Swamped

Starling...why and...how are you riding the lizard worm?

It takes you a while to remember that Rider's been hit by more than a few crossbow bolts. What with all the other problems to worry about and how unnaturally calm he is about it, it's slipped your mind up to now.

"Hey, Pubert," you say. "You got any bandages here?"

"I keep them near the chamberpot," Pubert says, sounding resigned. "And speaking of which..."

You let out a groan.

"Right. How long do these storms usually last, Yvonne?"

"This looks like a small one. Should pass in an hour."

"I can't hold it in that long!"

"And we're not going to be able to empty the chamberpot for an hour either," Yvonne says. "Then again, I suppose you swamp folk are all used to worse smells."

"Yeah, it's not the smell that worries me," you say. "It's letting Pubert run free."

"Strictly speaking, you only need to loosen the bonds below the legs," Rider says. "This isn't the first time someone's had to attend to a prisoner's needs in less than ideal circumstances."

"Or we could just let them out," Starling says. You do a double-take as you notice she's sitting on the lizard-worm. "I mean, there's a sandstorm out there. Can't exactly make a run for it."

"Fine," you sigh. "I'll take Pubert over there to do their business. And I'll grab the bandages while I'm at it."

"What about my privacy?" Pubert protests.

"I promise you that nobody here is going to stare," you say.

"It's the principle of the thing!"

"Look, we'll just get it over with quickly. The longer we argue, the longer you have to wait."

"Can't I at least get a curtain? There should be one around here somewhere."

"We'll turn around," Rider says.

"Except me. Somebody's got to make sure you don't try to sneak a knife or something. That's as good as you're going to get."

"Fine, I'm desperate, let's go."

You untie Pubert and lead them to the chamberpot. They sit down very pointedly as everyone turns around, except the lizard-worm. But it doesn't have any eyes at the moment, anyhow.

"You're really unsettling right now," Pubert says.

"Gotta be cautious. We don't know what you might try to pull."

"Well, you do, apparently," Pubert shoots back. "Since you used to be a courier. You know what it's like, what kind of person it turns you into."

"You want to talk? We can do it after you take care of your business."

There's a tense silence for a minute or so. The only noise you hear is Pubert filling the chamberpot before pulling their pants back up.

"Happy now? Bandages are right there, by the way."

You grab the bandages and lead Pubert back. You hand the bandages off to Starling, and tie Pubert up again.

Now what? Seems you've got about an hour to kill. Starling's going to be taking care of Rider for a bit, and Marshall seems to be buried in a book. So are you going to talk to someone, or is there something else you can do?

Yvonne wants to talk about the lodestone and what its true value is.

See how Starling and Rivers are holding up.

You slip over near Yvonne. This is the first chance you've had to talk about something that's been on your mind.

"Pubert mentioned a lodestone, and you seemed to have an idea about it," you say. "Mind sharing?"

She pulls out a compass.

"See this? It's how we found the gateway back in your base. My crew dug it up some time ago, but we didn't know what to make of it. You know how a compass works?"

"Uh. Not really," you admit. "Something about pointing north?"

"Normally, yeah. It's magnetism. The needle's made from lodestone and, usually, that means it tries to point north. We were thrown off by this for a long time because it seemed to point wherever it damned well pleased."

So that's it.

"Then the Wanderers want to make their own compass? They've got something to do with the gateways?"

"That's my best guess," she says, shrugging. "But I couldn't tell you if they have some idea how to fix this, or if they're planning to make it worse. And we're probably not going to get a chance to ask them about it, unless we run into them after the sandstorm."

"They looked like they were chasing off a tunneler," you say. "Oh, yeah, another thing. In the battle, I saw what they look like, and... it's weird. They're like machines, but they have the face of greblings - at least, that one did. Don't suppose that's something your camp would know anything about?"

She pauses for a while.

"Probably not," she says. "Of course, we do have a good number of artifacts we haven't identified yet, so who knows? Something might relate to them."

You feel like she's hiding something. On the other hand, it sounds like you'll get farther on asking questions about this when you're at camp.

You thank her for your time, and check in on the girls.

River seems to be upset - well, not unusually so compared to her general mood, but you haven't seen her like this around Starling before. You get the sense that something's wrong.

And that's when you remember that Starling had something to say to you before this whole mess happened.

"Starling," you say. "What is it you were going to tell me, back in the fortress?"

