The Dragon Barrow
The Dragon Barrow is a legendary burial site, cavern system, and former regional site associated with the Cult of the Dragon. Located along the high road to Neverwinter, near Helm’s Hold on the Sword Coast, it was long believed to be a hallowed historical mound marking a monumental victory against chromatic dragons. In truth, the barrow was built directly over the calcified, hollowed-out skeletal remains of the ancient green dragon Virethas (also known as Villathas or Villethas), whose bones and lingering toxicity formed the very cavern beneath the earth. Following a recent catastrophic battle and the partial resurrection of the dragon, the barrow has been reduced to a smoking, smoldering crater colloquially dubbed Gilmore’s Folly.
The Slaying of Virethas
Three hundred years ago, a devastating coalition of Chromatic Dragons brought ruin to the northern cities of the Sword Coast, including Neverwinter, Waterdeep, and Baldur’s Gate, while Luskan chose to surrender and pay tribute. In response, the surviving factions united alongside Silverymoon to establish the Lord’s Alliance.
To turn the tide of the war, a legendary band of heroes constructed five powerful Dragon Masks, one for each chromatic color, which granted influence over the minds of dragons and could even control them. These masks successfully convinced the red, blue, and black dragons to flee the North forever, while the white dragon was buried in Hrothgar’s empty grave by Lac Dinneshere. However, the masks failed against the smartest and most wily of the wyrms: the Green Dragon Virethas, known as The Jade Queen or The Jade Serpent.
To end her reign of terror, Lady Tanager Alagondar (also recorded in some chronicles as Lady Nashar Alagondar) confronted the beast directly outside Neverwinter. As she delivered the killing blow using her legendary sword, Dragon Slayer, the dragon’s claw burst through her chest, causing both hero and beast to perish together. Following their deaths, the Dragon Barrow was raised over them, with Lady Alagondar’s tomb placed directly inside the dragon’s ribs and her enchanted sword fixed in the beast’s calcified heart to power a magical ward preventing its resurrection.
The Central Chamber and Ancient Carvings
Deep within the barrow, the central chamber contained a series of beautiful, ancient stone carvings depicting the rise and fall of the dragon war, alongside a solemn poetic inscription. The details of these carvings included:
- The First Carving: Depicts five dragons descending headfirst upon the northern Sword Coast, with Neverwinter swallowed in flames.
- The Second Carving: Shows the seven legendary heroes in a half-circle studying a plan on the ground: the tall, bearded Firbolg cleric and skald Hrothgar Hillsfar (secretly the true identity of Farwald); the elf longbowman Esfaloth Nightbreeze with a bird on his shoulder; the armored Lady Tanager Alagondar holding her sword; the half-elf Kiara Shadowbreaker with an eyepatch, her Harper pin on her leather armor, and a spyglass on her belt; the dwarf Uther Vendrock with a shield and warhammer; the rotund Zhentarim scribe Gorion of Candlekeep with a lute on his back and holding a scroll; and the bearded sage Elminster Aumar in a pointy wizard hat and robes, holding a staff.
- The Third Carving: Captures the final duel in profile, showing Lady Alagondar driving her sword through the heart of the great wyrm Virethas—who takes up most of the carving—while a single claw bursts through her chest.
- The Fourth Carving: Mirroring the first, this shows the backs of the remaining four dragons flying away. On the right, Esfaloth enters a portal to the Feywild; on the left, Kiara and Gorion board a ship; in the center, Uther and Elminster stand outside a mountaintop tomb for Hrothgar alongside a frozen mountain lake with a giant tree.
During the recent battle to prevent the dragon’s awakening, Nalini cast Shatter, which tragically destroyed this ancient mural of the heroes of the dragon war.
Beneath the carvings, a legendary poem was inscribed:
“The dragons had come, the world becoming undone. The scaled tyrant’s desire, her greed to acquire. From all corners the heroes arose Unlikely heroes in times of woes Winter and Fire, Shadow and Light to protect the realm and join the fight The Jade Queen entrapped Our heroes attacked All seemed lost, like a cat versus mice When our lady did make, the ultimate sacrifice The dragons dispersed, their desire vanished Our heroes as well, as all but vanished.”
