Myrtil in the Sky with Sunstones

Eighteen bloody months in the sky... And Old Ones know how many more to come.

Everything had gone perfectly. I had managed to sneak into the morning airship departing from Steelhead without being seen, and had found a comfortable hideout in a corner of the food storage. I didn't think the trip would last more than one week, maybe one week and a half at the most, even if the ship seemed to be quite slow. I assumed it was loaded with heavy cargo ; didn't really have the chance to check exactly what.

I was just napping, rocked by the regular buzzing of the machines, when suddenly the ship stopped completely, as if bumping violently into something, sending Flynn, Rupert and I rolling across the storage room to go crashing upside down into a pile of crates.
"What the hell was that..." I muttered while brushing the dust off my clothes, fearing we had met some kind of giant Air Kraken.
Flynn scurried back into my jacket's pocket, his pointy ears and fluffy red tail laying low, showing that he was just as concerned as I was. I carefully collected Rupert, my second carrier pigeon, and installed him into the vast pocket on the other side of my jacket.
I was going to climb up out of my hiding hole, when a growing sound of screams and shootings inspired me to freeze on the spot.
Something was obviously happening on the upper deck. Something I might not actually want to be involved in.
I fought with myself for a few minutes, and finally my dangerous tendency to curiosity took over and led me to climb up the ladder and open slightly the hatch door.
At first, I only saw feet. Big dusty, soothy, bloody boots right before my eyes. I slowly looked up along the blue puffy trousers and the red jacket and noticed with a gasp of horror that a huge sword and two holsters on each side were hanging from the large leather belt wrapped around the pirate's waist. The ambient noise was quite loud, and he seemed to be pretty absorbed into aiming at running people with the pistols he had in both hands, so I decided to take the risk of opening the hatch door a bit more, to have a better appreciation of the situation.
 I would not have recognized the ship even if I had seen it by daylight before. The deck was covered in laying bodies with streams of blood dripping from their open wounds and filthy bearded pirates neglectfully stepping right onto them to get a better shot at new victims. The sailors were falling like flies that would have been smashed down by a giant hand and I was starting to get slightly worried about what would become of my two little friends and I if the bloodthirsty sky pirates came to find my hiding place...
 Carefully, I climbed back down the ladder and closed quietly the hatch door behind me, then stood in the middle of the stock room and looked around. Apart from crates of food and barrels of alcohol and water, there was not much in there that could help me putting together a brilliant escape plan. At this moment, I wished my friends were with me. It was always easier when several minds were together and we managed to come up with great ideas even in the most desperate of situations.
Suddenly, an image of Triky appeared in front of my eyes. Triky with his pointy nosed mask and sparkly mischievous eyes, a cheeky smile on his lips and a bottle lightened with fire in his hand. And then I knew what I had to do.
 I decidedly walked towards a big barrel full of apples and started emptying it, throwing the fruits away until they were rolling all over the place. I then lifted the empty barrel and put it back down at the bottom of the ladder. Flynn had jumped off my pocket and while he was making the most of the laying apples, I turned towards the pile of smaller barrels of alcohol. I took hold of one and worked on the lid with my knife to weaken it. After this patient preparation, I could give a kick with my heel to smash it open and then carefully installed it inside the barrel I had just emptied. I then rummaged into my pockets to bring a small rusted metal box outside.
"Come on, Flynn!" I urged my squirrel while opening the box to pick up one of the matches.
The little rodent left the half-eaten apple behind him and jumped back into my coat's pocket, after climbing his way along my leg.
I rolled my sleeves up my arms and set to lift again the big barrel to bring it to the top of the ladder, rung after rung. That was no easy business I tell you, but somehow I did manage in the end, and found myself right under the hatch door, ready to open it and push the barrel outside.
I gathered the match I had set behind my ear and, after a fond thought for Triky, I struck it against the barrel's side and dropped it inside the alcohol. The sudden flame that rose was big enough, but the fire didn't venture yet outside of the bigger barrel and I hurriedly pushed the whole thing with all my strength against the hatch door to force it open and send the tricked barrel rolling on the main deck.
Luckily, the pirates were too busy to notice anything, and I could see my little firebomb stopping right in front of the pilot's cabin, flames escaping from the opening and starting to lick their surroundings.
When the fire began to embrace the door of the cabin, catching every little piece of wood that happened to be around, someone eventually noticed it and shouted : "FIRE!".
This triggered a big messy blur of pirates running towards the blaze to try and smother it, to no avail. The flames only grew higher and larger, dancing on the cabin's roof and climbing along the ropes, getting dangerously close to the balloon. Triky would have been very pleased indeed.
While I was admiring the inferno, the pirates were gathering everything they could and carrying it onto their own ship, seemingly ready to abandon the one they had attacked to its fate. That was my chance to leave as well. In the panic, nobody would pay attention to me.
After a bit of careful look out, I was sure that they were all too busy, and I quickly lifted the hatch door to dart out and run towards the edge of the burning ship, jumping onto the pirate's one without taking time to think about the fall I would have made if I had missed that jump. Once on the other side, I hurried towards a dark corner behind a pile of crates and kicked the rat that was hiding there to take its place.
Then I allowed myself to catch my breath.
Risking a glance through the wall of crates, I saw the pirates transferring the cargo from the Steelhead ship to their own. Some of them were storing it very close to where I was hiding and a few stones fell out of the crates, rolling behind them and stopping their course against my shoes. I picked one up and examined it with curiosity. This one was oblong, quite transparent with a hint of pinkish yellow. I pocketed it, shushing Flynn's cry of indignation to have to share his living-room with a piece of rock, and took another glance between the crates to see what was happening.
The flames had eventually caught the fabric of the balloon and the pirates had cut off all of the ropes attaching both ships together. Some of the men were pushing against the side of the burning cargo-ship with long sticks to get away quicker. The buzzing sound got progressively louder, and the pirates' ship swiftly moved away from its dying prey. I could almost see nothing of it but flames, engulfing the deck.
Suddenly, a loud bang resonated and the balloon disappeared behind a wall of red flames, the whole ship crumbling to pieces that were regularly falling down, soon followed by the main block, which whirled down into the sea with most of its cargo of sunstones.


