Swamped

You're Lisa Black, and you're in over your head. Worse, you don't see Sergeant Greenwoods anywhere, which suggests that you're the most senior knight out here.

That means, essentially, that you're in charge. And you have no idea what to do. You can't attack him, not with that hostage - but you certainly can't approve prisoner releases. He doesn't seem like the sort who can be talked down, either.

Well. That leaves only one option you can see - stall for time.

"Lester," you say to another knight, loud enough for the Marshguard to hear. "Head back to base and tell them about his demands."

Lester nods and runs back. You doubt they'll agree, but there's not much you can do other than make a show of complying.

"Good, good," the Marshguard sneers. "Everyone can be happy tonight."

Hang on. Something's off about the way he's talking - not just the unusual accent, or the simple word choices.

Is he... bluffing?

Your instincts are telling you that he is. But, finely-honed as your skills are, they're not good enough to give you a solid read on a foreigner from his voice alone. If you could see his face, that would be another matter; unfortunately, between his helmet and the darkness, that's not really feasible. And with a life at stake, you can't take the risk unless you can be sure.

But this has changed the playing field. You have a specific question to answer, and you know more than most about how to find the answer to it. Even if you can't see his face, he's sure to have other tells.

So how can you try to get a better sense of how serious he is?

Make a couple of slow, calculated advances towards him. See how he reacts.

The first thing you realize is that you're at the back of your group. There are two knights ahead of you. That's something of a buffer; you can move forward without actually making the group any more of a threat to him. But it's going to take him a moment to realize that; long enough for you to judge whether he's moving defensively or offensively.

You focus on his knife hand and step forward. The knife doesn't move at all.

"You! No tricks!"

You stop in your tracks.

"Just trying to get a better view. Make sure our comrade isn't too badly hurt."

"No harm. Yet. Yes?"

"I... I'm fine. For now," the hostage says, weakly. You've heard that voice before, but can't place it right away. You're more concerned with what the whole exercise told you about the Marshguard.

The most obvious thing is that he held the knife steady. Unfortunately, that's a null read in terms of his intentions. But it suggests he's done this sort of thing before.

Could he be an assassin? That would be worrying. He'd definitely be able to make a quick, clean kill, with no hesitation. On the other hand, this is also something a highwayman might do, without any real intention of carrying it out; just using it as an escape tactic.

What's more telling is that he called out to stop you. He didn't take any action against his hostage. So it's clear that he genuinely doesn't want it to come to killing. But that doesn't mean he won't do it anyway if you force the matter.

What would you do if this were a game?

The first question is how the situation translates, so you think about that a bit and come up with a scenario. You're playing Swamprats with him. It's your turn. You've just drawn a Three of Blades and put it on the table to gauge his reactions.

From what he's done so far, you're confident that you have a match, but you can't tell if it's suit or rank. How would you try to get him to give away which?

SpoilerShow

Feel free to offer your own interpretation of how your answer to the metaphorical problem might translate to the actual one. Or you can skip that and I'll see what I come up with, whatever works for you.

>Secret handshake.

You recall the first time you dealt with a situation like that. You said "I think it'ssss...", drawing out the 's' just long enough to make him think you might be moving into "suit". For just a moment, he looked relieved, and that's when you said "rank".

You were right, naturally.

So perhaps that's the angle here. Try to fake him out one way and see if he reacts. If he were an assassin, then his group would likely have signals to identify each other, if only to stay out of each others' way. Of course, those signals could be anything. Codewords. A particular style of dress. Possibly even a secret handshake.

But maybe you don't need the specifics. You know for a fact there are former assassins in the Marshguards. And you also know that the other Marshguards tend to find them unsettling.

So perhaps you just need to look like you might be an assassin, for just a moment. See if that gets a reaction.

But how can you do that?

Wear a hood, hold a knife. Don't forget to give periodic death-glares at passerbys.

even if he were an assassin, you dont know the first thing about the foreigner's culture. Doing something random and out of place is bound to get you as much of a reaction as something calculated using your cultures paradigm. Try faking a seizure or acting insane, that's bound to give you some kind of insight.

