Swamped

Well, the smoke leaf powder from the trick hat gives you an element of surprise, but it also happens to surprise you.

She doesn't directly answer. Instead she reaches into the hat.

A moment later the stage is thick with some kind of smoke. There must have been mistflowers or something of the sort in there. Would have been nice to have some sort of warning...

And before you can think further on that, you realize you're being pulled along. You can't quite tell in what direction, but it's not like you have a preference for any particular one at this point. So you opt for just keeping up. If it turns out to be a hostile, you'll deal with that when you can see more clearly.

Whatever that stuff is, it's rough on your eyes. Takes you a bit to see clearly even after you're out of it. When things finally stop getting blurry, you can see that you're backstage - but not a section of it you recognize.

"Could have given me a little more help," the man who had the barstool grumbles. He doesn't have it any more.

"I distracted most of them, didn't I? And you got out fine," says the woman in the animal costume. "Anyhow, Minnie should be finished now."

"Who's finished with what?" you ask. You feel very lost here.

But soon enough, one of the doors opens, and you think you see just what this Minnie is finished with.

Minnie seems very proud of the piece of paper she is holding looks like a map though something is weird about it

"Got it," says someone who you assume to be Minnie. She's holding up a map.

"Uh, good job?" you say, a little doubtfully. Then you notice that the map's on unusual paper... looks like it's been ripped out of a book, and a fairly old one at that.

Minnie stares at you for a moment, then turns to the stranger in the costume.

"When did Ollie sign on?"

"That's not Ollie. Ollie doesn't have that kind of muscle on him."

"Oh, yeah," she says, nodding. "I see it now. Okay, then, next question, who is this, and while I'm at it, why is Mortimer Flame here?"

"Because my dad's the one messing things up," the man who's probably Mortimer chimes in. "No clue who that fellow is."

"Just call me, ah, Crow," you say. "I got mixed up in something involving a wizard and he didn't really tell me what's going on."

"Arlene, you can't just grab whoever you like and bring them in on our schemes," Minnie says to the animal woman. "Not without warning me first, at least. Especially not when everything's going mad. But I suppose there's no time to make much fuss about it, not with Grandmother's map in our hands."

"Er, I suppose I'm not going to find out what's going on from you either?" you ask tentatively.

"We're gonna kill a dead god," says the woman who's apparently Arlene. "And this map is gonna tell us where to find what we need for it."

"Pay her no mind, she's always saying nonsense," Minnie sighs. "Now, you mentioned a wizard? We could use one, so maybe her foolishness has done us a bit of a favor for once. Where's this wizard?"

"In the hospital, last I saw him. Um, I was running an errand for him, and I did that. Most of it. But he needs a needle from a spiked terror to prove to somebody else the deed is done, and I couldn't find one."

"We don't have time for that... wait, damn, we're trying to get his help so I suppose it's best if we do him a favor. Spiked terror, you say?"

"Probably the one my dad ran off with," Mortimer chimes in.

"Fantastic. Then you can help track him down. Arlene, escort Mortimer and find his father and get us that needle."

"As you say, Madame Laikenne," Arlene replays, taking a bow. She grabs Mortimer and runs off.

"And now you're going to introduce me to this wizard."

"Sure. He seemed to want to talk to you anyways." You start walking along. "Though, since it'll be a bit before we get there, I have a quick question I'd like to ask you."

"As long as it's not about what I'm planning," Minnie replies whimsically. "Matters of trust aside, if things work out with this wizard of yours I'll be explaining it anyways and I'd rather not repeat myself."

"I don't think I could understand what you're planning. Barely know what's going on at all. But there's one thing you might be able to clear up for me."

Why that woman is wearing a costume?

"What's with that friend of yours in the costume? Why is she wearing it and, well, why is she even involved in all this."

