Saturday 6 May 2023

Hex Crawl 23 #125: Shabana's Lair

Two hexes northwest, four hexes north of Alakran.

 

Shabana is the third young brass dragon to be found in the region. The amicable third wheel in the relationship between Berenjeli and Ruyina, she has always been smitten with love for the male dragon but became resigned to reality. So she makes her home here, miles away, in a deep cave tunneled into the cleft base of an outthrust spur of the Scarp, with a sheer drop at the end defying all intruders who do not fly. Beyond it is her bed, made of 50,000 copper coins; she has no other treasure, for any items or objects that do not contribute to her comfort she gives away to those who can better use them. Shabana will refer to unknown and unseen "servants" and "guardians" who protect her treasure but in truth, only superstition and fear of the dragon herself have kept her bed unruffled over the years.

Shabana is less arch and aloof than the other two, more earnest and helpful. She sees the few farmers who toil the Dhuga's slopes to the north and west as her responsibility, and does what she can to protect them. These farmers, on the other hand, are terrified of the dragon. They observe a taboo on even mentioning her, referring instead to "a bright shining cloud." 

When the Band of Bronze visited her she acceded to their request, and took the sandwalker Nura, the soldier Hak-Bina, and the fairy jerboa Oelita on a breathtaking aerial ride at sunset that revealed all the lands for miles around on both sides of the Scarp. However, doings on the other side of the great natural wall are not her concern; the dragon law prevents her from interfering in territory ceded to Chromatic dragon influence, and the tragedy of those lands is too terrible for her tender heart to observe.

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