Topic: dnd oakley street prev next
dnd oakley street > Oakley Street Part Two
London
The party began their afternoon on Cassandra’s narrowboat, Marchestra, where they had rested briefly after imparting to Farder Coram all of the findings they had made on their visit to Hannah’s office at the university.
On their visit to Hannah’s office, the party was greeted by Hannah, whose daemon is a marmoset. Hannah told the party that her use of the Oxford alethiometer, which consists partly of her official academic research and partly of questions from Oakley Street, has been coming under greater scrutiny, and that it would no longer be possible for her to use the alethiometer for any Oakley Street business. She impressed upon the party the importance of Oakley Street in preventing complete control by the Magisterium. Although to Oxford alethiometer is unavailable for Oakley Street use, it is safe.
Hannah spoke of another alethiometer, which has not been seen for about sixty years. The last known movement of the alethiometer was its theft by a member of the Bonneville family. This is an aristocratic family, unable to keep its internal conflict completely hidden from the outside world.
The messenger, Paul, whom the party had encountered and helped previously, was conveying a message from the alethiometrist in Paris to Oakley Street. The message is “ant, beehive, hammer,” which means little to the party.
The party already know that Oakley Street is located in London, and they make it their mission to locate and recover the lost alethiometer. They decide to travel to London, and to do so without arousing the suspicion of the Magisterium, many servants of which they have already seen on the streets of Oxford. To travel inconspicuously, they navigate Cassandra’s narrowboat from Oxford. Travelling for the afternoon and well into the evening, they decide to stop and moor on the riverbank for a few hours to get some rest. Cassandra gives John the task of hammering mooring stakes into the riverbank. John handles this task with little to no grace, meeting Cassandra’s disdain.
Early the following morning, John, who has been sleeping on a sack of coal under the canvas of the cargo bay, is awoken by the sound of two narrowboat engines, operating at full power. He wakes Cassandra, who steps out onto the stern of Marchestra and curses the gyptians who are passing by the moored boat too quickly. They slow down and explain that they are heading to London on Oakley Street business, but they cannot divulge exactly what that business is.
The party see the sun rise at the crack of dawn, as one might see the yolk at the crack of an egg. Cassandra, annoyed at having to share her usually private narrowboat with near strangers, takes an early morning walk. She trips and falls, landing with her face in a cow pat. This increases her rage, and she walks out of sight back to a secluded part of the riverbank to wash her face. On returning to Marchestra and the rest of the party via the riverbank, John remarks on the water on her face and in her hair, to which she replies, curtly, “I washed, I hope you do too.” which silences John for the time being.
Cassandra instructs John to cast off from the bank, which he does with a little more skill than last time, and the party follow the two gyptian boats they encountered earlier at a distance of about a mile, to avoid any suspicion in case the three boats were seen together. After several miles, Hilda notices some perturbences in the water, which she relays to Cassandra. Cassandra, having been brought up on gyptian folklore, recognises the phenomena as The Secret Commonwealth, a type of water spirit. A column of torrential rain appears just one hundred feet ahead. The party decide to moor up for a moment, and having done so, they see the perturbance stop. The party continues, and after a short time come across two Magisterium speedboats, engines still running, but with their entire crews unconscious on the decks or on the riverbank. On closer inspection, they appear to have succumbed to the water spirit. The party catch up to the two gyptian vessels they had passed earlier, and they make their final approach into London, keeping a distance.
A police boat spots Marchestra as she enters central London. The police officer asks about Cassandra’s business in London, and seems content that a search is not necessary. Ethel asks “Would you please give us directions to Oakley Street?” and the police officer invites Cassandra to follow them. The party moor Marchestra, at the police officer’s direction, on a police pontoon on the Thames. Once the party have disembarked and all except Cassandra are walking up the gangplank to dry land, Cassandra pats the side of Marchestra’s cabin and says “There there, dearest, get some rest,” before turning herself to follow the rest of the party.
The party have arrived in London and disembarked from Marchestra. As they head towards Mayfair, Cassandra overhears John calling her ‘Cass’. “It’s Cassandra, dofus!” and with that, Cassandra storms off to spend the rest of the day (and night) drinking and partying with her Gyptian friends in London. Tom and John are happy with calling her ‘Cass’.
