Swamped

"How about the dead bugs?" you ask.

"I doubt they'll be going anywhere now. We can clean them up when things calm down."

Now that's interesting.

"What makes you so sure? I mean, I'm guessing the whole reason for catching that fly was to keep it from making them move, but I don't know that. And you didn't even ask the wizard about it."

He stops walking for just a moment before resuming. Definitely seems you made him think.

"If the wizard thought they might move again, he would have said so. We've been sailing six months, we've addressed this sort of question before."

Now that doesn't quite fit with what you've seen of him. He seems like the sort to play it safe and double-check things. In fact, he didn't even ask about the creature at all, he let the wizard just move on to the other problem.

He hands you the list quickly and then opens the door to the bridge. You follow him in. You still don't feel like you know what's going on, but maybe some of your other questions can be cleared up here.

As you go in, you glance at the list. And something strikes you as strange.

Where did they get a birthday gift like that while at sea?

Lou's birthday gift: a fancy raincloak.

That doesn't make any sense. You can't just sew a raincloak, it requires specialized machinery to make it waterproof. So that suggests somebody hid a raincloak for six months just to give it to someone on his birthday.

But it's clearly rained well before then. You think you remember someone here complaining about it raining earlier today, even. Which means it would be a lot more practical to hand the cloak over early, rather than wait six whole months.

Well, maybe Resk thought it was weird too, since he put it on the list. But why talk to the wizard about it?

He suddenly stares at you.

"I thought the flames were supposed to be because of the barrier," he says. "But Wiz said he couldn't keep it going while the ship's bouncing around. And he's not keeping it up right now anyways."

You shrug.

"I'll ask him about it later, I guess. Besides, aren't we here to ask questions to somebody else?"

His expression doesn't change.

"I have to give the captain a report. You start questioning Ms. Bertha, I'll be listening so I can add anything I need to afterwards."

Well. Figures you'd get the hard part.

Resk starts turning to the captain, and you address First Mate Bertha.

"Pardon me, sir. Those children I brought in earlier... It seems they were sleeping in your room, unsupervised."

Bertha looks baffled.

"But they're the carpenter's children. Cammie and I weren't supposed to take care of them tonight, that wasn't until tomorrow. You're sure it was my room?"

"Mr. Resk there said it was. I only have that to go on."

"Hmm, he's not likely to get that wrong. I suppose the carpenter might have gotten confused about the day. It's easy to lose track all the way out here. But then again, leaving the children in our room without checking if either of us was there... Nails isn't usually that careless."

Just what you needed, more damn questions.

"I don't suppose you have any idea about the strange magic symbol on the floor there, either."

"Actually, I do have a thought about that."

Now that's not an answer you were expecting.

Take a look, it's in a book.

A children's book, specifically. The one about dreams and wizards and forgotten gods.

She reaches into her pouch - which is rather large for a pouch, you now notice - and pulls out a picture book.

"I read this to the quartermaster's daughter last week. It's a bit of a weird one. A forgotten god speaks to people in their dreams, and a wizard goes into the dream world to fight it." She flips through it and opens to a two-page spread. "It's got a bit where the wizard draws a magic symbol on the floor of a ship to make it float. So it could have been one of the kids trying to imitate the book."

"What, with a knife?" you ask. "The symbol was carved into the floor."

You also find something weirdly familiar about the art style in the book.

"Well, we don't have a lot of pens that can make a good marking on the floor around here. And Suzy's snuck into the storerooms before. So I wouldn't be shocked if she did it. And the way Wiz was talking earlier, it sounded like the symbol itself can be magic. Of course, this picture doesn't show it straight-on, so it's probably safe in here, but maybe Suzy figured out how to draw the rest of it."

She hands it to you.

"Maybe Wiz can have a look at that. Might help you figure out if it really was little Suzy."

Well. This is a chance to have a closer look at it for your own sake, too. That's pretty convenient.

But you may want to ask her some more questions before you head off.

Are there any other children on-board or does this account for all of them?

"Just to be sure, how many children are on this ship? I know of the two I brought up here earlier, and now Suzy? Any others?"

