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Comment by entropicdragon

Unless you have great reflexes, it takes a bit of time to manage to "tap" one of these, so that you can loot it, before the Southshore guards bring them down, but if you do you'll be rewarded with a quest https://www.wowhead.com/classic/item=3668 !

Comment by Thottbot

you mean im the first person with thottbot to get loot from them? got a black silk bag pattern..

Comment by Thottbot

anyone got an idea of where this assassin is hiding, is he part of a quest, placeholder or just a random spawn?

Comment by Thottbot

I was fishing under the dock at Soutshore (where the two boats are) and was attacked by two Shadowy Assassins. Unfortunately, they outleveled me and I got my butt kicked.

Comment by Thottbot

Every time I get attacked by one of these guys, it's in the middle of Southshore and the guards run up, so I don't get to loot him (or her, or them). I wish they'd attack me out in the middle of nowhere so I could at least get something out of it.

Comment by Thottbot

These drop (or can drop) a quest.. it appears they were sent to assassinate the magistrate, and they carry a note, which you can then give to the magistrate for another quest. I am not sure how often they spawn, though.

Comment by Thottbot

These drop (or can drop) a quest.. it appears they were sent to assassinate the magistrate, and they (might) carry a note, which you can then give to the magistrate for another quest. I am not sure how often they spawn, though.

I got the note the first time I killed them, so i am not sure whether the drop percentage is 100% or lower. Of course, finding these guys and getting them before guards jump in is part of the trouble, either way.

Comment by Thottbot

These guys attacked me right after i had handed another quest to the magistrate. It might be easier to get the drop this way since there's no guards that come and kill them.

Comment by Thottbot

I found 6 of them right behind the building the magistrate is in, they are stealthed and stand between these large trees that are behind he main building of southshore.

This is a timed/scripted event, it starts with the Southshore Crier running into Southshore (form Tarren's Mill direction) and yelling: "Help me! Help! Assassins in the Hills! To arms! To arms!"
Then Southshore Guard says: "Go to your posts! Let no invader reach Southshore!" and "Anyone suspicous is to be taken down quickly. Get to your posts as quickly as possible" Even if you miss this part with all the yelling, you can still figure out if the Assassins are about if you just take a look a the guards. While this event is active, almost all guards around Southshore are doubled, so if you see many more than usual guards patrolling, then the assassins are near. They try to sneak into Southshore and some are just waiting around SS.

Comment by Allakhazam

These guys drop a quest, but to get the "assassin's contract" that they drop, you have to be able to loot one of their bodies. So when you find them, you MUST get in the first hit before any other player or Southshore guard hits them.

When they die, they will instantly reappear somewhere in Southshore. There are 2 of them together. They will be stealthed, so you have to be right on top of them to see them. Usually they're around back of one of the buildings in Southshore. If they appear in the middle of the street, usually the guards kill them right away.

Comment by Allakhazam

I cant find them even, im not getting anything on traking hidden are they realy that hard to find. I thought I would atleast find a corps...

Comment by Allakhazam

I've never seen these guys on my warrior or my mage, but now my Rogue is level 29 and I've finished the ravenholdt quests and they are just following me around SS popping out randomly, anyone know why they do?

Comment by Allakhazam

I was walking into the inn to go to the Chef for the Turtle Quest when I noticed I was being hit.

How odd I thought then I it dawned on me

"I WAS BEING HIT!"

I stepped back to discover 2 Shadowy Assassins, quickly whistled my pet and wiped out one and the guards destroyed the other one.

I looted the contract and noticed the yellow dot appear behind me.

750 XP on the hand in - Not bad.

Comment by adrianostanley

I've parked my char behind Magistrate Henry Maleb's building and around 7 AM on Bloodsail Buccaneers server, the Shadowy Assassins spawned.

To confirm SMKpaladin's comment, the guards were doubled at that time.

Comment by Scarletmage

Logged in while the event was happening. I didn't deal enough damage to get the loot rights to either of the assassins in the centre of Southshore. However, some commenters said there are others that spawn and are stealthed around Southshore, so I checked behind Magistrate Maleb's building, nothing, but as I was coming around the building (going anti-clockwise / between Maleb's building and the murloc beach) I found two stealthed shadowy assassins waiting to the left of the entrance to the building and i managed to get the loot rights to one and got the quest.

