Exile Game Studio

[HarrierPotter]

I like Clare's journal. Her observation about the Frenchman's appearance and scarring was nice. It's those little character things that are so good.

And "Sister Justinia" just screams goth band to me
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- Daniel Potter (MYTHIC ERAS)

LOCATION: "Back in Nagasaki / Where the fellas chew tabaccy / And the women wiki-waki-woo"

[Salem Saberhagen]

A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Game...

Part One: - Chapter Three of the Continuing Adventures of Prof. Rufus Crain and Sister Justinia (May, 1909), as recorded by Prof. Crain -

Before settling down for the night I retrieved a copy of the book De Whymper had written, from Lord Worthings library, and was quite pleased - and angry - to discover that he had woven several of my own ideas, from various monographs I have published over the years, into his theories on futurism and the nature of time.

A barking dog disturbed my bedtime reading and upon reaching the window to give it a taste of my slipper, I espied a shadowy form sneaking around the mechanics' tents. I raced as fast as my old frame would carry me down to the pilots' staging area, waking Mr Wangleton, the American, and Sister Justinia - whose eagle eyes I knew would be of use if there was "detective" work to be done.

We discovered a muddy boot print near Mr Wangleton's tent, but not much else, but insisted on all the mechanics - including the Germans - checking over their aircraft to make sure they had not been tampered with.

Once more we all returned to our beds, only to be awoken a few hours later by a fire raging through the poor Italians' tent. Their plane was undamaged and they were unharmed, but I did discover some sort of fuel-soaked fuse that had been the cause of the blaze and further proof of saboteurs at work.

I tried to persuade Lord Worthing to cancel the race - to avoid a scandal if anyone is killed during the event - but he would have none of it.

The next morning, he finally unveiled to Sister Justinia and myself, the "thing" he had used to lure us back here in the first place. It turned out to be a beautiful, clockwork bird; some sort of clever automata that responds to sounds and has an unnatural ability to fly.

Sister Justinia seems to credit it with some form of supernatural life and while I realise these closeted religious types can be rather gullible, I have the common sense that God and a lifetime of reading The Daily Mail has given me and can see that it is simply a toy of some kind. A blasted brilliant one, but a toy nonetheless.

My studies revealed that it was at least 200 years old and made from calamine brass. But what made it most fascinating was its resemblance to creations described by the 12th Century Arab scribe Al Jazarah (as mentioned by De Whymper in his twice-damned work of plagiarism) and their connections to the ancient workings of the abbey that we were investigating just the other day.

The toy appears to be Persian or Turkish in origin and while we could not identify the species it was replicating, the good Sister has a theory that it is a representation of a mythical phoenix bird.

A key mechanism on the birds' back is similar in design to that of the clock mechanism, back at the abbey and naturally I was keen to dismantle this trinket as soon as possible to see how it worked. However, the infuriating Sister thwarted me at every turn because of her silly belief that their piece of metal is "alive".

As I conducted what experiments I could on the toy; outside the workshop the estate was gearing up for the great air race. Sister Justinia wandered off and befriended a photographer's young assistant, his six-year-old daughter Alice, and then insisted on bringing her back inside to see the "birdy". There was something about this child that set the hairs on the back of my neck tingling, but she seemed harmless enough.

Lord Worthing's two eldest sons asked me to give their aircraft engine the once over and I suggested a few minor tweaks that should have guaranteed victory for them... which is why it came as no surprise that, come the race, they pipped Mr Wangleton to the post and claimed the trophy for England. The Italians came in third and Von Kluge's "mighty design" limped in in last place.

The Germans were not best pleased and got to crating up their craft as soon as possible. I must admit it took us all by surprise when the estate was plunged into darkness by the arrival of a giant dirigible to take them and their aircraft away. Von Kluge could be heard - by the others - shouting vague threats in my direction, but my attention was focused on the fascinating metal bird.

I think I have finally convinced Lord Worthing to allow Sister Justinia and I to return to the abbey to continue our important work.

