Swamped

The first name to cross your mind is that eager kid, Tom Ninth. But he's a little too eager. Especially around other Toms. You can get pretty much every scrap he knows just by offering a sympathetic ear. There's no real challenge, and most of what he knows is easy to pick up anyways.

You then think back to your pals on your repair squad, who you haven't really been able to check in with, and Lisa Black is the first name you think of. But you need all your wits about you to get anything good out of her. Most of the times when you have a talk, she manages to get all your gossip and you barely learn a thing. She's just that good.

Of course, repair squads work closely with pest control squads. And that's when the perfect candidate comes to mind - the Dean. He's exactly the warmup you need. Give him a chance and he'll babble about all sorts of things - but the trick is getting him to focus on the topic you want to hear about. And as long as you keep him talking, he won't think anything's up.

It's the perfect plan, so you opt to go and check in with his squad. They should be doing an equipment check about now before winding up for the night.

But when you stop by, you only see five members on his squad. And Grey is directing them.

"Oh, hey Sixth," he says, noticing you. "If you're here to fill in on our squad, you're a little late."

"Fill in?" you ask. "No, I just wanted to check in with the Dean."

"You won't find him here," Greenbags pipes up. "He got captured by the Marshguards, and prisoner negotiations haven't even started yet. So, unless you want to sneak into the Marsh Fortress to have a chat, you're just going to have to wait."

Well. That's disappointing. So what's your plan now?