[A-RP] Assassination contracts, open to all! đź“ś CONTRACT PENDING

It wasn’t the first time Swan had had an offer like it – one job, one payment that could turn his life around. They tended to be too good to be true. He took a look at another ne’er-do-well patronising the Salty Sailor as they went by, a very lank man with thickly matted hair, watered down rum sloshing out of his glass. Fenryr’s teeth, he had to get out of this dump. Back to Stormwind – No, back to the sea, with a new ship. Triple masts! Do it right this time. Set sail and never look back. Find an island, buy it up, and live the good life. He could do it. He could do it all, if he just had a little coin…

“Act fast,” Marley had said, before she went back out on her ship. Awful, gaudy-looking thing, only fit for a goblin like her. “It’s silly money, and I’m only telling you ahead of time because we go way back. Word is, it’s going to be a free-for-all as soon as the paperwork is all official. And the early bird, Swan…”

He caught himself wringing his hands where he sat in the dark corner with a table to himself, trying to filter out the yelling and fighting that seemed to come from all sides. That was what he wanted. To be a free spirit, like his namesake. A bird, with leave to go wherever his heart desired, not to roil and fester with the other worms in this dive.

It was risky business. Contract killing was no way to make friends; there was the law to deal with, and other hopefuls, just as ready to put a knife in your back as the target’s, to keep business all to themselves. This was all assuming that the offer was for real, that he wouldn’t take one step outside and find himself looking down the barrel of a flintlock in the hands of some forgotten rival.

On the other hand, a Marley tip was a good tip. It was Marley that set him on the Krasarang job. He’d cleaned up nicely there. She practically gave him his start, and–

Swan looked up and froze, eyes wide at the sight before him. Opposite his table, a gnome with her red hair in pigtails slapped parchment against the wall, and reared back with a hammer.

"OPEN CONTRACTS

GOOD MONEY

NO STRINGS"

The simple text framed a lithograph of a man’s face, one he’d seen before, on a sketch in Marley’s journal minutes earlier. It was official! The gears were in motion! He practically sprang from his seat, cutlass and pistol jostling noisily on his hip as he barreled down the length of the mezzanine and crashed into the sloppy drunk with the rum, who seemed transfixed at the sight of a duplicate of the poster. In fact, from where he stood now he could see three-- no, four more!

Swan shoved the stumbling man away from him, and made for the stairs.

“Out of my way, worm,” he thought. “I’m not like you. I’m not like any of you. I’m no worm, but a bird, free to fly where I please… And this bird must not be late!”

Hello! This initiative aims to flesh out some of the underworld of Azeroth and give a focus for character archetypes like assassins and bounty hunters that can’t typically live out their core fantasies, mostly because setting out to kill other people’s player characters is understandably a no-go!

I’m excited to do this without all the ties of guild membership and great big efforts to coordinate with a large number of people – for now the target will be a single person, played by me on a character that I know will likely die.

It would be helpful if people that are interested could post to say so, but it isn’t a requirement – there are no sign-ups necessary! It would, however, help me to gauge interest.

Here’s how it will work at its simplest:

  • A post here by me will contain details (ranging from rich to scant) of a character a mysterious organisation has put a bounty on.
  • Players are then free to hunt around to pursue clues and/or locate the target.
  • The player to successfully complete the contract will be understood to have been well rewarded IC, with gold, most likely. I am afraid there is no in-game gold reward.
  • I’ll keep an OOC tally here in this thread of successful contractors, so you can have bragging rights or keep your murderous secrets hidden as you choose.

I am hopeful that the real reward we can all reap is that folks will have fun following clues, tracking targets, plotting, and then executing the perfect kill.

To reiterate: these contracts are free for anyone (Alliance-side – if this is successful I would happily port it to Horde, also) or any group of people to pursue. New roleplayer, veteran, contract killer, first-timer looking to make a buck, psycho on the loose, well-organised career bounty hunter group looking to split the rewards – these are all fair game.

If any of this is unclear I’ll be happy to answer any questions!

