Icewind Dale has become trapped in a perpetual winter. Ferocious blizzards make the mountain pass through the Spine of the World exceedingly treacherous, and this land has not felt the warmth of the sun in over two years. In fact, the sun no longer appears above the mountains, not even in what should be the height of summer. In this frozen tundra, darkness and bitter cold reign as king and queen. Most dale residents blame Auril the Frostmaiden, the god of winter’s wrath. The shimmering aurora that weaves across the sky each night is said to be her doing—a potent spell that keeps the sun at bay.

Dalefolk live in a scattering of settlements known as Ten-Towns. The drop-off in caravans coming from the south and travel between settlements in this never-ending winter has left everyone feeling isolated. Although each town has resolved to appease the Frostmaiden with sacrifices of one kind or another, no respite from winter’s fury seems forthcoming. For adventurers such as yourselves, Ten-Towns is a place to test one’s mettle and, in the spirit of heroes who have come before, leave one’s mark on this frigid, blighted land.

You've each received a message to meet the Professor at his house. It's been a while since the five of you were all together. That last adventure was something else. The message said the Professor had a unique mission that he needed your help in.

Iris you are the first to arrive at his house. Would you care to describe yourself as you move to the threshold...

Iris's cloak flutters behind her as she approaches the Professor's home. With her hood up, she might look like any other Ten-Towner, dressed in thick wools in shades of dark grey and turquoise. But, with her face revealed as it is now, her pale blue coloration and spiraling horns immediately stand out. Despite her apparent fiendish heritage, her bright golden eyes and warm smile betray no malice, and she waves or nods to a couple passersby that she's met in years past.

Reaching the threshold, she knocks on the door with a gloved hand to announce herself, but doesn't wait for an answer before ducking inside - she knows she's always welcome here. "Good morning, Professor," she calls out, glancing around for where the old gnome might be.

Moving thru the streets of Bryn Shander with a friendly demeanor, despite his size and appearance, a large goliath makes his way toward a familiar house. Maudath please tell us what we see.... 

Maudath moves towards the professor's home with almost a skip in his step, his enormous 7'10" body moving lightly across the hard packed snow on the ground. While he wears a heavy fur lined long coat, it's currently unbuttoned and flowing out like sails behind him, exposing his muscular 340 pound frame. Piercing blue eyes contrast sharply with his grayish - green skin and jet black beard.

Humming a lively song to himself, he stops in his tracks looking up and down the street, from one house to the other. He reaches up and scratches his bald head, absently tracing the outline of one of the dark patches so common to the skin of goliaths.

The unmistakable clink of armor accompanies the humming, and it's impossible to miss the great sword strapped across Maudath's back, nor the pair of short swords swinging on either hip. 

His humming turns to singing:

"Bidh peant againn - peant - peant
Bidh peant làidir againn
Agus nuair a tha sinn air an deoch gu h-àrd,
bheir sinn uile èigheachd - Hurrah!"

For any who understands Halfling:

We’ll have a pint — a pint — a pint
We’ll have a pint of stout
And when we’ve drunk it bottom up,
we all will give a shout — Hurrah!

 He spins around once more. "Now which blasted house is it?" he says in a deep, loud, impossible-to-quiet voice.

Just when he's about to start randomly knocking on doors, he spots Iris going inside one of the homes, and hears her greeting to the professor.

A laugh bursts out from his lips as he moves quickly down the block and bangs his big fist on the same door Iris just entered.

"What's for breakfast?" he calls as he crosses the threshold.

Eve, you were surprised to hear from the Professor, it isn't often he reaches out to you. The voice in your head a small whisper, you're used to always hearing it by now, wondering what the little gnome wants with you. You arrived earlier but were hesitant to knock so you stood back on a corner watching. Please describe yourself to the group.....

"Hm? Yes? Iris? I'll be out in a minute!"

Iris hears the gnome call from somewhere in the recesses of his workshop as she steps into the cluttered interior. There is a whirring and clanking sound coming from the back, as she enters the relatively welcoming sitting room (in that there are chairs and a couch, which will be accessible with only a minor shifting of books, manuscripts and discarded gizmos). There is a tray set out on a table with some baked goods on it, but the tea hasn't been brought forth yet. 

