Belladonna Assassins

## Belladonna Tower

### Design

Belladonna Tower looks inconspicuous from the outside, but the uninformed viewer will either have to cast a powerful Bombarda, or know a passcode, to get through. To open the doors of the tower, a person must say their codename to gain entry. For example, Carmen Sprout's is Queen Bee, and Fabian Chen's is Tentacula. If an imposter does gain entrance, there are a series of traps that can be activated to kill and/or capture any intruder. Traps range from the mundane, like pots of boiling oil, or magical, like Venomous Tentaculas waiting to kill. The main drawback of this is that people must notice the imposter, and if the imposter manages to subdue or sneak past the ten guards who are always on duty, nothing will be able to stop them from moving through the tower. If this does happen, Belladonna Tower has magical locks installed on the doors of important officials. They must recite a fifty-number code that only they have memorized, and once they have, only then will the door unlock. If the wrong code is given five times in a row, a Mandrake screams to draw everyone's attention there.

## Battles

### The Battle of the Bloody River

The Belladonna Assassins have been fortunate enough to avoid confrontation with the Ministry most times, but after they finished a particularly difficult kill, a massive force of Aurors cornered them and began to fire spells. Since the Assassins had used most of their resources on their target, they were at a disadvantage. Notable Assassins there include Carmen Sprout and Heather Yang, and Carmen luckily had some Smokevine Fumes handy. The Assassins were trained in fighting inside smoke and the Aurors weren't, so the Assassins gained an advantage. However, they were still outnumbered, and at the end of the battle, seventeen of the thirty assassins were dead, and around twenty-three of the fifty Aurors were dead as well. Amongst the dead was the veteran assassin Reed Yang, and his family calls for justice ever since. The battle was fought around the Thames, but by the end of the battle, the river was stained red, hence "the Battle of the Bloody River." When Oliver Sprout heard of this battle, he became panicked, especially when he heard of the horrific losses the Assassins suffered. However, Carmen arrived home unscathed.

### The Battle of Belladonna Tower

In 2003, the Ministry figured out where Belladonna Tower was, and they sent a large battalion of Aurors to destroy the Assassins once and for all. However, the tower was built *specifically* to protect against these kinds of attacks, and so the Aurors suffered from all types of traps before they even saw an Assassin, such as boiling oil being poured on them, or a dozen Venomous Tentaculas being dropped on their heads. Furthermore, Carmen Sprout, a wasp Animagus, dipped her stinger in poison and stung the Aurors, which further diminished their ranks. Another wasp animagus, Heather Yang, was caught and killed by the Aurors, but at the end of the day, the ragged Auror forces retreating without killing another soul.

## Notable Targets

The Belladonna Assassins have invoked the wrath of the Ministry, for when they killed several Ministry officials, that crossed a line.

### Finn Lien

A prominent Auror, Finn was the first Ministry member sent to apprehend the annoyance of the assassins, and Lionel Crown, a new recruit, panicked and killed him after a sloppy duel. The Ministry realized that these assassins weren't that weak, and so they sent more Aurors to try and find them.

### Renee Tangleworth

Tangleworth was the Head Obliviator, and the Assassins were hired to take her out after a mafia-like boss was scheduled for obliviation. Fabian himself carried out the job, and after a bit of poison slipped in her drink, the deed was done.

## Hierarchy

### Boss

The boss is currently Fabian Chen, and the boss controls every major decision needed to keep the Assassins elusive and under wraps.

### Deputy Boss

The deputy boss is Carmen Sprout, and she advises the boss in what to do. She's in charge of recruitment, and in training the new recruits.

### Veterans

Veterans are extraordinarily skilled assassins, and members selected by the boss to gain this role. The privileges of being assassins are a higher salary, and the ability to pick and choose, more or less, their assignments (if a target pays specifically for a certain person to do it, that person *must* do it).

### Members

These people mostly do all of the dirty work, like tending to the plants and keeping everything in order. They're only sent out on low-profile hits, unless a client requests otherwise.

### Initiates

The newest members of the Assassins, the initiates must prove themselves as suitable candidates, and everyone will pressure them to succeed, especially if they don't have a parent in the guild.

## Technique

The Assassins are masters of Herbology, and they kill their targets with poisons and even the plants themselves. Their greenhouses are likely one of the best in the world, and they certainly have the biggest variety of plants, with several varieties that were created by the Assassins. In duels, they love throwing vials of Smokevine Flumes either in the faces of their enemies, or on the ground. They're trained in how to navigate in it, while their enemies cannot see anything. They rely on the element of surprise, since a powerful duelist could take them down in one on one combat.