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Already, Almira hated the sight of those damn things so much. On her way to meet up with her would be allies, Almira had run across a wurm hunting party, and learned first hand why these things such a huge issue for the Mayor. A single wurm was a problem all it's own, being as strong and fast as your average human, brandishing scythed appendages and a ravenous appetite. They don't scare, they don't tire, and they don't stop. In that, Almira and the wurms had common ground. But one single, average wurm would be no problem for the Sin of Gluttony. Rather it would prove her first taste of wurm blood. It tasted of foul meat and expired milk. Her nostril flared open in disgust, but she allowed it to join the bottomless abyss of her stomach regardless. Her spear was now stained by green blood, floating beside her with the creature skewered, wriggling and crying out. A flick of her hand cleaved the wurm soldier deftly, and she watched the twitching of it's body slowly come to a halt. If it had been that easy, she would be very confused as to why she was sent along on this mission as her toes dug into the hot sand below her feet. Of course, nothing was ever THAT easy. Her senses alerted her to a once more beating heart in it's body, to the sound of scales breaking through broken skin. With a confused but interested expression set into her pale features the woman looked upon the wurm, regrowing it's body and fighting back to stand. Below the ground she felt movement, something digging towards her. At the last second she leaped to her spear, bouncing to the side and digging into the wall with her feet to stay within. Narrowly she'd avoided the scythe appendage from another, faster wurm that aimed to decapitate her. Two became four quicker than she could blink and the hunting party all aimed their heads at her. What happened next caught her off guard. Energy blasts freed from their mouths like missiles. She'd seen that before: standard mage spells. Chastiefol snapped between them, taking the shape of a sizeable green bear that swatted away the attacks with little difficulty. Things were getting interesting. Recalling the encyclopedia she had devoured earlier, she remembered the W section entirely, Wurm's of all kinds. These monsters were known to have a hive mind. What was worse was one mutation in a single wurm would translate to all of them. In large groups they could be utterly impossible to take on solo. Still, she was undaunted. The Bear flew forth, crashing into the ground with a booming thud. It swatted wurm after wurm crushing them against rocks and into the sand to no real avail as they regenerated not long after the wounds were inflicted. Her eyes scanned them, noting which of the wurms had what personality. That was a key to finding the one she wanted. A more brave wurm would be the one who was the source of the regeneration. Chastiefol fought them tirelessly as they crawled around his body, clawing and slicing to no avail. One seemed particularly ravenous, going forward in the face of swinging limbs uncaring of harm, even if it took time for it to get back on it's feet. Target acquired. Almira came down on them bathed in a gown of shadows stolen from the wurms and chastiefol. Her fist crashed into the wurm she had chosen, stunning it briefly as well as putting her in range for the shadowy gown to cut the wurm viciously as she reached down and snatched it up from the ground. The other wurms were too late to notice as Almira pulled it apart with a grunt, scattering wurm gore about their vicinity in a spectacular show of power. Her hands dropped the two halfs of the dead mass of flesh before turning to the others, who seemed to grow that much mroe dull but that much more ravenous. A pair of chains were produced from her wrists. She slung them forward on either side of chastiefol, who also swung attacked the slippery devils. She managed to get a hook into a smaller one's shoulder, but the other hook merely crashed into the sand, sending it spraying about the area. With a yank, she pulled the first wurm through the air to her. A straight jab to it's chest managed to sail completely through it's body. Two to go. Chastiefol suddenly morphed back into the shape of a spear and Almira called it to her hand, taking a ready position. The wurms were wary of approach, but their fight or flight was too slow to save them as Almira closed the 30 feet of distance via the chain that had dug into the sand. She tugged herself along and spun, ripping free the weapon to return towards her while aiming to slash through both wurms. Two heads flew into the air, one of which was snagged on the line being tracted to her. Almira whipped it in the last second, sending the fleshy worm-head into the sky. It fell down behind her as Helliot disappeared back into her wrist. The cave was a short journey ahead now, and she had no intention of being delayed any father. The last movement those wurms did was the head crashing back down into the sand.

Not too long after she arrived at the mouth of the cave, imbeded into a naturally occuring plateau of great size in the desert. She eyed the many wardens gathered there. She was given a few surprisingly welcoming looks from the many gladiator like men present. She was mostly apathetic to them all, having tasted enough murder for the week seeing as how this little errand was most due to that. An officer waited closest to the mouth, which is wear Almira was headed anyway. No point in wasting time.

