Blue Scaled Cave Drake

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Blue Scaled Cave Drake

Drake

1,800 lbs

133 / 133

Natural Armor:
Natural Armor +6

0 gp

Natural Weapon(s):
Bite (2d10)
Claw (2d8)

Abilities:
Digest (2d8)
Fire Breath Weapon (15) (7d6)

Attack Abilities:
Paralyzing Attack

1200 gp
Swallow

2000 gp

From the cavern’s shadows, a massive, blue-scaled drake lumbers into view, its belly distended. Jagged scales scrape the stone as it gulps down a scrag’s limp arm, eyes narrowing, already sizing up its next feast.

The Blue Scaled Drake, also known by Dwarves as the "Glutton Drake," is a formidable, cave-dwelling predator with a reputation for insatiable hunger and unmatched resilience. Its combination of mineral-based diet, molten rock breath, and tough, scaled hide make it a terror of the deep caverns and mines.

Physical Appearance

The Blue Scaled Drake is a large-sized drake, reaching lengths of up to 25 feet from snout to tail, with a broad, muscular build. Its scales are a vibrant, deep blue, polished by years of scraping against cave walls. Its belly scales are lighter and more rugged, helping it navigate rough underground terrain. Its eyes glow with a dull yellow hue, giving it an almost perpetually ravenous look. The exposed ridges of its back are its only physical vulnerability, a trait exploited by experienced hunters.

Diet and Behavior

This drake has a diet primarily consisting of rare minerals. Known for swallowing mithril whole, it will also feast on iron, gold, and even coal when precious minerals are scarce. However, the Blue Scaled Drake does not stop at inanimate minerals—any creature smaller than itself is fair game. Its broad menu includes humans, Dwarves, Dark Elves, Scrags, and even giant insects.

The Drake's notorious gluttony causes it to swallow anything that fits into its mouth, including objects like crates, rocks, or discarded tools. Its digestive system is hardy enough to process most substances, though poisons have been known to disrupt its hunting temporarily.

Defenses and Vulnerabilities

When threatened, the Blue Scaled Drake can spew molten rock from its gullet. This attack is devastating at close range and can turn cavern tunnels into rivers of magma. Its thick, overlapping scales make it highly resistant to physical damage and most elemental effects. However, the drake has an exposed ridge along its spine that leaves it vulnerable to attacks from above.

The cave-dwelling Khezu is one of the few natural predators that can effectively take down a Blue Scaled Drake, using surprise attacks on its unprotected back to neutralize the beast before it can retaliate.

Dark Elf and Dwarven Interactions

Dark Elves, being natural cave dwellers, have developed methods of distracting these drakes during encounters. Throwing poison-filled jars into the drake’s mouth has proven effective at driving it off long enough for escape, although poison rarely causes lasting harm.

Dwarves have occasionally attempted to tame Blue Scaled Drakes for mining operations. Their ability to sniff out rare minerals is unmatched, but keeping them from swallowing tools, equipment, or even miners is a constant struggle. Only the most foolhardy Dwarves take on this challenge, and those who succeed are celebrated in Dwarven lore.

Taming and Habitat

Blue Scaled Drakes prefer the deepest, darkest caves, especially those rich in valuable minerals. They are fiercely territorial, making mining in their territory a dangerous endeavor. Attempts to tame them are rare but not impossible. Successful trainers often bribe the drake with a steady supply of minerals to keep it fed and pacified.

Despite its fearsome nature, the Blue Scaled Drake has earned a strange form of respect from both Dark Elves and Dwarves—an acknowledgment of its power and endurance in the harsh, mineral-rich caverns it calls home.

Environment:

N/A

Drake

Creature Sub Type

Drakes: The Landbound Dragons

Drakes are a subspecies of dragons, distinct in their lack of wings but no less formidable than their airborne kin. While smaller than full-grown dragons, they are apex predators of the land, dominating vast territories through strength, cunning, and adaptability.

Physical Characteristics

Drakes possess four powerful limbs built for endurance and combat. Their bodies are thickly muscled, covered in hardened scales that shimmer in hues of bronze, emerald, or obsidian, depending on their habitat. While they lack the grandeur of flight, their claws carve through stone with ease, their fangs pierce armor, and their tails, long and sinewy, can shatter bones with a single strike.

Despite their inability to fly, many drakes have developed alternative means of movement—some are master climbers, scaling sheer cliffs with hooked talons, while others navigate rivers and swamps with ease, propelling their bulk through water like scaled leviathans.

Fire and Fury

To underestimate a drake is to invite destruction. Though they lack wings, their elemental breath is no weaker than that of a true dragon. Many breathe fire hot enough to reduce stone to slag, while others exhale searing winds or poisonous fumes. Their roars shake the ground, instilling terror in lesser creatures, and even experienced adventurers tread carefully when rumors of a drake's presence spread.

Territorial Nature

Drakes are not hoarders like true dragons. They do not amass gold or jewels, nor do they carve vast lairs into the mountains. Instead, they claim natural strongholds—deep caves, crumbling ruins, or even dense forests—as temporary resting grounds. They are opportunistic, sometimes stealing lairs from lesser creatures, such as wyverns. These skirmishes often result in brutal conflicts, with wyverns fighting tooth and claw to repel the stronger, more relentless drake. Such battles can be chaotic, drawing the attention of adventurers seeking to take advantage of the disorder.

Drake vs. Dragon

A trained craftsman can tell the difference between dragon and drake scales, though to the untrained eye, both seem equally impenetrable. While dragons are regal, cunning, and obsessed with their vast hoards, drakes are brutal, nomadic, and driven solely by survival. They are not creatures of intellect and greed but of raw power and instinct.