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!"

hoping to cover himself with glory in the eyes of his House and clan. Why the 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

to cover that space as they pushed

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

weren't committing so far, hanging back and not closing with the deadly blades of the golgari. It made for a slow, grinding battle where neither side wanted to commit. At least, so far.

Came a

almost did a double take but forced himself not to turn his attention to the front. He had his own role

able to avert his eyes, he wasn't quite able to parse exactly what he was looking at. The golgari had been making slow and steady progress toward the ant fort. The moment they'd closed the distance, the insects would have been forced to retreat or die throwing themselves against a

push forward for weeks if necessary! The

air. From behind those behemoths came a tidal wave of

orders to hold the line and a host of huge, broad shouldered Warriors stepped forward, massive tower shields mounted on their arms. Together they activated