It started out just as innocuously as I had planned. But even I could not foresee…

No sooner had we arrived at the nearly-deserted shipyards and met Mr Reed at the main gate as arranged, than we noticed that the guard at the inner gatehouse was, in fact, dead. He had been garrotted and tied up to look as though he were at his post.

I whisked my Mother and Violet and the babies off to the schoolhouse, and left Mr Reed there to give them a tour. I then rushed back to join the others at the enclosed drydock buildings where the two submersibles and the Swan boat are secured.

Edward, Emily and I peered into the building, and we could see a few of those ubiquitous ninjitsus clambering about Admiral von Klink’s submersible, prowling the building perimeter, and generally getting into things not their business.

After a few ploys at stealth and distraction, we found ourselves engaged in battle. Emily and Edward both fought valiantly. I kept clear, but shot at Emily’s opponent. He just burst into flames and kept fighting, catching Emily’s clothing afire. Unsporting!

Admiral von Klink appeared (opportune or suspicious?), along with Madame deVere. They pitched in to help us. Owen cleverly opened the lock to the river, allowing water into the building to douse the flames of the maniacal burning ninjitsu (and Emily’s burning clothing).

According to the intelligence of Madame deVere, there was a ninjitsu inside the Admiral’s submersible assembling a matrix of terbinite into an explosive device. We eventually determined that the plan of this group was to blow a large hole in the London Docks—indeed, this device could probably level the entire city.

Once we defeated the ninjitsus in the room with us, we discovered that the top hatch was locked. The Admiral climbed into his submersible through an access port in the nose of the vessel. Naturally, I followed, to render what assistance I could, and to keep an eye on the Admiral as well.

Madame deVere must have mesmerised the single ninjitsu inside the submersible, for we captured him with relative ease. Edward and the Admiral and I then set about disassembling the terbinite device.

We had just finished, and I was about to rush out to find my Mother and try to look calm. I heard a powerful humming, which according to Edward was the sound of the Swan Boat’s motors. The Swan boat was stored in the adjacent chamber of the building, and Edward proceeded to climb a cable up and across the ceiling to investigate. Madame deVere issued a stern warning that we would be safer inside the submersible, that there was a Fey opponent still abroad. The Admiral paid me the compliment of handing me a pistol from his submersible's armory closet, saying, "I expect you know how to use this." I had just reloaded my own pistol, but was glad of the additional weapon. He could see that I was not particularly intending to remain "safe" in the submersible.

We made our various ways to the next room, where we saw the Swan boat with another ninjitsu at the controls, the only person in evidence. Could this be the Fey person Madame DeVere warned of? Edward, assuming that it was, attempted to throw a handful of iron filings, but this did not faze the enemy in the least—indeed, he was gloatingly Eating the filings--licking Edward's hand! Disgusting. This manouevre required partial removal of the black mask, and I could hear the voice of the person. Its resonance was very similar to that of the late Herr Schmidt, though perhaps more sibilant. The jawline was similar as well, but I could not see enough to be certain.
Emily, true to form, charged toward the boat and the ninjitsu. Next, the ninjitsu appeared to become several identical ninjitsu—some kind of illusion, I suppose. Most of the ninjitsu figures scurried down to the floor and engaged Emily in fighting. She was obviously annoyed to discover that her strikes with her sword seemed to pass harmlessly through most of the figures. I picked up a nearby bucket full of screws and tossed them into the fray, hoping that such small objects would bounce off the real person so we could concentrate on him with our attacks. I fired a couple of shots at likely targets, disintegrating one or two. Some of these figures seemed tangible enough to strike Emily (wielding a large curved blade), though Emily could not strike them.

