Swamped

just keep swimming?

bring her towards the shallows and tangle her legs around some muckweed

You try to keep swimming, but that's difficult without the full use of your arms.

Fortunately, there's another means at hand of binding her. You start pushing yourself down deeper.

Then you let go.

Greeneye isn't expecting the sudden release, and it takes her a moment to get her bearings. That's long enough for you to push her into the muckweed.

Not too far - just enough to get her legs tangled. Then you get your blade in hand and slice the weed up. She's loose, but with only her arms, she's not going to be able to get back up without your help.

You put away your blade and grab her again, covering her mask in case she tries to scream again. She doesn't bother struggling. You slip into the underbrush, and hope the others haven't moved too far along.

It seems they have. You spot Tom Tenth keeping an eye on three tied-up Marshguards. He pulls a gag out of his pack and carefully ties it on.

"Guess you may as well stay here," he says. "But first, can you get some more muckweed for her arms? Jackson's not here, and he's got the rest of our rope."

You do so promptly, and bind Greeneye as best you can.

"So where are the others?" you ask.

"Marshall wanted to look for you, but Dean said it was best to press on, and leave someone here in case you came back. He told me to return to base at dawn, whatever happened. So, we're just waiting here for the rest of the night."

"Oh. All right."

You promptly doze off, barely aware of how annoyed Tom Tenth must be about this.

You're Marshall again. Your group's made some good progress; you're worried about Stacey, but you have a lot of other worries at the moment, so you're trying to push that particular one aside. Not that it's working very well.

At the moment, though, your problem is that there are too many patrolling Marshguards. Unsurprisingly, the closer to the fortress you get, the better protected the pathways are. There's a few gaps in the patrols you've been able to slip through up to here, but now there's four guards patrolling the area up ahead, and Walter can't see any blind spots. The water's too shallow to use for cover, and the trees have been stripped bare of leaves.

It's possible to go around, but Dean says that route is home to dangerous beasts. It might be all right so soon after the rain, before their populations recover, but he'd prefer to hear other ideas before taking that risk.

Do you have any thoughts?

If there isn't a hole in their patrols then you'll have to make one. This is why you took some armor from the marshguards you tied up.
However, you don't know of any one armed marshguards and none of the three were Walter's size.

Dean and Jackson though can pass for guards easily enough - at least for a short while.

Have the two chase you, calling to the marshguards for help. Then lead them into Walter's wrestly arms.

Oh! Also rope traps!

Can you make use of the fauna? Maybe drop a behive or bait some other pests as a distraction?
Or flora! Make your own makeshift swamp gillie suits and stealth your way in

"Would've been useful if we'd grabbed some armor off those Marshguards we tied up," Walter mutters. "Could disguise someone as a guard and act like they're chasing a few of us. That'd likely pull at least one of these guys away. Then we could trap 'em, and use the diversion to slip through."

"I don't think we could have gotten much off without untying them. Too much risk," Jackson says.

"Wait, do we really need uniforms for that?" you ask. "The lights don't reach everywhere. We could just have someone yell from somewhere dark. I doubt they'd look too closely into who was yelling until they caught us."

"That sounds safer than the outer paths," Dean agrees. "Worst case is that we get caught, which we're trying to do regardless. It's just safer if we get caught further along."

"Let's get a bit more detailed," Mary says. "Jackson can set up some rope traps, and Walter could lie in wait in case someone slips past the traps. We need someone to yell, someone to run... and someone ready to sneak past when the guards are diverted. Just in case the rest of us don't get a good chance."

"I think I should slip past," Dean says. "Our cover story has me assuming the most risk, after all. So that leaves Mary and Marshall. One of you yells, one of you runs. Which will it be?"

Which position will you take? Or do you have any objections to the plan as suggested?

you cant risk getting caught by marshguards and your comrades overhearing about your father until you have completed your mission, so running seems like the better position.

