The Assassins Creed says to never hurt an innocent person. But why? Why must an Assassin stay their blade from the flesh of an innocent? What makes someone innocent or guilty?
The Assassins believe that, fundamentally, humanity’s free will and ability to choose their path in life is a right so sacred and inalienable that one can kill to safeguard. But any death, no matter how justified or minor, is a tragedy. You sacrifice a person’s free will and future potential and memories. The world has lost an experience that cannot be replicated. To kill someone is not a decision that should be taken lightly. And should only be done if one can guarantee if doing so safeguards the potential freedoms of others. But even then, is it worth it?
Anyway, I’m doing a pacifist run of Assassin’s Creed 2. Here are the rules:
1. Avoid killing unless absolutely necessary. Killing in this case occurs when an NPC’s health gets reduced to zero or dies in a cutscene. I’m counting both to avoid washing my hands of the responsibility. I’m also counting knocking out as kills as I am still inflicting violence on my fellow man.
2. In the event I’m forced to kill, I must try to do so in a way that doesn’t “count” in the Animus. The Animus in AC2 has a stats page that tracks what you do. 2 stats are important here: “Enemies killed in a fight” and “Enemies killed with the hidden blade”. The former also increments if you stealth kill using the hidden blade. I must try to keep these as low as possible. However, I will still count these as “Unregistered KOs” or UKOs.
3. In the event I have to kill in a way that’s “Registered”, I will do so with my fists first. On the hope this doesn’t permanently damage them. If that is infeasible, only then may I use my hidden blade. If that is infeasible, I may use any means, such as knives and guns, to kill. Let’s hope it never comes to that.
4. Avoid pickpocketing and looting. I’ve already done enough sins.
5. Glitches and Exploits are allowed (but only if I can pull them off on the MacOS version).
With that out of the way, I started up AC2 and jumped into the perspective of Desmond Miles Prower (played by Jack Black) who gets broken out of Abstergo by Lucy Stillman (played by Emma Stone). Desmond and Lucy get attacked by Abstergo goons. Desmond refuses to fight them. Even though Abstergo might be a multibillion dollar corporation with more resources than God and secretly trying to mind control the planet, these goons are just people clocking in their 9-5. Who am I to judge them for their life’s choices? Lucy on the other hand, is bloodthirsty and solos close to 30 guys and bathes in their blood while Desmond lets her do all the work. Clearly she hasn’t learned the ways of an Assassin the way Desmond has.
Lucy takes Desmond to the Assassin safehouse in Hurricane Utah and she explains she wants to turn him into a killer like her by making him play violent video games. Desmond accepts. Not because he agrees with her but because he’s technically a homeless bum who has never paid taxes and feels this is a better use of his time than trying to improve his credit score.
Desmond meets Shaun Hastings (played by David Hayther) who remarks how he watched the footage of Desmond and Lucy’s escape attempt and how Desmond “did nothing”. What Shaun doesn’t know is that Desmond was actually saving lives there. He also meets Rebecca Crane (played by Eliza Schneider) who tells Desmond she made a new better Animus than Abstergo (despite 1- plagiarizing Abstergo and -2- being outdone by Abstergo 2 years in the future). Desmond enters the Animus to learn from his Ancestor, Ezio Audiobook of Florence (played by Nolan North), how to be a cool Assassin.
Sequence 1: Ignorance is Fists
The first mission of the game, “Boys will be Boys” presented a problem. Ezio casually starts a gang war between the Ballas and Grove Street. Unfortunately, the mission requires at least 7 people to get knocked out. Ezio’s homies seem unable to deal damage to the Ballas so Desmond must pilot Ezio to “compromise to a permanent end” these fools. Thankfully, I have a solution.
If you just KO enemies in a fist fight, that counts as “Enemies killed in a fight”. Throwing enemies off buildings, into water and stalls also counts. However, if you keep throwing enemies into walls, it deals damage to them and once their health reaches zero, they “die” but it isn’t tracked in the stats. Is repeatedly throwing people headfirst into walls until the CTE takes them out really the most humane way to resolve a gang war? No but I cannot question the Animus. I count 7 UKOs plus some bad pear pressure from his older Brother encouraging Ezio to loot his enemies to pay for his healthcare out of pocket as his insurance as been declined.
Thankfully we can fast forward several missions to Sequence 1 Memory 6 as Ezio may be a slacker, adulterer, thief and litterer but at least he hasn’t inflicted violence on anyone for 5 missions. Unfortunately, his sister, Claudia (played by Angela Galuppo), tells Ezio to go beat up her ex, Duccio (played by Johnny Sins) for breaking up with her because she hates his bionicle Collection. Normally, Ezio himself would personally side with Duccio about how cool his Makuta is but he’s too scared of Claudia to protest. I’m counting 8 UKOs so far as a result.
Sequence 2: Escape Clans.
The next several missions go swimmingly until Sequence 2 Mission 2: Ace up my Sleeve. In this mission, Ezio meets Leonardo Da Vinci (played by Danny De Vito) who agrees to take time out of his day procrastinating by helping him build the Hidden Blade. A guard shows up and starts beating on Leo. The game asks Ezio to use his hidden blade to kill this fool. I tried tackling, punching and throwing the guard but that counts as a Detection which Desynchs me. Left with no option, I have to use the Hidden Blade to get my first kill.
I am depressed. My first kill and it's not some tyrant subjugating their people or a corrupt businessman extorting innocents or a Clickbait YouTuber posting cringe but an innocent guard who likely genuinely believed the Auditores were traitors thanks to public misinformation. He could have held no ill will had he known the truth. He may even had people waiting for him like his wife, 2 kids and student loans that will never see him again. Leonardo says to bring in the body for his medical research to cure cancer but is Leo's cure really worth the death of a man? May this at least cover some of my heavy heart. +1 to Enemy Fight Kills and Hidden Blade Kills in the Animus Stats.
The next mission, "Judge, Jury, Executioner" tasks Ezio to assassinate Uberto. Getting to Uberto isn't the challenge. His guards simp for women and the walls are easy to climb. The hard part is landing the blow. Like the last mission, getting spotted by Uberto will trigger a Desynch so I can't throw him into walls. Sadly, I have to use the Hidden Blade. I look into his eyes. Uberto killed Ezio's family not because he hates them but to save his own. Ezio is doing the same. In another life, I was Uberto. The only different right now between Ezio and Uberto is the order of their moves. Killing Uberto brings some justice as the guards and courts are in his pocket and Ezio has no evidence for an offical accusation. Still, even though the Animus doesn't count this as a kill (since this triggers a cutscene rather than an Assassination animation) so my stats don't increase, it doesn't feel any less demoralizing. I’m counting it as a cutscene kill. Let’s hope the road ahead is light.
