Timeline
Chapter 0.1 — The Beginning (Spring–Autumn 1813)
The earliest campaign play: Marina Garrick’s solo adventures and the formation of the core party. Played at the table, reconstructed from ChatGPT transcripts and source documents.
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 1813 | Loom & Lucidity. Marina Garrick (with Georgiana Dillwyn) investigates supernatural events in Brighton. Marina’s first encounter with the supernatural. Hosted by Mr. & Mrs. Hampton on Marine Parade | Brighton, Sussex | Chapter 0.1, Host & Hostility (Chaosium) |
| Late Spring 1813 | Curate & Curability (Osney Grange Incident). Marina investigates desecrated graves and a ghoul in Osney Grange. Eleanor Mortimer dies. Reverend Mortimer and Dr. Beamish consumed by the ghoul. Marina sustains a gunshot wound to the shoulder and flees in the curate’s stolen coach, suffering temporary madness | Osney Grange, England | Chapter 0.1, Host & Hostility (Chaosium) |
| Summer 1813 | Marina’s Recruitment (Marina Recruitment Portsmouth). Marina arrives wounded at Fox and Hound Portsmouth in Portsmouth. Cared for by Mrs Margaret Fairchild and Dr Ambrose Hargreaves. Lady Honoria Lyndhurst arrives and recruits Marina for the Order of St Aelfric | Portsmouth, England | Chapter 0.1, Portsmouth & The Order |
| Summer 1813 | Induction. Honoria escorts Marina to London. Lord Percival Harcourt meets Marina in the secret chamber beneath Ravenwood House. Marina accepts the Order’s offer and takes up residence at Hartwell House with Miss Eleanor Finch as her maid | London (Mayfair) | Chapter 0.1, Portsmouth & The Order |
| Autumn 1813 | Long Corridor Incident. Marina is dispatched by Harcourt to Tarryford to investigate irregularities at the Northlake Ball. The campaign expands from solo play to a full table. Emma Wentworth, Georgiana Wentworth, James Bennet, and Jane Radcliffe join the investigation. James Bennet consumed in the Long Corridor — first PC death | Tarryford, Wiltshire (Northlake Hall) | Chapter 0.1, The Long Corridor (Regency Cthulhu, Chaosium) |
| Winter 1813 | Training Montage at Hartwell House. Lady Honoria Lyndhurst recruits the surviving investigators and brings them to London. Six Order instructors train the party: Mr Tobias Whitmore, Miss Beatrice Harrow, Mr Alfred Smythe, Miss Dorothea Bexley, Mr Benedict Fairfax, Lady Wilhelmina Danvers. Each offers 2 skills (Wilhelmina offers 3). Investigators choose 1d12 in one or 1d6 in both. Mr. Horatio Fairborn (Mr Horatio Fairbourne) provides the Wentworth sisters with a London household at Gough Square | London (Hartwell House) | Chapter 0.1, training montage transcript |
Prologue — Backstory (1813 – Early 1814)
Setting events and character backstory from Chapter 0 - Before The Canticle. None of this was played at the table in full; these are canon anchors referenced by later chapters.
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late August 1813 | Harriet Palmer meets Thomas Huntley at the Bath Assembly Rooms near the end of the Season | Bath | Chapter 0, Viscount notes |
| September–October 1813 | Harriet and Thomas’s romance: dances, carriage rides, walks along the Avon | Bath | Chapter 0 |
| November 1813 | Thomas proposes to Harriet. She accepts. Thomas begins researching his family curse | Bath | Chapter 0 |
| December 1813 | Harriet travels to London for a wedding dress. Emma Wentworth and Georgiana Wentworth accompany her to Madame Beauregard’s modiste on Bond Street | London | Chapter 0 |
| January 1814 | Thomas visits the Garrick estate in Surrey and asks Harriet to invite Marina Garrick as a bridesmaid | Surrey | Chapter 0 |
| February 1814 | Augustus Bolt is invited to Perry Mead. Augustus and Thomas renew their friendship | — | Chapter 0 |
| March 1814 | Wedding preparations begin in earnest | Bath | Chapter 0 |
Chapter 0 — Before the Canticle
Setting: May 1814 (wedding disaster). Characters are not yet a party.
