The tale of the rogue witch hunter

 Winter in Salzenmund

All is quiet and all is still. Snow is coming down like big white napkins. Piles and piles of it gathered everywhere. Everything is frozen. The once grueling threat of a Norscan rider invasion is gone with it. Too much snow and ice has apparently dissuaded my old fellow citizens. They dare not go in over the ice.  A pity. I would have loved standing up on the city walls, giving them a warm welcome. A warm Aqshy welcome. Quite a sight it would have been. A nice sight with great burning ships and Norscan raiders alike. All huddled together, forming perfect funeral pyres. This kind of warm cuddly thinking is what gets me through these cold months and I confess it brings a smile to my face thinking about it every time. 

However, I always loved winter. A paradox, I know, given my warm inner fire but I spent my childhood huddling around big bonfires, constantly feeding them, harnessing the heat and kindling the flames to keep sweet Sunniva and me warm and alive. The smoke and smell of burned wood and coal and the low hanging smog over the city comforts me now in a strange way. It is a strange feeling of both relief and a sense of security. There is something nostalgic about it. This winter is extra special though. An enormous burden has been lifted. Malice. We snuffed her candle out. Her constant beckoning weighed me down. Like a ton of wet logs. Now, with her gone, I can fully breathe once again. With her went the dark dreams. With her gone came the optimism of a future again. It rather resembles the feeling you get in spring, and it is slowly creeping into my mind and all our minds I believe.

Everyone is still keeping very busy these cold months. With the city, quiet and slow, few if any traders come and people stay indoors mostly.

I have immersed myself into an extremely delicate and powerful ritual I have been researching for a while now. Tweaking it just right will bring me joy for many many years to come. If I can just get the words right.

My friends have been talking a great deal about making an expedition south looking for “magical” weapons. As we have become more entwined in the destinies of the North we have learned that many of our enemies, undead and demons alike, might need magical means to be vanquished. A short mention of a trip all the way down to Altdorf has come up. Sweet Sunniva longs for this I know. She always liked the crowds and the possibilities they brought. Me, I like the solitude better now. But I have researched some crafty spells to deal with hostile crowds. Too many moving parts and too many chaos factors in Altdorf. Nevertheless, it might still be a smart move once the snow starts to melt. If we are to continue our quest for the Dark Master, we need to entrench better though. I for one need to start thinking about a proper library and perhaps a school or even a tower. That tower will be built one day. So tall and it will cast a shadow once a day upon that peg those celestial clowns call a tower. Perhaps I could get some nice blueprints from the Aqshy college in Altdorf?

Not all is just fire, blood and sweat though. The cold winter months also bring other things. Love.  Love of money and power, but nonetheless love of all things, is being discussed in the house. Johan wants to find a woman and marry into nobility and sweet Sunniva is of course helping him find a suitable and willing potential bride.

The search goes well and a potential future wife is after some time found. The only problem is that the bride’s father hates Johan. Not surprisingly. He is a notorious thug. Perhaps Torgil has to act as “Cupid” on him. He does have the bow and arrows after all, and perhaps not firing it might make him more amenable to the idea of having a crime boss as a son in law. 

Sweet Sunniva and I also spend a great deal of time on research into the Dark Master. But it is futile. Several documents mention the uncanny nature of Salzenmund being the focus of so much evil, undead and chaos throughout the times but still we see no apparent connection to the Dark Master. The only weak link we have and that we often circle back to is that of the lich king Hellsnicht. However, he was killed years ago and aside from this, we are still no closer to discovering any more about any Dark master’s whereabouts or identity.

During this time, Sweet Sunniva approaches Uri, Gosser's man and befriends him somewhat. I know her plan though. She reveals them to no one but me. One of our brother-sister weaknesses. The eternal bond we share. Secrets are all but impossible. Uri comes from Altdorf apparently but otherwise little is known about this mysterious man. Sweet Sunniva plans to plant a spy in Gosser's court. Risky but very interesting.

Upon our return to the city after slaying Malice, Johanna was appointed witch hunter general and has been severely bogged down in endless paperwork and bureaucracy all winter. It is an impressive lot she commands though who will surely come in handy if circumstances demand it.

