"Chowder sounds excellent, Roark! I am Professor C.R. Wibblepingle, and these are my traveling companions, I'll let them introduce themselves. Ten bowls...", he looks over at Maudath to see if that should suffice, "...ten to start at least, of your chowder, and some crusty bread, if you have it! Do you happen to have any tea or the like?"

Maudath gives the Professor a half smile and a sheepish shrug.

"It's a start," Maudath says as he looks out the windows of the tavern. "That's a large fortress for a town this size."

Maudath turns back to the bar and Roark.

"How does the lord or lady manage to maintain it?"

Eve agrees, “Chowder sounds perfect!…”. She beams up at the owner with a huge toothy smile: all rows of razor teeth and her black-black eyes… but somehow she manages to still look cute… and exhausted.

She pulls the leather-tie out of her ponytail and shakes out her hair before tugging it back into an even more unkempt ponytail, somehow. She seems pleased with it though.

When the owner finally departs, Ipkiss stirs. But instead of a tiny devil emerging from the sling, quite a large black bird pulls itself free and claws and flaps it’s way onto the table.

It really is an unreasonably large bird! It stretches its wings out, to a span of a little over a meter.

Eve shushes Ipkiss, “Shh… Ipkiss, no, more discrete!!… Please!…”. He ‘caws’ and maybe draws a little too much attention, knocking over cutlery and wings clumsily flapping against the party’s faces, before blinking out, invisible.

Then he the claws and flaps (as an invisible raven), off the table and scratches his way across the floor, over to the fireplace. The flames flicker and for a second, and Ipkiss is visible again, sitting crosslegged in the flames before sighing (like someone relaxing into an easy chair), “Ahhhhh!… That’s better...”, and blinking out again. The flames licking around his tiny, invisible, devil form.

Eve is just smiling, looking over to him. More content then she’s been in a while.

When everyone is at the table Ryhunis looks around her with the food on the table she then lowers her head to put it on the table doing a loud sound of rock falling on the table and shaking the table for a second
"Unsuprisingly I am still hungry, I miss eating" she speaks in an incredibly sad voice
"Surely this "Fine establishment" would oughted to have something for people like me but I guess justice and equality isn't something that exists around these lands" she said fine establishment mockingly but low enough so only the group could hear her

"Apologies, my dear. I know food no longer holds the same enjoyment for you, but are you able to consume or take in anything? It may not be a meal, but perhaps I could devise something that would give you a similar sense of enjoyment and contentment?"

Roark returns with your bowls of chowder and the tea that the professor requested. "Ah the Caer is the home of the town speaker Crannoc Siever. Its kept up thru the taxes that the townspeople pay, and the work they put into it. The folks of Caer-Dineval have been keeping up the old fortress since it was taken back from the Orcs years ago." 

Maudath nods as Roark speaks.

"Any chance there are a couple of tieflings and a boy from Bremen living up there too?" Maudath asks. "His mom is a bit worried about him and hasn't heard word since these tieflings offered to help him."

He looks around at the others.

"There were amulets or something, right?" Maudath asks the others. "And something about black ice."

"Tranqualize thy brain cells for there is no way of changing this predictament, quite a sad ending for such an amazing and perfect, honest and modest beeing like me, but I am afraid not everyone has happy endings, sad sad indeed"
"Those black crystals or ice are quite interesting, I shall have alot of fun studying them, hope i can get a few of them, mental control, truly interesting"

Roarks face turns a little down for just a sec "Not sure about any boy or tieflings but the town speaker has been sick as of late. People always coming and going from the Caer."  

The Professor casts a glance at Iris.

"Do you have local healers that have seen to them? Any outside help been in to have a look? We might have some ability to aid if they wish."

"Yes, I should be able to fix it if it's just an ordinary disease or wound. I'd be more than happy to take a look," Iris chimes in.

Maudath continues to eat the chowder through the conversation, looking from the Professor to Iris and back to Roark. Something in his body language made Maudath think he might be hiding something. How did he react to the Professor and Iris offering to help the town speaker?

Insight: 12  

"Food is starting to make me feel more like myself," Maudath says. "Pity about the lack of ale though. Think this town speaker will have some? Least they could offer for Iris fixing this Siever up."

He then heads over to the fireplace and puts his feet up near the fire.

"Do we go pay the town speaker a visit tonight or after breakfast?"

DM stuff

 To the best you can tell Maudath he didnt seem to react one way or another to the offer of help

"If your lookin for a place to stay you best be callin up at the Caer. All my rooms are spoken for, tho I'm not sure that they are taken visitors either  due to the speaker bein sick. But maybe you offerin to help will soften em up a bit. Might be they got some stores of ale up there we dont know about." Roark then moves back behind the bar and continues to clean his clearly clean glasses, offering the occasional glace your way.

"Ah, well, that settles it for me," Maudath says. "Ale and a bed. Pure luxury that."

He gets all of his gear back together and looks over at the rest of the group.

"Shall we?"

If in agreement, Maudath heads out the door, and starts up the path to the Caer.

Eve agrees, “Yep, let’s see what we can find elsewhere”, and she heads out with Maudath.

Ipkiss follows, invisibly, close behind, leaving tiny ashy footprints leading away from the fire.

When they get outside, he changes to his visible, raven form, and perches on Eve’s shoulder like a pirate-captain’s parrot.

Iris checks in with Roark before they leave to pay off their tab, then bundles up in her furs and follows the others back into the cold. She takes her customary position at the front of the group, glowing shield lighting the path.

Its a short walk to the looming fortress at the top of the cliff. You all stop for a moment to admire the view out to the frozen Loc. Maudath and Ryhunis, you both immediately see why the castle was built up here. Tactically it provides an unimpeded view of all the surrounding lands.

Turning to the fortress you see a sturdy, stone castle devoid of warmth and ostentation squats atop the cliffs overlooking the town and the frozen harbor. Warding the castle entrance are thick, battle-hardened wooden doors. Four cylindrical guard towers have wind-worn flags bearing the town’s heraldry fluttering above their tiled, conical roofs. These towers are connected by icy battlements and parapets. Atop the castle walls and within the guard towers, torches flicker.

Arriving at the castle gate It is closed. 

"Marvellous structure!! Marvellous indeed! What you think Need for mommy? I must say I am incredibly happy to finally some well..-ish made villainous structure" Ryhunis looked at the gate
"You think we can just break in with hands blazing killing things left and right?"
"I wanna see how these people handle against a simple door, might be usefull later"

"Yeah, I suppose," Maudath says to Ryhunis. "Or we could just knock like people looking for a place to stay for the night would do."

Maudath walks up to the closed gate and bangs on it.

"Anyone home in there?" he shouts.

The Professor carried up the rear of the procession, also with a bit of light, though his is much dimmer.

"Let me know how responding to Ryhunis's names for you goes, I generally just ignore her unless she addresses me properly."  , he mutters to Maudath as he joins him near the gate.