My head is still spinning
Monday, 13 September
We have not all fully recovered from the excitements of Sunday. Sir
Spencer will have a great deal of custom for some local carpenters
The master had business in the city at the Embassy.
The Inspector and Mr Frazer also had business in Potsdorff.
Mrs Salmalin, Mrs Frazer, Mr O'Flaherty, and Mrs
Cuthbert, meanwhile, left to call on the chateau owned by the Baron and
Baroness von Ebersbach. Their investigations have revealed that several
people employed by the Baroness are involved in the abduction of young
Arnwulf von Ebersbach. They consulted with Her Ladyship before leaving.
Her Ladyship spent the morning helping the children
and Miss Moriarty work on a project the master had suggested. A number
of the confiscated Fate etheric guns had come home with the household,
and the master thought, if they were not to be melted down, that
perhaps Miss Moriarty could repair their design flaws. Miss Moriarty
also wanted to replenish several of the devices and supplies that were
expended during the attack.
When several hours passed without the return of Mrs
Salmalin and the others, Her Ladyship and Miss Moriarty decided further
investigation was necessary. Sir Spencer agreed. Her Ladyship
instructed us to prepare carriages, and began gathering equipment. Her
Ladyship asked whether it would be faster to send a messenger to inform
the master, or to go themselves to find him. It seemed to me that
either would take equally long, when Mrs Wooster thought to ask Mrs
MacGregor if her father-in-law was available
The ghost was able to relay a message to the
Inspector, who for his own reasons was already planning to visit the
chateau. He located the master and the three gentlemen returned to the
hunting lodge. The master consulted with Lord Greyminster and left
contingency instructions with me. Then everyone left.
As sundown approached with no sign of either party
returning, Lord Greyminster spoke with the officers of the honour
guard. A courier was sent to speak with the guards that had accompanied
the master's party to the chateau. Another was sent to inform Prince
Stefan.
When the first courier returned, he reported that
the chateau appeared to be completely deserted. The coaches and
carriages that our parties travelled in were at the chateau, along with
the horses and some of the horses belonging to the honour guard that
had accompanied the master and Her Ladyship. But the soldiers were
missing.
Prince Stefan and Captain Hartt arrived shortly
after, and hearing the report, gathered a regiment to search the
chateau. His lordship had difficulty convincing Master Galen and the
children to remain behind. In point of fact, he did not quite convince
them. Fortunately, I spotted Miss Octavia lurking under the backboard
of the landau and retrieved her before they left.
She was quite cross with me.
I suspect we would not have kept Master Galen at the
lodge is Mrs MacGreggor hadn't thought to instruct Owen to keep the
children here.
Mrs MacGreggor came back to the lodge with the third
or fourth messenger. She explained to the children that all of their
parents were missing, but that there was no evidence that any of them
had been hurt. It was possible, she said, that they were pursuing the
wrongdoers. She urged us all to get some sleep, as once they missing
were located, we would need all our wits about is.
None of us slept soundly.
Tuesday, 14 September
Today we all experienced anxiety, with no
satisfaction.
Lord Greyminster had not slept most of the night,
but he sat down with Master Galen and the other children and did his
best to explain what they had discovered. Which wasn't much. The
chateau is deserted. There are signs of some conflict: some broken
vases and damaged furniture in the house. Some damage in the stable.
Mrs MacGreggor located a series of footprints that she interpretted as
a human transforming to wolf form while running. Mrs MacGreggor
There is some indication that Sir Spencer and
Lieutenant Wooster each wounded a wolf.
The Duke of Wolfenbutel has joined the
investigation, as two of his officers, Hauptmann Stahlmachersson and
Feldwebel von Ebersbach, had also gone to the chateau yesterday, and
have not returned.
Lord Greyminster and Mrs MacGreggor, with Prince
Stefan's permission, took the children to the chateau. With dozens of
soldiers and police tramping around looking for clues, they could
hardly be less safe than here at the lodge.
Mr James Whitnell has been in and out several times.
