Chrysalis

[Worms are stupid.]

[I said I was sorry already…]

[They look disgusting and they eat dirt.]

[I know, okay? I know.]

[They're soft and don't have a carapace which makes them less shiny.]

[Not all ants are shiny! Only you are shiny!]

[Are you talking back to me?! Invidia, I think he's talking back to me!]

[Sssstrange. It should be shame.]

[Yeah, you're supposed to be shame! Aren't you, Jim?]

[… yes. I am shame. Can we PLEASE discuss this another time? Like, when we aren't being ACTIVELY chased?!]

[I suppose…]

As much as I enjoy reminding our resident worm that he and his entire species are massive failures who the world would most likely be better off without, we do have something of a situation on our claws. After we popped up outside those massive stone gates, we hightailed it back underground but it wasn't long before we started to sense signs that we were being followed.

Luckily, Jim was able to retrace the tunnel that I'd collapsed a lot faster than he could dig through solid rock, but we couldn't follow that all the way back, we'd just end up in the Shaper outpost that we'd started in. Which meant that we needed to dig our way into another Dungeon tunnel, a job for which we needed Jim's now suspect earth senses to try and find.

[Look, I found a tunnel, didn't I?]

[Just not the right one…]

[I was close!]

[Close to a city full of Golgari…]

[I'll be quiet.]

in the rock? Either way I'm not a huge fan. Jim and I are using every technique we can to speed up our tunnel digging. He's biting and utilising his earth magic to its limits as I do the same from just behind

in on us or are we getting further away?

Jim? We can't

far! I've found another tunnel, probably… twenty

phrasing given

[Agreed!]

that is worrying. The more danger we get into, the more unsettled he becomes. Being a sheltered creature, not having to fight for so long, having his meals brought to him, it must have killed his edge. Although,

Jim.

[Right!]

my face sometime soon, I'm well over it. It takes a couple of minutes for us to drill our way through and with a joyous cry, Jim rushes into the dark tunnel in

[We did it!]

[Get down, Jim!]

the tunnel with Invidia close behind, my mandibles

CHOMP!

falls to one side, twitching. Stupid centipedes! They pop up every

was that?!] Jim

Jim! You're in the Dungeon now. What do you want to do? Try and hide in the walls or do you want

He hesitates.

if you want to go alone, I really don't,] I assure him, [I've got places to

a moment as he struggles to

with you. I'm still too close to try and hide here, they'll be able to find me before I get

[Let's go!]

HAZZOW! I'm off!

want you to blast anything that looks like it's going to get too

[Yesssss.]

[Let's hustle!]

so I pile him onto my back and start dashing down the tunnel. I don't know exactly how to get to the Colony, but

designed for flat out speed. In terms of tunnelling through the earth, nobody could hope to match him. Over rock though? He's sluggish at best. Which isn't the problem that I thought it might have been. This is the Dungeon after all. You can't get far without running into monsters, a hazard which Jim isn't the best qualified to deal with. So it falls to Invidia

we stumbled into earlier. Obviously not somewhere I'm keen to return to. Neither in the short term, nor

Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

on me. The support spells make all the difference as my enemies reel from his dizzying mental attacks, are rebuffed by his shields or straight up detonated by his explosions. The support caster I always wanted is finally here and it feels so damn

Jim! Keep hustling.

you think is going to be safe? I thought we

for. As far as he knows, there isn't any safe place anywhere in the