Niko and the rest of the Wyldwalkers moved deeper into the pseudo-structure that had been constructed out of the three city blocks nearest to the Guildhouse. They had no time to rest, as they were now ordered, as Niko had half expected, to begin helping to clear out the Waterways, based on their loose familiarity with them and the enemies they might find within them. Still, they had other objectives that they were permitted in passing.

“Dachna and Mithel,” Ronald began, “The both of you pick up whatever you need from the guild stores if they have anything left, meet us at the underway entrance in no more than ten minutes.”

They both nodded before Mithel asked, “What are you guys going to do?”

“I’m going to check in with Dad,” Ronald said, “I want to know how we’re doing without getting a filter from whoever is on the other end of this communication crystal.” He held up his wrist then, tapping it.

Niko and the others were quiet at that, but they were curious as well. Still, there was another part of him that was worried he might become too focused on the losses.

As though he’d heard that concern in their silence, Ronald stated, “I know we’ve done what we can already. I just want…” He paused, then exhaled a long breath before correcting himself with, “I need to know.”

Skye bumped his shoulder with her own as they walked, “Just remember that we’re all a team. Just because we’re on the pilgrimage doesn’t automatically make all of this land on our shoulders.”

Niko privately believed that this was at least partly on them, but he wasn’t exactly bothered by that knowledge. The situation with the hornets might well have happened even if they’d never embarked on the pilgrimage at all. He felt like this situation was positively awful, but he also thought it would be profoundly arrogant to think that they could be the ones solely responsible for causing it.

Before he knew it, they were moving again, and Niko listened as Ronald caught a stray guardsman occasionally asking for directions. The interactions were terse and over just as abruptly as they’d begun, but that was to be expected considering the circumstances. Niko wasn’t even sure if Gram would be available to speak with them.

When they finally made their way to the second war-room center, Niko was surprised as the guards at the entrance stepped aside smoothly for Ronald. “The Captain is inside. Stay in the middle aisle, the others are for strategic personnel only.”

Ronald nodded before moving ahead, with Niko and Skye following close behind. Sasha and Thokk stayed outside, unwilling to enter the cramped building.

“We’ll be quick.” Niko called back to them.

Sasha only did a slow blink at him, while Thokk gave a short rumble that Niko couldn’t quite parse the intent of. He took that at least as that they would be fine waiting, but it seemed that just being able to speak any language, didn’t seem to mean that he understood their nuances.

Niko followed after Ronald and Skye as they entered past a heavy wooden set of double doors. A large foyer, leading off into three separate hallways greeted them, but they kept going forward, moving quickly down a wooden paneled and slate tiled path towards already open doors similar to the ones they’d just left.

Niko braced his eardrums as they closed in on the room, already able to hear the rapid barks of orders and reports, swarming amongst personnel who sat beside crystal receivers and around small maps of the city. As they entered the room fully, Niko marveled quietly that the maps were updating in real time with a vague red haze over much of the city, with much more prominently outlined red blobs immediately around the city’s last defensive areas.

It didn’t take much of a leap of logic for Niko to guess that the red was the hornets, but if they were, they were well and truly clucked.

“Ronald, here,” A voice cut through the din, somehow soft against the background. Even so, everyone stopped for a half second before their flurry of activity continued. No doubt, everyone in the room was ready to take new orders from the Guard Captain at any moment.

No one took more than one glance up at the trio walking down the middle aisle, each busy with their own work and coordinating the defense effort. Niko pried his eyes from the many desks and shining, magical equipment to look at Gram Magra as the man’s eyes darted over a few reports before he set them down and quickly marched towards them.

“I’m glad to see that the reports were correct,” Gram said sternly, before his features and voice turned warm, “You all cut it close.”

Ronald wordlessly embraced his father at that, and Niko felt like he’d just kicked an iron doorstop. The big man didn’t express much emotion, but he could tell by the way he’d hugged his father that he’d been very strained. “We almost lost a lot of people along the way, but yeah, we made it.”

Gram didn’t hesitate to return the embrace, giving the man a gruff chuckle, “What’d I tell you? You remember, right?”

They parted, though Niko felt a kind of warmth between them linger as Ronald took a deep stabilizing breath, “You can’t save them all. But you can damn well try.”

“Atta boy,” Gram grinned broadly, before turning to Skye and Niko, “I’m glad to see you’re both well. Don’t mind the gore you’re tracking on the floor, nobody cares.”

Niko and Skye both immediately looked to their attire and feet, before self consciously realizing that, yes, they were both trailing not-quite dry insect bits on the slate.

Gram chuckled at that, before his expression grew heavier, “Come with me, we need a quick chat.”

Niko perked back up at that, as did both Skye and Ronald. The Guard Captain drew them back through one of the farther hallways, pulling them aside into what appeared to be a smaller command center, complete with a much larger version of the map that was displayed in the main room. Several men and women were busy speaking quietly over said map, and Niko realized that they had miniatures of the forces they had present on the board.

As one, they turned and snapped off a salute to Gram, who quickly said, “At ease.”

Just like that, they picked up where they’d left off, and the Guard Captain not-whispered back to the trio, “They do it every time. I tell them to stop, but these idiots just don’t listen.”

