Blacklake Terrors pt 3

The day dawns bright and cool, the streets busy with Harvestide merchants. The group meets just outside the temple in Blacklake to continue their investigation.
Mari is happy she could leave Adra at the Mask
Darn stretches his arms "Did you have a nice sleep?"
Zara smiles, "I always sleep perfectly after a good dinner."
Kyle rub eyes, yawn
Mari snorts and elbows Kyle. "Don’t' complain, you slept more than me"
Kyle avoid Mari elbow, stomach growling
Darn coughs at Zara comment "How was the happy heiress?"
"You didn't have breakfast?" Mari asks him
"Did she do anything weird? Or . . . I dunno . . ." Zara asks
"She spent the night asking for stories" Mari yawns. "I left her sleeping, and some of my friends will care after her. She seemed interested to see our dresses and our makeup"

"Awkward enough she doesn’t want to see the surviving member so much as the uncle," Darn says leaning against the temple wall
"Or it would make she feel guilty?" Kyle shrugs
Zara frowns. "They seem very . . . close."
Darn says "It seems she was tied like a dog with chain around neck and now when family is gone she wants to go to party..."
Mari shrugs. "I doubt she's even normal. I mean... she seems to have the mind of a seven years old"
Zara says "We could check on that Aidan guy's story. He said his ship left without him . . . we would at least know if he was lying to us."

"I thought we were going to sneak into the uncle's home?" Suddenly Mari remembers something and puts a hand into her pocket.
Darn sighs "He is probably in something with Silver Sail Company. Otherwise he wouldn’t give me their seal."
"By the way... I found this in his home. It is familiar, but I can't say what it is. Any of you can recognize it?" Mari takes out the token she took from the uncle's home
Darn gives the object a look
Mari blinks but is still unable to recognize it
Kyle stares at the thing on Mari’s hand "thief guild"
Darn smiles deciding not to agree or disagree with Kyle
Mari looks at Kyle. "Really?"

Kyle says "believe or not, depend on you! I’m off business"
Mari stares at the token. "All right, all right. I believe you. So how do you think he got it? You think he belongs to the guild?"
"Well he lives in Docks..." Darn shrugs
Zara frowns, "Where did you say you got that?"
Mari says "At his home. Eer... with a... quite disturbing sketch book... and a book about the Undermountain. You know... the place where the poison which killed those people came from..."
"We could have him arrested or . . ." Zara looks at Darn questioningly
"How should I know?" Darn laughs "But I wouldn’t be worried about just token. There are many ways how to get one. He was gambling after all..."
Mari scratches her head. "But I still think he hides more things in his home. That's why I'd like to research more there"

There is some shouting and thin black smoke coming from the Merchant District
"Oh dwarves set something on fire again, wonderful." Darn huffs
Mari turns to the shouting hoping it doesn't come from the Mask
Kyle watches, narrow eyes, sniffing
Zara says "Or the gnomes. What was it they built last time? A portable . . . bonfire?"
"I just hope the curse didn't make that silly girl blown up in my room" Mari mumbles
"A catapult to hurls their bodies to the sky, I believe." Darn laughs
Zara grins, "I guess the bonfire part was accidental."

Torak barks and growls, then run to there
Kyle runs after the wolf saying nothing
Mari blinks and follows Kyle and Torak. "What happens?"
"I guess we are going to see the fire," Zara says, reaching for Darn's hand
Darn takes her hand "Alright."

A cleric of Torm is standing in the street summoning water to dump on a smoking fire in an alley just past the Moonstone Mask. Adra is sitting on the ground a little ways away, hair frazzled from heat, clothes singed.
Darn stops when he sees what is going on looking around quickly
Zara runs over to Adra to see if the girl is ok
Darn runs toward the man he spots
Mari runs over to Adra too, worried about what she has done
Adra looks up with big sad eyes, "I really am cursed!"

