Squelch, make an Investigation check.

(There are locks on the windows and doors that seem to hold, but the check to to test their quality)

Whenever it comes to it, Grum will take his watch just inside the room, with the door slightly ajar so he can see it into the corridor. 

Perception: 16 

"Goodnight everyone."

Callie closes her door to the hall and gets ready for bed, eager to rest and sleep away the stresses of the day. Sometime during the night she finds herself unable to sleep, and simply sits up in bed, listening to the sounds of near silence outside her door and window. She stays this way for a little while, then eventually ends her "watch," curls back up, and returns to sleep.

Perception: 28

Perception: 20

Investigation: 7

As far as you can tell Squelch, the locks seem secure and sturdy enough.

(Just doing these in order of post)

On each of your watches, the noise in the common room quiets down until it is eventually silent. With the door open Grum you see a single patron, the man who looked at you earlier sleeping with his head on the table, the woman no longer with him. The barmaid tries to remove him but he won't budge, snoring loudly. Eventually Toblen tells Elsa to just let him lay there, and says something to her that you can't quite hear.

Callie's watch is completely silent, nothing is heard in the Inn and she eventually falls asleep.

Squelch your watch carries into the early morning, and you can hear a conversation through the door, making out two voices. That of a woman and that of a man. (If your door is slightly open you can see them too, with the common room empty and the figures in the corner of the hall near your rooms.)

"Wake up, Lanar."
"Just another hour."
"Halia won't wait another hour. Get up already."
"Damned it Freda, can't you cover for me?"
"I won't cover for you, Halia needs all of us. She sent that man over to the manor already."

There is a palpable pause of silence, and as the conversation picks up again the man's tone switches from a whine to a serious demeanor.

"Tell Halia I'll be at the exchange soon. I'll get ready."

 
You hear them leave, and go back to bed.

Morning comes, the sun shining through each of your windows and you all assemble in the common room together. What would you all like to do?

<Squelch> points to the rooms here everyone slept. <Snoring sound> <Sound of door squeaking>  He then points to his ear.

<woman's voice> "Wake up, Lanar."
<man's voice>"Just another hour."
<woman's voice>"Halia won't wait another hour. Get up already."
<man's voice>"Damned it Freda, can't you cover for me?"
<woman's voice>"I won't cover for you, Halia needs all of us. She sent that man over to the manor already."
<man's voice>"Tell Halia I'll be at the exchange soon. I'll get ready."

(OOC: I love that <Squelch> could just replay the exact conversation!)

"That was a conversation you heard when you were on watch? The Manor they mentioned is the hideout of the Redbrands and the Glasstaff guy. So I'd assume they know where we are and what we did and are coming in larger numbers for us, except for the fact that they left. Why would this Lanar and Freda leave? If they were after us, surely they'd leave someone on watch, to trail us if we left. But it sounds like something significant is happening at the Manor. Perhaps the townsfolk are rising up against the Redbrands? We should try and find out."

Grum gets himself ready for the day, before going down to the bar. If Toblen or Elsa are around, Grum will say, "We completely forgot last night, we also had a message for someone named Halia. Could you tell me who Halia is and where we might find them?" 

Elsa is distracted cleaning the table that Lanar had passed out on, but Toblen's wife, Trilena, is attending the desk and answers your question.

"Ah, Halia runs the Miners exchange next to the woodworkers on the street across from the Lionshield Coster. She can price your jewels and whatnot if you got any, and her building also holds a lot of the town records."

"Thankyou.  Sounds like she's an important part of how the town works."  He pauses, then gestures to the table Elsa is cleaning, "I often think that running a tavern would be really fun for an outgoing, charismatic individual - not that I'm that way inclined myself.  But I think people always overlook the downsides.  Not pleasant to have ruffians pass out on the tables and have to clean up after them later."

There's an emphasis on the word 'ruffians' that's Grum makes intentionally judgmental, hoping to draw the woman to comment on the man in question (but Grum's not the most charismatic, as we've recently learned, so she may well totally miss his deliberate inflection.)

"Oh, Lanar? He's rough around the edges but I think he's alright. Most of Halia's workers know their craft well but don't really play nice; I hope he didn't give you any trouble?"

