Vis jogs up quickly acting on the actions of the strange man "Instead of just standing and talking why aren't you tying him up?" with deft hands Viserys takes down a Curtains pull cord using it has a makeshift rope to bind the Assassins hands, turning back round to look at the new suited man "Are you crazy, throwing around those crystals could of gotten someone seriously hurt, even worse hurt the person nearest which would of been the Lady's Attendant" Viserys continues on his rant listing all the dangers and finishing on one final note "What would have happened if he was a mage too Hmm? if he deflected your magic right back at you?" scolding the young man almost as a Father or Mother tells off a young offspring.

Viserys stands to look at the young lady who was still wearing her mask, "And now all the drink and food swapping makes sense, you knew the Assassin would strike tonight but you did not think it worthy enough to warn everyone?" he raised his eyebrow physically annoyed at the actions of both of them, "You made my Job twice as hard as it could have been today and both of you put Lives on the line to catch a petty Assassin that we already foiled the plan of"

The explosions and spells made her think that the assassin had a cohort, but she focused on the one in the red mask. Eventually he was caught, but they were taking too long with handling and simply tried tying him up. She didn't answer to the unmasked guardsman right away. First she went to the would-be-assassin, and grabbed his face yanking off the mask. Throwing it behind her, she then pressed her palm forcefully onto the man's head and he began to writhe and scream. She then quickly pulled her hand back, as if ripping something invisible from him and the man's eyes glazed over. He then slumped on the floor. Wisps of darkness that had been emanating from her hand vanished as soon as they had appeared. She hadn't noticed in the chase, but a few of the spells had managed to damage her mask and visible cracks were present.

Feeling her 'face' she noted the damage and removed it. She wiped her hand on her face finding fresh blood but no wound. That might have just healed when she ripped out the darkness from the assassin. Crossing her arms she scowled at Viserys. "Swapping the food and drinks was a basic precaution. Would you rather everyone fall into mass hysteria and panic, allowing the culprit to escape in the chaos just like he wanted? Sure, I could have warned everyone. But if I wanted to catch someone I wouldn't tell them I was going to do it." She was more upset that she couldn't give the culprit a kick in the gut for trying to throw her off earlier. She kept an eye on the bound man in case he tried to escape. Taking the curtain pull cord the man was tied with, she proceeded to string him up from a lamp post with the help of her grappling hook, leaving him dangling there for all to see. That satisfied her, so she put her damaged mask back on and straightened her costume. 

As if on cue, the curious guests began coming outside to the scene, including Lady d'Carlo. There was much whispering and exclamation at the damage and the man hanging in plain sight. "Heavens, what is that? Is that a man hanging from the light post?" "It's a red mask! The mark of the Red Death!" "Does that mean the murderer has been caught?" "Good riddance! Rubbish like that has no place in society!" Things were starting to die down when there was a loud scream. A maid burst out from the door of the dining hall white as a sheet. She collapsed onto the floor shaking and was crying. Immediately the crowd's attention was drawn to her as one of the other servants tried to talk to her.

"Millie what's wrong? What's happened?" "L-Lecarde! Marquis Lecarde, in the dining room he's–"  Another servant came and said something that made the entire crowd fall completely silent: "The Marquis is dead!"

Vis slid over next to the Masked Lady and muttered "Stand up straight, your job isn't done yet" as soon as he finished Vis slid back to the count whispering the plan he conjured up "Sir, The body could lead to clues who the Assassins Partner is, should I check?", with a nod, the count replied, "Be safe Sellsword, Remember you are only human" with a nod Viserys started to push through the crowd towards the crowd getting tugged and pulled with questions of rich people asking what happened.

Muttering under his breath "I regret not having a mask" before reaching the maid in question and kneeling down in front of her holding a hand out "For the sake of your master, Tell me everything that happened"  he smiled warmly helping the maid up gently ignoring the gaggle of questions being thrown at him by the rest of rich folk around them, "You don't have to worry, see I have no mask, I'm just a normal Work hand like you".

Things were getting even more heated after he had been knocked out. First a chase for an assassin then the declaration of a murder. The host of the gala had been killed during the festivities, and everyone was scared. It seemed some people were handling the situation, but there was tension and worry in the air. Were they safe? Could they believe that everything was alright? 