So there I was. Hiding on the sky pirates of the North Pass' ship. Heading to some unknown destination.
Well, this did not last very long of course. They soon discovered my hiding place and while I was sure they would kill me at once, it seems that I was lucky enough to escape that fate. Their boss was happy with the cargo of sunstones and did not suspect the role I had played in their hasty retreat. Apparently he thought they were in need of a ship's boy and that I could be that one.

And this lasted until now. Eighteen bloody months rubbing the deck, giving a hand to the cook and occasionally being part of raids. Seems like I'm a good thief and they won't let me go. I guess living on the streets of New Babbage helped me to gain a skill or two.
Anyway, I sent Rupert to warn my friends that I was safe and alive, even if in the hands of sky pirates, but that they should not worry because I would find a way to escape eventually.

I'm sure I will...

Tricks from the Past

This was on Hallow's Eve.

Everything was quiet in Steelhead. I had spent the week asking people around, trying to find Margo December, with no luck.
Tired and hungry, I had decided to find a place to spend the night, as it was getting dark. I would resume my quest later. I approached the entrance of the tunnels, not far from the city centre, thinking it would make a good hideout to sleep quietly.
The tunnels were looking quite dark and eerie in the night, and I hesitated.
A sound resonated in the silence, like the cry of an owl, startling me. I was ready to turn back and head towards the deserted city centre, when a huge fireball of flame lit up the entrance of the tunnel, splashing up and around the arch, like a firebomb going off. Blown away by the explosion, I fell on the side, in the grass.
The flames were already flickering away, but the atmosphere was filled with smoke, rising from the ground, and between two fits of cough, I spotted a smothered shape at the tunnel entrance.
"What... what was that?" I stuttered, while squinting to distinguish the tunnel entrance.
Slowly, the smoke cleared out, to reveal a short human shape, dressed in urchin clothes and wearing a big bakerboy hat. As he stepped forward towards me, I noticed his bare feet, and, looking up to his face, I recognized the black mask with a pointy beak that was covering it.
My heart missed a beat.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Him? Him! Right in front of me!
"T... T..." I hiccuped.
 "Are you ok?" asked the boy. "What you doing in the mud?"
Suddenly, all the feelings that had been building up during those last two years exploded inside me and I ran to him to hug him, shouting his name.
"TRIKY!!!!"


"Hey wotchit!!'" he screamed, as I was smothering him. "You missed me then?"
My eyes were blurred with happy tears. I stepped back from him but still holding onto his arm to make sure he would not disappear again.
"Not a bit, you idiot!", I replied, sweeping away the humidity in my eyes with the back of my free hand. "How on Earth is that possible???? How are you here???"
 Triky stepped back, his cheeky grin changing to a smile of thoughtful adult demeanor.
"I dont know, I... She... All I know is that I'm allowed one hour with you. A gift... I guess it's important somehow."
 "One hour?" I repeated, arching an eyebrow. "That's not much!" I glanced at him, suddenly concerned. "Do you mean that you are a kind of... ghost?"
But Tricky was already darting off towards the town centre, giggling. He turned to shout back: "I GUESS THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT THE WITCHING HOUR!"
"Dammit!" I muttered before running after him as fast as I could. "WAIT FOR ME!!!"
 "COME ON I WONNA BURN SOMETHING!" he shouted back.
 I couldn't help a smirk, remembering all the things that had been burnt in the past when Triky was around.
We spent the next half hour running around town, me mostly trying to stop him from burning stuff, and laughing as he was knocking on doors before running away, but in the end, we somehow found ourselves near the watermill and decided to take a break and sit by the riverside.
The moon was out and full, lighting up the river side in silver light.
I put a hand on Triky's shoulder and gave him a serious look. "Now we need to talk."

"Talk?", he replied, "What about? Arnt you having fun? Did you see the look on that guy's face when his cat ran in with its tail on fire... PFFT hahaha... i crack myself up."
I couldn't help smiling at the thought, but tried to recompose my serious face. "That was very funny and we had a really great time, but time alas is going quickly and you will soon disappear again... I would like you to tell me what you remember, what happened before you met me in front of this tunnel. You were saying "she" gave you one hour back here. Do you know who that is?"
" Oh man, ..." sighed Triky..."I dunno, it was just a feeling. I just woke up and that's the feeling i had."
I stayed quiet a few moments, to observe him closely, before asking :
"There is something else... Triky, do you remember Willard Steamweaver?"
Triky reacted at once : "But that's my name, how did you know my name?"
 "Because I met you when you were an old man." I explained.
" No one calls me Willard, thats a duffuss name", he stated.
"I couldn't agree more", I nodded.
Triky frowned slightly : "Myrtil you are being strange, what's wrong with you?"
I sighed. "I would like to just play all day like you, but my friends' lives are in danger. The whole of Babbage town is in danger. And I think you could stop that, just by telling me something, but I don't know what..."
 Triky paused for a moment. "This is like a dream, I'm not dreaming am I, you say I'm a ghost?"
I tilted my head , looking at him sadly, before slowly nodding. "Yes, I think you are... You must be... "
"Two years ago, you see", I continued quietly, "Willard, your other half, came back from the moon and found you. You were reunited, and you died together... I thought I would never see you again..."
"This is Hallow's Eve, and here you are, but just for one hour..." I finished, my voice trembling.
"I dont remember" said Triky softly, "but now I feel something else...I miss you, and I miss other people. I can't remember them but I miss them so much... I didn't want to go... but I had to?"
I shook my head : "No, no you didn't want to go and I don't think you HAD to! This Willard, HE wanted to die, and the only way he had to was to take you with him..."
I tried to fight back the need to cry again. "Everyone misses you Triky. I miss you every day. Every day I regret not having managed to stop that..."