"Wurm's are pests," she stated matter of factly. The Warden nodded. "Aye. Lost two men today. Scouting party got ravaged by a hunting party of wurms. Caught the by-" "Letting one soldier attack first, then swarming up from the ground. Tried it on me. They weren't so lucky." Almira cut in. He nodded, looking her over as if unsure how such a small girl could have killed four wurms that took down two wardens. She didn't even flinch under his gaze: she knew what he was looking at as she saw his expression change through the corner of her eyes. He'd seen her brand, the almost taunting skull that almost looked like it was sizing up anyone who looked upon it. Deciding if they were a worthy meal. Almira tapped her chin patiently, and he eventually looked ahead. "They call me Grunt. Don't ask. Are mission, as you know, is to root them out. That means killing a queen. In her nest. We know from reports of activity that there is at least one Titan here too, so be wary." Almira looked on their forces. About 20 wardens, plus her. "Seems like a small contingent of wurm hunters. If you weren't born warriors I'd almost be worried," she mused smiling at him somewhat knowingly. He grunted right before calling the men and women with a whistle. "Well, till the mission is over, you're one of us so try to keep your sights on them. Watch our back and we watch yours," he ordered drawing a gladius from his side and allowing a golden tattoo to shine over his right chest muscle. The mark of Solaris? Interesting. The pair formed the head of the group, and the rest followed in a loose formation behind them with the back most men keeling their eyes and ears open towards the entrance of the dark cave. Thankfully, she thrived in the dark, feeling the negative effects of the sunlight release her body. What she was less thankful for was the presence of her would be allies. It might well be a difficult battle ahead, and having teammates should be a boon, but instead for her this was simply going to be a hassle ensuring she didn't hinder them too much. Her hands found her hips, just above where her skirt began to frill out, her mind figuring out how she would be helpful aside from an early warning system. Grunt tossed a ball of lightning ahead, illuminating their path ahead. five minutes in... nothing. "At least if they try to fight us now they'll be just as blind," he offered to those who could hear in the widening walls. Almira looked around, able to see tracks in the ground and walls as if something had dug this cavern out. "The wurms opened this cave up on their own. Competition elsewhere in Amaranthine must have been too much for this queen. Recently moved in here with a small brood," she said knowing that Wurm territory war could be brutal for the creatures. "We're getting close. I can hear the cave widening even more by the echoes," a cryptic tone followed. Grunt looked on her. "Echoes?"

Not too far ahead bio-luminescence could be seen. The closer they got the brighter the trail. Almira gripped Chastiefol, which put the wardens on edge. A screech in the distance was telling. Another rang out. "Sounds like they hear us too," grunt said as electicity trailed from his mark and he flipped his gladius into a shield and spear. Almira moved to his side as they edged forward. Tremors only she picked up made her stop, made everyone stop. A single wurm soldier sprung forward in the dark. Lightning struck it, frying the body of the soldier. Almira was unmoved until the glowing lights lit up all around. Some sort of magic so that they could see, but gave Almira and her team sight as well. A swarm of soldiers rushed them, digging from the walls at all angles. The Wardens let out a hail of warcries, inciting Almira to do the same. Bolts of liquid-lightning flung free, shadows snapped and crashed into insectoids. Just the soldiers were no match for them, even in their numbers. Grunt was a formiddable warrior boasting that mark, turning him into a one man army of gladiatorial combat. Almira was with him, however, using helliot and Chastiefol to creatively tear down wurms and steal their energy. Her monstrous strength was a boon too, crushing bodies with simple punches, with basic kicks. She took a wurm by the tail and pulled it off it's feat, slinging it from one end of the tunnel into the other and crushing it against the wall. The fireworks went for a bit longer than the group was expecting, but it mattered not. They fought deeper into the cave, eventually thinning out the wurm soldiers so much that they turned tail. Helliot's hook pulled back what it could, a sure death sentence as grunt made a game of cleaving them as they came close with his transforming weapon and the power of his mark, but still soon there was nothing left of the vanguard. Heavy breathing didnt stop the warrior wurm hunters as they pushed into the main cavern. What they saw was truly terrifying a sight.

The Wurm queen seemed agitated by their presence in the nest already, she screeched down below, a 4 story drop into a lair filthy with wurms of so many different types. Going into that fight would be suicidal, and that wurm queen was huge. Whatever had pushed her out of her territory... no that was of no consequence. Almira and Grunt sized up her swarm. Three or four times the number they had just fought, and these weren't only soldiers. "Seems like they have a full brood indeed. Regenerators, Mind wurms, I spy acid and toxic wurms... this is going to be very hard. How many mages we got, Grunt?" Almira asked him. "Handful, maybe three or four. Sorcerers, mostly. Got a pretty impressive Enchanter, too," he told her.

