Amaryllis, Wind, and the others spent the rest of the night resting from their adventure in the Forgotten Vale, as Serana liked to call the hidden place all of them had spent some time in, especially since they needed it after everything they went through to get their hands on Auriel's Bow, which had been returned to Amaryllis' summonable chest, safely stored away with the Elder Scrolls they had collected so far. Durum and Lynthia, on the other hand, remained at the ready, which was understandable due to the fact that Demiprinces and Demigods were different from the mortals of Nirn, while Ma'jera kept up her work in her tower and Diane seemed to be communing with nature while waiting for morning to arrive, though with four godly children on their side everyone knew people would be insane to attack them. Of course that wasn't counting any additional allies that were watching over the fort right now, since Amaryllis knew that there had to be more out there, in the vastness of this world, and that they were waiting for the moment to reveal themselves to Za'kera, so until that point they had to be careful. Ma'jera's information suggested that there was one more godly child in Skyrim right now, that being Raven, who they met back in Riften when they were searching for Esbern, and that she was the daughter of Nocturnal, the Daedric Prince whose Sphere was night and darkness, though despite that Amaryllis knew there were others out there and that they would be revealed in due time.
When morning arrived they got to work making sure their army was preparing well, that there were no problems with how they moved or fought, even though it appeared that most of them seemed to be doing well, and while they did that they found a surprise waiting for them outside the fortress, a force of Imperials and a force of Stormcloaks had gathered, with both Tullius and Ulfric standing nearby, along with Balgruuf and the remaining Jarls, including the cowified Elisif.
What Amaryllis discovered was that her suspicions had been correct, the other Holds had been watching them and now, after finding a way to subdue the dragons and stop the vampires, many of the Jarls were thinking of speaking with the one responsible for the sudden shift in power in Skyrim, while Tullius and Ulfric didn't desire a war on three fronts if Za'kera wished such a thing. This was, in essence, a peace talk of sorts, to figure out what Za'kera was doing and what they might gain from not annoying her or her growing allies, especially when they learned that a few of them were the children of the gods, be they Divine or Daedric Prince, and, as Amaryllis expected, Raven was with their visitors, even though she walked over to Ma'jera and the others upon her arrival. Of course this time around she didn't have to do much, in fact her task at the moment was to stand in Amaryllis' shadow and observe without being seen, while Lydia stood off to the side, finding that some of their guests were surprised by her new form, including Balgruuf, though new armor was being made for her and they were hoping that it would be done before they decided to head to Solstheim. The others were scattered around the meeting hall, observing the discussion that was taking place right now, and with Wind taking notes on what was being said it meant that Amaryllis really had the easy gig, she just had to stay in the shadow of Za'kera's throne, allowing her to stare out at everyone while next to no one could see her, save for the godly children and Wind.
While they were talking a courier came in and informed Wind, who was standing near the entrance, that he had a letter for Za'kera, where Amaryllis appeared nearby, much to his surprise, and claimed the letter, allowing her to slip back into the shadows while she read it, finding that it was a letter from someone called Skorvild and that this was more of a plea for help, which caught her attention. The man wrote that he did unspeakable things that he regretted and that he had found out about something that he couldn't write about in this piece of paper, no doubt in the fear that it might fall into evil's hands, and referenced both the Oblivion Crisis and the very fate of this world, which interested her a little, especially when she thought about her own opinions on the Prophecy of the Dragonborn. Apparently the speaker thought that it would be far safer for them to speak face to face, instead of conversing by letter, and that he wanted to speak with them at at area in the plains of Whiterun, at a small shrine to Stendarr that rested between Fort Greymoor and Rorikstead, though while he waited for their arrival he intended on revealing his sins to his god's shrine. While their guests were discussing points with each other, and were allowing Za'kera a small break before she delved into another round of conversation, Amaryllis told her friend about the letter and what Skorvild wanted, something that caused Za'kera to sigh before silently asked her to go out and figure out what was going on, as she trusted her judgement, especially after everything they had done since meeting up with each other some time ago.
As such Amaryllis departed while none of the guests were looking, giving the illusion that she was still there, and found her way outside, where she shifted into her true form and took off without delay, allowing her to head to the west as she took a moment to think about the map of the Hold she was in, where she pinpointed Fort Greymoor and Rorikstead before she started her search for her destination.
