0813 — Lair of Driftwood

Far from the sea, but the unmistakable smell of saltwater and flotsam lingers in the air. Loose driftwood and pieces of broken boat are found throughout the trees. In a cave hidden deep in the foliage lurks the dragon Pandroso (she/they), who has been banished from the sea. She spends most of her time slumbering within (3-in-4 chance), sitting on what she considers her meager hoard of stolen coins supplemented with stacks of smashed boat wood, dreaming of her future return to the sea where she wishes to conquer the borders where faerie, human, and other stranger realms collide.

A gang of bandits have allied themselves with her, using the cave and woods around it as a staging ground for raiding the roads. Pandroso tolerates them so long as they keep other intruders at a distance and bring her food and treasures — particularly seafood and any treasure relating to boats and sea travel, which she nostalgically values. The bandits hoped to form an army of outlaws and rally a new budding nation under a bandit-king, but constant desertion (including the flight of their initial would-be ruler) has left them settling for a reasonable proximity to a road where they can steal the occasional merchant-industrialist supply shipment.

4D10 Bandits can be found camped around the lair, keeping a respectful distance from their sleeping ally lest they bother them into breaking the alliance in a petulant fit.

Pandroso looks shaggy and matted, covered in once lush seaweed that has dried out into a thick and sick looking layer across her body.

Pandroso (stats for dragons taken from the TNU bestiary available through Johnstone Metzger’s patreon)
Level 5 evil faerie
Armor 15, Hit Die 1d8, Morale +1, Large, Speed 8, Surprise 0
Cha 6, Dex 12, Fer 18, Hth 10, Int 8, Wil 10.
2 bite or claw attacks per round, or 1 breath weapon.
Can fly, swim, and breathe underwater.
Double damage from light and radience, half damage from piercing and slashing.
Corrosive mist breath: The mist is 25 feet in diameter and lasts for 1d4 + 5 rounds. Instead of normal damage, anyone inside the mist or moving through it loses 1d4 Health per round. Pandroso is themself immune to corrosion.
After Pandroso has used their breath weapon once during an encounter, she only has a 1 in 6 chance of being able to do so again, each round

Pandroso’s hoard, generated using &treasure by Luke Gearing:
Monstrous 3
400 standard coins. 42 gold imitations (coveted by the bandits).
1200 coins worth of trade goods: 24 bales of sheep wool, a bandit haul that they have yet to decide what to do with. Pandroso is annoyed by the smell.
4 magic items: Bear’s Prize, Nastrophe, The Mountain’s Inheritance, potion of compression. Formerly the belongings of the self styled bandit king.