When Viserys approached Millie who was streaming tears down her face, her hands were shaking visibly. People crowded around, some out of interest while others out of concern. She stammered, ragged breaths punctuating her speech. "It was terrible…oh gods there was so much blood!" Breathing in and out she put a hand to her chest as she recounted the moment that she discovered the body. "I-I was finishing up the second round of appetizers when I heard something loud crash. The noise sounded like it came from the dining room. Fearing that something had toppled over I went to look and found…" She was hyperventilating again, and was about to pass out. The other male servant who had also announced the death of the Marquis brought a bottle of smelling salts and held it under her nose until she came back. "Take it easy Millie, here." The man gave her a rolled towel which she began wringing out of stress. "Thank you Arnold… W-well, it was a horrible scene. The dining room was set as usual but at the seat of the table was Marquis Lecarde, slumped over with the end of a candle stand sticking out of his chest."

There was a murmur from the crowd as she concluded her confession. Cymbel couldn't help but shiver. Impaled through…what a horrible way to die, bleeding out like that.

Viserys knew he wouldn't get the attention of the large rich crowd who most likely thought him a poor citizen, knowing this he went up to Leakthon whispering "I need them all to stay calm and stay here for questioning by the guard" Leakthon nodded kindly and stood up on top of the stairs speaking loudly "Ladies and Gentleman I'm saddened to hear of the Hosts passing but I must insist you all stay here till the guards arrive for your protection" he let out his famous fake chuckle before giving a wide smirk to Vis.

Vis, while the speech was going on, went up to Arnold and Mille with a saddened look on his face "I'm afraid I must ask you to take me to the crime scene it might help find if the killer is still here or has fled the scene, I know it must be hard since he seemed like a good Lord but for the safety of your friends help me" he finished with a smile trying to act as caring as possible before signaling to the other guards protecting Leakthon to keep close to him, with some distasteful comments about how he's only been here a day or that he's not their boss the Guards followed his orders growing closer to the Count with hands on their weapons.

Amidst the chaos, Cedric stood on top of a chandelier, looking over everyone in the gala, there were multiple assassins, he quickly turned into a bunch of feathers flying around in the air, and he jumped down and ran to the hallway that led to the Marquis' room, he entered the room and he investigated the body, quick stabs and slashes with scorch marks, the Marquis was known to use fire magic, perhaps the magic had backfired on him, allowing the assassin to get the last strike.

Just then, the maids entered the room again, and asked what Cedric was doing. "Investigating the body, scorch marks and stab wounds, there was a violent struggle as stab wounds were deep and the slashes on his body were not fatal. The scorch marks also suggest that he tried to use magic to fight back, but the assassin overpowered him anyway"

Cedric walked out of the room and addressed the masked lady that the killer is still out there. He quickly realizes something, since the Marquis' body and the room was soaked in blood, the killer would probably be too, he quickly dashed to the bathroom, locked, he kicked the door open. Someone was in a stall. He quickly grew suspicious, but he just walked out of the bathroom, watching it closely, for the first person to come out was the one he was to interrogate. But no one came out, odd.

He walked back to the man scolding him earlier and told him "Someone is in the bathroom, I'm not sure what he's doing in there, but he's certainly not going number 2."
Just then, the maids entered the room again, and asked what Cedric was doing. "Investigating the body, scorch marks and stab wounds, there was a violent struggle as stab wounds were deep and the slashes on his body were not fatal. The scorch marks also suggest that he tried to use magic to fight back, but the assassin overpowered him anyway"Cedric walked out of the room and addressed the masked lady that the killer is still out there. He quickly realizes something, since the Marquis' body and the room was soaked in blood, the killer would probably be too, he quickly dashed to the bathroom, locked, he kicked the door open. Someone was in a stall. He quickly grew suspicious, but he just walked out of the bathroom, watching it closely, for the first person to come out was the one he was to interrogate. But no one came out
, odd.He walked back to the man scolding him earlier and told him "Someone is in the bathroom, I'm not sure what he's doing in there, but he's certainly not going number 2."Cedric leaned against a wall, his mask held tight onto his face. 
Cedric leaned against a wall, his mask held tight onto his face. 

Of course the killer was still at large. Shiloh resisted the urge to make a remark calling the beaked-mask man 'Mr. Obvious' but decided it wasn't worth the effort. The first murder of the night was the host himself, and she went to investigate the body to give a quick glance-over. Burn marks, stab wounds, and the candle stand impaled through the torso. There wasn't much she could do about determining the source of the scorch marks, but there were two possibilities to her. The first was Marquis Lecarde suffered the slashes and scorching before being impaled, the second was he was stabbed first and then the other wounds were done shortly after. Either was probable. The guardsman was here too, so she left to let him perform more extensive study on the body.

There was mention of someone in the bathroom who wasn't responding or leaving. Shiloh made that her next stop and went right in. Breaking the lock on the stall door it swung open, revealing a grisly sight. There was a greying man dressed in red silk robes without a mask, and a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest. Backing away, she gave a high pitched whistle signalling for people to come to the room. At the dining hall a porter rushed over from the direction of the bathroom crying: "Lord Barclay's been shot in the restroom!" Another murder had revealed itself. 

