In reply to Aubrey St. Claire (msg # 692):

Grimsby remarked, "The British Empire was built by daring adventurers who sometimes were careless of local native law, but I never heard of one stealing a valuable invention from  fellow European."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:38, Tue 26 Feb 2019.

Solar's two 'associates' suddenly slump to the ground as Brie's special talent affected both of them.

Normally, it would just temporarily incapacitate them, but with the push, she was able to render them unconscious.

In reply to GM SteamRoller (msg # 695):

Grimsby eyes Brie with respect and remarks, "It seems your powers are stronger than I thought. This may prove very useful."

"Just parlor tricks," she responded. "They often work when least expected and refuse to cooperate when you need them."

"I fear these gentlemen were just a tad bit susceptible."

"It's best used subtlety rather than wielded like a hammer. Though, sometimes a hammer can be fun!"

In reply to Brie O'Malley (msg # 697):

Joseph's eyes widened as the two men fell to the ground.  He holstered his pistol, and with his other hand pushed his hat back on his head.

"I honestly thought that was a weak bet..." Joseph says to himself, eyes still on the fallen pair.

Then, turning to Brie, Joseph grabs the hat from his head and presses it against his breast.

"Miss Brie," Joseph says, bowing his head towards the woman, "I do sincerely apologize for my boorish behaviour the other day, when I doubted your claims.  I admit to you now that I was an idiot."

Joseph slaps his hat back upon his head, "So, let's get these two gentlemen bound and gagged, then we can be about recovering Doctor Solar's property."

Mathias is as surprised as Joseph at the sudden collapse of the two men, but is able to gather that Brie caused it and that Joseph doubted her ability to do so. And Mathias did see the 'heat shimmer' effect, momentarily baffled by its cause.

He smiled at Brie's comment.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Mr. Hunnisett," Mathias said to Joseph.

"However, there are also far too many frauds and fakirs in the world, but the saddest part is that many of them actually believe that they are real."

"In any case, it's nice to know that Miss Brie is not one of those."

"Now, as to regaining my invention by luring the others out, I could easily tell them that Herr Schilling has fallen down and broken his leg."

"Hmmm. Now that's an odd expression... 'fallen down'. If you've fallen, it has to be down, doesn't it? Or can you fall... UP?"

In reply to Dr. Mathias Solar (msg # 699):

Grimsby remarked, "As far as I know, one cannot fall up on earth, but it is possible while traveling through the ether.
But meanwhile, let us get on with dealing with the rest of these rogues. If Dr. Solar can lure them out with his tale of Herr Schilling's'accident' the rest of us will need to be ready to take them as they emerge. We mus find positions where we are not easily visible from where they are inside, but close enough to move in quickly once the villains come out."

"Well, lets tie up these men and put them in the barn, out of sight," Felicity suggests and proceeds to do just that.

"Will they wake up when we drag them?" she asks Brie.

"Probably," Brie replies to Felicity. "Any violent physical action will wake them up. Possibly a loud noise as well. They are asleep, just like normal sleep, only it was induced."

"Every individual is different, though. Someone who is a light sleeper is still under the induced sleep."

"Dragging them will likely cause their heads to hit something, and that would wake them up. Unless you drag them from under the arms."

Grimsby responds, "Yes, if these fellows are only asleep, we had best move them gently." Once Felicity has bound them, he cautiously lifts one of the men under the arms and carries him carefully toward the barn, holding him high enough that only his heels drag on the ground.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:03, Sat 09 Mar 2019.

Aubrey grabs the other fellow under the arms and follows Grimsby's lead... carefully dragging the man into the barn.

Rather than just leave him laying on the floor, Aubrey props him up against one of the side walls to try and make it look like he might have broken his leg.

"Let's get this over with," he says. "We should hurry up before their compatriots get suspicious."

Catherine crossed her arms and turned away indignantly when Aubrey was mean to the British Empire.

"I regret the necessity, but perhaps Doctor Solar and I ought to use these fellow's firearms if there is any unpleasantness with those inside the house." Catherine suggested. She looked at Grimbsy nervously to see how he would react. A young lady shouldn't play with guns, but she didn't want to be a burden right now.

Grimsby smiled reassuringly at Catherine, and responded, "I hope the rest of the party --including myself -- will be sufficiently armed and ready to defend you, my dear ward, but if it makes you feel safer to take one of these villains' weapons, by all means help yourself. However, I do not recommend firing it unless you find yourself in serious danger, which I trust will not be the case."

In reply to Grimsby H. Baskerville (msg # 706):

"I forget, Miss Catherine," Joseph asks, quietly, "On the road coming here, when you did some shooting practice with Miss Brie and Miss Felicity--did you happen to have fired Felicity's hogleg?  Sorry, I mean, her pistol.  Unless you did--and got to know how hard it kicked--I'd recommend you take the smaller of the two firearms, Miss, if there's any difference at all.  But if these fellows follow form, they probably each carried at least a forty, maybe a forty-four.  So, if you have to shoot, hold on with both hands, expect it to kick hard, and don't be surprised by how loud it is."

