There are a few shelves in the room, most of the books don't have any writing on spine. 

Once you are all settled  "You made mention of a boy? Haurwar it was, on behalf of his mother? I believe he is one of our recent...converts. He is currently manning the gatehouse above the portcullis you came in thru. Feel free to speak with him once our business here is concluded. As for the town speaker, " his smile gets a tiny bit wider "I am afraid he is too sick to see anyone. He has appointed me to oversee things in his stead till his health returns." 

"Would any of you care for a drink?" he stands and takes a large crystal bottle off one of the shelves and a few glasses. He begins to pour one out for himself. 

Eve lingers at the back, and stands, in solidarity with Ryhunis. She stands beside her larger companion and places a hand on her arm, standing together with her.

She lets the others take a seat, but she wants to stand for a while longer. Her tail flicks back and forth behind her. She is clam but on high alert, and keeping her (and Ipkiss’s) wits about her, ready for anything until the meaning of all this becomes clear...

Maudath takes the offered drink and selects a chair that looks like it might hold his weight. He sits down in it gingerly. He eyes both the Professor and Kadroth as he sips at the drink, content for now to let the Professor take the lead in this conversation.

Ryhunis just scoffs at the thiefling insult at calling fat, she is already quite used to such degrading language and actions towards her
"He is lucky i am a merciful queen, or else I might have been quite angry at such bad treatment"

"And what is being done to return him to health? We have in our midst an accomplished healer, and I myself have some possible recourse to healing, though mine is a bit more experimental. Iris has already volunteered to do what she can for the speaker."

If a glass is poured for him, the Professor sets it nearby but doesn't drink from it.

He hands out drinks to all. "While I appreciate your offer, he is being cared for." He sits back down in his chair "Let's discuss the threat these Duergar pose to Ten Towns. We've been working to uncover their secret plans but so far have been ...unsuccessful. Your group seems to be..adept at handling them. I would like to offer an alliance. We will be happy to give you shelter here when you need it, and any support we may be able to, if you agree to help us stop the duergars plans. "

"And who would the 'we' be that we're to be allying ourselves with? The optics from the outside observers position... They're not great."

Maudath is close to losing his patience with this conversation. He's always been more direct than most, something his mum said comes from his blood. But he's learned to trust the Professor, so if this is the way to talk to Kadroth, this is the way.

He does notice the Professor doesn't touch his drink. Maudath looks down into the empty glass he has and shrugs to himself. Can't be helped now. He looks around at the others and decides the Professor won't mind, so Maudath takes the Professor's glass and drinks from that one too.

"Any chance of some chowder or hot sandwiches while we have this chit chat?" Maudath does finally ask.

"I'm not sure what Hethyl told you." he looks you all in the eyes unflinching "We are known as the Black Swords. We were all brought together by our patron, Lord Levistus, to help Ten Towns achieve...its full potential."  Kadroth settles back into his chair and gives you all a very warm smile. "I've been assisting the speaker here, and we have members of our family advising people all over Ten Towns." 

Hearing your request Maudath "I can have the cooks whip up something as soon as we are done here"

"The duergar pose a very real threat to the safety and security of the Dale. If we are to bring prosperity back we must stop them."

Maudath nods along as Kadroth speaks. But then his brow furrows at the mention of Lord Levistus. The name sounds familiar. He thinks his family might have put on a comedy with Levistus as one of the characters, but he can't be sure.

History to see if Maudath can remember anything about Levistus and the Black Swords: 18  

"Black Swords?" Maudath says. "Good name. So the Professor here's much quicker than I am, but if I get the gist of this, you want us to smack around any duergar we come across, and in exchange we can bunk here whenever we're in town? Yeah?"

"We've no fondness of the duergar, and if they are a threat to the whole of the Dale, our aims would be aligned as far as opposing them. What is this... full potential you aim to accomplish for your lord?"

Maudath, you've heard a few stories in which the name Levistus was used but nothing much else about that comes to mind. You have never heard of Black Swords before today.

To you Maudath "That is the gist of it, as you say." 

Turning to you Professor his smile growing a little wider "Our partnership is just beginning my small friend. Once we know each other a bit better I would be more than happy to enlighten you more."

Maudath looks over at the Professor before turning back and taking a look at the others, rolling his eyes as he does so, such that they can see him but Kadroth can't.

Maudath turns back and looks at Kadroth. He's never been great at reading people. Sure he can tell when they're about to try and hit him with something, but also this hidden talk and double meaning and riddles drives him crazy. But despite that, he's pretty sure he doesn't trust Kadroth.

"Sounds great," Maudath says. He tries to catch the Professor's eyeline and raises an eyebrow as he does. "How about we go grab some lunch, let Haurwar know his mom has been asking after him, and have a look at the rooms you've got for us and we can plan our next steps against the duergar?"

"I am certainly interested in what all has been going on... are you yourself a scholar?", the Professor waves a hand casually at the books on the shelves.

"That sounds reasonable, Maudath."

"While I do enjoy a good book, I don't consider myself a scholar at all." He gives you all another friendly smile. " Do enjoy your meal, and I will send someone to find you when the space we have for you is prepared."   He goes about looking over some papers, the smile on his face never fading. 

Maudath watches Kadroth for a moment and then stands up and leaves the room, waiting for the others to join him. He looks around for either of the two 'escorts' they had earlier.

"The big man wants you to show us the way to the dining room and kitchen so we can have a good lunch," he tells them if they're there. "Be good lads and show us the way."

Otherwise, he doesn't say anything to the others while they can be overheard by their escort.

Assuming they get taken to a dining area and they can talk without being overheard, Maudath will then lean in and in a hushed voice speak to the group.

"Even I can tell there's something not right going on here," he begins. "Hide the townspeaker away, bring in your own small army of, what are they, devil worshipers?, and pretend like everything's right as can be?"

He looks around to make sure no one is eavesdropping.

"Those duergar are up to no good too, but this lot sounds just as bad."

They do indeed lead you back into the main hall you first entered into. They leave to attend to other duties. You all are alone for the moment. 

"Oh, he is absolutely not to be trusted, their master is the Archdevil Levistus, the ruler of the layer of ice within the hells. I doubt what he's doing with the speaker is above board, so to speak, and he's clearly recruiting followers to his cult. Interesting that both they and the duergar are making use of that black stone.... I very much wish to study it. I'm not certain about taking rooms here... we were first met with pointed crossbows, I'm not sure our residence here would be much more than a prison, but I am interested in seeing what can be learned. Perhaps we set up base camp back at the inn we cleared out, close enough to still access the Caer, but not beholden on them for lodging?"

A short time later the young tiefling girl brings out bowls of chowder and ale for all of you. She keeps her head down and doesn't make eye contact.

Eve agrees with the Professor and Maudath, in hushed tones, “They do both sound as bad as each other, these duergar and those in league with the devils”. She looks over both shoulders before leaning in towards the party. “So far, we’ve killed all the duregar that we’ve seen, and we’re ‘held’ here… so I think we at least play along here for now”.

”Probably, we should agree to look into things for them, and if we meet more duergar, then we ask their side of the story… That’s if they give us the chance!! If they just jump us again, I’m not against taking them out, if it’s for these weirdos or not”.

”So let’s maybe finish our dinner, find out where they want us to start, then be on our way? Maybe we head their way… Maybe we go our own way…”.

When the young tiefling comes in with the food, Eve asks her directly, “Are you okay, Miss?… You look scared to death… … You know we can help you. We help people. That’s what we do… … If you want us to help you, you just say the word”. Eve gives the girl a very serious and genuine look, one young tiefling girl to another.