They were covered in… stuff… but they were in. The party had infiltrated the prison basement.
Inside, they came across four strange men. Their leader, Grimaldi, had just been emerging from a toilet… His friends – Harold, Fenton, and Isaac – were playing cards and discussing their task.
These strange men were looking to start some kind of trouble in the prison. This, it turned out, would suit the party perfectly. Even Lis had advised a “bit of chaos” always helps. Grimaldi suggested a prison riot could serve as a good distraction. They suggested three ways to do it: mistreat prisoners, provoke them, or mess with the only things they had left to enjoy: food and tobacco. But what was in this for Grimaldi and his men? He explained he wanted to make the prison governor look bad for political reasons.
So a deal was agreed. Grimaldi and his men would provide the party with some trustees’ uniforms so they could move freely within the prison. There would also be some other rewards on successful completion. In return, the party would do Grimaldi’s dirty work, saving him the trouble of having to start a riot himself and risk getting caught. The party donned the white trustees’ outfits and climbed into the prison complex…
They emerged in a fruit and tobacco storage area. Right away, someone was coming. The party floated up on Tenser’s Floating Disc and pressed themselves against the ceiling. Meanwhile Garrius convinced the newcomer to head down into the basement to Grimaldi, while Garrius took the tobacco. It was not that hard to convince the newcomer, for he was a trustee, Slow Henry by name, and slow by nature. He agreed to go to the basement if he could take a crate of the strange fruit in the storage room… Garrius agreed quickly.
Then Garrius emerged leading the party. They started an argument to distract the chef and dosed the prisoners’ food. After that, Garrius moved from cell to cell, inciting trouble… calling prisoners names, denying some their tobacco, giving double shares to others. Soon, a full-scale riot was in progress!
With the guards suitably distracted, the party ascended. After some searching, and Garrius inexplicably charging two armed guards head-first, they found the contact Cupras. The deal was done. Time to get out.
Flames took over the prison. Guards were engaged in fistfights with prisoners. Garrius and Addie had to step in to save a few guards (and the chef) from aggressive inmates seeking revenge. Egos was even propositioned by a buxom young lady in a cell, but he gave her the finger – and not in the way she wanted.
Sylas, Calarel, and Egos slipped off their trustees’ uniforms and left by the front door. Guards there simply assumed they were prison visitors caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, Garrius and Addie went back into the basement together. They wanted to report their success to Grimaldi and check on Slow Henry.
Slow Henry, it turned out, was fine. He told Addie and Garrius of his past. He was an orphan and had once been walking near the waterfront. A diamond thief ran past – hotly pursued by city guards – and stuffed stolen jewels into Henry’s pockets. Thus the guards “caught him” with the loot. Perhaps if he had an advocate, or was a little quicker of thought, he would have been able to defend himself by pointing out he didn’t match the thief’s description. Alas, Henry had no one to look out for him, and he had been sentenced for a crime he didn’t commit.
Grimaldi agreed to take on Slow Henry as an apprentice and induct him into their strange band of fellows. He also rewarded Garrius with a Strange Toolkit that could be used as a form of grappling hook… With their job done, and done well, Addie and Garrius left the prison to rejoin their friends and report their success to Gustav.