Avarice

A Note on Dragons

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Most people still don't know that there are. Dragons traditionally keep their lairs way up in the highest peaks of the Mountain, higher than any bird can fly. They choose caverns whose entrances open out to sheer cliff faces, too steep for even goats to climb.

As an added precaution, the dragons' magic twists the lands around their lairs into deadly labyrinths of rock, ice, and thorns. Adventurers foolish enough to venture too near are tricked into taking whatever path leads to a quick slip down a mudslide, all the way to the bottom of a spike-filled pit, where they're entangled by poisonous vines, and, finally, impaled to death by jagged icicles falling from the ceiling. Or something along those lines, depending on the dragon.

Some dragons live deep underground instead. They hide their hoards in the fissures of canyons while summoning sand storms in the desert above, to deter any potential looters.

But no dragon had ever kept a lair in the Valley.

The Valley crawls with too many critters. Squirrels, rabbits, and elves make their homes amongst the enormous cedars and spruce. They love it because the canopy filters the sun and scatters the rain so that the climate is always pleasantly mild on the mossy forest floor. The Meadows are no better. Deer, mice, and birds are everywhere. And those tiny travellers—the halflings who normally roam in small bands of covered wagons—always seem to congregate around the River Basin come harvest season. No, keeping track of all those potential thieves is too tiring, so dragons prefer to keep to themselves in more secluded regions.

The older they get and the larger their collections grow, the more the dragons isolate themselves even from each other, in order to protect their possessions. Young dragons, however, do tend to stick together with their clutch-mates for the first hundred years or so. Just until they develop the powers to establish their own lairs.

The only time most dragons form any bonds at all is in the Nest, where they spend their first few years as wyrmlings fighting over scraps of food dropped to them by their mothers. That's about all that is required of a dragon parent, since dragons are born with all the memories of their ancestors genetically pre-programmed into their brains. Their bodies, however, need time, food, and most of all wealth, to grow to their full and mighty potential—A process that takes hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Most dragons reproduce only once, if at all, even though they are able to for most of their very long lifespans. All any dragon needs to do is decide that it's time and the Nest is filled with a piece of that dragons' magic, which solidifies into chromatic, sometimes even metallic, eggs.

Since technically that makes them an asexual species, the Draconic language never developed the concept of gender. But (probably because of the egg thing) most tales written in the common tongue refer to dragons as female, so I'll follow that convention here. Don't make the mistake of thinking that tells you anything about their character, though.

The Nest was the only thing the dragons shared with each other. It sits atop the highest peak at the center of the vast star-shaped mountain range, simply called the "Mountain" by its inhabitants. The Nest is cold, the air thin, the cup-shaped dolomite open to the sky. There is no chance of predators up here, relieving mothers from the chore of having to protect their clutch. The winds whip violently over the mouth of the Nest, but act more as a protective blanket than as an imminent threat. It's the perfect environment to keep speckled dragon eggs safe.

This is where all dragons begin their journey.

The Nest

No one understood why the red dragon decided to lay her clutch when she did. She waited until she was ancient, whereas most dragons got child-rearing out of the way well before their first millennial. She was already one of the largest dragons on the Mountain, and claimed to have the largest hoard. So why bother?

Never-the-less, a thousand years ago or so, before the dwarves had even arrived at the Mountain, the red dragon filled the Nest with three eggs.

The first was about three feet wide and four feet tall. It looked like it was made of solid copper, polished smooth and shiny except where it was decorated with solid ovals and wispy swirls of velvety green patina.

The second egg, a little shorter and squatter than the first, was a dark mossy green. It was covered with splotches of reddish-brown and smears of sage that made it look like it had rolled along the Forest floor and been coated with mud and leaves.

This was in stark contrast to the crisp cleanliness of the third egg.

The third and smallest egg was completely white, so bright that it didn't even hold a shadow. The white shell was matte, except where a shiny diamond pattern banded around and around. The diamonds were so shiny, in fact, that they reflected little rainbows all around the Nest, the way sunlight dances through a crystal. Not that anyone ever saw it.

The three sisters began talking to each other months before hatching. Their personalities already fully-formed the moment they gained consciousness.