The True Nature of the Barrow
For centuries, the Dragon Barrow appeared to be a standard dungeon. However, the cavern deep beneath the earth was the calcified skeleton of Virethas herself. The bone-white stalagmites were her ribcage and spines, the pools of burning acid were her ancient venom, and the walls of the cavern seeped poisonous gas when disturbed. Lady Alagondar’s tomb sat within this cavern of bones, with Dragon Slayer fixed in Virethas’s calcified heart. The hilt bore a plaque: “Only the blood of Alagondar may lift the sword. May it never need to be used again.”
The Cult’s Presence and the Wyrmspeaker’s Trap
Recently, the Dragon Barrow was utilized by the Cult of the Dragon along this stretch of the Sword Coast, overseen by Sidorna, the Green Wyrmspeaker. Because Sidorna could not physically touch the warded Dragon Slayer, she wove a paralysis hold person spell directly over it, waiting for the party to arrive with Gilmore of House Stork—a direct descendant of Alagondar. Gilmore, desperate to restore his sister Elire (also spelled Elira), whose soul was bound within a purple soulstone, had been lured to the barrow by her spirit demanding “revenge.”
Two invisible, masked cultists guarded the main entrance when the adventurers arrived. Upon reaching the heart of the cavern, Gilmore drew Dragon Slayer from its ancient resting place. This immediately shattered the protective ward and triggered Sidorna’s paralysis trap, freezing the druid Nalini. Sidorna and her cultists, wearing chromatic dragon masks, emerged from the shadows.
Sidorna seized the soulstone from Gilmore, pulling him into a vision where his sister Elire/Elira revealed herself as a willing member of the Cult of the Dragon. Despising Gilmore as “the second son, the one not expected to matter,” Elire taunted him before Sidorna flew to the inner ritual chamber to begin the resurrection, utilizing the freshly spilled blood of Alagondar’s heir to awaken the dragon.
The Battle and Rebirth of Villathas
A chaotic battle erupted in the shaking cavern. Hrothgar and Nalini combined their magic to unleash an Ice and Sleet Storm, hindering the cultists, while Erevyn picked off cultists with critical arrow shots and a Cloak of Lightning strike. Farwald utilized a maximized Thunderstep to reposition, destroying weaker cultists but cracking open Lady Alagondar’s tomb. To disrupt the chanting, Nalini’s summoned giant frog swallowed Sidorna’s head, blinding the Wyrmspeaker. During the struggle, Gilmore prayed to the Matron of Ravens, who cryptically answered that the gods had granted him free will, and this was his choice.
With the ritual disrupted and Sidorna at death’s door, she threw her Green Dragon Mask to the last surviving cultist, who stepped willingly into the ritual circle, sacrificing himself to complete the ritual at roughly 66% capacity. Consequently, Villathas returned not as an ancient wyrm, but as a weakened, adult skeletal dragon held together by dark magic, fused with the soul of Elire and the power of the Green Dragon Mask. As the skeletal dragon broke free from the collapsing Dragon Barrow, the adventurers escaped by leaping through a massive hole Farwald painted into the beast’s side using his Nolzur’s Marvelous Pigments to cast Passwall.
Aftermath and Gilmore’s Folly
In the wake of the dragon’s escape, the Dragon Barrow lies ruined as a smoking, smoldering crater. During a short rest in the wreckage, Erevyn discovered a cracked blue sending stone and the shattered shards of a black sending stone, indicating that the cult’s communication network had been severed from the other end.
Soon after, Lady Arabeth de Tylmarande—right hand of Lord Nasher Alagondar and chief of staff of Neverwinter—landed at the crater with her Griffin Riders. While initially accusing the party of grave-robbing, she was swayed by a letter of recommendation from Sildar Hallwinter and offered the adventurers an audience with the Small Council of Neverwinter in three days.
That evening, the Neverwinter Wood began defensively drawing inward. The druid Esfaloth Nightbreeze, speaking through the moving trees, furiously admonished Hrothgar (“Son of Kuldahar, your heart has gone cold”) and Nalini for allowing Gilmore to wake the dragon, choosing to seal the forest away from the world entirely. Under the canopy, Hrothgar cast an Augury, receiving a sign of Weal regarding pursuing the White Dragon Mask.