Ambition and Glory: The Rise of Hadria Lawman.

"You know what they say, right?"

The cloaked man adjusted his hood to shadow his face even further. His voice had a threatening quality to it. "If you want something done right, do it yourself."

He reached a gloved hand in his robes and out came a small glass vial with a green liquid inside. The dark figure placed the vial on the table between them. "I've brought you a gift."

"What is it?" asked Jerald. He was sweating, despite the cold night air that blew through the windows of the tavern. His hands shook as he picked up the vial and inspected it.

"It's poison," said the hooded man. "I used it myself when I took down an enemy of mine."

Jerald shifted in his seat, trying to get more comfortable in his chair. It had been weeks since he had stopped believing that this meeting would ever happen. "How did you deliver it? You didn't just poison them did you?" he asked nervously.

The hooded man chuckled quietly before answering, "Of course not. Poison always has a way of finding its targets. All I had to do was stand near him and watch him die." The hooded man leaned forward and continued in a hushed tone, "Sometimes death is better than justice being served." He sat back and stared at Jerald with an intense gaze, waiting for him to respond.

"So... how does it work? How does this poison kill someone?" There was something about this hooded man that made Jerald want to please him, to make him happy so that he would be allowed to live another day.

"Well it's tricky." The hooded man paused and smiled before continuing, "It kills you by killing off all your vital organs but leaves your body intact like nothing ever happened." A long silence passed as the two men looked at each other, sizing each other up. It was clear that there was more that this stranger wanted from Jerald than just hearing about the poison he brought him. The stranger broke their staring contest and stood up from his chair then turned to leave. He stopped briefly and said, "Think about my offer." Then he left through the door without looking back once.