Syrax: I can't wait to collect new stories down below. I bet the halflings have the best ones, thanks to all their travels.

Flurry: You know the rules, Syrax. We have to establish our lairs before we can even begin collecting anything. I'm thinking I want my front door to be hidden behind a waterfall.

Kaida: Nobody cares about the rules, Flurry. I'm just gonna freeze the whole Mountain and claim everything in the ice as my own.

Her sisters snickered at that, assuming she was joking. That made fog flare from Kaida's nostrils. She could do it. She'd show them. She stomped her foot in anger, like she did every time her sisters laughed at her. But this time she stomped so hard that her foot broke right through her pristine and protective shell.

Silence rang through the Nest.

Flurry: Uhhh…Kaida? Did you just…?

Syrax: …hatch?!!

Something about the sound of the egg cracking gave Syrax the overwhelming desire to make that sound too. She tried a quick backwards jab with her elbow, grinning wildly.

CRACK! Tinkle. Copper confetti fell to the floor.

Syrax: Yessss! Flurry, try it!

Flurry went for a headbutt, but it was only enough to make a little series of spiderweb cracks in her mossy-green shell. The motion did send her into a summersault though, rolling her egg up the side of the Nest before spinning out and crashing back down into her sisters.

All three eggs split wide open.

The sisters spent the next few hours smashing their egg shells into dust and wrestling with each other to test out their limbs, tails, and teeth. Once they'd exhausted themselves, they curled up on the bed of sparkling multicoloured sand that had formed in the bottom of the Nest—the remnants of the shells of all their ancestors—and went to sleep while they waited for Mother to bring them breakfast.

* * *

In the early days, Mother would bring them food nearly every morning. She started with gentle things like berries, mushrooms, and nuts. Even freshly baked bread once. But the wyrmlings were barely six-feet long tip-to-tip; Kaida was closer to five. They needed to at least double in size before they'd be able to safely leave the Nest. For that kind of growth, they needed protein.

The first animal Mother brought them was a salmon, which was delicious even while raw and wriggling. When Mother brought them rabbits for the first time, Syrax and Flurry asked her to breathe fire on their kills to burn off the hair and cook the meat. Kaida, conversely, was happy to rip into the rabbit's flesh with her teeth while the blood was still warm and juicy.

None of the sisters breathed fire, unfortunately, so there weren't a lot of hot meals in the Nest. Except on the few days Mother stuck around long enough to cook before getting bored and wandering off. The best Syrax could do was spray the meat with acid, which did have a decent marinating effect. Kaida was excellent at keeping the leftovers cold, which earned her Mother's coveted praise because it meant she needn't return as often. All Flurry could really do was burp up a noxious gas capable of making her sisters nauseous.

As the years went on, Mother returned less and less often. She brought bigger and deadlier game for her babies to battle and butcher every month or two. Until, eventually, she stopped coming altogether.

Kaida: I'm so hungry. It's been months since Mother brought us that polar bear. Is she ever coming back?

Syrax: I mean, she has been complaining that she's too big to keep flying all the way up here. She can't even fit in the Nest anymore.

The Nest was 25 feet at its widest. The last time Mother had tried to sit in it with her babies, she'd nearly squished them all to death.

Flurry: Doesn't matter. No one is allowed to stay in the Nest more than six years. We need to leave soon anyway. To survive or die on our own.

She echoed generations of dragons who had said the same thing before her.

Syrax: On our own, together. At least for a little while. Right?

Kaida and Flurry: Right.

Syrax: Ok then, so let's get out of here.

Kaida grumbled. Or maybe it was her stomach.

Kaida: Couldn't Mother have at least warned us that she wasn't coming back? We could have left a month ago with full bellies.

Flurry: I don't know what you're crying about. You've been complaining for ages that you want to get out and hunt something bigger than Mother ever brought us.

Kaida: I know. It just doesn't seem fair.

Syrax: Who cares about fair? Or the six-year rule. It's just time to go. Can't you feel it? And, no offence, but I'm so excited to talk to someone besides the two of you for a change.

She said that last part with a twinkle in her eye.

Kaida: No offence taken. You can finally tell your stupid stories about the gods to someone who cares.

