The Economy of the Griffon: Part 3

We covered how griffons can disrupt commerce (Part 1) and the costs of acquisition (Part 2). There’s also a path involving mountain climbing, angry druids, and the kind of risks that separate wealthy merchants from dead adventurers…

From Egg Thief to Sky Baron: THIS is what my Bastion really needs!

Background: From Stronghold to Sky Castle

The party has a stronghold (bastion) that serves as their base of operations and looks appropriately impressive on their résumé. While the fortress provides security and prestige, it lacks the rapid transport capabilities needed for effective commerce and communication with distant allies who expect timely responses to their messages.

The party seeks to acquire griffon eggs to establish their own aerial cavalry, because walking everywhere stopped being practical around level 5.

The Opportunity: Wild Griffons and Wilder Plans

Through contacts in the local merchant community (and possibly some creative eavesdropping), the party learns of a wild griffon aerie in the remote Ironspine Peaks. Intelligence suggests a mated pair with recently hatched young. An ideal situation for acquiring eggs or young griffons without completely destroying the breeding population and earning the eternal enmity of every druid within a hundred miles.

Challenges: Nature, Competition, and Murphy’s Law

Environmental Obstacles:

• Navigation through treacherous mountain terrain requiring successful Survival checks (DC 15) to locate and approach safely
• Weather conditions that change fast creating complications (extreme cold, frigid water, and high altitude from the DMG Environmental Effects section are all good candidates)
• Natural hazards like rockslides (see Rockslide in the DMG’s Hazards section), and the occasional territorial wyvern, roc, or dragon depending on the party level

Adult griffons will defend their young with the ferocity of creatures that consider humans tasty snacks, but the standard griffon statistics don’t make for a very challenging fight for a party that’s high enough level for a bastion, so rival claimants (because the competition never sleeps) are a great way to up the challenge.

Potential Rivals:

• A team of mercenaries hired by the Ironhold Consortium to prevent competition (well-equipped, but maybe poorly motivated)
• A group of hunters seeking to capture adult griffons for arena combat (likely well versed in the local hazards and dangerous)
• A druid circle that wants to protect the wild griffons from exploitation (idealistic and powerful spellcasters)

Houserules for a trained griffon:

Successful egg snatching, and an appropriate amount of animal handling checks (enough to make the players sweat a bit) provides the party with a trained griffon and some advantages:

• A rapid transport between their bastion and distant locations (the convenience is priceless)
• Enhanced military capabilities for defending their territory (can be treated as a Bastion Defender)
• Potential income stream from aerial freight services (turn all those extra scimitars from hunting bandits into business)
• Significant prestige boost in negotiations with other nobles (I mean, they’re gonna respect you with a snarling ariel predator looking at them hungrily – advantage on intimidation against anyone CR 3 or lower)
• Strategic intelligence capabilities through aerial reconnaissance (knowledge, as well know, is the real power)

Potential Complications: Because Nothing’s Ever Simple

Ongoing Challenges:

• Local nobles may claim air rights over the party’s bastion location (adventures in politics follows)
• Military forces might attempt to conscript the party’s griffon during wartime (they may insist on some training help to keep if from eating new recruits)
• Success attracts attention from established aerial commerce interests (ooh – competition! Maybe hippogriff or pegasi owners)

DMs Note: the Bastion rules have an option under the Menagerie for adding different creatures, and at CR 2 a griffon could be added for 2,000 gold – this is way less fun in my opinion than wrestling with poacher-rangers on a slippery iced mountaintop while an avalanche comes streaking towards you, but to each their own.

Components and Crafting

When griffons die, whether from age, accident, or conflict, they produce valuable components proving that, even in death, these magnificent creatures can generate profit for those prepared to take advantage.

Primary Components and Market Values

Griffon Feathers:

• Applications: Can be used as the primary ingredient to craft potions of flying, or as one of the ingredients to produce an item with flying abilities.
• Processing: Requires careful cleaning and magical treatment within 24 hours of harvest (DC 14 Survival or similar check)

Eyes:

• Applications: Component for crafting Eyes of the eagle
• Processing: Requires immediate preservation in alchemical solutions (DC 18 Alchemical Supplies check)

Blood (Fresh):

• Applications: Primary ingredient for potions of heroism
• Processing: Must be collected within 1 hour of death and used within 24 hours

Conclusion: The Sky’s the Limit (But the Profits Are Unlimited)

As I finished my explanation, Master Goldstorm sat back with the expression of someone who’d just realized he’d been thinking too small about the possibilities of aerial commerce.

“Master Aldric,” he said finally, “I understand now that I wasn’t asking about transportation. I was asking about revolution disguised as a business opportunity.”

The moment the word “revolution” left his lips, I felt that familiar chill that comes from years of service to the Crown. My hand moved to the small crystal on my desk, a communication device that had seen more use than I cared to admit.

“Indeed, Master Goldstorm,” I said carefully, maintaining my merchant’s smile while the crystal pulsed once beneath my palm. “Revolution is such an… interesting choice of words.”

The door to my counting house opened with practiced silence. Two figures in the burgundy and gold of the Royal Intelligence Service stepped inside, their movements as quiet as hunting cats and twice as dangerous. Master Goldstorm’s face went from pale to ashen as he realized his error.

“I’m terribly sorry, young Master,” I said with genuine regret coloring my voice. “But the Crown simply will not abide such… revolutionary thinking from uppity third sons. Especially those who haven’t yet learned the difference between economic disruption and seditious planning.”

As the guards efficiently secured Goldstorm’s hands behind his back, I leaned forward conspiratorially. “Perhaps during your stay in Her Majesty’s hospitality, someone might mention how a griffon aerie can serve as the foundation for an excellent intelligence network. The view from above, you understand, provides remarkable perspective on the movements of… shall we say, persons of interest.”

Goldstorm’s eyes widened as understanding dawned. Not just about his immediate situation, but about the true scope of aerial commerce and its applications beyond mere trade.

“You see,” I continued as the guards prepared to escort him out, “griffon economics involves so much more than moving goods from point A to point B. Sometimes it involves moving information from suspicious persons to appropriate authorities. Consider this an advanced lesson in the political complexities of aerial commerce.”

The door closed behind them with a soft click, leaving me alone with my ledgers and the quiet satisfaction of another potential problem resolved. After all, maintaining profitable relationships with both the merchant community and the Crown requires a certain… flexibility in one’s approach to business.

Griffon economics represents capitalism at its best: creative destruction that eliminates inefficient old systems while creating unprecedented new opportunities faster than legislation can regulate them. It rewards innovation, punishes complacency, and evolves beyond anyone’s ability to fully control, much like the creatures that make it possible.

Yet perhaps the most remarkable aspect is how closely griffon commerce mirrors the creatures themselves. Griffons are noble yet fierce, intelligent yet instinctive, beautiful yet dangerous. The commerce they enable shares these contradictions, elegant economic solutions that create violent disruptions, profitable enterprises that require constant vigilance, and business relationships that must navigate not only market forces but the ever-watchful eyes of those who understand that information, like cargo, flows most efficiently through the sky.

And the sky, as they say, is no longer the limit.

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Master Aldric Dwarden served as Royal Advisor to the Crown before establishing the Thunderpeak Griffon Trading Company. His treatise “Wings of Commerce: A Complete Guide to Aerial Trade” remains the definitive authority on griffon economics. He currently maintains aeries in four kingdoms and serves as an independent consultant to aspiring merchants – and to nobles who can afford his fees.