From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 502 Five Descendants
As Jahira summoned the evil thoughts, she was busy pulling the clown's severed foot from under the Blue Dragonborn's corpse.

It's a bit of a shame, none of Miss Evil's companions wanted to help, not even the most helpful Karak.

"Hmm! Here it comes!" The evil thought, summoned by the high-ranking harpist, kicked the blue dragon's head, pulled out the clown's severed foot, and stuffed it into a sack along with his severed arm.

Fortunately, these corpses had been separated from their owners for a long time, and the blood had congealed and stopped flowing. Otherwise, if Evil Thought had been carrying a stinking sack through the streets, the blood would have already attracted the attention of Flame Fist and Iron Guard.

“Olin is brewing an even bigger conspiracy.” This was Jahira’s opening statement. “I have no doubt about that.”

"What did you see, Jashira?" Now that the high-ranking harpist had reached a conclusion, Ivy only needed to carefully evaluate her reasoning.

“Those corpses—the ones beneath the Temple of Mercy, the ones in the basement of the Pearwood House, and the ones here—were not a spur-of-the-moment thing for the Baal Order. Orin deliberately selected the targets and had his shapeshifters arrange the murder scenes.” Jahira’s face, etched with wrinkles by age, became eerie in the flickering firelight, like that of a true witch.

Ivy didn't interrupt, quietly waiting for what would follow.

“Do you know Chanem?” Jahira asked.

“Chanem?” the evil thought repeated. “Is that really a person’s name? It feels more like a code name.”

“Ha, that is indeed a code name. His name is Apodel Adrian, but I still prefer to call him Chanem.” Jahira grinned, his smile full of reminiscence.

“Oh—” the evil thought exclaimed in sudden realization, “I know who that is! The son of Baal a hundred years ago, the one who thwarted the Sarovok plot with you and sank the Iron Throne into the Grey Harbor!”

Evil Thoughts' expression changed, and he covered his mouth and stomach in great discomfort: "Just telling your story makes me want to vomit. The blood of Baal in my veins is instinctively resisting... Chanem."

“There have been many conspiracies surrounding the Sons of Baal: Shalovak, Irenicas, and the Five Clans I’m about to tell you about, but in the end, we have always been the victors.” Jahira paused. This high-ranking harpist was not excited about past glories and often avoided talking about the past.

Even with a die-hard fan in the team, Jasila remained tight-lipped and never recounted her past stories from a first-person perspective.

“I’ve always thought that we could talk about the past after the battle was won—after all, we already have a mountain of problems to deal with,” Jahira sighed. “But I didn’t expect that the past would still intersect with the present.”

“And the one who brought the past back to me is none other than the current leader of the Baal Order, His chosen people, Olin.”

“Olin probably divided her murders into two parts. On the surface, those murdered were all enemies of the Baal Order, while those passersby who seemed to have nothing to do with the Order were killed incidentally just because they witnessed the process.”

"But in reality, the focus should be on the victims who shouldn't have been at the murder scene."

“We first discovered additional bodies in the cave of the Temple of Mercy. The shapeshifters arranged the refugees’ bodies into the shape of the Baal emblem, but we interrupted them before they were finished, so I didn’t realize it at the time. It wasn’t until I saw the giant in the basement of the Pearwood House and the old woman next to him that I vaguely realized the truth of the matter.”

“Olin is imitating Chanem through murder.”

"Chanem is the true hero of Baldur's Gate, a rebel who defied the Father God Baal, but also the most powerful son of Baal in history."

"Besides Sharofok and Irenicas, there is another group of Baal's Sons called the 'Five Blood Alliance,' who challenged Chanem, but unsurprisingly, they all lost."

