"Some sort of soot, yes, from an explosive perhaps. Whatever happened to these men, someone wanted it to be hidden."

"With no way to find this hag, our next line of enquiry should be these men. What was special about them? Did they have any enemies, except each other clearly."

Vella led Yanis into the tavern ahead of the beggar and some new woman who seemed vaguely familiar, though Vella couldn't place her. Turning to the beggar she whispered: "There's another copper in it for you if you can find out something about those men from some of the customers. And, er Shannon, could you go with him?" She didn't trust the beggar not to fabricate or embellish the story for the hope of greater rewards.

She then looked for the owner of the tavern or a nearby waitress to quiz.