An imperial inquisitor, a priest with a powerful mind-reading ability, arrived in the province. He did not care about the tactical losses; he cared about the heresy. He sensed the "blight" in the hearts of the rebels, a fear of the old ways and a longing for the new. He, with his magical power, would "purge" the "heresy" from the province. The inquisitor, a master of psychological torture, captured the blacksmith Corvan, knowing that the blacksmith was the key to this new, unholy power.
The rebels, their newfound hope crushed by the capture of Corvan, fell into despair. Ser Kael wanted to charge the imperial camp, but Elias knew it was a suicide mission. The inquisitor's power was too great, his magic an invisible shield against any physical attack. Elias had to out-think him. He would use his modern knowledge to defeat magic.
Elias planned a daring ruse, a "simple distraction and a well-placed ambush." He had a few pounds of gunpowder and a vision of a new world. He knew the inquisitor's pride was his greatest weakness.
Under the cover of night, Elias and his best men crept into the imperial camp, not to kill but to create chaos. They set off small charges of gunpowder, not as weapons, but as flashbangs, disorienting the knights. The inquisitor, furious and confused by the "devil's powder," abandoned his magical protection, thinking it was a distraction. It was. Elias, from a hidden position, shot the inquisitor with his now loaded rifle, killing him instantly.
Corvan was freed, but he was a changed man. He whispered that Elias had used his own tools against him, but had used his mind to free him. He looked at Elias, at the smoking rifle in his hand, and made an oath that would change the world. Corvan declared that his forge and his life were Elias's, and he would turn this devil's powder into a republic. The revolution had truly begun.