Halls of Ivory

Chapter 9 - Scarycave

At first sight, one might assume that all - or even most - of the speaking races in Tyria lived above ground. This was false, though to what extent, nobody knew. Many peoples such as the now extinct Dwarves, the Dredge or until only a few centuries ago, the Asura, had made their home within mountains or many feet beneath the earth.

One such race were the Skritt, disorganized and barely sentient scavengers that lived mostly off of crawling out of whatever underground hole they raised their young in, to steal food or supplies from others. Sharing common ancestors with actual rats, the skritt retained their faces including the obsolete whiskers, their fur and their wormy hands and feet, but traded the bulbous, four-legged build for a stringy, bipedal form that allowed them to make tools and grab onto objects.

The uneasy march of the army and the equally large amount of civilians they were escorting continued south. Towards the temperate province of Kessex hills. Bordering on the Maguuma jungle, the vastly uneven lands circling the Viathan Lake were warmer, but also more humid. The fading breeze of the Colossus combined with the water in the air adding to it, almost felt tougher to deal with than when the outside was at its coldest.

Further down the path was another Charr camp. From the distance, it seemed like any of the small camps set up by newly formed warbands that littered all of Queensdale now, except that it was abandoned. The scouts followed trails of blood leading off the path into the thicket beneath the mountains and found the bodies. They had the cut- and stab wounds of someone attacked with a sword. One of them had his head cut clean off. The most notable detail to Logan was that the camp didn't bear the signs of a struggle. There was a campfire, a table, chairs, several tents and a few racks for weapons and armor. But none of it was knocked over, the killings must have happened quickly and from up close, with no chance for the Charr to react.

On their way west through Kessex Hills, they came across more camps just like it. Small camps, makeshift banners with made-up flags, one sillier than the other. All with little to no signs of a struggle and bodies hidden behind bushes or rocks. Someone wanted a clear path from Brisban to Queensdale with no Charr to run into and spared no ruthlessness to keep it that way. Many a new warband met its end at their hands. The Seraph took this into account and were more wary of any strangers they came across.

Luckily, their departure from Kryta went without further encounters. There were a few Centaur scouts, but the recent war had reduced the Centaurs' numbers to where they were at the mercy of any military force in the area, be it human or Charr. They couldn't even match a minimum contingent of Seraph stationed at the now-abandoned Fort Salma, never mind their full force.

Anxious as to what would await them and still at a loss for how and where to settle, they trod into the increasingly dense thickets of the jungle. The army slowed down, giving the men at the front more time to clear out any wildlife or carnivorous plants that may endanger the civilians. They first made their way west, hoping that the groves at the lake would allow them to meet with Sylvari and repurposed the former bandit camps in the north of the region to spend the nights.

One morning, when Logan and the Commander stood guard and most of the civilians had barely woken up, three stringy Skritt - rat-like creatures about two or three feet tall - came rushing up the hill. Logan and the other Seraph holding the outskirts of the camp drew their weapons. He pointed his sword at the Skritt. "Not one step further!"

The Skritt collapsed and cowered on the ground, covering their heads. "Mercy! We come in peace!"

One of the soldiers spelled out their most likely intent: "They're probably scavengers looking to steal from our supplies."

The Skritt in the middle of them shrieked. "No! We bring messages! Messages for shiny humans!"

Most Seraph kept themselves braced for combat. Logan and the Commander put their weapons away and came closer to the rat folk. "And what message would that be?"

From one moment to the next, the Skritt abandoned their groveling, stood upright and spoke as if nothing had happened. "Skritt were told you would come. Friendly humans watch you from hidey-places. We bring you messages from them."

The Commander raised his eyebrow. "Friendly humans?" He had dealt with the Skritt before, they were simple creatures and struggled to communicate even simple concepts. If they were starting to differentiate between humans, that complicated things. "Who are these friendly humans?"

"Allies. Trade food and shinies and protect us from scary monsters! In turn we show them hidey-places."

"And who are the shiny humans?"