Late in the afternoon he asked for a room to set up some of his
chemical apparatus. When I brought him dinner, I inquired as to his
experiment. He said it wasn't yet on experiment. He was dissolving an
old silver ring in nitric acid, to create a liquid which he believes
will cause discomfort to the wolves that he believes have abducted the
household.
When Mrs MacGreggor and the children returned, the
children were far less disturbed than I had feared they would be. I
heard versions of what they had learned from both Mrs MacGreggor and
Master Galen, and though they differed in particulars, they had reached
similar decisions.
Mrs MacGreggor had wanted to examine some of the
footprints she had seen the day before. What had been most troublesome
was that there were footprints of two wolves, Lt Wooster, Sir Spencer,
and Mr Caine, all running in the same direction. All five sets of
prints had ended in the middle of nowhere. As if, Mrs MacGreggor said,
all five had been simultaneously plucked up into the sky.
Since there are a number of flying machines in the
country, that is not inconceivable. What worried her yesterday was the
all three ended at the same place, with no sign and any of the five
getting futher than the others before leaving, but also no scuffing or
kicking marks on the ground, as one would expect if a person were
grabbed from above.
Today she is disturbed because the trail does not
end in the same place. All five footprints continue from the same
previous location, moving further across the yard, before all abruptly
ending again. She said she checked her notebooks and measured several
times to be sure. During the course of these measurements, she said,
when she reached the end again, there were two more footprints for each
person, added to the existing line as if they had always been there.
While she was doing this, the children had been
leading Master Aaron here and there to look at things and answer
questions. Miss Octavia wanted to explore an old grain tower behind the
house. The soldiers advised against it, as the tower is old brickwork,
and the mortar appeared to be failing. The tower has a basement, as it
were, but no longer has a floor at ground level, so if one opened the
door and stepped inside without looking, one would fall at least
fifteen feet.
The children became more adamant, and Master Aaron
convinced one of the soldiers to unlock the door. The tower seemed to
be completely empty, though Master Aaron said he kept hearing odd
noises, as if someone were nearby, behind a wall perhaps, speaking.
Master Galen and Miss Octavia had crept up, against
their instructions, and peered inside. Miss Octavia became aggitated
and backed away, but couldn't explain why. Galen asked Aaron why there
was a glass clock and old mirror frames in the tower.
Neither Aaron nor the soldier saw anything that
looked as Galen described.
Mrs MacGreggor joined them at this time, and said
that she saw an empty room, but she also heard the faint voices.
The soldier made some comment about ghosts in old
dungeons. On questioning, he said that dungeons had been found under
the chateau, behind what had been a secret door, though it appeared to
have been kicked in before the soldiers arrived.
Mrs MacGreggor and the children went inside the
chateau, into the basement, and went looking for the hidden rooms. The
underground chambers extended beyond the house toward the tower. There
were odd markings on the walls in places, one of which Miss Octavia
insisted had been made by her father's fist. When Miss Caroline
expressed scepticism, Octavia allowed that George might have done it.
There was a door, damaged, at the end of the
chambers. When Mrs MacGreggor reached for the door, Galen stopped her,
insisting that "the voice" told him not to go. When she asked him to
explain, he said that a voice he has heard before told him that they
were early. He said it was the same voice that had told him to fix the
glass clock in the dragon's cave.
Mrs MacGreggor said that something seemed to be
wrong with Galen's eyes. In the light of the basement, they seemed to
be red, and the have no pupils. Fearing that some noxious chemicals
might be in the air, she decided to remove herself and the children
from the basement, and question the soldiers who had explored the
basement.
All of them were vague on details, though all
admitted to feeling uncomfortable, as if someone was always lurking in
the shadows, just out of sight. Most also reported hearing voices.
The door Galen had stopped her at led into the
underchamber, according to the soldiers. All insisted it was an empty
and uninteresting from below as when seen above. Although one admitted
that when he first looked inside, he had though he had seen a stone
sundial in the middle of the room, along with some odd wooden frames.
