GM's Journal - April 1893

==Sunday 2nd April, 1893 - The Return to Southend==
The travellers arrive back at the Southend Lodge late in the evening. Rig discovers this letter, which leads some of the lodge members to travel to Prague.
==Saturday 8th April, 1893 - The Decision of the Damned==
Bella, Mrs MacTannon, Garvin, Rig and Sir Robert, arrive in Prague, and discover that the Monastery of St. George is known as the Convent of St. George, and is attached to the Basillica. They visit late at night and encounter a figure that coalesces from mist, and looks like a Monk. He identifies himself as "Brother John Melmoth" and offers Rig a deal - since he is 'already damned'. It transpires that Melmoth made a deal with the Devil some time ago, offering his soul in return for Immortality and sorcerous power. Various members of the lodge try to question him but he evades or avoids their queries. He does, however say (in Latin) that Belladonna is not the Damned, but the Damner and that no other person there was yet in a position to accept the deal, as they are not yet damned as Rig is.
==Sunday 9th April, 1893==
Shaken by the previous night's revalations, Belladonna goes to confession, and begins a 5 day fast.
Late that Night, Rig returns to meet Melmoth again, and accepts his offer, taking on Melmoth's Daemonic Pact.
==Monday 10th April, 1893==
They board a Train to return to England, and it is attacked by Bandits in the mountains. Rig nearly falls from the train into a deep crevasse and Mrs MacTannon is injured, but Belladonna is able to save her. Garvin and Sir Robert help defeat the bandits and save the train.
==Monday 17th April, 1893==
Return to Southend.
Rig locks himself in the training room, and tries to work out what his 'sorcerous powers' are - he succeeds in setting fire to the room. Garvin and several of the other Rippers put the fire out, and Rig tells Garvin about the pact he has made. Garvin goes to speak with the Reverend about it, but doesn't actually disclose what Rig has said or done.
==Wednesday 19th April, 1893==
Belladonna and Mrs. MacTannon atend their sewing circle, where Belladonna encounters a former patient, Mrs Jenson, a wealthy widow, (No relation to Rig Jensen!). She tells Mrs Jenson of the 'public' face of the Rippers work in Southend, and she insists on a visit to the facilities, with all of the other circle members. A successful visit secures and income of £75/month from Mrs Jenson and an additional £5-£20 per month from the Sewing Circle as a whole!
==Thursday 20th April, 1893 - The Wicks Deception/A Messy End/The London Below==
Bella and Mrs MacTannon go to the London Lodge and ask for use of Van Helsing's personal library to investigate the potential side effects of Rippertech. As they have had access to it before, they are allowed it once again, though Van Helsing Jr. is not present to give them formal permission.
Garvin and Rig head to visit Lord Wicks. Garvin asks Rig to 'hang around outside on watch' and he does so. Finding his way inside and persuading first a servant and then Helena (Lady Wicks) to allow him to speak with Lord Wicks on the grounds that he will help His Lordship to recover from his paranoia, Garvin manages to convince the already paranoid Lord Wicks that there is a “War On” and he must fight back against the darkness. He identifies Rig as 'one of the dark ones' and Lord Wicks is ready to shoot him with an Elephant Gun. Stopping Lord Wicks from shooting Rig, Garvin then persuades him that living a 'normal social life' and supporting the 'war effort' are the best ways to help. This secures a monthly payment of £100, along with a promise to look into securing some Cannon. There is also a promise that, in three months time, Lord and Lady Wicks can visit the 'base' in Southend to 'see the army'.
Meanwhile, outside, Rig gets arrested. Lord Wicks summoned the police when Garvin persuaded him to hold off on the shooting. Heading to the local police station Garvin finds a police sgt that has a ring like his from “Von Richter” - he manages to persuade the sergeant to allow him to take Rig away. The sgt tells Garvin to get his cart … Meanwhile Rig gets drugged and is taken out of the station for pickup.Garvin looks around and encounters Steptoe and Son … he purchases a ride on their cart … and gets Rig away … but the sergeant has telegrammed ahead so that the fighting ring in the Tiger Docks are expecting him … Garvin takes Rig to Mr Green who cons a fiver out of him then goes to get Bella and Mrs Mac T. Returning to get Rig he notices that Mr. Green has a Ring just like his and the officers … They telegram the lodge to come to london straight away – with weapons!