"Shiny humans with shiny armor with wing! Always angry and scaring away Skritt from human stuff!" So this was how they referred to the Seraph.

"All right, what message do the 'friendly humans' have for the 'shiny humans'?"

"Friendly humans watching you! Said the dirty-armor-humans watching you too, so they killed them. Now they have hidey-places for you right here in jungle!"

That confused the Commander more. He looked to Logan and asked: "Dirty armor humans?"

The Captain immediately knew what they were referring to. "Shining Blade, I'd guess. Seraph have a routine to polish their armor every day because we're out in the field. The Shining Blade mostly stay in the safety of the city so they don't need to clean their armor on the regular. It seems the Skritt can tell the difference."

All three Skritt nodded. "Yes, yes! Shiny Blade! Shiny name but not shiny armor!"

"In that case, I think they're trying to say the Shining Blade was tailing us until those 'friendly humans' took them out and now they're offering us a place to hide. I'm not sure about this until we know more about who they are." He turned back to the Skritt. "Did the friendly humans tell you anything about what's going on or their involvement?"

"Yes! Yes, they told everything! Bad queen gave everything to Charr. Dirty armor humans went cook-cook. Got silly ideas put in their heads by crazy plant lady. Now Shiny humans are looking for hidey-place so they can escape dirty armor humans, yes? And maybe Charr. Skritt have hidey-places for you, you come with us, yes?"

Between the Captain and the Commander, neither was too sure about this. Logan told the rat-like creature off. "I'm not trusting these people's safety with any 'hidey-places' until I know more about those 'friendly humans'."

"Hidey-places are safe. We promise."

The Commander made a call of his own. "How about this: You show me what hideout you have to offer and I'll see for myself whether it's any good." And more importantly he would know if it was an ambush.

The Skritt nodded. "Yes-yes. Come! But hurry, nearest big hidey-place is still several days away." The Commander had traveled through most of central Tyria and Maguuma was no exception. He didn't know the lay of the land, but he knew the plants and wildlife of the jungle well enough to navigate it confidently. Most of the stretch, he maintained a steady pace to keep up with the Skritt. Whenever the path was clear enough that they could pass through without having to worry about anything attacking, they ran.

The Skritt led him southeast, past the mountain that enveloped Skrittsburgh, the Skritt city close enough for the surface for humans and Sylvari to encounter it. They went up the hills and straight towards the cliff walls. A thorough thicket had grown over the trees and walls in this corner and the Skritt simply slipped past it between the branches. When the Commander gently pushed away the leaves and wound his way past the close-together stems, he realized where they were headed.

Behind the wall of overgrown bushes was a crevasse that led into the cliff. He followed the tunnels underground. The Skritt were so small, it was very wide to them by comparison. Countless forks within the tunnels led to small chambers or other tunnels, all with other Skritt hiding or anxiously peeking around corners at the comparable giant making his way through their home. The Commander's only indicator for which path was the right one, was the Skritt from outside continuously leading the way.

Eventually, one of the tunnels abruptly turned a lot wider, as though carved this way from inside. "This it! Scary caves down there."

"Scary caves? That doesn't sound promising."

"Not scary anymore. Evil monsters came out of scary caves. Friendly humans came and killed them all. Dug deeper, made their own hidey-place under our hidey place. They still call it scary caves."

"There must be a reason for that. Is there a chance I'll meet one of those 'friendly humans' any time soon?"

The Skritt nodded. "Yes-yes. One friendly human waiting in scary caves."

"Just one…" The next few holes he passed were wide enough to walk through without issue. And they notably had the width and height you could expect from a door frame, if an unused one. Then a few passages further in, one of those 'doorways' had an actual door for a change. A reinforced steel door. Unlocked, but so heavy thathe had to put a lot of effort into pushing it open and the Skritt wouldn't have stood a chance to if they tried.