I heard the Admiral behind me some distance, speaking urgently to Lieutenant Wooster and Mr Caine (I could not quite distinguish their words, as a good deal of rattling and rustling accompanied the discussion, and I was firing my pistol without my ear covers on). All at once, the Lieutenant made an appearance, swinging from a rope, blazing away at the ninjitsus with that infernal rapid-firing pistol. He dropped the pistol and snatched Emily from the throng of semi-tangible ninjitsus. A mere heartbeat later, a huge mass of chains and cables came cascading down from the rigging at the ceiling, enmeshing, crushing the ninjitsus. The Admiral then stepped forward with a small object in hand and when it connected with the pile of chains, a sizzle of lightnings surged over the metal. The illusory ninjitsus did not reappear.

Meanwhile, one (the original) ninjitsu was still aboard the swan boat. He was attempting to grapple with Edward, who was defending himself fairly well while using his toes to operate some of the boat's controls. The ninjitsu spoke of a "Rhas al Gul", which is Arabic for "death's head." This seemed to be a person's name. The ninjitsu was gloating, probably thinking he was toying with Edward before finishing him. I knew better.

The Swan boat had opened its wings and risen from its blocks. I wanted to get aboard to help Edward, so I climbed up the remaining cables toward the ceiling, planning to drop down into the boat. I could clearly see the terbinite dynamo in its place in the boat, but I did not stop to puzzle over how it could be here at that moment.

Madame deVere was floating about and waving her arms.
Next, a mirror appeared and began spinning around the ninjitsu, reflecting the approach of Edward. It also showed a large, scaly, winged animal, I can only call it a dragon, where the Ninjitsu should have been. The fey ninjitsu seemed to ignore the flying mirror.

Edward made a sudden lunge and bit his opponent's nose very hard. Fighting dirty did not disturb the ninjitsu, who promptly took a very improper hold and threw Edward upward, nearly as high as the ceiling, but not close enough to me to catch him, and not within reach of the other cables. He would certainly have fallen to the floor, and perhaps even he would have been seriously injured. However, he transformed into a dragon and started flying. We’ll never hear the end of this!

The Ninjitsu also transformed into a dragon and began breathing Fire at the Edward dragon. Edward parried with a burst of lightning, which struck and disintegrated the ninjitsu dragon.

The lightning also struck the doors of the locks, blasting them open and allowing a surge of river water to come boiling into the building. Fortunately for all of our party now chest deep in water, no further lightnings were forthcoming. I was secure on the deck of the Swan boat. Emily, while obviously very unhappy at being soaked further, did not succumb to the hysteria I expected, as she has always displayed a violent fear of submersion. Lt Wooster was splashing about in a lively manner, I was not at all sure what he was about until he surfaced with both his pistol and the ninjitsu’s curved sword. He presented the latter to Emily, who was distracted from her pique by the gift, but still seemed unwilling to forgive him the liberty of saving her by rope-swing.

Mme deVere indicated that the creature we had just defeated was half fey and half dragon, and that it had been removed from our “plane,” but would probably be back eventually. This reminds me unpleasantly of Herr Schmidt. This creature would appear to be another of the same kindred. She said that Fey-dragon hybrids are rare and always insane. Pardon me, but if that fey gentleman can’t learn to keep his trousers buttoned, someone will have to take drastic action.

We had no sooner got Edward back into boy-shape and the Swan boat settled back into its blocks than my Mother came in, indignantly demanding to know what the noise was about. I gestured to the water and submerged piles of chains all over the floor and said that there had been a minor accident, but that no-one was hurt. She was not convinced, but we managed to hurry her off and into the carriages. I had no choice but to go with her, leaving Edward in the care of Emily and Mr Caine to finish his work.

Upon reaching Charles Street, I slipped away from my Mother (I told her I was going to have a nap) and I went to Sir Cosmo's sickroom to report our misadventures. I found the two elder Misses Shorrock at Sir Cosmo's house, very agitated.