You decide to be the runner. Ever since you ran into Corvus, you've realized that you're risking more than just capture. How many Marshguards know Rider is looking for you? And if they mention that, it could be a problem.

So you want to avoid being caught, and staying in one place to yell probably isn't the best option for that. If you're leading them into traps, though, then you'll likely be safe.

Of course, that depends on how fast you can run. Still, you're reasonably confident there.

"I'll run," you say. Mary nods.

"Yeah, it's probably easier to yell when you can cup both hands, not just one," she agrees. "All right, everyone get ready."

Jackson hands Mary the end of a rope.

"I'll pull on this when we're set up. Then you two can get yourselves ready." He points to a tree some distance away. "We'll be waiting there. Good luck."

You head over with Mary to a dark spot, while Jackson and Walter slip off to prepare their traps. Dean slips over to a position closer to the patrols.

After a few minutes, Mary feels a tug, and nods at you. You get ready, and start sprinting.

"BOGKNIGHT SPY!" Mary shouts when you're about halfway to the tree. Out of the corner of your eye, you see one of the patrollers break patrol and start running in your direction; another two stop in place. The fourth seems to stick to their pattern, though you can't really look too closely; you're focused on running.

You reach the tree, just in time to hear the guard trip behind you. Jackson peeks out from behind the tree and gives a thumbs-up; you follow him behind it for cover.

You put down your long goggles to check on the patrols. Another guard seems to be running for the tree, while a third goes to help the one on the ground.

"Come on," Jackson says, grabbing you by the arm. "That one is just a delaying tactic; the real traps are further back."

You follow Jackson further, and soon hear two cries as he pulls on some ropes; you think the third is still chasing by the sound of footsteps, but it's hard to be sure.

"Walter! One's still our tail!" Jackson cries.

"On it," you hear. There's sounds of a scuffle; you turn around and pull up the long goggles for better vision. You see Walter holding a guard, and two others caught in ropes.

"There's still a fourth," you say. "They seemed to be sticking with their patrol."

"Dean should be able to surprise them," Jackson says. "Let's take care of these three, in the meantime."

You're now Dean. There's one guard left out of the four. You could slip past her, but it would be best to get her out of the way so the rest of your group can follow.

How are you going to handle this?

SpoilerShow

Feel free to pick out a weapon for Dean; I double-checked and he hasn't had one specified so far.

Dean is a student of a martial art modeled after animals movements and therefore needs no weapon.

Sneak up on the guard and strike her quickly in the throat, then lay her on the ground gently so she doesn't choke. Not pleasant, but effective. (and distinctly lethal if dealt improperly)

The Dean uses cards. Well not actual cards, metal rectangular multitools he keeps in his coat. But he's labeled them with card faces representing fortune and cleverness (which could also be interpreted as unworthiness and pomposity but who would read it that way?) He can throw them, or grip them (similar to brass knuckles) to give his fists a bladed or serrated edge.

This guard carries a dagger (probably a close-range fighter) and a satchel made out of...is that a swamphen's gizzard? Those gizzards make excellent carriers for various poisons. (Considering the seeds and worms eaten by swamphens, it makes sense they'd develop a resistance). The Dean's going to have to be careful not to get nicked by anything this marshguard is carrying.

Get in position and toss a card as a distraction - then either sever the satchel from a distance, or get in quick before they can respond.

Officially, you're assigned a mudpike. It's a simple-to-learn weapon, and useful for dealing with wild animals at a distance.

But you really only know the basics of wielding it. You're not skilled enough to fight a human opponent with one; you're more experienced with barehanded techniques. You may not have Walter's sheer strength, but your own strength is more than enough when applied in the right ways.

Of course, it helps if you can disarm the opponent first. Chances are, if someone uses a weapon, they're less skilled than you are in unarmed combat.

In this case, the Marshguard has a dagger. Dagger fighters tend to be similar to martial artists, with a focus on quick, precise movements to compensate for their short range. As such, she's not likely to underestimate you, as a sword or spear-fighter might. Your best option is to surprise her.

