Gazette V

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30 April 1894 (evening, Saturday)

That zany P.O.W.E.R.S. quadrangle hits up the engineering company that built the Tower Bridge, to figure out what was going on in Clive Oaks' incredible brain. We find out (shock!) that he's a master of clockworks. He was very interested in helping out with the gearworks of the bridge itself. He seemed to be a decent man, apparently - kept asking if he could help even after the first rejection against his formal help. As if he had something to prove. But not necessarily to a wife? Or family?

Sophia reveals through a tarot reading, that Clive's motivations must have something to do with insanity. Without anyone to prove himself against, why would he put himself through this crazy downward spiral? But Milton can't think of anything in clockworks to make people insane. Another thought comes up: who would gain from not having this bridge in operation? It's very possible he's on contract for this whole shebang. In any case, we now have an address for the warehouse, 20 miles from here, in Sunbury upon Thames. The decision is made to drop off the socialites at the local pub in Shephardton to pull dirt on Oaks, and the Specialized Mobile Anamorphic Reconnaissance Team (SMART) will head to the warehouse.

1 May 1894 (noonish, Sunday, after church)

The local pubbites are... rather distracted by the newcomers. The talking stops completely. Even though Sophia and Fei Hung have headed out under cover of darkness noon, Savage Cliff and Milton aren't exactly inconspicuous. Cliff picks up on this and immediately orders everyone a round. The talking resumes - yay! Agape curls up on a barstool and pretends to sleep. Cliff starts to Gather Information. A jovial conversation with a couple of gents who have shipped metal and stuff to Oaks reveals that... they're reluctant to talk. Respect? Fear? Not respect, motives having been sensed. See, he started making clocks. He moved on to... uh, larger clocks. Milton makes sure to supply them with his "Freelance Engineer" business card before going on to the next guy.

The conversation starts with a mention of the bridge thing and automatons, to which the guy says something about how the big thing sounded a lot like Oaks' "assistants" but bigger. Here's Milton's engineer card. Does he have inside information, nudge nudge, wink wink? Er, the attack doesn't seem right. He just doesn't know anybody who would want to attack the bridge, or anything like it. But... Mr. Oaks does know a bit about clockwork. Though he's not taking visitors right now. He hasn't been accepting visitors for the past week. Huh... Milton hopes he's all right. Is there a place to send post, condolences, for his sick wife, child, mother, dog? In fact, here's Milton's card claiming he's a doctor. Milton's interesting in helping this poor man's shipments start right back up again. A week ago, a foreigner stopped by the warehouse, and after he left, Oaks seemed not to take any more visitors! His... "servants" told everyone to leave whenever they came, and would get rather... "hostile" if people refused to... "leave". Maybe Mitchell over yonder knows something more. Thank you Mr. Lawrence, I hope to have your shipments running soon. Here, have a drink on us, and we'll give Mitchell a bit of a visit.

Cliff leads on the Mitchell conversation. He's apparently familiar and did business with Mr. Oaks. Good man. Recluse. Makes magnificent items. Was Mitchell aware of the bridge thing? Automatons? Yep. Knowing both, didn't this guy shirk his patriotic duty in not giving more information immediately? But, but... He's been shut in his warehouse since the visit from the foreigner, and the thing didn't look exactly like his automatons. Foreigner? Yes, a Frenchman! (Cliff's very heavy hand rests on his shoulder) A solicitor of some sort! With a check and a champagne bottle. He left with some blueprints. Would he be recognized? Yes, if seen. Gladly. If he sees anything about anybody having to do with this, to contact P.O.W.E.R.S. immediately. Got it? Wait... a check and champagne? Did he see the check? No... not clearly. So he's selling his services. Maybe. But he's always tried to help people out! He put in the clock tower mechanism in this town. So it would like totally be out of character for Oaks to do the bridge thing. Glad to be of service!

Note: Stream of consciousness conversations may be easier to type, but much more difficult to read easily.

Meanwhile... Sophia and Fei Hung arrive at the warehouse. Being as on the waterfront as it is, pretty much all deliveries are probably made by boat. Two doors, a big one next to the dock and a small one in front. Windows. The two zip up to a window near the front door. Inside... is an automaton! Standard human-ish size. But alas, the winder is not open. A quick Spider-Man-like jaunt around the building reveals open winders by the dock side. Inside that winder, we see a huge automaton! Looks somewhat familiar, except this one is spread-eagle on its back, opened up and being worked on by the little automatons.

Before trying to enter the building (because all the interior doors are closed), we take a quick peek into all the winders, prompting the GM to just throw away his nice pretty fog of war(I've never been that fond of fog of war). In one room, we see who we assume to be Oaks filing down a cog. Alas, he has other automatons in the room with him. We both notice that despite the dirtiness of this room (dishes and glasses on a desk, stained, etc), he's still managing to make sure all the cogs on the table are absolutely perfect. Also, there is a corkless champagne bottle on the floor. Alas, we haven't yet communicated with Milton and Cliff. Though we do that now.

A quick recap gets everyone on the same page, including the champagne. Fei Hung voices that he would prefer to simply get the guy out without attracting the attention of the 'tons, but Milton's bent on taking over the big 'ton. We come up with a happy medium involving Cliff bursting through the wall to subdue one 'ton, Sophia subduing him magically. Oh wait... different plan. After blocking the doors, we puncture through the roof (assuming the 'tons can't fly) and whisk Oaks up through the hole. Then Sophia makes him fall in love with her. Or something.

Sophia and Fei Hung are moving metal in front of the doors when Milton, Cliff and Agape arrive. Milton directs the door-blocking to optimum effect, and the group makes their own ways onto the roof. Milton jumps like Mario, but Fei Hung leaps like he's on wires. Sophia telekinetically punches Cliff through the roof and back up, as Fei Hung zips Oaks up through the new hole in the roof. Oddly, he keeps filing his cog the whole way up. Sophia sets Cliff down on a main support brace, then does her voodoo that she do so well.

He looks up from his filing: "How can I help you Ma'am?" Does he know about the attack on the tower bridge? Oh, Goliath? Yes. He didn't come back, so he must be sleepy now. He should have come back. Did he send him? Oh yes. The bridge needs his help. What with? It was broken. It needed fixing. Goliath was sent to break it, so that he would be needed. Teleological much? Goliath's not coming back - he was fought. Not fixable. How? What gears are missing? Some in your own head, Sir. What day is it? Er, uh... late April? I don't know. My servants come in regularly. People or clockwork? Yes. I can't be disturbed by those people now. I'm working on Goliath's brother. Goliath. And the champagne bottle in your workroom Sir? He looks around... autistically? He was here... he wanted the plans for Goliath... he... A Frenchman? I think so.

Sophia manages to convince Oaks (who is helpful) to easily accept the next emotion control. He now fears the evil that his automatons can and will do. He tells us all how to "undo" the 'tons, and it's a relatively quick process to take care of them all, even including Goliath II. Sophia's thought that maybe something or someone powerful made him silly is a good reason to take him to P.O.W.E.R.S. and see to him. It becomes apparent that Emile d'Esternau who visited Milton is the same Frenchman who visited Oaks.

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