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Walkthrough

by Warfreak

                                                                              
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Author: Warfreak
Version: 0.2
Date Started: 6/7/10

NOTE: This Guide will Contain Spoilers. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

REMEMBER, IF YOU LIKE THIS GUIDE, RECOMMEND IT TO OTHER USERS USING THE LINK
ABOVE!

*('@')~~~~~~Watch In Awe, Watch In Awe, Aeria Gloris, Aeria Gloris~~~~~~('@')*

Use Ctrl+F to quickly navigate this guide.

                              Table of Contents
 �1 Introduction
    [1.01] Introduction
    [1.02] Version History

 �2 The Walkthrough
    [2.01] Nothing is true, everything is permitted
    [2.02] Sequence 1: Ignorance is Bliss
    [2.03] Sequence 2: Escape Plans
    [2.04] Sequence 3: Requiescat in Pace

 �3 Side Missions
    [3.01] Feathers

 �4 Game Mechanics
    [4.01] Notoriety
    [4.02] Guards

[A] Contact Information
[B] Credits
[C] Webmaster Information
[D] Copyright Notice

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Now, Let the Guide Begin~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[1.01] Introduction

I was at first reluctant to do this guide at first, I am a PC gamer, and the
DRM on the game is horrible. However, given that I had preordered, and still
have, the limited Black Edition, I might as well give it my moneys worth, 
although due to current laws, I am technically not pirating something I have
paid a license to. 

Simply put, the reason why I did not use the original game updater for this
game is the problem with the DRM, if your internet access were to drop out,
you will lose all unsaved data. Luckily, the game does save regularly often,
however, if you are just seconds away from finishing the mission, and your
net drops out, then you will have issues. And for those operating with
wireless or still the antique dial-up connections, it is more practical to
use the illegal crack to circumvent the DRM. I normally don't support such
measures, but this DRM business has gotten to the point in which those paying
for the game are seriously handicapped, whilst those playing the illegal
version have unhindered gameplay. My two cents.

Anyway, this is the sequel to my Assassin's Creed guide, that seems to have
gone down pretty well. Anyway, it is my 61th guide, so let us begin. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[1.02] Version History

Version 0.0 [6/7/10]
Started this guide. Getting things done off the burner.

Version 0.1 [7/7/10]
Sequence 1 is complete and the feathers part of the side missions is done. 

Version 0.2 [8/7/10]
Completed Sequence 2 and 3, and section 4. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[2.01] Nothing is true, everything is permitted

                                 September 8th, 2012 - Abstergo Industries Lab

We start off being Desmond again, as AC1 players would be well aware of. We
start off with Lucy Stillman, found out to be an ally to Desmond, and who is
a member of the Assassins, diving into the Animus, where you will be seeing
the word as a baby Ezio, you will be practicing the basic kicking and punching
moves. That's relatively easy.

With that done, you will be pulling out of the Animus, and it's time to get
out of the lab. Lucy will be your guide here, so follow her out of the lab, 
attempting to help her remove the the guards out of your way. Down the lift,
you will be entering the ground floor of Abstergo Industries.

And what a sight, there are numerous Animus machines there. I wonder what they
are for, but for those who are aware of the details of the next sequel to
Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, you can assume that 
Abstergo uses them to train their templar ground troops. 

Anyway, in the room, follow Lucy, and you should be able to avoid all the
guards, but if you do, it's pretty simple that you will just dispatch them to
have a nice sleep. From here, head to the end of the puzzle, and then, use
your Eagle Vision, something Desmond learnt from Altair through the bleeding
effect in the first game, and that will give you the access code for the lift.

Down into the garage, you will be entering a fist fight, so just punch out all
the guards here, which are all unarmed so it is pretty much a brawl, and just
remove them. Once they are dispatched, you will just need to follow Lucy and
off you go to an Assassin safehouse.

At the safehouse, follow Lucy to the saferoom, and talk to Shaun and Rebecca
there, something that you need to do, before talking to Lucy, and finally,
entering the Animus 2.0. 

It is time you started to play as the main character of the game. His name,
Ezio Auditore da Firanze

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[2.02] Sequence 1: Ignorance is Bliss

                                                  1476 - Repubblica Fiorentina

 - Boys Will Be Boys -

This is a punchout mission, you will have a little fight with Vieri de' Pazzi
and his little mob, after insults were thrown, and actions where sisters may
have been involved. Basically, it is using your fists to beat the crap out of
the enemy. 

Basically, you will be fighting a few targets, which are easy, all you need to
do is to triple punch them, a one-two-three combo. Basically, you can get a 
quick three set punch in before the enemy can do anything. 

Anyway, after you have sent the first few to having a good nap, you will get
some more targets will show up, and this really isn't an issue, the game
developers have really buffed up melee combat in this game, making it slightly
more useful. It's pretty easy, as long as you block, then counter or block and
attack, you should be set. 

