Swamped

"No, Mortimer! Don't eat it!"

The wizard glances around immediately after he says it. The doctor, one of the nurses, and the person who brought the rope all come in to see the commotion.

"Oh," the wizard says. "I''m not sure what's happened, but I'm guessing my warning is a bit late. I don't suppose anyone's seen a talking lizard around?"

The person who brought the rope looks especially confused, but doesn't say anything.

"The one you were talking to before I left?" you ask. You think you remember that.

"Yes. I was trying to warn him about the beetle he was eyeing, but it seems I didn't get a chance. I hope he's all right, but it seems I might need to be more concerned about whether I am at the moment."

"Someone stung you with a needle from that spiked creature." You turn to the doctor. "Do you know where the needle is, by chance?"

"It was on the floor near where he was flailing," says the nurse. "Just picked it up when things calmed down. Didn't want anyone else stepping on it." She holds up a small jar. "I put it in here for safety."

"We might need that," you say. "As, um, evidence. But there's a lot to deal with so maybe just keep that in a safe place for now."

"There is indeed," says the doctor. "For one thing, I need to examine him." He turns to the nurse. "I don't think I'll need assistance, but be on standby just in case. Everyone else should go..." His eyes settle on you. "Although you should stick around in case he has a relapse. It should be fine, he's still tied down, but I don't want to take chances."

"Um, Ms. Patterson's going to want the rope back when you're done," Monty mutters.

"And we've got another patient who's going to want their belt," the nurse adds. "Maybe I can take care of that now."

"Oh, you must be busy. I could do it for you," Minnie interjects. She pokes you. "Hey, didn't you pull the buckle cover off that? Because you thought it might be uncomfortable for him without actually helping with the restraints? Better give it back."

Ah. She's offering to investigate for you. Well, you're not sure you have much of a choice right now. You hand over the cover, but you also make a bit of a show of it.

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me. Probably pretty important, the wood seems a bit unusual to me." You hope the wizard can weigh in on whether it's darkwood. "Wouldn't want it to get overlooked."

The wizard does seem to take notice, but he doesn't have much of a reaction.

"Well, let's get on with this," he says. "And if any of you spots that lizard, do let me know."

Everyone except the doctor heads out. You and the nurse stay near the bed. You keep an eye out for the lizard, but you can't really actively search right now - apparently you're on guard duty.

Though maybe you can get some sense of what's going on if you talk to the nurse for a bit. She probably doesn't know about most of the weird stuff that's been happening - at least not the stuff happening outside the hospital - but maybe there's something a bit more grounded you can ask her about.

This a normal kind of night around here?

"So, is this what the night shift is usually like?" you ask casually. Probably not, but it's a starting point.

"Goodness, no. For one, we don't normally have so many patients."

"Really? Why the rush tonight?"

"The holy festival." She sighs. "It's important, but it brings the crowds, and a lot of them are sailors. Sailors can get quite rowdy, you know."

"Yeah, that sounds about right," you agree. "So is that causing any trouble?"

"Plenty. For one thing, it would be harder for a patient to wander around as much as Mr. Long has if we didn't have a good two dozen or so to keep an eye on."

Long? Now that's a name that strikes you.

"Huh. Never knew that was his last name." For that matter, you don't know his first name, but that might make your relative familiarity with him seem odd. So you'll keep quiet on that for now. "Funny thing is, I think I did know somebody else with that last name, but I can't quite place who it was off the top of my head."

"First one I think of is that general in Kandria," she muses. "The one who keeps picking fights with the king and amazes everyone by holding onto her job despite that. Maybe you heard about her?"

No, but that's certainly interesting.

"Might be it. Is it a common name over there? Can't say I know much about Kandria."

"Me neither. Last names are mostly held by nobles over there, but on the other hand, pretty much every major family has had a branch or two that didn't stay nobles. And they usually keep the name."