Sequence 3: Requiescat in Pacifist.
We’re onto Sequence 3 Mission 1: Roadside assistance. Where Ezio, Claudia and Maria stop by their local Cluckin Bell to order 2 number 9s but get ambushed by some Ballas. 2 goons are dead set on killing Claudia and Maria but bless their hearts, they are so inspired by Ezio’s pacifism and refuse to fight back. Ezio is forced to do his patented “Throw people into walls and claim innocence trick” to get another 2 UKOs. Bringing us up to 10 UKOs, 1 cutscene kill and 1 hidden blade kill and 1 enemy killed in a fight total. However, since these guys ate a full meal, they require 20 throws into rocky walls before the concussions catch up to them.
The Ballas are dispersed by Uncle Mario (played by Doug Bowser) and his reinforcements. 2 Ballas are still 1000% focused on killing Maria and Claudia but Mario’s men can kill them all (provided Ezio steps in and throws them off the girls a few times).
Mario then pulls a Tom Nook and gives Ezio a village to manage and taxes to pay. As well as some combat training neither Ezio or Desmond will use. Mario plans a covert plan to attack Bowser to rescue Princess Peach and forces Ezio to join by promising to forgive some of his debts. Starting sequence 3 Mission 4: What goes around.
Even though Mario and his goons are killing some goombas, Ezio actually isn’t required to kill anyone. He does need to step in to distract some Goon so Mario’s Mercs can stay alive long enough to kill the Goombas. Saving Ezio any potential UKOs. Ezio is tasked to get to the castle and kill Bowser Jr a.k.a Vieri. And this where I messed up.
Vieri is the first character immune to grabs so he can’t be thrown into walls. He also takes no damage from having goombas thrown into him. I’m stuck. I do have an idea. If I can get Vieri to fall off the tower, it wouldn’t count as a kill. As I’m running around doing the tackle animation, I instinctively and accidentally press “Weapon Hand” and I guess that training with Mario accidentally turned Ezio into a sleeper agent because Ezio goes into autopilot, punches Vieri in the kidney, throws him to the ground and stomps on his face killing him instantly to my horror. And the Autosave prevents me from reloading the checkpoint. I look at my stats in horror and see the stat listing Enemies killed in a Fight now reading 2 😢.
To anyone reading this, here’s an easy spot to improve on my run.
Sequence 4: The Pacifist Conspiracy.
Mario shows up, learns the Princess is in another castle and we can fast forward to Sequence 4 Memory 1: Practice what you Preach. Here, Ezio visits Leonardo in order to get help with that day’s Wordle. In order to avoid Ezio disrupting him, Leo sets up 3 targets for Ezio to practice his Assassination techniques on. However, each move on each target counts as a kill in the Animus. Bumping me up to 5 Enemies killed in a Fight and 4 Enemies killed via Hidden Blade. This sounds absurd but makes sense. These may be dummies but Ezio’s practicing real moves and treating them like real people. Counting these dummies as actual kills is instrumental in making sure we don’t dehumanize or trivialize our sins.
After Leo finishes tricking me into committing war crimes against three IKEA mannequins, We can skip ahead to Sequence 4 Memory 5: Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing. Here, Lorenzo de Medici (played by Tony Soprano) gets jumped by 12 assassins (not to be confused with Assassins). 4 of these manage to go down to a combination of friendly fire and Lorenzo's 2 guards doing some work before they get killed. So it's up to Ezio to step in. The remaining 8 got the classic “Animus doesn’t recognize head trauma if it’s administered via brick wall” treatment. That’s +8 UKOs. I’d like to imagine this is what the Creed meant by “work in the dark.” Specifically, the dark space between a man’s skull and the wall he keeps meeting at high speed. It's my only copium.
Sequence 4 Memory 6: Farewell Francesco:
Ezio has to finally assassinate Francesco de Pazi. I manage to get him to flee from his hideout and across the rooftops of Florence. Perfect. I can just get him to trip for an easy accidental death that's free on my consciousness. Even better is that Francesco is programmed to follow a really specific path. If that happens to be over a beam, he will keep attempting to cross that beam to matter what happens. I casually trip him and he falls 4 stories..... only to get up, climb up 4 stories and attempt to cross the beam again. I trip him again. And he survives. We do this 10 times until I come to the sobering realization: Francesco is:
Immune to grabs.
Immune to fall damage.
Immune to the concept of “being bullied into a non-lethal resolution.”
The game's mechanics force my hand once again. I look into Francesco's eyes as I activate the hidden blade. He orchestrated the deaths of Ezio's family, yet in his final moments, he seems almost relieved. Perhaps he knew this day would come. Perhaps he wanted it to. The Animus registers this as both a hidden blade kill and an enemy killed in a fight, bringing those stats to 5 and 3 respectively. My stats page weeps. I weep.
Sequence 5: Loose Ends, Tighter Fists.
Sequence 5 Memory 4: Town Crier:
Antonio Maffei has barricaded himself in a 200ft tower and is raining down RAID Shadow Legends Sponsorships on the helpless crowd below. Ezio is tasked with stopping him and his silver madness. I knew from my past playthroughs that if Maffei trips and falls, it doesn't count as a kill on my stats. I climb his tower and intentionally cause him and his 3 bodyguards to spot me. I drop down to the outside of the tower on its narrow walkway. One of Maffei's bodyguards slips and falls along the way. I grab one and position myself between Maffai and the 3rd. The 3rd bodyguard hits Ezio, causing everyone to stumble and for Ezio and Maffei to fall off the tower together. Maffei splats on the ground and triggers the confession and mission complete cutscenes to trigger and complete before the Desync Process finishes. I’m counting it as a victory for pacifism, albeit a suicidal one.
Memory 5: Behind Closed Doors.
Francesco Salviati is next. I disarmed him. I hired 5 Mercenaries and I Watched them wail on him with axes like they were tenderizing steak. He took no damage, because Ubisoft said no. Even better: I couldn’t even grab him until his HP got low. The game literally demands I punch him first to unlock the privilege of pacifism.
