Assassin's Creed Initiates: The Prophet - Ezio's Story
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 | 1- Florence // Italy // 1459-06-24 - EZIO’S BIRTH
Ezio Auditore was born into a noble Florentine family. He was the second son of Medici banker, Giovanni Auditore, and his wife Maria. After a difficult delivery, the infant was suspected to be still-born, until his father, invoking the innate combativeness of the Auditores, encouraged the baby to take its first breath. The baby struggled for a short moment before uttering its first cry.
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 | 2- Florence // Italy // 1476-12-26 - BOYS WILL BE BOYS
Late one night, Ezio, a proud and unruly young man from an affluent banking family, gathered a group of his loyal friends and allies. Making a rallying speech, he decried the slandering of his family name by Vieri de' Pazzi, another youngster from a rival banking family. The speech was cut short by the arrival of Vieri and his band of henchmen. After exchanging verbal jabs, Vieri threw a rock that hit Ezio in the face, setting off a brawl. Ezio and his cohorts managed to beat Vieri's thugs into a retreat, in part because of the timely arrival of Ezio's older brother, Frederico.
Seeing that his little brother had received a cut on the mouth, Frederico urged Ezio to pilfer money from some fallen thugs to pay for a physician's care.
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 | 3- Florence // Italy // 1476-12-26 - SIBLING RIVALRY
As Ezio and his brother Frederico returned home from a brawl against Vieri de' Pazzi and his henchmen, the brothers wagered on a friendly race to the top of the Santa Trinità church. Initially, Ezio dashed to keep up with his brother but managed to beat him to the roof. As they surveyed the view around them, the brothers reflected on the good life they shared.
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 | 4- Florence // Italy // 1476-12-27 - NIGHTCAP
After beating his brother Frederico in a race to the top of the Santa Trinità church, Ezio decided to delay his return home to pay a night time visit to Christina Vespucci, his current flame.
After spending a few hours in his lover's arms, Ezio was chased away by Christina's father, Antonio Vespucci. His shouts of rage roused a mob of guards to chase Ezio through the streets of Florence. He managed to lose them by climbing to the top of a building and laying low for a while. Then he made his way safely back home.
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 | 5- Florence // Italy // 1476-12-28 - FAMILY MATTERS
After a very busy night, Ezio joined his father, Giovanni Auditore, expecting to be admonished for his behavior. Surprisingly, his father went easy on him and reminisced about his own youth before sending his son on an errand to deliver a letter to Lorenzo de' Medici. Ezio learned from a servant that de' Medeci was out of town, so he returned. As he entered his father's office again, he found him conversing with Gonfalioniere Uberto Alberti, a friend of Giovanni's. After a cordial exchange, Giovanni bade his son check on the rest of the family until he called on him again.
Ezio's sister Claudia moodily recounted her romantic relationship with Duccio De Luca, whom she suspected of being unfaithful. Ezio promised to have words with him and left to track him down. He found De Luca passionately courting another woman. Ezio accosted him, traded insults and delivered a thorough beating, warning De Luca to stay away from his sister.
As he returned home, Ezio met with his younger, sickly brother Petruccio. As he gently chided his little brother for being out of bed, Petruccio asked for some Eagle feathers scattered over the area's rooftops. When Ezio asked what they were for, his brother refused to say. Ezio, humoring him, bargained he would get the feathers if Petruccio agreed to go back to bed right after. He accepted and Ezio retrieved the feathers as promised. As he returned them, Petruccio promised he'd reveal what they were for, in time.
Ezio's mother, Maria Auditore, asked her son to accompany her on an errand. As Ezio and his mother traded banter about Ezio's nightly antics, she revealed that Francesco de' Pazzi had been arrested for murder. After a short walk, Maria brought Ezio to Leonardo da Vinci's studio to pick up paintings for the Auditore household. Maria introduced the young men to each other before making Ezio return home with the paintings.