If anyone looked over, towards Eve, they would have just seen an unusual drift of snow on the corner. If they were nearby, they may have heard a quiet giggle, from time to time, as Eve entertained herself, hiding inside her own minor illusion. She did this often. It was very easy to hide in these lands.

She was debating whether to knock on the professor’s door. She loved seeing the professor, but it wasn’t often he requested her presence. She felt like she was waiting outside the headmaster’s office.

Just as she decides to go over and knock though, she sees another figure moving towards the house and she freezes... It’s ‘The Healer’... She holds her breath and her heart races. She decides against responding to the professor’s summons entirely. But she watches the woman regardless as she knocks and goes in.

Shes about to leave when she sees another figure approach the house. A large figure! It’s Maudath! She relaxes entirely and a huge smile spreads across her face.

Once he’s gone inside, Eve dismisses her illusion. She’s a small tiefling, maybe only 5’ 2”. And in her cold weather gear maybe looks like a lost child out here on the street. She lowers her hood, and reveals that she’s a startling shade of red, with pitch black hair pulled into a rough ponytail. And she has long horns that sweep up and back from her face.

As she approaches the house she plays a silly game with herself of hopping from one of Maurath’s big footprints to the next, like a frog hopping from lily pad to lily pad. When she reaches the door she knocks and enters.

Chuckling at the Professor's response, Iris moves a large stack of papers out of the way so she can perch on the edge of one of the armchairs, then removes her outermost cloak and lays it neatly across the back. She's about to help herself to one of the pastries when she hears a loud banging on the door followed by an unmistakable booming voice. "Do you ever think about anything besides food and violence?" She teases as Maudath walks in, smiling and standing to greet him.

Only moments later, the door creaks open again and another immediately recognizable figure enters - the other tiefling, Eve, she thinks? Iris isn't entirely sure what to make of the woman. The few interactions they've had have been horribly awkward for reasons she can't put her finger on, and she hasn't failed to notice Eve watching her from the shadows when she walks around town. Still, she offers the tiefling a friendly smile and allows her to make the first move and establish what she's comfortable with, whether that be silence or conversation.

As Eve enters, Iris looks over and smiles. Eve’s eyes go wide. She nods, and frowns, then smiles. “My Lady...”, she says, then immediately regrets it.

Why did she say that?! She’s never said that to anyone before in her life! ‘Oh gods she’s going to think I’m odd’, she thinks to herself. She tries to style-it-out with an awkward curtsy...

Then she desperately looks around the room and finds ((Mauthar)) Maudath. She beams at him. “Maudath!!”, she calls out and heads straight over, both gloved hands up for a double high five (if he’ll accept).

((You got his name right before, were you intending to get it wrong this time? Double dose of awkward? :D ))

Maudath nods a greeting to Iris as one of the pastries is already disappearing into his mouth.

"I don't always think about food," Maudath says in his deep booming voice. "Sometimes I think about what to drink with food. Now a nice spot of tea would go wonderfully with these pastries."

He looks around hopefully for a teapot, and possibly bacon too.

"And violence? I abhor violence," Maudath says. "Spirited, physical, competition yes, but violence never."

He eyes Iris as he reaches for another pastry. "I know you've a grand touch when it comes to healing, but I bet you'd get the same thrill as anyone if you had to give someone a good smack to keep from dying."

Maudath stops chewing and smiles as Eve enters the room. He laughs, little bits of pastry flying everywhere, as she offers her hands for a double high five. He slaps both with his hands, trying his best not to put too much weight behind it.

"And how are you little sister?" he asks.

((OOC: lol oh no! NO! I totally meant to get it right!! I’m editing it out before anyone sees!!))

Eve’s smile is wide, like a shark’s, with her double-rows of needle-teeth showing. But it’s just genuine, overflowing, delight on her face, as she connects a spectacular double-high-five with Maudath.

Then her face screws up into mock-outrage, “Who’s ‘little’??!... YOU’RE little!!”, she teases. And attempts to grab his pastry off him...

