Professor Mirsha Gahlván
Description
Professor Gahlván is easy to spot among his colleagues. He wears red and silver instead of Lorehold’s traditional red and white and is rarely without his monkey companion, Lalo. His office (number 4803) is always a mess, he’s frequently late for even important events, and fiddles with the silver ring he wears when he’s nervous. He and his stalwart friend, Professor Quintorius Kand, are known as conspiracy theorists for their continued warnings about the Oriq. He attended Strixhaven as a student along with Professor Kand and Captain Dapplewing, during which time he worked at the Biblioplex. Unlike most of his peers, he wasn't able to cast a spell until his third year. In his first year, he was involved in an altercation that ended in the death of another student from Redfell: a tiefling named Lore. This altercation and its outcome weigh heavily on the professor to this day, despite the intervening years.Year 1 Involvement
The professor sponsored two students this year: Mistake and Jordyn Zahmonsath. Though he was always very encouraging toward Mistake, including loaning her volumes from the Rival series, she had issues trusting the human professor. Especially after she learned he was from Redfell, where humans revile tieflings like her. Professor Gahlván’s refusal to answer her questions about the dangers on campus didn’t endear himself to her any further. Then he and Professor Kand were put on probation, ostensibly for unsafe handling of artifacts, but in actuality to stop their continued investigations into the Oriq. With clockwork owls following his every move, he finally realized he had little choice but to involve the enterprising group of students that called themselves the F Squad. The two professors came to Krokt Tower under the shadow of night (and invisibility) to ask them to infiltrate the Captain's Manor and steal a book from her attic. They believed the missing Dean Imbraham was trapped within that book, having been studying how to perform such an enchantment. The Captain didn’t trust her staff enough to let them check, however, and had confiscated the book from the Dean’s office. When the Captain wanted to expel all five members of the Squad for their theft, Professors Gahlván and Kand took full responsibility for the event to protect them. The F Squad escaped immediate consequences, but the two professors remained on probation. Rosimyffenbip Wuzfeddlims found this unacceptable. The protests she organized grew to a size the Captain couldn’t ignore, and the professors were freed of their owl tagalongs soon after. In return for the F Squad’s help, Professor Gahlván shared information on Ozric Burninghammer, per Griff’s request. He told the group that Ozric was responsible for Rampart Sooviij’s parents’ deaths and may be involved with the Oriq. Ozric had recently been seen at the Mermaid’s Tale – a tavern in Redfell the professor claimed was frequented by Oriq. Over winter break, Mistake verified this claim and found it was the Unseen at the Tale rather than the Oriq. Like Professor Kand, Professor Gahlván chose to go into hiding upon hearing that the Oriq was out to kill him. Dean Imbraham had enchanted the fourth volume of the Rival series for them to hide within. The two professors came out of hiding long enough to warn the F Squad that they were in danger, as well. Once the F Squad informed them that Dapplewing was in the same danger, and had offered her assistance, they and their hiding space were kept within her care. Professor Gahlván had told Mistake and Jordyn about the altercation in his first year that resulted in another student’s death. The other student was a tiefling named Lore, which was also the magic word that activated the enchantment for his and Professor Kand’s book-born hiding place. In light of this, Mistake began to question whether she was just a pawn in his struggle to overcome guilt. Perhaps he wasn’t too different from the other humans in Redfell, after all. At the end of the year, once all the danger had passed, the professor asked Mistake to use her earring of the past to hear the truth of the altercation. She learned that in the Hall of Oracles that day, Lore had killed Mirsha Gahlván in self defense. Lore knew he’d be imprisoned or worse for killing a human, and begged to Dispater for help out of desperation. A silver ring then dropped out of the Snarl, and when he put it on, he transformed into Mirsha. The ring had the ability to change its wearer into the last person they killed. In addition to the murder, however accidental, were decades of duplicity. Only Professor Kand and Captain Dapplewing knew the truth, and now so did Mistake. They had no opportunity to discuss further before the semester ended.
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