Colts, Crinolines, and Conspiracies

SL has a lot of potential for good RP, but it also has the potential for frustration. The problem is that everyone has different expectations of why they are in-world and on-grid. I have tried to approach everything that happens as a potential to get into some sort of RP. All of us come to the table with different expectations, motives and reasons to be in-world. I decided a long time ago that I was going to enjoy my time and make the best out of whatever situation that was presented on a particular day.

Lots of space and time has been launched here about staying in character. Here is my take on it...

The ideal of staying in character means that the typist moves in the background like a scenery handler in a Kabuki theater. You know that they are there, but the typist is largely silent and moving in the shadows. This can be the toughest for a lot of folks, and can be really hard to achieve. It can also be frustrating for people who are not 'down with the program'. The next level is more like a marionette show. The typist is a bit more obvious, and tends to be more known than in the previous example. This is usually where most folks feel most comfortable, since you can throw out non-relevant things, and still stay on task. The lowest level is basically a person with a hand puppet. The character is there, but it's basically just an online face for someone else. This is the realm of new players, or most folks who hang out for the social aspects of SL.

Granted, I do like to babble with my friends about things that are not specifically character knowledge, or even time period or genre appropriate. I like attending social events. I am beginning to enjoy building things. With all this in mind, if I'm in-world, I'm in character. If there is something going on I am going to act on it in character.

The biggest issue has always been this...if you are waiting for an ideal situation to happen, then you may be waiting a long time. I'd rather roll with a less than perfect setup than sit around hoping a better deal will come along.

I'll gripe about god-mode, overuse of supernatural powers, and deus ex machina later...

STANDARD DISCLAIMER:
This is my personal feelings on this potentially volatile topic. This does not necessarily represent the opinions of anyone other than the writer. Your mileage may vary. Results not typical. The writer is not an expert on this topic, but has been playing RP games for a long time (1980 or so) and has a plethora of been there done thats....

Terranova Investigative Services is now open for business!
We offer full services, using the latest in scientific methods and equipment to fulfill all of your needs!

Our office will be opening shortly in New Babbage, having been formerly located between Universal Exports and Delfloria's Tailor shop.

(I have almost all of the parts gathered for our new RP detective agency. Please contact me if you would like to use our services for you RP storyline. The agency has several operatives, and all of us are excited to help out)

((Also, I figure we have enough plots afoot so as to not step on anyone elses toes))

It has been a while since I wrote anything of substance. While the burns on my body have healed apace, my hands are still quite sore. The burns are still weeping and require redessing frequently, and writing is still painful. I have been making notes, to rewrite later but I have not found the energy. The laudanum affected more than the pain, so I have stopped taking it on a regular basis.

My greater concern has been for Miss Janus, in whose house I have been living for the past few weeks. She has been very listless and tired since the end of the Moriarity incident, and while our schedules are normally very different, we did maintain a very cordial and vivacious relationship. This seems to be no longer the case of late.

There is a palpable pall hanging over the house, and while I am concerned for her, I wonder if it is my place to ask her what has happened. She has been spending a great deal of time with Orchid and Rip, and I cannot help but wonder if the changes in her behavior have anything to do with the Amulet. I often wonder how things would be different now had I been the one to bear that burden.

The other matter that seems odd to me has been the return to New Babbage of Professor Nishi. I met her briefly during the matter of Miss Igaly, and she was as aloof and distant to me as her reputation had related. The bothersome part for me was her appearance was not at all what I had expected. She was young and slight, not at all the academic personage that I had constructed a mental image of. She played an integral part of the capture of Moriarity, and the end of the Cuckoos, but there were..rumors. Loose talk amongst the back alleys and pubs of the city. I am always reminded that I am still a stranger in New Babbage, and she has not opened her secret places to me.

I must get some rest, and I have things to be attended to. I can only hope that there is some light at the end of this tunnel I have found myself in.

