Assassinating Talal Quickly
Okay, here's my detailed walkthrough of how to assassinate Talal quickly and with a little flair.
PREPARATION
Unless you're going for your "Disciple of the Creed" achievement, I recommend not Saving the Citizens in the Rich District of Jerusalem. In the event that you aren't able catch Talal quickly, it's more enjoyable to chase him down yourself than to have Vigilantes hold him for you.
After receiving the feather from the Bureau Leader, proceed to the small west gate of the Barbican. This little square has a two-man guard post to the east and a solo guard standing at the top of the stairs which lead down to the south. Secure the area by killing all three guards. (Tip: If you stealth assassinate the solo guard first, the other two guards will leave their post to investigate the dead body and you can stealth assassinate one of them while they're walking over. Expect a fight from the third one.)
Proceed through the gate and turn right to reach the south wall inside the Barbican. Assassinate the archer standing on the roof. See the map below. Red X's represent guards that should be pre-assassinated before entering the warehouse. The green line shows the route along which you will chase Talal. Go ahead and practice it now. It starts on the west end of the warehouse roof at the trap door (now closed) and ends outside the west gate. Read the "CHASE" section below for more details.
SLAUGHTER
Enter the warehouse through its east door. Sit through the cutscenes. Yawn. When the fight begins, enter fight mode by pulling Left Trigger (L1 on PlayStation 3). By default, it always seems to put me in "run away" mode. UPDATE: Okay, I was wrong. After the cutscene, Altaïr draws his sword and you are in fight mode. It's only if you die that the fight starts over again in run away mode.
Defeat all seven of the guards who drop down to the floor. I know you can leave earlier but any surviving guards will follow you onto the roof and may rush you into a sloppy assassination. (Tip: To your left is a scaffolding. Grab and Throw one guard into it, causing it to collapse. It will crush him and any other guards that are standing too close.)
You don't have to kill the stationary archer on the second floor. He won't follow you unless you jostle him and he draws his sword. If you've already completed the Garnier de Naplouse mission, then you have Throwing Knives and the Tackle ability. You can use either on the archer. I prefer to ignore him and Free-Step across the candelabras. Climb the ladder through the trap door to the roof.
CHASE
The purpose of this walkthrough is to make the chase as short as possible. After Talal eyeballs Altaïr from a distant roof, most players jump north. Resist that urge and jump west instead. You may even have to turn a little to the south in order to make the jump. Talal fires an arrow at you! Proceed all the way to the west end of the roof, snuggle right up against the large stone wall of the Barbican and the arrows will not be able to reach you.
Now is a good time to take a rest, make sure you have the Hidden Blade selected, gather your wits, etc. Talal stands due north of you and doesn't go anywhere. Good thing you already killed that archer just south of here...
When you're ready to make your move, bait Talal into firing another arrow by stepping out into the open. Once he raises his bow, step back against the Barbican wall until you hear the arrow whiz by or clink against the stone. Now Free-Step northward directly at Talal. You will cross two beams and a suspended plank (pictured below) before jumping onto the roof with him.
This is the tricky part: Talal takes off running west along the roof. Turn 90 degrees left to follow him while maintaining Sprint (same controls as Free-Step). Before Talal drops down to the street, pull Left Trigger (L1 on PS3) to target him. When you near the edge of the roof, let up on the A button (X on PS3) but continue holding the Right Trigger (R1 on PS3). As you drop off the edge of the roof, start hitting the X button (Square on PS3) for a high profile assassination.
If you try to sprint off the edge of the roof, you wind up jumping over Talal's head and landing in front of him. The Prima guide acts like this is a good thing but I think it's a big mess. Your view turns around wildly (because Talal is targeted and behind you) and then he starts running from side to side calling for guards to help him. It's like trying to spear a mouse. Pathetic.
EXTRA CREDIT
The procedure recommended above results in a "bouncing" assassination. Altaïr's heels hit the street and then he bounces up onto Talal's back. It's possible (but difficult) to drop off the roof and finish Talal in one smooth motion as follows.
Follow the same procedure as above up to and including the part where you target Talal. Part way across the roof, let up on the A button (X on PS3) to slow from a Sprint to a regular Run. Continue to hold the Right Trigger. As you near the edge, press the X button (Square on PS3) for the running air to assassinate.
AFTERMATH
The assassination takes place at street level just outside the west gate of the Barbican. Because you secured this area earlier, there are no guards to interfere with the assassination and no witnesses! You come back from the Memory Corridor with blinking yellow: Cooling Down but not in Open Combat. There's a hay cart to the north and a bench down the stairs to the south.
The video above demonstrates the whole process from PREPARATION through AFTERMATH. I threw in some bonus footage of Hidden Blade combat since that's always a hot topic.
EXTENDED CHASE
Here's a map of the random routes that Talal runs through the streets of Jerusalem if you fail to nab him quickly. Note that they all pass through the east entrance of the Souk before ending at the guard tower. I've toyed with the idea of beating Talal to the Souk (which isn't very difficult) and setting up some sort of fancy ambush from a roof. This would make a good project for someone else who wants to try their hand at designing assassinations.
