4: The Pazzi Conspiracy

Assassin's Creed II Guide - Walkthrough

Sequence 4: The Pazzi Conspiracy

Follow the memory start point marker on the Mini-Map to Claudia in Villa Auditore. Speak to her to learn about upgrading Monteriggioni. Upgrading the town and buying weapons, armor, and paintings all improve the value of Monteriggioni. An amount of florins based on the total value of Monteriggioni will be added to the income chest in Villa Auditore every 20 minutes. Check the Summary section of the Record Book to find this amount.

Speak to the architect in Villa Auditore about upgrading the town. He is standing by the model of Monteriggioni in the Villa Chest Room. It's a good idea to dump as much money as you can into upgrading Monteriggioni, as you can easily make that money back and more through the income chest. As the old adage goes: “It takes money to make money.”

Renovate Monteriggioni to increase the city's value -- and with it, the capacity of the Villa's income chest.

Upgrading merchants gives you discounts when buying from them, and also improves the city's value. Make as many renovations as you can with the money you have to increase the capacity of the income chest. A pop-up will appear onscreen every 20 minutes, notifying you of how much money has been added to the chest at the villa. If the chest reaches its capacity, any additional money will be lost until you visit Villa Auditore and empty it.

Once you've spent some money upgrading Monteriggioni, head to the Codex Wall room and speak to Mario there. Follow Mario into the hidden Sanctuary to learn about Altair's armor and the seals. Collect all six seals and plug them into the indentation on the base of each corresponding statue to obtain the Armor of Altair, which is the strongest armour in the game and never needs to be repaired. Seals are hidden in Assassin Tombs, which you will come across as you progress through the story.

Collect the six seals to obtain the Armor of Altair.

Memory 1: Practice What You Preach

When you're ready to depart, leave Monteriggioni, get on a horse and follow the marker on the Mini-Map to travel to Florence. Follow the marker on the Mini-Map and interact with the highlighted door to speak to Leonardo. The Codex pages you collected in Monteriggioni contain the design of a second Hidden Blade, which will allow you to pull off double kills.

But first, you must practice a couple of new assassination techniques while Leonardo works on completing the design. There are three abilities to be practiced; the starting point of each practice session is marked by a red target on the Mini-Map. Approach the highlighted pile of hay and hop in. Press the X/Square button to stab the nearby practice dummy and hide it in the hay.

Next, Free-Run up the crates and barrels and grab hold of the window below the balcony. Climb up to the balcony ledge and press the X/Square button to stab the practice dummy there and throw it to the ground. To practice the final ability, get up to the marker on the platform, lock on to the dummy below and press the X/Square button to perform an Air Assassination.

Practice the assassination abilities while Leonardo works on the second Hidden Blade.

With that, return to Leonardo's workshop and interact with the door to trigger a cutscene.

Memory 2: Fox Hunt

Make your way to memory start point outside of the Mercato Vecchio. Accept the memory and then hold the Y/Triangle button to activate Eagle Vision. Your target is marked in gold, so walk search the area until you find him. A thief will steal your money just after you identify the target. You must chase after and catch the thief to complete the memory.

Press LT/L2 to lock on to the thief, hold RT/R2 and the A/X button and Sprint after him. Press the B/Circle button to tackle him when you're close enough. The thief can climb, but he isn't as fast as Ezio, so it should be a short chase.

Memory 3: See You There

Meet La Volpe by the docks at the south end of the Santa Maria Novella district and speak to him to begin this memory. Follow La Volpe onto the platform and hit the marker there. Get to the marker outside of the Santa Maria Novella within one minute to complete the memory.

Make it to the Santa Maria Novella within one minute.

Memory 4: Novella's Secret

A Templar meeting is taking place deep in the catacombs below the Santa Maria Novella. You're tasked with infiltrating the Templar stronghold within the catacombs to eavesdrop on this meeting.

Also in the catacombs below the Santa Maria Novella is an Assassin Tomb, and so it contains one of the six seals needed to unlock the Armor of Altair in the Villa Auditore Sanctuary. The other tombs are not part of the main story, but will appear on the map from now on when they become available. Check out the “Assassin Tombs” section of this guide for videos showing how to solve the puzzles in each of the tomb.

La Volpe has revealed how to gain access to the catacombs. It involves interacting with the skull switch at the northeast end of the building. There are guards blocking the way to the access point, so you can either drop down from above or hire a group of Courtesans and use them as a distraction.

Interact with the skull switch to enter the catacombs.

Interact with the skull switch to enter the catacombs. Once inside, go down the steps ahead and activate the switch along the wall to your left. Climb up to the gate that the switch opened and head through. Move through the next room to reach a collapsed stairwell; your task is to somehow get to the bottom.

Start by walking to the edge of the stairs. Enter High Profile and jump to the beam hanging just ahead. Ezio will swing from the beam and land onto another. Jump to the platform and use the next set of beams to reach a lever. Interact with the lever to raise the gate across from you. Run and jump to the tunnel and then to the platform on the other side. Look north for another set of beams and jump across. Pull the lever on the platform. After the cutscene, perform a Leap of Faith from the platform to reach the bottom.

Getting to the bottom of the broken stairwell

Hop out of the hay after the cutscene and approach the rubble west of the pool of water. Free-Run up the rubble to grab hold of the bricks protruding from the wall. Climb to the left to reach the platform there. Remain hanging from the ledge, press up on the D-pad to equip the Hidden Blades if you haven't already, and wait for the guard to stop by the ledge. Assassinate the guard while he's standing above you before pulling yourself up.

