Welcome to the Swamp

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

It's that time again! Now that Liane Merciel has wrapped up her superb Worldwound adventure, "Certainty," it's time to pull up our stakes and move somewhere else with the free Wednesday web fiction. In this case, that's down south to the forests of Nirmathas—or, more accurately, the dark waters of a nondescript little fen, where something strange has been stirring.

This week's offering is different in another way as well. For this story, long-time Paizo author Amber Scott has brought us a tale that is—if not exactly sweet—significantly shorter than previous entries, broken over two weeks rather than four, the better to keep the action moving and the lineup shifting. If you have an opinion about the change of pace, mixing shorter stories with longer ones, let us know in the comments section below!

In "The Swamp Warden," Amber brings us the story of Rhyn, an experienced swamper with a troubled past, liked well enough by the little town of fishermen and marsh-folk that he's chosen to defend, but never quite a part of things. He's good at his job, and if that isn't quite enough to erase the memory of his lost love, it's at least something. But when a new threat starts hunting the tree-shrouded waters of the fen, it's up to Rhyn to row out to meet it. And what he finds there may change him—and the swamp—forever...

James Sutter
Fiction Editor