Xin smiled when Tork said it would take him a week and to bring warm clothes, "Only a week? I plan to be back by then."

He had to stifle a laugh when he said not to bring any of it back with him, "Don't worry, you won't have to keep much at bay when I'm through."

Xin was excited at the prospect of being able to stop the source of the disease that had plagued the Bleak Reach. That would be the largest step of instilling hope in the people. He turned towards the northwest without a word and started putting one foot in front of the other.

And so it was ...

Xin didn’t need much in the way of provisions.   He no longer needed to eat or nourish his body.  And with effort, he could like immunise himself from the cold in those mountains.
He didn’t need to sleep; hell, no matter how far he ran, or carried, he never even tired.

So, really, the only thing that stood between Xin and his self-imposed destiny was Hesitation.
And, right now apparently, he was immune to that also.

And so, as the sun began to go down over the very village he entered just this morning, Xin strode out of those same gates.


By nightfall, he was well on up into the foothills, and just after dusk, he created a hill to look down on the small community that lay at the hills foot.
It looked cold, old, and uninviting.   What light emanated from the place weakly escaped the shuttered windows and door frames.
It was unlikely that the place welcomed outsiders: for it was a place of famine, disease and xenophobia, like most in this Bleak and forsaken Reach of the realm.

Xin heard a wolf howl in the distance, and a baby cry somewhere in the hamlet below.

Xin broke into a sprint after the sound. Even if they didn't want his help, they were still going to get it.

The wolves, wherever they were out in the darkness, had not entered the village when Xin got there.
It was very possible that they wouldn’t.  Wolves were common in this part of the world, but rarely came into human settlements .. regardless of the stories told around campfires and children’s bedsides.

The hut that contained the crying baby was easily identified, as every other in the village was quiet now.
But Xin could see the signs of sickness about the place, including a door into one darkened but that had a Red Cross painted upon it.

Xin was sure he didn't effort to help this little town as he did for Miklos Varga just yet but he could still help. If would see if the baby was sick first, then head over to the marked house. He knew strangers were likely not welcomed but maybe a healer might.


He knocked on the door, "I know it's late but I can help your child and let you get some rest."

From inside the hut, Xin heard sudden movement, and whispered voices ... urgently discussing this new situation.
But these were xenophobic folk, for the most part, and opening doors to unknown strangers in the middle of the night was usually a recipe for disaster:  being robbed, attacked, or worse.

It was also strange, for such rarely happened in this village since the plague took hold years ago.
But, truth was, these people knew hardship ... and so, felt compassion for others also.   And they understood that the person now at their door might be someone in need of compassion.  Especially if they needed hospitality from the harsh vagaries of the night's denizens.


A male voice came from within, "Who are you, and what do you want?"

Xin, as part of your next post (replying to this man), please give me a Charisma Check.     That is a d20 roll, and you'll need 5+ to succeed.
This result will help guide me in the response you get when you respond to these folk.

"I'm Xin and I just want to help," his voice was innocent and sincere. "I don't need anything from you excempt your time."

23:09, Yesterday: Xin rolled 13 using 1d20.  CHA vs 5+.

The moments drew on, and Xin began to think that he wouldn’t even get a response, when the door bolts on the other side slid out of lock, and the door slowly opened.
A man’s face, older than Xin, peered out.   Light crept out from behind him, silhouetting him.
After looking Xin up and down a moment and deciding that Xin maybe didn’t look like a threat, the man opened the door further and gestures for Xin to enter.

Within, Xin found a home so very much like his own ... sparce and inexpensive, much was hand-made, but warm and homely.
Candles lit the space, along with a small fire in the hearth that had burned down to cinders and faggots.
Nearby, a crying baby was held in the arms of a scared woman.

“Who are you?” the man asked, and Xin realised now that he held a small hand axe, ready to defend his family, “and why are you out in this night?   Are you in danger?”

Xin shook his head with a slight chuckle, "No, not at all. I'm traveling to the Omen Peaks to cure what ails this land and you can call me Xin." He gave a polite smile, "Now if you would like a good nights sleep..." He nodded towards the mother and crying baby.

The man looked at Xin a moment, then offered his left hand in welcome.
His right hand still held the axe, at his side; but ready t be swung at a moments notice.
“I am Steleard”, he replied, “and my wife, Bridget”, nodding at the woman.

Confusion creased his brow, “Why on this accursed earth would you go there?
Lagren’s kingdom is no place for humans any longer.  It is the domain of the carrion and mutants that worship hi... IT!”

He woman, Bridget, watched on, now nursing her sick child.
They were all sick people.  The child, it’s parents ... probably the whole village.
As disease had spread, sanitation had given way to flies, rats and crows ... which propagated the ill.

Xin nodded, taking the offering hand with no reservations, "Well met sir. Thank you for your time."

