Swamped

The legs.

Ash and Roxley are tough, but when it comes down to it, you know how they fight.

Their cloaked guest is another matter. You've got no idea what they're capable of, but since they seemed to just appear out of thin air, you don't want to take chances. You toss your slicer at the figure's legs as they start pushing back on Stan.

Much to your surprise, they sidestep the slicer at the very last second before it would collide. But they can't maintain their grip at full strength, and Stan presses his new advantage.

Meanwhile, Ash has sliced Mary's mudpike in two. She's still trying to fend him off with the pike end, but it doesn't look like she'll be holding up well. As for Erin, she's not really fighting, so much as running away while trying to talk sense into Roxley. You can't tell if that's working.

You're trying to think of which to go for next, when Stan gives the cloaked figure a hard slam into the ground. He goes right through the rotted floor. You don't think he's getting up from that for a while.

"I'll help Mary," Stan shouts. "You help your friend!"

That's clear enough. You fling your slicer towards Roxley, just as she manages to catch up to Erin. She grabs Erin, turns around, and flings her in the slicer's path.

"Damn it, Elize!" Erin groans. "Watch where you're throwing that thing!"

Well, you can't throw it now, Erin knocked it out of the air. And Roxley's making a break for the door.

You don't see any way out of this if she lets in their reinforcements. But you're also without your weapon, and Roxley runs quite a bit faster that you. What can you even do?

Get a new weapon. Replacement slicer.

You need something else to throw. And in a moment, you realize you have something.

You rush over to where Stan and Mary are fighting Ash, and grab the broken shaft of Mary's mudpike. It's not very aerodynamic, but it's something.

You fling it right at Roxley, and she's too focused on the door to notice. It hits her right in the arm.

It's not much, but it gives Erin time to get up and grab her. Unfortunately, she's not much of a grappler, and you can see she's already struggling to keep a hold on Roxley.

And you're a lot closer to the fighting now. In fact, rather inconveniently, Ash is between you and your slicer. You could try running around him while he fights the others, but if he decides to focus on you, there isn't much you can do to defend yourself.

So. How are you going to handle this?

Psyche him out with a fake attack and then go between the ribs.

Well. Ash is preoccupied, and the room isn't well-lit. He might not be sure that you don't have a weapon.

So if you feign throwing something, he might react to it. You give it a shot when he seems to be glancing your way.

You think it's working. His eyes are darting around quickly, trying to figure out where the projectile is while not losing sight of his more immediate opponents. He gets more aggressive, trying to cut down on the number of threats as best he can.

But getting more aggressive means getting less defensive, and Mary manages to find an opening. He screams as the mudpike hits him in the stomach, and Stan takes the opportunity to disarm him.

It doesn't go better for him from there. Unarmed and with two good fighters teaming up on him, he's soon knocked down. Stan pins him down.

"I'll keep on him," Stan says. "You two, stop Roxley!"

You grab Ash's sword. You don't think it would be wise to go throwing it around, but it's better than nothing. You and Mary rush over to Roxley, who's just broken out of Erin's grip.

As you draw near, Roxley reverses the hold, and pulls out a knife, holding it to Erin's throat.

"You've got Ash and his contact," she says. "You don't need me. So here's my offer: you let me leave, and I let your pal Erin go."

Now what do you do?

She's bluffing! ...Right? ...You can't lose Erin like this.

She might be bluffing, but on the other hand, you don't want to risk Erin's life.

Wait. You overheard her before. She mentioned something about debts.

"Leave for where, exactly?" you ask, sounding more confident than you feel. "Back to your debtors? Or maybe you're going to try your luck with the Marshguards, and hope they'll overlook the backs you stabbed? Become a hermit in the swamp, at least until the next rain?"

"Shut up!" she shouts. "It's none of your damn business what I do next. I'm just not going to rot in a damn cell for that bastard Ash's sake!"

You've definitely hit a nerve. But you can't tell if that makes it more or less likely that she'll let Erin go, which is all you're concerned with now.

Erin, for her part, looks utterly terrified. You can't blame her, really. You would be, too...

