5. Deadly Sleepers
Some Assassin sleepers spent years diligently working their way up the ranks and into the inner circle of a given court. There, they would patiently await instructions that might take decades to arrive, if ever. In some instances, a victim would discover during his life’s final moments that one or more of his bodyguards were Assassin cultists.
Sometimes the Assassins resorted to intimidation instead of murder, such as with the Seljuk Sultan Sanjar, who had rebuffed ambassadors from the cult. He changed his mind after waking up one morning to find a note pinned to the ground near his bed by a dagger. It informed him that had the Assassins wished him ill, the dagger stuck into the hard ground could have easily been stuck into his soft breast instead. Peace reigned between Seljuks and Assassins for decades, during which the Old Man of the Mountain was paid protection money, face-savingly described as a “pension” and permitted to collect tolls from travelers passing near his fortresses.
