This may be a long post...but I had an adventure idea(I'll try to keep it brief, though):
A dragon...young dragons are too weak to raze villages and plunder caravans so...
Once Upon A Time...An elderly woodsman with his toddler grand-daughter lived near an old pit mine. (for arguments sake, we can say the parents died and the old man is raising the daughter. I think it works best if the man is kind of frail). On a walk, they hear a sound from the mine - it's an abandoned dragon hatchling. They don't know how it got there and It's a red but he takes pity on it, takes it home and raises it.
Fast-forward 10 years later: It's bigger than a horse and is living in the mine, hunting deer etc...The daughter is 12ish. The dragon brings them food and stuff...but it's not a great family relationship - dragons are possessive and cruel but the old man loves the dragon like his own even if it's getting more aggressive and abusive. One day the man fears for his daughter well-being and tells the dragon they are going to move in to town. The dragon says something along the lines of, "If I can't have you, no-one can. I'd rather kill you than see you living with someone else." (because the dragon does love them but this is how this red dragon shows love)
The man secretly decides to leave and is planning to do so, but the dragon is smart. The man goes out one day and comes back and his daughter is missing. The dragon tells him, the daughter is now living with him. But not in the mine - somewhere different. What the man doesn't know, is the dragon, while out on his many forays, came across a small cave of kobolds. The kobolds revere and fear the dragon and give the dragon lots of 'shinys' and has collected a modest horde. He's taken the daughter there and ordered the kobolds treat her like a Queen. The daughter thinks it's a great arrangement because she loves the dragon and has no idea how much danger she is in and they get to spend the days together with her father and the dragon as a nice happy family and she gets her 'freedom' to be a 'grown-up' and live on her own with her 'servants'.
The dragon tells the woodsman that they will visit every day but, at night, the daughter goes back to the secret lair. Kobolds skulk around the woodsman's cabin to ensure the woodsman doesn't leave with the daughter while the dragon is away. In return for not killing the daughter - and for the dragon providing food from hunting, the man must bring 'food' and treasure.
So the man goes to town and tricks people in to going to the mine, where the dragon lives (not the kobold lair...the man doesn't know where that is). People with loot. The old man hates the idea of luring people to their deaths but he doesn't want his daughter to die.
Here is the dilemma: He doesn't want to lure strong adventurers because they might kill the dragon and, if the dragon dies, he might not ever find out where his daughter is hidden. Also, he still half-loves the dragon. But at the same time, he wants to be free of the dragon. And even if they kill the dragon, what will his daughter think? She'll be devastated! Will she even leave the kobolds? What if the dragon escapes thinking it's been tricked? Will it kill his daughter?
So, maybe he's playing poker with some young men, trying to trick them with the map and the adventurers overhear...they might be a bit more powerful than he was expecting...he's in a pickle...but just maybe they can also help? Maybe He'll see how things play out. He's a bit spineless, after all.
Edit: the only thing that might not work is the age of the dragon...but maybe the old man and daughter are wood elves or something...then the dragon can be as old as you need it to be.