Sirin of the Shalm

[*Pashan01]

"I recognised the man in the city market and wondered if Tilee had already spoken to him of my interest. I approached to find out and in quiet room to the Inn away from the worst of the city tremors, probed for information. Smokey scent and leather, drinking from small adamantine flask for 'medicinal' purposes..his hair has an odd green hue and tells of something unusual, that or natural dye..which I tend to doubt...I noted too the swathe of energies surrounding his body and enquired upon his health...he 'seemed' in good health and asked if the drinking bothered me...Only if that you should keel over and die the next day and my enquiries be time wasted my response"

"Being a friend of Tilee was in his favour but my questions were received with caution but then I didn't give much out at first either..only that I was hunting for a powerful mage....and his name had been put forth. I spoke of perplexing problem to pique his interest, one requiring careful thought and preparation."

"He saw my verbal social skills at their worst...so I came more directly to the point without giving all of my intentions and requirements away. Two things I learned in that brief and cautious exchange....the first, that I believe he has passed through portal to the city from the same one as acquaintance of mine, a variation in the name but it might be the same....something to follow up at later point with both. Second, that my specific need for one at highest circle of arcane power happens to be his speciality, or one of them."

"We found grounds and connection to continue discussions further over time and, after offering him this spark to his interest, I took him to the hunt for giant snake and in return saw use of a rather wonderous staff that brought forth swirling ball of icey air. It was interesting to see the giant snake's blood freeze when caught between the icicles of my fist and the frosty elements of that air ball. I worried my companion might crack one of those humungous saberteeth."

[*Pashan01]

"It must be this city, the hub of the planes to the multiverse that has opened up more...widening horizons and beasts who heed my call"

"I brought two with me from my home, Shea and Domh. Yuel and Khan I drew to my side during the journey to the city, one a lost arachnid from one of the lower planes, the other had been loitering alone, unusually, and far too close to a village in the lower mountains as I came closer to the spire. It was well outside of its usual territory. Needless to say, I took it under my wing before its predatory ways chose to slaughter the village inhabitants."

"Pilik came to me as I washed in one of the streams in Brux, drawn down the breezes flowing with the watery channel from more swampy territory..I have heard tale of a plane layer of constant daylight, warm wind, marsh and gentle forest...he must be from there. Sharan, outcast young male of a pack, appeared in the forest of Brux and after some careful handling, chose to accept my companions as his own on the promise that I would bring more female over time for him to assert himself and find mate."

"But in the last few days I have been shown more layers of the Beastlands and have stepped into an entirely new plane to explore. This seems to have opened up my powers to summon and bond to my will. After being shown Karasuthra and spending time with Isolfr and Vigdis, hearing the distant call of beasts, I left their sides and made cautious journey deeper to the dense warmth of the night forest. And it was here I found Bort, clawing at a kill with his horny toes and, lucky for me, alone. More than double my height, powerful jaw with serrated teeth, with a size that hides its agility, I watched him and wanted him. It took me most of that night to begin the bonding process that would have him join my pack."

"I made the first summon attempt in the company of Isolfr while walking a few paces beyond the portal in the ice plane. Sensing danger about, I made murmur of druidic old tongue and Bort was there, stunning both of us. Myself...that the call had worked. Isolfr, to see the beast appear without warning. Old 'Cold one' he termed it and alikened it to something he had seen and knew of from his home plane, a smaller more longer limbed mountainous beast, used as mounts by a darkskinned warrior elven race called SvartAlf. Perhaps a relative of this raptor. But it left thought to my mind to see if I could tame Bort enough for him to allow me to mount. There was work to be done yet still on that score."

[*Pashan01]

"I work with Bort slowly and for short periods. This one is wilder than many and I am unused to one of quite such a size and ferocity. It is one of the ancients...yet not dragon...but pack creature also. It can be unnerving when his bulk stays that close when we walk that I feel his hot and steam of breath to my neck. Domh keeps wary distance at those times, lagging behind. I cannot blame him, he is impatient and intolerant but will come round once the bond is settled and he is assured he will not be Bort's next meal."