Hmm. You're not sure this is a productive line of conversation right now. Probably best to ask the wizard himself about the name instead of moving the subject into Kandrian politics. You've got enough problems with Kandria back in your own time without adding the historical ones into the mix.

So you do a little thinking about what you'd like to talk about instead.

Doing anything fun for the holy festival?

It was a ways back, but you remember the wizard said there was some kind of plot to sabotage the holy festival. Maybe a little more information on what the festival involves would be helpful.

"So, are you doing anything for the holy festival?" you ask.

"My wife and I are skipping most of it. Partly because we both work here, and we expect more patients than usual, but it's also a lack of interest." She shrugs a bit. "Half the stuff going on is just priests making sermons, which we get plenty of at church. The other half is mainly sailors getting drunk, supposedly in Nual's name. Still, we're going for the main event - this is the one time in a hundred years when it's the actual holy day, so no sense in missing it. Not like we'll get another chance next year."

You feel like you're missing something here.

"Only once a century?"

"Sorry, suppose I should be clearer. Most years, the festival is for Brume's holy day. This year it's Nual's." She lets out a little sigh. "It always sounds a bit weird to people who aren't in the faith, I know. Suppose you want an explanation?"

"It's not urgent, but I'm a bit curious."

"Well, gotta fill time somehow," she says with a shrug. "The way the prayer goes is, Brume is the waters, and Nual is the ocean. Easiest to start from there, even if it doesn't entirely make sense to you." She looks at you expectantly, probably wanting to know what you think.

"I guess that means Brume is about the physical object, and Nual is more about the idea?" you ask tentatively. "That's what it makes me think, anyways."

"A bit more literal than that. Brume governs the water that flows through the ocean, while Nual governs everything that lives in it and makes it what it is. There's no ocean without water, but with just water, it's not an ocean."

You think that makes sense to you, so you nod a bit.

"So what separates Nual's holy day from Brume's?"

"Brume's day is about the water flowing. Nual's is about, well, it's hard to sum up." She gets a doubtful look on her face. "I mean, I could tell you the priests call it the Day of Rebirth, but that wouldn't explain much about why they call it that. Give me a bit to think about where to start."

Have you heard of the reverse biotic cycle of the fingered sponge jelly? You've probably seen their sessile forms for sale at fish vendors during the autumn market. But it's their motile forms at the beginning and end of their life cycle when they're bioluminescent. That's when they're used in the grand holy lanterns.

"You ever hear of a sponge jelly?" she asks.

"Uh, can't say that I have. Sounds messy." You pause. "Or maybe like something you use to wipe up a mess."

"It's a sea creature. When they're born, they swim for a week or so, then they take root at the bottom of the sea. A few weeks before death, they pull themselves out and start swimming again, which is when they reproduce. Then they die and float up to the top."

She illustrates this all with elaborate hand gestures.

"That's how we know about them. Some fishermen found dead ones floating, and tried to catch the live ones. Turns out they do fine outside the water for a little bit, so they kept them in a pond and observed the life cycle." She pauses for a moment. "Anyways, the church sees it as a nice little metaphor. Move around for a bit innocently, get dragged down to the depths of the hells. Then just before the end comes, you can move again, and this time ascend to the heavens. You get another chance to be born again and be free." She chuckles a bit. "Of course, when that gets down to the sailors, naturally they make it about getting drunk."

"And that relates to Nual's holy day?" you ask. You hope it does because otherwise it's more of a tangent than you can handle.

"Right, right, getting to that. Nual's holy day is when all are given that second chance to move, and hopefully to ascend. It's a rare opportunity. The jellies glow brightly during their mobile phase, and because of that and the whole symbolic business, there are special water lanterns for them to swim around in. One is newborns, another is some old ones that are expected to go mobile again. Supposedly predicted by Nual himself. The ceremony is about watching the old ones be reborn and glow." She smiles. "To be honest, even if I gave up on the religion, I bet I'd go to this. It must be amazing to see."

