on the Empress' Hive

You fiddle with the flares on your side as you look up at the towering hive. As you had found out this morning, the hornets had completely cleared the area within a few hundred feet of the hive, leaving only tree stumps behind.

"You nervous?" Camilla playfully elbows you before surveying the area.

"Yeah, you could say that." You chuckle, before pointing at the therian you can barely see from your position. "Keep an eye on Graul. He's gonna be trouble." You raise a fist toward her. "Meet you at the top?"

She bumps your fist with her own, a small smirk showing on her face. "See you there."

You're glad you hadn't channeled Kara yet, because it would have been pretty difficult to part with the captain here. You step out into the clearing and launch yourself upward. You approach the windows of the Empress' 'penthouse', taking a foothold and polymorphing briefly to a smaller, child form to enter before switching back. Immediately, you're greeted with the hornet herself as she stands from her 'bed'.

"What are you doing here? You already met our offspring this morning." She squints inquisitively.

As soon as she opens her mouth, you feel the need to punch her. It's still a strange feeling, almost alien, but you suppress the urge long enough to start up the conversation. "Empress, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think this relationship is going to work out." You conjure forth your dark blade, much to her annoyance.

"You dare raise your blade to me? Prostrate yourself before me and I may forgive such a transgression." Her antennae twitch, as does one of your eyebrows.

"You seem awfully confident you're going to be on top when this is over."

She scoffs. "So be it, traitor." With a speedy wave of her arm, she launches three dagger-like stingers toward you that seemed to sprout from her nails.

You quickly raise your wing up to defend yourself, the stingers sinking between your feathers. "Gah!" A sharp stinging sensation surges through the limb. That's gonna make things harder... Still using your wing as a shield, you pop the cap off your blue flare, smoke immediately beginning to spew forth, before you toss it out the window, signaling the start of the real ****.

Camilla sees the wolfman rush into the tower suddenly. That can't be good... She then sees the blue smoke beginning to fall from the tower, and takes one last look at her meager troupe. "You heard the man! Top of the hive, let's go! Go! Go!" Despite captains normally leading troops into battle, Camilla opted to run behind them instead. While seemingly counterintuitive, her reasoning quickly made itself apparent when Kristhyra tripped on a tree root about twenty yards into their charge. The captain reaches down, having not even drawn her sword yet, and lifts up the elf quickly, pulling her along for a moment before they separate and the elf begins running on her own again.

Not ten yards later, Camilla spots the first wave of hornets defending their home. "Hornets, two o'clock!" The squad shifts their positions and slows. The three in front with shields raise them high in defense, while the remaining four that showed up raise their spears. With that, only one of the first four or five hornets continued their strike, impaling itself on one of the spears. "Good formation, let's keep it up! Hornets, ten o'clock!"

These hornets were either smarter or noticed what happened to their comrade, and swooped away. So far so good...

[Translated from goblish]

"There are two queens in the nursery that'll look different from the other hornets. I want you to get to the hive second, and get those two hornets out safely."

Eve gulps, her secret mission weighing heavily on her shoulders. I can do this, I can do this...

"That's the signal, isn't it?" The former elf looks up at Shadow's observation, spotting the blue smoke beginning to fall.

Eve takes a breath before staring up at her 'mount'...the one that killed her... "Y-yeah..." With shaky limps, she climbs Og's leg, then torso, stopping when she has a foothold on the ogre's shoulder. "G-goblins! Our tribes finally have a chance to take **** on the hornets th-that have tormented us for so long! Chaaaarge!"

The goblinoids, mostly comprising of orcs, run from the cover of the forest, and into the clearing. Sitting on Og's other shoulder, Torch holds an orb of fire, waiting for the first counterattack from their insectoid foes.

I can do this... Just focus on the goal...

When Captain Roger saw the blue flare, he didn't immediately send his troops out. Instead, after seeing the civvies from Riverbend begin the ****, he waited to spot the goblinoids make their charge. When the ogre broke through the treeline, he raised his spear. "This will be a glorious victory for mankind!" Having left his horse about a mile back, he charges forth, his spear now glowing with a white aura.

Within moments, the hornets - now being aware of an **** - swooped down on the armored attackers, quickly being shot down by the archers stationed on the edge of the clearing. This plan is as perfect as it can be. We just need the goblins to get there second...

You sidestep as you push closer to the Empress, dodging a set of her stingers. As she kites you around the room, you launch your own dark bolts, striking any escape route she attempts to use. As she clearly grows more frustrated with you, you spot her antennae twitch more and more. Only a minute or so after you threw out the flare, you spot some non-Empress hornets rise up from the room's entrance.

You rush to the first hornet, stabbing it before it gets the chance to engage you, but as you do, the Empress' stingers sink into your back, causing pain to erupt from where the base of your wing is hit, but you luckily only feel a brief impact from where they hit your slimy chestplate. Thanks for taking the hit, Blobby! With a glare, you rush back toward the Empress, only to have her begin kiting you again. One by one, more hornets enter the chamber, each one able to take at least one stab at you before you have the opportunity to stab them with your dark blade. I'm glad that they drop in one hit, but I need to do something to stop them in the first place. They're opening me up for more of the Empress' stinger attacks!