From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 499 Murder List
Fionn Goldmore works at Charis's Caress and has a special room on the second floor known as the Elminster Library.

It's not that the old dwarf woman lying on the ground was one of the Shadow Valley sage's lovers, but rather that it was a special private room introduced by Sharis's caresses.

It's like a classroom in a love hotel or a subway-style room.

This is a special service that leverages the celebrity effect.

In Forgotten Realms, a place without portrait rights protection laws, even the legendary harpist of Baldur's Gate is featured in erotic novels, and naming a brothel suite the library Elminster is no big deal.

The older of the Drow siblings was often asked to play Drizzt Ducreden.

With the help of the lucky Karak, the adventurers did not miss any clues to the murder case.

Due to the nature of his work, Fionn Kimmer had a long-term rental room at the Frego Inn, located in the attic, accessible only by a wooden ladder.

After her son arrived, she gave him the attic and rented a bed in a corner of the guesthouse.

Inside the wardrobe in the attic, the adventurers found a hidden keyhole, which the flower-shaped key they obtained from the underground of the Temple of Compassion could fit into.

The hidden room was very small; it already felt cramped after a bed and a table were placed in it, not to mention that Dolo had added many other things to the room in order to study the murder methods.

Besides the Fiweng Goldmow hidden under the bed, the adventurers also found a blood-stained parchment scroll on the table.

Those who wish to face the judgment of the Lord of Terror and enter the Temple of Baal must kill those on this list and disguise the bodies as murders committed by the Order of the Supreme God. Take the victims' hands as proof of the killings. Walk in blood, ambitious ones.

“A murder list.” Jahira looked through the list from top to bottom. “Duke Belina Steme, Father Logan, the clown Deribos… these three are the dead we already know of. Their names on the list are also marked as dead.”

“There are two other victims whose bodies we haven’t found yet. Alexander Yusen, a cheesemaker who lived near the clearinghouse, and Frank Pearwood, who, as far as I know, was a smuggler who specialized in smuggling contraband weapons.” Jasira looked up at Ivy. “Your fears have come true; there are indeed other undiscovered victims in the city.”

"Who is Dolo's next target?" Evil Thought hurriedly asked.

“Cora Highbury lives in a large house near the Bodwell Mouth Gazette,” Jahira continued. “However, we can’t rule out the possibility that he didn’t kill people in the order of the list. Besides Cora Highbury, there are three other people on the list.”

"They are Figaro Chanho, the owner of Huanyan Fashion Clothing Store in the Lower Town, and two nobles living in the Upper Town: Thursville Van Sampure and Frederick Hune."

The stylish and sophisticated Chinhaw family is a golden dwarf family that has run a clothing store in Baldur's Gate for generations. Figaro Chinhaw's sister, Kalman Chinhaw, also runs a small clothing store on the Dragon Rock Bridge.

However, the Qianhao family members living in the lower city were clearly not Jahira's primary concern.

Thursville Van Sampure and Frederick Hune, the two noblemen living in the Upper Town.

It wasn't because Jahira also believed in Flame Fist's theory that the nobility was more equal in Baldur's Gate, but because these two surnames, which belonged to the Upper City, had been mentioned by adventurers many times.

The head of Van Sampure was once one of the Dukes of Baldur's Gate, but was later exposed by his political rivals, the Hune family, for having colluded with the devil.

This put Thursville Van Sampur, who was slated to fill a vacancy in the Council of Four after his mother's death, under significant negative reputation pressure, which greatly accelerated the entry of Bann voters Gotash into the Bodgate power structure.

The conflict between the Van Sampure and Hune families stemmed from a divine artifact, the Shield of Sylvam, belonging to the Knights of the Shield.

In order to carry out Zariel's plot to drag Baldur's Gate into Afonas, the Van Sampure family obtained the Shield of Sylvam from the Hune family through some underhanded means, hoping that this artifact could, to some extent, replace the Sunbane above El Toril and exert the same power.

However, with the death of Salamara Van Sampur and El Toril's return to Faerûn, Zariel's plot was declared a failure.

As one of the former leaders of the Shield Knights, the Hune family could be considered, in a sense, allies of the Mind Flayer Lord. The adventurers' initial understanding of the Hune family came from the Lord himself.

As for the Van Sampure family, although their power plummeted after Salamara Van Sampure's death, they still retained a great deal of wealth.

This led to Thursville Van Sampur being able to spend a large sum of money to order an Eye Demon Iron Flask from the Zantalin Order.

Ivy had speculated that the Eye Demon was used to protect the Eye Demon's nemesis, the Shield of Sylvam, which was why Jahira paid more attention to the two noble families in the Upper City.

“Hune and Van Sampur are both associated with the Shield Knights’ artifacts. Could it be that Orin’s intention to attack them is to target the Shield of Sylvam?” Jahira speculated. “If a shield can be used to defend against the Eye Demon’s gaze, then wouldn’t it also be able to defend against Losanda’s Dawn Cannon? Even if it can’t block it completely, it might be enough to greatly reduce its power.”

“That’s certainly a possibility.” Ivy rubbed his chin. “During the Battle of the Tower of the Moon, the Dawn Cannon was powered by the blood of the god Losanda. Now that the blood has been completely depleted, the power of the Dawn Cannon is already much weaker than before. If the mainframe really obtains the Shield of Sylvam, that situation could indeed occur. It seems we have to go to the Upper City.”

Having obtained Doro's murder list and another flower-shaped key from his mother, the adventurers made a great haul in Livington.

After a final check to ensure there were no oversights, Ivy immediately ordered a return to the city: "It seems we still need Nine Fingers to help us figure out a way to get to the upper city. Until then, we can warn the others on the list and, while we're at it, search the crime scenes of the other two victims."

