Swamped

You decide to press him.

"Clancy, I've got to make this clear. If there's something you aren't telling me, first off, it might be relevant to this little errand you want me to do. Second, even if it isn't, if it's got you worried enough, it's going to hold you back when we get out there. We have to be able to trust each other if we're going to get anywhere here. Do you understand me?"

He's uncomfortable as he thinks it over, then he lets out a deep sigh.

"We caught the greatrat on Sergeant Ash's orders," he says, slowly. "And we told him where we were keeping it. So I was just thinking - if Ash set the guard roster, he might have picked knights he trusted enough to give a warning. Which means they wouldn't raise the alarm if they caught it."

Hells, hells, hells. You can tell Clancy's not lying. Which means one of the top officers tried to set up Squib Squad with a goddamned greatrat and... you just can't process everything that means right now. You've just got to focus on the immediate problem.

"All right. So I think, before planning out anything else, we want to check if it's in the auditorium. Could we go in there through this passage you mentioned?"

"It's pretty thin. The greatrat might be able to squeeze through it, I know they're good at slipping in through tight spots. But it'd be close enough to be real uncomfortable for you... and for me, just forget it."

Well. What's the plan, then?

Use a repair-shaft.

You think back to your first week on repair squad. You learned that there are a number of nooks and crannies in the walls, usually boarded up, but with the right tools you can take out the loose boards. Repair squad uses them to approach some difficult areas from another angle.

And you're pretty sure that there was one leading to the back of the auditorium. You didn't use it often, but it did come up that week.

Unfortunately, you turned in your tools hours ago. You explain all this to Clancy.

"Just go get your tools. Say there's something wrong in your room and you want to take a quick look at it. You can probably come up with something plausible. I'll check out the corridor behind the auditorium and make sure no one else is around."

You have to admit that's a reasonably good plan, so you head to the supply room. Fortunately, you know the knight on duty there tonight, and she barely asks any questions. She probably knows you're up to something, but only cares enough to make sure she won't take any of the blame for it.

Well, that works for you. You take your tools down to the corridor, where Clancy's already waiting.

"Ash had someone standing guard here, but I knew the right codewords to convince him I was here to relieve him," he says, smirking. "So it's all clear."

"Good. I'll make this quick."

You remove a panel of the wall, and slip inside. Then you feel your way around the passage for a while, until you find a knothole.

You put your ear to it and listen.

"I can't believe Ash wants us to babysit a freaking rat," someone says. You think you recognize the voice... Ben Eleventh?

"Yeah, well, it's too drugged to be a danger, and it's not like it's permanent. Relax. Our courier ought to be back soon with the poor sap who's actually responsible for keeping the thing under control."

"That was forty minutes ago! I think something's gone wrong out there. Wasn't there talk of a Marshguard attack?"

"If Marshguards had hit the base, we'd have heard the alarm by now. You worry too much."

"You don't get it. I was there only days ago. Talk was that Razor had a new attack plan he was pushing, a nasty one. What if they've launched that? Ugh, we don't know anything about what's going on out there."

Well. It certainly sounds like the greatrat's in there - you can even hear the occasional low growl. So now what? Stay and listen in hopes of finding out more, or head back and tell Clancy what you know?

Head back, that's all you need to know probably

ambush them

man, I hope that greatrat loving Fred doesn't hear about this.

You decide to head back and tell Clancy what you heard.

"It's in there," you say. "Seems the guards are waiting for someone to take it back to the hiding place. Someone like you, I suppose."

Clancy has an awkward look on his face.

"So I talk to the guards outside, give them a codeword, take the rat back, and probably continue on with whatever dirty job Ash gives me next," he says after a while. "And nothing changes."

"You could make that choice," you say with a shrug. "I won't stop you. It's not my job to tell you how to play the game of life out here. If that's what you really want, you're welcome to it, and I'll be on my way."

"Nah. I'm through with Ash, I think," he says, shaking his head. "I've gone and blabbed on him already, right? It's just, I don't know where I go from here. Been stuck on Squib Squad for so long that I feel like I've forgotten what I really want. Who I really am."

"Well, then, Clancy. If you're getting out of Ash's game, what sort of play are you going to make instead?"

i'm leaving the swamp, for good. never felt the calling anyhow. tell you what i wanna play, though. swamprats

ashley loather play

Let's dump that rat in a pit.