And you were. Cowering in a barrel, hoping the border guards wouldn't look inside too closely.

You heard one knock on the outside. You held your breath so hard you nearly fainted.

"This one seems partly empty," you heard the guard say. "Sounds hollow when I knock near the top."

"We didn't have enough to fill it, and we didn't have anything smaller. We've loaded up pretty much everything we have in here."

"You don't say. Mind if I have a look?"

In that moment, you nearly died. The lid came up, and you were sure the guard would see your terrified face.

But instead you saw the guard slowly fall down, because Erin had hit him with his own club.

"Change of plans," she said, pulling you out. "We're going to need to leave real fast. You might as well get up front, it'll be more comfortable."

You can't leave Erin like this. You've got to get her out of this mess as fast as you can. You owe her too much to let her continue to suffer.

But how are you going to do that?

Just make a grab for her?

You can't let her stay in danger any longer.

You barely even think about it. You just lunge right at Roxley and try to pull Erin free. You think you catch Roxley's knife moving, but you instinctively hold up Ash's blade to block it.

Your movement is so sudden, Roxley loses her grip on the knife. It falls to the floor, and bounces a bit.

As you glance towards it, you realize that the cloaked figure is, ever so slowly, getting up. And there's something in their hands.

"Stop him!" you shout, before Roxley punches you in the gut. Seems she's not done yet.

But Mary holds her off. Erin's still panicking. You haven't retrieved your slicer, and this sword is too heavy to throw, not to mention very dangerous.

That leaves Stan. He flings Ash aside, and tackles the figure, who drops what they're holding... a small vial?

And suddenly, Ash rushes towards the vial as it crashes to the ground. It explodes into a puff of smoke.

Then, suddenly, the door bursts open. A dozen knights come pouring in... with Burgundy leading them.

"I've got a few questions for you, Ash," she says, then glances around.

"Wait. Where in the hells is he?"

You point over to the quickly-dissipating smoke, but Ash has vanished without a trace.

"He was right there," Stan says, holding up the cloaked figure. "I think our new friend here may know something about where he went."

The figure says nothing.

"If you can get him to talk, that is, sir."

---

You're now Ash, and you're in deep trouble. If Roxley tells even half of what she knows, then you've got no future in the Bogknights.

Worse, you're currently staring into the face of someone who clearly isn't happy with you turning up suddenly. And you're unarmed, to boot, while their underlings - of which there are five just in this room - most definitely aren't.

You'd better give them a reason to keep you around, fast.

Surrender and be obsequious about it.

You can't read the situation well enough to know what might save your skin. So, you'll just have to go to an old standby until you can find your bearings.

You promptly fall to your knees and grovel.

"Please, don't hurt me! The other knights found me out, I'd seen the vial used before, I was desperate to escape... I wasn't thinking of anything else..."

You feel a hard slap across your face from the leader.

"So you stole Avel's escape vial?" he shouts at you, angrily.

"No! No, it was pure chance! He tried to use it, the Bogknight fighting me went after him, the vial went flying... I just ran. We'd already lost by then."

You put on the most pathetic face you can manage. You had a lot of practice with this in your youth.

The leader glares at you for what seems like an eternity. You start sweating.

"What of our machines? What happened to them?" he finally asks.

"I don't know. We only saw one wave of three. Avel said you sent five hundred, but we never saw more."

The leader folds his arms.

"And we have not received word from our scout in the Marsh Fortress. Both of your bases should be crawling with them by now. It is as I feared - by moving up our plans, we are less prepared than we should be."

"Moving up?" you ask, but he ignores you.

"I must speak to the master about this. Carma! Find some comfortable quarters for our new guest."

So there's someone higher up the ladder. That's worth keeping in mind.

Before you can give it much more thought, though, a very muscular young woman steps out from the group and grabs your arms. Must be Carma.

"Don't try anything funny," she says.

You stand up and let her lead you to... well, you were expecting a cell, but it's actually a rather nice-looking room. She sits you down at a fancy table in the middle, and finally lets go.

"You'll be here until the Master decides what to do with you," she says. "If you try to escape, I'll snap your neck."

And with that, she walks out and slams the door shut. It's most likely locked.