Once he passed this threshold, his surroundings became much more sophisticated. The path broadened out to the width of an actual street. Wide planks of wood embedded in the rock allowed him to walk down its length without having to deal with the rough surface of cave floors, it didn't have random pieces of junk littering the floor like the Skritt's caves and more wooden planks with improvised railings set up platforms leading to higher floors within these caves. Each of which had entrances to rooms and sideway tunnels of its own, some of which even had bridges and wooden structures towering over the ground to make use of the room above.

Sure, the craftsmanship wasn't that impressive, what was impressive was the sheer scale and the nerve to do it right beneath a Skritt nest. They had built an entire city and seeing as he had no trouble breathing, they must have set up ventilation leading all the way back to the surface somehow. A city, carved into layers of rock beneath the ground, layers that were likely infested with destroyers no less.

The Skritt led him to one set of platforms in particular, several roads and major caves into the city. The platforms formed zig-zag balconies, leading past several layers within this cave to the very top. Where entire houses were carved into the rock, with elaborate windows that allowed for a view of the city below. Their exterior was crude and their shape mostly rectangular with an extra wing here and there, but they were so cleanly cut it was doubtless this was made by human hands.

Up the platforms he was headed to, one of the houses attached to the ceiling was lit from inside. When he reached the top, the Skritt waited at the edge. "I wait here. Say when you want to go. We lead you back." So that answered one of his questions.

The next was answered after only a few steps towards the house. The front door burst wide open and an unwelcome sight stepped forth with open arms. "Commander! What a pleasant surprise." Minister Aldryn, dressed in his usual extravagant garb, greeted him with a bow. "Or if I'm honest, no surprise at all."

Separatists! This must have been a trap after all. The Commander braced himself for combat and readied his staff. He looked around in search of an ambush. He checked every corner, even rushing back to the wooden platforms to see whether someone was coming up from below. But it was quiet, everything was still. Even the smiling minister following his every step, didn't move an inch as the Commander's panic settled down.

"So - those 'friendly humans' the Skritt were talking about - it's you. It's the Separatists!"

The minister rolled his eyes in a theatrically overplayed way. "Really? Does the idea of Separatists being 'friendly' to someone strike you as this outlandish?"

"So…you built this? All of this?"

Aldryn shrugged. "One of many spare hideouts. We have more like this in various locations all over Kryta, but my staff has been watching you and the Seraph's little trip out of the city. We figured you might want a secure place to settle down in. This one right here has plenty of room and it's right outside of the Krytan border. Perfect for your purposes - and ours."

"And what would yours be? Why would we trust you with the safety of the citizens?"

Aldryn straightened his stance and put his hands together behind his back. "First I trust Thackeray with the princes, now I reveal to you the location of one of our hideouts, built under great effort and offer you refuge. One gesture of good faith after the other and you still refuse my help."

"I've dealt with the likes of you long enough to know that you would never offer help without an agenda of your own!"

"Perhaps, but it need not be a hidden one." The minister clapped his hands together and wandered out the door and along the platform to oversee the lower floors from behind the railing. "You and the Seraph, what exactly is your plan? Are you going to keep fleeing deeper into the jungle and simply hope the Shining Blade doesn't come for you? Anise is obsessed with control and being in charge of things, you think she'll allow you to build something of your own, free from her grasp?"

The minister threw up his hands in confusion. "And even if you do, how do you plan on going about it? Are you just going to cower away in some clearing or cliff and set up forts? Rebuild all of Divinity's Reach from scratch? Do you know how long building it took? You think those people you brought with you will accept living in huts for the rest of their lives? Please, be realistic."

The Commander hadn't thought this through to the same extent. He wasn't even thinking of forts or what kind of housing to build for the citizens or where exactly to settle down. He only knew one thing: "We have to try, what else is there?"

"Well for one, there is this place, and then there is Divinity's Reach."

"I don't quite follow."

"Instead of pursuing a non-confrontational path and then getting chased down and confronted anyway, take a stand. Join forces with us and help us overthrow the Shining Blade. Let all the past bad blood between you and the Separatists be bygones - especially now that we're in the same boat. We've undergone a drastic change of leadership and become much less compromising - and more successful because of it."

"Less compromising? Is that even possible?"

