Marta watches Jan and her tale with surprise which turns to amusement. Shaking her head she doesn't comment on it beyond a smile and saying,

"Off fish, ha!"

She heads out with the rest of the Dwarf group and listens to Ethel's plan.

"I am all for dropping Hargrove but I am not sure we can get through his guards to do it. I suppose it will depend on who he brings with him and what he plans on doing to get the information from Korda."

She shrugs,

"So I guess our plan becomes, wait and see? Otherwise, maybe the guard team has a lead we could contribute to, I would prefer not to have to count on a Hargrove."

((Was leaving you some room to plan, but if that's the extent of the planning discussion, will let the prison move on and get you interacting with everyone again))

((You know we aren't much for planning!))

[Lacking the 20 INT of my PC, I can only make plans that sound smart to me.]

((Okay - so the plan at this point is to wait and see what happens when Hargrove et alia show up, right - though the warden may have some more questions for you first))

((Sounds good, the Warden might also give us some new ideas/directions as well. Also Team Guard might come up with something.  We do need to meet up and share the information on the coming Hargroves with them as well.))

The guards are soon on the move again, heading out from the guard room, but instead of going back on the patrol route, the team is led into the panopticon itself. This hexagonal chamber is a large open space at the center of the prison. Cells line the chamber walls, and in the middle, a smaller hexagonal room occupies the base of the central tower.

It's this smaller room that the guard team heads into. As noted, the hexagonal room is the base of the prison’s central tower. When they first enter, the group notices a spiral staircase that rises to the tower’s upper levels. Several guards, who had been watching the cells through the arrow slits, turn and greet the newcomers. One guard, sitting at a metal desk, rises and shakes hands with your patrol leader.

The center of the desk is dominated by a console with a myriad of switches and dials and a brass tube with a funnel-like flare.

On the walls above the arrow slits, names on small wooden slats have been slipped into grooves. These are the names of the current prisoners in the cells and presumably the names indicate which arrow slit certain cells can be seen from.

The current guard shift gathers their gear quickly and heads out.

"Pretty quiet today," the one from the table says. "A few visitors talked with Korda but that didn't last long. You know how she is. She's next on latrine duty."

Then they head out. Your patrol leader sits at the desk in front of the console, while directing the rest to take up positions at the arrow slits.

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After about 45 minutes or so, the warden joins the 'dwarfs' in the mess hall.

She looks tired and distracted but when she sees the group she makes straight for their table.

"I've found out that Lord Hargrove is traveling with a sizeable retinue. Our people in Peltarch say they have 20 joining Hargrove and his family." The warden says then pauses, frowning. "It's unusual for visitors to come with that many or to bring their family. But the roads can be dangerous. But if Hargrove has the proper authorization amulet, showing he's the emissary from Altumbel, we have to let him in."

Avaria walks by the desk and takes a quick glance over what all is on it..

Perception: 19

But heads towards an arrow slit as she walks by.  If it isn't too blatantly obvious she is heading for Korda's name, she'll head there, but if it is, she'll take one near it.

Avaria easily gets a solid look at the metal desk, the console, and the flared brass tube.

The console is really the top of the desk and not a separate component. Essentially it's a desk with a slanted top and is bolted to the floor. On the slanted surface are twenty-four numbered switches, and next to those is a larger unnumbered black switch. Below the large black switch is a brass dial with an arrow on it. At the moment, the arrow is in the middle, pointing up, but it looks like turning the dial lets you move the arrow down to the left or right. The brass tube reminds Avaria of the bell of a trumpet.

The patrol captain notices Avaria looking at the console and laughs. "Eager, eh," the captain says. "Last a week and I'll show you how it works."

No one seems overly fond of any particular arrow slit and as Avaria moves first, she has no issues with getting the one that show's Korda's name, along with another name "Barlo Rageblade". When she looks out the arrow slits, Avaria sees four cells directly ahead, but guesses from the names that only two of those are occupied. 

Soren takes up a position at the arrow slit to Avaria's left, which Geffroi slumps against the one nearest the door, the armour wearing him out.

"Twenty? He's part of the reason the roads are dangerous."

Marta's nostrils flare as she takes in a deep breath through her nose.

"He'll have his wife and son with him, the rest are probably <insert name> mercenaries and some of his pirates."

She eye the Warden,

"You have to let him in, but do you need to let his entire gang in with him? Surely you have some leeway in that?"

((I don't even want to think about what the outside portion of that latrine looks like.

Also I think Rageblade may not be his birth name...))

TEAM GUARD:

The 'surveillance hub' captain looks up from their console and around the room, eventually they point and call out 'Oi, you two, go with Francis. He'll show you the joys of latrine duty."

You two are clearly Avaria and Jan. The one named Francis sighs and puffs out his cheeks before getting up and nodding at the two of you to follow.

Once out in the panopticon, Francis quickly explains the drill "usually only one guard needs to escort a prisoner to their work duty but Korda makes some around here a little nervous. They say she's got ways of talking to her crew. Anyway, usually two for her just to make the captain happy. Today we get three so you can learn the ropes."

He leads you across the hexagon to Korda's darkened cell. 

"Alright, Korda," Francis says, but before he can continue, a rough voice calls out from the darkness. "Let me guess, latrine duty."

The same tightly muscled dwarven woman with the short red hair and mass of tattoos, you saw coming from the exercise yard appears from the shadows of the cell. She holds her hands up, showing they're empty.

Francis raises a hand and signals back to the surveillance hub. The bars of the cell shimmer with green energy, then they door to the cell slides open. Korda steps out and looks Jan and Avaria up and down.

