Deeping Cave The Time of Troubles & Era of Upheaval Inspired By Ed Greenwood

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

Deeping Cave lies in Kryptgarden Forest, at the end of a deep ravine that runs from one of the mountains that bounds the old, thickly grown woods to the north. Several tombs and abandoned dwarfholds, including the infamous ruins known as Southkrypt, are in the nearby mountains. The cave's entrance is rumored to be at the end of a gloomy vine-filled gully that contained old oaks and duskwoods, although no one is quite sure since no one has been foolish enough to investigate. The cave is close enough to civilization that it is likely to be discovered by adventurers eventually.

Old Gnawbone's lair contains 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 rests in the dark on her bed of coins (which isn't that much for a dragon of her stature, since she values other things more). She also has an alcove with her glowing crystal balls where she spent hours scrying.

Old Gnawbone employs 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.

Sages believe that Old Gnawbone arrived in Deeping Cave in the Year of the Evening Sun, 1303 DR. 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.

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