Princess Damira marched into the creature’s cave accompanied by her personal guard, fully excepting to fight for her life, her memories of her departure from the hive still fresh in her mind.

“don’t you dare let your guard down Damira, not even for a single second, you hear me?” her mother’s voice carried a curt tone, but the changeling princess could feel the naked, borderline terror of her mother through the Hive-mind, even while on the outside the Queen was calmly grooming her daughter’s mane, subtly weaving and layering protective spells on her chitin, burning through what little reserves she had.

“I will, don’t worry mother, I will be as careful as I can, and I promise to return to you, safe” Damira then decided to break protocol just this once, turning around and surprising her mother with a heartfelt hug, Chrysalis to drop the comb in surprise, her magic fizzling out just as she was about to add yet another layer of protection, her surprise lasted for a second, before her mask broke, and the Changeling Queen let her worry appear plainly on her face, ears pinned against her skull, eyes growing watery, she let out a shuddering breath as she wrapped her daughter in a chitin cracking hug.

“please” oh how Damira hated to hear her mother suffering, she hated it with every piece of her soul “please be careful, i-I can’t lose another child, I c-can’t lose another daughter” the changeling princess tightened the hug, letting her mother sob softly on her whither, venting her grief at not being able to go herself, after all, the Queen was too important, too vital for the survival of the hive.

The changeling princess closed her eyes, contenting herself with hugging her mother, whispering sweet nothings to her ear.

Damira shook her head to clear her mind, the entrance to the cave was fairly well hidden, if they didn’t already know it was there, they would have missed it completely, stopping at the mouth of the cave, her captain called out to the rest “alright! diamond formation! I want everyling ready for anything, keep your eyes peeled and your spells at the ready”

Everyling nodded, they took their positions around Damira, and the group advanced into the depths of the earth to face the unknown creature.

They had been walking for barely three minutes before they met what Damira believed could be the creature, it had been standing smack dab in the middle of the tunnel they had been walking through, facing their direction, as they approached, the changeling princess studied the creature, taking in it’s worm-like body, its frail looking arms, upright-snake posture, it’s short stature, the thing honestly didn’t look like it could harm a fly even if it tried, but as a changeling, she knew better than anyone that appearances can be deceiving.

‘six unknown approaching through the earth, they are moving into a flanking positions, no hostility detected yet’ the mental warning came from the soldier at her left, far-sight if she remembered correctly, a skilled sensor. The rest of her soldiers tensed, ready to spring into action at any moment.

‘good job far-sight, keep us informed if something changes, the rest of you, prepare to layer shields the moment far-sight raises the alarm, princess, if things go south, teleport out of here’ Damira grit her teeth, masking her frustration from the hive-mind and nodding minutely ‘understood captain’

Finally, they were close enough to distinguish the eyes of the creature, the group stopped, the creature didn’t move from it’s place, merely watching them with an almost dismissive of them as a threat, far-sight’s comment made it all the worse ‘that thing is either stone cold monster, or really bucking good at keeping keeping it’s emotions under control, I can’t get anything from it’

That made Damira tense even further, not daring to turn her gaze away from it ‘just what manner of creature is this?!”

‘ohgodimgonnadieimgonnadieidon’twannadieagain!’ you may be suffering from a tiny little panic attack, understandable, you were in quite the vulnerable, a squishy in front of a whole squad of spell casters, true, you had zerglings surrounding them, and while you were fully confident in their ability to tear the changelings apart in a very short time, you were under no delusions that it would be fast enough to save you.

Sighing inwardly, you straightened, turning to look at the mini-queen, they seemed to jolt out of whatever funk they had been in, they tensed minutely, but the mini queen stepped forward, she tried, but couldn’t quite hide her nervousness ‘strange, why are they so tense?’

“can you understand me?” oh goody, they speak English, now, how to paint yourself…? Ah! Right, when in doubt, imitate Abathur.

