Swamped

Well. There's one more thing you can try to work out, and that's where this mystery person came from.

"Did you see where this third person came from?"

"Yes! No! Disappear! Weapon! Humans!"

The lizard seems to be confused. You try a simpler tactic, and point towards the camp.

"Did they come from that direction?"

"No! Direction! No!"

What? It's suddenly not making sense. From previous questioning, this probably means there's something wrong with your question. Well, considering what you're investigating, there's a weird possibility you may have to consider.

"Did this person just appear suddenly?"

Now the lizard seems excited.

"Appear! Appear! Yes!"

"And did they disappear when the other two did?" You just realized you'd been assuming that this whole time.

"Disappear! No."

No? Oh hells.

"Did they disappear afterwards, then?"

"Yes! Yes!"

So you're not going to find them by scouring the desert. That's a bit of a relief. But then why...

"Did this person do something after the other two disappeared?"

"Yes! Do something! Do something!"

Hmm. So what you know now is that someone in a Bogknight uniform appeared out of nowhere, carrying a figurine of some sort, made Long and Marshall vanish, did something, and then disappeared. And whatever it was couldn't have taken long, since you weren't that far off and you didn't notice anything.

What could they have done?

A fancy dance with complicated hand gestures that looks adorable when attempted by a tiny lizard.

Buried something!

"What could they have done?"

It takes you a moment to realize you said that instead of just thinking that. In that moment, the lizard starts doing some very elaborate actions.

"Have done! Have done!" it shouts. As it... dances? While doing something with its forelegs?

Wait. You're not sure about the dancing part, maybe it's just excited. But a closer look at the motions of its forelegs suggest it's... digging.

"So did this person dig something out of the ground?"

"No! Out of the ground! No!"

Well, that suggests...

"Did they bury something, then?"

"Yes! Bury!"

And now you think you understand why the lizard was dancing, it was trying to indicate the spot. You walk over, and the lizard steps aside while you start digging through the sand. Maybe the figurine is here?

No. You can't tell what this is. It's a strange metal sphere.

And considering you have no idea what it is, you don't know if you should pick it up or just leave it. But at least you know where it is... if you mark the spot somehow.

But how might you do that?

Just grab the sphere and pocket it. What's the worst that could happen?

You stare at the sphere as you try to think about what to do. You find it very tempting to just pick the thing up and be done with it.

But you also know exactly what happens in stories to the bumbling fool who goes poking at strange objects. They usually wind up getting a wizard mad or setting off a magical trap or, well, just generally getting into a lot of trouble. That's why you didn't pick up the ring earlier.

Hmm. You used a broom to mark the ring, but you don't have a broom here... all you have is your mudpike.

Well. You'll just have to get back fast so you don't have to be unarmed for too long. You plunge your mudpike into the sand near the sphere.

"Stay right here and I'll be back soon with food," you say to the lizard. Then you turn back toward camp.

It takes you a few minutes to get back, but your marker is still within sight. Now you just need to figure out what you're doing next.

See what Captain Long was talking about with Dominique before he left, and also ask them about the ring.

What kind of food do lizards like?

You're going to want Dominique to take a look at the sphere, if she isn't busy with the ring. What's with these weird objects just being buried in the ground, anyhow?

When you head into her tent, you find she's got some kind of massive contraption loose this time. You can see the ring in the middle of it.

"What's going on? What is this thing?"

Dominique turns to you.

"You're back already? What happened? I have some things to tell Captain Long."

"He disappeared. So did Marshall. Got another thing for you to look at near where it happened, I didn't want to move it. It was a metal sphere buried in the ground."

"They're gone? The director will want to hear about that. And also about this ring, so you may as well come with me."

"Sure," you say. "By the way, I owe a talking lizard a meal. Do you happen to know what they eat?"

She gives you an odd look as she walks your way and slips out the door- though not the sort that suggests "do you expect me to believe a lizard talked", at least. You start following her.

"Where did you see this lizard?"

"A little outside camp."

"They don't usually come this close to us. They don't get on well with the sandy-mockers. I think it's something to do with getting confused because they both repeat noises for their calls, but animals aren't really my specialty."

"I think they were out here because of Rider," you say. "There was a group of them watching a nest, with an egg much bigger than them. Best I could tell, they were watching it while Rider rode the mother to an oasis."

"Well, we'll have to look into that too." Dominique sounds annoyed. "Bah, there's so much going on! Suspicious people sneaking around near the camp, disappearances, strange objects in the ground... And if my theory about the ring is right, we could be due for even more trouble."

"Theory?"

She looks irritated.

