The Weeping Squall
By @john1208
Qorina is a fiercely kind-hearted weather-sculptor who wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone her fragile junior colleague, Zutchi. So when Qorina frantically chases an escaped miniature typhoon through the workshop just to save Zutchi's desk, she is baffled when Zutchi throws herself to the floor, sobbing that Qorina maliciously summoned the storm to attack her when no one was looking. Zutchi expects Qorina’s stoic crafting partner, Vayun, to rush to her defense. Instead, the germ-averse artisan immediately recoils, physically stepping back and throwing up a sterilization barrier to avoid the weeping girl. As Zutchi doubles down on her victim act to steal Qorina’s prestigious Grand Monsoon Commission, Qorina cheerfully lets her have it, completely missing the malice. What the tearful junior doesn't realize is that Qorina was originally chosen because her excessive kindness made her the perfect clueless sacrifice for a cursed artifact. By successfully 'stealing' the reward, Zutchi has walked straight into a lethal trap. With Zutchi's wealthy aristocratic backers poised to publicly abandon her once the truth of the curse is revealed, can Qorina and Vayun survive the satirical fallout without blowing up the workshop?
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Claws, Combs, and Crocodile Tears
By @john1208
Zirka sacrificed everything to strike a blood-pact, purchasing a feral Doom-Maw and teaming up with the deadpan handler Vondur to conquer the decennial Voragian Tournament. There’s just one problem: Zirka trained for a deathmatch, only to discover she entered a televised monster beauty pageant. As she aggressively pivots from combat drills to extreme blow-outs, Vondur’s childhood friend Trillia slithers into their camp. Playing the tomboyish 'bro' who allegedly understands Vondur better, Trillia uses fake tears and guilt-trips about past favors to try and steal him away while sabotaging Zirka’s grooming supplies. But Trillia's victim act fails miserably. When a sabotaged acid-comb nearly explodes, Vondur completely ignores Trillia’s loud sobbing to check if Zirka is unharmed. Together, the strictly platonic duo ruthlessly exposes Trillia's sabotage on live broadcast, prompting Trillia's own aristocratic family to instantly disown her for ruining their brand. With her fragile younger brother cheering from the stands, Zirka is finally free to aggressively style her apex predator. Can a bloodthirsty murder-beast win best in show?
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Gears, Tears, and Sabotage
By @john1208
I am currently sprinting through the floating markets of Qart-Zab, screaming profanities while chasing a rogue clockwork ostrich, only to crash directly into my best friend's tearful ex-girlfriend. Yisharra has returned, dabbing her eyes and loudly claiming she abandoned Bodasht three years ago purely 'for his own good' so he could focus on his genius. To prove her devotion, she promptly 'trips' and dumps a vial of corrosive kraken-acid over my master blueprint for the Royal Regatta. She expected me to throw a tantrum. She expected Bodasht to forgive her. Instead, Bodasht pulls out his measuring tape, loudly calculating that the trajectory of her spill required forty pounds of deliberate downward force, completely dismantling her clumsy act in front of the Royal Pavilion. Meanwhile, I'm laughing hysterically because I just found a hidden diary proving my amnesiac past self engineered this exact confrontation. When I reveal the ruined blueprints were actually fake bait, Yisharra's wealthy aristocratic backers instantly drop her like a defective piston. But as we prepare to launch our air-galleon, a terrifying question remains: what other hilariously petty traps did my past self set up before wiping my memory?
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