But then they had gone. Since the tower has no roof, and sunlight comes
in indirectly, he had decided it was a trick of the light.
Mrs MacGreggor said she returned to her mysterious
footprints, and saw that the trails had each gained three more
footsteps.
She said that she then asked Galen if the voice had
told him when they were supposed to come back. Master Galen told her
tomorrow night, when the full moon rises. Mrs MacGreggor said that the
five sets of footprints seemed to have been heading toward the tower.
She said that she calculated that if new footprints keep appearing on
the end of the trail at the current rate, that by tomorrow evening, the
tracks would reach all the way to the tower.
My head is still spinning from this.
When I last looked in on Mrs MacGreggor, she was in
the study, with the book of Carpanian fairy tales that Miss Moriarty
acquired. She has it open to the story of the Glass Clock, and she has
covered several sheets of paper with calculations.
Wednesday, 15 September
The missing members of the household have not been
found. Our breakfast room this morning was host to an unusual
conference. Lord Greyminster, Prince Stefan, Duke Wolfenbutel, Mr
Whitnell, Chief Inspector Kempf, Monsieur Berri, and Mrs MacGreggor
discussing their findings, which lead all of them to believe that
through some form enchantment or etheric science, the missing members
of our household and all members of the von Ebersbach household where
transported from Sunday to Wednesday.
Although perhaps not all members of the von
Ebersbach household. Mr Whitnell and Inspector Kempf have found some
indication that some of them may have fled into the woods on Sunday
before Prince Stefan's men arrived. Whether they are simply in hiding,
or performing further nefarious deeds, we cannot be sure.
As tonight is the first night of the full moon, and
since folklore places many strong associations with both magic and
werewolves on such a night, everyone agrees that whatever mad scheme
any or all of the wolves are involved in, probably culminates tonight.
Prince Stefan intends to be waiting above the
chateau with a fully-armed aerocorvette, ready to render assistance to
the master and the household if necessary, or disrupt the plans of the
wolves, or both.
There was some question about whether Stefan
shouldn't be attended to other affairs. I have scarely paid attention
to the local news, let alone recorded any of it here.
The news of Prince Heinrich's arrest and the
allegations against him have been in all of the papers. Which is hardly
surprising after the King issued a proclamation excluding him from the
line of success for "murder, mayhem, conspiracy, and treason." The
upper house of parliament was called into emergency session, which was
a bit easier than usual to arrange since most of the members are in the
city for the festivities. The evidence was presented to the members.
They have since been debating whether to ratify the King's proclamation
right away.
Under Carpanian law, the King's proclamation
regarding succession has the full weight of the law, unless or until
the upper house abrogates it by a supermajority vote. If, however, the
upper house ratifies the proclamation, then the exclusion can only be
reversed at a later time by a supermajority vote of both houses. If
they do not ratify the proclamation, any criminal charges against
Prince Heinrich must be argued and tried by the upper chamber. However,
ratifying the proclamation has the effect of removing his legal status
as a "prince of the blood," in which case the criminal charges can be
laid and pursued in an ordinary court of law.
Stefan is himself a "prince of the blood" under
Carpanian law, and technically has a vote in the upper house. He was
also involved with the investigation and arrest of Heinrich. Presumably
at some point he will have to make a statement to the upper house about
what he saw.
Stefan said he had already sent a letter to the Lord
President of the chamber, explaining that the investigation is still
on-going, and that he could not abandon his duties until the rest of
the plotters had been apprehended. He added that the debate would
surely go on for several more days before any of the most, how did he
phrase it? Blustery members of the chamber had adequately cleared their
throats.
(later)
Miss Octavia, at least, is happy now. All of the
children, along with Lord Greyminster and Mrs MacGreggor, have just
departed in the aerocorvette. In addition to their usual weapons, with
Lord Greyminster's permssion, Prince Stefan and three of his men are
now armed with etheric pulse weapons from the master's collection.
The sun is just setting. I can still see the
aerocorvette just at the horizon, though I can no longer hear its
engines.