"Everything has its time and place", said Tricky with a half cocked smile. "Don't be upset for me, where ever it is that I am... It feels nice, I don't feel alone."
I looked up at him, trying to find out what he was really thinking. "I... just wish it didn't happen, I don't know why it had to..."
I could not fight it any longer and started to sob silently, my shoulders going up and down, uncontrollably : "It is just so hard to lose a friend..."
I let those words die in the silence of the night.
"But..." I tried to smile, wiping my tears with the back of my hand. "But I am happy if you feel nice where you are. Just never forget that you will never be alone."
 Triky smiled. "Dont be sad Myrtil, you can't change the past because the truth is you live now, right now, and right now today you and I, we had fun, because when we are together we have fun, and everytime we ever meet, we will have fun. And in the future we will have fun and burn stuff, that's if we meet in the future, because I don't know if where I am now future exists, it's all a dream to me Myrtil, it's all a dream."
 As he was talking, the meaning of his words was slowly penetrating my mind, and starting to lift me out of my sadness.
I smiled back to him spontaneously and nodded softly: "You are right Triky, we will always have fun, wherever, whenever... Everytime you are here. And I am sure I will see you again, even if it is in a dream."
Triky paused, suddenly looking distant. "My time now is almost over... I can feel her."
I put a hand on his shoulder in reflex, as if to keep him back from "her".
"Wait, let me see if..." Triky lifted his hand up to his face. And for the first time, he removed his mask.

 His face was very pale, with rose red lips, a small round button nose between two pitch black eyes, from within which sparkled the brightest unnatural light.
Triky leaned close to my face, innocently peering into my eyes before whispering "Look."
My own eyes widened and it was as if I was under a spell, unable to move away from his look.

As I was looking deep into Triky's eyes, my gaze went further than I ever thought possible. I felt strange, but calm, while traveling into his eyes, from the darkness towards the light. The closer I got, the brighter the light was, until it broke up into smaller globes of light. My gaze traveled closer and closer to one of the globes, to the point where I could see within the floating ball of light, what looked like a small unborn child. All around me were other globes of light, and an overall sense of calm. A sense of female compassion.
I felt like all sadness and angst had vanished, to be replaced by serenity.
Then I heard his voice surrounding me. Triky's voice, soft and loving :
"There is a time and a place for everything Myrtil, but you still got choices, the future is not set in stone."
And with a gasp, the lights lifted and I found myself alone by the river side.

I stayed sitting there for a while, thinking about it all, over and over. I knew those globes of light, I had seen them before. I smiled to the moon. After two years of confused mourning, I had eventually seen Triky again. I had been able to tell him how much I missed him, how guilty I felt for not preventing what had happened. And he had brought peace in my heart at last.

 Finally rising up on my feet, I walked towards the tree my pigeon had elected as a temporary home and called softly, waking the bird from his sleep : "I have a job for you, Bob."
Dipping into my pocket, my hand found a piece of paper and a small pencil, and I scribbled a few words before rolling the paper into a really tiny tube. The pigeon stepped onto my open palm, and I installed the roll of parchment inside the small metal canister attached to his leg. "Here, bring that to the others!"
Bob took off and my eyes followed his little silhouette, growing smaller and smaller against the full moon.
I smiled again.
Tomorrow at dawn, the first airship departing for New Babbage will have a stowaway.

Leaving my hometown

Things have gone too far this time and Jason Moriarty attacked Nat and Gadget with blue lightnings.
The Thirteen and Below are scheming in secret, Tepic working hard to find some equipment, and Gadget recruiting Miss Avariel's help to build the aetheric trap in which we hope Moriarty will fall...
Strange capsules have arisen all over the city, seeming to be grown from the ground, and change at dark into horrid growling monsters full of teeth, their big eye following you...
The story written by the automaton displayed at the City Hall is appearing gradually, but backwards. And the closer we get to the beginning, the more people are dieing... Parts of it make me think something is wrong, or something is going to happen. The newest page describes Mister Tenk handing over a sack to Mister Mornington. A sack that Sebastian gave him. And in the last page of the book, I wish I had listened to Triky. Both events, as far as I remember, did not happen yet. I can't recall Triky saying anything to me in the context of a disastrous future, and Triky died two years ago... As for Sebastian, I have no knowledge of him giving a sack to the Mayor. And Sebastian disappeared after the Beast was used to host Moriarty's brain. I believe he might have returned to his tomb, along with the other knights of Malkuth.

I will be sneaking into the next airship departing to Steelhead... I want answers, and think Miss Margo December, Loki's grand-ma, could give them to me. I have not seen her around New Babbage lately, and Steelhead was the town she came from, so this might be my best chance to find her... Triky was a part of Willard Steamweaver, who Margo was engaged to. And she was a member of the Thirteen Club, before becoming slightly nuts... Even if the trip leads to a dead end, at least I would have tried something. I just can't stay sitting around knowing that my friends are marching to their death.

Wish me luck.

Visions from a future

It's been almost a year since I last wrote in here, and I think this may be because I have been too shaken up by what happened.
Whoever would like to relive the Black Heart mystery should be able to do so by following the clues scattered around town, but the conclusions drawn by those events are that the monks of Malkuth resuscitated to fight the Beast have been destroying all of the Van Creed places around town, and that the Beast itself is at last gone. Well, those are the good points... In truth, I hate having to admit that I have been used by this creepy insane man to "fix" the Beast and call back to life the most dangerous Evil that Babbage has ever known.
I have trouble to sleep at night since Jason Moriarty came back. I wake up from my nightmares and see shadows creeping around me. I do not only fear for myself, but also for all of my friends.

I guess he stayed quiet and hidden during the last months, because there was not more trouble than usual in the city. He had been spotted a few times though, at the Oiling festival, and more recently in the Port, where he had an apparently courteous conversation with two other gentlemen, although anyone knowing him would get shivers running down their spines listening to what he said.

