Arauthator

“Old White Death”

The white dragon Arauthator haunts the Sea of Moving Ice like an avenging wind. Personifying the brutality and savagery of his kind, Arauthator is a solid ally of the Cult of the Dragon, and can be counted on to be present at the Well of Dragons when Tiamat makes her triumphant return from the Nine Hells.

Arauthator’s chief lair is beneath a remote peak known as Lonefang Mountain, but he maintains a number of smaller lairs among the icebergs that drift with the seasonal tides in the Sea of Moving Ice. One of these is known as Oyaviggaton  (“island of eternity”) by the local tribes known as the Ice Hunters, because of the many enemies Arauthator has frozen into the icy walls of the berg’s hollowed interior.

In addition to his size, cunning, and ferocity, Arauthator wields spellcasting power that makes him a particularly dangerous foe. More than a century ago, during one of the cyclical periods of draconic violence known as the Rage of Dragons, Arauthator joined with a dozen other dragons in attacking the Hosttower of the Arcane in Luskan. Their assault toppled the west arm of the tower, and Arauthator was seen scooping up numerous items of great magical importance and power, including at least three tomes of rare spells. 

Arauthator’s iceberg lair serves primarily as a meeting ground for him and his mate, the ancient white dragon Arveiaturace (“the White Wyrm”). She is aware of the cult’s activity but has been reluctant to join forces with it, and Arauthator seeks a way to gain her commitment. At one time, Arveiaturace served a wizard named Meltharond, whose corpse remains strapped to a saddle on the dragon’s back. She has never accepted his death, and still speaks to him as if he were alive. Arauthator hopes that if he provides Arveiaturace with a new wizard to serve, she will recover from her grief and join him in wholeheartedly supporting the Cult of the Dragon. When the proud, ambitious Maccath the Crimson arrived in Arauthator’s lair, the dragon enticed her with the prospect of becoming Arveiaturace’s master and rider.

Arauthator’s Lair

General Features

Like the caverns above it, Arauthator’s lair is composed entirely of ice.

Ceiling. The rough ceiling of the open cavern rises 40 feet above the varying height of the uneven floor.

Floors. The floor of the cavern is worn smooth and is highly slippery. Arauthator and the scrags move across the slick ice with ease thanks to their claws, but characters without crampons or the ability to walk on ice treat all areas of the lair cavern as difficult terrain. See the “General Features” of the Ice Caves for information on crampons. Snowshoes are of no help in the lair.

The terrain levels represented on the map of the cavern show increments of 8 feet. The elevation of the floor results from the ice splitting and splintering, so the ledges are abrupt and have a distinctly step-like appearance. Characters can drop down a level without difficulty. Scrambling up a level requires a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check; the climber has advantage on the check if equipped with crampons or climbing gear.

Light. The lair cavern is normally dark. All description assumes that the characters have a light source or darkvision.

Temperature. The lair cavern is colder than the tunnels and chambers above it. The cavern is a bone-chilling 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Area 20 is even colder.

Visibility. Banks of vapor roll through the cavern, limiting visibility to 60 feet for characters with light.

White dragons lair in icy caves and deep subterranean chambers far from the sun. They favor high mountain vales accessible only by flying, caverns in cliff faces, and labyrinthine ice caves in glaciers. White dragons love vertical heights in their caverns, flying up to the ceiling to latch on like bats or slithering down icy crevasses.

A legendary white dragon’s innate magic deepens the cold in the area around its lair. Mountain caverns are fast frozen by the white dragon’s presence. A white dragon can often detect intruders by the way the keening wind in its lair changes tone.

A white dragon rests on high ice shelves and cliffs in its lair, the floor around it a treacherous morass of broken ice and stone, hidden pits, and slippery slopes. As foes struggle to move toward it, the dragon flies from perch to perch and destroys them with its freezing breath.

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:

• Freezing fog fills a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on a point the dragon can see within 120 feet of it. The fog spreads around corners, and its area is heavily obscured. Each creature in the fog when it appears must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature that ends its turn in the fog takes 10 (3d6) cold damage. A wind of at least 20 miles per hour disperses the fog. The fog otherwise lasts until the dragon uses this lair action again or until the dragon dies.
• Jagged ice shards fall from the ceiling, striking up to three creatures underneath that the dragon can see within 120 feet of it. The dragon makes one ranged attack roll (+7 to hit) against each target. On a hit, the target takes 10 (3d6)piercing damage.
• The dragon creates an opaque wall of ice on a solid surface it can see within 120 feet of it. The wall can be up to 30 feet long, 30 feet high, and 1 foot thick. When the wall appears, each creature within its area is pushed 5 feet out of the wall’s space, appearing on whichever side of the wall it wants. Each 10-foot section of the wall has AC 5, 30 hit points, vulnerability to fire damage, and immunity to acid, cold, necrotic, poison, and psychic damage. The wall disappears when the dragon uses this lair action again or when the dragon dies.

Regional Effects

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

• Chilly fog lightly obscures the land within 6 miles of the dragon’s lair.
• Freezing precipitation falls within 6 miles of the dragon’s lair, sometimes forming blizzard conditions when the dragon is at rest.
• Icy walls block off areas in the dragon’s lair. Each wall is 6 inches thick, and a 10-foot section has AC 5, 15 hit points, vulnerability to fire damage, and immunity to acid, cold, necrotic, poison, and psychic damage.
  If the dragon wishes to move through a wall, it can do so without slowing down. The portion of the wall the dragon moves through is destroyed, however.

If the dragon dies, the fog and precipitation fade within 1 day. The ice walls melt over the course of 1d10 days.