Chrysalis

He sensed them before they came. The Shapers had been ordered to keep their senses tuned for just such an ambush, but the ants were getting clever. They must have placed dampeners or some other form of mana suppression in the tunnels, which meant he didn't have a whole lot of time once he detected the tell-tale signs through the ground.

"Contact!" Granin hollered, "beneath! Above! And in the damn walls!"

His voice didn't carry far above the din, but enough heard him to make a difference.

Shields went up, exploding with shimmering light that expanded to cover the golgari force on the flanks even as Shapers wove together shields. Flares of light arrowed from mage’s hands into the rock around the tunnel, bringing points of illumination to the oppressive darkness.

What they saw wasn't pretty. From well concealed points on the walls and ceiling came a flood of insects, their antennae twitching furiously, lidless eyes staring as they launched their attack. Acid and magic came at the invaders from all sides, hammering into shields and coating them with hissing goo.

"Hold the line!" A voice roared, cutting through the noise. "Nothing here we didn't expect! Push forward! PUSH damn you!"

minor noble felt it necessary to drag an exhausted Shaper into the middle of the fight, he had a few suspicions, none of them good. Not much he could do about it now. Granin had known something like this would happen when he sent his triad away. He hoped those

two hundred metres at its widest point when the multiple passages came together, but the golgari hadn't spread to cover that space as they pushed toward the walled fort the ants had created. The attacking force was a thousand members strong, but they were outnumbered at least five to

erupted in the tunnel and there was too much to take in. Mana swirled wildly through the air as hundreds of mages drew on the energy and cast it back out in a different form. Granin dedicated his own resources to firming up the shields on the left flank where he stood. Offensive magic was just as likely to hurt as harm in a situation like this. With acid covering the shields,

made for a slow, grinding battle where neither side wanted

Came a deafening

He had his own

slow and steady progress toward the ant fort. The moment they'd closed the distance, the insects would have been forced to

idea made Balta curl his lip. The Warriors of House Balta were indefatigable! They would push forward for weeks if necessary! The battle progressed exactly as he imagined it,

ants covered in steel rushed forward with almost palpable glee, their mandibles eagerly gnashing and chomping at the air. From behind those behemoths came a tidal

but he ruthlessly quashed it. A noble of the Houses wouldn't falter in the face of these damned insects! He gave the orders to hold the line and a host of huge, broad shouldered