Third session, "Mystery of the Dying Clockwork"

Balloons, bodies, and bullies

Excerpts from the journal of Sergeant Robert A. Frazer, London Metropolitan Police (deceased)

Monday, 6 September, 1875

Miss Metzger and her son appear to be in danger. Benton must remain in Potsdorf to investigate a double-murder, which may or may not be related to the Metzger difficulties. Several other members of the group have similar pressing duties which they can't easily abandon. Several of us, on the other hand, are not required for those duties, so it makes sense to divide our forces to tackle all the problems at once.

The problem is that Miss Metzger lives in a particularly remote section of Prussia. It could take several days to get there by train, coach, and horseback, by which point their trail may to too cold to follow. It's only 45-50 miles as the crow flies, so Mrs Salmalin wondered why we couldn't fly there. The French brought one of their aerofrigates to Potsdorf, so Ruth, Mrs Salmalin, and Mr. O'Flaherty went to the French Embassy to ask the Compte de Molineaus whether he could help us out.

De Molineaus seemed glad of an excuse to leave the state dinner going on upstairs. Despite the objections of his security advisor--who is worried about international incidents if the aerofrigate was caught in Prussian territory--he suggested picking us up in the field behind Sir Spencer's hunting lodge that very night.

When we returned to the lodge we learned that Benton was so certain our request would be granted, that he had gotten everyone's things packed up for the excursion. Turgenov decided to come with us.

De Molineaus was as good as his word. We were hoisted up into the flying ship and soon underway. The children tried to join us. I'm sure Benton will have his hands full keeping them from trying to build their own aeroship, now.

The trip took a bit over five hours, a good part of that spiralling upward to gain enough altitude to get through one of the mountain passes. We lowered to the ground just outside the village of Höhledzwerge, where we hired horses and have begun the ride to Wütendefrettchen, where Miss Metzger lives.

~later~

The ladies were put a bit off their luncheon. We found a murder scene. The bodies of two men, two women, and three wolves had been dragged to a clearing about 70 yards from the trail and left to rot. From the state of the bodies it was clear that the deaths had occured at least thirty days ago.

Scavengers have been at the bodies, so conventional investigative methods weren't going to be much help, though it was obvious all seven victims had put up a struggle. There was no signs of bullet or knife wounds, but clearly none had died of natural causes.

Mrs Salmalin performed one of her spells, and determined that the wolves and humans had been hunted down, killed, and then cannibalized by a group of werewolves as part of some sort of demonic ritual. The four humans among the victims were shamanic shapeshifters, who had been running with the local wolf pack in the form of wolves at the time.

While we were learning this, we became aware we were being watched. A single wolf, female and very skittish, was watching from a distance. Turgenov tried to approach her, but she shied away. From what we could see, she wasn't yet quite full-grown. She's probably an orphaned survivor of the wolf pack.

Throughout the rest of the day Turgenov and Ruth said she continued to shadow us, though always keeping her distance.

We reached Miss Metzger's cabin a bit after sundown. It was desserted and about in the state we expected. We knew she left in a hurry after her son was taken. We decided to spend the night indoors, then try to follow her trail once the sun came up.

I had a bit of a shock. Mrs Salmalin answered one of my comments, and then Mr O'Flaherty joined in. Apparently as long as we're in the cottage, they can all see and hear me, not just Ruth and sometimes the dog.

What else would we expect from a witch's cottage?

Mrs Cuthbert contacted me late in the night, to see how we were and to share the news. Some sort of Nihilist shot at the ladies outside the hunting lodge. Or they may have been shooting at some cavalry officers nearby. Evidence at the scene indicates that Lord Greyminster and some Prince were the intended targets. The carriage the ladies were in at the time had Lord Greyminster's coat of arms displayed on the side.

Benton and the Inspector have been to two crime scenes and interviewed the known associates of the deceased. They haven't learned anything definitive, yet. Miss Metzger and her son contined to be veiled from magic prying, so we'll have to continue tracking her the old-fashioned way.

Tuesday, 7 September, 1875

I used to say that all bully's were alike, whether they're from the gutter or the manor house. Well, now I can add whether they walk on two legs or four.

We were confronted in by wolves. About ten of them, if I counted right. They had surrounded us before we knew they were there, and it was obvious that none of them were natural.

The biggest one could talk, and he dared us to run, because it would be more fun for them to chase us down and kill us. Kill the ladies and Mr O'Flaherty, that is, since I'm already dead. But that's not entirely relevant at this point.

He didn't believe our story that we were tourists having an adventure. When Ruth, Mrs Salmalin, and Mr O'Flaherty told him the truth, the wolf became very interested in learning more about the werewolves that had dragged the Metzger boy off.

When it was clear we had told them all we knew, the big wolf took in an enormous breath, swelling up to nearly twice his size, and then we he howled, the wind nearly knocked everyone off their feet, and I think one of the trees almost fell over.
`
The big wolf jumped.

