#true dragon

I'm going to assume you're somewhere in North America for this since that's my specialty. If not, please let me know!

Sounds like a Long-toed Dragon (Echinodraco* amnicus) showing you what they're named for. If you live in the southeastern United States, you might have also grown up calling them Eel Dragons—I've heard that's more common down there. The wings you observed are their webbed front feet. Out of every dragon in North America, they have the longest toe to foot ratio, which makes them extremely funny looking on land. The back feet are webbed, too, but they tend to be tucked up close to the tail when in flight. They're primarily aquatic, and the one you saw was probably either full-sized or close to it, since their length maxes out at about four and a half feet including their tail. They have that weird flight you observed with the front feet occasionally extended, usually when crossing through another Long-toed Dragon's territory as a show of talons. They're not very violent and usually raise their neck frills and hiss until the other one leaves, but sometimes they'll attack each other from below.

DRACONIS COMPENDIUM

Geode Dragon Geodine geodine

The geode dragon (G. geodine) is a member of the non-metallic gem-based dragon genus Geodine. Geode dragons are born from geodes. They are born with only a hard, rocky outer layer of scales that breaks away to reveal gem scales underneath. This gives older dragons larger gem coverage. They also come in many gem variations, some being rarer than others. Their scales are not truly composed of that gem; they are far stronger and immune to the geode dragon’s signature acid spray attack.

Entry by M. Darkbringer, 10/15/2019; Authorized 10/27/19 by the Wizard’s Organization of Taxonomic Classification

–

Sort of the chromatic equivalent of bronze dragons in a sense, gray dragons are coastal creatures, finding their home not in the depths of the ocean or the mightiest peaks but in those places where land and water meet.  They make their lairs in hills or mountains near the coast, somewhere close enough to humanoid society to make practical their love of slavery.  Few adults gray dragons lack slaves, their disregard for lesser beings contributing to the practice, and they ruthlessly apply force and terror to communities that don’t submit to their will.  That makes them similar to the Bestiary 2’s brine dragons up to a point but where they diverge is this: Brine dragons seek to rule out of a desire for power and rulership and are likely open to arrangements and methods that eschew violence and destructive reduction of their power base as long as the dragon is clearly on top.  When you start talking about gray dragons, though, it’s about cruelty, subjugation, and degradation of those who are lesser.  They just don’t care about their slaves on average, not even as a means to increase their own prestige and influence.  It’s not power they crave, it’s servitude and toadying.  Once a slave ceases to be amusing or useful, their purpose for existence is at an end, and the slave is likely to be killed in whatever fashion pleases the dragon just for spite and the remains thrown out with the rest of the refuse.

Although kobolds often gleefully serve chromatic dragons, the Iron Skull tribe is eager to escape the service of their current draconic “patron”, the gray dragon Ynoriolth.  After eating the last two chieftans in front of the gathered tribe, the dragon has firmly established herself as the sole center of authority. Her demands that the kobolds work ever harder to supply her with the gold and copper to line her treasury have escalated to the point she rarely allows them to gather food, simply plucking a few morsels or the occasional kidnapped kobold from another tribe to replenish their numbers.  Starving and desperate, the gray dragon’s lust for treasure and complete disregard for their needs has the tribe thinking mutinous thoughts but too terrified to act.  Should Ynoriolth ever be challenged by dragonslayers, though, the kobolds might well decide to covertly sabotage their own traps, letting the dragonslayers by to avoid weakening them before they dispose of a patron who they’re increasingly convinced would be better as a memory.

After seizing control of a cave atop the Rock of Idrios, a gray dragon has begun to charge a heavy toll on shipping through the vital Idrian Strait.  Ships that refuse to pay are set ablaze by the dragon’s breath, the tolls collected by gray-robed sycophants who are seen as little more than opportunistic pirates and jumped-up fisherfolk.  In truth, the dragon’s minions are typically either dominated or controlled by threats to enslaved loved ones, threats the dragon inflicts with a sadistic pleasure.  A collection of merchants based in the port of Achereon will pay a heavy price for some more reasonable authority to take charge of the Idrian Strait. Any more reasonable authority.

There’s a war brewing in southwestern Tullanor, a petty spat between two dragons that’s spilled over into the interactions of the tribes they’ve dominated.  Having long claimed the hollows of Conneode Swamp, the black dragon Sheithior was content to rule over her lizardfolk slaves like a petty queen and often ignored the outside world for years at a time.  That changed when the gray dragon Azaeltan put his lair in the neighboring Junturim peaks, driven southeast by dragon hunters and the machinations of a blue dragon pulling the strings of Tullanor’s bureaucracy.  After dominating the local strix hunter bands, Azaeltan turned his attention to stirring up trouble between the boggards and lizardfolk of Conneode to amuse himself, in the process getting one of Sheithior’s favorite retainers killed.  As the feud intensifies, both have put out feelers for mercenaries through discreet channels, hiring bandits and outlaws.