“Wait… Orin did say we are the Blood Clan, destined to fight each other to the last man, but I still don’t understand the reasoning behind it…” The evil thought hesitated for a moment before asking, “Why did Baal leave behind so many offspring? Besides Orin and me, there were many more Baal’s children a hundred years ago…”

“Because even gods can fall,” Jahira explained. “To prevent his complete demise, Baal left behind a vast number of his bloodlines on Earth, so that if he were to fall one day, he could be resurrected through these sons of Baal. And the key to the resurrection ritual is the mutual slaughter among the sons of Baal.”

Ivy nodded.

Got it, it's the Son of Baal battle royale tournament. The last one standing becomes Baal's possession, but in the end, they get nothing.

"Uh... okay." The evil thought asked again, "Is Baal dead or alive now?"

“I don’t know,” Jasila shrugged. “Nobody knows.”

Seeing that Ivy and Evil stopped asking questions, Jahira continued to tell the story between the Five Clans and Chanem: "The first of the Five Clans to die was Elacela, a half-elf, the son of Baal. To be honest, I had almost no recollection of her, so I didn't even realize that the corpse in the underground cave of the Temple of Mercy was imitating her."

"But the second of the five ethnic groups has very obvious characteristics."

"Jagasura, a fire giant, was raised by a human foster mother."

“No wonder…so that’s why there’s a human old woman and a giant’s corpse next to the brazier?” Ivy then asked, “What does the heart in the brazier represent?”

"A magical ritual, performed by Jagasura's foster mother, gave Jagasura inexhaustible life force by burning his heart in magical flames. But later, Jagasura betrayed his foster mother, who then told Chanem about Jagasura's weakness. The fire giant, who possessed an immortal body, thus fell victim to betrayal."

The magical brazier, the heart, and the superhuman physique were indeed very conspicuous features. No wonder Jashira immediately fell into deep thought upon seeing the murder scene below the Pearwood House. "Those two dragonborn corpses... do they represent the third of the five races? A descendant of Baal's dragonborn?" Ivy was not unfamiliar with the term "descendant of Baal's dragonborn," because when he played Baldur's Gate 3, one of the Origin characters was a white dragonborn. Now that he thought about it, that character he considered too uninteresting to play must have been a son of Baal, right?

But why is the evil thought in front of me a beautiful red-haired girl, instead of that ugly male dragonborn?

Ivy is certain this isn't due to mods, because he hadn't had time to install mods when he started playing the game.

Isn't that how games are? You play it once without mods, then again with mods, and finally, just to play certain mods.

“There are no dragonborn among the Five Clans.” Jahira chuckled twice. “Or rather, there are no dragonborn in the conventional sense. Baal fathered Abazigo with a blue dragon, and he was not the third, but the fourth member of the Five Clans to be killed by Chanem.”

“Outside Abazigo’s lair, there’s a green dragon that he’s magically controlling, which is why there are two dragonborn corpses. It seems there aren’t any hidden dragons at Baldur’s Gate, otherwise Orin might have needed to find a larger place for the ritual.” Jashi joked, but Ivy’s heart pounded.

"A fourth person? If Olin is performing ritual murders in sequence, wouldn't it be over soon?"

“Well… that’s true, but actually, the five sons of Baal who were killed by Chanem weren’t the only ones. They were the five most famous, after all, they formed an alliance and conquered many cities in the Sword Coast.” Jahira then said solemnly, “Whatever Olin’s purpose in carrying out these ritual murders, we cannot let it go. That’s the fundamental reason why I came to you.”

Indeed, knowing that a conspiracy is underway and not stopping it is the most foolish thing to do.

“The cheese master has just pointed out the location of Orin to us. That’s why the Baal Order has been targeting him.” Ivy took the clue about the Candharro Tomb Shop from Alexander Yusen’s clue board.

“Murder of the Inquisition, that’s what we have to face.” Jahira nodded. “I will never forget what happened at the Temple of Baal. My gut tells me I should stop Orin’s actions as soon as possible, but reason tells me to be fully prepared.”

“We are facing not only Baal’s electorate, but also his most loyal religious order and followers. We cannot afford to be careless with any of them,” Jahira said solemnly.

