Swamped

Yeah ref it up. Be gamemaster.

What happens if both players choose a trap on the same square?

What happens if both players choose a trap on the same square?

SpoilerShow

They each have a "side" of the board and their traps have to go on that side, so there's no crossover.

Even if they could, traps only affect the enemy - you know where your own traps are, so you can avoid them. So a double-trapped square would just trap both players.

Grid size is eight-by-eight, this is as arbitrary as any other rule I came up with, I'm just making this up as I go along.

"I'll referee," you say. You feel like you'll learn more by watching them.

"Okay then. Left half is mine, right half is yours," Mark says. "Since this is your first time playing, I'll let you pick - first or second?"

"Second," Lisa says confidently.

"You're Red, then. Put your traps in your half and hand them to the ref."

"Can I build a tower on my own traps?"

"Yeah. Nothing happens to you, because you know where the trap is, and if I build there later, I still get trapped. You can't build under your command tower, though - that's the one you start with."

You soon get two pieces of paper, and you mark them "Mark" and "Lisa" so you don't forget later. You then sit to watch the game.

It soon gets intense. The first few rounds are slow, as their towers are nowhere near each other, but once the first shots get fired it moves quickly. You're not even sure if you'd be able to keep track of the traps if they weren't announcing them; your only job is to confirm the hits.

But what you notice is that Mark's territory is getting smaller and smaller, and soon enough, Lisa pipes up.

"Thirty-three towers. I believe that's the game for me?"

Mark nods silently. He doesn't seem happy.

"No need to be so upset. You taught me an interesting game. I'd be glad to have a rematch any time."

"So he can lose some more?" the other knight chimes in. You'd nearly forgotten he was there.

"You stay out of this, Bernard!" Mark shouts. "You know full well I never wanted to see you again. I can't believe you turned out to be in this filthy swamp, of all places."

And with that, Mark grabs the board and pieces and storms out, leaving you and Lisa staring awkwardly at the other knight.

"I've got nothing to say to either of you. Mind your own damn business."

With that, he buries his face in a book, leaving you to wonder just what happened.

What are you going to do now?

Well.
Time.... for SWAMPRATS AGAIN

The atmosphere in here got really hostile. Wanna go somewhere else and gossip?

Iirc there's an auditorium, we could go there

Well, this is the perfect time for a rain joke!

oh my god no don't do that

"Maybe it would be best to go somewhere else," you say to Lisa. "If we stay here with this grouch, we'll just be raining on each other's parades..."

It takes you a moment to realize what you said, by which time Lisa is already fighting back tears. And Bernard is even more irritated than he was before.

"I'm sorry. I forgot how serious a matter the rain is around here."

"I think I need to show you something," Lisa says. She walks out, and you follow her. You soon realize that this is the path to the auditorium Jackson led you down an hour ago.

She steps inside.

"Jackson already showed me," you say, carefully. "He said this room doesn't see much use..."

"And thank the gods for that," Lisa says, leading you towards the stage. "Jackson's lucky. He hasn't been here long enough to see one of its main uses."

At the very back of the stage, there's a large curtain, and Lisa pulls it aside, revealing dozens of plaques, each with a name on them.

"Memorials," you say.

"These are the knights we've lost to the rain. When a knight doesn't come back, we hold a service for them here. We were lucky enough not to lose anyone in the last storm, but even a day's rain can mean casualties."

She sighs, and you follow her eyes to a plaque marked Tom Third.

"Perhaps the worst part is that we never actually find the bodies. Makes it harder to accept that they're truly gone."

"I'm sorry I reminded you."

"It's all right. Not like I don't think about it a lot already. Just, yeah, watch what you say. Nobody likes to talk about the rain."

You appreciate her forgiveness, but the fact is, you're still bothered that you forgot.

"I don't suppose this is a good time for a hand of Swamprats," you say, unsure how else to change the subject.

"Tom Third's the one who taught me how to play it," she says, still weeping a bit. "I can't think of a better way to honor his memory."

You pull out the deck she gave you the other day and deal out the hands. This time, your face-down card is the Six of Wings.

"You take the first turn," she says.

You flip over the next card, and it's a Monarch of Blades. What bet will you make?

WE'RE GOING FOR RANK

is it blades?

You're going to fail at a poker face

"Suit," you say hopefully. Lisa shakes her head, and you toss over an Ace of Leaves. She then draws the Three of Stones, glances at you, and says "Pass."

She has no trouble reading your face, you realize. You must have looked relieved when a completely different card went down.

It's your turn again, and you draw a Three of Blades. Well, you already know that's not the suit, so you might as well go for rank this time.

"Rank," you say.

This time, Lisa nods. She hands over a Three of Leaves from her hand... and realization slowly dawns on you as you take it.

"But that means your card is..."

"Well, you've already used your turn. You can make a direct guess next turn, but I've got one to go."

"Oh. And I suppose you're taking it?"

