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.]

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 him. I've put Invidia on tunnel collapse duty so I can focus more completely on assisting the digging. It's hard to manipulate the mana that far ahead of myself, Jim is

They're coming quicker now… Does that mean they're homing in

far, Jim? We can't

tunnel, probably… twenty metres

phrasing given

[Agreed!]

panic in the worm 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, judging

together, Jim. We're

[Right!]

takes a couple

[We did it!]

[Get down, Jim!]

with Invidia

CHOMP!

apart and it falls to one side, twitching. Stupid centipedes!

the hell was that?!] Jim

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

He hesitates.

don't,] I assure him, [I've got places to be and you'd rather hide, it's fine. I just need you to make

for a

too close to try and hide here, they'll be able to find me

[Let's go!]

HAZZOW! I'm off!

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

[Yesssss.]

[Let's hustle!]

angry team of eight foot tall rock people are going to leap at you from the shadows, motivation to run isn't hard to come by. Invidia isn't the fastest, 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 I can sense a general direction that I

but he isn't 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

Tunnel Map to ensure we're moving away from the Golgari city we stumbled into earlier. Obviously not somewhere I'm keen to return to. Neither in the short term, nor ever, if I'm frank. Robbing the Lirians

Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

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

Keep hustling. I think

think is going to be safe? I

for. As far as he knows, there isn't any safe