I have been napping since I returned home, and I must write this down before my memory is clouded by the laudanum. I had been working on some information related to the airship crash in Port Babbage this past weekend. The facts had been troubling me, and I decided to take a walk by the Imperial to see if anything had changed there, since it was the focus of many of the strange goings-on in town last year. As I walked along, I felt a presence there with me. I heard footfalls in the snow behind me, but there was no one there. I walked a bit further down the block, and felt the same presence as before. I turned to confront whatever it was, and then it happened. I was enveloped in a swirling cloud of intense electrical energy. I tried to get to my pistol which I had concealed under my skirt, but I was not able to pull it free of my petticoat. I felt my senses failing, so it was in desperation I ran back across the canal bridge and lept into a snowdrift. The fireball stopped, and I was left stunned and burnt lying on the ground. I shouted for help, and hoped that someone was nearby. To my great surprise I saw Doctor Watson appear with Miss Kaligawa and Mr Holmes close behind. I was able to get to my feet after a short time and we returned to their flat at the end of the street. I took a seat on the couch, and tried to clear my head from the pain as they treated the burns I had received. I tried to maintain my composure but the pain had started to set in and I found it hard to relax. It was shortly after this that I was greeted by a shout from out in the street. Apparently the fiend had set upon Holmes, so I mustered what strength I had left and went back outside. This time I was able to unholster my Colt. Holmes said that Moriarity had set upon him with the same lightning that he had attacked me with, but Holmes had managed to get off a shot. When he did so, the monster changed form, to that of a werewolf. He ran down the railroad tracks toward Bow Street, but he was not done. While we were talking, he circled back around and climbed to the top of the roof of the bakery. I did manage to get off a shot at him from the safety of a nearby doorway. The next part of the story defies imagination. Moriarity left down to the street and vanished into the very ground with a puff of red smoke. If someone would have told me this I would have thought them mad, but I saw it for myself.
The four of us walked over to the bakery, since I knew they would have a place to sit and some fresh tea. We had not been sitting long when Miss Trafalgar burst in and said that Mr Wirefly and Miss McMillan had been attacked in their residence. Holmes and Miss Kaligawa went with her to assist them, and Dr Watson sat with me at the bakery.
While we were there, we were visited by a man who introduced himself as Jesper Renfield. He had a strange interlocked VC on his lapel, much the same as the ones on the documents I found in the Captain's apartment. He was very interested in what had happened, and I got the sense he knew more than he was letting on. He seemed more interested in Dr Watson than me, and I asked him several questions, which he answered. He seemed to have a greater knowledge of Moriarity and the events related to the Eliot device, but was preoccupied with the body of Mr Norton and his demise. He left as abruptly as he came, with a brief exchange of pleasantries.
After a bit, I returned home to Maison Horta and laid down in my room. Apparently I made a bit of noise coming in and woke Beq while she slept downstairs. I did not have much time to tell her the full details of what had happened before young Myrtil and Master Will arrived to get Beq and take her over to Mr Wirefly's residence. I managed to get redressed and went their to find out what had happened.
Once we returned to the house, Beq insisted on redressing my burns. I drifted off there by the fire.
I had only involved myself in this matter in a cursory fashion, in that it was a puzzle that presented itself to me as a resident of New Babbage. Now it's personal.

Synopsis:
On 11-28 I was made aware by a confidential source that Myrtil Igaly had been attacked and detained by an unknown party. The information I received said that she had been drugged and was being held in a chest somewhere on the premises of the La Noisette bakery (Jefferson Way, Babbage Square). The information had initially been intended for the Bow Street Constabulary. Because of the dire nature of the information, and the threat to Miss Igaly's life, I decided to investigate the scene with the sole intent of insuring her safety.

I arrived at the bakery and met Ms B. Carver in the street by the front door. She had heard a rumor of the incident, and she assisted me in the initial search of the premises. Shortly after I began my search of the area, a group of individuals arrived with the same intent. Dr J. Watson, Mr S. Holmes and Mr R. Wirefly arrived and immediately went to the second floor of the structure. I did a cursory check of the building to make sure it had been cleared just before this, and there were no suspicious subjects located within the building.

I found a large bloodstain with a directional smear that was located under the staircase on the first floor in the area between the cafe and the kitchen. This was photographed (plate a) and a sample of the blood was taken.

The front area of the second floor was searched, and no relevant materials were found.
(confidential data removed)
The small room in the back of the second floor revealed another bloodstain (plate b) and a bloody handprint on a painting (plate c).
(confidential data removed)
The laboratory area on the third floor held various materials related to it's purpose, and a large wooden steamer trunk. Miss Igaly was located by Holmes and Watson within this trunk. She had defensive wounds on her hands and arms, and a laceration on the front of her right thigh. She had been drugged by an unknown substance and was comatose at the time of location. By the time I made my way into this room, several subjects were inside and had ensured that Miss Igaly was safe. Based on her condition, and the need for a suitable medical facility, we determined at that time to move her to the clinic of Dr. Hengest Whitfield.