Training, honing one skills and fighting practice is on everybody’s mind and the constant ding of swords clashing and arrows whizzing turns into white noise after a few weeks. 

Blessed fire

About two months into our Salzenmund winter, I finally make a breakthrough in my ritual. Spending the better part of an evening drawing pentagrams and bellowing incantations, and with Mia as my witness,  I create a small sentient entity of fire. I name him Logi. He is a floating, shimmering ball of beautiful fire, harnessed from pure Aqshy that I managed to tear away and split off from my own being. I almost weep. My energy is all but spent and I am exhausted but I am also so happy. We have to replace all the windows and air the place out a bit, probably buy some new furniture and rebuild the better part of the staircase… but this is truly a magnificent thing well worth those minor inconveniences. Mia and I spend the next weeks teaching him our ways. He is an extremely quick learner and wonderfully feisty and delightfully manic. Fully composed of flame he is ethereal in nature and gives off a nice searing heat. I have to teach him though not to set things on fire but otherwise he is perfect. I have made a place for him to rest on my staff.

Logi also quickly makes friends in the group and they all love him of course. He is brilliantly chatty and immensely inquisitive, and just perfect for keeping an extra eye out. 

Bad news from the north

But two weeks after the first flare of Logi our winter slumber is disturbed. It is now late in the second month of the new year. Winter is past its peak.

It was Johanna, having poured over dusty tomes and ledgers for weeks, that was suddenly interrupted by a startling report from Ostara. It was most disturbing and has given her quite the headache. She shares it with us in the evening. It is a puzzling tale of a potential rogue, orthodox witch hunter of sorts about 4 days north of here. Eight people, all apparent mutants, all from the same family or gang of millers, brutally executed. Killing of mutants is maybe not a bad thing but the brutality involved, the dismemberment and the finding of numerous old Sigmar inscriptions around the area was both chilling and odd. Johanna is worried about it. Apart from her initial report, Johanna has not heard back from Ostara. Although Ostara is very capable, and has three very capable men with her on the case, she asks us if we can make a small excursion north to check it out and assist in any way we can.

This is great news. All of us are very eager after some idle months in the city. We yearn for some excitement and of course jump now at the idea of an adventure, no matter how small. Check on Ostara.  Such a simple task but we find it difficult to hide our giddiness. We decide to leave at once. Given the weather and the time of year, we will be about a week behind when we get there. Probably Ostara will be greeting us and we will swap stories and have a few laughs before returning home.

Quickly we pack our things and our winter expedition gear. Disappointment seeps in a little as Johanna breaks the news that Victor and her will stay behind. The work as a big general is a heavy burden. Too bad but for this trip we will not need her or Victors sword. The extra power is always welcome but it can be tucked away for later. Or so we thought. 

On the road

Finally, out on the road we find ourselves in high spirits. Logi the amazing ball of fire is very active and actually quite respectful as he checks out everybody’s gear and every little crack and hole. We do not sleep outdoors as the weather is cold and dreary and there are ample inns on the way north. A rough crowd meets us every night. I feel though that most likely we are the roughest ones there. The way people look at us and especially Johan when we enter gives me this impression. Logi stays quiet. We do not need crazy people getting hurt and inns burned to the ground for no good reason. We sit quietly and mind our business but we do pick up all sorts of gossip the next couple of days. There are in fact countless rumors swirling around about the event we are looking into. Not much happens in the winters I guess and tales of gory death are juicy spread fast.  A lot is clearly false and exaggerated but repeatedly we learn that apparently only one person did in fact do all the maiming. Dealt out quick deaths. Brutally.

Witch hunter exposed

When we finally reach the small village, we learn the same. A lone rider came in on an intimidating horse. The rider was a woman, dressed in a red tunic and she wore a strange hat. She brandished many pistols and carried a sword. After asking many focused questions she seemed to narrow it slowly down and started asking mainly about the miller family. We encounter and talk more with the village Militia sergeant (a Kislevite) and through him we learn something very disturbing. The woman rider introduced herself as Lady Hierkeit….

