Swamped

It's a trap.

It's Butterfly, with one of the Bogknight prisoners. Said prisoner is gagged, has her hand caught in one of the modified rodent traps that passes for pest control around here.

"She was trying to slip away, but she got unlucky," Butterfly explains. "The gag is because it turns out she's a biter. Anyhow, you're probably her best shot at getting it off without hurting her hand."

"Why was this even set out?" you grumble. "I know we've had strange creatures popping up, but as there's no rhyme or reason to where they appear, traps hardly seem like they'd be very useful. Who authorized it?"

"I don't know. Shouldn't you be having a look at her?"

The prisoner holds out her hand so you can take a look. She's fortunate. While the trap is pressing down hard, her gloves are holding up well against the parts that could actually pierce her hand.

"Thankfully, it isn't as serious as you suggest. I just need to loosen the clamp. Most likely her hand will just be very sore afterwards."

You already have a tool for this. Thankfully, you convinced the council that the traps did more harm than good unless there was a specific infestation to deal with, so you haven't had to use it in a while. Of course, that also means it's not as readily available as your other equipment, so you need to dig through a drawer for a bit to find it.

"Sorry about the delay. This should do the trick."

You wedge the tool into the trap's vice and squeeze. Your tool widens, and the trap loosens. The prisoner pulls her hand out in relief.

"Is that it, then?" Butterfly asks.

"Not yet. I need to actually examine her hand. It should be all right now, but it's best to be sure."

You pull off the prisoner's glove and take a look. And what you see is distressing. You wouldn't expect her hand to be this shade unless...

"Butterfly, take the gag off. I need to know how long that trap was on her hand."

"I caught her about five minutes ago when I heard her screaming," Butterfly says.

"I want to hear it from the prisoner herself."

"Fine, just give me a moment."

Butterfly steps behind the prisoner, and reaches up for the gag.

Then she shoves the prisoner into you instead. A moment later, you feel something heavy strike you in the head, and you drift into unconsciousness.

When you wake up, you find Glimmer holding a cold-pack to your head.

"What's going on? Where's Stinger? Where's the prisoner? Where in the hells is Butterfly?"

It takes you a few moments to regain your bearings and realize that this isn't the infirmary; you're in your own quarters.

"Keeper's taking care of Stinger, he told me to help you until you recovered. Don't know about Butterfly or the missing prisoner... well, the second missing prisoner now, I suppose. We did catch sight of her rushing out of the infirmary with a Bogknight, but then we lost track of her. Though, since we're scouring the fortress anyways, she's bound to turn up sooner or later."

"I can't stay here."

"Doc," Glimmer says with a smile. "How many times have you had a patient say that to you? And what do you always tell them?"

"Point made. I'm not really alert yet, even if I think I am. Got to take at least half an hour before I can be sure I'm stable." You let out an exasperated sigh. "I hope Stinger's all right."

"Keeper's gonna do the best he can. He told me what I should do to help you out, too. But if he missed any part of the treatment, well, just tell me what to do, Doc."

As your senses start to return, you do realize that there's something you could use right now.

Get a snack.

"It's about when I'd be eating," you mutter. "I could use a little swampleaf."

"Oh, right! Keeper thought of that. I've got a few leaves right here. We didn't have time to mash 'em, though."

He hands over the leaves.

"That's all right. I think I prefer 'em this way." You nibble on one. "I mean, the mush goes down easier, but I'd rather take my time and chew."

You feel a little better.

"So are they still going through that stupid meeting? Someone should probably tell the council about Butterfly."

"We told them what we know. Figured she'd either attacked you or let the prisoner do it."

"I think it was her. It's hard to keep things clear in my head right now, though." You start to sit up. "Right, she had a trap. Prisoner's hand was caught in it. By the looks of things, for an hour or more."

"I guess I can pass that along," Glimmer says. "I mean, unless you want me to stay here?"

"Mmf. Give me a moment to think about it."

This probably should be reported. Is there anything else you want him to mention?

Clams didn't tell me about the intruder when Stinger was brought in. Mere negligence, or something more sinister?

"Clams," you mutter. You're still trying to sort through your thoughts. "Clams didn't tell me anything about what happened to Stinger. I'm wondering if one of the intruders got him, and if so, why didn't Clams say anything."

"That's a good question. Clams doesn't like making reports, but an intruder's hardly routine."

"And after what just happened with Butterfly, I'm not so sure there isn't more to it than mere laziness."