“Don’t forget the witchcraft general store!” Gale reminded him.

“And the fireworks shop in Frogger,” Jasira added. “Don’t forget the toy dealer who attempted murder with a bomb.” “One of Dolo’s victims lives right next to those two places; we can take care of him on the way.” Ivy nodded in understanding, then left Dolo’s cramped little room with a few teammates.

The adventurers' group was so large that not everyone was crammed into the dark room in the attic.

Aside from the evil thoughts directly related to Baal's murder, only the high-ranking harpist Jahira and the archmage Gale came to the secret chamber.

The warriors were all downstairs, while the agile adventurers were tasked with finding other places to stay in the inn.

As soon as Ivy came down the stairs, she heard a commotion, which was caused by her teammates.

"Don't do this! Asdallen!" cried a high elf with equally white hair and skin as pale as Asdallen's.

“You have no idea what I can do!” Asdalon was grabbing a tall human by the neck and holding his head up to the sunlight streaming in through the wooden window.

Mottled cracks appeared on the face of the screaming human male, as if his skin was rapidly dehydrating and cracking.

In just a few seconds, Ivy saw ashes and sparks falling from his face and smelled the acrid stench of burning fur.

“By the Three Saints, they are vampires!” Will drew his rapier, the tip pointing directly at the female elf’s throat.

"Asdalon... Brother! I beg you!" The elven woman took a half step back and pleaded with Asdalon.

“Killing them won’t help, you and I both know that, Asdallen.” Ivy snapped her fingers, and all the windows on the second floor of the guesthouse slammed shut, plunging the entire room into darkness.

Without the direct sunlight, the vampire clone that Asdalon had been choking began to recover rapidly, and the scorch marks on its face and the pink muscles exposed beneath them returned to smooth skin.

"Fine." Asdallen flung his vampire brother aside, slamming him hard against the wooden wall of the guesthouse.

A bracket was nailed to the wall, and the empty ceramic pot on the bracket wobbled twice before smashing to pieces on the ground.

"What's going on?" came the somewhat uneasy question from downstairs, from the halfling shopkeeper. "The assassin isn't still up there, is he?"

Then Karak's voice came through: "You can completely trust my friends! They're all professionals!"

The man who had fallen to the ground got up in a disheveled state, wanting to utter some harsh words, but when he looked up, he saw a group of well-equipped adventurers, so he only moved his lips a couple of times before hiding to the side.

"You owe my friend a worthless life." Asdalon raised his chin and said to the white-haired female elf, "Now tell me everything I want to know! You tell me, Daleria!"

“…The master’s Black Mass has reached its final stage, right beneath his palace.” Daria’s eyes were completely blood-red and gleamed with an ominous light, a stark contrast to Asdalon, who appeared no different from any other human. “There is a blasphemous chapel there—he has been hiding it there for all these years, keeping it a secret from all of us.”

“Once the ritual is complete, he will become an Ascended vampire. Not only will he be able to walk in the sunlight and be free from thirst, but he will also possess abilities that no vampire could ever dream of.” Daria’s face showed a longing expression. “The best part is that we will join him. His loyal servants—as living vampires, standing with him in the sunlight. We will be free, brothers.”

"Hmph~" Asdallen let out a contemptuous sneer, "You don't actually believe that, do you? When has Dahl? When has Kazador ever shared his power? He won't even share his blood with us!"

"For so many years we've been hiding in the shadows, surviving on sewer rats, all because of his orders?" Asdallen grinned, revealing two sharp teeth. "You've never even tasted real human blood, have you?"

Hearing this, Ivy raised an eyebrow in surprise. Kazador was indeed a model of forbearance. In order to avoid exposing his vast family to the other forces of Baldur's Gate, he ordered his alter ego not to kill or even drink human blood, thus hiding in the Upper City for two hundred years.

“This is what we deserve, Asdallen. Don’t you understand? We gave him everything—and all the blood and tears have finally come to an end.” Daleria pursed her lips. “When that moment comes, you will become one of us. This is our destiny, it resides in the flesh of all of us.”

The two vampire clones suddenly exchanged a glance, and their hands quickly made several movements, turning into a cloud of blood mist that filled the entire room.

Suddenly, the enormous gem at the top of the mithril staff emitted a myriad of dazzling colored lights, causing the two vampire clones that had turned into mist to scream as they returned to human form.

The magical abilities of various magical creatures are notoriously difficult to counter, but vampires were an exception for Ivy. This was because this race was so prevalent in various fantasy worlds that Hogwarts' forbidden library contained numerous spells to counter them. However, Ivy chose the safest method: using white magic to generate light, enveloping every corner of the room.

"Tsk tsk tsk." Asdalon slowly stepped forward, squatted down beside his brothers and sisters, and pinched Daleria's chin with his hand. "You still underestimate my friend. His strength is far greater than that of Kazador, who only knows how to hide in the gutter. You still have something important to say, right?"

“I’ve already told you everything, brother!” Daleria cried out. “If I say any more, my master won’t let me see the moon tomorrow night!”

“But if you don’t answer, you won’t even see the moon tonight.” Asdallen’s eyes were devoid of any warmth as he said coldly, “Time.”

“Two days later…” Daleria said, trembling, “the master will invite some people to a banquet, and after the banquet, the Black Mass will officially begin…”

Asdalon rose from the ground, his gaze subtly seeking Ivy's opinion—whether to kill the two vampire clones.

Ivy gently shook her head: "If you haven't forgotten the way home like Shadowheart, then let them go. Creating clones has never been difficult for Kazardor. Since he's no longer going to hide himself, killing them will only add two more missing persons to Baldur's Gate."

(End of this chapter)