Mari asks "What happened?"
Adra's lip quivers, "I was just going to get something to eat and . . . the light exploded!"
Kyle step around to see if there any track of something that happen make fire
Mari thinks Ophala is going to kill her
Kyle touches the shatter glass "What you planning or make with the lamp?"
Mari asks "The light? In my room?"
Zara frowns, "I think she means out here . . . look at all that glass!"
Kyle makes rude voice "are you attempt to be an actress, such a pity"
Mari turns at Kyle surprised, and then looks at the girl to see if she's been lying

Adra blinks, "I . . . I just wanted something to eat!"
Mari asks "Why didn't you ask it to Ophala? I told her to take care of you"
Adra shrugs, standing unsteadily. "I don't know . . . I just wanted to go out and . . . stuff."
Mari sighs heavily. "All right, and... are you ok?"  She looks around to see if she can guess why the light exploded
Adra nods, "This man walked by and the light almost went out. It scared me, so I was already turning around."
Zara raises an eyebrow, "Like magic?"
Adra nods, "Just like magic! Maybe it's those Luskans!" She looks almost excited about it.  “Or the curse . . .”

There are char marks on the wall where the lamp hung and odd, ashen splashes across the wood and ground. A small wooden canister with burnt cloth lays smoking with the other junk in the alleyway
"Why are you so sure it is the curse? You don't have a lover, do you?" Mari asks to Adra
"No, but I might have," she answers, "Or maybe it's because I . . . I lied to my Uncle!" She looks a bit panicked.
Mari opens her eyes wide. "Lied to him? What do you mean?"
Kyle asks "about you have another lover huh?"
Adra makes big sad eyes at Kyle and Mari, "Uncle never would let me. The curse . . ."
Mari asks "Wait, wait... what wouldn't your uncle let you? Have a lover?"
"Are you in love with someone, Adra?" Mari asks deadly serious

Adra starts to cry, hugging onto Mari tightly. "Please don't let him and Aidan get me! Please!"
Zara opens her mouth, "What? I thought you liked your uncle!"
Mari hugs Adra back not knowing very well what to do. "Him? Who is him?"
Mari kneels in front of Adra. "Listen, little one... you should tell us everything... if you want us to help you"

Darn gets through the crowd ignoring the cursing people in his effort to stop the man
Aidan Manthar is walking away, hooded and dressed in a cloak
Darn tries to grab the man by his shoulder
The man stops, turning. "What do you want?"  He smells a bit like oil, and has on some odd gloves. One of his pouches is also missing.
Darn sizes man up spotting trails of what might cause the fire "Why so much hate toward family, Aidan?"
Aidan looks down, caught by surprise. "I didn't hate them . . . I waited years and years for their blessing to marry. Rowena said it would come soon . . ."
"But then she changed her mind?" Darn looks at him sympathetically
He shakes his head, "No! She told me she needed to talk to her brothers privately . . . I even had Viktos over to talk about it. Not that we did much but . . ."
Darn asks "What was the obstacle?"
Aidan looks up, anger and deep hurt showing. "Her brother. We thought with Adra . . . he would . . . I shouldn't talk about it." He tries to pull away
Darn holds him "Aidan you do know every evidence is pointing at you as murderer. Don’t make it worse."
"I was going to burn the mansion to the ground . . . I just saw her and . . . and lost it. I know I shouldn't have. I could pay you to keep quiet."
"And what about the Mask?" Darn tries to look like he was aware of Aidan action
Aidan sighs, "I couldn't stand to see that girl happy and alive after how she was to Row. I know it's the gods that punish but . . . she and Viktos . . ." He looks away, rubbing a fist across his eyes

"Why you just didn’t say something to me instead of wanting to burn everything?" Darn sighs "Well it is not too late. Tell me why Rowena had to die."
Aidan says in a strained voice, "I don't know. Viktos said I could . . . take her. That he didn't need her now that he had Adra. I thought we were done with them."
"He had an affair with sister and niece?"
Aidan makes a disgusted face. "When Rowena and I dated, and he was just a child, he would sneak in to watch us . . . and tried to keep us apart."
Darn looks down shaking his head "That sin is beyond the grace of gods. Why didn’t you say this before?"
Aidan frowns, "When he ki- when her parents died, she told me to say nothing. Or he would kill us both or worse. I endured so much for so long . . . I only wish I could have seen Viktos in death."
"You can still avenge her, Aidan and bring Viktos to justice..."
"How? He is dead and past anything I can do to him. The only one left is her . . . the girl. She is as filthy as Viktos though. Seducing her father, her other uncle . . . she even tried it with me. Got herself in too deep and wanted my help." He spits
"We found Viktos hiding in his house. He was somehow able to get away from poison effect. Adra got too deep in what?"
Aidan frowns, "That girl took her father, her uncles, any man she could to bed . . . and Viktos . . . he didn't like sharing. Adra wanted to leave but there was no way he would let her. She asked me for help . . ."