Part Two: Game Analyis - another great session, totally devoid of fisticuffs and gunplay. The only dice rolling we're doing is plentiful perception checks, the odd intelligence test and some science stuff by the professor. To be honest - if we opted to 'take the average' on many of our rolls - we could probably eliminate dice rolling completely from the game, but where would the fun be in that?

I'm loving the fact that I get to play this pig-headed, intellectual type, while Clare's character is more driven by her heart, and I really enjoyed our verbal sparring over the professor's determination to dismantle the clockwork phoenix (even Nick looked horrified at my insistence on taking a screwdriver to this, presumably, important plot device) - but it just seemed in character!
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Tune in next time ...

Tim
For a daily dose of geeky goodness read my blog - http://www.heropress.net

[Salem Saberhagen]

Brief addendum to last entry...

It's Al Jazari: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Jazari

There's a good piece on the Zeppelin scares of spring 1909 here:

www.ufo.se/english/articles/wave.html
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Tune in next time ...

Tim
For a daily dose of geeky goodness read my blog - http://www.heropress.net

[Salem Saberhagen]

Chapter Four of the Continuing Adventures of Prof. Rufus Crain and Sister Justinia (29 May, 1909), as recorded by Prof. Crain - My companion and I were about to head back to the abbey when our paths again crossed those of the businessman, whose name we discovered was Sidney Reilly. Mr Reilly drew our attention to a newspaper article promoting a talk this very day by the bounder De Whymper at The Royal Institute.

Fuming, knowing he had stolen by ideas, I realised that it was now our priority to attend this so-called "lecture" instead; so we took the next train to London forthwith.

Arriving at the lecture hall, I made my way to the front, while the good sister took a place in the back row - I think she was rather intimidated by all this "science" in one confined space.

I glared at the charlatan De Whymper through the early stages of his talk - basically a regurgitation of his half-baked book - but then he produced some strange contraption, which I believe he claimed was some kind of primitive time machine, and a chicken... which he proceeded to evaporate!

I challenged him to bring the chicken back and instead he 'summoned' some strange, mutated creature that he tried to pass off as a genuine pterosaur!

In the ensueing chaos, the machine exploded and, for an instant, I had one of "my visions" and found myself momentarily in some exotic jungle before returning to the Royal Institute and discovering De Whymper had been replaced by a scorch mark on the floor!

Naturally the police turned up and Pottage of The Yard questioned me about De Whymper; naturally I explained what a scoundrel he had been and danger to society.

"The only things that suffered were the chicken and De Whymper's reputation and neither were worth that much," I told Pottage.

The Royal Institute rightly allowed me use of one of their laboratories to try and piece together the workings of De Whymper's strange machine, while Sister Justinia was off doing whatever it is that nuns do. Going through De Whymper's paperwork I had to grudgingly admit that in theory his machine might have been capable of doing what he claimed it could, so I tried to reassemble it.

Working alone in the lab, I couldn't shake the unwelcome image of the jungle from my head and the feeling that something was in the shadows.

Around three o'clock in the morning, I realised there was something in the shadows... a creature resembling a sabretooth tiger was prowling the corridors of The Royal Institute and it seemed to have my scent. I am not a brave man, but I managed to keep it away by cobbling together a mini-flamethrower from a Bunsen burner, allowing me passage towards freedom.

Just when I thought the beast had me trapped again, it was suddenly pounced upon by a giant ape or a gorilla... at that point I realised I really should be tucked up at home in my bed and getting a good night's sleep.

I managed to flee the building - unfortunately now on fire, although I can't figure out how - and alert the police; not that they really believed me!

Meeting up with Sister Justinia she found me a bed for the night, although my sleep was bothered by constant suggestions that the "jungle was calling me".


The player speaks: Better late than never! These notes have been delayed a few weeks because I 'misplaced' my notebook while unpacking everything in the new house. Nick and Clare came round soon after we moved for a short (two-hours-ish), but sweet, session; which proved a wonderful antidote to the insanity of such a stressful move.

The fact that it had such a Primeval vibe and featured a cameo from Reilly, Ace of Spies made it all the more enjoyable.
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Tune in next time ...

Tim
For a daily dose of geeky goodness read my blog - http://www.heropress.net