Until then, the first contract awaits…


Contract #1 - fulfilled by Boltick

Target #1

Status: FULFILLED

A poster seen in many settlements, particularly those outwith the purview of the law:

OPEN CONTRACTS

GOOD MONEY

NO STRINGS

WANTED DEAD:

ADERWALD BYRON

HUMAN, 60S, AVERAGE HEIGHT, HEAVY BUILD, GREEN EYES, GREY HAIR

TARGET RESIDENCE IN REDRIDGE MOUNTAINS

AVID NIGHT FISHER

PAYMENT ON COMPLETION IN GOLD ONLY

These details accompany a lithograph of an aging human male, with long hair but balding. He sports distinctive mutton chops and a moustache.

Contract #2 - fulfilled by Jessíe & Jonáthan

Target #2

Status: FULFILLED

New bounty posters in a similar style begin to appear in similar locales to the last:

OPEN CONTRACTS

GOOD MONEY

NO STRINGS

WANTED DEAD:

OGNUS SHORTBEARD

DWARF, DARK-HAIRED, TYPICALLY ARMED

TARGET A FREQUENT PATRON OF BIZMO'S BRAWLPUB

PAYMENT ON COMPLETION IN GOLD ONLY

These details accompany of a lithograph of a male dwarf with a prominent widow’s peak, and a thick, short beard, without moustache.

Contract #3 - fulfilled by Boltick

Targets #3 & #4

Status: FULFILLED

OPEN CONTRACTS

GOOD MONEY

NO STRINGS

WANTED DEAD:

TANNIEL BURROWS

HUMAN, DARK-HAIRED, ARMED

TARGET A MEMBER OF THE DARKSHIRE NIGHT WATCH

=====================================

WANTED DEAD:

EMILY SANDRIDGE

HUMAN, AUBURN-HAIRED, ARMED

TARGET A MEMBER OF THE DARKSHIRE NIGHT WATCH

PAYMENT ON COMPLETION IN GOLD ONLY

These details accompany two lithographs. The first depicts a man with deep-set eyes, medium-length dark hair, a moustache and goatee. The second depicts a woman with long hair of a medium tone, pushed back to reveal two ear piercings on one side.

In addition, what appears to be a reproduction of a sloppily scrawled letter:

TB,

M gone, no doubt.

Your job now.

Begin at RHC.

Take girl; good shot.

~ LV

Contract #4 - fulfilled by Spellbell, Joachìm, and Boltick

Target #5

Status: FULFILLED

OPEN CONTRACTS

GOOD MONEY

NO STRINGS

WANTED DEAD:

THARKHOS THE SEEKER

DRAENEI, LIGHT-HAIRED, PREACHER

TARGET A DEVOTEE OF THE LIGHT

PAYMENT ON COMPLETION IN GOLD ONLY

These details accompany of a lithograph of a male draenei with a large, loose bun of light hair, sideburns, and a small moustache and goatee. On his head is a prominent diamond crest.

In addition, there is a recreation of a flier of some sort, in strange Common:

Friends of city of the Stormwind!

We are all a brothers and a step-sister in warm embrace of the Naaru, and the Holly Light!

Come find me as I minister to the unbelievers, give charity to the sick, and heal the poor!

I will ask your questions on the nature of the Light, come all!

Together under the Big Light, we may all be washed soapily of our sins!

Tharkhos! The Seeker!

Contract #5 - ACTIVE

Target #6

Status: ACTIVE

OPEN CONTRACTS

GOOD MONEY

NO STRINGS

WANTED DEAD:

CODENAME: “LYNX”

PAYMENT ON COMPLETION IN GOLD ONLY

This time no lithograph accompanies, but a note does:

S,

Our woods the dragons blackened with flame are home to two herbs whose initials stand for cardinal directions.

I will wear a herb whose initial stands for another. Bring a herb whose initial stands for the last to where the wolf-lion rests, at night, to make yourself known to me.

20 Likes

This sounds amazing! I hope it does well and comes to the Horde as well. If you need extra bounties I got a priest alt I could throw at this project as someone to kill!

Same!
I have an Death Knight I’d be happy to throw in as well if needed.

In Redridge, making inquiries. :male_detective:

I’m interested in this! Looks swell. Just a quick question, are the contracts actual people or are they NPC’s to build an event around? You might’ve mentioned this already above so sorry if I’m being dense.

Thank you both!

For now I am going to keep to providing targets myself, but I shall certainly get in touch should I need more bodies.

It could be that the target had a near miss, last night… :male_detective:

Thank you so much!