"And she didn’t come after me?" Darn wonders "Aidan if you didn’t accepted then why did you want to burn the evidence in house?"
He looks at Darn, surprised for a moment, shoulders slumping. "I guess it doesn't matter now. I told her where to find the powder in my warehouse. Gave her the key. Just a pinch to make them sleep, and she and Rowena could leave. They were supposed to meet me at the docks after . . ."
"You never hated Adra..." he looks at the man, putting his hand down "I will say it was Viktos that killed the family."
Aidan gives Darn a cold smile, "Where can I find him? I need to have a talk with Viktos before the watch."
"He will be judged and then....publicly executed you know how it works in Neverwinter. So I don’t recommend to dirtying your hand more than you need." he starts to walk away
"And the girl? If you think she didn't have a hand in this, you're mad. She deserves to die as well."
Darn looks back raising the eyebrow "Why are you so certain?"
"I only told her and Rowena. And Adra is still alive."
Darn looks down glancing at his hand "If you want to pull this off you need to come with me and confront her."
Aidan nods reluctantly. "Alright . . . "

Adra sniffs, "My uncle! With Auntie gone . . . he won't ever let me go! Please!"
Kyle raises ears to listen
Mari asks "Your uncle and Aidan? And... Where would you want to go?"
Adra looks at Mari sadly, "I just want to be a normal girl. Auntie promised me she would . . . that she would take care of Uncle Viktos. That everything would be ok! And now she's dead." She begins to cry again
Mari takes some hair from Adra's face and wipes her tears. "Hush, hush... All right, we'll take care of you, ok? But you need to tell us everything... How was your auntie take care of your uncle?"
Adra shrugs, "I . . . I don't know. She said there was something . . . but she was wrong!"
Mari asks "She didn't tell you what?"
Adra sniffles, "What she was going to do . . . she didn't tell me anything."
"But she said she was a way to end the curse?" Mari questions her

Adra nods, "She said if Uncle Viktos was gone, the curse would be lifted. I . . . I gave her m-m-m . . . " she begins to cry too hard to speak
"You must tell us anything you remember. Maybe they killed her because of this. What did you give her?"
Adra breathes, barely making any sound as she says, "My baby boy . . ."
Mari blinks "You... you had a baby?"
Kyle elbows Mari slightly and glares at the girl
Adra nods, "Auntie said she would take it away . . . that Uncle would suffer for planting his seeds in me . . ."
Mari grits her teeth at the disgusting idea of the uncle being the father
Kyle asks "you love the uncle right, really?"
"No, no . . . I mean yes I love him but . . . I just want to get away! It's not right."

Zara frowns, thinking the girl's story doesn't add up. "Adra, you're lying."
Adra looks up, wary. "I did what I had to!" and shrinks back, trying to hide behind Mari
"Adra, I told you it would be better to tell us the truth," Mari told her. "We can't help you if you lie to us"
Adra's expression goes cold. "Yeah . . . I did. Uncle Viktos was my first. I smothered every baby he put in me too . . . I just couldn't take it anymore."
"Wait he put more than one baby?" Mari feels she's going to vomit
Adra shrugs, "Some might have been Papa's or Paedric's. I don't know . . . does it matter?"
Zara makes a choking sound, swallowing back tears

Mari is starting to think it would be better that the complete family was wiped away from the earth
Adra looks down, "It won't end if Papa and Uncle are still alive. I won't be free . . ."
Kyle says "so let say I kill the uncle and you're free!"
Adra smiles at Kyle, "Oh! I could pay you! Can you make it look like an accident though?"
"You have enough coin?" Kyle asks, “"to flee away here!" shrugs
Zara steps back, "Wait - no! We need to tell the watch. They can take care of it."
Kyle speaks to Zara "so what? And end up in another cage. Nonsense"
Adra takes Kyle's hand, giving him a sweet smile, "If you kill them for me, you and I could run away together . . . I have a fortune." She runs a hand down his chest suggestively

