Phineas eyes the onlookers nodding his head in agreement. He briefly pulls a book from his pack, plopping down in the snow and fishing for his writing utensil. He furiously scribbles down a few notes, more than once offering a furtive glance toward Mica. At last, he slaps the book shut and returns the items to his pack. "Yes, let us be rid of this place," he says. "Ya know, before they go a-changing their minds."

The halfling slings his pouch, trudging toward the road that heads back to Good Mead. A shiver runs through his body as he thinks of the long, cold walk ahead of him. A smile, though, reaches his face when he imagines a large tankard of that tasty mead. Along the trek, he keeps an eye on the bird-kin. His suspicions aroused. "Be this another of the Hellbent?" he mutters to himself. "Have, at last, they found me?"

Perception: 16

"I was really hoping we wouldn't have to travel or camp out overnight.. but I doubt we'll Make it to Good Mead before nightfall." Rak would say with a sigh. He would make sure to pull out his amulet and allow its green light to shine brightly. "So you all have torches or other sources of light for later? I can cast continual flame two more times if any of you need some reliable light sources... I'll even give you all the friends and family discount for my services." The gith would add with a grin.

"I have torches as well, I think we'll have plenty of light to guide us.  I don't like the idea of traveling after dark either, but we're clearly not welcome here.' shifting his shoulders as if adjusting a heavy weight, the paladin nods his head. 'Sooner begun, sooner done. Phin, are you able to take point?  I'll bring up the rear and make sure we're covered from behind?'

Mica shrugs at Rak's gesture. He remembers a conversation with a healing priest in his home town of Waterdeep that his family had taken him to when Mica was young. "Has it always been like that?" he repeats, and then mimics pointing to himself and nodding. Mica was worried - for the first time, it began to spread. He blamed the cold; ever since he hopped on the caravan due North the disfigurement slowly crept up his arm. Mica considers it to be a marking of his patron executing its will over himself, but an inkling of concern has welled in Mica for years - he didn't want to fight, or kill, or anything of that sort, but he reluctantly obliges to his patron's wishes. It made matters worse that he could rarely control the movements of the arm - what will happen when it spreads to his head?

Mica tosses the head back to Rak, and hearing the talk of light sources and warmth from their travels, casts Light and Create Bonfire, enveloping himself in more purple flames to guide their way. He felt drained, but his magic was still useful. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all, but he still wants to have a chat with his beneficiary. 

Phineas definitely overhears this conversation of Mica speaking into a flame in his palm. Mica, once again, sees a Fiendish head speaking out to him, but to anyone else, it looks like Mica's talking into his hand, once again, in Infernal.

Phineas frowns, hearing the one-sided conversation. He falls back a bit, keeping some distance between himself and the Kenku as well as keeping a position that kept the bird-kin in his view. 

Sephek was carrying a long sword and a dagger made of ice - which Rak took. With his death, they are now melting and will soon be nothing but a puddle of water. With the militiamen watching, it would be a strange activity indeed to strip Sephek of his clothes in front of them, and they won't let you take the body - you convinced them you were doing a job and nothing more, so stripping him, if we follow order of events, won't be possible.

You made the long, cold, uneventful trek back to Good Mead, where, in the late morning, or as far as you could tell, you arrived, finding her exactly where she said she would be: in Mead Hall. The buzzing of the bees drones out her ecstatic cheer as you present evidence of Sepheks death. She pays you the gold she promised, and you all are wiser for the experience. (You all should be level 3 now.)

The question was, now, what to do next? And, where did Qila go..?

QUEST: COLD-HEARTED KILLER (GOODMEAD) - COMPLETE
Task: Search the Ten-Towns for Sephek Kaltro and deal with him
Contact: Hlin Trollbane
Reward: 500g
Hint: "His victims come from the only three towns that sacrifice people to the Frostmaiden.." Bremen (Found), Dougan's Hole (Explored), or Lonelywood (Unexplored)

QUEST: NATURE SPIRITS (GOODMEAD) - COMPLETE
Task: Using the lantern, search the Ten-Towns for a live Chwinga
Contact: Dannika Graysteel
Reward: 25g per person
Hint: Use the lantern when you arrive in any Ten-Towns town.

