Tillandsia Dragoon – My First Monster Manual

This installment of the My First Monster Manual blog series is the Tillandsia Dragoon.

Environment:  Mountains, plains

Monster Type: Friendly Mount

Color:   Dark green back, light green belly, yellow eyes

Features: Large head, sharp claws, small spiny ridge, short horns

Abilities: Fast speed, climbing, jumping

Recommended Equipment:  A spork

Introduction:

The Tillandsia Dragoon is a large monster resembling a dragon without any wings.  It is highly intelligent, incredibly fast, and can jump large distances. The Tillandsia Dragoon is bigger and longer than an average horse and makes for an excellent mount; capable of carrying several passengers at once.  Despite its friendly demeanor, one should not underestimate the danger presented by a Tillandsia Dragoon. The large head has a set of horns, the mouth is full of sharp teeth, the long tail has a small spiny ridge, and the paws end in large sharp claws.

Investigation:

Exhausted and sun burned, my assistant and I couldn’t be more excited to have successfully traversed the Great Arid Wastes. Leaving the desert, we encountered fields of grass covered rolling foot hills. In the distance were the Augurium Mountains, the next obstacle in our journey. Across the fields were tall spindly trees with large flat canopies. The trees provided ample shade to weary travelers like ourselves. Sitting beneath one such tree was a lone humanoid figure and a large serpent like creature. Of course this piqued our interests, so, we headed that way to investigate.

Observations:

The large serpent like creature was a Tillandsia Dragoon. This monster is renowned to be one of the best mounts in all the realm. It lifted its large head and stared us down with yellow eyes and slit pupils. A human with red hair sat on the Dragoon’s haunches and greeted us with a curious proposition. “Rumor has it you need safe passage to the Mountains of Augurium” she said. Her directness startled us and we were so tired of walking we could only shake our heads in agreement. She jumped down from her perch and introduced herself as Robin Shaw and the Dragoon as her faithful companion, Sid. Sid stood, towering over us, green scales shimmering in the sun. He stretched his massive legs before kneeling down so we could more easily climb on his back. Robin climbed up the back of Sid’s neck and grabbed one of his horns. Next, rather oddly, she brandished a silver spork, waved it in the direction of the mountains, and off we went.  The ride was smooth and fast. It was thrilling. Sid covered the great distance with what seemed to be very little effort.

Conclusion:

We made it to the base of the mountains just before nightfall. A journey, that would have taken us two or three days to complete on foot, took only an afternoon on the back of a Tillandsia Dragoon. It was still unclear how Robin knew we would need a ride or how she even knew were to find us to offer it. My assistant was also particularly curious about the spork and what importance it held. We gave them what we had as payment, some gold and any extra supplies we could spare. With solemn nods, they rode off into the moonlight.

About:

The Tillandsia Dragoon is part of our “My First Monster Manual” blog series where we will feature each of the monsters we are considering for inclusion in our new children’s book. Click here to learn more info on My First Monster Manual.

Artist: Joshua Johnson – joshings.com

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