Zara frowns, "So he can face justice. You can't just go around killing people."
Mari glares at Adra and Kyle. "Look at the little whore" she mumbles
Darn walks back to rest of people with Aidan taking a deep breath
Aidan glares at the girl, "You killed them, didn't you?"
"Adra?" Darn speaks up "Did your plan work?"
Adra steps closer to Kyle, "I don't have a plan! It was you and Auntie! You hated us!"
Kyle makes sound "dun dun dun!”
Darn says, “You should better start talking the truth now. There were two persons that could do it and one is dead already."
Mari tries to get between Adra and Kyle. "Hey, hey. What do you mean? Was HE involved?"

Aidan glares at her, "I killed them by trusting you . . . I never should have told you about the dust of nightmares."
Adra stays close to Kyle, whispering something to him
Kyle tries to catch Aidan by his neck
Aidan manages to move back out of Kyle's reach
"What are you doing?" Darn glances Kyle's way
Kyle tosses sand from his hand at Aidan
Sand blinds Aidan. He pulls a dagger, backing away and wiping his eyes, "You can't really take her side! She's a murderess!"
Darn says "I know you are all crazy by now if you heard what I did. But let’s try to solve it out like normal people. And not in the street."

Kyle punches Aidan
Darn grabs Adra by hand
Aidan takes the hit, stabbing at Kyle blindly
Kyle dodges the attack, whacking Aidan to make the man unconscious
Mari shouts "Try not to kill him! We need him to explain all this mess!"
Adra kicks at Darn and tries to bite his hand
"Stop this shit all of you" Darn receives the bite releasing Adra hand
Adra's kick doesn't hit and her teeth scrape Darn harmlessly
Darn takes Adra again "Stop it. He is harmless now."
Adra tries to pull free.
Kyle takes rope to tie the man than

Mari looks at Aidan and Adra. "We should take them somewhere and interrogate them"
Adra shouts, "Just stab him for Shar's sake! What are you doing you idiot?"
Mari stares at Adra. "You seem very interested on killing him"
Kyle unsheathes the dagger and makes a fake stab to make the girl see that he already killed the man
Darn glances at the scene "Are you happy now?" hoping she will stop doing crazy hamster
Mari asks "All right, and now he's dead, what? Your uncle is still alive"
Adra relaxes, giving Kyle a little smile, "One down!"
"What about the little reward you deal with me?" Kyle shows his hand asking for gold

Zara looks wide eyed at Kyle, then kneels next to Aidan, checking him.
Darn says "Now let’s go somewhere inside people. We don’t want to do this out in the street."
Mari looks at Kyle. "You should bring that corpse with us. We can't leave it here"
Kyle wink at Zara and picks up the body
Adra shrugs, patting Darn's hand as if she hadn't tried to bite it off a few seconds ago. "Let's go to my mansion, hm? We can relax, drink some wine . . ."
Darn sighs thinking this goes really badly if someone would see them carrying tied man "We will go through side path."
"You'll forgive us if we don't drink your wine, /little/ one" Mari scowls
Zara wrinkles her nose, knowing full well the man is alive. "I . . . alright."

Darn leads them stopping as the citizens and more importantly watch is passing the street to hide in alley. Luckily most have enough work with fire and don’t pay that much attention
The mansion is empty, well lit. Adra leads you all to a sitting room. "This works, yes?"
Darn looks around somehow expect her to trying to kill them
Mari nods. "I imagine so". She waits until Kyle leaves the "corpse" somewhere. "Now, will you tell us what happens here?"
Zara stands at the door feeling a bit nervous after the last time they were here

