15 - The Three Way House

Marco is standing guard on the first floor. Below, Lino and Renzo are getting ready to depart with the children. As he watches from a hidden position in the shadows, he sees Gepetto Bardone enter the courtyard. He shouts up for his aunt, telling her to be ready in three hours. Marco infers that this is when they will be transporting the nuns for sacrifice to the House of Crows. He runs downstairs to abort the departure of Renzo and the children and make a new plan. In the ensuing confusion Rosa overplays her hand and is unmasked as Ornella Morisi. Her sorceries revealed, she evades capture and flees into the underdark upon a broomstick.

They resolve to send Fra. Giovanni with the news to Cola and beg him to send assistance; free the children onto the streets; assault the other parts of the Three Way House and rescue the nuns.

The first two are easily done. Lorenzo casts a spell that allows Fra Giovanni to leave by an upstairs window and gently float down to the street below. He then hobbles off in the direction of the Aventine. They open the doors to the street and the children run out (though it turns out afterwards that a couple of them have hung around).

The cortile of the palazzo is divided by six foot high hurdles between Ornella's part and those of the brothers. In the brothers' half there are a number of mastiffs roaming around free but few evident guards. They remove a hurdle and charge into the other section of the cortile. The dogs are soon put to flight. A couple of guards put up a fight but are wounded and secured. The main resistance comes from a crossbowman shooting from the gallery. As they advance they hear a heavenly choir praying for their success as the nuns raise their voices in support.

The crossbowman turns out to be Gepetto Bardone. He leads Rocco and Astore a merry dance and when they think him trapped at last he still manages to evade them, with an agile manouevre that belies his apparent years.

At the end of the engagement they have seized complete control of the Three Way House, but all the Bardoni have evaded them. Outside they can hear an increasing angry murmur as a mob gathers against the stranieri who have invaded the Suburra.

14 - A Council of War and a Reconnaissance in Strength

At the Black Cat there is a Council of War. Apart from the senior members of Cola's Famiglia, others in attendance, include Matteo Corsini and his servant Noli and Renzo and Lino from the Termi de Diocleziano. Cola gives a speech in which he says that the Bardoni seizure of the House of Crows cannot stand unanswered. He draws a connection, not only with the recent disorder in the City, but specifically the kidnap of six nuns from the Convent of Santa Bibiana - not so far from the Bardoni stronghold in the Suburra. "For do we not suspect the Bardoni of collusion with the sorceror Caltagirone? His interest in obtaining virgins for the summoning of scimioni volanti - flying monkeys - is well known."

Discussion then falls to ways and means and it decided that a strong party will go to reconnoitre the underground entrance of the Bardoni stronghold. For it transpires that Renzo and Lino as youngsters were Spigolatori - gleaners in the dark for Ornella Morisi, the aunt of Gepetto and Carlo Bardone and a key member of their gang. They know the secret ways under the city and an entrance from which they could lead a party to the underground entrance to the Bardoni palazzo.

Reconnaisance in Strength

Led by Renzo and Lino, Marco, Father Arturo, Rocco, Fra. Giovanni, Astore and Lorenzo make their way up the Esquiline to a jumble of ruins and from thence squeeze down a dark opening in the rubble. They follow a maze of passages until they come to a set of steps upwards and a heavy door. An advance guard of Lino and Rocco are discovered by its guardians - demonic creatures that seem half man and half beast. Their comrades come to the rescue and battle ensues. A woman appears in the doorway. Taking her to be Ornella Morisi - rumoured to be a witch - the wizard Lorenzo envelopes her head in a well-aimed globe of fire. She falls down the steps, face and head horribly burned and is dispatched. The beastmen are slain and the party have access to the basement of the palazzo.

The Three Way House

In the basement they free a score of children, caged and living in miserable conditions. Upstairs they find a strange arrangement. The large palazzo is divided into three more or less discrete parts. They take two prisoners, a maid called Rosa and an archivist called Ubaldo. They are both cooperative. Ubaldo curates an immense collection of ancient artifacts gleaned from the underdark. He tells them that the palazzo is shared equally between Ornella and the Bardoni brothers and that relations are currently strained between Ornella and her nephews. He thinks it something to do with the alchemist, Caltagirone. He was Ornella's protege, and created the Beastmen for her. He seems to have transferred his alliegance now to the brothers. He confirms that he saw a group of nuns who were clearly captives. He believes it likely that they are held captive somewhere in the brothers' domain.

Renzo and Lino are concerned about the children and propose to lead them back through the underdark, deposit them at a monastery and then go to report to Cola. The maid Rosa is very keen to help with this so they agree to let her accompany them.

13 - Search for Marisa

In the morning, Rocco and Bettina go in search of Marisa, who they believe is trying to keep a watch on the House of Crows. As they approach their destination, Rocco is made by some ruffians in one of the local taverns. He and Bettina split up - Bettina to search out Marisa; Rocco to go the Baths of Diocletian to seek out Fra Michele and let him know the news and talk to Renzo. They meet up later, Bettina with Marisa in tow, and return to the Deliziosa.