Fairgrounds of the Emerald Overlord
by Wm Jay Carter III, 6/16/15
Attraction: Maypole
Nation: Ranai
Condition: Barren, Maintained
Weather: Strangely Cold
Color: Emerald Green
Keyword: Overlord
Ignoring the signs that clearly discourage wandering off the path, you leave the well-traveled road behind and plunge into the forest. You abruptly stop short as a piercing pain shoots through your foot—a razor-thin blade of grass has lived up to its once-metaphorical (now literal) description. Looking closer, you see that the blade retains the vibrant green of grass, but now shimmers like a perfectly cut emerald, and—as your foot can now attest—is just as hard.
Proceeding on stilts as you were wisely instructed, you enter a clearing full of such emerald grass. Within the clearing, you see a joyous celebration in progress—children playing field games, maidens dancing around a maypole, and vendors selling sugar crystal candy. At least, you assume it was sugar crystal candy at some point, just as you assume the occasion was joyous… You shiver in your skin; everyone and everything in the clearing has been turned to hard, cold emerald...just like the grass.
