Swamped

Hide in a pile of clothes!

And open the tent and make bird noises so they'll think a sandymocker spilled the fruits.

Starling> you are kick-ass at making bird noises (and animal noises in general) none of these other punks even come close.

You remember seeing a bird when you first arrived here, just before you started feeling sick.

And you recall the sounds it made. Some of them were grebling language, according to Simone, but it also had its own distinctive squawk.

So you hide behind a large crate and start squawking.

Unfortunately, you can't tell how well your little ruse is working, because the greblings who scrambled in are speaking in their own language. You're confident in your ability to mimic animal calls, but you don't know if they've noticed anything out of place.

Or if they're saying something along the lines of, "let's check behind this big crate".

It's unsettling, but you calm yourself a bit when you recall that you did manage to get ahold of the keys. If you can just slip back to the medical tent, you should be able to try the keyring out on the chest there, and hopefully get your uniform back.

But before that, you're going to need to figure out how to get out of here unnoticed.

Slooowwwlly.

Wait is that the alarm? Did someone spot another raider?

Oh, maybe it was a marshguard running around dressed as a raider.

You opt to take it slow. You listen, though footsteps don't make much noise against the canvas floor here.

You suppose that's to your benefit.

You carefully wind your way around the tent, using the grebling voices as a guide to where you shouldn't be.

And then, just when you think you might be able to make a run for the tent entrance, an alarm sounds.

Now what do you do?

Might as well head back- Is that a jeweled wasp!?

Your Mom collected insect samples, before she got sick. The jeweled wasp was just a little guy but it sparkled brightly in it's setting. This one is much larger, about the size of your hand. Maybe it's a female?

You vaugely recall a story about the wasps being used by people looking for...Edgars? Or someone who had a lot of Edgar? No that can't be right

Whatever, follow that wasp!

You consider just using the confusion to your advantage and getting back to the medical tent. Whatever that alarm is about, they'll be more focused on that...

You catch yourself just before you rush out. Stupid! You're wearing the cloak one of those intruders had. If you head out like this, you'll get caught, and worse, you'll divert attention away from whatever the actual trouble is.

Perhaps you're sicker than you thought. This is far from the first time you've gone poking around in places you're not supposed to be, but you're not usually this reckless about it. Maybe you really do need rest.

Well, you'll get some, sure. Maybe you'll even let them catch you. As long as you manage to hold onto these keys...

Your train of thought is derailed as a colorful wasp flies into the tent. You find yourself staring at it, forgetting everything on your mind.

At least until you feel something hard hit you in the head.

When you wake up, you find yourself tied up to a post, in a room that looks quite familiar now that you think about it.

And it feels like it's moving. Which your stomach very much doesn't appreciate.

What now?

These bonds aren't very tight. Let's wriggle out of them!

Whoever tied you up was either in a hurry or severely untrained. There's a good half-inch of slack around your hands, more than enough to wriggle one loose.

Unfortunately, the ropes around your body, including your upper arms, are considerably tighter. And you can't seem to reach the back of the post with just your free forearm. Despite the rush job, this is uncomfortably difficult to get out of, though you make a good effort of it.

You finally manage to loosen the main knot and slip out just as the wagon suddenly stops.

Now what do you do?

Prepare a big loogie to hock at Pubert.

You're pretty sure you know who caught you, and as it happens, you still don't have a proper mask. You can spot your hastily-requisitioned mask and boots on the floor nearby.

So you may as well get some spit ready. You start saving it up just as you see someone step in, and let out a big blast in their face.

It's not Pubert, though. It's... Rivers? She wipes her goggles and glares at you.

"You could take a second to see who you're spitting at, you know."

You're more than a little confused.

"I heard an alarm, I thought Pubert kidnapped me..."

"They tried. Didn't get very far. Rider just told their desert-horse to stop."

You chuckle a little.

"Why take me as a hostage, though? I'd imagine it would be easier to grab a grebling."

"We scratch," says a grebling as she steps in. You don't recognize her. "Safer to grab a human if you're in a rush, especially if they're not very alert. Now, let's get you back to the medical tent."

She drops your uniform on the floor.

"By the by, Rosemary's woken up and she's not very happy with you. I recommend you apologize fast."

