An eagle is a small creature that (here on earth) can weigh up to 14 lbs and has a hunting territory of up to 6 square miles. Conversely, a young green dragon is a large creature, likely weighs something approaching 1,000 lbs and no doubt has a much larger hunting radius than 6 square miles.

I bring this up because I can’t imagine there could be a green dragon living in the ruins of Thundertree 25 miles away from the walls of Neverwinter without the city knowing about it. Farmers and their livestock, shepherds and their herds, loggers, hunters, and travelers would all be subject to the predations of an apex predator like a dragon. Especially a green dragon, which delights in stalking its quarry for days and revels in inspiring terror in its prey. And even if the dragon wasn’t eating people, folks would find its leavings all over the place and surely spot the dragon wheeling around in the sky from time to time.

Now let’s look at Neverwinter for a moment. It’s a city state governed by Dagult Neverember. He’s a wealthy plutocrat with financial interests up and down the Sword Coast and across the Sea of Swords in places like the Island Kingdom of Mintarn, where Neverwinter buys mercenaries trained in Mintarn facilities and transports them to the Sword Coast in Mintarn ships, all of it built with Neverember money.

Mintarn is flush with gold as a result of Neverwinter’s patronage. So, no doubt, the nobility of Neverwinter know a bit about Mintarn, and I’d suspect they know about Hoondarrh “the Red Rage,” an ancient red dragon who menaces the island kingdom and is mollified by a sizable tribute paid to the great wyrm by Mintarn annually.

If you had a young green dragon in your backyard, and you were unsure when it would sprout into an adult green dragon, would you just sit around and wait until your city gets Mintarned?

Even if the dragon isn’t attacking the city, he has the potential to be a massive disruption outside its walls. In fact, Neverwinter already has history with a troublesome green dragon who grew to adulthood and menaced its borderlands: Azdraka, the green dragon interred in the Dragon Barrow featured in Dragon of Icespire Peak.

I can’t imagine the discovery of a young green dragon within a day’s walk of the city’s walls would not be of grave concern to Neverwinter. And I’d think you could craft a fun adventure around it.

Perhaps, instead of a tavern, the adventure starts at the Great Hall in Castle Never, where Lord Protector of Neverwinter Dagult Neverember holds court, hearing the testimony of survivors of Venomfang’s attack on the logger camp (from Dragon of Icespire Peak), as well as shepherds and homesteaders who have lived in terror of the dragon, whose predations have decimated their livelihoods.

The sages attending the Lord Protector at court, based on the questions they ask of the survivors, ascertain that the dragon is a young dragon that could reach adulthood anywhere from a year to a decade from now. And that, while dangerous now, these attacks will pale in comparison to what an adult dragon is capable of, which then leads to discussions of the terror Azdraka unleashed outside of Neverwinter’s walls almost a century ago.

Faced with the emerging threat of an adult dragon in the skies over Neverwinter, the Lord Protector calls for a company to hunt down and slay the dragon. When Sildar Hallwinter steps forward and volunteers to lead a company to drive off or slay the dragon, his voice echoes through the Great Hall as he calls for volunteers to join in his cause beneath the banner of Neverwinter. When other valiant warriors step forward to ride with Sildar Hallwinter, hopefully the party will as well.

With the assembled company standing before the throne, Neverember makes his proclamation.

In the name of Lord Dagult Neverember, Lord Protector of Neverwinter and Legislator of The Council of Lords, I charge you, Sir Hallwinter, to assemble a great company to ride to the grasslands with all haste, to follow the waters of the Neverwinter River under the Lord Protector’s banner, and there bring the Lord Protector’s justice to the dragon Venomfang, and to the minions who shared in his crimes. I denounce him, and condemn him, and order that he be driven from grasslands south of the Neverwinter River, north of the Triboar Trail, east of the High Road and north of the Neverwinter Wood. I call upon you to drive this wicked beast from the grasslands under penalty of death. May the gods take pity on this foul wyrm’s soul.”

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