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 | 6- Florence // Italy // 1476-12-28 - JAILBIRD
Confused about the arrest of his father and brothers, Ezio Auditore scaled the Palazzo Vecchio, hoping to talk to them. Upon reaching the cell atop the tower, Giovanni urged his son to return home and locate a chest in his study. To prove his family's innocence, he was to locate the documents inside to take them to Giovanni's friend and Gonfaloniere of Florence, Uberto Alberti.
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 | 7- Florence // Italy // 1476-12-28 - FAMILY HEIRLOOM
Following his father's instructions, Ezio scrambled once again back to his family home. Dealing with guards as best he could, he returned to his father's office. There, using his innate talent to spot hidden objects, he found Giovanni's secret room. Inside it, he found the chest containing the letter and documents he had to bring to the Gonfalioniere Uberto Alberti.
He also found a hooded, intricately detailed set of cloth armor, a sword, a vellum scroll, a leather bracer and a cracked dagger blade connected to a strange mechanism. Ezio equipped on the armor and sword, stored the rest, and set out to bring the document to Uberto.
As soon as he stepped out of his home, he was assaulted by two sword-wielding guards. They announced their lethal intentions, forcing Ezio to kill them. He made his way to the Gonfalioniere's home and, out of breath, shared his family's plight with Alberti. As he took the documents from Ezio, the Gonfalioniere made assurances that everything was a misunderstanding and would be cleared the next morning. He explained that the documents contained evidence of a conspiracy against both the Auditore family and the city of Florence. He promised Ezio he'd present them at his family's hearing at the Piazza in the morning.
As night fell, Ezio made his way to the house of his love, Chirstina Vespucci. When she let him in her room, Ezio told her everything and entrusted her with the broken dagger and the vellum scroll. He spent the night with her, waiting for morning.
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 | 8- Florence // Italy // 1476-12-29 - LAST MAN STANDING
The day after his father and brothers were arrested and imprisoned for treason, Ezio made his way to the Piazza della Signoria. He was surprised to find a crowd of people gathering around a gallows. On it stood his father and brothers, in chains, with nooses around their necks. Gonfalioniere Uberto Alberti accused Giovanni Auditore and his “accomplices” of treason and asked if he had any evidence to prove his innocence. Giovanni said his son Ezio had given them to Uberto the night before. Feigning ignorance, Uberto sentenced all three to death by hanging. Before Ezio could react, the hangman activated the trapdoors, felling all three.
As Ezio rushed the gallows, screaming in fear and rage, Uberto named him a traitor too and called guards to kill him on sight. Ezio drew his sword but a heavily armored guard disarmed him and guards converged on him. Weaponless, Ezio had no other resort but to flee for his life, a wanted man.
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 | 9- Florence // Italy // 1476-12-29 - LAST RITES
Late at night on the day his father and brothers were falsely accused of treason and publically executed, Ezio made his way to Christina Vespucci's family mansion to recover the satchel containing the broken hidden blade and vellum scroll he had taken from his father's secret room. Intent on ensuring a decent burial for his father and brothers, he asked Christina join him in exile with his remaining family. Torn between her love for Ezio and her duties to her family, Christina refused. The lovers parted ways.
Ezio made his way back to the Plazza della Signoria where the bodies of his father and brother laid. Being careful not to awaken the sleeping guards, he recovered the bodies and made his way to the nearby river. He prepared a funeral pyre on an open boat and set it ablaze, watching it drift slowly toward the sea.
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 | 10- Florence // Italy // 1476-12-29 - FITTING IN
Shortly after the execution of his father and brothers, a distressed Ezio Auditore met with Anetta, his family's servant. She said his mother and sister were safe, hiding in a Florentine brothel run by her sister Paola, La Rosa Colta. Although Ezio intended to immediately seek out Uberto Alberti to exact his revenge, Paola managed to halt Ezio. She insisted on teaching him the skills to avoid detection before he went out on his quest. She taught him to blend into crowds and pickpocket passers-by.
