Murder in Slushtime

The narrative centers on Callista Ming, a member of the Zicreex crew, who finds herself marooned on Gamorr during the slushtime season. When Guth, a Gamorrean crew member, is implicated in a murder, the entire crew is deemed guilty and subsequently imprisoned by a belligerent warlord. Callista persuades the wife of the deceased Vrokk to allow her to delve into the circumstances surrounding the death. Callista deduces that Guth, being a boar, is unlikely to have used poison, as boars are not known for their intellect. A visit to Sebastin Onyx, a local poet, provides Callista with insights into the killer's motive and method. While holding a vigil in the room where Vrokk met his end with Kufbrug, a nocturnal hunting creature, a kheilwar, materializes. Callista and Kufbrug engage the kheilwar, eventually trapping it, at which point it shape-shifts into the individuals it has observed. This transformation reveals the murderers to be Rog, Vrokk's sibling, and Gundruk, Kufbrug's offspring, who had also plotted to eliminate Kufbrug and seize her possessions.