((I meant Festan, my bad.))

"Yes, good idea. I'll do that too."

She does the same hand wave in front of her face that Jan did and her half-elven features round out a bit as do her slightly pointed ears. She is still recognizably Marrin, just human looking.

"I've got a shorter distance to travel to look human, they will hopefully just assume they were incorrect. We don't want to talk to Haguur, at least not yet. It will be all threats and bluster. Until we have a use for him, or a way to get rid of him, best to leave him be. Or?"

She awaits an answer before heading over to speak with the hobs.

"Him hating Hargroves more than any others sounded promising, but one mini despot at a time, yeah?"

Ethel sits with her books while the hobgoblin guards perform their culling.

And there it is, she thinks to herself.  The people here seem entirely too settled into the idea and lifestyle of perpetual unjust imprisonment and servitude.  But if the hobgoblins have been coming in and murdering two prisoners for every one who attempts escape, then it helps explain how docile they have become.  They have used trauma to grind the resistance out of these people.

And this only increases Ethel's mistrust of the prisoners who have been here for long.  Especially Xanthe.  She has carved a niche for herself, caring for and protecting these poor folk.  What would she do if she learned we planned an escape?  Knowing that if it fails, her dependents will be culled twice over for our misbehavior?  Will she stand with us?  Or see us as a threat and do what she thinks she must to keep her people alive?

The hobgoblin guards leave the goblin cavern quickly, their leader striding purposefully forward, not bothering to look around at the remaining goblins or the other three newcomers present.

As they stride into the non-hobgoblin, orc, goblin cavern, Ethel notices Xanthe move herself to stand between the guards and one of the weaker looking humans.

The two hobgoblin guards dragging the dead goblins pause long enough to bark at Hammerdasher and one of the humans. They quickly make it understand that the human and Hammerdasher are to carry the dead goblins now.

The hobgoblin leader gets to the door and shouts something in Ghukliak. Ethel and Ula see the grate open and close quickly then the door itself swing open. The guard troop along with the human and Hammerdasher enter the tunnel and the door slams shut.

The scratching of a key in the lock and then the sound of the lock mechanism itself turning echoes though the very quiet cave.

Xanthe looks back and makes eye contact with Ethel and then Ula. She gives them both a sad smile.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in the goblin cavern, Jisthelek watches the retreating forms of the guards. When Jan asks her questions, the goblin turns and frowns. He pauses a moment or two before speaking.

“He came here at the same time I did. Quick with a knife and could hold his ale with the best of them back in the outside,” Jisthelek says. “But he was an idiot and that cost him.”

Jisthelek nudges the head with his toe, and then shakes his own head.

He then steps a little closer to the three of you and lowers his voice.

“I’m not an idiot and I’m not going to die in here. You’ve got to be smart about this,” the goblin says then waves his fingers about. “I’ve got talents and good ears. If you plan something, I can be very useful.”

He looks to the southern cavern when he hears you discuss Festan and Haguur.

“Don’t expect much from Festan,” the goblin says. “He’s a soldier through and through. And the likes of Drusus, who you just saw in action, buys into that too. To Drusus, Festan’s just a prisoner serving some punishment time. And Festan thinks as long as he keeps winning in the arena he’ll be released and can return to his tribe.”

Jisthelek shakes his head. “Bloody hobgoblins.”

Before the group leaves, the goblin adds one more comment, “those dwarves went somewhere.”

"If I had something to cheers with, I'd toast 'to not being an idiot and not dying here'. I'm sure  your skills would be useful, we'll let you know if anything develops, or if we find any dwarf tricks."

To Marrin and Ava, "It sounds like Festan might be a dead end, even without the whole 'hates elves' thing. While I've no desire to remain here longer than necessary, we need not try to do everything today, the guards are going to be on high alert. If Festan has a second in command who is less optimistic in his outlook, perhaps a shift in power is what's needed?"

Insight on Jisthelek's willingness to help and read on Festan: 10

"Perhaps. I would at least like to speak with him, but it was fortuitous we met the goblins first."

She looks towards hobtown in consideration,

"But maybe you're right? I understand we have a secret dwarven escape route to find tonight."

As far as Marrin can tell, Jisthelek appears willing to help if it means he gets out of these caves. And Marrin detects no deception around the description of Festan.

Avaria smiles at her friends, "That is some impressive work, how you do that with a wave of your hand?" she shakes her head in disbelief.

"We could just make the rounds, see what there is to see and make the loop back to the others.  Then rest a bit before who knows what will come next.  But at least we'll have the lay of this land.  And as for the secret dwarven escape?  That sounds fun... and we definitely need Ula."

"And Hammerdasher. Maybe you're both right, call it while we're ahead. Don't have much practice at this readying an escape plan."

At the changing appearance comment she shrugs and makes a little flickering glitter around Ava's head.

"Magic. Makes some things easier, somethings harder."

She is ready to call their sight seeing/meet and greet over and report back.

Jan grins and waves her hand across her face, alternately looking like Ava, Marrin, Ethel and Ula, before returning to her human disguise.

Marrin smiles at all the changes,

"That's a good deal of magic there!"

She swipes her hand over the head of the Ula disguise, hitting the elf beneath.

"Great as long as no one gets handsey."

Avaria stares in wonder as Jan does her trick, completely perplexed as she sees herself staring back at her.  "I swear, one of these days, I'll get used to the things you all can do, but man, its enchanting.  Shall we check on the others?"

As they walk back to the original cavern, Avaria looks around and notices the missing ones, "Where are Hammerdasher and the human?  What's happened?"  She walks over to Ula and Ethel, making sure the two of them are alright.

As they've decided to head back, Jan will adopt her own face again.

"I've only recently gotten the knack of doing it so freely, but yes, while I can look like one of the guards, it's only in appearance, and still me underneath."

Marrin looks around in concern for Hammerdasher.

"Someone didn't get caught from this group too did they?"

Ethel rises slowly from her cross-legged seat on the floor and walks to meet the three as they return from the goblin ward.  "Hammerdasher and one of Xanthe's flock were conscripted to carry out the dead goblins.  We hope to see them returned, soon."

Back when Xanthe spoke to Ula about her strength and her healing powers, Ula snapped out of her funk for a while, a little bit of hope maybe at there being another healer in their midst. “I’ll help where I can…”, she replies, with a faint smile.

Aside from that, while the others are ’hob-nobbing’, Ula sits on the side of the pool, looking around the room they’re confined to…

- She looks up at the grating to see if it seems wide enough to get through, either between the bars or if the bars were removed somehow.

- She looks at the ‘rough’ walls, to see if the rock and stone there might be scaleable.

- She looks at the stalagmites and/or stalactites around the cavern, wondering if any could be broken off and used as clubs.

- And she looks at the pool, wondering where it goes and how long she could hold her breath… ((sorry, lots of questions. If the answers need any kind of roll, here’s a flat d20: 17)).

Then the door is opened…

When the hobgoblins enter and march past, she just stays out of their way, sitting with her feet in the pool of water. Then when there’s a scuffle from the next chamber she looks questioningly at Xanthe, but stands ready to help her friends if they’re in danger. However it’s all over quickly, and she looks on, stunned, as the two dead goblins are carried out and Hammerdasher and the human are pressed into helping remove them.

As Ula reflects about all that has happened to here since she left the warm embrace of the Broken Ore and her family, she takes stock of the cavern around her.

The grate is small, at about head height of an average humanoid. To get through it you would need to be the size of a mouse or spider. It really just covers a small panel that the guards open to see inside the cavern.

The walls start fairly rough but get smoother as they rise up, likely from water eroding them from above. Ula's pretty sure she'd have little trouble getting up the first 50' or so, maybe even the next 50', but that last 40'-50' to the grates above look the most challenging. An athletic climber could do it but it wouldn't be easy. 

Where the pool goes would require more investigation on Ula's part, and a willingness to get wet again. But she's spent enough time around the sea and water to have a pretty good idea of how long she can hold her breath.

Holding Breath: 

As Ula examines the stalagmites rising from the floor (the stalactites are mostly too high up to access), determining that there are probably some she can break loose with a good kick or two, though whether that would render them too fragile to use as a club or not would require some trial and error,  the panel behind the grate on the door whips open and hobgoblin eyes can be seen quickly scanning the cavern. The panel slams shut, keys quickly turn in the lock and the door opens.

Six hobgoblin guards step into the cavern, hands on their longswords. One of them points at Jan, Marrin, and then after looking around the room, at Ethel. He motions for the trio to come to the door.

“Come now. Come to the arena,” the hobgoblin says. "Evening show start soon."