"No harm in it from my point of view. If I guess wrong, I lose anyhow, right?"

You have to agree with that.

"Not even a lot of point in flipping over a card, since I'm guessing directly," Lisa says, shoving the deck aside. "So let me see... how about... the Six of Wings?"

Your eyes widen as you flip up the card.

"How did you..."

"Well, it wasn't as much of a guess as it first seemed. You've probably realized that you were giving yourself away on my draw, but you also let a few things slip on your own. I was pretty sure it wasn't Blades or Stones because of that, so that cut down half the deck already. I was also fairly sure it wasn't a face card, because you probably would have looked closer at the card if you had one. That already takes me down to eighteen cards, since I knew it wasn't a three. And you tossed me the Ace of Leaves. I took a guess that you're not good enough to rein in your impulses, and the impulse of a lot of new players is not to hand over cards that match theirs. So, that leaves me thinking that you've got a Wings card and it's not an ace, face, or three. That's just eight cards."

Lisa puts down her hand.

"Now, that's before I look at my own hand. Wouldn't you know it, every card I drew, except the Three of Leaves, was Wings. And not a face card or an ace in the lot. That's five more cards I can rule out, not counting the Three of Wings I picked out. So I've got a one in three chance, unless you're better at hiding your reactions than I think."

"But you needed a lot of luck to draw that many Wings," you note.

"I did. More likely I'd get odds of one in six or so, since it's not that unlikely I'll get a Wings card that rules some possibilities out. Still worth the risk if I'm sure to lose next turn."

"But you didn't have to give me your Three of Leaves."

"Well, yeah. But I'm not one to shy away from taking risks in a game. If you ask me, it's no fun to play it safe. Maybe I just say that because I keep winning, though."

She smiles.

"Thanks for the game, Marshall. Third would have laughed so hard at that if he were here."

"I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Yeah, but I'm afraid my break's just about over. Good luck with your training, and maybe think about learning to bluff for next game." She chuckles a bit. "Or perhaps you shouldn't. Maybe it's good that you present your real feelings to the world."

You wave goodbye and gather up the cards. You'll be eating in about an hour, but before that, how will you use your time?

SpoilerShow

In case anyone's wondering how I resolved the tie in suggestions:

<Loather> im in favor of the side opposite the first vote
<Loather> tie broken B)

Maybe we should practice reading

visit john medic... maybe you can become an assistant there?

You decide to use the time to improve your reading skills. You head over to the infirmary to see if John Medic will lend you some, or if he can tell you if there's somewhere else you can find books.

But as you head in, you see that he's busy examining someone. Someone who looks a bit exhausted, and bruised. You stay back and listen in.

"I'm going to need to have a talk with the captain about how you've been pulling too much night duty lately, Ninth," John grumbles. "Between that and your capture, you really need rest. I'm giving you two days off right now. After that, we'll take another look at how you're doing."

"It's not even the hours. It's that Eighth keeps working on his project when I'm trying to sleep," the knight yawns.

"Well, for now I suggest you try to sleep when he does and I'll try to get you on a schedule where you can do that regularly. If not, I'll have a talk with Eighth about being mindful of people on the night shift."

"Right, thanks." The knight gets up, and just glances at you briefly as he walks past.

"Oh! Marshall. I hope you're not here to get an injury checked out again. That would be a rather disturbing pattern."

"No, I'm looking for books." You glance around the room. "And maybe something to do. Do you manage all the injured yourself?"

"Usually. Well, during the day, anyhow. We have another medic on standby at night. Did you meet her when you were here overnight?"

"I don't really remember. I might have just fallen asleep."

"Ah. Well, one medic is usually enough. Though we do have knights trained in emergency aid in case of large-scale disasters. If we get caught off guard by a sudden rain, for instance, or if there's a major enemy attack. What we do then is just try to stabilize as many wounded as we can, and the medics examine them one by one once the immediate risk has passed."

"Could you give me the training?"

"I don't mind, but I'd have to get the captain's approval before we could properly begin. And I have enough to talk to him about today already. Tell you what, take a few days to think about it and let me know if you still want to learn. For now, though, you wanted to borrow some books, didn't you?"

He leads you into the small side room you were in before.

"Well, pick out whatever looks interesting to you. You've got a better sense of how your skills are advancing than I would."

You decide to take two books and then head to dinner. What books are they?

A book of ghost stories and a book about a caterpillar that devours absolutely everything. One looks a little more challenging than the other

The very hungry swamperpede
little house in the swamp

You settle on a picture book about a very hungry insect, and a book of "terrifying tales" about an abandoned house in the middle of the swamp. You thank John Medic for his time, and head over to the mess hall to pass some time while you wait for your dinner.

You soon find that the "terrifying tales" are actually somewhat pathetic, at least from what you can make out. The picture book, on the other hand, leaves you feeling very disturbed as it goes on in great detail on the remnants of the caterpillar's meals.

