Hoards-R-Us

By James Walker

**Flaming
Feather**

Dragons, Mummies, Liches, Sorcerers - all need a hoard of gold and jewels. Otherwise where's the point?

That's Mammon's thought, anyway. He needed somewhere to store his corporeal wealth, the monsters weren't doing anything, and he was able to persuade Baal that it would encourage Heaven's Soldiers to get themselves killed fighting monsters.

Whenever a monster becomes sufficiently powerful, the Sharks encourage it to obsess over a specific precious or semi-precious substance. The sharks have already bought up most of the substance at low prices; the monster rapidly acquires the rest by raiding human settlements, creating an artificial shortage. Their greatest success has been getting Western Dragons to obsess over gems and jewels, turning common carbon crystals into items worth dying, or killing for.

The monster is a mercenary in the service of Greed; whenever the Sharks need something done they pay freely from their hoards. They might as well - they know the location of the hoard, and intend to plunder it the moment the monster dies; the items aren't so much given as loaned, and the monster is basically working for the right to serve as a security guard for the Mammonites wealth.

Of course, every now and again some wretched hero manages to slay the monster and loot the hoard. At that point the Sharks move in, and help the hero squander his hoard. It's no mistake that heroes end up poor quickly - Greed's finest salesmen can easily fleece a hero of everything in a day or two. In addition to selling shoddy goods, vast quantities of alcohol and the company of attractive women, the Sharks locate every beggar or urchin for miles and set them to work on the poor hero. Of course, the beggars don't get to keep the wealth, but at least they get to hold it for a little while before handing it over to the demons. And of course, a bard or three will be on hand to sing the praises of the hero - for a substantial fee.

**Flaming
Feather**

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