The knights of the Forked Castle (17.18) are famous for taming enormous lizards and riding them into battle. The mounts’ wild cousins are known as mud dragons, and they wallow in a festering valley among the Devil’s Fingers (16.23). Scales, forked tongues and lashing tails aside, mud dragons are far from the mighty, awe-inspiring creatures whose name they share. Their hides are wrinkled and dull, if they can even be seen at all beneath all the layers of mud and excrement. Diseased saliva drips from their jaws, and their claws are filthy hooks. Even by reptilian standards, they are cruel and lazy. When mud dragons find potential prey, they charge in a pack and attempt to deliver a bite. The creatures withdraw after the first bite. They trust the diseases in their bites will kill their prey. When their victims succumb, they track down the carcasses with their keen noses and gorge themselves.
Mud dragons are native to lands far to the south of the Shrouded Lands. But centuries ago, a small lizardman (41.24) caravan carrying a breeding pair of these foul lizards was destroyed in a battle with the halflings of Jar Town (16.20). The beasts escaped the melee early and returned in the aftermath to feast on their fallen masters. Generations of their inbred offspring have flourished in the valley (16.23).
The halflings, who were avenging the cannibalization of an innkeeper and his wife, slaughtered every lizardman and looted anything deemed valuable from the caravan. However, they did not understand the value of their snake books. The descendants slither through the valleys, waiting to be claimed by daring adventurers.
Hooks
- How do the mud dragons hold their own against the local lions?
- Do the domesticated mounts also inflict plague with their bites? That doesn’t seem very chivalrous.
- Are all halflings as vengeful as those inhabiting Jar Town?
- The Foolish Sages (20.18) have reason to believe that the lauded lizardman historian Kashikik was killed in the battle, and that his lost works can be caught among the rocks and scrub.