Palazzo San Martino (Duke's Palace Complex)

The encounter unfolds within the sprawling honey-stone corridors of Palazzo San Martino, where torchlight flickers across dark paneling and gilded arms. The open thoroughfare becomes a stage for sudden violence as the Helix’s bolt sears the air, leaving smoldering ruin on ancient flags beneath the weight of institutional power.

The broader Palazzo San Martino forms the backdrop to this escalation, where protocol and violence coexist beneath gilded facades. The chamber’s commands reverberate through servant passages, linking private fury to public manhunt. Its labyrinthine structure enables both concealment of tyranny and the propagation of orders that will soon flood the city streets.

Though unseen, the nearby Palazzo San Martino looms over events, its political intrigue and hidden passages providing context for the catacombs as a clandestine extension of the palace’s power. The Doctor’s mention of the leader’s regular passage underlines the palace’s role as a seat of both ceremonial grandiosity and furtive manipulation.

The sprawling palace acts as both refuge and prison, its thick walls offering the illusion of safety while trapping the protagonists with their fears. The gilded corridors become channels for anxiety, funneling Marco's reports and Sarah's frantic queries toward the throne room's gilded cage. The palace's size which normally suggests power becomes a reminder of isolation, with every distant sound potentially portending the Brethren's silent advance.