Making my rounds as I do every night in the city, I made
   my way  silently and  unseen into  the temple of the  goddess
   Xeraphena. Some in the realm worship the  Dark Goddess as the
   bringer  of  death,  and rightly so.  Xeraphena is a  patient
   goddess,  for all will come  into her domain given time.  The
   fanatical  among  her  worshippers  are  impatient  for  her,
   seeking to bring her souls before their given time. I am such
   a fanatical believer.

        Behind the altar,  there is a loose brick in the wall at
   the  base  close to  the floor few  know about.  Removing the
   brick,  I reached inside and  pulled out a small folded piece
   of  parchment,  slipping  it inside  a fold  in  my cloak.  I
   returned  the brick  carefully to  it's  place and exited the
   temple.

        Finding myself after a few hours within the safety of my
   Guild's walls,  I  found  a  quiet  corner  and  studied  the
   parchment that was left for me.  On it was written simply one
   name...  the name Alvarez.  I was not familiar with the name,
   so after burning  the parchment  and scattering the ashes,  I
   put out my  contacts into the city to  discreetly discover as
   much information as possible about this person.

        The next night,  my information  started  flooding in to
   me, as it  always does when  I want it.  It seemed  that this
   Alvarez was a member of the Fighters Guild and quite powerful
   in it's ranks.  Furthermore,  he was a  member of a large and
   prestigious  Clan,  counting among  their other  members some
   close friends of mine, including one who was a Guild brother.
   Knowing these facts now,  I weighed all possible scenarios of
   success and failure.  I put a quill to a  parchment and wrote
   out simply '50 Tri'

        I made my way once again silently and unseen to the Dark
   Goddess's temple and  secreted my parchment  into it's hiding
   place. I then returned to my Clan abode to await a reply.

        The reply took a few days to come,  but come it did,  in
   the form of a page from the Bank of Astaria showing up with a
   message that an  unknown person had  transferred  50 Tricrown
   into my personal account.  I thanked the page and sent him on
   his way with a small tip.

        The preparations began.  I located  Alvarez at his Guild
   and proceeded to  follow him around for a few days as he made
   his way around the  Realms.  Alvarez was a  large  lacertain,
   standing about six inches above six feet tall  (when he stood
   upright,  that  is...  lac's  are  known  for  their  stooped
   posturing,  leaning their  weight on  their huge thick tails)
   and easily weighed  as much as a  small draft horse.  Tailing
   him, I was discerning patterns to his movement. I studied his
   style of fighting and  learned his favorite sites to hunt and
   relax.  I learned who his friends and comrades were,  and how
   far they would go for him  if he was in trouble.  All of this
   took the better part of a week. But by the end of the week, I
   was fully prepared.

        On the morning of his fateful last day, I tailed Alvarez
   silently around  Sable City.  He was on his way to a  meeting
   with Lord Armag's warlord,  Captain Crom.  I made my way into
   Crom's  meeting room unseen by either of the men.  Crom was a
   monster of a human,  standing well over  seven feet tall  and
   looking  for all the world  like a  brick  wall with arms and
   legs. I silently listened to the meeting from the shadows and
   patiently  waited,  passing the time by  carefully applying a
   thin coating of toxic poison onto my black dagger.  It seemed
   that Alvarez was meeting Captain Crom to attempt to procure a
   few suits of silver platemail and some  silver longswords for
   the  Fighter's  Guild.  Crom  was  the  only  source of these
   desirable pieces of equipment in the Realms. The negotiations
   started  easily enough,  but soon grew  heated as the  greedy
   Crom  demanded more  money than  Alvarez was prepared to pay.
   Threats started  flying back and forth,  anger flaring in the
   eyes of  both the men.  Knowing that my chance to  strike was
   coming  very soon,  I wedged the  only door  leading from the
   room shut tightly, unseen by either of the men.

        Crom,  in a swift blinding movement,  moved  both of his
   hands to his  shoulders,  drawing  both  his  softly  glowing
   silver  blade and a  smaller  shortsword from sheaths tied to
   his back, let  loose a  fierce  snarl  and  threw  himself at
   Alvarez.  Caught by surprise at the  swiftness of the attack,
   Alvarez fell back,  scrambling to get out  of the  way of the
   burly man so he could draw his own  weapons and strike  back.
   His movements put him facing directly away from me not 2 feet
   from my hiding place.  Taking advantage of the  confusion,  I
   pulled  my  poison-coated  blade  and  thrust  it  deep  into
   Alvarez's back, grinning slightly as I heard him yelp in pain
   as blood flowed freely from a gaping wound. Just as soon as I
   struck him,  I  dove  nimbly  over  the  large meeting table,
   rolled on my left shoulder and came up on my feet  facing the
   two men,  now locked in combat.  The sounds of steel clashing
   and the men shouting filled the room  with a deafining noise.
   Neither of the combatants were paying  attention to me at the
   moment,  so I  faded into the  relative safety of the  room's
   deep shadows.

         Alvarez gave Crom a good fight, I'll give him that. But
   the poisoned wound I inflicted upon him was too great for him
   to withstand such a foe as Crom. Within two minutes, Crom had
   reduced Alvarez to a lifeless corpse.

        I  swiftly  made  my  way  silently  around  the  room's
   perimiter and  removed the  wedge from  underneath the  door.
   Crom was too busy recovering  from the battle to have noticed
   my movements.  Within a  minute,  Crom wiped the blood off of
   his swords on the tunic of the dead Fighter,  spat  upon  the
   corpse,  sheathed his blades, pulled the door open and strode
   purposefully  out  of  the  room,  leaving  me alone with the
   dead lacertain.

        Knowing  full well that a  member of the  Cleric's Guild
   and also members of  Alvarez's  Clan were enroute,  I swiftly
   lifted the purse from the corpse. Spotting a few other choice
   items  in  his  backpack,  I slipped  these  as well into the
   voluminous  folds of my  cloak.  I then  disappeared into the
   shadows of the hallway,  hearing the shouts  and footsteps of
   the rescue party coming as I rounded a corner.

        I never  received  a note  of  thanks  from  my  unknown
   contact.  I didn't  expect one either.   Whomever  they were,
   they knew that I had succeeded  in my assassination in such a
   way that it didn't lead back to them or myself at all.

        Back to the temple the following night. No parchment was
   waiting for me to find. Well, there's always tomorrow...