Swamped

The mystery of the temple roof

Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen

Branch on the Windowsill; 14151114533144444243

You see a few titles of interest, and skip to one in the middle of the book. You don't quite understand all the words in it, but hopefully you can get enough.

Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen

Living out in the swamp by yourself isn't easy. You have to take care of every little thing, because who in their right mind is going to wade through a pile of unrecognizable word to fix a hole in your wall. And heaven help you if your chamber pot breaks - aside from the obvious inconveniences of exposing yourself out in the wild, the scent makes you far more trackable.

So of course, the way to deal with this problem is to have a supply shed. But you can't just put it in the swamp, otherwise it's just as prone to acts of nature (or, more often, acts of unrecognizable) as the house itself. So the obvious thing to do is to put your supply shed on the outskirts of the swamp. Sure, it takes an hour to get there and just as long to get back, if you're lucky, but that's better than the days it takes to reach civilization.

But every solution brings a new problem. You can't exactly watch the supply shed if it's an hour away, so you need to lock it up in case someone decides to help themselves to the supplies you worked so hard to gather. And where are you going to keep the key?

The answer I finally settled on was keeping one key in my travel gear, one in my dresser, and one in the shed itself to use as a replacement if I lose one of the other two. If I lose both, then I suck it up, walk to town, and talk to the locksmith, who gives me the last spare key and a new lock with a new set of keys.

The point of all this is, there's no way for anyone to break into my supply shed unless they either steal one of my keys or steal the locksmith's key. So when I headed out to the shed to fix up my chair leg, and I heard noises inside the shed, I was more than a little surprised.

But I was even more surprised when I opened the door and found myself face to face with unrecognizable. It unrecognizable my arms, unrecognizable right in my face, and then unrecognizable until I unrecognizable.

I'm amazed I survived the encounter.

Oh, wait. I didn't!

You can't help but feel that knowing all the words wouldn't really help you process that ending as anything other than sudden and desperate. And the story on the whole isn't that different from the other ones you glanced at.

On the other hand, it's a better sleep aid than Juliet's book about the caterpillar. You can give some thought to what it says about Pepper's imprisonment later.

You drift off, and begin to dream. What do you dream about?

You're dreaming about your home back on the farm... your dad is there, walking into the shed. but as you follow him, that caterpillar suddenly bursts out of the shed and devours him!!!! oh no!

The Rock-face landmark from earlier opening its eyes and firing laser beams at your farm house

You dream of your time back at home. You're working on the farm, doing your usual chores.

Suddenly, you see your missing father. You're a bit confused at his appearance, not having yet realized you're dreaming. You follow him and notice him sneaking into the shed.

You follow him in, and ask where he's been. But, before you can finish, you see an enormous caterpillar burst in from nowhere and devour him whole.

You can't process this at all. You just run out, and decide to hide in the house.

But before you arrive, you see a giant, strangely familiar, stone face attacking the house with strange beams from its eyes.

You wake up screaming, and then you're suddenly very self-conscious. You hope you didn't wake anyone up.

A knock on your door suggests you weren't so lucky. You make sure you're dressed enough to take a visitor, and cautiously open the door. Who did you wake up?

Ironically, the Tom with the noisy project

It's Stacy, who has also been having nightmares!

"Oh. Of course it's the newbie screaming."

It's Tom Eighth, or at least you think that was his number. He's got some nerve complaining.

"Is everything okay?" someone else asks, and you see that Stacy is outside your door too. She actually seems more alert than she did yesterday morning. Maybe she's more of a night owl.

"Just, had a nasty dream," you say. Tom is unimpressed.

"Listen to me, newbie. Everyone who's been here for more a few years has nightmares. We're soldiers, it comes with the job. You'd best learn to deal with it, or you won't last a day when the fighting gets serious."

He storms off.

"Don't let him get to you too much," Stacy says, yawning. "He's always like that around new recruits. If he bothers you, just tell the officers."

"Thanks," you say. You still feel a little embarrassed.

"Are you all right now? Do you think you can get back to sleep? It would be terrible if you nodded off during swim practice, after all."

She has a point, but the truth is you're still a bit shaken up from the nightmare. And Tom didn't exactly calm you down. Still, maybe you just need a little time, rather than doing anything in particular.

Will you just go back to sleep, or do you think you need to do something first?

Ask Stacy for advice on what she does when she can't sleep

Dream diary!

"I'm not sure I'm ready to go back to sleep just yet," you say. "Do you have any advice on..."

Before you finish the question, you notice that Stacy has dozed off right there in the hallway. You wave a hand in front of her face, but she's just not responsive at all.