"Definitely seems odd," Glimmer agrees. "I'll pass that info on. At the very least, Clams is going to be getting one hell of a lecture. Okay, I'll report what you told me. And I'll be back in a few minutes to see how you're doing."

With that, he runs off. Just as well, you'd rather have some time to yourself right now. You're mostly worried about how Stinger's doing; Keeper knows a fair amount about medicine, but he doesn't have the experience with it that you do. If there aren't any complications, he'll do fine... but there are almost always complications.

But you suppose there's nothing you can do about that for now. Not without setting a terrible example for your patients.

Maybe you should just be grateful that you have a reprieve from all the messes happening tonight.

---

It's a slow night at the Bogknight base, especially for you. You wonder if any of the Marshguards are this bored.

Well, you might as well get on with the task at hand.

You're a new Tom, just came in on the barge that took Clancy out.

You've been given instructions to "make yourself useful". Since there seems to be some sort of uncertainty going on with the officers they haven't assigned you a squad yet.

At the moment you're delivering meal from Tom First to the postmaster.

Though looks like you're interrupting a conservation between him and a rather attractive officer.

You're Tom Sixth, just returned from leave. And you've come back to quite the mess.

For a start, Captain Long is missing, and it seems he doesn't have a formal replacement yet. Sergeant Burgundy is currently in charge, except you've been hearing that she's been demoted. You haven't had time to ask anyone just why yet, however.

And apparently, she missed the paperwork marking you absent and temporarily assigned you to another squad a couple of days ago. And you came back just as that had been officially noticed and they'd started making plans to find someone else. Now you're just being bounced around doing odd jobs while some poor corporal tries to work this mess out.

All of which is to say that this evening, you've been assigned to help out Tom First. It seems the Postmaster's exceptionally busy, and doesn't expect to leave the roost for several hours, so he needs a meal delivered. And that's the job you're stuck with.

It's very dull. Especially as the roost is a good distance away from the kitchen. So there's nothing to do but carry this lukewarm bowl of swamp mush across half the base. You don't even particularly have to worry about spilling it, because there's a lid on the thing, with a handle to make it easier to carry up the ladder.

And it's even easier than that now. There's a rope near the ladder. It seems to be attached to a pulley. All you need to do is tie the rope around the handle, climb up the ladder, pull on the rope, and untie it. It only takes a minute.

You suppose that's something new since you were last here, but it's still not all that exciting.

You don't see the postmaster. You're just about to call out and ask where he is, when you spy a raised arm behind one of the nests. Well, then, time to take a look.

The postmaster's there, all right - and so is a sergeant. You can tell from his uniform, though his name escapes you.

You must have seen him before - you definitely remember that handsome face and that muscular figure. But you probably never actually talked to him.

"You can't delay this forever," he says, sounding a little gruff.

"I've been giving it plenty of thought, believe me. But the roost is still a mess, and there's a lot of new mail coming in to deal with. My priority is dealing with that."

"There's going to be more mail, you know. Demanding to know what we're doing next now that the captain's vanished."

"I know," the Postmaster sighs. "But I can't deal with it right now. Look, you made your case for Ash already, I'm mulling it over, I'm also mulling over the cases I've heard for Vera. Repeating them isn't going to help."

"We're squandering an opportunity. For all we know, the Marshguards have worked out what to do with their leadership gap by now. What if they start plotting while we're still dragging our feet?"

Wait... the Marshguards have a leadership gap, too? You're really out of the loop. Who's gone on their side?

"You say that like the Marshguard leadership isn't its own mess. I've read the reports, you know."

It suddenly occurs to you that you're eavesdropping on potentially sensitive information. On the one hand, maybe you should just hand over the swamp mush and get out before they notice you or think to ask what you've heard.

On the other hand, this is the most interesting thing to happen since you got back.

So, what are you going to do?

Uh. Erryone knows Tom Sixth has a nose for gossip.

But you gotta see if you can catch this sergeant's name. Is he Kandrian? Also "Ash"? he's in the running for the new captain? He came in before you but not by much.

Aargh you hate being out of the loop! Wait...didn't Penelope have the hots for Ash? Maybe that's gone somewhere.

You can't help yourself. Your curiosity's gotten you in trouble before, but you just can't shake it. It's not your fault these two weren't paying attention when you got in. Besides, you're really wondering what the handsome sergeant's name is.

You slip behind another nest just to make sure you're not spotted, as they continue talking.

