Hislvel (aka Sandhiss): Male Snakeman "Son of the Desert" (Assassin) (GenericEditor168)

Sandhiss dropped to the floor, rolling back to avoid the swing. His opponent advanced, jabbing to either side of him. He leapt up, kicking forward, connecting with a blow that snapped his attacker's head backward and sent them sprawling.

"Good. The kick was risssky, but it worked." His master stood up from the mat, pushing himself up with the staff. They were in the training room of the Eagle's Nest, the headquarters of the Sons of the Desert.

"Now, your training is finissshed. Or at least, it is until you can accomplisssh your first misssion, to eliminate one of the leadersss of the Alliance. I do not expect the head of a king or archmage, indeed, that would be folly, for the of sssuch a powerful leader would draw attention to our newfound ssstrength, and the misssion itself would be all but imposssible for an rafiq like you. Inssstead, cut down a lessser lord or the like. Ssspread fear of the unknown throughout their landsss, ssstart a war for the dead man'sss title. Above all, do not reveal our exissstence."

Sandhiss kneels before his master, allowing him to loop the medallion identifying him as a rafiq over his neck. So attired, he headed for the door.

Once outside the training rooms, Sandhiss head for the armoury. As a fully-fledged rafiq, all but the best and most dangerous weapons are his to take from the armoury, the garb of a Son is his to wear, and he are allowed to leave and re-enter the Eagle's Nest at will (there's no eagles in it, as an aside. It's just a name whose origin has been lost to time.)

For his weaponry, he selects a light scimitar; a long, slightly curved dagger with intricate engraving along the flats of the blade; a dozen throwing knives with a bandolier; and several empty vials, to hold his poison.

Leaving the armoury with only a note of withdrawal and a reduced stock, Sandhiss head to the clothing storerooms, where he pick up two cloaks, one in the colours of the desert for travelling that terrain, and one white with orange trim, the robes of a rafiq, to be worn while killing, as well as an assortment of rags like those of his enslaved brethren, as a disguise.

Finally, he heads down into the deepest parts of the fortress, into the operations room. Uniquely among the rooms of the fortress, it's piled high with paper. Thankfully, the order has moved on from using papyrus by now, otherwise this room would be very expensive. The snake in charge of the room (in fact, the only snake in the room besides Sandhiss) looks up.

"Ssso, you're the new rafiq. I'll wager you're here for your firssst target?" He doesn't give Sandhiss time to answer before he launches into the list.

"Firssst, we have the harbormassster of Port Antar. There isss no ssstrategic reason to kill him, asss there isss an essstablished chain of command in the port, and ssso his place would quickly be taken. However we have it on good authority that he isss extremely cruel to our kind, and hasss ordered hisss men to ssseek out our enssslaved brethren whenever it isss decided that an example needsss to be made. Alssso, he had one of our misssionariesss ssskinned alive and then had his ssskull turned into a drinking cup. Ssso for that, he must die.

Sssecond, there isss the Bissshop of the Sssouthern Wastesss, as the humansss have named our homeland. Unlike the portmassster, this would be a purely ssstrategic kill. He hasss done nothing essspecially bad or good to us, but hisss would throw the local church into turmoil asss the humansss sssend word away and their overssseasss brethren decide on a replacement to be ssshiped back. During that time, the human church would have no leader, allowing our misssionaries free reign to reconvert.

If you're not feeling adventourousss, though, there'sss plenty of cruel local baronsss and knightsss for you to kill. I can dig out a dozen names for you to review... oh, and there'sss a knighting ceremony coming up. Plenty of noblesss to kill there, but they'll mossstly be armed, either for the ceremony or the ensuring hunt." His eyes drop back down to the sheet of paper in his hands.

Sandhiss leans up against a patch of wall that doesn't have papers stacked against it and reviews his options...

Does he:

A: Target the portmaster.

B: Target the bishop.

C: Target the ceremony.

D. Target a minor lord.

E. Something else.