Flurry: Aww, I like your stories, Syrax. I'm going to be a treasure hunter, just like in that story you made up about Avi. You liked that one too, Kaida. I know you did.

This time the grumble clearly came from Kaida's throat.

Kaida: Maybe if you told more about Lilitu, I'd like your stories better. But they're all about lover-god Eros and curious Ciman. They're so boring.

Syrax wasn't listening, she was staring up at the wind, wondering what it would be like to fly under all that pressure.

Flurry giggled as she watched Kaida lunge at their sister to get her attention, not one to be ignored. Catching her off-guard made it easy to pin Syrax to the ground. Kaida snarled viciously, the frost on her breath meant she was threatening real violence. Syrax called her bluff, sticking out her tongue and crossing her eyes, going for the best silly face she could muster. Kaida broke, and all three of them devolved into the last fit of childish laughter they'd ever have in the comfort and safety of the Nest.

Suddenly, the wind that had roared over them all their lives subsided, confirming it was time to go.

Syrax: Gimme a boost. I wanna peek before we go charging out there.

Flurry pounced on top of Kaida's back, who snarled and snapped playfully, but, ultimately, let her.

Flurry: Sure thing! Hop on!

Syrax hopped on top of the pile of dragons that still had tremors of laughter rumbling through it. She stretched her long neck up to peek outside the Nest for the very first time. But, before she could even take in the view, both of her sisters slipped out from under her and took flight, suddenly jealous that she was getting the first look at the outside world. Syrax's reflexes were quick though, so instead of falling back to the floor she managed to push herself off the lip of the Nest, taking flight behind her sisters.

The three young dragons circled the tallest and pointiest peak, in the center of a sea of pointy peaks poking above the fluffy clouds that covered the land below. Only one peak in approximately each cardinal direction was tall enough to reach these heights, where none but dragons ever played.

The Mountain

The sisters spent decades exploring the entirety of the Mountain together. They began by visiting the highest peaks, where the Great Wyrms lived. They knew it was expected of them to pay their respects to the elders right away. Though if it hadn't been for Flurry's nagging, they surely would have had many more detours along the road.

As they soared from peak to peak they took careful note of the ground below, paying special attention to anything new, anything that differed from the knowledge they'd inherited.

They updated their mental maps to show where the desert to the east was receding slightly. They noted that an ancient cedar had fallen in the south, leaving a nursery in its wake that seemed to be attracting an unusual number of primates. West of that, the coast line had changed shape quite a bit where the sea beat the craggy bluffs incessantly. Also, there was a strange echoing sound on the wind along that shore, eerie yet almost musical, that led the sisters to their cousin's newly established seaside lair. And finally, in the east, the halflings had cut a new road. A shortcut to where the high elves held court in their tall, polished granite and marble spires, gilded with gold and silver.

Kaida laughed wickedly the day they spied a group of elves practicing their swordplay on the railings around the spires.

Kaida: They're so stupid. Look at them bounding around like they think they can fly. They don't even realize it's just Auntie's lair that messing with their gravity.

An ancient silver dragon resided in what was once an elven citadel. Now long forgotten, it stood hidden in the clouds not a mile above the city.

Syrax: Aw, they're just having fun. I love it. I do prefer the elves that live in the Valley, though. They're more aligned with Eros and Maeve. Here it's all Abhi and Behrouz.

Flurry: Oh yeah! I liked it down there too. The Forest has a great earthy funky feel. It's too clean here. It smells like nothing but flowers.

Kaida rolled her eyes.

Kaida: Yeah, we all know you like funky smells, Flurry.

Flurry: Yuuupppp-uuuup-uup!

She belched the word so loud it echoed. Then she blew the resulting poisonous gas cloud into her sister's face. Kaida tried to hide it, but it was clear she threw up in her mouth a little. Point Flurry. Ice crystals formed in Kaida's nostrils as she took a deep breath and swallowed, preparing to retaliate.

Syrax: There is one last dragon we need to visit before we can start looking for our lairs, though.

Syrax spoke quietly, as if to herself. Yet her words stopped both of her sisters dead in their tracks.

Silently, they all thought the same thing in unison: Mother.

