The crack of thunder and flash of lightning snapped the cloaked figure to attention.  The horrible death-scream echoing through the night caught his attention.  He looked up, seeing six robed men surrounding a woman, braziers lit around her.  Some kind of...ceremony?  Even in the dead of night, his eyes seemed to pull what little light was available and magnify it, giving him far more clarity than it perhaps should.
   The figure felt some innate pull to the woman and he advanced, quickly taking the robed men – cultists - to be evil, needing to be disposed of.  They were chanting.  A figure standing out of formation concluded the chant, in a language he did not understand...and then simply said "Let it be done."  The figure stalked through the night, but a flash of light caught their attention...perhaps the flash of lightning reflecting off the blade in his hand?  Wait...where did THAT come from?
   One of the cultists actually seemed pleased to see him...like he recognized him...before the figure stabbed him with the stiletto in his hand.  The cultists all looked stunned, then turned toward him with knives.  The robed figure became aware of his surroundings: A cemetery?  That was strange.  He assessed the situation: The girl is tied to four poles, suspended off the ground.  No quick getaway.  This weird rock formation around the ritual area seemed like a good place to fend off a group.  The robed figure tried to climb the rocks, but in the rain he could not find a grip...so he settled for stabbing the first cultist he'd attacked in the face.
   The others screamed at him in a language he did not understand, while the apparent leader surrounded himself if blackness and vanished.  The cultists moved in, one lunging but slipping in the mud and flattening out.  The cloaked figure coiled as the group surrounded him, each attack trying to lead him to another's knife, but he twisted and turned with the blades, his clothes suffering small tears as he avoided their assaults and stabbed back.  The one in the mud rose up, swung down with his knife, but the cloaked figure caught his arms and flipped him head over heels back into the mud.
   Soon there were two left, and the one wallowing in the mud got very close...close enough to draw blood.  The other lashed out, but the figure slammed his face into the rock, then drove his stiletto into the base of his skull.  Turning to face the final cultist, the figure narrowed his eyes and said "I was going to offer you a painless death.  After that, it's going to be long and ugly."  Each man lashed out, neither could hit their target.  The cultist attacked once more...but his knife fell from his hand, into the muck!  The figure snarled and drove his blade into the back of the cultist, puncturing a lung.  The figure turns, moving to the woman...she looked at him, eyes wide, the light fading.  He could see what happened...she was being bled out...into some kind of symbol carved into the ground.  Though he still felt that connection, he had no idea who she was.  She said one word "Zela..." and then died.  Looking around at the dead woman and the bodies littering the cemetery, realizing he had no idea where he was at or even how he got there, and this impending sense of being watched, the cloaked figure ran as far away as he could.
   End opening scene.

Notes:  That was the opener of the new game.  The fight with the cultists was a BIT closer than I'd have liked.  The player went through bennies like crazy, but I was also giving them like candy.  He just had a few too many close calls.  He failed a couple of notice rolls that would have otherwise given him more information.  Fighting in the dark really helped, as he's a Half-Elf and has Nightvision.  The Cultists were all human.  The player tried to make use of his terrain, but just could not succeed on a Climbing roll to get up on the rocks and get away from the gang-up.

