Sunday
12
September
1875
(evening)
I can hardly believe we are still all rushing from crisis to
crisis. This entire Continental journey has been like a shabby
stocking--we have pulled a thread and it just keeps unraveling,
becoming more and more difficult to put into order.
Now that we have captured secretary of Prince Heinrich of
Niederlausitz, in a compromising circumstance vis-a-vis the burgeoning
Anarchist movement here, we have a reason ot investigate the
already-observed stockpile of autenite at Prince Heinrich's lakeside
manor. His Majesty King Wilhelm has "requested" our assistance in
this effort, and in removing Prince Heinrich's daughter, Princess Maria
Henrietta, from Harm's Way.
Crown Prince Konrad and Princess Siegfrieda have (rather forcefully)
voluteered to assist as well. Their social position will
allow her ready access to Princess Henrietta, and a number of us can
travel as their retinue without arousing suspicion. At this very
moment, George, Mr Salmalin, and Mr O'Flaherty are being kitted out
with the livery of Princess Siegfrieda's household (though it
will no doubt take two uniforms and a very clever tailor to make Mr
O'Flaherty passable), while Wilhelmina and Emily are to be disguised as
her personal attendants.
A contigent of the armed forces, led by Prince Stefan, will be coming
directly behind us, to arrest Prince Heinrich once we have spirited the
innocent princess away. I have no confidence all all that this
hasty plan will go smoothly, but it's the best we can contrive on such
short notice.
(later).
I am too tired to do more than jot a quick summary of our raid on
Prince Heinrich's establishment.
-We did manage to get Princess Henrietta away, despite suspicion and
interference from a liveried goblin with some very nasty regenerative
powers.
-We had the additional rescue of Princess Siegfrida's mother, Princess
Gabriella, who had inserted herself into the visiting party without
knowing our real purpose, and who had left the group in search of
Prince Heinrich himself.
-The gentlemen in our second carriage fought a werewolf, this one
seeming most like the leader of the group Mrs Salmalin, Mr O'Flaherty
and I met en route to Frau Metzger's place--the type Captain
Stahlmachersson called a "vargr". This is a particularly
difficult creature to vanquish.
-Once Prince Stefan led his soldiers into the fray, he was joined by
another force, Prussian soldiers led by our friend the Duke of
Wolfenbuttel (who was known as Commander Wymms when we met him years
ago in Prussia) and a number of his police operatives.
-The autenite we had detected proved to be a large cache of etheric
rifles and batteries stored in a boathouse. They were of Dr Fate
design, and as some of the batteries were jostled, an expolsion was
imminent. Several of us occupied ourselves with carrying cases of
the not-yet-unstable batteries out of the expected explosion
radius. The amount we removed probably reduced the explosion's
power by some 60 percent, but it was certainly a desperate and
frightening gamble.
-Prince Heinrich took Princess Gabriella hostage in the boathouse, but
she put up enough struggle that Lady Cowperthwaite, George, and Captain
Hartt (of the Prussian forces) could disable him. At this point,
the batteries remaining in the boathouse were near the point of
combustion. George evacuated Princess Gabriella, Captain Hartt,
and the unconscious Prince Heinrich by getting them into a rowboat and
attaching a set of propulsion rockets to its stern. They were clear of
the expected blast radius fairly quickly.
Thank goodness for Mrs Salmalin's particular ability to direct the
force of explosions. She was able to send the majority of the fearsome
green fire up into the sky.
The King himself had come along, as only he has the authority to
declare Heinrich a traitor and execute him in the field, should that
prove necessary. Fortunately, it was not necessary. Since
we saved the manor from destruction, we also saved all the evidence of
the Prince's conspiracy. I don't think anyone will find it
unreasonable that Heinrich be removed from the line of succession
now. His maps and notes give us a good idea of some of his plans,
some of which are likely still in motion, and will still need to be
thwarted.
The mopping up here is nearly done, and some of our party are loading
our weapons back into the carriages. I am looking forward to a
quiet night's rest.
Sun Monday, 13 September 1875
(very early morning)
So much for our rest. We were just getting underway when we
received warning from Sgt Frazer that there was trouble at Sir
Spencer's lodge. We went at top speed, you can imagine.
Galen was relatively safe here with his parents, but all the rest of
the children and the nurserymaids were all at the lodge with
comparatively minimal protection.
When we arrived, we learned that a pack of werewolves--mostly the type
with the talismanic belts-- had attacked. The honour guards, Lord
Greyminster, and the staff onsite had done admirably in protecting the
children, but there was still work to be done. Once we arrived, it was
over fairly fast. We found Owen in the ground-floor study with a
captive "vargr" werewolf. Clever Owen had managed to fire
Wilhelmina's "gob gun," and the opponent was quite immobilised. I
must remember that in future.
Unfortunately, when Mrs Salmalin tried to use her powers to question
the creature, it somehow used her strength against its bonds and
dematerialised, escaping with little hope of us tracing it.
Proceed to Frankly
ridiculous!
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