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 3 May 1814 | The Huntley Wedding. Harriet Palmer becomes Viscountess Huntley in a lavish ceremony at Bath Abbey | Bath | Chapter 0 |
| Wed 4 May 1814, 03:00 | Thomas Huntley dies in the honeymoon suite. Only a shrivelled heart remains in a pool of green ichor | Bath | Chapter 0 |
| Wed 4 May 1814, 06:00 | Thomas’s valet collects the body and the heart, intending to entomb it in the family crypt | Bath | Chapter 0 |
| Wed 4 May 1814, 08:00 | Harriet writes urgent letters to her bridesmaids and closest allies, begging for help | Bath | Chapter 0 |
| Wed 4 May 1814, 09:00 | Francis Fable intercepts the valet, murders him, steals the heart, and hides it at the church | Bath | Chapter 0 |
| 5–6 May 1814 | Francis begins his own ritual. Locates the Siren’s bones and prepares to control the entity | Bath | Chapter 0 |
| New Moon, 7 May 1814 | Francis intends to complete the rite to bind the Siren beneath Bath. Investigation by original party (Marina, Emma, Georgiana, Charlotte, Augustus) disrupts the attempt | Bath | Chapter 0 |
Chapter 0.5 — The Scandal Beneath the Stage
Setting: December 1813, London. First operation of the coalescing party under Lord Harcourt and the Order of St Aelfric. (Chapter numbering reflects play order, not chronology — this predates the Huntley wedding.)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 1813 | The party is summoned to Ravenwood House for briefing by Lord Percival Harcourt on phenomena reported at Drury Lane by Mrs. Prudence Greaves | London | Chapter 0.5, The School For Scandal — Part 1 |
| Tuesday evening, 14 December 1813 | Incident at Drury Lane. During a performance of The School for Scandal, the Understudy (Giles Mercer) emerges from a mirror onstage and delivers forbidden syllables. Reality fractures. The theatre dissolves into recursive echoes | Drury Lane Theatre | Chapter 0.5 |
| December 1813 | Resolution of the Drury Lane incursion. The party is formally recognised by the Order and recruited | London | Chapter 0.5 |
Chapter 1 — London: The Orphean Society
Setting: Early June 1814. The investigators’ first full operation against an Aeternum Choir cell.
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early June 1814 | Investigators trace the Orphean Society through London’s musical salons. Infiltration and intelligence-gathering over ~2 weeks | London (Mayfair, Bloomsbury, Limehouse) | Chapter 1, Canticle Of The End - Ch. 1 - London |
| June 1814 | Discovery of the cult’s hierarchy: Dr. Algernon Hume (High Conductor) and Lady Aurelia Danforth (Deputy Conductor). Monthly sacrificial rehearsals in progress | London | Chapter 1 |
| New Moon, 12 June 1814, 22:00 | Cult procession arrives at Stonehenge: Dr. Hume, Lady Aurelia, 6 core cultists, 2 bound Order captives (Imogen Bellamy and Nathaniel Rooke), 3 “failed” students. Wagon of ritual paraphernalia. Tuning crucifixes erected along the solstice axis | Stonehenge | The Final Ritual |
| 12 June 1814, 22:30–23:45 | Pre-ritual preparations. Candles, pitch bowls, circle of salt and silver dust. Hume tunes harmonic forks to lunar rise. The stone circle pulses with a sub-audible bass note | Stonehenge | The Final Ritual |
| 12 June 1814, 00:00 (13 June) | The Stonehenge Ritual — Segment I of the Grand Canticle. Partial manifestation of Yog Sothoth. Luminous orbs press through the air. Disrupted by the investigators. Original party survives the ritual intact | Stonehenge | The Final Ritual |
| Post-ritual June 1814 | The party is formally inducted into the Order of St Aelfric under Lord Percival Harcourt. Intelligence recovered from the cult points to Lyon as the next active cell | London | Chapter 1, Campaign Overview |
Chapter 2 — Lyon: The Société Harmonique de l’Aube
Setting: Mid-June to mid-July 1814. The cult escalation chapter. PC losses expected and sustained.
