Swamped

The most pressing matter is that you need to get more knights on repairs. There's still things that haven't been fixed since the last storm. With another rain since then, and the greatrat infestation, you don't think five repair squads are enough.

Ten squads ought to be good, but those knights won't be able to take on their normal duties. You think you can probably get away with one less pest control squad, at least for today. The greatrats have already been chased off, and the tunnelers are far too much for a junior squad to tackle anyhow.

You can probably reassign a few of the lookouts and patrollers to a squad. After last night's mess, the Marshguards will be licking their wounds for a bit.

After that, it gets more complicated. Boat squad's good at carpentry, but they're still wounded from yesterday's ambush. And they're the only boat squad you've got. Maybe you can have them focus on repairs on-base, though.

You could also get a reserve squad or two, but the younger knights may not be up to some of the repair work you need done. Some of them are missing members due to last night's disappearances, too.

You suppose that's a chance to assign more experienced knights to supervise them, though. Even if you have to pull them off the main repair squads, it should speed things up overall.

You get out a list of personnel and start working out some more concrete plans.

You've got two reserve squads down one member... oh, plus Squib Squad, with Clancy quitting. You've got another squad down three members.

Hmm. That's easy to arrange. You'll pull people off other squads to supervise, and assign the three remaining members of the short squad to take their place.

Still, you think you can only spare two reserve squads for repairs. You'll have Squib Squad stand by, and you'll be sure to put someone on there who can keep them out of trouble. At least for most of the day.

That brings you to nine squads. Will you use boat squad for the tenth, or someone else? And who will you assign to supervise the reserve squads?

After some consideration, you decide to put boat squad on repair duty. Still, you'll ask them to stick to working inside the base.

As for the reserve squads, you opt to assign Lisa Black to one, and Tom Sixth to another. Squib Squad is going to take special attention, though. You take another glance at the names, trying to remember what you can about them.

Nora Feldspar. Captured by the Marshguards in the last rain. Hmm. She's got a strong record and her squadmates - not to mention her friends - have spoken highly of her. But John mentioned she was depressed after returning from the Marsh Fortress.

You'll need to have a talk with her before finalizing the assignment. If she's recovered, she ought to be able to handle keeping Squib Squad in line. But if not, you'll need to look for someone else. You don't need to decide immediately, though, as you're not sending Squib Squad along for repairs.

You think that's all you need to plan for the moment. Aside from making preparations in case Ash wins the vote.

You're now someone else in the Bogknight base. But who?

you are an animal that would usually be found in the desert

yvonne delfose, head of the research and development department

Your name is Yvonne Delfose, and you just woke up.

And you don't recognize this place at all. Or the pervasive stench.

You were in charge of a research team investigating unusual sandstorms in the desert. You recall the storm grew particularly fierce last night, though you can't remember a lot of details.

Your head hurts. You were probably knocked unconscious. And then taken here?

That doesn't make any sense. There's nowhere near the desert with a stench like this. It smells like a swamp in here.

Well. Now that you've found yourself in this mess, what are you going to do?

check for injuries, missing items

Get to higher ground to survey the area

The first thing you try to do is stand up. This hurts more than you expect.

The second thing you do is take your protective suit off. If it got damaged, you might have sand in your system, which means you'll have to take things easy until it passes through. The last thing you need is to catch desert fever on top of everything else.

Fortunately, your suit seems to be in good shape. A bit dusty, but that seems to be due to your current surroundings.

Wherever you are, it seems no one's been here in quite some time. But you can worry about your surroundings once you've taken stock of yourself. With your suit off, it's easier to see if you're injured.

You've got a few bruises, but that seems to be it. You feel around your back and head in case there's anything odd there, any unfortunate cuts or the like, but other than an unpleasant lump on your forehead, you seem to be reasonably healthy. At the least, healthy enough that you can try to get yourself to a proper medical facility.

Then you start patting your pockets, and you realize that your notebook is gone.

That's right, you were taking notes when... when something happened. You must have dropped it afterwards. Which means the notebook could be anywhere - perhaps literally, considering how far afield you seem to have found yourself.

