Dragon magazine

MM3

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Dragon #82

1st Edition AD&D

"Hearts!" The younger mage brought
his fist down on the table with enough force
to make the tankards jump. ?Explain that
to me! Why hearts??

I maintained my aloof manner. ?Strange
creatures have strange habits,? I remarked
casually. ?And what could be more strange
than a beast with the head and antlers of a
deer and the body and wings of a vulture??

The young wizard?s elder companion
sniffed. ?An answer that is no answer. We
came to speak to Nex ? Nex the Collector,
Nex of the Arrow ? and find that the famous
bounty hunter is no more than a child
of twenty summers with a disrespectful
tongue.?

I narrowed my eyes and allowed a halfsmile
to creep onto my lips. ?A man of only
twenty summers I may be,? I said quietly,
flicking my glance between the two of them,
?but in that time I have seen ? and slain
?more varieties of creature than you can
name, even with all your wizards? learning.

?But,? I continued less coldly, ?this is
beside the point. Perhaps all your questions
will be answered by the carcass of a peryton,
which I can and will deliver to you for
. . .? I paused, making it seem as though I
was just now deciding on a price, when
actually I had made up my mind as soon as
I saw the rich cloth of their robes and the
lavish gold chains around their necks.
? . . . ten thousand pieces of gold.? I
leaned back and awaited the storm of protest
that was sure to follow.

And, as I had expected, the face of the
younger wizard stiffened and became
flushed. But, to my surprise, his elder companion
only hesitated a moment, then nodded
slowly. ?The Wizards? Guild is
prepared to meet your fee,? he said. ?Ten
thousand gold nobles for a specimen of an
adult peryton.?

I tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, not to
smirk. This kind of dickering I liked; that
fee was two times my usual price. ?The
deal is struck,? I said. ?Now, of course, that
does not include my expenses. . . .?

?You hunt the peryton?? I turned to find
the source of the rough, low voice that came
from behind me. The man who had spoken
wore a deep purple tunic of fine workmanship.
On a chain around his neck hung a
silver token of a bird. Though almost three
times my age, he was well-muscled and
seemed to carry himself with confidence. I
had brought my hand to my sword hilt as I
turned, but let it drop again when I noticed
that he was unarmed.

?Yes, good cleric,? I said, ?or so I intend.
If such matters are your concern, join us.
My name is??

?Nex. I know. I am Amhotep.? He
pulled up a chair and seated himself at the
table. ?And what do you know about the
peryton that you can think of hunting it
without showing any doubt or concern??

I shrugged. ?I know that the beast dwells
in mountainous regions, such as the peaks
two days? ride north of here.?

?That hardly seems sufficient .?

My voice hardened and I gestured toward
my long bow, wrapped carefully in
velvet and propped up in the nearby corner.
"I also know that no creature lives. that I
have seen over an arrow,? I replied. ?What
more do I need to know?"

"Much more." The cleric?s voice grew
grim and cold. "Much. Knowledge is
power, and ignorance can be death. Especially
so if you intend to hunt the peryton
with simple clothyard arrows. The arrows
or any other weapons you may use ?
must be ensorcelled, and the magic must be
strong, or they will simply glance off the
creature?s body."

I leaned forward and opened my mouth
to comment, but he raised a hand to cut me
off and kept talking. "Be still. There is yet
more you should know. The peryton faces
no such difficulty in slaying its foes. The
creature?s horns are hideously sharp and
strong ? some say they are magical, but I
know better. They inflict terrible wounds,
and the peryton wields them with skill
worthy of a champion."

"You speak as someone intimately familiar
with the beast," I put in.

If the cleric noticed the sarcasm contained
in that remark, he gave no sign. "Familiarity
comes through experience. When I was
younger, I, too, hunted the peryton."

The two mages, who had been listening
quietly to the cleric until this point, now
turned to one another, exchanged glances,
and murmured. I felt their attention being
drawn away from me and toward the
purple-clad cleric.

"Please continue," said the elder mage,
and the cleric complied.

"My three brothers and I journeyed to
those peaks you speak of," he said, turning
slightly toward me with those words. "We
also intended to return with a peryton as a
trophy." He laughed mirthlessly. "My
brothers -- or, to be more exact, their bones
-- are still there, on those mountain slopes.

"For three days we searched diligently for
signs of the creature, without success of any
sort. But on the 4th day, the perytons --
3 of them -- found us. We were traversing
a treacherous rock face when their
shadows passed over us, just as we heard
the sound of their beating wings for the first
Time. Their shadows were as those of men,
not beasts -- a fact which we all observed, a
and which distracted us for a single fatal
instant.

