[A-RP] Assassination contracts, open to all! 📜 CONTRACT PENDING

Argent Dawn
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You are both too kind!

In my eyes this project is a success if even one person has a good experience out of hunting around, so I am really massively happy people are enjoying things.

Possibly see some of you shortly…!

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They come for fresh blood.

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In an abandoned barn somewhere south of Raven Hill, a weary Boltick pens another letter.

"I traveled to Duskwood to warn the watchmen of the risk to their lives as per your written orders.

I made several attempts, but in each I was interrupted by a new arrival from Duskwood’s menagerie of ghoulish oddballs. (At one point, four death knights and a ghost with a lisp were all chatting idly to me.)

Unfortunately, by the time I caught up with the watchers they were ambushed by brigands near Westfall in a terribly amateurish robbery gone awry.

It would now only be right for me to take credit for the killings to further progress the operation.

Covert Operative Squirrel’’

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Another contract bites the dust…! This contract is fulfilled.

Contractors

Boltick

More contracts to come.

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Not an assassin IC.

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After a brief lull in activity, overnight yet more posters appear:

Target #5

Status: ACTIVE

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!

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Stabby, stabby! :hocho: :skull:

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I just want to take this bumppurtunity to say that in spite of various sentiments on the forum concerning roleplay on Argent Dawn, on the Alliance, in Stormwind, etc, I’ve had a blast playing these characters, and not just for interaction with people hunting them down.

The number of people I’ve bumped into out in the “wild” as it were has been fantastic, and I’ve really enjoyed interacting with a massive variety of characters, no matter how fleetingly.

This target has been the first I’ve put in Stormwind, and if I didn’t know any better I’d think the Stormwind people talk about on the forums was a completely different city! Lots of wonderful ambient roleplay going on, hugely varied characters, lots and lots and lots of walk-ups, groups intermingling, not just confined to guilds, etc.

Thanks, everyone!

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Gotta agree, I had so much fun tonight interacting with the current target and the situation surrounding him. And having things tie in with other unrelated agendas is amazing too, lots of ways the RP could go!

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A gunshot rung through the woods around Westbrook, forcing the loyal men and women of the garrison to awake from their much needed rest. The gruesome fate of their guest, now covered by a blood stained sheet, clear to them.
It didn’t take them long to follow the gunshot from earlier, leading them to the river, and what seems to have been the killer. At least one of them. A bald gnome, shot dead from behind. With the murder weapon lodged in his back. So much for honour amongst thieves

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Clovus returned home late that evening. After parting with the target, he had kept walking aimlessly, merely following the road wherever it led while he mulled over the day’s events. It had taken almost being run over by a horse to snap him out of it, and it was only after several stops along the way that he managed to get back to his office in Ironforge. Even now, as he closed the door behind him, he could feel his head spinning.
The dwarf stumbled to his desk and opened the top drawer, retrieving a couple of blank pages of parchment from the stacks within. His quill already lay prepared on top of the table, a newly refilled bottle of ink beside it. Removing the top, Clovus proceeded to dip the quill’s tip into the ink and set to ordering all of his thoughts on the paper proper.

“There is so much I still don’t know. I was able to find the target after some brief investigation, but he was much different than I expected. I thought he would be a fanatic – the type that resorts to delusions to justify their ‘grand plan’ – but what I found was quite the opposite: instead of praising one faith above all else, his sermons are written to be inclusive for all, regardless of place of birth or worship. I theorized the ones targeting him may instead be the fanatics, but something tells me this isn’t right either. I simply cannot see a motive.

A grudge would make sense, but why would someone hire trained killers over something as petty as that?

Then there is this ‘Eternal Grace’ – a cult, supposedly, operating out of Duskwood. Could they be related? It would fit my theory, but it didn’t seem like the target had ever been to the region before. When could they have met? During a sermon? Certainly possible. Many people come to Stormwind, and Duskwood isn’t too far. If they are so bold as to burn a member of a neutral organization, however, would they hire someone else to kill a single preacher? Would they not simply deal with it themselves? And where does that place the gnomes?

