Chrysalis

The Colony recoiled from the reprimand of its Eldest and most respected member as if it had been bitten on the antennae. It has not happened many times, when the Eldest directly criticised the actions and decisions of its family, but each occurrence has resulted in great upheaval and a paradigm shift that changed the course of the Colony forever.

This instance was no different.

Warned of impending disaster if the reckless pursuit of expansion at all costs was not reined in, the council and the Colony as a whole drew back and began to reflect. With the conquest of the demon city Orpule newly completed, there was a tremendous feeling of momentum amongst us, one that we felt could lead us deeper into the Dungeon and catapult us into a large scale invasion of the third stratum as a whole. Only when we drew back, only when we focused inward, did the cracks begin to become evident.

The need for reconnaissance of the new territories had become great, too great. In order to cope with the vast swathes of tunnel and open Dungeon that needed to be carefully mapped, examined for resources and assessed for threats across both the second and third strata meant that older paths that had become considered safe were abandoned. Even those tunnels that lay between the main nest and the lands of the golgari had become criminally under patrolled and many a scout shuddered at the thought of what the Eldest might have said had they missed an invasion along those routes.

These irredeemable oversights were immediately corrected and maintaining the watch of all approaches to the nests became the highest priority, as it should always have been.

did not

had been the need and demand for metalwork, construction expertise and earth magic within the third stratum that progress on other projects had stalled, or even regressed. The best forged materials produced by the carvers had been used to create the chains and lifts needed to utilise the lifts to move materials between the second and third strata, which had significantly delayed construction of the gates required to secure the newly constructed nests. There too, a lack of attention and focus had nearly cost the Colony dearly. Desperate to push an overstretched workforce, the carvers had gone well beyond their tolerance, overworking themselves to the point of collapse, forcing the intervention of the unseen enforcers.

As the Colony withdrew and consolidated, the carvers rededicated themselves to the pursuit of perfection, tearing down everything they had built with the slightest deviation and constructing it from

to become fine soldiers, scouts and generals. The boundless

and soldiers in the upper layers of the Dungeon, but this had caused them to draw down their wide ranging core gathering expeditions, creating a shortfall in the Colony's

before a restructuring and reinforcement of the caste was established. Never again would they fail the young

that they would never repeat themselves. A feverish energy gripped each and every member as they realised how close to disaster they had come and the vast amount of work that was required to secure the future of the family without leaving any

that lay hidden within the rebuke they had delivered. An immense amount of work was required to expand the territory and power of the Colony, it was true, but far more was needed to do so faultlessly, without leaving gaps that others

and expand quickly, moving to take on what we saw as the