A quick jab at the heart and a little twist. Your blade is of a magical nature to be swift and silent, and leave no trace. Not a drop of blood escapes his body as he slumps to the floor into shambles.\n\nHis gang of untrained goons feel the bravery leave their face and extremities as they try to find the will to escape. But they don't matter.\n\nYou turn your back to them and continue on your way. The alley forks up ahead into three directions. Where to go?\n\n[[Advance east to the marketplace|Marketplace]] as there will be plenty of threads to follow. The agent was to follow his target through here.\n[[Advance west to the tavern|Tavern]] where the agent was last heard from. The local watering hole that we should visit.
A bustling marketplace but is not one of particular note. As a neighbor to a Gruul hangout, there's no reason to risk good merchandise. Also, it's not near any of the major trade intersections so what you find here are mostly necessities for the locals to survive with.\n\nThe streets and aisles are small, and doesn't allow for large beasts to travel. Except for the one that was newly...added from a recent clan rampage in the area. As quickly as the wreck is made the people scramble to find a space to open up shop and to continue to function.\n\nThey are the pawns in our gave of chess, though there are many players. More often than not, they have bound themselves to the [[Syndicate.|The Orzhov Syndicate]] and are much harder to take advantage of because they already have strings attached. Theirs are more like self inflicted handcuffs through ignorance or worse , willful submission.\n\n
You stick your chest out and throw back the cloak, your left hand placed on the pommel, ready to grip the hilt when you need to. Not much is known by the outsiders about agents but they are trained to be excellent fighters in duels and escape artists in large crowds.\n\n"HAU!" he screams as he lunges toward you with all his weight. He must be new to this, or feeling extremely lucky. Unfortunately for him, we don't deal with luck. His affiliates watch and begin to approach, surrounding you. You count three of them, each looking less weathered and unpolished. They wield their weapons and make their steps with uncertain and waivering hands and feet.\n\nRight, the leader. You flick the blade out and lunge forward, catching him in the pit of his arm. In and out, you step aside. He drops his blade and lets out a deep groan as he falls to one knee. \n\n[[Make an example of him.|Thug Execution]] Sometimes we keep the streets a bit safer. Usually this is an unintended side effect.
The Mossy Dog. A tavern run by the [[Golgari.|The Golgari Swarm]] Strange to buy a drink from them but they have the best fermentation methods and the purest ingredients. They also have eyes and ears everywhere, quite literally. The reaches of their ilk are not to be disregarded so easily.\n\nThe agent was sent here to follow a local merchant with no guild affiliation. This is one of the few times where having no alliegences may be in his favor as the guildless are harder to track. \n\nSmart people learn to cover their tracks with the tracks of others. There are so many to choose from here. Each less important than the last.\n\n
Dictated by law and bound by duty, these stoic upholders of "justice" care more for the letter of the law than the hands that they bind. Their unwavering dedication to due process makes them slow and easy to impede. Rarely are they anything than a puppet for us to control. Knowledge is power, and we know so much more. The very foundations of their existence are built with caveats and passages for us to travel and influence.\n\n[[Return to the alley|89th]].
The Golgari Swarm are part of the less talked about functions in a city. They take the waste and from it bring life. From the heaping masses, they spawn their fungus and assemble their warriors. An army of shambling masses and terrible creatures. They are a useful asset and often are employed by us. They harness the power of life and death and are the harbingers of undeath. They're a powerful ally, but of course we cannot trust them. We can't trust anyone, not even our sisters and brothers.\n\n[[Back to the task at hand.|Tavern]]
Violent and hedonistic, the followers of the demonic lord Rakdos create carnage and chaos everywhere they go. Their parties last weeks and the body counts rise. It may be the most fun you ever have and the last thing you ever do. Jugglers, chain walkers, night walkers, imps and demons; whatever you fancy, they have probably twisted it into a grotesque and brilliant version of it.\n\n[[Return to the alley|89th]].
