Tegan) Song of the Mornful (Tourin

Setting: A large forest of Armell Falls, just south of Didienne. Large trees and shrubs cover the ground and sky, and the thick quiet gives the entire place a feel of mysticism. Towards the center of the large forest resides a pond with the clearest blue water around. The nearest town is relatively close, yet the people fear the forest, for the animals, poisonous plants, but something new lately. A rumor has spread of an enchanted woman who sings to steal your soul to do her bidding at night. But that’s just a rumor right?

Time: Late at night, calm and quiet before a spring storm. The sky is open with dark clouds looming, and a wispy cloud hangs about the full moon.

Tonight was a beautiful night. Dorloan loved being in this part of the forest. There was always plenty of wildlife to hunt and hardly ever anything more intelligent. This was one of the places Dorloan loved to come when he wanted to be alone. He would go sit by the pool in his wolf form and just stare into the water. It always seemed like he would enter some kind of trance-like state when he stared into the perfectly blue water. But tonight the forest seemed different; there was absolutely no noise other than his padded footsteps when he walked.

Dorloan thought it strange; people in the nearby city had recently been thinking a lot about a rumor that was going around. Obviously there was some sort of “spirit” roaming the woods that would sing to steal your soul at night to do her bidding. How could anyone believe this? Dorloan had never heard of such foolery and he refused to believe it.

The large wolf stood up from its sitting position, it was time to go looking for any signs of life. As he trotted away from the pool he heard something, not with his ears but with his mind. He stopped quickly and sat down. Dorloan closed his eyes and reached out with his mind, he had to find what he had heard. As he searched the forest all was quiet. Then he found it, this wasn’t an average person thinking though it was to people having a conversation through a telepathic link. One of these beings had to be extremely gifted with their mind to be able to setup such a link between the two of them.

Dorloan had heard the conversation but now he had to find where these beings were. Dorloan concentrated harder, but still kept his mind quiet as to not alert this pair of his presence, so he could pinpoint their location. There! He had found them; they were just barely a half-mile away. Dorloan quickly changed form into something that was off the ground and quieter than his wolf form. He jumped up into a tree and began jumping from tree to tree as fast as his legs would allow him. He had to find this pair of beings. He had to know what they were and why they were in this forest. But most importantly, he had to know if they were hostile or not.

SNAP! The mind link Dorloan had been using to track this mystery person vanished while he was mid-jump. He landed on a large enough tree branch to support his weight and shifted back to human-form. He concentrated and searched for the two minds again, but everything was silent. It couldn’t be much farther because before the link broke he sensed it get extremely strong. He changed into and monkey and started jumping in the direction he last remembered the thoughts coming from.

There, Dorloan saw it. A wolf-sized figure sitting down with its ears lying back like it was trying to be threatening. Dorloan changed into one of the local fauna that was smaller so that he could get closer and not be detected. As he got closer he could make out more details of the being. Contrary to its wolf-like size, it had the features of a cat. Dorloan landed in a tree about 3 feet away for the large cat. The cat was facing him and he didn’t know what to do. He decided he would be daring. He jumped out of the tree and landed on the ground in front of the wolf-cat. Now in the form of a large monkey, Dorloan strengthened his arms and legs with magic then tackled the cat. “Now listen before you try anything,” he said, “I know you can understand me, because I heard your conversation with your bird.” Dorloan continued, “ I’m not going to hurt you I only tackled you so I could have a conversation with you, I had to make sure you weren’t going to run away.” “My name is Dorloan.” “ Who or what are you and what are you doing here?”

Dorloan felt the cat shrink in between his monkey-like arms and he allowed her to be released. He rocked back into a sitting position in front of her, showing her that he meant no harm. He thought about shifting back into his human-form, but decided against it for now. He molded his voice to sound smooth like hers, but huskier at the same time. “First of all, it isn’t nice to judge the actions of others as stupid without reason. I was merely making sure that you were not going to try and escape before I got the chance to talk to you.” He sat there studying her quietly as she spoke. “Do not try to confuse me with your riddles feline, I asked the question first so it is your obligation to answer me.” Dorloan closed his eyes while she spoke, doing his routine mental scan of the area to make sure nothing else was around. He felt the were-cat’s mind right in front of him and stopped his scan to focus on her.


The feeling of this beings mind was different, unlike any other mind he had ever felt before. It felt very similar to his own when he thought about it. He could hear the words she spoke in her thoughts slightly before she spoke, but he couldn’t read her thoughts for some strange reason. Every time he tried it felt like he was getting somewhere, then he was back at the outside of her mind. He concentrated hard, trying to penetrate her thoughts, but still to no avail. What was going on here? Why couldn’t he hear her?