"Well, I plan to end his reign once and for all. Also, I might be the only person who can that cares to even try," he said woefully. He knew not many cared for The Bleak Reach but to Xin, it was home and he was going to something about it.

Unforatenly, unless something other then disease was plaguing the infant, he would have to wait till morning when he could use his Gift once again, "Thank you for inviting me into your home but while I can't help you right at this moment, in the morning, you'll notice a change." He said it with such certainty, that it must be true.

Steleard offered Xin  a seat, and a honey-tea brew from the kettle.
Here was a small couldron of food on the stoves far edge, but Xin was offered none.

As Bridget fed and soothed the sick baby to sleep, Steleard sat with Xin, “You I tend to defeat Lagren?  Alone?
They call him ‘The Lord of Flies’, you know?   He’s been up in those mountains longer than anyone knows, and he’s been amassing power, and followers, for almost as long.
You cannot ‘end his reign’ by simply walking up there and reprimanding him.

Where do you come from, young man?
And what is your plan?   I hope you HAVE a plan, because Lagren will know of your coming long before you arrive, and have prepared his defenders and defences.    They say his magic is strong.
DO you have allies?”

Xin refused the seat and drink, "Oh no, I'm not here to be a burden and I'll be going shortly."

Xin simply nodded at her first pair of questions.

Xin chuckled at the next set, "I don't believe the 'Lord of Flies' is going to stop with just a few a strong words. No, I'm going there with the goal of ending his life if I must. Too long and too many have suffered from this one man's action. Is so hard to believe that another of his caliber can stop him?"

"Like many of my age, I was born and raised here."

"Good, I want them all gathered in one place. I won't have to hunt down any stragglers that way."

At the last question, he shook his questions, "Just as many, including yourself, seem to think me mad. Many think I'm not capable of this feat just as your barrage questions seems to suggest but you'll see in the morning. Now, if I maybe excused, I shall take my leave so you may rest."

Steleard listened to Xin with mixed expressions of bemusement, curiosity and concern.
But when the young man was done, he simply said, “Sure, if you’d like to stay in the village tonight, may I suggest the second hut on the left, just past the pigsty.   The first was home to the widow Gytha, who’s personal hygiene left a little to be desired”.

He went to a small woven chest nearby, and offered from it an old, but functional woollen blanket.
“If you’d like a faggot or two, you might get some kind of fire happening, too”.
It was going to be a very cold night, and Xin would be alone in an otherwise frigid hut.

Xin just smiled, shaking his head, "I won't be needing any of that." He saw himself out, spending the rest of the night patrolling its border.

Once his powers return, he moves to its center and wipes the disease clean while pinpointing its source if it's within the area. If he didn't find it, he continued on his journey.

Steleard simply stood in silence watched the headstrong young man leave; unsure what else to say.


Xin patrolled the village for the night.   Nothing of note happened within the village, but Xin was pretty sure that he caught movement out in the rock-strewn bracken of the foothills around them.   Possibly it was local fauna, simply trying to survive in this harsh land, as much as the humans were.
Rats scurried, dark shapes winged through the night.

As the morning sun began to light the horizon, and warm the bitter air, Xin (although having been awake, and active, for several days now) felt none the worse for the wear ... and, in fact, felt his spirts buoyed by the promise of a new day.
        Any Effort spent 'for the day' returns to Xin now

Reaching within him, as he'd learned to, Xin drew forth some of that spiritual strength, and sent it out in a wave ... which cleansed the village of all disease, illness and poisons.
He sense some small source of poison in the their well: a natural source, likely some dead animals that slowly rotted into it.
But otherwise, the disease that suffused this place radiated from beyond:  from the direction of yonder mountains ... from the domain of the 'Lord of Flies'.

He would inform someone of the well before heading towards the mountain. While his journey had just begun, he already felt he was making a difference. Hopefully, with less to burden the small village, they would find a better day awaited them and that there more to life than just surviving until the next sunrise.

It was easy enough for Xin to inform an early rising villager of the problem in the well.    Although that man, at first, was scared of the stranger loitering within their village ... but soon enough Steleard arrived to sooth matters over.

Steleard thanked Xin again, but in honestly, was glad to see the strange young man on his way.  He had nothing against Xin personally, but in this part of the world, strangers were ... strange.

Xin couldn't know, as he headed off into the hills, headed higher towards the mountains, what a difference he actually had made to the village this day, however.
Everyone felt ... happier.  More comfortable and at ease.  The diseases and virus' that plagued them (had plague them for years) did not today, and each villager felt heartier and healthier; healthier than they'd felt in so, so long.

And more got done that day than ever before.  Feeling hearty and strong, repairs were made that were well overdue.   The well was, indeed, cleaned up.  And for the first time in months years, the village felt like socialising, and a small feast was held.  There had even been some dancing and singing and music that evening.