I also found two more pairs of assassins at the harbour and at the graveyard.

I've been logging on after work and waiting in southshore from 7:45pm to 9:00pm local time (8:45pm to 10pm realm time, Pyrewood Village) for the last three nights.

This happened as I logged on at 8pm, pretty much on the dot.

I'd recommend waiting in southshore and doing something else like studying.

Comment by Eipmul

Just found a 2 of these shadowy assassins between the river/cow pen on the north eastern side of southshore at 4:45pm server time, was running around southshore in circles on my level 60 druid trying to find them

judging by the timing, their spawn seems to be random, so if you are after them, you just have to run around and hopefully get lucky!

Comment by EdyG

Holy #$%^, alright so. After going thru literally every page that has to do with this quest, (the item itself, the NPCs, ect) Both classic and retail versions to see all comments (can't see comments past BC on classic version and can't see classic/other website comments on retail versions of the pages) I can, with 100% confidence, say that we, as a community, even after 16+ years, have 0 info on this item other than the fact that it EXISTS and what mob it drops from. The shear amount of time and effort I have put into this is nuts. I spent over 6 hours in hillsbrad/alterac mountains hoping to find it, some times riding around to the spots they have been confirmed to be at when they spawn and using my true sight racial (human) I even marked the farmer everyone agreed to follow with a blue box so I always knew where he was at all times. I managed to get my fishing skill up from 270 something to 290 while here just fishing in pools I had come across, as well as max out most of my weapon skills (paladin) on turtles, murlocs, naga and critters around town. I filled my bags with so much leather I had to vendor some just to loot this thing when they DID spawn.

I regularly kept track of how many people were in the zone with /who for hillsbrad, at the time they did spawn, there were 4 total alliance in the zone, one being me, who had done all other quests in the zone prior. There was a 60 warrior in town as well as a 38 palli, and a druid somewhere in the zone according to my /who at the time. I had gone AFK in the town center between the inn and the town hall to read memes on discord, but left my sound on, shortly after that I heard the sound of a male human die and instantly tabbed back to see the Crier was dead at my feet. I lept to my mount and spammed my target macro and instantly found assassins, they spawn out of stealth, in their set spawn points then enter stealth. The guards did not seem to attack them UNTIL they attacked others. I managed to get the tag on my first kill and helped the 38 palli get his in a group. In total I 'think' 6 died while I was there, 4 of which were from me. The drop rate is 100%, me and him both got our drops first kill. It says 80 something % on their page because you can't loot it after completing the quest.

I have no idea if it was that druid out and about that was questing that spawned the event, if it was a HORDE quest that does it, (they already have a quest to spawn an elite in our GY) Or if it really is just on a timer. But seeing as how it times are not anywhere near something that would seem.. uhh, based on time, (mine spawned at 6:10 AM. My chat logs say the Crier had said "Hear ye hear ye!" at exactly 6:10:33. The times I seen from other comments also seem to be completely random. I assume it has something to do with a quest but not in town, perhaps when someone picks up the stack of papers in alterac by the syndicate on their table it starts the event? But the player whom actually did would not be in town at the time. Or maybe it is something the horde did. There were people on both factions questing during the 6 hours I was there, I saw a 25 troll priest by the farms, a 33 troll hunter farming turtles up stream, and many alliance. But I still could not tell you what made the event spawn. The only way I think we will truly find out is if you get together several accounts/players and test it yourself, testing quests and other such things from both factions in a controlled experiment to see what may be the cause, or it might just have a random spawn early morning/afternoon. Or ask the devs directly.

TLDR Still no idea how or why the event happened but after 6 hours of camping I have it. GL to you all trying for this thing.

Comment by alphasigmasigma

On the Pagle server on Febryary 11, 2021, Shadowy Assassins spawned every few minutes between about 9:50 pm and 10:25 pm.

Although assassins spawned all around town, there were two just southeast of the dock that never provoked the guards; that seems like the best place to fight them if you want to avoid interference from the guards.

