Killer Business

There is an assassin on the loose and nobody knows where he will strike next. Two seemingly nonassociated merchants got the knife in the back of the neck, and that was just the week ago. Rumors have it that some guilds are cleaning house and there are numerous other contracts pending. A large scale guild war seems inevitable. It is the start of a killing spree and people are afraid, the city is in arms, and nobody trusts anybody.

Rewards are offered, nightwatch is taking volunteers and paying well, mercenaries of every type are now in high demand.

This is a wonderful time for somebody to make a name for themselves. Those that catch the assassins are going to be heroes, the saviors of the city. But nobody knows who the assassins are. There is no evidence except a common knife found stabbed into the back of the neck of the victim. No witnesses, no other evidence.

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The assassin is really assassins. Time to make a quick name for themselves lay quiet again and then start becoming even richer. They were already held in high esteem by those that hired them for the most recent kills. They didn't think they could pull of the last one with all the extra security.

Two assassins: One is a new owner of a weaponsmith called Regal's Weapons, the other is the new proprietor of the Swinging Lion Tavern. Both adventured together for years and years and decided to make a name for themselves as hired assassins. See Regal and Leon for more details on the assassins.

Basically having two assassains assumed to be one works to their benefit and it is there strategy in order to provide alibis for each other. There will always be a point where one is with others, and they make a point of it when a hit goes down. Neither of them can be placed at every murder.

All contact is made through intermediaries. There are only one or two that are allowed to contact the assassins. Only one of them actually knows who they are and is authorized to contact them unannounced. Otherwise there are meeting times in church confession booths, talking through doors, or drop notes. They are very careful.

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How can they be caught?
-The weapon. There are spells that can track ownership, the metal used defeats this spell somehow. Who has access to this metal? There are three weaponsmithes in the town that have it. The weaponsmithe may be sloppy or one of the apprentices put on display one of the knives the assassin made for the kills...or perhaps it is a plant and the owner of the store where it was found denies knowledge of it.

-Players can get a hot tip from somebody that tells them there will be a hit that night on a certain merchant. Able to set up a trap and wound the assassin but he still gets away. If they already are suspicious because of the weaponsmithe it will confuse them when he has an alibi, but the bar where they stop by in the owner is walking with a limp where the assassin was wounded. Says he got it in the kitchen somehow.

-Suspicion about the wound and/or knife...setting up surveillance. Watch them and see a meeting between them. Magically eavesdrop or being sneaky confirms their suspicion of one or the other as the assassin and one as the accomplice, not knowing that they are both lethal.