The Fell Drake of Mount Amber.

There was once a time when travelling around Mount Ember was a pleasant experience. The rocky slopes were littered with tightly cropped vegetation and the air was filled with the scent of the wild plants and herbs that grew there. Often, the mountain goats would venture close enough to be hunted and occasionally, if you were very lucky, you would see a Goblin in the twilight who was out gathering herbs. 

Everything changed when a young Dragon arrived and took up residence in a cave at the base of the mountain.

The Dragon was a young Drake (a male Dragon) with dark grey scales and fierce green eyes. His crest, when flared, was a bright red and he was as lithe and cunning as a weasel. When he turned up, he had come from a victory and was smeared with the blood of a fellow Drake who he had slaughtered on the plains. He was tired from the fight and found sanctuary in the mouth of a mine after ruining the entrance so that nothing could emerge from the depths of the mountain. When he was happy with his cave, he slept for a week. 

The first anyone knew of the Drake was a terrible roar from mountains and over the following weeks, the animals disappeared from the slopes and the birds fell silent. The grasses began to grow long and the sweet smell of flowers was replaced by the acrid stench of death and Dragon sign. Hunters stopped going to Mount Amber and the area was deemed too dangerous to approach. 

Over the years, many a slayer went to the cave to kill the Drake but when they arrived he could rarely be found and if he happened to be there when they arrived, he soon departed before combat could be initiated; often lashing out with his tail as he flew past to unseat a horseman or knock a Slayer to the ground. 

For twenty years the slayers have been thwarted and to this day the Drake haunts the mountain. He is widely recognised as the Fell Drake of Mount Amber but the Slayers know him as the Dark Fox of Amber, the Shadow of Amber or the Black Wraith of Amber. Amongst the Slayers, his Fire-Stone would be the prize of their collection although it would be a wily Slayer indeed to actually claim it.