Swamped

"And what would that be?" Resk asks.

"I'd like your hat," the wizard says calmly. "You can use mine in the meantime."

"How is that going to help with anything?"

"It will mean I have an object closely connected with you. I can use that to contact you from a distance. I imagine the captain and first mate will have their hands full for a while."

"And I won't?" Resk grumbles.

"Of course you will. But you'll also likely be around someone you can give orders to."

"Fair. All right, but I'm not taking your hat." Resk takes his hat off and hands it over. "The sailors would snicker at it and we don't have time for that sort of distraction."

"You don't need to wear it," the wizard says, taking it off and accepting Resk's. "Stick it in your pocket or something."

"Wait, what if there's another mage we don't know about? Couldn't they use your hat to get to you, the same way you're planning to use his?" you ask, seeing an opportunity to interject.

"Not without me noticing," the wizard replies. He puts Resk's hat on and hands his own over. "Besides, if you're a wizard you can make the connection work both ways."

"If that's all, then I'm leaving," Resk mutters. Somehow he seems even more gruff without the hat on.

"Well, if you hold the hat and hum a little tune, I can set it up so you can talk to me through it," the wizard says. Resk sighs, holds up the wizard's hat, and starts humming.

As you listen to Resk's catchy tune, you wonder if you should head up with him for his conversation with the first mate, or stay here and ask the wizard some more questions. Or is there something else you could do that might be useful?

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SpoilerJust for the record, I started writing before I got a suggestion and tweaked things to incorporate it.