kept marchin’ on through the canyons. Vebradu heard some skitterin’ of some kind and announced us, sayin’ we had a message from Agatha. Some goblins revealed themselves, all with these creepy wooden spider masks. He gave ‘em a letter she wrote, warnin’ them of the big worm. They brough us back to their village. Eyes of Nylak, how could I explain it? It wasn’t like nothin’ I’ve ever seen before. They had wooden bridges and platforms hung from the sides of the cliffs by spider silk. My word, speaking of Nylak’s Eyes, you wouldn’t believe the number of spiders there and how big they was. The goblins road ‘em like horses, they acted like it too. It was.. it was somethin’. They was almost cute if you didn’t look to closely at them fangs. They really was just like horses! Saddles and treats and all.

We talked to their leader, fella names Elder Houseplant. ‘Fore we could say much, the whole canyon started shakin’. Started small first, then got louder, and louder, and louder still til I could hardly stand or hear anythin’ but rocks. The worm, giant and ugly and purple shot out from the wall and killed a giant spider. It ground it down with its giant teeth, and before we could do anythin’, it dug back into the canyon and burrowed away like a giant molerat.

Some Spider-Riders joined up with us to follow it. We chased it through the dark tunnels until we came upon a bigger cavern with more space. I guess that was its nest or whatever, because once we got in it shot out again, teeth bared. Vidar charged ahead with the bomb in his hand, he shoved it right into the bastard’s mouth, teeth be damned. The worm tried usin’ its fire breath, but before the flames could get outta its jaw, the bomb exploded, with Vidar’s hand still inside. He was hurt bad in the blast. We all spread out, in case the worm shot us with fire again. The bomb did a number on the thang, but it was still rarin’ up to bite. I snook up behind the fella and dug my fists between the chitin plates, which felt as gross as you can imagine. I just remember pullin’ and tearin’ soft flesh until it dug back in the ground again.

He popped back up behind the goblins and most of the boys, and shot another blast of fire. I was just far enough away still, but Vidar wasn’t so lucky and dropped from the fightin’. That was when I noticed he’d lost a finger stickin’ his hand in that thang’s mouth. The boys and the goblins slung every spell and arrow they had, but it wasn’t no use. Not until yours truly snook back up on it and ripped out a long bloody artery that musta led to its heart. It quit movin’ so much after that.

We got Vidar back up, he was ok, despite the burns. It was only his pinky he lost. He didn’t seem too broken up ‘bout it, I think he felt a weird pride in it. Somethin’ about Jotun warrior spirits or… somethin’ about his.. makin’ his ancestors proud? I dunno. Anywho, Vebradu said the worm parts would sell to alchemists for a pretty penny, so we got onto breakin’ it apart. The goblins took some of the meat that we couldn’t haul back and we took its poison and heart, and Vidar took some large chunks off the chitin to make into armor plates when we got to the next city. While we was pokin’ around, Vebradu also realized there was some valuable gemstones and such in the caves as well, which we took gleefully. I’d never seen so much money before, my friend, not to get too ahead of myself, but we sold it for 11 gold coins. Can you believe that?! 11 gold coins!