As Verdan was making his way through the crowd, there was a violent movement and a stray elbow caught him on the side of the head. It wasn't powerful enough to deal noteworthy damage, but the unexpected blow did stun him momentarily, and he was still shaking off the last of the disorienting effect as he tried to examine Lydia's body, causing him to fail.

By chance, Milo was caught in the same violent movement. Before he knew what was going on, he was in the middle of a crowd that surged back and forth, and with the majority of the population being human, it was impossible to tell which way was which, let alone who was causing it.

Morgan had a clear view of both of these events. It was quite amusing.

[hr]

Lillith glanced slightly to one side as the black-robed man began to examine the body, and thought little of him. It made sense that at least one professional would be present. She was less subtle when the metal man approached and joined in, speechless and wide-eyed at this form of creature she had never even heard of before. He seemed to be trying to help as well, but from what Lillith could tell, neither he nor the first man could find much of use.

She turned at the sound of laughter, to see a handsome, blond man approach. His apparent lightheartedness in the present situation caused Lillith to take an immediate dislike to him. She scowled at him as looked over the corpse, and when he spoke, she replied coldly "I like your first idea, to send someone of competence. Your second idea, that is, to send you, seems much worse, though."

It was at this point that Lillith heard yells, and turned to see what was happening. A man with a flaming sword - a Krusczek, perfect - was clearing his way through the crowd. It was clear enough that he didn't mean any real harm, but he wasn't exactly making the panicking people any calmer. A small group of guards moved forwards and surrounded him, pointing poleaxes his way, but it was easy to tell that they didn't want to fight him - the ones in front of him retreated as he walked forwards, no one attacked, and when he put out the flame, they were all visibly relieved and immediately got out of his way. The Krusczek then climbed the stairs to the gallows and began to sniff the body. He'd been right - the others had gotten their different smells on her - and while there wasn't enough left for a trail, he could get one scent which perhaps he could use to recognise the correct location once already there. There was a noticable smell of rot, more so than such a fresh corpse should have, as well as moisture, and something distinctly alchemical.

Lillith nodded at the wild man's proposal. While this one was eccentric, the Krusczek had a certain reputation. And he didn't have such a large ego. Before she could elaborate, though, another pair of warriors put themselves forwards for the hunt. A half-orc and a tiefling, the former naturally loud, the latter amplifying his voice through magic. The more the merrier, she suppoed, as long as they didn't end up killing each other over the reward. "I'll make this simple, to save time," she said "I'll talk to the reave about setting up a reward. You can decide amongst yourselves how you want to split it; I'll just give it to the first person who brings proof."

[hr]

As this had been happening, the lone blackbird that had watched the execution slowly began to shift. Now, in it's place was a short man who was almost entirely bald, except for long, greasy strands that hung from the back of his head. He wore a strange, black coat with patches of feathers sprouting from it, and he grinned madly. Breathing heavily, he unclipped a vial from the front of his chest and threw it into the crowd, where it shattered against the flagstones. A green gas was released suddenly, and while there was no clear view of what it was doing, screams were audible.