Makara IC

Parveth
The wood elf moves closer, keeping a cautious eye on the ants. She shoots Adelinde a brief skeptical look as she passes by her.
Parveth stops behind Ketha and, laying her hands onto the dragonborn's back, says "A precaution," as she channels a bit more healing energy into Drachedrion Ketha.
((Parveth moves from M22 to N16.))
((She casts Cure Wounds on Ketha. Ketha regains (9) hit points.))

The remaining small whitish ant fires a stream of acid at the ants allied with the group, another lightning strike takes out some more of the "yellow team" ants, and there is some swarm on swarm action.

---

-Acid Spraying Ant A uses Acid Spray hitting Small Black Ant 1 (fails save, takes ? acid damage), Ant Swarm 3 (fails save, takes ? acid damage), and Jolt Ant 3 (succeeds save, takes ? acid damage).
-Fling Ant Swarm A moves from I6 to K6 and attacks Iron Ant, hitting for ? piercing damage.
-Small Black Ant 5 attacks Flying Ant Swarm C, but misses.
-Jolt Ant 2 uses Lightning Strike on G7 hitting Medium Black Ant B (succeeds save, takes ? lightning damage), Red Ant C (succeeds save, takes ? lightning damage), Medium Black Ant C (fails save, takes ? lightning damage), Red Ant D (fails save, takes ? lightning damage), Medium Black Ant D (fails save, takes ? lightning damage), Small Black Ant E (fails save, takes ? lightning damage). (Medium Black Ant B, Red Ant D, & Small Black Ant E die.)
-Flying Ant Swarm C attacks Small Black Ant 5, but misses.
-Small Black Ant 4 moves from M14 to J10 and attacks Small Black Ant E, but misses.
-Iron Ant attacks Ant Swarm A, but misses.
-Ant Swarm A attacks Iron Ant, but misses.
-Ant Swarm C attacks Iron Ant, but misses.
-Medium Black Ant 2 attacks Ant Swarm B and hits for ? slashing damage.
-Flying Ant Swarm B attacks Ant Swarm 1 and hits for ? piercing damage.
-Ant Swarm B attacks Iron Ant and hits for ? piercing damage.
-Ant Swarm 2 dashes from M15 to I9.
-Medium Black Ant 1 moves from N14 to K9 and attacks Flying Ant Swarm C, but misses.

---

Initiative
Parveth: 21 (N16)
Acid Spraying Ant A: 20 (JF)
Flying Ant Swarm A: 19.3 (K6)
Small Black Ant 5: 19.1 (K8)
Jolt Ant 2: 19 (P6)
Flying Ant Swarm C: 18.2 (K8)
Small Black Ant 4: 18 (J10)
Iron Ant: 15 (J&K 6&7)
Ant Swarm A: 14.1 (J6)
Ant Swarm C: 13.3 (J7)
Medium Black Ant 2: 13.2 (L7)
Flying Ant Swarm B: 12.4 (K4)
Ant Swarm B: 12.3 (K7)
Ant Swarm 2: 12.2 (I9)
Medium Black Ant 1: 12.1 (K9)
Adelinde: 10.1 (M17)
Jolt Ant 1: 10 (O8)
Steam: 9.4 (L15)
Ketha: 9.3 (M15)
Red Ant C: 9.2 (H6)
Red Ant A: 9.1 (J4)
Ant Swarm 1: 7.1 (K4)
Medium Black Ant D: 6 (I8)
Jolt Ant 3: 5 (P5)
Medium Black Ant 4: 4.2 (J8)
Medium Black Ant C: 4.1 (I5)
Ant Swarm 3: 3.3 (M5)
Fire Ant 1: 3.2 (J9)
Small Black Ant 1: 3 (L5)
Fire Ant 3: 2.1 (L4)
Small Black Ant 2: 2 (L8)

Info
Ketha: 26/31 HP
Steam: 10/24 HP
Parveth: 25/25 HP
Adelinde: 24/24 HP

Adelyn moves a little closer to the melee and uses her magic.

Stuff:

Adelinde strums a cord and the last of the whitish ants falls dead.

