Dragons of the Flanaess: Ordrieneth, Gold Dragon

Art by Rhinville

Name: Ordrieneth, Gold Dragon
Age: Mature Adult 200+
Description: Ordrieneth is a sleek and glittering dragon. Her golden scales shimmer in the sunlight like a beacon, making it possible for sailors to spot her soaring through the sky during the day. She has avoided any serious scars or blemishes to her scales by preferring to fight at a distance with breath weapon and spells and only mixing it up in melee combat as a last resort. ​

Personality: Like most gold dragons, Ordrieneth hates injustice and foul play, but more than anything, she hates slavery. Freedom to live a just life she holds as her central ideal. 

While she can be profoundly serious when she needs to be, Ordrieneth’s usual demeanor is pleasant and inquisitive. She is sympathetic, and her desire to help those in need pushes her to stick her nose into places where it is not welcomed often.

Location: Originally from the southern Crystalmist Mountains, Ordrieneth moved to the coast of Sea Princes on Azure Sea. From there she moved further south out over the sea to explore islands and jungles. Eventually, she settled on a small island southwest of the Tilvanot Peninsula. Ordrieneth prefers the warmer weather here in the south, and with the prevalent slave trade in the region to fight against, she felt right at home. 

Lair: Ordrieneth’s liar is not a cavern or natural formation but instead is a castle that she, and her allies, have been building for the past 25 years. With stones carved out of volcanic rock, the castle's dark rock would look foreboding if it were not for the moss and creeper vines covering it. The entire castle and surrounding grounds are dominated by gardens, fountains, and manicured bushes and trees. Ordrieneth loves flowers and plants, and when she is not busy sinking a slave ship or freeing slaves, she can be found in her gardens. 

In addition to the flora, Ordrieneth also collects many brilliant and fantastic beasts as pets in her gardens. The gardens are full of squawking birds, and melodic birdsongs drift pleasantly throughout the gardens and the castle, and monkeys chatter and jump and play in the trees. The gardens are like an open-air zoo full of fantastic animals, some of which act as guardians of her castle in her absence. 

Ordrieneth is particularly fond of cats and has hundreds of them living on her island with her. From a staggering array of house cats to larger jaguars and panthers. If encountered on her island, she will always be in the company of a dozen smaller cats and 1d4 jaguars or panthers.

In addition to the animals, Ordrieneth has a small complement of servants and laborers who live on the island. These people are collected from the slaves that she frees and have no other place to return home to. These servants maintain her castle for her while she continues her fight against slavery. Some of these people make up the crew of her pirate ship, the Wind Reaver, although a number of them are also polymorphed cats. These cats, along with most of the cats that live on her island, have higher intelligence than average cats. The ones that she uses as crew for her ship range in intelligence from low to average intelligence.

Ordrieneth’s island also has a hidden cove where her pirate ship, the Wind Reaver, is docked when not sailing about the Azure and Pearl seas. 

Olara Windstorm - Art by Bob Kehl

Relations: Ordrieneth the dragon is well known and hated by the Scarlet Brotherhood. The brotherhood is the main target of her war against slavery, but all that ply that trade and sail the Azure and Pearl sea know of her.​

Her alter ego, Olara Windstorm, a buccaneer that hails supposedly from the pirate isles, is known as a whimsical pirate. Olara is finicky in the targets that she chooses to assault, and in reality, does so rarely. The guise of Olara is used mostly for gathering intel about possible movements of slaves and other nefarious deeds that she might want to put a stop to.

History: Ordrieneth moved into the region as a young adult and spent most of her early years exploring and looking for a suitable location for her lair. It was during this time that she learned of the Scarlet Brotherhood and their slave trade. Her decision to fight against the brotherhood and their evil practices lead to her choosing her lair closer to her chosen enemy.

Ordrieneth war against the brotherhood started slow. She knew that she must grow in strength and resources to take on an entire nation, such as the brotherhood, would be very dangerous. For the first 100 years in the region, she slowly built up her lair and allowed herself to grow more powerful. Over the past 25 years, however, she has become a well-known thorn in the side of the Scarlet Brotherhood. They have set a bounty on the drake of 10,000GP and have many of their spies busily searching for her.

Ordrieneth anticipated this, and while building her lair, she made sure to weave many protective enchantments and illusions around it. Ordrieneth has cultivated a network of adventurers through her identity of Olara. Some of those that she can trust know of her true identity, and some have even visited her island. Among those who have visited her island were several spell casters of considerable power that have added their own talents and spells to bolstering her island's defenses.

Adventure Hooks: Encountering Ordrieneth in her Olara form in a port city is possible as she is well known. Ordrieneth is always looking for adventurers that she can become friends with, especially if they might help her in her battles against the Scarlet Brotherhood. Of course, she would put them through a test to see how reliable they would be first. 
Ordrieneth’s most common test for adventurers after meeting them is to hire them to conduct a raid on a slavers camp to free slaves. Ordrieneth is even known to follow along and spy on the adventurers to watch how well they do and ensure that they accomplish the task. 

Art by Todd Lockwood