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of thieves. Between the thieves’ guild and the dragon,the city’s coffers begin to dry up and its supply ofconvicts to offer to the dragon runs low. Soon it willhave to start sacrificing innocent citizens to thebeast. The PCs need not dig to discover the overt alliancebetween the wyrm and the suddenly profitableguild, but they must find a way to deal with both.2. King Olus of Phalanzia has grown terrified. (Hiskingdom is little more than a city-state with vassaltowns a day’s travel from one another.) Several of hisadvisors have begun to act out of character, pushingfor increased taxation and military action againstneighboring communities. Sporadic sightings of adragon in the region have led Olus to believe that awyrm influences his court, and he has called uponthe famous dragonslayers for assistance. In fact, agood-aligned dragon has worked behind the scenes ofPhalanzia, unknown to Olus, for several generations,making the area better for both itself and the humans.The dragon recently sighted in the region, however, isan elder blue. It seeks to increase the king’s paranoiauntil he discovers and moves against the good dragon,leaving the region free for the blue to claim.3. During the PCs’ latest few adventures, theyhave been beset by a series of seemingly unrelatedattacks—from mercenaries, from living breaths (seepage 228), from dragonborn, and from dragonspawn.It seems like the beginning of their careers all overagain, with one vital difference: These attacks don’ttarget a given region, they target the PCs.Epic Tier: You Asked For ItThe PCs, with their reputation as dragonslayers, haveattracted serious unwanted attention: that of Khostra-Vokhan, an ancient red dragon and sacred knight ofTiamat. He has arranged the attacks on the charactersas a means of testing them to learn their abilitiesand weaknesses. The ancient red intends to slaughterthem in holy retribution for their actions againstchromatic dragons, but first they must suffer.The PCs’ first encounter with Khostra-Vokhanoccurs when they are too weak to confront himdirectly. In the midst of a village or a city, the greatwyrm attacks, destroying as much of the communityas it can, just so he can reveal the PCs’ relative weakness.At this time, the PCs can only save the lives ofthe residents caught in the destruction.During their next few adventures, the PCs learnmore of this new terror. Khostra-Vokhan makes noeffort to hide his nature or identity, so the PCs mightlearn his name from any of the monsters he sendsafter them, or from sages who have heard of him, orthrough ritual divinations. They might also seek outallies or magic items to aid them in their struggle.The dragon attacks several more times in thismanner, striking near but not directly at the party. Hesends more minions after the PCs themselves. An allyof the characters—perhaps the good-aligned dragonfrom earlier in the campaign—eventually offers themrefuge in a place where Khostra-Vokhan cannot findthem. The ally also provides the PCs with knowledgeof the red dragon’s lair, allowing them to seek out theirenemy when they grow powerful enough. Finally, theyput an end to him once and for all.The Dragon’s HandThe previous campaign arc places dragons in theirstandard role. This one involves the PCs in long-termcooperation with a dragon. Initially as a patron, lateras a more direct ally, the dragon demonstrates thatnot all chromatics are evil.The campaign does have its fair share of draconicvillains, however. After all, nothing makes a bettercommon enemy for an adventuring party and apatron dragon than another, more powerful wyrm. . . .Heroic Tier:A Mysterious PatronAfter a few successful early adventures, an emissaryof someone named Tallasht (see page 56) approachesthe PCs. The emissary claims that he has learnedof the PCs’ accomplishments and told his employerabout them. His employer, impressed with what hehas described, would like to pay the PCs to retrievean ancient book located within the library of aruined, abandoned castle. The PCs need only bringthe emissary’s employer the book and ten percent ofany other treasures gained. The rest of the treasure istheirs to keep—and there is plenty of it. Tallasht wouldalso like to meet the characters and consider furtherpatronage, if their first job goes well.Only if the PCs agree does the emissary offer themdirections to the ruins of which he speaks. He alsodescribes the book, written in Iokharic and bound inthe tanned hide of a rage drake.In the fallen castle, the PCs face a variety of monstersthat have moved into it and its dungeons. Theparty eventually finds a valuable hoard, the bookincluded. If any of the PCs read Iokharic, they discoverthat the book is a sage’s biography of a numberof dragons hundreds of years gone.Returning with the book, the PCs meet an agentof Tallasht, seeming to be a human knight who rulesa small territory from a well-fortified keep. “LordTallasht” congratulates the PCs on their success andexplains that he would like to serve as their patron.He offers them an occasional safe refuge, short-termloans, and—most important—directions to riches andmagic they otherwise could not find. In exchange, herequests ten percent of all treasures they find, as wellas the right to send them on occasional missions. Ifquestioned about his motives, he explains that he seeksto enrich and strengthen his holdings and to defendagainst enemies who would see his lands destroyed.58CHAPTER 2 | DM’s Guide to Dragons