"Bort would not come into the ice cave but enjoyed the run of the forests...only natural. I work with them not they for me. Sharan and Khan seem more eager to explore the frozen domain of the frost salamanders and I am satisfied that the hunt in there will be interesting for us all."

"I met with Isolfr's employer again and passed brief conversation...she studies the magics of planes and makes many notes of notes in the journal she keeps...Talania of the Notes....yet better study is made in the seeing and doing...I offered to to tell her something of what I know of the outlands as well as to take her to see the giant snake that I study."

"It is agreed. Lhyrg of Garsk is not like the other gnoll outcast of the city but bears bond of brotherhood and honour. The wolf he runs with is young and friendly, overly friendly perhaps to those in the city...so as to appear domesticated to the immediate eye and that of the elf of the Khyber plane. I would run with both and treat them to hunt and feast of snake and perhaps learn more of the pair. Lhyrg of Garsk should learn not to apologise for the exhuberance of the youngling but to enjoy in his youth, allow him his lead to learn yet still hold to his wild."

"The dragon Drakos has been absent now for more than a se'ennight...I grow restless for his return....and what I must try to accomplish"

[*Pashan01]

The large raptor came to her calling, invited and commanded to sense and learn...to recognise the scent of friend and wolf.

Bort loomed over the man in the fur cloak, Sirin's hand to his rough hide of cheek firmly stroking, calming, his breath heavy and warm, bearing stench of blood and flesh. He gave a deep growl and snort of breath before lifting his great head, jaws widening to show the jagged teeth and let out a piercing shriek that resounded about the forest, causing the two humans standing close to grunt and wince....the hunt was on.

"I learn of the whispers of spirits...both ravenous and peaceful....in the trees and plants and of the bones....I learn of the bonds within pack-sense and of whispers of pack souls lost....and of duty to the pack spirits.....I learn of the heat...and of its passing and cycles...and I am encouraged"

"In return, I bring my beasts to know this pack scent....slowly....I share more of my grove, my home, my family....my children....of my responsibilities to them...and of the choices I will have to face should I not succeed.....again, I am encouraged"

The whispers of the beasts told of gatherings, rising and skirmishes between the fey courts of the Beastlands....Sirin sent her friends out to scout and be watchful

[*Pashan01]

Naked, she washed in the pool of the falls, crouching to the shallows and used her cupped hands to scoop the water over her, smirking upon noting the various bruises and marks from her earlier 'hunt'.

Still crouched, ankle deep to the water, body now drying in the fresh breeze, she reached across to dip her hand into a small mound she had made upon the shore. In an old and ancient tongue, she made murmur, her tone low, deep and rich in a rhythmic, yet not that tuneful chant. With fingers coated of the mud, she applied it in various daubs to her skin over eyes, neck, arms, breast, torso and stomach, replenishing those marks that had faded or washed, rubbed off or cracked with new, forming the whole into a trailing symbolic pattern across her body.

At some distance, her boar-friend guarded, snuffling about in the long grasses, scent of wolf never far away.

[*Pashan01]

"Two rune-marked bottles of a frostwine salvaged from a smoldering tent camp of his land were brought out. The wine was sweet and strong, of good quality. But what was more interesting was that he shared them then...there...as teacher came to know friend...perhaps the last small treasure of his old camp used as additional enticement to forge bond. Scent of woman, earth and boar, man and wolf, eldritch and something else...filled the air of the camp as well as the heady aroma of flaming wood and roasting spitted deer a celebration to good company, new company and revelations."