Finish this mission off, and Vieri throws a rock, that gives Ezio a scar on
his lip, similar to scar that Desmond has, and his ancester, Altair. Well, 
that mission is done, you will need to get some florins to see the doctor for
your wound, so your brother, Federico, will tell you to get some coin.


 - You Should See the Other Guy -

Well, you will learn how to loot bodies, and how to pick them up. As a little
hint, when you play the game as an assassin later on, picking up bodies and
throwing them from above to the ground is a great way to draw a crowd, and 
also to see the game's physic engine at work.

Anyway, loot all the bodies, and note that looting isn't really a good way to
get money. A better way to get money will appear later on, but really, you 
will be looting guards, they will carry items such as throwing knifes and 
poison later on in the game, when that is unlocked.

When you have looted the bodies, talk to Federico, and he will lead you all
the way to the doctor. This is the first NPC character that you will meet in
the game, the doctor heals your wounds. You'll start to learn the art of
climbing buildings like an insane madman, this is the basics of free running
that will be your main skill in the game.

Follow Federico, and talk to the doctor. You can tell doctors from the normal
crowd for 2 reasons, the doctor has a funny mask on and wearing black, and 
that they will be next to always stand next to a cart. Anyway, get yourself
healed up, and talk to Federico


 - Sibling Rivalry - 

This is a race mission, basically, you need to beat Federico to the top of
the building shown, indicated by that marker. Basically, move into high
profile, and run and gun your way to the top. With your free running skills,
you can take the most direct path to get to the building, as it isn't that
hard, and Federico takes the long route. 

So, beat Federico to the building marker and that's all you need to do. If 
you need help, follow Federico's path if you haven't played this game or 
Assassin's Creed 1 before, or scale the church if you know what you're doing.
After you get to the marker, Federico will teach you how to scale buildings.


 - Nightcap - 

Well, after that, you will learn to synchronize at towers in which there are
eagles around, and basically, this will reveal the map around you. This is
pretty much standard stuff for those who have played the first AC game, but
new for those who haven't. Now, you will need to take a leap of faith down
below into the haycart. A leap of faith can only be taken at these view points
or ledges with pigeons on them into a stack of hay. 

Now, time to learn about hiding places. Using your eagle vision, hiding places
are highlighted in white, enemies are in red, mission targets in gold and 
allies in blue. Anyway, stay in your haystack until Vieri has moved onwards, 
and then move towards your target, Cristina. 

On your way, the Pazzi under Vieri will be looking for you, so you will need
to utilise these hiding spots to hide from them, less you want a fight. The
hiding spots are benches, haystacks, rooftop cabin-esque areas, wells and 
later on, in the water, but anyway, move onwards to Cristina. If you don't
want a fight, run quickly on rooftops, avoiding archers, and that should get
you there quickly. 

When you get to Cristina, anyone who is of the age recommended by the game's
rating on the box will know what is going on, all you need to do is to press
three buttons at key moments, the first action is to use the head button, 
the second one is your open hand, and the last is your head again. This is
first to kiss Cristina, second to undress her, and third to extinguish the
candle. With proper timing, you should be able to get all three. 

After your night liaison, you will need to get the hell out of there, and 
avoid the guards along the way. Head to your father, Giovanni (not the boss
from Pokemon), and after a little reminiscence from him, you need to deliver
some letters for him. 


 - Paperboy - 

Well, you are a paperboy, to that extent, so you have letters that you need
to deliver for your father. The letter you need to deliver is to a man named
Lorenzo de' Medici. This is the basic courier mission. These introductory 
missions are a preamble to the missions you'll get later. Anyway, take to 
the skies on the rooftops to avoid the Pazzi that are still looking for you,
and deliver the letter to Lorenzo. That name will be important later.

Anyway, once you have delivered the letter to the man there, given that 
Lorenzo isn't at home, and head back to Giovanni, and the best method is to
take to the rooftops, given that you are still a wanted man, for all the
wrong, personal reasons. Anyway, once you have delivered the letter, you 
will have 3 seperate missions. You have a mission with Maria, Ezio's mother,
Claudia, Ezio's sister, and Pertruccio, Ezio's little brother. You can to
these missions in any order you want, so I'll write it in the order I 
completed the missions. 


 - Beat a Cheat - 

Looks like Claudia has a problem, her boyfriend or whatever the status is, 
is not being faithful, and she needs you to beat some sense into him, Duccio.
This means no weapons, just using your fists to beat the crap out of him. 
Anyway, find the guy, who is with another woman, and beat the crap out of
him. This is the standard beat-up mission that you'll be playing in the game
later on. Sure does feel good, beating up unfaithful boyfriends. But then 
again, you are Ezio with hidden blades everywhere. 

