101. Assassination: Wiremu

So here I was hanging off the outside of a tavern wall on the second level examining a window with a Master level trap. A Master definitely created it. It definitely was not installed by a Master. The installation was very shoddy, leaving gaps around the edge where I should be able to work it loose and hopefully take the whole thing with me to examine at my leisure. That is easier said than done.

I enlarged the holes with my knife until there was enough room to slip the pry bar into the flat side. I almost set the trap off while trying to loosen it along the bottom edge. This edge held all the mechanisms, which showed the amateur installation. I would have put them anywhere but the bottom of the window where the opening catches were. Once I had the bottom loosened, I slipped a thin Granite Spike through and hooked the end to disarm the trap. Then things were easier. For one, I could slip inside and work standing on the floor rather than hanging off the side of the building. The trap was designed to collapse into a smaller transportable form, and I slipped it into my pack.

The room was empty, but I found a room where two gang members were staying, so I took two bandanas, some other clothes and a small knife to help disguise myself. I exited the same way I entered. The room I used to enter was empty, so I was hoping the theft of the trap would go unnoticed for a few days. I headed to the Duke's administration offices where Tjenner was based. The Duke's own troops guarded them, so they would be more challenging to get past than the Watch.

I used Veneer to change my appearance. Veneer was only a surface skill, so I couldn’t change things like my height or build. I changed my hair colour and the skin tone on my face and hands, which was the only skin visible. I added a scar on my face and my nose to appear broken and not set straight. I also added a light unkempt beard. This was pushing the apprentice level Skill, and the more I pushed the changes, the less time I had to keep them. I wound the blue bandana around my arm and covered my top with the gang jacket I had stolen. I changed my Status to show a Journeyman Level Brawler but with no specialisations. I didn’t even know what Brawler might specialise into. I needed to research classes and Specialisations to enable better disguises. Obalno must have a Lore Society that Ört could access for me.

I stashed most of my weapons in an alley and left Tāoke to guard them. He would also come to rescue me if this all went down the Kraken’s maw. I had my knives, throwing darts and the stolen knife. I was never really unarmed with my affinity.

I adopted an arrogant swagger and entered the road toward the building. I didn’t have any acting skills, so I pushed hard on my Journeyman level Deceive Skill. It wasn’t really for this extended acting, but I needed to have something to try to get past the Guard's perception and observational Skills. If they had something like a Gut Instinct or a Piercing Truth Skill, it would flag something wrong, but hopefully, that will be answered by an obvious gang member out of place in the good part of town. That is the Deception I was trying to sell.

The city administration centre was right next to the Duke's palace and reception building, so it was in the best part of the city. The surrounding area was high-class shops and craftsmen. The Bards Concert Hall is only three blocks over there. The Enchanters Supreme building was only two blocks over in the other direction. We still have to get to the bottom of the enchanting connection and the kidnap attempts on Mayakku. Tabitha and I are certain it is all connected.

It was getting late in the evening at this point. People were coming out of the fancy restaurants and bars and heading home. There were only a few windows lit up in the administration building. The most dedicated and high-level. They wouldn’t be using up the power of the enchanted lighting on low-level people. I took a swig of the cheap wine bottle I had swiped, spilling some down my front. I wanted to give the impression I was also a bit drunk. Hopefully, that would also help cover my bad acting.

I swaggered up to the gate guard, loudly demanding to see “that bastard Tjenner.” The Gate guards were not going to take any nonsense from a lowly gang member, but I kept at them, swearing about the traitor Tjenner and how he tricked us into a trap. I had no idea if anything I was saying was true, but it didn’t matter. I tried to push past the guards into the building, and that got me a shove and a boot, and I staggered away, swearing loudly, making sure the object of my ire was loudly proclaimed. Several on the street stopped to watch the incident, and a couple crossed the road to avoid me. The attempted entrance should be enough to have this incident recorded, linking the gang with Tjenner.

When I got out of sight, I swung back around to pick up Tāoke and my gear, and I had a new skill available. Roleplay 1. It was a short-term acting skill helping me to get into a role. I had a short-term disguise skill and now a short-term acting skill. Quick, short and sharp was how I wanted it, and the skills seemed to follow. The Skill appeared to lean toward improvisation and was helped by my other two Skills, Veneer and Deceive. The three definitely had a synergy. The Skill gave hints at how to pull off a successful Role and helped counter opposing skills. This would grow more effective the higher the level. Deceive went up a level, too, and that was getting harder to level. There was also no way I was telling Tabitha about this skill or she would try to get me on stage. That was not happening.