Almira rubbed her chin, her eyes scanning the cave walls, what she could see of the ground. "Might be able to set up artillery fromt he sides. Wurm's cant fly," she added. "Aye, I was thinking similarly. Might be in harm's way from the spitters still. Acid and blinding poisons," Almira nodded, turning to their forces, wounds arleady licked, weapons at the ready. Mages heard what was said, came forward, looking high to the ceiling of the nest. Another four stories up. The Enchanter had a different idea than the others. He would come down with them, use the cave to their aid. Almira stood and drew her spear from her back once more. "Ok, first thing first, keep mobile. They can't kill what they can't hit. First and last step to ending the nest is to cull that queen, but her horde would sooner die than let her be harmed. Literally. So I say we oblidge them. mages to the sky, everyone else form up on me and Almira till we get her to the ground. Once she's down there, watch your shots. She's our ally, our sister in the pitts until I say otherwise. Watch her back but keep in mind who she is. She doesn't need you holding her hand, in fact it'll be better if you don't even try. Give her space," he said. Almira was glad he understood. The wardens looked to her, now all approvingly. She'd proven her fight was a good one, and she didn't seem to be a danger. "Now now, I'm nothing special. Just a hungry vampire is all," an amused Almira offered to him.

The mages took to the air, prepping powerful energy rays that shined enough gather the attention of the wurms. Immediately a hail of acid and toxic bile sprayed upwards when the first Wyrm took notice. "Go! Now!" Grunt commanded leaping in. Almira followed, though she was wary of all the liquid flying up, and the energy firing down around her. They're ******** with me. Did we dive head first into an acid bath? she thought though the thrill activated some kind of primal urge to kill in the sin. She twirlled once in the air, bathing herself in darkness before she crashed into the ground alone. The other wardens stayed in the air, avoiding the retaliation they were facing. For a moment she as not visible, completely invisible in the blackness swarming the horde like bats. Her form became evident in a blur of motion, stabbing into the skull of one before she was gone in the darkness. Grunt landed bravely, dashing into the horde with a flash of liquid lightning that washed over and destroyed the nearest wurm. Almira congressed once more, slashing in a huge crescent around herself and grunt to clear some spave before puffing out of sight once more. Her body had no form in the shadow she had created and she could feel every wurm that rushed into it. She assassinated them one by one, group by group. The warden mages fired their rays haphazardly, almost as if in a show. She managed not to get hit, clearing the shadows around easy targets they could vaporize while grunt used the power of his mark to smash wurms aside or cleave them in ways they could not easily regenerate. Helliot flew freely from the shadow suddenly, latching onto the body of the queen and digging deep. A second hook flew forth like a hawk and dug even deeper. The cry of pain was loud as Almira could be seen as an upper body first, slowly coalescing towards towards the ground. Her strength was great as she feasted on the Queen's energy, massive as it was. She held fast, pulling at her target digging in her feet. A warden flew towards her, aiming to help but the Queen turned and spat a toxic bile from it's gullet that hit his face head on, pulling free a cry from his throat before he was swatted to the side like a fly. Almira winced a bit, but the distraction let her yank the queen from her "throne" on the lonely pillar in the cave. She fell to the ground, and immediately her horde gathered, aiming to protect her at all costs. Grunt gave a war cry as his wardens gathered, surrounding the significantly smaller horde. Almira puleld against the Queen's strength, grunting as the Queen pulled away. Attacks flew her way, but the mage, the enchanter, defended her with his ability to bring the very cave to life. The Wardens spring into action as roots and vines grew to block acid and protect against the bile. Grunt dove forth head first into the horde weilding his gladius only, inspring the others to go as well and carve the wurms down. They were so busy trying to defend their queen from Almira and remove the hooks (which was an uphill battle as it sapped their energy,) that they didn't have a large enough force to defend her from the Wardens. The hooks broke, but by the time they did Almira had drained so much energy that she was far weaker. Her attacks were slow and her brood was weakening. Almira joined the final push with the enchanter and his tree roots.

In the end, the queen was no more and the Wardens had suffered no casualties besides perhaps the one soldier who had lost his sight due to that bile attack. Grunt lifted him up as Almira looked over the many wurm corpses. Bloodlust had subsided but something far worse had taken it's place as her eyes darkened and black lines traced into her face. Fangs bared, nostrils flared, but hse did not hiss. Rather she stopped Grunt, who was approaching her with his wounded friend. Her neck, right along the tattoo's outline, burned fervently. "Go. Take your men back to Seldar. I will follow soon," she almost commanded. Grunt didn't defy her. "We'll keep the pace light so you can catch up. Handle business here fast, get in order and fall back in line," he said so she could hear. She waited until she couldn't hear them before letting out a guttural snarl and descending upon the very fresh meat.

She managed to catch up to the group within about half an hour, bearing no signs that she had gorged herself, and as soon as she was among them they picked up the pace, their heading Seldar City to receive their payment.