Swamped

It's an empty package. There's words all around the box, but they're not in any language you recognize...

Wait, hold on. They're not in a language you know, but you think one of the books Marshall was looking at used these characters. Does that mean this came from the eastern continent?

Maybe, but on the other hand, you aren't certain of where those books came from. Not like you had much chance to look into it. Still, whatever the story is, that's strange.

Hold on. Weren't there two books, and Marshall said one seemed like a cipher for the other? Maybe this is just the cipher. It's not a particular language, it's just a way to keep secrets. In which case, the real message could be in any language.

Well. In that case, why not try to break it if that language happens to be Common? There's a fair number of words here, you might get somewhere if it's just a substitution cipher. Not likely to pay off, but there's no harm in making a quick attempt at it.

Much to your surprise, you actually start getting somewhere. There's a set of three that keeps popping up, so you guess THE for it. Then you end up with T--TH in a couple of places - perhaps TRUTH. There's also a TEETH but you don't have enough context yet to say for sure that's wrong, odd as it sounds.

After trying out a few more promising patterns, though, you think you know what the message says.

I'm sorry for the misdirection. The truth is that the package you seek is in the Hydra's Teeth. Look for the...

"Regrettably, the package contains only half of the truth. I am afraid the misdirection was a necessary measure. For the full truth, seek the other package within the hydra's teeth. May the flame burn bright once again."

The message is needlessly wordy. Makes it easy to crack if you know even a little about how to tackle this sort of thing, honestly. But it's also vaguely written, so maybe they didn't care - in fact, now that you think about it, the symbols were probably more about keeping people from recognizing it as a message if they didn't look too closely. Might have stumped you for a good while if you hadn't seen them before by sheer chance.

Of course, you've got no idea what the "half-truth" in this package was, or where these "hydra's teeth" are. Or, for that matter, why the package was here of all places. You suppose you can work on figuring that out after you block the other latrines.

But then you realize something. The board you're covering the latrine with is made of wood, and the package is a small wooden box. The beetles aren't going for either of them. So something's definitely going on with them... as if the arrow wasn't clue enough.

You might want to resolve that puzzle before you block the other latrines, if only to figure out if you need to worry about blocking them up with wood.

Doesn't seem so as the beetles seem more worried about doing a pathetic attempt to push you then behaving like normal insects

You decide to take a closer look at the beetles, in case that clarifies anything.

But it only makes matters more confusing. They're running right up to your boots and then just rubbing against them... almost as if they're trying to push you. Even if two Qlats are arguing, you can't see how that could possibly result in this. The only vague idea you have is that they're trying to move something, but aren't able to understand what it is so they're just trying to move the closest thing they can find. Namely, your foot.

Well. It makes it easier to gather them up, at least. You step away and put down the box, and the beetles just march right into it. Hopefully they don't get hungry. If they do, though, at least they won't ignite near the latrine itself.

Hold on. Maybe that was the idea. It would certainly draw a lot of attention, at the very least. And the doctor didn't mention the board... maybe because it wasn't supposed to be there.

You've got a lot of speculation but not much in the way of concrete proof of anything in particular, though. All you know right now is, these beetles are acting strange. Maybe investigating one of the other latrines will clarify things.

So you put the box down outside, and walk into the next one to see if there's anything unusual there.

Maybe knock next time?

"Gah!" a nurse cries out. It's the one you were talking with earlier. Guess you weren't the only one checking these latrines out.

"Sorry, didn't realize you were already here," you say. "Um, are there supposed to be wooden boards to cover these up? I saw one in the latrine on the right, but it seemed a bit out-of-place."

"No, wood's too much of a fire hazard. We've got metal covers for when the stench is too strong." She motions down to the one she just put in place. "Absorbs most of the heat. Trouble is, it's heavy and takes a while to drag them all the way over here. Maybe you can help me with the third one."

There are slightly more beetles in this room, you notice.

"Beetles aren't worrying you, are they?"

"We've had an infestation for two weeks. I'm used to them now." She grumbles. "About as used to them as one gets, I suppose."

Now that gets your attention.

"Seems a bit odd to let an infestation run free in a hospital," you note.

"We don't have the spare budget for an exterminator. And they mainly stick to the latrines, which are a good distance away from the patients. As for staff, we normally only empty the chamber pots at the end of our shift." She looks at her hands. "We do have a washing station just in case, though. Suppose you'd better come with me to it if you've been hanging around here. But first, we'll get the last cover."