   On the road away from the cemetery, the cloaked figure saw a sign for a town called Murice Creek.  It being well past midnight in a wicked storm, the town was locked down...so the figure made short work of the lock on a mill and went inside.  Moving to the upstairs loft, he tried to relax for the night.  So many questions...he had a stiletto and some kind of sheath on his forearm, but he had no idea where it came from.  When he went after the cultists, he didn't even remember drawing the blade!  He had no idea where he was at!  As he tried to rest for the night, he saw a black bird staring at him from outside a second story window.  Trying to put it out of his mind, he laid his head down and went to sleep.
   It was light when the commotion in the street awoke him.  Moving to the window, he peered outside where he saw an attractive brunette being pulled through the street!  A well dressed man with ruddy cheeks and a battle-hardened man with a bushy beard were leading the mob, shouting about how they were going to burn the witch at the stake!  The word – or name? – "Zela" ran through his head.  He quickly moved downstairs.
   The figure caught the attention of an old woman who wasn't part of the mob, and asked her what was going on.  As she answered, she fixed a milky, dead eye on him.
   "They're burnin' the witch at the stake.  She killed her sister last night!"
   The figure looked annoyed and confused.
   "Is she Zela?"
   The woman looked confused.  "Zela?  No, Zela's Marilynn's bird.  That's Janna.  Marylinn's sister."
   "Wait...so Zela's a bird?  Is Zela a BLACK bird?"
   "Yeah..."  By this point, the old woman was eyeing the cloaked figure curiously.  Curiously enough to make him very uncomfortable.  He darted away, as she commented on his appearance..."You're not from around here, are you?  Hey!  Where you going?"
   The figure made his way to the mob, listening to the loud proclamation from Constable Garrison, the grizzled man he'd seen from the list.  Garrison announced that the witch was to be burned at dusk!
   The figure decided he had to save Janna, and began organizing his plan as six man escorted her to be locked up until her execution.  Drifting into a tavern like a shadow, he moved among the tables, taking bottles of cheap booze from their drunken owners.  He slipped to the blacksmith's where he met the large smith with a shock of red hair.  Klaus was his name.  Klaus immediately recognized him as being a newcomer and began grilling him.  When pressed for a name, the figure answered "Hemmings."  He told Klaus he had a camp outside of town and he was just hoping he could light some wood with his fire.  Klaus looked him over, and agreed.  His plan coming together, the cloaked figure now had flame to light the strips of his tattered cloak inside the bottles of cheap booze and he slipped from building to building, igniting them.
   Midway through town, he nearly ran into a guard, when the raven – Zela – shot through the air into the guard's face!  The raven clawed at him and the figure took advantage, tossing his last firebomb and running toward the building they were holding Janna.
   Seeing a single sentry at the door, the figure ran up to him and exclaimed, "The town is under attack!  Many fires!  You must go now!"  The sentry replied, "I know about the fires.  That's why the constable told me to stay here!"  "The constable JUST told me to come get you."  The sentry eyed the figure for a moment and said: "I don't even know who you are, mister...but you must be right!" and ran off.  Making short work of the lock, the cloaked figure offered Janna one chance at rescue, saying he knew her innocence.  She did admit to actually being a witch, and he noted her candor, and the two headed into the street...where he saw Klaus the Blacksmith watching on, intently.
   End Scene Two.

Notes: The scene with the guard was hilarious, as the PC has no Persuasion or Intimidate, and got something like a 13 on his unskilled check.  I gave him a bennie for that one for sure.  I actually figured he would rob the cultists in scene one and have money for the inn in scene two, but the realization that he didn't know where he was at seemed to take him by surprise, but he took me by surprise with his decision to try to burn down half the town.