Travel from London to Lyon (15–29 June)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15–17 June 1814 | Investigators prepare for travel. Travel documents secured via the Order. Ravenwood House coordinates with Abbe Etienne Duplessis in Lyon | London | Overall Timeline |
| 18 June 1814 | London → Dover by post chaise (~70 miles). Overnight in Dover | Dover | Overall Timeline |
| 19 June 1814 | Dover → Calais by packet boat (3–5 hours). Customs and entry inspection. Overnight in Calais or Boulogne-sur-Mer | Calais | Overall Timeline |
| 20–23 June 1814 | Calais → Paris via Amiens/Beauvais. Arrive Paris evening of 23 June | Paris | Overall Timeline |
| 24 June 1814 | Arrival in Paris. Order-arranged rooms on the Left Bank, near the Luxembourg Gardens. Sealed note from Order Paris contact (“M.”) awaits | Paris | Overall Timeline |
| Evening, 25 June 1814 | Ball at the Hotel de Brissac — hosted by the Duchesse de Brissac. First rumours of the Lyon cell; a Prussian diplomat mentions “a haunting musical society forming in the Rhône valley”; Danforth referenced as “the Siren of England” | Paris | Overall Timeline |
| 26–29 June 1814 | Paris → Lyon via royal post route (~280 miles). Cross the Loire and Rhône valleys. Arrive Lyon evening of 29 June | Lyon | Overall Timeline |
Lyon — confirmed play events (late June – mid-July 1814)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late June 1814 (road to Paris) | Bandit Inn. Dispossessed Grande Armée veterans ambushing travellers at a roadside inn. Party fought their way out. Recovered a family seal ring bearing the de Puyrault crest | Road to Paris | Keeper interview (April 2026) |
| Late June 1814 | Ciimba ambush (road to Puyrault estate). Ciimba Children — zombie children — attacked the party on the road to Le Coteau des Ombres. Augustus Bolt bitten and fell sick. Creatures killed and burned in bonfire | Road to Le Coteau des Ombres, Lyon | Keeper interview |
| Late June 1814 | Abbe Etienne Duplessis briefs the investigators at the Collégiale Saint-Just on Mathilde Savarin and the Société Harmonique de l Aube | Lyon | Keeper interview, Overall Timeline |
| Late June – early July 1814 | Goupil’s Masquerade (Goupil Masquerade) at Maison du Corbeau. Party obtained invitations (dropped, pickpocketed, given), attended in masks. Witnessed Formless Spawn ritual and child sacrifice in the hidden chamber. Did not intervene. Left traumatized | Maison du Corbeau, Lyon | Keeper interview |
| Early July 1814 | Ball at the Château de Camberonne (Hotel de Camberonne) — hosted by the Marquise Eloise de Camberonne. Met Colonel Henri Moreau (introduced by Abbe Etienne Duplessis) and Commissaire Jules Delaroche. Witnessed the Abbe Etienne Duplessis vs Abbe Ferrant confrontation | Lyon | Keeper interview |
| July 1814 | Tunnel Trip 1. Party mapped the passages beneath Lyon. Killed a silkweaver zombie creature. Found “Perform” — the Roman temple excavation beneath Fourvière Hill (Fourviere). Marina Garrick encountered the Silent Nun | Lyon tunnels | Keeper interview |
| July 1814 | Tunnel Trip 2. Found “Practice” — a corridor ending in a locked door. The ladies posed as courtesans being brought for Luc Fouchard’s pleasure, conning past the guards. First sight of the surgically altered children’s choir rehearsing. Left before being caught | Lyon tunnels | Keeper interview |
| July 1814 | Orphans Hospital Raid. Objective: rescue Commissaire Jules Delaroche’s children. Augustus Bolt and Jacob in front; ladies, Colonel Henri Moreau, veterans, Thomas Wyndham, and Adrien de Montferrand from the rear. Augustus Bolt killed (mortal wounds, botched First Aid by Jacob). Jacob killed (shot by Marina Garrick in insanity). Dr. Doctor Emile Carreau killed. 100+ children freed. Jay → Moreau. Phil → Delaroche | Orphans’ Hospital (Hopital de la Charite), Lyon | Keeper interview |
