With Argesh slain, and the Hands of Glory utterly destroyed, Rain and her companions made sure that the captives were fine before releasing them back into the city, no doubt spreading tales of their triumph and heroism while doing so, causing her to head towards the inn, but before reaching it her companions stopped at the shop to sell off some items.
"Word of your success travels fast, Rain, and soon the whole of Baldur's Gate will be singing your praises." Randalla said, as she glanced at the adventurers who were behind Rain right now, who were pleased that their success was becoming known to the rest of this great city, especially since she had a few sacks of gold waiting for them and passed them out without even wasting time, "The families sent me a reward, to help me find worthy adventurers to find their missing kin, but just know that once they get over having their abducted loved ones back there will likely be a larger reward to be had."
"You need not worry about the Hands of Glory, as they have been destroyed and their master, a monster of some kind, has been killed as well." Rain replied, where she pocketed her part of the reward, while overhearing that the others would be using part of theirs to help fuel their personal quests, before she pulled out the map that had been recovered and showed it to Randalla, who raised her eyebrow for a moment, "We found on Argesh's body when we finished him off... it looks like it might be a map to the main camp of the Red Fang Marauders."
"I see. I'll pass this onto Sollus and come up with a plan." Randalla commented, to which Rain handed it over without even wasting a second, allowing her to slip it into her own pouch so it would remain safe and sound, before she focused on the group once more as they gathered themselves, as they knew she had more work for them, "Since you dealt with the Hands, maybe you can look into the murders now? I've gone over the reports and it seems like those that have been slain so far have been mutilated beyond recognition, but some witnesses have reported seeing misshapen and contorted figures when they investigated the sites... we've also gotten reports of similar sightings around Bloodmire Manor, which rests on the northeastern side of Baldur's Gate."
Rain listened to Randalla for a few moments as she explained what she knew about the manor, that it was owned by one Luvia Bloodmire, the sole heiress to a vast fortune who actually turned away suitors seeking her hand, though the most important thing was that Argesh was tied to her in some manner. Randalla seemed surprised by that information, as if the very idea that someone like Luvia would be involved in the vile crimes that were plaguing the city, but, at the same time, she believed what Rain was saying, as she wasn't known for lying, even if it seemed strange to think about. Once they were done talking, and they knew the exact location of Bloodmire Manor, Rain and her companions departed without delay, as none of them were exhausted from their time in the hideout and they were eager to see what sort of trouble might be in the manor. From the outside it looked like a well preserved place, well tended to, though the citizens must have heard the rumors and were steering clear of it, though at the same time Rain noticed something odd, there were no workers outside and no one to welcome them when they knocked on the door, to the point where Borador was able to open it with far too much ease.
"I don't like this. Everyone keep your weapons at the ready... I smell danger." Borador stated, something Rain agreed with, because after discovering that Luvia was tied to the Hands of Glory in some manner, what they still didn't know, it told her that there might be danger in her private manor.
What they discovered was that there was nothing waiting for them in the foray of the manor, save for some statues and a harpsichord that Borador quickly investigated, though Rain and the others focused on three sets of stairs that lead to an upper walkway, while Shadow sniffed out some danger lurking in the various hallways. The dwarf informed them that the piano was linked to some sort of hidden passage, that much he could tell at a glimpse, and if he was right a certain tone had to be played so they could track it down and open it, since it might lead to proving Luvia's guilt. With that in mind the group started to explore the rest of the manor, where they discovered the misshapen creatures wandering the halls, in addition to flesh hounds that looked like they had wicked claws and stinger tails, which allowed them to fire off poison barb at their foes. Either someone wanted to frame Luvia for the crime of being associated with the Hands of Glory, to lose whoever might be on their tail, or she was one of the leaders of the new dark alliance that Rain had assumed had formed to attack the city, but for the time being the group lashed out at all of the flesh monsters.
Ysuran was the one who called these foes by that name, having read about the topic in one of his books, meaning they had flesh hounds and flesh soldiers to deal with, and while they were tougher than a thief they were weaker than Argesh, allowing them to eliminate the first group with some ease.
As they moved Rain discovered that there were cobwebs in corners, on the marble statues, and even on some of the bits of furniture that they walked by, causing her to ask Borador if the harpsichord had any and he told her it was pristine, which just confirmed it's use in opening a hidden passage of some kind. She also looked around for a time and realized how gloomy the manor looked, especially since it looked like most, if not all of, the work staff had been captured by their boss at some point, twisted into the monsters that the citizens of Baldur's Gate reported to Randalla's associates. They found doors that were unlocked, leading to other parts of the manor for them to explore and fight through, though Allessia discovered an item of great importance, one of the music sheets they were looking for, which just so happened to have a specific note circled with a number over it. Such a thing was ridiculous, that Luvia actually left the keys to her hideout scattered all over the manor, though while she could understand that it might be a way to get intruders killed it was just plain foolish for one to leave this sort of information out in the open.
