Black dragons' lair

[HoboKnight]

So, I'm setting up a new stage for my new campaign. PCs will be tasked with infiltrating a black dragons' minions, get all the intel they can and get out. I'm trying to shape this dragon and his abode.

It's an adult black dragon and I've already posted some threads on dragon cruelty. Yeah, this guy is basically Hannibal Lecter in a draconic body. Purpose of this whole thing is to present chromatics as evil as possible. I intend to bind this to helplessness and dragons' immense power. (yet, eventually along the line, PCs are expected to be strong enough, to actually take this guy down).

So, what do I have so far?

I've placed dragon's lair in Farsea Swamp, Fens of Tun part. Part of the swamp, which the dragon resides in, is immensely forested. Massive, tall trees, obscuring the sun. Rotting vegetation, mutated alligators and other nasty things.

In the middle of this, there is a lake, full of muddy water. Dragon resides there. He sleeps at the bottom of the lake, enjoying being hidden from sight and emerging, when he sees fit. Lake is a nasty place to fight him - any creature without Blindsight is effectively blinded in muddy water.

Next to the lake is ossuary - several dozen tons of bones. All sorts of bones, humanoid, animal, small critters, large beasts. These bones are brought to the dragon as tribute by his minions. Purpose is simple: Dragon's hoard resides on top of them. Gold, if placed on the ground in a swamp, will sink. Thus, a ton of gold and other items, this dragon owns, rests upon bones of tens of thousands of dead creatures. It is guarded from the sky by massive treetops.

Not far from this is "pickle pit" - another small lake, surrounded by crudely created fence. Within the pit are dragon's victims with their limbs rotting. Not far from this is "the village". Occasionally, entire families are kidnapped from places near and far from dragon's lair, brought here, to be tortured by the dragon, placing family members one against the other. Nearby is the third "Entertainment lodge" for the dragon, devoted only to elves. Any elves, that are caught, are bound in that part of the swamp for their stomach acid to be drained. Dragon really likes it, it is like exquisite vine to to him. Process of extracting stomach acid is of course extremely painful and sooner or later, lethal.

So much of his torture places.

This dragon also has his "Hunters''. They are a motley crew of kobolds, lizardfolk, humans and some demihumans, tasked with hunting down whoever manages to escape imprisonment. Of course Black one loves the hunt, but through centuries, he saw, some feet on the ground are not bad assistance.

Besides the "Hunters", there are two large tribes living around these facilites - a tribe of lizardfolk and a tribe of kobolds. They are completely devoted to Lake god. This devotion was a good stepping stone for the dragon - he actually managed to bring up two very powerful kobold sorcerers (I'd use Archmage NPC). These two help him in his schemes and boost him in battle if needed. He also has two enslaved/endebted Fomorians, who serve him. All off his minions live in huts on stilts.

For several miles around the lair, the swamp is full of feral half-dragons, half-dragon alligators, etc.

As for magic items in his possession, dragon has a Ring of Free Action and Ring of Fire resistance upon him at all times. Along this, he is also an owner of Crystal Ball. He loves to spy on his victims, even releasing some of them, to torture them by Scrying on them.


This is what I have so far. I'd really appreciate a critical review of this concept and any comments are appreciated, connected to positioning, concepts, lore, whatever.

thank you

[KittenMagician]

it doesnt really feel like a lair. most chromatic dragons are extremely jealous of there hoard and would not share or let others see it if they could help it. I suggest this shown off hoard be a decoy for his true hoard. maybe the lake is deeper and leads underground to his true lair where his true hoard is. it seems that with all sorts nearby just leaving his hoard on display out in the open doesnt really strike me as chromatic.

overall the ideas are pretty sound

[HoboKnight]

it doesnt really feel like a lair. most chromatic dragons are extremely jealous of there hoard and would not share or let others see it if they could help it. I suggest this shown off hoard be a decoy for his true hoard. maybe the lake is deeper and leads underground to his true lair where his true hoard is. it seems that with all sorts nearby just leaving his hoard on display out in the open doesnt really strike me as chromatic.

overall the ideas are pretty sound

Thanks.

