Adult Night-shadow Dragon

Evil-tempered and chaotic, night-shadow dragons collect the riches  and plunder of it's victims. These dragons seethe at the sight of orderly and prosperous society, and revel in the corruption of humanoid civilization. They make their homes in gloomy caves, grottos and decrepit ruins near,or in, swamps where kingdoms once flourished. 

With a broad sagittal crest and long back turned horns curving inward, a night-shadow dragon’s face is angular with never blinking deep violet eyes. Its curving, segmented horns are bone-colored near the base and  as a night-shadow dragon ages, the flesh around its horns appears to have thin tendrils of shadow creeping up the horns, looking like indigo veins.  A night-shadow dragon’s head is defined with jaw spikes and horns. Its tongue is purple and thick with a forked tip.  A shadowy mist wisps from the dragons toothy maw, adding to the dragons terrifying appearance. 

Night-shadow dragons are not born naturally, but rather a byproduct of the Shadowfell.  When a dragon resides too long in the plane of shadow, dark energies infuse and itransform it's body over the span of only a few years. The effects cannot be resisted by the dragon regardless of it's age, species, or alignment.  The Shadowfell claims all in it's dominion. 

Cunning and Cruel. Night-shadow dragons are evil and callous, distinguishing themselves as deft, manipulative and cruel. Naturally a predator, by deception, stalking their prey, like a cat stalking a mouse, is it's bliss.  A night-shadow dragon, when hunting prefers toying with it's prey, finding amusement in presenting false hope of parlay or escape before finishing off its enemies.  The victim's terrorr realized just as the dragon lashes out from the shadows. 

A night-shadow dragon skulks, attacking its weakest enemy first, which inflates its ego as it terrifies its remaining foes. On the cusp of defeat, a night-shadow dragon does anything it can to preserve it's own life, but accepts death before it would allow any other creature to hold dominance over it.

Natural Enemies and Servants. Night-shadow dragons hate and fear other dragons. Especially good aligned dragons. It will spy on draconic rivals from the shadows, looking for opportunities to destroy lesser dragons and attempt trickery with stronger ones to avoid them.  If a stronger dragon threatens it, a night-shadow dragon abandons its lair and seeks out new territory.  In rare instances a night-shadow dragon will open a disguised portal to the Shadowfell  attempting to lure the stronger dragon through, condemning it's opponent to a shadowy metamorphosis. 

 The torturous isolation and entrapment in the Shadowfell shatters most dragon's psyche as the dark energies suffuse the helpless beast during it's transfiguration.  This isolation warps the dragon's mind, and it no longer views humanoid kind as anything other than food or entertainment.  

A night-shadow dragon’s malicious pressence might also cause the spawning of evil shadows that are attracted to good creatures approaching the dragon’s lair. These shadows will cease at nothing to destroy, and/or corrupt, these good creatures.

Night-shadow dragons reside in isolated, fetid places.  A night-shadow dragon’s lair is preferably a dismal cave, grotto, or old  ruins bordering swamps.   Night-shadow dragons dwell in perpetual gloom: allowing the dragon to open and maintain a planar connection to the Shadowfell.  The lair is littered with the black dry rotting bones of previous victims and the fly-ridden carcasses of fresh kills rotting and decaying to the creature's tastes.  Centipedes, scorpions, snakes, and carrion crawlers, infest the lair, which is filled with the sweet putrid stench of death and decay. 

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the dragon can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:

• Shadows that the dragon can see within 120 feet of it surge outward in a grasping wave. Any creature on the ground within 20 feet of such a shadow must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 20 feet away and knocked prone
• A cloud of necrotic spores fills a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on a point the dragon chooses within 60 feet of it. The cloud spreads around corners and remains until the dragon dismisses it as an action, uses this lair action again, or dies. The cloud is lightly obscured. Any creature in the cloud when it appears must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature that ends its turn in the cloud takes 10 (3d6) necrotic damage.
• Magical darkness spreads from a point the dragon chooses within 60 feet of it, filling a 15-foot-radius sphere until the dragon dismisses it as an action, uses this lair action again, or dies. The darkness spreads around corners. A creature with darkvision can’t see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can’t illuminate it. If any of the effect’s area overlaps with an area of light created by a spell of 2nd level or lower, the spell that created the light is dispelled.

Regional Effects

The region containing a legendary night-shadow dragon’s lair is warped by the dragon’s magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:

• The land within 6 miles of the lair takes twice as long as normal to traverse, since the plants grow thick and twisted, and the swamps are thick with reeking mud, and unnatural darkness. 
• Fog lightly obscures the land within 6 miles of the lair. Creating a permanent condition of dim light. Magical light spells of 2nd level or lower do not affect the lighting in any way. 
• Shadows within 1 mile of the lair manifest in peculiar ways. Individuals begin to feel as if they're being watched. Every 24 hours players within the affected area must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. Failed saving throws result in the player having a -5 penalty on all Wisdom Perception ability checks due to the distracting nature of the shadows. 
• If the dragon dies, vegetation remains as it has grown, but other effects fade over 1d10 days.