Swamped

"Honestly, I think we're in over our heads", you sigh. "Even more than we already were. I don't know how to help Black, but we do need more hands here. More knowledge, too."

"Well, there's not a lot of people Black and I can get help from. Most of our... associates... only come into town on rare occasions. We try not to draw too much attention to ourselves."

That certainly makes sense, given what Mortimer suggested. Their little unauthorized charity might go further than what he knew about - or what Leonard knew about, for that matter.

Which gives you a thought.

"There's the Flames," you muse. "Mortimer already knows you're involved in this. And he suggested to me that Leonard knows a bit about you, too. Their influence may be waning, but they probably at least know who the players here are. Who she is, if nothing else." You point to the unconscious Lady.

Sunflower frowns.

"Don't care much for the idea of owing Leonard Flame a favor, especially with a power struggle going on in his Guild. If you think we're in over our heads now, it'll be worse if he tries to get us cleaning up his mess for him."

"It's all in how you look at it," you point out. "Isn't this already his mess to some degree? We've stuck our necks out for him, so he owes us. And a bedridden man with a fading organization isn't going to have a lot of space to get mad at us if we point that out."

"But his sort has a long memory," Sunflower objects. "Not much risk now, but who's to say where he'll be in a year, and how much of a grudge he'll hold?"

"All right, so maybe we don't kick up a fuss. But all we really need to do is tell him what's going on with the gas and describe the mastermind to him. Speaking of, I was going to net her but the beast didn't like that. Don't suppose you can convince it otherwise?"

Sunflower smiles.

"I don't think I can. But our little friend Mortimer might have more success."

Ah, the lizard. Well, he can mimic human speech, so perhaps he can talk like a muckbeast, too.

"Where is he?" you ask. "I don't think I've seen him since we checked the alarm at the hospital. And if he's been around while we were dragging you off, he hasn't been very talkative."