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.]

trying to sense vibrations 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

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

far, Jim? We can't be

far! I've found another tunnel, probably…

given the

[Agreed!]

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 from his history, this guy

together, Jim. We're gonna

[Right!]

sometime soon, I'm well over it. It takes a couple of minutes for us to drill our way through and

[We did it!]

[Get down, Jim!]

with

CHOMP!

it apart and it falls to one side, twitching. Stupid centipedes! They pop up every time

was that?!] Jim cries,

now. What do you want to do? Try

He hesitates.

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

giant worm shudders for a moment

still too close to try and hide here,

[Let's go!]

HAZZOW! I'm off!

blast anything that looks like it's going to

[Yesssss.]

[Let's hustle!]

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 need to travel

his best to keep up, 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 far without running into

and turn I use my 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

Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

enemies reel from his dizzying mental attacks, are rebuffed

way, Jim! Keep hustling. I think we're nearly

that you think is going to be safe? I thought we

sounds a little suspicious, which I can't blame him for. As far as he knows, there