Chrysalis

The council meeting was cut brutally short, the revelation of a possible city underground, so close to where the Colony is operating, warranted immediate investigation. If an enormous pile of Golgari pop out of a city, right on our doorstep, our home ground advantage will go for nothing. Not to mention they could flank us horrifically. I also need to be wary of the possible reinforcements that they call in. We need to move fast, uncomfortably fast.

To this end, I hurry to gather up my entourage for this whirlwind trip to the surface. I pick up Torrina and Corun before gathering my pets. Rather than bring them with me, I decide to send them in support of the scouting efforts. They'll be more useful there. If something does end up going south, they'll be able to help the ants escape with lives. There's only one problem with this plan.

[Nooooooo, I won't leave you, Master!]

[Crinis! I'm only going to the surface, I'll be back in less than a day! Will you get off me!?]

[I won't!]

[Don't make me order you!]

[Don't do it, Master! You'll get sucked through a portal, or challenged by a mega-monster, or slip and fall down a pit and land in the fifth strata, or an ancient will rise from the depths and swallow you, forcing you to live as a parasite in its gullet, or a great confluence of stars will smite you down the moment you set foot out of the tunnels! Take me with you!]

sound completely ridiculous, but why is it I can't seem to say that none of them will happen? I have managed to put my claws in some

fine! You come with me. Tiny and Invidia, you guys

[Yes!]

shallll peel

to taking

is still ablaze with energy from the plethora of ants that pick their way through the tunnels around me. Scouting, hunting, hatchlings on training expeditions, there's no shortage of reasons for the Colony to be active in this area. Yet I feel there's something else, something… slippery. A tiny presence that somehow slips out of my awareness when I'm not paying attention to it. A small cluster of muted lights that seem to hover nearby, fading in and out of existence. Since they turn up in the Vestibule, I have to assume they're related to the Colony in

tall enough for them to crawl beneath me without having to lift myself up! As one would expect, there are more Brood Tenders here than anything else, supervising the pupae and guiding the hatchlings once they've emerged. It's

watching

built anvil. Moving quickly, she skitters off to one side and triggers a mechanism that brings a heavy weight down from above onto the metal with a resounding clang! Sparks

they were hoping to work metal without the capacity to use a hammer… although with another evolution they could probably work to build up the strength in

surface. I step into the glare of the bright, surface light and immediately feel my core shudder in pain. Here on the surface, the mana concentration takes a massive dip and the drain that was already

drag every scrap of energy I can reach into my core to stave off the drain, but even with my increased Skills, I can't cover for my loss as effectively as I could before my last evolution. The increased need for mana appears to grow exponentially at

shape stones. As I crawl from the hill, I'm a little shocked to see