Vician Tenebor, the Illusionist Assassin - Part II

This post is the second of a two post story, the first can be found here.

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Having left the college of Arcane Knowledge, Vician relied on his skills in Illusion magic to trick people into helping him, providing him with supplies and a place to stay; mostly for free. He spent his days observing what people do during the day, where they go and what they wear; you can learn a lot simply by looking at people. After a couple of months, he knew who the richest people were, and which of them would be easy to relieve of said riches. So he started tailing these people, taking in as much as he could about their daily lives, their families, where they go during the day and where they live. He started off with a tax collector and a blacksmith, both these men spent most of their time around the city, having their houses practically unprotected. Vician planned his moves ahead of time, knowing when his targets where surely to be outside, and entered their homes while they were busy. He cleaned their homes of their valuables, leaving barely anything that may make others believe these men were rich, from jewellery to golden statuettes. These riches he hid, under a lose floor board in his room at the tavern. Eventually he started breaking into homes under the cover of night, entering through windows which were left open for the evening breeze, clearing bedrooms from any valuables while his Silence spell cancels any sounds he may make, thus not waking any residents of the target house.

However, although his skill was great, others of the same skill and lifestyle noticed his doing. One night, returning to his room, he could sense that he was not alone, even though it was dark. Casting a great light in the room revealed a man hidden in the corner of the room, Vician quickly drew a dagger a held it against the intruder's throat. Not having enough time to react, the intruder said he was part of a group of thieves which would welcome Vician's skills to the group. Vician did not feel like this was the best way they could have invited him to join, nor did they show they were the best there is, considering the intruder was easily detected and beaten; but he did agree to meet with the leader of the group, information would be useful. Thus, Vician met Deon Shea, the leader of the group, who provided him with a lot of information about the city, ways to get around and which houses have the best loot or are easiest to break into.

At this point, Vician decided not to join the group, but he did sign a contract where Deon would assign him a job, retrieving known items of extreme value, and was paid for handsomely. Vician kept this up for over a year, until one night, the owner of the house Vician had broken into woke up in the middle of the night and noticed someone was in the house. Instinctively, Vician cast a spell which made him invisible, hiding him from the resident's sight, who called for the intruder to show himself. At one point, when the house owner had come close enough to Vician, he outstretched his hand and grabbed the thief by the collar, claiming that Vician wasn't the only Illusionist in the house. Panicked, Vician reached for his dagger and stabbed the man, who released his grip. Seeing his moment, Vician left the man to die and returned to Deon, not knowing how the leader of the group would take the news. To Vician's surprise, Deon was not upset, he did not seem to really care how Vician acquired the requested goods, so long as they arrived at the group's hideout in one piece.

So Vician kept up his contract with Deon, until one night, arriving back at the hideout, he was greeted by the rest of the group, with the dead body of Deon himself in the middle of the room. They told Vician that he was found a few buildings away from the hideout, with multiple stab wounds in the back. They also found a not in one of his pockets saying that should anything befall him, Vician should take over his place as leader of the group. Although hesitant, Vician eventually accepted this request, taking over leadership of the group and organising them as they never were before. Firstly, the group was finally given a name, the Sons of Shadow. The group pooled there efforts and established themselves in an abandoned manor on the outskirts of the city. They renovated it, making it fit for kings on the inside, but still looking decrepit on the outside. Any contacts that Deon had before his death were forwarded to Vician, who took over all control of the contracts the group had. Vician also set up a set of rules which were to be followed by all members of the guild. For instance, should a member betray the rest, they were to be hunted down and executed. The same was to be done to clients who betrayed the trust of the guild. Thus, the Sons of Shadow grew in repute with people of similar interests, as well as their victims.

Assassination and theft, these were the expertise of these men and women, clothes in dark garments, with hidden faces; wits as sharp as their blades. Since Vician took over leadership of the Sons of Shadow, never has a contract been dishonoured.