6 - The House of the Crow

Noli, the manservant of Matteo Corsini, seeks out Marco, Rocco, Astore, Fra Giovanni and Father Arturo at the Gatto Nero. It seems that the Scimioni Volanti – the Flying Monkeys - still haunt the streets of Rome at night. Were the party interested in following up and trying further to disrupt or destroy this evil? He had heard a rumour that the Thirteen were offering a bounty on these creatures.

Noli had been studying the ledger from the ruined mansion on the Quirinale where they had previously thwarted the plot to sacrifice a virgin and summon a demon. He had tried to contact some of the merchants named in the ledger. So far none had any clear recollection of their transactions, though it was plain that they had delivered goods and services. None had been paid. None could remember the person with whom they had dealt. To Noli’s mind this was evidence of some sort of sorcery in play.

Father Arturo and Noli set off to see if they glean something more from the merchants with further questioning and the help of the Lord. After a few days of this activity – and a number of slammed doors – they found a name, clearly a pseudonym – Corvo – that came up a few times. Just one witness, a merchant named Borromeo, could furnish a tentative link to a genuine name – Aristofane Caltagirone. Meanwhile the others returned to the Quirinale where they found little but glimpsed a flying monkey and noted the vector of its flight southward towards the Viminal Hill.

Taking their discoveries to Cola di Rienzo who confirmed that the Thirteen were taking an interest. He told them that the Caltagironi were an ancient family fallen on hard times in the last century. Their coat-of-arms featured three crows. He suggested looking for old buildings that bore this sign. Following the vector of the flying monkey they eventually found a palazzo displaying three carved crows on the northern slopes of the Viminali.

Joined by Matteo Corsini, they use his resources to rent an apartment nearby and set a watch, while making discreet enquiries locally. They observe a pattern of regular deliveries of supplies to indicate that the palazzo was indeed occupied. They form a plan to gain entry disguised as delivery men and bribe the real vendors to use their cart.

The plan succeeds and they burst into a courtyard. A sharp fight ensues with a couple of misshapen servitors, some necromantic constructs and three flying monkeys. One of the servitors – a hunchback with one disproportionately long, muscular arm – escapes and bars a door against them. They dispose of their opponents: the necromantic constructs dismembered; two demons slain and a third banished by Father Arturo; the second servitor, a slow witted giant with mismatched legs called Grumio, is captured.

They break down the barred door, to find the other servitor and presumably his master fled. A series of hidden doors are opened to reveal a secret laboratory and an exit which they speculate might lead to the ancient tunnels rumoured to lie beneath the city. They find a deal of glassware, including some strange liquids and a few scrolls. There is an ice-store with a number of human body parts in it and an iron cage surrounded by engraved sigils on the floor. They leave with scrolls, glassware and two demon corpses.

Grumio, who wails endlessly for his master is left in possession of the apartment that Corsini rented in order to watch the Caltagirone place.