Scenario with a Dragon's Lair?

Over the Hill Gamer · May 2, 2019

It is ironic but most Dungeons and Dragons adventures don't feature dragons. Too powerful. I am looking for a 5 to 6 hour adventure that features an assault on a dragon's lair, with the goal of slaying the dragon and taking its hoard. I have browsed about a bit and can't seem to find what I am looking for. Any suggestions?

iserith · May 2, 2019

What level PCs?

Forge of Fury isn't specifically a dragon's lair, but there's a black dragon's lair in it. It's not clear to me you could get through it in 5 to 6 hours start to finish though. You'd have to maybe start the PCs in the middle of the dungeon or something like that to pull it off or cut out non-essential areas. Maybe the PCs start with some kind of tenuous alliance with the orcs at the front of the dungeon who see the benefit of having the PCs deal with the rival troglodytes. Something like that.

Parmandur · May 2, 2019

You might want to pick up Rise of Tiamat, there are chapters in there that might fit your needs quite well, taken out of the AP context.

jayoungr · May 2, 2019

Parmandur said:
You might want to pick up Rise of Tiamat, there are chapters in there that might fit your needs quite well, taken out of the AP context.

To expand on this, the easiest option would be the chapter with a green dragon's lair. It would be super-simple to break out that chapter as a stand-alone mini-adventure. The PCs would start by investigating a dragon attack on an elven village and track the dragon to its lair from there. This would be good for level 10-ish PCs.

Hoard of the Dragon Queen has potential too--there's the white dragon in the flying castle at the end (level 8). But that story is more tied to the overall AP than the one in Rise of Tiamat.

Parmandur · May 2, 2019

jayoungr said:
To expand on this, the easiest option would be the chapter with a green dragon's lair. It would be super-simple to break out that chapter as a stand-alone mini-adventure. The PCs would start by investigating a dragon attack on an elven village and track the dragon to its lair from there. This would be good for level 10-ish PCs.

Hoard of the Dragon Queen has potential too--there's the white dragon in the flying castle at the end (level 8). But that story is more tied to the overall AP than the one in Rise of Tiamat.

Chapter 2 from Rise of Tiamat, "The Sea of Moving Ice," with the glacier lair, is also a pretty good choice for a heist against a dragon's lair scenario.

jayoungr · May 2, 2019

Parmandur said:
Chapter 2 from Rise of Tiamat, "The Sea of Moving Ice," with the glacier lair, is also a pretty good choice for a heist against a dragon's lair scenario.

Oh, yeah! I knew there was at least one other major dragon encounter in Rise of Tiamat. Either that one or chapter 4 (the green dragon encounter described above) would work well as a stand-alone.

Markh3rd · May 3, 2019

There is an AL scenario where you can face a young black dragon in it. CCC-SRCC01-02 Down the River of Snakes. It would be perfect for you. It's part 2, so you could run part 1 if you want the whole story. It was a fun adventure. Levels 1_4 but I highly recommend 3-4 and not 1-2 player levels if you plan on the dragon fight.

Baldurs_Underdark · May 3, 2019

Give it a few seconds thought what would motivate your party. Let's assume they're in for the money, or they are just a bunch of goodie-good-make-the-world-a-better-place-adventurers.

Dragon flies overhead, swoops down and steals something (i.e. the entire cart of the armored money transport, or the cart in which the princess was traveling to visit the town). Your brave adventurers are the only thing available to give chase immediately (dramatic scene with a sergeant of the guards who tells you "run, you fools!").

And then just write a cool dungeon, with a bunch of rooms and multiple (hidden) entrances and exits.

The narrative of a one-off shouldn't be more complicated than Mario Bros, and the above example is pretty much just that.

Burnside · May 3, 2019

I ran this for my players about a year ago and they really liked it. 6-8 hour swamp adventure culminating in a fight with a black dragon in his lair (complete with hoard). Levels 5-8:

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/209180/Into-the-Belly-of-the-Beast--Adventure

Luz · May 3, 2019

Fires of Iskh from the Arcane Library is an excellent one-shot adventure into a red dragon's lair. We played this a year ago and I highly recommend it. Roll up some 20th level characters and have a blast (pun intended).

There's another ancient red dragon lair called "Emeralds of Highfang" by Ed Greenwood in Quests of Doom from Frog God Games. Also quite good (and very deadly).