You decide that, if you can't sleep, you might as well write down your dream. Maybe you can make more sense of it in the morning. Or, if not, maybe you can get a book out of it. You start scrawling some notes until you find yourself drifting off again.

Somehow, despite the interruption, you manage to wake up in time. You put away your dream notes, put on your uniform, and head out the door, where you find that Stacy is still standing there fast asleep.

You should probably wake her up, but how are you going to do that?

Shake her

tap your foot against her ankle

You start shaking Stacy, but she still doesn't wake up. Then you try poking her and prodding her a few times, and even tapping your foot against her ankle, but nothing seems to work.

So you shrug and just drag her along with you. You're headed to the same place, after all, and maybe Sergeant Greenwoods has some idea of how to wake her up.

When you arrive at the training pond, Sergeant Greenwoods looks at you and laughs.

"She fell asleep in the hall again, I take it?"

You nod. You can't say you're surprised this has happened before.

"Well, I've got a little trick that usually wakes her up. Hang on." Sergeant Greenwoods cups her hands and takes a bit of water from the pond, then tosses it in Stacy's face.

"...you scurvy swamp dog!" Stacy mutters, as she starts blinking. Then she looks back and forth between you and the sergeant for a while.

"Oh. I dozed off again."

"Yes, and you'd best get in uniform. I'll do some simple exercises with Marshall while we wait."

The "simple exercises" turn out to be learning to hold your breath, just in case the breather mask breaks. You manage nearly a minute, but you have trouble getting out afterwards.

When Stacy comes back, and you resume yesterday's exercise, you're still a little short of breath. You barely manage two minutes before Stacy has to help you, and after that you don't have the energy for more than thirty seconds. Sergeant Greenwoods sees you struggling and calls time early.

"Looks like you overdid it on the breathing exercise," she says. "Next time we try that, I'll stop you at thirty seconds. When you feel ready to try for more, we can go from there.

"Thank you," you say, gasping. "I had a bit of trouble sleeping last night, too, so I might be a bit tired still."

"Should've said something! I would've spent some time on warmups. Though when training's over, you're going to be expected to do that on your own when you get up. Anyhow, take a breather for now, maybe do some stretches to get in shape. Go back in if you feel up for it, but don't worry if you're not."

You thank her, and start stretching and yawning until you feel yourself getting less exhausted. You head back in, and manage a whole five minutes without Stacy's help - your best attempt yet.

"Guess I just need to be a bit more relaxed," you say as you climb out of the pool.

"That's good for now, but try relaxing when there's four Marshguards on your tail and a croc in front of you." The sergeant smirks. "As we move on, you're going to have to get quite good at swimming when you're not in the mood for it. But for now, we'll work with where you are. Now, get yourself cleaned up before the next session. You probably haven't seen the room before, so I'll meet you at the laundry room and show you the way once you're done."

"Yes, all right." You head off to shower, wondering what the next lesson's going to be, and who you'll be partnered with.

It's Tom Tenth!

How to pilot and maneuver watercraft like canoes and lifeboats

THE DANGER ROOM with Jackson

After you do the laundry, Sergeant Greenwoods leads you down towards the docks. You follow her past the barge to a small building, where Tom Tenth is waiting impatiently.

"Can we get started already?" he asks.

"Just a minute."

The sergeant unlocks the door, and inside there's a small pool of swampwater and a few boats hanging on the walls.

"This is the boat training area. It's deeper than the training pond, since the boats need it, but you've had enough swim training now that you should be okay if something goes wrong. Now, we'll start with something simple - the rowboat. Tenth, help Marshall get it into the water."

Tom Tenth mutters something under his breath and points to the rowboat. It's just barely big enough for the two of you. You help him pull it off the wall and guide it to the water.

"Tenth, you get in there first and start rowing. Show Marshall what to do. Marshall, I trust you'll be watching closely."

You do. You watch as Tom Tenth lifts the oars and the boat moves backwards. It seems that's how it's meant to work, though, as he soon does a lap around the pool.

"Now, Marshall, you take the oars. If you're having trouble, just ask Tom for advice."

You get in and take the oars. They feel heavy, but you soon get a sense of how to lift them. You row, and find yourself retreating from Sergeant Greenwoods for a bit.

"Veer left!" Tom shouts. "We'll hit the edge soon."

"Oh. Ah, I missed that part," you admit. "How do I turn?"

"Look, when you row, you're making a current that pushes the boat in the opposite direction. If you're going to turn, you've got to row harder on the side you're turning away from. So row on your right, and just hold steady on your left."

You try to follow his advice, but you find it awkward. Still, the boat does seem to drift left, and with a little more work, you manage a whole lap.

