Swamped

Before you can answer, Penelope bursts into the room.

"Postmaster's busy with something at the Roost," she says apologetically. "Handed me this letter, said it was important. Er, envelope says it's from the Marshguard base, I haven't looked at it of course..."

You thank her and take the letter from her.

"Busy! At a time like this," you grumble. "I suppose there's nothing for it but to go and fetch him myself."

"What about the letter?" John Medic asks. "If it's that important, we can wait for it before concluding the vote."

"Right. Let's see..." You open the letter.

The crow flies low tonight. Our prayers didn't work out. Hope yours go better.

"Well, this doesn't make any sense," you grumble.

"It's from the Marshguards. Could have been a warning about the attack tonight," Tom First says. "You know they don't all want to fight us, at least not on that scale."

"Doesn't do us a lot of good now, does it?" Sergeant Dominic says. "And if it's something else, I don't know who could tell us. The Captain, maybe, but he's not here."

"Burgundy might know," Eve says. "We ought to tell her she's staying in charge for a while, anyhow. I'll get the letter to her, then I'll take over for John. The night's supposed to be my time, after all."

"Yeah, that greatrat infestation threw us all off our schedules," John Medic agrees. "And a Marshguard attack the night after! I don't dare imagine what could be next."

"I'll go see what the Postmaster is doing," you sigh. "And then I'll tell him about the vote. The decision's fallen on him now, so we'd best get it settled. Meeting adjourned!"

You all head out and go your separate ways. In your case, you head to the Roost. The ladder's not easy on your old bones, so you decide to call him down here first.

"Postmaster!" you shout. "What are you doing?"

You don't hear an answer. Best climb up, then. At least you've kept in shape. You make your way to up the ladder.

And you're quickly blinded by a pile of feathers.

"Who's there?" the Postmaster calls out, though you can barely hear him over the squawks and hoots. No wonder he didn't respond.

"It's John Recordkeeper!" you cry out, when you shove something out of your face. "What's going on here?"

"Flock of owls. The crows we've got here are safely caged, but the ones that are out already are in trouble."

"Owls! I've never in all my years heard of owls in the swamp. Why haven't you called pest control?"

"I've had my hands full!" A broom sweeps your way, clearing out the owls enough for you to see the Postmaster. "Haven't been able to think straight. Anyways, chasing them out's no good, they might catch the inbound crows and who knows what messages we might lose. Right now my plan's just to lock up crows as they arrive, and keep this mess as under control as I can."

"So I suppose you don't have time to cast a vote on who should be acting commander if necessary."

"Not really! Unless one of the candidates has a plan for dealing with these owls. That would go a long way towards getting my vote."

"I'll go down and fetch pest control," you sigh. "If I can find the blasted ladder again."

"Wouldn't recommend climbing down in this mess. You're better off... hmm? I think I hear a crow."

You have no idea how he can hear a single crow in this cacophony.

"It's the Marshguard crow. I sent it back with a quick 'message received' note, guess we've got another one from them. Well, I don't want to leave this one locked up, in case they try to send us a message about prisoners or the like."

"Yes, that's fair," you mutter. You can't even see the crow; you can barely see the Postmaster's boots, even after he cleared a path for you. You just have to take his word for everything.

"Huh! This is a message for Dean. He's on pest control, isn't he? I'll write a quick note on it telling him to come up here, then toss it down the ladder. Oh, but I'd better send this girl back to the Marshguards. She's had a busy night, but there's not much else for it."

You feel like you're not really accomplishing much here. But, as the Postmaster says, you don't think you can make it down the ladder easily while this flock is crowding around.

So just what are you to do while you're up here?