You consider flinging something as a distraction, but discount the idea; if the cries of her fellow guards haven't diverted her from her patrol route, she's clearly determined to hold to it.

So, you wait by the end of the walkway, until you hear her footsteps getting closer. Then, farther away again.

Now's the time. You scramble up the walkway and rush at her from behind, trying to strike her dagger hand first.

You manage to wrest the dagger from her, but she punches you in the face with her other hand as you do. You stagger backwards a bit; no serious harm done, but you've lost the element of surprise.

You toss the dagger aside, so she can't get it back from you. But it seems she has little need of it; she's already tackling you. It's clearly been a while since you've faced someone with hand-to-hand training; your reaction time isn't what it needs to be yet.

You push her away and grab her arm as she tries another punch. You try the same with her other arm, but she's a bit too fast and grabs your arm instead.

Fortunately, you know the countermove to this situation, so you're faster to react to it. You release her arm, and move back quickly, forcing her to either release you or go your way. Whichever she does, you've got more control of the situation.

She opts to move with you, and you land a punch as she does. She grabs your hand in retaliation, though; now she's got you by both arms.

That's when you kick her in the stomach. She recoils, releasing your right arm; she keeps a steady grip on the left, though. So you punch her in the right elbow. It's enough of a diversion for you to pull your hand free.

With both hands free, and your opponent still recovering, it's your move. You grab her by the throat quickly; she's got armor at the neck, so there shouldn't be permanent damage. She starts gasping after about a minute, then collapses. You lay her down so she can still breathe; she'll only be out for about ten minutes, which should be plenty of time to move forward, but not long enough for any dangerous animals to find her.

Marshall and Mary should still have their long goggles, so you wave to indicate it's safe. The rest of them soon come your way, and you all move forward a bit before talking.

"It's about a mile and a half to the Marsh Fortress," you say. "The patrols are going to get even worse, though."

"They'll shore up their defenses once they find this group," Walter says. "Which is bound to mean sending at least a few squads back from the assault force. Between that and the warning, the base should be okay."

"Well, that's a relief," you say. "Still, the deeper we advance, the better. Best of all is if we can get them thinking we've made it into the fortress - they'll want as many troops as they can searching the place before we stumble on whatever it is they don't want us to find. So, let's press on."

You're now Bluesight.

Your scouting team has found that the base is, indeed, better defended than you thought. A direct assault is clearly useless. You've already sent Muckflow back to tell Rider that much.

But you can't just stop there. You've got to look for potential holes in their defenses. If there are good enough opportunities, you can simply use the main force as a distraction while strike forces slip behind the defenses and do as much damage as they can. It won't be as thrilling, perhaps, but seeing the Bogknights get taken down a notch is always worthwhile.

So what possible approaches are you looking at?

There are marshguards in the base right now that would be willing to help.

Mudviper said she sneaked out of a tree - you could possibly climb back up if you could avoid the patrols.

You start by mentally reviewing what you know from Mudviper's debriefing.

First, there are two Marshguard prisoners in the base. Even though it's just two of them, letting them out would cause enough of a distraction to alter the base's defensive priorities.

Second, Mudviper mentioned climbing down a tree. You decide to slip in closer to the base to get a sense of if it would provide a good point of entry.

Fortunately, with your good vision, you don't need to get too close. You can already see the gates from here, though just barely; if you can slip past one patrol, you should be able to get a sense of where the tree is.

But the trick is, you don't want to alert the patrol at all. That means distractions are out unless you can make them seem natural. Even then, it's a risk; after they investigate the diversion, they may be more attentive.

It's probably safest to only bring one of your squad with you while you take a look; you'll need a spotter to warn you of trouble, but the more people you bring, the greater the risk of being seen.

So who will you take along with you as you advance?

