Ikku decides to hunt down some wanted criminals for the local sheriff. Redford pulls out the most recent bounties...

"Hunt down an assassin!"

Redford hands you the bounty flyer.

An assassin recently attempted to kill a local lord. The noble survived the attack, but the assassin escaped capture. The noble who was the target is hiring you to find this assassin and uncover who hired him.

Due to the danger of the mission, the noble will pay full price whether you bring the assassin back dead or alive. He'll also give a bonus of five hundred Gold Pieces if you can figure out who hired him.

When the group arrive at Lord Remington's estate, Ikku finds him in bed, sick. He see a few bandages on him. Apparently, the assassin attempted to kill him, but he was able to fight him off. What he didn't expect was for the assassin to attempt another way to kill him. Ikku learns that he was poisoned. He's very weak, but still alive…at least, for now.

He wants to find whoever hired this assassin and bring them to justice.

Anne is first to speak. "What do we know about this Lord?"

Arlo responds. "Only that he has a lot of enemies…he isn't the most well liked. There are several people that could have hired an assassin to kill him."

"Well…we need to start somewhere," Anne says, then she chuckles.

Arlo frowns. "What's so funny?"

"I get the feeling we'll probably figure out who this assassin is…but by the time we do, that nobleman will croak. We should have asked for payment up front."

"We accepted the job…I'm sure we'll be paid for it," says Arlo.

Anne chuckles again. "Oh, Arlo…so naive." She looks at you. "Cap, let's hurry up and solve this. The sooner the better."

The Justice of the Peace has very little to say on the matter; he seems extremely frustrated. There are no witnesses or leads to go on. The only one who saw the assassin was Lord Remington, and he said it was a man wearing a cloak and mask.

He sighs. "The little evidence we did find is with the recordkeeper. Go talk to him if you want, but you won't get much. There was very little physical evidence gathered."

Ikku nod and head in that direction.

When Ikku walk in, the recordkeeper takes one look at Arlo with his spear and Anne with her sword and runs. Ikku chase him down and eventually catch him.

"Leave me alone! I won't do it…it's too risky. If my superiors find out, I’m done for," shouts the recordkeeper.

"What the hell are you talking about?" asks Anne.

The recordkeeper suddenly calms down. "Wait…you’re not here on behalf of Lord Braddock?"

Ikku shake his head. "No…we came to see the evidence gathered from the assassination attempt on Lord Remington."

"Oh…my apologies," says the recordkeeper. "I think they're over here."

"Wait a second," says Arlo. "What's this about Lord Braddock? You can't just run away like your life depended on it and not explain yourself."

"It’s…nothing. Don't worry about it."

Arlo looks over at Ikku.

Ikku try to convince the recordkeeper to come clean…

The recordkeeper decides to tell them what's going on. He says Lord Braddock recently approached him to adjust some land records to say that a road going through the area actually belongs to him rather than Lord Remington. "I said no, but he insisted, offering me money. When I was walking home from work, I was attacked by some thugs. They tried to grab me, but I managed to get away. I think they were working for Lord Braddock, and I thought you were them."

Arlo rubs his chin. "So…this Lord Braddock was having some kind of land dispute with Lord Remington. He could be our suspect."

The recordkeeper frowns. "I'm not sure if Lord Braddock would try to assassinate Lord Remington. Everyone knows about their rivalry. Lord Remington barely uses the road, he just wants Lord Braddock to ask him so he can charge him a fee."

"Still, it’s a motive," says Arlo.

The recordkeeper brings out the evidence gathered in the Lord Remington case. He starts reading it all out loud.

"Here's what was recorded the day of the first assassination attempt. Lord Remington claimed to see a hooded figure stalking in the bushes, who then jumped out to attack him with a dagger. Lord Remington suffered wounds to his forearms. He was able to fight off the attacker, who quickly fled when guards arrived on the scene."

The recordkeeper shows some sketches of the wound marks. Anne frowns.

"What's wrong, Anne?" asks Arlo.

"That's odd. Either this assassin is really bad…or he wasn't trying to kill Lord Remington," Anne replies.

"What makes you say that?" Ikku ask.

