Just for fun I asked an AI two compose an introduction to this video for you in the
role as a dungeon master writing the intro to a combat encounter in Hades, and here is
what it came up with.
"As the party of adventurers becomes aware of the approaching dragon, they may feel a
sense of dread wash over them.
The creature's undead appearance, with its diseased and emaciated frame, is a clear indication
of the kind of danger they are facing.
The dragon's vulture-like head and lack of wings only add to its intimidating presence
as it slithers across the ruins of Hades, surrounded by the remains of infernal creatures
and ancient war machines.
As the dragon gets closer, the sense of evil in the location becomes almost palpable.
The party can feel the darkness closing in on them, as if the dragon itself is wrapped
in the very essence of this cursed place.
They may feel the urge to run, but they know that there is nowhere to go in this bleak
and desolate landscape.
All they can do is stand their ground and hope that they have the skills and strength
to defeat this formidable beast.
As the dragon approaches, the party may try to assess its weaknesses and come up with
a plan of attack.
They may try to use ranged weapons to take the dragon down from a distance, or they may
try to engage it in close combat.
Either way, the battle is sure to be intense and perilous, with the dragon unleashing its
full range of terrifying abilities as it tries to take down its prey.
Ultimately, it will be up to the adventurers to use all of their skills and cunning to
emerge victorious and escape the grasp of the grim and depressing gloom of Hades."
Nice effort, but let me show you how a real dungeon master depicts the scene, and, if
you are currently eating, I strongly advise you to pause this video right now and continue
after your stomach is nicely settled.
A tasty beverage should be safe though.
"For hours or perhaps days now, who can tell in this eternal darkness and foul smog, your
party has trudged across this bleak landscape of endless mud, filthy puddles of what is
certainly not water but more ponds of waste and decay littered with sharp broken bones,
fangs and rusted old weapons of dull green infernal iron, you can sense the presence
of something absolutely malicious stalking you.
Only now and then do you catch sight of something in the murk, as your pitiful light and feeble
darkvision struggles to penetrate the clouds of biting insects, the geyser puffs of exploding
corpses of massive size; no doubt the remains of gargantuan war beasts brought to this realm
by any number of factions in the eternal blood wars, always raging far off like some threatening
growl that rumbles through the broken hills, ragged ravines and misty, trench filled plains
that surround the black and loathsome waters of the river Styx, always close by as you
dare not lose sight of it or be forever doomed to wander Hades for the rest of what are sure
to be very short lives, an the cursed eternity thereafter as even your soul can not escape
this place.
A muffled sound reaches you and suddenly you spin in the mud as intense waves of apathy
and despair wash over you, a supernatural aura drawn from the very power of Hades itself,
it is nothing like dragonfear, it seeps into your very marrow and seems to rob you of your
strength, the adventurers try to conceal their shaking hands and buckling knees from their
companions, but no bravery can withstand this assualt, as the dragon finally rears its hunched
back and gathers its emaciated limbs under it to pounce on its victims.
They can hear the screams and feel their throats grow ragged as the understand they are making
those noises themselves.
The fear is so intense it looses bladders and bowels in even the staunchest warriors.
The dragon looks gaunt and skeletal, and has a beak-like snout resembling that of a vulture.
Its tightly drawn hide of rough, cracked scales alternates in uneven patterns between white
and black tones, its flesh is riddled with bloated, straining pustules riddled with the
eggs of countless teeming parasites that burst in sprays of heat seeking virulence the moment
any sharp blade manages to slice open it's black and slime oozing flesh.
A line of uneven plates runs down its hunched spine, each in the shape of a grim headstone,
or so it seems, and each bone-like plate bears what looks like ancient, arcane writing which
seems to skitter and shift under the scrutiny of mortal eyes.
A thin greenish-gray mist, also the colour of the dragons dimly glowing, dead-looking
eyes, swirls around its legs as it tenses its sinewy body and coils its long, but thin
tail.
At first glance the dragon looks clearly to be either diseased to the point of death or
it has already crossed over and is now undead.
But it is neither, this is not a dragon of the prime material plane, this is a manifestation
of the draconic spirit twisted and turned into a vile and terrible monster by the plane
of Hades itself and while it glares at you with the intensity of a cat watching the every
movement of a mouse, you start to suspect this fight will wound your mind and spirit
just as much as those wicked, filthy claws are going to rip your fragile flesh and bones
apart.
Roll for initiative and draw your weapons, lest this be the last thing you ever witness
with the eys of a living being."
