Swamped

This would be simple if those soldiers in the Path Between hadn't taken your lance. Without its reach, aiming low requires a bit more effort.

So you rush forward and drop down at the same time, trying to catch the wizard in his legs. He's quick to react, though, and steps away - but not before you grab his staff.

Which is still about to release its spell. Hurriedly, you try to turn it away from you; the wizard responds in kind, since that means you're turning it towards him.

And somewhere in there, the spell goes off and another icicle flies between you, into a wall. But you manage to wrest the staff from him as it does. This won't stop further spells entirely, but he won't be able to cast as easily without it.

But he seems more interested in getting away. In fact, he's moving quite fast; even if you threw something at him, you don't think it would be able to reach. He must have opted to flee and given up on the staff in favor of enhancing his speed.

And if he can move that fast... even if you adjust these gears, he can come back and break them again. You'll either have to stand guard, or leave it until he's taken care of.

So what's your next move?

Chuck the staff back at him to make him fall over

Well. You don't think you can hit him with the staff, but it's probably not wise to hold onto it. The wizard might have left some sort of trap on it. And perhaps if you leave it on the ground, you can lure him into taking it.

So you fling the staff as far as you can. As you expect, it falls short. Unfortunately, the wizard doesn't seem interested in retrieving it, either. Perhaps it's trapped after all, and he can't take the time to disarm it; or perhaps he simply doesn't think it worth the risk. Either way, he soon rushes out of sight.

"What's going on here?" the priest asks insistently. "Who was that? And why was he after you?"

"I'm afraid I don't know any more than you do about that."

You feel the ship shake again, though not as severely. You think it might be best to deal with those gears.

That's going to limit your ability to move... but perhaps the priest here can help.

"There should be someone else on this ship with a purple uniform," you say. "I'd like you to find him and lead him to me."

The priest looks at you skeptically.

"How am I supposed to find him? I don't know my way around here."

He has a point. You should probably give him a bit more guidance than that.

Get a map....

Priest magic, obviously!
C'mon, you know some, right?

"How long did you train for the priesthood?" you ask.

He gives you an odd look.

"Six years. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Hmm. Auras are seventh year. You probably can handle them now, but I'm hardly equipped to teach."

"Auras?" He seems confused.

"My apologies. Greblings may have another term for them. I am referring to life energy. They say the gods can grant their priests the power to see it, that it appears as a bright colored light around a living thing. Has it not come up in your studies yet?"

"Oh, you mean the issat. Yeah, I've read up on them, but no, I can't see them. And even if I could, I wouldn't be able to tell which issat belongs to which human around here. So I don't think that's going to work out."

Hmm. Unfortunately, all your knowledge of auras comes from talking to Mantis. And there's a lot he never explained clearly. He has a tendency to meander whenever he's talking, after all.

Still, perhaps there's something you can recall from those conversations that might be useful here.

Issat is like, the shadow of an aura. You see. Shadows are very useful on things like sundials and such.

If you had something that was important to someone, it might have a trace of their aura.

Now that you think about it, Mantis mentioned issat once or twice. Maybe sharing your knowledge will lead to some insight.

"I've heard of issat, actually. The person who told me about it said it wasn't quite the same thing as an aura, more like a shadow of it."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" the priest asks. He seems annoyed. And in fairness, you never fully grasped the concept yourself, so you're not that confident in your explanation. So you focus on the part that you did understand.

"I was told that only living beings have auras. But when someone thinks an inanimate object is important, they leave traces of their issat on it."

"I think I read something about that, yes. So what's your point? I don't know how to see them, and unless you've got something important to this person you're looking for it wouldn't matter anyways..."

"As a matter of fact, I do," you reply.

The Marshguards come to the swamp to escape their pasts. But few can bear to leave it behind entirely. Nearly everyone has a keepsake, something that reminds them of their old life.

Your whole conversation with Mantis started when he observed that most of the Marshguards carry those keepsakes on their person, despite the risk. Only a few feel secure enough to keep it in their quarters.

And Corvus gave his to you. Oh, he said he never wanted to see it again, and it made him so sick he couldn't even stand to throw it away so that was why he was handing it off, but his eyes told you everything you needed to know about what he really wanted.

"I still don't know how to see the issat," the priest grumbles.

