The Grapple action states:
Requirements You have at least one free hand. Your target cannot be more than one size larger than you.
You attempt to grab an opponent with your free hand. Attempt an Athletics check against their Fortitude DC. You can also Grapple to keep your hold on a creature you already grabbed.
Critical Success Your opponent is restrained until the end of your next turn unless you move or your opponent Escapes (page 470).
Success Your opponent is grabbed until the end of your next turn unless you move or your opponent Escapes.
Failure You fail to grab your opponent. If you already had the opponent grabbed or restrained using a Grapple, those conditions on that creature end.
Critical Failure If you already had the opponent grabbed or restrained, it breaks free. Your target can either grab you, as if it succeeded at using the Grapple action against you, or force you to fall and land prone.
Similarly, Snagging Strike is worded as:
Requirements You have one hand free, and your target is within reach of that hand.
You combine an attack with quick grappling moves to throw an enemy off balance as long as it stays in your reach. Make a Strike while keeping one hand free. If this Strike hits, the target is flat-footed until the start of your next turn or until it’s no longer within the reach of your hand, whichever comes first.
Finally, Combat Grab is worded as:
Requirements You have one hand free, and your target is within reach of that hand.
You swipe at your opponent and grab at them. Make a melee Strike while keeping one hand free. If the Strike hits, you grab the target using your free hand. The creature remains grabbed until the end of your next turn or until it Escapes, whichever comes first.
All three of these actions seem to be unclear on the “state” of the free hand that is doing the grabbing while the target is afflicted with the Grabbed condition. It is clear that the attacker usually must remain within reach of the target, but it is only implied that the hand remains occupied for the duration and unable to be used for other actions.
The intent with this question is to determine if it is possible to Grapple/Snagging Strike/Combat Grab a target with one action, and then follow up with Double Slice (which has a requirement of “You are wielding two melee weapons, each in a different hand.”). The character would be wielding a melee weapon in one hand, and a gauntlet with the free-hand and agile qualities in the other, thus meeting the two melee weapon requirement (as the gauntlet counts as a simple melee weapon, working past the unarmed attack not counting as a weapon), as well as the free hand requirement for the grapple action.