Clancy seems lost in thought for a while before answering.

"I think I'm just going to leave."

"Leave?"

"The swamp. I've heard you talk about the call, well, I never felt it. And the more I think about it, the less sure I am there's really anything for me out here."

"Is that it, then? You're just walking out?"

Clancy shakes his head and smiles.

"Well, not right away. First I've got to mess with Ash's plans by getting rid of that rat."

"Shouldn't be too hard if you know Ash's codewords. Just go in, get the rat, then lead it outside and drown it. Or am I missing something that makes it more complicated than that?"

Clancy looks a little worried.

"Well... there's one thing that's been bothering me since it got loose."

"And what would that be?"

The drugs that Ash has been providing. They've been changing the way the rat acts other than slowing it down. It's being drawn somewhere.

"It's the tranquilizer," Clancy says. "It's doing something funny to the rat. It keeps sniffing, like it's trying to find something. Maybe go somewhere."

"Too bad Dean isn't here, he might have some idea of why," you say. You also know exactly where Dean is, though you don't see a need to mention it. "Could be anything. Might be sniffing for food, or other rats, or, well, anything. Don't suppose Ash told you anything about it?"

"All he said is it was from an intercepted shipment to the Marshguards a few months back. Not that I know what they would have wanted it for."

You really wish Dean were here about now.

"Well, that's worrisome, but if we're just getting rid of the rat, it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Suppose you're right," he agrees. "I'll head in, then."

"Good luck," you say. "I'll be nearby, just in case, but not so close as to draw attention."

As he walks off, you slip back into the passage to listen.

You're now Clancy again. You give a codeword to the guards outside the auditorium, and they let you in. Funny, if Squib or Ash had just told you these knights had the rat under control, you might not have gotten so desperate for help.

You wouldn't have said a thing to Lisa; you'd just walk in here, get the rat, and leave, and everything would have gone back to normal.

You've come too far now, though. You've already spilled too many beans. But there's not a lot Ash will be able to do about it if you're already on your way out of the Bogknights.

You walk into the auditorium. There's a large tarp over the floor; the rat seems fixated on it, though one of the knights is holding it back. Ben Eleventh, you think.

"Figures this would be a Squib Squad job," he mutters. You let it slide; he's clearly not in charge here. You're focused on the knight who is.

"So I'm here for our rat," you say.

"Where's our courier?" the knight asks. "I don't like us being short-handed in here."

"Don't know. Probably waiting for either Squib or the big man to regain consciousness. I came here on my own, once I figured out whose team you were on."

You know better than to let Ash's name slip, even among those in the know. You spot the leader giving a harsh glance at Ben; maybe he's not so cautious.

"Regain consciousness? What the hell's going on out there?"

"Squib got knocked out when a prisoner escaped. The big man, I don't know. There's some different stories running around. Some even say the captain did it."

"What about the Marshguards?"

"Seems they were planning an attack, but they haven't breached our lines yet. Don't know more than that. I wasn't at the front. Look, I'm not here to gossip, I'm here for the damned rat."

"Right." The leader gives Ben Eleventh a glance. "Ben, hand it over."

"Hang on," Ben says. "How's he going to get this thing back to its hiding place without being spotted?"

"Why's that your problem?" you say. "I got a plan, and it's my sorry butt that's in trouble if it doesn't work."

"It's my problem because maybe you'll get caught, and maybe you'll decide to blab about who caught this thing and didn't raise the alarm."

"Goddamn it, Eleventh. First you're complaining about having to babysit the thing, and then when someone comes to take it off our hands, you complain about that? Can you not make up your mind?"

"All I know is, I'm not taking the fall for this mess."

"Then go along with him yourself, why don't you? If you think he's not good enough to move it safely, take it into your own damn hands and quit complaining to me."

You'd rather he didn't. It'll get harder to dispose of the rat if you've got someone watching you. You could play along and wait for another chance, but sooner or later Ash will hear about the escape, and then he might insist on heavier guard for it.

So how are you going to deal with this?