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 | 11- Florence // Italy // 1476-12-30 - ACE UP HIS SLEEVE
Once Ezio mastered how to hide in plain sight and move around undetected, Paola, an ally of the Auditore family and owner of La Rosa Colta, returned the broken blade she pickpocketed from him. She instructed him to visit Leonardo da Vinci's workshop to get it repaired. Before he left, Ezio inquired why Paola had helped him, a stranger. Showing gruesome scars on her right arm, she said she too had known betrayal.
Once at da Vinci's workshop, Ezio handed over the broken blade and bracer as well as the encoded scroll found with them. Leonardo deciphered the scroll and fixed the weapon. As Ezio set out to exact his vengeance, they were interrupted by a bullying guard who threatened and beat da Vinci to force him to reveal his association with the Auditores. Ezio saved his new friend by creeping up to the guard and killing him with his new weapon. They hid the body in Leonardo's cellar, which already contained several donated by the city for da Vinci's anatomical studies.
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 | 12- Florence // Italy // 1476-12-31 - JUDGE, JURY, EXECUTIONER
With his father's hidden blade freshly repaired by his friend Leonardo da Vinci, Ezio returned to La Rosa Colta, Paola's brothel, where his remaining family members were hiding. Ready to strike, Ezio inquired where he could find Uberto Alberti, the city official who betrayed his family. Paola told him he would be attending the unveiling of Verrochio's latest painting at the Santa Croce cloister. Ezio tracked Uberto in the streets and overheard him arguing with Lorenzo de' Medici, gloating over his alliance with the de' Pazzi and making veiled threats against his old friend.
Hidden in crowds, Ezio approached the heavily guarded entrance of the cloister. Once inside, Uberto spotted him but Ezio stabbed his enemy multiple times before he could react. With his dying breath, Uberto told Ezio he would have done the same to save the ones he loved. Ezio answered he had done that very thing and shouted to all in attendance that the Auditore were not beaten.
As guards converged on him, Ezio made his escape through streets and rooftops.
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 | 13- Florence // Italy // 1477-01 - ARRIVEDERCI
Returning from avenging the death of his father and brothers by killing Uberto Alberti, Ezio returned to La Rosa Colta where his sister and catatonic mother were hiding. As the owner, Paola, greeted Ezio, he said he was leaving Florence with his sister and mother. He would head for Monteriggioni where his uncle Mario Auditore resided.
Paola told him such a plan would be much easier if Ezio took to the streets to curtail his local infamy so the city guards would stop chasing him. He ripped some wanted posters off walls, bribed town heralds, and killed a city official . After that, the city calmed down.
As he returned once more to Paola's, his sister Claudia rushed to his side. Nervous and afraid, Claudia inquired about the fate of their father and brothers. Ezio's silence confirmed Claudia's worst fears and she collapsed in tears. Ezio asked her to calm down and focus on the next task at hand: get everyone out of Florence to safety.
Ezio escorted them to the city gates. Once there, he hired courtesans to distract the amassed guards on the lookout for him. While they were distracted, Ezio and his family left Florence behind them.
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 | 14- Tuscany // Italy // 1477-01 - ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE
On their way to Monteriggioni, Ezio, his sister and his mother were waylaid by Vieri de' Pazzi. Not content to see the Auditore family decimated and forced to leave Florence, Vieri called for Ezio's head.
As Ezio tried to keep Vieri's men from harming his family, his uncle Mario arrived with a band of mercenaries to join the fight. They dispatched Vieri's men, and forced de' Pazzi to flee. Mario then escorted Ezio and his family to Monteriggioni.
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 | 15- Monteriggioni // Italy // 1477-01 - CASA DOLCE CASA
On the way to the Villa Auditore, a 200-year-old mansion in Monteriggioni, Mario asked his nephew about the recent events in Florence. Ezio said he did not understand the purpose of the plot against his family. All he had was a list of people he took from the body of Uberto Alberti, the man responsible for the death of his father and brother.
