This is a story I wrote for Silver when he was working out a new character..a ninja/storm MM.
He had prepared extremely carefully, there was the circle of salt bounded by certain glyphs and symbols, rendered again in salt and coloured grain and millet seed. He had had also laid out a fine line around this in the millet seed , stained with earth and vegetable dyes, from his medicine pouch. He had conjured the favour of the Sky, the Earth and the rain, he knew that this might be dangerous. when you didn't know exactly what you are dealing with you didn't take any chances. He set the fire, starting it with dried kindling and a spark struck from his firelighter flint, fed it with small pieces of wood collected from the desert trees, salted it with sagebrush and rare aromatic herbs, the fragrant smoke wreathed him. He used it's sacred smoke to cleanse and purify him prior to the main ritual.
A summoning conjuration was not unknown in his tribe but was frowned upon, contact with the dead was unclean but sometimes it was a necessary evil. he owed a debt of honour to this man and been asked by him to discover what spirit was trapped here, bound to the bones that had been found in this cellar.
He took his knife, began chanting, alternately fanning the smoke with his rattlesnake favour and cutting his arm, letting his blood drip into the fire. To get something you must offer something in return, when dealing with the realm of death they seem to prefer blood, the fresher the better.
Where the smoke drifted into the circle it seemed to thicken, moving against itself, then within its folds and swirls shapes formed, first a bird's head, a large cruel pickaxe beak, a shaggy form resolving itself four legs then a smaller shape, seeming sitting, a mouth with a tongue lolling out to one side.
He heard a voice, whether in his head or through the air did not matter,
"Why do you call us here?" the Raven asked
"Yes my son why do you call us to this place of death and evil" asked the Wolf.
"Oh come on why so serious? We all know why he's called us", said the Coyote, its tongue lolling out of its mouth in a seeming laughing smile.
"I called you here to this place my brothers, so that you might help me cleanse this, the spirits need to be freed, they should be allowed to move on and find their peace," saying this he bowed in his kneeling position raising his hands, palms open in supplication.
"Well we could help Wolf Shaman," the Coyote said " but as ever there will be a price to pay.... and I'll tell you now you're not going to like it hehehehe."
Out of the corner of his eye he could see both the Raven and the Wolf turn to glare at the Coyote, it took a degree of control not to smile, to remain respectful. He replied, "I owe the owner of this place a debt of honour, however he does not know this, so I will pay your price so that I might free myself and yet gain an advantage."
The Raven cocked it's head, held him an a cold unblinking stare, then clacked its beak in seeming laughter. "I've always enjoyed our dealings with you Shaman of the Wolf Clan, your keen intelligence and your low down cunning amuses me."
The Wolf turned to face him, "Well little shaman, you agree to our price, even though you don't know what it is yet?"
"I respect you my Clan Father , you would not ask me to do something that would damage our Clan"
"Well let's get down to business then," yipped the Coyote, it's smoke form appeared to run around the room, seemingly gathering sparks of light, from the floor and walls, before actually running through the walls, to return with even more.
"Now my son you must dig, we will show you where.." A place appeared in his mind with directions where to find it. "When you find this place you must dig, it will not be deep and when you find what is there, you must place what we will leave you in its hand. Your task then is to help what you find there to find peace."
The Coyote appeared to be almost collapsing from laughter, "Hehehe so clever is Wolf Shaman....Oh you're so going to wish you'd asked more about our price."
With that the smoke thinned and the animals forms dissipated, though wolf Shaman was sure he could still hear coyote laughing. On the floor, left behind, was a battered tomahawk. Wolf Shaman rose from his knees, stretched slowly and methodically, easing the kinks from his limbs. He then carefully swept the circle away, starting at the northern end, working clockwise until all signs of it were gone, the remains of the salt and the coloured grains were carefully placed in a bag which he took from his medicine pouch. He then tied this bag to his belt for later disposal, after which he carefully stamped out the fire and spread its remains over where the circle had been. Only then did he walk over and pick up the tomahawk. He hefted it in his hand, beautifully balanced, then inspected it closely. It appeared to be a perfectly normal, if very old tomahawk but he could feel the power coiled within it and with his Shaman's sight he could see the pictographs inscribed into the handle. For the first time he started to worry about the deal he had struck, this was a true item of power, he suspected it was Navajo in origin, this meant research was in order but first he must talk to the owner of the house. He looked around him carefully, all signs of the ritual were gone so he turned and climbed out of the cellar.
" Obun Jima, I have talked with the uneasy spirits that infested your house and have persuaded them to move on. It seems that this house was owned by a prohibition era gangster who removed his competition in most unpleasant ways. Your house is now clean my lord. Wolf Shaman stood in front of a small Japanese man showing no fear, an imposing sight, his shock of white hair pulled back taut in a long ponytail, he was dressed in an immaculate dark blue Paul Smith suit with a wolf's head bolo tie, only the medicine bag hanging from his belt giving away that he wasn't just some high-powered executive.
A slightly papery voice replied, " You do me honour in this task, I am glad the spirits have been able to move on from this plane their Kami were upsetting to the Ki of this place. In reward to you for doing this for me I will see that our Clans, both being of the Wolf are joined, this means that if you are ever in need you may call on your Wolf brothers and we will come to help you."
Wolf Shaman bowed deeply to the old man who returned it.
This is a story I wrote for Silver when he was working out a new character..a ninja/storm MM.
