General Description
Drakes are easily one of the more common Dragons, and easily one of the most visually distinctive. Rotund in body and ungainly with a very long neck and tail, green scales, fins on the sides of its head instead of horns and no wings, Drakes are quite comical in appearance and are noticeably unintelligent, especially when compared with their far more cunning cousins like the Dracoliches or the True Dragons.
Dangers
However, despite their pitiful exterior, Drakes are not too be taken lightly. A swing from their tail or a well placed stomp can easily kill, and they are surprisingly fast at moving in a straight line when enraged. Their most dangerous weapon, however, is their breath, a cloud of highly corrosive gas which can dissolve most metals, severely burn skin, sear wood and even permanently blind targets.
Eating Machines
Drakes tend to live in heavily wooded areas, where they have adapted to be a living engine of devouring. Their wings were lost as they cannot take off in the forest canopy, their smaller size makes it easier for them to maneuver in confined spaces, and their huge round bodies have lost the slim, muscular look of other Dragons to make room for the extra stomachs to produce their acidic breath weapon and rapidly digest anything they eat. And Drakes will eat, or at the very least try to eat, anything that moves. Drakes are gluttony incarnate, only stopping eating to fight, mate, or sleep.
Siege Weapons and Warfare
Interestingly these large cumbersome creatures have had some use to some societies. Used as living siege engines by groups in Bēti and Tír, both of which have populations of the beasts due to being heavily forested, their corrosive breath was integral to the 2A 997 capture of Castle Slát by pro-Troll forces during the early months of the Imperial Wars where one was used to destroy the castle gates.
Fighting Drakes
Drakes are far, far less well-defended than True Dragons, and while their bones are tough the rest is not, and they can be killed by conventional weapons with no less ease than most other large creatures. Also, their corrosive gas breath is not only flammable but also somewhat explosive, so using fire or lightning against them should be done with trepidation but can be used to fight them in a pinch.