In game user: Pharosite

apologies if any of the formatting is off, I have never used any sort of forum before! Best of luck to all participants in the contest 💖

Name: Dark Lantern Dragon

Type: Light/Dark

Body type: 5.5 - 6m / 226 - 250 kg

Gather Location: Either Forest of Hope or somewhere in East Yukatan 

Place of appearance: Where light never hits

Time of appearance: Usually appears at night

EGG

This egg has the soft glow of a lantern.

Commonly mistaken for a traveler’s missing lantern, this egg is found illuminating the darkest corners of the forest. Despite its welcoming glow, it’s actually cold to the touch and can be uncomfortable to be in contact with for extended periods of time. It can only incubate in the darkness.

HATCH
Because it is too small to move its lantern, the Hatch instead waits patiently atop it for insects and small animals to be drawn towards the light, where it then eats the unsuspecting creature. It seems to be afraid of natural sunlight and hides all day in abandoned dens or burrows.

HATCHLING
Finally large enough to move the lantern, the Hatchling now partakes in active hunting. It can bring down prey almost double its size and has very quickly developed into something powerful and to be revered, although it isn’t yet at its maximum potential. It uses its sharp intellect to set elaborate traps or to lure lost travelers, where it quickly dispatches them away from prying eyes.

ADULT
The dragon has now grown into a deadly and effective killing machine. It uses its powerful hind legs to traverse great distances throughout the forest and can cause several disappearances a night. It is widely considered both the most aggressive and most elusive dragon. Precious few have ever seen this dragon and lived to tell the tale, and even less so have managed to befriend (let alone tame) one of these beasts.

STORY

It took decades for everyone to finally realize what was making people disappear into the forest at night, only being discovered when a lucky survivor managed to make it back to the village. The survivor described a tall, bipedal creature with curling antlers and an alluring red lantern that they felt inclined to follow. We now know this was the Red Lantern dragon. Studies have since begun on the mysterious creature and it is now known that they lure prey with their lantern, and only hunt at night. There is no known way to tame them except to hatch them from an egg yourself, although looking for an egg is dangerous and difficult. Those that have managed to raise Dark Lantern Dragons find that they are incredibly intelligent and curious creatures, although they are a little cynical at times.

ADDITIONAL NOTES AND IMAGES

- Probably shares the model that Phoenix, Applecheek etc. use, as it best matches its body type (assuming it isn’t getting its own)
- Fade on the wings is male only; females do not have the red and orange on their wing membranes
- Anything about the design, description, or otherwise can be altered if needed
- Would be really cool to have a version of this dragon that only appears on a new moon/no moon where the lantern and bioluminescent parts of the dragon don’t glow and it is effectively a walking husk of what it could have been. If not, then maybe the glowing parts can be different colors depending on where it was gathered from, similar to the different Wind Dragon variants!
- Hatch also has the red stomach, I made it hard to see in the art sorry lol