===That Evening===
They return to visit Mr Green once more, this time with the intent of forcing information about the location to which the bodies are taken near the Tiger Docks. A minor altercation occurs, during which Rig is hit by a shotgun blast. They do, however, find that the bodies are taken into an old sewer outlet near the Tiger Docks, between Piers 7 and 9 and are given directions to find a door underground. Meeting The Reverend and several members of the Lodge at the station, they proceed to the docks, having left one of the London Rippers to meet with Sir Robert and pass directions on to him as soon as he is available.
Sneaking through the sewers they find the door, which Garvin opens, and enter inside. Most move stealthily around, discovering a series of cells containing injured, groaning men; a heavy, well made door up some stairs; a library containing many foreign books, and a large open area. Rig calls out, wondering what the place is, and a German gentleman appears through a door, questioning him. The others are all well hidden, and Rig plays dumb when he is spoken to about leaving the bodies in the usual place. The German, suspicious at Rig's lack of response, goes back through the door, locks it and sounds an alarm.
A Battle ensues. Several foreign looking soldiers arrive, with guns, and take up firing positions on the stairs and rain fire down upon the heroes. Shortly afterwards the cell doors begin to open and the men in them stagger out, also attacking! These men soon transform into giant brutes, far stronger and tougher than they were previously. Red Sash arrives behind the foreign soldiers, and both Rig and Garvin fall under his sway for a time, Rig nearly killing Hamish. Sir Robert Arrives, having been fetched by a member of the London Lodge, putting Challenger's new pistol to good use. Eventually they are released from his Power and the soldiers are defeated, but Red Sash is nowhere to be seen. They rest and recuperate, Belladonna tending to wounds, with at least one person keeping an eye on the well made door. When all have been attended to as well as can be in the circumstances a little further exploration occurs, Belladonna taking some books from a library room, while Sir Robert tries to shoot his way through the well made door – all he succeeds in doing is damage the lock. Then the sound of water is heard – filling the sewers outside – someone must have opened a sluice gate somewhere! As the water rises to ankle level, Garvin opens the door to the room the german locked, finding a tomb, then an office (from which he takes many papers) and finally a medical experiment area, with a poor man, experimented on, strapped to a bed. There is also a trap door here – perhaps a way out!. Bella tries to help the man, Rig holding him down. The man, in pain, or shock, strikes out at Rig, who goes berserk. Sir Robert subdues him with a blow to the head, Bella puts the poor patient out of his misery.They escape through the trap door, as the water rises. Sir Robert with Rig over his shoulder at the fore. A Portcullis falls as they move along the watery passage, piercing Garvin's foot and separating Sir Robert and Rig (ahead) from the others (behind). The portcullis is raise, damaging Garvin's foot further, but they proceed. The pace is slow and the ever rising water eventually overtakes them … gasping for air they find they can breathe no more ....
===A Messy End===
Sir Robert, Reverend Steele and the Men of Brasov come to the following morning, lying in the mud and muck on the shore of the Thames. Picked up by the police as vagrants, they swiftly hide their waterlogged weapons and are eventually able to prove their credentials, though not without some small loss of face. They repair to the London Lodge where they clean themselves up as best they can.
===The London Below===
Mrs MacTannon, Belladonna, Garvin and Rig awake in the darkness, and call out for aid. A conversation is had with a Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar, through the darkness. It becomes apparent that Messers. Croup and Vandemar can see, even though the heroes cannot. Aid is bargained for, and granted, in return for a service "Retrieving a Spear from Serpentine" - it soon becomes apparent that Serpentine is a person, and perhaps one to be feared.
The rest of the evening is somewhat surreal, but continues thus.