"I needed help from someone local and she's not sticking with the troupe. As to the costume..." Minnie just shrugs. "All I can tell you is, she's loved theater for a long time. She told me she doesn't quite feel like herself unless she's wearing some form of costume. But, for reasons beyond me, she took a particular liking to that one."

"Maybe because it covers her face?" you offer.

"That seems a bit unlikely with how much she enjoyed looking in the mirror with less colorful costumes," Minnie says, shaking her head. "No, my best guess is that she feels some sort of kinship with the spirit it's supposed to represent. It's some kind of trickster that supposedly likes to toy with the priesthood, and in some stories, even with the gods themselves."

Hmm. You really aren't sure how safe it is to work with someone like that.

"Does she have a poor relationship with the churches?"

At this point, Minnie bursts into laughter.

"That girl goes to services at six different churches! I don't even know what drives her. Well, that's not entirely true - I know one thing that drives her, but that one thing is enough to earn my trust."

"And what would that be?" you ask. This will probably be quite revealing about what sort of person Minnie is as well.

"She hates the Guild," Minnie replies. "She did a little poking around after the old theater closed and learned they had a hand in it. Seems they wanted to use the space for something. But she found enough to get the council to put a stop to it. Didn't bring the theater back, but probably made 'em think twice about another move that big. At least, up until now."

The Guild. Well, you can't say you're that surprised they're active in whatever time you're in - they were pretty well established when you were stuck working for them, after all.

But you weren't really expecting that the whole mess you were in would involve them. The wizard probably didn't want to mention that openly, considering their influence.

On the other hand, you know a few things about them. About what sort of organization they'll be, at any rate. Maybe you'll catch something as you learn more.

"Well, that clarifies a lot." You settle for that for the moment. No need to get into your history when it hasn't happened yet. "How'd you get mixed up with the Guild?"

She gives you a look that indicates she's not telling you more. Fair enough.

You follow her out - through the back door rather than a window, thankfully.

"The hospital across the street? There's not some other one I don't know about? Ain't that familiar with this town. Was pretty young when I left."

"Yeah, that's the one," you say. "I don't know this place very well either. Probably worse than you."

You don't even know what place it is, to be honest.

"Right," she says, and starts walking. "Keep an eye out for anything funny. It's been a weird night."

Probably not as weird for her as for you, but you'll leave that aside for now. You keep looking around as you head for the hospital.

And you do spot something odd.

A few blocks away you spot a person run across the street... backwards.

"Someone's running backwards across the street," you say.

Minnie looks.

"Are you toying with me? I don't see anything."

"You don't? Hard to see how you could miss an outfit like that. Especially that hat." You rub your eyes. "Maybe I'm seeing things."

And indeed, you don't see any sign of the stranger any more. You're starting to worry that time travel has something to do with it. Maybe the wizard might know something. Seems worth trying to pull him aside to talk about it.

"Hope this wizard wasn't one of your hallucinations, then."

At this point, you can't actually be sure about that, but best not to bring your doubts about reality into this.

"No, although last I saw he was talking to a lizard that seemed to want him to look into something. We might have to chase him down a bit. Somebody should have seen where he went, though."

You head into the hospital, and the doctor is right at the front door.

"Good, you're back," he said. "I think your friend needs some help, and you might be able to provide it."

"Help with what?" you ask, more than a little cautious.

Pin him down so I can give him this antidote

"Someone stung him with a strange needle. He's been lashing out wildly ever since. You look strong, so maybe you can restrain him while I prepare the neutralizer for injection."

Oh dear.

"Well! And here I thought this would be simple," Minnie chuckles. "Come on then, let's go meet this friend of yours."

The doctor leads you to the main area. The wizard is wielding a bedpost, but a middle-aged woman is keeping him at bay with a stool.

"That's Patterson!" Minnie exclaims. "The bar owner. She's probably not going to be too happy when she finds out what's been going on over there."

"That seems a few problems ahead of where we should be thinking," you say. "Right now, we've got to do something about him. I can probably hold him if I get close, but that assumes I don't get clocked by that bedpost."