---

You're now Pubert.

You're facing the piercing gaze of a man calling himself Captain Long. You've got no idea who he is, but he dresses like a wizard, aside from the unusually thick armor he's wearing.

And he's asking why, exactly, you were in such a hurry to get away when you found out about the other prisoners.

What are you going to say to him?

Lie! Lie! Get him to pity you. People pity you all the time.

"It just seemed like a good chance," you say. "This is just a camp, it's not designed for holding people. So you've got three prisoners, two are being questioned... and you've got some illness going around, and a meeting that gets some of the few soldiers present out of the way, too... well, I saw an opportunity and I grabbed it."

"And a hostage," Long says.

"Well, I panicked a little when I heard the alarm. Look, I'll be honest, I don't know where I was going or what I was planning to do. The Guild's going to have my head for not getting what they wanted, and the only alternative I've heard is living the rest of my life in the middle of a swamp. I just, I don't know, I wanted to get away from this mess. I didn't want to hurt her, I just couldn't think of a way out unless I had some kind of leverage."

You hope that sounded convincing. You really don't want to get into the work you did before you ended up in the Guild. It's kind of true, anyways - you were less concerned with where you were going than with whether your past would catch up to you.

"The swamp's not so bad," Long laughs. "You get used to the smell faster than you'd expect."

You don't have the slightest idea what to make of that response.

"So let's be clear," Long continues. "You don't know anything about our other prisoners?"

Your first instinct is to say "not a thing".

But, you start having doubts. What if Long already knows something and is just seeing if you confirm it? If that's his game, denying things could mean bigger trouble for you.

How should you handle this?

Tell him you think they might have been sent to kill you.

Oh geeze does he know you were actually heading towards the sandstorm??

"Well... There was something on my mind. There's been a number of attacks on Guild wagons lately. Heard about them happening in lots of places. We've got no clue who's doing it, because there's never any sign of the drivers afterwards. So, y'know, I was kind of worried they might be after me."

That might hold up against whatever Long knows already. Though his face doesn't give anything away. You've got no idea what he's going to do next.

"Where were you headed?"

"Nowhere, I was just trying to get away. Wasn't thinking clearly, I swear."

"Really," Long muses. "It seems odd that you'd take such a large swerve towards a sandstorm if you simply wanted to flee."

Dammit. Well, you're pretty sure you can talk your way out of this still.

"I figured it'd help to shake anyone on my tail. It's what the crew that caught me did last night, after all."

Long looks thoughtful.

"You'd need some time to get the shelter in place, even if you convinced Starling to help you."

"I've said it how many times now, I wasn't thinking straight. I didn't have a plan, I was just doing whatever fool thing I thought might work."

Long just sits still for a while. You don't know if he's plotting his next move, or if he's already decided it and he's just trying to make you uncomfortable.

Finally, he speaks up.

"Your hostage was sick. Were you aware of that?"

You have an uncomfortable feeling he's going somewhere you won't like with this.

"Kind of guessed that from the medical gown," you say. "What's your point?"

"Just that you seemed strangely unconcerned with how contagious she was. I'm wondering why."

He's still tough to read, but he must be damned sure he can nail you with this somehow. You've got to be real careful how you answer.

*Shrug*

I don't get sick. Never have.

"I dunno. Been lucky, I guess. I've never really gotten sick, so it didn't cross my mind."

"Really," Long says. "That's odd. I thought that the purpose of your makeshift outfit was to protect you from the desert fever, when your employers weren't willing to handle that for you."

Hells!

No. Don't panic, that'll just lead you into his trap. Play it cool.

"I've said it a hundred times now. I wasn't thinking straight. I had plenty of time before I had to head into the desert, so I thought about stuff like desert fever. This was just a rush job. I made lots of dumb moves. That's all it is."

You don't think he's buying it. But you know his type - he's got to be totally sure before he acts. You just have to hold out until he has to end the interrogation.

"There's one thing I'd like you to explain to me, then," he says.

Uh-oh. You better brace yourself. What could he be planning to ask?

Who told you we had two other prisoners? You were guarded before you sloppily knocked out your guard, you couldn't have heard more than the alarm.

