Leliana stalked between rows of jagged teeth. A shadow slinking in the darkness. The great worm must’ve been dead only a few days, and her boots squelched in the pooled saliva. The gargantuan demophant, a radiation-eating worm big enough to dwarf a small town, had more than enough teeth to hide her approach; still, it would hurt her pride if she were discovered prematurely. It wasn't hard to hide among the towering yellowed spikes.

She took a moment to breathe, coiling her muscles, ready to spring into action.

Nine Stocky men dressed in ridiculous tight rubber overalls flailed at the creature's throat with an assortment of tools. It’s blackish-purple flesh was surprisingly tough, she knew. That’s why she was outsourcing the labor. They worked a little too slowly and methodically though, treating the flesh as if it might explode.

“AH HA!” A gruff cry of triumph was drown out by the sickening squelch of the depressurizing inner cavity. Horrifically fetid air blasted them all, and Leliana was very happy she’d picked a vantage point further from the throat. The dig team must have been inexperienced, they rolled around on the giant tongue retching and throwing up all over themselves. Time to go to work.

She smiled.

Palming three sleep bombs, she vaulted off a pair of teeth and scattered the explosives expertly around the expedition. She jammed a collapse-able pick deep into the roof of the mouth to get a better view. The hired brute yelped when one of the bombs hit him square in the mouth, the other two landing behind a group of idling specialists and the actual dig team. Everyone froze, turning to face the burly guy nursing a loose tooth.

Woops, bad habit.

The mercenary was the first to react, his eyes bulged as he noted the explosive that smacked him a moment ago. He shrugged a big metal shield into his left hand, right hand instinctively grasping at the small revolver at his hip. The specialist team panicked and scrambled over one another in a desperate attempt to flee. The dig team was recoiling against the inner wall of the throat, one fellow yelling in surprise as he fell backward into the breach they’d just opened up.

Leliana found a delicious glee in allowing these moments of realization before springing herself on her prey. She waited, all eyes on the bombs. When nothing happened, the mercenary ordered everyone out as quickly as possible, leading the charge. The other dozen or so scrambled to follow, slipping back and forth on the slimy tongue.

Tapping the detonator on her wrist against the ceiling, the bombs spewed shrapnel and sleeping poison across every member of the party, simultaneously creating a haze of fog. The mercenary hit the floor mid-stride, quickly followed by the rest.

She shook the pick free, folding and storing it in her belt on the fall down. She landed on the unfortunate mercenary and took the opportunity to toss his gun among the creatures' teeth. Even if it took only a minute to find, that was a minute not chasing her down. She slipped and slid between prone bodies into the tight quarters of the first heart’s chamber.

Leliana allowed herself to slide freely across the still-moist tongue and unclasped a thin, flexible knife. On the opposite wall, she filleted the human-head-sized chunk of green metal that was the power source to the first heart from the wall. Stowing it inside the lead-laced canvas bag on her back, Leliana made a hasty retreat.

While she snuck back through the workers’ camp, Leliana made sure to lift a few bombs from a sleeping guard’s belt. He probably wouldn’t find enough work to use them after today anyway. The stealthy rogue spent a few moments scattering the collected firearms into the underbrush; they were too trashy to bog herself down with, but they were still deadly enough not to want them shooting at her back.

The ground trembled, and a distant thunder caught her breath.

Holy scrap that was close. She launched into the nearest tree and climbed to the top. Another demophant, this one alive, slowly slithered in her direction. Seeing these monsters alive took her breath away every time, and she took a moment to admire the monstrosity crashing in her direction. The fact that it’s teeth were only about as big as her gave evidence to this one's young age. The single, wide fluorescent green eye fixated hungrily on the corpse beneath her.

Time to go.

They could only see irradiated objects and minerals, so she wasn't afraid of being seen or eaten. To move, they bunched their fat, serpentine bodies like a slug, then bounced forward in a thundering explosion. They could easily splinter trees, and any lakes in their way tended to flood the entire area. Those posed a lot more of a risk.

It was common knowledge that they flocked to the death of their own kind, feasting on the body for days. It was also common knowledge that this was a bad time to be sleeping in the mouth of the demophant corpse. Common knowledge to her, anyway. There was only one closing in for now though, and that was easy enough to work around. She dropped to the forest floor, setting a brisk pace for herself opposite the direction of the still-living worm.

Two hours later, she had a dilemma.

She’d stumbled upon a large clearing full of people, apparently a makeshift trade camp. The plan was to head to Imperious or Triad, or any other large city to sell off her stolen prize. If she could get rid of it now, there'd be no reason to force herself into one of those terrible, stuffy places. The crowds, the smells.

The guards.

She'd almost give this thing away for a ham sandwich to be honest. It was definitely worth something, but it was also toxic and heavy. If she were being honest with herself, she’d only taken it because someone else had been trying to get it first.

If it happened to be some elaborate bandit camp or some sort of military installation though, she was going to be real irritated.