Left with no choice, I have to punch him first to soften him up, then throw him into walls until the brain damage catches up. +1 UKO. We're at 19 already ðŸ˜️. At this point, the architecture of Italy has killed more people than the Plague.
Sequence 5 Memory 6: Come Out and Play continues the theme. Mercenaries will fight. Mercenaries will shout. Mercenaries will swing weapons. But mercenaries will not finish the job. The target requires the old faithful: Wall Therapy™. +1 UKO bringing us to 20. This sequence is not great for the spirit of pacifism.
Sequence 5 Memory 7: The Cowl Does Not Make the Monk has Ezio hunting down a corrupt priest in Bologna. Turns out he's immune to merc damage and will flee like a coward which will cause a Desync. More wall throws. The irony of a man of God being beaten against stone walls by someone trying to minimize violence is not lost on me. 21 UKOs total.
Sequence 5 Memory 8: With Friends Like These. This one gave me a rare gift: if you don’t do the QTE, Ezio actually spares the guards.
Which means, for a brief shining moment, I was playing a game where mercy is mechanically rewarded, and I felt the warmth of hope in my chest.
And then the mission remembered it’s Assassin’s Creed.
Because you still have to stab Jacobo.
It doesn’t count in the Animus stats, but it counts in my heart, and my heart is currently keeping a spreadsheet.
So I’m counting: +1 cutscene kill. We're at 2 so far. Along with 5 Enemies killed in Fights, 4 Enemies killed with the Hidden Blade and 21 UKOs.
Sequence 6: Rocky Road
Sequence 6 Memory 2: Romagna Holiday.
Carriage ride mission. Guards are jumping onto my carriage and subsequently falling off. Does a guard falling off a wagon at 100 Kph count as a kill? The Animus doesn't count them, possibly because the game itself isn't sure if they died or just ragdolled into another dimension.
If a tree falls in the woods and nobody updates the Animus stats, did it happen? I am choosing to believe they landed in soft bushes. +0. And as a bonus, the mission tells you to hold off enemies but you can just run to the marker to skip ahead. Finally, a mission that rewards cowardice over combat.
Sequence 7: The Merchant of Menace
Sequence 7 Memory 2: That's Gonna Leave a Mark.
Ezio finally arrives in Venice Beach California with my Animus stats barely clinging to single digits. The water is lovely, but it tastes like moral compromise. Ezio meets the entrepreneur/thief Rosa (played by Marisa Tomei) who injures her knee trying to perform a sick kickflip. Ezio has to accompany her to HANGER where she can find the SKATE Letters. She gets ambushed by the popo along the way. Unlike previous missions, Rosa and mercs you hire can actually kill the guards. My strat was jump in the way of the guards' attacks, do a disarm counterattack to steal their weapon, climb up or jump in the canal to "lose" their weapon and sit back and watch Rosa tear these fools apart with her 3 inch butter knife.
The last part of this mission is an escort where Ezio must deal with the archers shooting at Rosa's boat. Fortunately, if you run into them, they will drop their bows and attempt to stab you with their swords. Which is fine by me because it means they can never shoot Rosa's boat. So after running around and enraging every guard in Venice on this one canal, I completed a whopping 3 missions in a row with 0 problems and Rosa teaches Ezio how to do the 5-0 Overturn Special Move when he has full meter back at the HANGER for his troubles.
After learning the ways of the 950, we move to Sequence 7 Memory 6: Cleaning House and Memory 9: Everything Must Go..
Antonio (played by Andy GarcÃa) needs Ezio to deal with 3 defecting thieves who've been selling out the guild. The first target is chilling on a boat in the middle of the canal, living his best traitor life. I swim up to him, he spots me, and in his panic to pursue me, he falls into the canal and drowns. The Animus doesn't count drowning as a kill if they fall in themselves. It's their own poor life choices, really. Target 2 is on a rooftop. I let Antonio's loyal thieves handle him while I supervise from a safe distance like a pacifist project manager. I am merely a spectator to gang violence, not a participant. Target 3 is in a market square with his buddy. Again, the friendly thieves are surprisingly bloodthirsty and handle the wet work. +0 to my stats. My conscience remains marginally clean, which is more than I can say for the canal water.
But then comes Emilio.
Emilio is different.
Emilio has a timer. Emilio has a boat. Emilio has places to be. And the game makes it very clear you cannot just wait outside the palace and let him escape into the gig economy. If you take too long, he leaves.
I tried everything. Disarms. Herding. General annoyance. Shilling For Ubisoft+. But eventually it came down to the only form of violence the Animus politely refuses to acknowledge:
Wall Therapy™.
I had to do it. I couldn’t leave the palace. Emilio couldn’t be allowed to leave the palace. Ubisoft decreed we would settle this the old way: repeated headfirst meetings with Venetian architecture.
+1 UKO.
Sequence 8: Gravity, Mother of Invention
We skip ahead to Sequence 8 Memory 4: Well Begun is Half Done. Leonardo needs Ezio to clear out guards so the thieves can commit arson for the greater good. Ezio needs to take out heavily armoured brutes who are killing our vibes. But killing them “properly” would require a level of violence I’m not spiritually ready for. The game suggests stealth or combat.
I suggest comedy.
It turns out that while Brutes are immune to many things, they are not immune to slipping on wet pavement. I spent the mission luring these armored tanks to the edge of the canals.
One by one, they lunged at me, missed, and tumbled into the water like heavy stones. Their armour being their tomb (ignoring the fact that Ezio is the only person that knows how to swim).
The best part? The Animus does not register drowning as a kill.
As I ran in circles, about 10 other regular guards decided to join the fun and also threw themselves into the Venice canals. It's not my fault there's no Wet Floor signs.
There is now a mass grave of about 12 men at the bottom of the lagoon.
Enemies Killed: 0.
Conscience: Clear. (Technically).
Sequence 8 Memory 5: Infrequent Flier.
Ezio is tasked by Antonio to stop Grimaldi from selling Doge Coin or something. IDK, I was distracted wondering why this mission was different from E32009 version. Ezio needs to fly in as a symbol of peace but Grimaldi's men shoot down his cool kite. Ezio confronts Grimaldi and the game demands I kill him. But Grimaldi is:
-immune to grabs.
-immune to being dropped.
-immune to being bullied into a non-lethal ending.
-immune to the concept of consequences.
So once again, the Animus corners me into the one option it knows I hate: the Hidden Blade.