You really did have a plan to get rid of Ben. You wanted to break his concentration, had a story about the bed lice the rat was carrying to get Ben to back off, followed by a trip to the stink drain, but that didn't matter once Ben handed you the reigns. Somewhere that rat found a surge of strength, or maybe it had just been waiting, but it lunged for the tarp with your wrist tangled around its harness, and then everything was just falling and blackness.

It's easiest to just go along for now, you suppose. The greatrat's unpleasant enough that you can probably get Ben to make a run for the showers with just a few embellishments. He's not going to see through you like Lisa would.

For that matter, Lisa can probably give you a distraction. She said she'd keep an ear out. If you're holding the rat, Ben's going to have to check out anything unusual. You'll just tell him some awful stories about it while you wait for your cue.

"All right, give it here," you say, holding your hand out.

What happens next is a blur.

When you're next able to think, what you know for sure is that the greatrat lunged away while you were holding its reins. You heard a tearing sound. Then... you're not sure.

But judging by the cavernous tunnels around you, it probably dragged you into its nest. Seems to have gotten away, too; you've only got an empty set of reins in your hand.

Then you hear the loud chewing nearby.

And you know, from feeding time, that greatrats aren't nearly that loud.

Sure enough, you soon see an enormous scaly head poking out of a nearby tunnel. Shit, you never knew tunnelers could get that large.

You have an unpleasant feeling that you know what happened to the greatrat.

The tunneler doesn't seem to have noticed you, but you're not sure how long that will last. You think about calling for help, but surely the noise would catch its attention at once.

So how are you going to deal with this?

don't move

How long were you out?

Roll away when its head is turned

You stay perfectly still as the enormous tunneler glances around the cavern. You may not have Dean's animal expertise, but there are enough dangerous reptiles in the swamp that there's plenty of advice going around about them. Primarily, that they have trouble identifying things that don't move. Stay still, and they have trouble distinguishing you from a rock until they get close.

The tunneler starts sniffing. You hope you don't give off too strong of a scent.

Finally, it seems to turn its massive head towards another tunnel. You feel the ground shake as it slithers forward; that's enough to persuade you to look for a way out. You keep low to the ground so you're harder to spot, and roll towards a narrower tunnel.

Of course, you have no idea where you're headed. But your main concern is keeping away from the tunnelers, especially if they're that big. This passage is more likely to have been made by the greatrats, which means there's a decent chance it leads back to base.

Sure enough, after a good ten minutes of crawling through the passage, you come to a boarded up hole. This would be where the greatrats came in.

Unfortunately, the boards don't give way when you push on them. Repair squad did too good a job, it seems. Your best alternative is to knock.

You're now Tom Eighth. You were heading back to your room to make sure repair squad didn't break anything, but you've just heard a loud knocking coming from the floor. Right at the hole covered up by boards.

What are you going to do about this?

"Oh great, more rats"

the traditional response is "who's there", i believe

Ignore it. You need to get back to work.

You don't have time to deal with this.

Maybe it's a tunneler or a rat trying to poke its way through; but those boards are sturdy. They'll hold while you check that all your equipment is intact. You can tell pest control about it later.

You start rummaging through your closet. Everything seems in order; you really should get a lock for it, though. You don't want people poking through your things.

The knocking's getting more intense. And, for that matter, more... regular. Knock. Pause. Knock knock knock. Pause. Knock knock knock knock knock. Repeat.

An animal wouldn't be able to grasp a pattern like that. Someone's down there.

Good thing you keep plenty of tools in your room, even if you're technically not supposed to. You reach into your closet and pull out a hammer. You loosen one of the boards with the back of its head, and try to get a look into the hole.

You can't, really, but it loosens things up enough that you can hear the swearing.

"Who's down there?" you call down.

"It's Clancy! Get me out of here!"

Bah, what a pain. Well, you've already started pulling up the boards, so you might as well finish. You open up the hole and pull Clancy out. He seems relieved.

"Thanks. I was really worried for a moment there. Saw a huge tunneler! I didn't even know they could get that big!"

You're not really listening to him. Your thoughts are on what you're going to do to cover this hole again. Repair squad's not going to be happy if they have to board it up again, and you've already taken more time than you intended. How can you block the hole up quickly?

Just shove a side-table over it

that's squib-squad thinkin'. you're tom eighth, inventor extraordinaire, and you believe that if something is worth doing, it's worth doing right and signing your name on it after