Comment by Maaarf

I just came into SS on my Horde mage, for the Helcular's revenge quest, and right next to Helculars' grave there were two of these guys just milling around stealthed.
They were there for a while, at least ten minutes, so if you want to take them on the guards were probably far enough away to not be an issue,
obviously, being horde, they attack as soon as I respawn at the grave, so can't be sure about aggro range when alliance characters attack the assassins.
The grave is at 52 53.

Comment by myeviItwin

After delivering Further Mysteries and accepting Dark Council, Shadowy Assassin started to appear around the town.

Hopefully someone else can confirm my theory so other people know how to spawn these assassins to get the quest Assassin's Contract

Comment by minusDKP

They might be bugged on SoM servers. Had 1 group when i first got in SS, but now after I did Further Misteries there don't seem to be any of them spawning. Been patrolling the town for 20 minutes now without luck. Doubt they have that high stealth skill.

Comment by kkthxbyefan1

okay i actually registered here for this insane information i found out today..
so one kind druid said to me that this shadowy assassin is around big buildings all the time! ALL THE TIME!
i was in Desolace and i doubt his words but decided to try out, why not :)
and god damn they were seriously there and a lot of them and not only around bog buildings, they are all around the southshore.

i am hunter 42 lvl atm, i completed all the questline with assassins and only this was left. i would recommend to search for assassins around guards that patrolling territory around southshore.

Comment by alphasigmasigma

Did Shadowy Assassins ever spawn during Phase 1 of Season of Discovery, when the maximum level was 25?

If not, there is most likely a trigger that causes Shadowy Assassins to spawn, that was impossible to activate in Phase 1.

Comment by Wutface8

After turning in the quest "Letter to Stormpike" and returning to Loremaster Dibbs and turning in the follow up quest "Further Mysteries" A Southshore Crier runs into town stopping between the Town Hall and Inn and says: "Hear ye! *pant pant* Be warned citizens of Southshore: assassins are heading to our fair town!" Once this happens more guards spawn and spread around Southshore and very shortly afterwards Shadowy Assassins spawn (stealthed in pairs of two).

~Just did this on Season of Discovery, LIving Flame.

Comment by ChuTneYpiE

Spent the majority of my easter holiday in SS waiting for these guys to spawn:/

Comment by Etreum

It is not enough to tap them, you have to do more damage than the guards (Impossible, unless you are level 60 I suppose).

I was attacked several times, while I had my voidwalker in aggressive mode, but I still could not see them.

By the time I was able to target them and barely do any damage, a group of guards got to them and kill them in an instant.

And yes, you can tell the even is going on because the town's guard more than doubles.

Comment by cromagnon

For those who use coordinates, the mound at 47.4X . 54.4Y is a spawn location for these guys ( two of them) and far enough for the guards to attack them, i even found them minutes after the guards have killed all the rest of them. You can also find them between the Graveyard and the river, just make sure to avoid the guards.

Comment by GleeCon

I believe I have finally cracked the case. I have successfully spawned the event, and am going to replicate it on three other eligible toons to verify.

First, complete Syndicate Assassins, Foreboding Plans, Encrypted Letter, Letter to Stormpike, and Further Mysteries. I am not 100% sure they are required, they are not the triggering quest in themselves, but are related and to be safe I complete them first.

Second, pick up Noble Deaths and satisfy it's requirements without turning it in. Return to Southshore. Wait 15 minutes BEFORE TURNING QUEST IN. At the end of this time, I would patrol the town and check all four assassin spawn locations just to be extra safe. The reason is explained below, but if you are lucky and someone else has triggered the assassins they will spawn in this window.

Third, turn in the quest Noble Deaths. At this point, before starting any other quests in the zone, begin the wait. You have now started the "Assassin Event" window (trademark: me). 10-15 minutes after turn in (in my first trial, it took 11 minutes), the town crier will run into town and shortly thereafter be assassinated. A pair of assassins spawn behind the town hall near a pair of guards, AoE or focus down one so you get kill credit and get the quest. If you miss it, all is not lost. 10-15 minutes later, Farmer Kent will cry out and you get another chance in the town center. 10-15 minutes after that, a pair spawn in front of the inn for a third chance. I believe 10-15 minutes later a final spawn occurs around shacks, but I have yet to confirm. The final two pairs spawn without NPC chatter. The drop rate is 100% from assassins.

