"let's go back to the kids. I don't feel right leaving them alone against what seems like a plant plague." says Amery as he holds his side where the thorns were sprouting before being burned. 

"Agreed," Kit responds to Amery, the confident one-word answer helping to hide her guilt and uncertainty after failing Twig.

"You said that you were just doing your job by helping us," she says to the Drow, "What job is that, exactly?"

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As Omen and Kit converse, the drow walks a short distance away from the group before turning to face you again. With all the talking, he isn't able to speak up much. His eyes narrow at the mention of a murder victim, then he clenches his fists. "Another one." He mutters under his breath. Then he hisses through his teeth at them mention of Cassian.

He shakes his head. "It's not the same thing." He growls, "Whatever is behind this only wants fey. Did you not wonder why the dragonborn's body is the only one you've found? I don't know if those who have vanished are actually dead, but whatever is doing this doesn't care for any other victims." He takes off his hat and rubs hit temples, "There's a reason there aren't many sell swords on this case. That dragonborn must have found something important." He looks up at you all, "Given that you're in this mess, your heads clearly haven't been muddled by whatever dark magic that's tainting the senses of the villagers. That said, if you don't want to end up dead, you'll need to watch your backs more than ever."

Kalgren took note of the drow's dislike of Cassian. He filed it away for later. Perhaps there was more to this Cassian than meets the eye. The way he threw himself up as somewhat of a leader figure, let alone one the entire town listened to, was something worth looking into.

'You mean the enchantment magic that permeates the inn?' Kalgren asked with an arched eyebrow when the drow mentioned dark magic.

The drow does not comment about children, but raises an eyebrow at Kit's question, "Trying to keep people alive and finding answers."

Tilting his head towards Kalgren, he replies. "Do I look like a mage to you? I don't have a clue what kind of spells have been cast here, all I know is something is messing with people's heads and magic is the only reasonable answer. No kind of drug is going to make the majority of a town blind to a mass of thorns growing from someone's gut, or covering the floor of a house. If you say it's enchantment magic, then it's enchantment magic, but I can tell you now that it permeates more than just the Stonedog."

(Are you making your way back to the children? If you are, I'll put that in the next post. I'm just giving Omen and Thar more time to respond.)

OOC: Sorry for holding things up!

Omen would relax a bit when hearing about how the thorns spread. "So if you say it wasn't an illusion... then you think the girl is still alive?" Omen replies with a hint of hope. "I suppose we should return back  to the children and let them know what happened. Then we need to get some rest... I suppose in the morning we may need to head off into the woods."

(No worries! I just got back from a conference, so you were not holding things up at all. :) )

"I don't know," The drow replies, "There is a small chance that at least some of the vanished are alive. None of the bodies from any of the villagers have ever been recovered. Only bodies of unlucky bounty hunters. The dragonborn makes three."

Kit eyes the Drow skeptically.

"If you're here for the reward, then why rescue us? You could turn your back and let whatever this thing is remove your competition. And if you're here for altruistic reasons, then why wait so long to talk to us? If we'd teamed up sooner maybe we could have saved Twig and her friend."

The drow scowls at Kit, "While I do need the gold, I'm not about to let people die for no reason. Believe what you will, but I was trying to protect you by holding my tongue. As I said previously, whatever is doing this only wants fey. The only reason it has for killing anyone else is information. Just like the two before her, that Dragonborn must have found something. As for teaming up. That's out of the question. I work better alone."

With that, the drow turns and starts walking out of the dark alley.

From his vantage point thank to his height Thar look how the drow walks away in the alley and he finally seems to shrink, the most apparent danger long gone. 

"Do we sleep with the children or at the inn then? " he asks  

"That [Elvish] is up to something. And whatever trap he has laid, I walked right into it."

(For those who speak Elvish)

 Kit turns to Thar.

"I'd rather get them to the inn, make sure they're safe and we'll fed, but you're right...it's probably best to keep them safe where they are and move them in the daylight."

"There's enough blood on my hands already."

"in the Drow's defense... I wouldn't want to help other bounty hunters solve the case and earn the reward before I could... but I would step in and prevent them from killed by murderous plants." Omen says with a nod to his companions. "He pretty much handled It how I would have." He adds with a shrug before straightening his hat.

With a long sigh he starts heading back towards the house where the children were hiding out. "Now we get to break the news to the kids..."

Kit considers the Kenku's words carefully...of course he's right. Would she have even doubted it if he wasn't a Drow? It's hard to tell...