"This is no small matter, John. The Marshguards aren't just missing one of their commanders - it's Rider, the man who leaves half our troops shivering with fear."

Rider is missing? Holy hells, how did you not hear that yet? That's huge news. You've really got to get yourself back in the loop.

"I'd prefer that we keep this conversation professional, Sergeant Dominic. Please use my title."

"Very well, Postmaster. The point stands. There are many knights who would be wary of making a counterstrike on the Marshguards normally, but now, with the Rider of the Swamp gone, their morale would be substantially higher. If the Marshguard leadership is still in disarray, the advantage swings all the harder to us."

"Funny you should say counterstrike," the Postmaster snaps back. "Because my understanding is, they backed down. No attack, so what exactly would we be countering?"

"You don't find their encroachment on our territory disturbing in and of itself?"

"Of course I do. But they backed down, and if they try again, Rider won't be leading the charge. And our defenses are better than ever. The fact is, we already won that battle."

"At the cost of our commander. Not to mention, they have several of our knights in captivity. We only have two of theirs. At the least, we need to narrow that gap for better leverage in the negotiations."

"You're telling me things I already know," the Postmaster grumbles. "I'm not denying it might be time for a more aggressive stance, I think you and Ash have some good points there. But an attack on their base? Now? When our own is still in need of repair? That sounds like a disaster to me. My main question right now is if Ash has the sense to see that."

Dominic looks annoyed, but he manages to keep from seeming too upset.

"I'm speaking for myself, not Ash. I think it's an option we should consider. And I will suggest it to whoever is chosen as acting commander. I simply trust Ash with that decision more than I trust Vera Greenwoods."

They're mentioning Ash a lot. You can't place the name off the top of your head though... Oh, right, he came here what - three years before you did? Was already a corporal by the time you arrived. Sergeant a year later. You didn't pay much attention, you just watched the promotion ceremonies.

So he'd have been a sergeant for - what now? Four years? Five? That's not a small amount, but Vera's got a huge edge on him in terms of experience. Hell, you heard she was the main other candidate back when Long got the job.

You're still not sure why they can't stick with Burgundy, though. She missed that you were on leave - have there been a lot of mistakes like that? Even then, seems that's easily solved by getting her a dedicated clerk.

"I'm just getting tired of this," the Postmaster sighs, breaking you out of your thoughts. "This is the twelfth time you and your friends have tried to sell me on him. And the other support officers have been talking to me about Vera just as much. You have both told me everything you possibly could, I've talked to both of them, now I just need a couple of hours to myself to settle on things. Because this is an important decision, and I can't make it until I feel certain that I've made the right choice. You've already done everything you can to help me with that."

"All right, all right," Dominic says. "Point made. You want your space, you've got it. But the rest of us want to see you make the right choice too, you know? That's why we're bugging you so much."

"I appreciate the thought," the Postmaster says. "But there's really no use in talking to me about it any more."

Dominic walks away. You suppose it's time to pretend you just arrived.

"Postmaster?" you call out. "I've got your dinner. Um, I might be a little late with it."

"Oh, thanks," he says. "Just leave it on the desk."

You wonder how much of what they talked about is common knowledge. It wouldn't be much good if you were caught eavesdropping and didn't even get any real dirt out of it.

Well, it'll give you things to ask about, you suppose. You leave the bowl on the Postmaster's desk and...

"Oh! Tom Sixth!" he says, surprised. "When did you get back?"

"Yesterday, late afternoon," you say. "I feel like I missed a lot."

"Well, I'm afraid I can't spare much time to talk, and I'm usually a bit late on finding out about things myself," the Postmaster sighs. "But I might be able to answer a question or two for you while I eat."

You've got too many questions on your mind. You can't settle on just one thing.

"Sorry, I'm behind on so many things that I don't know where to start."

"I guess I'll cover the big things, then," he says, biting down on his mush. "Obviously, there was the annual storm, but I'd guess you planned your leave around missing that."

"Yeah, I love the outdoors too much to stay cooped in for a month. Don't know how we do it."

"Well. That went about as pleasantly as it usually does. Not long after, we had a new recruit come in."

That strikes you as odd.

"It's months away from recruiting season, though."

"Our recruiter asked us to make an exception. Best as we could tell from the note, our newmuck was either very eager or very desperate. But we had no particular reason to disapprove."

"Did they get on well, then?"