One of the Jolt Ants, walks closer to the melee and fires a small arc of electricity at one of the swarms, but it seems to have no effect.

---

Acid Spraying Ant A fails it's save and dies.

-Jolt Ant 1 moves from O8 to M8 and tries to jolt Ant Swarm C, but misses.

---

Initiative
Parveth: 21 (N16)
Flying Ant Swarm A: 19.3 (K6)
Small Black Ant 5: 19.1 (K8)
Jolt Ant 2: 19 (P6)
Flying Ant Swarm C: 18.2 (K8)
Small Black Ant 4: 18 (J10)
Iron Ant: 15 (J&K 6&7)
Ant Swarm A: 14.1 (J6)
Ant Swarm C: 13.3 (J7)
Medium Black Ant 2: 13.2 (L7)
Flying Ant Swarm B: 12.4 (K4)
Ant Swarm B: 12.3 (K7)
Ant Swarm 2: 12.2 (I9)
Medium Black Ant 1: 12.1 (K9)
Adelinde: 10.1 (M13)
Jolt Ant 1: 10 (M8)
Steam: 9.4 (L15)
Ketha: 9.3 (M15)
Red Ant C: 9.2 (H6)
Red Ant A: 9.1 (J4)
Ant Swarm 1: 7.1 (K4)
Medium Black Ant D: 6 (I8)
Jolt Ant 3: 5 (P5)
Medium Black Ant 4: 4.2 (J8)
Medium Black Ant C: 4.1 (I5)
Ant Swarm 3: 3.3 (M5)
Fire Ant 1: 3.2 (J9)
Small Black Ant 1: 3 (L5)
Fire Ant 3: 2.1 (L4)
Small Black Ant 2: 2 (L8)

Info
Ketha: 26/31 HP
Steam: 10/24 HP
Parveth: 25/25 HP
Adelinde: 24/24 HP

"I am moving forward," Ketha announces to the party as stashes her greatsword and pulls out her shield and handaxe, all while she moves forward. When she arrives she shoots a fire bolt towards the flying swarm...

(Moved from M15 to M10)
(Fire Bolt: 4 (Roll) + 4 (Int) = 8)

Steam
The genasi moves a bit to get a better look at the hot swarm-on-swarm combat, and says, "I'm still pretty confused which ones we're supposed to be helping."

"Attack the ones farthest from you, inside the tunnel. This should not be a particular tax on your mind."

Steam turns to Parveth. "Alright, that's just uncalled for. But thank you, that was what also what I wanted to know." She raises a hand in the direction of the ants and fire erupts on the far side of the swarm.

Meta:

Both fires miss their targets, not that it matters as moments later they and many of the other ants in the middle of the ant-pile are engulfed in flames and burn away to ash, though one of the man sized ants survives both blasts of friendly fire (pun intended), if barely. The other ants of the "blue team" make quick work of the rest and now there is only a single swarm of flying ants left of the opposing side.

---

Medium Black Ant D succeeds it's save vs Bonfire.