"Well. Humor me for a moment and look at this, would you? Perhaps you'll understand once you do."

"I doubt it, but I suppose there's no harm in trying," he sighs.

You reach into your pouch and pull out Corvus' keepsake.

Locket, obviously.

"What is that?" the priest asks as you hold it out. "It almost looks like a locket, except it's wood and string instead of proper jewelry."

"I expect it serves much the same purpose for its owner," you reply. "I haven't looked inside. All I can tell you is, he values it."

The priest just stares at it, befuddled. He can't seem to grasp how such a simple and crude-looking object could have value to anyone. Which explains quite a bit about his attitude.

But you think there may be some hope. Behind his confusion, you see a desire to understand. He's looking at it, not as some impossibility, but as though it's a puzzle that he might just be able to solve.

After a few minutes of that, he speaks up.

"You said you didn't look inside. Do you have a guess as to what's in there?"

"A memory, I expect," you say calmly. "But I think it's not simply what's inside that matters to him."

"What do you mean?"

"A locket is not simply meant to hold something. It's meant to protect it - to keep unwanted eyes off it, but also to preserve it against the ravages of time. Whatever memory lies within, Corvus thought it mattered enough to protect it, and if he couldn't afford a good locket, then he'd use whatever he could get his hands on. The locket itself holds meaning to him."

The priest looks more thoughtful than he has in a while. He stares for another few minutes, then suddenly looks excited. Far more than you've previously seen him.

"I see it! I see the issat! Reth has blessed me with the wisdom to understand it!"

"Then can you find Corvus?"

"I think so." He looks upwards. "Hmm... Well, I can see a few, at least. Six... no, maybe seven? It's a bit hard to make out the differences, since I've only just now seen them at all. But I think I can figure it out with a little time. Once I do, I'll do as you asked."

He just stands there, looking, thinking. He seems very different than he did just a few minutes ago. Perhaps all he really needed to do was open his eyes.

You opt to readjust the gears in the meantime. And now you'll have little choice but to wait here.

---

"Ouch! What... where am I?"

You're now Corvus, and Captain Long has finally woken up. That's one less thing to worry about, at least.

The ship seems to have stopped shaking, too. Maybe Carma finished up whatever she was doing.

You were thinking of asking Long about the call of the swamp... but maybe that's not your highest priority right now. For one thing, he's clearly a bit confused, and you need to get him up to speed.

"What is Ash doing here?" he asks after a bit.

"You're injured. And he was the only one around who could help me carry you. Then the ship started shaking and we dropped you."

You think of asking if he can walk, but he's the sort who might say "yes" even if he can't. Perhaps you need a different approach.

Bribery.

Well. Long's wary of Ash, with good reason. Maybe you can use that to get him to cut out the tough talk.

"Can you walk?" you ask, but before he answers, you whisper. "And don't play games. I can't help you deal with anything Ash might try if you're not open with me."

He seems to understand.

"I think I could if I had my staff. My right foot is in pain right now, so it would be difficult otherwise."

"We'll take a look at that as soon as we can," you promise. "As for the staff, where'd we leave that? Kind of lost track, with all that's happened."

"I was finding it awkward to carry, so I left it in a small closet," Ash says. "I'll go and fetch it."

"And then perhaps we can have a talk about him hiding darkwood in there," Long grumbles. "I can't say I like this situation."

"You and me both. But right now there's too much going on and we're too short-handed for me to give him a well-deserved thrashing."

At that moment, the door swings open, and a grebling steps in. Specifically, that priest with a bad attitude from before.

Except he seems to be in an oddly good mood.

"Corvus?" he asks, looking directly at you. "Hmm, feels like I've seen you before somewhere. Apologies if I was rude."

What happened to him? Last time you saw him, he was a complete jerk. Is this his twin brother or something?

Well, whatever's going on, you can't just stare at him forever. You should probably think of a response.

What the Qlat are you doing here?

Your big mouth reacts before the rest of you is ready.

"What the-"

You just barely stop yourself from saying "hells". This is a priest, after all, and they usually don't care much for throwing that word around casually.

"-Qlat?"

Although, a moment too late, it occurs to you that replacing it with the first god that pops into your head might not be the best of ideas either.

"Qlat? Are you a worshipper, then?"

