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Sunday, August 21, 2011

Can I Interest You in a Slightly-Used Velociraptor?

My new players are starting to evolve into the psychotic little monsters I'm used to GMing.  I feel so proud.

A touch of backstory: as part of a campaign, I'm running Seekers of the Ashen Crown.  The original takes place in Eberron; my game is not set in Eberron.  As such, I've had to make some changes, but I do have a few nods to the original setting.

So, the PCs run into a hobgoblin gang that wonders why they've been poking around the slums.  Some of the gangsters are riding a type of mount called a Clawfoot, an Eberron creature that is essentially a domesticated velociraptor (by which I mean Deinonychus, but who cares?).  Combat occurs, ending with all the hobgoblins dead, an escaped Clawfoot, and an unconscious Clawfoot.

The PCs decide they're going to use this as a mount, but when it awakens, it tries to murder them.  They quickly subdue it, ask around for the going rate of a Clawfoot (they find that the things go for 680 gold), and decide to sell it.

As an aside, the hobgoblins tried to ambush them (or talk to them — nobody's really sure because the PCs attacked first) as they were exiting a dungeon — so the PCs are covered in blood, muck, and kruthik slime while they're discussing this.

The bard decides to take a bath, but the others go to the local stables to try to unload this Clawfoot, waiting for the bard to do the talking.

Then they all meet at the stables and try to unload a Clawfoot.  The beauty of this scenario is that the strongest men are carrying a bound Clawfoot covered in wounds and angrily snapping at the air.  It's been knocked out twice, and currently does not see its masters.  As the stable master says, he'll have to expend a lot of time and energy to try to prevent it from killing him, and then he'll have to sell it to make a return on his money.  They finally talk him up to 60 gold and call it a day.

Though they think they might try repurchase it later, after someone else has gone to the trouble of training it again.  Especially since it will probably never go for full price.

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