On hearing Jan's suggestions she nods,

"You're right, best not to get done too quick. Ethel looks rough as is. Well you all do. I can probably get you all properly beat up looking."

Using her disguise kit proficiency she sets in on making everyone look like they went through the wringer. She uses prestidigitation to enhance it and smears some rat blood strategically.

"I'll remove it later, don't worry!"

Disguising the others (sleight of hand plus tool prof if allowed): 28

((Crit fail was real...

Maybe a kind dm allows advantage due to their already poor shape? 13))

Ula is totally into taking longer and making it look like they’re more worse for wear. In fact she periodically taps the hilt of her hammer on the floor and calling a muffled “Humph!”, in case anyone is listening in.

She’ll also spend the time being nosey around the rest of the cargo to see if there’s anything interesting…

"Ow! That's my eye!"

"Oh, ouch. Sorry. Well it certainly doesn't hurt the look we're targeting."

When we're ready to head up she suggest Ethel lead the way so they have some authentic unwell leading the way.

While Marrin paints the group with blood and rouge, Ula noses around the hold.

At first, as she rifles through the crates, boxes and barrels, she's met with sturdy locks and tangled netting. Those crates that are open are filled with simple trade goods, like grains and salted meat. Some slightly off salted fish causes her nostrils to flair.

Eventually she comes across a large tarp hanging from the support rafters. It hangs in such a way that it looks like it was placed there to divide off one corner of the hold. Giving it a sharp tug, it falls down easily revealing a large metal cage, large enough to house a handful of Avaria sized humanoids. Several sets of manacles hang from the walls inside the cage, stained with rust. At least you think it's rust. A thick padlock keeps the door closed.

Otherwise there isn't anything else of interest in the hold. Five dead rodents of unusual size, a large tarp, and a cage, and maybe some rotting fish will have to be enough for now.

Ula makes the others aware of the makeshift ‘brig’, but otherwise puts things back the way she found them.

Avaria slowly relaxes once the last rat has been taken care of.  And while Marrin gets to work and Ula starts checking the area, she slowly returns back to her human form.  She looks to the rest, a bit sheepish, "Sorry I should have warned you, I'm uh, not used to being around others.  Especially when I hunt."  

She then looks at Marrin questioningly as she approaches with her disguise kit.  "Are you sure this is good?  I am a good hunter, I don't want people to think I can't handle a couple of rats."

As Ula informs the rest of the what she found in the hold, Avaria keeps quiet, unsure what to think of it.  She doesn't know what sort of practices are the norm for shipping captains and what they may find.

Marrin assures Avaria, while closely watching her changing that,

"When you do you hunting you need to be properly compensated! This is how we get what is owed us. We know you handled the rats well, I'll be sure to speak of your heroism so everyone knows what a good huntress you are, now hold still. I poked Jan in the eye because she was squirming."

Once she is done either creating whatever disguises they end up being she'll walk over to inspect the cage for recent use.

Investigation: 4

"We need to be sure to toss that fish over too, otherwise I suspect it will make its way into our meals. Say the rats got it."

Jan rolls her eyes at the squirming comment, but it doesn't have the same impact when one eye is open, and the other is shut tight and watering.

Marrin takes a closer look at the cage and lock that Ula found, noting that there don't appear to be any cobwebs around it or inside and the lock appears to be in good condition, and oiled. The manacles are against the hull wall and to get closer to those to examine them you would need to get inside the cage.

The salted fish, that was apparently not salted thoroughly enough, fills a barrel; so a fair bit of fish.

Marrin calls her brief inspection good enough, nothing to do with her. She does move over to the offending barrel of fish she is concerned will be her problem.

"Definitely need to get this off the boat. We ready? Should I go and get Erran or should we all go?"

Avaria steps over to the cage, following Marrin.  Seeing that this area appears in better order than the rest interests her and she steps in to take a closer look.  

Investigation  4

Avaria takes a look at the cage with Marrin, and convinces herself that it is very much a locked jail-like cage, with bars going to the ceiling. The manacles aren't new as they have scrapes and dings in them, perhaps markings of where they've banged together. But she doesn't discover anything materially different than Marrin did.

The others do notice that the blood of the giant rants is starting to dry on the floor and on the hull, and on the ceiling. 

Ula sniffs and considers the fish barrel…

((Ula is proficient with brewing supplies and grew up in a tavern. Is there any chance the fish could be a brewing experiment (ie deliberately fermenting)? Or could it be repurposed / rescued to make some kind of fermented fish meal or drink?))

Avaria shurgs and leaves the cage, the uneasy feeling about it not going away.  But she doesn't say any more and heads to the door.  "When you have figured out what you want to do with that barrel, let me know.  I think its time we head up.  Unless you want me to just let him know?"

“Whatever we do I feel like we need to be discrete about it?… He didn’t seem to want the rest of the passengers and crew knowing about the rat problem… Not sure we should be lugging the bodies around in plain view”. Says Ula, aloud, still inspecting the fish barrel.

Ula contemplates somehow turning the barrel of fish into a beeracuda ale but quickly realizes that while there's not enough salt to have adequately salt preserved the fish, there's too much salt to allow for any sort of fermentation. This is either a mistake or a delicacy of some kind she's never come across before.

Seeing some indecision, Marrin takes her rightful place - the lead.

"Okay, I'll go get him come on Ava."

Adding a slight limp to her walk Marrin goes to find Erran.

Performance: 8

Upon finding the half elf she looks around before leaning in to whisper,

"Okay, job done. We weren't sure about what to do with all the... leftovers."

She'll beckon for Erran to walk with her, keeping up the limp, back to the hold. While they head back she'll start the prep work,

"Those things were larger than we expected. Didn't help everyone but me was one swell away from losing their breakfast. Ula and Ava got pretty ripped up, isn't that right Ava?"

Ethel continues to concentrate on remaining upright as the ship bucks and rolls under her feet.  She tries her best to ignore talk of rotten fish and fights the overwhelming nausea.

Her eyes narrow when talk of a cage and manacles comes up... but other than filing the knowledge away for later, there is simply nothing she can do or say about it at the moment.