| July 1814 | Silkweavers Guild Assault. Two-pronged assault. Commissaire Jules Delaroche and police in the front; party and Colonel Henri Moreau’s veterans through the tunnels. Commissaire Jules Delaroche killed at the barricade. Charlotte Thorne found Vienna intelligence at “Plan”. Marina Garrick killed — self-detonated with oil and gunpowder to destroy the Chakota. Mathilde Savarin killed by veterans’ volley. Luc Fouchard killed. Choir rescued. Fourvière ritual prevented | Silkweavers Guild, Lyon | Keeper interview |
| Mid-July 1814 | Rest at Puyrault estate (Le Coteau des Ombres). Emeric de Puyrault proposed to Georgiana Wentworth — rejected. Varrio Harrowmont arrived from Venice — his table debut as Phil’s new PC, the day after the Lyon ritual fell, having completed the Venice operation off-stage in early July. Thomas Wyndham stayed with the party. Departed for Vienna | Le Coteau des Ombres, Lyon | Keeper interview |
Travel to Vienna (mid-July 1814)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-July 1814 | Beast of the Black Forest Inn. Cannibal family at an isolated inn during a storm, butchering guests into sweet-smelling candles, soap, and “pork.” Party discovered the truth and fought their way out | Black Forest, road to Vienna | Keeper interview, lyon-to-vienna-sidequests.txt |
| Mid-July 1814 | Swiss Chalet. Period of rest at a chalet overlooking a lake | Switzerland | Keeper interview |
| Mid-July 1814 | The Alchemist’s Final Experiment. Overturned carriage of dying alchemist Ernst Kellerman. His homunculus — invisible, larval stage — escaped and headed for water. Party tracked the creature through forest to an abandoned mill with a pond, barely stopped it before it reached the water and multiplied | Austria, road to Vienna | Keeper interview, lyon-to-vienna-sidequests.txt |
Chapter 2.5 — Venice: The Confraternita del Bel Canto (Off-Camera)
Setting: Early July 1814 (off-stage). Resolved narratively, not played at the table.
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early July 1814 | Varrio Harrowmont (Phil’s new PC) infiltrated the Confraternita del Bel Canto in Venice and disrupted their cell from within (off-stage), then reached the party at Lyon around Bastille Day and travelled with them to Vienna. Segment III disrupted. Three cells now fallen in two months | Venice | Campaign Overview |
Chapter 3 — Vienna: The Brotherhood of the Open Measure
Setting: August 3–15, 1814. Campaign structural pivot.
Recovery and travel (15 July – 3 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15–21 July 1814 | Recovery period at a Swiss Alpine inn. Party convalesces after Lyon | Swiss Alps | Vienna Chapter Summary |
| 22 July – 3 August 1814 | Travel from Lyon to Vienna (~12 days via coach through Switzerland/Austria) | — | Vienna Chapter Summary |
Session 1 — Arrival in Vienna (3–4 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late afternoon, 3 August 1814 | Investigators arrive in Vienna. Check in at Palais Kinsky, where they will share lodging with the Josiah Hartley family (English residents) | Vienna | Session 1 |
| Evening, 3 August 1814 | Palais Kinsky bar. First meeting with the Hartleys — Josiah, Agnes, Caroline Hartley, Lydia Hartley. Mrs Hartley is already trying to arrange introductions to Professor Herzfeld (Albin Herzfeld) for the daughters | Palais Kinsky | Session 1 |
| Mid-morning, 4 August 1814 | Session 1 continued. Varrio Harrowmont has by now been travelling with the party since Lyon (see Chapter 2.5) | Vienna | Session 1 |
Session 2 — Don Giovanni and the Brenner Killing (4–5 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon/Evening, 4 August 1814 | Burgtheater — Don Giovanni. The party is hosted in the Josiah Hartley family box. Caroline Hartley “sat mortified” while her father fawned over Adrien de Montferrand; Lydia Hartley made advances | Burgtheater | Session 2, Caroline Hartley file |
| Late night, 4 August 1814 | Varrio Harrowmont kills Wilhelm Brenner — broke his neck — in a Leopoldstadt boarding house, after Brenner revealed the Harmonic Engine. The killing is Varrio’s secret; no other PC witnesses it | Leopoldstadt, Vienna | Player Characters file, Varrio profile |
