3
You spot a likely wet patch and hop down from the tree. Once you are a fair distance away you let out a roar - far from a deep, bestial, throaty roar, it is a high pitched yowl. It seems like you might need to be bigger before you get a proper roar. Still, it does the job and the bird charges off after you. Problem is, even with its blindness it still seems to be pretty aware of its surroundings. It side-steps several deep spots and only when it is quite close to your position does it strike one - and only then burying one leg up to the knee in the pit. The best it does is lower the creature's main body mass enough for your claws to be in range of its throat.
4
You go for the throat, but the bird seems to hear you coming, or otherwise sense you in some way. It brings its barbed wings up to shield its face and the front of its body, and you force yourself to go low instead, rushing between its legs. You end up dangerously close to its one free leg and the wicked black claws, but that gives you an idea. You clamber up the creature's leg and slash open tendons and arteries at the back of its knee. It kicks weakly, but brings its wings down to brush you off again - you manage to get away but only barely. One barb brushes against your rear legs and they go limp. Revulsion makes you throw up and grow dizzy, but you drag yourself away from the creature which is trying to push itself out of the pit only to find its free leg no longer working and its wings not able to provide enough thrust in the right way to get it out. Your vision swims and the most you can do is drag yourself beneath some nearby shrubbery before darkness claims you.
You regain consciousness two hours later (apparently your instincts provide a perfect internal clock) to find flies beginning to settle on the corpse of the bird, half-sunken in the swamp pit. Close as the fight was, your last stroke opened enough blood vessels for the bird to bleed out, especially as it no longer had the strength to escape the pit. Every part of your body hurts, but your rear legs and left wing are numbed with agony and sluggish to respond. You drag yourself over to the corpse and begin feeding on the rich, gamey flesh you have so roughly won.
You have defeated the Alpha Raptor! It is a glorious deed!Raptors are now part of your diet.As well as this new food source, which you reckon you could probably hunt a little more effectively in future and will easily cater to your need for sustenance for some time to come, the plumage of this raptor is astoundingly pretty and more importantly even seems to have a value as far as your hoard sense is concerned. This particularly large and resplendent raptor had (
100 silver pieces) worth of colourful feathers, which will go a long way to decorating your nest and improving your wealth. You suspect common raptors probably do not have as exquisite plumage, but you should still be able to gather more feathers when you go hunting in future to pad out your lair and hoard.
You pluck the raptor of feathers, bundle them up and carry them back to your lair in your mouth, where you spend a little time arranging them around the walls of your underground chamber to add a little colour. You nestle down on the seven gold coins and egg shards and, replete with food, let slumber overtake you.
Hoard Value: 350 silver pieces.
You awake three days later (according to your instincts) with your injuries healed and the feeling of the venom in your nervous system purged. More than that, more of your ancestral memories have awoken, feeding your awareness of skills.
A) Personal combat. When facing only a few foes or a singular foe, you are much more capable at fighting.
B) Mass combat. When facing large numbers of foe, you are able to deal out damage en masse and evade mass attacks.
C) Stealth. You are skilled at hiding with only minimal cover and leave almost no tracks when moving.D) Hunting. You are better able to track down foes, lay traps and gather animal-based resources.
E) Apothecary. You are able to identify alchemically useful ingredients and combine them to produce simple potions and items.
F) Metalwork. You are able to work metal in simple fashions, as well as prospect and smelt common ores.
G) Presence. You are able to speak well and inspire degrees of awe and fear in mortals you meet.
H) Construction. You know how to improve your surroundings. You can improve your lair more effectively, build with wood and construct pit traps and simple snares and other simple traps.
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Topic: SPAMDRAGON: Swamp Baron (Read 39479 times)