Courtesan

"You too must learn to blend like us; seen, but unseen. "

―Paola's training on Ezio

The Courtesans are one of the three factions of Assassin's Creed II helping the main character Ezio (the other two being the Thieves and the Mercenaries. Led by Paola, whose brothel is located in Florence, and by Sister Teodora, who is situated in Venice.

The courtesans can help Ezio by surrounding him which let him walk the streets unnoticed. Courtesans are very useful when trying to steal codex pages, or treasures inside banks as guards don't notice Ezio after the Courtesans seduce them. However, courtisans are not recomended to be used for long distances for guards will eventually pass by and pull two Courtesans automatically to them, making it harder for Ezio to blend. Keep in mind that they are slower than Ezio, are useless in fights (except as one-hit-cannon-fodder), and cannot perform any form of parkour.

Courtesans in Venice.

Functions

• They help Ezio learn how to blend in.
• They can help fight guards with daggers when Ezio is attacked, though they go down very easily.
• They can be used to distract guards.
• Guards walking by Ezio can take two of the four Courtesans he has hired without notice. Two courtesans is still enough to distract any number of guards as long they are grouped to each other.

Achievement

You can win an achievement/trophy, "Red Light Addict", by spending 5000 florins on them. One group of courtesans costs 150 florins. Therefore, you need to hire at least 34 groups to get it.

Trivia

• All ordinary courtesans are barefoot.
• Courtesans were used to assassinate Silvio Barbarigo's uncle.
• A glitch found while running around outside of Forlì - it seems that if one of the courtesans becomes stuck, separated from the group, and left behind, but does not officially leave the group as when distracting guards, the remaining three courtesans will not activate any blending effects when surrounding Ezio until he approaches the lost courtesan's perimeter and again enters the 'middle' of the group.
• Also, courtesans' swimming seems to be on par with that if Altaïr - if knocked into the water, a courtesan will scream on the way down, and then fail to reemerge. The remaining three courtesans will continue to activate the blending effect without her, indicating that the death of the one courtesan is similar to when two leave the group to distract passing guards, leaving the other two alone to cover Ezio.