Now what?

This is not a great situation.

Get yourself some makeshift weapons to hide on your person; it might mean disassembling furniture a little bit, but nothing too obvious.

First things first. You need to arm yourself.

It's not that you're planning on antagonizing anyone here. It's more of a precaution in case a fight breaks out despite your best efforts.

Luckily, you're in a room filled with wooden objects. Wood might not be the strongest of materials, but it can be made sharp and that's something. At the very least it's a distraction, and if need be you can even go for someone's eyes.

It would be easier if you had tools, mind. Right now the best you can do without the risk of drawing too much attention is pulling off loose bits from the chair legs, the underside of the table, and the interior of the bed frame. You can't really do anything to sharpen them, but it's the best you can do for now.

You also manage to chip off a bit of the chamberpot. That's going to be durable enough to last more than one strike, though it's still not very strong.

Suddenly, you think you hear footsteps outside. You rush to the table, in case they're coming in. No sense giving them an idea of what you've been up to.

The door slowly opens, followed by somebody sticking their foot in and making a fast kick at thin air. Why would... oh, probably to stop you from waiting outside the door and trying to ambush them. Good thing you aren't that desperate.

The man from before steps in, accompanied by two others.

"The master has deemed your fate beneath his concern for the moment," he says. "Which means he has left it up to me. And what I am thinking is that we are, at the moment, understaffed. With several members missing or recuperating from previous missions, we cannot really spare anyone to keep watch on prisoners."

That doesn't sound good for you.

"At least, prisoners who do not make themselves useful," he continues. "As I said, we are understaffed. An extra pair of hands could lift that burden quite a bit."

Well. That seems a clear enough choice. So clear that it's not really a choice at all.

"What do you want me to do, then?" you ask.

"I want you to deliver something."

"We need to make a delivery very urgently."

You immediately see a problem.

"So urgently you'll let a prisoner do it? There must be some catch."

He simply laughs.

"The only catch is that it will be impossible for you to escape. Had we more time, I would even encourage you to try - your failure would provide some much-needed amusement. But we do not have that luxury."

The lack of details is almost as worrying as the thought of what they'll do to you if you refuse. Almost.

"Well, seeing as I don't have much choice here, I'll do it," you agree. At least until an alternative prevents itself.

"I assumed as much. You will depart immediately."

"To where," you start to ask, but before you can finish, he shoves a small satchel into your hands, and the next thing you know, you've got a severe headache.

It takes nearly a minute for the headache to clear, at which point you find yourself in... well, it looks like a city, but you've never seen architecture like this before. Everything's so... triangular. And what are these buildings even made of?

You also have no directions for where you're supposed to go. Not that it would do any good, seeing as you can't identify any of the letters on the nearby signs.

You suspect you are very, very far from the swamp right now. Or any place you've ever heard of.

What are you even supposed to do?

Check out the contents of the satchel.

Actually, wait, are there any people around? Maybe you should get into the privacy of an alleyway before satchel-sniffing.

It takes you a moment to realize something - you're on a street filled with people, none of whom seem remotely bothered by your distinctly out-of-place uniform.

At first you think they might just be preoccupied - they all seem to be carrying things in large baskets or pulling carts around. But a few of them do glance directly at you, with no apparent reaction.

You're unsettled by the whole thing. And you need to take a closer look at what you're delivering, if only for some clue where you're delivering it to. You duck down what looks like a side alley when you can find one.

No one seems to be here. So you check the satchel for any sign of directions. Nothing on the outside; you open it up.

There's an ornate box inside, with what is very clearly a lock. You could probably break it if you really tried, but the way things are going for you, you doubt you'd even be able to use whatever's in there.

More usefully for your purposes, there's a note.

Take this to the Grand Temple.

Below that is a row of symbols. They look like the letters on the nearby signs; you suppose that can help you know for sure when you've reached the Grand Temple. Although, really, that sounds like the sort of thing that should be relatively obvious when you see it.

That's not the end of the note, though...

Do not speak to anyone unless they speak to you first.

You weren't planning on it. You have a hunch they don't speak Common here.

