People were in a tizzy when Kendra got to the surface. There were flying things on the horizon. They were huge. Nothing like this had attacked the Tree before. Kendra swore they looked like flying whales. They were shooting some sort of orange missiles at the ground. Explosions were ripping the outer town to shreds. There were some archers firing upwards ineffectively. The sky whales had shields that seemed to deflect all incoming fire.

That wasn’t the end of the problems the outer town was facing. There was a rampaging giant one-shotting everything it was near. As Kendra stood there gathering in the scene she watched the giant splatter a warrior into a red pulpy mess. The giant roared and stomped forward towards a group of people frantically trying to get out of the way. The giant was twenty feet tall and covered the ground faster than a horse.

The mace the giant carried came down and smashed another person into mist. Dirt and rocks went flying everywhere. There were shouts of dismay and anger everywhere. Smoke from the fires hung heavy in the air. A small group of archers changed from the sky whales to the giant.

This time the arrows struck home. The arrows seemed to have little to no effect on the giant. The giant reached up and swept the arrows from everywhere on its body where it could reach. Blood flowed from the wounds but quickly slowed to a trickle.

Kendra gathered herself and began to give orders.

“Rally to the Tree.” She shouted as loud as she could.

She pointed to a group of people trying to hide behind some rubble. “Any healers?” She asked.

One in the group nodded.

“Good, start trying to put up barriers between us and the sky whales and whatever the shit they are shooting at us.”

She yelled at another group. “Stop trying to face tank the damn giant. Someone try to kite it. Who here is a runner?”

Someone off to her left responded. “I can run pretty fast.”

“Well, get up there and hit it for six and run like hell.” She yelled. “Get me some healers on the runner.

“We need the healers to group up with tanks. Tanks shield the healers. Healers get some more barriers up and heal goddamnit.”

“Who are you to give us orders?” Someone shouted.

“I am the speaker for the Tree. Tree says he is sending help up, we just need to hold out for a few.”

=======================================================================

A couple of minutes before.

The group was sitting in the inn. They had a long day of searching the surrounding area for monsters to hunt. There was a standing bounty on all dangerous monsters in the area. There was a huge demand for monster parts used in the crafting of the weapons used.

Monte took a gulp of an ale the Tree helped make. “This is the best swill I’ve had in awhile. Does anyone know whats in it?”

“Do you really want to know?” Auggie asked. “What if it comes from a slug’s butt. It is called Slug Butt after all.”

“Urrrrrp. That’s just marketing.” Dario belched. “No one would actually make something out of slugs. Would they?”

“This place is crazy as balls.” Tracy chimed in. “Nice ale though.”

The calm of the group was broken by the sound of yells and screams.

“Monsters inbound. Everyone take cover.”

The sound of explosions rolled over the inn. Dust blew in the windows.

“We should go, uh, see what’s that about.” Auggie said. He then swallowed the last of his ale. “At the very least, we should make sure which way to run.” Auggie picked up his bow and quiver and went for the door.

“Let’s go guys.” Monte added.

Outside was pandemonium. Screams, fire, and smoke assaulted the senses. The smell of burning flesh wormed its way into the nose.

“Well, shiiiiit.” Auggie drawled. He pointed up. “Fucking flyers and a giant of some sort.” He pulled an arrow and shot into the sky.

Plang.

“They got shields.” Auggie muttered. “Shields are bullshit.”

“Holy shit.” Monte pointed. “Look at that.” The giant swung and obliterated a dude standing too close. “I don’t think anyone here can take a hit like that.”

“Nope, nope, nope.” Tracy said while backing up. “We should bail.”

“We need the healers to group up with tanks. Tanks shield the healers. Healers get some more barriers up and heal goddamnit.”

“Think we should listen?” Tracy asked.

“Where we gonna run to?” Auggie asked. “Might as well.” He took a shot at the giant. The arrow struck home but only sunk a few inches into the giant. “Well, shit.”

There was a rumble and the ground collapsed. Out poured a swarm of ants. Large red ants scuttled towards the giant. A sky whale swooped low and opened its jaws. A swarm of missiles fell down and fire rolled across the ants. There was pitched screaming from the immolated ants. More ants poured from the ground.

From the tree floated an orange cloud. The clouds split up and began enveloping the sky whales. A loud droning began to permeate the area.

“Those are bees.” Tracy said.

“Naw, they’re too small.” Dario pointed out.

“What the hell they doing?” Auggie asked.

The bees were surrounding each sky whale. First the shields pulsed and flared as each bee made contact with the shield. The shield flared brighter and brighter. Then burst into shards with a small tinkling sound. The bees immediately moved closer to the sky whales and immediately swarmed the whales.

While this was happening the giant was going berserk. Every swing of its mace sent waves of ants flying. Blue ichor from the ants blew up into the air. The ground beneath the giant soon became a charnel house of bug guts. But the ants were winning. Ants were making it to the giant with pinchers and claws. Soon the whale was covered with cuts and gashes all over its body. It began to berserk even harder. The white portion of its skin turned red and its body began to swell. Muscles increased in size. Veins on its arms and legs throbbed and pulsed. The giant began to spin in place. The carnage went up another notch. There was now a continuous mist of ichor spraying across everyone stupid enough to stand too close.

Arrows continued to pour in towards the giant. The spinning mace knocked some away. But some struck home.

There was a tremendous boom and everyone looked skyward. The bees surrounding the sky whales had exploded taking the whales with them. Sky whale chunks rained down from the sky. Flaming pieces of blubber flew through the air. People were crushed by the blubber. When the blubber hit the ground it splashed and spread fire wherever it hit.

Someone yelled for anyone with water skills to put the fires out. Sprays of water from several different directions rose in response to the order.

The giant finally stopped spinning and there was relative calm as the giant looked to be trying to catch its breath.

Before it could start attacking again there was another boom and the giant exploded into a mist of viscera. Slowly fading in and out of sight was another ant. This one was red and yellow and looked somehow more sinister than the other ones. It was lean and gaunt. It had claws on its front legs. Each one looked like a scythe blade over four feet long.

“Uh, that was the ant I was telling you guys about.” Auggie said. “I’m now really glad I didn’t try to do anything to it.”

And just like that the attack was over. The fires were slowly being put out. Smoke and the stench of burning wood and bodies hung in the air. There was a sharp tang of copper wafting across the area.

Screams for help and healing could be heard coming from every area. Tracy took off towards the nearest person she could see. The rest of her party followed after her to make sure she was safe and to help the best she could.