Anyway, with this mission, head back to your home, and talk to your little
brother, Pertuccio. 


 - Pertuccio's Secret - 

Your little brother wants to collect some feathers. This is pretty easy, all
you need to do is to run up to the feather, and you'll automatically collect
it by running into it. Anyway, run up on the rooftops and you will need 
collect the three feathers that your little brother needs, and deliver them.
This feather collecting is the precursor to the various feathers that you
will need to collect in the game. 

Now, back to the villa, and talk to your mother, Maria, for the final of the
three missions.


 - Friend of the Family - 

This is quite easy, you will need to accompany your mother to visit a new
innovative inventor and painter. This is a simple mission, listen to your 
mother have a long talk about you and the Pazzi, and head towards this new
painter, note that there are no guards along the way. Anyway, head towards
the target and the name of mystery man is none other than Leonardo da Vinci.

Anyway, you need to pick up the box and carry it all the way back home. It
is a simple enough task, and that wraps up the three optional missions for
you. Head back home, and you will need to talk to Giovanni to get the next
quest started.


 - Special Delivery - 

You will get a letter, and you will need to deliver it, and then head off
to another pigeon coop, before delivering that letter. This is nothing you
haven't done before, but this is just the precursor to what really is going
on ahead. 

Head back to the Palazzo Auditore, and enter the building, and if you are 
quick with the buttons, you can avoid a hit to the head by the housekeeper.
It turns out, your family has been captured, well, only Giovanni, Federico
and Pertuccio have been arrested by the guards. It is time to pay them a 
visit. Looks like you need to head to the prison.


 - Jailbird - 

It looks like you need to head to the prison, and this is going to be a bit
harder, you will be facing the city guards as well as the Pazzi. So you will
need to stay to the rooftops. You will learn about the notoriety meter, and 
you will need to pay attention to it, when it builds up, guards are faster to 
detect you and attack you. 

Anyway, move quickly to the prison, and you will not want to talk on the
frontal approach, there are plenty of guards to shoot at you and you will
be detected, which is certainly not the point of this mission. Approach the
prison from behind, and stay on the rooftops as you do, this will make it 
easier to see the guards, and be careful with the archers along the way.

Move quickly and steadfast to the rear of the prison, and climb the 
building. The prison itself is somewhat under construction, which makes it
easy to climb, so climb the back, enter the restricted area, and move your
way to the tower cell. Climb your way up to the cell and talk with your
father.

You need to head back home now, and into the villa.


 - Family Heirloom - 

You need to use your eagle vision to find the hidden passage, and with that, 
open the chest to find some papers, and more important, the robes of the
Assassin's Order. With that, and the nice sword, you can start fighting,
which will occur when you leave the building, as some guards decide to 
ruin the peace.

Now, you will need to learn to counterkill, which is still the most efficient
means of killing enemies, you need to assume the block stance, and then attack
when they are attacking, such that you counter their move and kill them, but
you get a proper tutorial on this later, but now, just kill the guards, and
move towards the house of Uberto Alberti. Fighting and dispatching the guards
along the way who are there to block your path.

Once you get there, you will deliver the letter to Alberti, who will say that
it is enough to save your family, so you will need to head to the public 
square outside the jail to see your family spared. But I don't like how there
is a black shadow in the background, a man, hooded, walking around. Well, 
time to move off to the public square.


 - Last Man Standing - 

Walk towards the target marker, and well, no surprise, Alberti decides to 
betray you, to the detriment to your family. You are the last man standing 
in the Auditore family. And given that you only have your fists and the
enemy has swords, it is time to get the hell out of there. 

The best thing you can do is to take to the rooftops and lose the guards
there. That's all you need to do, ditch them, and this sequence is done, and
sets up the story. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[2.03] Sequence 2: Escape Plans

                                                  1476 - Repubblica Fiorentina

Your first order of business when you start this new sequence is to head to
the house of Annetta, who was your housemaid when you still had a house. The
thing is, you are still wanted, and you definitely need to escape the view of
the guards, so I suggest that you take to the skies and travel to the marker
on the rooftops. 

Anyway, you will meet the leader of the courtseans and the presumed sister
of Annetta, Paola. Anyway, talk to her when you are ready to learn a few 
new skills that you will need if you are to be a master assassin. 


 - Fitting In - 

This is a skill on the new basics. Your first job is to learn how to blend
in with a crowd. Basically, you see a group of people and you will need to
make Ezio part of that group. When this happens, you break the line of sight
of the guards if they are starting to act suspicious to your presence. 

Anyway, when you have practice with the courtseans, you will need to practice
in line of sight of the actual guards. Blend in with the groups of the 
regular citizens there, and if you break out of a group, you have seconds to
blend into another group in order to avoid the guards being alert to your
presence. When you have successfully blended in with the crowd and followed
Paola back to the, for a lack of a better word, brothel, you will learn 
another skill, stealing.

