Zuzana Stormcrow

Appearance:

Zuzana Stormcrow is an older woman of indeterminate age. She has long black hair that is fading out to gray at her temples and has eyes that are dark and cold as obsidian. It is obvious that she is not young, the passage of years has left its mark on her, but she remains healthy, vital, and to those who test her, stronger than she appears. Her most common attire is a pair of wide-legged trousers suitable for riding, dark gray in color. She also wears a black shawl over a gray blouse. The shawl is picked out with embroidery of feathers, ravens and crows, and dark constellations.

Equipment:

Flame of Winter Staff - the staff is slightly taller than Stormcrow, and it is made of black wood streaked with silver, a seemingly unnatural wood. It can be used in melee combat and can resist the stroke of mundane weapons with ease. It can be broken, but this requires a feat of strength and a weapon of power, or a contest with another wizard where magic meets magic and one must fail and shatter. The staff can produce a chill blue light and has the fearsome power to conjure ColdFire. This anti-element devours heat, freezes things solid, and is exceedingly dangerous.

Jignvag, the Blade of the North - a bastard sword enchanted to retain the relentless cold of the brutal and unforgiving frozen land of the same name. The blade was forged by the ice wights who exist there, beaten from ore with naught but their fists and honed to a razor's edge against their cold bones. The sword is a magic weapon and carries the bite of winter. It can be used as a magic focus for weather manipulation, conjuring cold, and summoning servants of endless winter.

Hriya, the Ring of Winter - another treasure of the unforgiving north, Hriya was made by the ice wights. It has a huge sapphire as its center and is made of a nameless cold metal that is almost translucent in its silvery-blueness. The ring can hold a great deal of magical power, can be used as a spell focus, can turn any spell cast with its aid into an ice/cold type, and its most potent and important ability is that it protects the wielder from all the dangers and discomforts of winter, ice, and cold.

The Lord of Storms - an ancient storm eagle of great size, the Lord of Storms is large enough to bear Zuzana on its back, and more than once has served as her mount for long travels, or has rescued her from the peak of a mountain. The beast is an elemental lord and has great power to bring winter storms in its wake, along with flights of other storm eagles.

Nature and Demeanor:

Zuzana is a politely charming woman, worldly and confident. Most common folk know her as Miss Crows, as she travels in a covered tinker-type wagon drawn by a pair of black horses, and keeps a good number of the birds in her care. Miss Crows is a pleasant woman, wise, and gifted with many talents. In the broad counties and green valleys, she is a collector of oddities the locals find, pays in good coin, and peddles her skill as an herbalist, apothecary, fortune teller, and sundry very odd jobs such as repairing books. She also does a bit of the craft in charming the weather, when it is out of sorts.

That all being said, Zuzana is an antiquarian, explorer of ruins, collector of relics, and hunter of lore. The world is old, and there is more forgotten than exists under the sun, and it is most often adventurous children who find these hints and clues. Sometimes the entrance to a lost city can be found from a few interesting pot shards or a new dungeon discovered from a strange rock. When something interesting is found, that is when the Black Rider appears, gathering her tools and weapons before striking into a new adventure. These things are not done alone, and she is on middling terms with various heroic and adventuring guilds. Its middling because often her adventures are incredibly dangerous, have horrific fatality rates, and more than once she has been seen to 'die' in the course of a job only to reappear a few weeks later nowhere near the scene, with only partial memories of the events that occurred.

History:

That bit about the Necromancer in the tower.

Lovely fellow, he claimed the tower fairly as it was abandoned by the previous owners for several centuries, and the attempt to drive him from it was just a gross misuse of power on the part of the Council of Wizards. Sure, the follow up forces sent did oust him from the tower, at some cost in lives, and expended spells and scrolls, but as soon as it was done, the tower was left abandoned. Sloppy, lazy business, that.

Yes, the one with the dragon.

That was just a fair bit of advisement, and then the dragon was killed, damn good shot too. The battle over the dragon's lair was unfortunate, a lot of people died for all that piled up gold. Only managed to make three trips worth of looting out of the place while everyone played let's kill everyone else. Arcane treasures and wonders are worth more but raise questions, gold is heavier and you can only carry so many gold coins before your arms start giving out. Dwarves remember every goddamn thing ever made, so they're terrible to fence with, unless it's gold hammered to shit and even then they can taste it and tell you what mine it came from. 

Something about a magic ring?

Never found it, fell off of a bridge in a forgotten dungeon while fighting a massive demon. Woke up nine days later 150 leagues away on the edge of a forest. Terrible hangover.

The other black riders?

I am something of a neutral third party. I am no relation, but they will talk with me. You, they just want to scream and stab over and over.

After all of these questions, I can understand where they are coming from.