A notebook was kept by the British Master Assassin Evie Frye during the mid-19th century. It chronicled her and her brother's activities in London as they attempted to wrest power from the Templars and locate the Shroud of Eden.[1]
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For his part, Jacob believes I found some ancient pottery that cracked when exposed to an electrical charge. Ancient pottery! Unfortunately for me, the subsequent explosion of the laboratory means that I cannot disprove the hypothesis.
If we had timed our mission even a few hours sooner, I would be holding the proof in my hands even now! But I know what I saw.
I also had the opportunity to observe the famed Miss Lucy Thorne. She was more interested in speedy results than the actual object they'd found. I suppose it is to be expected of a Templar that she would focus more on gaining power than gaining information. Still, she does not seem to be a woman to be trifled with. I'll need to proceed carefully.
If what Sir David told me as he died is true, Miss Thorne is either in possession of another Piece of Eden or knows where one is. Jacob and I have come to London to find it.
It would be more truthful to say that _I_ have come to London with that aim in mind. I am supported by Mr. Henry Green, an Assassin from our Brothers in India.
Jacob is more interested in a scheme to use London's gangs to take back the city from Templar control.
I told him it was a plot worthy of Ezio Auditore himself. He looked at me blankly and said "Who?"
At least this will keep him occupied while I attempt to locate Miss Thorne's Piece of Eden. Jacob has a tendency to act rashly when he gets impatient.
He is calling them "the Rooks".
(Added Later:)
It has taken the bribing of several of Mr. Green's London contacts, not to mention intercepting messages meant for Templar agents, but we have determined that Miss Thorne does not yet have the Piece of Eden.
That much is good news.
However, she is expecting a delivery to the London docks, which she will collect personally. Whatever it is, I must get to it before she does.
Unfortunately for us, that was not the end of the story.
I visited Lambeth to find that things had not settled as we had hoped they would. Instead, in the absence of the Syrup, people were turning to other tonics – some little more than tinted water, others with less savory ingredients. Meanwhile, medicine – real medicine – was being stolen and sold to the highest bidder.
Clara O'Dea and several of her children fell ill and might not have pulled through, but for my intervention and the care of Miss Florence Nightingale.
Bringing a cure to Clara and a cure to the borough at large are two very different things, so further action is required. Mr. Green assisted me in rooting out the thieves hoarding medical supplies. (Jacob was nowhere to be found) I have reported some of the culprits to Mr. Abberline for the police to deal with; the rest we have seen to ourselves.
I have also put some of the Assassins' money toward Miss Nightingale's efforts to create better sanitation regulations, which she assures me will help stall the spread of disease "better than any tonic, however effective".
(I have no small delight in being able to count the famed Lady of the Lamp as an acquaintance, although our first meeting was under unpleasant circumstances.)
At least I have the notebook, and several papers that I found tucked inside. I also take comfort in the fact that Miss Thorne does not have it. Though I was so certain that she would be receiving the Piece of Eden itself! Let this be a lesson to me not to rush to conclusions.
Mr. Green has moved some of his books from his curio shop to the train so that we have the resources as we analyze the notebook's contents. It is nice to have the company as I work.
Accordingly, I took myself to the borough to see if there was more at work. It seems that, in his haste, Jacob incapacitated both of London's principal omnibus companies, not just Attaway's. This created something of a vacuum in the transit world.
I happened upon several of the Blighters menacing the life and family of one of Edward Hodson Bayley. It seems Bayley is looking to start his own omnibus company and aims to set standards for the quality of service.
I drove off the Blighters and helped Bayley secure the permissions he needed to set up his company. Hopefully the Omnibuses will be up and running very soon; the current situation is causing headaches for anyone trying to navigate London's streets.
I really must speak to Jacob about thinking through the repercussions of his actions. He is creating almost as many problems as he solves.
It seems that the Piece of Eden that Miss Thorne is seeking is a Shroud of Eden, which the Assassins recovered at some point before they left London. Where that Shroud is, or why Miss Thorne seeks it, are still a mystery.
I found a series of directions that pointed to a hidden vault within the Kenway house. It was once owned by Edward Kenway, a Master Assassin, and then passed to his son Haytham, a Templar Grand Master (one can only imagine the family dinners). After the Kenways' time, the mansion passed out of our history. Or so we thought.
I travelled there, accompanied by Mr. Green, only to find that the house is still being occupied by Templars. Indeed, it seems Miss Thorne has made it her principal place of business, for we saw her enter as we arrived.
I was determined to enter in any case, avoiding a direct confrontation if at all possible. We found Edward Kenway's hidden vault – a secret that has managed to remain hidden for more than a century.
Rather unfortunately, Edward Kenway's method of "concealing" a vault involved a player piano that alerted the guards to our presence. Mr. Green and I had the barest amount of time to look around and see the treasures hidden within before we had to flee. I came away with a single piece of paper and a metal disk.
That sounds like very little, I know. However, the paper itself tells us the story of the London Assassins before they were wiped out. Several bolt holes are mentioned, any one of which might contain valuable information about our history. And the disk promises to unlock a key – a Precursor object, hidden somewhere in London.
(How strange, the phrase "to unlock a key". I wonder if it is an attempt at a joke on Kenway's part. Given the player piano, I have a low opinion of his sense of humour.)
We shall have to return to the Kenway mansion at a later time, to deal with the Templars in a more final manner, and reclaim the rest of the artifacts inside.
In the meantime, the information I recovered points to the disk being a piece of the Monument, so I am headed there to discover what secrets it might hold.
Jacob has arrived and seems determined to accompany me, though I have not invited him.
*N.B (I wrote that before I thought. I should say 'we', for Mr. Green was there as well, and we are often together.)
