Swamped

Well! Head back to John Recordkeeper!

And mention to him that Squib Squad seemed anxious to go help out with patrol.

You think that's enough for now, so you head back. Though you do warn the other knights lingering about the greatrats outside, first; it hardly seems fair to only tell Squib Squad.

You return to the archives and inform John Recordkeeper about the rope and tarp they need replaced. You also note that they seemed eager to go out on patrol. Finally, you mention hearing about a broken water barrel, just as an afterthought.

"We do have a barrel unaccounted for," he muses. "We didn't find any debris, though. I'd be surprised if the greatrats moved it, but it doesn't matter much what exactly happened. What matters is that we'll need an extra barrel, and we'll probably have to ration the water even tighter until it gets here. Hmm, might have to see if we can afford an expedited shipment in that case... oh, but then what am I going to do about sending someone to the Royal Archives, they'd have to start packing right away..."

"The Royal Archives, sir?"

"Hmm? Oh! Sorry, sorry, got a bit lost in thought there. We send copies of most of our documents to the Royal Archives. A swamp isn't exactly the best place to keep paper, after all. All the moisture, and such."

"Makes sense."

"In fact, just the other day I found some old documents getting soaked by a leak in the roof. I tried drying them off in the oven, which caused some trouble at breakfast that I'm quite sorry for, but it didn't do much good. It did uncover the author's signature, though. So I'm going to send a courier over to the Royal Archives to find their writings, and maybe this will be among them. It's old enough that we might not have sent a copy, but it's worth a look. But I haven't thought about that much yet, since we'd just send the courier back when our supplies arrive. If we're getting an expedited shipment, though, then I might as well send the courier at that point. And I haven't even asked for volunteers yet..."

His voice trails off. He seems lost in thought again. You could try to get more orders out of him, or ask some questions. Or you could just leave him to his thoughts and see Tom First for orders, or perhaps take a break.

What will you do?

Wait a few minutes and then ask for more orders. Let him finish his thtoughts firstt!

consider if getting some leave to the royal archives is something you would want to do

Are these documents something that someone could carry, say, under 1 arm?

You wait for a little while before John Recordkeeper finally notices you're still standing around. It's enough time to consider what he's just said.

"Oh! Sorry, sorry, were you waiting for more orders?"

"Well... Could I be the courier for that business you were talking about?"

"Hmm. Well, you just got here, didn't you? Are you missing civilization that much already?" He chuckles. "Not that I can blame you if you are."

"I just want to help out where I can."

"Fair point. I'll consider your name, then. It's not common to send new recruits out for this sort of thing, but then, you won't learn anything if you don't do anything. Anyhow, I sent messengers out for most of the other squads while you were gone, but you can look at the remaining squads if you're still looking for something to do."

You take a look at the list. It's considerably shorter than last time, with most of the names crossed off. Which of the remaining squads will you pay a visit to?

Boat Squad

Squad Mire

a group listed just as "Squad" as the first word seems to be scratched off

You notice a "Boat Squad" on the list, and frown a bit.

"Is the Boat Squad at the docks?" you ask. "I could have taken care of that at the same time."

"Ah, hmm. Yes, I really ought to have noted down their locations so you can work more efficiently. Ah well, something to remember for next time. Anyhow, that's our boat maintenance crew. We've only got the one squad, but they rarely leave the base. The only time they would is if the barge broke down out there, and they work hard to make sure that doesn't happen. Of course, we definitely don't want them to be short on supplies."

"Huh. If they're such an important squad, why haven't they reported in yet, then? And why hasn't someone else gone to check on them?"

"Ah, well. They're likely to be very busy. There were greatrats on the barge, and they've been checking it. As to why no one else has picked them... well, they're often shorthanded, so they tend to put knights with nothing else in particular to do to work on some of the less specialized tasks."

"I see." You muse on this. They probably won't give you any work that's too hard for your one arm, so you decide it's safe enough.

You tell John Recordkeeper you'll check in with them and head back to the docks.

You don't see anyone around, but you hear some loud noises coming from the barge. More specifically, the hold. You can't really figure out what sort of sound it is, though.

You consider heading in to see what's going on, but then you recall that John Recordkeeper mentioned something about greatrats on the barge. What if there are still some in there?

But you don't see Boat Squad around anywhere else. What are you going to do?

Call out! hello?

Stealth your way forward!

"Hello?"

You call down into the hold, but you can barely hear yourself as the noise gets louder. If they are down there, it's doubtful they heard you.

You decide to take advantage of the opportunity, then. You slip down, using the noise as cover. If something's gone wrong here, you can at least find out what it is.

As you slip down the stairs, the noise becomes clearer. You can hear metal striking metal, which seems odd, but it's not as if you know what's involved in boat maintenance. It certainly doesn't sound like a noise greatrats would make.

And as you reach the bottom step, you can clearly see it isn't. You spot two Marshguards fighting off three Bogknights; and at a second glance, you see three more knights and another Marshguard lying on the floor.

You don't know exactly what's happened here, but this isn't a good time for asking questions. Nobody's seen you yet; what will you do?