"Bend....align....entrance....charm...the will....it seems we have something in common yet our subjects differ. Her craft is oft slated by mine own, embraced by others. I chose the latter and told her thus. She has the sight to peer into, seek and draw from the past, use the knowledge to enable those to learn and grow, avoid the follies to give insight to the successes so that one might choose to live those. We speak the same, she and I, yet the knowing does not always prevent the outcome that is fated, there are cycles that must be and the past will be repeated nevertheless in those cycles, such is the way, such is the hunt, the nature's balance and her gods demand it. One can only be guided by knowing the past to work towards a better outcome than the last or perhaps work to fool it....and this is what I may have to do"

"And there talk moved onto to our tasks and hunt for knowledge...the teacher providing more insight to each and means to aid....a release both of spirit of lost soul for one, the vision of beast I hunt for me. I trusted the vision and this woman's sight and saw my prey here in this plane....I saw her in the ice reflection as the teacher used sensor, playing with the elements of water and her own kind of fire to produce image upon a polished ice cutting created from the falls lake. I saw her reflection, taking drink by the shoreline of a close pool, galloping back to hills and safety of treeline....timid and shy. Luring her will be hard...finding the right bait to bond her even harder in both this plane and the city."

"I now have use for the snake skin and will bring more of the flesh to fortify Isolfr's store..the teacher and vision maker can take of the skin once I have prepared it and share of the camp more often. I felt her pull and charm as I am in no doubt Isolfr does and I doubt not that she is welcomed to his hide and home....his bed. I asked for something in return that bore her scent so that she might walk safely amongst mine...and received a silvery hawk feather she carried."

"As the fire burned to ember, the circle of body was made and the teacher of visions succumbed finally to the wine and caressing welcome to the pack, encouraged and drawn closer, finally laying herself down between us. The change from wise tutor who bends will to sleeping 'pup' was endearing."

[*Pashan01]

"I gave to her afew of the giant snake skins, having pulled each from their flesh, cleaned, dried with a herbal solution and oiled to keep soft. Upon request, she took four of the folded skins to keep, another she made into a fancy magical satchel that allowed me to carry all my belongings in one. She also gave me a pair of totems saying she had made them some time ago, never used them but thought them fitting for a tamer. I thanked her but frowned, the totems bore powerful magic and indeed would take me a while to harness the beasts I could bind with them. Careful would I go at their use, for I knew not much of the creatures the totems would summon to venture with me beyond their home territory whereever that was and work to my will."

"I returned to the realm of the Ethereal with her, an old training ground where she had honed her skills. I knew it but little and did not favour the metal beasts to that plane yet did appreciate the simplicity and peace on first entry of the portal. I was interested too to find more iron fragment to attempt for myself once more the process of bringing formed metal back to its most basic state. It still puzzled me that something no longer in natural state, but shaped, smithed, beaten and reformed could be brought to that. She picked up piece of the scrap metal that once was one of these metal beasts telling me that even this piece of witless metal would tell a tale of its past. I was a little sceptical but opened my mind to the possibility."

"Moving around the ethereal proved easy enough, it is a wide space, full of shadowy mists with towering citadel in the hazey distance which we did not approach. I was glad for the wide spaces and solid ground though once I walked a shimmering near transparent walkway between two gorge cliffs that Bort refused initially to traverse, while Domh simply snuffled at my heels and trotted nonchalantly aside me to cross. As the four of us journeyed through, I discovered from deep within the power to help Bort, Danielle and Domh to destroy the larger more imposing blade handed beast. A few choice words and chanting of the ancient tongue delivered in their vicinity could make their metalic bones and joints tremble, crumble and, if powerful enough, collapse to mangled pile of scrap."

"I introduced her to Sharan also. All have scent of her now and will respect my will and control. They will not touch her to harm and nor would I, such is my respect for her, her craft and her knowledge."

She is needed to him, as am I, as she to me also and he to us both

"I offered a completion of that circle as I knew it and my offer was accepted. I drew her from that ethereal scape to find green of earth to lie upon, where the calm and distance from the city gave us liberty to learn more of each other's charms, to affirm the bond and mutual trust and close the circle."