Lady Hierkeit the vampire? The old undead witch hunter vampire? The one who was kept down in the Morr temple for years and years and now is out and about looking for revenge? The one we followed into the Forest of Shadows? Raging wildfire! What brings her here and why is she interested in killing local mutants in such a brutal fashion? We know that she is a (lamia) daywalker vampire and therefore a sneaky one, always scheming and playing the double role. Was she trying to attract our attention perhaps? Why would she do that? We ask more about Ostara. She is not in the village and was last seen following the vampires trail into the forest surrounding the village about seven days ago.

We set out to the scene of the killings. The mill. Scouring for clues I discover presence of foul magic. Dhar is emanating form the very ground underneath the mill wheel. A secret passage is uncovered and we locate a small shrine devoted to a horned rat god. Could this be the workings of Skaven? Fire and Blast! What do they have to do with this? The shrine is old and unused though. Possible that the idols warp stone eyes poisoned the ground and unknowingly caused those poor millers to mutate. No further clues are found. We take the idol and destroy it and turn the warpstones into dust in the forest. Although a week cold we are able to follow tracks into the forest. We are trailing Ostara that is trailing Hierkeit.

The first night we are attacked by a starved pack of wolves. Logi helps out and is literally on fire and scares them away. He is super excited at proving his usefulness and deservedly rests inside the bonfire the rest of the night.

Forest of Shadows

The next day we come upon 3 slaughtered men. By all accounts probably Ostaras guards. Brutally slaughtered. Ambushed most likely. No sign of Ostara. Tracks leading away show a horse trailed by an unwilling individual, most likely Ostara bound and pulled after the horse. She has been captured by Hierkeit.

We pick up our pace. Trailing ever closer day by day we avoid owl bears and find what looks to be blood letting spots. Is she draining Ostaras blood? Weakening her? To what end I wonder?

After a while we track Hierkeit to the edge of the Forest of Shadows. Blast this place. It looks dry enough to burn. I for one was hoping never to return. We reluctantly go in. That night we set camp under the cold and dark canopies. Logi, ever keen to keep us company in the night, sits with Torgil during first watch.

Due to his excellent senses Logi suddenly spots a goblin ambush. Five wolf riders storm towards the camp. Flanking us on a nearby ridge is ten archers. With arrows flying the riders tear through the camp and fortunately we are not surprised. But we are in a bad spot. I catch an arrow in the shoulder. Blood and flames! Damnation it hurts. I manage to conjure up a thin shimmering barrier of fire around us making the arrows useless. Furthermore I call forth hot fire and black smoke from Aqshy tendril up from the ground entangling several of the enemy. This holds them at bay for a moment while Sweet Sunniva, Johan and Torgil ferociously fight back the goblins. With some goblins ablaze and many more killed the rest turn and flee. Cowards. This showed us again the dangerous nature of the place we are in. We move camp, cover our tracks and fix defensive positions the rest of the night. It is uneventful.

In the morning I summon up the fiery wings and take to the skies again. Dark, dark, dark, forest, forest, forest as far as the eye can see. No sign of Hierkeit. I do however see an obvious clearing whence the goblins came from. Not more than a couple of hours from here. We return to the tracks but see now that there is only the horse. Torgil claims that the horse seems heavier and thus Ostara must be on the horse as well. Is she dead or merely incapacitated?

A quick discussion results in the abandonment of our initial plan. There is really no use in following the vampire any longer and venturing further into this evil dark hole of a forest. Hierkeit has at least a couple of days ahead of us. It would take us a good three or four days at least to even catch up. We are not equipped or manned for this. My immediate reaction is the intense desire to burn our way through but as sweet Sunniva blatantly points out; it would be slow and tedious and who knows what unnamed horrors might awaken. She makes a weak but nevertheless good point. The fire slowly dies down in me and just a couple of trees in the immediate vicinity catch fire as I calm down. It does not easily spread though. The forest is damp.

We backtrack and leave the forest. Disillusioned and disappointed. Ostara cannot be saved this way… if she can be saved at all.

We have make our way back to Salzenmund and regroup.