The contracts are actual player characters, moving around in the game world, played by myself.

3 Likes

This is a very neat idea to make bounties! I myself started to make some on my night elf, good to see another aswell :slight_smile:

I like this idea, of course. :slight_smile:

Almost as soon as soon as these posters cropped up, they can be seen sloppily torn down, plastered over, or just plain defaced.


This contract has been fulfilled!

Contractor

Boltick

Thank you everyone for your kind words, and to everyone that participated. This was a lot of fun!

Stay tuned for contract #2…

4 Likes

I wonder if this will increase my sale of poisons.
With all the hunters out there aiming to land a kill, that is.

2 Likes

Yes, bounty hunters would do well to seize any and every edge available to them…! (Also really just wonderful if this connects people to other shady networks like that. That would be a dream!)

New bounty posters in a similar style begin to appear in similar locales to the last:

Target #2

Status: ACTIVE

OPEN CONTRACTS

GOOD MONEY

NO STRINGS

WANTED DEAD:

OGNUS SHORTBEARD

DWARF, DARK-HAIRED, TYPICALLY ARMED

TARGET A FREQUENT PATRON OF BIZMO'S BRAWLPUB

PAYMENT ON COMPLETION IN GOLD ONLY

These details accompany of a lithograph of a male dwarf with a prominent widow’s peak, and a thick, short beard, without moustache.

2 Likes

They say that when you murder someone, the Dark Brotherhood comes to you in your sleep… :dagger:

1 Like

Do you get to the Cloud District very often?

Oh, what am I saying? Of course you don’t. :smirk:

These posters, too, appear to have served their purpose to whomever commissioned them.


This contract has been fulfilled!

Contractors

Jessíe & Jonáthan

Thank you for participating! Split that reward nicely, now…

Sit tight for a new contract!

1 Like

This is an extremely good idea. Keep at it, chap.

1 Like

Boltick’s blood-speckled shirt and tie soak in a wash bucket behind him.

He pens a letter at the desk in the corner of his Redridge inn room.

A packed suitcase stands by the door.

''The fisherman has been dispatched as per the instructions of the bounty.

There was one witness: a partially blind and infinitely stupid worgen who reported the fisherman’s demise to the guardsmen.

I blamed the demise on a bloodthirsty trogg which I’d witnessed devouring a badly inebriated dwarf that afternoon. (The trogg had earlier suggested, in broken Common, that I check the town for the fisherman.) The guards appeared to accept this explanation.

As leaving town now would draw too much suspicion, I will be waiting until the games have concluded.

I will seek to claim the bounty and, in doing so, establish whether this new contractor (or contractors) is a threat to Ironforge’s interests.

Covert Operative Squirrel’’

3 Likes

You’ll be hearing from me soon. :skull: :black_heart:

1 Like

So happy people seem to be enjoying these so far!

Thanks again to everyone!

This time in place of the old posters there are not one, but two:

Targets #3 & #4

Status: ACTIVE

OPEN CONTRACTS

GOOD MONEY

NO STRINGS

WANTED DEAD:

TANNIEL BURROWS

HUMAN, DARK-HAIRED, ARMED

TARGET A MEMBER OF THE DARKSHIRE NIGHT WATCH

=====================================

WANTED DEAD:

EMILY SANDRIDGE

HUMAN, AUBURN-HAIRED, ARMED

TARGET A MEMBER OF THE DARKSHIRE NIGHT WATCH

PAYMENT ON COMPLETION IN GOLD ONLY

These details accompany two lithographs. The first depicts a man with deep-set eyes, medium-length dark hair, a moustache and goatee. The second depicts a woman with long hair of a medium tone, pushed back to reveal two ear piercings on one side.

In addition, what appears to be a reproduction of a sloppily scrawled letter:

TB,

M gone, no doubt.

Your job now.

Begin at RHC.

Take girl; good shot.

~ LV

1 Like

This looks great! I’d be interested in snooping about for some of these current targets.

1 Like

Time to move to Darkshire by the looks of it :hocho: Really interesting concept and something sure to spawn some good roleplay.

1 Like

Made some inquiries, trekked the roads, embraced the shadows and watched. All in a day’s work for a ranger type… :male_detective:

Had fun interacting with people tonight in Duskwood. Thanks to this for getting me back into RP again.

1 Like