The Staggard

The Staggard is a dangerous mythological beast that is commonly found throughout central Paranian legend as south as southern Bilva up to central Apelchem. It is a powerful and immortal elk/wapiti or in some cases, deer, that is said to hunt down hunters who have killed too much of its kind and is said that when it finds the hunter, to ram them all the way to hell.

## Story

In Silegre, there once lived a prestigious and large hunter who understood where and when to hunt the wild, but his favourites to hunt were elk and deer. He'd go out with his two favourite men, each armed with a huge firearm, and hunt any wild animal they came across, whether it was magpies or robins, but each kept an eye out for any large game to display on their empty head plaques at home. Once the three came across a large herd of does, one-by-one, they shot each down and brought them home to tan their skin to turn them to taxidermy and sold the remaining parts as venison for florins. Soon the hunter became richer and richer and more and more greedy and went to hunt more of the deer in the wild and traded them in for more and more florins, soon enough, the hunter's home became crowded with antlers, taxidermy, and the constant smell of stench, but he wasn't finished, he went out for one more run and shot down another herd of does and bucks and brought them in for more florins, but the other villagers told him they couldn't accept the deer because they had a strict policy of the amount of dead deer accepted per week. This angered the hunter and he went out to find other villages to trade the deer parts to, but as he began journeying out of the village, a strong and beastly bearded man greeted the hunter just as he closed his front door and told him about The Great Deer Consociation, an illegal poaching group situated below the apothecary house, and told him they'd gladly take any deer pieces he hunted, anytime, and the hunter agreed to join the consociation. The hunter introduced his two favorite buddies to the consociation and the consociation gained three new members and they were all ordered by their leader, the same man who introduced the hunter to the consociation, to go hunting for does. That day, they hunted about seventeen does and one buck and gained four hundred florins from the leader, this was twice the amount that he'd gotten from the main village traders and thought this was a better opportunity to become wealthy. The more and more they hunted, the more florins they recieved and soon, after about twenty hunts, they've recieved almost nineteen thousand florins. But on their way out for their last hunt of the year, they were stopped by the village deputy, the rest of the consociation's members hid under the lair's cabinets and wardrobes while the hunter and his two buddies were to be arrested for a time span of a week for poaching. The deputy then told the hunter if he'd ever heard the story of "the Staggard", the hunter shook his head and the three went to prison and the consociation continued to hunt without them, with no issues, until news has gotten around that three of the consociation's men were dragged to hell by "the Staggard" and when the hunter heard this, he'd thought "the Staggard" was just a jealous outcast kicked out the consociation who'd come back to murder his fellow companions for kicking him out the consociation. Three days past and the hunter was shocked to find out the leader of the consociation fell a victim to "the Staggard" and was to come for any other of the consociation's members. This scared the hunter and he heard from the deputy that "the Staggard" wasn't human and was indeed a dangerous, supernatural elk spirit that comes out to kill those who kill too much of its kind (other deer and elk) and will come for the hunter and his two buddies next. The hunter thought this was just a :"fairytale" made up from the natives of the land, but he must've been too naive because the day he and his buddies were let out, two of his buddies were described the next day as being killed by some sort of "eldritch and ungodly" force in the form of a large stag and their bodies were to be buried that day. The hunter grew more cautious and began gearing up on firearms and knives and began to double-lock his cottage, and that night, around the wee hours of the night, the ghastly sound of an elk bark was heard outside his front door and the constant sound of rutting was heard against the wooden locks, and finally, the ghastly and giant elk accompanied by a large red force of light behind its back was present in the cottage and began ravaging through the beds and tables until it finally found the hunter, the hunter began to shoot it using three of his largest firearms but the wounds of the elk disappeared in seconds like it was an immortal being, and before he could run out the cottage, he was pushed at extremely high speeds, stuck between the elk's antlers until the earthy mountains and trees began hellish fires and before he knew it, he'd lost the fight with the Staggard and is now stuck in a repeating cycle of pain in hell.

## Other Legends

In order to maintain a medium-sized population that is neither too little nor too large, the Staggard, who is said to be a defender of the deer, is claimed to kill both those who kill deer and actual deer. Additionally, they are supposedly simply malevolent beings who delight in watching mankind burn and who want to conquer the entire planet. According to northern Lobelian, Orirbellan, and Cantango mythology, smelling like fire when there isn't any is a warning that the Staggard will soon attack you or a loved one. If your cooking has not gotten better over time or has gotten worse, the Staggard will likely attack you soon since more fire is being used from your stove. The Staggard will make sure you die a slow and painful death. Although both the Staggard and the Keldeer are widespread in some areas of Apelchem, the Staggard predominates in central and southern Parania and nearly fully replaces the fire-producing Keldeer in northern Parania.