Tinder is a female red dragon who serves as the primary antagonist at Wyrmheart Mine. She attacked and destroyed a dwarven mining expedition three years before the adventure, slaughtering most of the miners and driving off the survivors—only the guide Hew Hackinstone escaped alive, losing his left arm to her jaws in the process.
Current Situation
Tinder currently lairs in Wyrmheart Mine (specifically area 14), where she has established dominion over a tribe of kobolds who worship and serve her. The kobolds present tribute and seek her counsel from an overlook in the Audience Chamber (area 13), wearing ceremonial wooden masks and red dinosaur-hide capes when addressing her. They speak to her exclusively in Draconic, using elaborate flattery and honorifics like “your titanic, blazing majesty” and “thou unquenchable, unendurable furnace.”
Legacy of Destruction
Evidence of Tinder’s devastating attack on the original miners remains throughout the mine. In the Haunted Forge (area 5), the entire area is scorched black where she incinerated the dwarves’ barricades and burned them alive with her breath weapon. A dozen or more charred dwarven skeletons litter the forge chambers, which are now haunted by six specters—all that remains of the mine’s defenders.
Relationship with Kobolds
The kobolds of Wyrmheart Mine have fully submitted to Tinder’s rule. They surrender all valuables they find to the dragon and maintain a shrine to their own deity Kurtulmak in the Main Living Quarters (area 8). When addressing Tinder, the kobolds never question her pronouncements or judgments. Characters attempting to impersonate kobold emissaries must succeed at contested checks to avoid Tinder detecting the ruse—she can make Wisdom (Perception) checks against their Charisma (Deception).
Adventure Hook
Hew Hackinstone, the sole survivor of Tinder’s original attack, seeks revenge and will guide adventurers to Wyrmheart Mine to slay the dragon, though he insists this be their destination if hired as a guide.