When you reach the Temple, show the mark on the back of this note to one of the priests. Until then, keep it concealed.

That's all that's written. You take a glance at the mark.

Wait a minute. That looks familiar. Where have you seen that before?

Isn't that the symbol on Flame's thrower?

Now you remember. That's Flame's insignia - well, not quite, but it's got a distinctly similar shape. You've seen it a few times when glancing at his donations.

You always wondered why a self-professed man of peace was making donations to a military organization in the first place. Not that you know any more about that now, you suppose; it's not as if these people told you why they wanted a foothold in the swamp either. But if there is a connection, it suggests Flame is willing to go quite far to get ahold of whatever's in the Marsh Fortress.

Well. If there's one thing you've learned in your life, it's to always keep in mind what people want. It's very useful for gaining leverage on them.

Still, you don't have anything concrete - just a resemblance between two symbols. You'll just keep the possibility in mind, you suppose. For now, you've got to find a temple. And it seems you can't just ask for directions.

Which is odd, actually, considering they were in enough of a hurry to deliver this that they sent you. Or maybe getting you far away from them was the whole point?

Whatever. For now you may as well focus on finding the temple. How are you going to go about that?

Do some groundwork and talk to locals.

You've been warned against talking, and you probably won't understand the local language, but you don't have many other ideas. It's that or wander around aimlessly until you see something that looks like a temple.

So you put everything back in the satchel and start looking around. But everybody seems to just be focused on moving forward. Even when you stand right in front of a woman pushing a wheelbarrow around, she just moves around you, barely even giving you a look.

You're not sure they'd pay you a lick of attention even if you did say anything. But you're desperate enough to try.

"Stop!"

You've barely opened your mouth when someone shouts at you. You quickly close it again. At least that made something happen.

And whoever shouted, they did it in Common. So you might be able to get something out of this conversation after all. You turn towards the voice and see someone walking up to you. Judging by the rather tall spear and large shield he's carrying, he seems to be some sort of town guard.

"Do not speak to the Silent Ones," he says, as if that explains anything. "It is forbidden."

"Fine, I won't," you say. He seems annoyed, but he doesn't press things further. "I just want to know how to get to the Grand Temple."

He looks at you in surprise.

"Has your guide not taken you there yet?"

Well, you don't have a guide. But considering how little you know about this place, you're not sure if it's a good idea to reveal that.

What should you say?

Feign ignorance in excess of that which you possess.

No, not yet. Can... can I borrow your guide?

You spent your childhood trying to avoid getting in trouble with people like this man; you spent a good chunk of your adulthood giving them orders.

And if there's one thing you picked up in all that time, it's that they can quickly get very unreasonable if you act outside their expectations. And when people are being unreasonable and carrying weapons, well. That's something you'd rather not deal with if you can help it.

So you go to one of your oldest tactics: pretending to just not be that bright. That tends to inspire pity, rather than fear. It's a lot safer, not least because it leads to people underestimating you.

"No," you say. "Is that a problem? Can your guide help me?"

You can see the confusion in his eyes almost immediately, but after a moment he sorts it out.

"You flatter me, but I am not a guest here. I am an officer. My job is to ensure the Silent Ones carry out their duties as ordered."

He says that as though it explains everything. But perhaps you can use your ruse to get a little more information out of him.

"Why are they called the Silent Ones?" you ask, sounding as sincere as you can.

He chuckles a little. He thinks he has a sense of you now.

"Because they are not permitted to speak until their work for the Master is completed. And all others are not permitted to speak to them, save the Master himself when he gives them direction. Their task is a holy one, and so they are not to be contaminated by mortal words."

You think you have more questions than answers right now, but you can at least understand one thing. All these people running about are slaves. And being slaves, they don't have time to wonder what a stranger in a military uniform is doing here.

Which makes that part of your directions quite a bit clearer now, but you still haven't found the temple. This guard seems to be your best bet for figuring that out. At least he seems to have bought your act enough not to find it odd if you ask "obvious" questions.

So what should you ask him next?

Don't push your luck by getting too chummy. Just get directions to the grand temple, but do ask for the guard's name so you can properly thank him.