Joseph gives Catherine a grin and a wink, "All that noise just shows everybody who's in charge, right?  Like a Lioness roaring at the hyenas."

"Of course I trust you to protect me" Catherine said.
"Not to worry, Mister Hunnisett. I shall be very, very careful." she said seriously. "With luck, I shalln't have to bother my ears at all firing one of those things." Hopefully, one of these fellows carried something suitable for a delicate girl like Catherine... but it was probably a forlorn hope.

"If neither of these fellows has a gun light enough to suit you, Catherine, " Grimsby offered, "I could spare you my derringer for the time being, though I like to save it for a surprise for certain people." He makes a smooth gesture and a small pistol suddenly appears in his hand.

"Okay, let's get in position," Felicity said.

"I'll circle around the house to the other side and keep out of sight along that side, and then follow the other men when they exit the house and go to aid their ally. That way, they can't suddenly turn tail and run."

"The rest of you should probably get out of sight in the barn."

"Dr. Solar... I think if you tell the men inside the house that Helmuth there annoyed your horse and the horse kicked him and you think his leg is broken."

"That should get them out of the house."

Grimsby says "Very well," but before heading for the barn he waits a moment to see if Catherine wishes to take him up on the offer of his derringer.

In reply to Grimsby H. Baskerville (msg # 711):

     "Damn, Felicity, that's an excellent ambush strategy." Joseph says with a smile towards his old friend, "I swear, it's times like this that I actually think it's damn stupid ladies can't attend military academies."

     Joseph shakes his head with a grin, as he takes his place in the barn, his own pistol at the ready,

     "I mean, according to classical Greek histories, Amazonian women warriors were a match for any man.  I just thinks it's an awful waste not to allow women to study war.  Likely it's fear that women would be better at it than men."

Grimsby remarks, "It is true that some British ladies on the borders of the empire have displayed great courage and leadership -- even military leadership -- in critical moments, but I doubt most families would welcome seeing their daughters take up a military career."

Catherine takes her guardian's derringer and careful takes up a position in the barn. She gasps a little at Joseph's language. "Goodness, my mother wouldn't have approved of that at all" she says of the idea of female soldiers. She tries to keep her voice to a whisper so as not to spoil the ambush. The situation is tense with the ambush, but Catherine trusts those around her to handle it, so she isn't as frightened as she'd otherwise be.

Once he sees that everyone is in position, he moves around to the front of the house and opens the door with a quick movement and steps into the doorway.

"Help! Helmuth broke his leg! He can't even stand up now!" he calls out and as soon as he sees the two men coming towards him, he turns and hurries back to the barn, hoping that his movement will prompt the others to follow him more quickly.

Felicity has no problem overhearing Solar's call and even the response of the other men.

"What?! How the hell did he do that?"

"Where is he? How the hell did that happen? Where's Nikolai?"

As expected, the other two men rush out of the house and follow Solar around the corner.

They quickly move to the side door to the barn which goes through the tack shed.

Once in the barn, their eyes have to adjust to the dimmer light for a second or two, and then they spot Helmuth laying on the ground. They start towards him and then stop as they realize he isn't moving.

"What did you do to him?" the one man demands.

"Me? I didn't do anything to him!" Solar responds. "He was annoying Butterscotch and the horse kicked him! It was his own fault!"

In reply to Dr. Mathias Solar (msg # 717):

OOC: "They" are in the barn..."we" are in the barn...

---

With the two 'gentlemen' focused on Dr. Solar, it should come as a surprise to them when Joseph's voice comes out of the dimness,

"Howdy Gents!" Joseph says, then pulls back the hammer of his single-action LeMat pistol--slow and loud.

"Don't even try to pull your hoglegs, Boys!" Joseph adds quickly, "We've already got you covered, plus I'm from America and I used to be a Cowboy.  Trust me, Gents, you got no play here.  ¡Ni siquiera tienes la posibilidad de gotas de lluvia en el Desierto Chihuahuense!" Joseph finishes in his Mexican-Spanish (OOC: "You don't even have the chance of raindrops in the Chihuahuan Desert!")

"So, reach for the sky, Gents, and my equally lethal Canadian companion will wander over and relieve you of your armaments.  Keep it peaceful, and nobody needs to die--mess with us, and you'll have a dozen bullet holes in each of you before you hit the ground."

Joseph gives the gentlemen a short pause to think about it, before he calls out, "Griggy!  Get their weapons.  The rest of us have them covered.  Um, Doctor, you might want to step aside--you're in the middle of a lead-storm, if those two decide to try something stupid."


OOC: Sorry to hijack the plan, but this just came to me.  Also sorry about calling you "Griggy", Grimsby, old man--oh, and for insulting you by calling you Canadian--but if we're not going to kill these two pijas, then it's best we feed them disinformation, as well as limit their knowledge of the Ladies, yes?