Mr O'Flaherty met him and started pounding him with his fists. Ruth and Mrs Salmalin each shot at the wolf before Mr O'Flaherty got in the way. Then we were all busy because several of the others jumped in.

I tried to distract the one that came at Ruth. He snapped at me and I actually felt the teeth, just a bit. I figured if he could touch me, then I could touch him, so I latched on and tried to pull him away.

It actually worked.

Of course then I had about eighty pounds of very angry wolf in my arms. He put up a nasty fight. I haven't hurt that much since that time Kali almost swallowed me.

I'm not sure we would have made it if the big Prussian policeman and his dog hadn't shown up when they did.

The wolf I was wrestling with suddenly just melted away. By the time I got back to Ruth the fight was over. Turns out that the wolf that was trying to hurt Ruth was a hexxenwolf -- a human with a demonic talisman. The talisman contains an evil spirit that handles the actual shapeshifting and such. When I thought I was wrestling the attacker off her, all I had gotten hold of was the spirit. The man suddenly transformed back into human form, loosing his supernatural strenght and healing powers just in time for Ruth to shoot his head off.

Mrs Salmalin, Mr O'Flaherty, and Turgenov were unconcious. Mr O'Flaherty in particular was fading fast.

Stahlmaccherson and Ruth were bandaging and such as quickly as they could, so I said I'd go alert Mrs Cuthbert and see if she could help. I found her at the lodge, and she started praying.

By the time I got back, the wounded were in better shape than when I'd left, and the air had that touch of incense I can always feel after St. Cuthbert has manifested, so Mrs Cuthbert had come through again.

Stahlmacherson was assembling litters while Ruth was removed the wolf belts from the hexxenwolves. The big wolf apparently wasn't a hexxenwolf, but some other kind of shapeshifter. Between Mr O'Flaherty almost beating him to death, and Stahlmacherson impaling him with the sword, we thought he was finished. But he dissolved away while most of us were distracted.

Mrs Salmalin had said, when the wolves first appeared, that the big one seemed more cursed, or otherwise different than the others. Some of the wolves that ran away were not hexxenwolves, either. So the group that ambushed us had at least three different kinds of supernatural beings in it working together.

Stahlmacherson had come out this way for the same reasons we had. Being another of the Metzger boy's godparents, he'd had the some dream Benton had had the night the boy was kidnapped. After the dream, he had tried to consult with his colleague, Miss von Ebersbach, who is the boy's godmother, and is herself some sort of werewolf. But she's also a police officer--the Berlin police seem to have a very liberal hiring policy.

She was gone. Had left the city without him apparently as soon as she'd had the vision. So Stahlmacherson had rounded up the mutt, Garvey, and they were following her trail, when they happened upon us being ambushed.

Once the litters were assembled, they were hitched up the remaining horses, and Stahlmacherson led us off through the woods until we reached this big, bare rock face.

He stared pounding on the rock as if it were a door, called to be let in.

Wouldn't you know it, the rock opened up, and there was a couple dwarfs in some sort of uniform back there. And they seemed to know Stahlmacherson. The version of German they were speaking was a bit different than I'm used to, so I may not have followed it all correctly.

The dwarves seemed reluctant to help, but eventually let us bring the wounded in. They even put a kettle on. Eventually another dwarf showed up, and the others all kept calling him Acting Chief Engineer, but saying it in the same way you'd refer to a Prince or a Duke.

The Acting Chief Engineer was even shorter than the other dwarves, and was not at all happy to see Stahlmacherson. When Stahlmacherson greeted him by first name, Englebert, he became even less happy. Stahlmacherson made introductions. They were a bit elaborate, mentioning in some of our cases some rather obscure acheivements. He introduced both dogs, and I almost thought he was going to turn to me next.

The Acting Chief Engineer, it turns out, is Stahlmacherson's brother. You'd never know to look at him that he was a dwarf. Stahlmacherson, I mean. Or maybe I should say Our Stahlmacherson, since the Acting Chief Engineer is a Stahlmacherson, too.

The unpleasant Stahlmacherson is only Acting Chief Engineer because his father, the Low King, is away. Off at Potsdorf, as it happens, for the wedding festivities. Stahlmacherson's father is a king! Who knew?'

Anyway, it was clear the unpleasant one was going to through us all out on our ears as soon as Ruth had had a minimum of refreshment, until Our Stahlmacherson mentioned that Mrs Salmalin is the Witch of Darlston.

Apparently the dwarves owe Mrs Salmalin's Aunt Hethalyn a big favor, because the unpleasant one said, "You mentioned that last on purpose, didn't you? You know we can't refuse to help her!"

So a doctor has been sent for, and some more food, and I guess we get to rest here at least until our wounded wake up....

Proceed to Miscues, misfires, and misdirections

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