"So, step one, disarm him," Minnie says calmly. "Seems simple enough - there's two of us, not to mention Ms. Patterson. I should think we could figure something out."

She's right - you've got the numbers on your side, so this shouldn't be too hard. You just need to take the right approach to it.

Well, the guy wearing armor should try to grab the bedpost, since you can probably take a hit better than anyone else (assuming that business about sudden movements and being loaded with ether doesn't mean sudden impacts have strange side effects), while the others go at him from the sides.

But as you get closer you have to fight time? It feels like walking underwater

"Well, I'm armored, so I guess it makes sense if I take the most risk," you shrug. "You can talk to Ms. Patterson and ask her to help with flanking him while I draw his attention."

"Oh, that's real armor? I was thinking it was a costume, but then, I was also thinking you were Ollie at first." She stares at you a bit. "Looks, well, not that tough. Too flexible to be very protective."

"It gets the job done." As long as you don't take a slicer to the head again, at least.

You walk up to Patterson, and Minnie talks to her a bit.

"Armored fella, huh? You new in the town guard or something?" she asks. "Pretty odd armor for it if you are."

"It's a long story that I'd rather not get into right now." Or at all, since you don't know how much it might mess with the future if people know that's where you come from.

"Well, this might help you keep your distance," she says, handing you the stool. "We'll see what we can do."

They back away, and you're left fending off a bedpost with a stool. It's not exactly a weapon you're familiar with, but you're mainly using it defensively anyhow.

But after you block a swing, and he takes a few steps closer, you start feeling really weird. Everything around you seems to get slower, and even the air feels more like water. Maybe this is that stray ether Captain Long was warning you about?

Good thing you're used to swimming through way thicker stuff. Not so much fighting in it, though. But right now it feels like it's going to take a very long time for your backup to get here.

Maybe you need to go a little more on the offensive, or at least to put some distance between you and him. You don't have a lot of options to work with, though.

Try tossing the stool toward him

If you try to run, he might follow. If you can pin him or get him to back away, that would be more effective.

Your best bet is to press the offensive long enough to startle him somehow. But that's hard to do with the limited range a stool provides.

Well. There's one sure way to increase your range with a weapon - it's just that it leaves you without a weapon afterwards. You back up as much as you can manage, and then fling the stool right towards him.

He doesn't seem clearheaded enough to dodge. It hits him right in the legs, and he doesn't seem to be in a state of mind where he can manage a better counter than striking it repeatedly with the bedpost.

And that doesn't do him much good when Ms. Patterson pulls it out of his hands, while Minnie grabs his arms. But he's flailing and kicking. You head over and pull his hands around his back.

"That should keep him under control," you say, as Minnie backs off and picks up the stool, then grab his legs. "At least until we can get the doctor."

"He's still pretty feisty," Patterson comments. "You sure it's safe? We might want to tie him down or something."

"With what? Spare bedsheets? I don't think they'll put up much resistance."

"If you can hold him for ten minutes, I should be able to get some rope," Patterson replies. "Keep some back at the bar. Hope I won't disrupt the show, though."

"It's a bit late for that, I'm afraid," Minnie says sadly. "A muckbeast already disturbed it, and that was just the opening act."

"I suppose that explains what you're doing here," Patterson grumbles. "Well, Monty's still around somewhere. I'll deal with whatever mess is going on, and Monty can bring the rope back. You'll just have to manage until then."

"Wonderful," you sigh. He's fighting awfully hard for his age. It would be nice if you could find another way to restrain him, at least until the rope arrives.

Well I know it's been a while since you been in a real hospital buuuuuut shouldn't they already have some restrains that are better and more comfortable than a rope for you know medical operations? Also did the time jumbo affected anyone else or was it just a mix of your time ether mixing with his?

"Doesn't the hospital have anything? I doubt it's unheard of for patients to struggle a little."

