Swamped

In general, when things are affected by the same spell, the ether tends to remain linked even if they're physically separated. The link is something you've had trouble explaining to non-wizards, because it doesn't 'link' in most of the ways they think of; for instance, if you cast a spell on one thing, it won't usually affect the thing it's linked to. It's possible to use a link in that way, of course, but you really have to know what you're doing.

The main impact of the link is when it breaks, which can happen if the objects are moved far enough apart. In a case like this, where it's a person and one of their possessions, the person is usually fine due to having most of the ether on them, so it's able to remain stable. But the possession doesn't usually fare so well. The ether tends to go out of control.

Even that isn't so bad most of the time, since the whole problem is that there isn't that much ether in the first place. The object rarely survives the process, but additional damage tends to be limited.

The main exception is when dealing with fire magic. After all, fire still burns once the ether has left it. Even a small flame can cause a lot of problems if it's not put out swiftly.

So what happens when an object leaks time? It's hard to even wrap your head around. But the most benign possibility you can see is nearby objects moving through time at different rates. And even that's no small matter when you're on a ship, which is always moving around. Get out of sync with the ship's time and you'll constantly be in different places. You'd be lucky to get through that with only seasickness.

That's the benign option. Everything else you can imagine is far worse. Nearby people and objects might be pulled through time, or perhaps remain in the present, but sent to places they were in the past, or will be in the future.

If you'd only realized, you could have prevented it. Right now, your best hope is that either the reaction hasn't happened yet, or that whoever returned the soldier to his own time took care of the mask as well. If not... well, you'll have to think of something when you get there.

But you can already tell, as you near the infirmary, that something's gone wrong.

Do you hear bird noises? (It's swamp chickens.)

You hear clucking.

For a moment, you wonder if it's the same thing that made you hear quacking before. But then you see the swamphen fly out of the infirmary.

As you step in, you see about a dozen of them, running around and perching on whatever's available.

You also see the warden, holding a knife to Donnie's throat, and standing near the breather mask. Another swamphen suddenly pops into existence in front of her.

"Don't come any closer," she says. "I'm taking this mask, and if you do anything to stop me, the ship's only medic dies."

You're not sure how she's doing it, but she seems to be refocusing the unstable ether so it summons swamphens instead of anything more dangerous. On the whole, she's probably doing you a favor.

But you don't think it would be good to let an object out-of-time fall into her hands. You don't know how much she could learn from it, but it's a chance that doesn't seem worth taking if you can help it.

You may not be able to, though. Not with a life at stake - more than one, considering there are patients that only he knows how to deal with. So you'll need to be very careful about what you do next.

Ask her where will she go? Certainly you can't permit her to run free on the ship with such a dangerous artifact, or Donnie and the rest of the crew are as good as dead.

If you don't have any other ideas, stall for time.

"And where exactly are you planning to go? It's a big ship, after all. It'd take you a while to get to any possible exit. Plenty of time for us to figure out how to get the mask away from you safely."

"I have my own way out," she replies calmly. "Not that it really matters."

"Maybe you do. But what about the mask? In its current state, casting a spell on it isn't safe. Or are you telling me this exit of yours isn't magical?"

That gives her pause.

"What do you mean, not safe?"

Another chicken appears.

"You know it yourself. That thing's filled with unstable ether. If you cast another spell on it, who knows how the ether would react? If you're lucky, they cancel out, but then, I have a feeling the ether's the main thing about the mask that interests you."

She doesn't say anything. She must be worried that if she does, you'll figure something out, something she doesn't want you knowing.

Then, suddenly, she laughs.

"You're right. It isn't safe to use spells on the mask. But that's not a problem for my knife here."

She lets go of the knife, and Donnie. Then the knife floats to his neck.

"So now my hands are free. And that knife will go for his throat at the slightest provocation. Don't bother trying to dispel the effect, either; if it detects you casting anything, it'll move in an instant."

Damn. Playing for time worked to her advantage, not yours. She picks up the breather mask.

"Now I'll be taking this, and walking out of here until I find a better place to leave from. And the knife won't drop until I'm safely off the ship. I'd recommend you stay out of my way."

She's starting to walk to the exit. If you don't act now, you may not get another chance. But what can you even do?

Appeal to her humanity and faith in the gods.

If magic's no good, all you've got to work with is words. Unfortunately, those were never your strong suit.

Well, she doesn't seem to want to harm Donnie, as best as you can tell. Maybe you can persuade her to leave him out of this.

"Have you no shame? Putting a healer's life at risk?"

"If I were worried about that sort of thing, I wouldn't even be here in the first place," she says. "What I'm fighting for will see a lot of people hurt, even killed. I made my peace with that long ago."