A few days ago, a coded message came to the attention of Mr Tenk, and many citizen gathered at the Town Hall yesterday to find out what would be happening.
Gadget thought it was all a trap, but we just were all too curious to stay away.
Suddenly, the vision of a door flickered right in the middle of the meeting room before vanishing. It was like a ghost door, appearing for just a few seconds in our world and then going back to limbo.
I looked up to see if someone was playing a trick on us. I heard you could make a big image appear in the air, with some light and a smaller image. Just like making animal shadows on a wall with your fingers maybe. But there was nobody in the gallery, and soon we heard Tepic screaming outside.
We all ran out of the Hall to see a big shiny twirly sphere of light right up in the sky in front of the City Hall's stairs.
I s'pose it was a kind of a gate because a huge airship came through it and landed at the bottom of the stairs in a roaring noise. A very old looking man got off from the vessel and walked up to us with difficulty. He asked for the Mayor and as Mr Tenk stepped forward, he gave him a little box.
We were all quite puzzled, but we couldn't ask many questions as he seemed to be in a hurry. He just said "Do not believe him." and then went back into his ship, speaking to himself, hoping he would be able to make it.
We just watched him flying back up and disappearing behind the City Hall when suddenly a loud BANG noise resonated in the air. Loki rushed towards the corner of the City Hall and we followed him to see the wreckage pieces of the strange airship cluttering the cobblestones, smoke billowing from the burning metal.
We looked amongst the pieces, but no body was to be found... He must have desintegrated completely, or burnt to ashes...
Back at the bottom of the stairs, Mr Tenk somehow opened the box the old old man gave him, which liberated a kind of bot. With an open book in front of it.

Mister Tenk transported it into the Hall of exposition, or Hall of Inventions, I don't remember how it's called... There we examined it better, and after the Mayor triggered it, its mechanical arm started to move and write signs on the book in front of it.
Miste Tenk was in awe at the details of the mechanics and I'm afraid he is planning on taking it all apart to see how it works... But we still managed to take a look at what the bot was writing and I have to say that I didn't really like that story...
In the meantime, a newcomer arrived, and introduced himself as the new supervisor for the Van Creed society. He said he was sent as a replacement for his predescessor. I guess he was talking about Jasper Renfold, who ended burnt by Willard Steamweaver in the middle of the City Hall.
That new Van Creed guy was interested in the Writing Bot and I think he wanted to take it with him, or maybe just to read what it was writing, but we were all around and not looking particularly friendly. He didn't seem to mind though, and said he'd just come back later.
By now, we have learnt not to trust the Van Creed bunch, even though they can be quite informative sometimes. We thought they had all been destroyed by the monks of Malkuth, but I suppose some of them had survived, or maybe they are all over the world anyway and the Malkuth couldn't find every of their little hideout... The presence of that new Van Creed supervisor does mean that they are coming back to Babbage though, so something big is certainly going to happen soon... Big and not actually pleasant.

After he left, we talked about what had happened, and what was written in the book. Zaida said that the very old man who came through the gate smelled like Jimmy, but Jimmy answered he didn't smell (which is true, except when he's been running in the sewers).
Then we started to question what was written in the book. Why was it talking about us? Why was there Mr Tenk, Miss Kaylee, Mister Cleanslate in it? Why Victor Mornington and why Jimmy, Triky and I? How did that old man know about us? And why that story talking about us described such an apocalyptic chaos in Babbage...?
Mister Mornington told us about the time gates... That would be just like the gate between worlds that Moriarty opened with the Professor Eliot's device, but it would link two different times instead of two different worlds... That is quite hard to believe really, but some details are very troubling :
1) The airship the very old man was flying looked a lot like the one Jimmy built for the AetherCorp. Except fancier, with more stuff on it.
2) In the book written by the Bot, Jimmy is sent back by Victor, in a kind of time travel capsule.
3) Zaida thinks the old man smelled like Jimmy.
So could that old man be Jimmy from the future sent back to us? And maybe the time travel makes you grow very older..? Or maybe he travelled a lot towards other times before finding the right one?
The idea of this old man being him upset Jimmy a little I think, but he's tough, he should get over it, and the Professor Kristos Sonnerstein said he could come to see him whenever he wanted if he needed to.

If we believe that time travel can exist, then the future described in the book written by the Bot is not nice at all... All of my friends dead, except Jimmy, who is gone somewhere in his capsule, Piermont Landing in flames, the whole of Babbage covered in crabby things that sound quite nasty, and a man, who appears to have triggered all of that. A man who can flash electrical energy from his fingers.
I know of a man whom I think would be able to generate this future world of chaos. That same man who already once brought Old Gods swirling like Doom over New Babbage with their huge tentacles. This man who was still thought to be dead last year, before being brought back to life in a new body, a new potentially invincible body...
Jason Moriarty.

If this is true, then we need to do something to stop him. The urchins will be having a secret urgent meeting tonight in the hideout, and hopefully, Gadget can tell us about this new society they have been planning with Nat, and the devices he has been working on.

While sitting in the hideout, waiting for the meeting to start, two questions keep circling in my head.
Who is this person that the old man told us not to believe?
And why, in the book, my character regrets not to have listened to Triky?

I guess the time is not yet to come when I will get some nightmare-free sleep...

The Beast takes a Bite...

 I have not been around the streets of Babbage much lately, and of course everything seems to happen while I'm not there...

Gadget's "Beest Trap" has been tested by the beast itself, but sadly it has been defeated... And Nat got injured in the process, victim of the beast's ferocious appetite. Gadget managed to photograph the Beast, and Nat explains it all better than me in his journal.

He also told me about that hooded man Gadget and him met and who warned them about the beast. He seemed to know it very well and try to protect us urchins from it.

I questionned Nat about that man and he answered he looked like a monk, but able to fight, and that he had a huge belt, with a symbol on it. And that symbol, we already saw it last year on a stone behind Loki's shops in the cobblestone houses, and on the tombs in the crypt of Malkuth...

 Those tombs are the ones of three grand worshippers of Malkuth, according to the letter found on the table in the room Arthur Celtington was renting above Loki's shops in the cobblestone houses, across the canal from the Absinthe cafe.

When I asked Mister Underby about Old Gods last year, he told me that Malkuth was the God of our world, the material plane, and that there were ten worlds in total, all ruled by a different god, and that our world was the "lowest" one, where Malkuth was all powerful, but that in the nine other worlds, the other gods would beat him up. Also, the letter about the Worshippers of Malkuth says something about Malkuth being a kind of connection between our world and the others, which strangely reminds me of the gate opened by Jason Moriarty above the Old Imperial Theatre, three years ago... Maybe the gate has never been properly closed and some influences from the other worlds still manage to reach ours, "waking up" the beast inside the statue, or even letting it slip into our world whereas it wasn't there before?

