# The Guild of Knives — Assassin Subplot ## The Surface Problem: The Merchant Quarter Kill A guild contract. A noble named **Lord Harath** was marked for death by a business rival. Standard job — clean kill, made to look like natural causes. Paid half upfront, 500 gp total. Before the guild could act, Harath turned up dead. But not cleanly — his body was found in his study with ritual burns on his chest, his heart removed, and symbols carved into the floorboards. The city watch called it "cult activity." The guild's client wants a refund. The guild says the contract was accepted, the fee stands. **What actually happened:** Dace sold the contract details to the Lambent Order. The cultists needed a specific type of kill — a death performed at a ley line intersection (Harath's study was on one) with the heart preserved as a binding component. Dace arranged access. The cultists performed the kill. Dace got paid twice. This is the surface of the guild's problem. The deeper rot is Dace himself. --- ## The Real Problem: The Traitor For six months, Dace has been selling kills to the Lambent Order. The arrangement: 1. Dace identifies guild contracts where the target's death could serve a dual purpose — the client gets their kill, the cult gets ritual components. 2. Dace passes target details, location, and schedule to Haddon through dead drops and meetings in the tavern's private room. 3. The cultists perform the kill using ritual methods. The body yields what they need. 4. Dace collects payment from both the guild (his cut) and the cult (a separate fee). 5. The guild's reputation suffers because the kills are sloppy and ritualistic — the opposite of the guild's code. **Why Dace does it:** Money. That's it. He has no ideological alignment with the cult. He finds their beliefs ridiculous. He simply saw an opportunity for double income and took it. **Why it matters:** The guild's code is everything. Clean kills, no suffering, no collateral. Dace's arrangement produces the opposite — bodies carved open, hearts removed, ritual desecration. Every botched kill damages the guild's reputation, which is its only real asset. --- ## Entry Points for Players ### Through Sevra (Direct) Sevra suspects a mole but needs proof. If players approach her with professionalism and competence: - **DC 14 Persuasion** to get her to discuss the guild's internal problems - She won't name Dace as a suspect unprompted — she suspects him but moving on a guild member without evidence violates the code and would fracture the group - She'll describe the pattern: "Three contracts in six months where the kill was done before we acted, or the body showed up... wrong. Missing parts. Ritual marks." - She'll ask players to investigate quietly — "If it is one of ours, I need proof. Not suspicion. Proof." ### Through Kael (Emotional) Kael is the easiest assassin to talk to because he's honest and angry: - He'll volunteer his suspicion of Dace without being asked much - "That smooth bastard was the last one assigned to the Harath job. He said the cultists must have intercepted us. Convenient." - He can't prove anything. His evidence is gut feeling and coincidence. - He saw Bren go rigid during the brawl and stare at the bar — this is useful for the murder investigation ### Through Tallow (Transactional) Tallow knows Dace has been meeting "a scholar type" in the private room: - Won't volunteer this — it's worth money - **Price:** 20+ gp, or information about the cult that Tallow can leverage - "Your friendly assassin, the charming one? He's been having private meetings. Regular. With someone who reads too many books." ### Through the Private Room (Physical Evidence) The private room contains: - Ward-sigil diagram scratched into the table (DC 14 Investigation, DC 16 Arcana to understand) - A dropped cultist pin under the bench (DC 13 Perception) - Faint traces of ritual chalk on the floor (DC 15 Investigation) — from when Haddon demonstrated binding patterns to Dace ### Through Dace Himself (Dangerous) Dace is actively helping the investigation — steering it toward the cultists. A perceptive player might notice: - **DC 16 Insight:** His helpfulness is performative. He volunteers theories but never evidence. - **DC 14 Perception:** When the cultists are mentioned, Dace watches Haddon — not with suspicion, but with the careful attention of someone checking if their business partner is holding up under pressure. - **DC 14 Investigation of his person** (requires proximity or a reason to search): A second cultist pin in his boot. Why would an assassin have a cult's symbol? --- ## Confrontation: Exposing Dace When players have enough evidence to accuse Dace: ### Presenting Evidence to Sevra She needs at least **two pieces** of concrete evidence (the pin, Tallow's testimony, the private room meetings, or a confession). With two: > Sevra goes still. Not angry-still — *cold*-still. The temperature at the assassin table drops ten degrees. > > "Dace," she says. Just the name. Nothing else. > > And Dace's smile dies. ### Dace's Response **Stage 1 — Denial** (Deception +8): "That's absurd. I've been loyal to the guild since I was seventeen. You're going to take the word of [whoever provided evidence] over mine?" **Stage 2 — Deflection** (if denial fails): "Even if I met with them — which I'm not saying I did — it was intelligence gathering. I was trying to find the mole. Working alone because I didn't want to tip anyone off." **Stage 3 — Violence** (if cornered): Dace grabs the nearest vulnerable NPC (Vetch, Bren, or a player who isn't watching him) as a hostage. He has a concealed dagger coated in Essence of Ether (DC 13 CON save or unconscious for 1 minute). He demands safe passage out of the tavern. **Resolution options:** - Let him go — Sevra won't allow it. The guild's justice requires an answer. - Talk him down — DC 18 Persuasion. Possible if players offer genuine protection from Sevra's justice (but can they really?). - Fight him — Dace is dangerous one-on-one but outmatched against multiple opponents. At half HP, he surrenders. - Cleverness — Players might use Whisper Chalk, Tallow's goods, or social manipulation to expose him without a direct confrontation. ### Aftermath **If Dace is exposed and captured:** - Sevra restrains him. Guild justice will happen after the lockdown ends. It won't be quick. - The guild withdraws from active hostility toward the cultists — the immediate cause of the brawl is resolved. - Sevra is in the players' debt. She offers: one favor. "Within reason. Don't ask me to go clean." - Kael actually *thanks* the players. Awkwardly, sincerely. This might be the first time he's thanked anyone. **If Dace escapes:** - Sevra is furious — at Dace, at herself, at the players for letting him slip. - The guild remains hostile and unstable. The faction war threat is still live. - Dace becomes a loose thread for beyond the oneshot. --- ## Connecting to the Main Plot The assassin subplot feeds into the murder mystery through: 1. **The brawl was engineered.** Xarrul whispered to Kael using Voice Thief to push him over the edge. The brawl gave Xarrul cover for the murder. Understanding this connection requires talking to Kael about *exactly* what triggered him ("I heard one of them laughing about it. Clear as day." — but no cultist was actually laughing. It was Xarrul). 2. **Dace's meetings map the wards.** The diagram in the private room was made during a Dace/Haddon meeting. The cult was mapping the wards — which Xarrul was also breaking. The cult weakened the tavern's defenses on both sides simultaneously: Haddon from the inside (mapping), Xarrul from the Ethereal Plane (scratching). 3. **The guild intercepted Xarrul.** The fiend was originally sent by the cult to kill Sevra. The guild's people caught it in transit, broke the binding, and thought the problem was solved. They didn't know what they unleashed. Sevra knows about this — she'll share it if the fiendish angle is confirmed and she trusts the players.