"You should know better than anyone. You witnessed what happened at Beetletun. The agents in the field had hold of Jennah, the best position we could hope for, and Monique squandered it as our old leadership always would. All that was necessary to complete the coup was to kill her, but our former leaders were humans through and through. Theirs was a policy of pacifism, pulling punches in hopes of gaining social capital to leverage in negotiations with the enemy. Didn't your past struggles with the Separatists ever strike you as a little too easy? As though they weren't even really trying?"

"And how are you 'really trying' as opposed to them?"

"We put in the work for one. You can see but a sample of the results all around you. And we no longer take prisoners. Moral high ground is nice to pat yourself on the back, but it doesn't win wars. And if your enemy remains in power, you will always be framed as a demonic villain, no matter how much you try to be nice."

"Is there a point you're trying to make?"

"My point is that we were once as misguided as the Seraph still are, in the same way. You seem to think that if you just gain enough distance and then try to meet the Shining Blade half-way, that you can somehow reason with them."

"You think too little of Anise. Maybe we can reason with her."

"Something tells me you've already tried that, or else you wouldn't be desperate enough to come all the way out here. You have to see the writing on the wall. No amicable approach will work, there is no political solution. We've since shifted to a new approach: We pursue open, armed conflict with the Shining Blade. Since the Shaemoor massacre, Krytans from all over join our ranks in droves and now with the Seraph gone, the Shining Blade lack the numbers to hold the city. We will attack the city, we will kill all of them and then we will fix Kryta by force."

"Sounds like you're equipped to see it through. What do you want with the Seraph then?"

The minister shrugged. "Isn't it obvious? The more one-sided the actual battle is, the less casualties there will be for us. What should concern you more is whether rejecting my offer is a good idea.

He started wandering around the Commander, rolling his foot smoothly across the rough ground with each step. "If we take the city all on our own, it will be us alone setting the terms of how the city moves forward. Our control will be unchallenged and absolute. We will impose any policy of our liking with no regard for whether the populace agrees with it."

The Commander was silent and followed the minister's movements with a cold stare. "But if you and the Seraph help us, you will have a say in its future policies and in the make of its government. Maybe we can even take those 'princed' nobles and make one of them the next king. You seemed so opposed to the Separatist movement as a whole just a moment ago. Would you leave Kryta completely at our mercy? Does the mere notion not scare you enough to reconsider?"

He walked right up to the Commander to level with him. "I'm offering you an alternative: A place at the table. And a headquarter from which to coordinate. A two-fold olive branch. Are you really in a position to turn away gifts like that?"

"What do you hope to get out of this?"

The minister raised his eyebrows. "Besides suffering much less casualties? Access to the princes and princesses. I want an arrangement where I can talk to them on the regular, prior to any of them proceeding with a claim for the throne."

"You mean where you can take them out before they stand a chance to make that claim."

"No. Our contention was never with the throne itself, but with Jennah and her policies. We repeatedly tried to seek her out and reason with her over the years, but she would have none of it. She had her head stuck in the clouds and claimed we were 'too violent' to be negotiated with. All while she had her pawns hunt us like animals. And now that they no longer need you, they will do the same with you."

"I did my duty for queen and country! Don't try to pin any blame on me."

Aldryn's grin widened. "Why shouldn't I? All your preconceived notions are dissolving before you and watching it unfold is absolutely delicious. It's easy to mistake a despot for a benevolent ruler when you are not the one facing the edge of her blade. Your trust and loyalty to the queen, where did it leave you? How was it rewarded? As far as I can tell, all it yielded was indifference and betrayal. They thanked you for your service and then stabbed you in the back. But now with the prospects of a new monarch, things can change. The nobles are young and not yet drunk on praise as Jennah was. They are open to new ideas and information. That said…"

The noble vanished and reappeared back within the doorframe of his makeshift house. "You've been given our offer and full knowledge on why we make it. This meeting is concluded, so I bid you adieu - for now that is." With another burst of mesmeric energy, he vanished completely and the door slammed shut.