The rock bounced off of one branch and into the trunk of the scrub bush - producing a satisfying tap-tap. Aoide traded another of the slick stones from her left hand to her right; tossing it up to herself a few times, taking a bead - perhaps she could hit three...
"Be careful, Halfling."
The Elf's voice was stern, but simultaneously indifferent. Information, not warning.
"Throw too many of those things and you may disturb the spirit of the place."
Aoide continued tossing the dusty stone to herself.
"There's naught but rocks, sticks, and what pass these parts for trees in this place," she replied, "I'm just moving one piece of spirit over next to the other."
The Elf's lip curled. It might have been a smile. Smoke curled likewise - along the meandering breeze into her nostrils. Good - the others had gotten the fire going; they'd be eating soon enough.
Then a crash.
A hillock - no, not a hillock - beneath the rise a hundred yards distant lurches upwards: first, a head the size of a horse's; then a barrel of a neck; then wings: snapping against gravity. A serpent - a 30 foot serpent - ascends rapidly to the south, away from the camp. Rush - rush in the campsite, dirt is kicked to the campfire, horses rounded up and led back - Aoide is transfixed.
The creature is in the air. Beneath it, behind it, streamers - four feet long - waiving in the wind like many tails from a kite. It gazes down, circles once - it is beautiful.
It turns - with a powerful thrust, it fades to the south.
"We should disturb spirits more often!"
The Hills are Alive
Grass Dragons are the lords of the plains - guardians of grain; sovereigns of the swaying steppe. Their coloration can vary from a sandy tan to light green, depending on the lands they occupy - however the defining characteristic to distinguish them from other beasts of similar ilk is the termination of their scales. An individual scale being leaf, or spade, shaped - at its pointed culmination, a less chitinous tendril forms, light and flexible along the stalk, but frayed at the top - like a reed. These stalks are naturally gravitate upwards, such that if the dragon is at rest, they will face the sky, moving with the breeze as would grass around them - however if the dragon moves, they will move with it: the base first, the shaft and head following in sequence as their inertia is broken.
Continual motion - such as flight - will largely have these shafts in conformity to form: that is, they do not point skyward if the beast is galloping across the plain, but instead trail behind as streamers in its slip-stream; but abrupt motion, such as the raising of its head to observe interlopers to its dominion, waking from its slumber, will cause a ripple effect along the moving lengths.
Grass Dragons are found in the plains - in the steppes or the savannas -
places where grass grows tall and where the wind blows free.
Encountering Grass Dragons
| Grass Dragon |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Armor Class: | 2 | No. Appearing: | 1-3 |
| Hit Dice: | 9 | Save As: | Fighter 9 |
| Move: | Std: 90' (30') Fly: 240' (80') | Morale: | 9 |
| Attacks: | Claw / Claw Bite | Treasure Type: | ~ (H) |
| Damage: | 1-6 / 1-6 3-24 | Alignment: | Neutral |
| Frequency: | Rare | Chance In Lair: | 10% |
- Chance of Talking: 35%
- Chance of Being Asleep: 35%
- Spells by Level (1/2/3): 2/2/1
Grass Dragons, at a glance, seem more animalistic than a traditional dragon - which arises in part from a very feline demeanor. When able to speak, they speak little: they have more in common with the earth than they do with the creatures that walk it.
Grass Dragons are only weakly territorial - tolerating interlopers commonly with indifference, less commonly with curiosity - but will object viciously to destruction of their environment. They are anathema to fire and react negatively to smoke or things that smell of smoke.
Due to their shape and scale biology, Grass Dragons are easy to miss in a sea of grass. Thus, a dragon which is encountered outside its lair has a 4-in-6 chance to surprise - if the dragon is asleep, it is likely the party will not notice it at all: instead thinking it merely a shift of topography. Grass Dragons, if awake, cannot be surprised in a grassland environment (though underground, or in other biomes, surprise as normal).
Breath Weapon
- Template: Cloud
- Range: 40' x 40' x 20'
When a Grass Dragon breathes, it breathes a strong wind that is permeated by shrapnel: kernels, grain spikes, and chaff. It swirls in a vortex - following the physical imprint of a typical cloud breath effect.