(later)
It is just past midnight, and a messenger from
Prince Stefan has arrived at the house. Lord Greyminster reports that
all have been found. There was a ferocious fight, and several of the
household are injured, though all are alive. He advises that we make
preparations to receive the wounded.
Thursday, 16 September
I still have very few of the details. Almost every
missing member of our household is wounded, some quite severely. Mrs
Cuthbert insists they will all recover, but she passed out in the
middle of the very same declaration.
There was a replica of the glass clock in the tower.
Apparently it was made years ago by Master Zacharias, when both he and
Master Schultz were apprenticed to Master Schultz's grandfather. The
chateau used to be the property of the Schultz family, before they sold
it to the von Ebersbachs. Presumably the clock was left with the house
for some reason.
The people working for the Baroness had recovered
broken mirror frames from the incident fifty years ago when the evil
sorceress, Lady Rosamund, plotted the death of several members of the
royal family, and abducted a princess. Lady Rosamund's ghost is trapped
in fragments of the mirror, and has been directing various mortals to
carry out her plans. Though exactly what her goal hasn't been made
clear to me. Perhaps when the master awakes he will explain it.
They had also recovered to magickal wands, one that
had originally belonged to Lady Rosamund, the other which had
originally belonged to an associate of Nanny Chigwidgeon. The clock,
wands, and mirrors had been arranged in the tower in such a way as to
create a magickal time trap. Or perhaps a box outside of time. In any
case, they had used these things to transport Arnwulf and his abductors
into the future, making it impossible for anyone to find him until
Wednesday.
Why they had captured Arnwulf had something to do
with a curse that Wolfgang von Ebersbach, the son of the Baroness, and
someone fallen under. The curse had made him an sort of avatar for the
legendary Fenris Wolf. The Baroness believed that the curse would
eventually destroy her son, so she was going to attempt to transfer the
curse from his son to Arnwulf, and let him die instead. The
transference had to be performed on the night of a full moon, and the
transference required the sacrifice of a third person.
To that end, the Baroness arranged to have Wolfgang
broken out of jail on Wednesday evening, and then to have Herr von
Arondung, the son of Baron von Arondung, abducted. Why von Arondung had
been chosen as the sacrifice is not clear to me, although Her Ladyship
seems to believe that his father's conception has some connection with
Lady Rosamund's death. I'm not sure I understand to significance.
When Mrs Salmalin, Mrs Frazer, Mr O'Flaherty, and
Mrs Cuthbert arrived at the chateau, they knew none of this. They found
Stahlmachersson, Adele von Ebersbach, and Frau Metzger just outside the
chateau. Stahlmachersson and von Ebersbach were having some sort of
argument.
Frau Metzger has been hiding in the woods near the
chateau for days, watching. She had determined that her son was alive
and that he had been taken inside, but she had been unable to reach him.
Stahlmachersson wished to walk up to the front door,
announce himself, and confront the Baroness with his evidence. Which is
what Mrs Salmalin and Mrs Frazer had been planning. Adele von
Ebersbach, being a daughter of the Baroness, and knowing how dangerous
the werewolves could be, did not like this plan. But everyone else
wanted to do it, so they went to the door.
The Baroness was polite, and even expressed surprise
and concern for young Arnwulf. She insisted that the man/werewolf who
had kidnapped Arnwulf had been dismissed from her employ months ago,
and must be acting on his own volition. She had no objection to them
searching the house, and even encouraged them to do so.
All of the mystics in the party were convinced that
something odd was going on in the basement, so that is where they
wanted to search first. They located the hidden door, followed it to
the same door where later Galen would stop Mrs MacGreggor and they
opened it. They saw the clock, the wands, and the mirror frames.
They heard a voice cry out a command in Latin. The
artifacts released magickal power, and they found themselves
transported without moving. The sun raced across the sky twice, and the
room was suddenly full of many people, including Arnwulf, muzzled and
chained to the wall.
Before they could react, there was more magickal
mischief, and other members of the household appeared.