The Red Dragon

Mother lived in the volcanic peaks on the northwest side of the Mountain. They found her perched on one of the highest points, lording over the hellish wasteland. The rocks here were black and ragged. Rivers of magma flowed under the crust, causing the ground to heave up and the rock to melt, only to reform as the lava cooled in the air. Geysers of flame spurted up randomly, often in response to a deep rumble underfoot that seemed to shake the whole world.

Flurry: Ok, we've officially found a stench that's too funky even for me.

The sulphur in the air stung the sisters' eyes. Already a mile before they got here, they had noticed a rotten-egg taste in the water.

Syrax: It seems so lonely here. Even by dragon standards. I don't get why she'd pick this place.

Kaida: I think it's perfect. No one's gonna fuck with her here. The heat's not my thing, but watch, I can fix that.

She blew her icy breath on the path in front of them, cooling it so it became solid and still. Much easier to walk along.

Syrax: Thanks, sis!

Kaida glowered. She hadn't meant to be helpful.

Mother waited for them to climb all the way to her. They took the trek on foot, rather than fly. The air was too unpredictable here. At any moment, a bubble of hot gas—a thousand times bigger than Flurry's biggest burps—might escape from a fissure creating an updraught that, if it caught one wing wrong, could send even the largest of dragons careening into the molten slag.

Mother might be immune to fire; Her daughters, on the other hand, were not.

Finally, the sisters reached the precipice where Mother's gargantuan form sat perched cat-like on the pumice. Her long black horns looked almost as if the wind was sweeping them back off her face. Her scales were ruby red with deep purple undertones. Three rows of black-tipped spikes could be traced from the top of her head, all the way down her spine, to the tip of her tail. Smoke billowed from the slits in her beak-like nose as she breathed slowly. Her voice was deep and raspy.

Mother: Children. You've grown.

Syrax: Uh, yeah.

Duh.

Flurry: We've visited every dragon on the Mountain, Mother. It only took us 93 years!

If she was looking for a gold star, she didn't get it.

Kaida: You wanna show us your lair?

Mother: No.

The sisters couldn't hide their disappointment. Mother had often bragged about how she had the safest and largest hoard of all the dragons.

Syrax: Right. I guess none of us could swim through the lava to get to it…

Kaida: I could cool a path for us!

Mother shook her head.

Flurry: Ok, well, I guess we'll be going then. Nice to see you, Mother.

The sisters turned to leave, not sure what else was left to do.

Mother: Wait.

They turned back, eager to hear any advice or praise Mother had for them.

Mother: Make me proud.

Avarice

Once they were a safe distance from Mother's fiery lair, the three dragon sisters flew back to the Nest one last time. They didn't go inside, mostly because they couldn't fit in it together anymore. Also because the Nest belonged to a new clutch now. Five eggs were nestled in the bottom, silent and still, indicating they'd only recently been laid.

The sisters sat outside, taking in the Mountain. It was only from here, and on a clear day like today, that the whole range could be viewed. The Mountain stretched its long crooked fingers in every direction for almost as far as their dragon eyes could see. The sisters discussed everything they'd learned since they left here nearly a century ago. Then they debated where the best places for their lairs would be.

Kaida: I mean, this is really the best spot right here. It's the highest. The hardest to get to. And if you owned the Nest, technically every dragon would belong to your hoard, right?

Flurry: Kaida, you can't claim the Nest. The other dragons wouldn't allow it. Even you can't take all of us on.

Kaida: I could take you on.

Of that, there was no doubt. Though Kaida had started out as the smallest, she had outgrown her sisters in both height and muscle mass. Flurry, who had a penchant for sweet things, had her beat in the girth department though. Kaida poked her in the doughy belly.

Kaida: I tell ya, it's all about the protein. You gotta stop eating that plant-based crap.

Syrax: Shut up a sec, both of you. What is that?

Syrax pointed towards the desert with her copper claw.

From this distance they looked like ants. Smaller than ants even. But dragons have keen eyes, so they were pretty sure the ants were definitely moving creatures. A small cluster of them seemed to be migrating towards the Mountain.

Flurry: Look over there, close to the horizon.

Sure enough, from approximately the direction the ants were coming from, was another, larger, group of ants.

Syrax: Looks like Phobus is after them.

Kaida: Let's go get a closer look.

