Lhammaruntosz

Lhammaruntosz was a bronze dragon who ran the Scaly Eye shipping company on the Sword Coast.
Lhammaruntosz, a bronze dragon with the ability to heal quickly, spent decades defending Leilon and the surrounding area as the captain of the Scaly Eye, a fleet that battled pirates and other threats. To honor her deeds, the Swords of Leilon constructed the Bronze Shrine, a massive temple to Bahamut, god of metallic dragons, in a cliff overlooking the sea. The shrine’s face is carved in Lhammaruntosz’s likeness and includes quarters for the rest of the Scaly Eye and a magic statue of Bahamut, which the dragon can use to commune with the deity.
In recent decades Lhammaruntosz has retreated inside the shrine, becoming reclusive due to a attack by a disguised demon which has driven her mad. She leaves on rare occasions to hunt for food, returning as soon as possible. Members of the Scaly Eye still live within the Bronze Shrine, as Lhammaruntosz has ordered them to stay on as her guardians.

Personality

A kindly and curious dragon, she enjoyed the company of humans.
Imprisonment and restraint were abhorrent to Lhammaruntosz, as a result of her cruel childhood.
Like many dragons, Lhammaruntosz altered her own name over the years. She was born by the name Rauthra, and later adopted "Lhammaruntosz", which echoed the names of her own mother, Tauntzoth, as well as the famously aggressive copper dragon Lhammarar.

Abilities

She was gifted in the Art.
She had an unnatural ability to rapidly regenerate lost organs and limbs. She could use this ability to trigger a burst of magical healing to restore herself. Lair
In the late 15th century DR, Lhammaruntosz and the remaining members of the Scaly Eye served as keepers of the Bronze Shrine, a seaside temple of Bahamut on the Sword Coast North. Possessions
She reportedly owned a number of magic items capable of creating acidic explosions midair.

Activities

As the owner of the Scaly Eye shipping company, Lhammaruntosz took great pains to protect her fleet. She used farscry to watch over her ships, and would fly out to repel any threats they encountered. Over time, these furious defenses made passage through the pirate-infested Nelanther Isles possible.
The heavy protection afforded her ships inspired other vessels to fly false Scaly Eye banners. At least one pirate ship attempted such a masquerade, but was torn apart at sea by Lhammaruntosz. The trick was also attempted by at least five other ship captains, including Essegn Anarvible of Neverwinter. These were hunted down and scared into surrendering their ships to the Scaly Eye.
Lhammaruntosz facilitated a "fast mail" system where she would fly items and messages from a ship leaving port to another nearing port elsewhere, dropping them off using a "dropline" with a hook attachment to be caught in the rigging. Relationships
Generally speaking, Lhammaruntosz was beloved by the sailors who crewed her ships. They felt safe and proud to sail under her banner, and affectionately referred to her as "Mother Wyrm".
Lhammaruntosz tried to avoid conflict with other dragons whenever possible.

History

Lhammaruntosz was born to the insane dragon Tauntzoth who laired on Finback, one of the Whalebones in the Trackless Sea. Tauntzoth suffered from delusional paranoia which worsened with age. Lhammaruntosz, born Rauthra, was among the last in a series of offspring birthed by Tauntzoth whose fathers she had invariably killed. Young Rauthra was chained down and used as a test subject in magical experiments conducted by Tauntzoth, who sought to develop spells dealing with magical regeneration. Although these experiments were successful, Tauntzoth took them too far, her insanity compelling her to augment her body until it became a twisted and bloated wreck of frail and vestigial limbs. In the end, Tauntzoth grew unable to leave her lair and suffered from continual hunger, which she sated by eating Lhammaruntosz over and over again, her daughter regenerating in between meals. This went on for at least two hundred years. Eventually, Lhammaruntosz was able to break her chains and escape her mother's lair.
At one point she feuded with High Captain Rethnor of Luskan. Although dark rumors abounded as to the exact details, the conflict was eventually somehow resolved.
Lhammaruntosz and her Scaly Eye fleet were seen as defenders of the waters off the Sword Coast North by the likes of towns like Leilon. At some point prior to the Spellplague, the Swords of Leilon adventuring company funded the construction of the Bronze Shine in Lhammaruntosz's honor. She and the Scaly Eye eventually retired to this temple.