The master, Her Ladyship, and the others arrived in
a similar fashion. They arrived at the chateau, knocked on the door,
and were admitted. The Baroness claimed that she had seen no sign of
Mrs Salmalin and the others. Neither the master or Her Ladyship
believed them, and Her Ladyship decided to search the house herself. Mr
Salmalin had detected the magickal disturbance in the back, so Her
Ladyship went that way. The others tried to keep up.
Except that Wooster, Sir Spencer, and Mr Caine had
remained outside, supposedly to enjoy the fine afternoon, but as soon
as the footman had led the others inside, they began searching the
grounds outside the house. Wooster noticed what appeared to be one of
Sir Spencers coaches in the stable, and soon found himself in a fight
with two werewolves. They wounded one werewolf severely, so the other
fled.
They gave chase. As they neared the tower, they
seemed to cross a barrier which left them temporarily disoriented. The
sun was gone, and a full moon stood above them.
Her Ladyship and the master had entered the room.
Apparently there was a great deal of stumbling around, as members of
the party were appearing out of thin air practically on top of one
another.
Frau Metzger ran to her son. Mr O'Flaherty, Mrs
Frazer, and Mrs Salmalin hurried after to help (though there was some
of the aforementioned stumbling and other confusion). There were a
large number of werewolves, most in human form, in the room.
When the master found himself in the room, something
attracted his attention to the two wands, and he picked them up
immediately. One of the young ladies already in the room rushed at him
with a knife.
He pointed the wands at hear, repeated the latin
phrase he had just heard.
To everyone's surprise, the young woman vanished.
Leaving her empty clothes upon the floor. Her Ladyship assures me that
one of the wands transmorgrified the woman into a frog, while the other
transformed her knife into a mangoldwurzel. I'm not certain if she is
serious, though I don't quite understand the joke if she is not.
The fighting became quite wild and intense. Wolfgang
and the other werewolves had arrived. The League was surrounded at
outnumbered.
Meanwhile, something had been happening to Mr
O'Flaherty. He thought he was transforming into a werewolf, something
he has been expecting since he fought the first wolf a week ago in
Prussia.
He did transform, but the shape was not a wolf. He
grew to an even more gigantic stature, changing into a creature with
one eye, with cloven feet, horns, and clawed hands.
The order of what happened next is quite unclear.
There were several fights. The tower was knocked down. Wolfgang
transformed into a giant wolf that eventually was able to swallow Mr
Salmalin in a single gulp. The aerocorvette moved in for the attack. Mr
Whitnell joined as well, spraying the wolves with his silver-acid
solution, and causing them some difficulty.
Arnwulf was freed, and was able to save the members
of the League who were trapped inside the tower when it collapsed.
Many of the werewolves were wounded. Others were
killed.
When Mr Salmalin was swallowed, he had one of the
autenite explosives with him, and he left it inside the wolf when he
cut his way out again.
At one point the unusual sword Mr O'Flaherty found
came into Mrs Wooster's possession, and she used it against the wolves
until she lost consciousness. Miss Moriarty picked up the sword next
and used it to wound Wolfgang further. George was knocked unconscious
fighting Wolfgang.
Finally Wolfgang was defeated.
The wounded were gathered together.
Mrs Cuthbert and Mrs Salmalin identifed three of the
werewolves as sons of the original Fenris, who have been manipulating
Wolfgang and others. They were not live at the end of the fight, but
Mrs
Cuthbert said that, being immortal, divine beings, they weren't truly
dead. Wolfgang was in a similar situation.
They had cast spells to bind the beings as best they
could, and after consultation with Mrs Salmalin's great-aunt, they
decided the best option was to drop Wolfgang and the three sons of
Fenris into the lake where, according to local legend, Baba Jaga
imprisoned the original Fenris.
The bodies were loaded into the aerocorvette and
taken to the lake.
Then those that could be transported were brought
here.
I started to write that I hope this is all over at last, but I
have
a strange forboding that I would be speaking too soon...
Proceed to Further
distresses
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