Year of the Snake: Day 22 – The Swamp Run
MEGA POST: YEAR OF THE SNAKE – DAY 22
Year of the Snake: Day 22 – The Swamp Run & The Great Silence
By Captain Hedges Log Date: January 22, 2026
Location: Deep Cypress Sector / Whispering Isles (Silent Running) Status:
EVASIVE MANEUVERS / PHASE III – WAITING
We didn't light the main candle. That would have been suicide. The moment our thermal signature hit the upper atmosphere, that Bioship would have turned us into a smoking crater. They're out there, always watching, always hunting.
So, we did it the hard way. I dropped the landing gear, routed all auxiliary power to the repulsor-lifts, and turned the Penitent Thief into the galaxy’s heaviest, most unlikely hovercraft.
Mud, Sweat, and Lasers We are currently screaming through the swamp, barely three feet above the waterline. The hull is vibrating so hard my teeth ache, and Sprocket is down in the engine room, howling something about "mud in the intakes"—probably swearing in Low Dwarven, too.
But it’s working. The canopy overhead is thick enough to baffle their orbital sensors, and we’re moving too fast for the ground troops to get a lock. Well, most of them. The Ophidians deployed "Skimmer-Sleds"—fast, nasty little attack bikes that hover on magnetic coils. We’ve got three of them on our six right now, trading red laser fire with our rear deflector shields. It’s a bad day to be a leaf in this swamp.
The Void-Heart's Pulse To make matters worse, the "Void-Heart" in the cargo hold is reacting to the chase. Every time we take a hit, the crate glows brighter, its eerie light bleeding through the gaps in the plating. It isn’t just a battery; it feels alive. I can feel it thrumming through the deckplates, a low, resonant hum that I swear is calling out to the mothership.
Down in the hold, Sprocket is working like a man possessed. He’s draped the Void-Heart in lead-lined dampening blankets and is currently hand-tuning the containment field’s frequency to match the swamp's natural background radiation. Every time the crate pulses, he hits it with a burst of localized ion-suppression. He's sweating through his grease-stained coveralls, muttering about how "you can’t baffle a god with a soldering iron," but so far, the glow is staying inside the ship. Just barely.
We had to find a hole to crawl into, and fast. My charts showed a dense fog bank in the Whispering Isles sector up ahead. It’s a known dead zone for sensors, a graveyard of ancient tech and spectral mists. I banked the Thief hard around a massive cypress, killing the repulsors and sliding into the muck just as the mist swallowed us whole. The sound of our pursuers faded, replaced by the eerie drip of the swamp.
The Great Silence Now, we are in Phase III.
The Penitent Thief sits cold and dark on the muddy floor of the Whispering Isles. The Star Knights are cut off from the Temple. We are forced to sit in the dark and wait. Maybe that’s a good thing. We need to remember that we are small. We need to remember that without the Dragons, we are just monkeys looking at the stars.
Tonight, we respect the cycle. We let them sleep. We repair our gear, we sharpen our blades, and we watch the eastern horizon. Because when that first sliver of light returns... the Dragons will wake up hungry.
– Captain Hedges
OPHIDIAN PURSUIT WING (THE ENEMY STATS)
Skimmer-Sled (Vehicle)
CON: 23
DEX: 25
SPD: 28
Combat Dice: 5D6 (Mag-Coil Lasers)
Special: Redline (SPD +5 for 3 rounds)
Ophidian Pilot
STR: 14, INT: 13, LUK: 11, CON: 15, DEX: 21, CHR: 08, SPD: 18
Combat Adds: +18
Skills: Pilot Lvl 2, Low-Alt Combat Lvl 1
Ophidian Grease-Viper (Mechanic)
STR: 13, INT: 19, LUK: 14, CON: 14, DEX: 16, CHR: 09, SPD: 13
Combat Adds: +12
Skills: Mechanics Lvl 3, Field Salvage Lvl 2
CREW OF THE PENITENT THIEF STATS
Captain Hedges (Hedge Wizard)
STR: 16, INT: 23, LUK: 18, CON: 21, DEX: 19, CHR: 20, SPD: 15
Combat Adds: +30
Special: Immune to Acid/Poison
Skills: Ship Command Lvl 4, Wizardry Lvl 3
Sprocket (Space Dwarf Mechanic)
STR: 28, INT: 22, LUK: 18, CON: 32, DEX: 24, CHR: 12, SPD: 10
Combat Adds: +52
Special: Dwarf Constitution
Skills: Mechanics Lvl 5, Containment Lvl 4
SHIP SPECIFICATIONS: THE PENITENT THIEF
Chassis (CON): 45
Repulsors (SPD): 35
Maneuver (DEX): 30
Weaponry: 8D6 Forward Lasers / 4D6 Rear Deflectors
Special: Silent Running (+10 to Hiding)
Product Identity & Legal The "Year of the Snake" Project, the world of Zimrala, the Tygerian Isles, the Ether Dragons, the specific characters "Captain Hedges" and "Sprocket the Space Dwarf," the "Hedge Wizard of the Shreveport Cabin" persona, "Ophidian Skimmer-Sleds," "Whispering Isles," and the Penitent Thief ship design and stats are Product Identity of Arthur Earl C. Hedges Jr. / The Adventures of Captain Hedges. Monsters! Monsters! and Humans, Humans (1st Edition) are trademarks of Ken St. Andre and Troll Godfather Press and are used with permission. The statistics provided herein are designated as unofficial playtest material for the Tygerian Isles campaign setting. © 2026 Arthur Earl C. Hedges Jr. All rights reserved.
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