Swamped

You think that's enough for now, so you head back. Though you do warn the other knights lingering about the greatrats outside, first; it hardly seems fair to only tell Squib Squad.

You return to the archives and inform John Recordkeeper about the rope and tarp they need replaced. You also note that they seemed eager to go out on patrol. Finally, you mention hearing about a broken water barrel, just as an afterthought.

"We do have a barrel unaccounted for," he muses. "We didn't find any debris, though. I'd be surprised if the greatrats moved it, but it doesn't matter much what exactly happened. What matters is that we'll need an extra barrel, and we'll probably have to ration the water even tighter until it gets here. Hmm, might have to see if we can afford an expedited shipment in that case... oh, but then what am I going to do about sending someone to the Royal Archives, they'd have to start packing right away..."

"The Royal Archives, sir?"

"Hmm? Oh! Sorry, sorry, got a bit lost in thought there. We send copies of most of our documents to the Royal Archives. A swamp isn't exactly the best place to keep paper, after all. All the moisture, and such."

"Makes sense."

"In fact, just the other day I found some old documents getting soaked by a leak in the roof. I tried drying them off in the oven, which caused some trouble at breakfast that I'm quite sorry for, but it didn't do much good. It did uncover the author's signature, though. So I'm going to send a courier over to the Royal Archives to find their writings, and maybe this will be among them. It's old enough that we might not have sent a copy, but it's worth a look. But I haven't thought about that much yet, since we'd just send the courier back when our supplies arrive. If we're getting an expedited shipment, though, then I might as well send the courier at that point. And I haven't even asked for volunteers yet..."

His voice trails off. He seems lost in thought again. You could try to get more orders out of him, or ask some questions. Or you could just leave him to his thoughts and see Tom First for orders, or perhaps take a break.

What will you do?