"You know I can't wear these, right?"

Si'Juul gives a brief flair of his wings.

"Even if I could fit them over my wings they would not be hidden at all. Not to mention that it would make the robes ride up to expose my talons. Besides, I was never any good at sneaking around, I think we all know that. I have something that.... well, I just hope I'm right."

"And what do we do with our little buddy here?"

Si'Juul leans his head towards the man apparently being called Kevin.

”I don’t know. We can’t just keep him with us forever.” She turn to Kevin “what would you do if we let you go? We need to investigate the church because of what we have uncovered and we can’t just let you run away and warn them.”

Kevin looks at you, before swallowing hard: "Look, you're clearly not bad people, or else you'd have taken the first opportunity to kill me. I can't believe that the church has been so profoundly corrupted as you claim, but I can't dismiss what you're saying out of hand either, since again, you seem like decent folk. I have my loyalty to the church, but I see you have your own follower of Ilmater around you, so..." He swallows again, taking a deep breath. "What proof do you have of this corruption? If there is anything to this story, I'm willing to help you."

Insight check: 13

Elhanna retell everything that happened at the tower the events that led up to it. She explain their encounter with the brand, though she leave out Si’Juul’s part in it.

Persuasion : 17

Kevin listens to your story, and he seems moved, but some reluctance remains: "I don't know this father Ephesian, and from the sounds of it, he was quite mad. And even if he was right, that's only a story. Is there anything you can show me, or that I could show others in the church that would prove that your story is true?"

You figure that he is torn between wanting to believe that his church hasn't fallen to the  corruption you claim is abundant, but also judging you to be truthful characters at your core.

Paren, Poinki, Si'Juul, do you want to try anything?

"You admitted yourself that we seem to be telling the truth. So ask yourself this: Why would we lie about this? What is there for us to gain by doing that?"

He swallows again: "There are many possibilities. You could be fugitives, like those posters suggest, or you could be working for the drow to corrupt the church by sowing dissension. There are many possibilities. But even if I believed you, you won't be able to capture the congregation one by one and spend a strange day with them only to show them that you're not really that bad. I can't help you convince the others if there's no hard proof of what you're saying."

"And just what did those posters say about me?"

"Proof...we have book," Poinki says, rummaging in his pack for the tome he carries. "Book tell history of hidden Abraxas worship in church. Father Ephesian discover it still going on. You want read? We have no names yet, we search for proof now. If not true, we happy as anyone. But must find proof one way or other most important thing. And to search, better to believe it true than trust maybe demon worshipers and only proof to be us all dead."

”Good thinking! I had completely  Forgoten about the book! Here is the reason we decided to investigate.” 

Paren just shrugs. "I wasn't here for this but I trust them all not to lie about something so important."

As Poinki presents the book, the passage is marked with the letter that the Brand gang had on them. Kevin carefully reads the passage, his face taking on an increasingly grim mood.

"That's grave news. And you say this father Ephesian died over this?" As some of you nod, Kevin's eyes fall on the letter used as a bookmark, and his eyes go wide. He folds it up, feels the seal, and then reads the text:

"Order for the Black Brand

 As per our agreement, make haste to the lighthouse of Torn, and ensure that the priest holed up there does not leave alive. Should he have shared his nonsense with anyone else, they are to be eliminated too.

In return for this, the Archbishop is offering 300 gold pieces for the duration of the contract and the head or other proof of the death of the priest. Should he have told anyone of his heretical views, any further heretic will be recompensed with a further 25 gold per head.
Seal of Olyvander Septimus, the Archbishop of the church of Ilmater in Arkos."

He looks at you all, ashenfaced. "So, it's true... or at least, close enough to the truth that the Archbishop would send the brand to take care of this mad old priest..." He runs his hand over his face, trying to collect himself. "I am a man of my word too, and I will help you uncover this conspiracy and drive out the cultists. What's your plan?"

"Unless I miss my guess, these guys plan to infiltrate the citadel, but I have my own plan. One I don't think you can help with, unless you got friends in the Black Brand."

"You mean to tussle with the Brand? And alone no less? You're right, I don't have any friends in the brand, but maybe we can draw some of them off with this whole thing about the church?"

”I’m glad you can see the truth for what it is. It is not wasy to admit faults in ones faith. By the was, what is your name again? Im terrible with names and pften make up new names if i can’t remember them.” She smile a Kevin “Our plan was to confront the archbissiop and have him explain. But then the brand ruined those plans. As for now, it is as Si’juul says, we plan to infiltrate the church and try to uncover more proof of this. If all goes well we can take it to the mayor and he can take action to end this unfortunate business.” She sprawn out on the bed. “Si'Juul what is your plan? If you are confronting the brand by your self I’m asking you to reconsider. We can find a use for you in our plan or we can come up with something different, but we should all stay together.”  

"Not what I had in mind."

Si'Juul pauses, staring off into space for a moment.

"When I left you guys earlier I went to see about some minor work at that gnome's shop where I repaired my gun. He told me some things about the Brand that...sounded like the Brand that I originally joined, and not the Brand that I left. So I wonder if there are more members like me who refused those ridiculous contracts. I also wonder if there's infighting within the Brand. Remember that warehouse? The men within were awful quick to raise defenses. What if they thought we were other Brand members coming to take them down? One way or another, alone if I have to, I am going to go back there and find out. I have to know if there are others from the Brand not corrupted by greed. And if there are, they could be potential allies for us in our inevitable confrontation with the archbishop and the greedy side of the Black Brand."

As he speaks, you can see a fire in his eyes. But not a fire of 'I am going to hurt someone', rather a fire of hope, something that he has never shown until now.

"We can't fight the archbishop without help, and that's the only possible way we're going to get it. Otherwise, we won't stand a chance, and at that point we might as well just leave in the morning, because I don't have a deathwish."

”That is a good ide. Maybe we should do that first and then try to infiltrate the church. What do the rest of you think?”

Paren shrugs. "I'm just along for the ride at this point. Apparently all my old skills have worn off."

Poinki nods. "Better have all information we can. If Si'Juul's brand not serving demon, maybe they fight, too."

"I've never known any of them to be any more religious than I am. So, do we use the cover of night or wait till morning? And what about this guy? Who, if anyone, is watching over him?"

Si'Juul lazily points a thumb towards Kevin.