Rumors & Legends

Many of Lhammaruntosz's early exploits were recounted in the ballad "The Wandering Wyrm", composed by the minstrel Aldersound Bucklebar.
Although her sailors often boasted of Lhammaruntosz's protection, most other sailors dismissed it as a tall tale.

Further investigation only.

Lhammaruntosz, the "Claws of the Coast," is a famous and often-seen bronze dragon who seems to like the company of humans far more than most wyrms -- even given the small but persistent numbers of adventurers who seize the opportunities provided by encounters with her to launch attacks on the wyrm. Her name brings to the fore something the Old Mage would like summarized before further revelations concerning Faerûnian dragons see print: how dragons are named.
Draconic Names Volo's notes include some speculations on the naming of dragons, but it has been left to Elminster briefly to set things straight.
Dragons are vain creatures -- in most cases, too vain ever to change their names when assuming new identities, regardless of how many foes they acquire or how ridiculous a reputation they develop. Draconic names begin with a "usename" bestowed on them as a hatchling by a parent, sibling, or (if orphaned) either human observers or the named dragon itself. Such names are usually added to over the years as sounds strike the dragon's fancy, until many become overly long and well-nigh unpronounceable. Some dragons guard "secret syllables" of their name to confound hostile magic, or use a short form or even nickname (such as "Mist" or "Bloodbror") exclusively.
Often a well-developed draconic name includes an echo or fragment of the name of a famous ancestor, or an unrelated wyrm the naming dragon desires to claim as a relative, or to be thought of as sharing characteristics with. For obvious reasons, such "namesake" dragons are usually deceased, though there have been cases where dragons seeking to "call out" ancient wyrms have taken on very similar names so as to enrage the missing wyrms into appearing.
This habit accounts for name syllables (endings, in particular) thought of as belonging to one gender, but in use by a wyrm of the other sex. Adventurers are cautioned never to try to guess the gender of a dragon purely from its name. It also explains some of the confusions between one dragon and another, as sometimes bards inadvertently merge the deeds of two or more dragons to feed the flames of growing legend.
The name "Lhammaruntosz," for example, echoes the famous name of Lhammarar, a smallish and much scarred copper dragon legendary for his aggressiveness. Lhammarar was ultimately dragged down beneath the waves and slain by a dragon turtle during a fierce storm; it's not known if he ever mated, and Lhammaruntosz is certainly no blood relation to him. Her name also echoes that of her mother, Tauntzoth, who in turn used the name of a male grandsire of gigantic size and reputation.

The Claws of the Coast

Lhammaruntosz is a bronze she-dragon who runs a merchant shipping line along the Sword Coast. She'll often appear when one of her vessels is endangered, which suggests she magically scrys their progress. She preys on pirates and others who cross her business interests, and her depredations alone have made the Nelanther passable to shipping in recent years. Reports of her fleet vary wildly depending on who's doing the telling, but most sources agree she owns over two dozen cogs and caravels and has buyers and cargo-escort agents operating on more than a dozen other vessels.
The kindly and inquisitive dragon Lhammaruntosz avoids combat with other dragons whenever possible, but she reportedly possesses very powerful magic items that can cause acid-ball explosions in midair to harm draconic foes.
Lhammaruntosz often delivers "fast mail" messages and small items by flying them from one of her agents (on a ship just put out to sea) to another (on a ship nearing port), dropping them on a line as she passes over the ship. She holds one end of such a "dropline" in her jaws; its other end sports a hook to catch in rigging or to be caught and secured for crew, and close above the hook is a mesh bag that can hold small, cloak-wrapped bundles of valuables. "Mother Wyrm" (as her crews have dubbed her) prepares and loads such lines by means of unseen servant spells.
The sailors who crew Mother Wyrm's fleet love the protection a dragon owner can provide and are proud of flying her "Scaly Eye" banner, though most other Coast sailors think their tales of a bronze dragon fighting for them, towing them away from shoals, or dropping messages to them are so much wild fancy. Merchant rivals aren't so quick to scoff.

