An Adventurer's Tale/Griffon Part 1

Roleplay from Danost
Message sent to all adventurers in the vicinity of Ippetimbal (32 recipients)
High in the mountains of Ippetimbal, two scruffy-looking men sat at a campfire. One of the men was cooking a rather lean rabbit, and the other sipped wine from a half-empty wine skin.

Danost, the man with the wine skin, took a long pull. When he was done he stoppered the skin. "Hey Baldhart! I heard some rumours the other day about some trolls or something like that around here. Some farmer said they made off with a couple sheep."

Baldhart stopped turning the spitted rabbit and turned to his traveling companion. "Trolls, eh? I heard it was goblins."

"Does it really matter? Baron Otto pays good silver for the heads, either way."

Baldhart laughed at Danost's remark. "True enough. I tell you what, after lunch we'll split up and go looking. We'll meet back here in a couple hours and see what we find."

Danost tossed the wine flask to Baldhart. "Sounds like a plan!"

With a somewhat unsatisfying meal in their stomaches the two adventurers split up. Danost watched Baldhart take the trail down the mountainside. When Baldhart was out of sight Danost walked over to their supply packs and grabbed the wine skin. Making sure that Baldhart was still out of sight, he chuckled and downed the last of the wine. He tossed the empty skin back into the pack and headed to the trail up the mountainside.

After two hours of following false trails and stale tracks Danost was beginning to get discouraged. That scoundrel Baldhart was probably finding all the good stuff down in the valley or something. He turned to head back down the mountain.

Rounding a bend in the trail he spotted something that looked promising. It wasn't a troll, or even a goblin. It was a nest. A big nest, constructed of tree limbs and huge clumps of grasses. The nest was high above the trail on an outcropping of rock. The angle of the trail and the height of the nest made it invisible to those traveling up the trail, but it could be spotted by those heading down the trail.

The nest appeared empty from this distance. Danost looked around hastily to make sure the occupant wasn't sitting nearby waiting for a mountain goat to pass by (or perhaps the occasional unwary traveler!) and then moved closer.

There were bones of various animals scattered on the ground under the nest. They ranged from squirrels to what appeared to be goats, and even small deer. Whatever occupied this nest must be big.

Looking around again to make sure he wasn't going to be taken by surprise, Danost began picking his way up the steep, gravely slope. The going wasn't too rough, as long as he took his time and was careful. In less than 15 minutes he had climbed the hundred or so feet up the slope and was on a level with the nest. I still looked empty.

Danost carefully picked his way across the ledge to the nest. Peering over the edge, he noticed that it was not, after all, empty. Nestled in the bottom of the nest, among bits of animal fur and climbs of dried, brown grass was an egg. It was a mottled brown egg, about the size of his head. It didn't look like any egg Danost had ever seen before.

Danost climbed into the nest and picked up the egg. It wasn't that heavy, considering the size. He turned it over in his hands and marveled at it's size and color. This would fetch quite a price in the markets of Cteduul!

As he inspected the egg he caught sight of a movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look and saw a shadow move across th bottom of the nest. Looking up he saw a sight that made him quake in fear. Circling up above, positioning for a dive down into the nest was a creature that he thought existed only in legends mothers used to scare babes. It was the fearsome profile of a griffon.

Danost's blood ran cold as the creature began its dive. Its fierce claws extended, and he could practically see the light glinting off the razor sharp talons. Jerking himself out of his fear-induced paralysis, Danost dove over the side of the nest, the egg clutched protectively to his chest.

The griffon passed so close overhead that the wind from its wings buffeted Danost into the ground. The griffon's talons ripped huge shards of splintering wood out of the side of the nest. Danost saw the griffon rise back into the air to turn around for another pass.

Danost didn't wait around for it to come back. He took off at a rapid run, sliding and skipping down the rough gravel incline. The slope that had taken him fifteen minutes to ascend took a mere 30 seconds to descend.

Danost dodged the griffon's next dive as he ran at full tilt down the trail back to the camp.

Danost (Freeman)