Campaign: Drachend
Located on the Jade River, in the occupied town of Pelf. The Jade fortress is a recently-constructed citadel, housing the barracks of the invading force in Drachend. The city itself is beseigned by this new army in the land, having been a previously pleasant pastoral and trading hub. The invaders have proven to be quite aggressive towards Drachend residents, however, going as far as to stage public hangings of any Drachend soldiers found within the city limits. A section of the cities population and stragglers from the Captitol City have also been positioned within the Jade Fortress’s hastily-assembled prison, being forced to work in camps to build the Fortress’s crude rock walls and other structures within.
The Jade Fortress has a long wall and a gate. Along the wall lay several pyres, ready to be lit at first sign of danger to alert soldiers to that area. Besides the pyres, the walls also have enough space to house archers. Within the walls of the Jade Fortress lie the main soldier’s barracks and a warehouse, the dock spanning the river (which is heavily guarded at all times), and across the river there is the keep, servant’s quarters, two watchtowers, and the stables.
Each drifter’s experience with the Jade Fortress was unique.
During the Drachend team’s visit to the town of Pelf, the band decided to intervene in the hangings of Drachend soldiers, and saved one of the men by knocking out the executioner and having Holland turn the victim invisible (starting the recurring trope of Savvy’s characters paying Patrick’s characters to cast invisibility spells). The group later learned that an old oracle was being held in the labor camp within the Jade Fortress, and they began plans for a heist to extract the man. The plan started the night prior to the heist by having Fini sneak within the fortress and hide within the warehouse overnight, stealing soldier uniforms with plans to smuggle them off in the morning. Fini woke late in the night to find a vision of an ice dragon speaking to her, but the vision dissapeared quickly.
The next morning, the heist began, with the bard Lady Parhelion publicly calling the Jade Palace a “blight upon the fair hills of the city” and vowing to destroy it, begining to dance and sing in front of the fortress and causing tremors with her magic. As she did so, Holland and Ness snuck within the fortress using the uniforms. Holland (rolling several consequtive d20s) both found and removed the oracle immediately from the premises, while Ness used his raven to light each pyre on the wall and released all the horses in the stables. In the chaos, Holland was able to make it out with the oracle with no issues whatsoever.
Lady Parhelion continued attempts at destroying the wall while Gloria kept the general and footsoldiers at bay using her tiefling magic. When the mission was complete, all the drifters retreated save for Lady Parhelion, who expended all of her magic to release a cataclysmic earthquake which finally destroyed the fortress completely. Gloria managed to fish Lady Parhelion out of the wreckage of the fortress walls, finding her paralyzed but unharmed, with a ring of protection runes around her spelling out “Beneath the banner of the Dragon’s daughter”.
After escaping, the oracle’s daughter was revealed to also have been an oracle the entire time, and left the group with the prophecy:
“The Destroyer has fallen, the king lays dead South to the city of silence the chosen must head Beneath the banner of the Dragon’s daughter under the mother’s guidance you must not falter time is short for the dark lights the red moon marks the final peaceful night His brother’s approaches, a war close behind Look to the shattered past to save our the fleshen kind”