What can I say, I felt the need to share.
Years ago, the dragon Bloodscale was maimed in battle with a great black dragon. Although in his frenzy he managed to tear the black to pieces, the black had the temerity to grab Bloodscale's head and unleash its breath point-blank into his face, destroying his eyes, melting his ears, and rendering the mighty Bloodscale nearly helpless. Bloodscale retreated to his lair via teleportation.
Now, a powerful dragon can usually get his way, and Bloodscale wanted to be healed. Once he had recovered as much as possible from his battle, he used his minions to guide him to a powerful mage. Even a blind dragon is a threat if he knows where to find you, and the mage was forced to craft a powerful magical ring: one which allows regeneration of ANY wounds the wearer touches, not just those suffered while wearing it.
Not wishing to take any chances that anyone would learn of his vulnerability while he was still recovering, Bloodscale attacked, intending to take the ring and return to his lair. Despite his precautions, the mage was killed instantly; as Bloodscale anticipated, the mage expected the dragon to wait until he was fully healed before attacking. What bloodscale did not anticipate was the contingency that was triggered by severe injury, whisking the mage away to rot in his own sanctum.
As much as he values his hoard, Bloodscale values his life more. He intendeds to put every ounce of his considerable resources into finding that ring. He will use every trick in his centuries of experience to find it, spend every coin in his hoard, and he doesn't care how many cities he has to burn to ash to get his way. On the other hand, he's definitely a bit shy about letting another dragon discover his weakened state, so he's not likely to make many personal appearances or be too explicit about exactly what he is looking for...
Isn't it lucky that we have inquisitive PCs who like to poke around in hidden mage's bolt-holes, looking for forgotten treasure? How are they to know that this corpse was fresh, and the treasure hardly forgotten?
. . . . . . . -- Eric
PS -- Intended for a "hunted becomes the hunter" campaign, where the PCs start out fleeing from dragon minions, and eventually confront the weakened dragon. Weakened is a relative term, of course, especially if you play the dragon smart & nasty, with a lot of disposable income.
Years ago, the dragon Bloodscale was maimed in battle with a great black dragon. Although in his frenzy he managed to tear the black to pieces, the black had the temerity to grab Bloodscale's head and unleash its breath point-blank into his face, destroying his eyes, melting his ears, and rendering the mighty Bloodscale nearly helpless. Bloodscale retreated to his lair via teleportation.
Now, a powerful dragon can usually get his way, and Bloodscale wanted to be healed. Once he had recovered as much as possible from his battle, he used his minions to guide him to a powerful mage. Even a blind dragon is a threat if he knows where to find you, and the mage was forced to craft a powerful magical ring: one which allows regeneration of ANY wounds the wearer touches, not just those suffered while wearing it.
Not wishing to take any chances that anyone would learn of his vulnerability while he was still recovering, Bloodscale attacked, intending to take the ring and return to his lair. Despite his precautions, the mage was killed instantly; as Bloodscale anticipated, the mage expected the dragon to wait until he was fully healed before attacking. What bloodscale did not anticipate was the contingency that was triggered by severe injury, whisking the mage away to rot in his own sanctum.
As much as he values his hoard, Bloodscale values his life more. He intendeds to put every ounce of his considerable resources into finding that ring. He will use every trick in his centuries of experience to find it, spend every coin in his hoard, and he doesn't care how many cities he has to burn to ash to get his way. On the other hand, he's definitely a bit shy about letting another dragon discover his weakened state, so he's not likely to make many personal appearances or be too explicit about exactly what he is looking for...
Isn't it lucky that we have inquisitive PCs who like to poke around in hidden mage's bolt-holes, looking for forgotten treasure? How are they to know that this corpse was fresh, and the treasure hardly forgotten?
. . . . . . . -- Eric
PS -- Intended for a "hunted becomes the hunter" campaign, where the PCs start out fleeing from dragon minions, and eventually confront the weakened dragon. Weakened is a relative term, of course, especially if you play the dragon smart & nasty, with a lot of disposable income.
