Ancient Faerie Dragon

A Faerie Dragon’s Lair

 Faerie dragon's are perhaps the most reclusive of the draconic company. Lucky (or cursed) individuals may happen upon their lairs in some of the furthest bastions of nature, far from civilization. Most of the time, these lairs are built around nexuses of fey magic or near portals to the Feywild. The dragon could live the life of a hermit, or surround himself with other individuals (details below).

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the dragon takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects:

• Grasping Vines: 3 Tendril-like vines burst from various places in the ground and grasp at any hostile individuals in their 10-foot reach. Individuals must succeed on a DC18 strength or dexterity saving throw (DM's discretion) or become grappled. Additionally, grappled individuals suffer 10 (3d6) piercing damage at the start of each of their turns as they are pierced by tiny thorns. Creatures can expend an action to make another saving throw to escape the vines. For the purposes of cutting a creature free, the vines each have 25 hitpoints. If one weapon attack does not completely kill the vine, it uses a reaction to immediately constrict, and the grappled creature takes 10 (3d6) piercing damage). After one minute, at the 20 initiative count, the vines retreat into the earth. If a creature is still grappled when this occurs, the vines attempt to pull the creature into the earth. The creature suffers 10 (3d6) force damage and is released from the vines.
• Enchantress' Song: The dragon chooses one creature within 120 feet. The creature must succeed on a DC18 wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature (and only the creature) begins to hear the lure of a harp and gentle voice of a nearby dryad. At the start of the creature's next turn, the dragon determines the creature's movement and action, which can be used to perform any action that would not directly harm the creature. The creature may make a wisdom save at the end of every turn to resist. The condition fades after one minute.
• Faerie Obscura: Originating over a pool or pond of natural water within the lair, a mist begins to form, which creeps to a point of the dragon's choosing. The mist then settles as a 60-ft sphere. Within the sphere, all sight (barring truesight) is reduced by half, and perception/investigation checks are made with disadvantage. The mist lasts for one minute. The dragon is immune to the effects.

Regional Effects

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

• In a five-mile radius of a faerie dragon lair, common woodland animals can be found that speak both Sylvan and Common, but only if addressed or if they mistake talk as being addressed to them. If asked about a dragon in the vicinity, they respond eagerly with flattery and adulation and can point the party in it's direction, however they respond with sheepish embarrassment if asked to enter the lair themselves.
• Within a two-mile radius of the dragon lair, faint music can be heard, as if carried by the wind from an indescribable distance. The music resembles harps and flutes, and all creatures who hear it find it strangely pleasing, even those who under normal circumstances would not.
• Within one mile of the lair, all sentient creatures who can hear the music, and who have not received a token of the dragon's friendship, must succeed on a DC20 wisdom saving throw or be charmed by the music. Affected creatures can attempt to save again every five minutes, however after three failed attempts, the effect is permanent until the next dawn. Charmed individuals find their exhaustion and fears lifted, entering a relaxed-like state, and find themselves drifting into the lair, swept up into the music, perhaps being swept into a dance by a fey partner.
• Mortals that leave the one-mile radius of the Faerie Dragon's court in good favor are left with a sense of longing for the simple comfort of the glade or vale they just exited, which fades over time but always rests at the back of their mind. Mortals that escape with their lives under the fury of a faerie dragon and attempt to reenter are no longer greeted by the previous charm spell, but must instead succeed on a DC18 wisdom saving throw or be frightened from entering for one hour.

 A Faerie Dragon's Court

Faerie Dragon's often find themselves centers of fey or seelie enclaves when within the material plane. These dragons contend themselves with being the benevolent, if ferocious, rulers of fey courts within the wildest of woods they inhabit. Following are examples of individuals that may be found in a faerie dragon's court, but this should not be taken as comprehensive or even required.

Dryad: Dryads who linger in the material plane often find themselves drawn to the lair and court of a faerie dragon, as it most reminds them of their home forests in the feywild. The dryads find themselves a home under the eyes of a ferocious protector, and in turn help make the dragon's court into a mirror of the fey majesty the dragon once knew.

Satyr: While the majority of these half-folk often find themselves off in one adventure or another, some occasionally find the need to settle down near a source of fey power. These satyr often end up as bards recounting their adventures to their bemused host, or as caretakers for their dryad sisters, both far from their ancestral home in the feywild.

Centaur: Whenever these mighty creatures wander from their native lands, it is usually in search of a position or deed of honor, and some end up as knight-protectors and wardens of a faerie dragon's court.

Minstrels: No court would be complete without a troupe of musicians providing the relaxing accompaniment of harp and lute and song, and the bewitching songs that protect the court are not conjured from thin air. These bards could be the satyr or fey of the court, or they could be mortals, once charmed into entering, who can now no longer bear the thought of departure.

Optional Setting Hook: The Faerie Queen

When the multiverse was young, and the Faerie Queen wandered across the material and fey worlds without bound, the mighty faerie dragons flew as steeds for her and her consorts and executed her will upon existence with honor and righteousness. Now that she has been trapped behind the Astral Gate with the other deities for more than a millennia, most faerie dragons have forgotten much of their past life, remembering only the goodness of their deeds, and the beauty of the Lady of the Lake, but their deeds themselves, and the vision of her majestic voice and face, have been lost to them.

Optional Setting Hook: The Corruption of the Faerie

With their connection to the Faerie Queen lost, and without the ability to perform such magics themselves, the dragons now rely on the unique nature of the dryads of their courts to commune with the Queen of Stars every spring, by which communion they share her blessing with the natural world. Through this, the natural realm of the material plane is made whole again after the hibernation of winter. Should any evil sever the Lady's connection with the material plane, or perhaps even subvert it for its own use, it could have wide-reaching consequences for the entire plane of existence. Perhaps a faerie dragon would become patron to a group of trustworthy adventurers (or co-opt a troop of adventurers that wandered into his court) and send them out to investigate this corruption.