Episode 1 Episode 2

(AldenSpiess)

Anathema:

• A thing or person that has been committed to damnation.
• A means by which a thing is committed to damnation
• A thing destined to be destroyed as an offering to a god or gods.

guest starring David Prowse as MrFlanagan

A personal account can be found at HayesJournal

Episode 1: The Mocking Clock

The curious business began when Julius Erlich brought a book into the tea room where the rest of the group was socialising. The book was chiming, which had occasioned the greater part of Julius's excitement. He claimed that it started doing this quite without his intervention while he was reading a fascinating treaty on physics.

On inspection the book appeared to be a leather-bound copy entitled "The History of Unity", by Louise Burke, closed with a heavy metal clasp. When released, the clasp sprang open, and the chiming stopped. The book contained, in a hollow well cut into the paper inside, a tiny mailed fist clutching a key, with the fist protruding into the well from the paper of the book. Once the book had been opened, the mailed fist slowly relaxed to the sound of various metallic and clockworky noises, relasing the key.

The key was a normal mortice house door key, plain, but with a label dangling from it, with "12 Devon Lane" written on one side, and "7" on the other. On consulting MrFlannagan (who seemed to have picked up a most disturbing Somerset-shire accent) it was discovered that it was the key to 12DevonLane|12 Devon Lane's basement (generally believed to be the door to the boiler room, which is, in fact, under the stairs).

After suitable preparations, including finding sufficient lanterns, cameras, and the like, the PCs drove to 12 Devon Lane, where the door to the basement was photographed and opened. It was noticed that the door surround was oddly jointed - more complex than it needed to be. The reason for this was revealed when the door had been opened, as it was one of 13 doors, mounted on a great wheel.

The wheel of doors lay flush against the entrance to a great vaulted chamber underneath . Inside was a steep ramp leading down (after about 15-20 feet) to a spiral staircase which coiled down into a central chamber. Above the spiral staircase, and directly over a pedastal in the central chamber, a great metal globe was suspended from a huge iron cage-like fram that stood around (at a distance of several feet) the spiral staircase.

Set back several yards on the left of the ramp were many delicate pipes, while, after a drop of about 20 foot on the right was a mass of complicated cogs, wheels, and protruding copper wires. A windlass stood at the end of the ramp, with a bar dropping down into the mass of cogs, and a metal ladder, also dropping into the cogs, beside it. It was noted that each door seemed to be labelled with a sign of the zodiac in sequence, with the door the party had come through breaking the pattern, sitting between the Capricorn (the first) and Sagitarius (the last) signs.

<<< Ophiuchus ( see http://altergray.50megs.com/the_13th_zodiac_sign.html ) actually comes between Scorpio and Saggitarius -- SimonBooth >>>

<<< The open door is between Capricorn and Sagitarius. Whoever got the successful library search roll on the 13th sign of the Zodiac can give themselves a tick in library search for noting this discrepancy. -- AldenSpiess >>>

The thirteen doors on the wheel occasioned some serious concern, and talk of bricks and whitewash, but eventually it was decided to fetch a railway sleeper and chains to block the door solidly open, and also to fetch modern carbide lamps to penetrate the murky, cobwebby darkness within. While these items were being fetched, Lisa DaVinci and RobertJohnson decided to explore further, and JuliusErlich accompanied them.

The three worked their way down the slick marble steps of the spiral staircase into the chamber where they found an empty pedastal, some ancient and moldering female clothing of good quality, dating back at least 50-60 years, a large simple lever, and an upright metal cage, slightly larger than a man with an open front, and bones in it. The clothes were later found to be missing a singularly intimate piece of feminine attire.

Lisa DaVinci exclaimed at the sight of the bones, and JuliusErlich darted forward for a closer look, stepping into the cage as he did so, which promptly dropped out of sight, with him in it. Immediately the machine seemed to wake up, with cogs turning, the metal glode throwing out eerie light (without actually glowing itself), and a spark sliding up a pair of strips of curved copper at a steady rate of 1 per minute

This occasioned some excitment.

Eventually, the intrepid members of the Unity Society fastened the door open to their satisfaction, using railway sleepers and chains. It was ascertained, by the courageous action of RebeccaSwarovski, in volunteering to be lowered into the hole into which Julius had dropped, that Julius was unconscious, but otherwise seemed healthy and was inextricably emeshed in the workings of some tremendously complicated device, from which it would be impossible to extricate him without injury, without having a better idea of the workings of the machine. The machine seeming to be ticking over in a stable state.

This being the case, the Society library was explored for any information on the mysterious Ms Burke. The Society records recorded that she became a member in 1832 on the basis of an excellent book on Natural History, that she donated "A History of Unity" to the society in December 1849, and that she frequently signed in one Robert Burke between 1849 and 1850, the last entry being on the evening of Jan. 13th, 1850.

