Dracia
| Dracia | |
|---|---|
|
Map of Dracia Courtyard | |
| Region | Dracia |
| Level range | 6+ |
| Accessible from | Winter City During The Demon of Ice |
| Neutral Hub | No |
The great walls of Dracia Castle vault high above the sea below, reaching forty feet from the island plateau and as much again from the waves. Were they in good repair, they would be nigh unassailable from the sea, to say nothing of the frosted white stone's aesthetic quality. In their current state, though, they're barely more than a hindrance for your party's ascent, hewn through to the foundations in several places wide enough to climb through without difficulty.
On the Isle of Dracia, Queen Alissa resides in what remains of the Dracian Keep, surrounded by her court of demons and specters.
Writer Credit
Residents
- Queen Alissa
- Imps
- Imp Jester
- Grungendyr
- Corrupted Guards:
- Forge Golem
- Gytha OR Melara
- Mad Psion
Guest Companions
Points of Interest
The Courtyard
You stand in the westernmost reach of Dracia Castle's courtyard. The yard is wide open enough to marshal a full regiment of soldiers in, with small support buildings hugging the walls in every direction. The courtyard is dominated, however, by a massive white tower that quite literally stretches to the heavens -- or at least into the clouds -- and seems utterly flawless, unmarred by battle or the passage of years. Frost glistens from its sheer sides, making the whole thing seem as if aglow.
The western-most side of the courtyard, along the cliffside, is where the dungeon begins.
The Tormenting Grounds
You stand just above a landing halfway between the island's docks and the castle courtyard. A huge boarskull totem has been hung from a cargo crane that's still managing to stand after all these years of abandonment.
Several succubi are scurrying around here, trying desperately to load boxes of weapons onto a trireme docked below while the huge, burly specter of the boar charges after them, goring at their backs and biting their wings. Ryn's visibly trembling at the sight of him still, breathing so hard you're afraid she'll have a heart attack.
If you want to get through to the docks -- or save the succubi from their torment -- then you'll need to dispatch the boar-geist.
Here is where you face the spirit of Grungendyr, the great boar the slew Ryn’s father. If you take the totem binding its spirit, you can gain the boar as a summon.
Cloudreach Tower
You stand at the foot of Cloudreach Tower, by far the most recognizable landmark of the legendary Dracia Castle. It's truly enormous, stretching all the way into the clouds high above, with its flawless white walls crusted with frost that catches the light such that the whole tower seems to glow. A set of winding stairs wrap from the castle courtyard up to the tower's single door, sized just right for Daliza to walk through unperturbed; anyone larger would have to duck to gain entry.
At the very top of the tower, if you crane your neck enough to look, you can just make out a stone balcony that overhangs perhaps ten feet all the way around the tower.
Barricades and strewn debris protect the tower from the east and west. You can imagine the castle's defenders falling back to it in the old days, desperately making their last stand here.
Floor 1 - Cloudreach Guardpost
The first floor of the tower has been modestly fortified against assault, though that proved no proof against you and your companions. The corrupted elf-women that had been working behind the barricades, unloading arms from the elevator, are {killed: still cooling on the stone floor // groaning, half-conscious from the aftermath of battle}. They're no threat to anyone.
Stairs on the north wall lead up to a second floor, on which you can see a circular platform elevated from the marble beneath it and suspended on chains of undulating golden runes. This is old magic, powerful enough that you can feel it in your teeth -- a dull ache that only grows more noticeable as you near the base of the lift.
Here on the first floor, you’ll face a group of Corrupted Guards, consisting of 2 Elf Guards, and a set of Demon Smugglers.
Floor 2 - Cloudreach Forge
You stand in the midst of the great Cloudreach Forge, the beating heart of the old jarldom's arsenal. A tremendous bronzesmithing apparatus surrounds the chamber, with bellows and burning coals liquifying the metal and sending it running through purifying filters made of strange crystal lattices. Uncounted hundreds of swords, spears, maces, and axes have piled up in the armory, overflowing from their storage racks and into piles on the floor.
A door south leads into a second, smaller chamber -- too small for the forge golem to have any hope of accessing.
On the second floor, you will face the Forge Golem, which is a two-phase fight. If you collected the two key items from the Specter of the Wyld event, the Circlet of Sunlight and Shard of Ice, the golem can reforge them into the Crown of Winter. This item can be given to Etheryn for a permanent stat boost or given to the PC as a unique item.
Floor 2 - Cloudreach Workshop
A smaller, human- (or more likely, elf-) sized workshop adjoins the great Cloudreach Forge. The outer chamber was dominated by bronzesmithing apparati and the golem's massive hammer; this one however has countless small tools laid hap-hazardly across wooden tables that have largely rotted away across the centuries. Several chests and drawers have survived, at least in part, and Daliza can't help herself but to peruse their contents while you explore.
Here you will find the Crest of Dracia, a ring that belonged to Jarl Elred and passed down through the generations, until the last Jarl, Jarl Talraed, fell during the Godswar. You gift this to Daliza, who is very grateful.