"You're not very good at explaining this, Tenth," the Sergeant says. "Still, Marshall does seem to have gotten the general idea."

"I never wanted to babysit this rookie," Tom Tenth grumbles. "I just row the damn boat, nobody said I'd have to explain it to someone. Anyhow, are we done here?"

"For today, yes."

"Good. I'm getting out of here."

He storms off, and you suppose that's it for the lesson. The sergeant starts leading you towards the next class.

You wonder what it could be this time.

CARPENTRY CLASS

CARPENTRY CLASS

Ft. Jackson!

You follow Sergeant Greenwoods out of the docks and down the halls, back to more familiar parts of the base. Still, you don't recognize the door you stop at.

The sergeant lets you in, and you find it filled with an assortment of wood and a small toolbench. A short while later, Jackson walks in.

"Oh! Am I late? Sorry, Sarge, had to clean up a mess."

"It's all right, Jackson. We just finished the last lesson a little early. Now that you're here, though, you can get started on showing Marshall the art of carpentry."

Jackson nods.

"Start simple, right? Just saw some boards and nail 'em together, don't worry if they look like anything yet."

"That's the usual first lesson, yes."

"Right, well." He gets over to a sawhorse and puts a long board on it, then pulls out a saw. "Just move the saw back and forth, like this. Careful where you keep your hands, of course." He demonstrates for a little while, then looks up and passes the saw to you.

It moves fairly easily. Before long, the board is cut in half, more or less.

"Now, hammering. If you end up on a repair team, most of what you'll be doing is nailing planks to other planks." He lays two longer boards on their sides, and positions the shorter ones near one end. Then he pulls out a hammer, puts a nail in the board, and strikes a few times until it's securely in.

"Did you get that? I'll do it again, just to be sure."

You watch closely as he hammers in another nail next to the first. Then he hands the hammer to you.

"Just like that. Two nails on each end of each board. Think you can handle it?"

You can. You've done a little of this back at the farm, usually when the barn was damaged after a storm and Harrison had other things to take care of. Still, it's not exactly something you've had a lot of practice with, and this hammer feels a bit lighter than the one you used to use. It takes you a while, but you soon get the boards nailed down.

"That's the basics. There's fancier stuff, but usually you won't do that unless you're on a repair team full-time. Our squad's still more of odd jobs; we may be out of training, but that doesn't mean we're not still learning."

"Well put, Jackson. Good work, both of you; since this was an introductory session, that's really about all we're doing right now. Next session, we'll work on a more intricate project, but still something small scale. For now, Marshall, that's all your classes for the day. And Jackson, you can use the rest of the period as you see fit before getting back to work."

Well, as the sergeant said, you're free for the day. What are you going to do with your time?

visit john medic again!

Let's learn ADVANCED SWAMPRATS RULES

You decide to see John Medic again. You head to your room first so you can return the books.

When you arrive, he's bandaging up someone's arm. You don't know who the poor fellow is, but he looks about ten years older than you and he's heavily bruised.

"Should've been more careful," he mutters. "I know better than to split off from the team that far out from base. Shouldn't count on the Marshguards still holing up after the rain."

"There's no need to be so hard on yourself. You may have taken a few hard blows, but you're still here and your squad's safe."

"But I ought to know better! I was just promoted to Corporal, dammit! What kind of example am I setting for the younger knights?"

"You're reassuring them that even an experienced knight can have trouble readjusting to combat after a storm. And don't sell yourself short as an officer - after all, you kept your squad from doing anything reckless once you had a chance to disengage."

"Yeah, so they could lug my aching backside all the way here! But nah, you're right, Medic. I'm too focused on the negative. Maybe it'll get easier once the pain goes away."

"You should be mostly pain-free in two days, but I wouldn't recommend returning to field work for at least a week. Assuming no complications arise, of course."

"Ha! Suits me fine. Don't think the Captain's going to be happy about it, though."

"If he has a problem with it, he can take it up with me. Try to stay off that arm, even when the pain's gone down. Otherwise, check in with me again in two days."

The knight walks off, and John Medic waves at you.

"Hello, Marshall. It seems we're starting to get our first waves of combat injuries today. Nothing too serious yet, obviously, but I expect to have a heavier workload. So, I may not have much time for impromptu social calls."

"Oh, that's all right," you say. "I came to return these."

"Finished already? Or were the books not what you had in mind?"

You shrug a little.

"I think they gave me a bit of a nightmare. Woke up with a start in the middle of the night."

"Ah. Are you feeling well-rested, then?"

"Not when I got up, doing all right now I think."

He nods.

"Well, let me know if you have any more trouble sleeping. And would you like any other books? I don't mind lending them out if you're interested."

Well, what do you say to that?