"Three more who are that young," Bertha replies. "We've got a few teenagers as well, but they're old enough to actually help out with the ship. No heavy labor, mind, mostly just cleaning and the like."

"And what, you can't have them watching the younger kids?" you ask, a little skeptically.

"That would make things easier, if any of them were the sort to be trusted with child care," she replies. "Sadly, that's not how it is."

"So you don't think they'd go around reading children's books and making magic symbols because of them?"

"None of them can read, and immature as they are, I can't imagine them drawing something just because they see a picture of it in a book. Even then, they'd have to get this book from me. Pretty sure there aren't any other copies on board, since this book's not exactly common."

"What do you mean?"

"It was originally made in Kandria. And as you might guess, they banned it rather promptly, what with the whole thing about a forgotten god. Only a few copies made it out of the country, I heard. But I make a bit of a hobby out of collecting books banned in Kandria."

"Right," you mumble. "So just to be thorough, who are these other three children?"

"Two of 'em are twins," she replies. "Boy and a girl. About eight years old. They don't like to talk to anyone besides each other, though. Which isn't to say they're above causing trouble, mostly little pranks. Not that hard to deal with on the whole, though."

"And the third?"

She lets out a deep breath.

"That one's going to take a bit of explanation."

Not exactly human...

"That's enough, Bertha," the Captain interjects suddenly. "That one's barely able to walk. Couldn't possibly have made a symbol."

"How young are we talking?" you ask, surprised. "Born on the voyage?"

"Not quite. But about that young," the Captain replies. "Not really your business, as far as I can tell."

That's strange. Just as strange as how cooperative he was earlier, without any particular reason. You didn't think too much of it at the time, but now you feel like something's going on that you've missed.

That's when you catch a glimpse of something around his neck. You think it's a pendant, but you don't get a very good look at it before he turns back to Resk.

"Captain, with all due respect, I think it's better we tell him about it now than have him stumble onto the child and get the wrong idea," Bertha says.

"I'm inclined to agree," says the Captain. "But you know full well that when it comes to matters regarding that child, I am not the one in charge."

The Captain of the ship isn't in charge? Then who is?

"Look, I'm getting a bit confused here. I don't need the full story, but can you clear up at least a little about what's going on with this kid?"

The Captain turns to you, a frown on his face. You can get a better look at the pendant now. It's more like a tiny jewel on a chain, though you've never seen a jewel that color, even in picture books. Looks almost like a water droplet.

He seems to be thinking hard about what to say.

"I can tell you this much. That's not a child of any of the crew. And we are responsible for their safety."

Not a child of any of the crew... Wait, didn't he say the grebling who left earlier wasn't part of the crew? Could it be her child?

A sudden thought strikes you. Is the child a halfbreed? That's definitely something that would be kept under wraps, considering the old stories.

Well, whether that's it or not, you don't think it would be useful to pry further. So now you need to think about what to do next. You do have this list Resk gave you to ask the wizard about, not to mention a few other ideas this conversation has given you.

Then again, Resk said he might ask a few questions after you were done. Maybe you want to wait for that? It might be better for maintaining goodwill not to hang around too long, though, given the current uncomfortable topic.

So, what will you do?

Ask about her relationship with Goan.

Well. There's one thought that's been bothering you since Bertha talked about the book. Might as well address it.

"Going back to this forgotten god," you say. "I heard something about that once. Ran across a self-proclaimed follower, who called the god Goan. Does that sound familiar at all?"

She shakes her head. But you think you caught a look of surprise on Resk's face, just for a moment. Does he know something?

"All I know is the story in that book there. The forgotten god isn't given a name, all that's said is that it angered the others long ago, and nothing remains of it except what lurks in the dreams of mortals. Mind, I've seen enough in my lifetime that I wouldn't be that shocked if there turned out to be some truth to it."

She seems a bit young to be saying "in my lifetime," but you leave that without comment. You glance at the book.

"Unfortunately, I can't read this," you say. "It looks like it's in Kandrian?"

