The Investigation Begins

Adventure post in progress.--the Archivist

Air Date: 02 Oct 2010
Present: Kim, Maer, Andy, and Jim

August 15, 1867, Thursday
Lady Katherine’s Townhouse, Dorset Square
London, England
Afternoon

Beignet takes Josephine aside and tells her that it is not seemly for her to be a personal Ladies’ maid, not when Flora Spencer is already present to fill that position. Josephine, in short, is not high enough in class or station to fill that role. Therefore he has already arranged for Josephine to be the Head Housekeeper, on Col. Fleming’s payroll, during the times she is residing in London prior to the job on the Continent. Does she understand the necessity for this? Josephine internally bridles at the man’s stuffy manner and the perceived high-handedness of the change but calmly agrees.

Satisfied, he details Abegail, the now-demoted Head Housekeeper, to train Josephine to the task. Abegail lets her displeasure be known by starting Josephine off on the most distasteful, messy, and smelly jobs possible. Josephine does everything without complaint.

However, before her training can begin, Josephine leaves with Katherine and Beignet and Ezekiel to the laboratory of Mde. Dashwood. It’s in the warehouse section of London, south and east of Deptford. We enter and hear a whirring noise and going up the stairs to the lab, we encounter a winged creature. About the size of a smallish child’s doll, it is vaguely female in shape with leathery wings, red hair, and surprisingly Eldren features. Those in the party with guns shoot at it, those with blades cut at it. We end up bringing it down and Ezekiel carries it up to the lab and puts it in a jar of preservative liquid.

The lab is a combination laboratory and living space. It is tall and cavernous, as is the style of the day, and there is more than enough room for a pen of animals to be kept there. They get somewhat noise upon our arrival, obviously hungry and in need of care and Katherine is immediately drawn to the poor things. She finds out that just about all of them have been altered in some way. Here is a bunny with cat ears, there a Weimeraner-coated horse. Birds, a cow, other animals are similarly altered. Beignet is horrified and outraged and demands they be immediately destroyed when Katherine suggests we take them back to her townhouse for care. Katherine insists on taking them. Beignet refuses. It looks like a fight is brewing and Josephine steps into the middle of it saying that we will do no such thing: the creatures are evidence in an investigation and must be taken in by the proper authorities, there to be taken care of according to the needs of the animals and the evidentiary process. This mollifies both sides of the argument and Katherine and Ezekiel busy themselves with feeding and watering the menagerie. Ezekiel further reinforces the injunction against taking the animals home, citing the logical reason that we are imply not equipped to care for them properly. The animals are appreciative and quite tame, obviously domesticated and accustomed to contact with people.

Meanwhile Beignet and Josephine go over the lab and the living quarters for any clue as to Dashwood’s or Rembecki’s whereabouts on the Continent. Josephine finds several crates, obviously old and in differing states of having been broken into, spilling excelsior to the floor. One crate has the name Sir William Dashwood printed on the side and inside there are many old books.

One of them sports the title in German: UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN. Translated, it means “Unspeakable Cults”, in the manner of those cults of which nothing should be spoken. There is an inscription inside the book: “To Sir William, Thanks for your assistance. Frederic von J.”

Josephine also finds many legal papers in which it appears Dashwood is attempting to have her missing father declared dead so as to finally inherit his estate. No success seems to have been made in that endeavor but Josephine cleans Dashwood’s desk of all relevant papers for study later.

There being little else they can do here and much that is time sensitive, Josephine and the others bundle up as much of the relevant items together to one side and take what is easily transportable with them. Some of which involves getting the cabbie waiting outside for us to port it down the stairs and onto the roof of his vehicle. Josephine writes a detailed list of everything left behind that should be claimed for the investigation and climbs into the cab with her compatriots.

They ride straightaway to Bow Street and the Magistrate’s office and are met by Philip again. Josephine quickly explains the situation and drafts him to unload the cab and gives him the list with the express instructions to give it to Sir John. Philip supervises the unloading and Inspector Williams is assigned to take over the scene at the warehouse.

We get back to Katherine’s to plan what we will do next. Beignet decides we need to take our thaumaturgical findings to his old professor, Throckmorton, at Oxford. Also, Selene Dashwood’s old professor of Biological Thaumaturgy at Oxford might be able to shed some light on her and her background. We pack the jar with the creature into a picnic hamper, bundle up the book, and board a train soon thereafter for Oxford.

More to come soon.--the Archivist

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