The Scaly Eye

The Scaly Eye banner, often seen on ships docked up and down the Sword Coast, is a long blue pennant displaying a single staring eye weeping a spreading fan of tears, above which arches an eyebrow. Both the tears and the brow, if examined closely, can be seen to be made of shaped representations of dragon scales. The artwork, reputed to be that of Lhammaruntosz herself, is impressive, not crude or amusing.
It's a measure of the growing reputation of the Claws of the Coast that certain vessels have recently been seen flying false Scaly Eye banners; the bronze dragon has torn one such ship (a pirate vessel masquerading as one of her fleet) apart at sea and then sent her sailors to forcibly persuade other ship captains to refrain from unauthorized use of her banner -- unless, of course, they plan to turn ownership and administration of their boats over to her. (At least five terrified ship captains have done just that, including the well-known sea merchant Essegn Anarvible of Neverwinter.)
One of the High Captains of Luskan is thought to have crossed swords with the Scaly Eye ships in the past, but he seems to have made his peace with the dragon. Dark rumors of the confrontation and feud between Rethnor Redcloak and Lhammaruntosz abound, but hard facts on this topic have proven as hard to grasp as smoke.

The Rise of Lhammaruntosz

The Claws of the Coast was a hatchling of the crazed she-dragon Tauntzoth of the Rocks, who dwelt in a cave on the bare, windswept Finback, tallest of the Whalebones. Savage and cunning, Tauntzoth slew or drove away all others of her kind as she grew older and spent her days winging far and wide across the Sword Coast North, slaying all large creatures who defied her or whose looks she didn't like. Increasingly Tauntzoth became convinced that a mysterious overdragon, whom she dubbed "the Unseen" because she could never find any trace of him, was stalking her, intending to enslave her and force her to bear his offspring -- dragons who would be born alive and whole, and would eat and tear their ways out of her, killing her horribly.
No evidence for the existence of the Unseen has appeared outside Tauntzoth's mind, but to her, every creature was an agent of her "Dark Doom," except her own offspring (whose fathers she slew) -- and, to her, they were rebels and potential rivals better slain anyway. One of the last of these unfortunate children seems to have been Rauthra, the future Lhammaruntosz, who spent her formative years spread-eagled and helpless in her mother's lair, anchored down by an extensive web of spell-reinforced chains and manacles.
Tauntzoth developed spells dealing with regeneration and experimented with them on her hapless daughter. Her gift for the art of magic was strong, and to this day Lhammaruntosz swiftly regenerates lost limbs and organs. Tauntzoth regenerated even faster but she couldn't resist augmenting her powers with ever-greater spells until her body grew a wild and endless succession of spare limbs, wings, headless necks, and tails, becoming a clumsy thing that was obviously "the Curse of the Unseen" come down upon her. This process accelerated for some seasons, until her body ultimately collapsed into a boneless mass.
In the final years of her life, the quickening and uncontrollable growth of her body made Tauntzoth a vast and horrifying monster -- a cavern-filling mass of writhing flesh that was continually exuding new extremities. It also made her ache (or "burn," as she often howlingly described it) with continual hunger. Her solution was near at hand: her daughter, the mistrusted and thoroughly cowed object of her experiments. Strengthened regeneration magic made permanent by the most powerful spellcasting allowed Rauthra to survive being eaten more or less continuously.
The young dragon spent at least two centuries as a chained, partly devoured prisoner of her mother -- and decades thereafter as an abandoned prisoner, kept from a death of despair and starvation only by her regenerative magic, her hunger to see the world outside her cave, and whatever vermin she could find nearby to keep her body regenerating. With increasing frustration she awaited the failure of spell after spell until she could burst the last of her chains and win freedom at last.
This cruel rearing has left its scars; imprisonment and personal restraint are threats that make Lhammaruntosz go berserk even today, some six centuries after she first flew out of the Finback and left the horror of her mother's lair forever. The old northern ballad "The Wandering Wyrm," believed to have been the work of the halfling minstrel Aldersound Bucklebar, recounts a few incidents of her wide-ranging explorations of Faerûn at this time.
The Claws of the Coast spent almost four centuries wandering about Faerûn, fighting off and fleeing from all the hostile dragons whose domains she inadvertently entered. She owes her survival to her regenerative powers and her swiftness to flee; never interested in fighting for territory and possessed of very little personal pride, Lhammaruntosz never lingers to destroy a foe but simply strikes to defend herself, end an immediate problem, and be on her way again. She has shown a whimsical side and an impulsive desire to aid lone, beleaguered creatures -- and her "swoop from the sky" rescues earned her fame in human lore and several outstanding debts owed to her by such diverse folk as the mage Malchor Harpell, several senior Harpers, and the priest Tolgar Anuvien of Goldenfields. Her attacks substantially weakened the Broken Bone orc horde in 1024 DR, and she was the mysterious "wyrm gliding by night" that plucked the shipwrecked explorer Havilar Culdorn (founder of the Blackbacks Trading Coster, forerunner of many of the wealthy trading houses of present-day Amn) from the waves of the Sea of Swords after the pirate-shattering Battle of Blazing Sails in 1211 DR.
