The next morning was a time for surprises. Jules awoke to his young charge "Jo" Deveraux patching her pants at the foot of his bed. She had taken it upon herself to head out to a nearby junkyard and collect a few necessary oddments for the beginings of a Laboratory. The yard had a dog, which explained the torn pants. While properly appreciative of the raw materials, Jules was horrified that she had slipped out into strange territory. Jo shot back that father had allways encouraged initiative in her and that she was more than capable of taking care of herself. That discussion was tabled with nothing settled. However it did lead to the decision to visit the theatre later that day.

Meanwhile in another part of the city, We are meeting Emily Watson. Emily's morning had started in the way it normally did.Waking from a night of strange and incoherent dreams, to a dreary breakfast with the family. To her rude shock though, upon returning to her room she found a small message on her side table which read simply " Meet me at Bedlam." It was written in her own handwriting...

Dressing quickly, She slipped out of the house and headed for Bedlam Hospital. Arriving there, she decided that perhaps the best cover for her activities was to take the tour. (In those days it was fun to pay a bit of tin and look at the madmen.) After realizing that the doctor leading the tour was in fact one of the inmates, She was called aside by a gentleman calling himself Dr Cross.

As it turns out, Emily is slightly confused about a person called the Pale-Eyed Man. This person is either her avatar or her mentor. Dr Cross explained that he was in fact the Pale-Eyed Man and that he had been tutoring Emily from afar with his mastery of mind. Since she had recently returned to the city he felt that they should meet in person. He explained that he maintained his work at Bedlam as part of his research into the nature of Chaos and Mind.

Dr Cross explained that his divinations had revealed that she was to attend to certain matters in the west end. He also mentioned obliquely that he had received permission from someone...and then passed her a slip of paper with the address of the Bermondsey street theatre. Is the hand of destiny at work here? or something more pernicious?

Meanwhile back at breakfast, Cordelia had shooed Ms. Margroves away from the preoccupied Mr Orivs and had brought up the possibility of trying to translate the diaries from the trunk. Looking to give Jo a project, he put her on the case. After ascertaining that there was a typewriter in the house she set off in search of the necessary tool to create a translation device. Thomas came in with a long face and asked to speak very seriously with Ms. Nyles. He placed before her a copy of the Times with a rather lurid headline upon it. "West End Slasher Strikes Again!" He reitterated his concerns for her safety. Although parts of the West End are rather posh. Other parts are not. Their theatre lies in one of the seedier sections. The Paper also went on to mention that this Slasher person seemed to be operating in a similar manner as the Ripper of days gone by. The Detectives of the Yard seemed to be of the opinion that this person was what they called a copycat. It had also been noted that the Slasher had at present only attacked young actresses whereas the Ripper had slain East End whores.

Cordelia thought: "I should look into that."

After reassuring Thomas, She also collected the morning post from him. looking through this she was struck with an awful abject nameless dread. Amongst the morning post was a missive from an Elsie Krupworth Marsten. Since Cordelia had returned to the city it was apparent to Elsie that her period of mourning was over and that she had returned to public life. As a consequence, Elsie had taken it upon herself to invite Cordelia to one of her little soirees as a way to ease her back into the flow.

Only problem is: Elsie Krupworth Marsten is a boorish twit....but an unbelievably rich and connected twit. Further discussion decided that it might actually be expedient to attend if only to see old friends and maybe drum up some financial support for the theater.

Cordelia decided to stay home and do the figures for the renovation of the theater and possibly chew through some more of the diaries. Jules and Mr Deveraux were to make another reconnoiter of the theater and that being said they pushed off in their various different directions.

On the way to the theatre Orvis noticed a madman on the corner bothering passing carriages with wild tales of a dragon he saw in the sky...Considering the Jormungandr, it made Jules queasy.

Jo was unimpressed by the Theatre. Oh certainly it was decent design but it was a mess. and the elevator was a horror. It was during these perambulations that Ms Watson chose to appear with Thomas escorting her from outside.

Emily ,for her part, was having a bit of trouble..she wasn't clearly seeing the theatre as it was but as it would be...

After a few misunderstandings it became clear to the both of them that they were in the same boat...Destiny's boat to be precise. After taking a few moments to establish to their own satisfaction that each was a mage they decided to adjourn to Cordelia's house.

Meanwhile, Cordelia was indulging herself in a depressive funk unbecoming a member of the glorious house of Tytalus. While Cordelia is in fact quiet wealthy, the cost of opening a theatre could break her financially and gods help them all if it should fail. Since the diaries were extremly slow going. She decided to take a break and while away some time with her daughter Justine. After losing a few hands of Whist to her she began to suspect the influence of her "uncle" Jack. (which might not be a bad thing as Justine is growing up to be overly serious even at age 7.)