(You can make an Insight check or push further if you want)

Insight: 6

(Grum didn't actually see who Lanar was, since he's only heard his voice mimicked by <Squelch> and was asleep through the actual conversation.  But putting two and two together, I believe he's the guy who paid Grum extra attention?  If so, Grum notices that the table in question is the same one that guy was sat at, and assumes it was that same guy - getting confirmation when Trilena says he's one of Halia's workers, and thinking back to the dirt covering his clothes and face) 

(Yes, same guy as the one who stared at you the day before)

She seems to be truthful, and is trying to convey that she is not a fan of him or potentially Halia's workers without bad-mouthing him/them. She kind of narrows her eyes a little as she says 'rough around the edges' implying that he's bad company, but her position as an Inn worker in a small town prevents her from being more severe than that.

"No, no trouble.  I think he looked at me a bit darkly yesterday, but that's not a crime, and I'm well used to that.  People don't always take kindly to someone wandering around with Orcish features.  Sometimes I wish people would realise that Half-orc and Orc is not the same thing, but when Orcs behave the way some of them do, it's no surprise."

"Oh, I understand. Its in no way an excuse but in case you're interested the townmaster has a bounty on an orc tribe that's been spotted on the trail and making everyone nervous. I'm not sure how much money Harbin is offering but if you slew those orcs I bet old Lanar wouldn't be so smug." As she finishes her sentence she realizes her tone shift and covers her mouth with both hands slightly. "Oh, excuse me."

Grum blinks a couple of times, not sure what to make of the latest revelation.  It seems that even in a quiet place like this, the same prejudices run true.  "A bounty on them simply because they're Orcs?  They need to be killed because of their race?  My father was an Orc.  Should he have been killed?  What does that make me?  Is my existence an abomination to you?"  Grum's tone is not angry, just a little tired and resigned.  "What have they done to deserve such a bounty?"

Grum is torn.  On one hand, he told himself that he needed to be with this current party to deliver the goods for Gundren, and that objective is accomplished.  The comforting peace that Grum has come to find in what he once felt as loneliness is calling to him again.  He could walk out of here and never see these people, this town again.  On the other hand, these people he's travelling with seem to have accepted him, and he's even found himself beginning to like them.  Plus, these perceptions are never going to change if he doesn't help shift them.  And he's just said himself that many Orcs' behaviour is just cause for some people's fears.  Perhaps it's worth pursuing.  If the orcs are simply seeking a place to settle for a while, maybe he can make some introductions and break down these social walls.  Well, that's highly unlikely.  If the orcs are threatening the town with raids and such, perhaps he can negotiate with them - inasmuch as Orcs really 'negotiate' - and still claim the bounty for having helped save the town from their threat.  But if these Orcs are really a menace, determined to make life difficult for the folk of this 'innocent' town (Grum questions his use of the term 'innocent' even within his own thoughts, given the conversation he's currently having), then perhaps having a Half-Orc be part of the party that deals with the threat might at least make people realise that not all Orcs and Half-Orcs are of the same persuasion.

"Oh, um... I don't know what it s for I think you have to ask the towns master but. I'm sorry!" You can see tears well up in her eyes and she runs off scared into the back room. Elsa comes up from behind, having finished cleaning the table, taking Trilena's place behind the bar. "Is everything alright?"

Grum sighs.  Apparently he's the bad guy again.  Of course he is. Never the victim of other people's prejudices.

"Just a misunderstanding, I'm sure.  The lady of the house suggested I might want to look into the recent bounty placed on a band of Orcs and take it upon myself to kill them all.  If they're truly a threat and a menace, as I'm sure some Orcs prove themselves to be, then I would be willing to look into it.  But when I suggested that the idea of the slaughter of a band of Orcs may not be the first thing I want to hear as a Half-Orc myself, apparently I upset her.  Please pass on my apologies."

Grum walks away back to the others, muttering under his breath (the only audible thing in common being "...taverns...") and reports back what Trilena had told him about Halia and the Miner's Exchange.

"A-alright, let me know if you need anything" The young woman awkwardly says, unsure of what transpired.

Sildar comes down the stairs from his room, having slept in a little. He looks a little better, but still rough. "Good morning everyone. Ah, Malthaza'ar, I'm glad you've acquainted with everyone."

Callie stumbles out of her room and to where the rest of her new friends are gathered, still caught in the haze of sleep. She makes a few barely coherent mumbling sounds when <Squelch> and Grum discuss what the kenku had heard the night before, but with the look of deep thought on her face and the clear half-asleep look in her eye, it's difficult to tell if she's lucid. After a time she rubs the sleep from her eyes and finally begins to seem a little more awake than before, just in time for her to notice a grumpy-looking Grum return to the table muttering under his breath.

"Is... is everything alright, Grum?"