Swamped Talk

Now the question is, do I start a new thread called Deserted.

You have no idea how ugly the laugh I made just now was

I feel like it's worth noting at this point that you can feel free to make suggestions that involve people who aren't the current viewpoint character.

It'll be easier for me to make sure everyone present is involved in the plot if I have pokes in that direction.

Now the question is, do I start a new thread called Deserted.

OH MY GOD THIS IS CHAPTER 2???

Should we avoid suggesting for people who are not in the Desert? Considering the new setting?

I'm probably going to shift viewpoint back to the swamp sometime, when the desert storyline hits a natural break point. Until then, though, I plan on sticking to where we are.

However, you can feel free to speculate about what might be happening back in the swamp, and I might make use of ideas presented there when the viewpoint shifts back. That sort of speculation probably fits better in this thread at the moment, unless you can somehow connect it to what's going on in the desert.

I didn't know if I should put this in the main thread, so I decided to leave it here. It's an idea for an animal species.

Strangletails - A species of desert snakes with extremely muscular tails, disproportionate to the rest of their body. Researchers named them due to their tactic of wrapping their tail around their prey, slowly strangling it over time. Adult strangletails are actually misnamed, instead of slowly preventing their victim from breathing like their young, they simply crush their trachea completely with their powerful tails. Unfortunately for those researchers, they misjudged the young snakes as adults and many were killed in the confusion, leaving only a few survivors to report back. They adapted to the desert and learnt to change their terrain in order to trap more prey. A full nest of adults has even been known to shift entire dunes by simultaneously whipping their tails, creating a gust of wind to push the sand away into more favourable locations.

DF what the hell is up with those cyborg greblings I need to know

One of the interesting things about writing a story as you go along is that sometimes you introduce a mystery and you don't quite know where you're going with it yet.

Sometimes you have a vague idea and you can work with that, other times you've got basically nothing and you just move the plot forward until something clicks. Or maybe you have an answer, but as you press ahead, it changes significantly by the time you get to the actual revelations.

For example, I didn't have a concrete idea of who Rider was until Marshall snuck into his room and I got suggestions there. Then the full story started coming together in my mind.

So I guess this is a fancy way of saying "wait and see".

This is so cool I had no idea, hooray for Swamped Trivia

Will wait and see, then.

Sort of a meta theory I've had for a while:

There's some third group mixed in between the bogknights and marshguards. We don't know who the members are, but they have at least one direct goal:

To kill the swamp.

Somehow bringing the desert to the swamp is making it sick, like a bad tissue graft. This isn't a natural occurrence. Someone or someones are trying to make this happen.

It's likely that Ash is a member of this group. Not sure if his motives completely align with the group in particular, but he does want to end the conflict between the bogknights and marshguards as quickly and though any means possible.

It's been stated that Ash has a group of bogknights that are loyal to him, like minded people willing to do his dirty work. Maybe, they're connected on a deeper level. They like the promise of ending the war, they just hate the Marshguards, or maybe they hate the swamp itself - despite (or perhaps because of) the call that holds sway over them.

I would suspect that one or more of the Marshguard leadership are in on this as well. Well, not Rider or Razor - both know something is up, and are trying to find out the answers in their own way, but neither have really managed to find out exactly what's happening.

I love the idea of the Swamp as a sentient thing I'm screaming

Stinger's back and I couldn't be happier

I wonder what being in the desert is like for Corvus. He's the only one here that we know has heard the call of the swamp...except for Long, I guess. But I wonder, if Marshall, in his novice etherial casting, somehow removed more than just the poison in Long, but perhaps the grip of the call itself...and if that is the case, how would losing that constant companion effect the Commander?

MARSHALL IS A FECKING WIZARD
I was waiting until whatveer the heck is so special about them came to light
YOU'RE A WIZARD MARSHALL

Anyone else imagine the greblings like this?

I ugly laughed irl, thanks btp

So, how much time has passed since the marshguards' attack on the Bogknight base?

If I had to guess I'd say...less than a week?

We are currently two days past that, because apparently I don't know how to end a day or have more than a few hours pass between scenes.

The day after the attack included basically everything Corvus did, running into the Dune Wanderers, and fleeing to the grebling camp overnight.

We're probably only about a week away from Marshall arriving at the swamp.

I need like a Swamped wiki. What do we already know about Kandria?

-A significant portion of Marshguards (I think I said twenty percent) are Kandrians who fled after a failed revolution around twenty years ago.
-Kandria has taken a sudden interest in recapturing revolutionaries, putting pressure on Captain Long and sending spies to find out what they can.
-Marshall's parents met there. Henry was born there and was brother to the guard captain (whose current identity I have heavily implied); Christopher was a visiting scholar who grew involved with the revolution.
-Henry's brother was accused of murdering the king. He did not dispute the charges beyond saying he had failed in his duty.
-Christopher apparently fled with Rider because Kandria was after him.
-I don't recall if I said this explicitly or just left it as dots to be connected, but Captain Long and Mudviper are also from Kandria.
-They make tobacco with a distinctive smell.

Those are the major points I can remember off the top of my head. Most of the direct exposition about the revolution is in the conversation starting here, if you want a refresher: https://eagle-time.org/showthread.php?ti...#pid167543

Also they probably screwed over Silver - I think?

I'm too focused on time, but I think it's because I want to see Clancy find his way through the run-down town of Muckedge, as he leaves the Bogknights. But there's a whole lot of unresolved nonsense going on at the Bogknight base before a barge would be allowed to leave on a supply run. Probably takes a day just to get out of the swamp and back anyway.

So, I was looking up Stinger's introduction to refresh myself on stuff while writing about Bluesight's squad, and hand signs were a huge deal there. I had totally forgotten that, probably because I wrote it somewhere around a year ago.

Sometimes I just take a look back at this adventure and realize it's gotten pretty dang big.

I spent some time writing down various vague plans I've had going through my head, and trying to remember loose ends I'd left hanging.

I got a few new ideas out of that, so I hope to work some of them into the adventure soon. Of course, I've got to leave some twists and turns for later.

Awesome! I'm looking forward to it!

Do Greblings lay eggs?