Dahlia checked her tailor’s shop. It has been shut down, and now she is wanted for tax evasion. The party are now looking for the Bonneville mansion in Mayfair. They spot a local busker, who looks friendly enough. He gives the party directions to the Bonneville mansion. The party then asks for directions to Oakley Street, and in doing so, they confirm that the busker is a friend of Oakley Street. He elaborates on his directions to the Bonneville mansion, with the knowledge that a party is taking place at the mansion this evening.
Dahlia, Ethel, John, Tom and the busker decide that some smart clothes would allow them to slip into the party at the Bonneville mansion unnoticed. The group enters a fancy department store in central London. Tom, also known as Eggman by the party, slips an egg into the display. This causes confusion among the shop floor staff. While they are distracted, the group walks out with a selection of high society clothes, including a long red skirt for Dahlia, and a crisp white suit with a yellow shirt for Tom, in the style of a boiled egg. Tom also grabbed a small tie for his rat daemon Azura, and Dahlia pinched a red ribbon for her hedgehog daemon Erin. John grabs the first generic, boring suit he spots, and will probably do best at going unnoticed at the party. Once outside of the shop, he found a red tie and a hankerchief in the pockets. The group are ready to blend in with the high society guests.
Entering the Bonneville mansion, Dahlia stays in the entrance hall for a while. She is not a people person and is reluctant to mingle with the high society guests. Tom brings her a tray of devilled eggs, which she appreciates. The rest of the group enter the party and are soon walking among the many inner members of the Magisterium who are on the guest list. Ethel, John and Tom pick up an uneasiness from them. Snatches of conversation suggest that there are growing tensions between branches of the Magisterium. All the Magisterium members seem slightly wary of each other, and this helps the party to mingle without drawing attention. Tom, defying probability, manages to find a fellow egg fanatic in one of the waiters, and they both disappear into the crowd. The busker, spurred on by how easy it was for him to infiltrate this fancy occasion, tries his luck and joins the band on stage. The crowd loves it, and this helps further for the party to blend in.
Tom’s new egg fanatic associate causes a scene. This is the final distraction that Dahlia, John and Tom need to get upstairs, away from the crowd, and free to explore the private rooms of the Bonneville mansion. Ethel tries to follow the party, but trips and lands with her face in a portion of devilled eggs. A lady, dressed in a fine gown and presumably the lady of the house, grabs Ethel by the hair. Lady Bonneville is angered by the disturbance and for a moment looks confused as to Ethel’s intentions. Tom notices this and grabs the tray that he had used to serve devilled eggs to Dahlia earlier on, ready to throw at the lady. Dahlia, spotting Tom’s potentially dangerous course of action, grabs the tray from Tom and throws it at a wall instead. This causes more confusion, draws attention away from the party ascending the stairs, and gives Ethel a moment to escape from Lady Bonneville’s grasp.
Once at the top of the stairs, John and Tom follow the landing to the right and find nothing of interest. Dahlia and Ethel follow the landing to the left and enter Lady Bonneville’s bedchamber. Ethel uses the ensuite bathroom to hurriedly wash her face of the egg. Quickly searching the room, they find some small strongboxes under her bed. One has been left unlocked, presumably by accident. Upon opening the strongbox, they find a collection of letters with many mentions of the Bonneville estates. They reveal that the son and heir of the Bonneville family, Gerard Bonneville, who has a hyena daemon with three legs, has a bad relationship with the rest of the family. He is searching for answers as to how the alethiometer works; according to his family, he is acting as a ‘mad scientist’. The most recent letter that Dahlia and Ethel discover is postmarked from Paris. The party decide that their next move should be to visit Paris and investigate further.
Before slipping out of the Bonneville mansion unnoticed, Ethel loots a long fur coat, to keep warm in the evening air. Dahlia takes a diamond ring and a feather boa; these will no doubt come in handy later, and they wouldn’t have suited Gerard anyway. Tom blocks the toilet, and for this reason alone, the whole party agree that a speedy and discreet exit is called for. They leave the house, with the zeppelin booking office in their sights.