Adra sighs dramatically. "I may as well. There is no family reputation left to defend." She goes to a cabinet and takes out a pitcher of wine and some glasses. "Drink?"
Kyle shakes his head "where is the coin you say?"
Torak sits near Zara and looks around
Mari shakes her head. "No, thanks. Just words"
Darn decides to stay silent for now, wanting to catch girl laying if she will
She pours herself a glass and goes to the window, fiddling with the shutters.  Adra says, "Just a moment. I don't want to be overheard." She takes out an oil lamp and sets it on a low table in the center, lighting it. Then sits down near the now closed windows. "An explanation . . . gods . . . where to start. You want to know who killed my family?"
Darn looks aside and then at Zara
Zara raises an eyebrow thinking this girl is at least insane

Mari doesn't trust that lamp, so she covers her nose with a handkerchief and moves close to the door
Adra shakes her head, "I think it was my Uncle. I don't honestly know, though. I was out of the house . . . I hate being here for game night."
Kyle and Zara slump to the floor unconscious
Mari rushes to the table and pours the wine over the lamp, still holding the handkerchief. "Darn, don't let her run away!"
Darn frowns opening the window
Adra darts for the door as they mess with the lamp
Darn runs to the door blocking her way
Adra lashes out at him with her foot again

Once the lamp is out, Mari opens the windows to make the air get clean and rushes to help Darn
Darn takes a kick to knee making a surprised face<br>Adra shouts "Get out of my way!"
Mari rushes to grab Adra from behind and puts her dagger on her neck
Darn doesn’t move aside trying to grab her hands
Mari narrowly misses Adra as she ducks out of the way
Darn grabs her hands while Mari jumps on her from behind
Adra screams, kicking at Darn
"I hate to do this!" Darn punches her and she falls unconscious
Mari sees Darn has her under control and moves to see what happened to Kyle and Zara

Kyle and Zara are breathing shallowly, and very asleep. A little drool drips down Kyle's chin
Darn runs to Zara "Stop slacking, goddess!"
Mari smirks and wipes the drool. "Look at the little angel!" then she slaps him softly to wake him up
Darn kneels down not knowing what to do "Come on this such thing can’t keep you down." he tries to shake with her lightly
Mari swears. "Damn it, worst of it is that I saw it coming when she took that stupid lamp"
"Mari can you...I don’t know...." Darn opens Zara’s backpack looking for something to use
Mari looks around to see if there's wine left. "Maybe she put something on her wine?"

"That might not work if they are already under the effect...." Darn mutters pulling up the healing kit "How this shit even works?" he opens the vial smelling it
Mari takes the remaining wine and smells it "Well, if it is an antidote, it will work after too..."  She walks next to Kyle and tries to make him drink some wine
Kyle wakes up and suddenly raises his head, cough "Wut the hell?! Where is my golds" growl
Mari smiles, "Ok, you see it works". She continues looking into Kyle eyes with a smile
Darn snatches the bottle from Mari doing the same on Zara "Just don’t make me use that kit."
Zara wakes up, coughing a bit as the wine goes into her throat. She looks around confused
Darn takes her to his arms "You slacker..."
Zara hugs Darn tightly, "I was scared."
Kyle gets up and examines the girl and the man to find some piece gold
Aidan has 2 gold in his pockets. The girl has none

Darn stands up "I guess she wanted to start a new life. Getting rid of everyone who knew...."
"And killed her aunt because she was her rival in her love for the uncle?" Mari says while searching
Zara frowns, "And so what? The uncle just walks away from this?"
"I guess she killed her because Rowena didn’t help her..." he shrugs offering Zara hand to stand up
Kyle says "so the next location is to rob the uncle"
Zara takes Darn's hand to stand up, looking around. "She seemed pretty angry at least some of the time. Maybe she meant to kill them all?"
Darn sighs "All that knew. Which includes us."
"What about the half-elf?" Mari asks looking at Aidan
Darn says "I have talked to him. He wanted to do the good thing, but he didn’t know it will turn against him and his woman."