He had prepared extremely carefully, there was the circle of salt bounded by certain glyphs and symbols, rendered again in salt and coloured grain and millet seed. He had had also laid out a fine line around this in the millet seed , stained with earth and vegetable dyes, from his medicine pouch. He had conjured the favour of the Sky, the Earth and the rain, he knew that this might be dangerous. when you didn't know exactly what you are dealing with you didn't take any chances. He set the fire, starting it with dried kindling and a spark struck from his firelighter flint, fed it with small pieces of wood collected from the desert trees, salted it with sagebrush and rare aromatic herbs, the fragrant smoke wreathed him. He used it's sacred smoke to cleanse and purify him prior to the main ritual.
A summoning conjuration was not unknown in his tribe but was frowned upon, contact with the dead was unclean but sometimes it was a necessary evil. he owed a debt of honour to this man and been asked by him to discover what spirit was trapped here, bound to the bones that had been found in this cellar.
He took his knife, began chanting, alternately fanning the smoke with his rattlesnake favour and cutting his arm, letting his blood drip into the fire. To get something you must offer something in return, when dealing with the realm of death they seem to prefer blood, the fresher the better.
Where the smoke drifted into the circle it seemed to thicken, moving against itself, then within its folds and swirls shapes formed, first a bird's head, a large cruel pickaxe beak, a shaggy form resolving itself four legs then a smaller shape, seeming sitting, a mouth with a tongue lolling out to one side.
He heard a voice, whether in his head or through the air did not matter,
"Why do you call us here?" the Raven asked
"Yes my son why do you call us to this place of death and evil" asked the Wolf.
"Oh come on why so serious? We all know why he's called us", said the Coyote, its tongue lolling out of its mouth in a seeming laughing smile.
"I called you here to this place my brothers, so that you might help me cleanse this, the spirits need to be freed, they should be allowed to move on and find their peace," saying this he bowed in his kneeling position raising his hands, palms open in supplication.
"Well we could help Wolf Shaman," the Coyote said " but as ever there will be a price to pay.... and I'll tell you now you're not going to like it hehehehe."
Out of the corner of his eye he could see both the Raven and the Wolf turn to glare at the Coyote, it took a degree of control not to smile, to remain respectful. He replied, "I owe the owner of this place a debt of honour, however he does not know this, so I will pay your price so that I might free myself and yet gain an advantage."
The Raven cocked it's head, held him an a cold unblinking stare, then clacked its beak in seeming laughter. "I've always enjoyed our dealings with you Shaman of the Wolf Clan, your keen intelligence and your low down cunning amuses me."
The Wolf turned to face him, "Well little shaman, you agree to our price, even though you don't know what it is yet?"
"I respect you my Clan Father , you would not ask me to do something that would damage our Clan"
"Well let's get down to business then," yipped the Coyote, it's smoke form appeared to run around the room, seemingly gathering sparks of light, from the floor and walls, before actually running through the walls, to return with even more.
"Now my son you must dig, we will show you where.." A place appeared in his mind with directions where to find it. "When you find this place you must dig, it will not be deep and when you find what is there, you must place what we will leave you in its hand. Your task then is to help what you find there to find peace."
The Coyote appeared to be almost collapsing from laughter, "Hehehe so clever is Wolf Shaman....Oh you're so going to wish you'd asked more about our price."
With that the smoke thinned and the animals forms dissipated, though wolf Shaman was sure he could still hear coyote laughing. On the floor, left behind, was a battered tomahawk. Wolf Shaman rose from his knees, stretched slowly and methodically, easing the kinks from his limbs. He then carefully swept the circle away, starting at the northern end, working clockwise until all signs of it were gone, the remains of the salt and the coloured grains were carefully placed in a bag which he took from his medicine pouch. He then tied this bag to his belt for later disposal, after which he carefully stamped out the fire and spread its remains over where the circle had been. Only then did he walk over and pick up the tomahawk. He hefted it in his hand, beautifully balanced, then inspected it closely. It appeared to be a perfectly normal, if very old tomahawk but he could feel the power coiled within it and with his Shaman's sight he could see the pictographs inscribed into the handle. For the first time he started to worry about the deal he had struck, this was a true item of power, he suspected it was Navajo in origin, this meant research was in order but first he must talk to the owner of the house. He looked around him carefully, all signs of the ritual were gone so he turned and climbed out of the cellar.
" Obun Jima, I have talked with the uneasy spirits that infested your house and have persuaded them to move on. It seems that this house was owned by a prohibition era gangster who removed his competition in most unpleasant ways. Your house is now clean my lord. Wolf Shaman stood in front of a small Japanese man showing no fear, an imposing sight, his shock of white hair pulled back taut in a long ponytail, he was dressed in an immaculate dark blue Paul Smith suit with a wolf's head bolo tie, only the medicine bag hanging from his belt giving away that he wasn't just some high-powered executive.
A slightly papery voice replied, " You do me honour in this task, I am glad the spirits have been able to move on from this plane their Kami were upsetting to the Ki of this place. In reward to you for doing this for me I will see that our Clans, both being of the Wolf are joined, this means that if you are ever in need you may call on your Wolf brothers and we will come to help you."
Wolf Shaman bowed deeply to the old man who returned it.
If you want to see what he look like..well the only version he's got online is here;-
http://champions-online.com/rate_my_champion/27915