In this game, you need more than just knives to win, Assassin's Creed 2 has a 
economic system with merchants, you need to purchase items off merchants and
in turn, you need florins, which is the currency, to pay for it. Anyway, with
stealing, Paola teaches you how to steal, andyou need to practice this on a 
few courtseans. 

With your practice out of the way, you need to practice on a few folk of the
city, of course, you aren't returning the money, and when you have done that,
you need to report back to Paola, and that will be the end of your basic
skills training. With this, the next part of the sequence.


 - Ace Up My Sleeve - 

Well, time to pay a visit to one of your only allies in the city, avoiding 
the guards along the way, to see Leonardo da Vinci. Now, you have two ways of
getting there, either through the streets, but there are a lot of guards, so
you might need to hire the newly available courtseans throughout the city to
blend in and distract the guards, or take to the rooftops, but there are now
archers, although without their arrows, they will give chase. 

Either way, pay Leonardo a visit, and he will see your broken hidden blade 
that was in the chest you cleaned out before the guards came a knocking. Your
friend distracts the guards and denies your existance, but he will be attacked
and you will have practice on assassinating the guard with your hidden blade.
This will be the primary means of assassination in this game, and is the best
opening weapon for a fight.

Anyway, when you are done killing guards, pick up the body of the guards and
drop it into the target marker when you have been told to. When you are done
with playing with the hidden blade, time to visit Paola again, and if you are
quick with the buttons, you can show Paola your new hidden blade. On the way,
Shaun will mention something about glyphs, but that will get it's own little
section, since it is a pretty important part of the plot. 


 - Judge, Jury, Executioner - 

Now, your goal is to avenge the death of your father and brothers, and you
will need to execute Uberto, the man who was suppose to spare your family, 
only to kill them himself. Now, your goal is to follow Uberto, and that 
isn't a very hard thing, you will need to practice your tailing skills now,
since that will be important later on in the game. Just keep a nice distance
behind him, and when you are getting too close, back off, hide in the crowds
and wait until he starts moving again before following him again. But that
isn't really necessary right now, you will need to keep that in mind in the
future.

Now, when you start your assassination mission, the marker being on the
roof, and make your way to the red marker, but be careful, you are now 
notorious, so you will need to keep an eye out for guards. Anyway, when you
get to the marker, you will need to enter the building area, and there are
two ways in. The most commonly stated method is to hire the courtseans that
are located near the building and use them to distract the guards, but my 
method is cheaper, somewhat, where you scale the rooftops, silently taking
out the guards, and make your way down to assassinate him. 

How you approach missions like this is important, it will determine how you
will use your tools at hand. Do you kill everyone in the path from the ceiling
to kill your target, or just waltz in? Anyway, move up, and assassinate the
man, he will not move when you are detected, and watch his gruesome demise.

Now, when he is dead, you need to get the hell out of there, the guards are
coming down on you. Again, 2 ways you can get your way out of this, you can
either run the hell away, take to the skies and avoid the guards, but if you
are aware of how to counter-kill, you can just kill all the guards. I took the
whittling down of numbers then run approach, but that is up to you. Looking
back at my game stats, I probably have a higher body count than 10 average 
player sput together. 

Anyway, when you have dodged all the enemy bullets out for you, time to head
to visit Paola to see wjhat you can do. 


 - Laying Low - 

Now, you need talk to Paola, and needless to say, you are a very wanted man,
you just assassinated a city offical after all, and you will need to reduce
your notoriety. I will have a mini-section on notoriety later on in this 
guide, but there are three ways to remove the notoriety on your character, 
either my removing wanted posters of yourself, bribing heralds not to talk 
about you, or killing officals. 

Now, what you need to do is to remove the notoriety on Ezio for this mission,
which is relatively easy because markers for heralds and posters will appear
on your minimap, as well as the corrupt officals, but they seem to appear 
randomly somewhat. 

Anyway, when you have dispatched all the notoriety on your character, talk to
Paola again.


 - Arrivederci - 

It is time to leave Florence, until the heat blows off your character to say
the least. You need to get your sister Claudia and your mother Maria out of
the city, and this is relatively simple, without the guards breathing down 
your neck, all you need to do is to go to each checkpoint and listen to the
stories of your family, as you need to escape the city you grew up in as a 
fugitive. 