"By the time that instant had passed and
we turned to fade them, the perytons were
swooping down upon us from out of the
sun." The cleric inhaled deeply, let the
breath out slowly, and closed his eyes briefly
as if in pain. "Two of my brothers died in
that first pass, disemboweled by those flashing
horns that ripped through leather as a
sword through linen. By luck -- or by the
will of Thoth -- my eldest brother and I
evaded that first swooping attack. We began
to descend the slope quickly, seeking cover,
as the two beasts that killed them came out
of the sky and landed near the bodies of our
brothers.

"Though on the ground it may appear
clumsy -- almost comical -- when airborne
the peryton is a wonder to behold and a
thing to fear. We were transfixed by horror
at the sight of that third dark shape climbing,
turning abruptly, making ready for
another dive . . ." The cleric shuddered,
and for a moment resumed the detached
tone he had used earlier in his lecture.

"The creature maneuvers well; in a
stretch of only about two hundred paces, it
can turn a full ninety degrees while flying at
full speed -- and it can reach full speed in a
mere minute after launching itself into the
air. I have seen few creatures larger than a
hawk that can equal it." During this interlude,
the cleric's eyes were focused on me;
now he turned his attention back to the two
wizards and resumed the story.

"Running and scrambling, casting occasional
glances backward and up at the sky,
my brother and I were able to traverse less
than one hundred yards down the slope
before the third peryton went into another
dive, with my brother as its target. And this
time he was not so fortunate; though the
slashing horns missed him, the peryton?s
body did not. The creature rammed into his
upper body -- whether by design or chance
I could not tell. He was swept from the
small plateau on which he had hoped to
stand and fight, and he landed on a tiny
ledge some thirty feet below.

"It would have been a blessing if the
impact had killed him. As it was, my
brother survived the fall, but both legs, and
I believe his back, were broken. Unable to
move or defend himself, he could still call to
me for help that I was unable to give. And
he could scream -- oh, how he screamed --
as the peryton settled on the ledge beside
him.

"I escaped with my life, for the simple
and dreadful reason that three perytons,
and not four or more, swooped down on us
that day. And of all the visions that haunt
me of that terrible day, the worst was the
sight of that vicious third beast tearing my
brother?s heart from his still-living body."

The cleric lowered his head, brought one
hand up to touch the bird-token around his
neck, and seemed to be mouthing a silent
prayer. The rest of us were silent as well. As
much as part of me wanted to do so, I could
not bring myself to utter a sarcastic comment,
to try to get the wizards again thinking
about me and the reason we had come
together at this table in the first place.

Then the cleric raised his head and gazed
vacantly out at the mages seated across
from him. The younger one shifted uneasily,
then ventured to speak. "Perhaps, then,
you can enlighten us where others cannot.
Why do these creatures require the hearts of
their victims?"

"The answer to your question is brief,"
the cleric said. "For reproduction -- that
much any sage can tell you. But to understand
that answer, first you must know
some things about the background of the
peryton."

By this time I had regained my normal
demeanor, looking and acting bored and, I
hoped, convincing the others at the table
that I actually felt that way. "Explain, then,
if you must, and stop leading us along like
this," I told the cleric.

He continued in a tone as if I had never
spoken. "The origin of the peryton is lost in
the backwaters of time," he said. "Many of
the wise say that the creature is the result of
magical experimentation -- but that is not
so, though I do not say that there is no
magic in the peryton. Rather, the beast is
more akin to beings like the githyanki and
the mind flayer, in that none of them are
native to this world or the plane it resides
upon."

The younger mage raised his eyebrows
and exhaled a short puff of disbelief, but the
cleric was oblivious to this reaction. "The
peryton was the dominant race on its home
world," he continued. "Though they are all
naturally independent and harshly competitive,
at one point in their history the creatures
banded together to subjugate ? or
destroy -- all that dwelt around them. Such
an alliance among chaotic creatures like
these could hardly endure, but it did persist
long enough to win a world and send advance
invasion parties -- at least two, probably
many more -- to establish their
outposts . . . elsewhere.

"It is said in the councils of the wise that
the first such outpost was established on a
great island nation called Atlantis, in a
world similar to this one. Exactly what
became of that nation I do not know. Perhaps
the resistance to the perytons' attempted
conquest was too great, or perhaps
the perytons overstepped themselves. Whatever
the case, the entire island sank beneath
the sea in a great upheaval. Though many
others believe that this ended the threat of
the perytons on that world, I have reason to
doubt that stance. There still exists a prophecy
that the perytons will bring about the
eventual fall of one of that world's greatest
cities, named Roma."