"Two weeks ago, one of the nurses came into the bar and asked me for a rope because they were tryin' to treat a drunk who wouldn't stay still," Patterson replies, as she starts walking off. "I'll ask if they've found a better option since, but I wouldn't exactly go gettin' my hopes up."

Well, that's wonderful. It feels like several minutes before she's out of sight. You look around to see if there's anything useful.

"Why are you moving your head so slowly?" Minnie asks. Come to think of it, her talking sounds a bit faster. "You trying to do a real careful search or something?"

Uh-oh. Whatever oddity is going on must still be acting up. Well, you're closer to him now than you were during the fight. It doesn't seem as bad, though... maybe because you aren't as tense, since he's not putting up so much of a struggle for some reason.

But it's enough to make you think you should get him restrained sooner rather than later.

"What about that stuff they put around a broken leg?" you ask. "What do you call it again, a cast? Could we use one of those to keep his hands and feet together?"

"Casts take some time to prepare," says a voice behind you. "Have to shape and dry the plaster. And it's not exactly something we've got enough of to use frivolously, not to mention this isn't really what they're meant for."

You turn your head - quicker than you're comfortable with, so that hopefully it looks like normal speed - and see a nurse standing nearby.

"Probably wouldn't be ready before Ms. Patterson can get the rope," the nurse continues. "So you're just going to have to sit tight."

"Are you sure you don't have anything? It doesn't need to be longer than a few minutes. Wouldn't bet on bedsheets holding him, but surely there's something a little better than that."

"Well, after the incident a couple of weeks ago, we did talk about other options but we didn't decide on anything." She pauses. "Oh, but wait. There was a note about a patient causing trouble during the day, come to think of it. It mentioned that another patient happened to have something useful for keeping her restrained... now, what was it again?"

A patent leather belt with a nice wooden buckle cover carved from dark wood.

"It's a belt. A particularly sturdy one. Should be able to bind his hands with that, I'll go ask Evan if he knows what happened to it. I'd guess the patient has calmed down, but it's hard to be sure."

She returns a few minutes later with the belt. Or maybe only one or two. You're really having trouble keeping track.

"Here you go. Keep him still while I get it tied around..."

You don't know how long it takes her, but you feel greatly relieved once she's done and you can let go.

"Great. Is there a bed we can take him to?"

"Probably his own. He's been running around all night, but he's supposed to be a patient here. No serious injuries, though, so we haven't made too big a fuss about it."

"Right, then." You turn to Minnie. "Probably easiest if we both carry him, he might not be very cooperative with his legs."

"Good point," she agrees. She starts lifting his legs, and you grab him by the shoulders. Trying to put as much distance between his body and yours as you can... it does seem to make a difference.

He puts up a bit of a fuss, and Minnie complains about your sluggish pace a few times, but you get him to the bed without too much incident. You toss him in there, and he immediately starts thrashing about.

With a sigh, you hold down his shoulders, and Minnie holds down his legs again.

"Seems to be in pretty good shape for his age," Minnie observes. "Think it's the magic?"

"I don't know. I just know that I'm going to need to get some sort of explanation from him about what's going on, because I got roped into this without much of one."

As he's thrashing, he winds up with his back to you, and that's when you get a better look at the belt. The buckle's got a wooden cover on it, but something seems a little off. That's not a common color for wood...

Oh hells. Is that darkwood? You don't know much about it, but it might be a problem to keep it on a wizard who's not especially in control of his mental faculties.

But your sense of time is all out of whack. You're not sure how long it's going to be before you get the rope, at which point you can remove it safely. It can't be that long - perhaps it's better to leave it on him despite the risk? On the other hand, maybe you can just remove the cover.

Then again, he's still flailing enough that getting a free hand to do that much might not be easy. If only you could think of some way to actually calm him down.

You could sing him a lullabye sea chanty

"Don't suppose you know any sea shanties?"