"That's where we come to the next bit of news. You know how there's always at least two weeks of calm weather after the big storm?"

"Yep. I was hoping to enjoy a bit more of it before the rain, but the carriage only goes so fast."

"It rained a few days early. We weren't entirely ready for it. And... well, that new recruit, Marshall? Went out in the rain. Lost an arm, but thankfully that was it."

You can't hold together at hearing that. A newmuck, outside in the rain? You shudder to think what had happened if you'd been out in your first rain, it was bad enough watching from indoors.

"The hells? How did that happen?"

"It's not my place to share the full details, but Burgundy claimed responsibility for issuing a bad order. Got busted down to private for it, but due to unusual circumstances she's running the base right now anyways."

Now you're just confused.

"What unusual circumstances?"

"Not long after the early rain, there was a greatrat infestation. We chased them out, but the base was left in bad shape. The officers had a late-night emergency meeting, and most of us were exhausted afterwards. You with me so far?"

You nod your head.

"Well. The very next night, there was an all-out attack by the Marshguards."

You make a point to look surprised. Don't want to let him know you just overheard him talking about that.

"You're kidding me."

"We still don't know exactly why. We have theories, but I can't really discuss them with you. What matters is that Captain Long went out on his own to resolve it, by challenging Rider to a duel. And... nobody knows how that turned out, because they both vanished."

You heard about this, too, though not all at once like this.

"How does that leave us with Burgundy in charge? Did Captain Long seriously pick a private to command the base in his absence?"

"Well, no," the Postmaster says. "It was more a matter of both our senior sergeants being indisposed at the same time, and she was the most experienced option remaining. The thing is, for reasons I can't get into with you, there's a vote on whether Ash or Vera should take command, and it's currently a tie. Except for, well, me." He lets out a deep sigh. "And I really don't feel happy about having all that pressure on me. My job is just to keep the mail running, I don't really want to be thinking about our overall strategy for facing the Marshguards. But I have to figure out which of the two is going to be better at that."

Well, now this just feels awkward. Maybe you should leave him with some encouraging words. But just what can you say?

Share some gossip you picked up outside! The old man has a soft spot for down to earth stories, probably why he invited you to stay.

Well. You might not know what to say to help him feel better. But, you're good at keeping your ears open. And while you may not be up-to-date at what's going on in the swamp these days, you heard plenty of stuff in town.

So maybe you've got something relevant to share with the poor Postmaster. Something about being faced with a tough decision, maybe?

Yeah, that might do the trick. If he hears about what someone else did to make a choice, that might be a boost to his mood. Give him some way to think about it that isn't just the choice itself.

Oh, wait, you remember just the thing. The blacksmith. That's a good story, and it's right on the subject.

"Well, when I was on leave, I spent some time with the local blacksmith. She told me about how she had to handle a tough decision not that far back."

The Postmaster perks up.

"Oh? What'd she do?"

"Well, here's how it goes. She had this supplier she'd worked with for years. He said he couldn't get ahold of the good iron any more, but he could put in an order for some lower-quality stuff. At a discount, naturally. She asked for some time to think about it, see what her options were. And owing to how long they'd been doing business together, he agreed to give her five days, otherwise he wouldn't be able to place the order at all. So she started talking to other suppliers to see if they could get ahold of the better ore."

"Makes sense so far."

"Well. The next day, she found someone who said he could, but he was charging double the old rate. When she pointed this out, he simply said that quality product was worth more - of course, she was welcome to look for another supplier. He wouldn't bargain at all, and she was concerned about having to raise her own prices to compensate."

"Honestly, this guy sounds a little shady. Why could he get the good iron if no one else could, especially if he was charging that much?"

"She thought so, too. Which left her stuck - did she go with the worse ore for a better price from someone she trusted, or did she pay extra for quality ore from a questionable source? She spent two days thinking about it without getting anywhere."

"Sounds uncomfortably familiar," the Postmaster sighs. "So how'd she settle it?"

"Well. When she woke up the next morning, she had a realization. What was really important wasn't the quality of the ore, or the price. When it came down to it, her customers would be the ones who had to face the consequences - higher prices or worse quality. And she hadn't talked to them at all."

The Postmaster starts looking very attentive.

"So she spent the whole day tracking down her regulars, telling them about the situation. And as she explained it, every one of them thought the guy with the high prices sounded like he was scheming something, and told her to go with the reliable choice. They'd back her even if it meant their horseshoes would wear out a little sooner, or their armor would be able to take a few less blows. And at the end of it all, not only did she make the deal with her old supplier, but the town guard looked into what the other man was doing, and found out that some of his buddies had been chasing people away from the best mines. So they put a stop to that, and before long the good iron was back in circulation anyways."

