When Marrin's watch comes around, perception: 6

Ula too is relieved and pleased when the others return. She watches Xanthe attentively as she heals. Ula helps tend to the party and make sure they’re clean and comfortable. Something is playing on her mind though…

All this talk of the Dwarven escape team… Her mind won’t let it rest…

Before settling down for bed, she does a slow loop around their chamber, looking for any dwarven clues. Any runes, writing or marks. Amy symbols or messages… perhaps left, to help the next dwarf to pass through this way…

Using her dwarven heritage, her ‘stone-cunning’ trait, and her patient perception, she examines the stonework around the cave, up the walls a short way, and around the pool, for anything that might give her a clue, or marks been left by the the previous dwarves …

 Perception: 26 

A general quiet settles over the cavern as the light disappears completely. A few stars can be seen through the openings above but it's not enough to make out what is right in front of you. Anyone without darkvision is in darkness.

Ethel lies awake for a while but the surroundings are still too new for her to sort out the sounds yet. She hears shuffling of bodies, dripping water, odd noises from the rocks, and shouts. But she's still orienting herself to this place and can't make out enough to really garner any clues from. Frustrated, she eventually falls off to sleep.

While some in the cave had assumed Ula had gone quiet because of the stress of finding herself a prisoner, she had been carefully using the last bits of light to make it easier to examine the walls of the cavern. While she can make out shades of grey with her darkvision, seeing faint carvings or runes in the dark would still be a challenge. 

She scours most of the cave and was almost ready to give up as the light disappeared, but at last she found something; words scratched out in the stone - they're faint but clearly dwarvish.

Ula can just make them out.

Ula:

Avaria almost drifts off a few times while she's keeping watch, the quiet getting to her. But other than a few cries from some of those sleeping, she doesn't see anything. Marrin pops an eye open immediately when Avaria wakes her for her turn at watch.

Marrin, similarly doesn't notice anything in the night. At one point she thought she heard footsteps and thought she saw a shadow move near the entrance to the goblin cave, but when she focuses more closely she can't see anything else.

Come morning, as you all awake, you can see the sky above growing lighter but rather then enjoying the luxury of waking slowly, you're jolted away by shouting on the other side of the cavern.

"You took it. Give it back." One of the humans, a shaggy white haired men shouts at a small red headed halfling.

Marrin rubs her eyes and yawns as she focuses on the squabble.

She isn't inclined to get involved.

Avaria stretches after finally getting some rest.  She had kinda hoped the whole thing was a bad dream, but no.. she was still locked up like an animal.  She chuckles to herself thinking about her dad and how she knew she looked.  But this immediately sobered her as being caged was something she had always feared once she learned of her heritage, but at least at the moment she was with her friends.

The shouts pulled her out of her reverie and was a welcome distraction.  Unsure of how things were handled here, she stood up and walked over to Xanthe, "What's going on?"

Xanthe shakes her head.

"I don't know," she says to Avaria as she walks over to where the man is shouting at the halfling.

"Give it back you little thief," Shaggy-White-Hair says.

"I didn't take you're bloody knife," Small-Red-Hair says.

The older man throws his hands up in the air and looks around.

"It didn't just walk off."

Xanthe shushes the two of them and speaks to them in whispers.

With her highly attuned awareness of her surroundings, out of the corner of her eye, Ula catches movement at the entrance to the goblin caves.

Ula:

Ethel awakens on the cavern floor to the sounds of the disagreement.  Satisfied there is no imminent danger, she stretches sore and damages limbs until she is ready to stand.

Her new spells prepared, she tucks a little of the sand into her robes where she can access it if needed.

Marrin perks up at the mention of a knife.

She stands up to get a better view, her gaze lifting to door at the shouting about weapons.

Marrin notices no movement at the door. Either no one in the guard post has heard the commotion yet or they have and don't care.

To Jan/Ula she says quietly,

"We need to ask white hair where he got that knife."

"Well, sounds like he doesn't have it any more, more interested in who has it now.", Jan whispers back.

Ula whispers too: “You’re both right: how did he get it, and where is it now?… Hmm… Now, I don’t know if they took it, but I saw one of the goblins slinking away with a wry look on their face….”.

”Didn’t see them take anything. I want to be clear on that… they might have just been disturbed by the noise like us. But just be wary that way…”.

Marrin looks over to Ula and considers the information on the goblin before saying,

"We should go have a chat with them. They have one knife, they likely have more."

She comments wryly to Ula in Dwarven,

"You manage to find the fabled dwarven escape route during the night?"

In dwarven, Ula comments back to Marrin, very quietly. “Maybe I have that, aye...”.

”I’ve reason to believe there may be a way out, through the water tunnels…  Might check it out, when it’s a bit quieter… No one seems to turn a blind eye to me taking a dip anyway! Praise be to Istishia…”. She says this flat and it’s hard to tell if she really means it this time or if she’s being ironic.

Marrin scoffs at Ula's joke before glancing down at her tone and continuing quietly in Dwarven,

"You're not kidding? It took you less than a day!"

Marrin spares a furtive glance to the pool.

"I might need a dip myself."

Turning back to the squabbling she says quietly,

"We keep this to ourselves, just the four of us, for now? Hammerdasher and the are probably okay but better safe than sorry."

Avaria heads back to the group and hears them talking in dwarven.  Unsure of what is going on, but not wanting to butt in, she sits next to them, pondering if the goblins did take the knife and if there was more to it.

Once the others stop discussing, she pipes up, "Shall we try and walk through the rest of our area, hobtown and the orcs?  Maybe we can get more information before we are called back into the arena.  And there is that tunnel that leads off the orc caves, might be worth checking out?"

Marrin smiles at Ava when she comes back but finishes the quiet conversation in Dwarven.

"A check on the hobtown might be called for, though if the goblin was right it won't lead to much. The orcs may be more of a tool than a proper ally."

She looks over to Jan and Ethel,

"Maybe we can arrange a meeting with the orc when they come to get the food rather than venturing into their section?"

Ula nods in response to all the various ideas. Although it’s clear that half her thought is on something else. It looks like maybe she’s seen much and is thinking it all over.