I write to you with two purposes: to commend and, hopefully, inform. Before I begin, I must inform you that I am what you would call an outlander. Like many outlanders, I came from a land free of the Mists and had already established myself as an adventurer.
First, let me commend you for taking up your Uncle Van Richten’s work. While I have never met the man, I am sure that he would be proud. My first exposure to his Guides was with a rather well-worn copy of his treatise on vampires. Since then, I’ve made an effort at considerable expense to obtain a copy of each of his treatises plus obtain copies of your works; which brings me to the purpose of this letter.
I have noticed that in my time in this land among the people that there is a disturbing lack of knowledge concerning dragons. While nearly everyone in the northern Core has heard about Ebb, Lord Azalin’s erstwhile shadow dragon mount, an alarming number people have relegated dragons to creatures of myth; almost in the same way fiends were until your Uncle’s guide. Enclosed are notes concerning the biology and psychology of dragons [author’s note: Draconomicon]. The goal of this letter, and hopefully, future correspondence is to reveal a dragon or dragon-related being living (or unliving) in the Core and beyond.
I hate to say that my first adventure in these Mist-filled lands coincides with the acquiring of the well-used guide mentioned above. Emerging from a heavy fog, I found myself in a land that I would come to know as Nova Vaasa. The abrupt change in scenery (I was originally hiking in a mountain forest) prompted me to be more cautious. As a skilled tracker, I determined that I was near a large settlement (Bergovitsa) and made my way to it. Without boring you with the details of my arrival and time in Bergovitsa, I stayed at a local inn once the language barrier was overcome. In an effort to get my bearings, I stayed in the inn’s common room/tavern. Eventually, an adventuring party had come into the inn searching for a place for the night and to hire a tracker. I approached and offered my services as a tracker, once a common language was discovered (Elven and Draconic). The group was very helpful in filling me in about Nova Vaasa, the world in general, my status as an outlander, and their need for a tracker. They were a band of vampire-hunters that had tracked a vampire to this region and apparently kept a lair outside of town. It was during this conversation about the vampire that I was introduced to Van Richten’s Guide to Vampires (albeit, I couldn’t read the language yet). It was through this guide that the band had become successful. The party had managed to identify the following things about the monster: He was a powerful spellcaster and he transformed into a huge snake instead of a wolf or bat. Ironically, for all their preparation, even your Uncle’s warning about no vampire being typical couldn’t save them, for I doubt even your Uncle would have imagined what we encountered.
We set out the next day in search of the vampire’s lair for reconnaissance and eventually battle. After spending much of the morning searching trails, I found a promising trail that lead to a semi-hidden cave. During the exploration of the cave and its tunnels, vampire spawn attacked us at several points. All the while, I was becoming nervous but I couldn’t figure out why. I shared my concerns with my employer-compatriots: While the cave was inhabited by a vampire, something was wrong about this lair. My employers attributed my nerves to inexperience (admittedly, I had never fought a vampire before), but I insisted on extra caution.
Eventually we found the lair. Within it stood our quarry, waiting for us. While it was almost mid-day outside the caves, the sun couldn’t reach here. I panicked, but not because of the awakened presence of the vampire, it was the lair. The lair was enormous, far larger than any humanoid would normally need, and surprisingly well-lit with continual torches. In a side-cave off to the left and back, I could see the glint of a large mound of treasure. To the right of this entrance was a dedicated altar. The statue was rather large, with bifurcated stone (black stone on one side, white stone on the other) was carved into a statue of a dragon. The vampire was worshipping a dragon god! The vampire welcomed us by becoming invisible. Prepared for this, the priestess cast a spell that allowed her to see our quarry. She looked around for a moment, then her face changed to confusion then to absolute horror. The next thing I witness is her getting picked up in the mouth of a dragon of deep purple color and being drained of blood. In that instant I knew we weren’t facing a human vampire but a dragon vampire. My earlier unease now made sense. I was subconsciously seeing signs of living dragon occupation that had faded with time. The courage I thought I had been blessed with fled and I made for the exit. I didn’t stop running until Bergovitsa. From there, I fled north making efforts to keep the draconic vampire from following me. Why I survived or why I wasn’t pursued I’ll never know. In the years since that encounter I’ve made cautious forays into Nova Vaasa to learn about this foe. The vampire’s original dragon species is of a variety called “deep dragon.” This type of dragon is native underground regions and but occasionally comes to the surface to hunt. Apparently, this undead dragon seems to prefer the surface for hunting.