"All the wounds…they're superficial," says Anne. "It's almost as if he was avoiding any vital organs or arteries."

"Interesting," Arlo says.

The recordkeeper brings out the wine bottle which was said to have contained the poison.

"Why is it empty?" asks Arlo.

"Lord Remington fell, knocking over the bottle."

Arlo picks the bottle up. "Mind if we keep this?"

The recordkeeper shrugs. "The guards here couldn't make any use of it. I think there's a local alchemist they talked to about it."

Arlo nods.

Later, Ikku bring the wine glass to an alchemist. It's difficult to determine the poison used, but he knows that the nobleman is very particular about his wines. If someone poisoned him, it had to have been with a poison that wouldn't have affected the taste or smell of the wine very much.

Other than that, he doesn't have much more to say.

Ikku then speak to one of his guards and servants...

His guard says he was walking around his garden when they heard a shout. When they arrived, the nobleman was wounded, but the assassin was nowhere to be seen. The nobleman says he was able to fight him off. When he heard the guards coming, the assassin ran away.

The servants are very tense while talking to you. Apparently, they were already interrogated by the guards. They say the wine bottle was sealed and that their Lord poured it himself. As for who would want him killed, they're hesitant to speak on that matter, as they don't want to get into any trouble.

Ikku decided to find out whether anyone would benefit financially from his death...

He has a sister who would more than likely benefit financially if he died, given that she would inherit his estate. You also know that there's a particular merchant that owes him a lot of money. Finally, there are rumors that a nearby village is angry at him for raising taxes to unacceptable levels during the last harvest.

The sister is surprised to see a bunch of mercenaries at her door, but she lets you in. She asks you what this is about.

Ikku asked, "Do you know anyone that would want to hurt your brother?"

She shakes her head. "I don't think so…I know there's a merchant that owes him a lot of money."

Arlo speaks up. "Why would the merchant want him out of the way…would that somehow release him from the debt?"

She nods. "In a way…he signed a contract with a merchant for lending him money to set up his caravan business. In return, the merchant agreed that eighty percent of the revenue earned would go to my brother until the debt has been repaid. After that, it would drop to fifty percent. If he were to die, perhaps the merchant thinks he could renegotiate the terms. They weren't exactly written down in a contract. It was more of a gentleman's agreement. My brother is very powerful…people rarely try to back out of deals with him."

She continues talking about some other people that have rivalries with her brother, but nothing seems to stand out. She starts gossiping about other nobles and rambling about Kingdom affairs.

Ikku then turns to the merchant...

The merchant acknowledges that he's been late in paying him, but that's only because he's working on a big deal. He does think the terms are unfair, but he did agree to them. He says he would have simply handed the business over rather than have the nobleman killed. He tells Ikku to look at his sister as the prime suspect, as she would inherit his fortune.

When Arlo pushes him further, the merchant smiles. "Listen, I have no reason to kill Lord Remington…I've actually been in talks with Lord Braddock. He's offered to buy my company."

"Why is that?" asks Arlo.

"He owns land that borders Lord Remington's, and apparently there's a dispute. Turns out that Lord Braddock might actually own the roads that run through that area. If that is so…I would have no need of Lord Remington's land at all. The gentleman's agreement or contract wouldn't be valid."

After talking to the merchant, Ikku decide to leave. He aren't sure if he did it or not, but he doubt he'll get any further information from him.

At a sudden moment, Ikku get word that Lord Remington is close to death.

Ikku arrive to see a very weak Lord Remington. "So…what did you find out?"

Ikku said, "Lord Braddock was trying to force the recordkeeper to change some land records concerning your property."

Ikku tell Lord Remington everything. He simply nods. "Hmm…I didn't think he would stoop so low. Could he be the person that hired the assassin? What else do you know?"

"That is all."  Ikku said.

Lord Remington takes a long breath. "So…who's behind the assassination attempt?"

Ikku answered, "Lord Barddock!"

"Hmm…perhaps I'll have my guards arrest him…see if he confesses."

Lord Remington slowly gets up. "Here's the Gold you are owed."

He hands Ikky a bag with a thousand Gold Pieces in it. The group leave, wondering if Ikku chose the right person.