And Jacob's flair for causing trouble has struck again.
It seems that despite warnings that he must exercise care and discretion when dealing with the Bank of England, Jacob has proceeded in his most heavy-handed manner. The newspapers are reporting the scandal, questioning the security of the nation's currency, and it seems that in the ensuing chaos, a gang of counterfeiters managed to infiltrate the bank and make off with the printing plates for pound notes.
Actually endangering the security of this nation's currency!
I met Sergeant Abberline, who explained the situation while overseeing an unruly mob. Prices in the marketplace had already begun to rise, causing riots. The sergeant predicted nothing less than complete economic collapse. I attempted to calm his nerves but his concern was not misplaced.
However, between us we concocted a scheme to reclaim the plates and replace them in the bank. Once the bank staff "found" that the plates had never left the building and the newspapers began to report the mistake, the public seemed to disbelieve the stories about Twopenny as well.
Prices have stabilized, and any counterfeit currency has been destroyed.
I remain alert for Jacob's next adventure and what new trouble it may bring.
I travelled to the Monument, Jacob following along. He made several absurd comments about my relationship with Mr. Green, and how Father would have viewed it.
As if Jacob ever cared how our father would have viewed anything.
The clues I uncovered led me to St. Paul's Cathedral, where I was able to open a secret room, concealed in the very top of the dome. The room was empty except for a plinth, on which was the key that Kenway's manuscript had promised. The inscription on the plinth said "Aegrescit medendo". (It's Latin: "The Remedy is Worse than the Disease.")
I was musing on this and what it could mean when Miss Thorne overtook me.
I drew her out, asking about the Shroud and why she wants it. She revealed that the Shroud confers immortality. She attacked me before I could trick her into telling me more.
We fought. I thought I had her beaten, but she is not a woman who gives up easily. I misjudged her strength. At the last second we struggled, and she stumbled into one of the windows, which shattered. She fell, but as she did she grasped the chain around my neck which held the key. My neck was suspended above the jagged glass of the windowsill – a moment more and I would have been impaled – so I cut the chain that held her, and let her fall.
When I looked out the window a moment later, she was gone, and the key with her.
I have tried to find words to express my frustration, to no avail.
For now, Mr. Green and I are attempting to find what it is the key is meant to unlock, in the hopes that we may find it before Miss Thorne does. The shape is unique, and we are certain we will be able to find a mention of it in one of Henry's catalogues of antiquities.
I can only hope that Miss Throne is still searching, as we are. I have had no word of her whereabouts, not even from Clara, whose urchins see every going-on in London. Perhaps she is locked in her library, as we are.
I see that I have called Mr. Green very informally above. That is a habit I must try to curb. Perhaps Jacob is right. I must not allow emotions to compromise the Assassins.
Our searches of Henry's catalogues did turn up an image of the key, and the casket it is supposed to open. The casket was in the possession of the Royal Family, kept at the Tower of London.
I set out for the Tower alone. I feel that Mr. Green would have accompanied me, had I asked. I felt it was best that I carry out this task alone.
Miss Thorne was already there when I arrived. The Templars had thoroughly infiltrated the Yeomen, so it was with difficulty that I made my way inside St. John's Chapel, where Miss Thorne was continuing her search. She had not found the promised casket, but hoped still that it might be there, concealed in a hidden vault.
We fought. This time I did not let my guard down.
Miss Thorne revealed little upon her death, save for an admonishment that I do not know the true extent of the Shroud's power. It was likely a posture, but it is true that I know very little. I will find out more when the Shroud itself is in my possession.
In any case, the casket was not in the chapel. It must have been removed at some point in the last century, though when and to where, I cannot say. We _must_ find it before the Templars do.
I have examined and re-examined the notebook that we recovered from the dockyards, along with Edward Kenway's history of the Assassins, but the bolt holes revealed nothing relevant. Henry and I are at our wits' end.
We must assume that the Templars are no further ahead than we are.
Henry has arrived with some bit of news. He is obviously excited, so I will finish this later.
I wish that were enough information to go on. However, Buckingham is large enough to make a search impractical. Mr. Green attempted to obtain a rare set of architectural plans that would reveal the location, but the Templars had stolen it first.
Our attempt to recover the plans was disastrous. Mr. Green was captured, and rather than acquiring the plans, I abandoned the mission to find and free him. I make no excuses for my clouded judgement. I fear my father would be disappointed in me.
My only comfort is that I still hold the key to the Shroud's casket.
In worse news, Crawford Starrick has hatched a plan to attack Buckingham Palace tonight. He means to kill the Queen and take the Shroud. Perhaps he thinks my key is unnecessary. I hope that he is wrong.
Jacob and I have agreed that this shall be our last mission together. His methods have become too chaotic for me to continue working with him. He has made it clear that he also finds my presence insufferable. It is for the best that we part ways.
I am not sure what will happen tonight, so I will focus on the mission at hand.
It's tempting to regard this as a complete victory. It feels like one. However, London's underclasses still live in abject poverty, ruled by a capricious and cruel elite. Women are still denied education, suffrage, and property rights. England's military still stretches out to steal wealth from other nations to build our own coffers. The Assassins still have much work to do if we wish for London to be truly free.
Jacob and I have mended our differences, for now. It remains to be seen if we can both bend enough in our philosophies to continue to work together, but I am optimistic.
One philosophy I have decided to abandon entirely – Father's adage that relationships will compromise the Brotherhood. I think his love for my mother proves that on this point, he was mistaken.
Henry has agreed to stay with me in London, for the moment. In exchange, I have agreed to travel with him to India in the near future.
He is waiting for me now, so I will close here.
