Windemere Monsters: Cockatrice

Gallicus the cockatrice gets a nod in this post. Visit Charles’ blog first, then check him out in The Cock of the South. It would be fun to compare to the version in The Compass Key.

Legends of Windemere

From D&D again

My first encounter with a cockatrice was in my first Dungeons & Dragons game.  I was playing a Dwarven warrior and opened a treasure chest to find this dangerous creature lurking inside.  It turned me to stone before I could get a look at the tiny figurine.  What I saw was that my character was turned to stone by an angry chicken.  So Cockatrice and Chicken shall forever be entwined in my mind.  Now, this is a real mythological creature with a complicated birth and a relation to the Basilisk.  I think I remember it being born in a certain material on a certain day with a certain star in the sky.  Really exact.

The picture at the top is kind of right for the Windemere version only it’s more feathery and no leather wings.  Some have colorful tails if they grow big enough.  Their ‘stone stare’…

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