Belladonna patches up those that she can with what little remains of her doctor's bag, and then using a lamp left to them by Croup and Vandemar they start to explore some tunnels, encountering a very persistant rat that seems to want them to follow it. They arrive at a room full of people and rats, where the rats appear to be in charge, and gain a guide who will take them to "The Floating Market" from whence they might be able to find someone to arrange a meeting with Serpentine.
As they travel Garvin is distracted by a group of pale women wearing low cut bodices and dark velvet dresses. Then they come to "The Night's Bridge" - Mrs MacTannon is most perturbed by her crossing, and Rig is driven over the edge by what he sees in the darkness, succumbing to Ripping Psychosis and needing to be put down by a swift knee to the crotch from Garvin.
The Floating Market turns out to be taking place inside Harrods, and is a most peculiar sight. Garvin prevents Rig from getting involved in a fight to 'recruit Bravos' being overseen by a corpulent gentleman in his long-johns, guarded by two men in chain-mail. Belladonna offers healing to a man who pays her with a cygnets egg of all things.
Mrs MacTannon encounters a debonair coloured fellow with a pet cat, who calls himself the Marquis de Carabas. de Carabas offers to guide them to Serpentine and arrange for them to be able to take the Spear, for a fee. That of a Cygnet's egg, freely given. As Belladonna has acquired one, the group acceeds and they travel with a group including the Man in his Long Johns, who is apparently an Earl who holds court on a train, a Roman Centurion (who Belladonna discovers lost his cohort marching in the mists outside of Londinium but two weeks ago ...) and a dark skinned woman wearing very little, called Hunter (whom Garvin is, unsurprisingly, interested in getting to know better).
Walking through the streets of London, they are passed by many folks, who pay them no mind at all. Beneath the Albert Memorial they part ways with de Carabas and the Earl and his party (who head to meet Serpentine at the White City) and they make their way across Kensington Gardens, being warned to 'not listen to the pipes of the Pan'.
Beneath a bridge they encounter a young boy in a night shirt, wearing a top hat and carrying an umbrella, who identifies himself as 'John Darling'. He tells tales of Indians, crocodiles with clocks in their bellies, and Pirate Captains upon the high sea (which gesturing at the Serpentine river ...)
Making their way onto the Bridge they discover that the spear has been hidden as a railing, which only Rig is able to remove - he becomes very possessive of the spear and will not let anyone else carry it.
Returning to the Floating Market, they find it has moved, but are shown to it's new location by 'Big Ben' the town cryer, who offers them a cup of tea and a biscuit in his house beneath Parliament. His room is filled with clocks of all kinds, and strange flat things with glowing, angular numbers upon them. They spend over an hour there, but when they depart it is half an hour earlier than when they entered.
The Market has now moved to the British Museum. Arriving there they meet with de Carabas again, who agrees to help them find Croup and Vandemar, in return for a 'Favour, to be collected upon later'. He takes them to the Velvet, Lamia, who knows where Croup and Vandemar currently are - but charges a price of her own for the information - a price Garvin is eager to pay. Her kiss nearly kills him, leaving him frostbitten, though he does not seem to notice it himself.
They leave the Museum through a door in the basement, passing Carstairs in his office en route. They try to get his attention, but fail to do so. They are taken by de Carabas, to Camden, they meet with Croup and Vandemar again, and Rig is not happy to give up the spear, but eventually does so, thanks to Garvin's timely 'aid'.
In order to escape London Below, they head to a tavern and drink themselves insensible.
==Friday 21st April - Sunday 30th April, 1893==
Waking the following morning, asleep in the street, they discover that they have been robbed, but at least are visible to the denizens of London. They make their way to the London Lodge. Garvin shows a gemstone he had hidden in the lining of his coat to get the cabbie to take them in their dishevelled state, and the others are curious as to where he acquired such an item ...
They return to Southend and rest and recuperate. Rig is fully healed within a week, but Garvin still has some problems with the foot that was pierced by the portcullis.
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