And it seems like the perfect event to sabotage. Perhaps by contaminating the lanterns with sea terror toxin.

"Certainly does sound like a sight," you agree. You bet Starling would love to watch it.

Gods, it feels like so long since you've seen her. It can't be more than a few hours, if you ignore the fact that it won't happen for something like fifty years, but it sure as hells feels longer. You make a note to attend the ceremony if you're stuck here long enough for it to be an option. If nothing else, you can tell her about it. Rivers would probably appreciate it too, even if she won't admit that.

Well, you think that's pretty important info. It would be a good idea to talk to the wizard about it when you get a chance. And you're not sure where else to take this conversation, so you hope things are okay.

At just that moment, the doctor steps out and says something worrying.

Close and lock all the windows!

"Shut all the windows! Lock all the doors, even the emergency exit! Get anyone in good enough shape to leave their bed on it, hurry! If anything doesn't have a proper latch, improvise as best you can!"

Given his tone of voice, you doubt any explanation is going to be forthcoming until this is taken care of. So you start running towards the emergency exit, calling out to patients as you do.

It's a little funny. From your perspective, it wasn't that long ago that you were on a ship where everyone was running around in a panic like this. So you don't feel quite so worried about whatever's happening - it's like you've seen this all before. You wonder how long it's been for the wizard.

When you reach the emergency exit, you soon realize you can't lock it, not in any standard way you know of. Probably because, as the name suggests, it's for emergencies. You do see a keyhole, so maybe there's a specific key for it just in case?

Well, if there is, you don't have it. Which makes you wonder who does - if it's the doctor or one of the nurses, why wouldn't they be here ahead of you?

Maybe the key's kept in a specific place and someone's run off to grab it. In which case, you might as well stay here to stand watch until they arrive, at least.

"What sort of uniform is that?"

You're surprised by the voice, so you turn to face it. There's a muscular fellow standing nearby, arms folded in a pose that suggests a military bearing.

Not only that - he's got a very distinctive scar on his cheek. It looks fresh - maybe it's why he's here. But you also know of someone with a scar like that - the infamous Captain Burgundy, Long's predecessor.

You never saw him yourself - he retired not that long after you joined, before you took part in any major combat operations. But you heard the stories, and the scar was a popular topic of rumor. It seemed like everyone had some kind of guess as to how he got it.

He'd supposedly been in the Bogknights a long time. He might recognize your uniform - or the colors, at least, since the uniform's probably changed a little in however many years. Fifty, maybe?

You don't think it would go over well to tell him you're a Marshguard, so you'd best think of something else.

It's a new costume for a play, didn't have time to change out of it. Think we could barricade this emergency exit with furniture or a mop handle or something?

"It's a costume for a play," you reply. "I kind of got roped into things without time to change."

"And who designed the costume, exactly?" he asks, clearly sizing you up.

"I don't know," you reply immediately, before realizing that an actor probably would know that. On the other hand, there's something similar to the truth that might sound good. "I'm, ah, not actually in the troupe. I think somewhere along the line, I was mistaken for the real actor and ended up with his costume."

You were seen on the stage, so that should back up most of your story. Someone in the troupe might know the costume wasn't planned, but hopefully you can return to your own time before he can look into that too deeply.

What matters the most right now is getting him off your back, at least about the outfit. And while he still seems wary, he's not quite so threatening now.

"Odd choice of color," he says.

"Well, I was symbolizing a character's shame at who he had become. I think that's what it was, anyways. It all happened pretty suddenly."

"Suppose you don't know anything about the make of it?" he asks. Now he seems curious. "Because there's some parts of that design there that look pretty useful. Better than the stuff I've used, at least."

"I'm afraid I'm no expert on armor," you say. "By the way, we're trying to close all the windows, so maybe you could help out with that."

"So I heard you yelling. What I'm wondering is why you were doing that. You don't work here, do you?"