Odd that you targeted the one person dressed like them.

"How did you know there were two other prisoners?"

You were expecting a lot worse.

"Tents aren't exactly soundproofed, you know. I heard all the commotion. And I overheard some greblings talking about it. They said there was going to be a meeting about what to do with them, that's when I figured I had a chance to make a break for it."

"I see," he says. Then he pauses.

Crud. There must be more. That was just a warmup.

"And did these greblings mention anything else that caught your interest?"

"Uh, not really," you say.

"So they didn't happen to say anything about the cloaks that are exceptionally good for concealment in the sand," Long says. "Cloaks which would be very helpful in, say, making it to your wagon undetected. Cloaks which have gone missing, and one of which Starling says she was wearing when she fell unconscious."

Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap.

"Now, one wouldn't think, just looking at them, that the cloaks would blend in that well," Long continues. "They looked fairly ordinary to me, to be honest. So how, exactly, did you know about them? And it would also be nice if you could tell us where they are now."

You're in damned deep now. You've basically got two options, spill the beans or get the hell out of here.

Every instinct you have tells you to get out. But one look at Long's physique tells you that's a bad idea, never mind whatever wizardry he might be able to pull on top of that.

So what in the hells are you supposed to do now?

Funny how your body moves on its own when you're panicked. Also funny how you're now face down, pinned to the floor.

We'll funny to the person who was waiting outside the tent anyway.

You lose it.

You can't piece together the thoughts, it all happened at once. You tried to just rush out of your seat and break through the side of the tent, but Long was watching for that and tried to intercept.

You don't know what you did after that. You only know that it got you outside, where you were promptly pinned to the ground by the angry girl about two seconds later.

When your head clears, you're tied to the post in your wagon. Again.

"I apologize for the accommodations, but you really haven't left us with much choice at this point," Long says. "So why don't you tell us what you know?"

"Fine, here's what I know." you grumble. "Before I fell in with the Guild, I was in a group of bandits who hid out in the Balda Dunes. Y'know, it's a smaller patch of desert in the middle of the continent. Nowhere near as dangerous as this place, but empty enough that we could use it as a hideaway. Then, one day, after we get a nice big haul, we go back to our camp and suddenly these people just pop out of the sands and start mowing us down."

You have to pause a little. You really don't want to relive that moment.

"Now, as you might have noticed, I'm a coward. Rather than help my fellows, I hopped on a desert-horse and ran as far away as I could. Thought I was done with them. Then, a week later, I'm sleeping in a hay-loft and I find a dagger plunged in the ground next to me. There's a note on it that says, basically, they're willing to let me live so long as I don't ever tell a soul what I saw. So, I didn't, until you went and dragged it out of me. Are you satisfied now? That's all I know. For real."

You're now Captain Long.

You have little doubt that what Pubert just told you is largely true. But you strongly suspect there's more to it that the little muckweasel is still hiding.

What should you ask about?

And what exactly had those bandits plundered before the attack?

"What did you steal before you were attacked?"

"Don't know," Pubert says. "This was ages ago, and I didn't get a chance to actually see the loot."

"Surely you must have some idea who you robbed."

"Well, yeah. It was one of those fancy wagons the royal couriers of Lacran travel in. Y'know, the ones for delivering gifts to other royals, that sort of thing. There were a bunch of guards, but we got the jump on them, grabbed all the loot, and headed back home."

"And you aren't aware of anything unusual among the cargo?"

"I only grabbed two bags of coins. I wasn't exactly that high up the ladder, so if there was anything important there, I didn't get a look at it before the assault. Then again, if there was something more important than jewels or letters, they probably would've had more guards."

"When was this?"

"Let's see... oh, right, it was a few months after Lacran's old queen died. I remember a couple of the other bandits were joking we might find her corpse in there."

Hmm. This is intriguing, but Pubert doesn't seem to know much more about it. Perhaps there's something else you can clarify with some more questioning. On the other hand, perhaps this is all you're going to get, and you should leave Pubert for now and go deal with other matters.

Letters are important Pubert. Your life was spared with a letter. The right letter can win or lose a kingdom. Even you should know that.

Send everyone back. You have your own letter to deliver.