Magic and Mayhem in Targos

The day started with Eliodiel declaring she was locking herself in our room, poor girl was so traumatized from the prior days events. I can hardly blame her though. Hopefully by tomorrow she will be a little more herself and be able to help aid us in our investigations.
 
During breakfast, Verrick made some remarks that did not sit well with me and I had to defend my husband. Vesstan would never willingly frame someone who was innocent, he is an honorable man who upholds the laws. He may be gruff, but he is doing his job. And even Verrick has admitted he was found in a very damning situation.
 
We spent part of the day wandering about the town, checking out the shops and such. Verrick and I made our way to sell our Rubies and met Rhodri there. Him and the shop keep seemed to be caught up in flirting with each other. I managed to make a little more for my Ruby than I thought, she was willing to pay 55 gold for it, might not sound like much, but it will sure come in handy I'm sure.
 
Eventually I spoke with Speaker Assistant Lana, girl was so overworked she had to step away from her desk to breathe. She gave some very interesting information about the town and the strange on goings. A lot of these things started around the same time, 1 month ago. Skath started selling these new potions, which are now being sold by the Speaker himself. The new magic club was formed and they had a murder, very similar to those happening in Bryn Shandor.
 
Let me breakdown what I know.
 
The Murder - Hruger was a business associate of the guard Captain Skath. They were known to be charitable and also opposed the lottery (hmm, makes me think more and more this has to do the lottery). They were killed one month ago, same as the victims back home. Ice magic with a blade. They have already put to death the person "guilty" of this murder. A celestial named Gweneth. She was found over the body. We later learned from Guard Kerrigan (more on him later) she was performing, or trying to perform magic, similar to Lady Evelyn. We suspect she was trying to heal this person. She has a brother, Rafil. We were told he went back to Lonelywood, however, Kerrigan told us differently. Said he would most likely still be in town, unless he found a way to cross the ice on the lake. Kerrigan mentioned he was not sure that Gweneth was guilty. There was no trail, and she very well may have been trying to heal the victim. But he did what he should have, and took her in. He had no way of knowing Skath would jump the gun and immediately sentence her to death. Speaker Naerth sentenced her on the spot, most likely due to pressure from Skath.
 
The potions/Missing Cart/Kerrigan - These are being sold by Skath. More accurately, he pulled Kerrigan of street duty and put him in charge of selling them, I guess as a way to keep him quiet. He was on Skath's good side, until he mistakenly sold a potion he shouldn't have. He sold a potion that should have been priced 500-600 gold for a measly 35. Must have been some potion. Skath punished him by sending him out alone to bring back a stolen cart. More accurately, he sent him to his death or tried to anyway. I spoke with Speaker Naerth and he was unaware Skath had sent anyone out already and said it was a fools mission. He asked us to go check on it and bring the cart back, and it would be a bonus if we also brought Kerrigan back alive as well. We headed out and found the cave and Kerrigan just inside. He was not in good shape, we were able to heal him just in time to avoid needing his leg amputated. Grigor sat with him to ready him for the quick exit we would need to take. We continued on. I managed to trick a few orcs and take them out quickly, but more were attacking from a ledge. We worked together to pull the cart out of the cave and make our return to Targos. On the ride back we talked with Kerrigan. Learned what had happened. He's not safe to stay in Targos., and he agreed. I told him if he wanted to head to Bryn Shandor, he could speak with Vesstan. He seems a good man who was just doing his job and made a mistake, one that did not deserve death as Skath seemed to think. Upon our return, the speaker gave me a white feather, about 2.5ft long and 5-6inches wide. It's Pinion is wrapped in brass/copper wire and there is a blueish glow. I believe this is similar to feather Lady Evelyn showed me. I must speak with her about this
 
Magic Club - I don't know much on this. But this club also started around the same time last month. Seems some of the members may be aware of the shadiness going on, while others are left in the dark. This club is also apparently funded somewhat by non other than Skath, or at least the town by Skath's order. Rhodri and Verrick will be attending a meeting to see if they can gather any more information.
 
Some other things we learned - when in Speaker Naerth's office,, there were feathers hanging on the wall. These are the feathers of the celestial they sentenced to death.
 
Oh, something strange and quite silly happened. After speaking the Lana, I went back to my group. This girl followed me, Rori. She didn't speak much. I offered her some jerky and in return she gave me a couple bits of metal, shiny with a purple sheen. Verrick was able to identify them as magic infused alloys. Somehow, I feel I got the better end of that deal.
 
I truly believe these murders are related to the lottery. We need to get to East Haven to look into the murders Voran spoke of . But it seems all the victims, both back home and the one here in Targos, had something to do with the lottery.