In reply to Rosabelle Descant Tinker-Plumist (msg # 779):

"We got the first one hooked, Remi!" Dash shouts forward, "Head for the ocean and we'll drop this junk in the drink, then come back for the second one!"

OOC: I'm a bit confused where everyone is located, so if what I post makes no sense, GM, let me know and I'll edit.

Bellgrove notes the sound of the shot and the electrical explosion as well and moves with Rosabelle to investigate.

OOC: Sorry I forgot this was a free-form game; the GM's description of the results makes sense anyway.

When the Vril agent falls, Grimsby rushes toward him -- Grimsby hopes to secure the Vril before he can recover. Just how violent Grimsby's move will be will depend on how shocked the Vril seems to be. If the Vril is unconscious, Grimsby will probably try to tie him up, using pieces torn from the Vril's clothes. If the Vril is conscious, Grimsby will keep his revolver pointed at the Vril  and say, "Stay on the ground and don't try to move."

Marian acknowledges Rosabelle's words, still focused on the bleachers, watching as they lift. Just be careful. Signal for help if you need me. If things look well here I'll look for you if you're not back soon. She hated to leave the other bleachers unguarded. It was likely the Vril had eyes on what they were doing. It wouldn't do to leave such a dangerous bomb unguarded, not that there weren't plenty of others about of course, but she had a more watchful eye than some and right now they needed to keep that wretched thing safe.

Although time was of the essence, those involved in lifting the bleachers knew their business, and soon an early morning sight grabbed the attention of the city's inhabitants as the black airship dangling the bleachers beneath soared over the buildings to the sea. Although it wasn't that far away, it seemed to take forever to reach the sea.

But the ship made it without incident, and, more importantly, without the bleachers exploding. It was probable that if they had exploded, they explosion would have destroyed the ship.

It was a tricky decision... how far out to drop the bleachers before heading back for the second one?

Since no one could think of a reason for the bleachers to get detonated underwater, anywhere was probably safe. 300 feet offshore, Dash released the strap that dropped them into the blue waters below.

Remi was soon directing the ship back.


Meanwhile, Grimsby hurries over to the shocked Vril agent only to find that the man is dead. A single shot from the gun doesn't normally kill, at least Mercy's version doesn't, but he recalls the assassins in London that were using the gun to kill Lord Kentigern. The full discharge of the weapon's capacity, however, seems to be quite lethal.

Marian awaits the return of the airship eagerly, determined to keep any passerby away from the other set of bleachers should anyone come too close. So far no explosions had gone off so she assumed they'd dropped their load safely.

Upon hearing the crackling discharge of electricity, Mercy runs over to where she thinks the sound came from. She draws her own lightning gun because the sound was louder than any gun discharge she'd ever heard.

At some point, she probably spots Grimsby running in the same direction, and runs to join him.

"What happened?" she asks upon seeing the man on the ground.

In reply to Mercy Kincaid (msg # 786):

Rosabelle arrives at the fallen Vril just after Mercy, unable to move as quickly in her skirts. She crouches near the man, but out of arm's reach, and looks him over. I don't see any blood. Is he dead? She was hesitant to touch him for fear that he might be faking and jump at her.

Grimsby looks up from his examination of the Vril and says, "I fear the fellow is indeed dead. It is a pity we will not learn anything from him."

Having arrived with Rosabelle and hearing Grimsby's report he shrugs, "Yes, but we have the fellow who from our hearing seems to be his superior, my friend.

"And with his death you have potentially saved the hundreds he would have killed had he done what he intended. I hope that sops some of those bad feelings."

In reply to Bellgrove G. B. Wander (msg # 789):

Grimsby replies, "I feel no sorrow for this fellow's death. but I do regret the loss of a source of information. However, possibly his superior will be more informative now he knows his accomplice is dead and their plot has failed."

"You aren't likely to get any information from the Vril agent," Mercy said. "If you resort to any sort of torture, real or imagined, he will just die. They can just will themselves to die. We've seen that before."

"The only hope we have would be to trick him somehow."

Seeing the others rush towards Bellgrove and the body, Marian does the same, coming upon the scene a bit late, catching Mercy saying something about torture and tricking someone. What happened? she tries to breathe normally, having run quite a bit to catch up. Surely you can't be talking about this fellow? He looks a bit on the dead side...

Bellgrove nods at Mercy's comment and looks nonplussed at Marion's, "In the confusion you may have missed that I turned over a Vril that Grimbsby and I captured to Madam La Directeur moments ago?

"Regardless, despite the challenges of learning anything from him, we know that there are several female members of the Vril in the city and likely to be more male as well. It appears as if we have upset their plot to attack the event and they may not quite be aware of how far 'blown' their plans have become.

"Perhaps we should offer our aid to Madam La Directeur in rounding up as many of the remaining coterie as possible?"

The Directeur had turned the other Vril agent over to a pair of gendarmes who had started to lead the man away when the black ship appeared, and they'd stopped to watch the bleachers being lifted. Then the other Vril agent had tried to detonate the bleachers with the lightning gun. The sound of the massive lightning discharge caught everyone's attention, particularly the still-living Vril agent.

The gendarmes, anticipating perhaps another prisoner, continued to wait as the black ship returned without the bleachers and now set about fastening straps around the second set of bleachers.

The Directeur had gone on the black ship the first time to direct Remi on the safest course over the town and to the sea in the event that the bleachers broke free or somehow detonated. Remi flew the ship high enough so that the explosion wouldn't reach the ground, but there would still be debris from the ship.

So now, since everyone had moved over to see what was going on with Grimsby and the other Vril agent, they all need to rush back to secure the second bleachers for their short trip to the sea.

