Dragon Eggs

[Thyrkill]

I am running an adventure where the party is posing as members of the Cult of the Dragon, trying to purchase 4 Silver Dragon eggs from a Mature Adult Red Dragon (negotiations will be very delicate .

My question is this: How much would Four Silver Dragon eggs cost?

I need to set a rough price so that both parties can haggle...if they make it that far. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Matt

 

[Cedric]

Not for sale, available in trade for magic items, not already available in the Dragon's Hoard.

Of course, this is if you aspire to the belief that Red Dragons value magic items to a great deal.

Cedric

 

[Dragongirl]

Well this is from 1st Edition so take it as you will. But subdued dragons were worth between 100 and 800 gold pieces per HP. Silver dragons start out with about 52 hps, so between 5200 and 41600 gps if they were hatched, probably half this for eggs since you dont know if they will hatch. hehe still gives a range of 2600 to 20800 GPs each guess that doesn't help much. Concidering griffin eggs were worth 2000 each, I would suggest somewhere between 10 and 15 thousand GPs each.

 

[Derren]

Considering how greedy red dragons are, how rare it is that you can buy silver dragon eggs and that dragons don´t easily part with their trophies, especially ones they had to fight hard for (Golden dragons might be stronger, but silver dragons are more dangerous to an red dragon) I would say about 50.000 to 60.000 gold per egg. It´s only my opinion, no rules involved.

 

[Dark Eternal]

Hmmm... All good answers.

But why would a red dragon be selling silver dragon eggs in the first place? Most likely answer: it's part of a grander scheme. In which case the dragon would probably be more interested in the negotiations than he would the final price.

That aside, I'd say to determine the price of the eggs by looking at how much money the characters have to spend. That may not be absolutely fair, from a purist perspective... but it's effective, and justifiable - even 'in character', if the red dragon has the resources and the time to do a little homework on his prospective buyers.

If it were me, I'd deleberately set the price just beyond what they can afford to pay, so that you can make them sweat a little, and force them to put some effort into those negotiations. After all, it's not every day that your characters have to tender delecate negotiations with a red dragon. (At least, I hope it's not...)

 

[Derren]

Good point.

 

[Kibo]

I would go for a service contract. Depending on how complicated you wanted to get, you could have the dragon demand the PC's accept a quest/geas spell for each egg they wish to obtain.

I'd probably make the first one particularly sadistic, so the players must decide how much they want the eggs, and really build up their dread. Perhaps, obtaining a young fair maiden from the neigboring kingdom as a sacrifice to the dragon, assasinating a powerful member of court in a neigboring kingdom, assasinating a powerful figure in the dragon cult (publicly).

If I knew that the PC's needed all four eggs, and three eggs would be a good as none, I might get overly clever. As the PC's present themselves to recieve their quest and egg, the first would be commanded to follow the dragons instructions to the best of the characters ability until the next sunrise. The second might be ordered to commit some heinous act that might actually serve the ends of the dragon, or just serve as entertainment.

The third would get off the easiest. But first the dragon would command the fourth to come foreward and bid him kneel behind the third. Then order the first to come foreward, draw his blade, and kill the fourth if he made any attempt to resist, and then turn on his remaining friends. The player of course has his choice, but the penalties are quite stiff. And there's a dragon there anyway.

The third would be compelled to tell the dragon everything the party planned to do with the eggs, who needed them, where they were, and why in exahustive detail, omitting nothing.

The fourth, oh the hapless fourth. He'll learn why it's sometimes better to be first. His mission will be to betray those who wish to use the eggs in the most cruel vile way a super intelligent and devious dragon can concieve while destroying the eggs.

The first would obtain an item of inescapeable detection that would be all but impossible to remove, and make it a trivial task for the dragon to scry on them for his amusement. Something like pushing the item into the first pc's body under the ribs and then having him quaff a nice healing potion or apply a soothing balm comes to mind. Yeah, after the next sunrise they can safely try to take it out, but would you really let your buddies perform home surgery on you in the woods sans anethstetic?

Even if the red dragon doesn't end up as a reoccuring villian, you can rest assured than when the PC's get buff enough, they'll make time to settle that score. And best of all, they'll make all kinds of enemies (pc number 2 assasinates the good king, powerful general, etc), pc number 4's betrayal will certainly leave a bad taste in the mouth of some, possibly rivals. Ready made adventures.

 

[Thyrkill]

Thanks for the fantastic ideas (Kibo's twisted plot is a thing of genius...which I will steal for later) Now I have more to ponder on for my players than I did before...they are going to hate me.

Thanks again,
Matt