Swamped

You can think of several spells you could use under normal circumstances. But the time ether surrounding you has ruled those out. And being tangled with Sunflower and a bunch of crates makes it difficult to act without magic.

You don't see another choice. You'll have to use time magic. You attempt to make the flame burn faster, just as the Lady thrusts her hand forward and sends it through the air.

And it does burn faster. But it also starts flying faster. So it might reach the cauldron anyhow. Damn, you'll need more time ether to fix that! That's what you get for messing with magic you don't fully understand. If you'd been just a few moments earlier, you could have at least made it fade while it wasn't moving...

You feel time moving back, to just as she's forming the flame. And you already have the idea, so you don't have to waste precious seconds coming up with it. You immediately hasten the flame, and it starts burning faster before she flings it. It fizzles out just a moment before reaching the cauldron.

But you have no idea how much time ether got used. Certainly more than you intended. And what will the consequences of that be?

The woman in riding boots reaches her sister, and punches her hard. The Lady falls down. One of the beasts wanders over, and the woman ties the Lady to its back.

"Good. There's still plenty to do, but catching her simplifies a lot of things," she says. Then she glances around for a bit, before focusing on you. "Don't follow me. It won't go well for you. I suggest you take the time to clean this place up instead."

She's probably got a point there. You're not in any state to stop her, and she can probably handle Black alone at least as well as her sister can...

Suddenly, something moves. You don't see it, exactly - you just suddenly realize it's there. The woman seems to realize, too, because she turns away very abruptly. She starts rushing towards the other beast. As she picks up speed, she leaps in midair...

And then stops. She doesn't come down.

You don't feel the strange presence any more. No, that's not quite right - somehow, you noticed it leave. And, though you can't say for certain how you know this, you feel very sure that it left by walking through time somehow.

It must be all the time ether you used. You don't understand any of the details at all, but it seems that you were more right to worry about using it than you realized.

You pick yourself up and attempt to figure out which of the various messes in here to focus your attention on first.

The unconscious goons. Say, Sunflower, what does this tattoo mean? "Abluni?!"

As you stand up and gather your bearings, the first thing to catch your eye is the pile of underlings in nets.

That immediately makes you realize that the Lady needs to be similarly restrained, in case she wakes up. You grab another net and approach the muckbeast...

Which roars in an irritated manner. Maybe it thinks you want to catch it. Well, if she wakes up, she'll be right on top of the beast and hopefully it can take care of her.

It does make you realize that whichever thing you focus on will be easier if you have help. You can't see Black, so you start by giving Sunflower a good shake.

"Oof," he mutters. Then he stares at the woman frozen in mid-leap. "I think I missed something important. Did you do that?"

"No. Well, I might have caused it indirectly. I'm worrying about several other things right now, foremost among them where Black is so he can help us with whatever else we prioritize."

Sunflower doesn't say anything and just looks around.

"Oh dear."

You follow him over to the disturbed fish pile. Black is just behind it, getting up... except he's not moving a muscle.

"Same thing that happened to me?" Sunflower asks hopefully.

You shake your head.

"No, I think it's what happened to her." You don't detect any ether, not even time magic.

"I suppose it's just the two of us, then. Unless you can persuade those creatures to help us. Or perhaps you think some of the conspirators would be willing to lend a hand?"

"No, but perhaps you have some idea about something I noticed while restraining them." You lead Sunflower over, and show him the tattoo. "What do you make of this?"

"Well, the symbol's one I've seen on a few intercepted Guild messages. Usually high-level stuff. I thought it was meant to be somewhat secret, but it's just right out there in the open here." Sunflower muses on this. "Although, this lettering is a bit strange. It looks like Kroskan at a glance, but all the letters are just a little bit off, and the word isn't one I recognize. And I've read a lot of Kroskan, I don't mind telling you."

"You sound like you're going somewhere with this," you note.

"Well, I've got familiarity with a lot of the major languages, since people from all over come here. If this is a word I don't recognize, maybe it comes from a smaller place, or an old one that doesn't exist any more. Maybe the symbol does, too. And maybe that's where the Guild originated. But that's just a guess."

