Swamped

"Well, the most obvious thing is that they've got plenty of resources," Long says. "You don't need that much money to get hirelings, but you do to get hirelings with sandcloaks and exotic weapons."

"Another point is, I don't think they were expecting any human fighters," Rider interjects. "The bladed disc is something of a niche weapon - it's like a slicer that you can use at short range in a pinch. There are many ways to counter it, especially with a polearm like mine, but they require force behind the blow. Greblings generally lack the ability to be that forceful."

"So. We're probably looking at a wealthy kidnapper, who wasn't expecting humans. Sent agents into the camp, for reasons we don't currently know." You mull over this. "And they know about this mark. Can we narrow down who might know about them?"

"They keep it closely guarded," Rider says. "It's a proof of identity. The only people outside the organization who are meant to know about it are their most trusted clients. It's how we can be sure a shipment is really from them."

"Then our kidnapper could be another client," you muse.

"It's possible. But as they keep their client list confidential, it wouldn't help us much."

"You're probably overthinking the mark," Boris says. "For all we know, the kidnapper made up a symbol and it happens to match the one this group uses."

This is why you appreciate Boris. He keeps you from getting bogged down in the details for too long.

"That's unlikely, considering how they chose the symbol," Rider says. Then he pauses. "But I suppose you're right, it's not likely to bring us closer to an answer."

Hells, now he's gotten you curious. On the other hand, it's a line of inquiry that might not go anywhere.

In fact, it could well be this whole line of thinking is a bad one. You just want to get Simone back. All these vague ideas you've come up with about the kidnapper have done nothing to help you know if they'll keep their word, or what you can do if they don't.

Maybe you need a new approach, or maybe you just haven't pushed this one far enough yet. You're not sure what to do.