#faction

Faction affinity items

Naomi Hawksley

Faction: The Tally of Talons

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Any adventurer can tell you that there's coin to be made in the bloody business of hunting monsters, especially if you've got a strong stomach and not many scruples. While real heroes may risk life and limb chasing down the most dangerous realm threatening beasts, others make good trade by trapping, anything that they can sell.

Such is the case with the Talons, a guild of poachers hunters who specialize in supplying rare beasts to nobles and alchemists, whether they be destined for a menagerie, a banquet table, or a carving bench. They're brutal as they are effective, and their connections to the upper rungs of society mean that their trespasses, transgressions, and occasional murder go unpunished.

Adventure Hooks:

It's likely the party will encounter the Talons while out on a hunt, aiming for the same quarry while using less than scrupulous means. The party might stumble feet first into one of their traps, or find local wildlife poisoned by bait they set out. Alternatively the encounter may be troublingly friendly, a fellow hunter offering to share fire and food in exchange for information. Can the party trust someone who kills so recklessly, even if it'll bring them closer to their goal?

The Talons usually have a stall set up in the town's marketplace, happy to buy or sell monsterbits while swapping hunting stories. Apparently the guild is looking for some fresh meat recruits after their last hunt went a little bad. What's a little pelt farming if it'll give the party access to the poacher's custom gear: high quality game firearms and thorned armour designed to resist being grappled could be too tempting to pass up.

Alternatively, an urban encounter may involve the talons moving a cage cart with a dangerous beast inside through heavy traffic. The beast is sedated (for now) but the packed streets and noisy crowds are threatening to wake it up. Fastest way to prevent it from escaping is to help the Talons clear a path.. even if they have to browbeat some innocent bystanders.

The poachers have little qualms about what they hunt, aside from whether or not someone will pay them to hunt it. Though many realms ban the trade and enslavement of sapient creatures the Talons are willing to conveniently forget these laws for a premium discretionary fee. This sometimes gets them in hot water though, as a contingent of them have captured a mischievous puck, who's been having great fun ensorceling his captors to one by one become rampaging beasts and chase each other through the forest.

[Worldbuilding / “What did Apollo 11 bring back?”]

“Hey, performer dancing beneath the shadow of a god.”

“What is it that you seek?”

———

Faction: The Eastern Troupe of Performers

Ideology: [Data has been deleted]

Description: mysterious, eerie, uncanny, artistic, deceptive