You think you might be overcomplicating matters. For one, you've got no idea what sort of culture this man came from; any signals you send might be misinterpreted in ways you can't really guess. Maybe his homeland doesn't have a particular fear of death, for instance, so he wouldn't be so unsettled by those who deal in it.

What you really want to get a read on, you think, is his sense of discipline. If he's an assassin, he'll stay calm in the face of something unexpected. Even if he's not an assassin, that sort of attitude would suggest he doesn't make idle threats.

But how can you startle him... ah, you know.

You make a show of falling to the ground suddenly, while keeping your eyes on him the whole time.

"Lisa? Lisa!" one of the nearby knights shouts. "Oh gods, don't faint on me, I don't want to be in charge here!"

The knife still doesn't move. But you note that he's patting his pouch suddenly. He seems baffled.

"It's... it's all right," you mutter, getting up. "I think I've just been awake too long."

Still hard to get a read. He's a little shaken, but not so much that he's risking any sudden moves.

A trainee, perhaps. He's learned what he's supposed to do when startled, but never really been under enough pressure for it to sink in.

You don't think he considers his threat a bluff, then. But if he's inexperienced... he might not have killed before. Might hesitate if confronted with the possibility.

Might. You're still not willing to test that by charging in.

But if it's true, then you may stand a chance of talking him down. That's not too likely to provoke him - if he doesn't care for it, he'll tell you to back off before he does anything to the hostage.

You're not a negotiator, of course. But you think you have a sense of where he stands. Maybe you can work with that.

So what are you going to say?

>Be friendly, start up a conversation, ask what his hobbies are. Introduce yourself, ask for his name. Use his name a lot, it makes people more prone to do what you want.

The first step is to make him feel secure.

"What's your Marshguard name?" you ask.

He doesn't answer.

"Don't want to say? Fair enough, I know plenty of Marshguards are stingy about revealing their nicknames."

At "stingy", you notice his head turn slightly, and that his free arm tenses up a bit. Hmm. Perhaps he had trouble getting money out of someone in the past? It's not an unusual story for Marshguards.

Or, it could be the language barrier. He might have trouble telling the difference between "stingy" and "sting". Doesn't like insects? Or maybe his name relates to one.

"Well, for my part, I'm not afraid to share my name. It's Lisa Black. And I just thought I'd warn you, I doubt the base will release our prisoners. They don't tend to take kindly to active hostage situations."

"You trade," he snaps back. "You trade before."

"Not under duress like this. You've got his life in your hands - that's very different from keeping him in a cell and feeding him. Besides, even if they did relent, they're not going to release more than one prisoner."

"Two prisoners not so much more than one."

That catches your attention. He knows you only have two prisoners - that must mean he knows Mudviper's escaped.

Is there anything useful that tells you?

>He's not alone.

It suddenly strikes you that you've been treating this whole matter as an isolated incident.

But the Marshguards were planning an assault. While they might have some stragglers who decide to attack Bogknight patrols for fun, those stragglers would be unlikely to know you even had prisoners, since the capture happened entirely within the base.

That means he's part of a squad. Which means, most likely, that the whole point of this hostage situation is to distract you from his squadmates' movements. He could be here on a scouting team... or, more ominously, a strike force aiming for soft targets.

You're suddenly very concerned about the fact that you don't know where Sergeant Greenwoods is.

Resolving this standoff has suddenly become very important. If there's a strike force, you need to react fast - but you can't just leave a hostage in this man's hands.

But taking action is still too risky. You'll have to stick to words.

So what are you going to say?

You can't think of anything better than confronting him directly.

"Where's the rest of your squad?" you ask.

He starts looking around nervously.

"What squad," he says, but he sounds worried. He's realized that he's already messed up.

"Don't play games with me. You didn't come here alone. What are you doing here?"

"Stay back!" he shouts. "Stay back, and no harm!"

"Listen," you shout back. "We know you're planning an attack. If you value your life, it's in your best interests to let him go before the fighting starts. At that point, we'll have no choice but to stop you. Even if it means a knight's life."

He seems unnerved. He waits a few seconds before responding.

"I let him go. You let me go. Fair?"

That sounds like a reasonable offer to you. Are you going to accept it, or is there something else you should say to him first?