Dorloan quickly opened his eyes, realizing the cat had finished talking quite some time ago. “Mira eh? Very well. Now I know you’re a shape changer not different from me. If you would please, stop hiding behind you’re façade……” Mid sentence he shifted to his human-form.”……and show me your true form please? It would only be fair.”

He stands up as she does and laughs. “You believe I am merely a human?” He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, about to try something he knows is very dangerous, but it’s necessary to prove his point. He thinks deeply in his mind about the knowledge of space and time magic that he has learned, making sure to stay behind his barriers because he left the mental stab she sent at him bounce off of the first, and weakest, barrier. He opens his eyes and they change colors to bright yellow. He feels his body evaporate as he tears the fabric of space in front of him and he space shifts. He re appears behind her slightly off from the position he wanted because he still doesn’t have this magic down yet. He leans close to her ear and whispers, “I can assure you Miramel,” he space shifts again, this time appearing directly in front of her face, “I am no mere human.” He stares into her eyes as his eyes change to a deep blue. “And it’s not nice to try and attack someone’s mind, especially if they can tell. He steps back away from her slightly and looks at her.


He studies this human-form of hers carefully, watching all her muscle movements to make sure she isn’t going to try and run. He keeps himself tensed and ready to chase or fight, still not sure of the were-cat’s intentions. “You are correct Mira; I have never known nor heard of your kind. I have never seen another the same as you,” He pauses for a moment and reaches out with his mind, lightly brushing hers, “Nor have I…..felt someone the same as you.” He sharpens his teeth inside of his mouth and then smiles, bearing them to her, the moonlight shining off of them. He also flexes his fingers, sharpening them into deadly claws at his sides. “If you need more proof, then please ask, I have no qualms with showing you a few things that I can do that a human cannot," He hopes she will want him to show her more, wanting to show off his talents, "if not, then would you please explain your intentions in this area, this is where I reside and your presence merely alerted me.”

“Do not call me human, for it is shameful to me. I am a Karian, much different from the insolent fools that dominate this world. As for the way I act, it is only because I am confident in my skills. You may see it as arrogance or boasting, but I assure you I only wished to prove my point.” He sensed the slight break in her mind defenses as she opened it up to the sky, calling her bird he assumed. He restrained his self from jumping at the opening, so as to show that he respected her wishes. Thunder boomed loud overhead as he watched the bird fly down from the trees and land on her shoulder. “You shouldn’t let him fly around up there with this kind of storm brewing, it’s dangerous, not that you don’t already know.”


He looks at her with a slightly confused expression, “Rumors you say, I have heard nothing of this “woman of the forest” that you speak of.” He felt a slight twinge in the back of his head as he said the name but thought nothing of it. “Please, tell me what you have heard and I may be able to assist you.”

Dorloan shifted his position as he listened intently to Mira. “I have not heard of any such rumors, because I try to avoid the humans as much as possible. They are rude and very poor mannered creatures and I have found none so far that I enjoy the company of.” Dorloan grew tired of sitting and stood up and walked over to the pool of water that was near and looked down into it. As Dorloan watched his reflection in the water he thought about the past few weeks. The water calmed him and he went into a trance-like state as he thought, the rest of the world around him melting away.

Dorloan spun around to look at Miramel. “You know now that I think of, I have been seeing a strangely large amount of humans walking thru the forest at night. I do not see them covered in blood, but they do seem to just shuffle along mindlessly.” Dorloan walked away from the pool and towards Mira. “I know the general area where I have seen these humans. Perhaps I shall take you there and we will see if anyone happens along tonight. I believe that it is usually around this time of night that I see them. Would you like to investigate Mira? I will go without you if you would rather not come.” Dorloan looked intently into Mira’s eyes as he awaited her answer.

As he stood there awaiting her answer, Dorloan watched Mira’s every move. The way her eyes shifted back and forth, the way her muscles were a bit tensed. She didn’t like him and he knew it. Why though? What reason had he given her to dislike him? Surely he hadn’t done anything to offend her. Maybe he would ask her about it later, yes that’s what he would do. But there was a more pressing matter to attend to at the moment. It was getting later and if they didn’t hurry to the clearing where he had seen these things then they would miss them. “Very well Mira, follow me.”