"Fascinating," interjected the elder wizard,
but then his face took on a doubtful
frown. "Yet, how could such a creature as
the peryton travel the planes?"

"Through the powers of the mind,"
replied the cleric immediately. "By using
the Talent, or what you might know as
psionics. On their home plane, the perytons
were possessed of the Talent, and it was
through the Talent that the raiding parties
intended to enslave this world and others."

"But --" The mage tried to break in, but
Amhotep had anticipated his comment.

"Whether the perytons here lost their
Talent gradually, over generations, or all at
once, I know not, though I would suppose
the latter to be true. This world is different
from their own in so many ways. . . . The
perytons that dwell in the mountain peaks
of our world have lost their Talent, but they
still possess their fierce, vicious nature and
their scheming intelligence."

"What?" I blurted out, unable to control
my surprise.

The cleric regarded me with a grim
smile. "Oh, yes, my young hunter. They
are as intelligent as most men, more so than
many. They speak their own language,
quite unlike that of any other creature. It is
this intelligence, almost always unsuspected
by those who would defeat them, that helps
to make the peryton such a lethal adversary."

"All very interesting, good sir," said the
elder mage, and he seemed to mean it.
"But . . . the hearts?"

"That will soon become apparent," said
the cleric, then resumed his narrative. "On
its own world, the peryton eats nothing but
the flesh of its prey. On this world -- and, I
suppose, others -- the peryton is forced to
broaden its diet to obtain the balance of
elements its body needs. In addition to the
flesh of creatures native to this world, it
must eat plants and even some inanimate
matter such as clay and soft ores.

"How these compounds are utilized by
the peryton is, at the very least, interesting.
In the same way that certain plants, on this
plane and others, concentrate minerals from
the soil in their stalks, the peryton assimilates
iron and even heavier metals into its
system, using these substances to strengthen
and toughen its horns. The peryton?s attack
is not as deadly as it is merely because it is
accurate, although the beast does indeed
dive with terrible precision. The metals and
minerals that the peryton consumes help to
make its horns as hard as steel, able to take
and hold a dagger-sharp point, unlike the
antlers of normal creatures such as deer and
elk, which are tapered but still rounded at
the tips. A single slash, or a series of punctures,
from those horns is enough to pene-
trate or push aside even metal armor, mortally
wounding the flesh beneath it. It has
been speculated that these metals also help
to toughen the peryton's skin and feathers,
which is why it cannot be wounded without
enchanted weapons; however, I believe
otherwise, since the peryton?s coat of feathers
is soft and downy to the touch. Quite
possibly, its immunity to non-magical weapons
comes simply from the fact that it is not
a creature of this world."

Amhotep paused for two heartbeats,
smiled, and nodded in the direction of the
two mages. "And now to the hearts. The
reason it craves hearts is, in essence, the
same reason that it has such a varied diet:
for mineral balance. The female peryton
needs especially large amounts of the elements
iron, potassium, sodium, and nitrogen
to produce the metal-like shell of her
eggs -- if you find one, I dare you to break
it open without the use of an acid, such as
the one found in the albumen of the egg
itself. As it so happens, the tissue of the
human heart contains an abundance of
these vital substances. Certainly there are
other available sources, but none of the
others so appropriately matches the peryton's ethos."

"Thank you for that, kind sir," said the
elder mage. "We have been more than
curious about that aspect of the beast, for
reasons I daresay need not be explained to
yourself. But a question remains, one you
have raised yourself -- the shadow."

The cleric smiled; it seemed to please him
that the wizard had paid enough attention
to remember that remark, and yet he began
his response with a compliment that pleased
the mage equally. "I would have been surprised
had you not pursued that point.
What I said, I meant quite literally: When
the shadows of the perytons passed over me
and my brothers, the shadows were those of
men.

"When the sun strikes the body of a
peryton, feet replace claws and arms appear
instead of wings; the horns cannot be seen
in the shadow, and the head rounds out to
become that of a human -- truly a sight
that would be at least disconcerting, if it
were not already so terrifying. And the
shadow remains that way until the peryton
has slain its chosen prey, whereupon the
shadow it casts is that of its own body, and
it then stays in that state until the creature
has devoured and digested its prey.

