Zalin stood looking at the black oak double doors, each inlayed with silver vipers. He took a deep breath walked up the steps and knocked on the doors. The sound echoed from within the building as he knocked. Before long footsteps could be heard shuffling towards the door. A slat opened in the door and a pair of eyes under a hooded cloak could be seen peering through.
"State your business," the hooded man said, little patience in his tone.
"I'm here to meet the Head of the Black Alchemists," Zalin replied.
"Come back with twenty death orchids and arrangements will be made," replied the cloaked man before quickly closed and latched the slat.
"Quest Accepted," flashed before his eyes. "Collect Death Orchids for the Black Alchemist's Guild."
He didn't know where he could find the Death Orchids, however he had a pretty good idea where to find information on them. He headed down the stairs and looked back towards the briars, they looked like they had before, a beautiful garden. His eyes moved on looking for another direction to take, even if it took longer he'd rather not go back through the garden and risk getting entangled in the briars. As his scanned his surroundings he noticed a young NPC woman at the edge of a pool of water that sat near the south edge of the walkway. She had no title nor a quest marker, just a name, and an odd one at that. It read: Young Widow Scarlett. He felt a sudden urge to approach her, and before he could rationalize this thought, he found himself moving towards her in an almost trance-like state. Step by step he found himself getting closer to her. Her red hued eyes gave him an awful gut wrenching feeling, and her presence could only be described as sinister, though he just couldn't stop his feet from approaching this seemingly beautiful and helpless woman.
Before Zalin had realized it he was standing before the Young Widow Scarlett. She smiled sweetly and looked deep into his eyes. Very slowly she moved closer to him until she was pressed against his body. Her perfume smelled of honeysuckle and wildflower, and made him momentarily lose all of his senses as she softly moved her lips to his ear and whispered.
"A message from the Assassin's Guild..."
He felt a dagger thrust into his side. His body fell to the floor with a thud as the Young Widow Scarlett stepped away from his body, numbness spreading through him from head to toe. Must've been a paralysis poison coated on the blade, he thought to himself. The last thing he saw was the NPC grabbing his body and dragging him away as the world around him faded to black.