Swamped Chapter 219 Page 10

Well, maybe you don’t need a detailed signal. The office is right here, you can just point to it. All that a signal can add is clarity as to why you might want to go in.

There is a signal for “check your paperwork”, used when some issue comes up and you need to alert someone during a performance. It’s not a common problem, but it’s useful to teach the sign in case it does. Then again, depending on how Len learned these signs, it might not be one he picked up.

Well, it’s worth trying. You make the sign and point to the office, while filling in with some cover talk. He responds with “sign unclear”, which means you’ll need to take some other tack.

You could say something to the effect of “it’s a pity they won’t let us into the office”, but you think letting that be overheard is too risky. They might strengthen the guard.

But hang on a moment, you only need a moment to look inside, since you know what to focus on. You could probably even see the calendar from the window if you could get up high enough to look through it. Maybe it would be simpler to do that.

So you give him a sign for “get audience’s attention” and point to the office again. He acknowledges this one and heads over to the guard.

“You know anything about that sundial near here?” he asks. “It’s real weird.”

“Not really my concern, I’m just waiting for the town guard to get here,” the grebling replies. “Don’t know what’s taking them so long, though I did hear they were pretty short-handed.”

“Oh, yeah, they were running around all over the place on my way here,” Len replies. “I saw a group chasing some suspicious characters, some others were watching a sewer entrance and looked like they were expecting trouble to pop up. Saw some patrols, too.”

Hopefully he can keep that up for a while. You only have a vague plan for getting a look, and it’s going to take a little bit of setup.