Swamped

"It was another customer," he explains. "They were picking up a ceremonial sword, or maybe just checking on its progress. I think it had something to do with the sacred festival, but I'm not a Nual-worshipper so I don't really know the details."

"Wouldn't surprise me," you muse. "That looks like a naval officer's hat. When you spend a lot of time out on the ocean, I'd imagine you'd want to be in Nual's good graces."

"It does look a bit like one," the nurse agrees. "Hmm, but I've been all around and I haven't seen any sign of a naval uniform. I suppose they could just be wearing the hat, though. Anyhow, I guess that doesn't help much since I don't know their face."

"We could ask the Flames," you point out. "One of them might have seen something."

"Leonard's in desperate need of rest right now, and Mortimer seems to have slipped off somewhere again," the nurse mutters. "And now I remember, Susan said the other two are just children. Wouldn't want to disturb them, either. Maybe if we haven't figured it out by morning, but right now I'd rather not start there."

"Fair enough," you say. "Guess the odd little toy can wait, too. Got any leads on the book?"

"We don't seem to have a form for that. Which is another strange thing, because we do have three forms I haven't accounted for, but the rule for books is that you write down that it's a book and then you write the title. Now, look at these two forms."

He hands you a pair, and you can see that they both have just short scrawls for the missing items.

"One of these should be for the hat," you say, looking over it. "But it's not obvious which. Both of these kind of look like they could say 'hat'. So you think something else has gone missing?"

"Well, with some of our patients not being willing to sit still, it's hardly shocking we're losing track of their things as well," he grumbles. "What worries me is that whatever it is could have been contaminated, and if it is, we have no idea where it is."

"Well, I'll ask around among the patients and see what I can find out," you say.

"Good, good. That's one less worry on my mind. Gods know I've got enough tonight already."

You already know where to start - with the wizard, because you feel it would be fruitful to talk to him anyways. You grab the items, and the forms, and start walking towards his bed.

"Hey! You there!" you hear someone call out. "You a nurse?"

You turn around to face the voice.

"Uh, no, but I might be able to help," you say cautiously. "Is your chamber pot filled or something?"

"No, nothing like that. Just got a question I need to ask."