About at the same time, or soon after, Mr Cleanslate intercepted a radio message from the Van Creed, stating that their headquarters were being attacked by hooded robed men... Seems too much of a coincidence to me. Those men must be Worshippers of Malkuth. Why attacking the Van Creed headquarters though? Do they have something to do with the Beast that the Worshippers of Malkuth are looking for? Did they bring it here? Or do they just have useful informations about it? Could be. The Van Creed seem to have files about everything and everyone..

Whatever the Worshippers of Malkuth do to stop that Beast, it is not enough, and Miss Bookworm and Mister Baroque found an awful puddle of blood next to a child drawing of the Beast and a teddy bear right in front of the City Hall... We believe it is poor little Victor Wunderlich aka Ally Wunder who got snatched by the Beast... Searchings of the sewers and catacombs have been carried out and the Babbage Militia has been warned, but for the moment, no sign of Victor...

Last of all, Mister Blindside, the archaeologist hired by Loki, seems to have disappeared as well...

And it all begins...

The Black Heart.

Urchin Beest Trap!

When I arrived in Babbage Square this evening, to check on the statue, I saw Gadget with his puppy Socks, talking with a gentleman and a lady.

(photo credit : Gadget Starsider)

He told me that a beast had tried to eat his puppy and a man in a black coat ran after it, telling him to stay behind.

I asked Gadget what the beast was like, and he said it looked like a giant baby covered in blood and it was saying "Gobble... gobble..." and it wanted some flesh.

(photo credit : Gadget Starsider)

Poor Socks looked very shocked!

Gadget thought that the beast might have something to do with the open statue, and I agree, now remembering what Mister Blindside the archaeologist said about the scar in the statue looking like some frightening symbol of womanhood. Was that "baby" born from the statue?

Either way, Gadget decided that he wanted to take a picture of it, and he found a huge photographic equipement. He also decided that we should trap the beast, and he started to set up some wires across the street.

He's not called "Gadget" for nothing. He's got all kinds of things in his pockets and can build ingenious devices in no time. 

He soon finished to set up his trap and then we thought that would be better to add a sign for the citizen of Babbage who can read, so they don't trip on the wire and get caught too.

Soon, the sign was ready and placed near the trap, and Gadget triggered it to demonstrate how it would work. Whoever would pull the wire on the ground by tripping onto it would trigger the trap and get entangled and then hung upside down from the rope above inside a big rope net.

And we got another confirmation that the trap was working well when Miss Adele walked by and got caught too because she didn't read the sign...

Then Jimmy arrived and we decided to add a bait for the beast to be attracted there and walk into the trap. Jimmy made up a fake puppy and perched it onto the warning sign, but then Miss Adele pointed out that the beast could snatch the puppy without even triggering the trap and finally Jimmy attached the bait dangling from the upper rope right above the wire.

Gadget set up his photographic apparel in front of the whole, and everything was set and ready for the beast to be caught!!!

The Scar

 Yesterday night was the famous Bonfire and Fireworks night on the bridge between the Absinthe Cafe and the Old Imperial Theatre in Babbage Square.

Each year, Loki's celebration of the Fifth of November is attended by a major crowd of Babbagers, and this night was no exception.

The sky was set alight with rainbows of exploding rockets, and on its little raft on the canal, poor Guy Fawkes burnt to its death once more.

After that much applauded show, Jimmy decided to go back and see the Artifact, as it was just down the street from the bridge.

Soon, lots of other Babbagers followed him, and stumbled upon Mister Bernard Blindside, the archaeologist Loki had asked for help.

Mister Blindside was standing in front of the statue, staring at the bloody scar now ripping it open... He was gutted it got damaged like that, and even suspected it was a street urchin mischief night trick, but we swore we didn't do it. Which is true!

Then we asked lots of questions and Mister Blindside told us he estimated the artifact to be about seven to eight hundreds years old, according to his data, and that it was made of tough ceramic. A very well made ceramic too, suggesting that who ever had this made was of a high order. The blood though, if it was blood, appeared to be fresh.

And the heartbeat was gone.

Mister Holmes examined the scene, with his detective ways, and concluded the scar was made from the inside and not from the outside. He also said he would analyze the blood to find out if it was human, rat or something else.

Then everyone started to think aloud and give their hypothesis of what could have happened. Some wondered if something was inside the statue and broke free, or if someone opened it and released whatever was inside. Others shivered thinking the blood on the floor came from someone who was standing in front of the statue when it ripped open. There was a huge discussion about how on Earth it could have open from the inside, if the heat of the torch nearby could have helped the ceramic crack open, and if the thing was frozen inside and the blood flew out while unfreezing.

Then Mister Blindside observed it almost looked like a case casket for mummification and I jumped on the occasion to state that was my opinion too. I do think there was a mummy of some kind inside. With a beating heart. And blood obviously. And eight hundreds years old I guess.

But people wouldn't believe me and said mummies were dried up and organs removed and yadda yadda, and Mister Blindside added that it could not fit because the artifact was not Egyptian, and that early Medieval Dark Age did not have mummification.

Then Brother Riddler reiterated his hypothesis of the thing inside being frozen, and then they wondered how it could have survived the burning process of the kiln. And Miss Janus said the ceramic could have protected what was inside from the heat.

Mister Holmes said the scar was made from inside, and I believe him, because he must know. And Miss Aeon suggested that something or someone could have woken up the thing inside, even if they didn't rip the statue open themselves. And I agree with that too.

Mister Blindside then noticed we were refering to the big opening as a "scar" and found it interesting because it did look like one, and then he added something I'm not quite sure I understand : "or perhaps a terrifying symbol of womanhood". That remark got Miss Janus scowling so I guess it wasn't very nice.

Nat thinks that this is all related to Triky's death, as it happened at the same place. I told him the statue was eight hundreds years old and Triky died only last year... He replied that maybe he knew it was there, and maybe it gave him power joining his soul there. I'm not really sure, but thinking about it, Triky's death could be the trigger that slowly awakened the thing inside the statue.