Midnight had now passed, and I found the row of expensive townhouses that Tabitha thought Tjenner lived in. I found him in the fifth one at the end of one of the rows. He was in the master bedroom on the second floor with a woman, and they were actively engaged in an adult activity. This could work out quite well if I leave a witness. Maybe even better than at his office. She will kick up a fuss if she is his wife or girlfriend. She will be hurt and grieving. Did she deserve that? Did Ilaiya’s parents deserve that? The answers are no and no. Actually, the answers were possibly not and no. She might deserve it.

I was now on the ground after confirming it was him through the window. I was tracking their progress with Hearing Aid. When the climax came, I thought hers was fake, but it was hard to be sure from here. Then I heard her get up and start getting dressed, and he handed her some coins. It was a great opportunity if she was paid to be there and was leaving. She wouldn’t kick up as much fuss as a lover, but I could knock her out and make enough noise to rouse the neighbours and the watch, and she would be a witness. I decided to grab the opportunity and get it done now rather than tomorrow or whenever the next opportunity came up. I re-established my Seadog hooligan disguise and waited by the door.

Hearing Aid tracked them coming down the stairs. The woman was wearing shoes, and the man was barefoot. They were discussing the next appointment date. One of them opened the door, and I barged in with my full strength. They both were flung back, Tjenner against the stairs and the women in the adjacent hall. Tjenner was sprawled against the stairs, but the woman rolled and came to her feet with a knife. She was the most dangerous of the two.

I threw my stolen knife and caught Tjenner in the throat. He was bleeding heavily but not dead. The poorly balanced knife probably affected my aim. My eyes flicked back to the woman, but she had taken off down the hall. I slammed the front door shut and followed her, swearing loudly like a Seadog idiot. I heard the sound of breaking glass. At the end of the hall was a kitchen. She had broken a window, dived through it, and leapt over the small fence into the narrow lane at the back. She would be hard to catch, and I had business here.

I returned to Tjenner, who had a hand trying to stop the bleeding while stumbling to the next room and tugging at a desk drawer. The knife was left on the stairs in a pool of blood. I picked it up and finished him off by severing his spinal cord and letting him bleed out. I left the knife in his spine. I checked the desk, and the drawer held several potions, including two healing potions. I took everything from the desk. I was most interested in the papers. One drawer was locked, and I ripped it open as an angry Seadog would. I needed to be quick because I didn't know what the lady would do, and the watch might be on its way. It would have been better if I could have knocked her out and taken my time. I guess high-end prostitutes need to be agile and good at self-defence.

I quickly raided upstairs, and the other downstairs lounge swiped anything of value and then exited the same way the woman did, making sure I snagged the blue bandana on the glass. I turned the opposite way in the alley and made my escape. It was tempting to go back and see the result, but there might be competent people who respond. They would likely be from the Duke’s guard than the Watch, but I didn't want to risk it. I led the scent trail back to the Tavern I stole the clothes from, swung past a stream, took a swim, and got rid of all my clothes. The stolen items should have confused my scent, and the stream cleaned the rest, and I made my way to a safe house, dropping the Veneer Skill.

It was at the safe house that I finally relaxed, and I discovered I had earned a new specialisation. Assassin. My Spy class was not at the Journeyman level, so it didn’t come from that. That left Hunter or Quarry worker, and it wasn’t Quarry Worker. I didn’t realise Hunter could specialise into Assassin. I probably should have realised it, as many of the Skills are the same and back in Jern, the Mercenary Guild tried to get me to take some assassin jobs.

The Specialisation was a mid-tier one with four attribute points. One was assigned to Physical Agility, and one to Mental Agility. The other two were free points. It came with a special Skill called Sudden Strike. The Skill doubled the damage from a surprise attack from stealth or a deceptive ability. As the Skill rose in level, the damage multiplier increased. At Apprentice, it would be two and a half times; at Journeyman, there would be triple the damage. That included damage enhancements from poisons or enchantments. I used Identify to see which of my Skills it could use, and it appeared to be Stealth, Camouflage, Deceive, Veneer, Roleplay, and, surprisingly, Manipulate Status. The key seemed to be it had to be a surprise attack, so I couldn’t just fight with Veneer or Manipulate Status active and expect the Skill to work. I would have to experiment with it. I need to work on sharing this with Tāoke because he will love this Skill.

