Tuesday 17 January 2023

Hex Crawl 23 #17: Dry River Bed

One hex southwest, one hex northwest of Alakran.

Wadi, arroyo, or in the Wahatti language, sabulumid. All refer to a riverbed or canyon, its bottom covered in silt, sand, and gravel, that is dry except after the heavy rains that occur in the winter rainy season. The white dotted line is our symbol for such a sabulumid, which originates in the valley of the Bronze Tree and makes its way west, eventually to join with the year-round watercourse known as the Gasshadu, an old Wahatti word translated as "the threshold of conquest".

This seasonal river is not known by any name (merchants who had to cross it further to the west may have had their own name for it, but that has vanished from memory. Hasanain, the merchant who visits Alakran, calls it only "the gully as dry as my profits from this village," with some exaggeration.) It is 1-4' deep,getting deeper along its length to the west. 

After rains start, a bore of water will come barreling down it, traveling 20 miles an hour from its source. All who are not quick enough to leap out will be knocked down and borne away.

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