But Xin knew nothing of this; not realising just what hope and difference he had brought these people.
And his presence wasn't forgotten, for even days and months later, casually speculation linked that 'good day' to 'that stranger' who'd come among them that morning.


Xin, however, was footing it up further into the foothills, headed for the towering Omen Peaks ahead.

It was about half way through the afternoon, that he crested a ridge, and looked down into yet another village.  But even though he couldn't identify why, he felt uncomfortable about this scene.  Something wasn't 'right'.

Xin planned to visit the village on his way back, making sure that diease was gone and showing that kept his word. Right now, he looked down on another village, possibly in need of his help. Either way, he moved towards it. At this rate, he wasn't going to make his self imposed deadline but he would be richer in experience for it and have spread hope along his path.

The harsh sun scorched the barren rocks beneith Xin’s feet, as he made his way down the unstable hillside towards the village far below.

He was barely halfway there when he came across the ‘graveyard’ ... if that is what it could be called.
The initial corpses had been, it seemed, buried under piles of rocks; perhaps to keep them safe from scavengers and predators.  But that process had ended at some point, for whatever reason, as ‘fresh’ bodies were piled in the small area, uncovered.  It was as though the burial ritual had become ‘to much trouble’ and now the dead were simply flung onto the pile.

Xin had smelt it some time earlier ... and had followed humming and buzzing of the attendant insects to find the scene.
Now, standing here, it felt uneasy.

Each dead body seemed wasted from within, as though eaten by some virus or flesh-eating plague.
And every one of them had ‘stalks’ growing from it.  At first, the stalks appeared similar to new plant shoots ... reaching for the sun.
But further observation left Xin with the distinct feeling that these growth were not floral.

Far below, in the village, he heard shouts; maybe some screams.
And he could make out movement among the huts and cabins therein.

It made sense to Xin that on his way to cut out the cancer of the land, he would run into its many symptoms. The living took precedence over the dead and he would return to the 'graveyard' after helping the villagers with their crisis.

Leaving the 'graveyard' behind, Xin headed down the desolate, rocky slopes towards the village below.

Even as he did so, he could see that the place was like a stirred up ant's nest, with little figures running around in all directions.  For certain, something was going on down there; something chaotic and dangerous.

As he got closer, he saw a small group of people fleeing the village.  Not directly towards him, but in his general direction.
They were being chased by other people, and it was obvious that they were desperately trying to escape for their lives ... but they were being hampered by both the unstable terrain, and the fact that they were bringing children with them, some carried.

Behind them, a small group of pursuers were giving chase.  The hunters seemed ... unusual ... somehow.
And they moved across the terrain with greater ease than the villagers; seemingly less slowed by the rocky ground.

Xin was easily able to change course to intercept, but he knew that the hunters would reach the villagers before he could, unless he could do something more than just run towards the scene.
Here's your chance to do something impressive.  But remember that Xin has used one of his two Effort for the day ... and any Effort he requires for a Gift or Miracle now will leave him bereft for the day.
However, unless you do something Gifty/Mircacly, Xin will not make it to the villagers before their pursuers do.  That is not to say you will be too late to save them ... just that the situation will be different upon your arrival.

Xin simplied ran as fast as he could, preferring to save his effort for the coming fight or possible aftermath.

As Xin came racing towards the scene, he could make out more detail.

The pursuers were ... not quite human.  The looked like humanoid monsters ... something akin to dogmen.  Animalistic.
The were smaller than normal humans, but stocky and muscular.  And they carried spears and sword, wore crude leather armour even.  And they bounded, moreso that ran, across the rocky terrain.

Before Xin could get the to villagers, the dogmen were upon them; and the screaming began.
But the creatures were not taking to the fleeing humans with their weapons, instead moving swiftly to outflank and corral them ... to knock them to the ground and ... capture them.

As Xin came tearing into their midst, they saw him coming; many of them turning to face his approach and drawing their weapons.
There were easily several dozen of the monsters, and most were reacting to Xin, leaving only a few to harrass the scared villagers.

Mongrel Mob (small mob of animal hybrid creatures)
AC: 7
Hit Dice: 12
Morale: 9
Attack: +2
Move: 40’ running
Save: 16+
Damage: 1d8 average weapon
Effort: 1

 Xin could pull up before coming among the enemy; to parlay, or attempt something tactical.
Or he could plow right on into them, and begin laying waste.

Plowing into the enemy was the simple solution but it wouldn't give him any insist and that was not the 'way of a king' as his father would phrase it. When he close enough to be heard, he showed he was 'unamed', "Why are you doing this?"

He wasn't sure if they would understand him but he didn't want to insult them by immediately assuming they wouldn't.