Swamped

Clear your throat.

Whatever happens next, you can't really see a way forward without getting Dominique's attention. So you step out into the open and clear your throat pointedly.

The remaining Protector, and Dominique, turn towards you. The Protector raises his fists, but it's a defensive pose, not offensive.

"It's all right," Dominique sighs, walking towards you. "He's a guest of the camp."

The Protector backs away, but maintains the pose. Clearly a fistfighter, and probably not worth picking a fight with if you get a choice in the matter.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" you ask as Dominique reaches you.

"Long story, can't get into it right now. Don't worry too much about Andre there, though. We go way back."

Is that what's going on here? A favor to an old friend? Well, either way you should probably focus on the task at hand.

"I need the thing we found earlier. It would probably be best if you came along, but I guess you might be busy."

Dominique nods.

"You're right about that. Unfortunately, you'll need me along to retrieve it, anyhow. I locked it up after I figured out what I could."

Wonderful.

"So, should I just sit around and wait for whatever's going on here to be done? I've got people waiting on me."

She turns to glance at the Protector.

"Well, you might be able to speed this up a bit, actually. If Andre doesn't have a problem with that?"

Andre seems to be looking you over. After a tense minute of that, he relaxes his guard and just shrugs.

"I guess that's as close to approval as I'm getting," you say. "So what is it you need me to do?"

Help one of the Protectors onto the roof of the outhouse.

"You're tall," Andre says simply. "Lift me up."

You're a bit confused.

"What for?"

"Need a better view. That should be high enough." He points to the top of the outhouse.

Well, you don't see how this is going to help, but you also don't have any objection. You pick him up - he's not very heavy, even as greblings go - and put him on top of the outhouse tent.

Then he just looks around.

"What are they even looking for?"

"Beats me," Dominique shrugs. "They aren't very talkative. At first they just told me to show them where the intruders were yesterday, I had to complain at them for a good minute before they'd tell me they were looking for something one of them might have dropped."

"Without any details as to what it was or how they'd even know about it, I assume."

Dominique nods.

"Funny thing is, Andre used to be quite the blabbermouth. Guess this whole Protectors of Life thing has taught him more discipline in that regard."

Andre doesn't seem to take notice of your conversation. He just wanders around on top of the outhouse tent, looking for whatever-it-is.

The other Protector soon steps out of the outhouse, looking quite dirty. He glances at you and then Dominique without a word.

"Find anything?" Dominique asks.

He doesn't answer. Which, at this point, doesn't really surprise you.

"If you found it, you should let your partner know so I can bring him down," you say, trying your best to sound patient.

Again, no response. Makes it hard to know what you should do next.

Forget them, it's Dominique you want to talk to. If she trusts them, you can too.

"Right," you sigh. "If they're not even talking to us, is there really a need for us to be here? We could just go to your lab now and leave them to it."

"Yvonne wouldn't want them walking around unsupervised by anyone in the camp," Dominique replies.

"Didn't you just let that one go poking around in the outhouse alone?"

"That's not a crucial area. It's just a hole in the ground. Even if he did sabotage it for some reason, we could just dig a new one and move the tent."

You suppose she's got a point there.

"Well, then. How about I watch them and you go to your lab?"

She muses on this.

"All right. That shouldn't be a problem as long as they don't go into any other tents. If they decide that's what they're going to do, they can wait for me to get back."

The Protector doesn't show any sign of reacting to that as Dominique walks off. He just stands there.

Well, you've at least gotten things moving, you suppose. But now what?

whistle a tune to pass the time.

Seems all you can do now is wait, so you stand back a bit, fix your eyes on the Protector, and occupy yourself by whistling one of the few songs you can remember.

Not that you know the name. You can't even remember if you picked it up during your courier years or if it's something you overheard after you got to the swamp. You just know the tune's catchy.

Catchier than you thought. The Protector seems to be humming along. Well, considering how things have been going with them so far, that's an improvement.

About five minutes of whistling and humming later, Dominique finally gets back, along with Rudolph and two other greblings you don't immediately recognize.

"Right. I've still got to keep an eye on these two, apparently," Dominique says, handing you a bag. "The sphere's in here, along with some notes. My assistant, Sally, can answer any questions you might have about them, and Emilio here is our fastest runner, so you can send him back if you need anything else. Rudolph's here in case you run into trouble, of course."

Rudolph gives the Protector a glance. Neither of them says a word, but you get the sense they recognize each other.

