Swamped

Your mind races. If you'd been at the party, you could have claimed to forget something and maybe Lou knows if it turns up.

How about when you were in the kitchen... no, that would point to asking the chef.

Wait. You weren't at the party, but you were in the galley, before they pushed you out. You could pretend to have dropped something there. But what do you...

Oh, wait. You've got it.

"Shoot! I think I dropped my hare's foot charm."

"I'm not looking for it," one of the sailors says. "Don't believe in lucky charms anyhow."

"It's not a lucky charm, it's a memento. Lex, could you look for it after dropping me off? I might have dropped it in the galley when they kicked us out, so maybe ask Lou if anyone at the party saw it."

You give just a hint of a signal. Lex nods before answering.

"Yeah, I'll look into it. You just worry about recovering. Shouldn't be too much longer before we get you to the medic."

So he got the message. He knows there's a line down there.

"You sure?" one of the other sailors asks. "I heard there was a big line forming. My brother was lucky enough to be near the front and he told me it had been stuck for half an hour."

"Well, the rest of 'em could walk," another sailor interjects. "So she probably gets priority. Hope we don't have to carry her into bed, though."

"I can walk," you protest.

"Perhaps you can, but you shouldn't," Resk replies. "It seems you all have things well in hand, so I'll go take care of my other duties. A swift recovery to you, Ms. Sally."

With that, he walks off and the sailors start carrying you away.

---

You're now Lou. Everything's gotten completely out of hand.

You were hoping one of the people you asked to help out might have figured out something was wrong, but they didn't. Not even Resk, sharp as he is.

Gods, do they really think you like the stew that much? Or that you have that many friends?

But now it's too late. They made their arrangements, and now they've given you an unpleasant task. And they've made quite clear what the consequences are if you don't cooperate.

You stare at the coded message. For the briefest of moments, you hope you read it wrong, but you go through the code again, and no.

It still says the same horrid thing.