I’m still unsure about the gnomes. One was carrying spare robes when he exited the cathedral, but that alone is not reason enough to assume him and his friends are killers. They are suspicious, but until I can confirm for myself that they are hostile, I shouldn’t draw any hasty conclusions. For now, it is enough that the target has been moved out of Stormwind. It’s safer this way, at least while I continue to look into all of these different leads.”

I’ll just post this like this.

Echoing the above. Had quite a bit of fun trying to protect Tharkhos, although I doubt it’s a success (not really how these contracts go). Once he’s dead whoever kills him better watch out, though. A detective will be on the case. :male_detective:

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They really should have. :dagger:

Also echoing what Clovus and Ohlin wrote. It was a lot of fun interacting with the target, the people protecting him and all the other people you randomly ran into while trying to move around Stormwind to do the job.

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Boltick’s initial plan to steal sets of priest’s robes to gain sway over the target was thwarted by a chance encounter with Clovus on the way out of the building.

(Boltick first mistook the surly Dark Iron dwarf for a competing assassin.)

https://i.imgur.com/VcJa64r.png

After realising that Clovus was in fact a part of a protection detail, it was already too late and the target was on the move!

Boltick hastily agreed to cover the Deeprun Tram exit while his two fellow assassins held back. Boltick perched himself beside a squabbling gnomish family, picked up a fresh issue of Rolling Bone Magazine, concealed a shiv between its pages, and waited quietly for the sight of the target’s silhouette in the station’s tunnel entrance… but sadly the target never appeared.

As Boltick would later learn at the rendezvous point, his two fellow assassins had more success (although the third in the trio was left to take the blame for it).

https://imgur.com/a/MSZnKtO

((This was really great. Thanks to everyone involved in tonight’s cat & mouse chase - Boltick spent most of the evening being thwarted by the good folks of the protection detail, but it was still the most fun I’ve had doing this so far - and probably the funnest roleplay more broadly in a long while.

Boltick himself is sufficiently spooked by the amount of attention these contracts are getting and may well be reining himself in…))

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Swan jerked his head up at the sound of the barn door opening, floods of both hope and dread warring in his mind at the prospect of someone entering. He craned his head forward as best he could from where he half-kneeled, half-stood, chained up to the interior woodwork of the old abandoned barn. His arms ached something awful from the cut of the manacles and for being raised over his head by force for such a long time.

Through the barn door stepped a man with dark, greying hair, and a lined face. He wore the scalemail and dark leathers of the Night Watch. Captain Lannet Vile. The newcomer looked at Swan and gave him an unpleasant smile. The dread won out.

“Still holding on, I see”, said Lannet. Swan was silent. “We’ll give this one more go, shall we?” The captain threw down three pieces of parchment, heavily lined with creases, but legible. They scattered across the barn floor amongst the mud and hay. Swan looked down at them, he already knew what they said.

“WANTED DEAD: ADERWALD BYRON, WANTED DEAD: OGNUS SHORTBEARD, WANTED DEAD: TANNIEL BURROWS & EMILY SANDRIDGE”

“I didn’t do it!” Swan managed at last. His voice was hoarse and strange to his own ears. The captain grimaced at him.

“So two of my last Watchers are found butchered down by the river, you’re carrying bounty posters with their names on, and I find you snooping around asking questions about 'em. All just a big coincidence, is that it?”

The captain stepped closer, his face reddening and his voice louder with anger. “Two bloody good Watchers I lost, good folks, some of the last, willing to put their lives on the line selflessly to protect the people of this cursed place! To face down the great evils of the unknown! And now you lie to my face, plead innocence? What do you expect, hm? I’m going to cut you loose? 'Oh, yes, on you go, you big, bad, bounty hunter. Please. Make some more people’s lives miserable. Cut down some more innocent men and women.’”

“I didn’t do it!” Swan yelled, this time. His shoulders heaved, and he felt the shameful rise of something in his throat, that horrible swelling of tears he hadn’t felt since he was a boy and he was whipped. “I meant to, but I didn’t!”

At this, Lannet seemed to relent. He stoop up a little straighter, and reeled his head back in from where he’d leered in at his prisoner.

