The Hallowed War: Prophesy of Ruin

Blood in the Sand

Stalking closer to the repurposed corpse, they stood close to the shadows and avoided the torch lights that illuminated the sands. The three groups had split up early on in order to take down as many of the cultists as they could before any alarm was sounded. Creeping closer and ducking behind a dune, Theon peeks over the corner in order to get a good look at the enemy positions. Two pairs of red glowing eyes of a shadowed beast stalked the area, sniffing around for intruders.

Its posture perked up as a breeze blew by, tensing up and began to growl and approach. Theon was nervous, he hadn't seen this creature before and if they didn't handle it, they would risk being found out by the others. Reaching silently into his components pouch he retrieves a marble made of gum arabic, while many would see this item as useless, a sorcerer of his caliber saw its true properties. Normally he wouldn't waste his energy with negating a type of component for a spell to be casted but at the moment he couldn't risk them hearing him. Calling forth his magic he felt it wash over him and despite not being able to see it himself he knew when the spell took effect.

The large azure scaled beast came closer, its nose close to the ground as it sniffed out what was likely Theon's scent, its tongue darting out, tasting the air the closer it got and as softly as he could, he walked away from the area. Stood in his full height and everything knowing that what he could now identify as a guard drake, wouldn't be able to see him.

'What are these people doing with a guard drake? Are they that paranoid someone will sneak in? How did they even tame one of these?!' Theon thought to himself. Reaching down, he grabbed a pinch of the sand below and blew it in the drake's direction, hoping the spell took hold and put the creature to sleep.

For a second, he felt like the spell failed, that the drake was tougher than the magic's hold, but he quickly relaxed when he saw it fall limply to the floor. Pyrrhic and Phammaxia came out of their respective hiding spots, looking around for the currently invisible Theon only for Pyrrhic to jump in shock when an unseen hand landed on their shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll stick close. We only have a minute before the drake wakes up, so we need to hurry." He whispered, loud enough for Phammaxia's keen hearing to catch it as well.

Both of them nodded but before continuing forward, Phammaxia took out a spare piece of rope that she had in her pack and cut two pieces. She tied these around the guard drake's legs to keep it from running after them when it inevitably awoke. Even if she couldn't see him, Theon nodded in respect at her smart thinking. That mostly takes it out of the equation all together unless someone finds it and unties it, but the three of them could likely handle any approaching foes easily.

Theon followed behind them, careful to not make any sounds that could attract unwanted attention. They had gotten close enough to hear some of the men talking amongst themselves. They were seated at a table with plates of what looked to be beef stew and bread. One was a tall man with dark brown hair, his mask was placed on the table and the hood of his robes pushed back. The other was a smaller blond man with slightly pointy ears and golden looking skin, a half high elf, Theon surmised. The two men seemed to be talking about their god, but the conversation didn't seem to be going the way Theon expected it to go for avid worshippers.

"I'm just saying, in a death battle between Encaron during his prime and Azolt on his own, Encaron wins easily due to his sheer size. Azolt is powerful, sure, but a single warrior is no match to an ancient dragon. He could easily just swallow him."

"With the risk of sounding like a heathen, Azolt could very well win. He was favored by the gods during his time and even if he wasn't enough normally, he technically never fought alone. His armor alone could probably defend against Encaron's legendary might. I say it's 50/50."