There isn't a hint of emotion in her response. She doesn't view what she said as anything more than just the way it is.

Well. If she won't listen to her own conscience, maybe you can call on a higher authority.

"And what will Nual think? He's already sent us aid against the pirates. How do you think he'll react to threatening a crewman under his protection?"

Now she looks angry.

"I do not fear Nual, or any god. The Master will overcome them all. If you have nothing of use to say, then speak no further."

Well. That's all your ideas gone now. You can only stand around silently as she walks past.

But as she does, you get the faintest hint of an idea. You raised the threat of divine retaliation. You were mostly bluffing, but now you're wondering. What if you could somehow make it happen? Perhaps you could wait until Donnie is safe, and then scare her into returning the mask. Then again, if it happened now, while your words are still fresh in her mind, it might be even more effective.

Of course, you have no way to command the gods. And if you tried to fake a divine punishment magically, she'd notice the ether. So it's really just a desperate, foolish idea...

Wiz, why'd you run off like that?

Resk's voice pops into your head, and as it does, you realize that the knife isn't moving at all. Probably because the ether was only needed to set up the communications channel; you don't need to actually cast anything to send a message to him.

Suddenly, this desperate, foolish idea seems just a little bit possible, if you can only think of some way Resk can help you pull it off.

Reasonably, the other ship is attempting to create a distraction, if they know about the mask and know that warden is getting at it for them. If they are, then if they get a two-way path to this ship the warden will hitch a ride on it back. Maybe, if that happens, the gods will mess with that. If there's a way to postpone that until she's actually on the path, then she'll get pushed off, reasonably.

Well, it would probably help if you had some idea how she was going to leave. Your first thought is that she might use flight magic, which wouldn't require her to cast it on the mask itself. But then you remember that the whole boat is being magically pulled down. That would interfere, and even if she were the original caster, it would take a while to dismiss the spell. Time she probably would prefer not to use if possible.

In that case, the easiest option would be for the pirate ship to provide a route for her. She should be able to contact the pirates, if she's working with them.

What's more, you doubt that she planned to take the mask. She probably discovered it by chance and is looking to learn what she can from it. Which would mean that anything the pirates do would be hastily-planned.

Donnie's being held hostage magically, you tell Resk. The warden did it. She's trying to escape with something and doesn't intend to release the spell until she's safely off the ship. But her options are limited.

Resk soon replies, clearly confused.

What do you mean, limited? She's got magic, right?

You'll have to clarify, you suppose. While keeping it simple, for his sake.

She can't use it on the object she's taken, and the spell pulling the ship down would interfere too much with a personal flight spell. I think the pirates are going to try to give her a path.

The next reply is a little slow. Perhaps something came up on his end, or perhaps Resk has realized something.

Oh, now things make a little sense. Was wondering what they were trying to do.

He seems more collected. In fact, now you're the one with questions.

What do you mean? What are the pirates doing? you ask him.

He responds promptly this time.

They stopped firing their cannons and changed course. We thought they were trying to board, but the approach is all wrong. Makes more sense if they're just going to give her a path and then leave. Though it seems the tides aren't favoring them, they keep getting pushed away. Guess Nual doesn't approve.

So. Maybe you were right after all.

In that case, I think it would be best if we made things easier for them. Let her get her escape route, and then she can see for herself what Nual thinks.

There's a pause on the other end.

Not really sure what you're getting at, but I guess we don't have a lot of options if there's a hostage. So how do we give her that escape route, then?

Lower the boarding planks?

We could make it look like we're moving to board them. Start getting the planks ready, then make some excuse to get the sailors away. If she can get on a plank, the pirates won't have to come as close. That will encourage them to take the opportunity.

It takes a while for Resk to respond.

Okay, I'm telling two reliable sailors to fetch the planks and bring them to the deck. They know what's going on and they'll make up a convincing problem that makes 'em have to leave the planks unattended. Only part I'm not clear on now is how we make sure she knows we're making a move.

That's a point. It's likely she can communicate with the pirates. But they wouldn't be able to see the sailors leaving, and even if they did, they wouldn't know why. And with everything that's going on, getting the information to spread through the ship would be difficult - too many sailors have other tasks to deal with. Barely any are available to act as messengers, so they'd only be sent on very important missions.

So you need to either have a plausible reason for someone to run down here talking about the boarding plan, or you need some other way to encourage the warden to be on the deck on the right time. This is going to take some thought.

Would stopping the ship's guns from firing make it clear that a boarding action is imminent? We might also need helm involved on this maneuver.

Well, the obvious thing to do is go through the motions of preparing for boarding, you send back, though you're thinking it to yourself at the same time. Maybe stop firing the cannons for a bit? They've stopped on the other side, so the sudden lack of noise might get her to investigate.

