The next chapter begins before dawn some hours after the end of Chapter 1: "Scavenger Hunt."
Chapter 2: Assassin’s Ambush
It is late, before the celebration is over and the nearby
church bells announce that it is three o’clock in the morning. It is nearly the
dark of the moon and the streets of Paris are black as pitch. On their way home
Gaston and Norbert take their usual route, but they are surprised to see, by
the faint light of candle in a window above, a pair of armed men blocking the
alley ahead. Norbert quickly searches for a weapon and grabs a shovel from a
nearby dung pile while Gaston draws his rapier and main gauche. Striding
forward, Gaston gives the two men a hard look as he tells them they can “leave
or die.” Something in Gaston’s eyes seems to communicate to the men his utter
seriousness and their immediate peril. They choose the safer course by dropping
their hanger swords to flee in panic. As Gaston and Norbert are about to
congratulate themselves on the result, they hear the twanging release of two
crossbows behind them.
The first bolt strikes Gaston above his right shoulder blade
and a second bolt hits Norbert in the back of his right leg . With a yell of
pain, Norbert pulls the bolt out of his leg then ducks into a nearby doorway as
Gaston takes cover on the opposite side of the alley. Gaston spots a shadow
moving on the roof above and tosses his knife, but the hasty throw only breaks
a nearby window. Gaston stumbles after his throw and the bolt in his shoulder
grates against the alley wall. The ensuing wave of pain nearly causing him to black out.
Meanwhile, the two assassins reload and both fire at Gaston,
narrowly missing him. Nearly unconscious from pain and loss of blood and groggy
from the poison, Gaston tells his cousin “We need to get out of here.” As
Gaston runs a zig-zag pattern down the alley, Norbert tosses a flowerpot as a
distraction and runs in the opposite direction passing Gaston as he yells “This
way cousin!” Norbert then circles the block to look for Gaston. But when he
gets to the other side, Gaston is nowhere to be found.
______________________________________
Norbert goes to the Jesuit Professed House to ask Father
Signoret for help. Signoret arms himself and returns with Norbert to the ambush
site to look for tracks. Signoret finds a blood trail which he follows in a
direction leading towards the Professed House. At first he and Norbert are
perplexed at this, but then Signoret recalls that his cousin Guy’s apartments
are in the same general direction. They go to Guy’s where they discover a badly
wounded Gaston under the care of Fabré. Unfortunately Guy is passed out
unconscious from the night’s celebration. Without his help, they return to the
ambush site where they discover that the assassins were on the roof which they
ascended to from a trellis in an adjacent courtyard. Noticing several lit
windows in the courtyard, they yell for assistance and after a loud discussion
with two awakened residents, they decide that the assassins are unlikely to be
loitering in the courtyard.
Signoret and Norbert return to Guy’s apartments and Signoret
asks Gaston who in Paris would want to kill him, compiling a list of suspects
from Gaston’s answers.
Baron Villemorin. Full name: Rémy le Dommarien Baron de
Villemorin (SR 10). He is a Trooper in the Gendarmes of France of the Company
du Condé. Villemorin is a client of the Prince of Condé. Gaston killed the
Baron’s younger brother Paulin.
Baron Caumont. Full name: Armand-Nompar Baron de Caumont (SR
10). He is the eldest son of the Marquis de la Force. His father is an
important man and a Marshal of France (SR 15). In February 1622 Gaston spitted
Caumont on a pike in battle nearly killing him. It is said the Baron holds a
grudge.
Don Martín. Full name: Don Martín Santiago y Altamerino
Baron de Rodriguez (SR 10); (Martin is pronounced marteen in Spanish). At the
Battle of White Mountain, Gaston killed Don Martín’s father and took his
vizcayana main guache as a trophy.
Termopillae. Full name: Léonide de Termopillae is a courtier
and King’s Musketeer (SR 8). He holds a grudge against Gaston, several times he
arranged for others to fight Gaston in his place.
Signore Sapiristi. Full Name: Maestro Alessandro Sapristi
(SR 7) is the former Master Superior of the Fratellanza di Giganti fencing
school. He is wanted in France for kidnapping and other crimes. He is thought
to have fled to Italy. Gaston was one of those who uncovered Sapristi’s crimes
and was responsibile for bringing his school in Paris into disrepute.
Chapter 3: Pride Goeth Before a Fall
Sunday October 22nd through Friday October 27th.
Father Signoret is hearing confessions at the Little Church
of the Poor in substitution for Father Heureux and hears the following:
Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. I’ve killed three people since my last confession, and only one of them deserved it.
Signoret asks a few questions but eventually decides not to
risk a look at the hitman. So they explore other sources for answers.
What Lucien de Bourges knows
Termopillae is in Paris but the rumor is that he is not
wealthy and that his valet’s wages are constantly in arrears.
What Collette du Pré knows
Collette du Pré is a beautiful courtier and a trusted agent of Guy de Bourges. She tells Guy that Branville and Villmorin have been seen together about town
or at court functions. Theirs is a new relationship. She also reveals that
Villemorin is said to be having financial troubles and he has sold some family
silver or heirloom jewelry to raise cash.
