The realm · Pets and dogs
Pets and dogs
The kennel master sells companions: three breeds of dog in the coats the game itself has, and smaller beasts that trot at their owner's heel. Feed them, keep them by you, and they learn to be worth their keep.
The kennel master
| Companion | Price | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Village dog | 150 groschen | Guards the yard. |
| Alaunt | 600 groschen | Runs down game, and tracks from further off and closer to the mark. |
| War dog | 1,500 groschen | Fears nothing, and is trained to go for a man. |
| Hen, hare, sheep, pig, calf | 20 to 220 groschen | Trot after their owner. A hen lays eggs, a sheep sheds fleece. |
A character keeps up to three pets and has one out at a time. Name it with /pet name; the name stands over your dog's head for you. Tell it to /pet follow, stay or roam; call it out and send it home with /pet out and /pet in. A pet that was out when you left comes out with you again at your next login. The kennel master buys a pet back for half its price.
Feeding, and the bond
Pet food costs 3 groschen a portion at the kennel. A pet left unfed for about three days sulks and will not come when called; one let loose to roam finds a little food for itself, but never a full belly.
Between a pet and its owner grows a bond, from wary of you through friendly, loyal and devoted to inseparable. It grows with meals and with time spent out together, and hunger wears it away. A bonded pet waits longer before it sulks, forages more, guards a wider ground and tracks closer to its quarry. /pet bond shows where you stand.
Guard dogs
/pet guard and your dog keeps its post. Any stranger who comes within about fourteen metres, more with a strong bond, is growled at and barked at, and you are told of it wherever you are, with how far off the post is. Whoever holds a key to your house there is no stranger. If someone breaks into a house near a guard dog, its frantic barking wakes the street, its owner and every night watchman on duty.
Tracking hounds
/pet track and your dog puts its nose to the ground for the nearest outlaw at large within 1,500 metres (an alaunt, 2,500). A mark appears on your compass near the quarry, never on it: within 120 metres at worst, closer with the bond, and an alaunt halves the distance. The mark moves as the hound follows the scent for four minutes, and when you are close the dog freezes, hackles up. Then its nose needs a rest. The law's men may set a hound on a wanted criminal instead: /pet track wanted.
War dogs
/pet attack looses a war dog on whoever is near. It is the only breed trained for it, and it obeys only outside the towns (the watch would put a dog down inside the walls), never in a duel and never at the lists while a tournament runs: it is called back to heel the moment its master walks into one. In a Cuman raid every dog, of any breed, fights beside its master, in the town too.
Tricks
/pet trick sit, down, beg or fetch, for an audience. Pets can be hurt and killed, so keep yours away from the worst of a fight if you would keep it.