"Ok, sneaky then.
"Who'd like to go cause a commotion out on the edge of town somewhere? I can do it if needed."
Gondork rolls his eyes, but obliges.
"Gondork, wait, before you go, let's make sure you come back in one piece. You're fond of your armour, but it might not be enough. I want you to come back in one piece."
Giacomo taps Gondork with a Barkskin.
"Don't worry to much Giacomo. Gondork is like a weed; it is impossible to get rid of him, no matter how hard you try..."
With a sigh, Arwyn fished out three flasks of Alchemist's Fire and offered them to Gondork.
"Here. Be careful with these. Don't set yourself on fire and don't actually kill anybody either."
Wandering about town, Gondork sees a number of possible targets.
A number of outhouses, a large pile of seasoning wood under an open roof, several large vats of fish oil down by the docks, an ice fishing hut where someone had stashed several barrels of brandy, and a large wooden scaffolding where nets were laid to dry.
As Gondork walked away from the building, the fish oil catches on with a *whumph* and starts burning fiercely, producing a black smoke as it spreads quickly.
Gondork is out of sight in the trees when the alchemists fire bursts, and the net drying scaffolding starts to catch fire slowly.
Shouts go up near the shore as civilians start to cry "Fire!" by the fishoil vats.
Gondork is barely out of the ice fishing shack when the alchemist's fire bursts and starts setting the brandy kegs on fire. Suddenly, the shack explodes with startling force! A fireball of screaming whistles, exploding balls of fire launching into the air, and spinning showers of sparks scatter everywhere as Gondork is propelled through the air, then across the ice on his face, and finally winding up headfirst in a snowbank on the shore; a large and smoking scorch mark on his back.
Arwyn's head snapped around as the fireball climbed over the tree line.
"What the hell did that meathead do? He was supposed to just cause a distraction, not burn the place down!" She fretted.
As the fire bell rang, the front door of the Guardhouse slammed open, and a cluster of guards, still pulling on their armor, poured out of the doorway and ran off towards the shoreline.
Hue hue hue.. that will grab their attention. Now, what was I supposed to do again? Ugh, my head hurts...
Gondork shakes off his Stunned condition in two rounds. He sees the shore area is milling with people, some helping put out the fires, some just rubbernecking.
Some people see him.
"What are you all looking at!? Never seen a Half-orc before!?"
"Dammit, where is Gondork?" Muttered Arwyn. "If he's not here in thirty heartbeats, we're going in without him."
"He's probably fine. He's very good at causing a ruckus, this is like a field trip for him. He's probably picking his nose and looking at the fire in amazement right now."
"But... knowing him he is now attracting a mob or something like that... Maybe we should just enter now and get that guy out, before Gondork brings the party to us..."
Arwyn nodded sharply.
"Alright, let's go." She said, grabbing up her weapons and heading to the secret door, or where it is supposed to be.
Ten-Penny finds the hidden catch, which is used to open the hidden door. She suddenly stops, holds her hand up to signal the rest of the party to stop, and whispers: "Do you hear that? Sounds like snoring... Be very quiet everyone, they're not all gone."
Ten-Penny then opens the secret door, and sneaks inside, her sap in hand in case trouble breaks out.
Giacomo tiptoes in after Ten-Penny
Easing into the bedroom through the secret door, your senses are assaulted by the smell of body odor and old fish. Your eyes adjust to the dimness and you note the piled crates of goods against the north wall, the cabinets on the west wall, and the bed with the titanic snoring coming from it in the southwest corner.
Abruptly, the snoring stops and a man sits bolt upright!
"What?" He asked confusedly. "Where's all that fresh air coming from?" His eyes roved around until he spotted the open secret door, snow gently blowing around it.
Time for some fast thinking. I hope this works...
"Well, well, well. I'm glad that there still someone around to guard the captive, but sleeping on the job? It's a good thing he is going to be moved then..."
Ten-Penny takes a firm stance, and continues.
"There is a big ruckus outside, and we do not need peasants revolting, let alone allowing them to think they have a leader here. I'm picking him up, so get him ready to be transported to Whitethrone."
Ten-Penny crosses her arms.
"Well? Dallying while our rulers want to get this done quickly? Get on with it!"
The guy almost leapt out of his slippers at the sudden appearance of Ten-Penny.
"What the hell? What ruckus? Who are you?" He shouted, grabbing his rapier. "And how the HELL did you put a DOOR in my bedroom?"
At the waterfront all the bystanders stared at Gondork in amazement, but made no move towards or away from him.
Across the boardwalk, he can see a group of armored thugs shoving their way through the crowd towards the burning fishoil vats in the warehouse.
"I'm Inquisitor Jala, send here on orders from Whitethrone to retrieve the traitor known as Ringeirr. And you should watch your tone with me, you lowly guard! You sleep, while fire is erupting outside! You do not even know about the secret entrance in your own guardhouse! How come such a clueless bottom feeder actually has a station?!? Now wipe that drool of your face and present me with the prisoner, so that I can transport him towards his final resting place. Dally any longer, and I will find it necessary to report your incompetence!"
, or if you require an intimidate instead, then .
Gondork moves through the crowd, still occupied with fighting fires, when he reaches an avenue into the town proper. Glancing behind him, he sees several guards talk to some of the local fishermen.
They all turn and point at Gondork.
The guards shout, draw their weapons and bullrush their way through the crowd towards him.
At the Guardhouse...
The man dropped his rapier and wrung his hands.