"I'll be explaining it to the Director. If you have some patience, you can hear it then. I'd rather not repeat myself if I don't have to."

You're a bit more concerned about whether you'll understand it. But then, you've kind of been asking a lot from her.

Anyhow, you can already see the Director's tent, so you won't have to wait that long.

Wait. Hold on. Why are there about twenty greblings gathered outside her tent? What's going on?

Stone the heretic!

It soon becomes a lot clearer as you hear the grebling at the head of the crowd shouting.

"Your heretic camp's days are numbered, Delfose! Recant now and Reth may show mercy on your soul!"

"Oh hells," Dominique mutters. "Jeremy's here to throw his weight around. That's just what we don't need."

It takes you a moment to realize she must mean the loudmouth grebling in front of you, and not the loudmouth bird you were chasing down earlier.

"I don't suppose you can just kick him out?"

"He's a priest. There'd be a lot of trouble if we did, even if he's not that high-ranking. Luckily he can't actually do anything to us on his own, so it's something of a stalemate."

"A very loud stalemate," you muse.

"We have proof at last, Delfose! Proof that you have been trespassing in forbidden lands! I offer you one last chance to surrender yourself peacefully, or I will have no choice but to report this to the Temple."

"What's that about?"

"One of his standard empty threats," Dominique explains. "Supposedly there's something sacred in the Jawbone Mountains, so if we go anywhere near there he says we're angering Reth. Thing is, the idea that the entire mountain range is off-limits is something that none of the top priests agree with, not even the ones who can't stand us. That's without getting into how most of the time, his so-called 'proof' is just 'Reth spoke to me in a dream' or some nonsense like that."

"What about the crowd?"

"He brings along anyone who'll actually listen to him. Mostly they just help him make noise. This is pretty typical, but it's really inconvenient."

You take a glance.

"This crowd seems pretty quiet, honestly. He's doing pretty much all the talking."

"Now that you mention it, these don't seem to be his regular crowd. Odd." Dominique shrugs. "Regardless, we're not going to be able to see the Director while they're making all this fuss."

So maybe you ought to do something about that.

Try to work the crowd. Get a feel for why individuals are here and how they feel. Then you can take action from there.

Distract them by diverting their attention somewhere else.

Dominique said this wasn't the usual group of troublemakers. So it might be good to work out just who they are. You walk up near one of them.

"Is this your first time here, then?"

The grebling scowls at you without saying a word. As he does, you notice his hand moves slightly towards his hip before he seems to catch himself.

You recognize the motion, though. It's a swordfighter's reflex. He was reaching for his weapon in case you tried something... but he doesn't have one.

You glance at another of the greblings and see her eyes shifting around. That's a habit of expert slicer fighters, constantly checking for possible targets and trying to make it hard for the enemy to work out where they're looking.

In fact, watching carefully you see quite a few more tics along those lines. None of them seem to be armed, but they all seem trained.

That's worrying. You're not sure exactly what's going on, but twenty or so trained fighters in one place, pretending to be something other than trained fighters, is unlikely to lead anywhere good.

None of them seem to be paying any attention to Jeremy's babbling - which, in fairness, you aren't either. They seem to be keeping an eye on everything else in the area, most likely watching for potential threats.

And about six of them are watching you. Probably because you're a human in armor. You suppose you could use that to your advantage to distract them, but you're not sure that would go well for you.

Well. You ought to warn Dominique, at the very least. But it won't be easy - greblings have good hearing, and this group is on alert. If you told her anything, they'd catch it.

So how can you let her know they're dangerous without them picking up on it?

Say the exact opposite of what you mean, along with something else that Dominique will know is obviously false.

Well. You could tell her the wrong thing and make them think her assessment's all wrong. You'd just need a signal to help her realize that's what you're doing - an obvious mistake that strangers wouldn't notice.

"Well, the crowd doesn't seem particularly threatening," you tell her. "I thought they might be so quiet because they were up to something, but as best as I can tell they're harmless. They probably won't start anything, none of them looks like they could do much in a fight. And hells, that Jeremy guy is a loudmouth. I can see why Simone named her talking lizard after him."

Dominique glances back at you.

"Good to know we shouldn't expect more trouble than usual, considering we have enough problems already. I certainly hope your one-legged friend gets back safely."

Pretty clear she got the message. She goes off, probably to spread the warning in her own way. You act as nonchalant as you can, hoping the fighters fall for it.

What are they doing here? You doubt they're really with this Jeremy. They're probably just using him as cover for whatever their real mission is... but on the other hand, they don't have their weapons. If they were looking for a fight, they'd be armed - you don't think more than one or two of them are barehanded brawlers.

So why might they be here?

