"Well met Ulgar.  This one is Piper."  Piper's voice has a metallic twang but is oddly melodious.

Upon seeing a number of the crew joining in with the dancing, Piper continues to play whilst waving his arms as if conducting the dancers.

A clock tolls the hour, 7:00, summoning you all to dinner. You proceed into the dining hall, a warm and spacious wood-paneled room. Thora seats herself at the head of the table, Anghus to her left, and the rest of the company takes whatever chair happens to be nearest. Laughter and the low murmur of conversation rises into the air as you tuck into the food. After everyone has eaten and drunk to their hearts content, Galileo the philosopher calls for a toast, and Thora stands, to much applause and cheering.

”To my father.” She says, lifting a glass of wine, “And to continuing his legacy.”

G'nar raises a glass, but is subdued about it. He understands and appreciates Thora choice of words and actions, but he is here for her and the crew around the table, not for man he has not met. He will thank him for starting the work that gave everyone this opportunity for the grand adventure they are embarking on.

His thoughts turn to the meal, and to visiting the lounge later. An after dinner chaser with a game of cards has been a rare luxury for him lately and it would be a pleasant end to this first night. He can focus on prepping his equipment, and studying the maps later.

Non raises their glass out of respect and cheers as well, letting out a hearty laugh before downing their drink. Turning to whoever is besides them, they softly whisper. "To be completely honest, I've absolutely no clue who she or her father are. I know they're seemingly important and are a part of House Kundarak but that's about it. Know any interesting information about them?"

"Here here!"  Brocc calls out, lifting his own cup.  His pack is gone now, but the feline construct is still nearby.  The saddle bags are gone from the construct, but the weaponsa nd shield remain attached to it.  Brocc would spend time during the meal getting to know the names of the rest of the group, he has only actually spoken with the half-orc and tiefling so far. 

"Name's Brocc 'the Badger' Nackle."  He says in way of introduction when asked his own name.  He also tries to get information on what everyone is on the trip for.  "I was brought along to keep the gear in working order and to fight if we find some hostil creatures."  He explains for his own reasons for being along.

Piper raises his glass stiltedly, "THURM!" he toasts.

Ulfgar joins in on the toast and then hears Non.

"Her father is Thurm Deepcandle," he explained quietly to Non, "and they found a tome of his in a Kundarak vault. The tome revealed the information that led to this expedition. He was not part of House Kundarak, just using one of our vaults." He smiled nervously, feeling a bit out of place. He was not accustomed to large groups or having dinner with so many people. He sipped some wine tentatively and continued to slowly eat his meal. By all accounts a break in the stereotype - most dwarves will have demolished the meal, had seconds and be several cups into the wine by now.  He was not like most dwarves.

The itch in his mind was growing, tickling the magic in his birthmark over his heart. With some mental effort he stopped his dragonmark activating - no, he was not in danger, he mentally told his mark, just anxious. It would be rather odd if he suddenly magicked magical protections on himself in the middle of dinner. People might be a bit alarmed by that.

"Ahh, I see." Non sips at their drink, looking off into the distance as though deep in thought before turning back to Ulfgar, very openly scanning him up and down. "You're not very... hmm... how should I put this... dwarvish are you? So meek, I must say. You've barely touched your food and drink. Not that it's a bad thing, of course... just odd. Where did you grow up? Not around other dwarves I'd suspect. Or at the very least not around other stereotypical dwarves." They smile at Ulfgar, intrigued. 

After his first introduction and questions, Brocc would sit back and listen.  He would ask questions meant to draw out more information about reasons for being on the ship as well as backgrounds for the various people.  he is friendly and polite as the evening goes on.

G'nar is trying to entertain his seating partners, including Captain Lyrandar of one adventure about 3rd year living in the wilderness where he had to escape a pack of wolves that had been hunting him through liberal use of bear scat to confuse them until he was able to get a to a river and cross it to get to safety. "Had to spend the night in a small shelter near naked getting the fire to dry my clothes before I got back to my camp. Spent the whole night with with my bow in a death-grip as I expected some monster to come out of the dark to make a meal of me."

Performance 4

With an ice breaking story told he turns to the Captain. "Out of Curiosity captain how did Ms. Deepcandle decide upon you for the voyage?"

"No, I guess I'm not," Ulgar replied with a half-smile. "I lived a lot of my life alone in mountains and my work for my family involved only sparse interactions with people. So, I'm a bit nervous." He smiled a little more and gave a a very brief nervous laugh.

He asked Non, "Why do you have two names?"