The fact that the beetles aren't new just seems stranger - they should have found some sort of wood by now. Maybe they aren't orchard beetles after all? They've got the same pattern on their backs, though. Pretty hard to mistake that.

Well, you suppose that's something to ask about.

"Sure. By the way, do you know what sort of beetles these are?"

She looks lost in thought.

"Well, my wife and I had a friend over for tea the other day who's fascinated by insects. I was focused on making the tea, but now that I think about it, I believe the subject came up. Now, what was it he said they might be again..."

Corren beetles, in the tribulations of Corren he is tasked to steal a golden apple from a tyrant orchard, Corren turns 'invisible' by dressing as a servant and steals the apple. Orchard beetles tend to cause indigestion on their predators, Corren beetles mimic their pattern to show that they are 'undesirable', whoever named them had a really weird sense of humor I guess

You walk towards a side room as she's still thinking.

"Right, so first thing he asked was if they were going after wooden stuff or just plants in general," she says after a while. "But we hadn't noticed that. Then he started talking about mimicry? Like I said, I wasn't following too closely. Some legend about some fellow... Corren, that was the name! Said they were Corren beetles."

"Corren?" You think on that for a bit. "Oh, right, now I remember. One of the heroes of Aedran myth. Mostly went around stealing things from people the gods didn't like, as I recall."

You heard about him from Ash. He seemed to find Corren a fascinating figure. Kept telling you stories when you had free time. You wonder how many of those were real.

"Yeah, that was it. Or, I think it was something like, he tried to steal from the gods, and they punished him by putting him through a series of trials. Which, yeah, mostly involved stealing things." She chuckles. "I'll bet he learned his lesson, eh? Anyhow, our friend said the name was based on a specific story, one where Corren steals a golden apple from an enchanted orchard. The orchard has a mind of its own, and is enslaved by one of the gods' enemies - good luck asking me to remember that name, though. It keeps out everyone except the apple-pickers. So Corren slips in disguised as one, and tries to swipe an apple." She pauses. "I don't remember how the rest of the story goes. Doesn't really matter, I suppose. Point is, our friend said that there's a type of beetle called an orchard beetle, that tends to make anything that eats it sick. So most animals ignore these Corren beetles that look just like them."

"Oh yeah, I think I heard this one. I think he tries to romance the orchard for the apple," you say.

"Wouldn't surprise me. That sort of thing happens a lot in old Aedran stories. Anyways, the last cover is in here. Help me out with it."

She opens the door to a storeroom, and sure enough, there's a metal cover. You both pick it up, and it's definitely heavy.

Although, something unusual in the storeroom catches your eye. You don't really have time to investigate right now, but maybe it's worth asking about.

Is that a box of throwing blades?

"That box," you say, glancing at it. "What's in there? It looks like throwing blades."

"That's because it is. We use them for surgery. They're sharp enough to pierce skin, but not as dangerous as a standard knife if you don't actually throw them." She winces a little. "I know I'm not happy having weapons around, though. Wish someone would make a knife specifically for surgery."

You thought they had one. Doc was always complaining she could never get a turn at the whetstone to sharpen hers.

Oh, wait. Maybe it's a more recent invention than you realized. Hard to see why, though - it's basically just a fancy knife.

"I guess they haven't made one because you don't get a lot of surgeons who are also blacksmiths," you muse. "So the surgeons don't know enough about smithing to make the sort of tool they'd find useful, and the blacksmiths don't know enough about surgery to understand what sort of cuts need to be made."

She has a thoughtful look on her face. Oh hells. Did you give her an idea? You really don't want to worry about this sort of time travel nonsense. Should have kept your fool mouth shut. And a quick change of subject might be the best way to get her mind off it - luckily, you're already in the middle of something, so that's easy enough.

"Shouldn't forget, I already put a board over the hole. We're going to have to move that first." You get a thought. "Hold on, why aren't these right by the latrines? That would make this a lot easier."

"We don't normally need the latrines covered."

"Yeah, but when you do, might as well have a quick way to do it. I mean, what else are you going to use these things for?"

They double as weights in the winch system.

