Ethel stops, realizing the guards had nothing to do with her allies.  She does hang out casually to observe this interaction taking place, mostly out of curiosity. 

As Ethel watches more closely she realizes the tall 'leader' is Headmaster Noon but in a completely different outfit than she had seen him in before. The purple and white of his top hat and tails appears to swirl and move as he moves. Noon takes three of the guards and heads through the hedge archway, leaving one on guard.

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The shortsword just comes to a rest when Autumn Noon, in top hat and tails, followed by three Brigade guards rounds the corner of the caravan wagon.

He looks at Martin-Marrin, Dave-A, and Karen-Jan, nods curtly and proceeds straight to Gary. Noon bends down, looking at the dead would-be assassin. He then straightens back up, looks at the three guards, puts a finger to his lips in a universal sign of 'be quiet' then twirls the same finger over Gary.

The three guards move quickly, grab the body and disappear further into the staff area of the Lintoll.

Noon looks back at the 'family' of Gary slayers, put the finger to his lips again, and with the same finger then beckons for the three to follow him. Without waiting he heads back to the archway in the hedge.

If her companions move to follow, Jan will stumble after.

Martin follows Noon, making sure mamma Jan is coming along.

Curious... Dave-a thinks as she watches Noon, but follows along with the rest.

Once through the archway hedge, Noon leads the trio over to near the carousel. The loud sounds of music, children shrieking with delight, and vendors trying to attract attention makes the setting next to impossible for someone to overhear what's said.

On the other side of the carousel plaza, sharp eyed (and nosed) Dave-A spots Granny/Auntie Ethel watching them.

Noon leans into the three and says "The less said, and the less thought, the better. But thank you. We can't have that type using us for cover."

He produces three shiny, black, metallic cards, the size of the entry tickets you purchased to enter the Lintoll. These cards don't bend and look blank until you let the sunlight catch them at just the right angle and in arching, stylized letters you can make out the word Lintoll above the image of a bear and dragon hugging. At first you assume this is etched into the metal but as you move the cards, the figures appear to move too.

"You are friends of the Lintoll and are always welcome here." Noon says, before adding. "Wherever here might be."

Seeing her allies and also seeing they don't appear to be in any trouble, ye olde hurdy gurdy remains at a distance, leans on her walking stick and waits patiently for them to finish up and then explain to her what she missed.

When Noon says that he doesn't want to hear their thoughts on the matter, Jan steers hers towards the promised mushroom treat.

"Noon. I would still like a word, if you have time."

Martin says respectfully.

Dave-a finds her thoughts suddenly clear.

Noon pauses and looks around at the crowd before nodding to Martin-Marrin. He gestures for him-her to join him just beside his office-caravan.

Martin says to the others,

"I'll be right back, save me some mushrooms!"

He'll then go in and have a quiet conversation with Noon.

Kar-Jan will stumble off in search of mushrooms unless restrained by Dave-a

Raising an eyebrow as Martin heads off with Noon, Dave-a leans over and whispers to Jan, "Keep an eye on them, make sure Martin is alright."

And she heads over to Ethel to fill her in on what is going on and see how she has been faring.

"Wha... oh, bring me back mushrooms, sweetie!"

Kar-Jan will find a vertical surface she can lean against and gaze in Marr-tin and Noon's general direction. She tries looking through K'oshash's eyes, but gets dizzy and sense him off to follow Dave-a.

Mamma Jan would see Martin pull out the card they just received. Say something. Gesture around the Lintoll and then make an absent sweep vaguely to the north.

After each Noon will respond and then Martin will hold up the card again, say something, gesture again at the Lintoll, then put the card away.

Noon eventually seems to say goodbye to Martin-Marrin and returns to his caravan-office.

You have probably an hour or so before you're supposed to meet with the mayor.

Martin will walk over and collect mamma Jan,

"Well, I'm feeling better about today than I did ten minute ago. Really wish we could have handled that guy without..."

Martin takes a deep breath and then smiles,

"How are you feeling? Let's get those mushrooms."

Once they get to Dave-a,

"You wanna go punch a goblin with me?"

Dave-A smiles, "Thought you'd never ask.  Though, can we remove these disguises now that the threat has um, been taken care of?"

As they start walking, "So what did you discuss with Noon before they left?"

Kar-Jan cheerfully stumbles along, arm looped through D-Ava's.

"Yay! Mushrooms!"

Ethel listens to Dave-A's report on the assassin hunt.  She makes a mental note to question each of them separately about what the doppelganger said about its employer, to make sure no detail is lost, but otherwise she commends Dave-A.  "Excellent work.  You've dispatched a foe, and apparently made us fast friends with Noon.  I knew I could count on all of you."