Returning to the present day, the Salvation Times crew discovered that Irulan Karnach still lived, or someone using her name had taken her place. They found that history remained mostly unchanged, except for their friend Kalli Alran. In the original timeline, she had come to Sharn to learn more about the Oracle of War, but now she was more interested in the Draconic Prophecy.

She had discovered the meaning to a prophetic verse revealed by the Oracle of War, and a new verse that offered more insight into the Draconic Prophecy:

Two nations prepare for war, as all eyes turn to Sky Blue…

When the eyes of the sphinx turn to the sky, the robber steps
from her crimson tower in the clouds.

SKY BLUE was a young thief who lived in Sharn. Kalli Alran asked her friends to find and bring back Sky Blue to determine what role she has to play in the Draconic Prophecy. To aid them in their quest, she introduced them to an old friend, a Karrnathi dwarf named GERKIN.

Gerkin was accompanied by four armed guardians whom he referred to as constructs, but it quickly became apparent that they were animated skeletons. Elynvashir the paladin and the others wondered that Kalli Alran would bring a necromancer into their midst, especially after all that they had been through in the Mournland. But Kalli Alran insisted that Gerkin was a good and trustworthy friend, who had saved her during the war despite fighting on the opposite side of the battlefield. So the heroes were persuaded to invite this newest member into the Salvation Times editorial team.

However, they were conflicted about the mission that Kalli Alran had proposed, feeling that they owed it to Flamewind to speak to her about it. Yet Kalli Alran insisted that they avoid talking to Flamewind. She confessed that she had spied on Flamewind to gain details about the prophecy and feared that she would be found out if the party met with the sphinx. After all, Flamewind was a powerful sphinx with prophetic powers.

The Salvation Times team decided to meet Flamewind, assuring Kalli Alran that no suspicion would fall on her. They carried out a simple yet complex plan: they traveled back in time with a newspaper from the future which was delivered to Flamewind so that they could prove that they were time travelers and had ways to discover the meaning of the Draconic Prophecy without anyone’s help.

To their surprise, they found that their actions created a predestination paradox, whereby Flamewind’s discovery was aided by the newspaper from the future. The headline of the newspaper was about the thief named Sky Blue, and this front page article became the key in Flamewind’s studies into the prophetic verse.

Back in the present, history had changed. When the heroes met Flamewind, they learned that the sphinx used the information in the newspaper and already attempted to make contact with Sky Blue, but only succeeded in spooking the thief. However, Flamewind had caught one of Sky Blue’s associates, a young bard named STORMFLOWER who reported that Sky Blue would soon flee from the city. Using the details provided by Stormflower about Sky Blue’s most probable escape route, Flamewind asked the heroes to find and bring back the thief, offering a reward for their help. 

The heroes found Sky Blue in an outdoor theater, and saw that she was also being hunted by a group of heavily armed orcs led by a gnoll. They succeeded in getting to her before the other pursuers, and Lanfear persuaded Sky Blue to hitch a ride on Lanfear’s soarsled, leading the thief unawares to the Salvation Times base in Shae Lias.