"They're not really meant to be latrine covers. They're just supposed to be weights," she says calmly. "We mainly use them when we've got to get a heavier patient out of bed. Tie ropes to the weights on one end and the patient on another, and we can use that to get the patient into a cart."

You find that strange.

"Seems to me there ought to be something lighter that can do the job."

"Oh, there's plenty of other options if you don't mind them catching fire." She takes a glance in the latrine. "Hmm, no beetles at all there."

"There were a few. I put them in a box I found lying around," you reply. "Is fire a big problem?"

"Not a common one, but we had one a few years ago and we decided not to risk it. Even if it means lugging these weights around. All right, we'll put this down. You take that board off, and then we can just push this over the hole."

You both put down the cover. Then you reach for the board.

As soon as you lift it, smoke pours out. You both fall unconscious in moments.

Right. New plan. Get the nurse out of here, get your mask on, get the metal cover on and then have a talk with the wizard about whatever in the hells you just saw.

So first you need to persuade the nurse to leave, preferably without explaining that you think you just saw a vision of the future.

Well actually would mind if I use it first?

Well. No need to overthink things.

"Actually... I think I need to relieve myself. And, well, if it's just going to end up in the latrine anyways..."

She sighs.

"I suppose it means I can get washed up sooner. Be quick about it, though." She starts to walk out. "Don't forget to head to the washing station. Stick to the wall on the left as you leave and it's the first door. Oh, and try not to get near any patients."

Oh, you'll be quick, all right. You get your mask on as soon as she leaves. Then you drag the metal cover right next to the board, and you try to just push the board aside with the cover, so the hole doesn't get exposed. If gas is already making its way through, best not to take chances.

You do see a small plume of smoke slip through a tiny gap between the two covers. It'd probably be bigger if you hadn't done it this way. You push a little harder in hopes of finishing up sooner.

When you're done, you take a closer look at the board. There's some dust on the underside, the same color as the smoke. Must have settled there.

Well, as the nurse said, you ought to wash up. Hells, they might even have a decent shower here - sure, it'll be the sort of shower they had fifty years ago, but that's still probably going to be better than what the Marsh Fortress has to offer.

But before you do that, you might want to look around the latrines some more. Better if you don't have to come back here, and for that matter, you've only seen two out of three for yourself.

So you start off by taking a look at the third latrine, in case you spot anything odd.

Just some unusual reading material.

Looks like a children's storybook but with weirdly well made drawings

There's a book just lying in the corner. It looks like a storybook for children.

And it also looks like it was done by hand, not printed. You wonder if it belongs to the nurse. You flip through it briefly - not expecting much, but maybe some sign of who the owner is...

And then you do a double-take as you think you see Captain Long's face.

It's a striking resemblance at first glance, but it's not that close when you take another look. Mostly it's the same mustache, similar hair, and the wizard's staff the character is carrying.

Looking that closely at the face, however, reminds you a lot of the sketchbook Marshall showed you. The overall art style is very different, so you doubt it's the same person - not to mention how old they'd have to be. But the faces are similar enough that you wouldn't be surprised if this artist trained the other one.

Which might be an interesting lead to pursue if you were trying to figure out who had drawn the sketchbook, but that would be pretty far down on your priority list even if you managed to make it back to your own time, and hells, even if you found a way off the airship afterwards. Still, you can't help but take a glance over it out of curiosity.

Oddly, though the book is written in what looks like Kandrian, the title page is in Common. Not that it clarifies much - Written by Light, drawn by Shadow. Clearly pseudonyms.

And the title of the story doesn't tell you that much, either.

Master Flint and the Helpful Rocks

It takes you a moment to realize that it is taking about the rock accord or the accord of the mountains tribes, a conglomerate of tribes that loosely follows the same code of "leadership is burden that should be strived for" something they apply to everyday life as they decide the leadership of everything based on the best skilled on person at the task, about a decade ago(from this point of time) kandria tried to incorporate it and the tribes united under the "tribesmarshal"(unofficial leader in times and do war) and all seemed to lead to a bloody war but it was all settled on lightning speed on the rock accord by a Kandria delegation, still that scared generations to come

It's called "Master Flint and the Helpful Rocks". And there certainly are a lot of rocks in the illustrations, but not that many examples of them being helpful. Mostly you see people talking and occasionally picking up rocks.

Though the last few pages look like some kind of diplomatic summit. Just, one where everyone's sitting on rocks. You suppose that using them as seats could be viewed as helpful, though personally you'd prefer it if there were a cushion between you and the rock.