Floor 3 - Cloudreach Sanctum
You stand now in the highest reaches of Cloudreach Tower -- the sanctum of the Estelorean magisters that once called the tower home. Where the lower levels of the tower are split into rooms hugging the outer walls, the sanctum is a single, open floor with the elevator in an enclosed platform. There were doors sealing it off, able to be barred from the inside, but those have shattered from some great impact long ago.
The walls of the sanctum are surrounded by shelves laden with scrolls and stone tablets on all sides save the doors leading north onto the elevator platform, and south out onto the great balcony you saw from below. There must be thousands of rolls on the racks; a quarter of the room alone would make any Heartlander scholar salivate.
The middle of the sanctum has a canopied bed, surrounded by standing screens in wooden frames that have somehow endured the passage of years better than the stone walls outside. A quite generously-cupped blue bra and night robe are still draped over one. There's a chest at the foot of the bed, and a writing table beside it. A blue crystal, carved with clawmarked runes, sits in a copper wire sconce atop it.
The blue crystal is a Memory Stone, and contains memories of what happened here just hours after the Godswar began. This is a repeatable interaction.
Floor 3 - Cloudreach Balcony
You stand now on the balcony overlooking not just Dracia Castle, but the entire island and much of the northern archipelago. The clouds sit just above your head, minging with the roof of the tower, and the air is brutally cold. There must be some enchantment on the stone to keep you safe, as there's no breeze at all.
The balcony is stone, and extends several feet from the tower's edge. The door back inside is quite a bit larger than any other in the tower -- perhaps meant for one of the legendary Dracian dragons to enter through? They could certainly have flown up here.
You see the remnants of potted plants, mostly herbs by your guess rather than flowers, in long growers all along the balcony railing. Though the plants have died of neglect, their source of water is still here: a small fountain built into the wall, depicting a topless, horned salamander woman with arms outstretched. Her pendulous breasts seep cool, clear water down into a basin beneath her scaly toes. There's just enough paint left on the bust to indicate green scales, azure hair, and copper-colored skin.
This area contains a Healing Well. You can use this to restore all of your HP.
Dracia Keep
You stand in the great hall of Dracia Keep, a long entrance flanked by pillars of marble and countless blue dragon banners still hanging from its walls. Above you is a balcony overlooking the hall, and before you are several long tables before a throne on a dias. A small door behind the throne leads into the keep's inner demesne, to the east, while the great doors are back west.
Entrance
You stand at the outer doors of Dracia Keep, the inner sanctum of the castle and the seat of its ancient jarls. The keep is in clear disrepair, but not so much as to be indefensible like the outer castle: indeed, you have little doubt a garrison could hold out in there for quite a while even against Khor'minoan siege specialists.
Here you will encounter The Dragon Knight. She will either be Gytha, if you did not or arrest her before sailing off to Dracia, or it will be Melara, if you did. You will have the option to tie up and arrest the Dragon Knight to later visit in the Wayfort dungeons.
Floor 1 - The Dragonbarrow
The barrow beneath Castle Dracia is a massive, vaulted thing connected to the realm above by a collapsing door in the ceiling. The small stairway you came in lies west, behind you, curling up around a shaft and back into the castle.
You can see no way to access the barrow from here: there is a titanic slab of solid granite before you, engraved with the images of skeletal dragons lording over countless prostrated salamanders and boreal elves. The stone is etched with leycrystal, forming swirling runic patterns that cover it nearly from tip to bottom. You suppose the dragons must have cared a great deal about protecting their dead.
Within the Keep, at the northeastern section, you fight the Mad Psion. Behind that is the Dragonbarrow Door. Giving it some of Dal’s blood wil give you the Crystalized Dracian Blood key item, but will give Daliza an indefinite madness Debuff for the rest of the dungeon.
Grand Stairs
You stand at the bottom/TOP of the grand stairs sweeping up and around to give access to the nobles' private quarters high above. The far wall on the landing between the two floors is dominated by a fresco on the stone depicting a tall, bearded elf man surrounded by three lovely women: an armored amazonian elf-maiden that could pass herself off as Daliza if she lost a little muscle, a smaller brunette halfsex with not much in the bustline but a quite prodigious ass, and a third woman that looks like an azure-haired salamander with horns and a pair of cute little wings sprouting from her back.
Old Mural
Floor 2 - Narevan Chapel
You stand in a small, veiled chapel set apart from the rest of the castle. The goddess is depicted standing atop a small marble fountain in the aspect of a horned salamander. She carries a staff in one hand and an open tome in the other, wrapped tightly in a sheer robe that hugs her broad hips and ample bosoms.
In this area, you’ll encounter another Healing Well. It’s recommended that you recover your HP before facing Queen Alissa.
Floor 2 - Throne Room
The mock throne room Alissa kept in the upper gallery is a riotous wreck in the aftermath of your battle: the demonic harem-mimics of Etheryn are sprawled out here and there insensate, while her impish courtiers have been laid low around them, now unmoving.
Here you will fight Queen Alissa, alongside an Imp Jester and two Etheryn Clones. This is a two-phase battle.