Swamped

Think about the nigh endless miles upon miles of water churning around and below you.

Now that you're alone and free of distractions, you're struck by just how loud the water is. You can hear it all the time.

Mind, there's plenty of water in the swamp too. It just doesn't normally get this loud. You have to wonder how the sailors adjust to it.

Not to mention the way it makes the boat shift. Ugh. You're not actually seasick yet, but that might just be because you're not trying to move about while this is happening. You're just sitting still in a sickbed.

You wonder what's going to happen to you. Are they going to toss you in the brig? Dump you off on the next island they hit? They're certainly not going to turn back on your account, and even if they did, where would you go?

Honestly, you can't see this mess going anywhere good for you unless you figure out how to get back to your own time. Ideally, back on that airship, but you're not that picky right now.

And your best bet for doing that is probably to talk with their wizard. If that doesn't work out... well, you can worry about that if it happens. Right now you're better off directing your energies to thinking of a way to even get a chance at that conversation.

But since nobody's coming by, you opt to take a nap.

You're not sure how long it is before the alarm wakes you up. You think you can also hear someone shouting "Pirates!" some distance away.

Which strikes you as weird. This ship is six months away from port. What kind of pirates would wait this far out? They'd have trouble finding ships to raid. And if they're in good enough shape that they don't need to raid... well, why do it?

Because this ship's in their territory, that's why. Pretty good chance that they're just trying to chase you away.

Hmm. You wonder if the officers on this ship have figured that much out. They ought to know enough to, but officers can also be quite stubborn creatures. Maybe you should pass that idea along just in case.

Except, you're not sure how to get someone's attention around here.

"Hey! Anyone around?" you call out. But you just hear groaning. Other patients, most likely. Not a peep out of anyone else, except for the occasional shout from outside.

Well. Your legs still work. And nobody seems to be actually watching you - maybe because there's not many places you can flee to on a boat.

Still, you pick yourself up. Your first steps onboard are a little awkward. This sea is quite a bit rougher than the waters the Bogknights' barge travels on.

As you step beyond the partition around your bed, you see that the door's open. And some things have been dropped. Things that look like what a medic might be carrying. He must have left in a hurry. To tend to the freshly wounded sooner, perhaps? Or is something else going on?

Doesn't look like he was forced out. There's a mess, but you don't see signs of a struggle, even if you somehow slept through one.

There's no one specifically watching the door, either. There's a bunch of sailors running around, but they seem preoccupied. Which makes sense if the ship's under attack.

On the other hand, anyone can clearly see at a glance that you're not one of the sailors. So it's not as if you can just go running off anywhere you please.

Nobody's yelling at you right now, though. So you'd best think about what you're going to do next.

Go find out who was groaning and see what they have to say.

Well, you're not the only patient here. Maybe someone who sticks out less will be in good enough shape to pass on your warnings. Or at least have an idea of how you can best do that.

You take a quick glance past each curtain. Don't want to disturb anyone who's out cold. First you see someone hooked up to a weird breathing device... that's out, they don't look like they can even talk.

Next curtain is an unconscious woman, also with the same sort of breathing aid. You're starting to wonder if you're supposed to get one of those, since apparently you were exposed to gas.

Another unconscious woman... no breathing aid, she looks strangely like the previous one though. Very odd. What's weirder is that you think you see your breather mask on her bedside table. Did she grab it off of you?

Well, you want it back, but given your precarious position here, you don't want to risk trouble by snatching it. No sense getting branded a thief as well as a liar, even if it was yours to begin with.

You hear groaning behind the next one. You're extra-careful looking in, because whoever it is might be conscious, but perhaps not in any shape to help you out. Best not to bother them if you can help it.

Then you see who it is, and you barely restrain yourself from shouting. The woman lying in the bed is the spitting image of Bigfoot. Younger, to be sure, but her face hasn't changed much. Nor, for that matter, has her body shape.

Up to now, the idea that you were in the past was so abstract, even once you heard the year. It was more like you were in a completely different world, you were so far away from anyone or anything you recognized. But now you're seeing one of the future top officers of the Marshguards lying in bed and groaning.

What do you even do next?

This is good news, it means you won't all die together in a shipwreck or something... At least one person will survive.

But now you have to reflect on what you know about Bigfoot's life before the Swamp and whether you know anything that might help you enlist her aid.

You have to pause and take a deep breath just to grasp what this even means.

Well, to start with, it means even if this ship sinks, at least one person's going to make it out alive. Or is capable of it, at the very least. You hadn't even thought about the potential for changing history until right now.

But another thing it means is, there's someone here you have some experience with. You were on Bigfoot's squad for a while, before she moved up the ladder and you fell down it. Of course, Marshguards being the secretive sorts they are, she never told you about her past as a sailor on a cross-continental voyage, let alone what ended up happening on it.

