| The Willow Sourcebook |
|
Bavmorda bred the Death Dogs, her feared war and hunting dogs, from wolflike predators that haunt the western wilderness. These "night hounds" kill livestock and, occasionally, owners of livestock. The night hound packs foil hunters; when a trap or tactic brings down one hound, the rest of a pack learn to avoid the trap or defeat the tactic. Their cunning matches the rat's. Night hound packs display an almost human structure. A leader (always male) may have two or three "lieutenants" of either gender. These pack rulers lead assaults and eat first at the kill. When the pack lies down to sleep through the day, several hounds patrol the perimeter. Apparently, though not all reports are confirmed, the patrols work in regular shifts. THEIR ORIGIN Every Nockmaar soldier learned how Bavmorda acquired her breeding stock. Though the story exists in many versions, the beginning is always the same: The queen, knowing of the night hounds' savagery, journeyed into the west. After searching in ways that vary with the teller, Bavmorda found a large pack. It was sunset, and the night hounds were ready to hunt. She walked into their midst, alone. They growled, the more loudly as she approached the pack's rulers. A few leapt at her from behind, then turned away a few inches short of her gown, as though changing their minds. Bavmorda reached the night hound leader, an enormous barrel-chested cur with one ear and many scars. She spoke to it; it growled and attacked; she gestured, and it fell back. She spoke to the rest of the pack. They turned upon the leader and tore it to pieces. Then they gathered around Bavmorda and howled. Bavmorda walked to the nearest wilderness settlement, the whole pack following closely. As they approached, settlers retreated into their homes. Bavmorda passed along the dirt road between the wooden huts. In her wake the night hounds tore at clotheslines, toppled rain barrels, and smashed feeding troughs. They ruined the settlement. At the end of the dirt street Bavmorda turned. She announced to the settlers, who still cowered in their dark dwellings, "From now on, if any of you see a hound, let it pass unmolested. It runs toward Nockmaar Castle to serve me." The Death Dog breeding program began soon after this. Bavmorda seized the nobility's finest animals: mastiffs, elkhounds, Dobermans, and shepherds. With masterful skill, her servants cross-bred them with the night hounds. From the frozen north trappers brought her live wolverines, the fiercest fighters that ever breathed. In the pits beneath Nockmaar Castle Bavmorda used dark rituals to infuse their ferocious essence into the new breed. The program was completed within a few years. THE DOGS AND THEIR MASTERS In breeding the night hounds with conventional stock, Bavmorda improved the strain's endurance and trainability. The new Death Dogs also worked better in daylight. But the ancestral cunning remains. Death Dogs are unusually strong, fast, and ferocious. A Death Dog can race a mile in a few minutes or lope across half a kingdom in a day. After either run a pack of dogs can take on a few wolves or a small bear and expect to eat well that night. The dogs rely on acute sight and hearing, for their sense of smell was blunted in the breeding process - their only weakness. Smarter than ordinary canines, Death Dogs understand commands and think as well as a bright five-year-old child. Though a dog runs best in a pack, it is smart enough to hunt on its own. For instance, a single Death Dog entered Willow's village looking for Elora Danan. Luckily, no others ran with it, for the Nelwyns could hardly have handled them. Before the Nockmaar army fell, every soldier respected the Death Dogs' masters, strong men who wore heavy leather and said little more than their charges. The Death Dogs in any Nockmaar company usually numbered half a dozen, all raised from infancy by a single master. A dog obeyed only its own master, and sometimes the master's commander (and, of course, Bavmorda). If a dog's master died, the animal usually ran away from its company at the first chance. Since the dog would not take a new master, humans seldom interfered. The Death Dog often headed into the wilderness and grew wild, running and breeding with wolf packs. The offspring, known as "dire wolves," are if anything more brutish than their parents. With the fall of the Nockmaar army, these packs have grown in number and viciousness. In isolated areas dire wolf packs sometimes terrorize whole villages. GAMING NOTES Armor Class: 5 Dire wolves have 35 hit points, and each of their attacks does +1d6 damage. However, their running speed is only 150' per turn. |
|
|