“It’s almost like we were trained by someone we respect,” One of them shot off, though her eyes never left her reports, “But that’d just be crazy, right, old man?”

Gram snorted at the woman, much to the amusement of the rest of the group. “These are my direct subordinates,” Gram introduced the group, “Say anything you want here, it won’t get out. Now, tell me, what did you feel the frontlines were like?”

Ronald started, before glancing at Niko, “Niko might be the better one to answer that, he and Dachna were pulling the swarm.”

Gram quirked an eyebrow at that, but set his gaze to Niko. The Phorus nodded, before beginning, “They have clear strategies and a tactical sense. If I had to guess, they’re just throwing low tiers at us to wear us out, but they’re putting tier threes out in force to hit pressure points. That’s what they did to us, anyways,” Niko, shrugging, continued, “With how well they absorb ambient essence, I think they’re taking advantage of all of their fallen to get higher tiers into the area at full fighting power, but I don’t know for sure.”

The grizzled man grimaced at that, but nodded, “That’s what we were afraid of. We have a few high tiers with us, but nowhere near enough high tier essence to keep them from tapping out. Orson can fight for days if it’s just him, but he’s had to flash-fry a lot of bugs. Crowe, Oum, and Camille are all in the waterways keeping the tier four Dawr Goblins from slaughtering my guards and the adventurers, but only barely.”

Skye’s expression tightened, but she didn’t say anything. Ronald then asked, “Do you think the Massacre Hornets are going to try to wage a war of attrition?”

“Try? No,” the man shook his head, “They’re winning the war of attrition. Putting up that wall for so long? Funneling so much resources into people to keep them running? It’s a small wonder that most of the strike teams haven’t needed essence-enrichment, but the vanguard and ranged support are guzzling resources like there’s no tomorrow.”

“Which there might not be much left of at all, at this rate,” Skye sourly commented.

Gram winced at that, but nodded, “The plan we have right now is… not great. That’s why I’ve brought you all in here.”

Niko tilted his head to the side, “You’re going to try to use the fact that we’re on the Pilgrimage to shake things up, aren’t you?”

“When you say it like that, it makes it sound so irresponsible. But, yes, I am.” Gram gestured to a second map on the wall as he led them into the room, showing the underbelly of the city, “Every available resource is about to get stuffed down into the waterways, but I can guarantee that it’s going to be a bad fight. Right now, Oum is hunting in the tunnels outside the waterways, but from the last report he fed me… Look, right now I need you all to swear that not one bit of this leaks out of your team, alright?”

The trio nodded seriously, and Gram tapped the hole where they’d come into the tunnels, “We’ve told everyone that it’s a tribe, but I’ve never seen tribes this size. There’s at least five tribes worth down there, trying to get into the waterways. They’re not escaping from anything, either, they’re too organized. It’s a war party that’s trying to get at us topside, not stay in the waterways. We have no idea why, or where they’ve come from yet, but that doesn’t matter. I’m pretty certain most, if not all, of the tier fours are outside the waterways now, but there’s plenty of lower tier in there to go around.”

“Now, here’s the problem.” Gram tapped the hole again, “This tunnel is now significantly bigger. The tribes widened the hole and reinforced it, and Camille can’t get a break to blow the damn thing down. Through dumb luck, between the stout-folk’s construction of the waterways and the many Earth Wyrm’s in the area, the goblins haven’t risked making a new tunnel, so as of right now, this is the only way they’re getting under the city. The big problem is that we can’t blow it up without bringing down a huge chunk of the city and opening the space up to the hornets.”

“The punchline is…,” Gram gestured to a strange picture with ten large cylindrical canisters, “We do have a way to kill everything in that tunnel. But if they get set off inside the waterways themselves, we’d just be killing ourselves, too. Though, I’m told that you have an able alchemist with knowledge of lethal chemicals?”

Ronald, Skye, and Niko all exchanged concerned looks, before Niko squawked, “Are you literally going to gas out the underground?”

At Skye’s translation, Gram nodded, “As much of it as we can, for as long as we can. We only need to be able to buy enough time to seal up the entrance and reinforce the waterways. If we can do that, we can pull everyone in the city down into the waterways and seal up the entrance, hopefully long before the hornets breach containment.”

Niko and Skye both looked to Ronald, nodding to him even before he could ask the question.

“Alright, where do we pick up these chemicals?”

—------------------------------

Niko half expected to have to carry the canisters on his back, which was why he was quite pleasantly surprised to see that several individuals in pale grey vestments and robes were hauling hand carts. What he was especially displeased to see was the fact that what had been ten cylinders turned out to be more like one hundred.

“So, like, are these explosive?” Dachna asked worriedly as several teamsters and a mix of guild teams and guards gathered up around them.

The nearest teamster gave Dachna a considering look, before turning a much more worried gaze down to the gathering of canisters they'd be hauling. The man then looked back up at Dachna with a considerably less amused expression.

“Uh… My bad, I’m sure it’s… fine?” Dachna cleared his throat, before surreptitiously making a retreat closer to Niko.

