Handy Haversack wrote:

14 and 4. I seem to be stuck on 4 in the ones column. I'm using my official AS&SH dice, so we can always blame Ghul.

(I should dig out my set).

Her voice shaking slightly Verctissa leans toward this creature of flame. She feels cold heat on her forehead and a sense of presence as she invokes the strength of her faith. The coal eyes of the creature whip round and widen into dark circles that seem to be liquid of endless depth. There is a sucking sound and the little monster howls like a blade scraping on stone. It flys from the boy's back and sails through the air toward the gigantic creature of fire that is being held at bay by the man with the sledgehammer. Lightning crackles across the weapon and flared before the fire-creature.

The boy is at Verctissa's feet lying on his face, moaning and only half conscious.

Four horsemen are gallopping down the street and several men and women are exiting the doors of the large building Verctissa's planned to enter. 
 

Handy Haversack wrote:

Success!

She calls for the people exiting the bldg. to care for the boy and goes to back up the man with the hammer. On arriving, well, might as well dance with the one that brought me: she casts scare at the flame creature and exhorts it to flee the realms of men.

The boy shudders but at least he breaths. Verctissa's call for help is answered by a young woman with dark hair, gold earings and colorfull dress and blouse. A large man wearing a cloth apron also rushes forward and stand above the boy but appears transfixed by the sight of the fire monster.

The creature seems unable to get past the man with the sledgehammer as he wields it tirelessly,. Verctissa can catch some fragments of song as he battles the creature. The smaller monster can be seen peering from behind larger, huddling on the edge of the now cold ash-filled forge.

A spear passed through the monsters and sinks into one wall of the smithy. Several arrows pass through as well.

Chanting her magic and casting it forth the results are stunning. The small monster wails like the crys of the damned and is suddenly enveloped by the larger. In a hiss of icy air both are surrounded in a thick mist and disappear from view. The man with the sledgehammer turns to face Verctissa and sees something behind her. Still carrying his mighty sledge he rushes past her calling out "Gregor! Gregor!"

Handy Haversack wrote:

Verctissa will move to the group around the boy and tell them to get him inside and to warm him--wrap him in blankets near a fire or get him into hot water if such is available--and to move quickly. (She's trying to seem a bit imperious and like she has some clue what's going on.)

She'll say to the hammer wielder, "Is the boy yours? That thing was sucking the heat from him like a daemon wind. Yet it feared to strike you. What manner of creature is it, and why has it turned its wrath on a village smith?"

The man with the apron pulls it off himself and wraps it around the boy. "We will need Nikoli," he says holding the boys face to the man with the sledgehammer.

"He is coming," one of the horseman says as a crowd begind to form.

The man with the sledgehammer reaches out and put his hand to the boys face. "Cold as Lujak's heart," he says. "He lives. Nikoli can maybe save his ear,"

Verctissa notices the boys ear is frozen and the side of his face seems burned by the cold.

"I am Andra," the man with the sledgehammer says to Verctrissa. "I thank you for saving my son and banishing that demon. I knbow not what creature it is but I know it comes from Lujak the sorceror who was exiled from the town just this past week. He promised vengeance on us."

(You gain 25xp, 25xp, 50xp, 150xp, 150xp and 450xp for a total of 850xp. Well played)

[Wow! I felt completely clueless the whole time. Excellent. It's been a long time since I was a player rather than a DM.]

OK. "I would learn more about this sorcerer. But you must see to your boy. Is there a place where I could await you--and anyone else who could tell me of this fell power? Perhaps I can find a way to make Lujak break his vow." That would a be a good moment for Yiel to once more settle on my shoulder.

JasonZavoda wrote:

Excellent image. Somewhere between that and this:



all 4'11'' of Verctissa stalks the night.

Handy Haversack wrote:

[Wow! I felt completely clueless the whole time. Excellent. It's been a long time since I was a player rather than a DM.]

OK. "I would learn more about this sorcerer. But you must see to your boy. Is there a place where I could await you--and anyone else who could tell me of this fell power? Perhaps I can find a way to make Lujak break his vow." That would a be a good moment for Yiel to once more settle on my shoulder.

(Good instincts then).

"Mikael," Andar takes his son from the arms of the man. "Can you do without Sonja, here," he nods to the woman in the colorful clothes, "we will find Nikoli." turning to Verctissa he says, "Mikael leads the council and runs the inn. Mikael, whatever she needs is hers. You can find some rest in the inn and Mikael I am sure will speak to you, as I would like to as well, but later." he tutns and with Sonja strides off with a crowd of townsmen around him.

Mikael is a tall brown-haired and beareded man. He gives Verctissa a friendly smile. "Hungry? Thirsty?" he asks. "Come and I will fix you something. Keltoi?" he asks after looking at her for a moment and with a boistrous crowd heads back for the doors of the inn.
 

Walking toward the inn with him. "My blood is Pictish, my kin of the far and savage shores. But I am my own. I thank you for your offer, sir. Tell me, what people are you, and who is the Lukaj who has sworn vengeance on those less mighty than he?"

I'll sit somewhere away from the Kelts but have Yiel keep a surreptitious eye on them as I talk to Mikael. "Are they travellers here? I do not know your tribe, either, Mikael, though I see that you are both strong and beset with troubles. Tell me of this place while I eat. I would be glad of your company."

[I wonder what having a 16 CHA would really be like.]

Handy Haversack wrote:

I'll sit somewhere away from the Kelts but have Yiel keep a surreptitious eye on them as I talk to Mikael. "Are they travellers here? I do not know your tribe, either, Mikael, though I see that you are both strong and beset with troubles. Tell me of this place while I eat. I would be glad of your company."

[I wonder what having a 16 CHA would really be like.]

Mikael smiles briadly as he talks. He looks to be a strong man though getting older and Verctissa can see the grey in his hair and beard. "Sure you are not hungry?" he asks, then sits opposite her and begins talking. "We are the Rus. Our ancestors found this place long ago. A mist descended from the hills and swallowed the land. When we awoke the sun and moon were strange, the stars were out of sort. The mist took three of the clans, the Kulish, which we are here, the Rudchenko who live to the East and are famous horsemen and the Dragomanov who live to the west and once lived to the North before the darkness came." 
 

Handy Haversack wrote:

"Mikael of the Kulish Rus, I will have vegetables if you have them, and fresh water, with my thanks. I am Verctissa. This on my shoulder is Yiel. We, too, have come suddenly to these shores for a purpose that is yet to be revealed. Tell me about Lukaj and about Andra. He seems to my sight more than a smith alone."

"Well, met Verctissa and Yiel," Mikael said seriously. "We are an open people here on the shores of the Screaming Lake but careful. Yiel would bring you welcome as the Raven King is worshipped among our people and his eyes and ears are holy to us. But your help with Gregor and against that cold-fire summoning fo Lujak leaves us all in your debt." 

With a wave of his hands a young girl runs over and he asks her for food and drink. He smiles as she leaves, 'my daughter Kerl," he tells Verctissa. 

"Lujak is the son of Nikoli, the priest of the Warder, he who guards the bridge of fire," Mikael tells her. "Lujak was a novice in the Warder's service. He went North to the hills with a group of young men of the Rus, some Nord's and Keltoi and Hellene of the lands beyond the mistwall. He was gone long months and when he returned he was changed. He is Lujak Cold-Heart now. Don't talk of him round Nikoli," he warned.