Gerrard:

Gerrard had hoped that Boctopus might know which of the cells was unvaried before and is barred now, as that is the most likely to house the tortured locanth.  Gerrard moves over to this one (furthest to the east) and waits for Boko’s response.

Qivys goes to the closest one to him.

Kei 

Krill returns to its master after having failed in its mission. If a crab could show emotion it would be sporting a look of disappointment. Nevermind little one. Kei telepathically consoles his tiny friend in a manner the group would never know he was capable of. 

Immediately on entering the torture chamber Kei's attention falls on the mangled pile of manacles and chains. The keys. If this place had many doors and gates a set of keys might eliminate the need to damage locks or doors. He slides over to the pile of rust and blood covered restraints and fishes the keys from their tangled resting place. It never occurs to him that the keys may only be for the rusty bindings. He grabs a pair of manacles and holds them up as he returns to the group. "Just in case we need to lock someone, something up."  He moves to stand near Gerrard and extends his fist full of keys. "Stick these in that bag of yours. Never know when you need a key or two"

Gerrard heads to the last cell door to the east (barred) and awaits Bokotopus.

Qivys tries to swim up to get a look through the crack at the top of the first door to the west (barred). (Make a perception check at disadvantage.)

Kei grabs a functional pair of manacles and as many keys as he can gather.

Oceanus grips his trident, prepared for battle at any moment.

Gerrard:

Accepting the keys and putting them in his pouch, Gerrard decides to carefully unbar the door and set the bar aside carefully. He opens the door, hoping to find the locanth there.

Boko stays in octopus form and when she notices the door that had been open is now closed and barred, she points at it with a tentacle, and looks at Gerrard. 

Then she darts to the southern door and rests against it, doing her best to listen through the door for any sound at all, and also confirming there are no paths to squeeze through to scout ahead.

Perception: 12

Bokotopus finds no way to pass around the southern door without opening it. Listening carefully, she does hear something, though, just for a moment. The muted sounds of many distant voices shouting - like the roar of a crowd.

Gerrard opens the easternmost door to find a cell like the one they passed through. It is built of unfinished stone and not illuminated in any way. A rough platform carved into one wall serves as a bed. Within it is the locathah, curled up and badly injured. "Who are you?" it asks weakly.

Qivys peeks through the gap at the top of the second cell from the left. Perception (with disadvantage): 3

Qivys sees something within. Something quite big – a glimpse of something with green scales and black hair, moving uneasily.

Not hearing the "whimpering" that was heard before Qivys does nothing and moves the the center of the room and waits.

Gerrard:

Approaching cautiously with the healing potion held in front of him, the young noble says, “I am Gerrard, recently of Saltmarsh.  I am here with some allies to scout the defenses of the sea devils.  It…pained me to allow your torture to go on, but we could not risk discovery.  I think we can chance this healing potion, though.  Who are you and what can you tell us of the Sahuagain and their stolen lair?”

 Gerrard hands over the potion if the locanth will accept it.

Persuasion if needed:  18

The locathah gratefully accepts the potion, drinks it, closes his eyes for a long moment, then sits up.

"My name is Borgas," he says in Common. He has no possessions. "I would be very appreciative if you let me free. Also my companion, my giant eel. Is he okay? We were just out hunting. I can't tell you much about this place but I can tell you what I saw when they brought me here. But first, can you help me set my eel free?"

The whimpering earlier, you expect, probably came from Borgas. Whatever is locked in the cell Qivys peeked into is silent. Even his telepathic attempt to communicate is met with silence.

Gerrard:

Greetings, Borgas,” responds Gerrard, “We will help you as much as we can, but we have to be very careful about revealing our presence.  We need to preserve every tactical advantage we can for the upcoming operation.  I fear freeing you and your eel may compromise that unless we can come up with a plausible explanation for your escape that doesn’t reveal our involvement or uncover the hidden entrance.”

Peri:

Peri trails behind the group as they enter, reluctant to face the creature they had allowed to suffer. At your insistence, boyo. May all of Yondalla's Children have mercy on your soul. He quietly closes the door behind them and returns the bar. If they do move deeper into the fortress he doesn't want to leave any trace of their entry.

He joins BokTopus at the far door, ready to strike if the jailers return.

"We can join you. My eel and I are quiet and resourceful soldiers. If I can find a spear, I can be of service to you," responds Borgas.

Gerrard:

”I am sure you are, Borgas, but that is not the issue.  If the Sahuagin realize that we were here, it could jeopardize the whole operation.  If we are spotted, it needs to seem that you got free by yourself,” responds Gerrard.

(If he agrees, Gerrard gives him his heavy crossbow and case of bolts and offers to help free his eel).

”What do you know about the sea devils and the layout of the lair?” he asks.

"Of course," agrees Borgas. "My eel and I can handle ourselves. Just help us get free."

He goes on to explain what little he knows about the fortress. He was brought in through the other, large, undersea opening that Boko witnessed. He says the room appears to be temporary barracks for 60 or 70 or more heavily-armed saguagin, together with a half dozen armored sharks. In addition to the huge exterior gate, he was brought through an interior gate into a smaller room - a guardpost of some kind, containing eight more sahuagin guards whose duties seem to include managing the small gate, which is kept closed. They also control a huge net they can drop onto intruders. He then describes a long, windy passage he was brought down to this room, which included several openings and side passages he didn't see into.

Kei 

After listening to Borgas recite what he knows of the layout within the fortress he approaches the locathah. "Seems no-one wants to break the news to you, but I think your eel is dead." Kei blurts out the obvious with as much tact as a minotaur in a crockery shop. "I'm sure, once you make it out, you can befriend another one though."

Without waiting for a response from Borgas he walks over to Peri and BokTopus. "What's the plan? Can we open this thing without showing our hand to the Sea Devils? Even enough for Krill and Boko to sneak through?" Full of questions but no solutions, Kei waits for someone else to decide the best course of action.

"Dead?" cries Borgas, perhaps a little too loudly. "Where is he? Squeal!" He stands up in alarm, and moves to exit his cell.

"Who's that?" calls a raspy voice from inside the next cell over.

Gerrard:

”We did find an enormous dead eel in one of the cells, but we are not sure that is your companion.  Quiet down and come out to look,” Gerrard says, trying to calm him down enough to not alert the sea devils.

Borgas comes out of his cell, pausing to carefully scan the room first. He stumbles over to the middle cell and looks through the winched-open door. 

"Squeal!" he cries, dropping to his knees in shock. "What did they do to you??"

The raspy voice in the next cell goes quiet.