Just over two years after the release of Assassin's Creed, the first game in the legendary franchise, the follow-up sequel dropped. Fit with a new setting and a new assassinAssassin's Creed II kicked off what would ultimately become the three-game stretch known as "The Ezio Trilogy".

RELATED: Assassin's Creed: 10 Best Villains Of All Time, Ranked

The game follows a young assassin known as Ezio Auditore da Firenze through Renaissance Italy, who only learns of his lineage in the Brotherhood of Assassins after the death of his father and two brothers. As he learns the skills of the assassins, Ezio seeks revenge on the Templar Order and their grand master, Pope Rodrigo Borgia, who ordered the deaths of his family. Through the process of getting to Borgia, who he ultimately spares, Ezio obviously goes through a fair amount of Templar members. Here are some of the most prominent Templars he assassinated on his quest to kill Borgia.

12 Uberto Alberti

The first in a long list of Ezio's kills was former family friend Uberto Alberti. Alberti was close friends with Ezio's father, Giovanni, who would ultimately order the arrests and executions of Giovanni and two of his sons. He had only done so after being promised financial wealth by Borgia.

Shortly after beginning his assassin training, Ezio and his teacher Paola tracked down Alberti through the streets of Florence. With his new stealth skills, Ezio listened in as Alberti boasted about his killing of the Auditore boys. Filled with rage, Ezio sprung into action and killed Alberti with his newly-acquired hidden blade. It was the first assassination that got him on the trial of the Pope.

11 Vieri de' Pazzi

The affluent Florentine Pazzi family played a major role in Assassin's Creed II. The youngest of them, Vieri, is one of the first people you meet in the game, as you engage in a street brawl with him and his gang.

Catching wind of a much larger conspiracy in play, Ezio tails the Pazzi family in their meetings and eventually meets Vieri in the midst of a massive battle. The two fight and Ezio eventually, and once again, uses his hidden blade to kill Vieri. He tries to shake answers out of Vieri as he lays dying in his arms, but is only met with contemptuous babble and insults.

10 Francesco de' Pazzi

In the midst of the Pazzi plot to overthrow the Medici family, Vieri's father, Francesco de' Pazzi, was confronted by Ezio. He evades a fight with the assassin simply by ordering his men to kill him first which, as you could've probably guessed, didn't work.

After chasing Francesco through the streets of Florence, Ezio eventually catches and assassinates him. Francesco is only able to mutter, "It's over...It's all over" in his dying breath.

9 Bernardo Baroncelli

Bernardo Baroncelli was a banker for the Pazzi family, a member of the Roman Rite of the Templar Order, and a co-conspirator in the quest to take down the Medici family.

RELATED: Assassin's Creed: Every Game Ranked By How Long They Take To Beat

Escaping capture from Lorenzo de' Medici, Baroncelli roamed the streets of Florence knowing that Ezio was hunting him. Although surrounded by guards, Baroncelli is not hard to get to as you can simply eliminate his guards with the help of hired mercenaries. After meeting the wrong end of Ezio's hidden blade, Baroncelli gives the assassin valuable information as to the location of Templar meetings.

8 Antonio Maffei

The next of the Pazzi conspirators to meet Ezio's wrath was Florentine monk Antonio Maffei.

Maffei's assassination provides Assassin's Creed fans with one of their favorite activities, climbing wildly tall buildings. After taking shelter at the top of one of Florence's tallest towers, Ezio has to scale the side, taking out a number of archers in the process. He finally gets to the top where he finds Maffei shouting scriptures. Although violent towards Ezio in his final words, Maffei eventually goes out quietly.

7 Francesco Salviati

In an attempt to locate the last target of the Pazzi family, Ezio goes after the Archbishop of Pisa, Francesco Salviati. Yet another Templar coerced into the Pazzi conspiracy, although Salviati did have a particular distaste for Lorenzo de' Medici.

