Greater Raven

These big, glossy black birds give a certain port city its name, and they are found almost nowhere else, perching on rooftops and balconies alongside ordinary crows and ravens. Locals know them for two talents: they talk, and they foretell the future.

A greater raven likes to pick out some clever, busy person, often an adventurer, and tag along. Throwing a stone at it has a 70% chance of chasing it off; otherwise the bird decides its new host will be fascinating and stays for d100 days, or forever if the entertainment holds up.

Killing one is simple. Living with the result is not. With its last breath the bird pronounces a rhyming curse promising harm to the killer or someone dear to them, such as a grievous wound, death, defeat in battle or in a swindle, or the loss of a treasured item like a favorite wand or enchanted blade. A raven shot down might croak that the slayer's blood will soon soak the earth just as its own does. Even a bird torn apart or burned to ash delivers the verse, chanted from thin air near where it died. Magical silence can stop the words from being heard, but the curse still takes hold.

Most are met alone or in mated pairs, though flocks of up to forty have been seen. A flock defends its territory by mobbing intruders, much like a double-strength summon insects: 4 damage, or 8 if the victims fight back, with -4 to attack and a +4 Armor Class penalty.

Once attached, a raven hops from branch to rock to balcony to keep its subject in view. The birds rarely do direct harm, yet they are shunned as bad luck, since they plainly enjoy watching others suffer. Some keep up a stream of sarcasm without ever quite joking, others drop hints about secrets their host would rather keep, and the quiet ones speak mostly in poetic prophecy, which nearly always predicts woe.

Occasionally a solitary bird bonds with a wizard of neutral or evil bent, serving as a familiar in name only. On request, as often as thirteen times yearly, it performs a sort of commune, croaking riddling counsel about plans, enemies or the future. Those answers usually foretell trouble, often for the master.

Greater ravens eat small rodents, small birds and their eggs, carrion, insects, lizards, berries, flowers and young shoots. They adore wax, even scented candles, along with butter and cheese (the stronger and moldier the better), and will sample any human food, salty dishes most of all. They can hold a bone in the craw for a long time and spit it out polished white, usually to make a point to someone they are talking to.