The shrine, as she discovered sometime later, was an area that was out of the way, between two caves and resting in some hills, which had a four stone pillars resting in a square formation on a perfect stone platform, the front two intact with the back two smashed to pieces, and it wasn't long before she found the shrine that was connected to Stendarr, as it was on a pedestal in the middle of the platform. When she neared the structure she landed behind one of the pillars, since it didn't look like Skorvild had arrived yet, and shifted into her Khajiit disguise once more, though in that moment she heard what sounded like someone running towards the structure, where she found a Nord running her way, which was followed by a Lightning Bolt rushing through the air and smashing into his back. She had to assume he was Skorvild, given the area that they were in, and he didn't move after his head collided with the stones of the platform, though his assailants surprised Amaryllis for a moment, as they were red robed figures, one a Dark Elf and another an Argonian, clothing she recognized from what was in that small house in Dawnstar, the Museum of the Mythic Dawn. Such a thing told her everything she had to know, the note had been right and it looked like Dagon's cult was working while they were trying to save the world, but as soon as she figured that out both of her foes noticed her standing behind the pillar and lashed out with Fireballs, likely to force her into the open so they could end a potential threat to their plans.
Unfortunately for them they were facing the wrong foe, as it took Amaryllis a few seconds to figure out where they were in this area and react accordingly, where she found that they had separated from each other to make sure she didn't have a chance to escape, to which she slipped into the shadows and appeared behind the Argonian as he moved behind some of the rocks that were in this area. He paused for a moment as he found her standing behind him, or rather himself since she used her abilities to make it look like he was the spitting image of the figure in front of her, and before he could move his hands she struck first, stabbing the Argonian in the head with Mehrunes' Razor and pushed his body to the ground, but as soon as he was done she cleaned her blade, sheathed it, and emerged like she was him. Sure enough her other foe had no idea that she had taken on the form of his partner, in fact he even shifted his hands like he wanted her to help him with a pincer attack on where she had been standing when they first found her, to which she nodded, making him think that all was well, before shifting into his form when he was out of sight, something that allowed her to frighten her target when he turned around one of the pillars. She lashed out with the Blade of Woe before he had a chance to fight back, driving it into his chest and knocking him to the ground as well, though as she did that Amaryllis had to admit that the remnants of the Mythic Dawn were rather lackluster, easy to take down, but part of her had a feeling that these were just some of the new recruits, fodder in some sense, and that the stronger ones were in hiding.
With that done, and she was sure that no more people were showing up, she quickly searched the bodies and found that the Mythic Dawn had some expensive jewelry on them, which she collected for later, and a letter telling the pair to track down any traitors to their mission, namely Skorvild, though a few seconds later she found that Skorvild had a journal that had a fair number of pages in it. According to the journal the legends of the destruction of the Mythic Dawn had been true up until a year ago, where someone named Vanos apparently heard whispers, no doubt from Dagon, and it lead him to a long buried temple of the cult, one that, according to what she was reading, housed a ruined Oblivion Gate, which was the name of the portals Dagon's forces used to march on Tamriel. Skorvild, at the time, had been tempted by the promise of power and joined the cult, where they dug up all sorts of gate fragments from across Skyrim, where the Nord mentioned that the Gate had been rebuilt and that Vanos, a master of conjuration magic, had been working tirelessly to open it, while his followers were required to offer their blood as part of a sacrifice, for Vanos' pact, to cleanse the Gate, and Skorvild even offered up Sune, his brother, something that eventually caused him to return to reality. As an acolyte the Nord didn't have the right to the greater information all of his superiors had, but he did know that the cult was looking for an artifact, likely a power source for the reforged Gate, and that the information they needed could be found in an excavation camp to the southwest of Ivarstead, while the exact location of Vanos' Gate wasn't listed, so she would need to find someone who had that information.
After reading that information, however, she thought about it for a moment and decided to check out the camp, as there was no reason for her to worry Za'kera just yet, because if she had the location of the Gate they could march on the cult with an army, or just their elite force and Ma'jera, who could use her power to close it, to which she shifted into her true form and took off once more, this time heading for an area near Ivarstead.
The camp in question was off the main road that people used to travel from Helgen to Ivarstead, where she found three more members of the Mythic Dawn hanging around their site, two by the campfire and the other stood in a tent, no doubt going over some notes about something, and, once more, she found that all of their races varied, a female Khajiit, a male Bosmer, and a female Wood Elf, where she took a few moments to study them before attacking. Once more she used the tactic of showing them their own faces, though this time around she added a smokescreen spell to the mix, making it hard for them to figure out where she was while she used her Changeling abilities to sense who was who, giving her a chance to change into who she was confronting before actually approaching them. Her first target was the Bosmer, as he had magic at the ready and that might cause some problems for her, so she appeared before him and pulled him into the smoke as she finished him off, taking a moment to make sure neither of his companions noticed anything as she tracked down her next target, the Wood Elf, who was surprised to see a mirror image of herself appear before her death. With that done she focused on taking out the last of her enemies and found the Khajiit on the edge of the smokescreen, no doubt thinking about fleeing before she was caught, not that it mattered since she took on her form and cut her down before she had a change to fight back, and with her abilities Amaryllis knew that no more enemies were near the camp.