QUEST: THE MEAD MUST FLOW (GOODMEAD) - COMPLETE
Task: Find the Verbeeg
Contact: None
Reward: Possible free mead and board
Hint: Follow the trail found by the man with the fox

QUEST: HOLED UP (DOUGAN'S HOLE) - COMPLETE
Task: Save two kidnapped kids from The Lodge
Contact: The halfbreeds of Dougan's Hole / Koran and Kanan.
Reward: Boots of the Winterland
Hint: Follow the Winter Wolves.

TOWNS VISITED THUS FAR: Good Mead, Dougan's Hole, Bryn Shander, Targos, Bremen
RUMORS: Kobolds (Termalaine) and a Killer Moose (Lonelywood)

TERMALAINE

It took a full day to walk in the cold from Good Mead to Termalaine. Founded by Calishite settlers who appreciated beauty, Termalaine is widely regarded as the most picturesque town in Icewind Dale, spreading out from the shore of Maer Dualdon and bordered on the north and west by tall pines. Its buildings incorporate carvings of wizards, homunculi, tigers, and smiling djinn.

There are a couple of locations to note:

The Blue Clam (Tavern): The fishers of Termalaine typically finish their days here, seated on benches near one of the building’s long hearths to warm their feet while they fill their bellies with spiced chowder. Beautiful works of scrimshaw are hung on the walls. You can smell the soup from here. It makes your mouth water.

The Eastside (Inn): The Eastside is where most visitors in town stay. What looks from the outside like separate houses turns out to be a single structure with rooms connected by underground passages, with cozy guest accommodations in the cellar. 

As if my amazing coincidence, a boy wrapped in heavy winter clothes shouts the news of the day as people pass by. When you approach, the boy cries, “The gemstone mine is closed because of monsters! Speaker Masthew is offering a hundred gold to anyone who clears it out!”

"Well then, seems like we should find this Speaker Masthew and get what details he can offer.  But, perhaps it would be wise to start with a drink in the local pub, see what gossip we can pick up?'

Kilmus leads the way towards the nearest pub - his bouncer instincts taking over and unerringly guiding the party towards the Blue Clam and it's promise of hopitality.

Phineas redirects Kilmus, lifting his face so his nose could catch the wafting aromas. "C'mon now,  my towering friend. Don't ya not be smelling that chowder?" The halfling heads toward the Blue Clam. 

Rak would nod in agreement. "Sounds good... I plan to spend some of our newly earned coin." The gith would say with a grin. "Shame Fintan wandered off... but I won't complain about the extra bit of coin. I'll be sure to drink twice as much in her honor." Rak would add with a smile. 

Mica echoes the sentiments of Kilmus’s words, trailing behind him into the bar. He’s glad to be out of the cold, and the Blue Clam sounds like a wonderful place. The scent of clam chowder intrigued Mica - he’d never had clams before. Maybe the Tentowns wasn’t so bad, and for the first time, Mica considers his stay here to be a welcome turn in his fate. Fintan leaving them was unfortunate, but he’s glad for the friends he has left. 

He enters the tavern. Gloomy as usual. He nods at Kilmus to keep an eye on the tavern and rumours floating around. Word of the Kobolds was intriguing - Mica had killed many Kobolds, and sure, he’d welcome the coin, but he enjoyed the feeling of doing good in the world. But for now, he could indulge in something that would interest himself, and perhaps bring some joy to the villagers. Kenku had skills that could be put to use in many ways, and Mica will remain alert to any gossip that befalls him in the tavern.

Mica sits down in some secluded corner of the room where shadows could prevent his Kenku form from scaring away listeners, and begins to...sing. Well, he’s replicating a song he heard from a tavern in Neverwinter, but still, he begins to drawl some melancholy tune accentuated by a harp and a delicate, female voice, able to record both the harp and voice at once. He liked the verse because it mentions his namesake.

