Venetica

This for people who want some help with the boss of this chapter.

The boss is the Assassins' Mistress who you may recognize from the opening, which means she's one of the Archon's council.

You can answer her questions however you like depending on what attitude you're going for. I don't think it would affect whether she fights you or not. ;)

The first stage of the fight takes place with the Mistress on the scaffolding shooting knives down at you. The knives are easy enough to dodge for the most part but the Mistress is out of reach of your current weaponry.

But the scaffolding's not!

If you've gotten to the boss fight then you should have pilfered a hammer off one of the hammer wielders already and you know how the hammers are against wood...

Equip the hammer (RT or LT until hammer icon shows) and smash the scaffolding down with a solid couple of hits on each support.

The Mistress will fall via a crashing cutscene and you will then engage in standard Assassins swordplay with rolling, dodging, and parrying.

Mastering the combination attacks here would be crucial to keeping the Mistress off balance and the Moonblade would be the fastest weapon to use. (Though if you want to use block, switching to a sword would be better.)

Combo attack her life down to zero and you will see her crumple to a heap into the shallow water.

At which, the scene will shift to the world of the dead with the Mistress saying "My soul will not let you go!" Creepy.

The Mistress will then appear as a giant green earthworm out of the ground with head peeling back petals to "bloom" a snake-headed woman.

Yikes!

NOTE: Twilight energy will not resurrect you at this stage of the fight, but you will only be sent to the beginning of this stage if you die, so don't panic.

The "petals" turned tentacles will be your target but are also very elusive. If raised, they will strike you back with a sharp whip crack. And may also grab you and throw you for major damage.

The only way to hit them would be when they're at rest. The sign may be hard to recognize at first but the tentacle will droop slightly. Run around the Mistress to avoid her occasional venom sprays until you see a tentacle droop. Strike the appendage and if you see the tentacle wiggle and rise to strike back, back away and keep running. A successful hit will induce a shriek from the Mistress at which you should then combo attack the tentacle until it withers away and the Mistress will fold up and burrow back underground.

NOTE: Combo attack also ensures the Mistress wouldn't retaliate as you beat her body part to death.

Don't relax though as the camera angle rises up to show you the ground you're walking on... from which the Mistress pops back up and tries to ground pound you! The camera angle changing back to third person can be disorienting and skew your movement (which caused me to fail sometimes) but basically when the Mistress comes back up, run around her or away from her to avoid her ground pound.

Now, repeat the tentacle deletion cycle another four times and you will get access to the head.

NOTE: The last tentacle will be the hardest as the Mistress will most likely be desperate and keep it active. She will also burrow back underground without being hit after a long period and try to ground pound you again. So just be patient and watch for that droop. You'll get her. :)

The Mistress will not be pleased at losing her appendages and will start spraying venom like some grotesque sprinkler head. Watch for the direction of her spray cycle and meet her with a few blade strikes to the head which will cause her to raise her head out of danger and try again.

Since you can only get between 1-3 strikes in at a time this way (for me, at least), this will take a while. So keep a cool head and an eye on the Mistress's. Whittle her health down and you will see her crumble for the last time! haha!

Then it's just a cutscene and a achievement pop away. Congrats!

NOTE: If some of you have wondered why I haven't mentioned magic use in my strategy above, it's because unfortunately, I had not been able to use any Twilight magic in this battle even though I had learned, say, the summon crows spell. I guess with no crows, it wouldn't work? lol So you'll have to rely on your weapons and evasive skills alone on this one.

Do know however that your spirit sight will be needed to reach the boss chamber. After entering the door next to the merchant, listen for that telltale eerie whoosh of air that indicates the existence of a nexus portal and you'll find your way. Good luck!

play through the story line in the mountains area to get this.all quests in the mountain area are related to the main story.eventualy you will unlock the door that leads to "the shore" talk to everyone here for small quests that lead to you getting from the shore to venice.on the way to venice,the boatman will stop at a cave.this turns out to be the assasins head quarters.defeat the head mistress and you will have this achievement. (note: explore the entire area before the fight with the misstress.you will not be able to come back!)