"Ah, well, the doctor was treating a patient who was a bit rowdy, and I happened to be around, so he asked me to stand by. You know, in case anything happened," you explain. "So when he started yelling to shut all the windows, well, I was right there, so what else was I going to do?"

You smile awkwardly. He doesn't seem very impressed, but he also doesn't say anything for a bit.

When he does speak again, though, he asks a question you really weren't expecting.

Do we need to lock the sewer access?

"What about the sewer access?"

It takes you a moment to realize what he's saying.

"I'm afraid the doctor was light on details. He just sounded real worried, so I went along with it. Of course, I would pick the door that can't be easily locked..."

There's another brief pause.

"I'll keep watch here," the scarred man says. "You go check with him. Since he seems to know who you are."

Well. If he's who you think he is, he'll certainly be reliable. And this does get him out of your hair - seems he's bought your story enough to trust you.

"Right. Thanks. Um, I'll ask about the key to this door, too. He'll either know that or know who to ask."

You head off, and probably-Burgundy stands by the door. You feel a wave of relief. Even in his later years, he inspired the kind of fear among the Marshguards that Rider does among the Bogknights, and you can see why. You wonder what it would have done to their respective reputations if they'd ever fought.

But that's not really important right now. What's important is figuring out what's going on. You get back to the wizard's bed, and you hope the doctor hasn't run off. Or the wizard, for that matter.

Conveniently, they haven't. There's someone else here, though. You can't tell who it is, but they've got bandages all over their chest.

"What's all the commotion about? Why do we need to lock the place up?" the stranger asks.

"You shouldn't. You might strain yourself," says the doctor. "In fact, I recommend you get back to bed."

"How about you tell me why we're barricadin' ourselves first?"

Well, that would be useful information, but maybe you should try to get a word in edgewise and save the explanation for later.

"Pardon me..." you start to say.

"Because I overheard someone talking about gassing the hospital," the wizard interjects, before you can add on to that. His voice sounds a little weak. "That's why. I'm afraid I don't know who, what they're planning to use, or why, because they got away from me."

"So, the sewer access should probably be blocked up too, then," you say. "Was just coming here to check on that. And on what to do about the key for the emergency exit. Someone's watching it right now, but that's probably not going to do much good against gas."

"Evan should be getting the key by now, so no need to worry about that," the doctor says. "You're right about the sewer access, though. It should be safe to block off the latrines temporarily - we've got enough chamber pots for everyone, though it will make it harder to clean them. But hopefully we shouldn't have to worry about that by dawn."

"Where are they?"

The doctor points off in a direction.

"Three separate ones, all right next to one another. Perhaps you can shove matresses from spare beds over the holes. We're not going to be in much of a position to take new patients until this is dealt with, after all."

"Hold on one minute!" says the patient with the chest wounds. "Can't we get masks or something? I don't like bein' a sitting mallow here!"

"We don't have masks with good enough filters to protect against a gas attack, I'm afraid," says the doctor.

Well, now that he mentions it, you've got one. Though you aren't sure if you want to publicize that fact. You decide to worry about it after dealing with the latrines, so you head over there.

And immediately run into a new problem.

Beetles

There are huge swarms of beetles crawling all over the latrines.

Now, if you hadn't spent years of your life in a filthy swamp, this might shock you. But you've seen worse infestations. And you've got armor designed to keep swamp water out, so the risk is pretty low that you'll get any crawling up your pants. Not to mention, it's not as if it's really going to interfere with stuffing mattresses over the actual latrines. It'll just be more inconvenient for whoever has to clean them up afterwards.

You might be worried for the sake of the patients, but you happen to recognize this type of beetle. They're not poisonous, and not even prone to spreading infections.

But it's precisely the fact that you recognize them that has you worried. Because you know how the Guild uses them as a weapon.

If they've been starved for a few days, they'll eat any plant matter they can find--including wooden support beams. Worse, they don't digest wood very well, and the resulting chemical reaction in their gut can create small fiery explosions.

They're called orchard beetles, because that's where they're usually found. They love to eat sweet fruits.

