In a game like Dungeons and Dragons, it's only right that the skies be filled with dragons. We've looked at many breeds of dragons in this run of articles, and it's been a wild ride.

Bringing them to life has generated many interesting design questions. Maybe dragons don't need to roost in one lair, which made me think of cobalt dragons. Maybe dragons don't need to be Good aligned, which made me think of our friend today and steel dragons. The biggest question on my mind, which lead to another breed of dragons was simple but opened a huge rabbit hole for me. What if dragons have bigger plans for their gold than just hoarding?

Mercury Dragons

The reputation of the mercury dragon is alluring and dangerous as mercury itself. People see the glimmering silver metal and think of it as a treasure or an ingredient of science and alchemy. The longer you work with alchemy, the more poisonous it becomes. The mercury dragons have a similar allure, insisting on your attention with a literal silver tongue. The longer you hold their attention, the more their unique take on greed appears.

Mercury dragons are the most slender and lithe of all major dragon species. The signature thin neck and serpentine tail meets with spines behind the two horns on the back of its head. The face is sharp and the often bright eyes meet with a scowl. Unlike most breeds of dragon, where the colours of their scales become more muted as they age, mercury dragons retain the sheen of their scales for their entire lives.

Ancient Mercury Dragon Stats generated on homebrewery.naturalcrit.com

Fencing Ace

Most dragons hoard their favourite kind of bauble, trinket, or precious good. Mercury dragons are far less picky. The more malicious of their kind will plunder humanoid settlements or other dragon's lairs to take what they can. As they gain their wealth, they never seek to keep it for long.

The mercury dragon knows there is value in the things they collect, and will use the financial capital they have gained to amass more treasure, influence, or to further some other desire or interest.

The mercury dragon's ability to appraise and value items rival experts the world over. They'll leverage that fact whenever they can. Seeking out a mercury dragon to date an artefact or assess the provenance of art will always give an accurate answer, but draw the dragon's interests. Mercury dragons are renown the world over as fences and antiquarians, but ones who have as much interest in building their own collections at the same time.

Mercury Dragon Lairs

Mercury dragons are as selective with their homes as they are with their collections. They prize well fortified, secure locations. Their ability to polymorph grants them the benefits of humanoid civilisation's security. There will never be a vault secure enough for a mercury dragon's liking, but the best that money can buy will suffice.

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties) the dragon takes a lair action to take one of the following effects:

Thin beams of red light intersect across the lair. Each creature in the beam's path when they appear must make a DC 15 Dexterity Saving throw or take 10 (3d6) radiant damage. The beams remain in place until next initiative count 20.
A magical klaxon, blaring an alarm rings throughout the lair. Each creature, other than the dragon must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be deafened until the end of that creature's next turn.

Region Effects

All precipitation within six miles of the dragon's lair falls twice as heavily.
The natural ageing effect on objects and items ceases within one mile of the dragon's lair.

Bonds of Quicksilver

Young Mercury Dragon and Mercury Dragon Wyrmling Stats

The mercury dragon can fit many roles for game masters out there. Want a shady information and antiquities broker that the players need to pry information from? Want an eccentric collector on the edge of town who'll give them an unforgettable fetch quest to a deep dungeon? The mercury dragon is as changeable as mercury itself.

Now we want to hear from you? How would you use a mercury dragon in your game? Are there other, unexpected twists to dragons you'd like to see in a future article? Let us know on our discord server or the comments below, and thanks for keeping up with the dragons.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com, he writes about card gaming and PC gaming to a corner of the internet he carved out himself. On Youtube, he can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Follow his Twitter @IzzetTinkerer.

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Mercury Dragons - Eye of the Deal