After clearing out the smokescreen she walked over to the tent and smiled as she found a journal, no doubt belonging to the leader of this group, and opened it without delay, where she found that it spoke of piercing the Liminal Barrier, which must be keeping the Daedra out of Nirn, and that two of Dagon's Valkyn, Gatanas and Methats, were waiting to march on their Lord's orders. Amaryllis, given her lack of knowledge on the forces of Oblivion, had to assume that the Valkyn were some of Dagon's personal guards, or incredibly powerful soldiers in his army, before turning her attention to what else the journal might tell her, that Vanos was definitely seeking a power source, especially since a thousand soul gems were said to have gone dark in the presence of something called a Sigil Stone. A later entry revealed that a scout returned with good news from some place called Bruma, where the leader wrote about the ancient Ayleids, another fallen race in this world, and spoke of ancient stones called Welkynd Stones, and their Greater varieties, though most, if not all of those stones, had been plundered by adventures and heroes in the past, so finding one seemed to be impossible, or at least that was what all of them assumed. According to the other entries it appeared that there should have been a Greater Welkynd Stone in a ruin called Rielle, but even after everything no one had found one, meaning there was a hidden chamber that no one had found yet, before she found that the Mythic Dawn had been digging through the mountains to the south of Ivarstead, just so they could breach the ruin in question, even if they were having no luck finding their target.
The journal also mentioned the books resting near her, one being Glories and Laments, another being Magic from the Sky, and the last being the Last King of the Ayleids, that held clues that might be useful, that the ancient Ayleids believed that Nirn was made up of four basic elements, those being earth, water, air, and light, and that a researcher they tortured also mentioned four unseen Elemental Shards, whatever that meant. Other than the whereabouts of Rielle the journal told her that the Vigil of Stendarr had been in the way of the Mythic Dawn, so the vampires killing everyone who happened to be in the Hall must have worked in Vanos' favor, to which she sighed as she closed the journal and slipped it into her pack, not to mention the other books that were resting nearby, just to have all the information that the Mythic Dawn had. With that done she shifted back into her true form and headed to the south without delay, quickly discovering that the Mythic Dawn had created a path up the mountainside, leading right to an ancient Nord ruin that a dragon happened to call home, but she remained silent as she tracked down her target. Sure enough she found a hole in the mountain wall that had to be the one she had seen in the journal, especially since it had some supplies around it, all with a familiar emblem on the crates, meaning it wouldn't be hard for her to escort Za'kera and whoever else was coming to this place, hence why she took off and headed back for the fort, as it was time to report her findings to her friend and their allies, as they needed to know what was happening right now.
Upon her return to the fort she found Za'kera sitting outside, no doubt taking in the scenery or the peace and quite, just to calm herself before she dealt with whatever problems happened to be plaguing her mind or Skyrim, even though she had a feeling that it was about the civil war, to which she silently landed nearby and found that Za'kera turned to face her, no doubt having expected her to return some time ago.
"Against all odds, we've managed to convince Tullius and Ulfric to stand down and the Jarls have sided with us, meaning we have more allies for later," Za'kera said, something that impressed Amaryllis when she thought about it, as it couldn't have been easy to convince those two to lay down their arms and join forces against the Thalmor, or maybe it had been easy and she was overthinking things, before she sighed for a moment, no doubt under the stress of being a leader for an army that would face the Aldmeri Dominion, "So, what did Skorvild want?"
"Well, he was slain by members of the Mythic Dawn, who are seeking to pierce the barrier between Oblivion and Nirn that was put up at the end of the Oblivion Crisis," Amaryllis replied, which caused Za'kera to raise an eyebrow for a moment, as this wasn't what she was expecting to hear at all, that the Mythic Dawn was actually back and that they were working on a new plan while her forces were trying to save the world, hence why she pulled out the journals and notes she had claimed since leaving the fort, "I also found the ruin that Vanos, their leader, wants something from, but I haven't explored it yet, as I felt it was time to tell you what I've discovered so far."
"We had better deal with this, before they do something stupid," Za'kera said, where she collected the journals and read all of them as Amaryllis stood nearby, clearly waiting for her to reveal who was going on this quest, especially since it looked like most of the others were getting ready for their eventual journey to Solstheim, before she sighed, "I'll call on Lydia and Wind to join us... I don't think we need Ma'jera or the other godly children for this."
Amaryllis said nothing to that as Za'kera handed her the items she had collected earlier, as a four person group seemed to be the best right now, and they headed out to find both Lydia and Wind, even though she was sure that the former didn't have any armor that fit her new body, but she had a feeling that such a thing didn't matter to Lydia and focused on putting a stop to the Mythic Dawn's dark plans before worrying about Miraak.