“Don’t you lie to me, boy. Don’t you lie to me, now.” There was a long pause while Lannet watched his captive, the latter’s shoulders rising and falling at uneven intervals, his head hung low. In the distance, a strange howl rang out in the woods.

The captain looked to the barn door, then at Swan again. "You hear that? Do you know what that is? Because I don’t. I’ve no idea what that is. But I’ll bet you it’s nasty, some huge wolfbeast, on the prowl for a body to tear to shreds. Right now, I’ve half a mind to let it. Do you think anyone would come?

"We’re a militia, you understand that? This isn’t the Stormwind City Guard. We’re not the army. Truth is, I should probably have turned you over to the guards. But word is from Elwynn, they can’t even protect their own in their best bloody garrison. Westbrook Garrison, full of guards, infiltrated in a single night, and some poor preacher gets a knife in the gut.

“So guess what? You’re all mine. It’s just you, and me, and whatever blasted horrors are out there. What do you think? Want to keep lying to me? Maybe the beast will be more understanding.”

“I was too slow,” Swan finally interjected. His voice sounded high and weak, just a push away from wailing. He hated himself for it. He felt the hot pang of tears on his cheeks. He couldn’t even look up at the captain. “I meant to kill your Watchers, but I swear I didn’t. Someone got to them first.”

“Who?” barked Lannet, without a moment’s hestiation. Again in the distance there was a horrible, hungry howl. Was it closer?

“I don’t know. I don’t know, I didn’t see them. I just came upon the bodies after the fact. It could be anybody, another bounty hunter, I don’t know!” His voice cracked again, and he reined himself in to keep from bawling.

“Where did you get the posters? Who gives you the contracts?” Each word was spat, fired like a bullet into Swan.

“I don’t know.” Swan saw Lannet moving in his peripheral vision, and snapped his head up quickly to see the captain lunging for him. “I don’t! I just take the posters! My friend Marley, I–…” At this, Lannet stopped midreel, a moment from socking Swan across the chops.

“Marley. Who is this Marley? They give the contracts? Why?” The captain’s tone was sharp, demanding. Swan’s shame grew tenfold at the knowledge he’d just outed his ally. Not only a bad bounty hunter – a bad friend, now, too.

“No, no, she doesn’t put them out. She just told me about them. I swear, I don’t know who puts them out–” Swan was interrupted by the ear-piercing shriek of something close by, something bestial, unholy. Something large struck the barn door, hard, and there was a sound of scrabbling. The captain whirled around to the door, whipping his sword out and brandishing it. He snarled.

“Dammit!” Lannet roared, and stomped toward the barn door, just as it exploded inward in a shower of splinters.

These posters, like the ones before them, are now also seen largely defaced.

This contract is fulfilled.

Contractors

Spellbell, JoachĂŹm, and Boltick

Had an incredible time last night with that most recent target. I have to say a part of me is genuinely sad to see him go; I really thought he might make it. It was also really exhausting by the end, and genuinely tense for me, but some of the best RP I have ever had, for sure. Thanks so much again to everyone involved – these are becoming really interesting for me, I hope you all agree!

Now that some more folks are involved on both sides of this thing, it seems like the trail might start coming together…

PS: I’m really loving reading these post-mortems and mixes of IC perspectives in this thread!

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:facepunch::boom::arrow_double_up::up:

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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.

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Visibility bump!

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S,

Presumably this letter will go nowhere; I have waited for a week at our rendezvous with no sign of anyone wearing my indicator. I am sure my little riddle acting as a safety measure would not hold someone in your position up, and so I fear the worst.

I am trying one final time. If I am not contacted tonight, I shall know the operation is truly compromised, and go underground.

For both my safety and my sanity, I am altering the location of our meeting. If I have to listen to another pair of soppy stargazers I will lose my mind. Who knew that the tomb of their king would give the humans here such an appetite for romance?

I will be at Stormwind’s harbour with my emblem from this evening until the midnight bell, and no longer.

– Lynx

Last chance to catch this target!

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Lock-saving bump…!

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bumped.
please keep doing these! They are great rp incentives.

I have completed one ic on an alt and thoroughly enjoyed it. I like how you are evolving to make it more difficult, bounties shouldn’t be easy work!

& thank you for all you have done so far!