Anyway, Mister Blindside is supposed to go to the library this morning and said he would report his findings to Mister Holmes and to Miss Janus I think.

In the meantime, we've got a monster of some kind wandering in the streets of Babbage... And maybe the one who woke it up?

Jason Moriarty's body was never found, was it...?

See also Miss Chernov's Journal !

Raising from the Dead

 Jimmy and I went back yesterday night to the place where the statue was half buried, to see how the work of Mister Blindside the archaeologist was progressing.

The statue had now been totally dug out and raised vertically as if it was standing.

Jimmy said that he thought the heartbeat we could hear was louder than the last time, and also even faster. I can't say if it was faster, but that is possible. Although it may be louder only because it was still half buried before and so the sound was harder to hear?

Rich joined us soon after and he too was creeped out by the statue. To me, it more and more looks like a coffin. Although the "hole" in place of the face intrigues me...

Maybe Jimmy is right and it is more like a medieval knight statue. It would explain the bump in the front, looking like he is holding a sword under his robe.

While exploring the rest of the site, I discovered a very little hole in a corner, beneath the broken floor.

Jimmy, Rich and I wriggled down the hole and soon found ourselves walking in a dark, damp narrow way, from which we could smell very strongly the nearby sewers.

 We reached a deadend, but as Jimmy stated, that looks like a good new hiding place!

The Living Statue

Yesterday night, Jimmy and I went to the site behind the Old Imperial Theatre where Loki's old factory exploded last year, and where Triky died...

Loki had told us about some kind of pottery he found there while cleaning it up, and he called an archaeologist named Bernard Blindside to tell him what it was and if it was worth some money.

 

 The rumbles were delimited by thin string lines and two little bottles had been left there, as well as digging trowels or something.

The "pottery" itself looked more like the emerged part of a stone-made statue of some kind. Like a hooded robed figure, a priest maybe. Jimmy said it looked like a medieval statue. Maybe a knight. I thought it could be a coffin too, with a skeleton inside.

We got closer to examine it better, and we started to hear a regular sound, definitely coming from under the statue, or maybe inside it...

The sound resembled a heartbeat.

Later, Caspian and Miss Sky and Mister Scottie joined us, and they too heard the heartbeat. Mr Scottie thought it might be a machinery inside the statue, and that it could have been triggered recently because nobody noticed the sound earlier.

I don't know. As Jimmy remarked, so many strange things happened in the last years, why not a statue with a beating heart?

Miss Sky looked at the statue and said the whole block could be the heart itself, as it was vaguely shaped like one.

Once again I don't know.

But I know I won't be sleeping in the hideout anytime soon. It's much too close to there and I don't want a live statue to come strangle me in my sleep!

I hope we can meet Mister Blindside soon. Maybe he can tell us how old that thing is, and WHAT on Earth it is.

Your soul or your life (Spoiler again...)

!!! WARNING !!! :

Please read this first.

The blog entry that follows contains informations, and speculations about the New Babbage Chronicles Roleplay, Shadow of the Thirteen.
If you do not wish to get informations without trying to retrieve them on your own, or if you don't want to be influenced by my ideas on the case, please consider not reading any further...

Otherwise, well, just go on !

---------------------------------------------------------------

So yesterday evening, everyone gathered in the City Hall to hear what Mr Renfold had to say.

Quite a lot of citizen were there, all wondering why Mr Renfold had asked for an emergency town hall meeting.

Mr Renfold was waiting for everyone to arrive and settle in, while being as unpleasant as usual :

Jesper Renfold: quite a few children here, do they really contribute that much to the interests of New Babbage?

In the end though, he started to explain :

"My fellow Babbage residents for whom i am of service to, i have been sent by the Van Creed to inform you of the great Peril that might fall upon new babbage unless we act quickly.

As you might well know, objects have fallen from the sky, containing automated mechanical clockworks.

The Van Creed were worried at first due to the fact the moon seemed unaturally bright.

We have collected many articles of knowledge that date back to the great fire. Only a few items survived the fire, and some have pointed to a great threat coming from the moon.

Now it has come to my attention that some of you may have acquired information that connects directly with what is happening, and i believe that if we do not work together now, then we may be facing a catastrophe of the scale of the great fire."

You can imagine that the citizen were starting to fidget in their seats and speaking all at the same time, asking questions and wondering about what it was all about, or staying silent and thinking about what they had discovered.

The Captain Skusting talked about the rocket that had crashed into his Ruby's pub, and Mr Renfold asked him more about it. Mr Skusting explained what had happened and also told us about the automatons, that he was calling "live" barrels, as one of them had attacked him.

Jesper Renfold: yes ok, this is what we feared, we believe someone was expelled from not just Babbage, but from the world. We believe this person has abilities or scientific knowledge to raze Babbage to the ground.

Cries of surprise in the audience followed that statement.

Jesper Renfold: those 'live' barrels as you call them seem to be searching for something.

Again, people reacted in different ways. Some of us were already suspecting what the automatons may be searching for, but we said nothing.

We had learnt in the past not to trust the Van Creed, and the people new to town had been warned by the older residents. Mr Renfold would have a hard time getting us to give him informations...

He continued :

"I just feel that perhaps im waisting my time, you all waist your time with such folloys as treasure hunting, that when it comes to the real threat.... well, im just frustrated.

Some of you already know about the 13 club.

The Van Creed have worked with the 13 Club in the past, they are a great source for ideas and technologies years ahead of anything in Caledon and Steelhead.

There where many great scientists in the 13 club, one such scientist was Sir Willard Steamweaver.

Am I right in thinking some of you have heard this name already?"

Mr Renfold's piercing eyes were scanning the audience, waiting for our reactions.

Some of us said they had heard, some that they hadn't.

Mr Renfold went on :

"The Van Creed is not responsible for what the 13 club does, we are just interested in what they do and how it can enrich the lives of New Babbage residents.

The Van Creed have dealt with impossible men before, such as Jason Moriarty.

