Dragon, Smoke (Draco Fumo Suffoco)

About

This creature is a small, 3-foot-long dragon with a grayish underbelly and black scales. Its feet are tipped with smoke-gray talons and it has redtinged wings and blue-gray eyes. Small under-curved horns protrude from its head and its serpentine tail writhes like a plume of smoke.

Smoke dragons lair in marshes, dense forests, or just about any area where thick fog is present (or can be present). They venture from their lair when the fog is the thickest, so most encounters occur in the morning.

Lairs take the form of natural caves or caverns and are usually near a natural source of water. They eat just about anything but prefer a diet of fruits, plants, and berries. They also eat small animals such as mice and other rodents found slinking about near their lair. A smoke dragon’s feeding ground is generally small and most cover an area of less than 1 square mile.

Smoke dragons live in small groups and such a group always includes at least one mated pair. Hatchlings can assume smoke form for 1 minute per day but cannot fly. If eggs are present, the female guards them closely and will fight to the death protecting them. Eggs are round, mottled gray and black.

Smoke dragons are generally inoffensive creatures and keep to themselves. Only when threatened or if their lair is threatened do they attack. In such cases, a smoke dragon unleashes its breath weapon and then swoops in to attack with its claws and bite. If the smoke dragon is outnumbered or overwhelmed, it uses its smoke form to avoid its opponents and flee. Multiple smoke dragons gang up against foes, alternating their breath weapon and natural attacks with the other smoke dragons in the gang; i.e., one smoke dragon belches forth its breath weapon while the others swoop in and attack with their claws and bite.