Despit their oddness, they are from this camp, or at least associated with it. Theyre here right now because of religion mostly, either personal doubts about how the work going on here is regarded by Reth, or influenced by the church's own opinion and rumors. With the strange things happening recently, theyre starting to want answers to whether the camp still stands with Reth.

Delivering gifts for children??

You feel a slight poke in your side. You turn to see Rudolph.

"I know who these people are," he says. "Recognize most of 'em, anyways. They used to be guards here, like me, but they all quit ten years ago."

"They all quit? Why?"

He shrugs.

"They never said. And I was just settling in when they left, so I didn't hear much." He pauses. "I do remember old Jeb complaining around then that it felt like all the devout people were leaving. Could be related, but that's about all I've got."

That would fit with them coming here with Jeremy. They heard rumors and want to see the place for themselves. It would also explain why they're unarmed, if they've found new lives. But they probably know the camp better than Jeremy does, even after ten years away, so all his babbling isn't really doing anything for them.

Still... it's more than a little strange. And that explanation still leaves a gaping hole - why did the more devout of the greblings leave the camp ten years ago?

But you can't see that being immediately relevant. For now, your main concern is getting a meeting with the Director, and that means chasing Jeremy away, since he's not likely to let up on his own.

Well. You do have some info on the crowd now, even if it's rather limited. So maybe you can make use of that somehow.

Distract Jeremy with a fool's errand.

Your thoughts are interrupted by a flash of fur rushing by from your left. It takes a moment to realize what happened - a sandrunner's gotten loose.

And it's tackled Jeremy. Well, that's one way of dealing with that problem. You suppose you'd best help the fool, though. You go on over and pull the sandrunner off him.

"Sorry about that. Don't know what's gotten into it," you say.

Jeremy gives you a very particular glare. It gives you the distinct impression he wants to say "how dare you be a human in my presence".

"What is a human in combat gear doing here?" he asks accusingly. "Is the director conspiring with human armies, on top of all her other sins?"

"It's protective gear. This desert isn't exactly a safe place, you know. I don't even have a weapon!"

Because you left it out in the desert. You're going to have to deal with that at some point.

"That does not explain what you are doing in what is supposed to be a grebling camp."

Gods, he's even more annoying now than when he was babbling about heresy. How should you respond?

I'd be happy to share my life story with you whenever you have the time.

If you must know, my party was stranded in the desert. The camp has given us shelter in exchange for work while we await arrangements to return home.

"I'd be happy to explain that, it's just a matter of where to begin. I mean, it's sort of a weird story how my group and I even ended up together, and without that I don't know how I could really make it clear why we're in this desert in the first place..."

You can already see him getting more annoyed. Good. That means he won't be too inclined to poke into the details.

"But the short version is, we ended up stuck here. So the greblings of this camp have graciously allowed us to stay here until we can return home, and in exchange for their kindness, we're helping out with their work where we can."

"Seems to me there's a perfectly serviceable human-sized wagon right over there, can't you just ride out in that?"

"It's a bit more complicated than just transportation and supplies. See, there's this rather delicate political situation back home, and..."

"Spare me the details," he says, very predictably. "We'll just have to see what the church has to say about your little arrangement, after it decides the camp director's fate."

Hmm. He sounds unpleasantly enthusiastic. Dominique said he never had any evidence, but the way he's coming across now - well, he may not have anything meaningful, but he sure seems to think he does.

Maybe you should try asking him just what, specifically, he's going on about. But considering how much he clearly dislikes you, that's going to take a careful choice of words.

Is there someone here who authoritatively represents the will of the Church? You don't seem the type.

You decide to go low.

"And is there anybody around here who can definitively speak for the church?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asks angrily.

"Well, you don't seem to be talking with any official backing as far as I can see. You can't actually drag the director off to trial or whatever, can you?"

He doesn't say anything, but he doesn't say it very pointedly.

"So why are you hanging around here instead of reporting whatever you've found to the nearest church authority? That's what I'm trying to understand."

"Because the director should have a chance to repent!" Jeremy shouts. "To confess her sins and let the world see how she has been ruined by them! Even a heretic deserves that courtesy."

You're pretty sure he doesn't know anything about courtesy. But it gives you a clearer angle on him - he wants a confession. In your experience, people who want confessions don't usually care about whether or not they're true.

"And what sins are we talking about here? Is it a sin to extend hospitality to humans?"

"Not in itself. But hospitality can be offered for sinful purposes."

You don't think you can stand much more of this guy. Maybe you should just stop holding back the sandrunner.

Before you do that, though, you suppose you should at least make some effort to find a more productive approach.