Stinger is probably the best choice. He's a cast-away that drifted here from a distant land, and one of the most stealthy individuals in the marshguards.
He doesn't talk much, mainly due to his stilted understanding of the language, but what you do understand about him is that he came to the marshguards after having a rough go of it in the surrounding kingdoms, struggling to find a place in the cities and towns. He says he much prefers the swamp as it reminds him of his home, and the marshguards remind him of his culture. Trained in the art of guile and quiet surveillance, you think he might have been an assassin in his old country, but that's just your best guess.
You'd be an idiot not to bring him.

You decide to bring Stinger along. Not wanting to draw unneeded attention, you inform the group with some simple hand signs rather than talking. They're easier for Stinger to understand, anyhow.

He follows you as you slip past the nearby Bogknight; this proves to be rather simple, as this patroller seems relatively young and inexperienced.

You can't help but find that odd in and of itself. True, if you have to accommodate new patrollers, you want them further out; but most of the troops you've seen tonight are young. They shouldn't be that shorthanded.

Of course, it fits with what Mudviper said - that a greatrat infestation disrupted everyone's sleep schedules. You'll have to pass this along when you get back.

For the moment, though, you need to look at the tree. You stop in a bush in a dark spot, and sign to Stinger that you're going to be concentrating. He nods, and starts looking around for patrols that might catch you.

You look in the direction of the tree, and focus your eyes. You can see the tree, and the front gate of the base, as clearly as if you were next to them - except, of course, for the fact that they're all in shades of blue. It's a strain to see this far, but you've had enough practice.

What you can see is that the blue tree leads to a blue window with a blue shutter above it. A blue lookout is peering through; he seems to have a pair of those blue long goggles. You wish you had some of those, maybe then you wouldn't have to strain your eyes like this.

Regardless, that lookout makes the tree a difficult point of entry. You'd have to either climb up the tree entirely unnoticed, or take out the lookout from a distance while having some way to check that nobody else notices what happens to them. Either way, it's a tall order.

You're just about to sign to Stinger that it's time to head back, but he's prodding you frantically. There must be a patroller nearby.

Your eyes haven't readjusted to short range yet, though, so you sign that you need him to guide you. Everything still looks so damn blue.

You're now Stinger. Your squad leader is signing to thin air that he can't see very well right now and needs your help. That's inconvenient, considering there are some Bogknights checking the bushes not far off from here. You can get yourself away easily enough, but you're not used to acting as a guide.

How are you going to make sure neither of you are discovered?

NOW LISTEN UP
HERE'S A STORY
ABOUT A LITTLE GUY WHO LIVES IN A BLUE WORLD
AND ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT AND EVERYONE HE SEES
ARE JUST BLUE LIKE HIM, INSIDE AND OUTSIDE

>and then they were patient and eavesdropped on the approaching bogknights

Dive for cover and wait for them to pass.

There's not much time, so you think about where you can hide nearby. If you stay low, you might not get spotted, but since they're actively checking the bushes, that's not a guarantee.

The water is safer. Except, if they're checking the bushes, they're likely to check the water, too.

But they don't seem to be at the moment. And after they've checked a particular spot of bush, they're unlikely to check it again...

You glance back at your squad leader. His goggles are up. You pop them down over his eyes; if he's having trouble seeing, it'll be easier than trying to sign to him to put them on properly. Should signal him that you're headed for water, too, so he won't be caught off-guard.

You grab him by the wrist, and lead him into the water as best you can without making noise.

Then you listen.

"Right, you seem to have the idea," a female voice says. The tone makes you think it's an officer. "When you get to the halfway point, one of you should double back and recheck, in case the Marshguards think you might skip over the parts you've already looked at."

Damn. Well, there goes that plan.

"Now, while you two do that, I'll check the water."

Oh hells.

Now what are you supposed to do?

