Jade Dynasty · The campaign
The Thousand Shrines
Something is coming out of Whisper Hollow, taking a village a night. Close it.
The Thousand Shrines
Something is coming out of Whisper Hollow and taking villages a night at a time. Close it.
The road
Ten fields — terraces stepping down to Whisper Hollow. The Mythic Beasts is the rival, and six kingdoms stand in the way.
Chapter I · The Muster
A shrine is a promise written in stone so that nobody is obliged to remember it.
- 1
The Muster · Stop the wain
Paper Lantern Road
The dead walk the pilgrim road again.
To win: their wain dragged back for 40s. Their wain rolls for your gate under their escort. Outnumber them at the axle and drag it back — if it reaches your gate, the field is theirs.
Against: Undead Dominion.
Terms: The standing works — A spawner is already raised and already yours.
The dead are on the lantern road again. Escort them off it, and be off the lake road before the thaw takes it. Observe the courtesies; they were pilgrims once themselves.
- 2
First Blood · Cull the ranks
Redgate
Orc outriders, testing the gate.
To win: 14 of their outriders down. Not a body count — a particular kind of body. Put down the ones named. Razing them ends it too.
Against: Orc Horde.
Outriders at Redgate, counting our spearmen from a hilltop. Give them a number worth reporting.
- 3
A Twist · Work the seam
The Stone Garden
Clan prospectors in the shrine grounds.
To win: 8,000 gold banked holding the warded stone. Only gold banked while you hold the ring counts. Hold it and let the purse fill — or raze them instead.
Against: Dwarven Clans.
Terms: The empty chest — You march with nothing. Everything you field, you earn here.
Prospectors in the stone garden, with hammers, taking core samples of a nine-hundred-year-old apology. Hold the garden and take the assay ourselves. The record wants a figure.
Chapter II · The Rival
It has a shape. A large one. It has watched the drill yard from the treeline for a week and it has learned our rotations.
- 4
The Rival · Bring down the beast
Hollow Mouth
What comes out of the Hollow. First sight of it.
To win: the beast down, by your hand. Something is loose on the field, and it fights everyone. Whoever puts it down takes the field — so it had better be you.
Against: Mythic Beasts — the rival.
First proper sight of the thing. Record it accurately. Accuracy is the beginning of every answer we have ever had.
- 5
Adversity · Carry the torch
Lantern Vigil
The Realm has chosen this hour to press. Hold the shrine.
To win: 3 fires lit by the torch, kept for 40s. Only the torch lights these fires. It starts at your gate, passes hand to hand as bearers fall, and they can put out what it lit. Every fire burning at once, and kept.
Against: Human Realm.
Terms: No walls of your own — Your keep cannot be fortified. Meet them in the field.
The Realm has chosen this hour, of all hours, to press. Carry the flame from lantern to lantern and keep them all lit while they do. We will discuss their timing later, at length.
- 6
The Ally · Break the works
Wyld Terraces
Elven works on the terraces. Clear them off.
To win: 4 of their works down. Put their spawners down. The keep can stand.
Against: Elven Court.
Terms: The war-chest — An ally has paid for this one. Spend it well.
Elven works on the terraces. Beautifully made, entirely unauthorised. Clear them, and file the drawings.
Chapter III · The Long War
Precision against appetite. It is a longer argument than it looks.
- 7
The Siege · Break the ward
The Beast Warren
They have piled stone across the Hollow’s throat.
To win: the ward broken, then the keep. Their keep takes no harm while the ward stands. Break the ward, then raze the keep behind it.
Against: Mythic Beasts — the rival.
Terms: Walled against you — Their keep was fortified long before you came.
They have piled stone across the Hollow’s throat. It is not a wall. It is a den with an opinion.
- 8
The Reversal · Hold the ground
Barrow Steps
Hold the steps. The dead are patient; you are not.
To win: 90s on the high ground. Take the contested ground and keep it — the clock only runs while it is yours.
Against: Undead Dominion.
Terms: The thin muster — Only your cheapest ranks answered the call.
Hold the steps. The dead are patient and we are not, so we shall simply have to be better instead.
- 9
The Gathering · Take the toll · Eight commanders
The Ten Thousand
Every host in the east, on one field.
To win: 120 of their soldiers down. Put their soldiers in the ground. Their walls can wait — or fall, if you would rather.
Against: Orc Horde.
Every host in the east on one field. Ten thousand of ours, and a number written for each of them.
Chapter IV · The Crown
Sealed, recorded and quiet. The villages will sleep, and never know how narrowly.
- 10
The Crown · Bring the ram to the wall
Whisper Hollow
The Hollow itself. Before it opens wider.
To win: the ram to their wall, then the keep. The wain is a ram. Walk it to their wall and the masonry comes down — then raze what is left standing.
Against: Mythic Beasts — the rival.
Terms: Walled against you — Their keep was fortified long before you came.
Bring the engine to the mouth and close it. Measure it first, and record the measurement — somebody in four hundred years will want to know exactly how wide it was.
The rival
The Mythic Beasts — The Untamed of Whisper Hollow.
It did not wait for the Hollow. It is here, in daylight, which it has never once risked before.
It has a shape. A big one, and it has been watching the drill yard from the treeline for a week.
The Beast Warren. They do not hold ground - they use it. Every hill here is somewhere to come down from.
Whisper Hollow itself. Close the mouth and the nights go quiet.
How it ends
Crowned
The Hollow is sealed and the villages sleep. Precision beat appetite, as it was always going to.
Broken
The Hollow is open and the drill yard is empty. Count the villages again in the morning.
The Dynasty boons
The branch of the boon tree only the Jade Dynasty can take:
| Boon | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| The Lantern Road | 1 | The road paid its tribute before you asked. |
| The Rocket Carts | 2 | Powder, centuries early, and pointed the right way. |
| The Silk Ledger | 2 | The Dynasty does not fight a war it cannot account for. |
| The Thousand Shrines | 3 | Blessed stone holds better than the plain kind. |
| The Jade Seat | 4 | Strike the opening, and strike it first. |