Vorosh, the Hunter

In ancient ages, the original elder dragons were created in the windstorms made when the original Ur-Dragon lifted its wings to take flight. Where the Ur-Dragon landed it made five new dragons, the primeval dragons, each embodying an aspect of the dragon life cycle and a part of the Ur-Dragon's sum. But in another world, the Ur-Dragon's essence crumbled, and from the remans of its body rose five different primevals, each embodying five great desires of draconic life.   Thrill of the Hunt With scales made rough stone, Vorosh is the primeval dragon which represents the draconic desire to hunt, to feed, and to grow. This desire is strongest in young dragons, old enough to fend for themselves and still filled with the enormous hunger of a growing beast. In Vorosh this instinct to hunt has never quelled, and though the dragon itself is thousands of years old, Vorosh spends its days and nights on the wing, moving from place to place. Where it lands it sleeps, awakening only to stalk prey, and when its hunger is sated taking flight once more. It is only in the hunt that the stony heart of Vorosh feels anything at all.   Death on Quiet Wings Despite its massive size and heavy body, Vorosh is exceptionally stealthy creature, deceptively silent in its every movement. Vorosh's scales are the same color as a gray and cloudy day, making it hard to pick out against the backdrop while it is in flight, and almost impossible to follow its movements as it goes to land. On the ground, it makes no movement while it sleeps, and with enough plant cover can easily be mistaken for a pile of boulders. Even telling when Vorosh wakes is difficult, since its eyes will often remain closed while its tail moves into place, waiting for the perfect moment to strike any unsuspecting creatures lingering in front of it.   A Gaze Dark and Pitiless The silence of Vorosh's movements are not its only method of hunting. A rarity among dragons, Vorosh's eyes hold the same power as the feared medusa, capable of hardening a creature's skin into a substance like Vorosh's own scales, petrifying it entirely. Unless pushed into battle, Vorosh rarely uses its gaze, as the primeval dragon has an appetite only for meat, not stone. Like most of its kind, Vorosh has a breath that can prove dangerous, as the dragon can exhale a fine cloud of acidic and poisonous mist at will, leaving small pits and pockmarks in the statues it makes out of its enemies. Beyond this, Vorosh is terrifying for the surge of energy it receives when it successfully draws blood, a hunting instinct more like that of a wild animal than an intelligent being.   Vorosh, The Hunter's Lair Vorosh, the Hunter is an eternal wanderer, with no permanent lair or home, and no treasure in its possession that it would even care to keep. Instead, Vorosh treats the world at large as its home, and the statues it leaves behind of those that challenge its dominance are the only decoration it prides itself on. While the innate magic of other dragons takes days or even weeks to settle on the area it claims as its lair, as a primeval dragon Vorosh's presence immediately bends and twists the world around it.   Regional Effects The region containing Vorosh, the Hunter is warped by the dragon's magic, which creates one of more of the following effects

• Wild animals within 6 miles of the dragon are sluggish and slow to react to danger, making them easy prey for predators, hunters, and Vorosh itself.
• Carnivorous plants and animals within 10 miles of Vorosh grow bolder and less fearful, challenging each other with increased frequency. Additionally, the young of such predators in the area experience sudden growth spurts, and when they reach adulthood often tower over others of their kind, even long after Vorosh has passed.
• The land within 6 miles of the lair takes twice as long as normal to traverse, since the plants grow thick and twisted, and bodies of water begin to grow chocked with heavy vegetation.