Swamped

Send little Mortimer in under the door to check the bell clapper.

"I don't suppose your lizard friend can check for us? He looks like he might be able to slip under the door. All he has to do is check if the clapper is still in place."

"I can't tell him what to do," Sunflower shrugs. "I can try, but it's anyone's bet as to if he'll listen."

As it turns out, Mortimer the lizard has already scurried under the door. He comes back a moment later and starts dancing.

"Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong!"

"That probably means it's active," Sunflower mutters. "If we want to avoid drawing too much attention, we'll need another way in."

As it turns out, you have a thought on that.

"I saw an open window earlier. It's not really feasible for any of us to get in through the gap, but the night doctor is on the other side. We could have Mortimer talk to him, and ask to be let in without causing a disturbance. The only problem is, when I left him, he'd been hit with a sleeping dart of some kind."

Sunflower looks concerned.

"Sleep darts, you say? Those aren't easy to come by. At least, not ones that work on humans."

"I'll be happy to tell you more about what I know once Mortimer's safely inside, but my more immediate concern is how to wake the doctor up."

Surely there's a copy of the Antidotarium somewhere in the hospital's library... but I take it little Mortimer can't read.

Well, better check on the doc while you brainstorm how to wake him; maybe he's already feeling better!

"I don't suppose you know where they keep their books," Sunflower muses. "Bound to be some information on what can wake people up."

"Wouldn't do us much good unless it's in a book light enough for the little fellow to carry," you sigh. "Or can he read now, too?"

"I don't see why he couldn't learn," Sunflower shrugs. "But we never taught him. Perhaps we could have a look anyhow, in case the doctor's woken up on his own?"

You suppose it's worth a try. From what you recall, the dart seemed to be an emergency measure, so it wouldn't need to be a strong sedative - you don't need someone to stay unconscious for very long if you're planning to flee.

You lead everyone to the window and take a quick look inside.

Well. The doctor seems to be starting to wake up - but there's someone else in there with him. You can catch a glimpse of a breather mask around their neck, but you can't tell what exactly they're doing. They're not focused on the doctor, though, so they may not realize he's awake.

You'd best think carefully about what to do here. If the doctor pretends to stay asleep, he might be fine... but how can you warn him without alerting the intruder?

Can you tap out an emergency medical code?

You think back to what you learned from working here. You weren't a doctor, but sometimes you had to be informed of sensitive matters in order to properly update the records. And sometimes, when you were being briefed, patients would wander nearby. So another member of the staff would start tapping the walls nearby in a particular pattern to inform you if they saw a patient approaching. Then you'd change the subject until you got another pattern indicating they were out of earshot.

This is the night doctor, so you aren't sure if he'd know the same code they used during the day. But it's your best shot. You grab a nearby tree branch and tap it lightly, but deliberately, against the window. It should be clear enough that it's coming from the window, so someone who doesn't know the pattern will look there first. You do position yourself to get a look in without being spotted in return, though.

The doctor glances around, confused for a moment, then he spots the intruder. He quickly shuts his eyes.

But the intruder has turned their attention directly to the office door. As if they were instinctively looking for a patient to be coming from that direction. It takes them a few moments before they turn to the window.

So. Somebody who worked in the hospital? Or perhaps still does?

You can't do much except watch as the intruder rifles through a few boxes, grabs a piece of paper, and then leaves the room. You wait a minute or so and then tap out the all-clear.

The doctor comes over to the window. You wonder if you should go with the original plan and let Mortimer greet him, or just do it yourself.

Either way, you've just realized that he's likely to want an explanation as to how whoever it is knows the hospital's secret alert codes.

Yeah, greet him yourself through the window and explain the danger, as well as your suspicion about the masked intruder being a (former?) insider. You can just say it's by magic that you knew the code, if it comes up.

"Change of plans," you say. "I'll talk to him."

You stand in front of the window and wave awkwardly. The doctor just stares for a bit.

"What are you doing out there?" he asks.

"I noticed that someone blocked up the alarm by the emergency exit, and you were asleep, so I headed out to investigate. Found another patient who'd been forcibly taken outside." You motion to Mortimer, who steps up and waves awkwardly. "We couldn't find the person who'd grabbed him, so we were worried they might have gone back in and unblocked the alarm, and we didn't want to make anyone panic. They might have something to do with whoever was just poking around in there."

"Blocked the alarm?" the doctor says. "That's worrying. We're going to need better security there, can't have people just slipping in through the emergency exit. But I suppose that's something to bring up tomorrow. For now, let's get you two back inside. Head for the front door, I'll let you in."