There's a short pause before Resk replies.

Got it. I've given the cannon crew new orders. Going to approve a course change with the captain to make it look more likely, too. You want me to do anything else?

You think about that for a moment.

I think the rest of the details are better handled by you, but I'll let you know if I think of something. I'm still here with Donnie, so I can tell you if anything happens.

You get a rather quick response.

Got it. I'll start getting ready, in case we get a good chance to ambush her once Donnie's safe.

---

You're now Mr. Resk.

There's still some matters you don't quite understand, but you know enough of the situation to work with it. And boarding the pirate ship might not be a bad idea once this mess is resolved. Doesn't hurt to be ready for that.

Right now, you're at the bridge. The Captain's a little annoyed to see you.

"Where's Bertha?" he asks.

"Not sure at the moment. But Wiz told me about a problem, and I'm going to need your approval for some parts of our planned response."

You inform him of Donnie's predicament, and the overall plan. He seems annoyed.

"So we're just letting her get away?"

"Don't see much choice. Donnie's too valuable. But as long as she doesn't know we're doing it, we've got a chance to surprise her. The catch is, it depends on when she lets him go."

The Captain doesn't directly respond. Instead, he lowers his head, kneels down, and starts praying. He must think this is real serious. About a minute later, he stands up.

"Nual says what she stole is not for mortals. He orders that it be given to the sea. We cannot allow her to leave the ship with it."

Figures. There's always got to be something. Well, since you can't bargain with a god, best to think of how to satisfy him.

We'll need a sharpshooter.

"I've got an idea, sir. She won't have to reach the other ship. We'll just wait for her to start crossing and then we drop the plank."

He seems skeptical. Not unreasonably, you suppose.

"Drop it? How, exactly? Seems to me anyone crossing would notice someone standing by ready to release."

Admittedly, your plan is a bit desperate. But when bargaining with a god, well, maybe he'll like it enough to help with the parts that are up to luck.

"A crossbow bolt ought to be able to knock it loose, if it hits just the right spot. She falls in the sea and then it's up to Nual what to do with her. We'll need our best archer to make the shot, though. Pretty precise."

The captain resumes praying. He stops much sooner this time.

"The plan is approved. You may do whatever you need to make this work."

And then the captain turns away. Well, time to pass along some messages, then. You also need to find Ms. Swallow to handle the shot. It would also be good if you could get the eyepiece from the scout, but you're not sure you'll have time to persuade him to give it up. Still, you ask a sailor to check where the scout is.

A few minutes later, you've set things into motion. The ship's changing course, you've quietly passed along a message not to fully secure the plank, and you see Ms. Swallow running up the stairs.

You're just about to start explaining things when the messenger you sent to the scout returns. He looks worried.

And once you hear his message, you understand exactly why.

Something's coming out of the water! More sea beasts?

"Couldn't find the scout, sir. He wasn't in the nest, probably because of the attack. But when I was up there, I saw something coming out of the water. Shouted a warning to the deck and ran over here right away, so I didn't get a better look at it."

Hells! It's probably whatever Wiz noticed when you last saw him.

"Was the eye-piece there?" you ask.

"Oh! Right, I grabbed it without thinking. Should I give it back, sir, or would you like to use it?"

"I'll be needing it. Little sense keeping it there if no one's using it. See if you can find the scout anyway, Mr. Woods. I might need a word with him. Ms. Swallow, you're with me. Still got a job for you."

Woods salutes, and runs off. Swallow gives you a funny look.

"Yes, I'm not wearing my hat," you grumble. "There's a very good reason for that. And it's got nothing to do with why I called for you."

"If you say so," she shrugs. "So why did you call for me?"

"Can't talk about it just yet. Got to get a look at whatever's in the water first. I'm planning on looking through a nearby hole, we can talk once we get there."

You start walking towards the room where you found the cultists. When you arrive, you take the eyepiece and look through the hole made by the cannonball, to see just what it is you're dealing with.

There's a kraken that thinks the ships are food. Both of them.

The first thing you notice is that it's got quite a few tentacles. More than you care to count at a glance. The color's off from any type of kraken you've ever seen, though.

The second thing is that it seems to be flailing at not only your ship, but the enemy's as well. It's probably not sent by Nual, then; if he were angry with you, the Captain would have made sure you knew about it.

The third thing you notice is that it's not just striking randomly. It's not so big as to be able to threaten the ships with one strike; but it is going after parts of the hulls that have been damaged by cannon fire. And it's not just that the cannons struck there - it's ignoring several spots on less critical structures, where the cannon wasn't quite on target.

So this isn't just some beast. Someone's commanding it. Someone who considers both ships a problem.

