The Hallowed War: Prophesy of Ruin

Just a Phase

A whole month went by, the city was more or less in working order and the refugees had healed up after Pyrrhic and Occi returned safely with not one but two healers, one of which agreed to stay in Alryne to monitor their health until they all got better. They still had an issue with food, having just started some small plantations for the long run but settling mostly for foraging and hunting in the surrounding woods for sustenance. The survivors had no spellcaster that could be useful for the spell scrolls they found but they had someone who could copy them and after explaining to Solaris how they worked they managed to give life to a few shrubs and trees around the city. Not many since the cost of casting the spell wasn't something they could afford for a whole defense force but enough to make them feel safe.

They would only serve as a means to warn the people of any danger and while they could fight, they weren't strong enough to deal with a smart group of enemies. Kyomi insisted that until more people moved in or they found some actual fighters to protect them, that this should be enough.

Staying in Alryne for so long made Theon nervous. He put that nervous energy into teaching Gin how to use his magic better, even allowing the dragonkin to attune to his staff and get a glimpse of the power he could wield one day if he worked diligently enough to earn it. Yet even after prompting him to use the staff to read his thoughts as an example of its power, he was confused when he was met with confusion.

"I have access to that type of magic while using this. Are you sure it has it?"

Theon let it go and played it off like a mistake but after that day's training was done he had his own questions to give the staff.

"He is not you... he does not possess the blood... touched by chaos." She responded calmly.

He had known that certain power within the staff could only come from being able to use wild magic but he hadn't realized that was one of them. He made sure to explain to Gin later that if he ever did find himself with the staff once more, that he wouldn't be able to use it fully. The man was pretty insulted at first, thinking it was Theon looking down on his ability to learn and wield it properly but he calmed down once it was properly explained.

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A week after the first month passed, they came to an agreement that since things were much more stable they could move on in their journey. They still had much to do, and while hiding out in the mostly empty city they did manage to gather some information. Occi had been sent alone, being the stealthiest she had less trouble blending into crowds and knew where to look for information. While on one such excursion out of the city she had found a small rebel camp a few hours north on her way to one of the farther surrounding villages.

Sneaking past their sentries was tough, the camp was small and made it harder to find a good spot to hide out in without stumbling onto someone. She almost got caught once, but her shapeshifting abilities came through. Disguising herself as one of the patrolling sentries, she was undisturbed and successfully managed to sneak her way into the captain's tent. At first there wasn't much to see, papers detailing supplies, weapons and food that they needed, some letters from another camp about needing reinforcements, the usual stuff that proved of little value. But under these documents she found something.

A map with a drawn route, a small area circled in red ink near the center of a lake, the area in question was a small island named Azgathar's Rise, and next to it, a letter. It read:

"The artifact was lost within this area, the golden sentinel tasked with the protection of the tower took it and despite our best efforts we struggled to breach their defenses to retrieve it. Without this artifact the empress-to-be cannot claim the throne and the empire will remain weakened, we send this to you in hopes that your men can aid us and the artifacts retrieval may tip the scales in our favor."