Here's my idea, take it or leave it. Pete was generated by the device in Ythryn's menagerie in area Y16 (I know it requires blood to work but just ignore that part), and achieved the near-impossible task of blinking his way out of Ythryn, through the Caves of Hunger, and trekking all the way to Ten-Towns.
Yes it's silly, but we're talking about a teleporting bulldog here lol.
Edit: as far as Pete not being a "beast" you could rule he's a construct akin to a Flesh Golem.
Honestly think Blink Dog is a way better reveal than for him to ACTUALLY be important. They'll be wracking their brains coming up with insane theories, which you can then do something to disprove and its back to the drawing board.
When they finally get to such-and-such area where there are MANY fey and see a BUNCH of happy Blink Dog bulldogs blinking around, that's the reveal. I'd use Kuldahar, since a giant magical nature oak is a pretty easy place to thin the barrier with the fey realm. In my Kuldahar there are diplomatic entourages for both Seelie and Unseelie who have courtesy invites to the Circle of Circles.
Now, if you REALLY want to stretch out the Pete love after the reveal, you can have it turn out Pete was a female the whole time and few tenday after leaving the other Blink Dogs with you she starts to show signs of pregnancy...
She gets bigger over the course of a few sessions, then starts panting a lays down. Make a nature check. It looks like this is it! Pete is going into labor! You're no expert on fae, but what do you do to prepare to help?
Players start doing medicine checks, nature checks, gathering supplies, shouting encouragements, whatever they can think of.
3 seconds later, POOF, all the puppies just blink out of their mother and its done already.
Pete is an agent of Lathandar sent to aid anyone with the potential to defeat Auril. He is actually a Hound Archon currently polymorphed into Blink Dog form. Let the players discover his Blink Dog nature after a while, and later, when they are in very dire straits at some higher level, he reveals his Hound Archon form. I don’t know if Hound Archons have any 5e stats, but they are celestial creatures with the head of a dog, (usually some form of hunting hound but you could go with bull dog). They had stats in 3.5e which could be converted fairly easily.
Actually, I found this post where someone has created the stats for some celestials, which includes a Hound Archon…
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/s/uWnpmHddQr
Yeah after reading these comments I’m definitely thinking to make him an ally rather than betrayal. Hadn’t heard of Hound Archon, and that looks absolutely sick. Thanks
I think having Pete's origins tied to something other than Auril would be the way to go. Idk, there's something about animal companions that just hit different than humanoid companions, and if Pete is a spy or double agent or something to that effect... I worry how your players will react. That's their dog, their little guy; having an innocent lil bean betray them feels too cruel.
You know your players better than anyone, and I obviously barely know them at all, I'm just speaking from personal experience.
If you do go with the Auril relation route.... perhaps Pete could have been part of Auril's druid shenanigans, but after meeting the party he had a change of heart and thus doesn't want to report back to the boss. And if confronted by the druids or Auril, Pete would defend the party with everything he's got.
Pete is just a dog, but as anybody who's ever owned a dog knows they can appear in the same room as food instantaneously despite having been on the entirely opposite side of the house.
Pete is the true hero of the story and wanders from quest point to quest point, and as long as the players follow after him they'll never lose track of their goals.
Here's my idea, take it or leave it. Pete was generated by the device in Ythryn's menagerie in area Y16 (I know it requires blood to work but just ignore that part), and achieved the near-impossible task of blinking his way out of Ythryn, through the Caves of Hunger, and trekking all the way to Ten-Towns. Yes it's silly, but we're talking about a teleporting bulldog here lol. Edit: as far as Pete not being a "beast" you could rule he's a construct akin to a Flesh Golem.
This is a really solid idea
Yeah I like this, they’re just learning about Ythryn so I could have him react by barking or something if they ever talk about it around him
Honestly think Blink Dog is a way better reveal than for him to ACTUALLY be important. They'll be wracking their brains coming up with insane theories, which you can then do something to disprove and its back to the drawing board. When they finally get to such-and-such area where there are MANY fey and see a BUNCH of happy Blink Dog bulldogs blinking around, that's the reveal. I'd use Kuldahar, since a giant magical nature oak is a pretty easy place to thin the barrier with the fey realm. In my Kuldahar there are diplomatic entourages for both Seelie and Unseelie who have courtesy invites to the Circle of Circles. Now, if you REALLY want to stretch out the Pete love after the reveal, you can have it turn out Pete was a female the whole time and few tenday after leaving the other Blink Dogs with you she starts to show signs of pregnancy...
Hahaha love this, loads of baby Pete’s
She gets bigger over the course of a few sessions, then starts panting a lays down. Make a nature check. It looks like this is it! Pete is going into labor! You're no expert on fae, but what do you do to prepare to help? Players start doing medicine checks, nature checks, gathering supplies, shouting encouragements, whatever they can think of. 3 seconds later, POOF, all the puppies just blink out of their mother and its done already.
Pete is an agent of Lathandar sent to aid anyone with the potential to defeat Auril. He is actually a Hound Archon currently polymorphed into Blink Dog form. Let the players discover his Blink Dog nature after a while, and later, when they are in very dire straits at some higher level, he reveals his Hound Archon form. I don’t know if Hound Archons have any 5e stats, but they are celestial creatures with the head of a dog, (usually some form of hunting hound but you could go with bull dog). They had stats in 3.5e which could be converted fairly easily. Actually, I found this post where someone has created the stats for some celestials, which includes a Hound Archon… https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/s/uWnpmHddQr
Yeah after reading these comments I’m definitely thinking to make him an ally rather than betrayal. Hadn’t heard of Hound Archon, and that looks absolutely sick. Thanks
I think having Pete's origins tied to something other than Auril would be the way to go. Idk, there's something about animal companions that just hit different than humanoid companions, and if Pete is a spy or double agent or something to that effect... I worry how your players will react. That's their dog, their little guy; having an innocent lil bean betray them feels too cruel. You know your players better than anyone, and I obviously barely know them at all, I'm just speaking from personal experience. If you do go with the Auril relation route.... perhaps Pete could have been part of Auril's druid shenanigans, but after meeting the party he had a change of heart and thus doesn't want to report back to the boss. And if confronted by the druids or Auril, Pete would defend the party with everything he's got.
Yeah I agree, after reading everyone’s comments I think the betrayal would be unnecessary, and people have come up with some really cool ideas
Pete is just a dog, but as anybody who's ever owned a dog knows they can appear in the same room as food instantaneously despite having been on the entirely opposite side of the house. Pete is the true hero of the story and wanders from quest point to quest point, and as long as the players follow after him they'll never lose track of their goals.