Minnie gives you an odd look.

"This is a port town and I perform at bars. I've heard lots of sea shanties. Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm wondering if one might calm him down. He used to work on a ship, maybe there's one he's familiar with."

Minnie's expression changes to thoughtful, but somewhat annoyed.

"Well, they're usually pretty rowdy, especially when sung drunk. Not what I'd think of as calming. But there's one that got sung a lot - usually as a sort of prelude to the drinking. It starts out quiet, so it might fit the bill. Goes like this..."

She starts singing. It's surprisingly soothing.

"In the mornin', in the mornin', we hear the sound of waves,
In the evenin', in the evenin', they're workin' us like slaves,
But in the dead of night, underneath the stars,
We dream of better days when we can all hit up the bars."

"Is that a sea shanty or just a drinking song?" you ask.

"It's the best I've got. Anyhow, seems to be doing something, he's humming the tune."

You glance down, and indeed, the wizard does seem to be humming. He's also flailing a bit less. You take the opportunity to pull the cover off the belt, keeping an eye on him the whole time. Then you turn him on his back. He continues humming.

"Does this look funny to you?" you ask Minnie, showing the cover to her.

"Is that what you wanted the song for?"

"Well, it was good to calm him down anyways," you reply. "But the thing is, I think this might be darkwood. I just don't know the stuff well enough to be sure."

"Hmm," she says. "Granny had some notes on darkwood, but I didn't pay much attention to them. You can get that back on the belt, right?"

"If it turns out to be fine, yeah. Not sure it's safe, though."

As it happens, someone - Monty, you suppose - soon arrives with the rope, and the doctor gives instructions on keeping the patient still until the neutralizer can be applied.

"It may take a few minutes," he says, after putting the needle in. "Please keep an eye on him. He'll either pass out or start talking, most likely. But we can't be sure until it happens"

Well, not much to do except watch now.

Well, watch and listen. And speaking of listening, just what was that sound you heard earlier?

You sit down a fair distance away, and time feels significantly more normal. Probably better for the wizard, at that - it'll keep his recovery on schedule. And since things are finally calm, you might be able to get some thinking done.

Two things stand out in your mind. First is figuring out who stung the wizard in the first place. That seems to be your most immediate lead, but you'll probably have better luck figuring out what to do about it once he's conscious.

Second is that you still don't know what in the hells that noise you heard twice was. And this largely comes to mind because you're hearing it again. Minnie, however, has no reaction. Neither does anybody else.

Well, time to settle if you're going mad, you suppose.

"I think I might be hearing things," you say to Minnie. "I just heard a loud noise, but nobody else seems to be paying it any mind."

"Oh, that," Minnie says. "Yeah, threw me off at first too, but you get used to it quick. It's just the lighthouse. When they spot a ship that's on a bad course, they blow that horn as a warning. I hear people who grew up here don't even notice it at all any more."

Hmm. Well, that could explain it, but then it's odd for another reason.

"I've heard it three times in the last hour or so. That's a lot of ships heading down a bad course in the middle of the night."

"It is, now that you mention it," Minnie notes. "Maybe they're eager to get here for the holy festival. Sailors are big on Brume, after all."

You pause for a moment.

"I thought they were big on Nual."

"Same god, two names," Minnie replies. "There's some theological reason for it, I think, but I don't go to that church so I don't really remember what it is. All I know is, Brume's the more common name around here. And it seems to be the big name in the Guild, too, at least among the higher-ups."

Now that you think about it, you recall a few times you overheard your boss say something and you were confused as to why he was talking about brooms. So maybe that stuck over the years.

Still, this probably isn't too important, more like a curiosity. Something you can look into when you get back. The horn's got you more worried right now. Not much you can do about that, though, not until it's clear what's going on with the wizard.

And just as you think that, he sits up suddenly and says something odd.

"Don't eat that bug, Mortimer!"