”...and Emily, I saw you last night, by the river;
I dreamed you were skipping’ little stones across the surface of the water,
Frownin’ at the angle where they were lost an’ slipped under forever,
In a mud-cloud, mica-spangled like the sky’d been breathin’ on a mirror...”

Performance: 18

Kilmus settles into the pub, gratefully accepting a bowl of chowder and a mug of the good dark brown mead from the barkeep.  As has become his custom, he takes a spot where he can see the rest of the room, scanning the crowd for signs of mischief or trouble and keeping his ears open for anything of interest. 

Perception: 12

The clam chowder is delicious, the ale cold, and the crowd tonight is lively and with high spirits.

Mica's performance draws a crowd and free food - a welcome surprise! Your performance yields you about 5 gold.

Kilmus, you overhear 1 that in Dougan’s Hole, people live in fear of winter wolves that haunt the outskirts of the town. As big as horses they are, and smarter than normal wolves.

Hmph. They don't know the half of it, you think to yourself.

Luckily, Speaker Masthew is having dinner in the tavern this evening. He sees you, stands up, and introduces himself by saying,“You seem entirely too prepared for trouble. Hello! I am Speaker Masthew. Are you here about the mine, perchance?”

I just wanted to say that seeing this makes me a very, very happy DM. Thank you guys for being regular, consistent, and amazing.

Phineas wipes a bit of chowder from his chin with his sleeve, offering a quick smile. "Kobolds, right? We heard you had a little problem," he says, kicking a chair back for the Speaker to take a sit. "Tell us about this wee issue you be having."

Rak would quickly slurp down his bowl of chowder before ordering four large tankard of ale. Rak would be well into his second tankard when the kenku begins to sing. at first Rak would pull up his hood as though to keep people from realizing they were together. As Mica sang however, Rak would slowly remove his hood and even tap his foot along with the tune. 

"Hey Shhhppeeeaker Mashed stew. You bet were gonna slaughter some koboldsss. If the price is right that is." Rak would reply as he starts drink his third tankard. "We been traveling allllll across this icy wasteland killing giants and murderers in service of Ten Townssss" The gith slurs with a Grin. "I've been freezing my ass off the past few days and Imma gunna make sure I don't feel any cold for a while" Rak adds as he clings his two remaining tankards together before taking a drink from both.

Kilmus shoots Rak a look, trying to get him slow down and settle in a bit.  'Kobolds - they shouldn't be too much trouble - why haven't' you been able to clear them out?

Masthew smiles, amused at Rak. He gets down to business. "A group of kobolds crept into the mine a few days ago, entering from the surface and forcing the miners to abandon their jobs. No one was killed, but the kobolds are too dangerous for the miners to deal with. Not only that, a human miner went missing a few days before the kobolds showed up, prompting other miners to fear that a monster must have crawled up from the Underdark. Yeah. There's a massive hole in the mine. Oarus, one of the miners, thinks it’s possible that the miner fell down the central shaft, which is deep enough that his body would never be found. I need someone to investigate."

"Yeah we can take care of it noooooo problem. Plus, It sounds like a good place to find mind flayers? You all ever killed one of those? I have! Damn squidfaced piecies of shiooot! Damn it!" Rak would curse as he accidently knocks over one of his tankard of beer. "So how much you paying anyway cause I gotta tell ya... I really wanna get out of here and I haven't seen a single ship in on this frozen rock capable of sailing the astral sea... I don't even really know how I got here but I have a feeling its gonna cost a lot of coin if I'm gonna get home." The githyanki would say as he wipes beer from his clothing before quickly downing his third tankard.

Phineas shoots Rak a look, shaking his head slowly. "Of course, Speaker. The town crier said a 100 pieces of gold to those who help, right?" he says, using his finger to wipe clean the last of the bowl's remnants before licking it clean. "Point us to this mine. We'll take care of these critters and, perhaps, toss our inebriated friend down yon crater to see what lies below."