"Well, I don't have time to translate for you. Doubt Wiz does, either. Still, if you're going to see him anyways, you could ask. Maybe he has a spell that could help you read it."

You think for a bit, vaguely hoping to come up with another question. But Resk's already intervened.

"I'll have to ask you to leave now," he says. "There's a sensitive matter that we top officers need to discuss. Thank you for your questions, though."

Well. You probably wouldn't have thought of anything, anyways. You start walking out.

But you can't help but wonder if you should look for a way to eavesdrop. Just in case.

Pause to investigate the floor and bulkheads in detail outside the room so you can listen in.

The moment you leave, someone shuts the door behind you. And you can't make out anything clearly when you hold your ear to it. They must have built it thick precisely to avoid nosy sailors listening in.

You could try opening it just a crack, but Resk is no doubt watching for that. Seems like the sort of thing he'd do.

But maybe they didn't think beyond the obvious options. You start glancing around.

And then you spot a seam between two portions of wall. You hold your ear to it.

You mostly hear footsteps. Like someone pacing around. But you can hear the voices just a little bit better. It's quiet, but you can make out words if you put in an effort.

"I've told you before, Resk. Nual insists we press onwards." You remember Nual is god of the oceans, but you need to keep your attention on the conversation right now. You can think about what it all means later.

"This is different, sir. Nual can protect us from the ocean. Not from cannonballs."

"Nual can also stop protecting us from the ocean if we turn back. Anyhow, we don't even know if the pirates will stop attacking us if we do turn around." You think that's Bertha, but it's too quiet to be sure.

"Well, right now, we're slowly losing to the pirates while we've got several other problems going on. So unless Nual can offer more guidance than 'keep going', I'm inclined to take my chances with the ocean. We've got a wizard, after all."

Suddenly, everything goes completely silent for a moment. That's strange.

But just as suddenly, someone speaks again, and says something very surprising.

Are you a traitor, Corvus, or merely incompetent? In either case, I see no reason to prolong your misadventures.

"Corvus!"

It's not one of the voices in the bridge. It feels like it's echoing through your head. And it's making it really hard to focus.

Doesn't help matters when another voice starts talking in there.

"What is taking so long? I already sensed Azel fleeing! Was that your doing?"

"Corvus!"

The second voice is very clearly Carma's. Must be able to talk through the illusion spell or something. Which gives you worries about what else she can do through it.

"Are you a traitor -"

"Corvus!"

"- or merely incompetent? In either case, I see no reason to prolong your misadventures."

"Corvus!"

"Return to me at once, or else."

Ugh. So much for eavesdropping. Seems you've got to take care of Carma sooner rather than later, and the wizard's your best shot at that.

At least Carma's voice isn't bugging you any more, though whoever's calling your name still seems to be at it. You head downstairs and rush for the open door.

And then the voice shouting your name seems to get very insistent. Just as you open your mouth, it starts shouting louder. You can barely focus enough to speak.

But, with great difficulty, you manage to get one word out. You hope the wizard understands it.

Kelp!

You're now the wizard.

The man with the illusion on him just ran into this room and shouted "Kelp!" and is now oddly still. Either he was trying to warn you about the local seaweed, or, more likely, he was calling for help and something interfered.

That something is probably the illusion on him, considering there's an unusual amount of ether flowing through it. It's the work of a moment to dismiss it, but you've probably alerted whoever cast it on him in the process.

Well. Can't be helped. He wouldn't have lasted much longer. Especially as he doesn't seem to be doing much better; he's trying to talk now, but no words are coming out.

It's a bit harder to work out what's going on now, mostly because you have so little experience with time magic. Your best guess is that something is trying to pull him back to his original time period. But, for whatever reason, it's not working. Perhaps something is actively blocking it? Or perhaps there's another reason.

Well, whatever the cause, you still need him here and now for a while yet. So you'd best think about how to deal with this.

A little bit of binding to something with more ethereal inertia might help to anchor him in the present.

Well. For a moment, forget the fact that this is time magic. If your guess is correct, you're dealing with a spell you don't want to get rid of entirely - otherwise he might not be able to return - but that's having an unwanted effect.

