An important question regarding Gold Dragons

[Jon_Dahl]

2nd edit: This is a young adult.

There is an overprotective gold dragon female who lives in a large county. She has an excellent hiding place in a large underground cavern whose entrance is very hard to find. She has stocked food there and she has three eggs which she is currently hatching. A resourceful adventurer finds the entrance and finds enough clues that a dragon is living there (without actually seeing the dragon). He alerts the local Adventurers' Guild whose second-in-command visits the dragon. She swears a sacred oath to the dragon that only the leaders, whom she names, of the guild will know of her presence and they will work to protect the dragon and her eggs. This all will be a secret that a selected few will know.

One of the leaders suddenly becomes mentally ill, but that is not totally apparent. It is a severe form of mania coupled with delusional psychosis. He has decided that all dragons must become friends ASAP. They just need to sign a peace agreement and that's it. There is no actual plan: every dragon just have to do that within a week or two. Ignoring the agreement the guild has with the dragon, the leader sends the PCs to tell the dragon that she must make peace with red dragons and that is an order. This is not negotiable.

When the PCs tell her this, she realizes that she has been betrayed and she takes the demand as an implicit death threat aimed at her and her babies. The PCs can also see her hoard of gold and food when they enter her lair.

The PCs are a half-orc, a mean human wizard and a pixie. The dragon does not know that much about pixies.

What should the dragon do next? Would be it impossible for her to eliminate the threats and flee with her eggs?

Edit: Would it make any difference if we were talking about bronze dragons or copper dragons instead?

[Crake]

The answer to your question is dependant on a piece of information you left out: How old is the dragon?

[Jon_Dahl]

The answer to your question is dependant on a piece of information you left out: How old is the dragon?

A young adult. They can lay eggs, right? I will add that to the OP.

[Crake]

A young adult. They can lay eggs, right? I will add that to the OP.

According to the draconomicon, yes, young adult is the age category where dragons can begin to lay eggs.

As a side note, while dragons have tendencies toward certain personality traits, each dragon is as much an individual as each human, so while the age of the dragon will help inform what options are available, which one of those options the dragon picks is ultimately up to you, based on the dragon's personality, unless you're just using the stereotypical gold dragon persona.

[Karl Aegis]

The same thing as every other dragon: Fight, die, get looted.

[Cruiser1]

A young adult Gold Dragon has all three of INT, WIS, and CHA 18+, so even though she's "overprotective" and feels that she's "been betrayed", she's not stupid and won't act recklessly. Gold Dragons are also "always lawful good", so she's not going to be chaotic or evil in her response either.

I imagine she'd start by emphasizing the oath, the importance of keeping oaths, and try to get the adventurers to enforce it for her. That would also allow give her time to investigate what's really going on, and how she should respond to the guild leader (especially if she learns that he has suddenly become mentally ill for some reason).

[Psyren]

When the PCs tell her this,

Uh... did none of them realize this NPC is crazy and refuse the quest? Or corroborate it with any of the other leaders before going?


she realizes that she has been betrayed and she takes the demand as an implicit death threat aimed at her and her babies. The PCs can also see her hoard of gold and food when they enter her lair.

What should the dragon do next? Would be it impossible for her to eliminate the threats and flee with her eggs?

What exactly were the PCs tasked to do? Deliver a message? Threaten her into meeting with the red dragons? Attack her if she doesn't, and fight her to the death? Can't she simply say "no?" A crazy NPC can tell the PCs to coerce a gold dragon all he wants, what they do with that is still up to them. There's a few holes here.

[Katie Boundary]

She assumes humanoid form and rolls to seduce the whole party.

In Soviet Russia...

[Yahzi Coyote]

Ignoring the agreement the guild has with the dragon, the leader sends the PCs to tell the dragon that she must make peace with red dragons and that is an order.
She signs the peace treaty, knowing that the Red Dragons will never sign it (or will violate it first). She asks the messengers if they think requiring Team Good to unilaterally disarm is a wise (or sane) idea. She serves them tea and biscuits and sends them off.

Unless the party convinces her that they understand how nuts the Guild Leader is and that they are going to do something about it, when they return her lair is empty - she's packed off for some other part of the world that isn't run by lunatics. She's a shapechanging powerful creature with money. Toss out a mindblank, disguise herself as a wandering merchant, and she can lay low for years.

[GrayDeath]

Sooo, what possessed the PC`s to actually accept this?

I mean the guy might think hes hot and all, but ORDERING a DRAGON to "Do this, Now!" is....if not insane then insanely ambitious.

So why didnt anybody realize this, or at least ask him what he is thinking?

Knowing your other Threads, let me guess: To force the Players into a bad situation? ^^

[Jon_Dahl]

Knowing your other Threads, let me guess: To force the Players into a bad situation? ^^

Your guess is spot on. Although "force" is too strong. They are not really compelled to do anything.

[Psyren]

Your guess is spot on. Although "force" is too strong. They are not really compelled to do anything.

The dragon's response (i.e. the question you asked the thread) is still contingent on what exactly the players said to her, the tone of the communication, and whether the dragon believes they are willing/able to force her to do anything.

[Jon_Dahl]

The dragon's response (i.e. the question you asked the thread) is still contingent on what exactly the players said to her, the tone of the communication, and whether the dragon believes they are willing/able to force her to do anything.

Of course. I'm just preparing myself for the "the players do what I expected them to do" scenario. I always have problems expecting the unexpected scenarios.

[Psyren]

Of course. I'm just preparing myself for the "the players do what I expected them to do" scenario. I always have problems expecting the unexpected scenarios.

Then my answer is "it depends." Others might want to extrapolate further.

[Hua]

Delivering an ultimatum is always based on the ability to enforce it.
Are the PCs going to enforce it if she says no? If so, how?
Nowhere do you state that those that refuse must die. Do the PCs take it as a "comply or die" or only a "comply or move out of this territory"? Both are full possibilities if not stated.

If the PCs attack a good aligned creature with intent to kill the dragon should kill them. Heck, real world Castle Doctrine. You come into someone's home and say you will kill their kids, expect to get killed instead and no wrong-doing by the defender is done.

Also, by putting in that the PCs see her treasure, you are implying that greed is going to be a significant factor in their decision on what to do. This changes it from a moral dilemma of obeying their guild leader to one of greed and evil.

PCs in this situation should inform the dragon of the guild leader's stated declaration and then leave. In effect, give warning to the dragon that there is potential problem and then report back to guild leader the dragon's response. If the guild leader says to go kill her and her eggs and they do it, well, see how well the Nurnberg trials worked for claiming "I was just obeying orders".

I suspect that in the meantime, the dragon has either moved, or enlisted aid of a far more powerful dragon as defense. Let the PCs come back and find 3 elder gold dragons and see if cowardice changes the outcome.

[16bearswutIdo]

"No. Oaths are important, and your guild leader made one. If you and he intend to break it, I won't be bound by it and will defend my home and children."

And the ball is thrown back into the PC's court. Presumably if the dragon got low, she'd just grab her eggs and fly off.