Thing is, if they don't get enough sugar, they get desperate and eat any sort of plant they can find. Which is bad for the long-term structural integrity of most buildings - plenty of wood in most of them, after all - but the Guild doesn't usually play the long game when it comes to dealing with their enemies.

No, the thing that makes them dangerous is that wood is very bad for them. Something in their tiny beetle stomachs can't handle it, and somehow that starts a fire.

Not a huge fire by itself. But it can get pretty big if there are enough of them. And you're definitely seeing a lot of them, scrambling around frantically. Like they do when they're starving.

And a latrine has a lot of unpleasant gases which are also flammable.

But after some more thought, you don't think this makes much sense. This hospital is mostly made of brick and stone. The nearest wood is in the beds, which are several feet away - too far to ignite any gas, except perhaps if a patient is having an excess of it. And it's a large space - it wouldn't be that hard to contain a fire, if it were noticed quickly.

Are the beetles just a coincidence, then? Or is something else going on?

Are they spelling something?

Could be your mind playing tricks on you. Maybe at this point in history the guild doesn't quite have their their beetle bombing technique down pat.

It's kind of funny that you keep seeing large groups of insects. These beetles, the strange mass of dead bugs on the ship, the ones spelling out a message back in your own time...

Wait. You wonder for a moment if these beetles are doing the same. For all you know, the gods might not be bound by the limits of time. And if they were trying to contact you specifically, then it would make sense to use an insect you'd recognize to get your attention...

There doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern to their movement, though, so that's probably not it.

Wait, you thought there wasn't, but now you notice that most of the beetles are running back and forth between two spots. What if Qlat is trying to send a message through time, but the Qlat in this time period is trying to get the beetles to do something else? You can't say for sure the gods can't interfere with themselves across time, since you don't know much about how they operate, or how time travel does for that matter.

Suppose that's it. Is there any way you could resolve the problem?

Maybe a offering might help to give future Qlat the upper hand, maybe some fruit or plant matter since that is what those beetles like

You wonder for a moment if you could make an offering to Qlat, but then you get stuck on the question of which one would accept it. Would it be both of them? The one in this time? The one in the time you're from? Would the difference be which time the offering itself came from? If someone in your own time were to make an offering, would that grant strength to the future Qlat?

This is all very confusing and you aren't even sure if Qlat's the issue in the first place. Maybe you should just make an offering and see what happens. Hells, if you made an offering of fruit, even if you're completely off track that would at least calm the beetles down by giving them some actual sugar.

Except, where are you going to find fruit in a hospital? You've got no idea. Maybe you should just leave this alone or warn someone else about it and just get those latrines covered before something else goes wrong.

Hmm, hang on. You feel like, just for a moment, the beetles formed an arrow shape. Was that one of the messages, or were both Qlats united on it, or was it just random....

No, because it happened again and this time you feel something focusing your eyes on it long enough to be sure. Okay, then it's probably important. You take a look in the direction the arrow was pointing.

Well it's a wall

All you see in that direction is a wall. There isn't even a nearby door. And if they want you going outside... well, that might be risky for everyone else around here.

Hold on, though. There's a door a ways down, and the adjacent wall has the latrines... It would be a little odd if the walls here led directly outside. A hidden room? Or does that door extend into a hallway or something?

You could investigate, but you still haven't secured the latrines. And whatever's going on with the beetles, you don't want to delay that too long. Not with a potential attack coming.

Well, you're the best equipped for it, you suppose. You put your mask on, since nobody else is around to ask questions about it, and then you head into the latrine closest to the wall.

There aren't that many beetles in here, though a few are scurrying around. If that is an attack attempt, they're not coming up from this particular hole.

You actually see a thick board lying around that seems to be just about the right size to cover up the latrine. Maybe the doctor just doesn't deal with these himself and didn't know about it. You lift it up and move it.

And then you spot something odd under it.

A package with something written all over it