| 5 August 1814 | Brenner’s body is discovered. The Widow Katz Boarding House sends a street urchin with a note to Varrio: “Sie haben ihn gefunden” (They found him) | Leopoldstadt / Vienna | Session 2, Session 4 analysis |
| 5 August 1814 | First cultist salon — investigators begin mapping the Brotherhood’s society connections | Vienna | Session 2 |
Session 3 — Investigation deepens (5–6 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5–6 August 1814 | Session 3 investigation window. Varrio’s nightmare POW roll (opening scene). Parallel investigation scenes. Salon climax | Vienna | Session 3 |
Session 4 — The Harcourt Reunion (6 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning, 6 August 1814 (Saturday) | Breakfast debrief and planning at Palais Kinsky | Palais Kinsky | Session 4 |
| Day, 6 August 1814 | Reichenbach / University scouting / investigation (player-driven) | Vienna | Session 4 |
| Evening, 6 August 1814 | The Imperial Reception at the Hofburg Redoutensaal (Hofburg Palace). Music by Mozart (German Dances K.600-605) and Hummel. Beethoven’s Seventh recent in the air. Lord Percival Harcourt reunites with the party — the campaign’s structural pivot. Harcourt learns the full scope of the Aeternum Choir’s global network and begins dispatching Order agents to remaining cells | Hofburg Palace | Session 4, Campaign Overview |
| Late night, 6 August 1814 | Return from the Reception. Polizeidirektion searches the party’s rooms at Palais Kinsky. Marina Garrick’s investigation notebook is confiscated | Palais Kinsky | Player Characters file (Marina retrospective) |
Session 5 — Trautmannsdorff, Moreau’s Death (7 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning, 7 August 1814 | Charlotte Thorne persuades Leopold von Trautmannsdorff’s butler. Trautmannsdorff yanks the party into his study and confesses everything: the Harmonic Engine, the Ludwig Vogel betrayal, Anna Lindqvist’s danger. Trautmannsdorff moved into Order custody (cooperating). Two cell operators down | Vienna (Trautmannsdorff residence) | Session 5 |
| Day, 7 August 1814 | Open investigation day — party uses the Trautmannsdorff intelligence to case the University approaches and Brotherhood addresses | Vienna | Session 5 |
| Evening/Night, 7 August 1814 | Colonel Colonel Henri Moreau assassinated on the Graben by the Bauer brothers (Klaus Bauer). Three stab wounds. Staged as a robbery. First PC death of the Vienna chapter | The Graben, Vienna | Session 5, Player Characters |
| Evening, 7 August 1814 | Varrio Harrowmont arrested by Polizeidirektion under pressure from Ludwig Vogel | Vienna | Session 5/6 |
| One of the two Bauer brothers (Klaus Bauer) cornered by police during the Graben fight. Held at police HQ. Ludwig Vogel prepares false release papers overnight | Polizeidirektion | Session 6 plan |
Session 6 — The Nightgaunt Attack (7–8 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evening, 7 August 1814 | Order debrief / grief scene at Palais Kinsky. Moreau laid out | Palais Kinsky | Session 6 |
| Midnight–dawn, 7–8 August 1814 | The Nightgaunt attacks Palais Kinsky. The Harmonic Engine’s resonant frequency at 87% has thinned the dimensional membrane. The Nightgaunt hunts within Vienna, drawn to the harmonic beacon. Charlotte Thorne takes a three-clawed slash across the shoulder — wounds severe enough to retire her from field operations. Emma Wentworth bites the Nightgaunt’s neck. Adrien de Montferrand delivers the killing blow. Charlotte retired to convalescence — now a Keeper NPC | Palais Kinsky | Session 6 |
| Early morning, 8 August 1814 | Leopold Fischbein’s legal intervention extracts Varrio Harrowmont from Polizeidirektion custody | Vienna | Session 6 |
| Mid-morning, 8 August 1814 | Bauer brother who was arrested is released by Ludwig Vogel on false charge dismissal | Polizeidirektion | Session 6 |
Session 7 — Whispers, Widows, Wounded Warriors (8 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning, 8 August 1814 | Katherine Ward arrives at Palais Kinsky from Kraków — dispatched by Lord Percival Harcourt as a reassignment. Establishes her cover as “Mrs. Catherine Ward,” chaperone. Charlotte Thorne writes retirement letters to Harcourt and Honoria | Palais Kinsky | Whispers, Widows, and Wounded Warriors |
