Connects to: 11.01, 11.03 and 29.14.36.
Overview
Near the lands of the Zoar Rajak (11.01) there lies a large wooded range of hills which has long been known as the Dragon’s Spine. Although it does vaguely resemble a sleeping dragon, its name almost certainly comes from the overactive imaginations of local peasants, combined with the profusion of wormroot (11.03) that grows here, which in earlier times was called wyrmroot and believed to be related to dragons and dragonfire.
One old legend about the place is true, however: that every hundred years or so, a narrow passage opens in the rock, where the dragon’s mouth is supposed to be. This cleft leads deep into the hillside, and is unnaturally warm and steamy. The elders say that this passage contains a rare strain of subterranean wormroot, more powerful than that which grows under the sky. But the Mouth of the Dragon only stays open for about a month before closing again. Cliffar Seutorian (11.03) will pay good money for anyone who can retrieve this ‘Greater Wormroot’ from the tunnel, especially if it can be cultivated in the cellars below his keep. However, the Zoar Rajak goblins have their own beliefs about the cavern. They perform a ritual outside it to prevent ‘evil fire’ from escaping, for their oral traditions recall a time long ago when the oak forests were wreathed in flame and the ‘dragon’s plant’ burst forth from the ashes to strangle goblinkin to their deaths. The Zoar Rajak will not allow any humans to enter the Mouth of the Dragon if they can help it.
Connection
This location is mentioned in a strange journal which discusses why it rains but once a year (29.14.36).
Hooks
- What is the connection between dragons and wormroot?
- How much of the Zoar Rajak legend is true? Are their rituals really preventing anything?
- What is the nature of the Greater Wormroot? What properties does it have that make it so valuable?
- Why does the Mouth of the Dragon open and close?
