Al Adhais, Fortress of the Sands

-below us, the Camlannder forces rage like demons. Looting and pillaging, the people long since driven away, left to die in the desert most likely.

They know that they cannot assault Al Adhais directly, so they seek to drive out through fear and rage. Last night they began to set fires with strange alchemical mixtures, painting the tongues fae colors, and their mages have to be stroking the flames higher for the reach above our walls. I can see the tongues dance through my window.

While it does not threaten the fortress itself, it drives our defenders from their positions on the walls, and only harshens the suns weight upon our brows. We had to hastily take down most of our shade canopies for fear of the fire spreading inward.

Regardless, this is not the first time that Al Adhais has burned, and it won't be the last. It will not fall here, nor will it then, as long as the Sha remains in the deep desert and away from the Camlannders.

One of the last hurtles of King Gowyr's conquest of the whole of Avallus, Al Adhais is an ancient human city in the middle of the southern deserts and now serves as the seat of power for Khassfai. It has survived disaster, disease, and conquerors, and still refuses to be broken, though it would be a lie to say that it's head hadn't been bowed on occasion.

The city itself is massive and sprawling, supported on a limestone shelf that also houses a notable aquifer beneath it, one of the few in the region. It's strategic importance does leave it as a target for other regional powers or foreign invaders as it is one of only a few locations through which a military campaign can be conducted comfortably.

Due to that nature, the city around the central fortress has been conquered and raised many times, though the fortress at it's heart has only been conquered once, and it was through the massive expenditure of resources that King Gowyr could stomach at the end of his conquests.