You walk towards the front door. Sunflower taps you on the shoulder.

"If someone's wandering around in the hospital, I'm not particularly keen to take my eyes off you two. But I'd rather the doctor didn't know I was around. Just keep him distracted so he doesn't lock the front."

He then wanders off, but likely not too far. You keep walking.

You take a glance at the tavern across the way once you reach the door, since it seems the doctor hasn't arrived there yet. As usual, people are still coming and going. It's one of the liveliest places in town.

Wait, hold on. You think you recognize someone who just left... someone who you wouldn't have expected to see in this town at all.

Was that Rebecca?

She looks a lot like that Lansor supervisor who was on the ship. Disturbingly so. To the point where you can't help but check for ether just to see if she's somehow been time-displaced as well.

You don't see any traces of time magic. There's an awful lot of water ether around her, though. And while you're looking, you can't help but glance at her feet.

And she is, in fact, wearing riding boots for muck beasts. They're extremely distinctive, since they were originally designed for greblings and the human versions apparently were made in the same style.

No mask, though. That's interesting. Is she keeping it elsewhere, or does she not have one to begin with?

You don't get much further in your thoughts before the doctor opens the door. Which means you need to distract him.

Well. You might also try a more direct approach.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to keep the door locked?" you ask. "You've dozed off twice tonight. What if someone needs to come in?"

"If they need to come here and I'm asleep again, that's a problem anyhow," he grumbles. "Though I am thinking it would be good if I had someone providing security. Especially since that intruder might still be in here."

"Could put out a sign suggesting they come in the emergency door," Mortimer suggests. "That'd wake you right up, I bet."

"Well, it won't solve the whole problem, but it's better than nothing," the doctor concedes. "Mr. Flame, I suggest you get back to your bed. As for you..." He looks right at you, and seems a little concerned. "Why don't you come with me while I fetch some paper to make a sign. You can keep your eyes out for any more problems."

You notice he doesn't lock the door before turning away. Maybe he took what you said as a hint.

Mortimer wanders off, and you follow the doctor.

"I have a few questions, but I'm also having trouble keeping track of what's happened due to collapsing twice," he says. "I remember you telling me you were a wizard and I can't tell if that was a dream or not. Although it would explain how you knew our tap code. But before I get into that, there's a more pressing matter I need to ask you about."

He reaches into his pocket.

"Are you Kandrian?" he asks.

And now you're worried about just what he's reaching for.

Long is a surname of Kandrian origin, but enough people have moved out of the kingdom over the years that it's hardly uncommon to find it elsewhere. But if he has particular information of a Kandrian agent named Long, well, you've certainly had a suspicious arrival.

And if that's why he's asking - is he asking because he's working for Kandria, or because he isn't?

Either way, you suspect that giving the wrong answer could be a serious problem for you. Serious enough that you're considering using the time ether to get a more concrete clue. But before you resort to that, perhaps you have another option for dealing with this situation.

Tell him the truth.

It probably causes the fewest complications if you give the true answer and deal with whatever comes next when it comes.

"No. I was born in this town and grew up in it," you reply. "And I've never been to Kandria."

The doctor hesitates a bit before he pulls his hand out, and shows you a letter.

Agent will be in early fifties. Will use the name 'John Long'. To confirm, ask if Kandrian. Agent will reply with a line from the Pledge.

"I found this among a patient's belongings," he explains. "I don't know what this Pledge is, I'm guessing it makes sense to whoever it's meant for. But I'd imagine it's pretty recognizable if they think it makes good identification."

"And it might not even have anything to do with Kandria, if that's just a code phrase," you muse. "So you were worried I was tied up in whatever this is, or perhaps hoping you might be able to get answers from me?"

"It was nagging at me. You're fifty, you're giving the right name, and you were found under strange circumstances. I wanted to clear it up before talking about the other matters."

Ah. Yes, you were a bit worried about those other matters, but not so much in comparison to worrying he might be involved in espionage and looking to kill you for a wrong answer. But he seems to just be someone unfortunately caught in the middle of something bigger.

Seems to be. There's a chance the note was meant for him but it's vague enough he thought it safe to show you in order to convince you he didn't know anything.

"Well, I'll just repeat that I'm a wizard," you say. He's probably convinced himself that's how you knew the code, so you may as well let him continue to think that.

"Good. I remember that much correctly," he sighs. "I don't suppose you can use your magic to help track down whoever that was in the office?"