What you remember is that she was real stubborn. You felt like you were always fighting against her worst instincts; she was always fond of picking fights that didn't really need to be picked. It took a while before you figured out how to argue productively with her. You couldn't get anywhere unless you made her think something was her own idea.

Hmm. Hard to reconcile that with her working as a sailor, though. It's a job where you've got somebody else barking orders at you all day, and you just can't imagine her taking to that kind of life. Then again, you're in the past. Maybe whatever made her so bitter hasn't happened yet.

Well, you're doing her a disservice by only remembering the grumpiness, common as it was. It wasn't as if she was never happy. The main times you recall seeing her smile were after some fights with Bogknights, including a couple you lost. She also looked up to Mudviper, and seemed eager to talk to her whenever the chance arose.

Oh, right. There was another thing that made her real happy. You only saw it happen the one time, but it definitely made a strong impression.

There was that one time with the spider eating a butterfly

It was on a pest control job. You don't remember the details, just that there was a huge swarm of butterflies in Mantis' makeshift church. Something about them getting diverted from their normal migration route.

Bigfoot had been asked to clear them out, and she was pretty miserable the whole time. It was bad enough that you risked asking about it; she said she didn't much care for being in any sort of church, and then just went back to shouting orders and complaining.

But then you found the web on the wall behind the ceremonial flutes. There were loads of butterflies caught in it. And when you showed it to her, she smiled.

"Don't mind a spider taking care of our work for us," she laughed. She pointed right at it. "There's the little fellow now. Eating up one of its prisoners. Now, see, that's providence. When's the last time you saw a god do as much for us as that little spider, hmm?"

At the time, you were confused about why she was so happy. She never seemed to care much for nature, or for violence unless she could be involved in it.

But after a while, you think you got it. She liked seeing unexpected favors. Most of them didn't make her as happy as that one, but she always seemed a little bit less grumpy when someone did something she wanted before she actually issued the order.

Now the question is, what do you make of all that. Do you even approach her at all? And if so, how do you go about it?

You're not ready for this.

You don't have any idea what's going to happen if you go talking with someone your past self is going to meet later. Besides, she doesn't sound like she's doing too great right now. There's still a few other patients to look in, so best to do that rather than squander too much valuable time worrying about causality.

It's almost a relief when you don't recognize the next patient at all. He's a large fellow, and he's snoring. Well, there's a difference between being asleep and being knocked unconscious, so you might have to consider him. You move on for the moment, though.

Oh dear. The next one is awake, but he's thrashing wildly. He's a skinny fellow for a sailor, and it looks like they've chained him to the bed. You're a bit relieved that they didn't do that to you. Hopefully, that wasn't solely because they lacked the extra chains.

The next patient is a woman. She's rubbing her head and mumbling, looks half-asleep but conscious. You don't recognize her, so she's probably your best bet. No need to wake her, deal with chains, or risk messing with time more than you already have.

On the other hand, you're a stranger and your uniform isn't likely to be recognized. So you'll have to handle this carefully.

Wrap a bedsheet around your armor to cover up all the purple and then ask her if she heard anything about the pirates

Well. Your uniform is a bit inconvenient to get off - which is probably why they didn't take it off while you were unconscious - and you're not wearing much under it. But you could put something on over it.

You slip back to your own bed and grab a sheet, then drape it over your shoulders. Hopefully now you look like someone who's sick, not a soldier. Not like you can really check in a mirror right now.

You head over to the woman's curtain. You poke your head in.

"Excuse me," you begin. "I've got a bit of a problem."

"Who doesn't," she grumbles at you. "I just got clubbed in the head by someone I thought I could trust, so pardon me if I ain't my best self right now."

"Well, the medic seems to have left, and I don't know who else to ask. Someone was shouting about pirates, and, well, I'm wondering what's going on."

"We're under attack by pirates, presumably," she shrugs. "Either that or someone's trying to cause a stir, in which case they'll be in deep trouble. But the pirates probably ain't comin' in here, they probably want supplies or..." She pauses. "Now hang on a minute, what would pirates be doing all the way out here. We're the only ship that's come out this far in an age. Hardly a good route for piracy."

"That's what I was wondering," you say. "Best guess I have is that this is their territory. I was hoping to suggest that to the officers, but, ah. I don't know how to go about doing that. Especially as the medic isn't around."

"What do you mean? We've been sailin' six months, how do you not know how things work around here?"

"I'd rather not get into that right now."

She looks skeptical, but then shrugs.

