Grimsby assures the Graustarkians, "I am quite sure you are innocent in this matter -- no nation would openly allow its pavilion to be used for such violent purposes in a friendly country. We will be happy to leave you to make your necessary repairs, while we see this fellow is entrusted to the Bourbon gendarmes in due course."
He looks at the rest of the party and says, "I would rather like to see what we can learn from this villain before we turn him over to Bourbony. Perhaps we could take him aboard our airship for questioning?"
 

Marian nods at Grimsby's suggestion, stifling a smirk at the thought that perhaps she could question the fellow just as she had his predecessor, her henna was still intact after all. How many times could she pull the same trick? Surely three was asking too much! No, she'd take her cues from the others and let them decide what to do.

"I agree, the folks are innocent of what this murderous villain was scheming. Let us get him out of here and away from them.

"Though, we ought to leave somebody behind to guard the gun until the authorities arrive, eh?"

As he speaks Bellgrove is worried that the Vril might try to harm himself or others, so he stands ready to bash the beggar's head in if he makes an inappropriate move. Better unconscious than dead, this one, he thinks to himself.

He is also a bit concerned for Dash, but he will let other untangle his American cousin and calm the Garaustarkians as he prepares to escort the Vril back to the Falcon.

Grimsby suggests "Since Mr. Hawkesbury had more of a rough time in that last encounter, perhaps he could stay here and keep an eye on the gun while reviving his strength."

In reply to Grimsby Baskerville (msg # 908):

Dash, in recovering, has pulled himself into a sitting position, with the Gatling at his back.  At Grimsby's suggestion to interrogate the semi-conscious Vril thug, Dash blearily looks up and waves in the Vril's general direction.

"Teeth!...Gag!" Dash spits out with some urgency, pulling his hand back and waving it toward his own jaw, "Teeth!...Death!".

Dash's words combine with the concerns he already has about the Vril and he quickly pulls out a handkerchief and moves to stuff it into the Vril's mouth to keep him from biting down on the poison tooth that he likely has.

Directeur Forget and a few gendarmes show up just as you are escorting the Vril agent away. If she sees you, she doesn't say anything.

She and her gendarmes take charge of the Gatling gun and the ammunition.

She does manage to catch Marian before she walks away.

"I would very much like him back alive," she says.


It's still early enough in the day, before the Exposition has officially opened, that you are able to walk the Vril agent back to the Falcon without incident. The black ship escorts you back and parks alongside your hangar.

Grimsby keeps the Vril stumbling along to the airship as quickly as the fellow's condition permits. He offers the director a non-committal salute but does nothing to officially attract her attention.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:01, Tue 18 Sept 2018.

Marian nods at the woman's request and as she trots after her friends she informs them, We were told to return him alive for what it's worth.

Grimsby nods in his turn and responds, "I trust Mr. Wander's precautions will keep this fellow alive for the moment, and once we have wrung whatever tales we can from him, the director will be welcome to what's left."

Once Rosabelle gets back to her feet after her undignified fall, she follows along with the others, for lack of something better to do, and also of the need to retrieve her clockwork dragon, who seemed to have taken a liking to his perch on the rail of the dirigible.

You've all returned to the hangar where the Falcon is parked, and secured the prisoner. After a bit of interrogation, you manage to elicit only a few small bits of information. Primarily, he was just soldier; he wasn't privy to any high-level planning.

He knew that the black ship was supposed to be taking Professor Cavor somewhere to the east while a second ship was taking the cavorite to Lakshadweep.

I think it is implied here, but just in case: how many other soldiers in addition our prisoner were assigned to attack the crowd and what were his orders regarding the machine gun? Was he expecting an officer to come give him some or was he just awaiting some sort of signal? What kind, if so? (Even if he's a mere soldier getting some sense of what he does not might better confirm that we have indeed stopped their plan in its entirety.)

Marian will suggest asking him about the Vril women if she gets a chance. Considering she's bound there that morning, it would be nice to know how much danger will be involved. After the interrogation is over she will try to catch a few winks if it's at all possible. It had been a long night.

