Anthony couldn't share his darkvision again until he'd rested, but he did have torches and passed one off to Aoufie. "We should decide on a goal and how important it is to us before heading down there. Not gonna lie. I'm in rough shape and don't have a lot left in the tank. Crazy how charging into a vampire's lair and fighting on its terms will do that to a guy. Are we going in there to kill a priest? Haul him out and bring him to justice? Or are we just curious and want to see what's in the hole? If it's the last one, we should wait till morning."

Zathon breathes out a sigh of relief at the sight of Kora. "I'm glad you're alright. I don't think any of us should be alone in a place like this."

"A lot of us are pretty spent. It might be wise to rest further." He responds to Anthony.
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Zathon will use Divine Sense to see if theres any evil nearby while looking at the cave.

"So.. I admit, my desire to run down this man that locked us in with his vampire son has somewhat waned after waiting in the rain for so long.  Priest?  bah, he lost that title with me once he found victims for his son.  Honestly, I don't know what we owe this town and this cave really gives me with the willies.  We can head back and think about what to do in the morning.  That's my vote at least."  Looking at Anthony, Kora agrees, he doesn't look up to spelunking in a normal cave, let alone one emanating such evil.

He didn't mind either way. He just wanted to make sure they were all on the same page. It would be a mess if they all ran off with different ideas.

"Did you see or hear anything while you were waiting?"

"No.  It was so eerie.  Not a sound from the cave, and if you listen closely, you can't really hear any woodland noises either.  Very strange and it was really setting me on edge.  Didn't realize how much until you guys got here."

As Zathon uses his divine sense, he becomes aware of a dark, malevolent energy seeping out from the mouth of the cave. He can sense the residual energy of some sort of demonic force drifting out of the cave, but nothing more. 

"I'm with Kory" Jared pipes in. "Let's go back and get some rest. If this place is as bad as Tom said then escaping is just as hard as getting here. We're bound to run across his path again." 

"Alright lets head back and I can definitely use a rest as those blades hurt." says Aoufie as he heads back out and snuffs out the torch. He then walks back to Ismark's home really wishing that he was not so hurt and miserably wet. 

Akyan stops before entering the cave, then turns around as the others talk. Irritation washes away the momentary relief the had felt upon seeing Kora safe. "The man's fate would depend on his willingness to cooperate." He says to Anthony. His irritation only grows as the conversation continues. "If we leave now this entire ordeal could very well end up pointless!" He growls now focusing his cold anger on Kora, "If you decided it wasn't worth it. Then why didn't you start coming back? We were linked for a decent time before I lost hold, you had plenty of time to make that decision, and you could have let me know your reasoning before Aoufie and I dragged everyone out here." He puts a hand to his face and rubs his temples. "We don't owe this town anything. But as soon as we decided to put down the vampire, we got involved. If we had suspected Donovan earlier, perhaps we wouldn't have left him alone with Ireena. What's done is done. Now all we can do is clean up the mess. I for one don't want this lingering over our heads. Donovan didn't seem like much of a threat, but whatever poison he used on Ireena..." He sighs, "If we don't do this now, we might not get another chance."

Anthony shrugged. "Sure, fine whatever. Are you planning on killing him then?"

Jared furrows his brow and rubs his temples. You can almost smell the coal burning in his small mind.
"So" he starts. "We agreed to help Ismark and his sister. Then get drug into killing a vampire, which didn't seem all that hard to me. Then the priest she trusted tries to poison her and you guys chase him to here? Where Kory is left behind and you and Alfie come back to get us. Taking us away from the guy and girl we said we.....would ...help? And you want to delve deeper into this place, taking us further away from the guy and his sister, who wanted our help getting her to a safer town because a .....lunatic is after her? So we....follow...the man running away...leading us further away from the guy & his sister we said we'd help?"

An odd look crosses Jared's face, as if something broke inside, only for a second. 

Anthony laughs. "Never thought I'd agree with Jared, he's got a point. Gotta be honest, whatever agenda that guy had. Helping his son, sucking up to the vampire boss of this place or... seeking vengeance against him by killing his reluctant girlfriend... I kind of don't give an eff if we find him or not. We're looking for Van Reichten, yeah?" 

At a loss for words, Akyan stands there for a moment. For once, Jared's words actually hold some sense. Donovan wasn't the only one wanting to hurt Ireena, and they just left her vulnerable. Granted, she and her brother seemed to have fared well enough alone to keep her alive, but that was before she had been poisoned. The drow looks extremely conflicted in this decision. Leaving that bastard down there feels like leaving a job unfinished, something that Akyan absolutely hates the thought of. While they may be able to take Ireena to safety, they will also potentially be leaving this town to deal with whatever consequences come from leaving the priest unpunished. Not to mention the guy may have valuable information. However, he has to agree that many of his siblings are in no shape to fight. Reluctantly, he says, "Fine, if you all think going in now is a bad idea then let's forget it and head back." He gives Zathon a look as he speaks. The paladin had said they needed rest, but other than that he has been rather quiet on the matter.

"I uh..." Kora starts as Akyan begins to lay into her.  Then her face furrows as she gets angry.  "Look.  I told you I would wait for you all here.  What if we missed each other on the way back or something?  And I wasn't exactly sure, I mean... I felt it was the right thing to do after what he did to Ireena and us."  Her anger starts to wane a bit and as she listens to Jared, "Yeah, we should head back."

For a second there is a shocked look on Jared's face. It fades quickly.
"Yea" he says, a bit confidently. "Let's head back as quick."
Jared turns and starts to head back. 

Zathon has been staring at the cave for the duration of the conversation. He seems to snap out of it as Jared says for them to head back quick.

"The Priest is lost if he went in there.. unless he's more powerful than he let on... Either way, we do need to get back to our charge and our own goals." He then turns as well, following Jared.

Deciding to head back, the group begins the dreary trudge back to Barovia, their spirits low from the events of the day. So far, they had defeated a wraith and its horde of minions the night before, been transported to a nightmarish land during the night, defeated a vampire, and then tracked his lunatic father to an evil cave. Quite the eventful day indeed. 

Thankfully, the rain finally lets up about ten minutes before you get back to town. With the clouds overhead clearing up, you see that the distant, aloof sun is now encroaching upon the craggy horizon. You would guess you have just over an hour of wan sunlight left before the dark of night grips the land. 

Now that the rain has died down, you see that several townsfolk mill about the town as they go about doing various chores. Many of them give you a wide berth, eyeing you with a mixture of distrust and fear. 

As you approach the burgomaster's mansion, you spot a haggard old crone standing near a small, covered push-cart standing on the corner of an intersection. A few townsfolk stand near her, apparently in conversation with her. After a bit of haggling, the wizened crone reaches under the covering of the rickety cart and pulls out a freshly baked, steaming meat pie. It's golden-brown crust almost sparkles in the failing sunlight, a sign of its masterfully baked, buttery crust. A waft of mouthwatering meat pie drifts in your direction, and your stomach grumbles to remind you of your hunger.

Anthony is impatient to get back and check in on Ireena and has no money so he's not interested in shopping. He follows whoever is heading back to Ismark's place, glad people are finally talking to each other. There was nothing wrong with having different perspective or agendas. But it was obvious you had to have a death wish to go running around alone here. 

Jared casts a wary eye toward the old crone. 
"What kind of meat does she have and where does she get it?" he quietly asks Zathon. "Have you seen any cattle? pigs? any type of farm or farm animals?"

Aoufie is pretty much broke, though he would love to have his fill eating the delicious looking meat pie, he pushes onward gazing longingly at the meat pie. He rubs his stomach trying to quiet it down.