Some tavern, at a town near the forest

I'm fairly sure that cleaning up a potential environmental disaster shouldn't be considered an easy day, but compared to last time, it definitely was. I'm still not even sure what day it is.
 
We left the smoking ruin of the tavern behind us after Zsoana got us directions to a road from a group of friendly snakes, one of whom was named (she named?) Alfred. Apparently Yuan-Ti can talk with actual snakes by hissing at them.
 
The road the snakes directed us to eventually led us to a town, and we all split up temporarily to run some different errands. It took... a lot more work than it should have been to get that asshole who drugged us thrown in jail, but Zone of Truthing him plus reminding him that we could always just go back to Iltiari eventually got him to confess. While I was doing that, Damiel sent my letter and apparently one of his own - with any luck the Navy will show up soon and deal with the demon, if it's still there. I hope it hasn't gone anywhere else.
 
Everyone else went to the market, which was.... chaotic. Bell wanted live chickens for some reason - I'm not certain why they had to be live, specifically, since she just killed one to make dinner for Hail by that evening, but at this point I've given up on questioning what Bell does so long as she's not hurting anyone.
 
After the market, we found a tavern and stopped in - this one thankfully wasn't an attempt to kidnap people - and ended up taking a job from a dwarf who didn't want to give us the details at first. As shady as it sounded, it turned out to be legitimate enough. Something was making animals go crazy in the forest, and a scientist wanted us to capture an infected animal so she could study it and figure out what was happening. There were some... issues.... with some rabbits and squirrels, but Iltiari and Damiel managed to catch a hummingbird in Iltiari's cloak so we didn't have to go fight a boar and try to capture it.
 
Of course, because nothing ends simply, the scientist then hired us to go find the source of whatever was happening, so we followed a contaminated river upstream until we found the cave that the water was coming from. Some goblins and kobolds had set up shop there making some kind of gunk, and the runoff was getting into the water. One of those goblins turned out to be Bell's friend, the one she's mentioned wanting to find once or twice.
 
Bell's friend told us that he was being forced to work for M. Channail, and that they were holding his weasel hostage so he would comply. I don't know why Bell's friend was so important to them to have, or what they were doing with what they were making, but Damiel got a sample, so we should be able to find that out soon.
 
Between Iltiari being their usual terrifying self and Damiel's explosives, cleaning up the remaining goblins and kobolds, along with their still, was simple. We went back to the tavern afterwards, and from talking to Bell and her friend, it seems like we're going to try to get her friend's weasel back.
 
On that note, her friend is kind of an asshole. I get that Bell can be troublesome, but she talks about him like he's her favorite person in the world. I expected him to be at least a little more fond of her... Despite that, she's hinted that after we get his weasel back, she might be leaving with him. I'm.... not sure how I feel about that. We haven't always been on the best terms, and somehow she worries me more than anyone else in the party, but that doesn't mean I'll be glad to see her go. She is our friend.
 
At the market, I paid Iltiari off with another baguette to keep Damiel distracted long enough for me to talk to Bell without him eavesdropping - I never can tell when he's listening in or not and there was no chance I was going to risk him overhearing us. According to Bell, elves will give the other something as a way to show how they feel, so I slipped by and bought him some tea before we left since he's so fond of it.
Gods, I hope she's actually right and not mistaken, or making this up, or I'm going to look like the world's biggest idiot... I already feel like it. Damiel tolerates all of us, at best. This is absolutely going to fail, and badly, and then it's just going to be uncomfortable.
 
If I hadn't already promised myself I was going to say something, I think I would've just tossed the tea out now and given up on the idea entirely. I feel like I'm ramming my head into a brick wall while also trying not to throw up every time I think about it. I can't even look at him without my stomach flipping.
 
The month should be changing soon, right? Maybe that's the key! I can give flowers to everyone then, and if Damiel doesn't outright reject the idea of us being friends I'll give him the tea and stop being a coward. The worst that can happen is that he rejects it and then kills me in my sleep, right? At least then it won't be awkward.