Hmm. And if it looks like Kroskan writing, it might be somewhere near there. You vaguely remember a few of the sailors being from a small town near Kroska, and several of them tended to get into fights with Kroskans. But you didn't pay much attention to the details.

"I'm sorry that wasn't more illuminating," Sunflower says. "It's just my best guess."

"No, I think it's a fairly good one. I just don't see much more I can do with it."

"Perhaps it's best we turn our attention to something else, then," Sunflower suggests. "I'd be particularly happy if we could get Black moving again, if you happen to have any thoughts on that."

We might need to enlist the aid of the Flames for this.

"Honestly, I think we're in over our heads", you sigh. "Even more than we already were. I don't know how to help Black, but we do need more hands here. More knowledge, too."

"Well, there's not a lot of people Black and I can get help from. Most of our... associates... only come into town on rare occasions. We try not to draw too much attention to ourselves."

That certainly makes sense, given what Mortimer suggested. Their little unauthorized charity might go further than what he knew about - or what Leonard knew about, for that matter.

Which gives you a thought.

"There's the Flames," you muse. "Mortimer already knows you're involved in this. And he suggested to me that Leonard knows a bit about you, too. Their influence may be waning, but they probably at least know who the players here are. Who she is, if nothing else." You point to the unconscious Lady.

Sunflower frowns.

"Don't care much for the idea of owing Leonard Flame a favor, especially with a power struggle going on in his Guild. If you think we're in over our heads now, it'll be worse if he tries to get us cleaning up his mess for him."

"It's all in how you look at it," you point out. "Isn't this already his mess to some degree? We've stuck our necks out for him, so he owes us. And a bedridden man with a fading organization isn't going to have a lot of space to get mad at us if we point that out."

"But his sort has a long memory," Sunflower objects. "Not much risk now, but who's to say where he'll be in a year, and how much of a grudge he'll hold?"

"All right, so maybe we don't kick up a fuss. But all we really need to do is tell him what's going on with the gas and describe the mastermind to him. Speaking of, I was going to net her but the beast didn't like that. Don't suppose you can convince it otherwise?"

Sunflower smiles.

"I don't think I can. But our little friend Mortimer might have more success."

Ah, the lizard. Well, he can mimic human speech, so perhaps he can talk like a muckbeast, too.

"Where is he?" you ask. "I don't think I've seen him since we checked the alarm at the hospital. And if he's been around while we were dragging you off, he hasn't been very talkative."

He's riding the muckbeast like a little jockey!

Sunflower doesn't say a word. He just points to the other muckbeast, which has a familiar lizard sitting on its back.

"Are you sure that's him and not another lizard?"

"Well, most other talking lizards aren't adventurous enough to ride a larger animal in the first place. Not to mention..."

The lizard suddenly stands up and starts dancing.

"I've never seen another lizard with that much style."

"If you're sure." You pause. "But the muckbeast might take it as a threat if we go over there."

"As long as we've got Mortimer's attention first, it should be fine." Sunflower starts walking over. "Mortimer! Would you tell your friend we don't mean any harm?"

Mortimer starts making some strange grunts. The muckbeast responds similarly. Sunflower walks over, and reaches out his hand; Mortimer steps onto it.

"Wonderful. Now, if you could just explain to this other friend that we're concerned the person on their back might be dangerous, and we only want to use the net to restrain that person."

"Dangerous!" Mortimer shouts. "Restrain? Back! Back!"

"Hmm," Sunflower says. "I think he's trying to explain something to me, but he doesn't seem to have quite the right words for it. He seems a bit confused."

"Perhaps he didn't understand what you said?"

"No, that happens sometimes but it's not like this. I'm not entirely sure how to handle it. Well, I suppose we could try to teach him some new words and see if any of those help."

"Teach a lizard new words," you say, a little bemused.

"It's not that hard. Just pick a word that's a bit obscure, and use it in a sentence that makes its meaning clear. Mortimer's bright enough to figure it out after just a few uses. Sometimes even just one."

Well, you suppose it's worth a try. You try to think of a word that might help Mortimer express himself.