The Postmaster smiles at you.

"Thank you, Sixth, that was just what I needed to hear. So, before I get back to work, I've got one quick question for you."

Shoot. You think you know where this is going, considering you're the one who led him here.

"I know you've been gone for a while, but I'd appreciate your thoughts nonetheless. How would you feel about Sergeant Ash or Sergeant Greenwoods as acting commander?"

Yep. Now you've gone and done it.

How are you going to answer him?

You don’t really have a preference. On one hand you’re more familiar with Greenwoods, but maybe you could score a few points with Dominic if you helped him out.

Actually, you know what would be way more interesting than delivering swampleaf? Going around the base and gossiping with folks about the new commander.

You don’t have an official assignment, and Postmaster is a higher rank than Tom First. Ask him to let you get a feel for what folks are thinking, you’ll report back in a couple of hours.

Besides, you actually prefer Burgundy.

"Don't think I could say I have a strong preference," you say with a shrug, after giving it some thought. "I can say Vera Greenwoods is damn good at training, but that's not the same as running the whole base. Ash, I don't really know at all. Only met him once, really, when I was figuring out what squad to join. He was recommending someone on his old squad for a promotion, and wanted to pick out who'd fill the gap. We talked for maybe an hour, nothing came of it. I don't even remember who took the spot in the end, it wasn't that big a deal to me."

"Well, that's fair. Wasn't expecting you to have all the answers," the Postmaster laughs. "You were just at hand."

That gives you a thought.

"That'd be because they don't know what to do with me just yet," you say. "So they've got me doing things like running around delivering meals for Tom First. But after I take that dish back, I've got nothing in particular I need to be doing."

"You going somewhere with this, Tom?"

"You said it yourself, you've got a lot of work to do. I could go around, get a read on what people think. Give you the highlights."

The Postmaster muses on this.

"It's not a bad idea, but I think I've still got to talk with some people myself. Wouldn't feel right otherwise."

"I can look out for people you should make time for while I'm at it. I'm sure you've got your own thoughts on that, but who knows? There might be someone with a unique perspective you wouldn't think of."

The Postmaster smiles at you.

"You know what, that sounds good. Come back in a couple of hours and tell me what you've found out, so I can plan my day out tomorrow. Should have a better sense of things then."

Well, now you've done it. You've gone and made a bunch of extra work for yourself.

So where should you go first to gather some opinions?

There's always good gossip to be had by the rock.

Most knights will have wrapped up their dinner by now, so you're not likely to learn much at the mess hall.

It's also too late to go to the lounge. This is about when they close it for the night, unless there's a special event.

So your best remaining source of gossip is outside, at the Rock. Patrollers like to take their breaks there, and they're usually eager to have someone to talk to.

Of course, it's hard to get out at this hour if you're not a patroller. But you can probably think of something to tell the guards at the front door.

First, though, you have to take this bowl back to Tom First. And you suppose it wouldn't hurt to keep your eyes open for good sources on the way.

Luck doesn't seem to be smiling on you tonight, though. You don't see any of your usual contacts. Actually, you barely see anyone. You suppose it's just busier than usual.

"Was the Postmaster eating slow?" Tom First asks as you slip back into the kitchen. "I thought you'd be back ten minutes ago."

"He wanted someone to talk to," you say casually. "Someone who wasn't another officer, apparently. Seems he's been talking to them a lot lately."

First laughs heartily.

"Yeah, it's like that whenever there's a deadlock, even on the small stuff. For something big like this, though... He really needs some space. I only talked to him the one time, myself - I've been in his shoes a bunch of times, after all."

Hmm. Perhaps you can get some practice with your pitch here before you go to asking the rank and file. The Postmaster's already heard Tom First's point of view, but you haven't, and you're always curious.

So how should you approach this?

Ask, but be flirty about it.

You decide to turn on the ol' Tom Sixth charm.

"So what did you say to him?" you ask, batting your eyelashes a little.

First doesn't seem to pay any attention to it.

"That's confidential," he says calmly. "Strictly between the two of us. That's how it's got to be with this sort of thing - it'd be bad if, for instance, I said something harsh about Ash and word got around and then he took on the post. Even if he didn't take it personally, it'd be bound to get in the way of us both doing our jobs. Hells, it'd be awkward whether the vote went his way or not. So, whatever I said stays between me and the Postmaster and everything goes as smooth as it can."