That is my tale of my first encounter with a dragon (albeit an undead one) in this land. Since then, I’ve come across tales of dragons or actual dragons and I hope to share them with you.
Thank you for your time.
With regards,
______ [author’s note: I couldn’t come up with a good name]
Necropsiix, mature adult vampiric deep dragon: Huge undead; CR 18; HD 24d12+96, 174 hp; Init +7; Spd 40 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor), burrow 20 ft, swim 30 ft.; AC 36 (-2 size, +3 Dex, +25 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 33; BAB/Grp +24/+39, Atk +32 melee (bite, 2d8+7, 19-20), Full bite and +26 melee (2 claws, 2d6+3) and +26 melee (tail slap, 1d8+10) and +26 melee (2 wings, 1d8+3); S/R 15 ft./10 ft. (15 ft. with bite); SA breath weapon, fear aura, spells, spell-like abilities, energy drain, blood drain , charm, domination; SQ true seeing, charm immunity, electricity and cold resistance 20, fire resistance 10, snake form 4/day, human form 4/day, SR 26, DR 10/magic, fast healing 5, create spawn, divine conversion, undead traits, turn resistance +4; SV Fort +8, Ref +13, Will +19; Str 29, Dex 16, Con –, Int 22, Wis 21, Cha 22; AL CE.
Skills and Feats: Bluff +14, Concentration +33, Hide +41, Intimidate +33, Knowledge (arcana) +33, Knowledge (religion) +33, Listen +40, Move Silently +38, Search +41, Spot +40, Sense Motive +40, Survival +35; Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Track, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Survival), Snatch, Skill Focus (Hide), Improved Critical (bite), Shockwave, Weapon Focus (bite).
Charm: 210 feet, Will DC 28
Breath Weapon: Flesh-corrosive gas, 14d8 acid damage, Reflex DC 28, 50-ft. cone.
Domination: 100 feet, Will save DC 28
Divine Conversion: Necropsiix casts divine spells as an 11th-level cleric instead of a sorcerer.
Snake Form: Same size as dragon form with no legs, -6 to the AC, speed 30 ft, fly 10 ft. (poor), swim 30 ft., no claw attacks but can constrict for 3d6+7 damage with a free grapple check (no attacks of opportunity)
Sources: Monsters of Faerun, Draconomicon, Monster Manual
Comments?
Just a thought
Could you perhaps put in a bit more formatting to make readability better?
Sorry, I was doing the letter on the fly and cut and paste. I stand ready to be whipped.
Also, if someone could tell me what type of formatting, that would help (I just want to make sure my definition of formatting matches everyone elses.)
I like it, but like the other Thanael said, it needs to be a bit easier to read.. Also, while it's pretty nice to hear about, perhaps the unlucky fellow should describe in detail what the dragon did to his party just to prove the contempt that Evil Dragons (and probably especially the undeads ones) feels for other living beings.
Just a thought
In the original draft, I did, but I'm doing most of these posts from a college computer lab (hence, limited hours, and mine were running out.).
I did forget to put something about his personality, so here it is: Necropsiix enjoys word games. Most of his humanoid guises take names that are wordplays or anagrams (or both) of his given name (my campaign, he was known as Porceni Six). He is also a consumate hunter, the only reason the narrator escaped was because Necropsiix allowed, in an effort to spread the tale. Deep dragons are hunters and Necropsiix is no different.
By the way, if any of you decide to drop him into the Shadow Rift consider the following things first: One, shadow fey and changlings make very bad meals. Arak bodies would collapse into natural things upon death from blood drain and become widderibhinn (sp?) upon an energy drain (no vampire spawn) and changlings are constructs. Two, the Shadow Rift's temporal fugue makes somethings problematic. If, assuming a draconic vampire ages at the same power rate as other vampire templates, IIRC, you could have a eminent or patriarch (I can't remember which) inside 20 years (as measured outside the Rift). While this might be an interesting plot device, I doubt either Court or Gwydion would tolerate such a monster in the realm for long.