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part with their wealth as any other dragons, greensmight consider bribes worthwhile investments if theyfeel that particularly well-placed agents will ultimatelybring them greater power or amusement.Life CycleGreen dragons lay their eggs after about fourmonths of a sixteen-month incubation period. Theydragons, green dragons do not use their prominenthorn as a weapon. Instead, they primarily use theirnose spike to push foliage and branches out of theway as they move through their overgrown domains.The crown of horns jutting from a green dragon’shead keeps obstacles it has pushed aside with itsnose spike from springing back into its face andobstructing its view.38lay clutches of three to five eggs, with an averageof two to four hatching successfully under optimalconditions.The wyrmling stage lasts approximately six years.Green dragons reach adulthood around age 160 andbecome elders after their 950th year. A truly ancientgreen dragon has lived for at least 1,750 years, give ortake a century. The oldest known green dragon livedfor approximately 2,250 years.The environmental diffusion of a deceased greendragon results in an area of lush, beautiful, anddeadly plant growth. Grasses, trees, and other vegetation,nearly all of them poisonous, grow swiftlyto abnormally large size. These areas also touch onthe Feywild more often than do other parts of thewoodlands.Physical CharacteristicsThe various hues of a green dragon’s scales allow itto blend in easily with foliage, an ability that greensenhance by allowing their scales to become scarred,tarnished, and, in some cases, mossy. As with blackOPTIONAL RULESA green dragon in thickly forested or other vegetationheavyterrain gains a +4 bonus to Stealth checks.Some green dragons regularly dose the thorns andbrambles of plants in their territory with their poisonousbreath, eventually building up a dangerous coating.Anyone pushed or pulled into a thorn bush or briar sotreated takes 3 poison damage and ongoing 3 poisondamage (save ends), in addition to any damage the thornsnormally deal. Manipulating or attempting to climb plantstreated in this way results in 1 point of poison damageand ongoing 1 poison damage (save ends).CHAPTER 1 | Dragon LorePurple DragonsPurple dragons, also known as deep dragons, arepossibly the least well known of the chromaticdragon family. Most surface creatures have noknowledge of the existence of purple dragons. Manyof those that have heard of purple dragons dismisssuch stories as myth or misconception. After all, inthe darkness below the earth, who can say whethera dragon’s scales are purple or black?Black dragons rarely live far underground. Thedeeper explorers descend, the more likely they are toencounter a purple dragon than a black. People wholive permanently in the deep hollows of the earthknow purple dragons as an all-too-real and muchfearedthreat.A purple dragon is a talented manipulator of othercreatures. It achieves control through lies, misdirection,and direct mental domination. A purple dragonmight seek control for any number of reasons, includingsheer delight in bandying its power about, adesire to form a bulwark of allies and thralls for security,or curiosity about newly discovered tunnels orcrevices leading to unknown areas deeper below, forwhich recruiting bands of disposable explorers mightserve its purposes.As much as purple dragons enjoy controlling othercreatures, however, they enjoy the thrill of explorationeven more. Even as explorers discover new landson the surface, purple dragons consider the globe’ssurface a paltry expanse compared to the deepvolume of the world’s interior, a space containingorders of magnitude more possibility. In such a vastspace, wonderful mysteries await discovery. Whetherthey follow tradition or answer a call in their blood,deep dragons delight in exploration more than anyother kind of wyrm, especially if that explorationSAM WOOD (2)