Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Varden_Khol Nov 27, 2014 16:18:30	TL;DR: I’m looking for feedback and suggestions on how to telegraph Venomfang’s presence leading up to his encounter.   Some details: My players (6 x 4th-level) are currently playing through a heavily converted version of LMoP and are on their way from Thundertree to a repurposed Wave Echo Cave (now a long-lost dwarven city). I’d replaced the Venomfang encounter in Thundertree with a different creature that is tied to the overarching story, but would still like to present my players with the challenge of facing the green dragon. They've had a pretty easy run so far. The main entrance to Wave Echo Cave is still open in our setting and features a huge underground cavern with a wide stone bridge crossing it. The cavern is being used as Venomfang’s lair and will put the dragon at a bit of an advantage for any fight thanks to his flight. I’m looking at having the dragon attack while the PCs are crossing the bridge, but I’ve been trying to come up with ways to telegraph his presence so that this isn’t a complete gotcha moment. (And yes, if the PCs come up with a way to get across without alerting him I'm happy for him to be avoided. :P )   Current ideas: Have the dragon fly overhead at some point during their journey westward. Utilize some of the green dragon terrain effects and let the Nature proficient characters know that the thorns etc. aren’t natural. Place some melted and clawed bugbears on the bridge itself, to show the imminent danger.   Any other ideas for telegraphing the level of danger this encounter presents?
#2 iserith Nov 27, 2014 20:14:14	A goblin survivor of the goblinoids that were attacked by Venomfang that has been driven mad with fright, referring only to "The Green Demon..." between hideous cackling and screams.   When I ran LMoP, I had Venomfang pretend to be a cursed copper dragon named Patina the Tarnished. In that guise, the dragon lied to the PCs to get them to do its evil works like kill the druid in Thundertree.
#3 Dyndrilliac Nov 27, 2014 21:22:11	I had my players see Venomfang fly by overhead (sometimes with large animals trapped between it's jaws) several times as they were traveling between the time they left Neverwinter and the time they reached Thundertree. Each time I made it dramatic by pretending to roll to see if the Dragon saw them and initiated an encounter. They were smart enough to wait for a good opportunity to launch an ambush on the Dragon by waiting for it to leave its nest in the tower to hunt for food and then hiding and laying in wait for it to return. Inside the tower in addition to the Dragon's treasure my players found partial creature corpses with patches of a green sludge residue (poison) ad Green Dragon terrain effects.
#4 Varden_Khol Nov 27, 2014 22:34:48	Yeah, I saw your write-up somewhere about the tricksy green dragon. I definitely want to have him engage the PCs in conversation since green dragons are supposed to be driven by their desire to manipulate lesser beings. I might try the cursed copper dragon thing, but two of my players are locals so they might "recall" some rumours of a green dragon attacking travellers etc.   He'll definitely do a flyby early on, just so they know he's about. Some decoy rolling behind the screen might put them on edge, but it might also insinuate that he needs fighting. I'll also bring out the incredibly thick and spikey thickets to slow down the adventurers. They just found Hew, so that'll give that item a chance to shine.   Thanks for the ideas.
#5 Krakenspire Nov 29, 2014 19:22:44	Druidic / Ranger marks around his territory warning characters. Clawed and torn ground. Ambush by green dragon underlings wearing a symbol that marks them as belonging to the dragon. Elf bones and bits. Dragon scat...with elf bones and bits in it.
#6 ankiyavon Nov 29, 2014 23:20:57	A green dragon's presence manifests as a corruption of nature in its area.  Bushes or leaves might drip poison for no adequately explained reason.  A tree might rake at a character with its brances (not for damage or anything).  And so on.