Arayashka in the Zilinya Neshka

A middle aged, large woman brings cider and bread to the heroes.  She introduces herself as Greta, the inn proprietor.   Seglun tell her that the bread is not required the party has some of their own.  It is clear that Torgov is in dire need of its meager food supplies.

Mikhail related the story of meeting the adventurers in the forest.  "They have a fantastic story of a land without snow and ice.  They certainly are different looking!"  A fine-looking young woman with an easy laugh and dancing eyes approached Mikhail, "Can the new heroes help us fight off the Boyar?" she queried.  Mikhail assured her that they had volunteered to help.  Then he introduced her as Anna Karella, his fiancee.
A grizzled looking middle aged man at the bar growled, "Resisting the Boyar is useless.  We have no chance to drive him away," he exclaimed in a surly voice.
"Meet Pyotr Bolshoi," Mikhail announced.  "He is the local pessimist.  Over here we have Greta's nephew Kerin,"  he added indicating a tall youth with keen eyes.  The young man approached clearly in awe of the new group of adventurers.  He hung on every word the party said.
The night continued with the party agreeing to help the locals against Gregor's boyarsky, if need be.  The group was anxious to find a way out of the land but Mikhail and Anna repeatedly told them that the mountain passes were impassable in this weather.  Mikhail asked Greta if she had any spare rooms.  She indicated she would be happy to house the party for the evening.
The party was exhausted and soon asked to find their rooms  Greta led them to the rooms and on the way whispered to Arvien, "You know that Mikhail is Gregor's son!"
"What!  How is that?" Arvien responded.
Greta related the tale.  "Mikhail's mother, Sasha, was the daughter of our headman here in Torgov.  Once Gregor came to the village and was entranced with her beauty, and he decided to make her his wife.  Although she was terribly frightened by the boyar's strength and vile temper, she returned with him to his lodge in Vorostokov."
"Sasha bore Gregor two sons, Alexei and Mikhail.  Once when Mikhail was about 15, he was visiting here in Torgov when news arrived that his mother had died while collecting herbs in the woods.  She apparently slipped and fell into a steep ravine.  When they recovered her body it was covered with scratch marks.  Mikhail has stayed here in Torgov since then.  I don't know when he has last seen his father or brother."
When the group was ensconced in their rooms Arvien told the rest of the party what she learned from Greta.  As they fell asleep the group was still pondering whether to trust Mikhail or not.
Sleep was interrupted by the sounds of fighting outside.  Men were yelling and cursing, and the clang of steel on steel was clear.  The wind howled terribly, and the sun had not yet risen.  Only blackness and frost could be seen outside.  The village must be under attack!  The heroes flew down the stairs and out of the front door, all except Arvien who peered out the windows after casting haste on the party.
Outside, there was chaos.  Wind stung eyes and the frantic shouts and cries of the wounded were confusing.  It took a moment to make sense out of the scene.
One of the peasant's huts near the center of the village was burning brightly, and tall, powerful warriors in chainmail were preparing to burn other cabins, torches flaring in their hands.  Villagers were attacking the warriors with whatever weapons they could find -- pitchforks, hammers, hatchets, and hunting bows.  The warriors were cutting them down in a battle-rage.
In the middle of the fight Mikhail frantically hewed at the warriors with his axe.  "To me!  To me!"  he cried to the villagers.  The men of Torgov were outnumbered and outclassed, but their anger had lent them strength and they were managing to hold their own.  More warriors were pouring into the fray, though, and the peasants would surely be defeated if they did not get help.
Overseeing the attack was a stocky, broad-shouldered man with a bushy beard and a great fur cape.  He held a bastard sword by his side, and directed his followers with hoarse shouts and gestures.  Beside him stood a tall slender youth dressed similarly and a wiry guard with a great battle axe.  Their attention was obviously still elsewhere, not on the heroes.