When you arrive at the city gates, there is a wall of guards there, and there
are two ways to get past them, given that you have company, you can either use
the courtseans and get them to distract the guards, or you can go into your
inventory and throw money on the floor, which will distract the guards whilst
you and your family walk through. When you are done, head into the marker and
you will leave the city. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[2.04] Sequence 3: Requiescat in Pace

                                                          1476 - Monteriggioni

 - Roadside Assistance - 

You start off leading Claudia and Maria to your uncle's villa in Monteriggioni
and you will be stopped with a cutscene. And who should appear by Vieri de'
Pazzi, and he will get his goons to attack you. With nothing but your hidden
blade, it looks like you will have to go assassinating their asses. When you
have dispatched them, you will get some help from mercenaries, under the
banner of your famed Uncle. And you now get a sword as well.

And that makes things easier, you will need to just counterkill them, or take
the initiative and stab the enemies in the back with the sword when they are 
busy attacking the mercenaries. But you should focus those who are going to
attack Claudia and Maria, since the mercenaries can take care of themself. 
Take out all the thugs, and watch Vieri flee like a coward. Anyway, time to
meet your uncle, Mario. And you have to love the Nintendo line. Talk to your
uncle to get started on the next mission.


 - Casa Dolce Casa - 

This is a relatively simple mission, all you need to do is to follow your
uncle around his little town, and towards his villa, where you will get some
spending money. This will help you to purchase some armour and weapons from
the blacksmith in town, and then you will need to head to the doctor to 
purchase some medicine for your medicine pouch. This makes your job relatively
easy, if only all your missions were as easy as this. 

Anyway, when you have purchased a piece of armour, a weapon, and 5 units of
medicine, you will have finished this mission. Anyway, you will need to talk
to Claudia to continue on your little quest.


 - Practice Makes Perfect - 

Claudia will have a little talk, and you will talk with Mario, who says that
you will need to have better fighting skills if you are to avenge the deaths
of your family. You will head into the practice ring, where you will need
to learn the art of dodging, countering and escaping in combat. Perform each
skill 3 times to master it and to move on. You will also learn to taunt, which
is relatively handy as well.

When you have completed the practice, you will need to fight Mario, who is
pretty easy to defeat with counters, but he is probably going easy on your
to say the least. Anyway, he will head to his room after the fight, so you
will need to talk with him to get started on the next mission. You will learn
about feathers, and now, it is time to leave the villa towards the area of
Tuscany.


                                                                1476 - Tuscany

 - What Goes Around - 

Now, you will need to follow Mario and his mercenaries towards the city walls
of Tuscany. You will need to climb over the walls to let the mercenaries into
the city. There are several archers here in this part of the wall, so you will
need to take them out quickly before you can let the mercenaries in, after 
all, what's the point of opening the door when you have several arrows in you.

Anyway, when you open the doors, you will need to assist the mercenaries who
are at the gates fighting the enemy guards in the way, so just dispatch the 
enemy guards blocking your allies, and lets continue on with your mission. 

Anyway, when the enemy guards have been eliminated, you will need to head out
and eliminate and assassinate Vieri, whilst Mario and the others will continue
causing a distraction in the city, which is what he will become known for 
later in the game. Anyway, you will be notorious now, so you do need to be
careful in how you move around the city, basically, walk around with your 
sword drawn out and stab anyone who gets in your path. 

Basically, for the first bit of the mission, you will be leading mercenaries
around causing a fuss, basically, you will be fighting your way through 
until you meet up with Mario when you will be going lone wolf to kill your
target. Basically, leading mercenaries is like leading the courtseans, but
they can't go on the rooftops, but they do have nice, shiny axes. 

Anyway, continue along throughout the city, fighting and eliminating the
enemies in your path, until you get to the tower in which Vieri is hiding
on top of. There is no point playing with stealth, you will have to fight
the enemy, and the easiest way to get rid of the guards protecting Vieri is
to throw them off the building, and then duke it out with Vieri. He isn't
that hard to kill, just the regular blocks and counters is all that is 
required to eliminate Vieri. 

Or you can grab Vieri and throw him onto the floor and kill him on the floor,
right there and then, but that is up to you. Although it is only necessary
to kill Vieri, it is a bit hard to concentrate on him when you have other
guards attacking you and breaking your stance. Besides, they aren't that hard
to kill anyway. 

Anyway, kill Vieri, and this will complete this set of the mission, and then
you need to talk with Mario again.

                                                          1476 - Monteriggioni

 - A Change of Plans - 

Talk to Mario, and he will want you to collect some codex pages that are 
scattered around the Villa, so you will need to go look for them, and that 
isn't really hard to do. Basically, you will learn about the codex pages, they
are hidden over in the cities, and you will then need to translate them 
through Leonardo, who is the only one who can translate them, and then put
them back on the codex wall. For every 4 translated pages, you will get an
extra square of health.

Basically, locate the pages of the codex, and find them, and that's all there
is to this mission, that's all there is to it. Note that from now on, codex
pages are found 2 ways, in safehouses in cities, guarded by 4 guards, or from
your assassination targets. 


