— session six.

I managed to catch the magic club meeting and chat with the students; they all seemed happy and excited by my presence — well, most of them did. Nina, a fellow cleric who casts gentle repose upon the wings Captain Skath has, seems to be afraid of me. I wish I could speak with her about why she might feel this way, but I do not want to cause her more discomfort.
 
After everything I have endured over the past few days in Targos, last night was a welcome one with much needed comfort and rest.
 
The following morning, we all met for breakfast in the Luskan Arms to discuss what happened over the past few days. Eliodiel seems to be in better spirits as she joined us and is no longer locking herself in the room she shares with Myalee.
 
As we were discussing things, perhaps a bit too loudly for the establishment we were in, Nina left the table she occupied with the other members of the magic club — worried she might tell Captain Skath what we were discussing, I pursued with her Verrick. To give her comfort and show no ill will, we attempted to talk with her in the open, but as that was going nowhere, we moved the conversation to Verrick's room as I was confident she would not appreciate going to my room. As we tried to gain information, Nina spoke in Celestial, saying she knew what I was. If I had more time and she was willing to talk with me alone, I would have inquired more, but as we were on limited time, I did not pursue things as I desired.
 
Thankfully — and much to my surprise, Verrick also speaks Celestial, so he understood what she said, and with him, we were able to get confirmation that she is the one casting Gentle Repose upon the wings. She was willing to steal them for us as long as she had a place to take them, but we decided it was risky and against it.
 
Not wanting to leave her feeling trapped or with nowhere to go, especially if Captain Skath found out she had spoken with us, I offered to take her under my tutilage, much like how I am teaching Grigor the ways of Helm if she wished to continue pursuing becoming a cleric. Even if she wanted to put that life behind her, I still offered the church as a place of refuge for her and her friends — perhaps I spoke too quickly without consulting Grigor as it is his home, but I feel he would not object...
 
Though I fear we will start running out of room with my generosity quickly. As the church and our need grows, perhaps we could look into expanding or buying a bigger building if such a thing exists within Bryn Shander, though I would not want him to give up his home as it is all he has left of his parents and the life he had before.
 
Hoping that Guardsman Kerrigan was still in town, we sought him out, wanting more information about Captain Skath's secret lab and where we could find it. After some searching around the stables behind the Luskan Arms, we found the entrance to the laboratory with the help of Rhodri and Elodiel. Unfortunately, while the other members entered without problem, Rhodri and I had the misfortune of falling into the underground facility, which caught the attention of one of the guards. Without much time to think and hoping Rhodri would forgive me, I acted as if he were chasing me, and I desperately needed to find the Guard Captain. Thankfully the mercenary guard bought the act, and working together, we managed to subdue him.
 
As we ventured deeper into Skath's laboratory, it became evident that this was once a church, but to who was once worshiped here, I cannot say. Perhaps a diety that was once known to the area but has been lost with time.
 
Venturing deeper, we came upon a wall lined with tongues and a prisoner, bound with a mask over their head, saying they were cursed and not to remove it. Not only was the prisoner filthy, in horrible living conditions, and likely abused, they were an exact likeness to me when I first came to the Dales... There are very few people left who knew me back then, especially on such an intimate level, that it leaves only one person who I suspect could be torturing this poor person, and I thought they were dead.
 
Before we could do more to help them, someone began making their way toward the prisoner, and we barely managed to hide ourselves in a hidden passage. Within the passage, we were forced to fight a ghastly monster and barely managed to escape a hoard of zombies that Verrick awoke.
 
With the specter defeated, we again made our way to the prisoner. Despite the warning around their neck, we decided to remove the mask, believing it was a deterrent to keep people from messing with them, but as soon as the mask was removed, they began changing shape. First to look like Eliodiel's friend from the Dancing Maid and then to some wood elf that I had never seen before.
 
Not wanting to waste more time and afraid that Skath, the mercenaries, or someone else would show up, we worked hard to get the prisoner out of Targos.
 
Myalee placed the mask back on them as we did not want them changing shape again, as they seemed to be in horrible pain the two times they changed.
 
As we made our way out of the lab, I was sure that Skath or someone else would be waiting for us to get a surprise attack, but no such thing happened. For fear they also might be waiting for us at the exit to town, we decided to risk going onto the ice as going through the town gates seemed risky.
 
Finally escaping Targos, we made our way back to Bryn Shander, where we told the speaker what happened, how these potions were being made, and how Skath and Targo's speaker wanted to bring Bryn Shander into the fold, asking me to deliver a missive to her. Thankfully, she is a reasonable woman, understanding the inhumane way these potions were created, and assured us that she would not go into league with Skath or the other speaker.
 
Unsure of what to do with the prisoner, who I suspect is Rafil, we left them with Grigor, instructing him not to remove the mask, but when we returned to the church, they were once again shifted to look like me and sitting on Grigor's lap. To say I was embarrassed would be an understatement, and perhaps feeling my disappointment and being upset with what happened, Grigor decided to go with Rhodri to grab a drink in town while I tried to make Rafil comfortable.