Nashkel

"Warm for the north," she clarifies. "In my hometown it's about this temperature all year round. But the rest of the Ten Towns and Spine of the World is quite cold." Stella reaches for and opens the door. "Mmmm, maybe! I'm sure they'd at least give it a try. What kind of flavors?" she asks, holding the door open for a moment for Dieter to follow.

She looks around, taking a mental note of the occupants. Calliope always did that, and Dieter seemed to as well, and after the last group of surprise assassins, she decided she'd try to make it a habit.

She heads towards the kitchen to find the cook and ask about this 'iced cream'.

"usually fruit flavours though I’ve know some to do salty flavours but they’re more time consuming to prepare." Dieter goes up to the counter and tries to order

"Ohhh!" Aiwë says admiringly. "Very good idea. The surly one threatened to kill me, so that puts Xzar in the lead so far."

"Ohhh!" Aiwë says admiringly. "Very good idea. The surly one threatened to kill me, so that puts Xzar in the lead so far."

Montaron hops up from his cot and moves up to the bars. The sturdy little halfling seems to be mostly muscle. Unusual for one of his folk. "Let me out then, and I'll take back me words. But leave me here, and when I get out I'll see ye dead for sure!"

Xzar opens his mouth to speak, but Montaron socks him in the gut, causing the necromancer to stumble back, wheezing.

"We've accomplished nothing," the halfling growls. "Do ye think I can manage anything with this fool bumbling about where'er I go? He got us lost fer days on the way here, an' then when we gets to town he up and insults that Amnian twit in charge o' the garrison."

At this, Xzar's wheezing turns to crazed, pained laughter. Montaron rolls his eyes again. "Leave me here with 'im, and I'll either join 'im in his madness or hang 'im meself!"

Stella beams and waves at Minsc, Dynaheir, and Boo, and nods politely at Aldous, taking note of his guards.

Speaking with the cook she shrugs. "I'm not sure! But my friend Dieter says it's quite good."

She returns to Dieter. "It seems they don't know what it is," Stella says, waving to and returning to Dieter. "But they have ice, and I can freeze things too," she says holding up a hand, ice crystals lightly crackling between her fingers. She cocks her head, eye-stars their normal bright violet. "Do you know how to make it?"

"Iced cream! It’s great, I don’t quite know how to make it but it’s not frozen solid, it’s like whipped cream but chilled to the point that it’s frozen but you can still eat it with a spoon quite easily. I think they spin it but I’m not sure, it’s been a while"

Stella's eyes look up and to the side as she puts a finger to her lip. "Hmm...Whipped and frozen. Well! Let's give it a shot!"

Which constellation should she call on?, Stella wondered. The Cold Crown? Auroth the Ice Snake? Too harsh, she thought, settling on the Lady of Mystery.

Stella returns to the cook. "Can we try to make it? Supposedly it's like frozen whipped cream. We can pay for the ingredients!" She spends a few minutes tapping out a constellation of the Lady of Mystery in the shape and size of an actual woman. If they were going to spin it, might as well have a tireless force do it. Perhaps she'd have some insight as well.

(Stella casts Unseen Servant and Guidance. She'll use Shape Water to create any ice we need)

With buckets, cream, crushed ice, and finely cut fruit, Dieter and Stella try to make some iced cream!

Aldous Silvershield's eyes widen at the sight of the iced cream. "...That." he manages to say after a moment. The young noble stands quickly, albeit with a bit of discomfort; missing most of a leg does that to a person. Ornate cane thumping on the floor, Aldous approaches Dieter and Stella. "Um. Might I... might I try some of... that?" His eyes never leave the iced cream, and his stomach growls loudly. "I'll give you... Agh! I'll give you 10 gold for it!"

Aiwë nods at the scoundrels, eyes squinted. "Alright," she says suddenly. "I'll see what I can do."

She turns back to Sheemish. "We don't have proof they've done anything to deserve being in here," she whispers. "Besides being generally unpalatable, of course. They're yours if you want to go at them more, but otherwise I need to tell the guards to let them go."

"Wow that looks amazing!" Aiwë appears at Stella's shoulder. "Oh, hello, Lord Silvershield." She pauses at his stomach growl.

"Are the kitchen staff overworked again?" she says, referencing his hunger and delayed meal from their first night in town.

Aldous spares Aiwe a quick smile. "Hi! Yes. Well, no. I mean to say, they're good people and all do their best. I just haven't been able to keep much down..." He bites off the comment. "Not that you need to be bothered by any of that. But in truth, I think I would feel much better to have some of this 'iced cream'." His eyes drift back to the stuff. "I've never seen anything like it."

"I haven't either!" Stella remarks cheerfully. She beams and waves energetically at Aiwë then looks down at the bucket. "10 gold, hmm?" She giggles, then bites her lip. She really wanted to sit down and enjoy a whole bowl of the stuff—and maybe get Dieter to talk more. But that was good money for just a treat, and the young man seemed unusually earnest.

If they ran out, she could give up her portion to one of the others, she concluded. She already got a good taste and they'd be able to make more some other time...She looks up and studies the red-haired noble for a moment.

And he's cute, she decided.

"Well! We can't sell the whole batch..." she explains. "Dieter and I were going to share it with our friends—like Aiwë here! We just got back from an excursion, you see. But I'm sure we can spare a bowl or two! How much are you offering for a bowl?" She smiles pleasantly at Aldous as she scoops a bowl full.

Aldous stuffs a hand into his coin purse and drops a handful of gold onto the counter. He doesn't look down to see how much is there (6 gold pieces).

With hands that tremble slightly he takes the bowl of iced cream and carves out a decent portion using a spoon. His stomach burbles as he downs the desert, and Aldous' gray-blue eyes open wide. "It's as good as I'd hoped!" Still standing there in front of the companions, he quickly finishes off the rest of his bowl, then holds it out to Stella, another handful of coin hitting the counter (2 more gold). He doesn't seem to notice that it's much less than his first payment. "More please!"

Aiwë murmurs to Stella. "I think he might be sick. He was this starving before we left, too."

Dieter counts the coins "You are aware this is eight gold pieces" Dieter looks at Aiwë out of the corner of his eye then he looks at Aldous’ guards "when was the last time he ate?"