   As the figure and Janna shot out of town, Zela followed them overhead.  Janna seemed surprised that Zela was following them, which disappointed the figure because he hoped she could tell him just what that was all about.  He apologized for not saving her sister, and Janna asked about her death...and her murderers.  The figure reluctantly admitted that one had gone free.  He told her about the symbols and the five dead cultists...to which she asked the obvious:  "If you left five dead cultists in the cemetery with my sister's body...why didn't anyone in town mention that?"
   D'oh.
   Our protagonist was kinda disappointed in himself for missing that, and asked her if she wanted to head back to the cemetery to check it out...only to find the Constable and half a dozen of his men had surrounded them.
   A tense exchange followed in which the robed figure accused the Constable of either being stupid or on the take, which the Constable did not deny.  However, when he got a look under the figure's hood, his eyes grew wide, he took four steps back, drew his sword and ordered his men to ignore the witch, but kill the assassin!
   His men moved in, and once more the assassin's stiletto was in his hand before he knew it was even drawn.  He exploded into motion, fending off attacks from the poor guards, little more than armed citizens.  Janna said something the figure did not understand, and a burst of light erupted in the Constable's face, blinding him!  Zela flew into the face of one of the guards, and literally blinded HIM!  As the assassin slashed one of his foes, Klaus the Blacksmith erupted from the trees wielding a great maul, which he used to smash one of the guards!
   Both Janna and the assassin were surprised at that, and he asked "Relation of yours?"  She quickly commented "No...I really don't like that guy, actually."
   The Constable cleared his eyes and saw Klaus, then exclaimed "Klaus!  You're making a horrible mistake!"  "No, Constable.  I am quite tired of mysterious disappearances and conspiracies among my people.  My mistake was not doing something first!"
   The Constable slipped around behind the assassin, taking advantage of the distraction from the two he was already fighting.  Janna moved further back and began to concentrate...as the Constable lunged for the assassin, but he ducked under the attack and kicked through the Constable's grip, sending his longsword hurtling through the air!
   Klaus was engaged in combat with two guards, one of whom tried to talk sense into him.  "Klaus!  I have known you since we were kids!  Why would you do this?"  "Johan...I thought I knew you better than to follow the likes of him.  I do not wish to hurt you...but I will."
   Zela scratched at the face of another guard, leaving him screaming, while the assassin felt a presence inside him...Janna...somehow guiding his moves?  He twisted in the air and lashed around him, striking at all three of his foes at once, but only hitting glancing blows.  One guard's knife got close, and another did give him a rough gash near the ribs.
   Klaus hammered his friend Johan down, and turned to his remaining foe with a fury.  Zela tried to help the assassin, while Janna concentrated and continued to guide his blade.  The assassin felt strange.  He could feel her presence aiding him, but he was also clearly still in charge.  He lashed out once more, but again only landed glancing blows.  As Klaus felled his foe, the assassin's blade found purchase, and two more guards fell at his feet.  The Constable tried to run, but the assassin moved quick and drove a blade into his back.  Zela went for the remaining guard, but fell to the ground as if she had hit something!
   Standing among the trees, his face cloaked, stood the form of the priest that led the ritual sacrifice of Marylinn the night before!  The assassin identified him, before driving the Constable down with another harsh blow.  Klaus moved near, to aid the assassin, who was momentarily surprised at the burst of light from Janna...but only momentarily.  The remaining guard stared at the Constable in disbelief and then at the priest...and ran for the proverbial hills!
   "Very well, witch...let us see who has the most power."
   The assassin charged, slashing at the priest, but again the damage was only fleeting.  The Priest unleashed a bloodcurdling scream that send Zela flying fully from the scene.
   "I do not wish to fight you, anmaglâhk."
   The priest convinced the assassin of his words when his grew red and Klaus suddenly wrapped his hand around the throat of Janna.
   "If you do not turn from this fight, you will watch one friend murder the other and then come for you.  This is not a distraction you can afford.  Others will come from the town, and they will see their constable dead by your blade."
   The assassin reluctantly agreed, to Janna's dismay.  Incensed that the murderer of her sister was going free!  The assassin pointed out that they couldn't fight him, not right now.  Taking the Constable's purse and longsword, the assassin pulled Janna back.  He told Klaus he didn't have to go, to which Klaus replied "No...the well of corruption runs too deep there.  I have already prepared to leave."
   As the assassin led the group away, the Priest stood over the Constable.
   "Why...why didn't you aid me?"
   "Poor, foolish man...I have put far too much work into the assassin to sacrifice it for you."
   "But...you didn't even warn me...he's...not even...human."
   "No.  He's not."
   And the Priest vanished in a flourish leaving the Constable to die, alone in the woods.

   Once the group had a chance to settle and catch their breaths, finding the path to a nearby trading post, the assassin came clean...about his alias of "Hemmings", about how he didn't know where he was at or how he got there, and about how the only name he ACTUALLY knows is "Mike".  He couldn't help but notice Janna staring at him intently through the story.  Finally, he asked.
   "What's got you so interested?"
   "Your features.  Where are you from?"
   "I don't really know."
   "I noticed the same," Klaus said.  "If I didn't know better, I would say you came from the South."
   "Yes...you're...you're not human, are you?" Janna asked.
   "Yeah...well, I mean, mostly.  I'm half-elf."
   To which Janna and Klaus both laughed.
   "What's so funny?"
   "That's impossible," Janna said..."The last elf died a hundred years ago."
   End Session One

Notes: I dunno, seemed like a good start.  Good time was had by all.  First time I've had a group of NPCs along for the ride in a Savage Worlds game who were all extras.  Not sure how much I'll care for that...especially with them being so fragile.  I tried to intentionally downplay the fantasy and horror at this point.  Some magic slung around, but no undead or anything.  I gave the PC a pass on the Guts check at the ritual scene at the beginning because I just wanted to start hot with it all.  Being the only PC, I gave him a free starting Edge of his choice, and a starting edge of MY choice, Arcane Resistance...which will begin to play into his overall backstory as the campaign unfolds.