Alkanos muttered a curse as Asha left the room. They would pay eventually. Justice would find them, he was certain. This place was unnerving him more and more. Not only the drow but also all the other beasts that lived with them. "This place is slowly driving me mad.", he confessed to Caelynn and Jimjar. "There must be a way out of this mess." Even if the drow needed them alive for now, he was sure that they would kill or sacrifice them sooner rather than later. An Aasimar was not meant to be a prisoner, he thought, and he would gladly die than to live a life in servitude to these evil creatures. 

Jimjar beings whistling a jaunty tune as he begins to wipe of the pedestal that the statue is on.

Aimon, make a thieve's tool check with disadvantage of you want to try open a chest.

Trill nods and keeps an eye on them while she goes about cleaning.

Caelynn lets out a few curses of her own in Elvish. She starts sopping up the spilled water with her rag and wringing it back into the bucket. "If there is, we'll find it." She and her companions had given up and accepted that they were trapped in the underdark, and that was what got them killed. She refused to make that mistake again, even if she died in the process.

As they work, Caelynn will look for anything she can use as a weapon.

Caelynn, make a perception check.

Perception: 11

Thieves Tools: 12 

Caelynn, as you clean, you look for anything that could be used as a weapon. You don't find anything that could be useful, but as you are scrubbing the walls near the trapdoor, it suddenly opens and a drow climbs out of it. You were positioned in such a way that he doesn't see you. He steps out and and exits the room. The trapdoor closes by itself and you hear the sound of a lock enganging, but just before it closes, you manage to sneak a quick peek at the room below. From what you saw, there were rows of blades set against the wall you saw, and resting on a small a small stone table near the ladder that descends into the room below is your bow.

Aimon, you slip the fragment out and begin picking the lock. Much to your relief, the lock appears to be simple, but it takes you nearly a minute before the lock pops open with a slight clicking noise. The sharp edges of your pick has given you several small cuts that are bleeding slightly. Inside the chest are two sets of folded clothes, a small vial of purple liquid, and what looks like a petrified mouse.

Trill, as Aimon is doing this, the quaggoth who was staying at the mouth of the cave begins lumbering in your direction to check on you two.

(If you guys haven't realised this, the @(insert name) with the spoilers below are meant to be read by the person it was addressed to. I thought I would tell y'all just in case if you didn't realize what they were for)

Aimon looks down at what’s in the chest. A petrified mouse? None of this means anything to me, but one of the others might. But is it too risky to take something just for the sake of it.

He makes the decision to just describe what he has found to the others in case one of them has any ideas. He closes the chest quickly and moves away from it.

Knowing that if the work doesn't get done it will not be good for any of them, Zack cleans enough for the three of them. "We'll make it through this, don't worry." He tells Topsy and Shroom in a soft reassuring voice. Zack wasn't too sure if they understood him but his heart broke thinking of Topsy's state. 

Trill gives a warning signal, the sound of a blade being drawn across a whetstone, as the quaggoth approaches.

The quaggoth lumbers by, giving a quick look-over, but nothing more.

Tonight, I will skip to the evening meal.

Several hours later, the drow round you all up and here you back into your cell. It was a hard day's work, especially since the food you have been receiving is in small quantities. You are now all in the familiar cave that is the cell. You are now waiting for the evening meal which you are sure will be just as delicious as the other ones. Jimjar says nonchalantly, "Well, that was fun." Elderly scoffs quietly at the statement. Topsy seems very tired and her eyes are drooling from exhaustion and malnutrition. Sarith is willing in his usual corner. Stool goes over to Caelynn as soon as he is in the cell. He seems oddly deflated a bit.

Aimon bows to the drow as he returns to the cell.

"Ah, home sweet home."

He moves into the center of the room, away from prying eyes from the outside. He shows everyone the makeshift tool he crafted.

"It's not as beautiful as I would have liked, and it cuts a fine line," displaying the cuts on his hands as he speaks. "But, it did the trick and I was able to get into a chest in the barracks. Nothing I could make sense of - a vial of purple liquid and something that looked like a petrified mouse. Does that mean anything to anyone here?"

He goes to the back of the cave and hides the "thieves tool" with the glass "dagger" he also has.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I would prefer to leave here sooner than later and definitely more alive than dead."

His eyes linger on the state of Stool and Topsy. That will be them soon if they're here much longer.

Caelynn lays a gentle hand on Stool's "head," hoping to provide some manner of comfort. She perks up when Aimon mentions picking the lock.

"In the shrine today, I noticed a trapdoor hidden near the back. It was locked, but I caught a glimpse inside when one of the drow came out of it. My bow was in there, as well as many other weapons I suspect belong to you all. Perhaps the room could be accessed using your tool."

Even after only a day in this place, Caelynn longs for the familiar feeling of her bow in her hands. She also suspects their escape would be aided by them having their preferred weapons in hand.

Aimon perks up at the idea of getting a few weapons and the rest of their equipment.

“There we go. This is the start of a plan. Now we just need to get from here to there. And before you know it, we’re back up top and free and clear.”

He looks at the others. “Anything else to add to this deliciously bubbling stew of ideas?”

His fellow prisoners kept themselves busy well enough and Aimon's crafting skill along with Caelynn's observations were the first glimpses of hope he had experienced in the last few days. If they could get out of this cell and somehow make it to the armory, there was a slight chance of getting out of this nightmare. But how to do it with all the guards patrolling the out post. A distraction would certainly help, but he couldn't think of anything remotely useful. Alkanos had no experience in this kind of situation. He hadn't been a prisoner before and to state that he was out of his comfort zone was a serious understatement.

"You two did a great job.", he said with sincere appreciation. "Thanks to you we might have a real chance to escape this wrechted place." He moved closer towards his fellow prisoners, "The one major problem we have to solve though remains. How do we get out and arm ourselves without the drow noticing right away?"

It is funny, thought Aimon. Rarely did he plan anything through properly. He tended to act on impulse, his human side coming out his father always said. But with his and his new companions lives on the line he was more focused than he had ever been.

”Our best hope might be for a very short head start. But the next piece of this puzzle beyond getting out of this room and retrieving our tools of the trade is what next? Where do we go?”

He steps over to Jimjar. “Jim, my friend, have you ever seen anyone escape?”

"I've only been here for two weeks," replies Jimjar. "There were a few other prisoners, but they were sold soon after I got here." He pauses for a moment, thinking. "Now that I think about it, the drow who drop off supplies and take us are a week over due, which is unusual. They're usually punctual."

He opens his mouth with a sly smile forming on his face to probably say something witty when a sharp rapping of knuckles on metal draws your attention to the gate. Joorlan is waiting there with your dinner. He says in a rough voice, "Kemku, come here and get the food."

Aimon walks cautiously to the gate, hands clearly visible and non threatening, Jorlan is clearly unhappy with how he has fallen down the list of the priestess’favor. Maybe there is an opportunity there.

Speaking in undercommin, Aimon says “Lord Jorlan, thank you for delivering our sustenance. We are grateful.”

He pauses and gauges the look on Jorlan’s face. If we could make some connection with this drow we might improve our lot.

”How is it that someone as noble and gifted as you is relegated to food delivery? Is his high stuffiness too important now for such mundane duties?”