This week a quick episode in which we see a malevolent spirit. It is a North American story: you’ll notice some of the technologies involved in the poem aren’t in period for Mythic Europe

The recording used in the episode was released into the public domain through LibriVox by Craig Franklin.

The Walker of the Snow by Charles Dawson Shanly

Speed on, speed on, good Master ! 
The camp lies far away ; 
We must cross the haunted valley 
Before the close of day. 

How the snow- blight came upon me 
I will tell you as I go, — 
The blight of the Shadow-hunter 
Who walks the midnight snow. 

To the cold December heaven 
Came the pale moon and the stars, 
As the yellow sun was sinking 
Behind the purple bars. 

The snow was deeply drifted 
Upon the ridges drear, 
That lay for miles around me 
And the camps for which we steer. 

'T was silent on the hill-side, 
And by the solemn wood, 
No sound of life or motion 
To break the solitude, 

Save the wailing of the moose-bird 
With a plaintive note and low, 
And the skating of the red leaf 
Upon the frozen snow. 

And said I, " Though dark is falling, 
And far the camp must be, 
Yet my heart it would be lightsome 
If I had but company." 

And then I sang and shouted, 
Keeping measure, as I sped, 
To the harp-twang of the snow-shoe 
As it sprang beneath my tread. 

Nor far into the valley 
Had I dipped upon my way, 
When a dusky figure joined me, 
In a capuchon of gray, 

Bending upon the snow-shoes, 
With a long and limber stride ; 
And I hailed the dusky stranger 
As we travelled side by side. 

But no token of communion 
Gave he by word or look, 
And the fear- chill fell upon me, 
At the crossing of the brook. 

For I saw by the sickly moonlight 
As I followed, bending low, 
That the walking of the stranger 
Left no footmarks on the snow. 

THen the fear-chill gathered o'er me, 
Like a shroud around me cast, 
As I sank upon the snow-drift 
Where the Shadow-hunter passed. 

And the other trappers found me, 
Before the break of day, 
With my dark hair blanched and whitened 
As the snow in which I lay. 

But they spoke not as they raised me ; 
For they knew that in the night 
I had seen the Shadow-hunter 
And had withered in his blight. 

Sancta Maria speed us ! 
The sun is falling low, 
Before us lies the valley, 
Of the Walker of the Snow !

The Walker of the Snow is hard to classify: it doesn’t lead people astray, like the will o the wisp, and nor is it a an opportunistic psychopomp, because its victims do not die. They are instead “snow blighted”, which seems to be, mechanically, a sort of Ageing crisis. It’s vampiric of life energy, and seems to effect those who break the taboo of entering its land at night, or who speak to it.

When I wrote up the statistics for this creature I made a mistake. it is described as having a grey capuchon. That’s a hat, or a removable hood. These were worn by the capuchin monks, and so, mentally, I thought it looked like a monk in a grey habit. This led me to rework some demonic monks I used in Tales of Power. Really, it could like any fur trapper.

Faerie Might: 10 (Ignem)
Characteristics: Int +2, Per +1, Pre +1, Com -5, Str +2, Sta Tireless, Dex +3, Qik +3
Size: 0
Virtues and Flaws: Greater Faerie Powers; External Vis (minor), Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech, Human Form, 3x Improved Characteristic, Increased Faerie Might; Traditional Ward (laws of chivalry); Incognizant. : Soverreign Ward (daylight)
Combat:
Touch: Init +1, Attack +14, Defense +11, Damage +5*
* The creature’s touch is its least favoured weapon. It is, however, so cold that it requires a Fatigue roll. (Exposure rules).
Soak: +3
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –2 (6–10), –3 (11–15), Inc (16–20), Dead (21+)
Pretenses: Many, including Area Lore 10 (snowy valley) and Brawl 7 (humans)
Powers:
Allure: 0 points, Init +2 Mentem (1 intricacy point on cost)
Snow blight: 3 points, Init +1, Mentem. Causes the character to have snow blight which is modelled as aging the target 5 years
(Modelled as Bane of the Decrepit Body. as per ArM5 p.133)
Equipment: Grey hood, snow shoes are not known in Mythic Europe.
Vis: 1 pawn, hat
Appearance: A grey and distant figure, leading you deeper into the snows.

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