“Organism Abathur, capable of complex verbal communication” the mini queen jolted slightly, probably wasn’t expecting such a deep voice from such a small body. ‘heeheehee…, oh god, I laugh like grunt’.

To her credit, the changeling regained her composure remarkably quick “my name is Damira, princess of the badlands Hive, I assume your name is Abathur?”

“indeed”

“if you don’t mind me asking, just what manner of creature are you, mister Abathur?” she looked both curious and cautious, and while you considered on how to answer, you caught slight movement from the changelings escorting the princess, they would twitch minutely whenever a zerglings would move, ‘oh, so they can sense the zerglings, just great’

Acting as if you didn’t notice, you answered “organism Abathur, evolution master of Zerg swarm” that caught her attention, eyes snapping to yours.

“zerg swarm?” when you remained silent, she frowned slightly, but appeared to let the matter drop, at least for now “you said evolution master, would you be willing to tell me what is that?”

Okay, here comes the turning point, if you worded your explanation correctly, you could secure yourself an alliance, hell they may even willingly join the swarm, like the overlords did.

“evolution master spins strands and sequences, collect essence, study essence, use essence to evolve swarm, make better, faster, stronger, look at flesh, see only potential, strands, sequences, can touch it, weave it, improve swarm for leader” you finished explaining, and waited anxiously, the princess narrowed her eyes in thought, you could see the gleam in her eyes, no doubt seeing the potential.

“I see…” she muttered quietly to herself, you couldn’t quite hear what it was that she was muttering, but judging by the spark of hope in her eyes, you had an idea, finally she looked back at you, “mister Abathur, can you do the same for others not of your swarm?”

“indeed”

“then…” What she did next was, honestly more than a bit surprising, she bowed low, knees on the ground horn scrapping against the rocky floor of the cave, mane pooling around her face, but not quite hiding it, the action shocked her guard, they were openly gawking at her, some sputtering, you thought you heard a ‘your highness!’ coming from the back “I, as princess of the last changeling hive, beg of you, Evolution Master of the Zerg Swarm, led us your aid” she rose her head, locking eyes with you.

If you were capable of it, your eyes would have widened at seeing the tears freely streaming from the princess’ own “my people fight against enemies too great, against unforgiving elements, against starvation, every day is a struggle to scrap up enough resources to keep the hive alive, we survive, but we do not live, so please! I beg of you!” her voice was thick with emotion, her face was twisted with desperation and a little bit of hope.

Really, in front of such display, there was only one option you would consider “organism Abathur will provide aid” her reaction was to bow again, whispering ‘thank you’ again and again

An alliance has been forged, what now?

[] Move to the badlands hive (greater danger, exotic essence to collect, chance of obtaining tokens)

[] Remain here, let the changelings move into the cave system, it’s big enough (greater safety, things proceed as they have been if in a faster pace)

The changelings will receive a full overhaul, Abathur style, make your choices.

Body shape
-[] Equine
-[] Feline
-[] Canine
-[] Write-in

Limbs (not counting wings)
-[] 4
-[] 6
-[] 8

Limb types
-[] Claws
-[] Paws
-[] Hooves
-[] Write-in

Tail/s
-[] 1
-[] 2
-[] 3

Tail ‘addons’
-[] Stingers
-[] Acid Spitting Glands
-[] Grasping Claws
-[] Write-in

Wings
-[] Feathered
-[] Membraned
-[] Insectoid

Eyes
-[] Compound
-[] Reptilian
-[] Mammal
-[] Avian

Armor
-[] Scales
-[] Chitin
-[] Bone Plates
-[] Write-in

Any other ‘addon’
-[] Write-in

Author's Note

winning vote: [X] Cautious diplomacy, with an ambush prepared

here ya go, new chapter, sorry for the delay, got two more quests to manage.

votes that don't use the right format will not be counted from now on, the right format is as folows

[X] vote option