Drumeosaur

When one travels through the Alwealdasmerc Swamplands, a deep thunderous sound can be heard coming from miles around. Those unfamiliar with the marshes might think these might be the sounds of a raging thunderstorm or of an massive army on the path to war. But its neither of these things. No, these are the sounds of the Drumeosaur intimidating predators.

History

For hundreds of years the drumeosaur was only known from local lizardfolk legends and many believed it to be nothing more than that. That was until in 1573 when the eccentric merchant Jan Wenje send out a team of explorers under the leadership of Doctor Jonaszoon to discover the origin of the Madame river. One of the explorers joining the expedition was natural philosopher Dr. Allan Groods, who was fascinated with mapping out the wildlife of the Alwealdasmerc Swamplands. It was he who discovered a live specimen of the drumeosaur when he was hiding in a tree after their expedition was attacked by a band of geckofolk braves. As proof he brought back an egg that he stole from the drumeosaur nest and afterwards gifted it to the menagerie of Madamsrest‎ where the now adult drumeosaur can still be seen today.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Drumeosaur is a bipedal saurian creature with leathery osteoderms on its back. It has two small front limbs that it mostly uses to support itself when standing up or when holding vegetation in place, and two strong hind limbs with flat clawed paws that allow it to run across the boggy peat without sinking. To keep its balance it uses a long thick tail with a bony club attached to its end. This tail is rather articulated and can swing in an upwards 180 degrees radius. When needed it can use its club to defend itself, but the drumeosaur prefers to intimidate its foes instead. It does this by smashing its club against the scutes on its back. The impact of this then reverberates into a hollow air-sack that the drumeosaur has near its spine to create a loud drum-like sound.