Wyvern

The wyvern is a branch of dragonkind with a snake-like body, leathery wings and a tail ending in a poisonous stinger. Its fine scales give it less armor than the great dragons, but it remains a dangerous foe. Most are brownish or gray, and they live in thick forests or rough country, often making a lair in a big cave.

Unlike the true dragons it has no real intelligence, only a serpent's cunning and savagery, and none of their eerie power to mesmerize or command. Its weapons are still formidable: razor talons, a meat-eater's teeth, the poison sting and a breath of fire.

Unusually for serpentine creatures, wyverns often gather in groups, and now and then whole flocks migrate to new hunting grounds. Chiron's Natural History describes the last great migration through his region, which caused heavy destruction until people learned that massed archers loosing volleys as the beasts swooped down could hold them off. Even so, the wyverns kept fighting despite terrible losses, long after thinking creatures would have fled, and the battles lasted until the flock had moved on into the western wilds.

Wyverns seldom have anything to do with treasure hoards or burial mounds; their habits mean they are usually met in open country. Like other lesser dragons they can sometimes be tamed as mounts, and ancient great dragons may use them to guard their lairs. Its fiery breath can be used once a day for 2-12 damage. Trained young wyverns can sell for 2,000 gold pieces or more in some places.