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Stenn burst from the frost-den, pulling his heavy club from the hide sheath he wore high on his back. The Red Snow, Vodor's Tears, was both a natural hazard and a spiritual crisis, but in Stenn's mind and those of his fellows there was no distinction.

He grimaced as the cold cut through his furs like a blade. Stenn pivoted slowly in a full circle, listening for the bujant's bugle; it didn't escape his attention that the torches around the camp seemed to burn dimmer, as if the very air resisted their warmth.

Stenn saw the hulking form of his friend and cried, "Drogan, to me!" As his fellow clansman drew near, Stenn noticed his shivering and struck him on the arm, then gripped Drogan's shoulder. "I know, my friend, I know!" Stenn himself could feel a drain upon his stamina, as if his strength were being pulled upward into the sky.

"Fight it!" Stenn growled, cuffing Drogan encouragingly. "I'm going to find the bujant and deal with it before The Reddening. Get Fodor and Gahn and have them re-chalk the sky glyphs quickly, then get them inside and make sure the children are nearest the fires!" He turned and quickly moved beyond the light of the torches, then paused, staring outward away from the camp, giving his eyes times to adjust.

Some of the Red Snow melted on his lip, and he spits vehemently. The taste was acrid, metallic. A thud sounded to his left and he spun with his raised club, expecting the bujant, but he saw that the source of the noise was a dead bird, fallen from the sky. Another hits the ground, ten feet northward. He took off in a lope, making a wide circuit of the camp. Time was short if birds were already dying. The children and elders of the clan would be the first to enter a shivering torpor. The bujant would time its next attack to take advantage of the distraction that that would cause. Bujant were unaffected by the Red Snow — clear evidence that the Void Lord had won many of the lesser malign spirits to his cause.

Stenn curved his path, anticipating that the bujant would enter the camp near the totem pole, either to prevent Ghindar from placating Morning Dew, or else to attempt to disrupt Fodor and Gahn from re-chalking the Sky Glyphs.

And Stenn was not wrong! Even as Stenn sprinted towards the Sky Rocks, a wolf shot out¹ of the nearby trees, only a silhouette until it entered the radius of torchlight. It's eyes flashed red in the darkness, and an unnatural ichor dripped from its slavering jaws.

Stenn's powerful legs bunched, driving him even faster across the feebly lit night of the camp, club raised in a two-handed grip.² "By Ursus be thwarted!" Stenn cried³ aloud. The bujant tried to ignore Stenn in single-minded intent to disrupt the chalking, but Stenn's invocation of the Great Bear caused it to stumble, and almost fall. The wolf righted itself but Stenn was upon it and brought down his heavy club upon its hindquarters.⁴ The wolf yelped in pain, slewed sideways and went down, but quickly stood, spinning to address this new threat.⁵

Stenn was chagrined. He'd hoped to injure the creature badly enough⁶ to handicap it, but could see no indication he had done so. Stenn fancied he could see the wolf's soul struggling against the evil spirit that has possessed it. He rooted for the former, but was unsurprised when the latter won out and the beast sprang at him.⁷

The Cro-Magnon man stepped sideways as the wolf sprang and batted it aside with his club, then was ready when the wolf scrabbled to get itself turned around and attack again. Stenn popped the wolf on the snout as it attempted another bite, and the wolf yelped, paused for a moment as if considering, and then backed away before turning and loping into the forest.

Stenn turned a full circle, seeking other threats, but the primary threat now was freezing to death. He stumbled toward the Sky Rocks, eyeballs aching due to the intense cold. The Sky Rocks were re-chalked, he observed, and he noted that Fodor and Gahn were nowhere in sight, hopefully taking shelter with everyone else. Stenn lurched toward the chief's frost-den, stooped, and pushed his way inside.

Fair amount of effort: rolling, editing, correcting misspellings, updating Mechanics, Terminology, and Cast of Characters. I'm awarding Stenn a full XP for this scene. After-action character sheet snapshot.

1. oracle = Yes, bujant wolf drives toward Fodor and Gahn.

2. does the bujant see Stenn in its peripheral vision? Oracle says No.

3. does the bujant wolf turn on Stenn? Oracle says Yes.

4. the bujant-possessed wolf has a dice pool of 4. Stenn's Body attribute is 3, but because he's running and not braced, he can't hit as hard as he'd like (hindrance lowers 3 to a 2-die pool). However, Stenn is thugglishly strong (Trait). This adds a die — pool is back to 3 dice. He cannot add a die for the Star Spirit, as it remains neutral in this, not wishing to become embroiled in conflict with the Void Lord. Stenn has 5 banked Adversity Tokens. We'll spend two of them to add two more dice to the pool, bringing it to 5 dice.

Bujant Wolf's resolution roll yields a single Success

Stenn's resolution roll yields 3 Successes:

Images of dice are compliments of Mike Zuidgeest, and are sourced from flaticon.com

Stenn's margin of success is two, and he chooses to inflict two ticks on the bujant's Stress Track:

Stenn's Adversity Token pool is now 3 of 5.

5. Does the wolf turn to confront Stenn? Oracle said Yes.

6. Did I hurt the wolf badly enough to maim it, or at least lessen its ferocity? Oracle said No.

7. The wolf uses its special Spring attack (+1 die to its pool). And because of the evil influence driving it, the injured wolf Pushes Its Luck (+1 die — a Luck die) when ordinarily it might not do so. That's 6 dice (the wolf's normal 4, plus Luck die, +1 for Spring trait). However, I'll be kind and subtract one die due to injury/pain. I'm rolling this in Mythic GME Digital on Windows; we'll count the final roll as the Luck die:

Ha, the wolf gets zero Successes! And the Luck die came up 2; that's a Blunder!

As the player, I meta-rule that the wolf's Blunder signifies that it has exacerbated the injury dealt it by Stenn's club and now has a -1 die Hindrance. Stenn, of course, will show no mercy. He might have, had this just been a starving wolf, but he'll take no chances on a Bujant. Stenn has a dice pool of four for his attack (Body 3, Thuggishly Strong trait). He feels that Morning Dew and Ursus are with him now, so he doesn't Push His Luck or use Adversity Tokens. His resolution roll comes up two Successes:

That's a margin of success of two, and Stenn inflicts two more ticks on the wolf's stress track:

Ordinarily, the wolf at this point would make a morale check, and possibly choose to flee. I judged that given the evil influence it's under, that's possible but unlikely. Oracle, does the wolf stay and fight against perhaps its better instincts? Exceptional Yes. Not only does the wolf stay and fight, but it is heedless of its own well-being. If it lands an attack it will inflict +1 tick of stress, but it's hurt and confused (and suffering from the rapidly worsening preternatural cold) and it's down to a dice pool of two. The possessing spirit whips the beast furiously, and it Pushes Its Luck (+1 die, for a pool of 3) And remember, the final die will always be the Luck die, when/if a Luck die is included in a Resolution Roll:

That's a single success for the wolf, and as it lunges, Stenn defends himself:

Wolf and Cro-Magnon are tied, with one Success each. Stalemate. Again, I ask the Oracle if the wolf's natural instincts might kick in long enough for it to overpower the Bujant's control. This time the wolf does decide it's had enough. As it runs off, Stenn is too cold to give chase. He counts himself fortunate indeed to make it into the frost-den before he collapses.

The Reddening >>