+1 Hidden Blade Kill
+1 Enemies Killed in a Fight
And honestly? It feels extra cruel here, because the whole memory is about freedom and invention and soaring above the city… and it ends with me being reminded that Ubisoft’s true final boss is mandatory violence.
This ends Sequence 9 with the following stats:
-22 UKOs (Unregistered KOs via wall-throwing)
-2 Cutscene Kills (Uberto, Jacopo)
-4 Enemies Killed in a Fight (Guard at Leonardo's workshop, Vieri, Francesco, Carlo)
-6 Hidden Blade Kills (Training dummies counted as 3, Guard at Leonardo's, Francesco,
Carlo)
- Accidental Drownings I Take No Legal Responsibility For: ~12.
Sequence 9: Carn-evil.
Sequence 9: Memory 1: Knowledge is Power.
Ezio meets Leonardo who, after spending way too much time on r/CrackheadCraigslist and presents his newest invention: a glock. My Brother in Uni, did you forget what Challenge I am doing?
Leo sets up 3 training dummies for Ezio to practise.
I look at these dummies. They are made of straw and wood. They have no families. They feel no pain. They are not sentient.
The Animus counts them as kills anyway.
+3 Enemies Killed in a Fight. This time due to gun violence. My stats are now being ruined by carpentry. Ezio is so ashamed he demands Leo give him a mask he can wear as a reminder of his sin.
Sequence 9 Memory 2: Damsels in Distress immediately tests my new gun and my pacifist principles.
Sister Teodora runs a local indoor fitness gym/church combo that doubles as an Assassin intelligence hub. A serial killer murders one of the courtesans and flees into the streets. The game wants me to use the Hidden Gun to shoot him from a distance.
But here's the thing: this killer is FAST. Like, really fast. And every few seconds he stops, grabs another courtesan as a hostage, and threatens to kill her if I get too close. The game is practically begging me to use the gun. The optimal strategy is to shoot him immediately before he can rack up a body count. He warns me he will murder people if I come any closer.
I don't shoot him.
Instead, I chase him through the streets of Venice. He kills the first courtesan. Then the second. Then the third. Three women dead because I refused to use the easy solution. But I'm playing a PACIFIST run, and that means I need to minimize MY kill count, even if the collateral damage is... substantial.
Eventually I get close enough to tackle him, grab him, and introduce his skull to several Venetian walls. +1 UKO. My stats remain clean. My conscience does not.
The math here is dark: 3 innocent deaths vs 1 guilty death. A utilitarian would say I made the wrong choice. A pacifist would say I stayed true to my principles. The Animus doesn't care about philosophy, only statistics. Those 3 courtesans don't count against me. The killer, had I shot him, would have.
Is this really pacifism? Or am I just gaming the system while innocent people die? I don't have an answer. I just know my stats page looks clean and my soul does not.
Memory 7: Cheaters Never Prosper.
Ezio returns to Theodora and Antonio who roasts Ezio's drip. Telling him "maybe if you got rid of that old yee yee ass mask, you'd get some B____ on your d__k. Better yet, maybe Christina will call your Ass Ass when she done f__ing with that banker she f__ing with". Ezio now vows to enter Carnivale to win a new golden mask. The mission requires he win a fighting tournament.
The final challenge is a fistfight. Three enemies, bare-handed. The game says “beat them up,” and I say “that sounds like violence,” and the game says “yes.”
Here’s the twist: you can wall-throw them, but they take no damage from it. The game literally refuses to let me solve this the humane way.
So I have to do it the old-fashioned way: counters, punches, and the slow realization that the Animus counts a knockout as “killed in a fight” because it’s allergic to nuance.
+3 enemies killed in a fight.
Dante shows up as the fourth, thankfully doesn’t count. Ubisoft, for once, gives me a crumb.
Then the three guys I just “mercifully” beat up come back with daggers, plus one extra, and suddenly it’s an armed brawl.
Good news: armed enemies can be introduced to walls again.
+4 UKOs.
Despite winning the tournament fair and square, the judges give the golden mask to Dante anyway because Venice is more corrupt than the Animus's moral tracking system. We're now at 10 Enemies Killed in a Fight, 6 Hidden Blade Kills, and 26 UKOs.
Sequence 9 Memory 8: Having a Blast:
In order to pick up girls at the party Theodora is going to, Ezio needs to get Dante's mask. He can't just sneak in because not paying for a ticket is a crime worse than murder. Ezio pickpockets the mask and gets in. Unfortunately, Dante and his guards are able to track Ezio by his overuse of Axe Body Spray (he thought it would help his Rizz). Dante's guards swarm the party, checking every guest. Looks like Ezio's cover is about to be blown.
But....
I decide to reach deep down inside myself and align the gaming chakras to unlock an ancient, forbidden Assassin technique known as "The Superblend." By blending in a group of civilians, then walk into a ladder, I "carry" my blend onto the ladder and remain invisible. In theory, I can even throw knives and remain undetected. That's how powerful this ability is. I stall for minutes until the new Doge shows up and sadly, Ezio is pear pressured into killing him.
The mission objective is simple.
Shoot him.
There is no wall. There is no loophole. There is only gun.
I take aim. I fire.
+1 Enemies Killed in a Fight.
The crowd erupts in chaos. I escape in the confusion, my golden mask allowing me to slip away unnoticed. The Animus registers another mark against my record. I'm now at 11 Enemies Killed in a Fight, bringing my total registered kills to 17 (when you include the Hidden Blade kills).
But my UKO count? 26.
My cutscene kills? 2.
My accidental drownings that I take no legal responsibility for? Approximately 12-14, depending on how you count the guards who followed each other into the canals like lemmings.
My indirect deaths caused by refusing to use the optimal solution? 3 courtesans.
Current Sequence 9 Tally:
26 UKOs (Unregistered KOs via wall-throwing)
2 Cutscene Kills (Uberto, Jacopo)
11 Enemies Killed in a Fight (1 guard, Vieri, Francesco, Carlo, 3 training dummies, 3 gun dummies, 3 tournament fighters, Marco).
6 Hidden Blade Kills (3 training dummies, 1 guard, Francesco, Carlo).
Accidental Drownings: ~12-14.
Indirect Deaths Due to Pacifist Principles: 3.
Desmond exits the Animus and stares at the ceiling of the warehouse. Lucy asks if he's okay. He says he's fine. He's not fine. He's thinking about those 3 courtesans. He's thinking about how the Animus rewards him for letting others die as long as he doesn't personally do the killing.