"Oh! You haven't noticed? I'm a changeling. Not all changelings are like me, of course, but I like to have different names for the different, main personas I have. This form I'm in now is named Agni. I'm particularly fond of tieflings. They have such vibrant colours, you know?" Non's eyes suddenly light up with excitement and clap their hands together. "Oh, oh! I'll show you one of my favourites." They suddenly morph into a taller, dark grey skinned tiefling with solid white eyes, white freckles across their face and incredibly long white hair that is shaved on the left. They stand up and pose dramatically multiple times. "Don't I just look magnificent? So badass, is it not? The contrast of the black and white. The shaved hair. The freckles! Oh, the freckles are my absolute favourite! They remind me of stars in the night sky. I like to call this persona.... Twilight." They say their name softly, almost a whisper, with a large smile on their face and an expectant look towards Ulfgar.

After listening to the others talking for a bit, Brocc moves over to speak with G’nar...

"So what is this land like we are traveling to?" Brocc ass the half-orc. "Do you know anything about this place we are heading in particular? Other than the cold and giants, anything you can tell me about the land?" Brocc is trying to get more information about their destination in particular or the frostfell as a whole.

“Lady Deepcandle had heard of my exploits down south.” Captain Lyrandar says, in his best imitation of modesty. “Me and Whisper once traveled to Xen’Drik  and returned with a treasure hoard in less than a month. Let me tell you, those giants were not very agreeable.” He takes a sip of his wine and waits for the gasps of wonder and admiration.

"It is most... settling to hear of your exploits Captain."  Piper states stiltedly, having remained awkwardly silent for most of the meal.  "Do you envision that we might bump in to such manner of beast in Frostfell?"

Q didn't know which way to turn as she drank heavily of her wine, there were tales of hunting wolves, stories of Xen'Drik, Non was performing a quick change talent show; she clapped for Non, toasting them, then looked to the captain. "What tactic did you use against the Giants, I hear tale we will possibly meet some in the Frostfell"

To the captain, G'nar replies, "Stealing treasure from giants?! And my cousins thought I was crazy to live close to them. I hope you and Whisper's giant fighting days aren't over because odds are we'll encounter one or two."

To brocc he answers. "As you said most people know of the frost giants that call the Frostfell home, but not as many people are as familiar with the Frost Gnomes. They build these marvelous villages beneath the ground and have created all these ingenious ways to get just about everything they need down there. With most things they need available down there, and with rowdy neighbors up top they don't come to the surface often, and even less frequently do they invite a stranger in. And I'm proud to say that I'm one of them." Pause to sip water and give the gnome the time to be a bit impressed. "In many ways the world beneath, so close to Kyber, is incredible and beautiful...though cramped. Don't entertain guests much so the place wasn't really built with people my size in mind. I fit but its a little claustrophobic. I'll put in a good word, but no promise anything comes of it." 

"Now for the history buffs like Mr. Qi it should be a grand time. There are ruins all over the place so you can find them if you can brave the weather. The real trick is getting through all the ice to see what you found. I've actually discovered a few, small ones like houses and barns, but I've never dug myself into one. Normally I just report it to the House and lead the archaeologists if any come. I enjoy finding them but was never good at studying them."

"What of you Mr. Nackle, a fixer and a fighter you called yourself? Your mechanical beast looks the match of any wolf I've encountered, how did you get it?"

Ulfgar is a bit taken aback by the display and the way they were talking about features of the form. It reminded him of the way some people talk about new suits or gowns. This being was equating identity with a change of clothes. He imagined that for a changeling that is perfectly normal but for him it was rather off-putting - your identity should be a precious thing, it should define your very soul. For a non-changeling this slipping between casual identities seems only like a way to lose yourself, to stop being a person. A non-person. Huh. Non. Changelings are weird.

"I... See," Ulfgar forced himself to speak and break out of his own thoughts. "Interesting. You're the first changeling I've spoken to."

"That I know of." He added after a moment, realising he has no way of knowing if he's encountered dozens of them before now.

His mind is suddenly realising how much of a security risk Changelings are and his thoughts trail into vague pondering of how would one make a security system that could not be felled by a Changeling? Blocking spells is easy. Blocking natural shapeshifting is not. Surely his family had ways but he had not learned of them yet. Until then, he supposed he should be fearful of such beings.

Oh wait, this changeling is an ally. Smile, Ulgar, smile!

He forced himself to smile a little.

"I built Pounce."  Brocc says, nodding to the construct.  He then turns the conversation back to the north.  "Seems like a good place those gnomes have then, a nice tunnel system is hard to beat." He pauses.  "What about this ruin we are heading to now.  Anything known about it?"

G'nar pauses, taking a moment to appreciate and marvel at Non's transformations into such striking Tieflings before answering Brocc's question. "No more than what Ms Deepcandle has shared. I can speculate, such as her choice in captain and ship may have something to do with trouble she expects to find."

G'nar will try to get the attention of the Qi Siblings if they are close by. "Mr and Ms Qi, I believe this is your expertise. Has Ms. Deepcandle informed you of... or perhaps have you found anything of significance of where we are going?"