There was an uncomfortable amount of flesh monsters for them to fight through, confirming her thoughts that the staff of this place had been hacked into pieces and sown together to form what they were currently tearing down, something that made Rain mad when she considered just how many lives had been lost. What came as a pleasant surprise was that there were still a few servants still alive inside the manor, who confirmed that their mistress had gone insane, though Rain had Shadow escort them to safety so they could seek out Randalla and the guards, to let them know what was going on right now. There were even secret passages in the walls for them to worry about, accessed through the bookshelves based on what Borador told them, as he was able to track each one down and opened the way so they could investigate what was behind them, often leading to more treasure and, occasionally, more music sheets. In addition to that there were stairs leading down into the basement, up into the second floor, and even up into the attic, where they found more monsters, not to mention beetles, rats, and bats, as if this place had been abandoned entirely and over served as a front for Luvia's unknown twisted plans.
While the flesh monsters proved to be good practice for the others, they eventually ran out of them and were forced, at long last, to return to the harpsichord, where Vhaidra shuffled the sheets before performing a short sequence on the lone instrument, something that lowered a section of the nearby wall and revealed a staircase leading downward.
Such a thing lead them to what appeared to be a laboratory of some kind, with smooth stone walls, whitish floors, and a fair amount of blood all over the place, though there were closed vents in the walls that seemed to be waiting for a lever or switch to be activated. There were cells in some of the walls, most of them having been opened while a number of flesh monsters were wandering around the secret basement, where Rain grew sad as she realized that everyone who had been brought down here had been slain in one way or another before their arrival. She did, however, uncover a letter resting on a table in the first chamber, one that was addressed to a 'Lady F' and was labeled 'faithfully yours', where it was signed by Luvia and mentioned that she had created Argesh, the 'pinnacle of her creations', confirming Rain's beliefs. Once they had a chance to read the letter, allowing everyone to understand that Luvia was a bad apple, she pocketed the item and made sure it was perfectly safe in her pack, though once that was done they pushed deeper into the laboratory, slaughtering all of the flesh monsters that happened to be in their way.
What was disturbing was that some of the cells were locked and, from what they could tell, there were people inside them, not to mention flesh monsters who tore them apart without the group being able to find a lever to open the doors, as if they was only one way to open them, a secret known only to Luvia herself.
With that in mind Rain turned her blade on the locked doors and slashed through them, showing that the onyx blade was far stronger than whatever metal was used in making all of these doors, allowing a few more servants to go free as Rain's companions dealt with the flesh monsters. There weren't too many people for them to save, given the state of the rest of the cells that they walked by, though it amazed them that Luvia was able to pour so much into making such a space for all of her dark experiments, almost as if someone had warped a team into this place for her to work before warping them out when the job was done. Eventually they discovered a wide open chamber that had a two headed flesh hound, a larger one than anything they had seen so far, who rushed at them and actually breathed a foul poison gas in their general direction, a beast called 'Atrocious' by a soft feminine voice. Luvia was watching them, that much they could tell, but it mattered little as Rain stepped back and watched as her companions literally hacked the two headed beast into a thousand pieces, as it was far weaker than what they expected, plus Rain knew her new friends had improved greatly since she met them.
Once Atrocious was dead, and the lesser flesh hounds that were released after that were slain as well, the group moved deeper into the laboratory without delay, finding their way to a final chamber where a young woman stood in front of two massive flesh brutes, a figure who wore a black corset and a white blood stained dress.
"Welcome, guests. I do hope my creations haven't given you too much trouble." Luvia stated, though since she didn't even bother to introduce herself, like some of the other foes Rain had faced in the past, it confirmed that she had taken a bit of her time to watch them before their arrival, "They are quite lovely, aren't they? It took me years to perfect the technique of transferring limbs and organs from one creature to another... I couldn't even hope to calculate how many were sacrificed for me to discover this information. It could be hundreds for all I know, but I don't care, really, because there is so much I could do now..."
In that moment Rain, having heard enough from the woman, shifted her stance and readied herself, where she used her newfound power to rush over the gap that was between them and Luvia, almost as if she was lightning, though instead of hitting Luvia she found that the lady threw herself towards an open door and that her attack had only cut into the side of her dress. As she landed Luvia locked the door behind her, to stop pursuers from following her, though in that moment Dorn and the others called out that the brutes were advancing on her position, only to find that Rain didn't need help as she just turned and slashed at them a few times, hacking them apart with ease. Luvia, seeing her do that, flipped a switch while she fled from her own laboratory, where the vents started to spew poison into the entire sanctuary, causing her to rush back to where her friends were standing as everyone started to rush out of the underground laboratory before the poison killed any of them. They weren't the only ones fleeing from the poison, as the very few flesh monsters that were still alive, likely in an area that Luvia had sealed off so they didn't kill everything she had made, though Rain slew as many of them as she could, determined to stop the insane lady's creations from seeing the light of day.
In the end, as they emerged from the laboratory, a few of the flesh monsters actually escaped and the majority were slain by a few guards who came to arrest Luvia, if she was there, while around four or five got out of the city, causing Rain to sigh as she and the others headed back to Randalla to take a break before their next mission.