"Thanks," you say. "Um, what about getting Andre down?"

In response, Andre simply jumps down from the outhouse roof. Guess he's done there.

"Getting down is easier than getting up, apparently," Dominique shrugs. "Anyhow, good luck to you out there."

"Well, let's get going," Rudolph says. "We don't have all night."

You nod, and start walking off.

Just as you're out of sight of the Protectors, Rudolph turns to you.

"So where'd you learn the Ballad of the Lone Survivor, anyhow?"

"Is that what that is? I don't remember too well, I just picked up the tune somewhere."

"Well, you're lucky you're a good whistler or I'd have to slap you. That song's real important to some of us."

"I'll keep that in mind," you say.

You make your way towards the edge of the camp, but as you're going between two large tents, a group of five Protectors suddenly pops out in front of you.

"What do you want?" Rudolph grumbles. "We're busy here."

As usual, there's no answer.

"Guess we might as well find another way," you say, but then you turn around and see another group has blocked the other passage.

Now what?

Invite them to accompany you.

You're getting tired of this. You walk right up to the Protector in the middle of the blockade ahead.

"I don't know what your beef with us is," you say, "but if you're worried we're going to pull something, then feel free to come along with us. Hells, bring your whole damn order for all I care."

The Protector seems taken aback, then glances around at the others. After a brief pause, you see nine nodding heads. The Protector looks you in the eyes and nods. The two groups come together and surround you, then they start walking as you do.

"Can't say I'm fond of this arrangement, but it's workable," Rudolph says. "Hope your friends don't mind the crowd."

"We'll deal with that when it happens."

You lead the group, somewhat awkwardly, out into the desert, where Rider and Ember are waiting. The wizard doesn't seem particularly happy.

"Stubborn bunch you've got here. They don't want to tell me anything."

"They don't care much for talking, for some reason," you say with a shrug. Somehow it's comforting that the wizard doesn't know anything more than you about how to deal with them. "They seemed to think we might cause some trouble, so I invited them along to prove otherwise."

Rider glances down at the greblings.

"They don't consider us a threat, at least."

You'd ask how he knows that, but you can't say you care much right now. You just hand the bag over to Ember.

"The sphere's in there, do whatever it is you're going to do."

Ember pulls out the sphere and seems to just stare at it silently.

Nearly two minutes of utter silence later, you're about to ask him if something's wrong, but he suddenly speaks up and says something you definitely weren't expecting.

"this isnt a sphere"

"This isn't a perfect sphere. It's got flattened spots on the top and bottom."

"So what's that got to do with anything?" you ask.

"It's deliberate. The craftsmanship on these objects is too good for it to be an accident. So why would someone commission a metalsmith to make a slightly flattened sphere?"

"I'm sure that's very weird, but let's focus on what's at hand," you say. "Can you use it to reopen the gateway or whatever?"

"No, and it seems to have something to do with the odd shape. If I could understand what it meant, I might be able to get somewhere."

The Protectors around you seem a bit agitated, but as usual, they're not saying anything so it's hard to tell why. Maybe they just don't like being around all these humans.

Well. Focus on one thing at a time.

"Look. I'm no wizard, so maybe I won't understand it. But could you explain why you think the shape is relevant? Maybe if you explain it in a way that makes sense to a magic-less fool like me, that'll make it clearer."

Ember glances around.

"I don't think I can with so many ears around. These greblings aren't giving me much cause to trust them."

"Keep it vague, then."

He looks skeptical, but after a moment he tries his best.

"To put it in extremely simplified terms - I'm looking at the ether and it's distorted. And the distortion seems similar to way the sphere is partially flattened."

"So they're connected, is what you're saying."

"I believe so. And if I could understand why the sphere is shaped the way it is, well, I think I could use that to adjust for the distortion."

Well, that doesn't entirely make sense to you, but okay.

"At the risk of stating the obvious, what if it's just shaped that way to make it harder for you to see what's going on?"

"I thought of that already. But it doesn't look to me like that's the case. It would be very, very difficult for me to explain how I got to that conclusion, so I'd rather we focus on figuring out the not-quite-a-sphere's function."

"Um, pardon me," someone says. You glance down and see Sally, Dominique's assistant; she's quite short even for a grebling.

"What is it?" Ember asks.

"I've got Dominique's notes. Um, she did mention the shape but didn't have any particular theories as to the reason for it. But maybe there's something in here that could help you figure it out?"

