ALL ABOUT DRAGONS Illus. by T. Lockwood
CHAPTER 1:
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converses with its prisoner until its thirst for small talk is slaked. When faced with real danger, younger brass dragons fly out of sight, then hide by burrowing into the sand. Older dragons spurn this ploy but tend to avoid pitched fights unless they have some tactical advantage.
BRONZE DRAGONS Bronze dragons have a strong sense of justice and do not tolerate cruelty or anarchy in any form. Many a pirate or robber has faced swift retribution from a bronze dragon using an innocuous disguise. Bronze dragons also have an inquisitive side and find the activities of other creatures, particularly humanoids, endlessly fascinating. They enjoy polymorphing into small, friendly animals to study such activities. Bronze dragons like to be near deep fresh water or salt water, and are found in temperate and tropical coastal areas and islands. They often visit the depths to cool off or hunt for pearls and sunken treasure. Bronze dragons wage a constant struggle against evil sea creatures, particularly ones that menace the coasts, such as sahuagin, merrow, and scrags. They sometime find themselves with black or green dragons for neighbors. While the bronzes are content to live and let live, the evil dragons are seldom willing to return the favor. Bronze dragons prefer make their lairs in caves that are accessible only from the water, but their lairs are always dry— they do not lay eggs, sleep, or store treasure underwater. Often, a bronze dragon’s lair has a lower area that floods at high tide and an upper area that remains dry around the clock. Dungeon-dwelling bronze dragons often live near underground streams or lakes. Bronze Dragon Identifiers A bronze dragon in its true form can be recognized by the ribbed and fluted crests sweeping back from its cheeks and eyes. The ribs in the crests end in curving horns. These
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horns are smooth, dark, and oval in cross-section, and curve slightly inward toward the dragon’s spine. The largest horns grow from the top of the head. In older dragons, the smaller horns often develop secondary points. The dragon also has small horns on its lower jaw and chin. A bronze dragon has a beaklike snout and a pointed tongue. It has a small head frill and a tall neck frill. A bronze dragon has webbed feet and webbing behind the forelimbs. Its scales are smooth and flat. A bronze wyrmling’s scales are yellow tinged with green, showing only a hint of bronze. As the dragon approaches adulthood, its color deepens slowly to a darker, rich bronze tone. Very old dragons develop a blue-black tint to the edges of their scales. Their pupils fade as they age, until in the oldest the eyes resemble glowing green orbs. A smell of sea spray lingers about them. When viewed from below, a bronze dragon’s wings show green mottling on the back edges. The trailing edge of the wing membrane joins the body behind the rear legs, at the point where the tail meets the pelvis. Most of the alar phalanges are very short and form a wide frill just beyond the alar thumb. The innermost phalange is the longest, and it provides most of the support for the wings, along with a modified alar olecranon at the “elbow” of the alar limb (see page 8). This arrangement allows the dragon to use its wings as big fins underwater. A bronze dragon can flap its wings when submerged and literally fly through the water. Habits A bronze dragon spends much of its time in an assumed form, usually that of a small animal or an older humanoid. This charade serves the dragon’s inquisitive nature by allowing it a chance to observe the world without drawing attention to itself or disrupting the flow of events. Bronze dragons value moral order and altruism. Bronze dragons frequently congregate with others of their kind, making them among the most gregarious of the