Mari takes a rope and starts tying up the girl. "Oh? And what was the good thing for him?  I know for sure the good thing is... a bit relative"
"To help her get away from family, however he also said she actually seduced all those men..." Darn replies
Kyle smirks, "and they fall into these traps!"
Zara crosses her arms, "I think we ought to dump them all on city watch and let Tyr sort them out."
Darn says "It is hard to say anything on her. Being slut is one thing, but I think some men should say no..."
Zara nods, "The way she said it, it seemed like they took advantage of her. And what she said about the babies . . ."
Mari sighs. "Probably the babies didn't even exist"
Darn shrugs, "Aidan said it as well. I wanted to let her go. Accuse the uncle. But she spoiled it herself."
Mari scowls at the girl. "She tries to seduce you as well" she says to Kyle. "The little whore..."
Kyle says "I just like the shiny coins she offer
Mari glances at Kyle like pondering if he's telling the truth

"What about the Aidan? If we will leave him here he is dead," Darn asks
Zara turns to look at the unconscious man, "I could wake him but he'd not thank me for it."
Kyle asks "can Zara make a small heal to let him alive, since I just fake stab, avoid the dangerous one"
"Let me see . . ." Zara grabs her bag and begins to treat and bandage Aidan's wound
Mari looks around the room distractedly, to see if she finds something valuable
Darn stands next to Zara interested after what happened to her how to use the kit
While Zara takes care of Aidan, Mari goes out of the room and explores the state in search of loot

Zara rubs a foul smelling paste onto his lip after she bandages the wound.
"Let's go Aidan." Darn takes him by the arm dragging him away
Aidan groans a bit as he wakes, blinking confused. "Wh-what happened?"
"Girl fistfight you to the ground" Darn notes
Aidan rubs his jaw. "She hits hard!"
Darn drags him out of the building "We have to bid you farewell now."
Zara follows Darn and Aidan out. "I think maybe you should leave town, sir."
Aidan nods after a moment, not looking at them. "I will . . . I think . . . I think I will go back to the Undermountain."

Mari finds three nice beaded gowns, a gold chain necklace, and a pair of nice shoes in the house.
There is a small garden in the center of the estate. The ground out there has been dug up a few times, and covered over with very pretty paving stones.<br>Mari cautiously begins to dig up under the paving stones.
Beneath each lies a tiny body, some so old they are nothing but bones.  The most recent, barely dead long enough to show signs of rot.
Sickened, Mari goes back to meet the group.

Kyle then saw Mari and picks her up bride style
Darn glances at them while walking "Should we slow down for a moment?"
"Are we going to report those bastards?" Mari asks
Darn says "I think that uncle is enough....others are dead."
"Ah one question... did you provide the powder to Adra?" Mari asks to Aidan before he leaves
Aidan turns grey faced. "I did. I told her about it . . . gave her a key to my warehouse. She wasn't supposed to use enough to kill though."
Mari shrugs "She did"
Zara frowns, "I can't think of a reason anyone should have that much poison lying around . . ." She gives Aidan an annoyed look.

The path leads right past the Uncle's door.
Darn straightens up opening the door
The house seems oddly empty. There is nothing specifically out of place, just the look of something missing
Mari scowls. "Why am I not surprised?"
Darn nods "I guess we will just report him to the guards."
Zara nods, "And take anything that is evidence of what he did."
Kyle says "or track him down"
"You can tell them about the babies too" Mari says a bit bitterly, "I found the remains"
Zara looks ill
Darn takes a breath "Thanks for sharing Mari."

Kyle spots a note under the pillow.  He grabs it and pretends to read "Zara goes to rest!"
Mari blinks "What's there?"
Zara snatches the note, reading it.
It says, "We did it, beloved. They are gone. I hope you won't mind that I emptied our accounts. I'll be awaiting you in Baldur's Gate."
Mari frowns. "So he escaped, and got all the money"
"I want dat money" Kyle drools
Mari sighs heavily "I hope the guards catch him"
Aidan nods, "Baldur's Gate? I see. Good day to you all then. I have an appointment."

Darn looks at Zara "I am bit tired of walking and fighting little girl."
Kyle says "Dat why I say Zara and you go to rest!"
Zara puts an arm around Darn's waist. "Let's go to the temple then."
Darn nods "We should still get something from telling them yes?"
Zara nods, "We have the girl, the note and the bodies . . . "
Mari says "And the baby graves..."
Darn smiles at Mari "Thank you again, lady..."
Mari and Kyle leave with Aidan while Zara and Darn return to the temple.