Grimsby also wants to ask where the Vril got a machine gun. It was not something one could buy casually in those days.

The explosion was supposed to be the signal. The fairgrounds were far enough away that it shouldn't have damaged any of the pavilions, and it was expected that any survivors and the rest of the fair-goers would have fled away from the explosion... right into the gunfire.

He doesn't know how many men were assigned to the attack. He knows of only 3 specifically--the two that were responsible for the explosion and the captain of the black ship.

In the ensuing chaos, the black ship was to fly over head, drop a cable, and he'd fasten it to the already in-place cables on the Gatling gun.

He doesn't know where the gun came from. He knew how to operate it because he'd practiced with it about a week ago.


He doesn't know much about the Vril women... other than it's wise to avoid them. He firmly believes that it was the women that were able to get the gun in place without anyone being aware... using their mental powers to make people forget what they saw. Whether that's true or not is anybody's guess, but he believes it.

By now, it's about 8 a.m. so Marian, Rosabelle and Mercy can get an hour or so of sleep if they want to take a 'power' nap.

Hearing the man's description of the women's powers, accurate or not, sends a chill up Marian's spine. She'd truly hoped that the women would prove to be a harmless offshoot but if he thought them so powerful...Great.

She does indeed take a power nap, hoping desperately that her luck will continue. At least Rosabelle and Mercy will be with her when the time comes. This could get complicated.

Based on their previous experiences, Mercy wasn't so sure that the man's beliefs about the Vril women were all that unfounded. If the book was to be believed, it was the women that had all the power... at least, the vril power. Social, organizational and political power was another story.

What was starting to concern her was the Vril agenda. So far, they didn't really know what the Vril were trying to accomplish. Assassination seemed more in line with the Anarchists.

Anyway, those were the thoughts tumbling through her mind as she laid down to take a short nap.

"Hey, Grimsby, can you make sure we get up in about an hour? Wouldn't want to be late for our meeting."

Having been up all night now, she was asleep a minute after her head hit the pillow.

In reply to Mercy Kincaid (msg # 922):

Grimsby replies patiently, "Certainly, I shall keep watch and wake you in an hour. Enjoy your well-earned rest." He removes a large pocket watch from his vest pocket and consults it to be sure he knows the time to wake them.He paces about to keep himself awake and watch for any further moves by the Vril, possibly to rescue the captive.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 03:51, Fri 09 Nov 2018.

The professor cautiously approaches the bunks where the three women are sleeping, and shakes them one by one to wake them.

"Wake up. Time to get up for your meeting. Grimsby sent me to wake you up," he says, making sure he's not going to be in anyone's sights if they should have a weapon when they wake.

It took Professor Cavor more than one try to get Mercy awake... and stay awake, but, somehow, she managed it. It was probably due to those all-nighters she'd pulled that she knew a splash of cold water in the face would get her engine running.

Was there any cold water around?

She recalled that the Vril ladies had a rather austere look to them... not that they weren't attractive women, but they didn't bother with make-up. Maybe she should do the same.

She went around to Marian and Rosabelle to make sure they'd woken up.

In reply to Mercy Kincaid (msg # 925):

Meanwhile, the idiot who threw himself out of a dirigible that was a hundred feet in the air, sleeps the Sleep of The Just...and the slightly concussed.

Feeling like perhaps it would have been better not to sleep after all, Marian rises and dtesses. It wouldn’t do to be seen in the same clothes as yesterday after all. She wears gloves too, seeing as how the henna was still intact. That would be a mess if anyone saw it...

OOC: Sorry to have sort of disappeared. Afraid work has become rather busy of late and I'm probably going to be offline more than off as a result for the next few weeks.

Bellgrove takes a nap as well and waking washes his face and goes to meet the rest of the group and find a cup of coffee.

When his watch tells him it is time to go, Grimsby politely approaches the room where the women were resting to confirm they are ready.