She pauses.

"It's for your ears only," she says. "And I don't think we can really get any privacy in here for the moment."

For your ears only...?

Could it be something about Jackson? You never managed to sort that business out, but what if he recognized her and made contact?

There's also a chance she stumbled onto something about the spies Razor was worried about. She might be having a crisis of trust, and you're the only one she's willing to talk to about it.

You can't think of what else she might want to talk to you specifically about. If it's sensitive information of some kind, she could talk to Rider; and if it were just an ordinary problem, she wouldn't hide it from Rivers.

It would be nice to know more, but how could you get her to tell you without giving too much away to everyone else?

Awkward metaphors, of course

Maybe you can use a metaphor to ask some further questions. If it's something subtle enough, then Starling should be able to answer without giving anything clear away.

The problem is, you're not very good at metaphors. You understand the basic concept - mostly because Pepper was eager for readers the last time he worked on a manuscript and he loved talking about his new techniques, and you didn't have the excuse of illiteracy. But you've never given much thought to crafting one, deliberately.

Here, you'd be aiming for something that both you and Starling would understand, but no one else would. Animals won't work, probably; Rivers and Rider would know more about them than you would.

Well. Animals in general. There's a specific one that you have a little more insight into.

"All right, then," you say. "Guess it'll have to wait. Sometimes you can't do anything until the crow gets back to the roost, after all."

You're now Starling, and you think you know what he's getting at.

It wasn't long after you first arrived at the swamp. Once you'd settled in a bit, you found the roost, and you had a lot of questions about the crows. And Corvus, as it turned out, had a lot of answers.

You were pretty sure, even at the time, that he was making quite a few of them up. Just guessing. Trying to do what he could to keep you happy.

But more importantly, you remember his answer to one of the questions you asked, about what they did when the crow hadn't come back yet and they had an important message to send.

What was that, again?

Put out some freshly butchered swamp chicken meat to entice the crow to return. Or was it smoke signals?

Put out some freshly butchered swamp chicken meat to entice the crow to return. Or was it smoke signals?

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SpoilerIf butchered swamp chicken meat is the closest suggestion we'll get to making sbnkalny's fanfic real, I vote swamp chicken meat

"They leave out bait. Crows are scavengers, so they dangle a dead swamphen from that hook over there. It's high enough that it's not mixed with the swamp gas, so the smell's more noticeable when it reaches the crow."

It was a ridiculous explanation, of course, but he was willing to stick with it, like all the silly things he told you that day. When you asked what happened if the crow was too far away, he said something about how the other side had a crow for you, and if it was already out, the bait would make it fly faster. Then you could give them the message. So really, the chances were better than they seemed.

The crow might already be out. Hmm. What if he already has some idea of what you're trying to tell him? Then you wouldn't need to give a full explanation, just enough for him to piece the details together himself.

Not that it makes much difference out here, but it would be good to have it off your mind. You could be stuck here a while, after all.

So, what should you say to him?

If it's about the thing with Razor and the spies, simply nod and agree to the affirmative- that is a 'sharp idea'.

If it's about the thing with Jackson... Uh.. say that it's... gracious for him to wait? (Man, I dunno, Jackson means 'god is gracious' depending on the linguistical etymology you're looking at????)

If it's about anything else-- Look, the best I got is to try and give a sly one word-ish answer that should hopefully provide a clue of some sort. Say the most while saying as little as possible??? Aaaaaa. ; A;

It takes you a moment, but you think you have an idea for how to get across the main point.

"Sorry I can't tell you yet," you say. "I really do feel bad. Probably going to be a little nervous until I get a chance."

On the word nervous, you tap your stomach for a moment. Rivers doesn't care much for figures of speech, so she probably won't guess it, and nobody else is close enough to see what you're doing.

Corvus just nods. He seems to have made the connection.

Suddenly, you hear a loud howling sound from outside.

"That's odd," Yvonne says. "Storm's getting stronger, that doesn't usually happen this soon into one."

"Maybe it was already going before we spotted it?" Marshall asks.

"Not likely, or we'd have seen panicked animals a lot sooner than we did." She ties a rope around her waist. "I'm going to take a look outside. We need to see what's going on. If you hear me scream, someone pull me back in."

You're now Yvonne. You're peering out slightly from under the protective cloth.