Sir Cosmo had meanwhile received a telegram from our delegation to Gravesend. I myself had received word from Sgt Frazer that something was afoot there, but the account was garbled. Matters were somewhat clarified by the telegram: the Comte Montelimar had indeed gone to Gravesend, but he had first stolen Miss Helen Shorrock from the care of her aunts and carried her off. She was to be his hostage, to be exchanged for the terbinite dynamo. We could at least play for time by appearing to cooperate. Surely the ingenious Miss Helen would prove difficult to contain, especially once our partisans were near at hand to help her.

A combination of Mystical scrying and conventional investigation brought the League to the docks of Gravesend, and they determined that Miss Helen was being held aboard one of a number of boats there. Miss Helen was instrumental in her own escape. She had fought free of her captors aboard the Comte's hired boat, then run out on deck and set fire to the rigging. When the villainous crew of the boat thought they had her cornered, she locked herself into the Comte's arsenal of explosives and threatened to detonate everything. The Comte was outside the door trying to convince her to give up. Hah! And so it proved that the Comte was shot dead by Sir Spencer's Elephant gun in the corridor of his boat.

Once the Shorrock sisters had been convinced that Helen was safe, in friendly hands and suitably chaperoned by Mrs Salmalin, Sir Cosmo and I were free to investigate our other concern: How had the Ninjitsus we found at the shipyards gotten hold of the terbinite dynamo? Sir Cosmo and I took the carriage to the Foreign Office, where we discovered that the dynamo was in fact gone. Under the cloth which had covered it we found an armature in roughly the same shape.

I scoured the building for traces of the thieves, and found the telltale marks of the ninjitsus’ claw-like climbing tools in the ceiling and some of the walls. They had used the information from the building plans to good effect, despite our discovery of their plot. I showed Sir Anthony the trail they had taken so it could be secured--but it is much like locking the barn door after the cows have already stormed out and burned down the neighbour's henhouse.

We spent as much time as we could there, searching for any hazards that might have been left by the intruders, but I soon felt a compelling need to return home to feed the babies. I was tucking then in when Mr Frazer returned. We discussed the day's adventures while I cleaned and oiled my pistol and checked my ammunition. I have also cleaned and oiled the pistol loaned me by Admiral von Klink, and asked Meadows to have one of the footmen deliver it to him tomorrow, with my note of thanks.

I am at the end of my strength, but my mind is still unsettled. Mr Frazer is in the nursery telling a story to the babies, some tale with a great deal of snow and wind, from the sound of it.

Monday, 7 August, 1871

I neglected to mention something in my last entry, and it is very pertinent to what has transpired in the night.

Once our partisans had captured the Comte and his hired boat, they searched it and discovered the remaining missing artifacts: The tablet (which I am told is called the Key) and the sceptre (also called the Rod). Mr O'Flaherty had gotten too close to the tablet and it had changed its form and attached itself to his head. After a short period of time, it let go and resumed its previous form. Mr O'Flaherty was insensible. Mrs Cuthbert had done what she could for him, but the effects of the tablet were beyond her expertise. Mr O'Flaherty was carried home and given a heavy dose of Laudanum. The Salmalins and Emily would take it in turns to watch over him, in case the tablet could cause the same sort of Possession that it had caused in young Davy.

The disruption of our sleep began in another quarter, however. I awoke to a relatively quiet commotion, from outside the house. It proved to be coming from the carriage house. As I crept out I felt glad that I have taken to sleeping in black chemise and drawers instead of a more ordinary night-dress. A sudden crash heralded George's precipitate exit from the loft window of the carriage house. A strange foreign-speaking voice sounded from within.

I climbed the wall of the carriage house to look into the loft. Edward was there, tinkering with the terbinite dynamo and wearing that dratted crown, and the jewelled glove. The dynamo was activated, with the sceptre in place at one end. He turned to look at me, and I could see in his eye the glow described by all those who had seen Davy while he was possessed on the barge in the marshes. I tried my luck at shooting the sceptre out of its socket on the dynamo, but the bullet glanced off an unseen (magnetic?) barrier. Edward raised the hand which wore the jewelled glove, and I dropped and was caught neatly, if unexpectedly, by Mr Frazer. A bolt of some force splintered the frame of the window above me.