He sounds a little more judgmental, which is enough to calm you down. Maybe he's fine with humans now, but not so much their gods. Still weird, but more in line with expectations.

"Ah, not really. Didn't have the most devout of upbringings. Sorry, you just seemed, ah, different from when I last saw you."

"I suppose I am. Reth has blessed me with a gift to see things I couldn't before. You are Corvus, right?"

"Yes! That's me." Now that you think of it, you're wondering how he knows, but he explains almost immediately.

"Rider's looking for you. He's with the machinery down below. Keeping an eye on something."

"Rider! He's all right." You glance at Captain Long, who's groaning a bit. "But I'm not sure I can get over to him right now. Got to take care of this poor fellow."

"I think I might have sprained my ankle," Long says apologetically.

"Hmm. What's he need, in particular?" the priest asks. "Don't know much about humans, I'm afraid, but perhaps I can help anyhow."

You think on that. It would be good to compare notes with Rider, but you're still not sure about Ash's sudden helpful streak and the priest here might not be able to deal with that. Perhaps you can just send him back to Rider with a message instead.

You're going to need a moment to decide what to do.

Ask if there's anything he can bring up for a crutch

"Well, we've got someone looking for a staff he can use to walk, so we can hopefully get him to a good bed." But now that you think about it, Ash has been gone a while. Just a bit longer than you're comfortable with. "Though, we could get on that sooner if you know of anywhere else we could get a crutch of some kind. Some ice might be good for his foot, too, though I don't know if we can find any on this ship."

"A staff, you say?" The priest seems thoughtful. "Well, I picked this one up on the way here. Didn't want it just lying around."

He produces one from the folds of his robes. It's decorated with symbols that seem quite weird.

"Where did you find that?" Long asks suddenly.

"Rider ran into a wizard and grabbed it off him. Not as tall as you, so the staff's kind of small. Still, it's sturdy."

"Not as tall," you mutter. "Was he elderly, about this high?" You hold your hand at a height about a foot and a half over the grebling's head.

"Yeah, that's right. He ran off in a hurry. Something about sabotaging the ship; Rider seemed to think he might come back."

"I don't think that's going to be a problem," you say. You hand the staff to Long. "You think that's going to work?"

"It'll support me better than a mudpike would," he grumbles, standing up. "What about Ash? Where is he?"

"I don't know. He ought to be coming back..."

The priest looks back at the door suddenly.

"Doesn't look like anybody's on their way here," he says.

Well. That's worrying. It suggests that either Ash has run off, or he's run into trouble. In either case, you've probably got to get moving... but you've also got to get in touch with Rider.

So what should you do?

Send a swamp pigeon letter...

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a crow roosts on your shoulder. It seems to be expecting something.

Probably that messenger from Reth again. Maybe it's offering to give Rider a message on your behalf?

Too bad you left that notebook with the kid. Well, you've got two other people around.

"Do either of you have anything I can write a message with?"

Long produces a notebook and pencil almost immediately. He tears out a blank sheet and hands it to you, along with the pencil.

Long injured, we're taking him to rest; Ash under control for the moment, may have been delayed; short wizard is incapacitated, gods are apparently responsible. Gods sent a trial for one of the people here, uncertain what's happened with that.

You think that covers the major points. Anything else can be cleared up when you've taken care of this other business. So you hand the note to the crow, and it flies away.

"Oh, one more thing," the priest says. "He needs a bed, right? They were keeping me on one, and I believe I can find it. It's just, I took a bit of a convoluted route from there to here, so I'll need a moment to work out a more direct one."

"It's not grebling-sized, is it?" you ask.

"It was rather large for me, so no. It should be a comfortable fit for him. Just give me a minute to check the halls and I'll figure out my way back there."

Well, that's odd. Not much to do except wait here with Captain Long until somebody shows up, though.

So maybe it's a good time to ask him some questions.

Ask if he's ever heard of anyone using a flying contraption like this one before.

Well. There's one thing that's been bothering you.

"So. You're the head of the Bog Hill base... or were, at any rate. Maybe you still are on paper, I've got no clue what's going on there right now. Point is, I understand you get the occasional confidential military report."

Captain Long simply nods vaguely.

"This is correct. Usually it's directly related to the swamp, but once in a while I get a report that's only tangentially relevant."

"Any of these reports mention a flying ship like this? Because I've sure never heard of one."