"Well, if there really are pirates, it'll be an emergency situation. Most of the officers are going to be busy. If we got something more mundane that still can't wait, usually what we do is contact the support officers. Well, Donnie tends to have his hands full, but I'm talking people like the navigator, the quartermaster, the cook... Oh, wait, the navigator's sick and the cook's been acting weird."

"So, the quartermaster then?" you ask.

"Well... if the pirates have boarded, then she'll have her hands full protecting the supplies. Wouldn't be safe." She pauses. "Oh, hold on, think I know who you should talk to. Not even that far off from here."

The wardress. Can you find your way to the brig?

"The warden," she continues. "We mostly use the brig for disciplinary measures, since we weren't expecting to run into anyone all the way out here. And in an emergency, usually we need the manpower. So she lets everyone out and then doesn't have any particular duties until the emergency's passed. Even if we captured a pirate, there wouldn't be a lot to do with them right away."

"And the brig is where?"

She gives you a bemused look.

"I, ah, haven't had to go there before," you explain. It's technically true.

"Three doors down to the left. Bad idea to keep the brig and the infirmary too far away from each other, never know when you'll have to move someone between them."

"Right. Thanks."

You leave her alone, and step out again. Your sheet should give you a little more anonymity than your armor. Even if you run into someone else you recognize, they probably shouldn't know you yet and probably won't make anything out of the resemblance later on.

Fortunately, everyone is too busy rushing around doing whatever needs to be done to fight off pirates to pay you much attention. Then again, maybe that's not so fortunate.

Regardless, you open the door to the brig and hope that the warden isn't someone else you recognize. Even if you can probably handle it, you don't want to look too surprised. You step in and see her sitting behind a desk, reading.

"Excuse me," you say. "I'd like to ask something quickly..."

"Allow me to ask first," she says, standing up and putting down the book. "Why are you surrounded by time magic?"

Oh hells. Now that you've got a better look, you recognize her. It's Carma.

What do you do?

Oh snap!

Carma (in the past) can sense time magic? And it's entirely possible future Carma knocked you out with a slicer before you woke up on this ship. Is it possible that future Carma intentionally sent you here using time magic? Are you supposed to deliver a message, or was she just trying to dispose of you? Or is it all a big mistake?

Ask her if she's met anyone surrounded by this type of magic before.

"I don't know! I'm not a wizard! You seem to know what it is, so why don't you tell me?" you ask.

She looks at you for a while. You stand perfectly still, feeling that she'll strike the moment you make a move.

"I don't know. Time magic is hardly commonplace. Which is why I am so interested in how you came across it."

"If it's not that common, how do you know it's time magic?" you ask. You can't really think of anything to do other than trying to throw her off with questions.

"I've seen it once before. You don't need to know where."

You can't help but think about the fact that Carma is the last person you remember seeing before you were sent to the past. You wonder if there's some connection here. If you were sent to a key moment in her past, specifically, for some reason.

Well, if that's it, you've got no idea what that reason is. Could be anything.

And all you can hope to do is say something that confuses her...

Wait. You know her name, but she hasn't mentioned it. You could try saying it and seeing how she reacts. Then again, she already seems to view you as a threat, and that might mark you as knowing too much. Which could give you an entirely new set of problems.

So how should you handle this?

Pivot to the pirate situation

You opt to hold that trick in reserve. Maybe you can get back on the subject that brought you here in the first place.

"Aren't you concerned about the pirates?" you ask.

"Only in that it means subtler methods have failed," she replies. "Not that I am surprised. The others tend to be overconfident in their success."

Others. So she's not working alone. Probably already involved with the Master you've heard about, though you still don't know much. And she seems to know something about this pirate attack. Which means the Master's probably got a hand in that as well.

Maybe there's something nearby they don't want anybody seeing? So they're trying to stop the ship from getting any further. Either sink them, or scare them into turning back. That might explain why you never heard anything about this voyage.

But that's all guesses. You're not even sure what she's planning to do. Maybe she'll capture you so her allies can figure out what's going on with you... and it would probably be bad if they somehow grasped time travel from a closer look. Or maybe she'll just kill you.

Then again, if that was it, she probably would have done it already. She hasn't even tried to incapacitate you. She's just being very intimidating.

Maybe because she can't tell if the time magic is some kind of defense. If she doesn't know what it is, she can't rule that out.

Another thing you could potentially use to your advantage, if only you had some idea what you were trying to accomplish.

Well. You figure that the safest thing is probably to find some way to get back to your own time, and let fate settle what happens to this damned ship. But you're not going to do that while Carma is threatening you.

So what's your next move?

Can you pretend to be her servant?

Maybe you can confuse her about what side you're on. You haven't actually said much.