*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.01] Feathers

After the mission of Petruccio's Secret, you will learn about the feathers,
and when you have reached the stage where you have access to the Villa, you
will be able to collect feathers and place them in Maria's room. When you 
have collected 50 feathers, you will have access to Condoottiero War Hammer
that you will be able to purchase from the Monteriggioni blacksmith. 

When you have collected all the feathers, Maria will give you the Auditore
Cape, which will make you notorious in all regions except Monteriggioni. 

Anyway, the feathers are everywhere, but for obvious reasons, it is hard to
put a map in this guide. But I will post links to a site where you can print
out the maps that you can use for your game.

http://www.thehiddenblade.com/feathers

or you can use this site.

http://guides.gamepressure.com/assassinscreedii/guide.asp?ID=8911

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[4.01] Notoriety

Now, a new concept in this game is notoriety, where it is basically how well
known you are to the guards. The more the meter is filled up, the more the 
guards will recognise you. It is similar to the stealth meter from the first
Assassins Creed game, basically, the more you do naughty things, the more that
meter fills up. 

By doing bad deeds, this involves the following:

 * Stealing from citizens
 * Assaulting guards
 * Shoving or moving guards out of their position (they are very nitpicky)
 * High profile kills, such as air assassinations
 * Violent kills in public

That will get you some notoriety, and when that happens, you need to reduce 
it, because if you don't and it gets to the full meter, the guards will be
suspicious of you and will very quickly hunt you down. Now, how to go about
reducing the meter.

There are three methods, removing wanted posters, bribing the public heralds
and killing the corrupt officals or guards that bear "false witness" to your
crimes. 

Wanted posters are pretty damn easy to remove, you need to find a poster on
the map, and then remove it. If you do this in sight of a guard, you will get
a bit of notoriety when you are spotted, but you do this not in sight of 
guards, it will remove your meter by 25%, or 1 quarter of the max meter.

Public heralds are the guys with a little soap box and talking to a crowd of
people. You will need to approach them and bribe them, giving them a nice 
amount of 500 florins to make them talk about something else, and this will
reduce your notoriety meter by half, or 50%. 

The last method is to assassinate the corrupt officals who bear false witness
to your crimes. This is rarer, because there is no set spawning of these 
corrupt officals, so they appear randomly when you are notorious. Killing them
will reduce your notoriety by 75%, but beware, if the guards see you killing
this offical, you will automatically be shoved into a fight with them. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[4.02] Guards

There are several different versions of guards, they aren't the same from
the first Assassin's Creed game, where there were mainly archers and guards,
there are more guards in this game. 

 - Guard Types -

Thugs really aren't guards, they only appear in a set number of missions. They
only appear when you haven't met the guards, when Vieri de' Pazzi hires these
thugs to attack Ezio, so basically, the precursor to the thugs.

Militia is really the first level of the regular, normal guards. These guards
can be identified by the fact that they were no real armour, they might wear a
little chest armour, but no actual, proper armour, and a beret as a hat. They
are easy to kill, only one counter-kill is required to remove them. They are
also quick to retreat when they witness you killing down their comrades. 

Elites are the second level of the regular guards, and they wear armour. They
will wear a helmet on their pretty little heads, and this helmet covers their
head, but not their face. This is an important distinction. They will need 3
counter-kills to kill them. They are harder to disarm than militia guards, 
but not decisively so. They will stand more punishment than regular militia 
guards, and they will be less likely to retreat than militia guards. 

Guard Leaders are the best of the regular guards, they will be distinguished
by their helmets, that cover at least half of their face. They take about 5
counter-kills to dispatch, which makes life a bit harder, and they will be 
extremely hard to disarm or grab, so basically, you will need to fight them.

The last of the regular guards, but not really so, are the archers, that are
on the roof. They will instantly start becoming suspicious of you when they
spot you on the rooftops, and they will shoot arrows at you, and when you
get close, they will pull out their melee weapon, but they have the defence
and health of a militia guard, so they are easy to dispatch at close range.
There is a difference in cities though, in Florence and Tuscany, they will
only require 1 throwing knife to kill, whereas they will need 2 throwing 
knives to dispatch in Forli and Venice. 

The regular guards are normally armed with swords, or they occasionally 
wielding maces sometimes. They are easy to kill, and they will run slower
than Ezio. Although they can free-run somewhat, they are slower to run 
around on the rooftops, and thus, quite easy to escape. 

The first of the non-regular guards that you will see are the Brutes. You can
easily tell these from other guards because they are extremely big, and wear
full armour, they are armoured from head to toe. This will also be wielding
large weapons, either wielding a bastard sword, axe or labrys. Their attacks
cannot be countered, which makes them hard to fight, although they can be
killed by hidden blades. They are slow, and thus, easy to escape, and they 
are pretty damn stupid, so they won't recognise Ezio well. Furthermore, they
will also be unable to chase you beyond the ground level, they will not give
chase of you head above groumd.