SpoilerShow

I'm not sure I have enough of an understanding of the area to make a helpful suggestion that doesn't alert the guards. Actually, I'm still kind of foggy on the kind of layout this swamp has. Maybe I don't know swamps very well...(googles swamps)...I don't think this swamp is as heavily forested as these. How close is Bog Hill to where stinger and the rest are? Not critical questions but I have found myself confused about the setting from time to time.

Hmm...sounds like they're treating this as a training exercise. So they're on guard but not aware of the scope of an attack.

Strategically, it would be very bad for them to find scouts right now.

You could fight, but you'd have to quietly incapacitate 2 scouts and an officer, by yourself...

Yeah you can do that.

Three darts and a blowgun. They'll fall quickly and quietly, you'll only have two shots left however, and little time before the next patrol finds them missing.

Three darts and a blowgun. They'll fall quickly and quietly, you'll only have two shots left however, and little time before the next patrol finds them missing.

This so much. Seconded.

You don't see a way out of this; you'll have to risk using your blowgun. That's inconvenient, especially in the water. First thing to do is find a safe place to surface, so you swim around and raise your head under the nearest walkway.

Then you pull off your waterproof pouch, and get your blowgun and three darts out, keeping the strap around your wrist so you can keep hold of the thing. Next you've got to take your breather mask off so you can actually use it. The whole time, you've got to keep a firm grip on Bluesight, because you're not sure if he can see properly yet.

Luckily, the officer is checking the water some distance away from you, and the younger knights aren't far off from her. You doubt you'll have much time to re-aim before one of them calls out for help.

You fire a dart at the officer, then quickly adjust and shoot the two younger knights. The officer lands in the water with a loud splash, but that shouldn't raise immediate alarm at least.

Now your problem is that you don't have time to get your mask back on or put your blowgun away. You'll have to just swim with your head above water until you find better cover.

Before that, you give Bluesight's hand a squeeze. He raises his other arm above water to sign that his eyes haven't recovered yet. You squeeze again to acknowledge, and then move away carefully towards a patch of tall grass. Hopefully you won't be spotted before you reach it...

"Marshguard in the water!"

Damnation. This really isn't your night.

The alert's already gone out, so another dart probably won't do you much good. What else can you do?

SpoilerShow

SpoilerShow

I'm not sure I have enough of an understanding of the area to make a helpful suggestion that doesn't alert the guards. Actually, I'm still kind of foggy on the kind of layout this swamp has. Maybe I don't know swamps very well...(googles swamps)...I don't think this swamp is as heavily forested as these. How close is Bog Hill to where stinger and the rest are? Not critical questions but I have found myself confused about the setting from time to time.

The truth is, I don't have a concrete layout of the swamp myself, so it's understandable that people are confused. Generally, if you suggest plausible terrain or growth or whatever in the area, I'll go with that.

Be a crocodile, just lunge for the alert-guy and hold them hostage.

It strikes you that what matters here is Bluesight getting back to report. And they haven't seen him yet. If you make a big enough distraction, you can cover his escape.

You tap the back of his hand twice quickly, to signal that you're separating. You then pull his arm gently in the direction you want him to go. He taps back to acknowledge, then you let go and swim to the grass.

"They're in the grass!" the Bogknight shouts. You take a moment to put your blowgun away; it's just a distraction right now. While it would help with what you're planning to do, you don't have many shots to spare.

Instead, you take out your knife and grab a small stone as you pull yourself out of the water. You toss the stone at the Bogknight's head, and he instinctively moves aside to dodge it.

That's when you rush him. He's not expecting your speed, and in a moment, you've knocked his mudpike out of his hands and you're holding your knife to his throat. Just in time, too; some more patrollers have arrived.

"Let prisoners go," you hiss. "Or boy gets it."

You're now one of the patrolling knights on the scene. Who are you, and how are you going to handle this hostage situation?

You're Lisa and oh crap oh crap oh crap what do you do

This guy doesnt look like he can be negotiated with, mostly because youre not sure he would understand you, but also because he's terrifying.