The Arrival of Jules,Thomas,Jo and Emily called for a spot of tea and a bit of discusion amongst the magely types. Once Mr Orvis had been rebuked for his use of the term "Superstitionalist", things proceeded in a much more congenial fashion. Cordelia explained their mission to young miss Emily and asked her if she would care to join their little crew. Allthough it discomfitted her a bit when mentioning Doisetep elicited a blank stare from Emily. The afternoon post arrived with a small note from Praeger insisting upon a progress report at the end of the week...and this perhaps more than anything spurred Cordelia into action.

A cover story was created to explain Emily's absence from the family manse all day. In the days to come it would become clear to the family that Mrs. Nyles had taken young Emily under her wing (which was perfectly plausible and more or less true.) Tomorrow would entail a "Shopping trip" to acquire a gown for Mrs. Marsten's party. Thomas had been dispatched to Harrods to acquire tools, cleaning supplies and several gallons of carbolic to clean the Theatre. He would also be entrusted with the task of finding some hardy men to help clean the place in the morning

Emily was returned to her home and using a bit of Entropy she managed to enter without being seen. As it happens, her younger brother Douglas had been jumping on the bed again and had fallen off and split his lip. His waling howls as they stiched him up jangled the nerves of the household so badly that nobody questioned Emily closely as to her whereabouts.

Jules busied himself with setting up a workbench in the carriage house for the most minimal of magickal workings. After arranging things to his taste he enquired as to the location of the junkyard from Jo. He intended to go back there this evening with some doctored meat for the dog. This discussion jogged a memory of Cordelia's. Since Robert had been a mage of house Flambeau, he had occasionally tinkered with alchemy and basic chemistry as well. Since Robert never threw anything away, and since much of his things had been moved into the attic most of that equipment is probably still up there.

An expedition into the attic was arranged. While Cordelia sat in Robert's old chair and wallowed in a bit of melancholy, Jo and Jules began the process of removing a treasure trove of chemical equipment from the attic. There was even a table with clever folding legs! Jo was dispatched to the kitchen to begin cleaning the vials and beakers and alembics.

As Jules explained his plan to doctor some meat for the dog and then enter the junkyard and avail himself to some additonal materials for the building of a pump to drain the theatre's basements. They heard a loud explosion come from the kitchen.

Slamming doors, running feet, alarums and excursions...They found Jo lying in a heap with a blacked-out face holding the remains of a large alembic. She looked up and said only the word "Sodium" before passing out. A bit of examination revealed however that she hadn't received a concussion. They packed her off into bed and she was told to rest.

Jules, mind elsewhere, invaded the junkyard,drugged the dog, and managed to gain the necessary part to at least create the pump.

The next mornings paper revealed that the West End Slasher was in fact taunting the police. Arrangments made and stories straight, the group headed out to the theatre. They also collected Emily along the way. Thomas had done his work well. a half score of scruffy but clear-eyed workmen had arrived on time and work began in earnest to clean the place. Jo was put in charge of oiling the clockwork fly system and making the elevator less noisy. Jules bent to work on making the pump and running the line out into the alley. Cordelia and Emily began working on ripping up the carpet in the balcony with a bit of judicious entropy. The men on the ground began ripping out the seats on the ground floor and tossing them into a common pile. Once Jules had gotten the pump working, that wood and stuffing was used a fuel for the boiler. A little help from Cordelia almost blew out the boiler but it did improve the capacity of pumping.

At this point, an unfortunate thing happened. The workmen were interrupted by the arrival of Mick Beller and his gang.Mick is a scummy individual who in no uncertain terms hit Cordelia up for protection money. Cordelia, with Thomas behind her, told him to get bent. Beller, seeing which way the wind was blowing, left. but his kind would be back. It was rumored that he worked for Professor Hawthorne Rausch. A criminal mastermind. and they wouldn't take no for an answer.

It was at this point that Thomas extracted a promise from her ladyship that she not be at the theatre without him.

Worried that they might come back and work some mischief, Jules went about making the wooden parts of the theatre fireproof. Jo also suggested a guard dog but they discounted that after recalling the events at the junkyard. Then they hit upon the idea of negotiating with the rats in the basement. Cordelia procured a hefty block of cheese and then negotiated with the chief of the rats. After installing this effective,if macabre, security system. They headed home in time for supper.

What will happen next? only Destiny...and maybe Emily know for sure.