The second type of the non-regular guards are Agiles. These guys are extremely
fast, and recognised by the feather on their helmet and thin stature. They are
extremely fast, they will run faster than Ezio and they will be able to chase
Ezio down in sequences of free-running. They will wield daggers and short 
blades in combat, but they are weak, they only require a normal counter-kill
to dispatch. They will also tire down in combat, seen when they are panting
somewhat, and this is the perfect time to strike.

The final type of the non-regular guards are the Seekers. These are the
paranoid types, and they are recognised by their heavy armour, and their 
long weapons, the halberd and the spear. They will have the health of a 
Elite or Leader guard, and they cannot be countered by normal weapons since
they are wielding a spear. The dangerous thing about seekers is that they 
will search out hiding spots if you are within the circle after you break
line of sight with them. This makes them dangerous and harder to hide from, 
but you can escape them by heading to the skies, like Brutes, they will not
chase you on rooftops. 


 - Special Attacks - 

Note that two non-regular guards now have attacks specific to them, their
special attacks will be impossible to counter-attack, so pay heed. 

Seekers, the ones with the spears, have the ability to sweep Ezio. This
means that they will use their spear or halberd, and swing it at Ezio's 
feet, knocking him onto the floor. They cannot attack you when you are down
on the floor, but this does cost you in a chase and escape, or when you are
trying to kill another enemy guard.

Brutes have 2 special attacks that are specific to them. The first is a 
smash like move, where the brute will raise his weapon and swing it down on
Ezio, damaging him like a normal attack move, but will knock Ezio down, which
can hinder him whilst he is trying to escape.

The second special attack is disarming Ezio, in the sense that they will use
their weapons to smash away Ezio's weapon that he is currently wielding, where
you will need to pick it up again to regain access to it, so be sure to pick
up your own weapon when you have lost your weapon. This will break your guard
for a small moment, opening you up to attack, and that and you have no weapon,
which is a problem. That's it for special attacks.


 - Dispatching Guards - 

It is a common theme in the game that you need to dispatch guards. Sure, have
piece for the assassination targets, but no peace for the poor bastards who 
are just doing their job. 

There are some common themes with guards. If you throw a guard off a building
that is two-storeys or taller, they will die, as well as tossing them into the
water. The hidden blade will instantly kill guards, and will do the same when
used in the counter-kill stance. It may take 3 counter-kills to get rid of an
Elite guard, but it will always be a one-hit kill with the hidden blade. 

Anyway, regular guards are easy to kill, all they need is to be counter-killed
since they use maces and swords, which makes them easy to counter. They are
the easiest to take out, so don't fret too much over them.

Archers, despite being normal guards, need some taking care of, they do have
their bows and arrows after all. Throwing knives work best here, they will
take out archers with relative ease, which makes things a lot easier than it
should be.

Seekers are harder to kill, they do have their long weapons after all. There 
is no real method to counter them, so you are best to either counter-kill
them with your hidden blade, or disarm them and steal their weapon and thus
use it against them. 

Brutes are the hardest to kill. They will not be countered effectively, so
your best means is to kill them using your hidden blade. To counter their
weapon, you need to either use long weapons from the Seekers or the large
weapons from other Brutes. Or you can throw throwing knives at them, it will
take two to dispatch them, and it's relatively fun to do so, since they are
such big targets. 

*~~~~~~~~~~Save your tears for the day when the pain is far behind~~~~~~~~~~~*

[A] Contact Information

APPEARS IN g,a,m,e,f,a,q,s.c,o,m always. Remove the commas. Never on that
c,h,e,a,t,c,c.c,o,m. Remove the commas.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!Before you Email me, read everything in this Contact Information section and!
!check the guide. If the information is already listed, your email will be   !
!promptly deleted. 							     !
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

E-Mail Me, and for the love of all that isn't sacred, make sure that the title
of the game is smacked into place. IF THERE IS NO TITLE ON THE MESSAGE, IT 
WILL NOT BE READ, AND PROMPTLY DELETED. Also, email with courtesy. If you just
hurl abuse, I will promptly hurl more abuse back, and save it so the entire
world can abuse you and see your stupidity. 

When you write the Email, you have to do so in English, and English only. No
foreign languages allowed, Chinese, French, Spanish, Antarctic Penguin and so
forth, mainly because I won't be able to understand it. 

There will be absolutely NO INTERNET SPEAK IN ANY EMAILS. Seriously, I will
not read emails full of lols, rofls or the like. No lazy English either. I 
won't read crap like "Hw Tis in Gme" because it is lazy and inconsiderate. But
that doesn't mean you send me a business letter detailing what information you
want to know either. 