Dungeons in D&D are always welcome, but I've read on swamps and tunnels in a swamp sound really unrealistic. it's mud, muck and water. I really do not see any way, you could build a dungeon in a swamp. (I like my settings to be at least semi-realistic).

I totally agree with hoard being out in the open to be unrealistic, given chromatics, but ... That's a solution I came up with. Hopefully, playground suggests some other solutions.

[Altheus]

Thanks.

Dungeons in D&D are always welcome, but I've read on swamps and tunnels in a swamp sound really unrealistic. it's mud, muck and water. I really do not see any way, you could build a dungeon in a swamp. (I like my settings to be at least semi-realistic).

I totally agree with hoard being out in the open to be unrealistic, given chromatics, but ... That's a solution I came up with. Hopefully, playground suggests some other solutions.

I think the dungeon would take the form of paths that you can walk on vs more squishy watery mud that will suck your boots off.

The dragon might be able to semi-submerge a wooden building to hold the hoard dry and seperated from the swamp. They might also have a puddle of black dragon breath covering the any gold in the hoard that they top up every day.

[Kurt Kurageous]

...but I've read on swamps and tunnels in a swamp sound really unrealistic. it's mud, muck and water. I really do not see any way, you could build a dungeon in a swamp. (I like my settings to be at least semi-realistic).

Ok, somewhere down there the muddy water meets a clay table and a stone lair. Underneath that is the dragons personal space. It is filled with water, and any treasure has to survive that or be stored in an air pocket. The dragon could have skeletons (From magic item? Spell?) or other non-breathing mook guards.

I've done this with a green dragon using skeletons (immune to poison), which allowed the dragon to breathe behind the mooks. Not sure what acid-immune mooks there are. My dragon build a vertical tunnel (well?) which had a passage off of it 10' from the bottom (so those who just fell in couldn't see/get to it easily. I guess if I wanted to be nastier, I'd put some kind of lid on the well (ropes? chains? large something needing dragon strength to move?) to stop those who enter from escaping and eventually drowning.

Which brings up an important fact. Water is very very dangerous to non-water breathers. Your massive HP total doesn't matter. You fall unconscious, you drown. There's very little margin for error. and using CR doesn't cut it. Consider that in your lair.

Your black dragon also values its "alone time." Putting a lot of pesky, demanding sentient beings around may cause annoyance in the dragon.

I also like the idea of a bone tribute/shrine/temple to the Lake God, just not for storing treasure. The shrine pleases the dragon, but if it were destroyed, the dragon would shrug it off. "They built it once, they can build it again." Sorta like the fate of Horse in Animal Farm.

[HoboKnight]

Ok, somewhere down there the muddy water meets a clay table and a stone lair. Underneath that is the dragons personal space. It is filled with water, and any treasure has to survive that or be stored in an air pocket. The dragon could have skeletons (From magic item? Spell?) or other non-breathing mook guards.

I've done this with a green dragon using skeletons (immune to poison), which allowed the dragon to breathe behind the mooks. Not sure what acid-immune mooks there are. My dragon build a vertical tunnel (well?) which had a passage off of it 10' from the bottom (so those who just fell in couldn't see/get to it easily. I guess if I wanted to be nastier, I'd put some kind of lid on the well (ropes? chains? large something needing dragon strength to move?) to stop those who enter from escaping and eventually drowning.

Which brings up an important fact. Water is very very dangerous to non-water breathers. Your massive HP total doesn't matter. You fall unconscious, you drown. There's very little margin for error. and using CR doesn't cut it. Consider that in your lair.

Your black dragon also values its "alone time." Putting a lot of pesky, demanding sentient beings around may cause annoyance in the dragon.

I also like the idea of a bone tribute/shrine/temple to the Lake God, just not for storing treasure. The shrine pleases the dragon, but if it were destroyed, the dragon would shrug it off. "They built it once, they can build it again." Sorta like the fate of Horse in Animal Farm.

