The Goldneedle and the Starvatious Hydra
-as the Goldneedle Knight held a piece of her trail rations out to the scaled, serpentine, head that peered from the underbrush, another rose beside it. Then another still, until six pairs of eyes looked at the food hungrily.
Slowly backing away, she tried to coax the creatures from the branches and leaves that obscured it's for, only to find that it was not three creatures, but one. Three heads simply sprouting from the same body.
"Oh, a hydra..." She thought, recognizing the much younger form of a dangerous creature that often menaced the outlying villages. This one could, perhaps, menace a single person if caught unawares, but she was no ordinary person. And so she tore two pieces more off her ration, and tossed them to the Hydra. One for each head. Each head made a sound between a rattle and a purr as it caught the food mid air, each head impossibly fast, and each one snapped to her with wide eyes.
The Knight quirked and eyebrow at the creature, but tore three more chunks of dried meat and tossed them in the air again. The rattle-purr was rather pleasant to her ear, she found.
While the Goldneedle knight is not often noted for adventures involving the wildlife of Avallus, nor did she have a menagerie of animal companions like some of the other knights, but her personal quest to feed a baby hydra, and to keep the nascent creature safe, is one that is often told in farmer circles and to children. It is regarded as a tale against letting a small lie get out of hand, as well as a lesson that kindness is important as a backbone for any ideal.
Summary
Ser Sussana the Goldneedle finds a juvenile hydra while traveling through the woods of the Irrlichtwald. Despite already being on a quest, she decides to look after the young creature. This decision, as well as her decision to try and keep the hydra a secret from other knights she passes on the road, leads to her original Quest becoming much more complicated, though as the Hydra grows it also is able to provide her with increasing amounts of assistance, eventually bringing her total victory and a lifelong companion.
Historical Basis
The Goldneedle Knight, or rather Ser Sussana the Goldneedle, is certainly a real figure within the history of Camlann. A comparatively younger Knight, she is still confirmed to be present for many of King Gowyr's later conquests.
As for the historicity of her raising a Hydra, it does seem that was true to some degree, given that her tomb bears iconography of serpents and hydra, but archeologists have yet to break the seal upon her tomb to confirm.
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