Sessione 2 -- Party Crashers

The guests began to take their seats, all except Pietro Cartaforba, who slipped into one of the privies, hoping he wouldn't be noticed. Gianna sat uneasily next to Alvise Zane, who was himself sitting next to Lady Catarina Dandolo. Gianna didn't like being separated from Lady Dandolo, even by an ally like Zane. She looked across the expanse of the dining room at the other end of the horsehoe-shaped table at Pietro Cartaforba's empty seat -- the only empty seat. "Could he be the assassin?"  Almost as soon as the thought entered her mind, she dismissed it and began scrutinizing the servants. Any one of them could be the assassin.

Just before he heard Guido calling his name from the top of the stairs up the corridor, Nico spotted a ledger on the table in the chamber he was in. A quick look showed that it listed recent Carbonari activities: “Paid 500 gp to Byzantine agent for weapons. Recruited 20 guild members in Cannaregio. Next meeting: Charcoal Flame, new moon.” He scooped up the book and hobbled out to meet Guido, his leg still bleeding from the trap he had set off.

Gianna conversed with Zane about military escapades while watching the servants carefully. They had begun collecting the plates from the appetizers, getting ready to serve the main course.

While this was happening, Guido helped Nico bandage his leg so as not to attract attention. Fancy, standing near the kitchen (where she was expected to eat, as part of the entertainment instead of a guest), kept her ears keen for the rumors and gossip of the help.  She was made uneasy by the back kitchen door propped open and left unattended.  The main course was served as Guido and Nico made it to the top of the stairs.  

It was then that they heard a utensil ringing a glass. Doge Pietro Ziani stood and began his prepared remarks: “Noble friends of Venice, I stand before you tonight not as your Doge, but as a son of this great Republic, born of its waters and raised by its winds."

Nico gave Guido the ledger, and told him he intended to cause a distraction. He grabbed a bottle of wine and started acting loud and drunk.

Marco, the head chef, who was nearby, rushed to Nico and tried to get the bottle away from him while pushing him back into the room where the drinks were prepared. Ziani continued: "We have built a city of marvels, a beacon of trade and power, but storm clouds gather on our horizon."

Nico just put his arm around the chef, playing "keep away" with the bottle. Marco's priority was to get Nico into the other room before his scene interrupted the speech.  Ziani continued: "Byzantium seeks to choke our trade with sanctions, while Sicily whispers of alliances that would bind us in chains," he gave an icy glare to the Byzantine and Sicilian ambassadors in turn.

It was then that Guido heard the unmistakable sound of an entire murmuration of sparrows raising a cacophony outside in the front of the house. Ziani hit a crecendo: "I say: no more! Tonight, I announce a new decree—Venice will fortify its navy, doubling our fleet within the year, and we will impose tariffs on all foreign goods that threaten our markets."

Nico decided to escalate his distraction by hurling the bottle at the wall behind the Doge, as he continued: "Let our enemies know that Venice bows to no one! Together, we will—” When the glass shattered, everyone was surprised, but Nico moreso as he didn't realize there would be such a loud crash and so much glass. It was then that he understood that it wasn't the sound of the bottle he heard, but rather the glass of the many windows in the salon.

More than a half dozen dockyard brutes poured from the salon into the dining room.  They fanned out through the room, beating and shoving guests, upending chairs, and smashing glass. Gianna is the first of the party to be attacked, followed by Nico, who was hit badly. Gianna and Alvise Zane stood side by side, fighting.

In the midst of the chaos, Fancy notices that Matteo Grimani, a man who had claimed to be a distant cousin of Antonio Grimani, had rushed to the tapestry and was fishing around behind it. She fired a crossbow bolt, partially pinning the tapestry to the wall.

Nico rushed Matteo with a dagger in each hand and struck him.

