#107: Studio of the Dragon Painter

Age: 500 years

Hidden or Lost?: Lost

History: Once, the world was full of dragons. Massive magical beasts flew through the clouds, stalked the forests, and plied the seas. Then they disappeared. There was no great calamity, extinction, or hunt to be found in the records and histories. Just a sudden absence. In fact, the only reason that some still believe that they once existed at all is thanks to the uncannily realistic paintings of the mysterious artist, Gil Summerhill.

Little is known about Summerhill beyond the elegant signature found on their rare and valuable works, but what is evident is that they were a craftsman without peer. The paintings, which only occasionally appear as treasures from ancient keeps or ancestral collections, all display lifelike dragons in their natural habitats, rendered in hypnotic, vibrant pigments that experts have never been able to identify. In Summerhill’s work dragons are figures of benevolence or cruelty, beauty and horror, in wide plains and frozen mountains, but always with humanity as their subordinates. Given the far reaching geography of Summerhill’s subjects, scholars of their work believe that the artist must have traveled the known world to document different species of dragon. And then there are the legends of Summerhill’s studio, some secluded workshop, where they must have toiled tirelessly to create their enigmatic artwork. They say that Summerhill’s studio holds not just the secrets of their unimaginable talent, but of the forgotten age of dragons itself.

Of course, this long abandoned location actually exists, hidden deep within the impassable jungles of Zozan. Once a large and luxurious manse, by design it was hard to locate even in Summerhill’s age. Today it remains, only partially reclaimed by the jungle, and still a treasure trove of long forgotten wonders. In addition to Summerhill’s paints and sketches, there are volumes of history and irrefutable evidence that dragons once stalked the land, including anatomical studies detailing the inner workings of many species of dragon with the fossils, claws, and teeth to back them up. Most incredibly, in the large central courtyard there is the full skeleton of the last dragon, still held in the massive shackles Summerhill bound it with.

Even Summerhill themself can be found in the primary gallery, or at least their remains. Dead by their own hand, they can still be found clutching a last confession, telling of the psychic tyrant that took control of dragonkind and forced them to leave the planet behind. All thanks to the growing cruelty of people like Summerhill.

1. Overgrown Courtyard 9. Dining Hall

2. Grand Hall of Wings 10. Unfinished Works

3. The Heads 11. Scale Library

4. Tower of Light 12. Anatomical Archive

5. Central Gallery 13. Dissection Shop

6. Tower of Shade 14. Pigment Laboratory

7. Hall of Blooded Lances 15. Summerhill’s Residences

8. Studio of Dragons 16. Live Subject Holding (Bones)