Rebecca mentions that the stats page doesn't track civilian casualties. Only enemies. The game literally doesn't count innocent deaths in its moral calculus.
Shaun makes a sarcastic comment about how that's very convenient.
Desmond agrees. It is very convenient. Too convenient.
He wonders if Ezio thought the same thing. He wonders if, centuries ago, his ancestor lay awake at night calculating the mathematics of murder, trying to find the path of least blood while knowing that every choice costs someone their life.
Or maybe Ezio just threw people into walls and moved on with his day.
The Animus doesn't record thoughts. Only actions. Only kills. Only the statistics that fit neatly into a spreadsheet.
And somewhere in the background of Desmond's mind, a question forms: If the Animus doesn't count it, did it really happen?
He decides he doesn't want to know the answer.
Sequence 10: Forced to Murder.
We fast forward through several missions where Ezio helps Bartolomeo d'Alviano (played by Henry Cavil) reclaim his military district from Silvio Barbarigo. Bartolomeo starts yelling things that would get him banned from every Twitch chat instantly,. Most of these missions are surprisingly pacifist-friendly. I can let the mercenaries do the heavy lifting while I provide tactical support from a safe emotional distance. I’m just trying to keep my “Enemies killed in a fight” number from becoming a phone number.
After setting the stage and firing the flare like I’m calling in an airstrike on my own conscience, Bartolomeo gets into it with Dante and the whole district becomes a Renaissance mosh pit. Dante flees to the docks where Silvio is waiting with a ship. They're trying to escape to Cyprus, but their ride left without them. Tragic. Not as tragic as what I'm about to do to them, though.
Here's where the mission gets interesting from a pacifist perspective: Silvio and Dante board their backup escape ship. The game wants me to assassinate both of them before the ship leaves. I have 3 minutes.
But here's the beautiful part: if they (and like 7 of their goons) "accidentally" fall off the ship during our confrontation, well, the Animus doesn't know. The Animus doesn't care.
+0 to my stats. The drowning counter, however, continues to climb into numbers I've stopped tracking because acknowledging them would require moral accountability.
Sequence 11: Altered Stats.
Memory 1: All Things Come to He Who Waits
Rosa finds Ezio sitting on a bench having an existential crisis because it is his birthday.
Which is a bold writing choice by Ubisoft, because nothing says “Happy birthday” like being forced to stalk a courier for five minutes and then commit a perfect, undetected murder within ninety seconds.
I follow the courier for what feels like an eternity through Venice's streets. He eventually enters a restricted area guarded by soldiers. I have 90 seconds to assassinate him undetected.
Undetected.
That's the keyword. The mission requires an undetected assassination. I can't throw him into walls because that would alert the guards. I can't drown him because there's no water nearby. I can't let my allies handle it because I don't have any here.
I have to use the Hidden Blade.
I climb the nearby ladder to the rooftops, position myself above him, and drop down for the assassination.
+1 Hidden Blade Kill.
+1 Enemies Killed in a Fight.
We're now at 12 Enemies Killed in a Fight and 7 Hidden Blade Kills. The stats are climbing. The journey is taking its toll. Every forced kill feels heavier than the last.
The Animus is pleased. I am not.
Sequence 11: Mission 2: Play Along.
Ezio steals the courier’s outfit and becomes a completely convincing Borgia guard despite his giant Assassin bracer logo being exposed like a watermark.
The mission wants you to walk in formation, carry the chest, and then do the “kill the escort to introduce yourself” moment.
Last time, I got away with refusing a QTE and letting guards live.
This time, the Animus says: “Cute. Press the button.” you have to do the QTE. You can’t stall it out. You can’t refuse. You can’t “let Ezio spare him” by doing nothing.
The cutscene demands blood for the cutscene god.
+1 cutscene kill.
I watch the cutscene play out. The other guards in the scene casually ignore their dead comrade lying on the ground. Rodrigo told them to leave, so they leave. They step over their friend's corpse like it's a pothole in the street.
The Animus doesn't count this guard in my stats because it was a cutscene death. But I'm counting it. That's 3 cutscene kills now: Uberto, Jacopo, and this nameless guard who died because Rodrigo needed a dramatic moment.
After that, everything escalates into chaos: Rodrigo fights, guards pile in, and then like the Avengers Endgame portal scene but with more hoods, your entire friend group (and Antonio) shows up to help and reveals they were Assassins all along and Ezio was the unpaid intern. Rodrigo escapes.
The Assassins take Ezio to a tower and officially induct him into the Brotherhood. They brand his ring finger with the Assassin symbol. It hurts, but Antonio says "This only hurts for a while, brother. Like so many things."
He's not just talking about the brand.
Machiavelli (played by Stanley Tucci) welcomes Ezio: "Benvenuto. You are one of us now."
They all perform a Leap of Faith from the tower. Ezio follows. They need to take the Apple to Forli.
Current Sequence 11 Tally:
26 UKOs (Unregistered KOs via wall-throwing).
3 Cutscene Kills (Uberto, Jacopo, Rodrigo's guard).
12 Enemies Killed in a Fight (1 guard at Leo's, Vieri, Francesco, Carlo, 3 training dummies, 3 gun dummies, 3 tournament fighters, Marco, courier).
7 Hidden Blade Kills (3 training dummies, 1 guard, Francesco, Carlo, courier).
Accidental Drownings: ~14-16 (Silvio and Dante joined the canal club).
Indirect Deaths Due to Pacifist Principles: 3 courtesans.
Desmond exits the Animus again. The Bleeding Effect is getting stronger. He can see Eagle Vision without trying now. He sees glowing symbols on the walls of the warehouse. Rebecca says it's normal. Shaun says it's concerning. Lucy says they need to keep going.
Desmond thinks about that guard. The one who walked away during the QTE. The one who lived because Desmond chose not to press a button. Then he thinks about the guard who died seconds later in the cutscene. How one random input determined who lived and who died.
He thinks about Silvio and Dante drowning in the canal. About the courier he assassinated to steal his uniform. About every wall-throw victim whose skull met Venetian architecture at high speed.
The numbers are climbing. The justifications are getting thinner. The line between "pacifist" and "guy gaming the stats system while people die anyway" is getting blurrier.
Shaun makes another sarcastic comment. Rebecca adjusts the Animus. Lucy encourages him to continue.