Say something intimidating and badass, just to show-off essentially.

You decide that it's best if he leaves with a sense that you're the one in control.

"Agreed. But don't you dare try this again - we'll be ready for you."

"Ha. That, we will see."

The Marshguard releases the hostage, carefully steps off the walkway, and swims off.

You let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you all right?" you ask the hostage. He nods, but you can tell by his breathing that he's more than a little on edge.

"Head back to base," you say. "Tell them you're safe. And let's do a headcount... I'm sure Sergeant Greenwoods was patrolling around here, and there's no way she'd ignore an alarm. Let's see if anyone else is missing."

You find two others missing, but it's not long before you locate them all. They're unconscious, evidently due to blowdarts.

Fortunately, more knights are being sent out, so the patrols don't suffer much from carrying the three of them back to the infirmary. Seems they're doubling up patrols so nobody will be isolated. That should hopefully deter the Marshguards from attacking, but you can't be sure.

You hope the group that headed into Marshguard territory makes that chance considerably more certain.

You're Marshall again. You've gone further in; you can see the Marsh Fortress from here.

You'd heard of the place, but you never realized how big it is. It dwarfs your own base, though you can see that it's not as well-constructed. There are more than a few hastily-patched holes; you wonder if the place ever has trouble with greatrats.

For that matter, you wonder just how effective it is at keeping rainspawn out. Hopefully you won't find out.

Of course, there are even more guards here. There's at least a dozen patrolling just outside the main gate, not to mention a few watchtowers some distance out.

Right now, Dean and Walter are arguing. Dean thinks it's best if you make them think there's a sixth member of your group, so the rest of you can get captured and they'll waste hours looking for the sixth in the fortress. Walter thinks they'll be able to work out from guard reports that there's only five of you, especially if they find Corvus' group, so it's best to actually get someone into the fortress.

The rest of you are trying to make up your minds. Which approach do you prefer? Or do you have a different idea entirely?

Find another friend.

"It's a shame," you muse. "If only we hadn't been separated from Stacy and had to leave Tom behind to wait for her, we'd have seven. Could have sent someone back after we were sure we'd been noticed, so they'd realize our numbers were going down."

"Too late for that, I'm afraid," Dean says, shaking his head. "We'll have to rely on the inherent uncertainty of patrol reports."

"We've had three run-ins with Marshguards, not counting Corvus," Walter points out. "Three reports is enough to take seriously."

"I think they'd still try it," Jackson says. "They might not search the place top to bottom, but they'd still do a quick sweep to confirm they didn't miss someone."

"What if we could get them to think they see six of us here?" Mary asks. "Make a decoy out of sticks and such. Someone runs with it, gets spotted from a distance, drops the decoy while they're busy with the rest of us."

"Hmm. Kind of risky," Walter says. "But if we make a plan for five people, and the runner headed for the fortress has the decoy, that gives us a backup plan if the runner doesn't make it."

"So it would be a mix of the two plans." Dean nods. "In that case, we want to use an approach that assumes we have two runners to use. Of course, we'd also have to make the decoy..."

Jackson pulls out some rope.

"I'll handle that. You work out the details."

"I'll keep an eye out for patrols," Walter says. "They've got enough troops around here that they'll likely send someone to check the bushes sooner or later."

"Right. We don't have the luxury of a very detailed plan," Dean says. "So, quick thoughts. What's the best way for four of us to make a distraction?"

See if dean can find any fauna that could be lured to the base

A thought occurs to you.

"Dean, you said the Marshguards aren't as good as we are at keeping beasts away from the base."

"That's right," he says. "That's why they built most of their walkways over the shallows; it's easier to spot creatures when they can't go very deep."

"So could we draw something over to them?"

"Oh, that might well work. That's likely the main reason they have so many guards here. Hmm, but I'm not too familiar with this area, since it's not exactly easy to get here. I don't know exactly what sort of creatures might be around, especially so soon after the rain. And we wouldn't want to lure out something too dangerous, in case it turns on us..."

"Take a guess, I suppose?" you suggest. "Think of a creature that you know how to lure out safely, and then see if it shows up."

