From
TES issue 11 (September 2001)
Series 4/5.
Level 1.
ASSASSINS
The time of the assassins was really series 4; so much so, in fact, that the
Knightmare book published that year,
Fortress of Assassins, featured them quite prominently. From the book, we learn that the assassins are Muslim warriors who have been hypnotised into believing that they have entered Paradise. They are woken up and ordered to destroy certain people before they can return to their state of total happiness. The assassins on Knightmare wore long black cloaks and hoods and carried sharp glistening knives. Their advancing form was always a terrible danger to dungeoneers. Being masters of camouflage, they could hide in virtually any
Dungeon chamber or woodland glade and spring out on the
dungeoneer. The way to defeat an assassin was by its cowardice; assassins did not strike if there was any sign of resistance. It was therefore up to
Treguard and
Pickle to encourage the advisors to tell the dungeoneer to yell at the assassin until it ran off.
The first appearance by an assassin was at the end of Alistair's level one [pictured left]. Once it had been spotted, Alistair yelled at it until it ran off. It reappeared as he entered the
wellway, leading to worried shouts from the advisors to hurry up. Nicola I also met an assassin having lunch with Brother Mace [pictured below], but she was in no danger as the monk clobbered him with a joint of meat. Vicky had to scare off an assassin in the Greenwood.
Dickon's advisors saw two assassins briefly in the
wellway room, but they ran off instantly. Jeremy and
Giles both met an assassin at Dungarth. Jeremy had to yell at his to make it go away, but Giles simply made a hasty exit [pictured above]. In
series 5,
Lord Fear used assassins a couple of times, to try and sneak up on Jenna and Kelly II in the Greenwood. He found them to be ineffective allies, however, as Jenna scared hers off easily and Kelly blew a
horn to frighten hers before
Gwendoline rushed on and shot them!
Fear Factor: 8 Dark and mysterious: very unnerving.
Killer Instinct: 2 Very close shaves.
Humanity: 10 They are human.
Gore Factor: 0 Not in the least repulsive, for all that.