We then heard the sound of breaking glass and ran around the side of the carriage house to behold our Mr O'Flaherty picking himself up out of the shrubbery, the first storey window in ruins above him. As he stood I could see an unfamiliar emblem on his forehead. A voice issued from the carriage house, that bizarre foreign babble. Mr O'Flaherty turned and began to walk toward it. Definitely not his usual demeanour, definitely mesmerised. Mr Salmalin appeared and attempted to speak with Mr O'Flaherty, to reason with him or the entity in control of his body.

Mr Frazer and I ran to find a rope on the ground floor of the carriage house, and we attempted to run around Mr O'Flaherty and bind him without coming within arm's reach. This proved ineffective, and Mr Frazer did not quite release the rope fast enough. He was pulled off his feet, flying toward Mr O'Flaherty, and was knocked unconscious. Mr Salmalin leaped up and grasped Mr O'Flaherty's head, chanting something, but he was thrown off before he could complete his procedure. I scurried over to make sure that my husband was still alive and breathing, and then left him in the relative safety of the shrubbery.

I met Sir Cosmo as he emerged from No.18, and I gave a concise summation of the situation. He continued toward the uproar, looking determined--I couldn't guess his plan, however, as he appeared to be unarmed.

I dashed to the entry of Sir Cosmo's house and looked in the umbrella stand. I found the particularly marked walking stick I wanted and made to return outside. I met Lady Cowperthwaite coming out of the house. She was not quite herself--there was a peculiar blazing darkness about her eyes. I thought it probable that her "Kali" notion was upon her. I stood aside and let her pass.
She strode over to Mr O'Flaherty and confronted him as he shambled toward the carriage house. She appeared to plunge her hand directly into his stomach, but her hand seemed to pass inwards without causing injury. She spoke in that Voice, and when she withdrew her hand, she seemed to be holding a cohesive bundle of light. She said, "Your time in this world is over. Go home!" and the light faded. Mr O'Flaherty was a sizable heap at her feet. He groaned and started to awaken, seeming more himself, if I am any judge of Irish curses.

I could see the rapid approach of the Swan Boat through the night sky--just glints of its coppery underbelly illuminated by the streetlamps as it passed above them. The Swan boat adopted a hovering position outside the window to the loft--I saw no-one at the controls.

Up in the loft, a great deal of incomprehensible arguing was going on. I peered in, flinching in alarm as Edward sent a bolt of that strange force from the jeweled glove directly at Sir Cosmo—but the weird rippling light seemed to splash away and dissipate before it struck. Sir Cosmo now seemed enveloped in a magnetic shield, just like the one that had protected the dynamo from my bullet. I wondered if Sir Cosmo had somehow found the time to develop some of these shields for himself.

In a moment, Lady Cowperthwaite was standing before Edward, shouting at him with that thunderous voice. Edward shouted back. It was rather too loud for me to actually understand at close range.

I was still trying for a good shot at the dynamo—I hoped that the Etheric pulse weapon would disable the magnetic shielding so we could turn the dynamo off.

All at once, the humming of the dynamo subsided, and the various magnetic barriers dropped. Edward sagged. Lady Cowperthwaite seemed to have had the last word. Then she, too, seemed to lose a bit of her stiffening. The battle seemed to be finished, and Kali seemed to have removed the unwelcome entity from Edward. Still, I wondered how long this reprieve might be. Who or what would be trying to get control of these artifacts next?

I destroyed the dynamo. As it happened, this was a mistake.

I suppose I was not at my best, what with being kept awake all hours, being attacked with fiery energies by the child I supposedly tutor, seeing my husband knocked senseless by a fearsome pugilist, and being constantly harassed by my Mother for days. I probably should have thought about the fact that I had just his afternoon assisted to carefully disassemble a device made with the very same components, which was expected to level London. But I didn't.

