Quinn cornered the last living duergar in a room, where he had been trying unsuccessfully to escape out of a boarded up window. Promising to spare his life should he answer some questions, Quinn eeked out some truths from the frantic duergar: namely that the duergar were assigned here with the orders to steal valuables, particularly anything they could get their hands on made from chardalyn, an easily-enchantable black, ice-like substance found only in Icewind Dale. The duergar also claimed to have nothing to do with the ill Speaker, or the missing sun. Quinn, having learned what he wanted, killed the duergar.
Meanwhile, Taz used her herbalism kit to nurse Bladebeak back to consciousness; Bergen removed some fingers from the duergar to use their bones for scrimshanding; and Ena formally introduced the group to her doll, Footsteps, which seems to double as an arcane focus of sorts. Taz insists she saw the doll move its head and blink. The group has also noticed that Ena does not (blink), but an unblinking girl carrying a doll and summoning swarms of insects is ultimately not that high on their list of concerns. (She seems nice.)
After Bladebeak was back on her feat and any potential fires were snuffed out from the run-down inn, the group climbed back up the hill, all the way to the castle. They were at first brusquely turned away, as the Speaker was ill, but after explaining what they found in the inn, the guard brought a tiefling named Fel Suparra to speak with them. Convinced by their tale, she brought them inside to meet the Senechal, Kaldroth.
The Senechal thanked them enthusiastically in the Speaker’s stead, and invited them to stay the night in one of the guard towers, even having the servants provide a warm bath and laundering their outer layers, which had gotten gruesomely bloody and somewhat torn during the fight. The party agreed to stay, and in so doing, met a few of the servants, including a teenaged tiefling looking to be about Ena‘s age, Mere, who seemed nervous and a bit scared of Kadroth. Ena, rushing out after her bath (and nearly freezing in the process) to the kennel where she’d heard barking, also met Alassar Sulmander, a young human boy of perhaps eight, who claims to have come to Icewind Dale on a boat.
Alassar takes care of the dogs as well as doing various menial chores suited to a young child. He and Ena bonded over some dried fish rations, and he informed her of many things, including
- Kadroth can do magic, and in particular does magic with his fireplace sometimes, often when he’s alone in his office.
- Kadroth has a cat, Touche.
- There is a scary, mean old dwarf lady upstairs who’ll throw fish at you.
- There’s a trapdoor in one of the guard towers that leads to a dangerous place under the castle.
He’s agreed to take Ena there the next night they stay in the castle in return for more rations.
Quinn, the following morning, traded a large wheel of cheese he’d found on the duergar for some gossip and good favor with the chef and Senechal Kadroth. The Senechal saw them off warmly, and assured them that they’d always have warm beds and hot meals in Caer-Dineval.
Having learned from the Senechal that Torg’s left town for Easthaven three days prior, the party set off for the town at once. When they arrived, they saw a merry bonfire, around which the townsfolk were gathering. From the twitching and smell, as well as general outline, it quickly became clear that this was no celebratory bonfire, but a human being burnt at the stake. Horrified, they quickly learned that it was a wizard, Dzann, who had been captured and put to the death for his part in the murder of several adventurers he’d hired, that had previously helped the people of Ten-Towns. Quinn was quite familiar with the adventurers, and was troubled to learn of their deaths, but upon hearing the Sheriff’s animosity towards the magic-user, shielded Ena from view by hiding her behind the much larger Taz.
The Sheriff acquired after the group’s origins, and upon recognizing Quinn and Taz by reputation, pleaded with them to scout the coastline of Lac Dinneshere for four missing fishermen. The party agreed, and asked after Torg’s, learning that the merchants were still in town, but planning to leave tomorrow morning. The party hastened to where Torg’s had set up, and found the merchants milling about and starting to close up for the day. Quinn learned from Torgga that she’d obtained a magical accordion for him–from the wizard executed that very day, in fact, and offered it for the steep price of 500gp. Meanwhile, Ena approached the suspiciously lightly dressed Sephek Kaltro, and learned that the reason for his lack of winter gear was that he had been blessed by Auril for being born on Midwinter, and simply didn’t feel the cold. This fact had lead him to leave the Sword Coast, where he grew up, behind, and come to Icewind Dale to take full advantage of his blessing.
Having not gained enough to go off from the merchants, the party decided to simply head off to the inn where they heard Torg’s was staying, The White Lady Inn. Upon entry, Quinn was once again forced to lay eyes on their “””bard,””” a halfling named Rinaldo, whose admiration for Quinn‘s skills is not at all reciprocated. He appeared to be planning some sort of seance to summon the spirit of the White Lady, a ghost on Lac Dinneshire for which the inn is named.