One of the most common questions I get asked about my dragonology research is "How do you keep yourself from being eaten?" It's funny, but it reveals one of the biggest misconceptions about these amazing creatures—that they're evil, bloodthirsty, or attack humans out of a specific malice instead of self-defense or because of desperation. Which simply isn't true! Dragons are often incredibly intelligent (while Draceous species have the biggest reputations for intelligence, and are indeed some of the smartest dragons in the world, even the comparably-maligned Pachysquamids are overall quite smart and trainable), but they're as malicious in their attacks as any other animal would be.

That doesn't mean dragon attacks don't happen. You only need a quick google search to find a headline about someone being attacked by a dragon at a national park or while rock climbing. But to compare a few numbers... Per to National Geographic, there are roughly 16 shark attacks off North American coasts every year, typically with one or no fatalities each year (according to a study in 2005). The United States Geological Survey website states that 4-6 cougar attacks occur each year in Canada and the States, although I can't find when that study was performed. Large dragon attacks happen an average of 4 times per year in North America, with the last fatal dragon attack occurring in 2017.

Almost every dragon attack documented worldwide is not the result of an animal attempting to prey on a human but caused by the dragon viewing a human as a threat. Not every dragon species performs parental care toward their chicks, but like bears, some dragon species are fiercely protective over their young and will attack perceived threats to them or their nesting sites. Only one dragon species in North America attacks humans with any degree of regularity—the Steller's Wyvern (Orcinodraco leucorhino) is responsible for 82% of large dragon attacks in recorded North American history, and out of that 82% approximately 95% of attacks are caused by someone encroaching on a dragon's territory during nesting season. While it isn't the fault of those people for not knowing (I don't expect anyone but a seasoned dragonologist to know the breeding seasons of any given species offhand!) it does thoroughly demonstrate that dragon attacks aren't the result of malice or hunger. Even in the remaining 5% of dragon attack cases for Steller's Wyverns, attacks were performed by injured individuals attempting to find a source of food in a campsite and finding awake and startled humans instead.

There is another angle to this concerning smaller dragon species. Dragons are inherently fascinating to most, and as they adapt to urban areas there are more opportunities for humans and dragons to come into conflict with each other. As dragons become more used to scavenging for food from humans (several species of small wyvern and wyrm, for example, have become adept at hunting rats and pigeons as well as looting overturned garbage cans), they become more habituated and less timid. Small dragon attacks most reliably happen in cities because of this.

This kind of behavior isn't restricted to smaller species, however. A notable case of a fatal dragon attack in 2010 involved a Common Northern Dragon (Eurodraco terribilis borealis) in Alaska that became accustomed to being fed fish and scraps of meat by a local family. The dragon grew bold enough that it at one point trapped the family in their homes by scratching at the door to be let in, and when a neighbor came to help, it attacked and killed him. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game was able to euthanize it after a multi-day search, which was an unfortunate but predictable end that caused the case to make national headlines. Even in that instance, when clearly hungry and with fresh meat available in the form of the innocent neighbor, the dragon in question didn't attempt to eat the human it killed.

That doesn't mean it's impossible for a dragon to eat a human. It has happened, even if it isn't with any sort of frequency. A known incident in Europe (Southern Poland) involving another Eurodraco species (this time not the northern subspecies but simply Eurodraco terribilis) in 2008 involved the skeletal remains of a missing hiker being found in a dragon's lair by another group of hikers, with forensics later showing that the hiker had been killed and eaten by a dragon. But these incidents are scattered throughout centuries, not years or even decades. No dragon, not even the largest species, makes humans a regular prey, no matter what medieval manuscripts would lead you to believe.

Sounds like the smallest dragon in Europe, the Mouse Dragon, Eurodraco minimus! You might know them under a few other regional names, including Attic Dragons and House Dragons (no relation to the other House Dragon and the world's only domesticated dragon, Aerioferox formosus domesticus), but I'm unsure exactly what they'd be called where you are. Named for their habit of nesting in attics and inside walls, since they only grow to about a foot in length. I think they're working on splitting them apart from other Eurodraco species, so in a few years they might not be part of that genus anymore.