“Speaking of the Murder Tribunal, Dolo seems to still have their password on him.” The evil thought reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled, bloodstained piece of paper. “A secret code written as a poem. I think this ‘Sakaris’ is the password.”

Doro's body was also brought back to the guild hall by Ivy using teleportation. Apart from the four severed hands belonging to the victims, a dagger was the most conspicuous thing.

The slip of paper with the poem written on it was found in Dolo's "handbag". Only a true son of Baal would not find a bunch of hands in his eyes.
“Very good, another item has been added to the to-do list.” Ivy flicked the slip of paper in her hand and looked at Jasira. “If Olin’s ritual is really completed, what kind of power do you think she will gain?”

“In a sense, Chanem, who killed all of Baal’s sons, is equivalent to Baal himself, except that he didn’t become Baal, but instead successfully defied his fate.” Jahira’s tone was heavy. “In the worst-case scenario, it would mean we have to face Baal himself…”

“Unlikely.” Ivy glanced at the evil thought beside her. “There was no magical fluctuation on the corpses murdered by Orin, and I didn’t sense anything like divine power. Besides, those corpses weren’t the real Baal’s children. Even if Orin did complete the ritual, the power she gained should be very limited. After all, she didn’t actually kill any of the Baal’s children.”

“That’s true…” Jasira acknowledged Ivy’s statement. “So, we’re slowing down our entry into the Murder Tribunal?”

“Let’s put it after Kazardor. Don’t forget the Shield of Sylvam; Orin seems to still be obsessed with it. Maybe we can find her outside her lair… Although I don’t want to say it, two days is too short for us. We have to make choices. Letting a vampire lord who is about to ascend to immortality go unchecked is certainly not a wise decision.” Realizing that time was running out, Ivy had already begun to assess the potential harm that Kazardor and Orin could cause.

At least in Baldur's Gate, Orin has already taken the initiative to provoke conflict with Gortash, which means that she will not only have enemies on Ivy's side. Breaking with allies naturally means shrinking her power to guard against retaliation.

The murders will likely be suspended. Besides, the two targets in the upper city are not easy to deal with. Relying solely on Baal's water from Baldur's Gate as an assassin, it is very likely that they will not even be able to enter the upper city.

Ivy has now figured out that Dolo, who killed four people, wasn't even a formal member of the Baal Order, but just a resident of the lower city who longed for the favor of the god of murder.

“…I approve of your decision.” Jasira nodded and said no more.

Having visited the crime scenes of the two victims, it's time to head to the witchcraft general store that Gail has been longing to visit.

But as soon as Karak opened the door of the Rainforest Cheese Shop, she bumped into a steel guard.

"Error. Report your target immediately, Iron Guardian." The armored Iron Guardian spoke in a monotonous, synthesized voice, addressing Karak directly in front of it. "Why did you come out of the Rainforest Cheese Shop? We are responsible for patrolling the city, not the homes of ordinary citizens."

“Oh, I think you’ve got the wrong target, Metal Head.” Karak loosened her grip on the trident; at least the steel guard opposite her wasn’t in a fighting stance.

"I understand your malfunction, Steel Guardian." The two-person-tall steel soldier continued the conversation. "Your model is too outdated. The internal temperature of the engine has exceeded the recommended temperature. Even if the heat shield is still in good condition, it will eventually explode. To ensure the safety of other citizens and their property, please report to the Steel Guardian Foundry for dismantling immediately."

“How fresh.” A wave of heat shot out from the exhaust vent on Karak’s shoulder. “If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten about my engine that was about to explode.”

"Wait... are we using the same engine? The kind from hell?" Karak suddenly realized that this was a good opportunity to ask for information.

“No, your model is too old, almost indistinguishable from the prototype, and has far exceeded its maximum service life,” the Steel Guardian replied. “I, on the other hand, am the product of Lord Gotash’s wisdom, embodying his many years of hard work.”

(End of this chapter)