Ironically, it was one of those setsulah who provided the Eldest with their fortieth Level.
Only with the evolution of the Eldest did the Colony have any chance at all of survival. We did well to defend against the countless lesser monsters Garralosh directed at us, but we were powerless against the great crocodile herself. Only The Queen, newly evolved, could harm her in any way, and even then, only just barely. The Eldest’s evolution into a Rare tier-five monster took a great deal of time, almost too much, as they arrived to the battle mere moments before Garralosh could deal a fatal blow to The Queen, and the Colony with her.
The Eldest also nearly died in the ensuing battle, and would have, had Grant, one of the Council, not tackled them out of danger at a critical moment, at the cost of her own life.
Soon after that existential threat was dealt with, we all faced a new one: the Eldest disappeared, abducted by some golgari for their Cult of the Worm. The Colony naturally mobilised every possible member for search and rescue the moment Crinis returned with the news, for where would we be without their leadership? Our efforts were stymied by the abductors’ use of a teleportation gate, but eventually, we prevailed and found the Eldest shortly after they escaped their captors.
They were not alone. Tiny was with them, along with their third and final pet, the Envy Demon, Invidia, and another escapee: the vile worm, Jim.
Once reunited with the Colony, the Eldest was determined to return to the golgari outpost to retrieve another captive, the Asura Bear, Sarah, who was nearly forced into a “tournament” with monsters the cult had groomed to become a new Ancient, as the Eldest had been before escaping. While there, the Colony ransacked the compound for knowledge and other valuables while keeping collateral damage to a minimum, with the exception of the other monsters, which were slaughtered, though the Eldest did order the cult’s leaders be taken hostage.
They all made it out of golgari territory after fighting off a pursuing force, and from that force, they also took two thirds of the golgari triad who had been advising the Eldest for their tournament matches, and had since been pressed into helping hunt them down: Corun and Torrina. Their triad’s leader, Granin, would not rejoin them until later, after being impressed into the far larger force the golgari subsequently sent to exterminate the Colony.
Had the golgari attacked us alone, we may have managed without too much trouble. The carvers of the Colony had already built a new nest in the second stratum, directly under the first, and had fortified it as best they could with what materials and knowledge they had at the time. But with the involvement of the Abyssal Legion on another front, which took all of the Eldest’s attention, the Colony was barely able to hold out against the Siege long enough for a new Dungeon wave to force both armies away. Had the human friend Morrelia not allowed herself to be taken hostage in order to prevent her father, Titus, commander of the Legion, from participating more than once, we surely would have failed.
The final hours of the Siege were when Jim betrayed the Colony by digging a tunnel that brought the golgari directly into the brood chambers. It cost the family dearly, though not as dearly as it could have, thanks in large part to Sarah’s assistance in driving the invaders out.
The near-annihilation the Colony faced showed us that the strength we’d gained was far from sufficient. To survive against the enemies we found arrayed against us, we had to grow much stronger. The Eldest determined that the antcademies should train new members to the fourth tier, where previously they would graduate upon selecting their castes at tier three. Though doubling the resource requirements was a daunting prospect, the change was immediately implemented, as the benefits of a tier four were more than double those of a tier three.
With the lessons of the Siege freshly learned, the Colony turned all of its efforts toward expansion almost as soon as the wave subsided. We went outwards in every direction, including straight down into the third stratum to conquer our first demon city: Roklu.
Though we succeeded in that conquest, the Eldest rightly admonished the Council for pushing too hard too fast, to the point that there was little room left to work around unexpected problems. One of which was the city lord, Grokus, a tier-seven Gluttony Demon with a devastating aura effect and instantaneous regeneration. The Colony foolishly invaded without the Eldest’s involvement, as they were busy training the new Champion, Brilliant. Had they not returned to Roklu in time, that one demon could have likely defeated the whole invasion by himself eventually, to say nothing of the other tier seven rampaging in the city.
Almost as bad, a neighbouring city lord declared a “formal war” directly after Roklu’s conquest. We had just finished working ourselves to the brink in preparation for the first demon city invasion, and now we had to immediately work toward another.
The Colony could not sustain this pace. Fortunately, the Eldest understood the problem for what it was and corrected us before it all fell apart.
1. Fancy Stylin’
The meeting dragged on for another hour before a reasonable plan of attack was determined. We had to consult Al fairly frequently throughout the process, trying to determine exactly what is and isn’t allowed in a formal war between demon cities. In the process, we got a bit of an overview on the history and practical application of this particular demon tradition, though Allocrix doesn’t have any idea when it started. He claims the practice is nearly as old as demon kind itself.
According to the burning eyeball himself, there was such a time that the third stratum was filled with demons who, as of yet, didn’t have any boundaries or structures as to how to lead their lives. Much as one would expect, it was complete chaos. At least, it was more chaotic than things are now, supposedly. I did have to ask him one burning question at this point in the conversation.
[Who exactly imposed the rules on you?]
[What do you mean?]
[At one point, you had no rules, and then these traditions were… put in place, for want of a better term. There must be someone who came up with them, right? An individual or group that was the origin point. Or were they just cooked up at some point and spread throughout demon society over time?]
[Ah, you ask who is the origin of our traditions. Arconidem.]
[Arconi-who?]
[Arconidem, the Demon God.]
[I didn’t realise you demons had a religion?]
I mean, how does that even work? They’re literally referred to as demons… or is this why they’re referred to as demons? Allocrix stares at me like he’s looking at an alien.
[You don’t know who Arconidem is?]
I try to think.
[It might ring a bell? I get the feeling I’ve heard the name before.]
[I believe you might.]
Is that humour I hear in the big eyeball’s voice?! A shocking development.
[Arconidem the Demon God is one of the nineteen Ancients and the progenitor of the demon race,] he informs me in his usual flat tone.