Although quite small and not especially fearsome looking, drop bears can be a real hazard as they fall on their victims from great heights, which often results in broken backs or crushed limbs.
Pregnant drop bears or those with litters of cubs watch intently for the various great beasts of these steaming jungles. These beasts are too large for the drop bears to kill outright so they instead “ride” them, digging in their long claws and goading them on with injections of pain-inducing poison from the spurs on their hind feet. These pain-maddened beasts can be quite dangerous to travelers as they completely ignore all threats except for the agony of the drop bears on their backs.
Finally, after the passage of days in some cases, the drop bear’s ride collapses dead with exhaustion and the mother descends and allows her young to feed. They can do so for quite a long time as drop bear poison preserves meat and greatly delays its corruption. As a result of this, drop bear poison is highly sought after as an ingredient for cure disease potions
As a result of the drop bears’ novel migration behavior they can end up just about anywhere that the beasts they fall upon can carry them.
They are particularly common in The Forest of Falling Bears (49.09).
Hooks
- Who’s in the market for drop bear poison?
- What sort of animals do drop bears most commonly drop on?
- Is there any way to keep a drop bear from attacking? Pickelhauben?