(Marrin, Ula or Avaria want to roll intimidation with advantage from the others?)

Avaria intimidation w/adv 17

The orc glares at Avaria and looks like he's going to ignore her threats completely, but then his companion taps him on the shoulder and gestures at Ula and Marrin also stepping forward. They take in Jan and Ethel as well as Hammerdasher and the others too.

Without changing his expression, the orc steps away from the tubs Avaria is defending and he and his companion take their allotted tubs and depart back through the southern cavern entrance.

Xanthe smiles at the orcs' departure and turns to face all of you.

"Thank you," Xanthe says. "The orcs are our biggest threat. The goblins can be a nuisance but the orcs are dangerous."

She then opens her arms and turns in a circle to invite everyone to get something to eat.

You can see the water in the tub looks relatively clean, though there's some sandy sediment on the bottom. The food looks to be a mix of partially roasted root vegetables, heavy on the concentration of turnips, kitchen scraps, and even a few haunches, maybe sheep but possibly goat, with cooked meat still left on the bone.

Marrin looks at the food and rubs her eyes and looking up to the grates in the ceiling.

She'll let the others eat before grabbing whatever is left and asking Ula,

"If we scoop some water from the pool, you can clean it?"

Then she asks Xanthe while people are eating,

"What happens when different groups fight? Do the guards get involved?"

Xanthe cups some water and drinks then selects a couple of pieces of food and sits down near Marrin. While she chews on a turnip and a stringing piece of what is hopefully not leftovers from someone else's meal, she thinks for a moment.

"I think it really depends how bad the fight is and how much noise is made," Xanthe says. "I don't think the Hargroves care too much if one prisoner dies. But it would be something else if they lost their whole stable of gladiators and slaves."

She gestures at the door.

"We've left more than our share of dead by the door. The guards just take them away with the empty tubs, or they get some of the prisoners to carry them away," Xanthe says. "But I think the orcs sometimes dispose of bodies they don't want the guards to know about. I'm not sure where they put them but it's not out here."

"So if we put an orc against the door, no one is going to have a problem with it. Who is the orc's leader? Do they have any identifying marks?"

Xanthe looks to the southern cavern entrance and keeps her voice low.

"The audience like the orcs," she says. "They can be savage in the arena. Haguur leads them. I've never spoken with him, but he has long, jet black hair that hangs in rope-like strands."

When the orc threatens to take the food, Ula does indeed stand beside Avaria in support of her friend, and in defence of their share of the rations.

When Marrin asks Ula if she could purify a tub of water, she looks up at the half-elf. Her hair hangs in lank, damp, red strands over her face. She’s still wet from her dip. She looks down at her hands. Then speaks in a distant voice as if remembering, “At the temple we could bless wells… We could clean whole lakes… We could bring on the rain for crops… Douse forest fires… … We…”. She looks maybe like she’s having a crisis of faith.

She looks back at Marrin. “I’m only an acolyte really… A novice…”. She looks down, “… A bartender…”.

She’s quiet for a short time and you think she’s finished, Then she admits, “I should be able to cleanse a tub of water… I think I can…”. She looks like she’s only half sure. Then fire rises in her eyes and fists, and she looks like she might say something spiteful, but she swallows it back down, and says, more diplomatically, “Let’s find a way out of here…”.

After some thought, she finally suggests, “Separately, these ‘groups’ are weak… … Together we might stand a chance against the guards… Together…”. She trails off, lost in her own thoughts.

"Before any of these groups will take us seriously we need to make a show of force. Haguur might just be what we need to do that."

Avaria doesn't wait to help herself to some food, but doesn't take more than her share.  She sits with her friends and listens to their conversations.  When Xanthe is out of earshot, she leans in to them, "Let me get this straight.  I am not the one to organize anything, but from the mutterings I am hearing... sounds like some of you are?  I can see if we can get everyone here in these caverns to work together, we can overtake those 6 hobgoblins that seem to appear during the food switchover."

She pauses, "Did anyone look, were there others behind the ones with crossbows or are we just dealing with them?"  she then continues, "And the orcs are our way to get all these so called gladiators to work together?  Specifically through Haguur?  Either through conversation or force?"

She takes a big bite of turnip as she lets this hang in the air, gives a sour face, but then continues to eat it.

Jan waves a hand and while the texture is the same, Ava's turnip tastes like roast beef.

Ethlehyn rejoins the group and fishes out a handful of smaller root veggies to munch on.

In between bites, she raises a concern.  "Did anyone make note of that large bell we passed as they led us here?  It looks like a central alarm.  Whatever plan we put into motion, we need to account for getting to and securing that bell before the guards can ring it and bring the whole hobgoblin force down on us."

"I doubt we'll be smooth enough to take down six hobs silently so an alarm doesn't get sounded."

Finishing her meal she stands,

"I'm going to check on our neighbors. Anyone interested? First the hobs and the goblins and then a peek at the orcs."

She stands and sees who is coming with her. She gives Ava a nod and smile as she rises to come. Once everyone that's coming is joined she'll head to hob town, only pausing to ask the names of the leaders of the hobs and gobs from Xanthe.

Jan shrugs and joins Marrin, munching on the last of her flavored turnip.

Avaria looks at surprise to Jan as the flavor of the turnips changes to roast beef.  Her eyes grow in surprise and she smiles.  "Thanks!!"

By the time Marrin has finished her meal, Avaria has been done for a bit, scarfing it down with no table manners, obviously.  She wipes her hands on her thighs as she stands up and follows her to hob town (lol, nice name)

[Any chance there is soot and salt here in the cavern?  Are there torches?  Any old fire pits?  And would there have been any salt mixed into the food bin?]

"Does anyone see any salt and soot around here?  If we can find some, I can cast a spell right now... well, in 10 minutes... that will let me understand anything the Orcs, goblins or hobgoblins are speaking in their native tongue.  I won't be able to speak it back, but at least I can translate anything they are saying behind our backs."  She shrugs.  "If not, then I'm not likely to be of much help on your mission of exploration.  In that case, I will leave you to it and go back to my studies."

"I can get you salt and soot. Does the soot need to be of anything in particular? How much?"

Jan will also try to find a loose splinter or bit of woods she can remove from the tub.

“Just a pinch of each.”

Outside of what Jan might be able to provide, there are no signs of any old fires or torches in this cavern. As you look up at the ceiling and again see the grates, mixed in among the stalactites, you note that the lighting in the cave has changed. As the sun moves across the sky, so do the shadows in the cave. Those grates appear to be the only source of light at this point.

The saltwater pool in the middle of the cavern is the only readily available salt. Someone with a bit of knowledge of rocks and the like could take a look around the cave to see if there were any salt veins, but as this looks to have been carved out by water, those might have long since been eroded.

The tubs are in decent shape with fairly smooth surfaces from extended use and many hands touching them, but Jan can still find a small sliver of wood.

As you get ready to head out to check on your neighbors, Jan notices Xanthe watching as you take the small sliver of wood off the tub. She just nods.

The goblins and hobgoblins went through the entrance/exit tunnel to the west, and the orcs went to the south (again, you're currently in the cavern in the northeast).

Which one are you going through and who's going and who's staying?

((If folks are willing to wait a bit, Jan will get two rags dipped into the salt water, heating one to evaporate water off and leave salt behind, using the second to dribble more salt water over it to help concentrate it. If a scrap of fabric or food can be lit with repeated prestidigitation, she'll do that to get soot.))