Desmond closes his eyes and goes back in.
Because the Apple needs to reach Forlì. Because the Templars need to be stopped.
Because the mission isn't over.
And because maybe, just maybe, if he can keep the registered stats low enough, he can pretend the rest didn't count.
Sequence 12: Forlì Under Apathy
Desmond re-enters the Animus with a heaviness he can't quite shake. The numbers are climbing. The moral gymnastics are getting exhausting. But the Apple needs to reach Forlì. The mission continues. Rebecca mentions something about corrupted data. Shaun explains that there were supposed to be optional DLC sequences here, Sequences 12 and 13, that many players never saw. Most people went straight from Sequence 11 to Sequence 14.
I am not most people.
See, I pirated a version of AC2 specifically to avoid these sequences. I know from my past playthroughs that they added extra mandatory kills. I thought I could skip them entirely and keep my stats clean. Preserve what little moral high ground I have left. But here's the thing about the Mac/PC version: Ubisoft, in a rare moment of consumer-friendliness, pre-loaded the DLC into the base game. No skipping allowed. No escape hatch.
I got screwed over by Ubisoft being helpful for once.
The irony is not lost on me.
Sequence 12 Memory 1: A Warm Welcome, 2: Bodyguard, 3: Holding the Fort.
Ezio travels to Forlì with Caterina Sforza (played by Monica Bellucci) and Machiavelli. They're ambushed by the Orsi brothers, who've been sent by Rodrigo to steal the Apple. We fight our way to Forlì's gates. The city is under siege.
The mission wants me to fight alongside Caterina And Machiaveli. They have no armor. They're vulnerable. The game mechanics are clear: if they die, I desynchronize. (Their other bodyguards are disposable on the other hand).
So I do what I've been doing for dozens of hours now: I become a human shield. I intercept attacks meant for them. I disarm guards. It works. We reach the gates. No additions to my stats. I'm like a manager who shows up to meetings but contributes nothing of value. Except instead of wasting time in a conference room, I'm wasting time in Renaissance Italy while people die around me.
But here's the thing: not even war can stop capitalism. In the middle of this siege, I can break off from combat to visit blacksmiths and refill my smoke bombs. The shops are still open. Business is booming. The image is absurd: arrows flying, allies shouting, and Ezio slipping into a shop to politely purchase more tools for disappearing.
I’m not proud of how relieving it feels to have a “plan” again. Even if that plan is just: throw money at fear until it becomes fog.
+0 to everything.
+1 to the Military Industrial Complex.
Sequence 12 Memory 4: Godfather.
The Orsi brothers have kidnapped Caterina’s children.
I tracked down Ludovico Orsi at a lighthouse.
He was monologuing, threatening a child.
I climbed up. I grabbed him.
Just like Antonio Maffei on the tower in Tuscany all those hours ago, I "threw" him off.
He fell. He hit the ground. He died.
The Animus didn't register it. It doesn't count gravity as a weapon.
+0 Enemies Killed.
It’s getting easier to trick the machine. I’m not sure how I feel about that. It feels like getting away with something in court because the judge was tired.
Sequence 12 Memory 5: Checcomate
Checco runs.
Of course he runs.
They always run, right when I start to think I’m getting the hang of this. Right when I start to believe I can make it to the end without the numbers climbing higher.
He runs toward water, like Venice taught every villain that canals are either an escape route or a moral loophole.
Ezio even calls him out for the bloodshed. For the waste. For the way greed turns people into debris.
And then Checco has an “accident.”
I don’t add anything to the stats. Not a kill. Not a KO. Not even an “oops.” On paper, it’s perfect.
But the victory doesn’t land.
Because the moment I finally get my hands on the Apple again, Checco stabs Ezio, and before I can even process it, a black-robed monk with a missing finger picks up the Apple and walks away with it.
I can’t even hate him properly. I’m too tired.
I’m so close to the end, and somehow the end keeps moving. In a pacifist run, purpose starts to feel like a debt collector. The closer I get to the end, the heavier my hands feel. Like the Animus is reminding me: even if you don’t want to hurt people, history already decided you did.
Sequence 12: Memory 6: Far From the Tree.
Wounded, dizzy, and chasing the shadow of a man I barely saw, Ezio stumbles into an abbey looking for answers.
Instead he finds two guards roughing up a monk, and for a second it almost feels smaller. Human. Petty cruelty instead of grand conspiracy. Like the world has shrunk back down to the scale of a fist and a boot.
Then the mechanics do what they always do.
Two of the guards are immune to wall damage.
No Wall Therapy™. No loophole. No architecture-assisted mercy.
Just fists.
So I beat them.
The Animus logs it as “Enemies killed in a fight,” because it can’t imagine a universe where a man gets knocked out and still matters.
And I feel that weight settle in again, the one I’ve been trying to laugh off for eleven sequences. The quiet understanding that even when I avoid “kills,” I’m still leaving a trail of broken people behind me. Even when the numbers don’t move, something in me does.
+2 Enemies killed in a fight.
And that’s the moment the melancholy really sets in: not because the number went up… but because I can see the end of the journey now, and the closer I get, the more it feels like the Animus is saying:
You can resist the story, but you can’t escape it.
You can soften the violence, but you can’t erase it.
And you will carry every compromise with you to the final memory.
Current Total Despair-o-Meter:
Enemies Killed in Fight: 13
Hidden Blade Kills: 6
Cutscene Kills: 3
UKOs: 27
"Accidents" involving Gravity/Water: ~16
DLC Chapters Forced Upon Me: 1 (so far).
Sequence 13: Bonfire of My Patience
Sequence 13 Memory 1: Florentine Fiasco
The mission starts with Ezio needing to sneak into Florence, which is now under Savonarola's control. The city is crawling with guards. Fighting is everywhere. But the objective is simple: reach Machiavelli without being detected.
I blend with monks. I avoid patrols. I use the chaos of street battles as cover. For once, the mission doesn't demand blood. Just patience.
I reach Machiavelli. He explains the situation. Savonarola has used the Apple to control Florence's leaders. They're oppressing the citizens on his behalf. To stop him, we need to eliminate his nine lieutenants.
Nine forced kills.
The number settles in my stomach like lead.
Memory 2: Still Life
The first lieutenant is an artist, preaching that art is corruption and beauty is temptation and everything should burn.
It’s the most Florence sentence imaginable, and it makes me feel sick.
