The Upright Man

Jimmy was cautious entering the cave, his head covered and his body masked in shadows. He knew there would be others like the incapacitated guard outside. How careless to not be paying attention during the twighlight hours he thought binding the bandits wrists tighter. The bandit was lucky Jimmy wanted something, otherwise he would be in a shallow grave, if even that.

Padding like a cat and making less noise, Jimmy clung to the shadows and used his blade coated with a fast acting poison to incapacitate another guard.

A few more paces and another corridor took him to what he perceived was the bandits meeting room and headsmans quarters, where better he thought to leave his note.

Stabbing the script written in the thieves cant to the table with one of the bandits daggers, he told the headsman in no uncertain terms that a meeting was in order or else things would get messy for him and his ilk.

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To re-iterate the threat he poured copious amounts of tasteless laxative in the barrels of wine in the storeroom. The message would get across one way or the other.

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Padding back the way he came he gave one of the bound and gagged bandits a solid boot to the head to stop his squirming.

It was time to set the wheels in motion he decided and here would be as good a place as any to start.

Several days had passed and Jimmy had made a few contacts, some that were useful and others that he would discard like an ogre would an empty ale flagon.

Waiting patiently under the guise of a street meat seller, he watched his quarry in Palanthas. The city itself was not too bad a place he thought, plenty of places to hide, the sewers being his favourite, which made him think of setting up a base of operations there some day.

There. The noble was alone and unguarded. For some reason when shopping for furniture he left his guards outside, leaving the perfect opportunity to strike.

Quickly pushing his vendors cart behind some crates and slipping into the third disguise of the morning, a foppish nobles garb, he walked boldly to the store, ignoring the guards as if they were not even present, and as he thought they spared the apparently wealthy noble not a a second glance.

Inside the store was not quiet, yet not busy either, perfect for what he was about to do. Turning the ring on his middle finger upside down so an almost invisible spike faced palm side down he strode to the noble and casually patted him on the side twice, with a muffled "Excuse me Sir" and walked on to look at some table and chairs.

The mark did not even bat an eye at the brush with Jimmy and unknow to him he was a dead man walking. The toxins in the ring would take two days to take effect, followed by a fever, convulsions and death that not even the greates cleric could compete with. That was the beauty of using such a poison, by the time it took effect Jimmy would have been just another face in the crowd that none would remember.

Departing from the back of the store when none were looking and changing yet again to the garb of a simple farmer he strode off to the north, plotting where to set up his base of operation, possibly Flotsam, or within the sewers of Palanthas, he was not sure. Either way the Shoulder Tapper had started off the week rather successfully, his client not even knowing who he had hired, just receiving a note in simple script "Task Complete".

Now to find a new Client.