Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Kothar stared down at the sleeping Earl, he had no idea of what his name was, Docara hadn't divulged those details to any of the men.

"Better to keep things as impersonal as possible, wouldn't want you lads feeling pity for the poor fools." Docara had joked, half serious, the humor in his voice undercut with seriousness.

[Kothar, do him a favor and make it look natural, all it'll take is a small portal in his brain stem. He'll stop breathing all by himself and pass away in his sleep, with no one the wiser.] Silane's guilt was catching up with her, and she called out desperately. How had she been so blind on mission after mission, razing and burning entire civilizations to nothing, all for the 'offence' of refusing to come under the wing of the Alliance. She was beginning to think that her new-found emotions were more of a curse than a blessing, especially since she remembered her past life in such detail. And now it seemed as though they were going down that very same path.

[I can't do that Silane. The whole point of this is that it looks like an intentional attack, we need to stir the vassal states into war. If it looks too much like an accident then there'll be absolutely no point to his death. Silane, you were always the one giving me commands to carry out similar attacks, and now that you can feel guilt your stance has completely changed? I'm sorry Silane, but this is for Ursten, and for Tam.] Had there been anyone else in the room, they would have seen Kothar, standing over the bed, seemingly frozen, but in a fierce internal debate with Silane.

[Alright, Kothar. Just remember that I was against this.] Silane fell silent, she knew that she was in no position to judge Tam's or Kothar's actions, since she had been the one who had red flagged many planets all on her own, as potential threats to the unity of the Alliance.

Kothar sighed, and opened a portal. The Earl's eyes flew open, wide and glaring, uncontrollable spasming all around the room, and as Kothar stood there, in his terrifying mask, for the merest moment, the Earl's eyes met Kothar's and the moment stretched for an eternity.

A flash of confusion, followed by a moment of fear, and then, upon making sense of what he was seeing, uncontrollable terror, and then, nothing.

Just as quick as his eyes had opened, they fell still, and the short, sudden gasps disappeared all together. The tiny portal that Kothar had opened in the Earl's skull had cut off all blood flow to his brain, and had the added effect of filling the skull with blood.

Tears of blood began to flow from the Earl's wide staring eyes, and a pink froth formed around his lips, while even more blood dribbled from his ears and nose. 

Kothar sighed, and then walked over to the chest at the foot of the bed, opening it silently, slowly easing the lid up.

Within was a finely crafted blade, in a gold sheath inlaid with emeralds and fine silver vines, that lay upon layers of fine velvet clothing. They must have been a gift, for the Principality was far too warm for anyone to even consider wearing velvet. 

Next to the blade, sat a heavy black bag, Kothar pulled it open slightly, and even he gave the slightest gasp of surprise. 

Finely cut and polished emeralds, swimming within the darkness, glinting so slightly in the imager light that filtered in from the small window. Kothar tucked the bag away, Docara had been clear that they should take anything valuable with them, to make a weak effort at disguising the killings as burglaries, just as an amateur might do.

It would do much to keep anyone from catching onto the actual culprits behind the assassinations. 

Kothar took up the fine blade, and walked over to the corpse of the Earl, still lying in his bed, just as he might if he were asleep. 

Then, he raised the blade high into the air, and brought it stabbing down violently, aiming straight for the dead Earl's heart.

All around the northern vassal states of the Empire, the same scene was repeating itself. The sons, daughters, siblings, nieces and nephews of the ruling families of the various vassal states, were all under threat. Some had already been sl;ain, while other fought for the lives, and some still slept, unaware of the looming threat.

Docara, currently in fierce combat with a pair of women, they appeared to be twins, and fought together. Moving as one unit, one with a long spear, and the other with a pair of short blades, similar to Docara. 

He had already killed his target, and unfortunately for him, the late Duke of Cierland, had been sure to install safeguard after safeguard, Docara had spent painstaking hours finding way around his extensive network of runic constructs, all around the castle, before finally finding his way to the Duke's bedchamber, slaying him with a quick Wind Slash to the throat.

But the Duke had one final trick, his very life was linked to a rune construct that had alerted the pair of guards that Docara now fought.

The guard with the spear kept stabbing forward, allowing the other to recover from intense head on clashes with Docara. 

Docara sighed, and reached into his cloak,  this would be getting very ugly, very quickly. 

Far to the East, but not yet at the coast, Pony strolled through the streets of the outlaw town of Ridgeback, he had no idea why Docara had assigned him this mission. 

His target, a son of one of the ruling families of the merchant nation of Antion, had made things far too easy for him. 

His informant had told him that he often frequented the red-light district in Ridgeback, and Pony had thought he would break into his room, but now that he was freely walking the streets, it would be simple for Pony to take him out, after all, accidental scuffles often broke out in such towns. 

As his target turned into a dark and narrow alleyway, Pony smiled a savage grin, this was it.