Swamped

It's a feather. Looks like the color of a swamp hen. Are you still hallucinating?

You just stare at it for a while, but it remains a feather.

Maybe it's from some other bird. You can't think of a sea bird with those colors, but maybe it just flew by in the night and left this behind. Or maybe it's somebody's lucky charm and you ended up with it somehow.

You shove it back in your pocket. When you've recovered you can show it to an animal expert and get an opinion. For now, it's not worth worrying about.

A group of sailors soon comes along and carries you off to the infirmary. What a mess this has been.

---

You're now Second Mate Resk.

A fine mess this is. With three injured, you've had to use every breather mask you can find to get enough crew down here. You even had to ask Mr. William for the improvised ones he was making as a hobby. He assured you that despite the unusual materials, they're just as good as the professionally-made ones when it comes to the filters; they just don't hold up well under water.

You hope that's true, considering you're using one now. It's more than a little uncomfortable. But there's still work to be done here.

Namely, you've got to look into the runaway Mr. Lex mentioned. You suspect she stole a breather mask from the mystery soldier, since the uniform looks like it's designed around one. If that's true, she could be responsible for the gas - perhaps the original attack was part of a ploy to take Ms. Rebecca's place?

But as a practical matter, what it means if she has a breather mask is that she can hide down here for quite some time. So you'll need to think carefully about where to search.