Which brings you back to the question of where exactly you are. It looks to be an abandoned storage room - abandoned, most likely, due to the gaping hole in the floor.

You look down through the hole, and you see the slope of a hill underneath. Looking further down, you see running water, but it's filthy, and thick. And is that a crocodile swimming in it?

You're in a goddamn swamp.

Well, you're not heading out that way if you can help it. Your suit can probably handle the muck reasonably well, even if it's not specifically made for swimming; but it's meant for protecting you from the harsh desert sands, not for fighting off crocodiles. You look for another exit.

Well. There's a door, that's a start. You head for it and try the knob.

It turns, but the door won't open. You look a little closer, and see nails sticking through the wall nearby.

That's when it hits you. The damned door's boarded up from the other side.

Now what are you going to do?

if you use something hard and sturdy can't you knock those nails out from where they are protruding through the door

failing that, any other doors? windows? holes in the ceiling? you have to have got into this room somehow right?

If the nails are sticking out, maybe you can pound them out from this side. You just need something sturdy.

There are a good number of boards, shelves, and empty crates lying around, but most are badly rotted. Still, you manage to find a relatively intact board. It would be better if you had something metal, but considering your options are this or the crocodile, it's worth trying.

You pound at one of the nails, and as you feared, it sticks in the board. You curse your luck; so many things in here have decayed. But of course these stupid nails haven't rusted.

Actually... that's more than a little odd. The nails look almost new, now that you take a closer look.

So was this place boarded up recently?

No, wait, you think you have it. This building's still in use. This room must have been deemed beyond repair, and the boards are to keep the crocodiles and other unpleasant beasts out. And, until a more permanent solution is found, the boards are replaced every so often.

More relevant to your situation, there are people here who can replace it. Maybe you could get their attention.

On the other hand, for all you know, whoever's here tossed you in this room and boarded up the entrance, figuring the crocodiles would eat you sooner or later. Or, they might have a lot of questions about how you got here, and they might not take it kindly if you can't answer them.

So. Do you take the risk or not, and if you do, how will you draw attention to yourself? If not, what's your plan from here?

the second scenario is far more likely... how thick are the walls

tap out a message in morse code

Until you have some sense of whether the people here are hostile, calling for help is too much of a risk. At least, doing so openly.

However, if you're here because you've been abducted, there's a chance that other members of your team have as well. Perhaps you can use your team's cipher in an attempt to communicate without being noticed.

You start tapping on the walls. It's not a meaningful message, just the word "SAND" over and over. You pick it because it's easy to recognize, so your teammates are more likely to pick up the pattern.

But you don't hear anything. It seems more and more likely that you're alone.

And then your hand breaks through a weakened wall. You pull your hand out and look at the hole, but it doesn't go all the way through; there seems to be a newer wall on the other side.

"Did you hear something?"

There's a voice on the other side!

"That's probably something crumbling in the old storeroom. Place has been falling apart for years. We keep meaning to wall it off completely, but there's always higher priorities. So we just keep it boarded up. Takes less time."

"What if it's another greatrat?"

"Pest control will deal with it. They're checking that place out a lot. There's a big gaping hole in the floor, I hear, so things are always slipping in."

"Oh gods, even in the rain?"

"Yeah. I can attest to that personally. Some time back, it was raining and I had some emergency repairs to do further down the hall. When I passed the old storeroom, though... that noise was terrifying. Ran as fast as I could and took a different way back. I knew the boards were on tight because I'd put the last set in myself, but that was small comfort when... you know."

"Damn. You sure we can't talk Burgundy into letting us wall it off now?"

"Too much to do, not enough time or supplies. That's how it always is. But maybe the next commander will listen if I drag them down here during the rain."

Commander? They're military, then?

Well, that clarifies a few things. It's unlikely you were captured by them; if they're military, they'd probably throw you in a cell that didn't have a gaping hole in it. And even if they did have to resort to that for some reason, they definitely wouldn't leave you unguarded.

On the other hand, you've never known military types to be all that friendly towards strangers suddenly turning up on their base, and they're likely to be more than a little skeptical if you say you have no idea how you got here.

So now that you have a bit more information, what's your plan?

