I looked for the book on the origin of Cyseal in the library, and paid 100 gold for the crowd warmer to work for me. This takes away teh whole crowd. While the 2 main characters were performing, I picked up the other 2 characters and unchained both. One talked to the head owner to distract him, the other sneaked and caught the head. I guess invisibility would also work.
Smoke grenade is a most pragmatic approach, but I'm in it for the story!
