Editing Setting:Tabula Gloria/Drakonid Highlands/The Drakonids (section)

=Siege at Drakonhelm=
There wasn't much activity against the Empire's new holdings since the end of the First Drakonid Incursion. Sure, there were sightings of Drakonid scouts in the sky every once in a while, but nothing a few anti-air magical missiles couldn't scare off. During this time, research was being made into brilliant suits of armor found in the deeper halls of Minnamack, and soon enough, some of the soldiers there were being trained in their use. By the time the first batch of soldiers were completed in their training, Margurim III had died and his brother '''Alexius I''' had assumed the throne. Upon hearing about the reported '''Aethergear''' suits being used by the soldiers at Minnamack, the Emperor ordered the eastward expansion to continue. Assigned to lead the charge would be the Chancellor of the Imperial University, none other than '''Prifa Carbane''', daughter of the famous explorer '''Ezel Carbane'''. Though it was an unusual decision not to assign one of his Generals to the task, Prifa was famed for her background as a mage of multiple disciplines as well as a scholar, qualities in which the Emperor believed would work in not just overpowering the Drakonids, but also outsmarting them.

Determined to destroy the "demonic evils which plagued the mountains," Prifa pushed her forces deep into the Highlands, ordering them to slay every Drakonid they encountered. Male, female, hatchling, a target was a target in her eyes. The Imperials would then descend upon a craggy structure, a grand palace carved out of the very mountainside itself. From her childhood joining her father on his travels, Prifa knew the place as '''Drakonhelm''', then home to a peaceful if wary people. It was still home to those people, though they were transformed by a terrible force which forced them to draw her wrath. The least she could do, in her eyes, was to give these people the merciful death they are waiting for. In a brilliant display of power, magic, and speed, the Imperial forces scoured through the complex, killing as many Drakonids as they could manage, the rest of them fleeing further east into parts unknown. The operation had gone better than even Prifa had expected, celebrating the victory with her comrades outside of the bloodied palace. But then a crash echoed through the skies, and suddenly, the back of Prifa's head exploded, splattering her brains against the main portal into the palace.

One of the Drakonids was hiding off in the distance during the whole time. He watched the battle from afar, staying his hand while his brethren were utterly slaughtered by the orders of an overly zealous woman. He waited until the time was right, clutching an old Benaloran firearm in his hands. Just as she had dropped her guard to cheer in jubilation for the awful massacre she caused, he squeezed the trigger. He didn't bother to stay afterwards to inspect his handiwork, only to slip back into the mountains to report the victory to his superiors. Prifa's remains would be carried home and buried with honors, saluted as a Heroine of the Empire. Countless Drakonids were slaughtered that day, but the Drakonid sniper also came to his people as a hero, for he took down the most powerful among the Imperials.