The Assassin

The Assassin, true name Ling, is an adventurer found in player-owned ports. She is an eighteen-year-old former Death Lotus Assassin who seeks to kill Baby Tooth and Quin. She is unlocked and can give special voyages to the player running the port if they have 90 Slayer. She can be found upstairs at the bar when she is in port. The Assassin can be unlocked through the tutorial or a special voyage. Upgrading an icon hotspot with the Human Skull will increase your chance to attract the Assassin. Her voyages are mostly combat-related with high requirements, apart from a few missions. See here for all of the voyages she offers.

Ling's story
Previous storyline cutscenes can be replayed by talking to Ling when she is in the port.

Part 1: Meet The Assassin
When the player sent a ship to investigate the murder of 8 Westerners, the crew brought back Ling, but Ling reveals that the people killed were slavers, selling people from Wushanko to the vampyres of Morytania. The player tells Ling that she should have brought the slavers to the port or to the authorities, but Ling doesn't see the point. She stopped the slavers; the authorities would not have done so. It is revealed that Ling is under the player's supervision until the authorities decide what to do with her, but Ling says if she stays, it is because she chooses to stay. The player asks her not to kill anyone, and she responds, "I will only sting if provoked, Little Khan."

Part 2: A Jade Frog in the Throat
As the player sends out the ship, a cutscene plays where Ling asks the player to stow away in a ship. Her purpose is to travel to the island of Thalassia where she will assassinate the corrupt ruler, Tombi, who is using his people as slaves to fund his jade palace. The player accepts to help as long as she finds a replacement ruler first so that the island doesn't fall into chaos. Upon return, the assassin briefs the player on the events. Tombi is dead and the replacement has been doing good for the people, such as rounding up his corrupt officials and quartering them, in which the player is in shock. However, the assassin says she must lie low because one of Tombi's bodyguards, another assassin named Bak has seen her.

Part 3: The Death Lotus
The Assassin comes to the player for help. Bak, the Death Lotus assassin, is traveling to their headquarters, the Pearl Fortress. Bak must be prevented from telling the Death Lotus that she is alive. She asks to be taken to the Firebird Inn on the Chimera Isles so that she can intercept him before he tells them.

Ling returns to the port with Bak as her captive. Unfortunately, she was too late. Bak had already informed the Death Lotus by letter. Now, she must kill the leader of the Death Lotus before he kills her. Ling reveals that as a member of the Death Lotus, a very wealthy khan had hired the death lotus to assassinate Quin, and she was chosen to perform the act, but was foiled by Quin's bodyguard, an occultist. Before she will finish her story, she says she must extract information from Bak. The player says there will be no torture in the port, but Ling only promises that she will keep him quiet.

Part 4: Woe for Wu
The Assassin comes bearing more news of her past and her failure in killing Quin forcing her to leave the Death Lotus. Their leader, Baby Tooth, was outraged and decided to punish Ling by cutting off her hands. The son of Baby Tooth, named Wu, cut off one hand, but Ling managed to escape before she lost the second. The Assassin's captive, Bak, revealed that Wu is now hunting her and was last located on the Island that Reflects the Moon. Ling asks the player for help so that she may confront and kill him. She returns to the player with Wu's head, and states that she will pull a tooth from the skull to hang on her belt as a trophy. Her next task will be to track down Baby Tooth so that she can add another tooth to her belt.

Part 5: Baby Tooth
The Assassin gets information from an old informer that the leader of the Death Lotus, Baby Tooth, will visit the training islands of Tokoko to check out the assassins, but is only staying there for a day. Since the Assassin knows the place in and out, she heads there immediately with some of your crew. She is ambushed on arrival, however, and deduces her informant, Kirau, has betrayed her to the Death Lotus. She escapes back to the port and resolves to take out Kirau and Baby Tooth.

Part 6: Pulling the Tooth
The Assassin arrives and tells the player of her meeting with Kirau. Kirau told her why he betrayed her; Quin threatens to destroy his family if he doesn't. The Assassin later stabbed him in his chest and buried him by tradition. She now asks the player for help to assault the Death Lotus's main fortess.

The Assassin returns victorious and thanks the player. She couldn't have done it without the players help - she will work for the player from now on.

Upon successful completion of this voyage, the player will receive 25 Lacquer.

Resource voyages
Ling's combat-based resource voyages are called To Gain through Death. They reward the player with chimes and the region's resource, or after unlocking the Hook Region, with Spices, but they do not advance the story line. The adversity and reward vary depending on the region. When Ling offers more than one special voyage, the player must choose between them.

Experience voyages
Ling's experience voyages are called Honing her Craft. They reward the player with Slayer experience, but they do not advance the story line. The adversity and reward vary depending on the region. When Ling offers more than one special voyage, the player must choose between them.

Joint voyages
Ling prefers to work with The Convict. When both adventurers are in port, their joint voyages are available in the special voyages list.

Additionally, when all of her, The Whaler and The Occultist's story voyages are complete, trio voyages become available when two of the trio are in port together. The storyline features them working to defeat and kill Quin.

Trivia

 * The player asks why they should listen to a sixteen year old assassin, but she corrects them saying she is eighteen-and-a-half.
 * According to her story when she attempts to assassinate Quin, she would have killed her, but an occultist was responsible for foiling the plot.
 * In Ling's "To Gain Through Death" voyages, the description says about a person or monster holding vast supplies of the resource and how she will "take it" from them.
 * In Ling's Forgotten Scroll voyages, the description varies depending on the region. On the Skull Region, Ling will assassinate a wealthy merchant in Ai Jei. In the Hook Region, Ling will assassinate a bounty hunter holding a valuable piece of scroll. In the Scythe Region, Ling will assassinate the leader of a group of soothsayers for the scroll. In the Bowl Region, Ling will assassinate a bounty hunter in hiding in the Isles of Juniper.
 * In Ling's experience voyage the description varies on the region. In the Hook Region Ling will ask the player to work on her skills by thinning the number of mercenaries and bounty hunters in the Rapa Causeway. In the Scythe Region, Ling will ask the player to work on her skills by thinning the number of animal sacrificers. In the Bowl Region, Ling will ask the player to work on her skills by thinning the number of assassins and mercenaries in an inn. In the Shield region, Ling will ask the player to work on her skills by thinning the numbers of the khan's corrupt advisers who work there at the Island that is Blamed for Nothing.
 * Although she has had only one hand since before the player met her, her graphics don't seem to indicate this at all.