Lord Barclay's body showed no other signs of wounding and almost no stiffness in the muscles. He was likely killed without resistance. Scanning the area with aura sight, she found no one nearby. Whoever they were chasing, they worked quickly and knew what they were doing. Now her worry was that this wasn't the place he had been killed, and that he had been brought from another location. When the others arrived she stepped aside to let them look at the lord's corpse. 

Lord Barclay ran the largest hospital and medical guild in the city. People working under him were working on new breakthroughs in medicine, with creating machines and apparatuses powered by the storms above. His family originally were in the metallurgy business, so the change to medicine was unexpected. Now their forges were tuned to making equipment than weapons and armor. He was the firstborn of his house, with two married sisters which were two to three years his junior. His wife had passed away a decade ago leaving them without any children. At the moment he was said to be courting the daughter of a politician and they were not yet engaged. There wasn't any obvious connection to the Marquis as far as she knew. Sure they would have known each other as members of high society tended to rub elbows with newcomers, but they weren't particularly close.

Viserys walked into the restroom looking at the Attendant, "The weapon used looks panicked like the killer had no choice but to use it, maybe the host did something the killer didn't expect. Perhaps a crime of passion hence the extra wounds to the body" he began to check out the body of the new victim reaching into pockets and checking wounds with a small knife and walking over to a sink to wash his hands.

"I'm guessing you noticed how the body is relaxed like he knew the killer? plus the lack of blood from the typical wound would be far greater so I'm saying he's been moved here" he'd drys his hands looking at the door "Almost like the Killer knew both victims, but had different emotions sets towards them" Vis walked to the door opening it for the Attendant with a smirk "But since you already figured that out, which room do you want to check out first, Masked Lady?"

Many of the guests were starting to leave, but the guardsmen kept everyone from exiting the grounds. Everyone was being inspected, and others were searching the estate of the late Marquis to see if there were any who were not accounted for outside in the gardens. Cymbel himself was questioned, and he did his best to answer cooperatively. He was left alone once they determined he couldn't be a suspect. Everyone was told to stay in the group in the gardens. The only ones who were allowed to leave were the staff. The tall, masked figure who had turned him onto his head left to search the inside of the manor with a guardsman with a commanding presence. Now the only thing left to do was wait. 

The grim reminder of the man dangling from a lamp post reinforced the notion that the situation was dire indeed. Some of the armed men hired for protection brought the unconscious man down and began searching him for anything which would identify who he was affiliated with and if he had anything else on his person which was dangerous. Traces of the powder he had laced the punch were found in his right sleeve, and an array of concealed weapons and darts. He was taken into custody of the guards and as to be detained until further notice in Gobethio's prison.

People were starting to protest. Many were of high rank and status, infuriated at being considered criminals or for having their rights infringed upon. Nobody was happy with the current state of affairs, but there wasn't much else they could do to help. A balding man with a beard and an odd smile took their complaints in stride. Soon they couldn't argue with him, so they either sat seething in silence or went to voice their grievances elsewhere. Hopefully it would all be over soon.

Viserys walked back to the main hall where all the rich citizens stood to bicker between themselves like wild animals, he hated this but it's the best chance to even get a brief idea of whos guilty of these hideous crimes, as he walked up to the stage where Leakthon stood looking at him with an eager smile holding out the mask of the deceased Count Marquis Lecarde, as Vis took the mask scratching the dried blood off the surface and putting it on the count leant over whispering "Practice the fake laugh they love that stuff" with a sigh Vis nodded taking to the stage sucking in his dignity and looking out across the crowd.

The clap was loud and echoed across the room gaining the attention of the room watching guards take position on the doors, Vis fake laughed echoed marvellously across the room mimicking the Deceased Count's "I'm sorry to all worry you about my whereabouts but alas I knew there would be a so called assassin!" he bowed allowing his arms to go over the top with emotion "But my decoy worked perfectly don't you think, For Today The Assassin Has Failed!" he let the end of the sentence drag on before smiling across the crowd glancing at their faces for emotion of guilt of suspicion, "So with that shall we get this Gala restarted?" raising his hands in the air the music starts back up and plates of food are brought out by Millie and Arnold with quick steps and tired expressions on them.

Vis took his step down from the stage, sighing before greeting a few Count's and ladies and having them congratulate him on such a clever plan, with a glance he looked at the Attendant and with a smirk walked over offering a hand to her "You seem to not have a dance this night of storm? may I be the first" letting a fake laugh carry the end of the sentence to her.
The clap was loud and echoed across the whole r