The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

This is my favorite Lair because it has a little of everything: a fight, a chase, an underground jubilee(?), and horses that actually gallop!

At 1:45 I break my own rule and use a Throwing Knife. If instead you approach the man seated in the chair, Ezio reaches for his shoulder causing him to jump up swinging a knife and tossing the chair aside. He then joins five others in the subsequent fight against Ezio. I wanted to demonstrate that using a ranged weapon skips this cutscene and that the seated man remains dead during the fight. That was an epic battle right there.

Flag #98 is challenging to collect without desynchronizing. If you're not quick about it, your target rides away and you lose him. If you skip the flag and chase down the target, a door slams behind you and you can't get back to the flag.

The quick way to collect the flag #98 is with a flip dismount and a remount. You can either remount your old horse or mount the new horse that's conveniently parallel parked ahead on your left. The game has a bias toward the new horse. All you have to do to mount it is free-run across the two beams and swing from the bar. You never have to press the button. Just hold down + to free-run, mount and gallop away.

Remounting the old horse is much harder. You need to press + from a standing posture, either from the bridge where the flag is found or one of the two smaller beams beyond it. Let Ezio settle into the saddle before holding to gallop again. If you press it too soon, he will jump off the horse. Even when you do everything correctly, Ezio may still mount the new horse if the two are close together.

I always try to remount the old horse. Why go through all the trouble when the new horse is more user friendly? Because when you mount the new horse, nine times out of ten the old horse will get in your way. Not just being a nuisance but totally boxing you in! This is shown in the outtake at the end.

A few notes about the remainder of the Lair: At 4:30 it's easier to do a horse to horse assassination from the raised platform on your left. I demonstrate that you can also do it from ground level if you follow closely enough behind. If you don't catch your target, his horse smashes through the wall at the end releasing an angry mob of Romulus Followers. You can also smash your horse through the wall but I recommend climbing it and passing over the heads of the unaware mob. They're guarding a treasure chest that contains a Terracotta Pot - not worth the fight.

Finally, make sure you actually kill your target. If you accidentally do a horse to horse tackle, for example, he will remain standing on the ground where you may not notice him. Then when you reach the Shrine, you won't be able to interact with the door or get back to the target. The only thing to do is abort the memory. I think this is a design flaw.

There are three Borgia Flags inside each Lair. If you are looking for a specific Flag refer to this index:
Flag 96 - 1:10
Flag 97 - 3:21
Flag 98 - 3:55