WITCH ASTEROID

 Scotty: Drim. Calvin: Brooke. Grandaunt Ngeng will not wed! Middle Month of Summer.  Day 2, end of afternoon watch.  HEX B . . . The explorers see a war galley, marked with Lord Manishi Zaq's red wave emblem. Fifty feet away. The sun setting, casting the stream in purple silhouette as the tide lowers, approaching night. Twenty-one soldiers, strung and tied by their intestines like paper dolls, hang from the rigging of the war galley. Drim knows this to be the artistry of Krun. "Fuck that," says Jubilo, as he jumps overboard and swims for the nearby crowded woods. He slams his handshot pistol on the skiff seat to preserve it, leaving the weapon behind. Callan follows after Jubilo: "Aye aye, master!"  Brooke wakes up, fully rested. Brooke and Drim cautiously approach the galley. It's perched against a large flat stone, seemingly abandoned. The only noise the drip, drip, drip of the soldiers hanging above. Their feet nearly brush against heads. As Drim rows t...

 Scotty: Drim. Calvin: Brooke. Justin: Jubilo. Grandaunt Ngeng will not wed! Middle Month of Summer. Day 1, afternoon watch. HEX A. Ilyra retires for the night and disappears into the city. The vizier introduces Drim, a young, squat, handsome wilderness explorer. The vizier dismisses the party and repeats that the skiff will be ready tomorrow. The party spends the rest of the evening at the markets.  Jubilo searches for an expert tracker and comes across Callan, an intense, wide-eyed man chewing on a metal toothpick. Jubilo and Callan form an unlikely, awkward bond and mentally (via imagination) sign documentation for the hiring of Callan. Drim buys some rope. Brooke buys a fishing rod.  Day 2, morning watch... The party meet at the palace bright and early. Callan is already there, eyes nearly bursting out of his head as he searches his surroundings. The vizier has prepared their skiff earlier than expected. Jubilo "Alaric the Thief" at the prow, Brooke and Callan in the...

 The Tide Returning, by Zedeck Siew. Running Cairn with home-brew. Treythan: Ilyra. Calvin: Brooke. Justin: Jubilo. Grandaunt Ngeng will not wed! Middle Month of Summer. Day 1, morning watch. HEX A. The Great Wood, a tidal mangrove forest populated by elder trees the size of skyscrapers. At the southern end of the forest lies the city and palace of Zum, a colonial-military-merchant population who has "co-habitated" with the Witch Folk of the Great Wood for the last few generations. Two days ago the Zum King (and his canny Scepter) disappeared. A young wild woman with magical tracking abilities: Ilyra. A cautious and investigative Gul bodyguard: Brooke. A legendary gentleman Zum thief: Alaric. These three are contacted by the vizier to the throne, to meet at the Second Market Docks. A water wrestling match is overseen at the docks by Karor (sentient tiger) and Good Captain Fintan (greasy leather-clad stranger).  Ilyra watches the scene from a nearby side-dock-street. Brooke a...