How protective is your protective suit? Strong enough to withstand crocodile?

get another board, drive it through the wall until you can fit through, and come out swinging and screaming

You can't help but feel that, under the circumstances, you have to reassess the risks of facing that crocodile.

And in truth - your suit would hold up reasonably well. It would take the croc a good minute or more of focused effort to bite through, which might be enough to dissuade it before your suit takes real damage.

On the other hand, it might just prolong your suffering.

It would be a different matter if you had something to fight the beast off with. But all you can think of is the board you found earlier.

Well. You suppose it will have to do. You pull it off the nail, and take another look down the hole in the floor.

The crocodile's wandered off. Good. Of course, there's probably more beasts around, but...

"Croc!"

More voices!

"Ugh. I hate croc chases."

"Yeah, well, if you want to go deal with our tunneler infestation instead, be my guest."

Damn. It seems you're at risk of being seen wherever you go. On the other hand, going outside will hopefully offer more places to run to.

You hop through the hole and carefully climb down the hill. You can see a few humans in a rowboat; they seem to be the ones doing the talking, and thankfully they haven't spotted you. They seem to be arguing about whether they should just scare the crocodile or go back and get a net.

Wonderful. Humans. Just what you needed to make your day even less pleasant.

That tears it, you've got to get out of this swamp as soon as you can. Too bad all you can see from here is more swamp.

So where are you going to go, and how do you intend to get there without being spotted?

up. get a good vantage point, maybe steal a helicopter

down. submerge yourself in the swampy waters and swim into the depths. humans cannot follow you here.

get on down

Let's go up.
0w0

SpoilerShow

Tie broken by Vancho1.

After some deliberation, you decide to climb up high and get a better view of the area. You consider diving down, but you can barely even see into that muck - who knows what sort of nasty things are lurking there. Besides, your claws are better suited for climbing than swimming.

Of course, climbing a smooth surface like the base walls is still difficult... and you're likely to be seen. Luckily, there are plenty of trees around, so you wade out just a little bit and start scurrying up into the canopy.

You take a look around. Seems there's a bunch of walkways, probably made by the humans to get around more easily. Of course, there are also humans wandering around... hmm? Someone's just stepped out of the front gates, and they're cupping their hands to yell.

"Judy! Leon! Tom Seventh! Esmeralda! Nathan! Alice Fourth! You're on repair duty now! Get back in here, Burgundy's got a list of things for you to do!"

Burgundy. Didn't those other human soldiers say something like that earlier? Must be their commander, or at least an officer.

Regardless, you're seeing several of the patrolling soldiers head back now. Seems there might be some blind spots you can take advantage of on your way out of here.

Except you don't know which way to go. How are you going to know which way leads out of the swamp?

This would be considerably easier if you had a map. The humans might have some, but if you tried to snatch one, you'd run the risk of getting caught.

So what should you do?

Climb, and if you find a good vantage point attempt to get a good idea of the path of the human patrols and how many of them have left. You may also get some idea of where they've gone.

You climb higher. You'll be a bit more exposed, but none of the humans seem to be looking up here anyhow. You then climb across the canopy until you can reach the roof of the base.

Fortunately, the roof's just sloped enough to be easy to climb without being so steep that you slide off. You head higher up to try to get a better view of the area.

You still don't see an obvious way out, but you can see the human patrols better. They don't seem to have quite adjusted to the absence of their fellow patrollers; there's definitely a few spots where you can scurry by unseen if you need to. Which suits you fine; the walkways look considerably faster to traverse than the trees.

But even from here, you can't see the edge of the swamp. You can see another large structure off in the distance, but it's unlikely to be any friendlier than this place.

Suddenly, you hear a creaking noise behind you. You turn around and see a hatch opening in the roof.

That's right, you heard them mention repairs earlier. That must include fixing this roof. You'd best get moving before the team heading up here can spot you.

But where are you going to go? You still don't know how to get out of this swamp.

spread your arms out and fly! well, glide really

It might be unlikely to find a map just laying around, and it'd be a struggle to take one from someone and have them vanish without anyone noticing. Your best may be attempting to get to the structures in the distance where there be more clues as to a way out, and quickly.