#valraxaxath

The Dragonjaw range is home to clans of gnomes, who make jewellery, tools, and inventions.

They then trade these things and iron to the humans in the nearby city of Milvarune. A small number of copper dragons live in the mountains, too.

Copper dragons aside, the presence of gnomes with gems and metals and other goods is a strong temptation, and Valraxaxath felt it behoved him to link this area to his portal network.

The copper dragons might not be interested in his plans to bring more wealth to dragons, but plenty of blue, red, and white dragons find the gnomes not only good wealth sources, but tasty as well.

Unknown to many in Thesk, a few chromatic dragons have moved into the Dragonjaws and have begun preying on the gnomes in a quiet way. The gnomes know, of course, and do not know where these new dragons have come from, or why their copper dragon friends don't know either.

The portal is located, like the others in this network, in the highest peaks. This one, however, is in a cavern that once served as the lair of a copper dragon.

Valraxaxath killed it some thirty years ago. The portal is actually set in the cave opening to the lair and is triple the normal size for a portal. One uses the portal from the outside, and those arriving appear in the cave and depart through the portal aperture.

This portal works four times per day, and, to reach any destination, one must activate it by a key. It is variable, with no default destination.

Valraxaxath did not want anyone appearing in the cavern and then accidentally being sent somewhere dangerous.

The keys and destinations are as follows:

The portal to the Small Teeth Mountains requires blood from a freshly killed (within the last 8 hours) humanoid or animal.

The portal to the Dragonspine Mountains requires a spell cast at the gate to activate it. Any spell will do.

The portal to the Forest of Wyrms requires a dragon's breath weapon to activate.

The portal to Rethild requires Valraxaxath himself as the key; unless he uses one of the other keys, Valraxaxath always goes to Rethild when using this portal.

With few in the area even knowing that a problem is brewing, the new dragons have had an easy time starting hoards.

They are moving slowly, because a rash of dragon slayers entering the hills would be bad for their plans.

The gnomes have increased their defences, but they are still working under the "lone dragon" paradigm, and they are in for a rude surprise.

Deep within the Forest of Wyrms live green dragons.

Lots of green dragons.

Not so many that they are a real threat to the Western Heartlands, but nevertheless there are a lot of them. These dragons rule the forest, and intruders find themselves breathing noxious gases if they are unwelcome or are carrying a lot of valuables.

The forest is very close to the Trade Way, the main trade route from Waterdeep to the Inner Sea. It is also within a day's dragon flight from the Serpent Hills and the High Moor.

For all these reasons, the location was practically irresistible to Valraxaxath.

The portal here is deep within the forest itself, marked by two large trees and set high in the branches so that flying dragons can use it easily. As a consequence, one has to fly to use the portal. It is double-sized, but it can accommodate most dragons. Like the Small Teeth portal, it is a variable portal that requires keys. It can be used four times per day.

The default destination for the portal is deep within the Mortick Swamp in Luiren, where aquatic ogres and scrags await. Anyone who survives while trying to leave the swamp is indeed heroic, because the portal transports the creatures to this swampy death while their equipment goes to Valraxaxath's secondary hoard in the Wyrmbones.

Activating the portal for the other destinations requires a specific key for each destination:

The portal to the Small Teeth Mountains requires blood from a freshly killed (within the last 8 hours) humanoid or animal.

The portal to the Dragonspine Mountains requires a spell cast at the gate to activate it. Any spell will do.

The portal to the Dragonjaw Mountains requires the user to speak the word "gem" in Draconic.

The portal to Rethild requires Valraxaxath himself as the key; unless he uses one of the other keys, Valraxaxath always goes to Rethild when using this portal.

Would-be dragon slayers have perished when encountering a blue or red dragon when they were prepared for greens, and occasionally chromatic dragons of other colors will help the greens if a lot of "heroes" invade the forest.

After all, the greens are very useful in helping them with their own problems.

The other denizens of the forest have become worried that reds, blues, blacks, and the occasional white have taken up residence, but when one is used to having green dragons around all the time, a dragon of a different colour does not phase one that much, and the other dragons leave the forest alone.

The people who use the Trade Way, on the other hand, are very disturbed by the rise in frequency and boldness of dragon strikes.

Creating portals is expensive and requires costly materials.

Thus, Valraxaxath needed a portal near a trade centre where wealth was prized above all things. The Small Teeth Mountains in the south of Amn were perfect, and they are the home of a great blue wyrm, as well. Valraxaxath uses this site to trade with the people of Amn in Murann, and he has not slowed down at all even when the ogre mages took over this area.

Rich caravans also provide a good source of treasure for hoards, and dragons from far away come to hunt riches in these lands. They can also use it to escape pesky adventurers who chase them too closely.