"Whether this is some trick in the mind
of the observer, or evidence of a higher
power at work, I know not. Perhaps it is an
unconscious remnant of their Talent, some
power that projects through the creature's
shadow the image of the prey it seeks the
most -- humans. Then, when the beast has
killed a human, this instinctive need is
fulfilled and, for a Time, the peryton ceases
to project the human shape.  I cannot say
which of these ideas is accurate; what I do
know is that I myself have seen the change
from man-shadow to beast-shadow, as it
took place upon the vile creature that slew
my last surviving brother."

"Truly fascinating," said the elder mage.
"You have our sympathy," he added, gesturing
toward his companion, "and our
respect. But, as you must have already
guessed, another question remains. Whence
comes all of this detailed information that
seems beyond the ken of even the most
learned of sages?"

The cleric touched, then caressed, the
silver bird pendant he wore. "I am honored
by a source of knowledge that is denied, by
its very nature, to most of the sages of this
land."

The lecture and the questions now
seemed to be at an end, and I had to admit
to myself that I had been as engrossed as
the wizards were in the cleric's story of him
and his brothers, and the other things he
had to say about the peryton. But, in saying
all of it, he had clearly stolen all of their
attention ? and perhaps their gold as well
-- from me. I decided it was time to act
decisively, and I did exactly that.

"Here," I proclaimed loudly, "is another
source of knowledge denied to most sages."
I reached beneath the table and grabbed my
sack, talking while I extracted its contents.
"You are the first to see one of my more
recent trophies; in fact, I just finished preparing
it earlier today. Notice the fine,
membranous finish to the wings, and the
lifelike position of the arms and hands. A
good job, wouldn?t you say?"

All three of them stared at the tiny stuffed
body I had placed on the table. The cleric
was the first to speak.

"A sprite?" he asked, quietly. "But why"
These creatures are the most peaceable --"

"And beautiful," I cut in. "Notice the
color of the clothing, and the way I preserved
the texture of the pale skin."

The cleric slowly rose to a standing position;
his face took on an expression I could
not read. "Perhaps you are the one best
suited to hunt the peryton," he said.

Then, suddenly, before I could react, he
reached out and rapped me hard in the
center of my chest with his forefinger. "You
have nothing in here that the peryton could
desire."
 

OUT ON A LIMB
-
A rare peryton?
-
Dear Dragon,
In the February issue (#82), I quickly turned to
page 10 for the article on perytons. Somehow, the
picture just didn't look right, and on page 28 of
the Monster Manual it states that, "its claws are
too weak to use." The picture on page 10 showed
hooves, not claws. That would be a rare specimen
indeed!
 

Peter Delaney
Kingston, N.Y.
(Dragon #84)
 

Maybe not as rare as you think, Peter. When
we researched the peryton for that "ecology"
presentation, we had a hard time finding information
on what this semi-legendary beast looked
like. The illustration is based on a passage in
"The Book of Imaginary Beings" by Jorge Luis
Borges, where that author quotes an unnamed
Greek scholar who had this to say about the
peryton's appearance: "The Perytons had their
original dwelling in Atlantis and are half deer,
half bird. They have the deer's head and legs. As
for its body, it is perfectly avian, with corresponding
wings and plumage. . . ."

And that's where the hooves came from.
We decided to go with the unnamed Greek instead
of the Monster Manual for three reasons:
(1) the "deer's legs" make for a creature that's
even more bizarre-looking than the one in the
Monster Manual; (2) the peryton doesn't make
any appreciable use of its claws anyway (no
attacks), so they might as well be hooves if that's
what the Greek says they are; and (3) we just
wanted to see if someone would notice.

So, if we assume that the peryton in the
AD&D game is derived from the Peryton of
Greek legend, maybe most perytons should have
hooves, and perhaps the one pictured in the
Monster Manual is the rare one.

-- KM
(Dragon #84)
 

Dear Editor:
I?m writing in reference to "The ecology of the
peryton" in issue #82. In this article, the cleric
Amhotep says that perytons are not the result of a
magical experiment. But it the Monster Manual
it says that perytons are the results of a magical
experiment. Which is right, the MM or the
magazine?

Ryan Nelson
Turner, Maine
(Dragon #87)


Whether or not the peryton's origin goes back
to some "magical experiment" is not terribly
important in game terms. Because the article we
printed on the peryton offered a logical reason for
the non-magical origin of the creature, we decided
it was okay to go against the Monster
Manual text on this point.


Of course, you're entitled to reject any of the
assumptions in our ecology articles if you so
desire, but we think they complement the descriptions
in the Monster Manual much more frequently
than they contradict them. 

-- KM
(Dragon #87)