"It's difficult for me to use magic right now," you explain. You don't really want to go into the details, so you opt to move the conversation along before he can ask. "But I do have a thought. You probably didn't notice, but when I tapped out the code, the intruder looked towards the door first. Not where the tapping was actually coming from."

The doctor frowns.

"You're saying they knew the code, too?"

"That would be my guess. Any thoughts as to who it might be?"

"We did hire a new clerk," he mutters. "Doesn't quite fit, though - this was his first day, and we don't usually go over the code with hires that new. Plus he probably wouldn't be used to the code yet, so that sort of instinctive reaction doesn't seem likely."

Good. You really didn't want this to turn into interrogating yourself.

"Who else on staff is here this late at night?"

"At this particular moment?" He thinks for a minute. "Well, nobody's supposed to be. We have an hour of downtime between nurse shifts, because one set has to be somewhere at quarter to midnight and the other set can't get here until quarter to one. Oh, wait, there's a night janitor, but she doesn't need the codes, and usually stays away from the patients. Unless one of them makes a big enough mess."

"What about former staff?"

"Hmm," the doctor muses. "Most of the time when our workers leave, it's because they're moving out of town. Oh, wait... just remembered someone who didn't."

The anesthesiologist! Specialist in inhalable essentia to balance the humors and affect the nerves. Took up a better paying gig with a shipping firm to treat or fumigate cargo for long term storage and transport.

"Our old anaestheticist left us a while back," the doctor says. "Never seemed satisfied with the job, they were more interested in researching new chemical compounds and felt the regulations on what you can test on humans and greblings are too strict. That was probably less of a concern at their new job."

"What new job?" you ask.

"One of the shipping firms was having a lot of problems with insect infestations on their longer voyages. They wanted someone to figure out a way to keep bugs out of the cargo bay. I'm not sure if they're in port or out right now, though, since they often go on trips to observe the effects of their experiments. But they definitely would have known the code."

And they'd probably be extra-sensitive to it, if they were doing any experiments they didn't want discovered. Which is also a plausible explanation for why they might be poking around here - perhaps they left something behind, and it's suddenly become important not to leave any traces of it.

"So it'd be them or a current employee secretly staying late," you conclude.

"It'd be strange for a current employee to risk searching the records room at this hour, though," the doctor says. "We've known a new clerk was coming for a week, and we weren't all that busy until today. It would have been easy to volunteer to tidy the records up for him, since no one really wants to do that. Not impossible, I suppose, but strange."

And the anaestheticist fits with what you saw. So they'd seem to be the prime suspect. Maybe you can pass that along to Sunflower later, or investigate it yourself.

You arrive at the records room, and the doctor pulls out a blank sheet and starts making a sign. As he does, you try to catch a glimpse at the boxes the intruder was looking through.

None of these were boxes that particularly caught your own eye, but you think you remember which one they took the paper from. You wonder if the other papers in that box might offer any clue as to what could be missing, so you take a quick look at them.

Leaves from old superstitious leechbooks and various rites for the soon-to-be deceased.

What you find is odd enough that you want the doctor's opinion on it.

"I think the intruder took something from this box," you say, pointing at it. "But I'm not sure why it's even here. These look to be copied pages from an old book of medicine, before we found better methods than leeches. And here are some religious rites for sanctifying the near-dead, in case they pass on while in the doctor's care."

He looks thoughtful.

"Well, this clinic opened fifty years ago, when an older one closed. Probably someone copied over all the books, just in case. Is the title page in with them?"

You take a quick look.

"I don't see a title page. This seems to list the author's name, though... Matilda Laikenne?"

"What?" the doctor asks, startled.

"Am I to take it that's someone of significance?"

"More than a little, yes," he says. "Bit of a long story, though."

Would you believe she was a noblewoman living in exile? Well we did, until it turned out to be a charade.

"Never met her myself, she was before my time. But there's an old story about her and it's pretty famous." The doctor pauses for a bit. "Matilda Laikenne said she was an exiled noble. Turned out to be a lie, she was just trying to get favors from people who figured she might be able to do something for them if she ever got back her title."

He turns his attention to the sign for a moment before continuing. He seems lost in thought.

"Thing is, those favors were rarely for just her benefit. She got quite a few stingy merchants to put their money into things like building a new orphanage, a new guildhouse... and even a new clinic. So she leaves a mixed legacy, with the people divided about whether the good she did outweighed the deception... well, at least among the people who remember the stories. I suppose not so many do these days."

You certainly hadn't heard of her by now.

"So why the surprise about this book?"

