In a shadowy ruined castle many miles from the North forest, anger brewed endlessly. A man in all black ran from the entrance towards a wagon before snapping the reigns urgently and heading back towards the base.

The assassin was silent along the ride. He needn’t say any words. His job was in place. Once he reported it all he needed to do was complete it before anyone else.

The pay this time was good too. The assassin had never seen a price so high for a single head.

The horse and carriage merged with a trail after a few miles of running through the heavily wooded forest around the castle.

Turning to the east the assassin continued his hasten pace. Of course no one could get the jump on him before he reported the mission, but making this contractor wait seems like a mistake that might cost the assassin his life.

A long quiet hour passed before the assassin found himself at a loosely guarded gate. Showing the men his papers they easily allowed him inside. After a short walk the man reached the local HQ.

What faced him inside the room was normal. A dozen or so scarred, haggard looking men. Various green and yellow bottles of various poisons and venom's, even a woman with a single ear looking carefully at a crystal ball while the teen across from her lightly gulps at her words.

Reaching the counter the man filled out the form handed to him wordlessly by the slave.

At the line labeled ‘Head Price.’ the assassin contemplated changing the number to one digit lower. But in the end he wrote the price as it had been told to him.

One hundred and fifty thousand coins. This would surely empty out the HQ. No one would turn down a bounty like this. Even beginners still carrying bread knives would turn their heads at such an amount of money.

The slave retrieved the paper and quickly pinned it to the wall. Likely she couldn’t even read so she wouldn’t be surprised by the number.

Happy that the info hadn’t leaked to the men behind him instantly the assassin sighed and turned to depart. He would have to scope out the place first. The contractor had indicated that he would be in a fairly strange place, so the first task is obviously to assess the validity of that info.

Unbeknownst to the assassin, a mere minute after he left the HQ a curious girl stepped up to inspect the newly added bounty. She nearly collapsed when she saw the number. The assassin’s head start was now gone.

Countless men and even a few woman now carefully prepared as the sun began to set. Men sharpened blades and arrows while the women carefully prepared pouches full of knock-out powder, smoke bombs, and small ampules of poison.

The HQ lit up with activity. The rumor spread quickly about the mission and many even left other jobs to inspect the validity of the rumor.

A hundred thousand coins couldn’t be scoffed at. That would put a person near the realm of a noble.