Lhammaruntosz seems to have ended her wandering only recently, taking the "resting lair" (an open-to-the elements, hoardless sleeping spot) of the old green dragon Skarlthoon. Known as "Snarljaws" because of her temper, Skarlthoon died in 1348 DR of some disease that ate away her scales and then the flesh beneath, covering her with creeping moss. The Claws of the Coast then seems to have fought some unknown dragon to the death and gained its inland lair; Elminster believes that this hidden hold must lie somewhere south and east of Secomber, in the broken land that marks the edge of the High Moor -- and that its lingering magic is enough to make the wandering Lhammaruntosz feel secure. (She chose the Sword Coast from Neverwinter to Velen as her favorite haunt.)
This, in turn, allowed her to build a family to oversee and be part of her merchant fleet, the ships of the Scaly Eye, which began to sail sometime around 1361 DR, but only grew to prosperity and reputation after the Year of the Staff (1366 DR), after her battles against pirates earned her the trust of merchant clients. Two keys to the success of the Scaly Eye were the two sisters Draeth: two fat and unlovely, but very astute, women from Leilon, Astlarthe and Dlareen. They brought the bronze dragon enough honest news and opinions of human doings and intrigues to fascinate her with the strivings of humans and to make her want to be involved in such things continuously. The Draeths, though much crippled with arthritis, remain the most trusted, high-ranking, and important agents of the Scaly Eye. Based in Neverwinter and Mintarn respectively, they deal in cargoes and special handling agreements for their "Mother" and can count on her personal protection and financial support in all they do. Beyond a hunger for the company of young and handsome men, they seem to lack vices and weaknesses -- and after encounters with some watchful Harpers and a certain enraged bronze she-dragon, Luskanite rivals have learned not to try slaying them.
Today, Lhammaruntosz is a bronze dragon of what humans call "very old" years, sleek in build but often battered in appearance. Her craggy face is homely for a dragon and always seems somehow more kindly than majestic. The works of her mother have left her with a fear and mistrust of magic, but also with the determination that no one will ever easily overcome her defenses and harm or enslave her with magic again, so the Claws of the Coast gathers all the magic she can, while avoiding both unnecessary spellcasting and all magical experimentation.
Lhammaruntosz finds it hard to trust anyone and keeps her own company; any need to share a small area with other sentient creatures for more than a few hours will make her irritable, suspicious, and constantly on her guard. At the same time, she feels a need to be accepted by a friendly group of beings who share a common purpose. (It is fair to say, Elminster and the "Dragon Sage" Velsaert of Baldur's Gate agree, that the folk of her Scaly Eye fleet serve as the family she never had -- and that her mistrust of other dragons will probably ensure that she never does have a draconic family.)
Lhammaruntosz is gifted with a remarkable sense of direction and distance, honed by her years of wandering, and she can find her way to small and specific locations, even unfamiliar ones, in the dark and in poor weather, with a minimum of fuss and delay. She's often come out of the driving rain of a howling storm, low over the storm-tossed waves, wings beating powerfully among the wind gusts and the lightning, to check on one of her ships. Stricken vessels are promptly towed (all Scaly Eye ships are equipped with long, stout cables for this purpose, consisting of three ropes braided to each other to form one extra-thick length, which is anchored to "keel-trunks" set in the deck and carried wrapped around the inside of the deck-rail) or abandoned, their crews snatched aloft after lashing themselves to one another.
Lhammaruntosz is also developing a shrewd sense of human nature and knows when she's being lied to. The swindles and covert ways of merchants are becoming almost second nature to her, and she's learned to hold her tongue in patience, to test would-be allies and business partners, and to set aside personal feelings when a longtime ally turns sour, or long-term treachery is revealed. This calmness and understanding of others led to the "Mother Wyrm" nickname (coined as a result of her rescues) sticking, even in the face of the fiercer "Claws of the Coast" moniker, which grew out of tavern tales of her tearing apart pirate vessels to defend ships of her fleet. A slightly less respectful (or more unfriendly) variant of this, much heard among sailors, is "Mother Claws."
Velsaert reports that the key to Lhammaruntosz's character is her understanding of humans, but Elminster says her attentive, motherlike caring for other creatures -- many other beings, not just a chosen few partners or allies -- is what sets her apart from most wyrms. She hates pranks and deceptions of all kinds and is always analyzing folk and situations. Her actions may seem to occasionally be born out of imprudence or ignorance, but it is a mistake to assume so -- she has almost always thought (and prepared) several steps ahead.