So in effect, you want to put a lock on it. Hide it away and pull it out later. You've had some practice with that; back at the library, you sometimes had to move spells from one book to another, in order to keep the spell active as the book itself decayed. Of course, in most cases the wizard who originally cast the spell wasn't alive any more, so you didn't encounter resistance in the other direction, and you aren't certain that will be the case here; and you were working from an object to an object, rather than a person to an object. And you also need to keep the spell from just taking whatever object you move it to away.

Well, one issue at a time. The easiest way to keep the spell from taking the object is to use an object that magic doesn't flow through well. It'll make the transfer a little harder, but right now you don't have much time to consider your options.

Fortunately, your room is just next door. You run in and fetch the moonwood stick from your closet. Of course, you keep it wrapped in a cloth so it doesn't affect you too much.

You then run back and start transferring the spell. It's difficult. You end up having to put a bit of it in the cloth, then move it from the cloth to the stick. Hard enough moving a spell from a person to an inanimate object without having to deal with the added resistance of moonwood. Inanimate-to-inanimate is considerably easier, but still draining in this case.

Indeed, after a minute or so, you've got a rather delicate setup. You've worked out the principles, at least, so you can move relatively quickly from here. But if something starts going wrong, it could ruin the whole thing.

And just as you start to speed up, you notice something going wrong. You're encountering resistance. Someone is fighting back.

So what are you going to do about it?

You could try to send disruption back down the thread to distract the resistor, but it might be more interesting to monitor the thread and see if you can find out anything about who is manipulating it and also observe the manner, form, and aims of their manipulations. It's not every day that you get to observe working time magic, after all.

If you ignore the fact that you're dealing with time magic, there's a simple answer; retaliate. Send your own disruption back to them. Hopefully it works long enough for you to finish.

But you have another option. Whatever time period this man comes from, this is your one line of communication with them. Which means there's a lot you could learn.

To begin with, you could learn what they want. Then, perhaps, you can use this spell as a cross-temporal negotiation.

But to do that, you'll have to see just what their counterspell does. There are a lot of ways to disrupt a spell, and some are more destructive than others.

So you let it through. Carefully, of course. You control the ether flow so that whatever it does, it doesn't do much of it right away.

And what it does turns out to be simple. It starts to siphon the ether back. Well, that's inconvenient, but it's promising in terms of what it suggests. They're being very direct in countering you, but not putting any effort into doing anything besides countering you. Since there are spells that could do the same more effectively with significantly more collateral damage, they're most likely not trying to start a fight.

Well, then you won't give them one. But you do need to give them a message back. What sort of spell can you use to make your intent as clear as possible, without antagonizing them?

There's always morse code. Try varying the amount of resistance you give to the pull, within reason.

Are there different flavors of ether? You can use those to punctuate your coded message. Relying on starting and stopping the flow of ether alone to transmit a message seems unreliable given the distemporal nature of the transaction... You don't know if a two second pause on your end would translate to a two second pause on their end.

You could send a message, you suppose. Encode it in the ether. You ponder pausing the flow at particular intervals, but decide against it. You're already meddling with time itself, there's no guarantee the intervals would stay the same.

But order, order ought to. If you shift from flame to water to earth, say. The way to start is by sending a recognizable pattern, then they can acknowledge by extending it.

Flame. Water. Earth. Flame. Water. Flame. Earth. Flame. Water. Flame. Water. Earth. Flame. Water. Flame. Water. Flame. Earth.

Long enough to make the pattern clear. You wait a while, and get the reply you were hoping for. Flame. Water. Flame. Water. Flame. Water. Earth. They send the next two steps in the pattern, too.

So they've acknowledged. The line of communication is open. Now it's time to test if they can understand you.

You send the words PEACE WISDOM AND in a very simple cipher. If they can understand Common, and have a wizard, then they ought to be able to send back the last word, RESTRAINT.

A moment later, a reply comes. The pattern suggests it's using your cipher, but it's clearly not RESTRAINT. Strange. You'll need to take a moment to determine what it says.

SILENCE