You may have one less arm but an extra bogknight might change the tide of battle. Wait for a perfect opportunity, make sure you have something that can do decent damage and strike if and only if they need your help. Otherwise just obseve from the shadows, something shady is up.

have you gotten your weapon back yet?
you should turn around and get reinforcements
run!

Runnin' is for fools and clowns and you left your bright red nose at home today! Get in there and rough it up! But do it all sneaky like, like Colby suggested. No need to jump in all 'RAAA' if you're just going to end up going 'AAAR.' (That is a death sound.)

You consider going back for reinforcements, but you decide that time is of the essence.

You regret not stopping by the armory for your skyslicer, but you do have your throwing gloves. You just need to find a good opportunity.

You slip through the hold carefully, trying not to draw attention to yourself. The enemy hasn't spotted you yet, after all.

As you draw near, you start checking the ground for things light enough to pick up with one arm. You soon spot an empty crate - perfect.

You grab it, and hurl it at the Marshguards.

One of them is alert enough to dodge it, but the other isn't. The crate shatters, knocking him to the floor, and giving the other Bogknights time to subdue his partner.

"Thanks," one of the knights says, gasping for breath as he pins the Marshguard you knocked down. "They caught us by surprise, I think they snuck on board while the pest control squad was out last night. We were checking for greatrats, so at least we were ready for a fight... just not one like this. Could you get us some rope, and then alert the medic?"

You grab a length rope from a nearby hook, and take it to the boat squad. They set about tying up the Marshguards while you run off to get a medic.

Your first stop is the reserve squad waiting room. You tell them about the Marshguards in the hold, and several knights rush for the barge. You happen to notice that Squib Squad doesn't seem to be around at the moment.

Then you head for the infirmary and tell them about the fight. Eve's too exhausted, and John still hasn't woken up, so Cindy runs off to check on the wounded.

You then decide that with everything going on, you can't go around without a weapon. So you stop by the armory before going back to the boat to ask about what supplies they need replaced - besides the crate you broke, of course.

You get a list, and take it back to John Recordkeeper. By now you're feeling exhausted from all the running around, but you think you've done enough.

Dinner's in about an hour. Is there anything you plan to do before then?

Return to the boat one last time and see what's up with the new prisoners!

Ask recordkeeper if it turns out that there are no proper prosthetic devices for you, if flame might consider taking on a commission (you could pay for it using the stipon you were informed of from the leader wizard dude)
Maybe you could get his address so you could send a letter

You decide to see how things are going with the boat.

The prisoners are gone now, taken to the hold. But the maintenance crew seems in good spirits. At least, as good as can be when two of them have casts on their legs and another has his arm in a sling.

"Thanks for the assist," the one with the sling says. He's rather pudgy. "At least, I heard it was you. Wasn't exactly conscious when you showed up."

"Yeah, I was going to check on what supplies you needed," you say. "Heard some noises, couldn't figure out what they were. So I took a look, and found the mess."

"Still don't know what happened. Then again, I think they knocked me out before the fight really began. Best guess is, they snuck in when pest control took the barge out last night, probably without any particular plan. Then, when we came to check the hold, they figured we'd catch them sooner or later so they tried to fight us off and then escape. Or maybe they were thinking to steal the barge once the coast was clear. They've tried that before."

"If they did, would we be able to get another barge?"

"Not easily. You have any idea how much it costs to make a boat this size that handles the swamp this well? I'll tell you how much, a lot more than the annual salary of a whole maintenance crew." He laughs. "So if they actually did steal it, we'd have to get it back. Happened once, and let me tell you, it wasn't easy. And I don't even want to think about the heads that are gonna roll if this barge sinks."

He gives a smile.

"But here I am, talking your ear off without introducing myself. I'm Lou, squad leader. Or at least, I was when I got up this morning. Might not be after the officers wake up and hear I led my team into an ambush."

"It'll be fine, Lou," says another one. You recognize him as the knight who asked you for the rope earlier. "This is the sort of mistake that can happen to anyone, and we're not primarily fighters. They'll understand."

"Maybe. But fact is, your safety is my responsibility, and I let you down. Especially Leanne and Mel." He looks at the two knights with casts. "Gotta tell you, it breaks my heart to see you hurt. I can't believe you're insistin' on going back to work in your condition."

"You know boat squad's work is never done, Lou. Besides, you're one to talk."

"Hey now. This was my screw-up. 'Course I'm going back to work to fix it." He chuckles a little. "Besides, my arm's in better shape than our little hero here, right?"

You feel a bit embarrassed by the word.

"I just figured I should help out," you say.

"Yeah, well, I've seen plenty of newmucks that just fall to pieces in a crisis. They don't tend to stay here long, which is probably best for everyone really. But you seem to be doing all right so far. I hope you'll stick around."

"Thanks," you say awkwardly. "So are you all holding up all right?"

"Better than the prisoners, probably. Thanks for the concern." Lou smiles. "Hope you still feel as good about us the day you get shoved on maintenance duty. Always happens sooner or later."

This might be a good time to ask some questions of the boat squad, if there's anything you want to know.

How long have you been working on boat squad? what's the coolest/strangest thing you've had to fix?

Questions:
"When did you start this job?"
"When did you acquire the barge?"
"Do you have a good map?"

How do boats work?

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