"I mean, the pirates don't seem to be doing too well," you say. Not that you have any real idea if that's true. "So I came here to see what you would have us do next."

She definitely seems baffled.

"Wait, are you working for us? Who are you?"

You toss off the bedsheet.

"You've been here, what, six months? You can't be that surprised that there are some new recruits in that time. I was just going around like this to avoid drawing attention from the crew."

"I thought we weren't ready to infiltrate the Marshguards," Carma grumbles. "And you still haven't explained the time magic!"

"I dunno. I'm a spy, not a mage. And I'm not really filled in on all the details, just enough to know how to do my job. Seems they're struggling, though, since they had to drag me in for messenger duty and I didn't even have time to get changed."

She's clearly suspicious, but you've also got her worried.

"Prove it," she says. "What's my real name?"

"Carma," you reply.

From the looks of it, she really wasn't expecting you to get that question.

"Damn," she mutters. "So the pirates aren't enough? Even with everything we gave them? Then I suppose we'll have to get truly desperate."

Uh-oh. You may have just made things worse.

"No, it's not that bad yet," you say. "They think the pirates can handle this if they just have a little help."

Carma frowns.

"Then why contact me? If it is not that serious, they should be able to handle this without compromising my position."

Well, damn. You should probably come up with an answer to that quick.

(going off the master's book fixation...)

Something to do with books. They said you'd know what that means.

"Honestly, it was all pretty rushed, so I don't know the full details. When they sent me here, there was a lot of yelling going on. Something about books?"

"Books," she says, as though she's had a realization. "Ah, now it makes sense. They must have found a book with time magic and tested a spell on you. It's no wonder that would take priority." She lets out a groan. "Which means, of course, it's up to me to fix everyone else's mess, as usual. Well, me and you, anyways. Would be nice if we could contact Avel, but he's already drawn attention to himself. Too risky."

The name she mentions is rather strange. It's somewhere between a V sound and a Z sound.

"So, uh, what exactly should we be doing?" you ask.

"I'm thinking," she grumbles. "Doesn't help that I don't know what your skills are."

You may be getting deeper into this than you hoped, but once you get away you might be able to figure something out. In the meantime, you suppose it's best if you answer her implied question.

"Well, I'm a spy. And since I'm infiltrating the Marshguards, I need to be able to fight. That's the basics of it," you say with a shrug.

"Infiltration is almost useless here. They know everyone on this ship, you'd be discovered before you could do anything useful. And there are too many sailors for fighting to be an effective tactic. Is that really all you can do?"

"Look, I'm an extra pair of hands. That's pretty useful all by itself. And it shouldn't be too complicated to turn the tide of a single fight. Just figure out how the one side is winning and then stop them from doing that."

She gives you a glare.

"Of course, um, just because it's not complicated doesn't mean it's necessarily going to be easy," you continue. "Anyhow, ah, I can probably find that out if you have some way to make me less conspicuous. Then I can come back and we can figure out what to do about it."

"I told you, it's a ship. You won't go unnoticed for long."

"They're pretty busy right now. Long as I stay quiet nobody's going to ask questions. Besides, do you have a better idea?"

She growls.

"No. But don't take too long. I'll make a simple illusion. And stay away from the wizard, he's bound to notice if you get close."

"Well, what should I do if I run into him?"

"It's an emergency, so he'll likely have been dragged to the bridge. Hmm, but he might be the problem we need to attend to... He's not that good a wizard, but he might be good enough to make a difference. Well, find out what you can and come back. If it is a matter of the wizard, I know how to deal with that."

She then chants for a bit, and you find that your armor looks like a sailor's uniform.

"Remember, don't draw attention to yourself."

"Of course not," you say, as defiantly as you can. Though really, you just want to get out of here.

And now that she's let you out of her sight, you think it would be a good idea to talk to that wizard. So, you'd best figure out where the bridge is.

Of course, you also don't know what the wizard's going to do once he realizes you've got an illusion on you. And you're not sure how the fight with the pirates is actually going. You were just bluffing on that one, after all.

So now what do you do?

Well. The easiest way to find the bridge is probably to follow someone else there. If the fight's still going on, somebody's going to have to contact the officers at some point.

Which means that what you want to do is get closer to the action. Onto the deck, probably. Maybe you can even figure out from the layout where the bridge is, though you don't know much about ships so that's a little doubtful.

Finding the deck, on the other hand, should be pretty easy. Just keep heading up stairs, and you'll either reach it or see a window that overlooks it. So you start by climbing the nearest staircase.

There seem to be more sailors here. Whatever happens in this portion of the ship must be more important during an attack. You opt to hang back and listen in on the chatter for a bit, just to get a sense of what's happening.

So what are these sailors talking about?

They're discussing the weather!