"Well, he responded to dangerous, so maybe he saw something dangerous that he doesn't know any words for," you muse. "Or a sign of something dangerous. A corpse, perhaps?" You glance at the little lizard. "A corpse is a dead body."

"No, he knows corpse. Bit of a story there, but there isn't really time to get into it."

"Corpse," says Mortimer halfheartedly.

"Oh, but you're on the right track. Something like a corpse, then."

You think about this.

"I'm sure you don't want to get into this story, but was the body intact? Had it decayed much?"

"Couldn't have been more than an hour old when we found it, so more or less intact. Why?"

"Just wondered if he might have seen a skeleton. That's just the bones, no flesh, so it's not a corpse. But he might realize that's the same sort of thing."

"Skeleton! Skeleton!" Mortimer exclaims.

"Well. That's not much of an immediate concern," Sunflower says. "Shame about whoever it was, but they would have died some time ago. It's unlikely we have to worry about whatever killed them."

"He seems to think it's important, though. Maybe he can explain better now?"

"Fair enough. Mortimer, what are you trying to say?"

"Skeleton! Restrain!" Mortimer seems to pause, as though he's trying to clarify the concept. "Capture? Steal?"

"Someone stole a skeleton?" you ask. Mortimer starts dancing excitedly.

"That's a bit odder. Still not sure how important it is to our situation, but it might be something to investigate when things calm down."

You have a strange feeling it won't wait for that.

"Is there anything more you can tell us about it?" you ask Mortimer.

SpoilerShow

I used a random word generator until I got a word that gave me an idea.

The skeleton was big and it floated

"Big!" Mortimer exclaims. "Float!"

"A big floating skeleton?" Sunflower asks. "I hope he means in the water, not in the air."

"It's strange either way. I've never heard of a creature whose bones are that light. Where did you see it?"

Mortimer starts saying something, but the beast growls and interrupts. Mortimer settles on "Sorry".

"Hmm. I suppose that's a secret," you sigh. "Slightly surprised that a muckbeast is keeping one, but that's one of the less strange things I've seen today."

"Well, if that's all, we'd like you to explain things to the other muckbeast," Sunflower says. He starts walking over. The beast and Mortimer growl to each other for a bit.

After a while, the beast makes a motion that looks like nodding.

"Safe!" Mortimer says.

"Thank you," you say, picking up the net. Sunflower puts down Mortimer and picks up the Lady, and you restrain her with it. Then you put her back on the beast.

It growls again. Mortimer looks worried this time.

"What's the matter?" Sunflower asks, picking up the lizard again. "Is this one saying something worrying?"

It needs to hurry or it'll miss its sub

"Hurry! Late!" Mortimer shouts. Then he growls something. He evidently doesn't know how to translate it.

The beast growls at him again. A clarification? Whatever it was, Mortimer hastily adds "Under!"

"This beast has an appointment?" Sunflower asks. "Under something?"

You glance at the time-frozen woman.

"Well, it could probably get there on its own, but wherever it's going, it probably means to bring her along. And she probably meant to take her sister there, or at least leave her somewhere she couldn't escape."

"So we're back to fixing that mess," Sunflower sighs.

"Well, whoever she was going to meet with might come looking for her. Although, without knowing more, I can't say if that's a potential asset or just another problem."

"We certainly have plenty of those already," Sunflower sighs. "Starting with how someone's got to keep an eye on things here. I'll leave Flame to you, and call in what few favors I can to find others to help watch. Unless you've got contacts you can think of in town?"

You technically do, but they wouldn't be familiar with your older self. And you certainly don't want to drag your younger self into this, not when you haven't the faintest idea what that will do to the timeline.

"Afraid not," you say. "Good luck, then. I'll be back after I talk with Flame."

You head out. Sunflower walks out a little bit after you and locks the door. Probably found whoever was carrying the keys.

"Quickest route to the hospital is down that way until you reach Feldspar's hostel, then take a right and you'll see Patterson's bar," Sunflower explains. "Since you're looking for someone at the hostel, you'll probably want to know where it is anyhow."

