Perilous Gateways

The Dragons' Claw Portals

By Robert Wiese

The Small Teeth Portal

Creating portals is expensive and requires costly materials. Thus, Valraxaxath needed a portal near a trade center where wealth was prized above all things. The Small Teeth Mountains in the south of Amn were perfect, and they are the home of a great blue wyrm, as well. Valraxaxath uses this site to trade with the people of Amn in Murann, and he has not slowed down at all even when the ogre mages took over this area. Rich caravans also provide a good source of treasure for hoards, and dragons from far away come to hunt riches in these lands. They can also use it to escape pesky adventurers who chase them too closely.

The portal is set in the mountains high above where most of the humanoids live. The portal is a triple-sized variable portal that uses keys to select each destination. The portal itself sits in a ring of natural rock hanging below an outcropping and can be reached only by flying creatures. If creatures fly through the portal and it is not active, they crash into the side of a rock face, which is extremely painful. It opens only four times a day.

The portal's default destination is a cavern deep underneath the Peaks of Flame in Chult, and those emerging from it come out in a spot far enough from the exit that those without knowledge of the area are not likely to find their way out before salamanders and other fiery creatures attack. These battles tend to happen quickly since the portal transports the creatures to this cavern while it transports all of their equipment to Valraxaxath's secondary hoard in the Wyrmbones (south of the Shaar). The spell analyze portal can show that the Small Teeth portal has several destinations, but it focuses only on the Small Teeth destination.

The other destinations link to the rest of the Dragons' Claw, and each has a key as follows:

The local humanoids, especially those in the ogre mages' armies, have noted green and white dragons flying out of, or into, the Small Teeth in the past year or so. Often these dragons return to the mountains laden with wagons in their claws. They even have reports that red and green, or green and white, dragons are cooperating. One survivor of a dragon attack says, "Two great beasts acted in concert, cutting off escape and countering our attempts to kill one or the other with distractions or devastating attacks from the rear. I survived only because the beasts thought I was dead." Tensions in the region south of the Small Teeth are increasing, but the all-out dragon attacks that some fear have not materialized. This is because Valraxaxath needs to maintain relations with his trade partners here, so he restrains the other dragons somewhat. North of the mountains is fair game for dragon raids.

How to Incorporate the Small Teeth Portal Into Your Campaign


The Dragons' Claw Portals