5057 FY | 1057 AD
In a quest to establish a new trade routes, the Avalon Empire is hard at work sending troops out to seize highly valued remote territories across the eastern seaboard.
A faun by the name of Angus Patenan leads a team to Astar in the hopes of claiming land along the coast. Astar is Fabella’s Africa. It is a dry, hot, continent hosting the most dangerous monsters in the world.
Days after they arrive, Paternan discovers some of his workers have disappeared. Foul play is suspected, as there were scattered tribes of minotaurs in the area and a great deal of conflict amongst the workers. But it’s not long before the true reason for their disappearance comes to light.
One night after work, a dwarven slave master on the project, one Ugnog Salger, is relaxing inside a tent when something horrifying happens. A huge cockatrice stuck its head in, seized Ugnog, and dragged him out of the tent.
The next morning, they found only a head, his forehead shredded by the fierce reptile. But there’s more, when Paternan examines the tracks that encircle the camp, he determines that the attacks are the work of a cockatrice.
Cockatrices (Cawk-ah-tris) are scattered throughout Fabella’s equator. They hunt in packs of around seven females and one alpha male. Habitats consist of fortified nests constructed from twigs, flower petals, and leafs to camouflage them against the forest floor. It is here the cockatrice will lie in wait for prey to stray across it. A cockatrice builds its nest wherever it thinks would be a good place to pounce on some poor animal. The average cockatrice clan would have at least nine nests spread throughout their region.
Cockatrices are lean mean killing machines. Their talons can rip clean into any animal’s organs in one swipe, a long tail layered with spikes acts as the perfect club, and their ear-piercing screeches are enough to deafen centaurs. They have wings, but these are almost completely useless. The wings are really only there to help the cockatrice glide silently down to the ground after leaping great distances. A cockatrice’s legs are strong enough for it to hop sixty feet in the air. They can glide ten miles before being forced to land.
Soon large numbers of frightened laborers abandon the camp. With the mission in serious jeopardy, Paternan realizes the only way to protect his crew is to hunt and kill the cockatrices. He tracks the beasts.
He used blinds, setting up platforms in trees, and waiting over baits in hopes that the cockatrice might be attracted to them. But the cockatrices prove adept at avoiding his sights until early one morning.
Shrouded in darkness on a platform high above the ground, Patternan hears the sinister growls of what he believes is a cockatrice. He feels threatened himself as though he is the prey, rather than the cockatrice. Then he raises his wand and fires into the night. The spell connects. He could tell from the sound of the beast flopping down on the ground that it was a potentially mortal wound.
The next morning, Patternan inspects his kill, a perfectly enormous cockatrice. It took eight men to carry this beast back into camp. Patternan saves the skin and skull of the cockatrice as trophies.
And with the threat eliminated, workers return their focus colonizing Astar, and in 5061 the colony of Nabramo joins the Avalon Empire.