Swamped

Nothing comes to mind, but then you spot two more Marshguards pointing at Doc and talking to each other. And now they're headed this way.

It seems the best move might be to just stay quiet and keep your head down. It looks like the argument is going to escalate on its own.

"Doc," says one of them. As she talks, you can't help but notice a horrible smell come out of her mouth. "I can't help but notice you're giving our good pal Grips a hard time. Now, the three of us may not have been here long, but we stick up for each other. So maybe you'd like to back off a bit."

Doc gives them both a glare.

"Are you threatening me, Rotmouth? Are you, in all seriousness, threatening your own medic? Do I genuinely have to explain why this is a terrible idea to you?"

"I'm not threatenin' nothin'. But you know... there's more than a few of our old crew here, and more on the way soon. I think it's worth keepin' that in mind before you cross one of us."

Doc just laughs.

"You don't understand how things work around here at all. This is the swamp. If you're in the Marshguards, you've got two choices - you can learn to listen to those of us who know what we're talking about, or you can die out there in the muck. It doesn't matter who you were back in the outside world, even if you've still got connections in here. You don't pick a fight with those who outrank you."

You feel her grip on you loosen, and then she shoves you to the wall. A dagger flashes in front of your face; a warning to stay put, no doubt.

"Especially not the medic. Now, I'll give you one chance to..."

The third Marshguard flings a slicer at Doc's head, which she promptly dodges.

"...to make utter fools of yourselves, evidently," Doc sighs. "Really, Anchor, I thought you were smarter than these two."

"I am," she growls, pulling out another slicer. "They'd waste time letting you talk before striking."

Grips shoves Mary aside, and she quickly runs towards you, as you watch the fight unfold. It turns serious, but watching carefully, you watch Doc make precise strikes with her dagger, and a few moments later, each of the three suddenly collapses.

"Lazy swampleaf," Doc explains, grabbing you both. "It's hard getting the sleeping agent out, but it's the only way some of these fools will understand. I trust you won't give me any cause to use it on you?"

You shake your head.

You hope she doesn't notice you grabbed one of Anchor's slicers. You're getting the distinct feeling that you may want a weapon on you, just in case.

---

You're now Mudviper, and the meeting is going even worse than you hoped.

Razor's convinced you sabotaged the assault, which is accurate, but that's because it was a stupid idea in the first place. Claws is more sympathetic, but she's still upset that Rider vanished on your watch.

Bigfoot's just in a generally bad mood, as always. She never seems to get on with anyone. She's asking questions, but they mostly seem designed to get on your nerves.
And then there's Mantis, who you can never figure out at all.

Naturally, Mantis asked the question you were most unprepared for, which was...