Nevalla Island
An island of the Crusader Coast, Nevalla has a row of three mountains as its spine, one of which is a dead volcanic cone. On the western end sits a strong fortress, probably the largest along the coast after Fortress Aven on Cyproean. The front (western) side of the citadel has a high wall and strong gate that is approached by a road winding up from the sea, while the back wall is the sheer face of a towering cliff.
Although the fortress appears from a distance to be in good condition, the same cannot be said for the rest of the island. At the western shore, the remains of a small village are strewn about, and a few stone piers are all that are left of the docks. Elsewhere, the trees stand close and underbrush chokes the areas in between, broken only by the occasional stream finding its way out of the interior. And yet, the island is known to be inhabited — by a dragon.
Many ships sailing in the area have seen the dragon come and go from the courtyard of the fortress. Common wisdom is that the beast has taken over the great hall as its lair. It may have killed the former inhabitants, or driven them away, or simply found the island nearly abandoned and moved in; none now seems to know which may have been the case.
One detail upon which no one can agree is the color of the dragon. Reports include red, green, black (which some point out could merely be a silhouette of some other type against the sun), copper, brass, bronze, and even gold. No reasonable explanation has been offered for this discrepancy; certainly, multiple dragons would not be sharing the keep! All do agree that the dragon has been on the island for hundreds of years, that the few attempts to dislodge it in the past have been abject failures, and that it must be very old and powerful by now, making it even more dangerous. The dragon seems to mostly hunt in the Malagro Jungle or directly in the sea, and for whatever reason does not molest nearby shipping. As a result, none of the local powers has found any incentive to accost the dragon in its lair.
Unbeknownst to outsiders, the old dragon (which does indeed use the great hall as at least part of its lair) is a copper dragon in the habit of using illusion to cloak its true form in public. Also unknown is that the island has a humanoid population: a community of nagaji, escaped by ones and twos from their serpentine masters in Jaati. They have been able to live here with impunity due to the dragon’s success in keeping interlopers away and spectators at a safe distance.
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