The party has been fighting some legendary dragon for so long that right in the middle of the fight, it falls asleep

>The party has been fighting some legendary dragon for so long that right in the middle of the fight, it falls asleep.
>They think that they have slain it.
How do you hint to them that it's just tired without outright telling them?

That whole situation just sounds weird, arbitrary and confusing.

It's some really high level yet goofy exalted shit.

It walks in circles then curls up

Tell them it's fucking breathing you donkey.

Then why would they have any trouble telling the dragon was asleep in the first place? If they can fight a dragon to a standstill long enough for it to collapse unconscious, surely their senses are acute enough to be able to hear its continued breathing and heartbeat?

It's undead.

Then it can't actually be asleep

>Undead can't take naps.
Do you think vampires just twiddle their thumbs in their coffins all night long? Besides like I said, it's goofy.

You didn't say vampire. You said undead. The vast majority of undead, even intelligent undead, have no need to sleep. 'Goofy' is not the same thing as the scenario being utterly inconsistent and nonsensical.

Although if it was an undead creature that somehow managed to fall asleep in the middle of a battle, despite having no reason to get physically tired, then I guess they couldn't tell unless they had magical senses, because a sleeping undead creature looks exactly like a corpse.

>be adventurer
>be in grand hall of castle on a stormy night
>fighting a dragon
>dragon stops me mid fight and asks me if we can take a break, it's getting late
>what
>it lays down and curls up
>are you for serious
>get ready to leave
>"y-you can stay here... i-if you like!"
>???
>it makes a motion for me to join it
>nigga what
>"h-haha, i was just k-kidding"
>call its bluff
>join it, snuggling up against it's belly in its curled up state
>it hugs me tight and tucks its head against my chest
>wind up spending the night with it
>wake up next day
>its still asleep
>lay there with it listening to it snort and grumble incomprehensibly on occasion
>get up and finish the job

Have it shift slightly.

If it's goofy, just have the dragon begin snoring after a short time has passed (preferably when the players are settled down from the fight and searching the room).

>Do you think vampires just twiddle their thumbs in their coffins all night long?
Yes, actually.

Well, it's a scenario from the new Monster Hunter so that's not far off the mark.

>finishing the job with its dragon dick still buried in you

Falling asleep in the middle of it is just rude.

I block the dragons number and refuse it's FantasyBook requests.

They'll find out when they try to carve some useful materials from the "dead dragon"

Alternatively, I would not make a dumb dragon that sleeps in the middle of a fight.
No matter how tough you are you don't sleep when a bunch of insects start to crawl all over trying to cut off your horns or steal your stuff.

Finish the job or 'finish the job'?

It's just really tired man.

>The vast majority of undead, even intelligent undead, have no need to sleep.
That doesn't mean one who wants to dream can't use some spell or magic artifacts to nap peacefully once more.

>dragon drops dead
>party thinks they killed it
>after a while the dragon starts shaking violently
>another head pops up

It's a newborn monster made out of eldritch stuff in Monster Hunter, it is probably not functioning well yet. It's less like falling asleep because it is rad and invincible and really tired and more like falling uncouncious due to it's current state.

It literally digs itself a hole with the laser so you can wail on it, it's not the smartest mutant dragon around