Dorloan’s body distorted and twisted shape into a larger than average black wolf with long shaggy hair and bright green eyes. He looked back as to see if Mira would indeed follow him. He turned and trotted off into the wilderness in the direction of the clearing. His ears stayed up, constantly twisting and turning to take in all of the sounds from the forest. He looked up into the sky to see where the moon was. It had fallen quite a bit more than he thought so he sped up his pace into a fast paced four-legged gate. He sent out thought in the direction that Mira would be, “Try and keep up, we aren’t going to make it if we don’t hurry.”

About 15 feet from the clearing Dorloan stopped running and paused. He channeled magic into his wolf-like senses o he could enhance them even farther. He sat on his hind quarters and pointed his nose up into the air and took a deep breath of the forest air. He could smell the crisp scent of the pines all around him, some of the flowers that were around, the morning dew on all the grass. He loved it, this was his favorite time of night in the forest, but as he scented the area he smelled something peculiar, something that didn’t belong. It wasn’t a forest smell, nor was it a human scent. This scent was almost putrid smelling, like something that had been rotting for a few days mixed with the smell of drenched animal fur. Dorloan didn’t like this at all. He growled quietly and turned around to look for Mira. He would throw a small mentally warning at her to stop if he saw her.

Dorloan took in another large breath of the air, trying to see where this scent was coming from. It frustrated him that he couldn’t quite pin it down, but he knew the general vicinity it was coming from. The stench was coming from the other side of the clearing about 60 yards away, and it had gotten closer since the last time he smelled it. He heard Mira behind him and knew what he had to do.

Dorloan turned around quietly and spoke to Mira through his mind. “There is some awful smell coming from the other side of the clearing. I have never smelled it before in all of my time being in these woods, and I visit here quite often.” Dorloan lowered his mental barriers just enough so that Miramel would be able to feel his senses as her own. “Come inside and smell what I can smell. Tell me if you have ever come across this before.”

As Mira passed him with her care-free attitude, Dorloan quickly made a decision. He was tired of her blatant disregard of anything he said or did. He knew how things were in these woods and if Mira didn’t at least take caution at what he said then she would get hurt. It was time for Dorloan to stop being so passive.

As Mira walked ahead of him Dorloan concentrated on a large area of soil ahead of her. He used his magic to remove the earth from where it was, digging a pit deep enough that Mira wouldn't be able to jump out. The pit was dug just before the entrance to the clearing. After he was satisfied with the depth he hardened the few inches of soil that hid the pit so when Mira began to walk over it she wouldn’t feel any difference. Satisfied with his makeshift trap Dorloan began following behind Mira. As her front paws onto the soil Dorloan would cave in he waited just a few more seconds. When she was standing completely over the pit he would have removed the soil quickly, making it almost impossible for her not to fall in.

Dorloan couldn’t help but snicker a bit to himself when Mira fell in. His trap had worked. He waited for her to stop trying to jump on the walls that he had intentionally made slick so that her paws couldn’t grasp them. He took her insult lightly and thought nothing of it. He sat beside the edge of the pit and look down to her, concentrating hard when he spoke to her mind. “Listen to me Mira; neither of us knows what this “spirit” is. We don’t know if it will hurt us or if it will be something peaceful. I have no idea why you don’t like me and I could care less, but we have to work together no matter our feelings.” Dorloan swiveled his head in the direction of the stench and noticed it had gotten reasonably closer than before, before too long it would enter the clearing.

Dorloan turned back to Mira. “I am going to let you out of this pit Mira. Do what you want when you are out, attack me, leave, or continue on with me to find this spirit you seek. Know this though if you attack me you will have a fight on your hands, and if you leave you may get lost in these woods.” Dor stepped back a few feet from the pit and lifted the soil under Mira’s paws back up to ground level. Hopefully he wouldn’t regret this decision.

Dorloan waited patiently for the being to emerge from the trees. What could it be? What was creating this awful stench? He finally thought he saw something breaking through the brush he got excited, too excited. He forgot about everything else and he regretted. Too late Dor realized there were footsteps rushing towards him from the direction in which Mira had left.

Dor spun around to see Miramel running at him in human form about 40 yards away. She was running full speed so Dor didn’t have much time to react. He quickly threw out a small barrier spell that he hoped Mira would run into. It was a very weak spell and if Mira had her wits about her she would just break thru it. This barrier was just a test. Dorloan only threw it up to see how Mira would react. He had felt something eerie in the air a few moments ago and he was suspicious. Dor waited to see if Mira would run into the barrier. While he did this he threw up every mental barrier he had. Blocking out all ways to get into his mind.