LAY OF

THE FOREST
Only outsiders call this place Upper Heleng. To the people it is home, or the forest -- and like them,
their mother needs no name.
The landscape is difficult, even for locals. Rivers seem to writhe. Paths present today may be gone
tomorrow. Every other day, drop a handful of dice. Whatever they land on is present. Otherwise:
thick, primeval forest.
Die results matter: evens are connected by rivers; multiples of 3 are camps.

Giant rock shaped like a foetal Lake, mudflats. Giant mudskippers, big as crocodiles. Territorial. Temple ruins. Dedicated to some foreign deity. The forest enjoys Durian trees. Ripening. Falling Dead towering trees. Older ways in and out of the forest. Resurrect
woman. Weeping a spring. Males challenge each other, and you. its dissolution; pull a stone from the wall, earn a week-long truce fruit seek out your head. a tree, open a path into a past.
with the leech god.

Island in a vast lake. There seems to be a city, there. Its population Lake. Butterflies frill its shore. Lake. Giant dragonflies hover. Vile pandanus. Copses spiking Crater. Rocks within bleed if Limestone hill. Tunnels. One Sunbears lounge about. At night
is the walking dead - though you can’t tell, from here. This lake is Salt spirit makes the water Venomous, aggressive, diet of through the bones of elephants. cut: nuggets of meat in stone immense, mineral-rich earth- their fur shines, phosphores-
the snake god. Attempt a crossing and he comes alive, tries to saline. fish and small mammals shells. worm. cent.
drown you. Wants to add you to his collection.

Eyes in every tree. Lorises. Only Stinkbean trees. A delicacy. Eternal tornado on a bare hill. Jackfruit trees. Swarmed by Village. Outlaws from outside.
ever staring at you. Scent clings to you for a week. Inside: windworn bamboo. civet cats. In varying degrees of mutilated.

Tambourines. A palace, green
with moss. This is the court of
Upper Heleng. A delusion. The
exiled nobility of Heleng rule
here. All skeletons, now.
Glowsteen trees, glimmering. Patches of darkness move between Chasm. Tombs cut into its Limestone hills, mottled in A regiment of invading soldiers, Tualang trees. Fifty metres up, honey combs hang from branches
them. walls. Bones arranged into blue. Cat-sized snails wearing mid-march. Petrified. like inverted fans. Aggressive bees. There are songs to put them to
mandalas. intense cerulean shells. sleep.

Anti-fireflies flit about, motes of
unlight. The larvae of pall
spirits.
Soaring limestone crag, ruffed
in mist. Climbing to its peak is
impossible; you must fly. At the
top: the eyrie of the kite god.
Eternal tornado in a gully. Bamboo grove. Kraits hold
Inside: windworn bamboo. themselves stiff, camouflaged as
stalks.
A titanic banyan. In its
branches: a city of macaques.
This tree is the macaque god.
Her children are pranksy
cretins.
Mudholes. You sink to your
waist. Leechspawn birthing
grounds.

Langsat trees. Giant weaver ants Tree branches, covered in green The skyline of a city, sketched Chasm full of vile pandanus. Mango trees. These are the best Langsat trees. Webbed in fine
methodically pluck fruit. lac scales. Psychotropic, if in a web of phantom vine, Tricky footing, easy to fall in. you have ever tasted. silk. Giant spiders.
smoked. suspended in the air between
two hillsides.

Limestone range. Peaks bent over like ice-cream licks. Caves full of Sapfruit trees. Thrown, their Permanent night. Glowsteen A mound of antlers in a Crater. No trees, no animals. Voices sneer, seem to tell the future,
unnatural speleothems. Deafening chatter of stone-shaper swiftlets. fruit explode like glue grenades. trees, their fruit twinkling. clearing. Deer avoid this hoard. show you visions of your worst fears coming true. Increased
Their saliva turns rock malleable as toffee. chance of mutation, here.

Rattan rises above the treeline, slender and sly. They bend away Huts. Village of rhino gods. Marshy sumps. Hard to stay
from you, refusing to be harvested; they must be lassoed like Welcoming, utterly self-assured. dry. Leechspawn birthing
animals. grounds.
 Ache Earwind Inflorescent Mossslow Quillhead Vast
THE
Agar Easy Isthmus Myriad Rarefire Vandal
PEOPLE
AND NAMES Arrowedge Ellipsis Iron Nearvoice Rhizome Villi

Ashy Elevenflower Jagelbow Needle Roar Vinehand

Besides relevant kinship terms -- daughter;
aunt; lover -- this person currently answers to Awaymind Fanghook Jam Nofear Rootbum Vowsnot
the following names.
Drop six dice:
Berkfoot Fantasy Jewel Nought Rubious Wasted

Biggy Finagle Justnow Nutmeg Screwtongue Wellchest

Always descriptive: the higher the dice result,
the more literal. A six on Yamarm might mean Briny Flicker Jumpfar Ochreback Seesaw Wootree
she has a yam-man’s limb grafted to her; a one
on Biggy might mean he is four feet tall.
Boo Flop Kernel Off Silt Woeskin
All their names are true. Which is another way
of saying none are. Wingseed is Bobbleknee to
her cousins, and Sapsick next week. They do
Bushthorn Game Key Olivewood Sorrisome Wrecks
not edit themselves down into single identities.
Calamine Getthing Killy Oolite Spore Xylem
Spells that require a target’s name never work
on the people of the forest.
Chirrup Goldrose Knavedick Orangeseed Teeth Yamarm

Closeweave Goodsy Kneebody Palestone Threetit Yeasay

Cord Greathorn Lamehair Parboil Tipbite Yearago

Crackegg Harmless Lissommy Pear Tokesmoke Yocks

Dart Hardwood Littlehorn Pissnose Trips Yolkfern

Daydoor Honeyeye Lies Pyrite Unface Zappedface

Demoniac Hoots Lowhang Quacks Unicorn Zigzags

Dicksnick Hutpillar Mariner Quantum Upsun Zilchboob

Droops Icterine Manycoin Quakefinger Urnsherd Zits

Earthen Illwound Moist Queasy Uvula Zoom