There's another guard up the steps around the corner, so sneak your way over to him and assassinate him as well. Continue to the other end of the walkway and jump across the beams to reach the first lever. Pull the lever and then cross the narrow wall to the south. Walk onto the planks of wood and look to the east for a narrow ledge with some bricks above it. Free-Run up the wall to grab hold of one of the bricks and then climb to the wooden platform. On the wooden platform, face north and jump to the stone platform there. Jump onto the hanging coffin to the west, then turn south and jump to swing from the hanging beam there, landing on another wooden platform. The second lever is up here -- use it to open the door to the great hall.

Opening the door to the Great Hall

After the cutscene, look west and jump to grab hold of the hanging beam there. Release your grip and then perform a Leap of Faith from the ledge behind you. Wait until the guard wearing the gold helmet walks by your hiding spot, at which point jump out and quickly assassinate him. Kill the two remaining guards and then approach the door at the north end of the area.

The Agile guard will take off running to warn the others. Try your best to assassinate him before he can do so. It's not a big deal if you fail to catch him, as you'll just have to fight a few additional guards to proceed. As you're chasing after the runner, he'll attempt to slow you down by creating obstacles as he runs through the catacombs. There is always another way around, though, so these obstacles aren't much of an issue.

Start after the guard and hop across the stone platforms. A portion of the ledge ahead will crumble, but you can still grab hold of a lower part of the wall and pull yourself up. Continue chasing after the guard and he will eventually close a gate behind him. Turn right at the gate, Free-Run up the steps and to the hanging disc there to swing through an opening in the wall beyond the gate. Then, Free-Run up the boxes along the wall to the right and grab hold of the beam hanging above. Climb on top of the beam and jump again to swing from another beam to reach the other side of the gap.

Catch the runner before he can warn the others.

Continue sprinting after the runner. When he closes a second gate behind him, turn right and jump from the railing to the two beams along the wall to the left. Jump across the beams and to the hanging disc to swing through the opening in the wall. Keep after the runner and he will soon close another gate behind him. Hop up the stone steps to the left of the gate and chase the runner to the other end of the room.

Now's your chance to catch him. Follow him up the stone steps and then Free-Run onto the stone platforms to the left. When you're up the first three steps, begin mashing the X/Square button while continuing to Free-Run. With any luck, Ezio will pounce, killing the fleeing Templar with an Air Assassination.

If you don't manage to catch the guard he will go on to warn his friends in the Great Hall and the door will close behind him. If this is your situation, all hope is not lost. Climb up onto the wooden platform to the right of the door to reach an opening in the wall, and then drop down into the hall to fight the guards.

Catching the runner

Climb up to the skull switch at the north end of the hall and activate it to open the door. After the cutscene, continue down the corridor to reach the Assassin Tomb. Open the sarcophagus to obtain one of the seals, and then open the chests to collect some florins before exiting via the highlighted wall.

Memory 5: Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

Make your way to the memory start point on the Mini-Map. After accepting the memory, hold the Y/Triangle button to activate Eagle Vision. You're looking for Lorenzo de' Medici, who is marked in gold. A cutscene will begin as soon as you spot him.

After the cutscene, press right on the D-pad to equip your Long Sword and start attacking the guards surrounding Lorenzo. Ignore Francesco for now and concentrate on clearing away the guards. You must kill the 12 guards and weaken Francesco before Lorenzo is killed. You'll be getting attacked from every direction, so be ready to perform Counter Kills by holding RT/R2 and tapping the X/Square button just as an opponent's swing is about to connect.

Defend Lorenzo de' Medici.

When Francesco is the only enemy remaining, you then must deplete his health to force him to retreat. Francesco is quite adept at dodging, so you'll have to deal most of the damage through counter attacks. You may also be able get a hit in by dodging one of his swings with a Strafe and immediately attacking after that.

Once Francesco has gone, you then must lead Lorenzo to safety. Lorenzo can't climb, so remain on street level. Enter High Profile and follow the marker on the Mini-Map. Ignore the fights taking place as you head towards safety. If any guards confront you, equip your Hidden Blade and quickly take them out.

Memory 6: Farewell Francesco

Speak to the guard marked on the Mini-Map to begin this memory. Francesco de' Pazzi is planning something at the Palazzo della Signoria. You must find and assassinate him.

Combat is rife in the streets of Florence, but ignore it and head for the Palazzo della Signoria. Stick to the rooftops if you can, otherwise just Sprint through the streets and past all of the fighting. Follow the green target on the Mini-Map and hit the marker there to trigger a cutscene.

After the cutscene, drop down to street level and run around to the east side of the Palazzo della Signoria. Climb up the ladder there and then climb up the wall to the outpost. Try to use your Hidden Blade to assassinate a couple of the guards here, and then equip your Long Sword and finish the rest of the guards off with combos and Counter Kills. There is an archer on the wooden tower in the northeast corner, so you may want to hit him with a throwing knife to avoid having any of your attacks interrupted.

Climb the Palazzo della Signoria to reach Francesco de' Pazzi.

When the area is clear, climb up the wooden tower and then the ladder to reach Francesco on the tower above. Ignore the four guards stationed there and approach Francesco to trigger a cutscene. Immediately after the cutscene, enter High Profile, Sprint to the wall and perform a Leap of Faith into the pile of hay below. Immediately hop out of the hay and start after Francesco.

Francesco is quite fast and can Free-Run as well, so taking him down might be a bit of a challenge. You just need to get close enough to him to perform a High Profile assassination with your Hidden Blade. Just keep after him, because he's sure to screw up eventually; he is an AI, after all.

Assassinate Francesco de' Pazzi to complete the memory and Sequence 4.

Assassinating Francesco de' Pazzi