Swamped

+1 reader! (is that a thing you do on these here forums? idk. but anyway, good yarn!)

Look at the stars. The Blade and Great Fox should be just visible through the swamp mist.

One of the birds laid an egg!!!!!!!

You're not quite ready to go back. The captain's gone and reminded you of poor Tom Third.

"What would Third say if he were still here," you find yourself mumbling to a bird. "If he saw me holing up in my room for hours, and passing up meals. That's what I was like when I first got here, before he got me playing cards."

The crow just caws in response.

"I thought that was the start of something new. I was meeting people. Making friends... except, then we lost Third to the rain, and I started falling back into my old self. When someone wanted to talk, I'd make excuses. I thought they were good excuses, but now... Now I'm not so sure."

You let out a sigh.

"Funny that I'm only thinking of all this now, when he's been on my mind this whole time. I mean, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have even given the card tournament a second thought."

The crow caws again.

"Eighth's project is about him too, really. I think I knew that even before I looked at the notes. Maybe Eighth ought to tell that to people."

You glance at the crow. It strikes you that you haven't sent a letter home in a while.

"Well, long as I'm here," you say to yourself. You find a pen easily enough, the Postmaster's always got them around to mark things with. But paper isn't so readily available, and indeed, the first sheet you can find has some writing on it already.

Actually, you've seen this handwriting before. It's Captain Long's. And you can't help but notice the letter suddenly ends in the middle of a word - maybe he's been having trouble finishing it.

Well. You can tell that just with a glance. You're suddenly very curious about what it says. On the other hand, maybe it would be best to just give it back to him, or at least hide it better so someone else doesn't stumble on it.

What are you going to do?

On the ONE hand it's rude to read people's mail but on the OTHER hand the Captain has just left it right out here and are you really going to NOT read it? Besides, it'll be easier to know what the tactful thing to do with it would be once you know what it's about.

Just keep an ear open in case he comes back

yeah read it!

You can't help yourself. You start reading.

It's not really a letter, now that you look at it. More like miscellaneous lines. It's not even addressed to anyone. He must be working out what to say.

I won't bother asking you to come back. I know it isn't that easy.
I can't promise you protection if you come here, but there must be some way we can talk.
I do not know what I must do to mend the old wounds, but I wish to try.
Whatever else happens, to me you are still family. If nothing else, I want you to know that much.
I know you can never forgi

That's all. It raises more questions than it answers. Who's he trying to patch things up with? And what, exactly, happened?

Well. You keep the letter with you for now. Maybe you'll get a chance to give it back to him. Or possibly hand it to another officer, one who you can be sure won't be too mad that you read it.

It's not as if it's got any real details, but then, you can see how the Captain might not want to talk about it.

But maybe it's best if you don't get caught on the way back to your room while you're carrying it.

As to the letter home, you decide to just send that tomorrow. You can write it back in your room. You put the pen back, climb down the ladder, and carefully make your way back.

You consider taking another look at the notes, but you're already more tired than you realized. Those can wait for tomorrow, too. If you take longer than Eighth likes, that's his problem. You just head to sleep.

Is that all of this night's events, or is everything quiet until Marshall wakes up?

Marshall is awakened to the sounds of alarm bells hours before daybreak. A bogknight pounds on each door of those sleeping during the night shift. Looks like it's all hands on deck, even for the one-handed.

(excellent read by the way, kept me busy for the past few hours)

that's all for tonight! in the morning though, it's time for classes again. This time, in the art of stealth

You're Marshall again, and someone's pounding on your door. You hear a bell in the distance, too.

With a little effort, you manage to pull yourself out of bed. Seems your regular bed's not as easy to escape one-handed as the one in the infirmary; maybe you should have a talk with John Medic about that.

But something's clearly wrong. It's the middle of the night. You wonder what the noise is all about, and open your door.

You find yourself face-to-face with Stewart, and he looks guilty.

"Shit. Didn't know this was your room," he says, trying his best not to look at your absent arm. "Look, just wake up anyone you can, and get in uniform as soon as possible. It's an emergency."

"Emergency?" you mutter. "Are we under attack?"