Lhammaruntosz's Domain

From Orlumbor, Lhammaruntosz ranges up and down the Sword Coast, avoiding the immediate vicinity of Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate, but going so far as to perch beside the walls of Neverwinter and Velen on occasion. Hardened against the ravages of exposure by her regenerative powers, the Claws of the Coast thinks nothing of hard landings or of simply stretching out on bare rock islets to wait out a storm, even when ice and snow cloak her resting form thickly.
Mother Wyrm doesn't think of this territory as her exclusive domain, as most wyrms do; she'll ignore or perhaps calmly greet and pass other dragons who treat her the same way, fighting only those who offer her battle, or attack her property, the Scaly Eye folk, or her friends.

The Deeds of Lhammaruntosz

Lhammaruntosz doesn't need to eat much, but her childhood near-starvation has given her a loathing of hunger. She prefers to eat lightly but often and to vary her diet greatly, firmly deciding to try new things and never to adopt any "favorite fare."
From day to day, Lhammaruntosz busies herself aiding, defending, and watching over the sailors, agents, and merchants who serve under the Scaly Eye banner. She seldom undertakes expeditions away from the Sword Coast these days and prides herself on being very well informed as to coastal news and events. Word of strange magic or armed bands engaging in open conflict brings her immediate interest -- and often a "go and see" flight. Some folk are of the opinion that her presence and habit of swift response have kept forces of Luskan from infiltrating or openly attacking Neverwinter and has kept Leilon safe from brigandry without its citizens lifting more than a few fingers in their own defense.

Current Location

Bronze Shrine

Species

Dragon

Age

Older than you

Gender

Female

Eyes

Like molten bronze

Aligned Organization

The Scaly Eye