You turn your attention to the deck. You want to see if you can catch the warden. From what the stranger said, she can probably disguise herself - but you know every face on this ship. She knows that, so she'd likely disguise herself as someone else, someone who wouldn't draw attention if they were wandering around. Probably incapacitating the real sailor.

That's when you notice the scout on the deck. Standing behind a pile of ammo, where few people would look too closely. Glancing at the boarding plank for just a moment before turning away as somebody gets close.

And, most of all, seemingly unconcerned with the fact that Mr. Woods just ran down from the crow's nest with the eyepiece that's critical to the job.

So she's in place, at least. But you doubt she'll be crossing while that beast is in the middle. Especially as you're not likely to be able to clear the deck while it's there. In fact, you'll probably have to resume the cannon fire to get rid of it.

You're going to need to think carefully about how to handle this.

You're gonna need more info. Can someone get a look at it under the surface? The eye piece might be useful even under water for one of the greblings, provided they don't lose it.

And where's the navigator?... Are there supposed to be any shallows within a day's travel where the kraken couldn't follow?

It would help immensely if you had more idea what sort of beast you're dealing with. You'd appreciate an animal expert right about now. It's unlikely that anyone would know much about a beast this far out at sea, but they'd at least have some idea where to begin investigating.

Failing that, all you can think of is getting a look at it under the water. Perhaps a grebling could crawl down the ship and get their head down below, along with the eyepiece. But it would be very dangerous, and you'd risk losing both a crew member and an important piece of equipment. On the other hand, it's the only way you can think of to get a look without a breather mask.

And that's important, as the masks are all being cleaned after the mess with the gas earlier, not that anyone has much experience using them in the water anyhow. You were hoping to get practice in shallower waters, but the chance never came up.

Wait. Shallower waters. If you could find some nearby, the kraken, or whatever it is, would have to surface fully. With the pirates distracted, you might be able to start moving towards a shallow patch. If only you knew where one was. Wouldn't solve the hostage problem, but if you deprive the warden of her escape route, she might be more open to negotiation.

Well, thanks to this damned gas, you can't just ask the navigator if there's anything nearby. So you'll have to go looking at the maps yourself. You hand the eyepiece to Ms. Swallow and give her instructions on where to shoot the boarding plank if anyone tries to cross early. And then you head upstairs to Chip's room.

But when you arrive, you see something that very clearly doesn't belong.

It's the birthday boy!

"What are you doing here, Mr. Lou? Even if you've had a miraculous recovery, you shouldn't be allowed out of the infirmary."

You don't get an answer, per se. You get a punch in the face. A punch considerably stronger than Lou's thin body seems like it would be capable of.

You're not entirely clear on what's going on, but you do know a way to check what's happening in the infirmary. As you pick yourself up, you send a message along.

Wiz! Is Lou in his bed there?

You barely manage to dodge the next punch. Seems sending message in the middle of a fistfight isn't the best idea.

Who? I see the navigator, Donnie - who's still in trouble, mind you - Ms. Rebecca, and some people I don't recognize. Most are female, though. Other than one large sailor. Is that Lou?

Wait. What about the military man... you don't have time to ask. Even hearing the reply tuned you out enough that you took a couple of good kicks, and your own punches didn't land at all. You really have to focus on this fight.

But it definitely doesn't sound like Lou is there. So he must have recovered somehow. Maybe he slipped out when the warden took Donnie hostage. Maybe they made a deal.

That would make it good to question him. Of course, you'd have to actually restrain him first, and that's not going so well.

You're a half-decent pugilist, but half-decent isn't going to be good enough here. You're going to need to approach this strategically.

It would be nice if you could find some sort of polearm, too. That's a weapon you're far more comfortable with.

Under Chip's bunk there's a long-handled surveying or positioning tool of some sort. Bonus points for the element of surprise when you use it to knock Lou's feet out from under him.

You only remember watching Chip work once - your presence was apparently enough of a distraction that you got specifically asked not to do it again.

But you definitely remember the part where you had to get the cross-staff out from under the bed because the new device's mirrors were all fogged up. You think it was called a hextant or something of that sort. And a quick glance tells you that it's still kept down there.

As luck would have it, the fight is naturally heading in that direction. You just need to make a little effort to keep it that way. As Lou keeps striking, you get a little bit closer to the bed, and deliberately let him hit close enough so that he'll think he knocked you down.

Once you hit the ground, you reach under the bed, grab the cross-staff, and sweep at Lou's legs before he realizes you've got it. He goes down, and you give a quick strike to his head.

Except, he seems unfazed, and you notice a crack on the cross-staff. He starts getting up.

There's something strange about how strong he is. Nonetheless, you do have a moment to act before he strikes again. You'll need to make the most of it.