But what has us most concerned is the myth that Sir Willard Steamweaver gained immortality through his experiments.

So the question is how do we defend ourselves from a man who is immortal?"

After a wave of shock and excitement, the answers started to come from all sides :

Nikolas Souther: An ectoplasmic echo, perhaps. Some scientific remnant of his experiment gone awry.
Stargirl Macbain: The automatons are scanning for immortals?
Dierdre Maven: Destroy his soul?
Beq Janus: we trap him
Breezy Carver: Nods Beq
Myrtil Igaly: send him back to where he comes from?

Wallis Graves: If, as the notes suggest, he was using vampire and werewolf extractions he may have other abilities besides simply living longer.

Mr Renfold nodded :
"Capture him."

That seemed easy to say though, but not that easy in reality... And we soon pointed it out :

Beq Janus: Mr Renfold, if we were to capture Mr Steamweaver, or the creature that claims to be him. Would we be in danger by his presence alone?

Nat Merit: the question is, do we give him his soul or try to keep it from him?
Myrtil Igaly: Good question Nat
Nat Merit: because some of us think we know who the automatons are scanning for
Dierdre Maven: I think his soul was in the box that Arthur let out
Nikolas Souther: Nor may he desire his soul back in the first place.

I thought that Nat, Dierdre and Cyan were right. That Triky was Willard's other half of soul, and apparently, splitting his soul made him immortal. So, if, as Nat and Dierdre suggested, we gave back his soul to Willard... He would become mortal again and could be killed.

But... But that would mean that Triky would die too...

Mr Renfold was still talking about Willard :

"Some believe it was he who started the great fire. He might have even been the influence for the old tales of Angry Jenkins. There is articles suggesting he planed to use ....."

When suddenly...

Dierdre Maven: Oh bloody hell, not again!
Dierdre Maven: no no no no no!

A dark silhouette in a black hood, surrounded with live flames, had made its entrance in the round conference room of the Town Hall, opposite to Mr Renfold. We heard him shouting in a loud and inhuman voice :

Willard Steamweaver: MY SOUL, MY SOUL IS SPLIT

Everyone was frozen in their seats, horrified. Some little children were starting to cry.

Willard stepped towards the center of the room, flames raising more and more around him. He asked again, staring at Mr Renfold :

"YOU MUST TELL ME WHERE IT IS, I MUST FIND IT"

Suddenly, Mr Renfold erupted in flames and we all heard his groan of agony :

"ARGHHHHHH GHHH GAHH"

We had no time to do anything for him, not even throw a glass of water, as someone suggested. He was already dead... Leaving behind him a dust of ashes and his bag, that he had let fall on the ground in panick.

Willard turned towards us and asked again :
"WELL?"

The fire was creeping all around him. The heat was starting to become unbearable.

Willard Steamweaver: YOU MIGHT THINK ME A MONSTER
Willard Steamweaver: FOR HOW I AM, WHAT I DID
Willard Steamweaver: I ONCE LOVED A WOMAN SO MUCH THAT I WANTED US TO LIVE FOR EVER SUCH WAS OUR PASSION FOR LIFE TOGETHER

Nat and Dierdre thought they knew who was Willard's soul. And I thought they were right... They started to ask carefully about the consequences if Willard was regaining his soul... Triky.

Nat Merit: what happens if we tell you?
Nat Merit: what would you do to him?
Dierdre Maven: What does your soul look like?
Nat Merit: if you have your soul, will you die or be stronger?

In his way, Willard answered their concern :
Willard Steamweaver: ALL I WANT IS TO REGAIN MY SOUL AND DIE IN PEACE!

Which made them take their decision...

Nat Merit: I think we should tell him
Dierdre Maven nods at Nat
Myrtil Igaly: but Nat..

Myrtil Igaly: what will happen to his soul then..?

Nat Merit: I know
Stargirl Macbain tries to control her coughing, "Where is it!"
Dierdre Maven: Nat and I know where your soul is, kinda
Nikolas Souther: Then dear God, tell him!
Matthew Querrien: I agree!
Nat Merit: they'll both die in peace
Nat Merit: and we won't fry!

Dierdre Maven: It's an urchin in town

Suddenly, Willard turned towards the entrance :

"I can sense it, it is near."

I jumped on my feet and shouted :
"Noooooooo! DON'T TELL HIM!!!"

But it was too late. Willard had already rushed outside to go find his soul.

I ran out of the Town Hall and I tried to follow the string of people who had been faster than me and who seemed to lead towards Jefferson Way.
When I arrived, there was already a crowd outside of the old Loki's shop.

Willard was inside... And he had captured Triky...

From what Nat described later, Triky was looking terrified when Willard caught him. But now he was just laying on the snowy ground... inconscious...

Jimmy Branagh: 'ee's got Triky!

Myrtil Igaly: NOOOOO
Dierdre Maven: Good
Izzy Breadbin: IF he has his soul back, will he return from whence he came?
Jimmy Branagh: Are you sure?
Dierdre Maven: Yes
Nat Merit: he wants to die
Nat Merit: but Triky doesn't
Dierdre Maven: Triky is his soul Jimmy
Myrtil Igaly: we're not sure at all

I tried to step closer to the shop entrance, but the heat from the flames surrounding Willard and Triky was so hot that it made me suffocate.

Dierdre Maven: Myrtil get back
Myrtil Igaly: but we must stop him!!!!!!!
Dierdre Maven: Nat hold Mytril back
Matilda Twine watches, horrified
Jimmy Branagh: Mybee, but 'ee mye not go back.
Nat Merit: he's going to destroy babbage!


At this moment, the dark shape in the middle of the flames seemed to be turning his head towards us, and he asked :
"You understand this must happen yes?"

I shouted my answer :
"NO!"

Nat tried to reason me :
"Myrtil it has to or babbage will burn."

And Miss Dierdre replied to Willard :
"You need to be at peace."

At this moment, Willard exclaimed in a terrible voice :
"FOR YEARS I HAVE SAT IN MY PRISON LONGING FOR THE DAY THAT BOX WOULD BE OPENED!"

And he vanished in a sudden explosion...