The mechanics don’t care how I feel. The mechanics want an assassination, and so they get one. Hidden blade. Quiet. Efficient.
The confession is worse than the kill. He admits he wasn’t forced. He believed. His self-doubt did the rest.
+1 Hidden Blade kill.
+1 Enemy killed in a fight.
Memory 3: Climbing the Ranks
This mission is basically “run.” Guards everywhere, archers everywhere, and the target is above you like Ubisoft is trying to remind you that even righteousness still has a vertical difficulty curve.
You can finish it without a direct kill if you’re lucky and fast enough, which is maybe the cruelest part: the sequence keeps showing me tiny doors out of violence, and then locking the next nine in my face.
+0 to everything.
Memory 5: Last Rites
A priest on the Duomo, praying for deliverance while the city rots beneath him.
It’s hard not to hear the irony in the Latin. Harder not to hear the exhaustion in Ezio’s “Requiescat in pace.”
He’s older now. So am I, in a way. Not in years, but in the number of times I’ve had to tell myself, “This is necessary,” and pretend that makes it lighter.
Hidden blade. Another notch. Another name.
+1 Hidden Blade kill.
+1 Enemy killed in a fight.
Memory 6: Port Authority
This is the one that weaponizes my anxiety. If anyone sees you, you desync. The game doesn’t want you to fail because you were violent. It wants you to fail because you were noticed.
I successfully used the "Superblend" glitch here. I clung to the ship like a barnacle, invisible to the guards' eyes despite being three feet away from them.
I felt clever. I felt like a master of the system.
And then I reach the merchant, who is calmly explaining how starving people is a good way to make them obedient.
The Apple didn’t invent that idea. It just made it easier to say out loud.
Hidden blade. Quick. No spectacle.
+1 Hidden Blade kill.
+1 Enemy killed in a fight.
Memory 8: Hitting the Hay
A farmer is hoarding hay like it’s a moral crusade. He talks about resources, about economy, about “simple” work being vital.
I almost respect the honesty of it. Oppression doesn’t always wear armor. Sometimes it wears practical boots and tells you it’s for your own good.
Hidden blade again. And again the confession doesn’t absolve him. He wanted respect. He wanted to be seen. He got power instead, and used it to tighten the noose.
+1 Hidden Blade kill.
+1 Enemy killed in a fight.
Memory 10: Doomsday
The preacher is the worst one because he’s loud.
He screams about famine and disease and corruption like he’s auditioning for a modern comment section. The crowd listens because fear is convincing, and because it’s easier to follow someone who promises certainty than it is to admit you don’t know what comes next.
When Ezio kills him, he says the quiet part out loud:
He didn’t need deception. He already believed.
There’s no Apple to blame. No mind control to point at. Just a man who chose this, and a city that let him.
Hidden blade. Another prayer. Another “this is not easy.”
+1 Hidden Blade kill.
+1 Enemy killed in a fight.
Sequence 13: Memory 11: Power to the People.
Savonarola drops the Apple. A generic Agile guard picks it up.
"Surely," I thought, "I can just tackle him."
I chased him. I tackled him. He stood up.
I punched him. He shrugged it off.
I threw smoke bombs. He coughed, then ran away.
This nameless NPC is immune to everything in the known universe except a sharp piece of metal in the gut.
+1 Hidden Blade Kill.
+1 Enemy Killed in a Fight.
Sequence 13: Memory 12: Mob Justice
Savonarola is tied to a stake.
He’s screaming. He’s praying. He’s terrified.
Ezio says, out loud, that no one deserves to die in such pain.
And I agree. Completely.
So I end it quickly.
It’s mercy and it’s murder at the same time, and I don’t know which word feels heavier anymore.
+1 cutscene kill.
Only three memories in this whole sequence let me keep my hands clean: Florentine Fiasco, Climbing the Ranks, and Arch Nemesis.
Everything else is the same compromise in different lighting.
Ezio delivers a speech the audience. Painting himself as a vengeance absorbed madman to give the people something to hate and unite. It's easy to channel my bitterness to raise others. The irony is more toxic. Ezio preaches how we as humans are free to choose while the Animus has spent 13 Sequences proving I can't. One more sequence to go.
Current Total Despair-o-Meter:
Enemies Killed in Fight: 20 (The dam has broken)
Hidden Blade Kills: 13
Cutscene Kills: 4 (Savonarola joins the club)
UKOs: 27.
Sequence 14: Veni, Vidi, Volui
Desmond enters the Animus one last time.
The Bleeding Effect is so strong now that he's not sure where Ezio ends and he begins. He sees the world in layers. The warehouse in Utah, the Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni, the space between memory and reality where nothing feels solid anymore.
Rebecca says something reassuring. Shaun makes a sarcastic comment. Lucy says they're almost done.
Desmond doesn't respond. He just closes his eyes and lets the Animus pull him under.
We're in the Endgame now.
Sequence 14 Memory 1: X Marks the Spot.
Ezio is tasked with finding the last remaining Holographic Charizard Cards Scattered Across Italy. I scour the ends of the Earth. I did it the pacifist way, of course. Smoke bombs to avoid fights. Courtesans and thieves to “solve problems” without touching anyone. And a lot of quiet jogging through places where I’ve already left too many people bruised, broken, or “unregistered”.
I collected the pages passively, gently, like I was trying to apologize to the game for everything I did in Sequences 12 and 13.
Then we return to the Villa. Everyone is there. Mario. Machiavelli. Teodora. Paola. Antonio. Bartolomeo. The whole Assassin Avengers lineup, standing around the Pokemon wall like this is a group project presentation and I’m about to explain why my section is late.
Ezio places the pages into the wall, and suddenly all of this, all of it, turns into a map. Light beams. Coordinates. Unsettling prophecies. Lands that “don’t exist” yet. The implication that the world is bigger than Ezio’s grief and bigger than my stats screen.
And then the punchline lands:
The Vault is in Rome.
We finally understand Rodrigo Borgia’s master plan.
He isn’t just a Templar. He is the CEO of Epic Games.
He wants to enter the Vault to replace the currency of the world with V-Bucks so he can take a 30% cut of all global transactions.
Ezio, a staunch defender of the Currency of the People, COD Points, is appalled. He knows he must stop this monetization of the human soul.
The map points to Rome. It ends today.
Sequence 14: Memory 2: In Bocca Al Lupo
I travel to the Vatican.