-Red Ant C moves from H6 to I6 and attacks Iron Ant and hits for ? slashing damage.
-Red Ant A attacks Ant Swarm 1, but misses.
-Ant Swarm 1 attacks Flying Ant Swarm B and hits for ? piercing damage.
-Medium Black Ant D Disengages and moves from I8 to I7.
-Jolt Ant 3 uses Lightning Strike at G6, hitting Medium Black Ant C (succeeds save, takes ? lightning damage), Red Ant C (succeeds save, takes ? lightning damage), and Medium Black Ant D (succeeds save, takes ? lightning damage). (Medium Black Ant C dies.)
-Medium Black Ant 4 attacks Iron Ant , but misses.
-Ant Swarm 3 moves from M5 to K4 and attacks Flying Ant Swarm B and hits for ? piercing damage.
-Fire Ant 1 uses Fire Breath, hitting Medium Black Ant 4 (succeeds save, takes ? fire damage), Small Black Ant 5 (fails save, takes ? fire damage), Flying Ant Swarm C (fails save, takes ? fire damage), Medium Black Ant D (fails save, takes ? fire damage), Red Ant C (succeeds save, takes ? fire damage), Iron Ant (succeeds save, takes ? fire damage), Ant Swarm C (succeeds save, takes ? fire damage), Ant Swarm A (fails save, takes ? fire damage), Ant Swarm B (fails save, takes ? fire damage), & Flying Ant Swarm A (fails save, takes ? fire damage). (Small Black Ant 5 & Medium Black Ant D & Red Ant C & Iron Ant & Ant Swarm A & Flying Ant Swarm A die.)
-Small Black Ant 1 attacks Flying Ant Swarm B, but misses.
-Fire Ant 3 moves from L4 to K5 and uses Fire Breath, hitting Ant Swarm B (succeeds save, takes ? fire damage), Ant Swarm C (fails save, takes ? fire damage), Flying Ant Swarm C (fails save, takes ? fire damage), & Medium Black Ant 4 (fails save, takes ? fire damage). (Ant Swarm B & C and Flying Ant Swarm C die.)
-Small Black Ant 2 moves from L8 to J5 and attacks Red Ant A hitting for ? slashing damage, killing it.

---

Initiative
Parveth: 21 (N16)
Jolt Ant 2: 19 (P6)
Small Black Ant 4: 18 (J10)
Medium Black Ant 2: 13.2 (L7)
Flying Ant Swarm B: 12.4 (K4)
Ant Swarm 2: 12.2 (I9)
Medium Black Ant 1: 12.1 (K9)
Adelinde: 10.1 (M13)
Jolt Ant 1: 10 (M8)
Steam: 9.4 (O12)
Ketha: 9.3 (M10)
Ant Swarm 1: 7.1 (K4)
Jolt Ant 3: 5 (P5)
Medium Black Ant 4: 4.2 (J8)
Ant Swarm 3: 3.3 (M5)
Fire Ant 1: 3.2 (J9)
Small Black Ant 1: 3 (L5)
Fire Ant 3: 2.1 (K5)
Small Black Ant 2: 2 (L8)

Info
Ketha: 26/31 HP
Steam: 10/24 HP
Parveth: 25/25 HP
Adelinde: 24/24 HP

Parveth
The wood elf watches, disappointed, as the magic ants that they allied with kill their own units with friendly fire. Realizing they are still expecting her to act, she follows the gaze of the majority of the ants to find the smaller swarm fight, and fires an arrow at the remaining flying swarm.

Meta:

After Parveth's shot, the remaining ants take down the flying ant swarm.

The nearest man-sized ant tells Adelinde, "Fight done. You not-ants follow this ant." and then it begins traveling back in the direction it's group came from. A few of the other ants accompany it, likely keeping watch on the group, the rest go the direction the other group of ants came from.

---

You each gain 17 xp from actual combat and 100 xp for having a creative solution to being caught between two swarms.

As the fight seems to end, Ketha stashes her weapons. "Good work. Where to now?"

Parveth & Steam
The wood elf watches the ants as she puts her bow back on her back, keeping an eye out for any sudden moves on their part. With a hand on her cutlass, she says, "Not with the ants, I would recommend. They are careless with even their own kind, and I doubt they value us as much as that."

The water genasi does a little twirl as she turns to Adelinde and ignores their new, smaller allies for the most part. "You can speak Ant?! That's so cool! Did you have to learn how to make all the clicks and clacks, and then it just kind of translated into normal speech? Does this mean anything? Click-clack-clack-clack?" She bobs her head from side-to-side as she makes the sounds.

"I can understand the reservations but I think we're in a better position now with the more dangerous half of the ants down here not trying to kill us on sight, if nothing else it gives us a little more room to breathe." She says to the elf before her attention is taken up by the genasi. "Aha...I don't actually speak ant, it's just a spell that allows me to communicate with beasts in general. I'm not exactly sure how it does it, as far as I'm aware I'm just talking normally and I sorta understand what they're saying back."

She shrugs at the strangeness of magic before pointing at the ant left to guide them. "They want us to follow this one."

