Dragonnel

Unlike their cousins, the dragons, wild dragonnels are mildly social, gathering for mutual defense, cooperative hunting, and to mate. Males in their prime stay away from other males, collecting small, semipermanent harems of females. Females leave the band to lay eggs secretly, burying them in warm, moist earth. Once the eggs are laid, the females abandons them, often rejoining their old band, but sometimes remaining solitary until they find a new one. Dragonnels are sometimes used as mounts for war and raiding Dragonnels carrying riders can fly at full speed if the total load does not exceed 300 pounds. However, if the load exceeds 100 pounds they lose maneuverability,. Dragonnels cannot (or will not) fly when carrying loads exceeding 360 pounds. Dragonnels can run at full speed carrying loads of up to 540 pounds, but if forced cany greater loads, they simply sit down and refuse to move. When serving as mounts they sometimes are equipped with leather barding,. Leather dragonnel barding weighs 180 pounds and costs 600 gp. Needless to say, dragonnels are difficult to train, and they serve as mounts only grudgingly. Wild, adult dragonnels cannot be , trained, although evil beiis might be able to entice talking dragonnels into cooperating. During such negotiations, dragonnels are as vain and greedy as their cousins, the dragons. Normally a prospective dragonnel trainer must find a clutch of eggs, hatch them, and train them for about five yeam. A trained dragonnel is controlled with a short goad with a metal tip and a weighted butt, and with four reins, one pair attached to each of the creature's jaws. Even trained dragonnels are untrustworthy mounts; more than one careless rider has received a painful, if not fatal, bite when approaching his steed unwarily and without a sharp goad in hand.

Dragonnels are at home in almost any climate except the coldest and driest. At one time, they ranged the Flanaess from the Kron Hills and the Glorioles to the Drachensgrab Mountains, but they are now virtually extinct everywhere except the Pomarj, where they are used as steeds. Dragonnel eggs are laid in clutches of 3-8. If incubated under warm, moist conditions, they hatch in 12 weeks. Hatchling dragonnels can fly almost immediately and mature in about three years. Wild dragonnels prefer to hunt and kill large animals, such as cattle, elk, horses, or even an occasional human oids. However, when necessary they scavenge or hunt nearly anything living - rodents, fish, humanoids, or anything else they can catch. Domestic dragonnels thrive only on red meat, usually the equivalent of two inix every month.

 Dragonnels strike with their clawed forefeet and bite with their beaks. If they do not attack with their claws, they can lash opponents behind with their tails.