The tusked daggerback is a true dragon, a massive, mid-sized wyrm native to subarctic uplands. This heavy-bodied creature is a slow, clumsy flier with a powerful form more suited to terrestrial predation than aerial hunting. Older daggerbacks rarely fly at all once they stake out their territory, taking to the air mainly during mating flights or to ambush herds of reindeer on the move.
As a true dragon, tusked daggerbacks possess a powerful attack derived from their own arcane essence – a concussive sonic blast, too high to be audible to humans. This attack is remarkably precise, focused into a narrow beam along the dragon’s line of sight, and emitted from a complex organ in the back of the throat. The beam is capable of shattering bone and pulping tissues, and causes severe internal hemorrhaging even in very large victims. Daggerbacks rarely use this ability when hunting, as it spoils meat, but they have been known to attack small aircraft and trains that enter their territory in order to reach the prey within.