His assassination offers players a slightly different kind of mission. Instead of sneaking through the streets of Florence or across its many rooftops, Ezio leads a group of mercenaries supplied to him by his Uncle Mario through the gates of Salviati's villa. Salviati vaguely tells Ezio that Jacopo de' Pazzi plans to meet with "the others" at dark, but fails to give him an exact location.

6 Stefano da Bagnone

Jacopo de' Pazzi's personal secretary and Florentine monk Stefano da Bagnone was next in line to earn a target from Ezio. Tracking him through Tuscany, Ezio uses his blending skills, walking among other monks, he sneakily stabs Bagnone.

Ezio once again uses the dying words of Bagnone to try and squeeze out information about the whereabouts of Jacopo de' Pazzi. He gets just enough to be able to track down Pazzi and put his plan to assassinate the final Pazzi conspirator in motion. You then get to use a newly-acquired tool, the smoke bomb, to escape the scene of Bagnone's assassination.

5 Jacopo de' Pazzi

Finally learning the location of the Templar meeting, Ezio eavesdrops as the eldest Pazzi, Jacopo, talks with none other but Pope Rodrigo Borgia.

It is actually Borgia who delivers the initial bladed strike to Pazzi, leaving him bleeding to death on the ground. Knowing of Ezio's presence, he challenges the assassin to show himself. Ezio eventually finishes the job after fighting off a fair amount of soldiers, technically making him Jacopo's assassin. The two don't have any kind of conversation, but Ezio tells him, "Requiescat in Pace (Rest in peace)", as he does with all his kills.

4 Emilio Barbarigo

As the dominos began to fall in Ezio's hunt for Rodrigo Borgia, next up came a merchant Templar named Emilio Barbarigo.

RELATED: Assassin's Creed: 10 Best Ezio Auditore Kills

He had been a part of the plot to kill of Jacopo de' Pazzi, and had knowledge that he was next in line on Ezio's assassination. In the process of fleeing by boat, Barbarigo was caught and killed by Ezio, claiming he only sought unity, stability, and order and that the progress of the Templar's plan required sacrifice.

3 Carlo Grimaldi

The mission to kill Templar Carlo Grimaldi is where players finally got to utilize Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine. Grimaldi was attempting to poison the Doge of Venice, Giovanni Mocenigo, which he was eventually successful in doing.

However, just as the Doge took the deadly sip, Ezio entered the room causing Grimaldi to flee. As he had done so many times before, Ezio chased after and assassinated him. The two share their opposing views on why they choose to kill, Ezio making clear he does not do so for his own selfish reasons.

2 Marco Barbarigo

Taking place of the now-deceased Doge Mocenigo was Templar, and cousin to fellow members Emilio and Silvio, Marco Barbarigo. Sneaking into Marco's private party using a mask, Ezio makes plans to assassinate the new Doge.

This assassination allowed players to finally test out another new weapon, the hidden gun. Shooting Marco shortly after he had given a speech, Ezio was caught in a cluster of soldiers. He does manage to flee the scene and in Marco's place, his brother Agostino became the new Doge of Venice. Agostino, however, wasn't as vocally opposite the assassin cause.

1 Silvio Barbarigo/Dante Moro

Working alongside fellow assassin and leader of the Roman and Venetian mercenaries, Bartolomeo d'Alviano, Ezio finds his next targets in the other Barbarigo, Silvio, and his accomplice, Dante Moro.

A massive battle ensues between the Templars and Bartolomeo's mercenaries, in which Ezio finds himself face-to-face with Moro. He is able to escape after Silvio calls him to the docks where they planned to make their escape. He tracks them down and kills them with the dual hidden blades. In his dying breath, Dante Moro discloses that the Templars were to set sail to Cyprus. In the appropriately titled, "Two Birds, One Blade," mission, Ezio takes out the last of the prominent Venetian Templars before setting on his final quest to track down Rodrigo Borgia.

NEXT: Ranking All 11 Assassin's Creed Games