Tanar’ri, True – Dracor’ri

Dracor’ri Tanar’ri

A great roar resounded through the green stone cathedral, shaking its foundations. The gold scaled great wyrm recognised the trap at the last possible moment, spinning and trying to get out of the cramped room. She was too late, a giant cage of shimmering green energy surrounded her, constricting, she was caught.

She lay there, struggling to breathe, and severely weakened by the magical net. Her attention turned to the side of the small chamber as the image of her abducted hatchling faded completely now, revealing a grinning cambion.

The dragon tried to launch a gout of flames at the Tanar’ri, but found the net too constricting to do so. The cambion laughed and was gone, his departing wink was promise of an unenjoyable stay in the Abyss.

The Dracor’ri are direct descendants of that first dragon’s bloodline. The tanar’ri’s motives were clear enough. They wanted to breed a new race of themselves to help wipe out the baatezu. And they nearly succeeded.

The captured hatchling male was whisked away and held until mature. The mother was immediately used as breeding stock, kept alive by the fact that she bore eggs rather than birthing her babies. Since the successful creation of the Dracor’ri, many more dragons, both good and evil have been abducted and used in such a way.

Chant goes the dracor’ri is the most furious creature ever to be spawned by the Abyss. Immensely huge, its entire purpose of existence is to destroy. It is highly intelligent, save in battle, for once battle lust takes it over it becomes a mindless machine of destruction. By happy coincidence, this is exactly what the tanar’ri wanted.

The only tanar’ri to be born into “greater” status, rather than advancing to that power stage, the Dracor’ri understands all spoken languages, and communicates by telepathy. When enraged it screams its speech out loud; a truly deafening display.

From birth, to death a Demon Dragon’s scales are pitch black, the edges of each scale highlighted by the colour of its parent’s scales. “ie. black highlighted by gold.”

Aside of their average draconic (if immense) appearance they have numerous small tentacles hanging from the sides of their forepaws, they uses these to cling to victims. Similar appendages make up a large beard-like growth on their chins.

COMBAT: Demon Dragons are never surprised. Their natural senses extend far beyond mortal reach, their magical senses even farther. There’s a good chance a Demon Dragon will know you’re coming before you do.

The dacor’ri attacks with a claw/claw/bite attack most often, holding its victim in its tentacles. It likes to grind victims under its massive paws, or swallow a victim whole.

If slain in the Abyss, the Demon Dragon will slowly melt into a boiling mass of acid. If slain on Baator, it will explode in a blinding ball of pure acid (50 hp damage for 100′ radius. Double damage to Baatezu), 3d10 lightning bolts streaking out from the centre as well, causing 3d8+4 damage each (double damage to baatezu) and leaving a 40 foot deep, 100 foot wide pool of acid in their place.

In addition to those available to all tanar’ri, the Demon Dragon can use the following spell like powers at 20th level of spell use: detect invisibility (always active), detect magic (always active), true seeing (always active), detect lie (always active), dispel magic, corrupt water, darkness, summon insects, control winds, affect normal fires, pyrotechnics, heat metal, and shapechange (Most often into a normal looking dragon. Rarely it takes humanoid form). Once per hour it can automatically gate in 1-8 least, 1-6 lesser, 1-4 greater, or one true tanar’ri.

Demon Dragons cannot cast magic, perhaps because they are too chaotic and enraged. They are immune to fire/acid/electrical/gas damage. Other than this they possess standard tanar’ri immunities.

BREATH WEAPON: The Demon Dragon can use the following breath weapons:

• Cone of fire 120′ long, 20′ wide at the mouth, 90′ wide at the end.
• Stream of acid, 20′ wide, and 90′ long, fired in a straight line.
• 20′ wide bolt of lightning that streaks out 160′ in a straight line from the dragon’s mouth.

Having a variety of breath weapon attacks ensures the dracor’ri will be able to maximise damage to fiends immune to one or more types of attack. Damage in all cases is as severe as that of a great wyrm, at 24d12+12.

HABITAT/SOCIETY: Lucky for the Baatezu only one Demon Dragon exists at a time, much like the Prime’s Tarrasque. Demon Dragons exist for one purpose, and one purpose only: War with the Baatezu. When a Demon Dragon egg is laid it is taken to a large secure cave in the depths of Pandemonium, where the hatchling inside is bombarded with the insane noises from that plane. Within days the egg grows to 60′ feet in size and the hatchling extricates itself from within. The tanar’ri guards (consisting of no less than twenty cambions, and two chasmes) bind the hatchling with magic and feed it a steady diet of slain baatezu. It immediately begins growing, at a rate of 10′ a day. Once it reaches the full size it is planeshifted to Baator and set free. Its natural hatred, and bloodlust for the plane’s inhabitants takes over. The dracor’ri fights to the death (which has been known to take several weeks, costing countless thousands of baatezu deaths); the perfect kamikaze monster.

Once the tanar’ri learn of its death, they immediately begin the process again. It’s unclear why they don’t make more dracor’ri at once, however…

Very rarely a Demon Dragon will overcome its insanity long enough to think for its self. Even more rarely will it take a mate. The resulting offspring is always a Dracorion.

ECOLOGY: Demon Dragons will eat anything, for their stomachs are filled with volatile acid, which digests anything within minutes. Swallowed prey suffers 50 hp worth of damage a round. The only thing they hate more than the baatezu, are their parents. They can instinctively identify them and attack on detection.

Source: Karl Thierfelder