#1213 Silvan Tycoleon
Donation Shop
This egg has beautiful markings.
Spoiler
With large, expressive eyes and beautiful markings, these creatures don't look dangerous at first. When they unsheathe their long claws, however, a magi knows to be wary. While not as strong or fast as other predators, they are formidable ambush hunters, and rely on trickery. Their coloring lets them blend into the foliage, and they will leap on their prey and deliver a killing blow in the blink of an eye. Their true prowess, however, lies in their magic. When they press their large paws into the earth and leave a well-formed paw print, they can leave a portal that they can travel through. It seems to serve as a third eye, and they know what happens near the area where they leave their paw print. If particularly tasty prey passes by, they will vanish from their current location to the location of the paw print, taking the prey by surprise. Locals in the areas where these creatures live know never to follow the prints of a tycoleon, as it is impossible to tell which print they may be using to hunt for food.
Spoiler
Young tycoleons do not possess the magic of adults, but learn all about it from their parents. An adult tycoleon will teach their young the potential of the paw print portal by letting their hatchlings leap into space and appear in the parent's paw print. The mechanism behind this magic is not well understood, as no other creature, not even the tycoleon's magi, can use the print as a portal--only the tycoleon itself and its offspring. When not practicing their magic with their parents, young tycoleons will practice more conventional hunting methods, lying in wait to pounce on unsuspecting prey--or leaves, or bits of string, or their magi's robe or toes.
Spoiler
Aloof as adults, tycoleons prefer to be left to their own devices. They prefer to mark out their territory and stay near it, and will grow somewhat tense if they are taken too far from where they have decided the boundaries of their territory lie. This is likely due to the fact that if they leave their paw print portal, they cannot make another until the first is used--and if their portal is left far from their territory, they will be trapped after using it, lost and alone far from anything familiar. Within their territory, though, they are confident hunters. Magi often convince them to protect important areas or even guard objects, although most of the time it's more of a bluff. Of course, if many tycoleon paw prints surround an object or building, few thieves would take the chance on none of them being the portal through which the clawed creature would leap.
#1214 Borean Tycoleon
Donation Shop
This egg has beautiful markings.
Spoiler
With large, expressive eyes and beautiful markings, these creatures don't look dangerous at first. When they unsheathe their long claws, however, a magi knows to be wary. While not as strong or fast as other predators, they are formidable ambush hunters, and rely on trickery. Their coloring lets them blend into the foliage, and they will leap on their prey and deliver a killing blow in the blink of an eye. Their true prowess, however, lies in their magic. When they press their large paws into the earth and leave a well-formed paw print, they can leave a portal that they can travel through. It seems to serve as a third eye, and they know what happens near the area where they leave their paw print. If particularly tasty prey passes by, they will vanish from their current location to the location of the paw print, taking the prey by surprise. Locals in the areas where these creatures live know never to follow the prints of a tycoleon, as it is impossible to tell which print they may be using to hunt for food.
Spoiler
Young tycoleons do not possess the magic of adults, but learn all about it from their parents. An adult tycoleon will teach their young the potential of the paw print portal by letting their hatchlings leap into space and appear in the parent's paw print. The mechanism behind this magic is not well understood, as no other creature, not even the tycoleon's magi, can use the print as a portal--only the tycoleon itself and its offspring. When not practicing their magic with their parents, young tycoleons will practice more conventional hunting methods, lying in wait to pounce on unsuspecting prey--or leaves, or bits of string, or their magi's robe or toes.
Spoiler
Aloof as adults, tycoleons prefer to be left to their own devices. They prefer to mark out their territory and stay near it, and will grow somewhat tense if they are taken too far from where they have decided the boundaries of their territory lie. This is likely due to the fact that if they leave their paw print portal, they cannot make another until the first is used--and if their portal is left far from their territory, they will be trapped after using it, lost and alone far from anything familiar. Within their territory, though, they are confident hunters. Magi often convince them to protect important areas or even guard objects, although most of the time it's more of a bluff. Of course, if many tycoleon paw prints surround an object or building, few thieves would take the chance on none of them being the portal through which the clawed creature would leap.
#1215 Wootootoo
Found in the stream
This egg was supposed to hatch days ago.
Spoiler
As the story goes, there was once a young magi, a gangly and awkward individual with barely enough magical aptitude to light a candle without a match. Determined to prove themselves to instructors and fellow students alike, this magi set off to explore the world and promptly took a wrong turn, getting lost in the middle of nowhere. Behind the old barn they took shelter in, they found a haphazard nest of sticks and loose bits of garbage, containing strange, mottled eggs. The creatures that eventually emerge seem to be a curious mixture of the mischievous wolphyn and the mildly deranged potooto, though neither species is native to within 1000 leagues. Naturally the magi still names them wootootoos. Proud of their find, the magi bears the hatchlings back to the Keep - via a friendly passing merchant who actually knows how to read a map - in order to grow, breed, and study them. After a year of intense study, the conclusion is clear: wootootoos are hopelessly dumb, obviously the result of rogue magic or someone's idea of a joke.
m/fSpoiler
Common wisdom, if such a word can be applied to anything involving a wootootoo, dictates that magi place eggs upon a narrow, high - but not too high - shelf so that the hatchling inside will eventually knock its egg off, break the shell, and finally escape. Magi shouldn't worry too much about their hatchling getting into trouble; wootootoos usually take a while to discover each individual leg and wing, before they even start to think about using them all together. Once they do start attempting to actually move around, they end up upside down more often than not. Fortunately wootootoo hatchlings are too silly to get upset about anything, and they will cheerfully keep trying until something actually happens.
m/fSpoiler
Adult wootootoos are able to both walk and fly - badly. Throughout the Keep, a yell of 'wootootoo!' often heralds a bundle of yowling feathers and fur tumbling out of the sky. Fortunately wootootoo bounce quite well, though not so much any magi they hit; a fully grown adult wootootoo is large enough to cause injury to all but the sturdiest person. Terrible parents who immediately abandon eggs after laying them, they likely would have quickly gone extinct if not for the magi who first brought them to the Keep. Considered a pet best left to the rich - and, in some unkinder circles, equally as dumb - wootootoos are nonetheless still charming enough that no one can really hate them.