"No - well, you could say that, but not from the usual enemy. We've got an infestation of greatrats. Don't know where they managed to nest, but we can't let them run loose."

Greatrats. You had to deal with one back on the farm once, and it took a combined effort from you, Father, Henry, and two of the neighbors to trap it. A whole nest of the things... And they might be even nastier out here in the swamp, with fiercer predators to fight off.

"Do we have an idea how many?" you ask, heading for your armor and suiting up. You don't have a registered weapon yet, you recall, so you'll probably have to head to the armory and get a glove and skyslicer there.

"Don't know. First witness said a dozen. I've seen three myself. We're expecting the worst. Come on, help me wake up the rest of this block."

You do, groggily knocking on doors and alerting everyone to the threat. When the whole block is awake, you move to another set. Before long, the whole base is on alert.

Sergeant Greenwoods arrives soon to deliver orders and hand out weapons.

"Right. Pest Control is hunting for the nest, to wipe it out. The rest of us are going to have to scour this whole base for the stragglers. Stay in groups, even with armor a single greatrat is extremely dangerous. We're not going to be able to say for sure they're gone until we've checked every single room."

"Well, none of you are checking mine unless I'm there too," Tom Eighth scowls. "I don't want anyone carelessly breaking my project, not when it's almost done. Hopefully no greatrats have gotten into it."

"Ah, yes. You all want your privacy, so here's what we're doing. I want you organizing into groups of six based around whose rooms are near each other, so you don't have to have too many strangers rummaging around in your rooms and don't have to go too far. It's not perfect, but it's the best option we have. As for engagement, if you see one greatrat, try to kill it. More than that, or if you see a big hole, call for backup. Pest control will take care of the bodies. Group up, everyone."

Your group consists of some faces you've seen before: Tom Eighth, Tom Ninth, Stacey, Mark Conchway, and Juliet Corser. Whose room will you investigate first?

Let's check out Mark's room first

Let's see if we can get a glimpse at tom eighth's project

Tom Eighths room, so he can be not worried about it asap

"Let's start with my room," Tom Eighth says. "I don't want those oversized rodents gnawing on my project."

"Sounds good to me," you say. Mostly you don't feel a need to get on his bad side, though you admit to being curious about what his project is and this might let you catch a glimpse. "Anybody object?"

There's some mild grumbling, but you agree and head in.

"You know, they're not actually rodents," Juliet chips in, as you approach the room. "The Dean told me they're more closely related to carnivores, they've just got an exposed tail and they like filthy places. So they look like rats and act like rats, hence the name."

"Ugh, you actually call him the Dean?" Mark mutters. "I thought he was the only one. So, suppose there is a greatrat in there, what do we do exactly?"

"We had an infestation before you got here," Eighth says. He seems to be taking the whole thing as an excuse to take the lead. "It's not that complicated, really; you hit it with your weapon until it dies. Just keep your masks on so it doesn't get a chance to spit in your face or something. Hopefully we won't see one."

You all head in. There's a puddle on the ground.

"Oooh, never seen greatrat piss up close before," Juliet says. "Guess one's been poking around in here."

"Wonderful," Eighth sighs. "I'll check the closet first to make sure it hasn't chewed up my project. Ninth, Juliet, you're with me. Marshall, watch the bed in case it's lurking under it. Conchway, you watch the doorway and yell if you see any more coming in. Stacey..."

He pauses.

"Stacey, just, do whatever."

Tom Eighth opens up the closet, and you can't help but sneak a peek. All you see is a little box, though. Is that what he's been working on?

"It's fine," he says, relieved. "Right, bed next. This is very dangerous. I'd just as soon not go poking my head under there, and I'm sure you all feel the same way. But if we can't think of a safer way to check for one, well, that's what we're stuck with."

"Oh, I can help here," you say. "I had to deal with one on the farm once. We'd chased it behind a broken old wagon at the back of the barn, but we had to coax it out before we could get it in the trap. And the wagon wouldn't move, so we couldn't just pull it - would be dangerous anyways, if the rat pounced."

"Get to the point," Eighth says, rolling his eyes. "How'd you lure it out? It better not have been with food, 'cause all we've got is swampleaf, and that doesn't have any scent."

