Into the Black Dragon's Lair

Deep within the tangled mangroves and bottomless pools of noisome swamps black dragons lair in sunken ruins of miasmic evil.

Outside the Lair

Use this list, to determine what the characters find as they approach the lair.

Acid dribbled from the dragon's mouth forms acrid-smelling scum floating atop fetid pools.
Twisting briars are scarred brown from contact with the passing dragon.
Strange crab-like creatures feast on crystalline deposits growing from the ground.
An enormous crater surrounded by acid-burned trees contains the dissolving body of a catoblepas.

Use this list, to determine what is happening at the lair, when the characters arrive.

Bubbles erupt from a section of bog, filling the area with stinking sulphurous fumes.
A rotted tree collapses into the marsh, leaving behind a jagged stump filled with swarms of scuttling insects.
Startled lizards leap up from their slumber and splash noisily away through the swamp.
A wounded alligator flees the party's approach, leaving behind a wake of blood and churning water.

Use this list, to determine the lair’s major feature(s). These features are obvious to the characters.

A large pool of yellow acid bubbles in the centre of a chamber; eye-watering vapours and a slight yellowish haze fill the air. Detritus from the rampant fungus growing everywhere covers the floor.
Rough murals—deranged scrawls by the dragon's servants and worshippers—scar the walls.
A tangle of roots holds a crack-riven pillar of rock together. The pillar collapses, if disturbed.
Faceless statues line the walls; the dragon has intentionally defaced all of them with its acid.

Use this list, to determine the lair’s minor feature(s). These features may, or may not, be obvious, to the characters.

Hundreds of tiny lobster-like creatures feast on the unidentifiable remains of a marsh creature.
Steaming puddles of water tainted with acid fill the air with a sickening stench.
Over the years, the dragon's presence has tainted the water and land. Murky crimson water fills the nearby pools and puddles, and lesions cover nearby sickly-looking plants and animals.
Heaps of brittle, yellowed fish bones litter the ground about the lair's pools.

Use this list, to generate a dragon’s general appearance and other characteristics.

Claws have ripped apart this female dragon's face leaving her blind in one eye.
Weeds and mosses cling to this dragon’s scales, giving it a strange earthy look.
A many-pointed crown of bone-white horns erupts haphazardly from the top of this dragon's head.
Missing several fangs and covered with putrid sores, this dragon looks like it was lucky to survive its last battle.

Use this list, to add items of value to the dragon’s hoard; determine the value of each item to suit your campaign.

Pouches of reptile hide containing pearls and iridescent shells from swamp oysters are stacked in a neat pile in the corner of a chamber.
A forgotten drum set, used in an ancient tribal ceremony, lies discarded in the mulch. Silver studs hold the drum's pristine stretched chimera hide in place.
A longsword has somehow resisted the intrusion of acid and rust; the weapon remains bright, clean and sharp.
The lower half of a set of exquisite plate mail sports several acid splashes. (The top half was melted by the dragon's breath long ago).

Use this list, to add items of interest, but little value, to the dragon’s hoard.

A large pile of skulls glints with the promise of treasure but holds nothing but twisted and pitted gold teeth.
A backpack part-buried in the ground contains a good but soggy cloak and a change of clothes sized for a small female human.
This splintered, useless remains of a broken oar lie across the floor.
Untouched by time, a table holds six goblets and a wine jar. The wine has rotted into a poisonous sludge.

This is an extract from Monstrous Lair #53: Black Dragon Lair, a System Neutral resource by Steve Hood.