Blade Maidens: Dead in the Water – 13

“A slow death at sea is among the worst fates I’ve encountered.

Ships drifting along the waves, decks littered with sun-baked corpses, bones stretching parchment-dry skin, sunken eyes like raisins staring out onto the horizon.

A fate reserved for those who have earned Derecho’s wrath, the wind-lord spurning whole crews from their sight. Slowly burning through their supplies, turning ever-closer to drawing knives and feasting on their fellow crew when those run dry.

If you find yourself caught in such a hell, please heed my advice. Leap off the side and embrace Mara’s kingdom. A swift descent to a watery grave will serve you much kinder than what waits above her waves.”

– A passage from A Life Well Lived: My Travels, Collected by explorer Kai Dorrick.