Swamped

"You ever hear of a sponge jelly?" she asks.

"Uh, can't say that I have. Sounds messy." You pause. "Or maybe like something you use to wipe up a mess."

"It's a sea creature. When they're born, they swim for a week or so, then they take root at the bottom of the sea. A few weeks before death, they pull themselves out and start swimming again, which is when they reproduce. Then they die and float up to the top."

She illustrates this all with elaborate hand gestures.

"That's how we know about them. Some fishermen found dead ones floating, and tried to catch the live ones. Turns out they do fine outside the water for a little bit, so they kept them in a pond and observed the life cycle." She pauses for a moment. "Anyways, the church sees it as a nice little metaphor. Move around for a bit innocently, get dragged down to the depths of the hells. Then just before the end comes, you can move again, and this time ascend to the heavens. You get another chance to be born again and be free." She chuckles a bit. "Of course, when that gets down to the sailors, naturally they make it about getting drunk."

"And that relates to Nual's holy day?" you ask. You hope it does because otherwise it's more of a tangent than you can handle.

"Right, right, getting to that. Nual's holy day is when all are given that second chance to move, and hopefully to ascend. It's a rare opportunity. The jellies glow brightly during their mobile phase, and because of that and the whole symbolic business, there are special water lanterns for them to swim around in. One is newborns, another is some old ones that are expected to go mobile again. Supposedly predicted by Nual himself. The ceremony is about watching the old ones be reborn and glow." She smiles. "To be honest, even if I gave up on the religion, I bet I'd go to this. It must be amazing to see."

And it seems like the perfect event to sabotage. Perhaps by contaminating the lanterns with sea terror toxin.

"Certainly does sound like a sight," you agree. You bet Starling would love to watch it.

Gods, it feels like so long since you've seen her. It can't be more than a few hours, if you ignore the fact that it won't happen for something like fifty years, but it sure as hells feels longer. You make a note to attend the ceremony if you're stuck here long enough for it to be an option. If nothing else, you can tell her about it. Rivers would probably appreciate it too, even if she won't admit that.

Well, you think that's pretty important info. It would be a good idea to talk to the wizard about it when you get a chance. And you're not sure where else to take this conversation, so you hope things are okay.

At just that moment, the doctor steps out and says something worrying.