The explosion was not so large as might have been expected, as all the Mystics combined their efforts to suppress the fires. It only slightly charred the carriage house, and only those closest to the dynamo were burned, mostly Edward. My Mother didn't even wake up. And at least I have got rid of that accursed dynamo! Good riddance to bad rubbish.

And speaking of rubbish.... All of the rest of the artifacts are now cleared out, and at least theoretically in safer hands. Right after the quashed conflagration, the strange bookseller appeared and declared that he was Merlin, and that all the artifacts belonged to him. I found this assertion both pretentious and ridiculous, but the Mystics, after some scrying, accepted his claim. I am told that Madame DeVere was somehow present, and I hope she will explain the loss of the Swan boat to Admiral von Klink and the Prussians.

The putative Merlin also had a ring, which he loaned to Mrs Cuthbert, which enabled her to heal more of our injured partisans than her strength normally allows. Mrs Cuthbert seemed to consider the ring indisputable evidence that this was, in fact, The Merlin. Considering how many hands all his other little toys have passed through... EDWARD might as well claim to be Merlin, having mastered the use to the Swan boat in a few days. But I must acknowledge this to be outside my area of expertise.

The possession of Edward by Wapawet (for so the entity was named) had actually occurred several days ago, when the entity was forced out of Davy's body by Mrs Cuthbert. Wapawet found Edward and went into hiding there. Edward has mostly been himself, but Wapawet has taken over his body at particular times for particular tasks, with Edward none the wiser. It was Edward who stole the Glove from Mrs Salmalin's pocket.

It has been a very hard week for us all. We still have much work to do, as the intelligence Madame DeVere gained from the ninjitsus captured at the Shipyards gave us some indications of some of the Shadow people's plots. The handful at the shipyards was apparently an offshoot, defying the orders of their leaders (what a surprise, Anarchists who won't follow orders). The main body of the group have a plan to use bombs to kill primarily Royal persons, with a large margin of innocent bystanders. The splinter group thought that simply levelling London would be better.

While we have eliminated many of the pawns of the Shadows, we still have the as yet unknown leaders to find and incapacitate. We know that there are still plans to plant one or more bombs aboard the Royal Yacht. Since the Royal Yacht, HMS Osbourne, is docked at Portsmouth being prepared for its next journey, we shall have to go there to search it. The Osbourne is to carry the Duchess of Inverness to the Continent for the wedding of the Imperial Prince of France. Commander Wooster and the Rhinoceros are detailed to escort the Osbourne across the channel. The rest of us have been emphatically not invited. Typical.

We will be leaving shortly. For once, not even Inspector MacGreggor has tried to keep me back. Considering that we have just as much danger and trouble at home, it's just as well that we all simply carry on with our work. I was hoping that my Mother would take a hint and go home to Bridgwater while my duty calls me elsewhere, but she has decided to stay here in Town and do some sightseeing until we return. Emily, who was rather badly injured by the possessed Mr O'Flaherty last night, will be staying behind as well, and will be able to keep an eye on Mother. I think Mother is looking forward to resuming her Project of improving Emily's comportment. At least she won't be under my feet!

Violet has nearly gotten all of the babies' things packed, and Mr Frazer and I must check the last of our own equipment.

Tuesday, 8 August, 1871
(early)
We all arrived in Portsmouth in good order last night, though everyone was tired. Sir Cosmo managed to secure sufficient accommodations, though with so many travellers in town, we are many of us doubled up in rooms. It's safer that way, anyhow. Violet and the babies and Mr Frazer and I have a reasonably sized room to ourselves, no one wanted to cram in with us--not wanting to disturb the infants (though being disturbed By the infants is much more the truth).

We will be breakfasting together in a private saloon, and we can finalise our search plans before setting out for the docks.

(evening)
Everyone is resting before supper.