Finally, if you see that there is something wrong in this FAQ, or something 
that you think should be included in it, please send it in, the worse you can
do is to have it rejected, but if I think it is a good addition, I'll add it
with the next update as well as give you credit for the addition. Corrections
are always welcome.

I will also NOT RESPOND to the following:

 * Phishing Sites
 * Attempted Scams
 * Mass Spamming
 * Forward Messages
 * Advertising
 * Technical Issues
 * Illegal Activities
 * Unrelated Emails to the Game
 * Emails about Another Game

All problems with technical issues to do with the gameplay such as bugs and
glitches should be sent to the developer or publisher, or look for fixes or
ways to avoid it. All technical issues with hardware should be sent to the 
manufacturer of the piece of hardware in question. 

The secret email address is:

hillsdragon13 [at] [ho.tm.ail] [dot] [co.m]

Now, the legend:

[at]        = @
[ho.tm.ail] = Remove the .'s
[dot]       = .
[co.m]      = Remove the .'s

If you feel generous, you can send money via Paypal to that address. It is
completely optional, but I'm curious to see how much I can milk, I mean make
out of this. All donations are appreciated, seeing I have to pay for the 
game this guide is for, and that does cost money, more since I'm faced with
the outrageous prices found in Australia. 

It may be a pain in the ass, but most smart people could figure out the real
email address. The problem is that people would normally Ctrl+F to find the
email address without reading the relevant guidelines, as well spamming sites
which always find their way to my inbox. 

Also, do not add me to your MSN, Yahoo or any other instant messaging system
because you will be blocked and deleted permanently. Also, I will not accept
invites to be your Facebook friend, or join any other social networking site
because all invites will be rejected. 

*~~~~~~~~~~On your feet come with me. We are soldiers, stand or die~~~~~~~~~~*

[B] Credits

The credits section is where all the credits for the guides go. Anyone or
anything that remotely helped out with this guide goes here, and that goes
for all those people out there who have interesting information to send in.
You know, your name could be on this list as well. 

CJayC, The Creator of GameFAQs, thanks for all the memories
SBAllen for administrating GameFAQs, keep up the good work
You, no point of writing if no one is reading
Ubisoft for the distribution and development of the game
ASCGen for their program making ASCII Art
Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex, for all those little sayings
Me, for a shameless piece of self promotion

*~~~~~~~~Save your tears, take your place. Save them for Judgment Day~~~~~~~~~*

[C] Webmaster Information

This is where all the sites that this guide can appear on are listed. If the
site name is not on this list, that means that either they are accepted by
me but not listed, due to logistical reasons (this is the same copyright 
section as all the other guides, and no point listing a Civ 4 site on a Sims
game), or they are not allowed outright. 

Anyway, POINT OUT ALL SITES NOT LISTED HERE. It will be up to me what site is
allowed or disallowed.

www.GameFAQs.com <Master Copy> 
www.NeoSeeker.com 
www.SuperCheats.com 

NeoSeeker and SuperCheats will have the guides a full day after it appears on
GameFAQs. This is because those two sites grab any new update from me from
GameFAQs itself, so if you are itching for the newest version, please check
www.GameFAQs.com first.

It will NEVER BE ALLOWED TO APPEAR ON

www.cheatcc.com

Why? Because they stole some of my works before, and I will not forget that.
No amount of goodwill will be able to repair what you have done. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~~Fast and free, follow me. Time to make the sacrifice~~~~~~~~~~~~*

[D] Copyright Notice

This game is Copyright 2010 Ubisoft . All Copyrights are held by their 
rightful owners as well as any Trademarks used. 

This document is protected by copyright laws in many countries, so please 
don't steal. This FAQ can be used for personal use, which means you can store
a copy on your home PC, your IPod, USB Drive, etc. You cannot use this FAQ to
sell for your own financial gain. Doing so is fraud, and I will promptly have
all the money gained wired for directly to me. 

If you do sell it, and you are caught, I will launch court proceedings if 
necessary. If a website steals this, I will have your site shut down, either
through talking to your server, Internet Service Provider, and if you are a 
big site, through your advertisers. It might start with a small email of 
request, but I can snowball it. In fact, I will. 

You also cannot claim this guide as your own. You are not allowed to use this
guide and submit this to another website, claiming it as your own work. I will
google search random phrases from my own FAQ just to ensure that it hasn't 
been stolen or hijacked by other people.

I am also not affiliated with any corporation, and I was not paid by any
developer, publisher or distributor for the production of this guide. This was
done solely out of my own free time and will, a dedication to the video gaming
industry in general. 

This document is Copyright 2010. All Rights were not assassinated by hidden
blades.

This FAQ uses the V2.06 Template. 

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