I looked at the administrative building. Feeling the first tugs if nervousness in my gut. For the first time in my life I was about to carry out an assassination.
I reached into my belt pouch and pulled out a scroll. Sealing it was a blob of wax with a seal on it. My ticket in. Seb had said that the mindgamer assassin had all sorts of tools like disguises and forging. I had enough real-life experience to pull off that kind of stuff on my own. Plus, there had been a government station close by that had a spare seal for a city lying around. They wouldn’t know I’d borrowed it till later. And even then would probably think they had just lost it.
I lowered the hood of my robes. My spear and swordstaff were in my inventory. My throwing knives in my boot. My hidden blade was underneath my sleeve. The only weapons I appeared to be carrying were my sword and dagger.
I walked up to the door of the building and pushed it open. Inside was a lobby with a woman sitting behind a reception desk.
“May I help you?” She asked as I walked up the desk.
“I have a message for Dunne,” I said as I held up the scroll.
“Leave it with me,” she said. “And I’ll see that he gets it.”
“I was told to deliver it personally,” I said. “At swordpoint if necessary.”
“I’ll arrange for you to see him then,” said the secretary. No longer smiling. “Take a seat. A guard will be here in a moment.”
I nodded and sat down in a seat near the window. A few minutes later an armoured guard carrying a sword and a shield slung across his back appeared.
“Come with me,” he said.
I got up and followed him down a hallway, up some stairs, and down another hallway. We stopped in front of an ornate oak door.
The guard opened it and I stepped inside. Inside was a cluttered office with a desk covered in papers and a weapon rack on one wall. A window in the wall looked out on the square in front of the building.
A short, stout man was sitting behind the desk rifling through papers. He looked up as I entered.
“You have a message?” He asked.
“From the governor of Dracdia,” I said as I approached the desk holding the scroll in my right hand.
“I wasn’t aware that he was concerned with such a small city as this one,” he said as he took the scroll.
“He isn’t,” I said as he broke the seal.
The governor looked up at me in surprise and tried to hit a button on the desk.
I grabbed his wrist before he could push it and pulled him over the desk.
“My message is actually from Veradany,” I said. “Your rule is over.”
Dunne pulled a derringer pistol from his pocket but I stabbed him in the arm with my hidden blade before he could pull the trigger.
Dunne froze as the paralysis poison I’d coated my blade with took affect.
“Why are you doing this?” He asked. “My rule was effective and law abiding. His leadership will turn this town into a gangster heaven. I was the last bulwark against that.”
I shrugged. “That isn’t my problem. I’m just the blade for hire.” I poised my hidden blade above his chest. “Recquisat in pace.” I stabbed him through the heart and held the blade there until he gave a last breath and became still.
I stood up and realized my knees were shaking. I’d actually done it. Carried out an assassination. I looked at the body and a loot window appeared in front of me. I tapped the loot button and opened my inventory. Inside was the derringer pistol, some ammunition, a few hundred gold coins, and a lever four fire periapt.
I took the stone out and tapped it. Instantly an information screen appeared above it. “Level four fire Periapt. Leave your enemies burning in agony. Can also be used for arson.”
I closed the window and slipped the periapt into my belt pouch. I could figure out how to use it later.
I turned to the weapon rack and studied it. Nothing of interest except a coil of rope hanging from a peg. I picked up the rope and turned to the window.
I jumped as someone knocked on the door.
“Sir. It’s time to leave for your inspection.”
I opened the window. It was my only option for leaving unless I wanted to fight my way out.
I tied the rope to the desk and threw the free end out the window. Time to leave.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
