Redcastle, after All Crims' Eve

It was... a fucking day and a half.
 
As concerning as Iltiari's new cult is, we did rescue the people from Tanners' Folly and close the door on that whole mess. Hopefully that isn't going to come back to bite us. If it does I blame Iltiari.
 
Later that night, we all decided to spend the night in one of the houses we emptied out - except Bell, again. And that's not even the most concerning thing she did this time. She spent a lot of time talking to her cat... it is cute though. I'm still surprised Damiel decided to hand it to her.
 
On the subject of Damiel, that was.... interesting? He's been odd recently too, but considering how strange he is I can't be sure if that's normal for him or it's actually odd. I was really more concerned last night that he was going to cause some kind of property damage with his alchemy, but checking up on him was surprisingly intriguing interesting enjoya informative. His alchemy is more practised than I would have guessed - he definitely knows what he's doing. Somehow I don't think his claim that he's the best alchemist we'll ever meet is an exaggeration.
 
That said, the way he looked when I got him started talking about his experimentation and his project was.... really strange. It's the first time I've seen him smile, but that wasn't an excited smile. It was almost like Risf when he learns something new about the gods, but worse somehow. More obsessive. I feel like I should try to figure out what that's about... but I don't know if I want to dive that deep into whatever it is that put that eerie look in his eyes.
 
He was back to his usual self after that, though? I almost would have thought I imagined it if I hadn't known better. He showed me how Willow works, which is neat! She's still the cutest thing ever; sorry, Bell's cat. And the lesson he gave me later? I still felt like I'd missed a lot of background information, but I think I have a handle on how his potion against rabies works, which is more than I can say about what I knew beforehand. Even if other elves aren't as good as he is, imagine the sorts of medical miracles we could work through alchemy! There's probably thousands of potential applications for alchemy that could solve the issues of illnesses and injuries that even clerics and herbalists struggle to deal with - imagine a better disinfectant, or a cure for plagues! I'm not certain I can get a strong enough grasp on alchemy to do it myself, but maybe if we combined my medical training and his brewing skills?
 
I suppose that would require Damiel to actually want to cooperate, though. And to talk to a mortal. Besides, if all goes well, I'll be able to return to the Holy Plains soon enough, and that's more important than messing around.
 
After Tanners' Folly, we went to Redcastle, where we got caught up in some strange festival called All Crims' Eve? Zsoana was so excited by the idea of breaking into some duke's house for a competition... it ended up being much more than we bargained for. Near-misses with guards and other thieves, traps on every inch of the place, arrows being shot around everywhere, Iltiari's apparent inability to be stealthy.... it was bad. Poor Glow and Nabith were tackled by guards, too, although everyone made it out okay in the end. I probably used up all of my bandages patching up arrow wounds, too, and I just bought them.
 
Speaking of patching up wounds, there's an even bigger issue - Bell. She's been avoiding me since we had a talk about not doing things that will probably kill you for no good reason - which, okay, I suppose she can sulk if she wants to, but really? Come the fuck on. Worse, she decided for some gods-be-damned reason to punch a mirror in the duke's home. While we were trying to be stealthy and not be noticed by the multiple guards around. Somehow they didn't catch any of us even though Iltiari had to stuff themself under a bed and Hail got stepped on. I do feel bad about that guard being poisoned, though. Hopefully he won't suffer any lasting effects and gets decent hazard pay.
 
Bell, though... I almost had to hold her down to fix up her hand; is she not aware of how much damage she could have done? She's a monk, she needs working hands! At least she let me do it eventually. Whatever's going on with her... she needs to talk, soon. Zsoana seems bothered by it too, and Hail was ready to strangle her earlier. I get why - that's fucking dangerous! It almost got us caught! But Hail choking her out won't help anything and I don't really want to test if Revivify actually works.
 
I will Zone of Truth her if I have to.