Dr Watson treated her injuries, and I stood by with other concerned citizens while she regained consciousness. We decided to move her to Mr Wirefly's flat at the Mechanix Arms for security purposes, as it has only one entrance and was on the second floor. I took the first watch at this location while the other members of the party went out.

I was informed after the fact that the suspect returned to the apartment and shot Mr Wirefly before being shot by J. Branagh and F. Twine. The final disposition of the body is unknown.

The suspect, one Arthur Keenan, is the victim's cousin. This incident apparently stemmed from a longstanding family quarrel. From statements made by the victim and information gathered from other sources the suspect wanted to sell the bakery, and her unwillingness to sell precipitated the attack.

Disposition:
It has not been determined if the suspect had any confederates, or if anyone else was involved in the commission of the act.

One of the things I was thinking about given the tenor of a few well placed in-world discussions...

Many of us who grew up watching westerns on TV or movies know the scenario..groups of cowboys riding into town whooping and hollering, shooting randomly at everything that moves. In the real world, this was actually rare because the populace was also well armed. Many of the settlers were Civil War veterans who knew how to use firearms, so any wild armed incursion would have been met with armed resistance. Think about the James Gang in Northfield MN...once the town was alarmed, the gang had to ride through a gauntlet of pissed off well armed citizens.

One thing that happened in RL was the notion of rental car tags in Florida. They used to use a special tag for rentals, and in Florida the crooks knew that rental cars were unarmed. This was coincidentally after the passage of concealed carry laws in state. FL tags meant the possibility of the owner having a firearm.

Remember that an armed society is generally a polite society. New Babbage is a polite city

I found out that the matter of the Imperial ghost has been resolved. I am so glad that the poor child has finally found rest, but there are still so many nagging questions about the device in the basement and Moriarity. I had another chat with Beq at the bakery today, but there are still more questions than answers. What purpose do the devices serve? Why are the cuckoos back? Is Moriarity still trying to open the portal, and how will he do it since by all accounts the device is inoperative?

I arrived in New Babbage well after the original matter was concluded, and while I have become acquainted with several of the principals involved in the original matter, I can't help but ask myself if I should be concerned with any of it. It isn't my fight, and no one has even mentioned that I should involve myself in it. The amulet was luck and timing for my part in it, and I wonder if things would have been as simple for others had I remained uninvolved.

It reminded me of something that happened years ago, when I was still in school. It was the fall before the fever took Mother...I came home in tears, with a torn dress and bloodied knees. She asked me what had happened, and I said that another girl had been bullied by a boy in the schoolyard. I stood up to him, and he knocked me down. Mother said that I was too much like Father, that I had too much of a knight errant's spirit to allow wrongs to go unrighted.

I remember reading that the two of them are married, and I am sitting at my desk writing this.

I was very pleased and honored to be able to attend the nuptials of Miss Writer and Captain Smythe. It was a lovely service, and was everything I expected from the happy couple. I hope that they have a long and joyous partnering.

Today we finally laid poor Juliana to rest. This has been a long process, from the initial recovery of the Amulet, to the recovery of the body, through the autopsy, to now.

Miss Janus started the service, and read two poems. After this, many of the mourners said their goodbyes and paid their respects to the poor girl before we closed the casket. The funeral procession was brief, as the cemetery was close to the chapel.

We still know so very little about her, this young girl called Juliana...where she was from, how she came into possession of the amulet, and what she went through there in the depths of the ocean. Beq has taken the girl's death hard, and while she is no stranger to personal tragedy, I fear that this may be harder on her than she has related to me. For my part in this, I have tried to maintain a level of objectiveness, to not be drawn into a swirl of superstition because of what I have seen and experienced. The mind has a great capacity for both rational and irrational thought, and it has taken a great deal of effort for me to stay focused and clear on this matter. The funeral was moving, and I was awash in emotions that I have tried to keep buried.

I have so many things to finish before this is done, and now I begin to question the timing of the events in town related to the old Imperial theater and this...I need to sort this out, to get some perspective on all of the events that are going on. Lines that appear parallel on the surface intersect at a great enough distance.

Last night, after having had the opportunity to come into possession of a new steamship, discovered several things.

1) The new bridge into Wheatstone has less vertical clearance than the bridges in the Canals.
2) The canal that runs past the other side of the Gelato shop is much narrower than the one beside it
3) Reverse is slow.
4) Ships on the whole are not articulated.