The Society library turned up an number of books authored by the Burkes:

• "The Natural History of the Unity Area", Print, Louise Burke, 1831.
• "Bird Species of Jenk's Hill", Print, Robert Burke, 1833.
• "Mechanical Prayer Wheels of the East", Handwritten, Louise and Robert Burke, 1838.
• Meeting notes of a small Unity Society clique, discussing very mundane and dull matters, handwritten by Louise Burke. Robert Burke also a regularly guest, and particular attention paid to the contributions of one 'Liv Emai'.

A search of the newspapers turned up a few items of interest:

• A society column on the return of the Burkes from the Orient, bringing with them Mrs ElizabethEmai, widow of a noted professor.

• A society column on a possible romance between Robert Burke - rich son of the Burke family, and the beautiful foreign widow Mrs ElizabethEmai.

• Society column speculation that the depature of Mrs Emai back to the Orient might be motivated by the intervention of Miss Lousie Burke in a romantic involvement with Mr Robert Burke.
• A headline article in an evening special on the destruction by fire of the Burke house, 15 Boucher Road, Jan 14th, 1850. Both Burkes believed dead in the blaze, fire happened during the day. Police interested in speaking to Louise Burke's personal maid, Hattie Jenkins, who cannot be found.

<<< Anyone who'd like to write the articles is welcome to do so. -- AldenSpiess >>>

One of articles has a picture of the Burkes and Emai. Robert is tall and proud-looking with strong features. Louise is smaller and more handsome, with looks somewhat spoiled by a very defiant cast to her face. Mrs Elizabeth Emai is older than either of them, soberly dressed, with the marks of strength and intelligence writ large on her features. She comes across as somewhat haughty.

HayesWebster also took a turn head-first down the hole to check on Julius, and Rebecca and Eric stayed with him while the library research was engaged in. There was some discussion of obtaining a rectangular guillotine to cut Julius free, and the decision was made to attempt to find more information about Louise Burke and the machine in the morning.

Episode 2: The Mocking Clock Strikes Back

The library was checked and old accounting books of the Burke family found. They revealed that the Burke parents ceased to legally own the Burke estate, on account of being dead, while Louise and Robert were young. It also revealed that the Burke family kept slaves, and that the maid Hattie Jenkins was a slave until she was freed on Louise's 18th Birthday. Significant payments were discovered to random builing contractors shortly after Louise and Robert's return from the Orient, and again at roughly the time when the History machine would be being started.

Other team members checked out the new construction on the site of the old Burke house. The new structure was clearly built on top of as much as remained of the old structure. An attempt was made to talk the way into the house, but the current maid, also black, didn't seem interested in female liberation. Neither did Mrs Johnson (no relation). It was noted that a large dog was kept on the property.

The group was contacted by a small boy asking if they wanted to talk to Hattie Jenkins. They did, and went to see her, in the Black quarter of the slums. Hattie, now a very old woman, remembered Louise Burke with fondness, Robert Burke with some attachment, and the Emai woman with strong dislike. She described how soon after Louise started taking Robert to the Society every night, Robert became increasingly passive and helpless, and how Louise brcame increasingly distracted and strange. Though even then she remained a mostly kind woman.

Eventually, Hattie related, Louise took Robert to 12 Devon Lane, and neither came back. By the following morning, she knew what she had to do, and she set light to the house. The Burke's had collected a large number of books that upset and unsettled Hattie, and, convinced that they were now dead, she set fire to the house to prevent anyone from discovering how mad they'd become. However, she explained, she knew that Louise had build a laboratory under the house, and she tbought the fire probably did not reach it. Hattie was able to give the team instructions on where to find and open the entrance. As the team left, they were given a locket by Hattie, which contained a lock of Louise Burke's hair.

After reconvening at 122, the team decided to pay another visit to the Johnsons (no relation), and try and talk them into letting them investigate a site of historical importance hidden in their house. Only Mrs Johnson (no relation) was home, and she was easily swayed. RobertJohnson opened the secret laboratory by pressing certain stones in the pantry wall in a set order. Each stone quivered in an animal way when he touched it, and when he had completed the sequence, the wall flowed back in a HarryPotter-esque fashion. Forunately the group was able to distract Mrs Johnson (no relation), so she didn't wig out completely.

Inside the secret laboratory the team found many intricate and exciting clockwork contraptions, plans and sketches for the HistoryMachine, and TheBurkeLabJournal and the History Machine technical manual. There was also several racks of shelves, each split into compartments, and each compartment hold a curious object: a green glass bottle. A metal valve. An ancient leather dog collar...

The History Machine technical manual was read, and gave clear instructions on how to remove someone from the machine, as well as some detail on how the machine is supposed to operate. TheBurkeLabJournal contained Louise' notes on what she saw as she used the machine, and was read by Lisa DaVinci, at the cost of some SAN. The secret laboratory was comprehensively photographed, and everything that was clearly related to the history machine was smuggled out. The rest was left for the Johnsons.

JuliusErlich was successfully rescued from the HistoryMachine, following the instructions in the manual, and the door to the basement was firmly locked. The key wasn't exactly thrown away, but it was glared at pretty hard.

Next: The Historical Re-enactment Society