Runt proudly shows her shiny things she found to her sister-in-arms, Gendan.

Gendan tries not to show that she’s pouting. She raises her hood and broods in a corner. 

If there's a chair to make use of, and if not, he would just use the desk itself, Devarus takes a seat with the intention of spending at least the next few minutes reading the dairy. He starts from the beginning, but towards the end of those few minutes, he skips to the end hoping to discover at least some clues into what /exactly/ had been going on from the man's perspective at least.

Even if the findings are mundane in the end, he still keeps a hold of the book. But if not, and there /was/ something to look into, he forgoes further thought of exploring the home to thoroughly get into the reading. At least until someone snaps him out of it. Throughout the entire time he is careful with the pages as much as possible without taking forever to even get through one entry.

Devarus reads through the diary. It seemed a bit too well preserved given it's age. Then he realized that the person had used an Enduring Spell Book as their diary. It had no spells and other than magical manufacture of the diary, it was mostly a normal diary. This suggests that Aaron's great grandfather was a person of considerable wealth.

Though the diary had been written in the first person, Deva is able to piece together the name of the writer through various clues and select pages: Houston Ashman.

As expected of any diary, the vast majority of the contents are largely mundane and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. However, a few bits and pieces of information stand out to the old Half-drow

...Today I have finally tied the knot with the woman of my dreams, Muriel Deadlight. My parents were worried about the relationship and even opposed it at first since the Deadlight family was on the poorer side. However, the Deadlight family had turned their financial status around in the past few months. They had come in possession of wealth through an unlikely inheritance and had used the wealth to start a small mining business. Through sheer luck they were able to find gold and thus the Deadlight family is quite wealthy and well respected now. This ties back to my parents having now blessed our marriage...

...The lovely Missus has been egging me for a few days now to start a family with her. I was never particularly fond of children and never planned to have them. However, my wife seems to have different plans. She dreams of being the happy mother of a large family of six children; two boys, four girls. I am not quite sure of this but it shouldn't hurt too much. Between my vast farmland and her lucrative mining business, we can easily afford to raise six children. Perhaps I should see to hiring a nanny...

... Muriel is pregnant with my first child. I can barely believe that I am about to be a father. Perhaps, the idea of having children has grown on me.

...Our son has grown into happy young boy. I thought I would hate children but it seems I have changed my mind. I love my Edward with all my being. Muriel is egging me on for a second child now. I would love nothing more...

... It has been 6 months since she has carried my second child however, there is a strange doubt in my soul. I have a strange suspicion that she may have been smitten with someone else. In her sleep, I heard her mention a Paladin by the name of Sir Zorgon Draith. She was talking excitedly to him in her sleep. She was constantly agreeing to something. Ah, perhaps I am just paranoid. My wife has been nothing but loving towards me. Perhaps it was just a dream. Perhaps this Zorgon Draith  was a fantasy she cooked up. Perhaps he was simply a common man she had feelings for in the past and he appeared in her dreams as a noble paladin. I am quite familiar with the nobility of Lun and none of the noble families have heard of the supposed "Draith" family nor have they heard of any knight or paladin that goes by the name Zorgon Draith. I should set my doubt aside as the likelihood of this enigmatic paladin to be anything more than a simple fantasy is extremely slim at best...

...My second son has been born. I feel ashamed to have ever doubted my wife's loyalty. The my son has my eyes and my father's nose. I love the little bundle of joy very much. I shall name him, Maurice Ashman...

... Today is a sad day for all. Maurice had been sick for quite a few months now. Today he had succumbed to his illness. I am devastated. My wife, ever the stoic woman, has manged to sustain the impact of this great grief...

... I do not know how to feel today. My third child, a lovely baby girl whom I have named Evelyn was born today. I am happy with my third child but I am also overcome with an unbearable grief as Young Edward fell into a pond and drowned...

...Someone keeps drinking all the wine in the house. I know it is not my wife as she rarely drinks and especially not while pregnant. She is carrying our 4th child and so she doesn't touch alcohol. Perhaps it is one of the many maids...

...I am convinced our bloodline is cursed. The 4th child was a stillbirth. There have been so many tragedies, I can not think clearly anymore...

... I was wrong. Zorgon was not a knight nor was he my wife's secret lover. SIr Zorgon Draith is some kind of arch demon. I saw him conspiring with my wife through the window while I was coming home from surveying the farm. There is a fell contract involved. The dread I felt as a gazed upon the man's nightmarish armor was a primal terror I have never thought possible.

What follows is a description of Zorgon Draith. It seems to match up with the Dark Paladin that the Party encountered in the orc cave.

