POV (Arion Blackpowder) Dear SwornSlayer Diary, Scene 1: Public Reckoning [Exterior, Gallows Square, Dawn] Arion: (Pushing through the gathered crowd, his obsidian gauntlet concealed beneath a worn travel cloak). The morning mist clings to Millhaven Bridge like a burial shroud, and he tastes copper in the air; blood magic, fresh and writhing. Three nooses sway from the gallows ahead, their shadows stretching across cobblestones still slick from last night's rain. Bandits, the crier had said, but Arion knows better than to trust public executions in frontier towns where syndicate money flows thicker than water. Arion: (Studying the condemned from behind a merchant's cart, silver sparks dancing unconsciously along his concealed fingertips). The first prisoner bears the telltale star-pattern burn of a hellfire round across his throat; the second has her left eye socket sealed with molten lead, a punishment reserved for those who witness daemon summoning. The third man stands too straight for a common thief, his wrists showing ligature marks from arcane shackles, not hemp rope. These aren't bandits; they're witnesses to something the syndicate wants buried. Executioner: (Ascending the scaffold with practiced ceremony, his black hood sitting oddly on his head). "By decree of Mayor Garrett Finch and the lawful authority of Millhaven Bridge, these three stand accused of robbery, murder, and conspiracy against the peace!" The crowd murmurs its approval, mothers pulling children closer, while old men spit tobacco juice at the condemned's feet. The executioner's voice carries a slight rasp, like someone who's breathed too much gunsmoke. Arion: (Circling toward the platform's side, noting how the executioner favors his right leg). A memory scratches at the back of his skull; he's heard that limp before, seen it in a Burning Gulch saloon two years back. The hood shifts as the executioner checks the first noose, and Arion glimpses a tattooed jaw, serpents eating their own tails. Silas "The Coil" Morven; I put three blessed rounds in his chest at Widow's Creek, watched him fall into the rapids.