Long thinks for a bit.

"There's certainly nothing new about rumors of flying machines. There are stories going back at least two hundred years, because people want to believe. But as technology improved, the idea that it might one day be possible, perhaps even without magic, became more plausible. Enough to get a few kingdoms to start looking into how to defend against such an attack, though it's hardly a widespread practice."

"So what you're saying is, somebody with just airships could catch a lot of places by surprise."

"They could. But if they did, they'd alert about a dozen kingdoms that have started on preparations. If they have targets in any of those kingdoms, they wouldn't want to tip their hands. "

You reflect on this.

"Well, I didn't see any cannons on the deck."

"Hmm. Then perhaps the ships aren't the main offensive. We do know they have powerful magic; they may think that makes cannons unnecessary. Though I suppose we can't rule out that there may be other weapons, perhaps even ones we wouldn't recognize."

Hmm. Maybe once things are more settled, you can search for weapons. Right now, though, that isn't really feasible.

The priest isn't back yet and there's still no sign of Ash. You could wait and ask Long more questions, but you're starting to wonder if it might not be better to go out and investigate.

Ask him about the call of the swamp

Well. You might as well get to the big question.

"You're in charge of the Bogknights. You know what in the hells is in our fortress that's such a big deal. I don't expect you to answer that, but I do want to know what it has to do with the call of the swamp."

Long is silent for a good long while. You figured this would be a tough one.

Finally, he speaks up.

"Do you know why Reth's primary temple is all the way out in the desert?"

"Uh, not really."

"Reth is the goddess of life, and yet the desert is one of the harshest places in the known world. In the swamp, for all its dangers to us, life thrives; even after the rains, the plants are still growing everywhere. But in the desert, for the most part, life is an anomaly; what few creatures live there have to adapt to the heat and lack of water. So why is there a temple to the goddess of life in a land of death?"

You think about that for a bit.

"Is it something about how even in the face of such hostility, life finds a way to thrive?" you guess.

"Perhaps that's part of it. But step back from the thematics. Who built the temple?"

"Greblings?" you guess. "They make a big deal of her."

"Greblings and humans, actually. Though the human component tends to be downplayed in some quarters these days, it's true. So ignore, for the moment, the fact that it's a temple. Why would someone build it out there?"

"To keep something in it away from civilization," you say, barely thinking about it. "Maybe it's people, maybe it's treasure, maybe it's a weapon. But that's the first thing that comes to mind." You pause for a moment. "Not sure how that fits with a temple, though. Unless the thing they're hiding away has to do with their goddess."

You think on how that could relate to your question. But you don't see how, other than one weird possibility.

"Are you saying that whatever they're hiding out there, we're hiding something like it for some other god?"

Long doesn't respond. He probably figures he can't say any more, whether you're right or wrong.

Before you have time to reflect on that idea, though, the door opens and the priest comes back.

"Found it! Sorry I took so long." He glances around. "Other fellow still isn't back?"

"No," you say. "I should probably go look for him."

"I'd still appreciate it if you brought my own staff," Long says, standing up slowly. "This one's passable, but it's shorter than I'd like."

"I'll keep an eye out for it."

The priest leads Long away. Just as he steps out the door, though, he turns back to you.

"I think the fellow you're looking for is in that direction," he says, pointing. "But I could be wrong. I'm a little new to this."

Well. You guess you'd better go see what's keeping Ash. Though, you're not sure if you're properly prepared if it winds up being trouble.

You suppose there isn't much you can do to prepare. You'll just have to deal with whatever happens when you get there.

You start walking in the direction the grebling priest pointed. You start calling for Ash, in case he's injured or something; but you don't hear any answer.

But you do find an open door after wandering the hallways for a bit. And inside you see Ash, staring blankly at a message in his hands, not moving at all.

You also see a gigantic beetle. It seems to be looking at you, but it's not making any aggressive moves.

That is, until you get a bit closer to Ash, at which point it leaps at you, knocks you to the ground, and then goes back to where it was.

You pick yourself up. Strangely, nothing hurts. Your best guess is that the beetle doesn't want you examining Ash too closely, though you've got no clue why.

So what do you do now?

Great, another holy writ of paralysis. I guess just leave Ash to his own devices unless you feel like tangling with Qlat. Can you get any useful info from the beetle?