((Straight DEX contest??: 18 ))

"I sincerely doubt that," Iris replies to Maudath, chuckling and shaking her head.

At Eve's strange greeting, she stands there for a drawn-out moment with raised brows and half-open mouth doing mental gymnastics trying to figure out how to respond. After what feels like both a second an an eternity she seems to snap back to herself and returns the curtsy, perhaps a bit more gracefully than Eve's.

Watching Eve and Maudath's enthusiastic interaction, she comments towards either who will answer, "So you two know each other well, then?"

Eve looks over to Iris, “Yes. Well we.. it’s just... I....”. She looks down towards her feet and...

”Oh FKlEERK!!”, she swears in infernal, seeing her wet boots marking up the professor’s floor with melting ice and grime. “Oh, no, no! That wasn’t me!.. oh.. uhh....”.

She tiptoes swiftly back to the door and struggles to get her boots off quickly. She stands them just inside the door with the others there, and hangs her furs up too.

Under her winter clothes she has on an old, faded set of studded-leathers. They look far older than she does. They’re worn, and cracked, and faded, but well kept. ‘Vintage’, she’d say, like a beautiful old guitar.

Out of her boots and gloves the party can see her red hands and red feet. Her nails are black and hooked, almost like talons or claws, and her tail flicks, a little restlessly, behind her as she turns back to the room, having been completely distracted from the question Iris asked.

Looking back to the room, Eve’s eyes flick over to Iris every now and then. And when she thinks no one is looking, Eve screws her eyes up and rubs them, like she’s got something in them, and coughs...

Maybe she just cast thaumaturgy... maybe she didn’t... But when her hands come away from her eyes they’re the exact same shade of shining gold as Iris’s. Although maybe they’d always been like that...

After a few moments, this small gnome comes strolling out of another room carrying atray with a tea kettle and cups for everyone. Professor if yous like to describe what the others see....

There's a loud hissing that builds to a BANG that rattles the walls from the back, some muttered Gnomish curses, a cloud of steam rolling through across the ceiling, preceding Professor Wibblepingle, carrying a tray with a pair of steaming flasks, one clear and one with a dark brown liquid and an assortment of small glassware beakers.The tray extends from his shortened left arm, affixed through a series of metal arms and pistons that keep it horizontal and stable. He's of average height for a gnome, though bit on the slender side, aside from a bit of a belly in the front. He's not wearing his normal leather cap, his bald head with a sooty handprint above the fringe of white hair that extends from ear to ear in the back of his head, and matches the white of his eyebrows and facial hair, which is a bit mussed, and has an inexplicable blue stain on one side today.

His eyes glitter excitedly as he hurries over, scooting some books aside to set the tray down on the table beside the pastries. With a twist of the wrist, he detaches his left arm from the tray, and pulls out and sockets a teacup into the rig harnessed over his stump as he exclaims, "Ah, so glad you could make it! I've a business opportunity that you three might just be perfect for! But first, some tea! It's a new formulation I just devised, still needs a few kinks worked out, but I grew weary of constantly needing to urinate, when most of it is water that just passes right through, so why not make tea that is more concentrated?! This has been ground, then pressure extracted, each dram is the equivalent to five cups of standard strength!"

He excitedly pours a splash from the flask into each beaker and passes them around. "There's hot water too, if you need to dilute it, but give it a go!"

"So, about this job..."

Iris settles back into the armchair she previously occupied, removing her gloves as well and setting them atop her folded cloak. She accepts the cup she's offered and takes a small sip, eyes immediately widening at the taste. "Wow. That is certainly... strong." She stifles a cough. "I think I'll just take some of this..." And she pours as much water as she possibly can into the cup, so it's nearly spilling over the brim. She takes another hesitant sip, and while still strong, it's at least manageable. "Right, yes, the job. You mentioned something about elemental spirits?"

Eve takes one of the shots of tea, sniffs it, and takes a sip...

Does she like it check: 9 

She looks up over her cup, at each party member tasting it and then over to the professor. “Mmm... very.. lovely..”. She says to him...

Deception check: 8 

She stands there, by the door, sipping her tea politely waiting for him to continue on, about the job, in his own time.