"Oh Inquisitor Jala! We... weren't expecting you! Ringeirr is just in the next room!" He babbled.
Running over to the door he flung it open and dashed through.
In the front room, you see two ogres in rudimentary guard uniforms trying to play cards and failing. They looked up at the man with surprise when he shouted at them.
"Borger! Whunk! Bring our guest out for the Inquisitor!" The man (One Marcian Enarxion by name) ordered brusquely.
With one startled glance at their boss, and you lot, they shrug and stand up. Going over to a closet, they open it and draw forth an Ulfen man; tied up, gagged and somewhat bruised and battered, but still alive and whole.
Marcian gestured for you to take him.
"Will there be anything else we can do for the Inquisition milady?" Marcian wheedled at you, wringing his hands and a hopefull expression on his face.
Gondork makes a run for it!
Then, after taking a couple of corners he tries to find an empty alley or shed, then takes the 5-foot mirror he stole from his backpack and puts it in an inconspicuous corner.
I hope this works...
"You can go outside and put out the fires, you groveling worm! Peasants without tools are even more useless then normal! And if this settlement does not meet the food quotum, there will be repercussions. Leave the culprit to me, I'll have this person followed to find out if there are more of them."
Ten-Penny takes Ringeirr and pushes him along towards the secret entrance. She then turns around towards Marcian Enarxion and huffs.
"Well? GET ON WITH IT!"
Giacomo will mostly stay out of sight of the man as to not draw any attention to himself. Ten-Penny seems to have this covered.
Marcian jumped at Ten-Penny's bark and scuttled away out of sight.
You are able to exit the Fishcamp Guards building through the secret door unmolested.
Nadya and Ringeirr are delighted to see each other again. After a quick embrace, she introduces Ringeirr to you as she cuts him free of his bonds.
"Don't know who you are, but if Nadya vouches for you you're all right by me." He said, rubbing his wrists.
"Lets get to my hut so we can speak privately." He said, than paused.
"Uh, you aren't really inquisitors for the queen are you?"
Meanwhile, Gondork is able to break line of sight long enough to set up his mirror in a hedge corridor, Cast Mirror Hideaway and squeeze into the dimensional space.
Gondork puts a thick shawl in front of his face in an attempt to hide his features, then steps out of the mirror, looks around, and puts the mirror back in his backpack. He then calmly walks back, keeping his eyes peeled for anyone following him.
"If only grandpa could see me..."
"Huh, that went easier than expected... Not that I'm complaining, of course. Well done, Ten-Penny!"
Giacomo turns to Ringeirr.
"No, we're not really inquisitors. We do have a very important mission though, but we'll explain when we're back in your hut."
"Yeah, we were lucky that the local captain is a suck-up, I can't believe that actually worked."
She then turns to Ringeirr
"But where is your hut located? I just stated that I'm transporting you, so if we linger here, that might raise suspicion. Are you sure we're safe there?"
At the same time, Ten-Penny keeps an eye out for Gondork.
A gasping Gondork rejoins you at this point as you gather all your stuff back from where you concealed it while infiltrating the town.
Ringeirr looked at you all dubiously, but indicated a pathway that you take out to a little hut overlooking the great lake, but out of sight in the woods.
Ushering you inside the earthen walled hut, Ringeirr started a fire and put the pot on before going into his bedroom to change.
While he was out, Nadya told you a little about Ringeirr.
"He is Ringeirr Malenkov. He was my late husband Hjalnek’s maternal uncle.
"When he was a younger man, Ringeirr’s wife and son were taken by the White Witches and brought to Whitethrone.
"Ringeirr went to the city to rescue them, but though he was able to secretly enter the city and leave it again many times, he never did see his family again.
"Ringeirr stayed near Whitethrone after that however, and the last I heard was that he was living in the Fishcamps and working as a fisherman; and smuggler.
"That's the reason I took you to see him; he's an expert in getting in and out of Whitethrone unnoticed."
Arwyn put down the treasure chest and started making a warm meal for Ringeirr and her companions.
Arwyn put down the treasure chest and started using the fire to make a warm meal for Ringeirr and her companions.
When Ringeirr returned, in fresh clothing though still limping, he sat down with a sigh and a grimace.
"Well now, I thank ye kindly fer the rescue, but I don't think ye came ta get me outta the goodness of yer hearts. Why don't ye tell me what brought to to see me?" He stated, looking at you expectantly.
Gondork looks at the others, unsure what to say.
Giacomo looks at the rest of the party, then decides honesty is the best way to go.
"Er, well, it's like this. We come from Heldren, a village in Taldor. We suddenly got a whole bunch of snow in the middle of summer, and we were sent to investigate. We found a big ice tower with a witch in it. We kicked him out and suddenly a man in a black armour comes riding up to us. Turns out, Queen Elvanna's planning to take over the world somehow by opening small portals all over Golarion and sending out Fey creatures to... I don't know, annoy everyone to death, I suppose. The guy dies right in front of us, but not before revealing he was sent by Baba Yaga herself to try and stop all of this. He gives us part of his power, and now we're bound to the same oath as he did. If we don't try to stop the Queen, we'll wither away and die!
Now we've come here to find the next ruler that's under Elvanna's control and kindly ask him to vacate the premises, or we'll do it for him/her.
So yeah, we're kind of on a big mission, and we'd like some aid in infiltrating the palace so we don't anger the entire village. Which Gondork might have done anyway."
"Yeah, Gondork isn't that subtle... At least no one died, that should count for something."