The Andropoulos Estate is renowned for the opulence of its curiosities and antiquities, a display that skirts the borders of the law as gracefully as its master skirts a direct question. Its rooms, intricately wrought and crowded with marble statuary and other objects of price, declare the wealth and reach of their owner, Giannis the Cut. The estate serves as a clearing-house for rare treasures and quieter exchanges besides, and draws to itself all those who make their way through the city's underbelly.
In the days following the Festival of Candles, the estate became a place of counsel touching the Ghost of March and the unrest that gathered about the murder of Nazif. Thither came Jean-Zera Mongé to confer with Giannis, who spoke of rival seekers after treasure — chief amongst them a competitor named Hayriah — and proposed a quarter-share to Jean-Zera's crew should they outrun her in the recovery of such prizes. The talk ran easily between banter and business, Giannis displaying his lawful curios and pressing his marble statues upon the company for sale. Jean-Zera, for his part, shared what he knew of the festival, among it an affair of shadows that had sought to take a ring from Chique Manu — a tale that drew no small reaction from his host. For the estate is, above all, a place where connexions are made and bargains struck amongst those engaged in the city's hidden dealings.