The portal is set in the mountains high above where most of the humanoids live. The portal is a triple-sized variable portal that uses keys to select each destination. The portal itself sits in a ring of natural rock hanging below an outcropping and can be reached only by flying creatures. If creatures fly through the portal and it is not active, they crash into the side of a rock face, which is extremely painful. It opens only four times a day.

The portal's default destination is a cavern deep underneath the Peaks of Flame in Chult, and those emerging from it come out in a spot far enough from the exit that those without knowledge of the area are not likely to find their way out before salamanders and other fiery creatures attack. These battles tend to happen quickly since the portal transports the creatures to this cavern while it transports all of their equipment to Valraxaxath's secondary hoard in the Wyrmbones (south of the Shaar).

The spell analyze portal can show that the Small Teeth portal has several destinations, but it focuses only on the Small Teeth destination.

The other destinations link to the rest of the Dragons' Claw, and each has a key as follows:

The portal to the Forest of Wyrms requires a dragon's breath weapon to activate. Breathe through the gate as you approach, and it sets for this destination.

The portal to the Dragonspine Mountains requires a spell cast at the gate to activate it. Any spell will do.

The portal to the Dragonjaw Mountains requires the user to speak the word "gem" in Draconic.

The portal to Rethild requires Valraxaxath himself as the key; unless he uses one of the other keys, Valraxaxath always goes to Rethild when using this portal.

The local humanoids, especially those in the ogre mages' armies, have noted green and white dragons flying out of, or into, the Small Teeth in the past year or so.

Often these dragons return to the mountains laden with wagons in their claws. They even have reports that red and green, or green and white, dragons are cooperating.

One survivor of a dragon attack says, "Two great beasts acted in concert, cutting off escape and countering our attempts to kill one or the other with distractions or devastating attacks from the rear. I survived only because the beasts thought I was dead."

Tensions in the region south of the Small Teeth are increasing, but the all-out dragon attacks that some fear have not materialized. This is because Valraxaxath needs to maintain relations with his trade partners here, so he restrains the other dragons somewhat.

North of the mountains is fair game for dragon raids.

Deep within the heart of Rethild, the Great Swamp, nestles an abandoned city.

Some believe it to be the home of a long-forgotten race. Swampy dangers such as shambling mounds, tendriculoses, and lizardfolk keep the casual and unprepared visitor far from this site, and few have ever returned from it. None of them have returned with wealth.

Valraxaxath discovered the swamp in his travels, and he felt it was a perfect site for an unreachable lair, so when he began creating his portal network, he chose the city as his base. His lair sits deep within a ruined temple or government building (it is impossible to tell which anymore); part of it is submerged.

He sleeps in a flooded section and uses the ancient buildings and streets as waterways. His main hoard is stored here, but it represents only about 60% of the wealth that Valraxaxath has acquired in his life.

Valraxaxath has two portals here.

The first connects to the rest of the Dragons' Claw portal network. This is a triple-sized, variable portal with keys required for all destinations. Each key is simple because Valraxaxath assumes that only he will ever use this portal, so he set the key to be himself. The user names the location desired (Small Teeth, Forest of Wyrms, Dragonspine Mountains, Dragonjaw Mountains) in Draconic, and the portal sets to that destination. The portal here is constantly active.

Since all of the portals at these locations require Valraxaxath as the key to reach this site, the black dragon feels pretty secure.

The second portal is a two-way continuously active portal with its destination in a cave deep within the Wyrmbones.

Valraxaxath keeps his secondary hoard in this cave, and he adds to his hoard by sending them here first (either by one of the other portals or by use of magic). No key is required for this portal. Ancient archways that once formed bridges over the streets of the abandoned city mark both this and the network portal.

Valraxaxath loves the solitude and the swampy environment, and he has assumed some control over the swamp near the city itself. He does not have any guards in the swamp because the natural dangers are enough to keep most away.

Some of the lizardfolk that live in the swamp give him information about travellers and the activities just outside the swamp, and Valraxaxath uses his scrying ability to keep an eye on his home even when away.

Valraxaxath is a black dragon who traveled the world as he grew, planning to create a hoard later in life.

He was young and adventurous.

During his early years, he developed a simple understanding of the world and the place of dragons within it. Dragons should not aspire to rule the world; they should instead hoard all the wealth in the world. Wealth is power, and dragons that controlled (read: hoarded) the wealth of an area could exert control later. He saw, however, that dragons would never succeed at this goal because they did not work together.

This he set about changing while studying arcane arts such as wizardry.

He achieved the most success with the "you scratch my scales, I'll scratch yours" philosophy.

By getting different chromatic dragons to work together on short-term projects, each acquires more wealth to hoard. Since he "partners" with dragons from far away, there is little danger of in-fighting for the treasure. The partnerships have also helped with lair defence.