We found the bomb aboard the Osbourne, and also the man who had planted it. This was a common sailor, but one with access to the engine rooms. He had concealed the bomb in a corner of the main boiler, where its detonation at sea would have torn the ship asunder and sunk it so fast that all hands and passengers would surely have been lost.

Mrs Cuthbert scried to find it, and then to see the culprit. We still had to search the ship to find him, as her information did not include his name, only his physical description. Mr Frazer and I searched many of the crew's quarters to find the evidence that will hang the man.

Even once that was accomplished, we continued our search, determined not to leave any secondary devices or plots uncovered. Edward, though still recovering from burns and other injuries, used his diving suit to check the undersides of the ship while it was in the water. I would have liked to help too, but my expertise was needed elsewhere.

We continued to search other ships in the escort group. We will search the remaining three ships tomorrow, and then the ships and passengers will depart and be out of our hands. I expect the Mystics plan to put some other protections in place before then.

Not one of us is unscathed from the adventures of the past week. I am still a bit stiff and achy from my Labours, and sporting a few bruises, but I am the least hurt here. Mr Frazer has a broken nose (fortunately mostly mended by Mrs Cuthbert) and a raw scrape across his cheekbone. Mr Salmalin also took a drubbing at Mr O'Flaherty's hands (the price of trying not to harm one's friends), and Mrs Salmalin still has some stiffness in her shoulder from the bullet last week. Lady Cowperthwaite sustained slight burns, as did Sir Cosmo. Sir Cosmo is still nursing that serious stab wound, and trying not to let on to outsiders. Mrs Cuthbert is perpetually tired, as she is giving every spare bit of energy to helping the rest of us. I hope we can all get a good night's sleep tonight--save of course the obligatory interruptions that infant feeding requires of some of us.

Saving the nation is hazardous and wearying work.

Wednesday, 9 August, 1871
(late)
We have made it home from Portsmouth. Most of us slept on the train. Mr Frazer and I carried the babies, giving Violet a chance to rest--she has been through near as much strain as the rest of us, and she is a young girl yet.

We completed our searches, finding nothing else of import to our mission, though leaving behind several chagrined sailors under disciplinary action for keeping various minor contraband.
It is good to be home, even though I had to listen to my Mother go on about what she thinks Emily needs, and the shopkeepers she spoke to, and what she bought to take back to Bridgwater (Soon, please God).

I would as soon be sleeping, but Edward and Sir Cosmo are out in the carriage house working on something loud.

Thursday, 10 August, 1871
Today's activities were strangely commonplace. We are suddenly confronted with the reality of a major social occasion which we will all be compelled to attend--the French Embassy Ball. Ambassador Vicomte de Molineus, whether from kindness or a devilish sense of humour, has invited nearly all of us to attend. For an occasion of this importance, an invitation is tantamount to a command.

So, off to the dressmaker. I will re-trim one of my other gowns once more--I can fit into them again, and no-one has seen them in months. It was very strange to put on a corset again. I did select a new summer wrapper and a headdress. I also need new shoes--my old ones now feel too tight. Wilhelmina has, of course, outgrown her previous favorite party dress, and I think I would scream if I saw that ferocious shade of pink again anyway.

The afternoon was fairly quiet. Edward asked Sir Cosmo for permission to visit his friend Davy and to see Miss Mitzi. Sir Cosmo granted permission, and since Wilhelmina had completed her lessons while we waited our turns at the Dressmaker's, I could not object on those grounds. Neither Sir Cosmo nor Lady Cowperthwaite seems to be concerned about our young boy traipsing off to visit a music hall in the Town's worst neighbourhood, so what can I say?

I spent an hour doing exercises, finding my hip joints still dreadfully stiff.

I spent some time playing with Caroline while Robert was sleeping. She opened her eyes and stared into my face, but I am not sure that she really saw me. She clasped my finger tightly, and hit herself in the nose with her other hand. How do people learn to function at all, starting from this point of utter helplessness? It is a wonder.

Proceed to That infuriatingly reasonable voice

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