The night goes pleasantly enough, with good quality food and drink for all. The party enjoys the opportunity to "let their hair down" and relax, speaking with the merchants and travelers enjoying the unique accommodations of the Crooked House tavern and the exotic tastes and eccentricities of its gnomish curator. Tarquin seems to be enjoying himself, which surprises no one considering the business he's doing this evening, and takes a personal hand in serving the tables at first before mixing drinks behind the bar as the evening gets late.

The revelry goes later than most, and it's well after midnight when Lydia excuses herself to bed - the first of the party to do so. She makes her way upstairs, enjoying the buzz of the ale and other drinks and disappears from sight up the uneven stairs.

Spoiler: @MuffinMan
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Lydia is not yet asleep when the action below takes place. A DC 10 Listen check is all that's needed to notice the commotion about to take place. Lydia will be able to join in normally when the encounter begins properly.

About a minute later (someone-who-looks-identical-to-)Lydia walks down the stairs, casually saunters up to the bar, and with a swift jab stabs Tarquin in the chest with a dagger! With a shocked expression on his face the little gnome falls back, unable to catch his breath, and collapses out of view of the tavern patrons, many of whom see the brazen attack and cry out in alarm and outrage! "She just killed the barkeep!" "Hey there, stop her! The Heironean just stabbed Tarquin!" "Oh no! Save him!" "One of the travelers just attacked that gnome! Get her!"

From their seat at a nearby table, the four PCs still downstairs find themselves suddenly in the middle of a chaotic rush of bodies, some towards not-Lydia and the fallen Tarquin, others towards the door. The attacker dashes back up the stairs and out of sight.

The PCs have about two rounds worth of actions they can take - long enough to get to the fallen Tarquin if they can convince the crowd to make room or yell some hurried directions to the tavern patrons. As the crowd generally knows that Lydia is part of the party, however, any effort to get to the bar will face some resistance...

Please write your post in two parts - what you try to do in this ten seconds or so and how you react to what follows. Roll any skill checks attempted and describe the level-of-violence your PC is willing to commit to get to the gnome if the other patrons try to block your way.

Within a couple of breaths a male human merchant rushes down from upstairs, yelling, "What happened? Some woman just came by with a bloodied dagger, ran into her room, and slammed the door! It was one of those adventurers from out of town! What happened? Did she attack someone?" Near the halfway point on the stairs he sees the PCs and points at them. "Them! She was with them! Get 'em!"

You aren't in combat - yet - but the crowd is definitely unfriendly. Tarquin may not be dead - yet - but he won't have long. If you try to argue either your or Lydia's innocence, I need skill checks accordingly. Note the time it takes for social-skills (about 1 minute per check), and consider this when it comes to trying to reach Tarquin.

The real Lydia is likely to be coming down the stairs momentarily, possibly to a very hostile scene that she could inadvertently make much worse.

Should Tarquin die, this would certainly result in at least a night in jail, possibly worse.