You notice someone in the crowd

"What spell could do that ?" You ask.

"Explosions of that size, with that much eat ? It would have been noticed if someone casted it from outside. Plus there is, at best, three mages in the world that could do this and they live on other countries and even on an other continent." Your wife starts to unfold every possibilities, pinching her chin between the index and the thumb of her left hand. "A rune would be easier, and more discreet, but the damages seems way beyond what a rune could do..."

As she's thinking out loud you take a look around you and see a hooded figure in the crowd leaving. If that wasn't strange enough, no one seems to notice him, even with his shady clothes in a middle of a dandy' crowd. Everyone is well dressed, with dresses and suits, and the person leaving is in a thick brown coat. And yet. Yet, you almost missed it.

"Look for clues here, I think I may have something there." You just say to Filirel.

You then walk through the crowd right behind the cloaked figure. But as soon as it's out of the group, it takes a dash to one of the dark alley of the street. As soon as you can, you run after it. It's hard to follow, it's fast and jump between the crates and trashes with ease, when with every of your steps you hear your clothes tears down. It turns left into another back-alley and you come after shoving someone on the way. You apologize, but the hood jump ten feet in air and pass a plank wall.

"Shit..." You shout, unable to follow with such restrictive clothes.

"Hey, dandy, you're not in your place here. And on top of that you almost made my friend fall on his arse !" You hear behind you.

"Now, is not the time..." You answer in an angry voice.

You look behind you and see three men in dirty, worn out clothes. Two of them have sticks. They seems in good shape, but do you remember how to fight ? It seems like you'll know it soon.

"Well, we were just going to ask you some compensation, but since you take it like that, we'll just beat the crap out of you." Says the man in the middle.

The guy on his left rush to you then and give a wide move with his stick in your direction. But it seems so slow, you just make a step backward and avoid the hit easily. After that, you move forward and grab his wrist to pull him toward you and hit him with a punch in the ribs. He makes a grunt and makes few step back. The two other charges at you, the leader throw a chain in your direction and with a kick in a broom you raise it to intercept the dangerous projectile. One of the end still in the hands of the man, you pull the wooden tool and makes him lose his balance. He ends up in the trajectory of his partner in crime and they hit each others.

The first one that attacked you come back at the charge and you stop his stick with your left hand before hitting him in the face with the broom. He falls down, his hand in his face screaming of pain. The two others tries to jump on you, but you crouch and hit the shinbone of one with a swift kick. He falls on the ground in pain. Finally, the first one who stumbled on you and fell tries to get up, but you stand up again and hit him in the ribs with your feet.

"Stay on the ground." You yell.

You then leave the three men curled up in pain and come back to the main street. The fire have been extinguished and few ice crystals are still visible around the windows. Fillirel must have taken matter into her hands.

The guard let you come inside with a bow of respect and a "sir."

You find your wife looking at the floor in what should have been the living room. Next to her a skeleton is encrusted into what's left of a sofa. She gives you a quick look.

"Poor Joel..." She just says in a sad tone.

"It's him ?" You ask.

"Most probably."

She then crouch down and pick something on the floor. As you get closer, you can see a metal piece burned and half melted.

"It wasn't magic, not entirely at least." She tells you while observing the piece.

She then look at you in the eyes.

"We need to warn the others." She says with a stern tone.