...still, she's not terribly comfortable owing her life to him...

Thar nods to Kit's words and walks besides her, eyes always moving around in case that things decide to come back. 

Quote from Rynn_Elocin >>

The drow scowls at Kit, "While I do need the gold, I'm not about to let people die for no reason. Believe what you will, but I was trying to protect you by holding my tongue. As I said previously, whatever is doing this only wants fey. The only reason it has for killing anyone else is information. Just like the two before her, that Dragonborn must have found something. As for teaming up. That's out of the question. I work better alone."

With that, the drow turns and starts walking out of the dark alley.

'Now that's interesting.' Kalgren mumbled more to himself to mull over the idea. 'Targets only fey and will kill for information. Those are two highly distinctive traits. That will help us to narrow things down in the days to come.'

He looked at the drow. 'You're free to work alone but as you said: it targets only fey. You have fey ancestry and, well, there is safety in numbers. Just something to consider.'

When the drow left, Kalgren listed in his mind the things they had discovered so far. The killer only goes after fey. It will kill non-fey for valuable information. It kills, or prefers to kill, using magic. Plant based with necromancy woven into it. Also adept at enchantment magic. Curious. Very curious.

He walked along with the others. There is clearly a modus operandi to these murders and that requires three M's. Method: that's the magic. Moment: at night, judging from how the flowers react. That just leaves motive.

'Why fey?' Kalgren asked out loud. 'Why only fey? And more specific: why only fey in this town? Quite the conundrum.'

He tuned his mind to his partner. Lulu, we're heading back. If there is nothing else going on at your end, we should reconvene.

"It is said that our blood has magic properties... my mother always said that was a nonsense... but I do not expect much sense from someone who kidnaps and murder... " says Thar "Also if none of the children has fay blood maybe they are safe for now, but I only say this to calm ourselves, I do think that we must make sure they are safe... " he tries to smile but the circunstances are not the best. 

"And why here I do not now... I guess that either there was too many fey here gathered or the murderer was from here..."   

"Is it killing for information, or is it killing anyone who knows too much," Kit asks with mild confusion, "I took it the other way."

"As for targeting fey, I can think of two possible options...maybe three. The magic plants certainly suggest Fey influence. Maybe it's some kind of dark or tainted Feywild creature and it's targeting fey for the same reason it's targeting the bounty hunters. It fears they may know too much."

"But it doesn't leave them dead the way that it does with the bounty hunters. So maybe it's corrupting other Fey as well and using them as minions. That might explain the version of Twig that Amery and I ran into."

"Or maybe it's not Fey at all, but something that opposes them. Add the necromantic magic and it's easy to think we're dealing with something from the Shadowfell...although I'll admit I personally don't know anything about the Fell beyond some childhood stories, so I might be completely off the mark."

"Well, whatever these plant creature's motives are we best move away from the streets. Let's get going" says Amery as he walks back towards the kids home to check on them and to inform them of what happened. 

"I don't pretend to be an expert on fey creatures or anything, but it does sound to me like we are dealing with a corrupted fey of some kind." Omen says with a frown. he then nods to Amery in agreement. "Let's get back to the kids and then get some rest..."

With mixed feelings, the group watches the drow walk away before exiting the alley themselves and starting back towards the children's hideout. As you walk, you discuss your findings, and the small bit of information provided by the dark stranger. Lulu reports that no strange activity has occurred near the victim's body. Elenor has returned to the inn, and Cassian is currently still watching over the body. At Kalgren's call, she leaves her post to reconvene with her partner. On her way to your location, she notes that the drow seems to be making his way back toward the inn...which is also right across from the town hall where Zale's body is currently being housed.

It's well past midnight by the time you re-locate the rundown building. You find it relatively easily due to the fact that it is the only house in the area with light in it's windows. The kids really are serious about keeping torches lit through the night. Inside, you find Charlie sitting right at the edge of the loft to the right of the ladder, you could guess that Sara and Daisy are sleeping behind him. He spots you as soon as you enter the door, "D-did you find them?" He says hopefully, standing up he is obviously looking for Twig or Telron. Any hope in his eyes vanishes when he sees neither in your midst. "They're gone aren't they. Vanished. Like the others." He whispers, tears welling up in his eyes.

Kit doesn't say a word...she knows far too well how little they can do in this situation. Instead, she climbs up the ladder, sits next to Charlie, wraps an arm around his shoulders, and allows him his uninterrupted grief.