Paying the Price

The grand and ever-prosperous city of Thesea, the envy of surrounding kingdoms and cities abound, reins high in ranks above any in the known land. This prosperity was brought about by the Late king Thesea himself, a master tradesmith in his own right, he made his wealth through negotiations and trade routs between surrounding cities, as well as buying into a lot of wealthier projects- from wizardry circles and artifact finding, to adventurer parties and bounty hunters. This city ruled proper, it was fair on it's people and the royalty did not look down on it's people, rather, it saw them as equals.

That was, until this power and wealth became a target for forces far beyond the comprehension of mere mortals. Allisoun; The Pale Queen Of Despair crashed through the front doors of the city with a legion of ghoulish "outer souls", creatures of indescribable, horrific nature that tore apart and devoured any body who was foolish enough not to get out of their way..

The Pale Queen usurped the throne and took hold of the city with a powerful fist, ruling the kingdom by force. Now, the Outer Souls have almost all left this plane, as defiance against the queen is now non existent due to her ruling through power.

But it wasn't long until her true intentions were revealed..
To destroy all magic on the planet.. One by one the queen killed, enslaved and tortured magic users within the city, and then outside of the city, and now even outside of the kingdom.

A recent surge in Outer Souls has picked up, magic users are disappearing more and more and the queen shows no signs of slowing. It's only a matter of time until she has fulfilled her goal...

(Outer souls, for reference.)

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"What is the status-!" The queen shouts at a royal guard, referring to the group she sent to wellspring. "They have yet to reach the town, m-miss." He says, cowering in his armour. "For crying out loud, you lot are bloody useless." She says standing up, storming off past the guard. "W-where are you going, your highness?" He asks, afraid of her answer.

"In going to get your impotent arses the help you apparently need." She snaps as she walks out of the throne room.

She storms into a room that was once used as staff housing. Now, it is full of festering tentacles that have grown up the walls and across the floor in all directions like corrupted masses of vines. The origin of the growth is in the center of the room- a small well that was built into the floor that reaches down into the infinite abyss.

Looking down the well with soulless eyes, the room almost pitch black, she cuts her hand with a sacrificial dagger she pulled out of her pocket, letting the blood drip down the well like a demonic sacrifice.

As she does, the tentacles/vines start to ungulate and writhe, squirming around as they react to the offering.

Once the offering is made, any aura-sensitive creatures would feel something dark, abysmal even, emanating from the palace city. Meanwhile- the soldiers who were sent to wellspring start to seep a dark mist from all of their orifices. Though they act no different than before...