Spoiler! - Thoughts on Adding a Brass Dragon Concerned About The Scarlet Triad?

[Garfrum Helhammer]

Hello fellow GMs!

My four players are currently in the second book and had to run away from a rough fight at the mine. Three new characters are needed now and they've all done an awesome job of creating thematic PCs. One player has decided on a brass-scaled kobold summoner, whose dragon eidolon is also brass scaled. Given that the summoner/eidolon relationship is not new, and the lore of dragon eidolons says they're an echo of a dragon traveling through the astral plane, I thought it'd be awesome to bring another dragon into the game.

I'm thinking an ancient brass dragon, one clearly outmatched by Mengkare strength-wise, beginning to become concerned with the actions of the Scarlet Triad. I'm creating a sort of weak, distant psychic connection between it and the eidolon/summoner. The Brass's concern for the situation, even though it doesn't understand entirely what's going on yet, is what brought it to do a quick investigation of the jungle, and in turn created a "pull of unbiased curiousity" on the eidolon/summoner, thus they headed into the AP's jungle region to see what was drawing them there.

I would think a great "reveal" of the brass, should the party live that long, would be in book 5, since brass dragons prefer desert homes. If anyone has any opinions on this, I'd love to hear how you think it could negatively/positively affect the story, and how you'd use this additional dragon character.

[Fumarole]

This thread should probably have a Spoiler tag in the title.

I think this is a great idea! Perhaps you could replace Vtrik with the brass dragon in the Red Pyramid? Somehow Teyam Ishtori has captured the dragon and has been using it to power the forge. This echoes book two and what Belmazog was up to in the swamp with Kyrion as a prisoner when the summoner character was first introduced to the campaign.

[xcmt]

First, I want to say that it's a wonderful idea to help add a personal link between the PC and the story development.

And while I think Fumarole's drop-in makes sense in a thematic way, it may be difficult to explain or justify the dragon's activities and interest in current events if it's been imprisoned in the Red Pyramid's sub-subbasement for thousands of years.

Given the stated inclination for brass dragons to actively participate in humanoid social life and politics, and their emphasis on valuing independence and liberty, and this particular dragon's specific interest in Triad activity, I think it would make a lot of sense for the party to encounter it leading up to or during Book 5's slave auction at the Bhetshamtal Estate. The dragon has likely been monitoring Triad enslavement operations across Garund (including in the Mwangi) but has a hunch there's something off about the more recent events. Mekrem's missing shipment of skymetals, the head of the Jewelers Guild's capture, various artisans being smuggled into and out of the Red Pyramid...it can sense there's a larger plot, but needs to get more hands-on with the investigation.

I don't think I'd be able to resist making it a disguised guest at the event itself, someone for the party to have a conversation with during the infiltration, both suspicious of the other's intentions. Perhaps it can then quietly tail the party into the basement and then provide material aid during their rushed escape after freeing the captives. Given how freeform the heist is, you could play it out any way imaginable.

The dragon would then also be a resource of roleplay and knowledge for the party to interact with throughout the majority of Book 5, and you could decide when to make the big reveals to the summoner in question and how much help it lends to the party, or whether its trust has to be won first. Personally I would probably stretch out the ambiguity of its intentions across the full chapter, making it receptive to conversation and would offer advice but wouldn't fight or reveal itself until it had been sufficiently convinced of their righteous intentions (maybe integrate into existing influence system? Or maybe just leave as roleplay on demand.) or until there was a critical moment of dire need.