Once at the Villa, Mario urged Ezio to settle in and get ready for training. Ezio countered he'd planned to lead his family further away than Monteriggioni. Mario insisted; Ezio had to finish the work his father had started. Confused, Ezio asked what work a banker had to finish that was so important. Taken aback by Ezio's ignorance of his father's true identity, Mario sent him off, promising to tell him later.
After purchasing some armor, weapons, and medicines as required, Ezio returned to his uncle's study. Mario repeated his offer to train him, pointing out Ezio's recent inability to hold his own against Vieri's men. He implored his nephew to do it for the sake of his mother and sister's safety. Ezio agreed.
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 | 16- Monteriggioni // Italy // 1477 - PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Ezio spent several weeks training for combat. Throughout his sparring session, Mario revealed that Ezio's father was an Assassin, a member of a secretive order determined to counter the plans of conquest and domination of their arch-rivals: the Templars. Mario explained that Uberto Alberti, Vieri de' Pazzi, and probably the entire Pazzi family were Templars. He also told him Giovanni had been collecting pages from a book called The Codex, a treatise of techniques, tools, and rules governing the Assassin Order. Mario said his brother believed the Codex would reveal the location of something powerful enough to change the world.
Once his training was completed, Ezio faced his uncle in one final battle in which the young man bested the grizzled warrior. As Ezio thanked his uncle, Mario mistook such gratitude as a willingness to stay. Ezio denied it, saying he was sailing out to Spain with his family. Furious, Mario deplored Ezio's lack of commitment to continue his father's work and accept his heritage. He stormed off.
Later, when Ezio went to Mario's office, he was informed his uncle had taken a group of mercenaries to confront Vieri de' Pazzi at San Gimignano. Vieri had been harassing his troops ever since Ezio and his family had arrived. Before leaving, Ezio checked on his mother, who still hadn't said a word since the loss of her husband. Worried, Ezio tried to comfort his sister Claudia.
Determined to help his uncle and to once again face his enemy, Ezio set out of Monteriggioni on horseback.
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 | 17- SAN GIMIGNANO // Italy // 1477 - THE SOUTHERN GATE
When Ezio re-joined Mario and his men near San Gimignano to face Vieri de' Pazzi, he announced he was ready to take on the responsibility of facing his enemy. Mario shared their battle plan, namely striking at the undermanned southern gate of the city.
Sneaking near the city's gate, Mario and his men set out to create a diversion while Ezio snuck into town by climbing the city's wall. After he used throwing daggers to take down the archers patrolling the rooftops and nearby buildings, he opened the closed gate to let Mario and his troops inside the city walls.
Ezio took a few men with him to dispatch a group of guards without raising the alarm while Mario made his way to Vieri. Once done, Ezio joined up with his uncle and the rest of the soldiers who were deadlocked fighting Vieri's soldiers. Mario told Ezio where Vieri could be found so he could be dealt with.
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 | 18- SAN GIMIGNANO // Italy // 1477 - WHAT GOES AROUND
Shortly after entering San Gimignagno, Ezio made his way to the city's palazzo at the northern edge of town. Sneaking up on a roofttop, Ezio overheard Vieri, Francesco, and Jacopo de' Pazzi consorting with the hooded Spaniard he'd seen at the execution of his father and brothers. The conspirators were discussing the consolidation of positions and forces in San Gimignano and Florence, alluding to an imminent takeover. As the group broke off, Vieri was called upon by one of his mercenaries, who warned him that Mario Auditore had invaded the city. Making for one of the city wall's highest towers, Vieri ordered his men to face the invasion.
Ezio made his way to the tower and climbed to its top to face Vieri and some of his soldiers. After Ezio mortally wounded Vieri, he tried to extract the meaning of the conspiracy from his dying enemy. Spiteful to the end, Vieri died without revealing anything.
Enraged, Ezio was calmed by his uncle who voiced a short prayer out of respect for Ezio's fallen foe. He gave his nephew a letter to read and told him to return to the Auditore Villa in Monteriggioni. The letter was addressed to Vieri's father and had been written by a friar who'd been charged to observe Vieri. It concluded that the youngest de' Pazzi's brashness and unbridled violence was most likely caused by parental neglect and a desire to be noticed.