Into the fray leapt the party.  Varrid and Drovic headed north to stop a boyarsky from lighting another cabin on fire.  Grunyar hammered away at any boyarsky that was near.  Seglun and Ralom made their way toward Mikhail.  Baru headed toward the great man in the fur cape but had to wade his way through boyarsky to even approach.  Ralom cast a prayer on the group before they dispersed.
Another two cabins were lit on fire to the south as the villagers tried to save their homes.  AS the battle progressed some villagers fell, wives emerged to attack boyarsky with kitchen knives.  Drovic and Varrid saved one peasant hovel and Seglun and Ralom joined Mikhail in killing other boyarsky.  An invisible Arvien exited the rear of the inn, sneaked around to cast a fireball on the three main instigators.  When the smoke cleared the young man and the wiry guard had been singed but the man in the great cloak hadn't been touched.  Damn though Arvien this will be difficult.
The boyarsky fought fiercely and neither asked nor gave quarter, and the villagers managed to hold their ground.  With the heroes help thrown into the battle , the tide was turned in favor of the villagers. The burly man in the rear -- Gregor himself, if Mikhail's description was accurate -- let out an awful oath and ordered his men to withdraw.  As the boyarsky were retreating into the woods, Arvien grabbed Baru and teleported the two of them in front of Gregor.  Baru attacked mightily but his sword bit nothing but snow.  Gregor cursed snidely and let loose two tremendous blows with his bastard sword.  Baru collapsed in a pile at his feet, Arvien swallowed a shriek and cowered as the three mighty warriors continued to head off.
The villagers were too spent to follow, and Mikhail stood in their front rank, sword raised in defiance. Gregor turned and cried, "Listen to me, people of Torgov!  If you surrender, I will spare your village but if you make me return to Voro0stokov to gather my warriors, not a soul among you shall survive."
"Go back to Vorostokov, then!" Mikhail replied.  "We have seen your mercy, father!  We will die free rather than live beneath your heel!"
"You have not seen the last of me, my son," growled Gregor.  "Your outlander allies will not be around to save you the next time we meet, Mikhail.  I've let you be for far too long."
The boyar turned his back on the village with contempt and stalked off into the darkness, his men following.  The village fell silent, save for the moans and cries of the wounded.
The villagers and heroes set to putting out fires burning in the village, this took some time and then the adventurers stripped the dead boyarsky of their winter garb, furs and snowshoes.  These would certainly come in handy.  The townsfolk who lost homes were bunked in the neighbors abodes and the exhausted villagers and heroes hit the hay.
When everyone had recovered sleep and energy from the night's battle the townsfolk started rebuilding and cleaning up the town square.  Towards the end of the day Mikhail came to the tavern.  He had spent most of the day checking to make sure that Gregor and his men were heading back to Vorostokov.
"I think the village will be safe," he said.  "Gregor does not have enough men with him to risk returning -- he will have to return to his hall to get more warriors.  It will take him ten days or more to get there, depending on the weather."
Leaning forward, the young hunter spoke with an intense look.  "I want to go to Kirinova and persuade the men of that village to help us fight off Gregor.  I'd like you to come with me -- we cannot spare any more of Torgov's menfolk, and you are great heroes.  We can go to Kirinova and return before Gregor even reaches Vorostokov.  There is safety in numbers, and who know?  You may find some answers to your questions there."
Arvien asked why Kirinova would help Torgov?  Mikhail said that there were several families in common and that would spur some members to come to Torgov to help.  Also the people of Kirinova knew that Gregor could attack them next if they slipped into rebellion.  Discussion followed back and forth with the heroes deciding to join Mikhail on an expedition to Kirinova.  Mikhail said it should take four days to get to Kirinova so they should be back in Torgov before Gregor reached Vorostokov.
The next morning the group set out for Kirinova with their new winter furs and snowshoes.  The going had been easy for the first day, the weather had been clear and still, although it was still quite cold.  Toward the end of the second day of travel the sky began to grow very dark and clear, almost as if night was falling -- but the sun was still shining.  The temperature was dropping rapidly.