"What did you two do to end up thinking this was the place to spend the winter?" Korda asks. But she doesn't wait for an answer. She starts heading across the hexagon to the western tunnel.

"Slow down," Francis says. "You know you can't head off on your own."

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TEAM DWARF:

The warden looks at Marrin/Marta and shakes her head.

"This place serves the needs of several kingdoms, principalities, duchies, and the like around the Sea of Fallen Stars. If we said only those lords and ladies who had never been pirates, brigands, bandits, or warlords in the past could participate, we wouldn't be able to keep the lights and heat on." The warden says. "Find me one pristine lord anywhere around the Sea of Fallen Stars and I'll show you someone who's just done a good job of buying the goodwill of their subjects."

She does pause to consider the rest of what Marrin/Marta has said.

"If he really does have a retinue of twenty armed soldiers, we can't accommodate them. We have room for no more than a handful of guests." She says. "With the rooms you'll be taking, we can house four of them along with the Absolution Councillors who are already here."

She thinks for a moment.

"The rest will have to make camp in the stables. They're empty right now." The warden says. Then sighs. "In any event, they'll be here in the morning."

Avaria smiles at the Captain as he laughs about her curiousness.  At least these guards were generally in a positive mood.  She really hopes she doesn't have to turn against them, it wasn't there fault they were guarding someone they needed information from.

She is intrigued as she and Jan are asked to join in on the latrine duty.  Mainly due to the fact it is actually with Korda.  She isn't sure what they could possibly gleam from her on this, but she hopes that Jan knows what she is doing.  As the dwarf starts moving ahead she stays where she is and waits for a command to go get her if needed, she doesn't want to appear too eager.  

Ethel is deep in uneasy thought.  More and more, these days feel like a trap to her, a constantly winding, tightening cord of threads and bindings, closing in on all sides.  They've made it here, but to what end?  Caught now, between an unyielding prisoner and the approach of their own former jailor.

She lifts her head at something the Warden mentions.  "Tell me more about these Absolution Counselors.  Are they temporary visitors?  Or a permanent part of the prison.  What role do they serve?"

The warden looks at Ethel, momentarily surprised, then nods.

"You do not know much of this place do you," the warden says before continuing. "The Absolution Council gather to consider and weight the merits of releasing prisoners before their term is up. There are ten on the council at any given time, but usually we get no more than three here at a quarterly meeting. We're getting ready to hear a few cases this evening." 

At that moment three new people, a human, a halfling and a dragonborn, do enter the Mess Hall and head to a table near the kitchen.

"Ah there they are now," the warden says.

"That pompous one there," she says, nodding at the tall human of the trio, "is Councillor Voss Anderton from Impiltur and comes from the city of Ilmwatch. He manages to drag out every hearing as long as possible.

'That one is Councilor Jil Torbo of Thesk," the warden says, pointing out the bored looking halfling, and then adds, indicating the dragonborn "And the last one is Councilor Kriv Norixius. He's from Unther,  Unthalass I think. Don't know much about him. This is his first time here."

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Korda slows her roll slightly to let Francis and the two newcomers catch up before heading off again. She then stops at one door in the hallway, waiting for Francis to wave his hand over the locked door. 

Inside, Avaria and Jan see a warehouse of sorts with stacks of crates and boxes lining the walls. Korda winds her way through the stores, a long a path that leads to unlocked door

Once the door opens, there's no mistaking what this room is. Two benches line the walls, with holes in the benches and buckets under the holes. Korda picks up two and heads back towards Jan and Avaria. Avaria, with her good sense of smell, really wishes she had a cold at this moment given the pungent odor coming from the buckets.

Francis leads on after Korda as she heads back through the warehouse and down the main hall to another door. This one opens up to the icy cold of the outside. Jan and Avaria find themselves outside the main walls for the prison. A short path leads to a guard tower directly ahead, and another path leads off to a pit a dozen yards from the walls.

"We take more care in the summer, but winter, it's just into the pit with it." Francis says.

Korda empties the contents of the buckets into the pit. She then pauses, rubs her tattooed arms, looks off into the cold sky, and then heads back inside for more buckets.

(On the walk down to Korda's)

"Is this Korda some kind of hard ass? She tried anything before we need to be wary of?"

She'll otherwise play the role of dutiful if tired guard.

Francis whispers over to Jan, not wanting to let Korda hear.

"Nothing scares her,' Francis says. "Some of the old school guards tried to intimidate her a few times and she laughed in their faces. And that scares people."

He walks on a little more before leaning in again.

"Prisoners her always get excited for any news from the outside. But Korda is completely disinterested. And their are rumors she still runs her old crew while locked up here, but that has to be just a story. No one visits." Francis says. "It's like she's just biding her time."

Marta nods at hearing only four can be let in.

"I understand your position, four is a much less concerning number."

She looks at the council members as they are pointed out.

"Can one attend the absolution cases?"

The warden looks at Marta/Marrin for a moment.

"There's never been anyone else where who wanted to attend an Absolution Council meeting," the warden says. Then she focuses all of her attention on Marta/Marrin. "Your business is with Korda. Why would you want to attend a case?"

"Honestly? I'm just curious. I don't expect it will have any impact on my business with Korda and I need to think about something else to come back fresh."

Marta shrugs,

"How bad is it that no one else has ever wanted to attend? Or is it just the location?"

((She's being straight up here, so just 21 persuasion base if it's needed.))

Ethel's brow furrows.  "How does a prisoner come up for consideration before the absolution council?  Do you nominate them, Warden?  Is it based on their good behavior here?"