The other thing you notice from the illustrations is that the artist seems to like drawing mountains. They're in the background of almost every scene. They actually look fairly detailed... maybe these are based on drawings of real mountains.

You vaguely remember hearing something about Kandria and mountains, too... oh, that's right. There's a lot of mountain tribes living there. Most people in the cities are descended from one tribe or another, and so there's a lot of stories and traditions from the mountains that are still widespread.

So maybe this is one of those stories. Maybe there was some famous meeting that was negotiated by people sitting on rocks. Or maybe it's just a fairy tale, not like you'd know the difference. You definitely don't know who "Master Flint" is.

The weirdest thing is that the book is here at all. The nurse was just in here - did she just not take a close look? Or did she toss a book in a corner for some reason? May as well ask her about it, you suppose. You head on over to the washing station. You come in just as the nurse is drying her hair.

"I hope you've taken care of your business."

"Yeah. Uh, anything I should know about washing up?"

"It's not very complicated. The showers are behind those doors, and there's space to put your clothes. But flip the sign on the knob around so we know you used it. There's spare clothes in that cabinet over there."

"Uh, I'd just as soon not deplete your supply. And my armor should keep my underclothes pretty clean."

"Hmm," she frowns. "Yes, you are wearing armor. I'm not sure how to handle cleaning that - oh, wait, Evan might have some ideas there. Just clean yourself up and I'll see if I can find him."

"What about cleaning books?" you ask, presenting it. "I found this one lying around near one of the latrines, maybe that should be taken care of."

"Huh. Wonder how it got there," she says, staring at it. "Well, at least it doesn't look like it fell into the latrine, that's the biggest problem. Might be some stray mess on there, though. Well, we've got a place to keep lost property that may be contaminated, so just put it over there for now. We'll clean it up and see if we can figure out whose book it is."

She's pointing at a table in a corner with a few objects on it. You put the book down on it.

As you do, something else on the table catches your eye.

A sailing officer's hat?

It looks like the hat the wizard was wearing, which now that you think about it, looked like that Resk guy's hat. But there's an emblem on this one that looks a bit like a flag.

Your first thought is, why didn't Resk's hat have an emblem like this? It's easy to answer that with a little thinking, though - the medic said they were looking for a trade route. So they were probably a merchant vessel, or maybe just a ship for hire. No formal military affiliation, either way.

This hat is probably issued by an actual navy. You don't recognize the emblem, though, so you've got no idea which country's navy it is. Hells, it could be Burgundy's hat for all you know - it's not like you know any details of his military career before the Bogknights.

But that's a minor point of curiosity, at least for the moment. What's really caught your attention about it is the glaringly apparent reason why it needs cleaning.

Looks like it was in some kind of a fight in a blacksmith's forge. Covered in Soot + Blood + mystery Goop?

There's a bloodstain, a scorch mark, and a good deal of soot. Looks like it must have been in a fireplace, or maybe a smithy.

But there's another stain on it, something you don't recognize. It doesn't even look like that strange ooze you saw in the cauldron - it's more like a lumpy liquid, of a very unusual color. What could that be?

Well, you've got no time to investigate more closely. You've got a shower to look forward to. You thank the nurse and head for the stall.

After all you've been through lately, the shower feels heavenly. The water's even warm, which is more than you were expecting. You idly wonder how they heat it.

After what seems like a glorious, but far too short, ten minutes, you get your underclothes on again. You could probably stand to change them, honestly, but you'd rather not worry about the consequences of leaving them however many years in the past. So you just put them back on.

And just as you do, you hear a knock on the stall door.

"Susan says you need some armor cleaned?"

"Uh, yeah," you replay. "I just finished and got dressed, sort of, so it's okay for you to come in."

The door opens, and a male nurse walks in. This must be Evan.

"Huh," he says, looking at the armor. "Wasn't expecting something like this. Is that even metal?"

"Ah, no," you reply, before realizing that this might not be so simple to explain.

Waterproof armor has existed for a while. But the designs keep changing, even if the Marshguards are usually late to getting them. You had a different suit when you first joined up, which was replaced with this model once they could get a decent supply. If the nurse has seen waterproof armor, it would probably look completely different.

So you'll have to think about how best to explain this without drawing suspicion.