Beat that robot.
Originally published in Dragon Magazine issue 344 in June of 2006 it is a relatively recent
addition to the dragon menagerie.
The original art work is, interesting, but I would not be particularly terrified of that,
no, in person this dragon would be one of the most hideous and obviously deeply, deeply
evil and absolutely malevolent with a keen intelligence just packed full of sadistic
cruelty it plays out like fantasies to amuse itself.
When it does take living victims rather than just feeding on sloppy, infested carrion,
it consumes them body and soul, the soul is digested, one could say, over decades the
dragon leaches part of the souls energy and vigour to better study it and the psychological
trauma of its dark whispers can easily drive those consumed souls utterly insane before
they are lost so completely only the legendary wish call could ever restore them.
The Gloom dragons typically lair along the banks of the River Styx in cave networks,
they flock to the first layer of Oinos for the rich pickings in victims for their amusements.
While other dragons use their physical might to overpower and tear victims to shreds, the
Gloom dragons of Hades avoid combat, they will actually run for it if offered serious
resistance to getting eaten, but they are not giving up, far from it, they will return
and use their supernatural abilities from a safe distance instead.
Most of the time the dragons just creep around, eating the amazingly foul corpses littering
the plane from the ever present chaos of the blood war, but given the chance to stalk,
murder, leave to rot and then consume the corpse of a living being, they will almost
always be baited into that sort of fight.
Physically smaller and weaker than even many true dragons of the mortal worlds, the Gloom
dragon is cunning enough to avoid any combat that has a chance to kill them, as to die
on this plane is a terrible fate even for a creature native to it.
They will carefully assess their prey, stalking out of sight, just revealing itself now and
then as it quite enjoys the rich and interesting smell of terrified living beings.
Still, it is a dragon with a bite capable of severing a human skull like a split coconut
full of brains and gore; it enjoys the taste of such unusually vital and rich flesh from
the prime material plane, but still will not consume any meat not quite far along in its
decay, thankfully this never takes very long in Hades, particularly the first layer of
Oinos, some would say that realm is the very mother of all the plagues of the multiverse,
and it is hard to disagree.
While not mortal beings, the Gloom dragons still emulate their living counterparts, they
do breed and produce offspring, just fairly rarely and many offspring have almost no chance
to survive to adulthood in this intensely dangerous place.
Often the wyrmlings will simply take to the very waters of the river styx, hunting down
other creatures, both above the water, and within it, including many forms of aquatic
demon that are quite common on the river.
Clutches of eggs the size and general appearance of rotten cabbages cluster in shallow pools
of entropic muck excreted by the parent in the birthing process, deep within twisted
and well protected cavern lairs.
Remember the sandy sediment found on the floor of the river styx is no ordinary material,
it is the condensed memories stripped away by those infernal waters and it is extremely
valuable to some who have a use for such things, and really, the memories of billions of beings
over countless eons, there are all kinds of hidden secrets lost in there, the extraction
and trade in this substance is as difficult and dangerous as the mining of memory crystals
in the depths of the astral plane where it approaches the fugue realm of Kelemvor, who
also has a presence in Hades, kind of protecting all of the memories, lost both on purpose
and by mistake or tragedy.
But of course the Gloom dragons are ample protection in and of themselves and thrive
on the constant supply of fools who would dare wander the shores of the styx near their
hidden lairs, many of which are ancient and well established locations of their own with
a local history every bit as rich and complicated as some mortal kingdom, rising and falling
in power, wealth and prominance according to the might and activity of the dragon or
dragons who currently occupy them.
In some cases, twisted cave lair is what they began as, but by now they are massive mega
dungeons stocked with a multiverse of horrors gathered by the long, long generations of
dragons who have each called the lair their own and contributed to its epic contents.
So, how lethal is Gloom dragon?
Here is a conversion of the 3.5 edition listing into the current 5th edition rule set, I find
this version by drdeatheer has a great combination of abilities that reflect well just how lethal
this creature is.
Best of luck everyone, my advice would be to avoid them and certainly stay off the shores
of the river styx, if you ever must travel that way, ensure you find a ferryman daemon
and pay them very, very well.
My name is AJ Pickett, I make lore videos for roleplaying games, gathering information
from every edition and source I can find to bring you only the best content
that
I can, and shall always do, as by then I will have programmed an AI to replace me.
Until then, as always, thanks for listening and I shall be back with more for you, very
soon.