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 | 19- Monteriggioni // Italy // 1477 - A CHANGE OF PLANS
When Ezio returned to Monteriggioni after successfully slaying Vieri de' Pazzi, Mario explained that the hooded stranger consorting with the De' Pazzi family was Rodrigo Borgia, a powerful man and leader of the Templar Order. Mario confirmed he was the man responsible for the death of his father and brothers. When asked what he was planning as his next move, Ezio responded he would soon return to Florence to end Francesco De' Pazzi's life.
Later, Ezio met his uncle in his study at the Villa Auditore. Mario was contemplating a framed wood panel with several Codex pages pinned to it. Mario explained that Ezio's father had found and translated a few before his death. Ezio added his own, recently translated by Leonardo Da Vinci. The Codex pages were arranged to form a map, with many pieces still missing. Mario believed they held the secrets to a prophecy. They were written several hundred years in the past by Altaïr, an Assassin who held a Piece of Eden. Altaïr referred to a powerful and ancient artifact hidden beneath the land. Ezio vowed to complete his father's work and seek out more pages to solve Altaïr's mystery.
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 | 20- Monteriggioni // Italy // 1477 - TOWN IMPROVEMENT
Shortly after his return to Monteriggioni, Ezio noticed his sister working the Villa's ledgers. When he inquired about her newfound pastime, an outraged Claudia told him Mario had put her to work managing the finances of the villa and the city. She told her brother to invest in the town to increase its revenues, which in turn the Auditore family could benefit from.
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 | 21- Monteriggioni // Italy // 1477 - THE ASSASSIN SANCTUM
Soon before his departure for Florence, Ezio met his uncle in his study. Activating a hidden door, he brought Ezio into the Villa's basement where an Assassin's Sanctuary had been built by Mario's great grandfather, 200 years ago. Featuring statues of some of the Order's greatest Assassins, it also displayed a complete set of Assassin's armor possessed by Altaïr. The armor was kept behind a locked grate, needing six seals to unlock it. Mario explained each seal could be found in treasure-filled crypts throughout Italy. He had searched for these crypts when he was younger, but their locations eluded him.
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 | 22- Monteriggioni // Italy // 1478-04-19 - VILLA SECRETS
Ezio learned the secret history of the Auditore family from his uncle Mario. As Ezio was shown the Assassin sanctuary under the villa, he heard the story of Mario and Giovanni's abandoned quest to decipher the mysteries of Altaïr's codex.
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 | 23- Florence // Italy // 1478 - PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH
Two years after leaving Florence with the remnants of his family, Ezio returned with the grim intention of continuing his father's work. Before pursuing his vendetta, Ezio visited his friend Leonardo da Vinci to have the Codex page he found from Vieri de' Pazzi deciphered. Leonardo enthusiastically set to the task, uncovering what seemed to be advanced assassination techniques and plans for an armored bracer which could be paired with Ezio's original one. While Leonardo worked on the Codex, Ezio set out to master its new techniques. Once done, he returned to the workshop and took possession of the new hidden blade bracer Leonardo had built.
Ezio asked his friend about finding a mysterious character his uncle had instructed him to seek, a person who could not be approached publicly and was known only as La Volpe, The Fox. Leonardo whispered he might be found in the Mercato Veccio, where many of the city's thieves roamed.
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 | 24- Florence // Italy // 1478 - THE BEST MAN
Shortly after returning to Florence, Ezio paid a visit to his old flame, Christina Vespucci. While happy and relieved to see him alive, she informed him that she'd been engaged to a man named Manfredo. As they were discussing, news came that Manfredo was being assaulted by men trying to collect on gambling debts.
Ezio offered his help and found Manfredo in the grips of his assailants by the Arno river. After chasing them away, Ezio threatened to end Manfredo's life unless he promised to abandon his gambling habits. Manfredo desperately professed his love for Christina and promised to be a good husband.
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