The sisters kept low as they descended to the Valley. They slinked their way from peak to peak, unfurling their leathery wings only every few minutes. A single stroke propelled them forward with so much force that they were able to glide along the slopes and ridges like airborne serpents.

The sisters soared silently over the Forest in the Foothills, wings spread wide, inches above the canopy. The gentle warm air that rose from the earth below made it easy to stay softly afloat. At the far end of the Valley—closest to the desert but where the trees were still big enough to support their weight—they landed in the highest branches and stealthily moved into position. Like cats stalking prey.

Once they found the perfect perch, a hundred feet above the hobbit trail that ran along the river, they settled in to wait for the ants to pass by.

Kaida: What if they don't come this way? How long are we going to wait?

Flurry: Shhh. They're almost here.

Syrax: How do you know that?

Syrax did her best to camouflage her whisper in the rustling of the leaves.

Flurry: Listen to the birds.

Her sisters listened, but couldn't hear what Flurry was hearing. Except, after a moment, they did hear something. Voices! Voices that spoke in an unfamiliar, folksy, if slightly guttural, dialect. The dragons could only translate a few words. The best they could tell, the conversation below went something like this:

Dwarf 1: What the hell were those beasts in the desert?

Dwarf 2: Just shadows. Put 'em outta yer mind.

Dwarf 3: Those weren't no shadows. They were demons, I tell ya. I saw their glowing red eyes.

Dwarf 4: Just be grateful they chased us towards the path to water. Let's hope the orcs aren't so lucky.

A clan of dwarves walked into the Valley, completely unaware of the three young dragons watching them intently.

Once they'd all passed well out of earshot, Kaida hissed.

Kaida: Those are dwarves! What are they doing here?

Flurry: There have never been dwarves in the Mountain before. They belong in the Great Halls under the Iron Range, on the other side of the Desert.

They all knew it, but she said it aloud anyway.

Syrax's liquid-copper eyes shone brighter than they'd ever shone before.

Syrax: Think of all the stories they just brought to the Mountain.

Flurry: You want to talk to them? Shouldn't we scare them away? They're probably here to steal the loot from our lairs!

Kaida: Seems to me like there's a horde of orcs on the way who are gonna take care of that problem for us. I say we just make popcorn and watch the carnage.

Syrax knew she'd never sway her sisters' minds by appealing to their sense of empathy or compassion. They had neither. They wouldn't care if she told them she'd love for her lair to be filled with the pieces of all nine gods that these dwarves brought with them. That she'd much prefer them to the orcs who smelled only of Avi, Phobus, and Lilitu. No, Flurry and Kaida wouldn't care about that. They might even revel in taking it from her, if they knew what she really wanted.

But there was one thing she knew they wanted: The thing that every dragon wanted.

Syrax: Sisters, use your heads. We don't know a lot about dwarves, but think about what we do know.

Flurry: They like to slay dragons and steal their treasure?

Kaida: They have a history of conquering mountains and claiming them as their own?

Syrax: Phobus is clouding your judgement. There were barely two hundred of them and they looked half starved. They're no threat to us. Think about what you saw when they passed.

Kaida: Suckers that are clearly running for their lives. The orcs must have massacred them.

Kaida mimed a one-two punch, followed by a kick and a perfectly executed back flip. When she landed nimbly two-thirds of the way down the branch it bounced up and down, accentuating her glee.

Syrax: Right. It looked like they left in a hurry. They were barely carrying anything with them at all. But they did each have one thing on them. Did you notice it?

Kaida and Flurry both gave a blank stare, waiting for her to get to the point.

Syrax: They had tools. Pickaxes. Dwarves are diggers. You know as well as I do what lies in the heart of the Mountain. Those dwarves are going to dig it up for us.

Grins spread slowly across her sisters' faces as understanding then greed filled their eyes. Syrax smiled and nodded. She'd never deny that Avi inspired her from time to time too.

Flurry whistled long and low.

Flurry: That'd sure make Mother proud.

Kaida looked pleased as a pussycat who'd just marked a mouse.

Kaida: Guess that means we're gonna fight some orcs.

--- fin ---

Avarice: A History from the Valley of Inspiration is an original story based, in part, on the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. It is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.