Parveth & Steam
"If they actually hold to their agreement not to attack us." The wood elf seems unconvinced and keeps her hand on her blade, but after a moment expectantly says to Adelinde, "Well? Lead on then."

Steam lets out a quiet 'ooh!' as the ants that had gotten under her armor work their way out, no longer trying to aggressively bite her. "Oh hey, the ants aren't biting anymore! I guess those ants we ran into first are the ones we're friends with now? Eh, they probably won't care too much." An ant exits through her sleeve and Steam plays with it for a moment, rolling her hand back and forth before lowering her hand to the ground and letting it climb off.

Ketha remains idle as her ants leave whence they came before taking lead herself. "How long will you be able to communicate with the ants for?"

"About ten minutes since casting." She responds to the dragonborn as she asks the ant to lead on.

"They won't suddenly become hostile if that's what you're asking. The spell doesn't make them any more or less friendly than they normally are on its own. It just gives you the ability to communicate. After that we just won't understand them until I cast the spell over again, so if you have anything you want to know now's the time to ask....Speaking of..."

Adelinde explains to the ant that they won't be able to communicate like they have been once the spell runs out. She asks it about where they're going right now and how long the two colonies have been fighting as well as attempts to teach it some very simple gesture communication.

stuff:

It's unclear to Adelinde if the ants really understand the idea of communication being a thing that can be possible one moment and not the next. Teaching them seems to flat out fail either due to some failure on Adelinde's part or to some incapability on their part.

They reply to her question with, "Take allies to closest communication ant. Receive instructions."

Edit: In reply to how long the colonies have been fighting, the ant states that it has been going on since before it was hatched.

Parveth & Steam
The wood elf starts listing questions as they walk. "Where are they leading us? What animals exist down here besides their hive and the invading hive? Are only certain ants 'communication ants'? Are they gathering from the vertical tunnel we descended from? Have they seen anything that gives off light, similar to our..." She gestures to Steam and thinks for a moment, before saying, "...acquaintance."
Steam goes from being very excited when Parveth gestures to her to more normal-level excited for the water genasi. "Do they have a favorite color? Ooh! Do they even see color?"

After Adelinde translates the questions, the ant answers: "Take allies to closest communication ant. Receive instructions." "Food and Queen-mates and other Invaders when they invade." "Yes." "No." "Yes." "Yellow and green." "Yes." Which Adelinde then translates to the group.

Steam & Parveth
The water genasi looks somewhat surprised, but with a grin casts Light on her armor, choosing a yellow-green color for its new appearance. A pleasant color, not anything sickly like yellow-green can trend towards.

Parveth gives a quiet 'hmm' and takes a moment to consider the ant's responses. She glances at the others in the group (not Steam) to see if they ask questions before she does again.

In response to the color change the ant (and other nearby ants) say to themselves/each other very quickly and with some apparent excitement (or something close to it anyway), "Food creature? No. Food plant? No. Same ally creature. Change color." Oddly they don't seem disappointed, despite their previous excitement (or whatever), just apathetic.

Steam & Parveth
Steam seems somewhat disappointed by the ants' reaction and casts the spell again, changing the color of her Light back to the soft blue.

Parveth seems unimpressed but says, "Hmm. Might be useful information. Adelinde, I have more inquiries for the ant, if you wouldn't mind. Is the light source it mentioned a creature, plant, other? Do the ants use it for food? Is it just a crack to the surface? What signifies an ant being a 'communication ant'? How many differing 'Invaders' is this hive facing? Vague amounts such as 'many' or 'few' are acceptable for the last question, I do not expect the ants are particularly skilled numerically."
The wood elf also silently regrets not getting parchment to create a map of the tunnels as they walk.

"Light source is fire. Fire is not food or exit. Communication ant is kind of ant. Many." the ant replies.

Parveth
"Blue flame?...interesting. With the apparent lingering magic, I should not be surprised I suppose."
She thinks for a moment before continuing, "I have only one more question. Which route is the quickest way to the surface from here? I would debate being more subtle in asking that, but I have absolutely no respect for the ants' ability to derive intent."