I took the time to look at my Status. I have a lot of low-level specialisations. Scout is the only one that is regularly levelling because we are moving regularly, and I am the main Scout. I have a wide variety of Skills, and I need to try to synergise them better. I also have nine free points and try to see where they can bolster my abilities and or give me good skills.

My lowest attribute is in Mental Perception, which is reading and understanding people. I don’t particularly like people. I will probably use Sudden Strike to improve my Hunting rather than Assassinations. Putting all nine points into Mental Perception would bring it up to the others in level. Is that a wise use of the points? I will need to know more about people when we head back into the Empire. The only reason I haven’t got the Bounty Hunter Specialisation is that I don’t have a Skill to pierce people’s Statuses, which relies strongly on Mental Perception. I might consult Ört for his opinion. Ruku might also know, as he has such a Skill.

Wiremu Hunter

Hunt

QW

Spy

Pros

MHunt

Scout

Assn

Total

Type

Attribute

Level

11

11

8

3

5

5

1

Constitution

Physical

Strength (PS)

9

11

2

22

1 5

50

132.0

Agility (PA)

12

5

11 4 5

1

38

Perception (PP)

11

2

22

1

3 5 44

Mental

Strength (MS)

9

12

5 5

31

84.0

Agility (MA)

12

3

2

8

1

5

1

32

Perception (MP)

11

1

8 1 21

Spiritual

Strength (SS)

10

3

6

11

3

5

38

105.0

Agility (SA)

8

2

5

8

1

5

6

35

Perception (SP)

10

5

8

4 5 32 Totals

92

44

53

33

38

12

25

22

2

319 Free Points

2

0

2

0

0

3

2

Resistances: Poison +19, Crushing +22, Cold +29, Pain +28, Heat +20, Fire +13

Skills:

Novice:

Lock Pick 4, Disarm Traps 4, Disarm Spiritual Trap1,

Detect Spiritual Trap 3, Detect Traps 4, Spiritual Trapping 4,

Petrification 4, Monster Lore 4, Sentient Lore 4

Granite Sand 3, Roleplay 2, Sudden Strike 1

Apprentice:

Fishing 8, Sewing 8, Cooking 8, Tutor 9,

Truth Sensing 8, Sense Treasure 6, Sense Spiritual 9,

Butchering 7, Weapon Repair 7, Repair Leather Armour 6

Plant Lore 8, Animal Lore 9, Mineral Lore 6,

Granite Quake 7, Granite Wall 5, Animal Care 7, Venom Arrow 8, Veneer 7,

Mapping 9, Map Making 7, Dwarvish 9,

Triple Shot 6, Longbow 7, Granite Manipulation 5

Journeyman:

Hearing Aid 13, Hammer 13,

Identify 11, Deceive 12, Manipulate Status 10,

Granite Spike 13, Granite Sense 11, Granite Bones 12, Granite Shield 11,

Trapping 10, Tracking 11, Skinning 10,

Bow 12, Small Blades 13, Unarmed Combat 11, Throw Weapons 12, Spear 12,

Quick Strike 11, Power Strike 10

Darksight 11, Far Sight 11, Bond Senses 11,

Orcish 11, Camouflage 10,

Imbue Venom 11, Snakeskin 11, Regeneration 10

Hide Armourer 11, Riding 10,

Master:

Stealth 16, Animal Bond 15

Affinity: Granite

Monster Kills: 8

Bond: Tāoke, Venom Serpent.

Resistances: Crushing +22, Cold +29, Heat +20, Fire +13, Pain +11

Skills:

Novice: Granite Sand 2

Apprentice: Power Strike 9, Granite Spike 6, Strength Boost 9, Venom Spit 9,

Granite Shield 7, Grow 9, Regeneration 7, Granite Sense 6, Granite Manipulation 5

Journeyman: Camouflage 13

Master: Venom Bite 16, Quick Strike 17

Affinity: Granite