Orrumvast [Unique Bronze Dragon]

Few residents of a certain port city realize its treasury holds a dragon. The vault's chief guard, and its permanent resident, is Orrumvast, an old male bronze whose name means 'immense treasure' in his people's tongue. He raises the alarm over any withdrawal not backed by a certified writ stating the exact amount, to the last coin, and for more than half a century he has stopped funds from vanishing, whether through plain theft or quiet 'loans' to officials. Misuse after money leaves the vault is the treasury regent's problem.

Alongside the normal powers of an old bronze, such as airy water, water breathing, speak with animals and create food and water, he keeps several spells ready, all cast at 16th level: the priest spell command and the wizard spells invisibility, charm person, magic mouth, ventriloquism and sepia snake glyph.

He first made his name hunting pirates for a newly seated lord mayor. Decades ago a treasurer hired him for the vault at what seemed a cheap ten gold pieces a day, reasoning that pay owed after his own term ended was someone else's worry. Ten gold sounds like nothing to anyone with thousands to hand, but Orrumvast is patient. Each day he counts his wage and shifts it to his own corner. That pile now tops 180,000 gp as the city's dwindles before everyone's eyes, and the current regent, a tight-fisted official nicknamed the Vulture, predicts the dragon's pay will one day empty the treasury.

Years ago the regent urged the mayor to 'renegotiate': bill the dragon for 'room and board' and impose a one-time 'dragon tax' of at least half his share if he chose to leave a suddenly unwelcoming city. Ahead of the talks the mayor acquired a cube of force and a lawful neutral long sword +2, dragonslayer keyed to bronzes (triple damage and +4 to hit against them), just in case the dragon took his payment in wrecked buildings or simply refused. The crisis never arrived. Orrumvast was once wrongly declared dead, war and other disasters occupied the mayor, and the office passed to a new lady mayor who has not yet found time for such lingering, low-priority matters.

Orrumvast has no idea anyone is unhappy with his meticulous guardianship. Humans fascinate him, and he relishes gossip, and since the vault offers little conversation he sometimes sneaks out. He adores the sea's sounds, scents and views, enjoying them both as a dragon and disguised as a ship's cat loafing on the docks. He also loves people-watching, so any loafer or stray in town, particularly near the water, might be the dragon in disguise. Trusting the authorities more over the years, he has felt freer to leave the vault, where he usually lounges, to 'take the air' or take a brief dip.

Some of these outings are his first long trips away in fifty years, because Orrumvast has decided to start a family. Female bronzes are scarcer in the region than he expected, but he considers himself a handsome, refined and wealthy prize, and as word spreads a dozen or more females of every age may descend on the city to court the 'Wyrm in the Vault'. Once he chooses a bride, real financial trouble begins. Like most dragons his age he will soon tire of her hints that she deserves, no, needs, more treasure, and once the eggs are laid he may talk her into leaving with a fair share of their joint property and a generous parting gift, money the Vulture considers the city's own.

Then come the hatchlings. A devoted father, Orrumvast will give each some coins to seed a hoard, and the guardian's post will become hereditary, so the problem officials hoped would simply fade away will instead multiply. Young dragons of any kind fight back when attacked, overreact when frightened and are wildly boisterous, endangering the city's people and property for ages. A major battle with dragons could also attract less kindly wyrms, or anyone else eager to exploit the chaos to loot or attack, such as the often-humiliated pirates, who would welcome payback against the town and its winged defender.