“Every clever rabbit had three entrances to its burrow.” - Old folk saying.

Tlaynoc Naberthay of the Hidden Hand was one of the most – if not THE most – successful contract assassins in both Knallzog and the Kingdom Down Under for the past century. He and his band had killed dozens of rich merchants, politicians, and even minor nobles at the behest of others, never having failed a single contract.

This job was supposed to be their band’s final job, as its completion would likely mean they had to evacuate to another country to lay low afterwards. The temptation of leaving their mark in the history books while also being paid such a ludicrous amount that the entire band could retire and enjoy a century of life in luxury was far too much to ignore, however.

It was also the riskiest and most high-profile job in their career, the target being Aethelbald Stahlfaust, the Crown Prince of Knallzog and first in line to the throne. All the information they received from their employer suggested that the newly integrated City of Zephirous would be their best chance to pull off the feat, as the Crown Prince planned to do a surprise inspection there.

The information proved true and their target did make that surprise inspection while remaining incognito. Even so, the band had not rushed things. Instead, they carefully observed their target’s behavior and chose the plan that would give them the highest rate of success based on that. It was why they did nothing during the first two days of the Crown Prince’s inspection.

He and his band had prepared a three-layered plan for the mission. Part of the group would be stationed in three locations on the west side of the city, from where they would rain crossbow bolts using the military-grade repeating crossbows they possessed. Their role was to primarily act as a distraction to lure away the Crown Prince’s guard to one side.

Tlaynoc himself commanded the second team of other assassins who would rush towards their target at an opportune time. This second team was both a serious attempt at killing their target as well as yet another distraction. If they could kill their target by the surprise attack, then all was well and good. If not, they would at least distract the guards from the true killing blow.

That killing blow was supposed to be delivered by Tlaynoc’s younger brother, who was the most skilled marksman of their band, capable of hitting a copper coin at three hundred paces. He was situated to their east and had an enchanted crossbow bolt – something that the band had spent most of their advance payment on – slathered liberally with Midnight Shadow extract.

It was supposed to be a clean, immediately fatal shot. The poison was just there for insurance. Yet none of them expected how the one human guard not only managed to detect the bolt and tried to deflect it mid-flight, but also took the bolt intended for the Crown Prince herself, wasting their one best shot at completing the job.

Everybody in the band knew that the job was going to be the riskiest they had ever undertaken, but the allure of wealth and fame had motivated them to do the job regardless. However, none of them were prepared to face the contingencies the Crown Prince apparently had in hand, from the guards who were clearly extremely skilled to those hidden all around the city itself.

Tlaynoc had seen the human families before during the times he scouted out the city while planning and observing things. To all appearances they looked just like a regular family with adolescent children – he even had the one band member who was good at distinguishing human faces check to make sure – that were shopping around the city.

In some ways, the dwarven mindset worked against him since he subconsciously equated the young humans – fifteen was most definitely still the age of a child for dwarves – with helpless children. As such, he was caught by surprise when the whole family along with another brought out weapons and subdued his assassins with ease.

The debacle left Tlaynoc with only one last option, namely to flee for his life. He had not charged with the rest of the second group, as he was always more the planner than the executor. His brother, he knew would already be running for the hideout they prepared after he saw his shot fail. As for the rest of the band, he hoped that their sacrifice would buy him time to get away.

Not like he personally cared about any of them other than his own brother anyway.

Despite his general lack of involvement in the actual killing itself, Tlaynoc kept himself fit. He swiftly ran through the city streets, taking care to act like a panicked civilian as he did so. He also kept himself to crowded areas, making sure that if he was pursued, his pursuers cannot simply shoot him without risking some civilian casualties.

The experienced assassin weaved his way through the crowd, at times “accidentally” shouldering a person aside to cause a slight pile-up of falling people to further deter whoever might be on his tail. After he was reasonably certain that he had covered some distance to his pursuers, he slipped into a smaller alley and prepared to make his escape to another hideout his band prepared in advance.

He only made one mistake, and that was forgetting to look up during his run.

Shortly after he turned and entered the small alley, a shadow was suddenly cast over him. He looked up by instinct and saw a white figure jumping off the roof of a four-story building to his left, silhouetted against the glaring afternoon sun. Then he saw something glimmer around the figure and the next thing he knew his entire face burned with a searing, sharp pain.

Then he felt something hard strike him, almost as if someone punched him hard, and darkness took his mind.