Chimera

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A very rare creature inhabiting the remoter Klatchian desert.

The species became even rarer after one of them made the mistake of attacking the Luggage.

There is an interesting although possibly unhelpful description of the beast in Broomfog's Anima Unnaturale: It hath thee legges of a mermade, the hair of a tortoyse, thee teethe of a fowle, and the wings of a snake. Of course I have only my worde for it, thee beast having the breathe of a furnace and the temperament of a rubber balloon in a hurricane.


What we need to know is that this is a fire-breathing winged reptilian creature which may be of the same genus as dragons.

Its preferred mode of attack is to swoop over its prey and roast it to perfection on the first pass. It then banks around to where experience tells it there should be either a flame-grilled corpse or a mortally stricken near-dinner.

However, a lightly-scorched Luggage which has spent the night getting knurd, and which is having a hangover under a scorching desert sun, is a prospect that somewhat over-turns the form book...

Annotation

On Roundworld, the Chimera was a Greek creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, which was made of the parts of multiple animals. Homer's brief description in the Iliad is the earliest literary reference: "a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire".