Menaces and Mysteries: A Fallen London RP (closed, started)

[Green Shoes]

Mickey was visibly taken aback at Cutter's offer. To the clay man, this was a sign of absolute trust; a gesture that would have to be repaid somehow in the immediate future. Gingerly holding the weapon, he found it somewhat lighter than he thought; failing to make the connection that Cutter was somewhat less physically equipped than your average Golem.

Attempting to shoulder it as he saw the man do, he fumbled, catching it just before it hit the ground. Somewhat abashed, he handed it back. It was clearly a machine that required great co-ordination to use, and Mickey appreciated the technical and practical skill that Cutter possessed.

Turning to the rough constable, Mickey gave him a blank look and asked.

"Did you hear how large it was? Have you ever taken one down?"

Mickey was hoping to find out more about their potential adversary, and the sight of an "official" gave him hope for more information.

 

[SamtheDeathclaw]

"I'm not a drinking man, Ptolemy, but I've a rather strong feeling that this particular line of work would certainly drive a man such as myself to the habit," the man said once they were out in the clear.

Ptolemy laughed. "Ah, you shouldn't have been worried. Just keep your wits about you and you'll be way ahead of these... Ne'er-do-wells. Most of them barely know their own names." Ptolemy turned around a time or two, settling in more comfortably. "Apologies you had to pay off that penny-ante thug, though. I'll pay you back for half, if it pleases. In the meantime, let's try and wave down a cab to the Quarter. I wonder if anyone else's caught the trail yet..."

He glanced around, looking to spot a cab, but decided to leave that to Aiden, instead considering how to track down the gang once they were in the Quarter. Asking around could work, but it might just end with them in another sticky situation. He'd have to think on it.

 

[DarkRawen]

When Thomas arrived back at the church, the group, predictably, were still there. However, so were constables, snooping around what he overheard was the body of another Jack. Would explain the masses of people, at least. Thomas wasn't particularly fond of dealing with the Jacks, they were quick to run away once they realized someone was trouble. How annoying. Instead of speaking to anyone, he simply strolled into the church, silently letting the others know he was there, before going to the back of the dusty building, and noticing that one of the doors were open. Entering it, he soon arrived in the cellar, seeing the rubbery man snooping around.

"What are you doing?" he asked, attempting to sound less hostile and looked around. Waste, cobwebs, nothing they'd need to deal with. "There's nothing here. Bloody waste of time." Honestly, part of the reason he spoke was to make sure he didn't scare the thing off, whether or not Thomas liked it, he had to keep to this group, might as well deal with the one that couldn't talk. He would have to talk to Priscilla and Cutter at some point, but he'd rather wait until it was absolutely necessary.

Lady Poet better put this to good use.

He walked a little closer, trying to see if there really was anything, but kept his hands in his pockets, trying to seem less hostile. The rubbery man seemed easily frightened, as most rubbery men were. "Or have you found anything?"

 

[Quintley]

Another useless lead. Nigel rummaged around the last of the crates. It hadn't found anything special in the cellar, and it was rather good at finding things. That said, it wasn't a total waste - there were a few chipped relics around that looked genuine (or at least, genuine enough) that could go in the shop, and nobody would miss--

"What are you doing? There's nothing here. Bloody waste of time."

Nigel nearly jumped out of its skin. It span around in alarm, in the process knocking over the boxes it had been ransacking. Oh dear. It was the angry person that attacked things. Nigel didn't especially want to be attacked. Thankfully, the aforementioned angry person was currently not doing any attacking - and, logically, he probably wouldn't have bothered making himself known if he was going to attack in the first place.

"Or have you found anything?"

Nigel nodded faintly, pulse still hammering. It headed back upstairs, motioning for the man to follow (or was it a woman? Hard to tell without a moustache, Nigel always got mixed up with humans). It led the way over to the pillar it'd hidden by earlier and pointed to the dirty print. To drive the point in, Nigel put a hand over the mark - and then waved the hand, showing only four fingers.

 

[DarkRawen]

The rubbery man had found something, just not in the cellar. Going upstairs, it motioned for Thomas to follow. He did, though he took care to pocket one of the relics, a small one that looked worth something, before he did so.

It better sell for something.

Taking more might prove to be risky, though, especially with all the constables there. While he normally wouldn't have minded, he had no choice but to follow their rules for now, at least when he still was doing this job. The rubbery man lead him to a pillar, and put one of its hands on it, over a rather large hand-print. At first, Thomas didn't get what it was going on about, just some hand-print, after all, some bloke might have listened to one of the priests preach, and gotten so bored he fell asleep and made a mark on the pillar. Priests were preachy, after all, just like certain people who thought they were better than him. However, then Thomas noticed it, as the rubbery man tried to make it obvious, a finger lacked, it only had four.

"There's a finger missing, isn't there?" he asked, while the rubbery man couldn't really answer, he was somewhat used to dealing with them, having spent his whole life in the Fallen London. That meant he wasn't completely horrible at understanding them, like many of those surface-people were. "Why?" He didn't think clay men normally lacked a finger, the ones down at the docks sure as hell didn't lack those.

"Bloody hell, why is there a finger missing?!" The print looked complete, from what he could tell at least. It was too large to be anything else than a clay man, but it didn't make any sense! Why would a bloody clay man miss a bloody finger?!

"Oh." Thomas didn't remember much from the paper or whatever, but they were after an unfinished clay man, right? Had the paper said anything about why it was unfinished?

I dunno. But since the rubbery bloke pointed it out, it might be our lead.

"So it's the unfinished man?" he asked, still not sure.

 

[Quintley]

"So it's the unfinished man?"

Realising that the relevance of the hand print was somewhat lost on the currently-not-so-angry man, Nigel dug around in its pockets until it found the sheaf of papers they had all been given at the meeting. Finding the witness sketch of the unfinished man, Nigel gestured to the hands, which were both missing the smallest finger.

Nigel then pulled out one of the small glass vials of clay shavings which it had collected from the two churches. It pointed at the shavings, then to the print on the pillar. Then, after sorting through the papers again, Nigel held up the newspaper clipping about the attack on the church, and pointed from the shavings to the article.

Point thus made, Nigel nodded slowly at the man, with what it imagined to be a knowledgeable yet mysterious expression. Unfortunately this actually made it look cross-eyed and rather demented, but it was trying its best.

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

"Ah, you shouldn't have been worried. Just keep your wits about you and you'll be way ahead of these... Ne'er-do-wells. Most of them barely know their own names. Apologies you had to pay off that penny-ante thug, though. I'll pay you back for half, if it pleases. In the meantime, let's try and wave down a cab to the Quarter. I wonder if anyone else's caught the trail yet..."

"Don't worry about the money, it's quite alright. If anything, consider it me buying our way out of my misstep," the man said, contemplating how things may have gone differently if it weren't for his actions. "Something tells me that bloke may have been a tad more cooperative were it not for my perusing. Perhaps he really hadn't known much more than what he told us. Seems likely, considering how quick he was to talk. Didn't seem particularly tactful, either, so maybe I needn't fret. Shame, I couldn't even gather anything useful from his horribly organized pile of papers. I'll certainly take note to be more aware of my, well, investigative methods in the future. As for the others, I can only hope they're faring significantly better than us."

The pair had reached the street in no time and all and were sitting in a coach shortly after, moving onward with their investigation.

 

[IFS]

Aidan and Ptolemy

The trip to the quarter was uneventful and they soon found themselves arriving at the quarter. It was beginning to grow late in the Neath, or at least it felt late. The moonish light cast disquieting shadows from the ruins of ancient buildings, and the open space was a drastic change from the tight dirty alleyways of Spite. As they strolled through the quarters a strange vision rolled over them for a moment, smells and light like the surface again, but it faded as quickly as it had struck, the illusion broken by the distant call of a brass horn.

It seemed they had wandered in the mirage as well, now finding themselves among a strange collection of tents, clearly they had once been vibrant and colorful, though now they were old, worn and faded. The horns echoed again, though still sounding safely distant, and the clink of a shovel could be heard nearby, a man digging into a pile of rubble. He glanced up at the duo for a moment, grunted and went back to work, a bit further in the distance a camp of some sort could be seen, likely an archaeological expedition of some sort.

The man spoke up after a moment "What brings you out here? Hope for your sake its not a scholarly pursuit, Virginia doesn't take too kindly to competition," he said without looking up.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Edward M. Cutter, Esq.​

As the Clay Man handled his beloved Elephant Gun with some measure of clumsiness, Edward couldn't help but feel a little nervous, though he didn't show it on his face. Instead, he kept a schooled expression of trust and cheer, smiling up at Mickey as he tried to shoulder the weapon before nearly dropping it. Thankfully, his reflexes were quicker than the hunter could have given him credit for, catching it before it could hit the cobblestones, then handing it back.

Nodding, Edward slung Victoria over his shoulder and noticed Thomas returning in surprisingly short order. Whatever he had been doing once he stormed off apparently didn't take long, and he had the feeling it was something important that brought him back. But there was no way he could be sure of what. As the thug simply strolled into the church, Edward turned to Priscilla and smiled apologetically.

"If you'll excuse me, Miss Glass, I think it's best I keep an eye on Thomas. It would be a shame if anything was to happen to him, or our Rubbery companion, Nigel." he told her before striding in behind Thomas himself.

When he stepped inside, he saw Nigel trying to show something to Thomas on a pillar.

"There's a finger missing, isn't there?"

Stepping forward, he noticed just what it was that he was being shown: A hand print on the pillar itself, missing the little finger. Remembering the folder he had been given earlier that day, he realized it had to have come from the Unfinished Man that was their quarry.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Thomas was having trouble understanding what the missing finger meant. Instead of saying something himself, however, he waited for Nigel to explain it to him, in the Rubbery Man's own fashion. When the man finally grasped it, Nigel held up a vial, full of what appeared to be shavings of clay. Leaning forward for a closer look, the Rubbery Man then held up the newspaper clipping regarding the attack on that very church and nodded.

Straightening, Edward nodded in response.

"Good work, Nigel. It seems we were right to come here: Our quarry attacked this church too. But we need a lead to track down this wily Unfinished Man. Any luck in finding something we could use?" he asked.

 

[IFS]

"Did you hear how large it was? Have you ever taken one down?"

The cigar chewing constable shrugged "Tends to vary, most are big though, your size or larger," he said "I've been involved in taking one down, I mentioned he threw a cab at me, wasn't alone though so he ended up running."

He inhaled deeply from his cigar and exhaled slowly, glancing behind him to check on the progress of the clean up. It was proceeding fairly quickly, though the squad clearly lacked anything to clean up the blood, at least on them. He sighed and turned back to Mickey.

"We cornered him in spite if memory serves," he continued "took a lot of rounds, but eventually he went down, chained him up and hauled him away afterwards."

 

[Green Shoes]

Mickey's eyes widened slightly, surprised that an Unfinished Man managed to throw a cab. Looking down at his own hands, he wondered if that was perhaps a viable strategy in a fight. Cab or not, Mickey doubted there was little that could sustain both a few rounds from Victoria, and his own strength to match.

Thanking the constable, he walked back towards the others, surveying the room for something suitable to tie up the unfinished man with, if they got the chance.

"The constable said they chained the last one they found up. Should we do the same thing?"

Looking down at his own figure, Mickey figured it would have to be an extraordinarily strong chain. Either that, or the unfinished man had certainly been completely incapacitated. Having never really felt any form of exhaustion, the notion of it seemed rather unlikely to the Golem.

The investigation was beginning to take more time than he thought it would; though he assumed there was a reason for that. Leaving the intellectual side of things to those that could, Mickey returned to his rock-solid state; barely moving at all.

 

[sage42]

"If you'll excuse me, Miss Glass, I think it's best I keep an eye on Thomas. It would be a shame if anything was to happen to him, or our Rubbery companion, Nigel." Priscilla nodded as the gentleman walked back into the church. Thomas was a dangerous one, the fact that he had returned so soon was an interesting one. She would have to do some digging on him, as well as his 'Lady'.

"The constable said they chained the last one they found up. Should we do the same thing?" Priscilla nodded. "I think we should but time will tell whether we do or not." She said to Mickey. She had every intention of bring this monstrosity in alive. Even if it couldn't eat souls it new where to find some one who bought souls at least. And Priscilla had an idea on what to do with a bag of souls. She turned back to the constable then. "Now my goods sir, could you tell me more of these rumors you heard sometime back, preferably all you know? Any help we can get would be appreciated." She spoke with a smile. She knew he was hiding something. Not that it mattered, she would find it out sooner or later.

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

"What brings you out here? Hope for your sake its not a scholarly pursuit, Virginia doesn't take too kindly to competition."

"Err, no, no, nothing of the sort I assure you," Aidan piped. The man quickly cleared his throat, taken aback by the voice of his own nerves and not particularly proud of his tone. The place had set him on edge, as he didn't like hallucinations of any sort, and this whole area seemed like a dream the way it had enveloped the pair. "We're, me and my colleague here that is, Ptolemy, are actually looking for someone. Rather, some ones. More than one person. Possibly. Friends of ours. Might have moved into the area recently? Have you heard anything of the sort perchance?"

 

[Quintley]

"Any luck in finding something we could use?"

It had been going rather well - Nigel didn't often get the chance to show off - but there really wasn't much of value in this place. The print itself was hardly recent, and any other clues would undoubtedly have been trampled on by the constables. Feeling rather deflated, Nigel shrugged at their surroundings and shook its head gloomily.

 

[IFS]

"Now my goods sir, could you tell me more of these rumors you heard sometime back, preferably all you know? Any help we can get would be appreciated."

The cigar chewing constable sighed and rubbed his eyes, for a moment he looked extremely tired, but it passed and he looked back to Priscilla. He seemed to examine her for a few seconds before speaking, as if sizing her up.

"I can't say for certain, but I think I saw your clay man once, back when this church was in operation I used to attend," he said "Didn't know what the Vicar was using it for back then, should've figured it out sooner than we did."

He shook his head and continued "Anyways there was often a clay man there during the services, stood off to the side so I can't say if he was unfinished or not, all I really remember about him was the look on his face. He was... enthralled, not by the sermons so much as the church itself."

He took another few puffs of his cigar "Think he might have helped clean up after sermons as well, maybe the place was like a home to him, or maybe he was working with the spirifers even back then, if so he's probably holed up with them wherever they went after we broke up the ring, the quarter maybe."

The constable glanced behind him, his fellows had about finished cleaning up the Jack, he grunted and tossed his cigar aside "That's all I know, can't say it'll help you much but there it is. I need to be going back to my own duties now, but I'll be sure to let your department know how you helped us with the Jack."

With that he turned and joined his fellow constables in loading up the evidence and corpse and cycling away across the hard uneven cobbles.

 

[sage42]

Priscilla thanked the Constable before he rode off with his companions with the body of Jack in tow. He had pointed them in the right direction at least. The Quarter would be their next destination. She examined the crowd that had began passing once more, not failing to notice that a few people were whispering and pointing. Let them point and whisper, if any rumors did get started they would distract whomever heard them from the groups real goal.

She turned and walked back into the Church. She found the other gathered around in a corner of the room and joined them. She took a spot as far away from Thomas as she could, which wasn't very far she was sorry notice. No longer than an average weasel at least, two and a half at best. The shavings on the ground and the hand print were interesting, but she hoped the other had made notes of everything there was to see. They were on a timer as is.

"Gentlemen and Nigel, according to our Constable friend, our best bet on finding our unfinished culprit would be the quarter. If no one else has a better lead might I suggest we get there post haste?" he said with a smile. She glanced out the door one more time. "It seems to be growing late, and I would hate to run into the Unfinished Clayman in the dark."

 

[SamtheDeathclaw]

"What brings you out here? Hope for your sake its not a scholarly pursuit, Virginia doesn't take too kindly to competition."

[sub](Post written in the
Haiku format, because bored.
Enjoy, or don't. Meh.)[/sub]

Ptolemy looked at
Aiden the nervous chemist.
"Calm down, it's alright,"

he attempted to
comfort the man, "We're on the,
er, homeward stretch now,

no worries. And this
mirage will fade. It's just the
way of the Quarter."

Awful place, he thought,
where the past comes back alive.
I hate coming here.

He spoke to the cab-
driver, "Who is this woman?
Virginia? No one

I know, I guess, but
maybe she can help us, if
you can or will not.

We really need to
find our friends, but they left us
no address. Quite rude."

 

[Terratina.]

"Hey! This is an archaeological expedition, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Was there fear in that voice? Ho hum. Well, there was clearly quite a collection of ruffians here, maybe retreating wasn't such a bad idea? However the idea of being a coward wasn't particularly appealing. Not to mention that they didn't seem like a talkative lot, being all defensive and all... And then it hit him. Why not let the other, more accomplish and numerous than him, do the work for him. All Viktor had to do was get back to the headquarters of the Department of Menace Eradication and tell the others about the spirifers' den and maybe tag along with the invasion force and maybe blow a certain horn...

And so he did his best senile old man impression, slyfully hiding the scrap of paper in his hand. "My apologies. Errr... I seem to have lost my way, could you help a poor old man like meself?"

There was simply being a coward, and there was being a bloody sneaky one.

 

[IFS]

"My apologies. Errr... I seem to have lost my way, could you help a poor old man like meself?"

The man scowled then pointed in a direction "Just keep heading that way and you'll reach the Quarter's edge in no time," he said "Just watch out for devils and the like."

The direction the man pointed indeed was surprisingly clear for the quarter, and following it Viktor would soon find himself by a small cottage on the Quarter's edge. A former Dean of the University lived there, according to the sign out front at least, and Viktor likely still remembered some rumors regarding her expulsion, something to do with burning chemicals and another Dean's aunt. At any rate she had relocated to the quarter to continue her work now, and from her cottage the edge of the quarter, and its visitors, were surprisingly visible.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"We're, me and my colleague here that is, Ptolemy, are actually looking for someone. Rather, some ones. More than one person. Possibly. Friends of ours. Might have moved into the area recently? Have you heard anything of the sort perchance?"

"Who is this woman? Virginia? No one I know, I guess, but maybe she can help us, if you can or will not. We really need to find our friends, but they left us no address. Quite rude."

The man frowned "Devilless with an interest in Archaeology, best not to disturb her," he said "I might've seen a fellow go by not too long ago."

The man sighed and shook his head "What're you looking for them for anyways? Much as I enjoy the airs of this place its not exactly the safest spot for a get together. I did see a tomb colonist go past not too long ago, though I was digging at a different spot then, might he be one of your colleagues?"

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Edward M. Cutter, Esq.​

When the Rubbery Man gave a gloomy shrug and shook it's head, Edward nodded but gave Nigel a firm, encouraging pat on the shoulder. At least, Edward was fairly sure it was a shoulder. If not, he was sure the gesture came through.

"Don't worry, Nigel. We'll find our quarry, run him to ground, and bag him before you know it. As it is, we know he was here, so we have to be getting closer." he said cheerfully.

They were joined by Priscilla shortly after, and the hunter turned to face her as she addressed them, folding his hands behind his back.

"Gentlemen and Nigel, according to our Constable friend, our best bet on finding our unfinished culprit would be the quarter. If no one else has a better lead might I suggest we get there post haste?"

She seemed to smile for a moment, before glancing outside and speaking again.

"It seems to be growing late, and I would hate to run into the Unfinished Clayman in the dark."

"Ah, the Quarter, eh? Certainly an interesting lair for this Unfinished Man, but don't worry. I will certainly do all I can to keep you and the others covered, Miss Glass. With Victoria's help, of course." he said with a chuckle.

Striding to the door, he stepped outside and motioned for the others to follow, grinning widely as he looked back.

"Come on, chaps. The game is afoot, and the hunt is on." he called, and his tone darkened as he added under his breath, "We have prey to bag."