"Hey, that's my book," you suddenly hear. You look up to see Juliet Corser smiling at you. "I put it together during the last rainstorm, and gave it to the medic when he was asking for contributions."

You glance at the cover, and sure enough, you can make out the name "Juliet Corser" on there.

"This is very, um, detailed art," you say. Frankly, it's a little off-putting, but you don't feel comfortable telling her that.

"I got the idea when I saw a few half-eaten animal carcasses shortly after I finished training. But I didn't have the time to put it together until the storm. I think it's not bad for my first work."

You feel a bit lost for words, and for the first time since you arrived here, the blandness of the swamp mush feels like a blessing. You decide to change the subject.

"Was this book written by a Bogknight, too?" you ask, holding up the book of not-so-scary stories.

"Hmm. Don't recognize the name, but it's not as if I know everyone here. John Recordkeeper does like to help creatively-minded knights to put books together, though, so it's possible. You could always ask him about it."

"Where would I find him?"

"Over in the archives. Oh, hang on, they're serving dinner now, I'd best get to eating. Do let me know if you'd like to see more of my work."

She runs off, though you quickly realize that this means you can get dinner as well. You walk up to the counter and take your bowl of mush, which is about all you can handle after reading Juliet's book.

It still takes you a good fifteen minutes to get through the bowl. By that time, the mess hall is quite crowded and you can't make out anyone you recognize.

You're planning to turn in for the night soon, but you've still got some time to do something else first. If you can think of anything.

See what Inventor Tom is working on. I forget his number, was it eighth?

Try to see if you can find out where the archives. tomorrow morning you can have a little practice finding your way around if you can still remember how to get there!

You're curious about the book, so you decide to take some time to find the archives. Unfortunately, you quickly get lost, and this time it's genuine. When you step outside the hallways you're familiar with, you feel overwhelmed.

It would be a different matter if you had a guide, but you don't see anyone you recognize. And you feel a bit too self-conscious to go up to someone in the middle of the halls. It's not as if this is an important task, after all.

You decide that it can wait until tomorrow, and head towards your room.

But suddenly, you hear some loud hammering, and you remember hearing about the knight who was working on... well, something. You decide to investigate, and follow the noises to a door that looks just like all the other doors in this part of the base.

You knock on the door, and after hearing a muffled shout to the effect of "who the hell could that be", Tom Eighth thrusts the door open. You recognize him from the barge, though you didn't know his name at the time.

"Oh. It's the newbie," he grumbles. "What do you want, I'm busy."

"Well, ah, yes, I heard the noise and wondered what you were working on."

"Well, you can wonder some more. I've said it a thousand times to a thousand people, you'll see it when it's done. Now, do you have anything else to waste my time with, or can I get back to work?"

"Um, you know, the noise bothers people..."

"I'm almost done for the night. You can handle another ten minutes of noise. Now get out."

"Wait! Ah, I was looking for the archives, and, er, I was wondering if you could give me directions?"

He gives you a doubting glare, then shrugs and quickly scribbles something on a notepad. Then he tears off a sheet and hands it to you.

"There. I don't know or care what you're planning to do there, but that gets you to the archives. Now leave me alone!"

He slams the door in your face before you can thank him. You follow his directions and find that an elderly knight is just locking up.

"The archives are closed for the evening," he says politely. "I can make a note of what you'd like and attend to it tomorrow, but I'm afraid I don't have the time for more than that."

"Oh, that's fine, that's fine, I just had a question." You hold up the book about the haunted house. "I heard you print books for the knights here, and I was curious if this was one of them. Sorry to bother you."

He suddenly starts smiling.

"Oh! The house in the swamp. That was actually written by a Marshguard prisoner two years ago. Not many readers over there, let alone writers, but after some talk we decided to let them print it off. We gave them a copy to take back to the fortress, and kept one here. Now, hmm, what was that prisoner's nickname, I can't recall it at all..."

Five-eyes is what they call him on account of his fancy glasses

Pen Tagon!

Pepper

"Pepper!" he exclaims suddenly. "That is, his nickname was Pepper. Though the knights here tended to call him Five-Eyes."

"Five-eyes?"

"Well, he wore glasses, but the other part of it was that he wasn't very good at counting. Anyhow, I didn't tease him like that, though he never seemed to mind it that much."

"The stories aren't that scary."

"Well, it's worth considering that he was in a prison cell when he wrote it. The book might read differently if you keep that in mind." He smiles, and starts walking off. "I do appreciate that you're taking an interest in books, though. Reading is not the most popular of pasttimes around here. Feel free to come by during your free time tomorrow if you'd like to talk, though; I have a more flexible schedule than most here."

You thank him and head back to your room. It's been quite a busy day, and you could use some rest.

You decide to take another look at Pepper's book, bearing in mind what you now know about the author. You glance at the table of contents and try to decipher the story titles before picking an interesting one.

Which story will you read?