Well. That didn't go so well. You were probably too direct, and now he's not likely to tell you anything.

You've been out of practice too long, that's the problem. Getting gossip in town was an entirely different beast, and you spent the last two weeks in a carriage on top of that. And your driver was all too happy to talk, so that wasn't much of a challenge.

You're going to need a warmup before you head to the Rock. Someone who opens up easy, but not so easy that you don't even think about it.

So who can you think of who fits that bill?

Ninth would just be happy to have another Tom around, so that's a little too easy.

Lisa Black would immediately see through you so gotta watch out for her.

Oh! Dean would be the perfect candidate! Let's go find him!.

What do you mean "captured"?

The first name to cross your mind is that eager kid, Tom Ninth. But he's a little too eager. Especially around other Toms. You can get pretty much every scrap he knows just by offering a sympathetic ear. There's no real challenge, and most of what he knows is easy to pick up anyways.

You then think back to your pals on your repair squad, who you haven't really been able to check in with, and Lisa Black is the first name you think of. But you need all your wits about you to get anything good out of her. Most of the times when you have a talk, she manages to get all your gossip and you barely learn a thing. She's just that good.

Of course, repair squads work closely with pest control squads. And that's when the perfect candidate comes to mind - the Dean. He's exactly the warmup you need. Give him a chance and he'll babble about all sorts of things - but the trick is getting him to focus on the topic you want to hear about. And as long as you keep him talking, he won't think anything's up.

It's the perfect plan, so you opt to go and check in with his squad. They should be doing an equipment check about now before winding up for the night.

But when you stop by, you only see five members on his squad. And Grey is directing them.

"Oh, hey Sixth," he says, noticing you. "If you're here to fill in on our squad, you're a little late."

"Fill in?" you ask. "No, I just wanted to check in with the Dean."

"You won't find him here," Greenbags pipes up. "He got captured by the Marshguards, and prisoner negotiations haven't even started yet. So, unless you want to sneak into the Marsh Fortress to have a chat, you're just going to have to wait."

Well. That's disappointing. So what's your plan now?

"Aw that's too bad, guess I'll have to wait to tell him about..." Then cut yourself off like you almost let some big secret slip.

See who perks up and mention the name of one of the candidate officers. So and so might not want you to know.

You should get a reaction or two

Well. May as well make the most of what you've got. For one, the squad's going to be at least a little curious as to what you want to see Dean about.

That's an opening.

"Pity. He definitely would have wanted to hear about it. Oh well, nothing I can do, I suppose."

Surely one of them's going to rise to that bait.

"Hear about what?" asks Nina. "Did you have a weird animal sighting?"

"Maybe," you say. Always good to keep them guessing. "At least, that's what I thought it was, but..." You pause before finishing. "Actually, I suppose I should double-check with Sergeant Ash before I go spreading that too far. "

Grey's face goes a shade of red you haven't seen before.

"The hell does Ash know about pest control?" he shouts at you. "If there's a dangerous animal on the loose, we need to know about it. Especially with..." He almost catches himself. "With some of the stuff that's been going on lately."

Oh, now. Seems Grey knows something juicy.

"I just mean, it might not have been an animal," you say. "Since the Dean's our resident expert, I thought I'd talk to him. But I haven't cleared talking to anyone else about it with Ash."

Technically true, seeing as you haven't talked to Ash at all. Grey doesn't need to know that, though.

"Figures Ash wouldn't know who's missing. Dean's not one of his cronies, after all. You ought to stay away from him before you get roped into whatever trouble he's causing."

"Well, I don't know that I had his full attention," you continue bluffing. "I imagine he's got a lot on his mind."

"Nah," says Greenbags, "I bet he did forget. Wouldn't be the first time. He keeps track of what people can do, but he doesn't pay any attention to the missing or injured list. Heard lots of stories about him overlooking it."

Now that's an interesting tidbit. Exactly the sort of thing the Postmaster might want to hear.

Maybe you should press Greenbags on it. Then again, Grey clearly seems to have some good info - maybe relevant to the leadership vote, maybe not. Either way, though, you definitely want to try and get it out of him; but maybe there's a better time.

Decisions, decisions. Which angle to pursue? Or do you just keep the conversation going and see if anything else pops up?