In my setting, there are many entrances to caverns and dead lava tubes that lead into the Underdark. However there is a sizeable intersection between two of these passages that is essentially a tollhouse and rest stop for whatever travelers find their way down there. The "Deep Down Tollhouse" is attended by numerous Myconids and their sovereign. An Adult Deep Dragon, by the name of Hazakothreia. Or simply Lady Reia.
She came into power over this Myconid colony by devouring the previous sovereign, whom she claims ruled them unscrupulously and was doing them a favor. Lady Reia uses her own mycelium might as a Deep Dragon, as well as the fungus comprising that decisive meal, to command them, speak through them, and work her whims. These mushroom people act as the staff for the "Deep Down Tollhouse". Situated in the remains of an abandoned Duergar mining operation, Reia charges travelers a nominal toll for safe passage and respite from the dangers of the Underdark. Of course, being a dragon, this tollhouse is her lair and whatever compensation she acquires is added to the hoard hidden elsewhere.
As with most Deep Dragons, Hazakothreia greatly resembles a slender, winged, purple and black salamander with various forms of fungus and spores in and outside of her body, allowing her to enact various spell effects. She has large orange eyes to see in the dark, and axolotl-esque frills on the sides of her head and horns that may actually be branches of flowering trees she had crowned herself with using fungus as an adhesive. Fuzzy mold and mycelium line her neck like an elegant mane. As elegant as fungus can be anyway...
She portrays herself as gracious host and fair dealer. Though, she tends to personalize tolls based on how well off or well-to-do some travelers seem to be. Especially adventurers. There is also rumor that the fungal wyrm fabricates dangerous scenarios, either to give more credibility to her tolls, remove unwanted visitors, and/or obtain fresh corpses with which to replenish her ranks amongst the colony. As well, in a possible story route, it can be revealed by way of a Drow apostate that Lady Reia will either help or hinder the Clergy of Lolth on a whim. In this case, depending on how the party interacts with the draconic sovereign. Either way, she finds these squabbles amongst Drow in any facet to be at the very least amusing and profitable, and always tries to spin them in her favor.
The "Deep Down Tollhouse" is not unlike the lobby of a transit station. One big waiting room with benches, chairs, a source of water, and a "queue" to respect the tolls. All illuminated by magical lamplight and glowing crystals. The lounge areas are shockingly clean and free of mold out of respect for non-fungal visitors, upkept by some of Reia's servants who are not fungoid fellows, rather being a handful of deep gnomes, drow, and such who figure that being in the service of a dragon is far preferable to the horrors of the Underdark or whatever oppressors abused them previously. They seem to be well fed and well taken care of, though they tire of eating mushrooms... Naturally, the doors of the structure are quite large to accommodate the sovereign, but do have smaller doors built into them. At the other end of the toll queue is a two-way mine cart track that the dragon's servants use to "safely" transport travelers into the Underdark proper. The carts themselves propelled either by handcars operated, or pushed manually, by some of the larger myconids.
The location of Hazakothreia's hoard is... well wouldn't you like to know?
Honestly, I don't even remember how I arrived at Underdark tollhouse, but it ended up making sense as it isn't unheard of for dragons to partake in capitalism. In this case, predatory monetization of a dangerous environment. Not to mention, Myconids and Deep Dragons are both Underdark dwellers who work off of fungus, so it just felt like a natural synergy. Obviously, some homebrew is needed to facilitate it, but I'm rather proud of myself!
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In my setting, there are many entrances to caverns and dead lava tubes that lead into the Underdark. However there is a sizeable intersection between two of these passages that is essentially a tollhouse and rest stop for whatever travelers find their way down there. The "Deep Down Tollhouse" is attended by numerous Myconids and their sovereign. An Adult Deep Dragon, by the name of Hazakothreia. Or simply Lady Reia.
She came into power over this Myconid colony by devouring the previous sovereign, whom she claims ruled them unscrupulously and was doing them a favor. Lady Reia uses her own mycelium might as a Deep Dragon, as well as the fungus comprising that decisive meal, to command them, speak through them, and work her whims. These mushroom people act as the staff for the "Deep Down Tollhouse". Situated in the remains of an abandoned Duergar mining operation, Reia charges travelers a nominal toll for safe passage and respite from the dangers of the Underdark. Of course, being a dragon, this tollhouse is her lair and whatever compensation she acquires is added to the hoard hidden elsewhere.
As with most Deep Dragons, Hazakothreia greatly resembles a slender, winged, purple and black salamander with various forms of fungus and spores in and outside of her body, allowing her to enact various spell effects. She has large orange eyes to see in the dark, and axolotl-esque frills on the sides of her head and horns that may actually be branches of flowering trees she had crowned herself with using fungus as an adhesive. Fuzzy mold and mycelium line her neck like an elegant mane. As elegant as fungus can be anyway...
She portrays herself as gracious host and fair dealer. Though, she tends to personalize tolls based on how well off or well-to-do some travelers seem to be. Especially adventurers. There is also rumor that the fungal wyrm fabricates dangerous scenarios, either to give more credibility to her tolls, remove unwanted visitors, and/or obtain fresh corpses with which to replenish her ranks amongst the colony. As well, in a possible story route, it can be revealed by way of a Drow apostate that Lady Reia will either help or hinder the Clergy of Lolth on a whim. In this case, depending on how the party interacts with the draconic sovereign. Either way, she finds these squabbles amongst Drow in any facet to be at the very least amusing and profitable, and always tries to spin them in her favor.
The "Deep Down Tollhouse" is not unlike the lobby of a transit station. One big waiting room with benches, chairs, a source of water, and a "queue" to respect the tolls. All illuminated by magical lamplight and glowing crystals. The lounge areas are shockingly clean and free of mold out of respect for non-fungal visitors, upkept by some of Reia's servants who are not fungoid fellows, rather being a handful of deep gnomes, drow, and such who figure that being in the service of a dragon is far preferable to the horrors of the Underdark or whatever oppressors abused them previously. They seem to be well fed and well taken care of, though they tire of eating mushrooms... Naturally, the doors of the structure are quite large to accommodate the sovereign, but do have smaller doors built into them. At the other end of the toll queue is a two-way mine cart track that the dragon's servants use to "safely" transport travelers into the Underdark proper. The carts themselves propelled either by handcars operated, or pushed manually, by some of the larger myconids.
The location of Hazakothreia's hoard is... well wouldn't you like to know?
Honestly, I don't even remember how I arrived at Underdark tollhouse, but it ended up making sense as it isn't unheard of for dragons to partake in capitalism. In this case, predatory monetization of a dangerous environment. Not to mention, Myconids and Deep Dragons are both Underdark dwellers who work off of fungus, so it just felt like a natural synergy. Obviously, some homebrew is needed to facilitate it, but I'm rather proud of myself!