... My wife gave birth to twins. A boy and a girl. I am convinced that she has a hand in the death of my children but I have no proof...

... My Poor Evelyn. I was always respectful of my wife's privacy. She had me swear that I would never intrude on her privacy and step into her private study room. My suspicion an dread grew too great. After Evelyn did not come home from playing, I urged my wife to go search with the search party. I stayed home to sneak into her private study with a key I had made. I was suspicious and I had to be sure. To my absolute horror, my suspicions proved true. I found Evelyn hanging from the chandelier over an arcane circle. Magic runes were painted across the floor...

Houston then recreates the symbols he saw in the room on his diary. If Elsara is shown the symbols she would recognize them as being part of Affectus Uti

... It had to be done. I had to do what I must to protect my twins. I told my wife I would be gone on a business trip and snuck back into the house and hid in her study. When she finally arrived the next morning, I ran my sword through her chest and killed her. I will now seal off that room with her corpse still in it and I plan to seal off that whole part of the mansion. Goodbye Muriel...

(Runt is still working on her alphabet coloring books so she will have to believe deva on what ever he decides to share from that very large post that I really dont want to read)

(Sorry. got carried away with exposition. If anyone wants the cliffnotes version just let me know)

(Sarcasm doesnt translate well over text. It sounded funny in my head)

Quote from AnimeSquirrel >>

(Runt is still working on her alphabet coloring books so she will have to believe deva on what ever he decides to share from that very large post that I really dont want to read)

 (lol! I will try. And no worries Zulk.)

At first there is very little change in Devarus expression. He never appears board by his readings, if anything, but only mildly curious over an entry or the quality of the book itself. If any try to get his attention during this time an ashen hand promptly waves them off. Before long his expression eventually warps into concern and then wide-eyed surprise that has him rereading the same entry a couple more times.

"This is....!" He starts, but cannot complete the sentence before again skipping ahead and reading further. By the end of which he shaking his head, flipping back a few pages, and holding out the book for Elsara to confirm one other by than obvious note. "It seems Zorgon Draith, our dark knight from the Orc cave paid a visit to the missus here. Made some sort deal with her, if not corrupt her over the years. Either which way, her children... the things she did.... she sacrificed each and every one to the symbol." He said as he rubbed at his forehead.

"Supposedly, the poor man caught up in this affair was able to slay and stop her... thought he had, in any case. But, her ritual bore fruit in our monster." He clicks his tongue and stands up. "We need to find her private study. See if she too kept some notes of what exactly was she trying to accomplish, and make sure that circle does not produce any more monsters in our absence. Just in case."

One more very concerning thing that would stick out to Deva would be the fact that the diary was written by Aaron's great grandfather. Which means all this is from about a 100 years ago. The enemy they are going against had been around for at least a hundred years if not more.

Devarus will be sure to include that as well, if albeit as an afterthought.

After spending some minutes tending to his wounds ( Val will cast lesser restoration on himself again ) and those of his companions the elf takes a look to the diary they had found. 

" This foul magic must be stopped my friends. At all cost. This could be just the begining of what's to come if that corrupted paladin and the joker, and whoever is behind them will carry out their plans. They seem to be becoming bolder and more opening in their dealings with others. They are cowards, though, for they prefer to rely on others to do their biddings. We must stop them but I don't know how to locate them. And we must prepare ourselves for it will be a though fight... " 

The always fun and unworried elf seems now really deep in thoughts most of the time and really worried about this whole thing of Affectus Uti, who seems to shaken the very balance of the nature world and all his believes. 

While he talks he uncounsciosly scratch the still fresh wounds of the creature, as if he can't get rid of dirt attached to it. 

"Well we can work on this together." Elsara tells the others. She reaches into a side pocket on her backpack, taking out a small stone. "I got these commissioned a bit ago to allow us to contact Miss Darkwing back at The Guildhall while we're out and about. We can use it once each day to send a message, so if we want to send any word of this now, before we take our leave,we can do so."

Devarus nods and waggles a finger with a grin. "Good thinking. But, it should wait until we're done here. There's yet one more area we need to explore. But by all accounts, I think this solves our missing travelers mission." He replied then looked to Valwyrn. Yet, unable to find the words Devarus mouth opens and then closes without a peep. Then with a look of determination on his face, Devarus would pass along the book to whoever wished to examine it next, and then make his way over to the section of the house they had yet to explore so far.

“Yes, let’s have a look at the one remaining area.” Gendan thinks maybe she can find something cool there to redeem her previous feeble search attempts. 

"Yes, let's go" agrees Val following the others.

Alright since the only "Traps" this house has are old floors that might break and puzzles are mostly secret passages,

Everyone give me an Investigation check.

13

7

11

9.