“We’re leaving as soon as the teamsters are finished with prepwork,” Ronald called out, “The only job we have is to get to the tunnel. Literally everything else is secondary,” The big man made sure to have everyone’s attention, “The waterways are not clear, they are not our territory at this moment. Reports say that there aren’t any Dawr Goblins over tier three in there, but we can’t be sure of that estimate. No matter what, we must get to that tunnel, and that means anything that gets in our way is going to die. Withhold nothing, protect the men and women beside you, and keep moving. Thousands of lives are riding on whether we succeed or fail, and we are on a very, very short rope to navigate with.”

Niko nodded along, noting that Ronald wasn’t being particularly inspirational with his speech. This wasn’t the time for it, either, though, at least that’s what Niko thought while watching the reactions of those around him. A sense of resolve was crystallizing in them, and Niko knew that whatever else happened, they were prepared to go the distance.

What that mettle was worth, Niko didn’t know, but they would soon find out.

“We’re ready to go,” The woman in charge of the teamsters nodded to Ronald.

Ronald nodded back, before calling out, “Martial up, we’re going! Scouts on the outside, check and secure every hallway we come to. Keep any alchemists and teamsters near to the center, but keep spacing moderate. The last thing we need is a Dawr fireball taking out an entire team.”

The formation flexed into place, relatively simply, and the Wyldwalkers led the march into the underground. They weren’t the only group with an alchemist, but it was certainly true that Mithel was the most experienced battle-alchemist in the city. Any others were either missing in action, or inexperienced.

Niko had to remind himself that even having as many tier two teams as they did was impressive, considering the fact that they were in Greenleaf. What he would, at best, consider a starter city. If it wasn’t for the fact that the few higher tier individuals in the city had defended so well, the hornets would have probably overrun the populace long ago.

It did pose the question as to how the hornets were going to be dealt with, but Niko guessed that reinforcements would be the only answer to that question.

The Phorus’ attention moved to Thokk and Sasha as they moved down through the sewers, the pair groaning at the smells. “I always dislike sewers. Of course, I understand the necessity of it all, but nevertheless…”

Niko listened to Sasha speak before suddenly blurting out a thought, “Do you have sewer systems up on your mountain?”

“Of course,” Sasha nodded, “You can’t have that many beasts together without having something to collect waste. I’d even argue that it’s a fair bit more… sophisticated than what you have here.”

Niko tried to imagine what that might look like, before clucking, “Huh, I guess that makes sense. Is it like a big city or something?”

“Very,” Thokk said, “It is a marvel to behold. I would recommend a journey to see it after this. If we survive, of course,” The Hind Bear inclined his head to the ceiling meaningfully.

“I think I’m going to have a thing against bugs after all of this is done. I already hate snakes.” Niko sighed heavily.

Sasha and Thokk exchanged interested looks, “Sounds like a story to be told,” Thokk opined. “You’d love meeting the Yaunz. They’re snake beasts that live on the mountain.”

Niko snorted at that, “I’ll tell you guys later, I’m flagging myself enough as it is.”

“What does that mean?” Sasha asked, tilting her head in confusion, “I… see no flag on your person? Do you mean the colors you wear?”

“No, no, nothing like that. It’s a metaphorical phrase to express…” Niko paused, realizing that, perhaps, telling them he was daring fate was not ideal at this time, “Well, it’s something or other. I’ll tell you later when we’re not going into a dark hole in the ground.” He cleared his throat to the suspicious gaze of the Sabrecat and Hind Bear.

But, luckily, they didn’t have time to extract an answer from him.

“Waterways from here,” Skye called out, “Keep your eyes up, Dawr Goblins can see in the dark, but their eyes reflect red against the torch and lamplight. If you see red beads in the dark, attack first.”

Niko nodded to Skye before moving forward, along with Sasha. The three of them had the best night vision or senses out of the Wyldwalkers. Thokk stayed back to protect Mithel and the teamsters alongside Dachna and Ronald.

They moved through the long, wide stairwell, separate to the one that Niko and his group had used previously. Seeing the notches on the wall, Niko imagined that heavy platforms with gears could be installed to move heavy equipment or large loads. The stairs themselves were longer, too, making it easy enough for Niko and the others to move down them side by side.

Below, light greeted them from a sprawling encampment, wood and metal bracing held cured leather up into tents of various shapes and sizes. Few guards awaited them, just enough to hold the peace, but the rest were undoubtedly beyond the boundaries of the emergency shelters, trying to clear more space within the waterways. The civilians huddled closely together, and Niko could smell their fear and trepidation. This environment was not conducive to calm, as the tents cast deep shadows in the sparse light, and the air that had once been so well ventilated now seemed stuffy with the sheer number of people who occupied the space.

‘I know I should have expected this, but… this is kind of sad, isn’t it?’ Niko thought to himself, seeing a once happy and energetic populace reduced to this. ‘Better than being a meal, I guess.’ He tried to put the thought out of his mind as they walked through hallway after hallway of what for all intents and purposes was a refugee camp. Yet, all too soon, the darkness of the waterways returned, and Niko honed his senses on the hallway in front of him and the promise of as yet unseen danger ahead.