"Right," Dean muses. "Let's get ready first. I see Jackson's got the decoy done; think you can make a good run while carrying it?"

"Should be able to," Jackson says, nodding. "I can even get my ropes off it cleanly."

"Okay. Then if the lure works, I want everyone else running. Jackson, you make your own way once the rest of us have them distracted. Drop the decoy on your own judgement. I think that's about it..."

"What are you luring?" Mary asks.

"Oh, I forgot to mention that," Dean says. "I was thinking of..."

A Six-Gilled Fenguin, although it's more accurate to call it a Lesser Six-Gilled Fenguin after it was divided into two separate species.

"The Six-Gilled Fenguin. Well, Lesser Six-Gilled Fenguin, apparently they discovered the swampdwelling one is actually a different species... oh, sorry, I'll explain more when we're in captivity, since we'll have time to pass there. Suffice to say that it's mostly harmless, from a distance at least, but it makes a lot of noise when provoked."

Dean slips towards the edge of your cover.

"And the thing is, it's actually quite easy to provoke. It tends to stay deep in the muck, watching for disruptions on the surface. Then it rises to see if the disruption is food. If it can't find anything, or it's still hungry, well, that's going to be quite the distraction. Be ready, in case this works."

You prepare yourself to run. You can't really focus on what Dean's doing, but out of the corner of your eye you spot him gently dropping a stick into a patch of deep water.

A moment later, a massive creature rises from the muck, snapping the stick in two and roaring. You can't get a good look at it, but from what you can see it could be either a fish or a bird.

"RUN!" Dean shouts. "And faster than you were planning! That's a Greater Fenguin! I thought they were only in the desert!"

You're already running. The Marshguards are in a panic, and it takes them some time to sort out who's going after which of you and who's attempting to drive off the Fenguin. By that time, you've all scattered, and you hide behind a rock as you try to figure out what's going on.

Four Marshguards rush for the Fenguin, while from your vantage point you see the rest split into groups of two and run for each member of your group. Jackson seems to bide his time, and rushes out with the decoy when most of the guards are diverted.

"There's two more over there!" you hear someone shout. Two guards are headed your way; you figure you might as well let them catch you.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look that easy. The Fenguin's more than anyone was bargaining for; it's already slapped two Marshguards aside with its... fin? Wing? You can't really tell.

"Forget the Bogknights! We'll stop them at the main gate! Everyone, after the beast! Kill it or drive it away, it doesn't matter!"

Well, this wasn't exactly how the plan was meant to go, but you suppose you can work with it. What should you do now?

May as well help the Marshguards fighting the Fenguin in the confusion, it wasn't part of the plan to have your captors murdered and their defenses ripped apart by a whatever-the-fuck.

Make sure the Marshguards can appreciate what you're doing though, it wouldn't do to defeat the Fenguin only to have a bunch kf ungrateful, angry Marshguards staring you down.

The plan's going wrong, and you were aiming to get captured anyhow. It's best if you help clean up the mess.

You step out from behind the rock.

"Hey! Don't try anything funny, Bogknight!" a Marshguard calls out at you. He looks like he's about to give chase, but he's got one eye on the Fenguin and seems afraid to move closer.

"I'm just helping you out with the beast," you say, drawing your slicer. "No tricks! I'll come along quietly afterwards."

The Marshguard glares at you for a few moments, then nods.

"Fine. But if you harm our men, you can expect a trip to the darkest cell we have. Understood?"

"Got it. Don't worry."

You aim carefully, and fling your slicer at the beast's head. It shrieks, just as three Marshguards stab it with their mudpikes; your slicer flies back to your hand easily afterwards.

Unfortunately, its wounds don't seem to slow it down much. In fact, it seems unconcerned with the Marshguards confronting it; it looks directly at you and charges forward, ignoring everything in its path.

The Marshguards seem to notice this, and disengage, pulling aside their wounded.

"It's after the slicer!" Dean calls out. "Get rid of it!"

Your first thought is to drop the slicer and run, but that would still leave the beast here. It might be better to throw the slicer and lead the Fenguin out of everyone's way.

But where should you toss it? Or is it best to just drop it here and flee?

lodge it in a tree