You are an agent of shadows and this is where you call your home. The undercity, the smokey alleys, the dark corners of your mind. You are as dangerous as you are complex, as even you have no idea what is real. All you can do is follow orders given to you by the necrosages.\n\n-----\n1. Another agent has gone missing in the 9th Ward. When you find him, extract the details. You are to complete his tasks.\n\n2. Place a scroll in Lawmage Tallinth's quarters. A trace has been placed for you to follow. He lives in the 9th's Talon Spire.\n-----\n\nAnd so I go. Wait until an hour after noon for the most hours of darkness in the alley. This is a rough neighborhood, hopefully the trail hasn't gone cold.\n\n[[Press forward|89th]].
The savage and powerful clans are known more by their guttural shouts and their earth shaking herds than their name. Their might is not to be underestimated and they are occasionally smart enough to be a threat. They can make an excellent distraction and are so headstrong we often can't manipulate them into doing what we want. Luckily, we can usually offer them a simple tithing and they can abide. Because of their reliance on instinct, we can shape their environment to get them to do what we want often enough. They are far more predictable in their rampages than the [[Cults|The Cult of Rakdos]].\n\n[[Return to the alley|89th]].
You blink, and suddenly the world has changed. You see the pulsing of signals in the oaf's brain as you peer into his mind. Such a pathetic thing. Now let's see. A twist of this synapse. A dulling of that. Ah, yes. There we go.\n\nIn another blink, you've returned. The oaf stares at you, but only appears to do so. You turn your back to walk away and he stands there. Unblinking. Frozen in thought, or what can be assumed to be thought.\n\nA simple mindtrap to keep him company. If he's smarter than he looks, he might get out in a matter of minutes. But he's not. So he won't. Fortunte for him, you have no intention of disturbing the status quo of this neighborhood, and the weave is a simple one that will unravel itself in time. He will return to his dim witted self not knowing what happened between his last encounter to when he awakens.\n\nYou turn to leave as the brutes try to figure out what has hapened to their witless leader. The alley forks up ahead into three directions. Where to go?\n\n[[Advance east to the marketplace|Marketplace]] as there will be plenty of threads to follow. The agent was to follow his target through here.\n[[Advance west to the tavern|Tavern]] where the agent was last heard from. The local watering hole that we should visit.
Dimir Machinations
The thugs brandish their jagged blades and shoot you a dull witted grin. This was to be expected in the 89th Ave alley. Between a [[Gruul|Gruul Clans]] stomping grounds and a merchant district that is quite isolated from a [[Garrison|Boros Legions]], they have made their home here in the spaces in between the civilized world.\n\nSimple brutes, the kind we often employ to cause a ruckus. These seem to be working for someone else already. Pehaps a local baron or a small gang. Too small for us to care about.\n\n"All alone, wherr ya hedid?", he chugged out from his disfigured face. Covered in scars, he looks like he's taken a tour of the [[|Rakdos|The Cult of Rakdos]] circles.\n\n\n[[Grin and move your hand to your blade.|Thug fight]] He's looking for a fight. You'll give him an execution.\n[[Don't say anything.|Silence]] Nothing you say will help you here, not worth your breath.\n
[Omitted]
"Au, not goud enuff to talk wif a lowly commonah eh?", he seems to enjoy your silence, seems he speaks better with his blade as he can't possibly be any worse. He's out for blood, your purse is a bonus.\n\nIt's a common and intentionally crafted misconception. We have no affiliates, we have no colors to bare. We don't exist so we can't just scare them away with a flashing of a signet. No, we just have to be better than them. All of them. Including this one here.\n\n[[Unravel his mind|Thug silence unravel]], turn him against himself, at least he'll be on even terms then. Oaf for an oaf.\n[[Blade to blade|Thug fight]], teach him a lesson for unsheathing a blade in your presense.
Fueled by self righteous fervor we have the Boros Legion. Strong and proud warriors with a fire in their eyes and pyre of passion burning in their heart. They keep the city in order and are less predictable than their [[bureaucratic brothers|Azorius Senate]] in order. Quick to act, often too quickly to realize what they are doing, we employ their services far more often to our benefit than it ever impedes are goals.\n\n[[Return to the alley|89th]].