And whether we wanted it or not, we've stepped into a war with the Templars in Rome.
So let's get to taking out their command, one by one.
Mario drops Ezio off at the docks near Castel Sant'Angelo. From here, Ezio must infiltrate the Vatican, navigate its defenses, and reach Rodrigo Borgia in the Sistine Chapel.
The mission is long. Exhausting. Wave after wave of guards, walls to climb, gates to open, restricted areas to sneak through. My hands bleed from all the climbing.
But here's the thing: most of it can be done without killing.
I use coins. Not to bribe guards or distract them in the traditional sense, but because if you throw coins from their side, not in front of them, it makes them turn around just long enough to slip past and open gates.
I blend with monks. I wait in haystacks. I take my time.
The "undetected" sections are tough. But I've learned patience. I've learned to read patrol patterns. I've learned that sometimes the longest route is the safest route.
I make it through most of the Vatican without registering a single kill.
And there he is. The Pope. The Spaniard. The CEO.
He is giving a TED Talk. The game prompts me to strike.
This is it. The moment of revenge.
I climb the scaffolding. I lock on. I leap.
I air assassinate the Pope.
Ezio lands the blow. The Hidden Blade connects.
But Rodrigo has the Staff of Eden. He doesn't die. He just stumbles, laughs, and blasts me with magic.
However, I check the Animus stats page.
The game registered the input.
+1 Hidden Blade Kill.
+1 Enemy Killed in a Fight.
It didn’t kill him, but it killed my streak.
Ezio tried to murder him. The intent was there.
In the eyes of the Animus, I am a killer, even if I failed at the job.
Maybe the Animus counts it because intent matters. Because even if you fail, even if the target survives, the choice to kill is what leaves the mark.
And I’m sitting there thinking: is this what I’ve been doing the whole time?
Not “stopping tyrants,” not “saving free will,” just repeatedly trying to make the numbers behave.
Rodrigo survives and turns the room into a nightmare. The staff drains the life from everyone else, and suddenly it’s only Ezio standing, because the Apple is in his pocket like a shield and a curse at the same time.
The boss fight is almost poetic in a sick way.
Rodrigo uses the staff like an executioner’s spear.
Ezio uses the Apple to create copies of himself.
And I realize the pattern hasn’t changed at all.
Even at the end, even in the Sistine Chapel, I’m still outsourcing violence.
Only now I’m outsourcing it to hallucinations.
Rodrigo stabs Ezio with a knife. Then Rodrigo runs. Of course he runs.
Ezio follows him down into a place that doesn’t look like Italy anymore. Blue lights, strange walls, architecture that feels like the future trying to haunt the past.
And here, the game does something almost kind:
It makes Ezio drop his weapons.
No blades. No gadgets. No tricks.
Just fists.
Just anger.
Just the raw, exhausted question at the center of this whole run: *what do you do when someone deserves to be hurt?*
I beat him.
I win.
Rodrigo begs me to finish it.
And Ezio… doesn’t.
He steps back.
He says killing won’t bring his family back. He says he’s done.
And I don’t know if I’m supposed to feel catharsis or grief, because it’s the one time the story aligns with my stupid little challenge.
The one time the character chooses restraint on his own.
After thirteen sequences of trying to force mercy through loopholes, the game hands me the only mercy that matters: the one you choose when you could have done worse.
The Vault opens anyway.
Because the story was never about Rodrigo.
Ezio walks into the chamber and meets Minerva:a “goddess” that laughs at being called a goddess.
She speaks to Ezio like he’s a tool. A messenger. A mouthpiece.
And then she turns her head.
Not to him.
Past him.
Through him.
To Desmond.
The twist lands like a brick: Ezio was never the audience. He was the medium. The last thirteen sequences were a letter addressed to someone else.
Ezio stands there, bleeding and confused, and the hologram tells him to be silent so she can speak through him.
And I think about how many people I’ve thrown into walls to get here.
How many I justified.
How many I didn’t even count because the Animus wouldn’t.
And the only reward is: you were a conduit.
Epilogue: Leaving the Hideout
The credits roll, and for a brief moment I’m tempted to stop. To end here. To let the story freeze on Ezio’s confusion and let my last memory be restraint.
But Assassin’s Creed II has one final joke.
Desmond wakes up. The warehouse is being raided.
Lucy shoves a hidden blade into his hand.
And Desmond’s story comes full circle.
At the beginning of the game, he refused to fight, and Lucy slaughtered Abstergo goons like she was speedrunning a different genre.
Now Desmond has the skills. Now Desmond has the blade. But Lucy goes on a rampage, slaughtering the Abstergo team.
I stand in the corner, keeping my hands clean, watching the cycle of violence continue exactly as it always has.
Because the Animus doesn’t count this.
The Animus stops counting the moment it matters.
You can take your time. Unlimited health. A pile of guards between you and escape.
Vidic stands in the back like a man who knows you can’t touch him yet.
I look at the guards. They are just private security. They are just doing a job.
I refused to fight in the beginning of the game.
I refuse to fight now.
Desmond’s story comes full circle.
He started the game as a useless bartender letting Lucy kill everyone while he watched.
He ends the game as a Master Assassin... letting Lucy kill everyone while he watches.
And Vidic leaves anyway.
Temporary victory. Permanent weight.
They pack up the Animus and drive off into the night, and Desmond climbs into another machine like it’s a coffin with better lighting.
I started this run trying to stay my blade from the innocent.
I ended it watching the story demand blood from everyone I pilot, in every era, in every room.
And I don’t know what to do with that, except write it down.
Because if the Animus doesn’t record thoughts, only action, then this is the only place the guilt gets to exist.
Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.
Even pacifism. Even in a game called Assassin's Creed.
Final Stats:
-27 UKOs (Unregistered KOs via wall-throwing).
-4 Cutscene Kills (Uberto, Jacopo, Rodrigo's guard, Savonarola).
-21 Enemies Killed in a Fight (1 guard at Leo's, Vieri, Francesco, Carlo, 3 training
dummies, 3 gun dummies, 3 tournament fighters, Marco, courier, 2 abbey guards, 7 lieutenants, Rodrigo assassination attempt).
-14 Hidden Blade Kills (3 training dummies, 1 guard, Francesco, Carlo, courier, 7 lieutenants, Rodrigo assassination attempt).
-Accidental Drownings: ~16-17.
-Indirect Deaths: 3 courtesans.
