Playing It by Ear

Playing It by Ear was a virtual representation of one of Evie Frye's genetic memories, relived by a Helix initiate in 2015 through the Helix Navigator.

Description

Evie and Henry infiltrated the Kenway Mansion to continue the search for the Piece of Eden.

Dialogue

Aboard the train, Henry read through the notebook.

• Henry: You may have not found a Piece of Eden—but this material is invaluable. Look! It says the London Assassins had found a Shroud...

Evie and Henry looked in the notebook.

• Evie: "The Shroud of Eden is supposed to heal even the greatest even the gravest injury". If the Assassins had found something like this, surely Father would have known.
• Henry: There must be something we're missing.
• Evie: Something only we can see...

Evie seeing hidden directions with her Eagle Vision

Activating her Eagle Vision, Evie saw drawings in the notebook, including an arch decorated with a sculpture of a ship, St. Paul's Cathedral, an underground entrance, and a compass.

• Evie: These look like directions! Are you coming?
• Henry: Fieldwork is not really my specialty.
• Evie: We've found a clue to a Precursor object—don't you want to follow it?
• Henry: Put that way, one can hardly refuse.

Leaving the train, Evie and Henry took a carriage and followed the directions given by the notebook.

• Henry: Do you know, I think this map may be taking us to the Kenway Mansion!
• Evie: Kenway? The pirate?
• Henry: Master Assassin and pirate, yes.
• Evie: How much do you know about the Shroud of Eden?
• Henry: It's said to heal the sick—popular myth is that it brings people back from the dead, but the Assassin records say that's not true. I've never heard of one being in London, though. Do you really think Edward Kenway could have found one?
• Evie: He traveled extensively, so it's possible. But if he did, he kept it a closely guarded secret.
• Henry: But if it's true—what a find it would be.
• Evie: Indeed. I'm eager to find out, myself. It's surprising that you haven't already searched the Kenway house.
• Henry: Edward's son, Haytham, joined the Templars. When he died, the house passed on to Haytham's sister.
• Evie: And in all your time in London, you didn't go and have a look around? Weren't even a little curious?
• Henry: Truly, I didn't expect to find anything there. We've no way of knowing how many times the building's changed hands. I presumed Haytham would have had it stripped bare before he left.
• Evie: But if Miss Thorne thinks the Shroud could still be there...
• Henry: If there's a vault, the Templars haven't found it yet.
• Evie: So, the Templars owned a house with Assassin treasures stored in it—and never located them.
• Henry: We must be better at hiding things than they are.

Evie spotted the Jackdaw sculpture on the arch entrance to the Kenway Mansion.

• Evie: I think this is it.
• Henry: I think you're right. Look.

Thorne arriving at the mansion

Lucy Thorne arrived.

• Thorne: I'll be in the study. I don't want to be interrupted, unless you have news of the lost notebook.
• Evie: That makes getting in a challenge.
• Henry: You still intend to enter?
• Evie: If this is a Templar stronghold, it won't get any easier. But don't worry, we'll stay well away from Miss Lucy. Shall we?

Evie and Henry searched for entrances to the mansion.

• Evie: Can you check over there?
• Henry: Of course.
• Templar 1: I'm telling you, the Assassins don't even know we're here.
• Templar 2: But she says high alert, so we have to hop to.
• Templar 1: I haven't seen Miss Thorne so angry since Charlie dropped that blood vial.
• Templar 2: Who's Charlie?
• Templar 1: Exactly.
• Templar 3: I suppose patrolling is better than standing still. I wonder if this high alert is some kind of training.

Evie and Henry infiltrated the mansion. Inside, Evie found several pieces of Kenway's memorabilia collection, starting with a model of the Jackdaw on a hallway desk.

• Evie: That looks interesting.

She found a pair of pistols hanging on a wall on the main floor in an alcove across and to the right from the front door.

• Evie: Miss Thorne is quite the collector.

In the opposite alcove, she saw a pair of crossed sabers on the wall.

• Evie: I can't believe they've kept all of this.

She found a feathered tricorne hat on a desk in the hall.

• Evie: Something from Edward Kenway's time.

Evie found a blood vial on a desk.

• Evie: Another Assassin artifact.

She found a ship model on a desk in the hall.