What do you see?

some real menacing silhouettes, which shouldn't be possible given the circumstances

> Pubert, with a very tiny knife, looking like a deer in headlights.

The Eye of the Storm.

An Eye. Just one.

You can't believe it. There's a calm patch in the middle of the storm, and it's drawing closer.

But it's not empty. There's three figures in the midst of it. You can't make out any details, save for a bright light that seems to be coming from one of their eyes.

And they're heading towards the wagon.

You rush back inside.

"We're being followed," you say. "Maybe it's the raiders again, maybe something else. All I know is, they seem to be able to command the winds to stay clear of them."

"We definitely don't need another fight right now," Corvus says.

"That depends," Rider says. "How many were there?"

"Three."

"I guess we can handle three of 'em," Corvus says. "Or at least make enough of a show of it that we can convince them to just take the lodestone and go."

Rider shakes his head.

"I'm afraid not. If it's three, then I fear we have a much worse problem on our hands."

"Well don't be vague about it like you are about everything else," Corvus grumbles. "If you know something, share it with us."

"There's no time. I'll have to drive us through the storm."

"You can't do that! You'll get sick, and so will the horses!" you protest.

"An acceptable risk. I suggest you cover the holes from the crossbows while I get everything else ready."

And with that, he steps out.

You have no idea what the hell's going on. Nobody else seems to, either.

Now what?

On the off chance that the three menacing silhouettes might be peaceful, make bird noises at them and see how they respond.

You know what seconded ^

What little I know tells me that while Rider might not always make the best decisions, I believe there to be a reason. Ask Corvus to make sure the holes start to get covered, and you can do the bird noises thing? ' -'

Caw caw

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Spoilermothafuckas

As everyone else gets to covering up the holes from the inside, you find yourself feeling helpless. Out of ideas.

And so you resort to the same thing you've fallen back on for most of today.

You start making the sound of a crow. It's rather silly how much practice you've had at this.

You're now Rider. You've taken down the shelter for the horses already, and you were just about to start taking down the poles when you heard a remarkably close rendition of a crow call inside the wagon.

And then you happened to glance out from under the cover. The figures in the distance seem confused. They're standing still, and the one with the glowing eye seems to be looking upward.

Could that crow call be throwing them off? Curious. You wouldn't expect them to be able to hear it that far off, and even if they could, you'd assume they'd have a better sense of its direction.

Well, you don't have much time to think about that. You need to get the wagon moving. You strike the poles and pull the cloth off. For now, you don't have time to secure them, or the horse shelter.

Instead, you leave them in the sand and drive off, as fast as the desert horses will let you go. The sand bounces off your cloak painfully.

And then, all of a sudden... the storm around you stops.

You glance behind you. The storm has completely faded. That's much sooner than Yvonne expected. There's no sign of the strange figures either, though it's hard to be sure now - the sun is setting and there's not much light.

The best thing to do now is get to Yvonne's camp as soon as possible. But you've lost track of your intended route, between the raiders and the storm. You need to work out where you are.

How can you do that?

The setting sun should at least give you a general sense of direction. Better check with both Pubert and Yvonne to get your bearings on where you were and where to head now.

Assuming you've got your bearings, travel by night could be less brutal than during the day... we just don't want to end up toppling down some cliff.

Setting sun should help, yes, but definitely check in with the rest of the group of ducklings to see if any of them have ideas. Who knows, maybe Pubert has perfect sense of direction somehow and always knows which way they're facing. Or maybe Yvonne's gate compass c an be of some help? Or maybe Corvus has another weird idea.

You make note of where the sun is. That will help you plan your route, but you still need to know your starting point.

You stop and get in the wagon. You make a note to get the lizard-worm back to its place on top.

"The storm stopped, rather suddenly," you say. Yvonne seems surprised, but you continue. "Unsurprisingly, we've been thrown off course, and I need help determining where we are."

"Can you still see the pillar?" Yvonne asks.

"No," you say. But then you spot Marshall's long goggles. "But I haven't used every tool at hand. Marshall, can I borrow those?"

You step out, taking the lizard-worm and Yvonne with you. You still can't see the pillar, or anything familiar, so you hand them to Yvonne. She's probably more aware of the desert's few landmarks than you are. Besides, your eyesight isn't what it used to be.

You're now Yvonne. Rider's strapping the lizard-worm to the roof again, and you're standing up there to see what you can spot in the distance.

What familiar sights do you notice?