Any character who takes damage from a Grass Dragon's breath attack is considered seeded. After 1d6 rounds if the dragon is still alive and in proximity (or 1d6 hours if the dragon has been killed or has departed) a seeded character must roll a Save vs Poison. On failure, they sprout tendrils akin to dogweed - which will impede them until removed. A seeded character as such suffers a -1 penalty on attack rolls only, a -1 penalty to Poison and Paralysis Saves, or a -2 penalty to any Save to negate a fire effect, such as a Fireball.
- Magic akin to Remove Disease or Remove Curse will eliminate seeding.
- Additionally, if the character takes fire damage, there is an X-in-6 chance (where X is the amount of damage taken), that the seeds will burn, removing the effect.
- A referee may allow a character to attempt burning to remove the affect: which can typically be abbreviated as taking 1d6 flame damage.
Left untreated, the character may manually remove the stalks - which is unpleasant, but has no negative game effect: so doing will allow them to save the following morning: on success, they suffer no penalties on that day; on failure, they regrow tendrils again - impeded until they are yanked out or burned again.Manual removal of the stalks takes one turn.
After three such consecutive successes, the condition is lifted.
Lair and Treasure
Grass Dragon lairs tend to be shallow hollows in the earth, filled with the odds and ends of interlopers who drew the dragon's ire, complimented by offerings from primitive peoples - perhaps from an older time - who saw them as harbingers of fertility.
Grass Dragons tend to have little interest in physical treasure - contrary to the nature of some other wyrms - but they will guard what they do have instinctively. They have been known, however, (as supported by the offertory portion of their hordes) to make trades.
Resistances and Immunities
Grass Dragons are immune to Poison and resist Cold or Ice: taking half damage therefrom.
Grass Dragons are vulnerable to Fire: taking double damage therefrom.
In subduing a Grass Dragon, they are half as likely as normal to be subdued, in terms of percentiles. However, if a credible threat is made to the grasslands, such as the positioning for starting large scale destruction of the habitat, these chances should be increased proportionally - up to but not exceeding double the normal chance.
Deeper Lore
Grass Dragons are sustained by the living steppe. Specifically, the impetus that drives graminoids to burst from their seed casings to bathe in the sunlight: then likewise the catharsis of their decay with the seasons - their purpose having been fulfilled and their ecology maintaining the eternal cycle. This process - this energy - is what sustains the dragon, who keeps watch over a territory to which they are innately connected.
The territory required for a dragon is proportional to its size: a copse in the woods, a break in the trees being sufficient for a hatchling - up to a day's full flight of hexes needed for an ancient sleeper.
A dragon being sustained by the life of the plains, itself, will thus sleep for as long as the natural balance is in order: often times, ancient wyrms residing in primordial spaces will curl up over their lairs, blocking the entry and becoming one with the earth. Because of this connection - if a Grass Dragon's range is damaged, such as by the building of a township, such as by wildfires, by mudslides, or other events diminishing the space, the dragon will wake through hunger - its reaction to the change will differ based on circumstances, but regardless, the larger the disturbance, the more likely and the more rapidly the creature will wake and act.
Grass Dragons do not reproduce in the typical sense - instead, they are forces of nature which are created codependent with the growth of their habitat: untamed wild begets dragons; dragons advance untamed wilds. When groups are encountered, they are most frequently siblings - manifested together through the coalescence of being, bonded through their shared experience and affinities. And while a Grass Dragon shares kinship with other Grass Dragons - so long as their ranges are distinct enough to keep good neighbors - the relationship between siblings is different and strong: a Grass Dragon will defend its siblings viciously and without fear or intimidation.
Public domain artwork downloaded from OldBookIllustrations.com, the National Gallery of Art, or Wikimedia Commons and adapted for thematic use. Attributions in alt text.
These elemental monsters always remind me of ghibli movies. Very nice to have surprise encounters on wide plains
ReplyDeletePD: I read GLASS dragons all the way until the end. That would also be cool, as blown glass dragon golems or something.
Nice!
DeleteI'm a fan of Ghibli movies - though a recent convert (well... relatively recent) - my wife introduced me to them after we got married. They haven't had the opportunity to influence one of my games yet - but now that you've got me thinking, that might be interesting.