Mahmud, the successor of Sindjar, at first met the Assassins with their own tactics of murder and deceit; but, for an unknown reason, after being in open war with Kia Busurgomid for some time, he asked that an envoy be sent to discuss terms of peace. The envoy from the Assassins was received courteously by the Sultan, but upon leaving the presence of Mahmud he was seized and murdered by the enraged populace. The Sultan sent an envoy to Alamut immediately to assure Kia Busurgomid that this unfortunate incident was due wholly to the hostility of the citizens, and that he himself was in no way to blame. Kia Busurgomid replied that he had believed in the assurances of safety which the Sultan had given. If the Sultan would deliver the murderers of the man to the Assassins there would be no difficulty, otherwise he would take revenge for the death of his envoy. Mahmud fearing the rage of the people gave no reply, and was shortly after attacked by a large number of Assassins who killed four hundred men and carried off many horses and camels. In 1129 the Sultan got possession of the Alamut fortress, but was soon forced to relinquish it. Not long after Mahmud died, probably by poison administered by a member of the Order. In Risvan’s time, as already stated, the Assassins enjoyed immense influence at Aleppo, but under his son they were hunted down and slaughtered. A somewhat similar fate struck them in Damascus where during Busi’s time, Behram, an Assassin from Astrabad, won over to his side the vizir who gave him in 1128 the castle of Banias, which immediately became the center of influence in Syria, and so remained until twelve years later when the Assassins made Massiat their capital. On gaining a firm foothold in Syria by possession of Banias, the Assassins flocked to their new capital from all sides. No prince now had courage to give any man protection against them. But the career of Behram the shrewd Assassin was of short duration. Dohak, the chief man in Taim, a part of the district of Baalbek, determined to avenge the death of his brother who had been murdered at command of Behram, hence he summoned the warriors of Taim with assistance from Damascus and places around it. Behram planned to surprise Dohak and his army and crush them, but he fell into their power unwarily, and they killed him. His head and hands were taken to Egypt, where the Kalif had them borne in triumph to Cairo, and gave a rich gold embroidered robe to the man who brought them. Those Assassins who escaped fled from Taim to Banias, where before the expedition Behram had given chief command to Ismail, an Assassin from Persia.