(Durandor – Whilst snooping through the suspended city of Haranoth, Noor sees a stable housing magnificent, winged beasts: Griffins. Massive and feathered, with the head of a great eagle and the body of a lion. A golden-armored rider flies into the floating stable and begins to lead his exquisite mount toward the stable. Noor hangs back a bit and casts Speak with Animals. “Where did you come from creature?” Noor asks. The griffin snaps its head toward the Dragonborn; “The sky” it answers. “What was your mission?” Noor asks, more aggressively than necessary. The griffin again answers evasively and Noor, in the most Noor-fashion, remarks: “You don’t have to be an ass about it.” The griffin looks at his master and continues to walk away. And thus began Noor’s completely fabricated vengeance against the Sunwolves.
The Sunwolves were an original creation by our Durandor DM. They were golden-clad guardians of the city of Haranoth and traversed the skies on griffins. The DM was so stoked about them that he created a special class for our PCs to level in. I’m laughing to myself as I write because our DM thought we would be so enamored by the Sunwolves that we would want to become one. He probably put in so much work and creative energy just to have my volatile PC Noor crap all over it.
And Noor’s completely petty vengeance for the minor sleight from the griffin stretched through the whole band of PCs. Noor had everyone hating the Sunwolves and their dumb faces and golden armor. It became an actual storyline in the campaign; at some point one of the leaders of the Sunwolves – motherfucking Ajax – turned into a BBEG and our group met him in battle. It was easily one of my absolute favorite parts of Durandor.
This cocktail is a nod to what our DM had hoped the Sunwolves would be: something everyone wants more of.
The Sunwolf cocktail is perfect sip of Summer. It tastes like what you always hoped a Fuzzy Navel would taste like when your mom let you sniff the bottle as a kid; bursting with sweet peach and tart citrus.
It’s smooth and light and nicely balanced. It’s also great to batch; you can easily make a pitcher full of peachy joy. I actually used canned peaches because they have a predictable level of sweetness and the syrup helps to add that peachy flavor (garnish with a fresh peach slice though since a canned peach on the glass rim would look like a slimy orange slug).
I used Esme gin because it’s subtle with notes of orange blossom and citrus and the juniper isn’t overbearing. I think The Botanist would also work great. If you don’t like gin, vodka would work as well.
The Sunwolf
Unlike the Sunwolves, this cocktail had nothing but fans.
Ingredients: Makes 1 cocktail, but great to batch.
- 2 ounces gin (preferably low juniper notes)
- 3ish slices of peach (canned or ripe fresh peaches)
- 1 ounce fresh-squeezed orange juice
- 1 ounce fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- .5 ounce canned peach syrup
- .5 ounce simple syrup (you can use 1 ounce of simple if you’re not using canned peaches)
- 2 dashes of Angostura bitters
Recipe:
- Muddle the peach slices in the shaker with the orange juice. Add the rest of the ingredients and shake with ice. Strain into a rocks glass and garnish with a peach slice. Bask in the golden glow of The f*cking Sunwolf.
The Bourbon Dragon 