"Ah," he says. He seems a little uncomfortable. "Her name came up earlier today - yesterday now, I suppose - in another conversation. I just wasn't expecting to hear about her at work, too."

Well, isn't that interesting. It sounds like it might be embarrassing to him... but it also might just be relevant.

"I wonder if that conversation has anything to do with why our intruder was rummaging through the pages of her book," you muse.

"It very well could, now that you mention it," the doctor sighs. "So much for putting it out of mind. I'll need a moment before I'm ready to explain."

There's a cabaret down the street and someone plays a gender bent version of her in one of the burlesque shows. In the, uh, "play" s/he happens to have a book of magic.

Thing is, the actor claims the same surname on the billboard. I assumed it was a stage name.

"There's..." He pauses. "There's a certain performance that my partner has taken an interest in. He took me to see it and, well, there was a bit of a fracas afterwards. Rowdy drunks. But what's relevant here is that the, ahem, show is set a few decades back. The central character is a particularly miserly merchant. In one of the early scenes, Matilda Laikenne swindles him out of a good deal of money."

"So which side does this show take in the debate on her?" you ask.

"Very firmly in her favor. The whole thing ends up being the first step in opening his heart and making him a better person. But the part that seems worth mentioning is this: part of how she convinces him involves using a book to perform magic."

You suddenly feel foolish. You know full well about using books to store spells - why didn't you check that once you recognized these as a book?

But not that foolish, after a little more thought. There's no ether signature, and you checked the room earlier. Besides, these are copied pages. Any spell would be in the original...

And the missing page might hold some clue to where the original is. That's a possible motive, anyway.

"So maybe the real Matilda was a wizard?" you ask.

"I couldn't say. It certainly didn't seem that historical accuracy was their primary concern, but it might have come from rumors about her, and those rumors might - I emphasize might - have some basis in fact. At the very least, our thief might think that."

"Where was this?" you ask. "When I'm released, I might want to go there and ask the producers some questions."

"Ah," the doctor says. "I didn't pay much attention to the name of the place."

Which you suspect really means he doesn't want to talk about it.

"But I did notice that the actor portraying Matilda was listed on the program as sharing her surname. I took it for a psuedonym at the time, but I realize that I don't know for sure. Even if it is, you might be able to find them by asking around about someone who goes by Laikenne."

As long as you ask someone who isn't as easily embarrassed as this poor fellow.

Before you can ask anything more, he quickly picks up the sign.

"I'll just go and hang this up," he says.

You nod absentmindedly. You're not sure what to do next.

Well, until you glance at the window and see Sunflower gesturing intently. You should probably have a word with him.

The window is still slightly open, so once the doctor leaves you head over to it.

"What's gotten you so worked up?" you ask.

He looks annoyed.

"Muckbeast," is all he says. Must not think it's a good time to talk.

"Where?" you ask. And he shrugs. So he's lost track of it?

"Okay, where was it last?"

He makes a slight swimming motion. So... it was in the water, then it disappeared?

Well, you did find something out. You describe the woman in riding boots you saw. He points to his eyes, then shakes his head. Hasn't seen her.

That's worrying. The beast and its probable rider could be anywhere. And you don't know what they want, but you suspect it's Mortimer. Perhaps you should go check on him.

Before that, though, you think it might be good to ask Sunflower to do a small favor for you.

Either find out which way our book thief went or find out where this Laikenne person lives

"Have you noticed anyone leave the hospital? Because someone seems to have taken a page from a book. Possibly believing it's magic."

Sunflower shakes his head.

"Well, I suppose that's another thing for you and your friend to keep an eye on. And it might be good to look into an actor with the last name Laikenne. I think I might have a few questions for them."

Sunflower doesn't even gesture this time, just runs off. Well, you suppose that's that for the moment. Time to check in on Mortimer. Your own bed is on the way, so you grab the book. Just in case you get a chance for reading.

Mortimer doesn't seem particularly happy when you arrive. He does seem to have just showered, though, and apparently removed his bandages while he was at it.

"What do you want now?" he asks.

"Got a scouting report. Someone seems to be on the move outside, and they might be looking for you."

He groans.

"I'm not getting any sleep tonight, am I."

"I managed to get some rest earlier. If you really want to sleep, I can keep watch."

He looks annoyed at having to make the decision. But he finally seems to settle on sleeping.

"Wake me in an hour if nothing happens," he mutters, before lying down.

Well. You can get a little reading done. You'll need to be alert, though, so best not to get too enthralled.

About five pages in, you hear a noise. A very distinctive noise.

Sounds like the bell at the emergency exit