Deeping Cave

Deeping Cave was a cavern in Kryptgarden Forest on the Sword Coast North. It was the lair of the green dragon Claugiyliamatar, a.k.a. Old Gnawbone, but its name came from local humans, who named it for some forgotten reason before Old Gnawbone arrived.

Geography
Deeping Cave lay in Kryptgarden Forest, at the end of a deep ravine that ran from one of the mountains that bounded the old, thickly grown woods to the north. Several tombs and abandoned dwarfholds, including the infamous ruins known as Southkrypt, were in the nearby mountains. The cave's entrance was at the end of a gloomy vine-filled gully that contained old oaks and duskwoods. The cave was close enough to civilization that it was likely to be discovered by adventurers with some regularity.

Description
Old Gnawbone's lair contained creeping phosphorescent lichens, giant toadstools, and hanging mosses draped over more than a dozen statues of imperious human women (mostly warriors) looted from tombs. At the back, Old Gnawbone rested in the dark on her bed of coins (which weren't that much for a dragon of her stature, since she valued other things more). She also had an alcove with her glowing crystal balls where she spent hours scrying.

Defenses
Old Gnawbone employed humans and woodland creatures to guard her lair and lead intruders astray with sound-based illusions into traps or the perils of another nearby cave. One reason she did not mate was that she did not want any male dragon to have too much knowledge of her lair and defenses.

History
Sages believed that Old Gnawbone arrived in Deeping Cave in the.

At some point, Old Gnawbone emerged from her lair in Deeping Cave, picked up a boulder from the nearby mountains, and dropped it on a sleeping red dragon, Smergadas, whom she had been scrying on. That rock became Lance Rock, a landmark west of the Long Road south of Red Larch.

Old Gnawbone temporarily left Deeping Cave after tricking Lord Brokengulf and drawing the ire of Waterdeep. She brought her loot to Neverwinter Wood just as she knew another green dragon, Endracritar, would be entering Kryptgarden Forest. After Endracritar was killed by Waterdhavians, Old Gnawbone returned to Deeping Cave.

Inhabitants
The dragon Old Gnawbone resided here, along with at least one human male servant. This was always a man clad only in (fake and decorative) manacles and chains. He oiled her scales with tree-sap and ointments made from leaves, fungi, and roots. She was also visited by agents under her employ.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Sleeping Dragon's Wake • Storm King's Thunder