Hex Crawl 23 #48: Hunting Cats

 Two hexes south, two southeast of Alakran.

 

The goats (hex #48) have an additional predator on the west side of the Scarp, besides the Khilan (hex #47) who hunt them on the east. This is a population of desert leopards, known to us as Arabian leopards. These cats hunt alone and are also skilled rock climbers, though perhaps not so nimble as to reach the highest points where goats can go. 

 

A short word on the relationship of adventurers to natural predators like the leopards. There is a tendency in hack-and-slash roleplaying, reinforced by computer implementations, to present nature as hostile, constantly on the attack, and inhabited by animals who are walking combat scenarios and sacks of experience points. The creators and extenders of D&D might have grown up with the absurd world of 1950's two-fisted American adventure magazine covers, where a manly fella can't have a picnic with his girl without being assailed by swarms of crabs, weasels, bats, fish, or what have you.

But even large predators are interested in their own survival. Realistically, they won't jump out and attack a passing group of well-armed, self-confident bipeds. Some other scenario needs to occur to put them into play. In this example maybe:

• The leopards are preying on the livestock of some herders who have resettled nearby?
• A merchant wants a leopard skin?
• A princeling wants a leopard cub?
• The leopards seem to be raising a human child, and you want to return it to some people you suspect are its parents.
  
• That she-leopard looks pregnant - what did that alchemist say about the recipe requiring afterbirth of a leopard?
  
• A demon has possessed the normally aloof beast?