"There's still the matter of the gun emplacement... somewhere near the entrance," Connor reminds everyone. "I believe it was set up with the idea of shooting anyone and everyone that tried to flee from the explosion. No important dignitaries are likely to have survived the explosion, so this was intended as mere chaos and anarchy, meant to demoralize and confuse any rescue efforts."

"With all the food purveyors, I doubt if my sense of smell will be able to distinguish the scent of the munitions. In any case, it will need to be a spot with some elevation... for maximum effect."

"In the aftermath, it would be easy enough for the agent to escape into the crowd. And, while it seems like an inexcusable waste, I expect there will be an explosive there, too, to destroy the gun when its job is done."

Marian listens and shakes her head. What a mess. Well, I don't know if it's an option or not but I do still have my tattoo of sorts. I could try to lie to the prisoner again, like I did back at the hangar, make him believe I'm on his side. See if I can't gain his trust? Otherwise I'd be happy to help any other way you could use me. Keep in mind, we females intend to infiltrate the women's Vril group in the morning too. I have a feeling it's going to be a very long day she gives a tired smile.

In reply to Marian Holroy (msg # 796):

Grimsby commented, "At least you have some practical suggestions, Miss Holroy. If Madame la Directeur will let you speak to the prisoner, you can try your first idea, and if not, you and the other ladies could try the second one in the morning."

"Don't forget--the women are the dominate ones," Mercy said. "And the intelligent ones. If you want to trick him, you'll have to be the one telling him what to do."

"Perhaps you can tell him that the plans have been changed. Let him infer that there were layers of planning involved, and that there were always contingencies. With the failure of the great explosion, an alternate plan has now been implemented. One that doesn't involve killing anyone. Oh, I know! Hint that there is this great wheel that gets turned with every plot, whether it succeeds or not. Each turn now indicates the next path to ultimate success."

"He's not going to know if that's true or not, 'cause he'll never have been shown the wheel."

"You can say that the next phase has occurred because the Queen has joined your side."

"Maybe you could then get him to cooperate with the authorities by claiming he was duped. He only thought the bleachers would produce smoke, like a stage magician. The aim was just to disrupt the celebration... because some people felt the Queen was trying to upstage the Paris Exhibition."

"You could then tell him that if the authorities don't release him within... two days, you'll break him out. The authorities can then tell him that you were discovered to be a spy and you were killed."

"That should keep him in the dark for a very long time."

She really had no idea if any of that would work. She'd sort of been equating her thoughts as they occurred to her with machinery, because that she was familiar with.

Marian listens, trying to follow the whirlwind of suggestions and at one point taking out her pad of paper and pen and trying to jot down snippets. Wheel....queen...? she mutters, half unsure and half terrified. Here she went again, offering to do something very very stupid! Whatever I do, I must iron out the details in advance perfectly so I'm open to any coaching. Hm...she mulls it over. I suppose if you wanted to take a risk I could try 'helping him escape' and see if he leads me back to the others...You could all follow at a safe distance, maybe Connor could even track us by smell somehow. But then that might be a little over my head... she adds, already fretting over the danger.

In reply to Marian Holroy (msg # 799):

Can I be of assistance? Rosabelle looked curiously between the other two women. I don't know much about these Vril or exactly what they're doing, but it certainly doesn't seem to be good. I will do what I can.

In reply to Marian Holroy (msg # 799):

Grimsby commented, "If you decide to try to 'help him escape" it would be very important that Madame la Directeur and her staff were aware of what was really going on, so they did not, in fact, kill you, or at least arrest you."

"We don't really know what these Vril agents are doing either," Mercy said to Rosabelle. "We stumbled across one of their plans back in London, and have been pursuing a nebulous trail ever since."

"We found a list of people they were apparently going to assassinate. We've already thwarted two of them, maybe three if you count the Queen here, but I don't think we've actually stopped their plans completely yet."

"Anyway... according to the book, vril is some form of energy that these vril-ya have harnessed. The book didn't really explain it very well. I suppose that's partly due to the secrecy that they maintain about it. It just became easier to call these... anarchists... Vril, since we all know what we're talking about."

"We don't even know for certain that they are anarchists, though that appears to be what they are. We've got a sneaking suspicion that they have some sort of agenda that we aren't yet aware of... maybe something like world domination! Anarchy may just be a means to an end--destroy everything and then build it back up with them in control."

"And, yes, it does sound preposterous! I'm not even sure it's possible! But these Vril may think it is."

"I'm not sure letting the one we've captured escape is such a great idea. I mean, it's not like the rest of them aren't going to know soon enough that their elaborate scheme has gotten derailed. Or that we've captured their black ship. They may already know... via some kind of mind-reading ability."

"It just occurred to me! There's another ship out there! Remember? We were attacked by flying men? They came from a different ship. And didn't Professor Cavor say something about his mineral being sent on to... where was it? Lack-something... Lakshadweep! That's it!"

"Anybody know where that is?"

Grimsby said, "The 'dweep' sounds like the 'dvipa' meaning island in Sanskrit and kindred tongues, and the 'laksha' reminds me of 'raksha' meaning 'demon' though that may be a coincidence."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:41, Mon 02 Apr 2018.

Well, that doesn't sound very comforting, Rosabelle responded. And I think I agree with Mercy about not risking letting the agent escape. They seem to be quite adept at sneaking and you wouldn't want to lose him.

Perhaps, Marian, I can lend some...authority to your meeting with the agent. I can be quite forbidding when I choose to. Rosabelle gave Marian a very haughty look, then grinned.