This is why I think this solution has eluded so many over the years: One, waiting 15 minutes for an event spawn triggered by a quest (or possibly all of the quests listed above) creates confusion. Two, the fact the event rolls out over the course of an hour deeply muddies the waters, as anyone stumbling upon assassins in that time can complete the quest without the triggering events. Three, much as with an Onyxia turn-in or Stiches and the Embalmer, when event timers are "in progress," additional completion of the requirements will not trigger the event. In this case, a turn-in locks out further turn-ins for up to an hour (hence the need to wait before the triggering quest turn-in).

Further variables, such as comparing SoD vs. Era servers, Horde activity, times of day, server reset, etc. are erroneous and due to the overall extreme clunkyness of this quest's design. I have two eligible I am going to recreate these conditions on tonight, and I will update this post if confirmed. If so, I will also post a video of the triggering events to my channel on YouTube, Lore of Warcraft by GleeCon.

All told, way too much effort for a basic quest, but to the true completionists out there, I hope this helps!

Comment by Mortalous

Would be great if the guards didn't nearly instantly kill these making it impossible to do more damage to them, thus becoming lootable. Thanks Blizz...

Comment by eKatherine

I had no idea what these were when I went down the stream to pick some liferoot. The guards didn't kill them.

Comment by iquf

Wanted to share a couple of observations in the quest to figure out this quest! Managed to snag the quest drop as a level 35 Gnome Warlock. The Assassins will be easier to spot at higher levels and as a Human thanks to their stealth detection racial.

Waited 30 minutes after turning in Noble Deaths, no Shadowy Assassins appeared. At the very least this quest turn-in does not appear to be the event trigger, although logically it would appear to be connected storylines.
Was also in the zone for at least 1.5-2 hours questing (about 9 - 10pm server time), without any shouts from the Southshore Crier, so I'm assuming he's not very loud.. possibly localized area /say?
Logged on a couple of hours later at about 00:10 server time and found some dead Assassins. Ran around but could not manage to tag the respawns before they were killed by the Southshore Guards
Re-logged at 1:35am server time, and there were dead Assassins again. Ran around town and aggroed a pair of Assassins in the middle of town, but the guards were too quick once again. Continued running around town, without spotting any. Somewhere behind the inn, went into combat mode, so I figured there was one on my tail. I moved to the Graveyard as suggested by an earlier comment, and sure enough a single Assassin started attacking. I actually failed to dps him enough before a single guard took him out, but a second Assassin attacked me shortly after, and I managed to out DPS the town guard.

Some takeaways from the fight, the guards (level 55) don't react to the stealthed Assassins (level 38) prior to them attacking players, so if you locate an Assassin, best is to find a spot with few/no guards to avoid losing the kill to the guards. The guards also don't excessively out-class the Assassins, landing 3-4 hits on the mob that I managed to get credit and loot off.

Use macros to help hunt for the Assassins. Every second counts!

Here's the macro I used /cleartarget
/target Shadowy Assassin
/cleartarget
/run if (UnitExists("target")) then SetRaidTarget("target",8) end

Hope this helps solve the mystery to this event!

Comment by alphasigmasigma

Even after all these years, there is only so much that we know about the event that causes Shadowy Assassins to spawn. Here's all I know or can guess:

1. The event happens no more than three times a day, presumably every eight to twelve hours or so.
2. The event lasts about half an hour.
3. Shadowy Assassins spawn every five minutes or so, for the duration of the event.
4. The number of guards in Southshore is doubled, and most of them are paired up, for the duration of the event.

Comment by Savistik

If you're looking to avoid the guards, go to the rock mound north west of town (approx 4739, 54.10) and wait there.

Assassins will spawn and the guards will not path by so fast that they can't be looted.

Edit: they will also spawn away from the guards down by the two boats on the shore by the dock (towards the naga).

Shadowy Assassin

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