"I suppose it's worth a try," Ember agrees. "So which part of those notes should we start looking at?"

The center of gravity. Or rather, the *two* centers of gravity.

Sally flips through the notes.

"Well, here's something that might be useful. After noticing what you did about the shape, Dominique checked for the center of gravity. Um, hold on, this is mostly equations, and she didn't write a very clear summary, let me see what I can put together..."

Sally looks closely at the notes and then looks up, seeming very confused.

"Well, as best as I can tell, she found two different locations for the center of gravity using two separate methods that are supposed to yield the same result."

"That sounds like it's a bit over my head," you say. "What exactly does that mean?"

"It means magic's involved," Ember says calmly. "Never was very good at science, but I do know that much. If the numbers don't make sense, and you've checked to make sure they're right, then magic is the thing throwing them off."

"Right, now that I read this summary again, I think Dominique's hypothesizing that the second center is actually an ethereal anomaly with an impact on gravity."

You're more or less blanking out on that explanation, so you opt to bring it back to the part you vaguely understand.

"Okay, but what's that got to do with why the sphere is flat?"

"Well, the shape would impact the physical center of gravity," Ember muses. "That's the only connection I can see."

You think about this.

"This is just a guess because I don't know much about this stuff, but could it be the second center is where it would be if the object was a perfect sphere?"

Sally flips back a few pages in the book and looks thoughtful.

"I think he's right," she says after a few minutes. "No idea on what that means, though."

Well, maybe you can think of something.

Maybe there's a way to bring them into alignment. Could the necklace or gemstone that you found earlier be used for that? What about that hefty ring?

"Again, just throwing this out here, so pardon me if there's a reason it's stupid. Could we... move one of the centers? Make them match up?"

Ember gives you a somewhat judgmental look.

"It's possible - in fact, I think it would be fairly easy to do. The problem is, it's reckless. For all we know it's set up like that as a safety feature, and messing with it could have any number of effects. That's ether we're talking about, after all. Even fire powder is safer to mess with."

"What if you put it back in the bag? That's etherically shielded," Sally suggests. "We didn't want the thing suddenly going off on our way here, after all."

"A good suggestion, except that if it's shielded, I can't manipulate the ether."

"Not directly," Sally admits, "but we do have tools for that. Dominique can't manipulate ether herself, so she's got devices to do it for her. Though, we didn't bring any with us."

"That's what I'm here for," Emilio says suddenly. "I can just run back and grab what we need."

The Protectors don't look too happy when he says that.

"I think our, um, friends here would prefer you didn't run back unescorted," you say.

Emilio groans.

"The whole reason I came along is because I'm our fastest runner. I'd prefer not to slow down if it can be helped."

Well, it's not your call whether they let him go or not, but maybe you can make some kind of offer to them.

Surely, in the crowd of Protecters, at least a few of them are fast enough to keep in sight of Emilio.

You can't think of anything to offer in negotiations, so you fall back on challenging their pride.

"Well, any of you Protectors think you can keep up with our friend here? As far as I'm concerned, you're welcome to try it."

That seems to get the particular attention of one particularly small grebling, even smaller than Sally. Looks like a knife-fighter to you, though like the rest, not actually armed right now. The small grebling steps forward, and Emilio glances down at them.

"You the best runner they've got?"

The small grebling nods vigorously. That's an unusual amount of emotion from one of these guys.

"Then let's get moving."

You're grateful for your breather mask, as they kick up a rather large cloud of sand in their haste. Ember seems oddly unconcerned, despite being far less protected than you. But then, Long's fever was treated with a spell, wasn't it? Maybe he's simply got other means of keeping the sand off him.

Not five minutes later, Emilio returns, with the tiny grebling trailing only a few meters behind. A few other Protectors seem to be following their comrade, though; the unfriendly crowd out here is getting larger, and you're not sure what to make of that.

Regardless, Emilio hands over a strange tube, with some kind of metal at both ends.

"Dominique says this one would work the best for an actual wizard," he says. He doesn't even seem tired. "Put one end in the bag and one end out, and you can basically use it for controlled ether manipulation. It doesn't matter if it touches the sphere directly or not."

Ember takes it, and starts doing something with the bag. You're not really sure what's going on.

It takes a few minutes before he says anything.

"Well, it turned out to be safe," he finally concludes. "But I'm still not sure I understand."

"What do you mean?"