"Yes, thank you," you reply. You could probably find your way, but you weren't that familiar with the streets even when you lived here.

"No problem. Best of luck." He takes off in a different direction, and you start walking.

When you arrive at the hostel, you spot two people standing outside and talking. You wonder if they might know anything about the actor you were curious about, but you're also in a bit of a hurry.

It becomes less of a hurry when one of them excuses themselves from the conversation and jumps right into your path.

"Got a question for you, old-timer," they say.

You think you've seen it all? Well, think again, my friend. We've got a show for you and it'll make your heart race, so I hope it's in better condition than you look.

"I'm not sure that I can..." you begin, but they start talking again immediately.

"Do you ever feel like, at your age, you've seen it all? Because if so, we have the perfect show for proving you wrong."

"I can't say that's something I've been thinking recently," you mutter. It's already clear that you aren't an active participant in this conversation.

"You definitely don't want to miss it! This is our last show before we leave town. Soon as it's over, we're packing it up and heading out to the next stop. It'll be at Patterson's, and it's starting in less than an hour!"

The other person walks over and grabs the eager promoter.

"We weren't done talking, you know! Just like you, always looking to sell one more ticket..."

"It's not about the money, Julia! It's about letting another soul be entertained."

"I'm certainly interested, but I'm not sure if I'll have the time," you say, moving away slightly. "It looks to be a busy night."

"Oh? Are you with the, ah, specialists?" the eager one asks. "Terribly sorry if that's the case, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"Julia" is giving them a look that suggests they said too much.

Now you're wondering if these two know something about the funny business happening here. Perhaps the show is meant to be a diversion, to keep this town's night owls from finding out too much. It might be worth your time to learn a little more. Then again, perhaps you should hurry to Flame, since you haven't really got any other place to turn for help.

Ask if they have enough material to make the show last a while... Maybe you can catch the second act.

"How long is it going to run for?" you ask. "I'm going to be a bit busy, but if it's going to be a long one, I might make it for the second act. Better than missing it entirely, right?"

"Oh!" the eager one says. "Well, we're planning on running to the crack of dawn. So we'll be showing all our best stuff! It would be better if you can come earlier, but I suppose we mustn't keep you from your..." There's a pause, which seems just a little deliberate to you. "Sorry, what is it you're going to be doing?"

Hmm. They might be trying to assess whether you're a risk to the operation.

"Does it really matter, Stanley?" Julia asks. Well, that's another name you know now, assuming those are at all real. "He's in a hurry. No sense keeping him waiting."

Maybe you're worrying over nothing. Or maybe she's saying they should treat you as a threat either way.

Perhaps if you answer the question carefully enough, you can persuade her otherwise. Or at least get some sense of what they're planning.

"I don't know yet, exactly. Have to meet with someone before I can be sure. Oh, and probably pick up that mask."

They both react slightly when you mention a mask. Interesting.

"Well, if you've got a meeting, best to get there soon, right?" Stanley laughs nervously. "Sorry we kept you. Good luck!"

"Now, if you're done, can we get back to our conversation?" Julia growls. You're not sure what she thinks. May still have to be careful. Still, the hospital's not far.

You make your way back, and go through the front. Luckily, it's still unlocked. The night doctor was probably too busy to notice.

"And who exactly are you, barging in at this hour?" someone asks.

Oh dear. It's one of the night nurses. You've been gone for a good while, so they must have arrived.

"I'm a patient. But I've recovered already, so I've been helping the doctor out, as things got a bit busy tonight. Shouldn't need to as much now that you're here, I'm sure."

"And he needed something outside the building?" the nurse asks. He seems pretty skeptical. Not unreasonably.

"Well, there have been a few other things that came up, and I'm a curious sort. If you bring me to the doctor, he can confirm..."

"He's busy," the nurse says.

"Oh! Yes, that would make sense. I asked him to look at something, so I suppose he might have started on that."

"No, something came up with one of the patients. Something that required his attention. So I'm not going to interrupt him to ask him if some crazy old man is his friend."

Ah. Then perhaps you need to try another approach here.