Imitate the sound of its favorite prey, a human child actual rats

Also, there's a thin section of bone at the back of the skull, behind the ears, so if you can strike from above there's a chance to take it down faster.

Actual rat calls are easy to make! Just cup both your hands around your mouth...oh..wait...

You have to stomp in a precise pattern, you see? Boom boom boom boom, pause, boom. then wait 5 more seconds before repeat! And don't mess up the tempo or it won't work! it's a good thing the floor is wood already, that'll save some time not having to recalculate the pattern for dirt or stone.

can you tip the bed over to make a wall between you, the greatrat and the actual wall, or is the frame fixed into the floor or something. because if you can, two people could get on both sides of the bed and tip it forward

"You make a sound like a rat."

"What."

"They eat regular-sized rats. So you just need to make it sound like one's around, and they'll come out to look. Stand back while I make the noise, and get ready to hit it. Going to have to take my mask off for a second, so if someone could keep on me, that'd be great."

You detach your mask and cup your hand around your mouth when you realize that this was a two-handed move.

"Um. This is a little awkward. Can I borrow someone else's hand for a moment?"

Stacey stands behind you, and holds her hand on the other side. Unfortunately, it seems this is enough difference to make the rat noise sound more like a low growl.

"Well, that's out," Eighth grumbles, as you put your mask back. "Guess we check under the bed."

"Couldn't we pull it on its side, away from the wall?" Mark asks. "It'd take two of us, but we wouldn't have to get as close, at least if it's trying to hide."

"Risky, but probably better," Eighth agrees. "Juliet, you take the head, I'll take the foot."

They pull the bed on its side, but a quick glance behind it reveals no greatrat. There is, however, an ordinary swamprat scurrying around, which Tom Ninth promptly grabs in a pouch.

"Guess we've got some bait after all," he says. "Other than the, um, puddle, though, there's no sign of a greatrat in here. Must have just come in to relieve itself."

"Could've been chasing the little one," Juliet says. "Then something scared it off, and it pissed itself before running."

"Ugh, however it got there, that's going to smell for weeks," Eighth sighs. "Suppose it could be worse, though. So, whose room are we checking next?"

Stacy's

Wait hold on a moment why's the puddle so deep though?

"Let's check my room," Stacy says. It's a little surprising, considering how quiet she's been. "It shouldn't take long, I don't have a lot of things."

"Sounds like as good a plan as any to me. Let's move."

You all go to Stacy's room. It's surprisingly bare - there's nothing here except the bed and the closet door. You didn't bring a lot of personal effects yourself, but Stacy seems to have brought nothing at all.

"No piss in this room," Juliet says, glancing around. "Should we try the bait?"

"Do it," Eighth says, glancing at Ninth. Ninth puts the pouch down and opens it.

The rat starts squeaking, no doubt relieved at being loose. You watch the bed closely, but don't see anything.

But you do suddenly hear a growling in the distance.

"Y'know, they've got real good hearing," Juliet notes, as Tom Ninth grabs the rat again.

"Well, it's not like we counted on surprising the things," Eighth grumbles."Let's check the closet, just to be sure. If there was one under the bed, it would've gone for the rat, right?"

"If it was hungry, for sure. If it found something else to eat, maybe not. We'd been chasing the one on the farm all day by the time we had to bait it out, so it was pretty desperate for food."

"Nah, they pretty much never pass up a chance for a meal," Juliet says. "If there is one there, it's either asleep or wounded, and we'd have heard something if it were wounded. Plus we'd probably be seeing blood on the floor."

"We'll leave it for now, then. I'm opening the closet, everyone get ready."

Tom Eighth opens the closet, but there's nothing in there except some spare clothes. It seems Stacy has a very simple lifestyle.

"Seems to me the thing to do next is figure out where that growling came from," Mark says. "Or maybe we can just drop the rat out in the corridor and wait."

"No way," Eighth says sternly. "If we fight in the corridor, it's sure to escape. We want to corner it in a room to make sure it's dealt with. But you've got a good point - which room did that growl come from?"

Ninth's

it came from tom eighth's room! but.... didn't you just check that room?

Or
it's in marshall's room

Conchway's

It's in the room with the massive hole under the bed.