Bricks, pieces of wall were flying everywhere. People were screaming, terrified. The fire wouldn't stop. Some persons were stuck under parts of the building that had fallen onto them...


I managed to drag myself out of the chaos and ran towards Jimmy and Loki, who were standing in front of Mr Pearse's shop.
Loki was witnessing in despair the fall of his old shop. He asked where the "freak" had gone and where Triky was.
I told him Triky was dead and I burst into tears.
I couldn't believe it, that wasn't possible, we had to save him...

Myrtil Igaly: Triky is trapped inside him now
Dierdre Maven: Triky was not real, he was just energy made up to look like an urchin
Myrtil Igaly: maybe we can save him
Jimmy Branagh: Oy don't think so Myrtil
Myrtil Igaly: Triky was real!!!
Matthew Querrien: Tricky was half a soul.

I stomped on the ground, sending snow into the fire.


Soon, the Ladies Fire Brigade of New Babbage arrived, and managed to put the fire out before it damaged any other surrounding buildings.
They really were efficient and everyone congratulated them.


Then someone told about the bag Mr Renfold had left in the Town Hall and documents they had found inside.


I was still sad and empty because of Triky's death, but I decided to head towards the Town Hall, to see what those documents were about.


There were two files into Jesper's bag. One concerning Willard Steamweaver.



And one concerning Margo December.


Both documents were very enlightening.


The file concerning Willard explained his theories on the way to achieve immortality. He had split his soul into two parts, and neither could die. He was immortal, and so was Triky.
But when both halves became one again, he became mortal again, and died...


The file about Margo was describing her as a brilliant scientist, and that was a pity to think that she had now lost her sanity. Maybe one day... Who knows...


Speaking of Margo, she reappeared while I was looking into Jesper's bag in the conference room of the Town Hall.

Dierdre Maven smiles, "Hello Miss December."
Loki Eliot: erm... hi grandma?
Dierdre Maven: The moon should no longer bother you Miss
Jimmy Branagh: That yer grandma Loki?
Matthew Querrien: No more three, Miss December. No more Lover, Loved and Jealous.
Margo December: i rememebr now, he felt me oh yes, he touched me, deep in to my soul
Margo December: but he wanted me in a bottle like a pickeld onion
Dierdre Maven: That doesn't sound good
Margo December: and he worked , did he yes, and pickled away, and that man
Margo December: the man who game me the musical box, for my thing, my things that are mine, that i lost
Loki Eliot: oh great my grandma is bonkers
Matthew Querrien: You're not exactly sane yourself, Loki.
Margo December: he was the one i gave my son
Jimmy Branagh: She's not! She very cute.
Margo December: the moon the moon has gone
Margo December: he is now one the moon is but one and he is gone
Margo December: for the one who was two could live for ever and ever
Margo December: but he took two and made one and is gone now for ever and ever
Beq Janus: Is Steamweaver still at large Margo
Margo December GASPS!
Nat Merit: steamweaver is ...was the moon
Nat Merit: he's died
Margo December: he is gone
Izzy Breadbin: Well then.. that settles that.. or does it?
Margo December sobs lightly
Beq Janus: he is gone.
Beq Janus: hmm
Fax Quixote: My condolences, madam
Jimmy Branagh: Awww
Beq Janus: and the barrels
Myrtil Igaly: apparently it does..
Dierdre Maven: He is at peace now ma'am
Beq Janus: they will cease now?
Myrtil Igaly: So Triky can't be saved......
Margo December: do you now why he is gone? hmm do you? hmm??
Nat Merit: he split his soul
Nat Merit: to live forever
Margo December: aww little triky
Izzy Breadbin: Was Triky ever truely his own entity, or simply a puppet?
Beq Janus: no ma'am
Nat Merit: now he's one soul
Nat Merit: and could die
Matthew Querrien: The two are one, Miss, and the one became zero.
Margo December: alex and triky, close they was, oh so sad it is
Myrtil Igaly: Triky was my friend..
Beq Janus smiles sadly at Myrtil
Margo December: you look so young for someone so old
Nat Merit: did triky kill Arthur?
Nat Merit: or did the box?
Jimmy Branagh: Yeh, 'ee wos a friend.
Matthew Querrien: Who, miss?
Loki Eliot: i dunno if i can handle a grandma whos like this
Myrtil Igaly: She's nice, Loki
Jimmy Branagh: Yeh, she's very noice.
Myrtil Igaly: I would like a grand-ma like that
Dierdre Maven: You should be nice and carry that big ole bag for her
Nat Merit: and she has lightening powers!
Beq Janus: can she not stay with you now
Margo December: loki, what a funny name, who in their right mind names their child Loki?
Myrtil Igaly coughs
Beq Janus: Margo
Loki Eliot: hey!?
Beq Janus: Miss Decmeber
Dierdre Maven: Your son did Margo
Beq Janus: Loki is your grandson
Beq Janus: Loki Eliot
Myrtil Igaly mutters : "Who in their right mind would call their son Halfrid?"
Margo December: i lost something once, long time ago, on a brige, and old brige
Nat Merit giggles
Beq Janus: Alexander was his grandfather
Matilda Twine giggles
Matthew Querrien: Myrtil! [surprised look]
Margo December: i know many stories you know, maybe you boys and girls would like a story?
Jimmy Branagh: Yes please ma'am!
Alaex Aeon: yes please
Myrtil Igaly looks innocent
Matthew Querrien: I'd love to hear one, Miss.
Dierdre Maven smiles
Nat Merit: yes please
Matthew Querrien sits on the floor and listens.
Margo December: there was once a man, yes a man

And suddenly, she ran off.


We thought she was going back to the Old Bridge.
Or maybe the short moment of semi-sanity was lost, and then she had forgotten what she was actually doing here.


But what she had said wasn't necessarily less true.
Willard was gone. And Triky would never come back...

Lots of questions remain though. The first one being the one that started all that : Who killed Arthur Celtington and why? Because he had discovered and open the box?
Will we know one day...?



I set up a memorial for my friend Triky, at Loki's old shop location.
With a candle, because he loved so much the fire.




I am still sad of what happened. And I will never forget him...