What the Madame of Whispers tells them
The Madame of Whispers is recommended by a beggar that
Signoret knows. “But she has her price. You must give a secret to get one.” Guy
and Signoret go to the house of the Madame of Whispers. Norbert stays outside
to keep watch.
Inside the house, Guy and Signoret enter an antechamber
where they are surprised to see two huge, warriors clad in exotic dress and
full mail armor. One warrior silently gestures them to an old horse hair couch
while the second warrior rings a brief but complex melody on a set of hanging
bells. After perhaps ten minutes or so, they notice the lanterns on the wall
dim and then brighten. One of the warriors lifts a drape and gestures for them
to enter.
Inside is a woman dressed in long robes with a shawl
decorated with embroidery and baubles. It is possible that once, many years
ago, the woman may have been attractive, but now she is a desiccated and
ancient crone. This is the Madame of Whispers.
“Come in. Come and sit. I have many ears, which hear many
things. But before you ask your questions, you must first share a secret with
me.”
Guy tells her the secrets he learned in Adventure 18: The
Poison Ring including the probable involvement of Pere Joseph. Signoret reveals
to her that he and Guy know the fate of the Da Vinci Codex. Guy also reveals
what he knows of the fate of the Left Hand of God and inadvertently reveals
that he himself knows what the Left Hand looks like. In return, the Madame of
Whispers tells the pair much about the best assassins in Paris.
Paris Assassins
The Left Hand of God: thought to be deceased or to have left
Paris. Master of disguise. Said to use various poisons.
Heinricus Wandelbaere: a German, new to Paris. Said to use
poison.
Cipriano Abalardi: an Italian from Florence. Uses poison weapons.
He is said to frequent the residence of a woman, a seamstresses’ assistant.
Jean-Paul D’Anvers: oldest son of Mama D’Anvers underworld
figure. Said to be a poisoner.
Arnaud Venture: member of the Paris underworld, said to be
from the gutters of Paris but details are unknown. Favors knives.
Scippio: appearance
unknown. With the possible exception of the missing Left Hand of God, Scipio is
said to be the best assassin in Paris. Favors the garrote.
What Le Serpent learns
Le Serpent stakes out the house of Abalardi’s ‘friend’ and
follows him from there to his own apartment. Le Serpent continues to keep
Abalardi under surveillance.
The Trap
The party lays a trap for Abalardi. They put out the word
that Gaston is celebrating his survival at an inn, then set up a dummy with
Gaston’s hat and clothes that can be seen from the opposite roof. Norbert sits
by the dummy and pretends to interact with it to try to make it look real. He
barely avoids knocking the dummies head clean off when he companionably slaps
‘Gaston’ on the back.
Meanwhile Gaston (mostly recovered from his wounds) and
Signoret hide on the nearby roofs to lie in wait for the assassin. Guy, in
disguise as a chimney sweep, keeps watch as well. The three fail to spot Abalardi’s
arrival only being alerted to his presence by the sound of the inn window
breaking . The assassin shoots the pumpkin head off the dummy. Realizing from
the falling head that this was a trap, Abalardi instantly flees, but in his
hurry he slips on the roof and falls to his death before he can be caught or
questioned. Guy, in disguise below, tells the people who rush out of the inn,
“This is the assassin! I saw him shooting from the roof. He fell…Looks like
he’s dead.”
The gathering crowd spots a second figure on the roof and
points as that figure begins climbing down the side of the building. “Who is
that?” “Is it another assassin?” the crowd asks.
Guy scratches at his scraggly beard, “It’s a priest. Come to
give the Last Rites.” The climber is Father Signoret, who indeed begins
administering the Last Rites.
Norbert looks for his cousin Gaston as the watch is
summoned. Guy and Gaston slip away in the confusion. Meanwhile, Signoret and
Norbert are taken into custody by the Paris Archers. Signoret uses his social
rank to be released, but Norbert must stay in the jail overnight. Fortunately
the Giant has money to pay for a meal and later his cousin Gaston has a second
meal sent in to the always hungry Norbert.
Guy and Gaston hurry to Abalardi’s apartment and search it.
They find letters in Italian from Abalardi’s father in Florence. They find
money. They find pots, herbs, and other apothecary’s apparatus including a book
about herbs in Latin. But they find nothing indicating who employed Abalardi.
Le Serpent’s final report
Fortunately the would-be assassin’s employer is something
that Le Serpent can shed some light on, for earlier that evening the spy
overheard an argument between the would be assassin, Cipriano Abalardi, and a
French noble about .Abalardi’s failure to kill Thibeaut. Abalardi is
incredulous that Thibeaut could have survived. “No one survives Abalardi’s
famous Death Shot. It is infallible!”
The noble tells the assassin that “Infallible or not,
Thibeault is at this very moment celebrating his survival.”
Despite his incredulity, Abalardi says he will take care of
Thibeault. “And this time, he will not survive. I Cipriano Abalardi say so.”
From Le Serpent’s description of the noble, “a tall man with
a gravelly, resonant voice and a spiked armored gauntlet over his left hand”
Gaston recognizes the noble as none other than the Baron Villemorin.
No comments:
Post a Comment