Swamped

You point to a strange metal object on the ground.

Picking it up, it seems to be a gear on a metal rod, and as you lift it, the gear turns on its own and goes up and down.

"That's the one. I don't know what it is. Judging by the form, the clerk doesn't either." He pulls up a form and shows it to you. "There's a very clear question mark next to one of the items. My best guess is that it says 'toy', but I can't be positive."

"Yeah, this could be an o, but it might be an a," you agree. You look down at the name. That's pretty hard to read, too... Except, wait, you could swear you've seen it somewhere else... But where? Somehow, you keep thinking back to the swamp, but where on earth would you even see a signature...

Suddenly, you remember. There was a supply raid on the Bogknight fortress. Somebody - was it Candlestick, maybe? - grabbed a box but everything in it seemed like junk. But someone had scrawled a label on the box. There was a fair amount of discussion about what it said...

And the most popular theory was "Jonathan Flame". It seemed to fit the length, at least. He was a big supporter of the Bogknights, and also famous for inventing some weird stuff along with the more practical creations, so it was plausible.

This thing does remind you of a lot of that junk, actually. None of it seemed to do anything useful, but it did almost all have moving parts. Could be Flame was dumping off some of his failures, on the offchance the Bogknights could find ways to use them in larger mechanisms.

So maybe this is an early invention by a young Flame? You suppose there's no harm in asking.

"Looks like it might say Jonathan Flame? Maybe? Is there anyone here by that name?"

"We have a bunch of Flames. I don't know all the names offhand..." He thinks for a moment. "I can only recall Leonard, and his troublemaking nephew Mortimer. They were all brought here because of some accident at a smithy. Don't know the details"

Well. That's interesting.

"I saw the hat earlier. It looked a bit like it might have been burned, maybe in a forge at a smithy. So maybe it belongs to another of the Flames? Or someone else caught in the same accident?"

The nurse holds a hand to his chin thoughtfully.

"There was one other person in the smithy accident... not the smith, she got knocked down but didn't have any serious injuries." He shrugs suddenly. "Sorry, it wasn't my shift so I only remember thirdhand... Susan's wife has the day shift, and they always gossip so I usually get updates on that sort of thing from her. But I can't quite recall who she said it was... well, I can't remember the name, but I think I remember why they were there."