The Belly of the Wurm

[Cleasor]

Cornelius stood naked in an upper room of the Safehaven Inn. His armor, underclothes, and rest of his gear lay in a pile in a corner. They stank of vomit but their cleaning would wait. He climbed over the rim of the copper basin and slipped into the steaming, hot water. As he slid down, he let his mind slip away and thought of things of which he had forgotten.

Llorkh. The Zhentarim oppressors. Mining and toiling in the smithy. Keeping food on the table. Friends joining the Resistance, asking him as well. Gisela begging him no.

Refusal. Life was adequate this way. Meager, passive, secure. Gisela in his arms.

Gisela taken. Joining the Resistance. The Lord’s Men finding them. The soldier slain. Blood on his hands. Running.

Waterdeep. The dump. Adventurer’s Guild. The mentor Vale.

Training. Sewers. Kringus. Vansa. The Swamps. Kryptgarden. Westwood. Companions and new friends. Security. Llorkh was a memory. The Message. Discovered.

As Cornelius let his mind relax, he finally remembered what had happened along the Long Road to Amphail. Sarenna was some 50 paces ahead of he and Keryn when the Wurm burst from the ground. Its maw was as wide as a house. It seemed to look, or perhaps sense the living around it, and dove back into the ground, leaving a giant crater in its wake. Cornelius had fought one of these before and remembered his tactics. He looked at his boots and spoke the magic words which caused a small set of feathered wings to sprout from the leather. The wings began to flap and he prepared to leap into the air, intending to land away from the Wurm when it surfaced again. But before his leg muscles could contract, the Wurm burst through the ground immediately underneath him. In one great movement, he was caught within its gapping maw and swallowed whole. All went black. He wretched. He swooned. Yet he stood upon a soft surface. The area around him bucked and hurtled. It leapt and fell. It took every ounce of strength he possessed to keep his balance. He fell upon the soft ground. Thrown against a soft wall. He wretched again and fell to the soft ground. It was completely black and he let his eyes close. Calm. Easy to fall asleep, to never wake again.

It was when he had accepted his death, that Gisela had spoken to him. “Why do you hide? Come free us,” she said.

His hand found the hilt of the short sword. He drew it, stabbed it into the soft wall near him. It cut deep and clean. He pulled first up on the blade, cutting to the height of his face, then he bore down and cut a fissure down, to the height of his stomach. The gash tore through to fresh air. With his last remaining strength, he stabbed and at the same time, leapt through the gash.

Keryn and Sarenna had found him lying next to the corpse of the Wurm. They gave him aid. They helped him return first to the tower, and then to the Quarter.

Cornelius opened his eyes while sitting in the cooling waters of the bath. Gisela would not be forgotten. He would free his Volk.

[ayergo]

Really good write up, thank you! I wish I was there.

I can just imagine at the end, a stogie in his mouth, acid burns everywhere saying:

"Dat was some shiezer" calmly.