Okay, nice contribution, but... I don't understand some things. A clay table? A stone lair? A stone lair? In a swamp? What, dragon had 3-d printed lair made of concrete? And have it sink in the swamp? (Reminder: even this thing fills with mud and sluice extremely fast. It's a swamp)

Love the mooks ideas. Basically ALL the other ideas. Great stuff. Except for the lair. I'd really appreciate some clarification on that. Thanks. :)

[KittenMagician]

Okay, nice contribution, but... I don't understand some things. A clay table? A stone lair? A stone lair? In a swamp?

do you think it's swamp all the way to the core of the earth? go down far enough and there is bound to be something more solid. this could be a layer of clay (a clay table) or bedrock. it could be as shallow as 20 or 30 feet, which to humanoids is too far to get down to but for a big ass dragon its nothing, especially if he/she has a lake to cut through some of the muck all the easier. maybe he can swim down far enough to get at the side of a bedrock shelf where the is a cave with even an air pocket.

[HoboKnight]

do you think it's swamp all the way to the core of the earth? go down far enough and there is bound to be something more solid. this could be a layer of clay (a clay table) or bedrock. it could be as shallow as 20 or 30 feet, which to humanoids is too far to get down to but for a big ass dragon its nothing, especially if he/she has a lake to cut through some of the muck all the easier. maybe he can swim down far enough to get at the side of a bedrock shelf where the is a cave with even an air pocket.

Oh, now I get it! I had *ahem* an actual table in mind. Lol.

Oooh, so ... we COULD have a cave system down there - maybe dragon takes some time and claws his way through the clay and perhaps stone ... still, the mud thing worries me. I feel like mud and silt would will any such systems pretty fast.

[KittenMagician]

its possible that the lake already extends down into the bedrock (or clay table) and he just needs to dig into the side of the lake wall

[Kurt Kurageous]

Oh, now I get it! I had *ahem* an actual table in mind. Lol.

Oooh, so ... we COULD have a cave system down there - maybe dragon takes some time and claws his way through the clay and perhaps stone ... still, the mud thing worries me. I feel like mud and silt would will any such systems pretty fast.

The dangers of being literal in an message board meets the limitations of posted context vs readability on a message board.

Mud does not defy gravity and can be removed by manual labor of mooks. Its only a problem if the dragon only digs down, never slightly up. A slight upturn should solve most of the mud issues. amd perhaps some of the silt. But the silt is a nonissue to the dragon cuz vision. It knows its lair like you know your own dwelling. You can move around (at least 1/2 speed?) in the dark there, and you don't have the dragon's vision.

Your black is not going to "claw his way" so much as use acid to dissolve/weaken the stone to make its life easier. I read blacks aren't much into manual labor, more into working captives the death. Thus why undead suit them, except there's not a lot your black can do to amuse itself with a skeleton's suffering. Perhaps mutilate them with acid? But the skeleton won't scream or show signs of agony, and that's the real payoff for your black.

Hope this helps your ideas.

[HoboKnight]

The dangers of being literal in an message board meets the limitations of posted context vs readability on a message board.

Mud does not defy gravity and can be removed by manual labor of mooks. Its only a problem if the dragon only digs down, never slightly up. A slight upturn should solve most of the mud issues. amd perhaps some of the silt. But the silt is a nonissue to the dragon cuz vision. It knows its lair like you know your own dwelling. You can move around (at least 1/2 speed?) in the dark there, and you don't have the dragon's vision.

Your black is not going to "claw his way" so much as use acid to dissolve/weaken the stone to make its life easier. I read blacks aren't much into manual labor, more into working captives the death. Thus why undead suit them, except there's not a lot your black can do to amuse itself with a skeleton's suffering. Perhaps mutilate them with acid? But the skeleton won't scream or show signs of agony, and that's the real payoff for your black.

Hope this helps your ideas.

It does! I was already thinking about skeletons aaand... I guess one of the kobold should specialize in necromancy! More fluff! Awesome!

[NoxMiasma]

What about, maybe in concert with the cave system, we take those trees you mentioned, and make them [I]really big?[I] Some kinds of mangroves have very cool-looking, arched roots that keep the leaves above water, and using those as struts or supports for the above-ground (but below-water) structures could be cool. Sorta like a beaver dam thing, maybe for the minions to live in?

Another note: black dragons are amphibious, which means that if it's caverns are partially flooded, and partially full of air, that could stymie both aquatic and air-breathing intruders.