[*Pashan01]

"I told of my connection with element of earth and promise to pay visit to that plane came to pass after small delay in the bazaar. There was brief meeting with Gluboiy of the small bear and a halfling and I recall insult from both which I dealt with calmly. One called me to make less noise, though I could not say how any could have thought me rowdy, all I think so he could achieve Isolfr's full attention. The other insistent with the premise that all who happen to walk upon city cobble is deemed sigilian citizen, whether papers of residency owned or simply a traveller, this creature called the term citizen to those subject to its laws. I follow no law but nature's and with no intention to spend much time in the city, I doubt I would be the cause of much trouble in that distasteful place. "

"After brief examination of the small ooze form that hovers with regularlity in the city, we moved on and I was finally introduced to the earth plane. Seeing a dwarven warrior exit the portal where we were about to enter, it surprised me to learn of darker kinfolk deeper inside, a rogue element, whom I made to greet at first until attacked. There was something unusual about the earthen walls and about how they were tunneled, some by tool but some looked also as if not just carved out but...eaten. The earth elemental we found within might have been responsible but I wondered to something else."

"An entrance to cave took us deeper but the journey ended abruptly when a gaze of giant umberhulk caught me unawares causing mind turmoil that had me turning my firey staff upon boar and man alike. I could not defend and was beaten down by the beasts claws until Isolfr could make the kill, bring me round and support me out of there, Domh limping sheepishly behind. I shall return, I have to, if only to find the creature I seek within, but wary to ward to this giant roach I now must be."

"A playful fourlegged run back to the pools of Brux was followed by bathe and renewal of the runic symbols of earth and clay to my body."

[*Pashan01]

''I found way to lure and tame the large ooze by bringing it forth having played with the smaller gelatinous cube-kin that roams the bazaar first...encouraged the one with offering of simple arrow and drew the two together so that the larger absorbed the lesser. More time is needed to play on the trance...working with the smaller seems to bring the larger to my control. From where it comes I assume the plane of earth where it meets plane of water...I believe the bond will grow stronger the more I become familiar with this elemental plane.''

''Drakos returns but tarried not long...long enough for me to learn of long lost daughter and be shown the horn of unicorn king....it made me wonder. He intends now to call the gathering soon. I bid him for private audience as well though my question of source of his unicorn I believe I now know''

''Lhyrg of Garsk will join our Circle numbers..there is commonality there despite racial distrust and difference...we came to an understanding and I took the crumpled gloves that he had smoothed over his fur to scent so that my beasts would treat him with respect.''

[*Pashan01]

"I have thrice now walked and hunted with Graawl of Razorfang...now simply Graawl of the Worg...Razorfang fell to the Jarl...indeed an honourable death of such a fascinating beast...when I was held immobile by force of invisible Jarl hand, Graawl, Domh, Khan and Razorfang fought aside each other to bring the giant chief down. Tooth, claw, tentacle, axe...heavy sounds of bestial savagery echoing about the glacial walls all told of their eventual success but at cost of Razorfang's life."

"I walk with this one more warily sensing his more violent and bloodthirsty tendancies on a hunt, the desire to take trophy... yet I admire his sense of pack, base sense of honour and despite now warning about Worg, I remain fascinated by the pitiful beast. When gift was given to me as pack leader twice by Graawl, twice I ensured the balance was maintained and offered in return cloak he took as blanket and a band to place over his ears that would help him see hard to be seen enemy. One of the gifts to me was an enchanted sickle that will help me with scraping of hides and cutting of herb."

"His treatment of the worg I watch without judgement yet it seems this kind of beast requires heavy dominant behaviour to control, to leash and more harsher handling. It turned easily against its master and did so also against my companion. The bond was new between Razorfang and Graawl which partially explained this and so too is it now again with the new whelp. Graawl perhaps does not have the depth and link of minds and manner as my own beasts with me."

"The wild side of me enjoys this darker, savage and fiercer hunting....but I have to be careful not to let it take over...I swiftly draw upon the earth magic and find my calm again...this is my balance. My beasts see this side and respond accordingly, instinctively as the carnivorous pack they are. It is at these times I nearly forget myself and feel like taking form of the most wildest extreme shape I can yet I manage to hold back. I cautioned Graawl upon my loyalty to the wolf pack I most oft run with and where my interests lie. If leader of that circle takes not to this gnoll or his companions...it might change our current status...yes, I have to protect the 'pack' I have chosen...the future of my family, life of one...depends on it."