Swamped

You think it would be best to see Captain Long, since you'll be returning his staff anyway. The only thing is, you're not sure exactly where the grebling took him.

So you may as well check in on Ash before you go exploring. At least you know where he is.

Nothing seems to have changed since you were last here. You're a little thrown off at seeing the large beetle back here already, though. It didn't leave that long before you did, and yet you didn't see it on the way here at all.

That said, you did learn something since your last trip here. You know now that "the gods are not of one mind", so maybe whoever did this to Ash was acting on their own. Maybe the beetle was trying to keep you from reading the message and getting similarly trapped.

"Don't suppose you can tell me who sent him that message," you mutter at the beetle. It just ignores you.

Well, you can see the back of the message without getting closer. You didn't really pay attention to it before, because there were no words you could make out, but maybe there's something else that offers a clue as to its origins.