A keening wind sprung up, rising from nothing to howl ferociously, driving stinging particles of ice before it.  Mikhail screamed above the noise, "It is the zilinya neshka!  We must seek shelter at once, or we will surely die!"
The party was on an open plain but Drovic spotted a copse of trees in the distance and the party moved apace to it.  Building a small lean to, and a fire they huddled under the snow waiting for the storm to pass.  The fire provided only minimal warmth against the storm and the party started to suffer cold damage, even frostbite seemed to be setting in.  Worse yet the air was growing colder and colder, despite the additional fuel heaped upon the flames.  Inexplicably, the fire began to gutter and die out.  In a moment, it is gone.  In the next instant, sinister shadows surrounded the camp, patches of blackness in the driving sleet and howling wind of the zilinya neshka.
Mikhail leapt to this feet, his cape fluttering behind him in the gale.  "The arayashka!  We are doomed," he cried.  The party stood back to back as the shadowy figures approached.  The screaming winds raised a stinging, blinding hail of ice crystals that obscured vision beyond 10 feet.  Grunyar determined that his arrows would do no good and Arvien told Summergale to perch low in the branches of a nearby tree.  The arayashka set upon the party, Dirk ran away from them as best he could.  He wanted nothing to do with these monsters.  The party soon found that these wispy creatures were incorporeal, at least they were undead to Grunyar's delight.  Varrid was suddenly disconsolate as she could not figure a way to flank these monsters.  She was also sure that her extra damage would do nothing.  The battle was on and the party was despairing for the lack of critical damage, precision damage and apparent spell resistance.
Ralom broke out his altar and consecrated the area.  Arvien brought down a fireball on two of the creatures, thinking they might be vulnerable.  Drovic following called forth a flaming sphere.  The real problem thought was the loss of Constitution whenever the party was damaged by one of the creatures.  Fighting with great fortitude, the heroes finally started to apply more damage.  Two of the monsters died leaving a black stain on the snow.  Now cold and frostbite started to affect the mighty heroes, but the held firm at last dispatching the horrid. creatures.  Mikhail was know even more impressed by this great outlander party.  Nothing else to do now except wait out the storm.  The zilinya neshka wailed away for 16 hours with the party becoming weaker from cold, frostbit and possible Hypothermia.  When it ended the party had lost a day and headed again for Kirinova.
After two more days of trekking through the frozen forests and the icy plains, the village of Kirinova lay just over the next hill, waiting with a hot meal and warm beds.  At the top of the ridge the open farmland that surrounded the tiny hamlet could be seen ahead.
Wolves howled in the forest behind, not too near, but not far enough for peace of mind.  Still several hundred yards from the village it became obvious that something was terribly wrong -- there were no fires burning and no lights showed in the dark cabins.  The village was still and quiet.
The wolves fell silent.  A glance behind revealed dozens of them watching from the edge of the woods.  The great black wolf was there!  Instantly they sprinted silently from the forest and began to give chase.  The nearest buildings in the village were only about fifty yards away, and the wolves were probably a quarter of a mile or more behind.
The party headed for the cover of the buildings, which still seemed miles away as the party struggled to run in the snow with the snowshoes.  Behind the wolves closed silently, flitting over the fields like graceful gray shadows.  The village was wooden cabins, the granaries seemed to have been put to fire, the church looked like the only sturdy building available.  The party ran past cabins whose doors were swinging in the wind, knocked almost completely off their hinges.  The church seemed solid, the doors were open but they could be closed and barred.  The pews were marked with scratch marks and some were knocked over.  By the altar lay a badly wounded, thin old man with a flowing white beard.  Ralom tended to the moaning man as Baru moved some pews for Arvien to look out a window.  She had to break a piece of stained glass out to see.  Outside the soft pad of dozens of paws on snow signaled the arrival of the first of the wolves.

DM's Notes: The party earned 3,000 XP for the battles against the boyarsky and the Arayashka.  They now have 78,179 XP and are at 8th level.