You notice a prayer bracelet around the nurse's wrist. It looks the same as the captain's did... or will, you suppose. He must be a follower of Nual, and probably a devout one. Not many people wear bracelets like that.

So you reach out and touch it, and look right into his eyes.

"I solemnly swear upon the very deepest part of the ocean, all I have told you is true," you say.

Some of it was a bit misleading, perhaps, but it's certainly true.

That's certainly got his attention. He still seems a bit skeptical, but he willing to take you seriously at least.

"You can say the words, old-timer, but that's not enough for me," he says. "I need to see proof of your devotion to Nual before I can be absolutely sure."

There may not be time for proof. I don't suppose the patient the doctor is attending to is one of the Flames?

"I'm in a hurry, and in even more of one if the doctor is attending to Leonard Flame." You pull the crest out of your pocket, just enough that it's recognizable. "If he is, this is all the proof I can show."

There's a look of shock on the nurse's face, but only for a moment.

"If you're bluffing, Mr. Flame is definitely going to have some words with you when he recovers. Come on."

The nurse leads you to Flame's bed. You already know the way, so you keep up easily. The nurse pokes his head in.

"Sorry to interrupt, but there's an old fellow here to see you. Both of you, I think. Says it's important."

A moment later, the nurse goes back out and motions to you to go on. And as you do, you can immediately see why Mr. Flame needs special attention.

He's purple!

"Why does he look so purple?" you ask.

"That's grape juice," the doctor says. He sounds concerned, but still calm. "I think someone tried to poison him with it, but since he was unconscious, it seems they just poured it over him in hopes that enough of the toxin would make it into his system."

"Oh," you say. Somewhat awkwardly, you follow up with "And is that the problem?"

"No. The unconsciousness is the problem we're trying to solve. He may be slipping into a coma. The assailant left the juice glass, so I had Stephanie analyze it."

You think you might know the cause of that.

"I noticed some little bits of leaf on his table earlier. You don't suppose that could have something to do with it?"

"We've been studying some swampleaf that induces sleep, but I've never heard of it having an impact this severe," the doctor replies. "And I've read a lot of letters from the swamp..."

He suddenly trails off, as if he's said too much. You decide to act as though you don't think much of it.

"Who's even in the swamp sending letters?" you ask calmly.

He seems to hesitate before giving an answer.

The old clinic closed when the then-young doctor was afflicted with a strange compulsion to move to the swamp. She's still practicing there and maintains correspondence via crow.

"My mother," he sighs. "She ran the old clinic. Then one day she told us she needed to go to the swamp, and couldn't explain any more than that. I can tell her heart's still here, though, because she writes every week. Even trained crows to carry them for her, can you believe it?"

Actually, you can. That's how wizards correspond, but that's meant to be a secret. Not that you ever got an explanation for why it's meant to be a secret - you had to figure that part out for yourself.

"That certainly sounds unusual," you say calmly.

"She's working as a medic there. Told us it took months to figure out which leaves were safe even though the trees themselves look very different, just because so few recruits pay attention to those sorts of things. And during those months, we heard a lot about knights falling asleep on the job. Anything strange about those cases, she was sure to tell us. And there was never anything like this. Closest was one who bit into a murderfly egg with the leaf and spit it out right away. She went out like a light, and didn't even respond reflexively, but still woke up pretty quick."

"A murderfly egg?" you say, startled. "Did she survive?"

"Oh, she was all right in the end, went on leave early though. She reacted fast enough that she only got a tiny dose. Still nasty stuff, but she was lucky, only got a bad case of the runs. Could be a lot worse."

And you found a dead murderfly, seemingly drained of blood. Is that the reason? Does it react with the swampleaf? If it does, who would even know that?

You wonder if you should mention your discovery. He might not believe you just found it in your pocket. Or he might know more than he's letting on - he did seem nervous for a bit, after all.

But for all you know, it might save Leonard Flame's life if you speak up. Maybe it's worth the risk.

Ask if he would recognize a murderfly if he saw one. Tell him you found a strange dead bug but you weren't sure what it was.