"This sphere doesn't seem to open a gateway at all. Or, let me try to explain that a bit better. As far as I can tell, this sphere uses a very similar type of magic to the gateways, but I can't detect any that it's opened. And yet, it's clear to me that it's been used."

"So what in the hells does it do, then?" you ask.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. I don't suppose you have any ideas?"

"Not really," you admit. "Unless there's something else you worked out from your tests there? Maybe that would help us figure something out."

Ember looks thoughtful.

"Well, there is one thing. I had thought it unimportant, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to share it."

It appears older and more corroded/fatigued than it should be based on its ether signature.

"It's about the age of the sphere. It would be difficult for me to explain how I worked this out, so I'll cut to the chase - this sphere was made about a year ago, but it's got about ten years worth of degradation."

You mull on that.

"So, what, you think magic's making it age faster?"

"It's possible if the spell puts enough pressure on the material. But I didn't examine any of the other objects this closely, so I can't say if it's unique to this one or if that's just the nature of the gateway spells."

You don't respond because you're trying to go over what you know.

First, the sphere has a slightly odd shape. Second, its magic is similar to the gateway magic, but doesn't actually open gateways. Third, it's aging faster than it should.

Gateways seem to connect one point in the world to another. So if the magic is similar, maybe it's connecting something else?

"Time?" you mutter. "Is it connecting two points in time?"

Ember's face goes pale. And the Protectors around you seem rather upset.

"That's just a guess!" you clarify. You definitely don't want to cause trouble, especially if you don't understand why you're causing it.

"I don't think that's what it does," Ember says after a while. "But while I was looking into that, I think I may have found a lead. I don't think this sphere works like the other gateways we've seen - I think it's linked to another object, in some other place. Unfortunately, I think it's that object which controls the actual transportation. This only seems to be a receiver of sorts."

You have a bad feeling about this.

"Are you saying you can't take us to the other side, then?"

"Well, not quite. I just can't do it the easy way."

Now you have a really bad feeling about this.

"So what's the hard way?"

You'll need to be unconscious for it to work.

"Well, you have a choice," Ember explains. "I can knock you unconscious for the trip, or I can leave you conscious and you most likely become very disoriented, if not downright nauseous, from exposing your senses directly to the ethereal pathways."

"Neither of those options sounds good if there are hostiles on the other side."

"You see why it's the hard way, then."

You give this some thought. You remember the trip through the gateway wasn't exactly smooth. So it does make some sense that traveling without its aid, however exactly that works, could be rougher on your senses and your stomach.

"What if I close my eyes?"

"That's just one sense. And even if you could block them all off without losing consciousness, how would you know you'd arrived?"

"Good point," you sigh. "So the best option is, go anyways, get captured, hope we can escape?"

Rider suddenly speaks up. You'd almost forgotten he was here, he's been so quiet.

"Actually, I believe I may have a better idea."

"We need a barrel of cold water to suspend you in, a free-floating tank. No sense of extremities and no sense of ground. That way you'll have true sensory deprivation."

"There's an old story of an ascetic who wanted to experience life without senses. She filled a barrel with very cold water, closed her eyes, plugged her nose and ears as best she could, and just floated along for as long as she could hold her breath."

You're starting to dislike the sound of this.

"How does that solve the problem of knowing when I've arrived?"

"We drop the barrel and transport it as it's falling. That should give a fairly clear indication. And of course, I'll be going along too."

You're not sure whether to be relieved, or worried that he'll try something reckless.

"Are you going to be in a barrel?"

"It would be safer that way," Rider agrees.

"Problem. We don't have the water to spare," says Emilio.

You think back to the swampwater oasis you found. You don't really need the water to be clean for this...

"No, water isn't a big issue," you say. "We just need big enough barrels."

"That could be a problem, too," says Emilio. "We can't carry large barrels very easily, so ours are pretty small."

Before you can continue, you spot three of the Protectors standing close to each other. One is the very small and fast one. Just as you're about to ask what's going on, the fast one runs off.

Well. That's not going to stop you, is it?

"What's going on?"

You're not expecting a reply at all, but you do get a hand-signal to wait. Well, you suppose that's something.

After a little bit of waiting, the tiny grebling rushes back, this time with the leader of the Protectors. You're not sure what's going on.

"I understand you need some very large barrels," the leader says.

"That's our plan, yes."

The leader looks you right in the eyes.

"We can help with that. But we must ask something in return."

Great. What could he possibly want from you?

Well, they want swamp mud for some reason. But particularly special swamp mud.