• Evie: I wish father could have seen this.

She found a map of Jamaica on a desk in another room.

• Evie: This should belong to the Assassins.
• Templar 4: Still nothing here, same as last time.
• Templar 5: This is a waste of my time. I feel like I'm being watched.
• Templar 6: I don't even know what I'm looking for. If this keeps up, I'm gonna tell her I'm not patrolling anymore.
• Templar 7: Heh, be my guest, but that won't end well for you.
• Templar 8: What's Miss Thorne looking for, anyway?
• Templar 9: No idea.
• Templar 8: Miss Thorne's been jumping at shadows since the Assassins got that notebook, if you ask me.
• Templar 9: Don't let her hear you say that.

Henry and Evie entering the piano room

Evie and Henry entered a large room with a piano.

• Henry: What are we looking for?
• Evie: I'm not quite sure...

They began examining the room for clues

• Henry: What are the Templars not seeing?
• Evie: Something only we can.
• Henry: This piano is beautiful.
• Evie: Do you play?
• Henry: No. I wish I could. I love the sound. You?
• Evie: A little. Enough to pass as a genteel young lady if I need to.
• Henry: I would love to hear you play if the opportunity presents itself. Edward Kenway was a pirate. Where would a pirate hide his treasure?
• Evie: I'd hide mine in a library.
• Henry: Mine would be the library.

Evie touched the piano keys, triggering a mechanism of some sort.

• Henry: What are you doing—
• Evie: Did you hear that?

Using her Eagle Vision, Evie saw musical notes on the wall and played the melody, the chorus to the shanty Lowlands Away, on the piano. It activated a device that retracted the floor near a cabinet, opening a large passage leading to a hidden room, all while the partially-mechanized piano continued playing aloud.

• Henry: Not enormously subtle, is it?
• Evie: Clearly, Kenway had a strong sense of spectacle.

Evie and Henry went into the hidden room, which held several of Kenway's belongings.

• Henry: This is incredible.

Henry saw a ship wheel.

• Henry: I think this is from the Jackdaw... To think, this has been hidden for a century... I wish we could take these with us.

Evie with the golden disk

Evie retrieved a golden disc and a document. On viewing it in Eagle Vision, she saw hidden writing and an Assassin insignia.

• Evie: A history of the London Assassins... bolt holes... vaults... a hidden key. This is it.

Thorne and one of her Blighter guards entered the room above.

• Thorne: You say you heard music?

Thorne noticed the passage.

• Thorne: There was no opening there before.

Henry hurriedly closed the passage door.

• Blighter: It's closing!
• Thorne: Yes, I can see that! Help me block it!

The passage door closed.

• Evie: We need to find another way out.
• Thorne: You two! Get Henrietta! Try to find if there's another exit.
  There must be a switch somewhere! Check the walls!
  You said you heard the piano?
• Blighter: Yes, Miss Thorne.
• Thorne: That could be the trigger. Examine it closely.
  John! Get a crowbar! We'll force the hatch open!
  Those books! Check them!
  When this is all over, I will want to know how they got in here!
  Keep searching!

Turning the wheel of the Jackdaw, Evie opened a hatch that led to a passage into the sewer, allowing her and Henry to escape.

• Evie: An entire vault filled with Assassin history, left behind once again.
• Henry: We'll just have to reclaim this one later or find a better cache.
• Evie: "We"? I thought you preferred to stay out of of fieldwork.
• Henry: I... I was thinking more of you and your brother. I shall provide planning assistance. From the train.
• Evie: Jacob's off marauding. There is a vacancy, should you desire to broaden your horizons.
• Henry: Oh... Well, Evie, I-- Oh, well, Evie... I will think on it.
• Evie: You do that. Come, let's get above ground.

Evie and Henry left the sewers through a manhole.

Outcome

Evie and Henry learned that Edward Kenway had found a Shroud of Eden and had left clues as to its location.

Gallery

• 
  Henry with the notebook Evie recovered
• 
  Henry and Evie
• 
  A document detailing Assassin history
• 
  Thorne and a Blighter finding the opened passage
• 
  Henry closing the passage door

Behind the Scenes

The hat displayed as memorabilia is the same model as Blackbeard's hat in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.

References

• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate