TEAM ARENA:

As you enter through this tunnel, dragging the partially roasted birds, and the gutted overly eager one, you notice that you've entered another another open-skied natural shaft like the arena. At one-hundred and forty feet it is just as tall, but is it only about thirty-five feet across. Refuse is piled onto the floor here: a mix of domestic waste, sewage, and animal corpses. It stinks mightily.

About forty feet up the northern wall is a ledge. If you had to estimate the height, it's at about the same height as the arena viewing area. And judging from the slant of the refuse pile, this is where the most of the garbage must be throw in from.

Quickly diminishing later afternoon light casts shadows about the cavern.

As they enter the cavern again, Avaria looks quickly around for her three missing friends.  Not seeing them, she then looks for Hammerdasher and the human.  "I see our friends haven't returned?  Is this normal?  Anything happen while we were gone?"  She seems quite agitated about not knowing where her other friends are.  Worried about what might have happened to them.

Martin snorts at Ethel's joke,

"I'd take a leg or two, and you're not far off on how cooked they are.

((How many guards are with them?))

Marrin looks at the slope and ledge trying to gauge if she could use the refuse to get to the ledge.

She then looks at the corpses of animals for anything near the base with sharp, longish claws/fangs and they could reasonably drag the bird to.

Perception?: 6

Ethel makes sure a feather or two from the axebeaks find their way into her clothes.  She also takes an interest in the animal corpses in the refuse pile.  

What can she see in there?  Any hints as to what fresh horrors lie in wait for them in later matches?

Investigation/Nature/Arcana are all +7: 16 + bardic inspiration: 5

((Any dire sheep that have some fleece for us? Or newts with petrified eyes?))

((Does Ula recognise the liquid in the vials given to them by the merchant?))

TEAM REFUSE HEAP f.k.a TEAM ARENA:

Two hobgoblin guards come no further into the room than the threshold of the small tunnel linking the cavern to the arena. The smell seems to keep them from coming closer if they don't have to.

As the three of you drag the now deceased axe beaks over to the edge of the refuse pile, collectively you see maybe something with striped fur, possibly orange and black, a few tails, various kinds of scales, a webbed foot and more soiled fur; the one creature that looks readily identifiable is a large boar, it's tusked head sticking out of some sort of dark, very foul smelling ooze. Otherwise there is nothing particularly recognizable, and nothing that looks like it ever had fleece of any sort, unless you want to start moving through the pile and see if that helps. 

Marrin estimates that the refuse pile probably isn't solid enough to support any of their weigh, even Ethel's. This is confirmed when they push one of the axe beaks against the pile and a small avalanche starts. But she also notices that the walls are rougher in this natural shaft than the walls of the arena. They're likely climbable, at least to the ledge without too much effort.

Is Ethel trying to hide the liberation of axe beak feathers from the eyes of their guards? Stealth Check w/ Advantage as the guards aren't very close.

TEAM HOME CAVERN f.k.a. TEAM MUSCLE:

Hammerdasher looks at Avaria when she asks about the others and whether this is usual. He's about to answer when he realizes she must be asking someone who has been her longer.

Xanthe looks up and smiles when Avaria and Ula come into the center of the cavern.

"Some bouts in the arena last minutes, others last days," Xanthe says. "It's up the editor of the match and the mood of the crowd."

She looks up at the diminishing light .

"There's not much daylight left so I think your friends will be back soon, unless -" Xanthe closes her mouth before finishing that thought.

Ula is sure that there is something familiar about the small vial and the colour of the liquid inside. It almost eludes her as to what until she realizes that it's a simple healing balm (common Potion of Healing).

In Elven,

"We could most likely take those two and climb this wall."

With the first axe beak they are dragging she aims for the boar, when she releases the axe beak's leg she will try to sneakily jerk free a tusk.

((Guessing a slight of hand with advantage plus a strength check?))

SoH: 10

Strength: 11

Avaria heads over to Hammerdasher and sits next to him.  "How are you holding up?  This place here is huge, almost like a small town with shops and taverns, it's hard to believe.  Find anything while you and your friend were out?  I'd say Ula and I know the way to the boats now, but not sure that helps us.. yet anyways."  

As Xanthe mentions the light, Avaria looks up to the grate and thinks how things have drastically changed since her life in the forest.  Some for the better and some for the worst.

As Ethel clumsily drags the bird corpse along, feathers stick to bloody fingers and get wiped off onto the folds of her garment.  Totally incidental and not at all intentional.

Stealth:  4

TEAM REFUSE HEAP:

Ethel manages to get herself covered in blood and feathers, which elicits only amusement from the guards.

Marrin reaches for the boar's tusks and twists but all she manages to do is start a small avalanche of garbage and sewage, while the tusks themselves remain stubbornly attached to the boar. The guards pay a little more attention to Marrin but at this point they still seem amused by the whole encounter.

(Marrin - DC 15 Dex Check to avoid being slimed by sewage and trash)

TEAM HOME CAVERN:

Hammerdasher listens to Avaria describe what she and Ula saw and then nods.

"We didn't see anything so grand as all that," Hammerdasher begins. "We had to take those two done for gobbies to this creepy room with a long row of tables. I didn't get a good look at the place. As soon as we put the goblins in there, that bald shite from the Rose Marie showed up and the hobs shouted at us to leave. Baldy didn't even spare us a glance but just went straight to the gobbies. Creepy."

((A check and not a save? Aight...))

Dex dodge of dump: 18

Jan looks about for a claw or talon that she might be able to quickly sever and pocket to have a crude weapon once she's forced to return her daggers.

(Probably should have been a save, but no harm done).

Marrin dances quickly away from the heap when the sludge starts to slide forward, just avoiding getting any of it on her. From the stench, that's probably the best outcome.

Jan, doesn't spot anything readily available, but the guards haven't hurried you up yet. Does she want to poke around in the pile? Perception check if she does.

((Another perception check from Marrin to find something else? I presume the tusk was covered?))

Perception: 19

Jan pokes around but fails to find anything that isn't incredibly squishy, oozy, and all around foul.

The boar and tusk are no longer visible. You do have a general idea of where it would be but you'll need to move some of the slimy mess to get there. No perception check required.

You finally hear a couple of shouts from the doorway.

"No more playing. Come on," one of the hobgoblins calls out.

Marrin glares over at the pair and whispers to Jan in Elven,

"We could take care of those two, replace them and climb out. Once we are out we put on a new look, rescue the rest."

She glaces at Ethel,

"Could maybe hide her in the mean time."

Sensing the others might want some more time,  Ethel limps her way back toward the hobgoblins.  

"Guards.  Are these birds just going to waste, then?  All you feed us down in the pens is table scraps.  What are the chances we could carve a leg off of one of these beasts and bring it back down with us?"

"If they want us fighting properly, they should be willing to feed us proper meals.  And if it is just getting thrown out anyway...".

Deception (to buy time, though she wouldn't be averse to actually getting a turkey leg):  5

"Tempting, but we don't know what's up there once we climb. I don't like the thought of leaving Ethel behind here either. Bide our time, learn the layout and the tempo of this place a bit more?"