Pietro Cartaforba did not emerge from the privy...but "Volpeo" did! Bounding into the fight was a masked man wearing a black cape, swash-top boots, and a gaucho hat, in his right hand, a rapier, and in his left, a main gauche. He saw that the Doge was too far away, and being protected by Nico anyway, but two dockyard brutes were right in front of him, attacking helpless guests.  He slashed the nearest one twice.

Gianna, surrounded by brutes, stood shoulder to shoulder with Zane and attempted to fend them off.

Guido whistled, and some of his birds flew into the room, distracting the thugs. Guido took advantage of the distraction and struck one of the thugs Volpeo had engaged.

Matteo, thinking to get the better of Nico, whipped his poisoned dagger out from behind the tapestry only to discover with horror that it wasn't a dagger at all, but, thanks to Guido, rather a spoon so covered in butter that it slipped from his fingers in the thrust and harmlessly bounced off Nico's face. He beat a hasty retreat toward the kitchen.

Volpeo deftly dodged his attacker, but Guido was badly injured. Fancy attempted to backstab Matteo, missed, and slipped into the kitchen.  Nico pursued Matteo.

Volpeo jumped up on the table to seize the high ground, fighting two thugs at once.  Gianna also squared off against two thugs, making a successful hit.  Matteo throws an unsuccessful punch at Nico and then retreats further into the kitchen to retrieve a knife.

One of the thugs took a swing at the Doge, who dodged out of the way and managed to stab him with his dagger.  Giuliano Mocenigo was impressed by how spry the older man was.

Fancy turned her attention from Matteo for the moment and tried to shoot the thug attacking the Doge with her light crossbow, but he was moving too much in the chaos, and she missed. Nico rushed to the Doge's aid by leaping onto the large table and running across the dinnerware to attack the thug.

Volpeo killed both thugs he was facing as Fancy shot Matteo in the kitchen trying to grab a knife off the preparation table.

Nico killed the dockyard brute attacking the Doge and then ran back across the table to help Fancy fight Matteo in the kitchen.  The guests and servants had been slowly evacuating through the nearest door, getting out of the house to the rear, but Mocinego thought his guest room would be safer, as it could be locked and had no windows. They couldn't be sure if there were more attackers out back.

Volpeo successfully disposed of the brutes he was facing and then rushed to the Doge's side. He leapt across the gap between the tables by swinging on the chandelier. Mocinego told him their goal of reaching the Doge's room, but that was through the salon and past several thugs engaged with Gianna, Zane, and the guests. Volpeo led the way, and Mocinego covered the rear.

Guido healed Gianna using his magical mace. Nico and Fancy faced two brutes along with Matteo. Nico, badly injured, retreated to Guido's position, so he could be healed as well.  Fancy, finding it difficult to best Matteo, withdrew to the dining room, and Matteo fled out the back door.

Volpeo led his host and the Doge through the salon and into the prep room where Elena was hiding. They quickly opened the door to the Doge's guest room. Volpeo insisted on searching and clearing the room first.

When the door was opened, he could see a fireplace, a large bed, and a small table with two chairs. He checked out the bed. Bending down to look under it, he found nothing, but putting his hand on the bed to stand up, he found a poison needle trap. Not content with that one find, he decided to check out the private bathroom, and when he entered the small space, he was assailed by a red scarf assassin!  The two fought, and Volpeo prevailed.   

Back in the dining room, Gianna and Guido dropped two more dockyard brutes. Fancy and Nico killed the final thug.

The party told the Doge what they found in the ledger, and Volpeo confronted Mocinego with the note he found in the library. Mocinego blushed and said that it was just business, not personal (and definitely not treason!). The Doge expressed profuse gratitude to the party, and told them that he would like them to infiltrate a Byzantine and Red Scarf plot to import weapons and contraband to stir up a rebellion amongst the dockworkers to destabilize Venice.  The party eagerly agreed to help.

As they rested and healed the following day, the Doge got a message to them that Matteo's claim of being a distant cousin of Antonio Grimani (a noble ally of the Dandolos) was a lie. His real name was Matteo Rosso, a notorious highwayman and one of the leaders of the Red Scarf!