| Morning, 8 August 1814 | Adrien de Montferrand and Freddy Cavendish brief Leopold Fischbein at the Goldener Hirsch on the full scope of the Brotherhood. Fischbein chooses to stay | Goldener Hirsch | Session 7 Wrap-Up |
| Morning, 8 August 1814 | Coordinated relocation. Party shakes Brotherhood of the Open Measure surveillance and moves luggage to Gasthof Weisser Ochsen on Wipplingerstraße under assumed names. Charlotte remains at Palais Kinsky under Pemberton’s watch | Vienna | Session 7 Wrap-Up |
| Afternoon, 8 August 1814 | The von Thun salon. Emma, Georgiana, Adrien, and Katherine attend at Countess von Thun’s (Maria von Thun) townhouse on the Minoritenplatz. Anna Lindqvist sings. Windows vibrate. A wine glass cracks. The resonance matches the Engine’s frequency, inverted and complementary — Anna is the Engine’s missing voice. Georgiana Wentworth observes Anna’s bruising, dilated pupils, trembling hands. Anton Adler intervenes and removes her | Palais Thun Hohenstein | Session 7 Wrap-Up |
Session 8 — The Grand Masquerade (8–9 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evening, 8 August 1814 | The Grand Masquerade at Palais Lobkowitz begins. Caroline Hartley wears a silk-rose flower mask; Adrien de Montferrand openly chooses her as his first dance partner — Lydia Hartley is publicly slighted. Maria von Thun has her ladies cross out names on her card to make room for Varrio | Palais Lobkowitz, Minoritenplatz | The Duel, the Diva, and the Demon |
| Evening, 8 August 1814 | Lady Honoria Lyndhurst confirms to the party: Albin Herzfeld isolated at the University basement; Brotherhood funded from Munich by Der Kantor Munich Coordination; ritual confirmed August 15; reinforcements in transit. Warning: “Desperate action will fail.” | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 8 Wrap-Up |
| Evening, 8 August 1814 | Major William Thurner delivers the operational packet to Georgiana Wentworth via a waltz. Herzfeld alone tonight; reconnaissance now, operations later; seven-day window. Cafe Frauenhuber and Thaliastrasse 12 Safehouse named as one-shot Order assets | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 8 Wrap-Up |
| Evening, 8 August 1814 | Leopold Fischbein meets Freddy Cavendish near the refreshments. Delivers the Bauer brothers’ (Klaus Bauer) location: Black Bear Tavern (Gasthof Schwarzer Bar), Taborstraße, second floor. Ludwig Vogel personally signed the release order | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 8 Wrap-Up |
| Evening, 8 August 1814 | Maximilian von Sternberg arrives drunk, demands a dance from Emma, insults Thomas. Varrio Harrowmont punches Sternberg in the face. Sternberg’s lip splits. He formally challenges Varrio. Thomas Wyndham accepts the challenge on Varrio’s behalf. Per duel protocol (Sternberg was struck, not insulted), the engagement is dawn, 9 August. Sabres. Outside the Linienwall gates | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 8 Wrap-Up, Sternberg duel subplot |
| Evening, 8 August 1814 | Liesel Hartmann approaches Varrio Harrowmont asking after “Brenner.” Neither knows the symmetry: the man she is looking for is the man she is asking. First crack in her faith in Herzfeld’s narrative | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 8 Wrap-Up |
| Evening, 8 August 1814 | Nell Coker approaches Katherine Ward with a blackmail attempt based on their shared London underworld history. The blackmail fails. Katherine recruits Nell on the spot as a party asset for the duration of the Vienna chapter | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 8 Wrap-Up |
| Evening, 8 August 1814 | Nikolai Volkonsky waltzes with Georgiana Wentworth. Reveals Dmitri Volkov’s disappearance. Receives the truth about Anton Adler from Georgiana and commits immediately | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 8 Wrap-Up |
| ~23:00, 8 August 1814 | Anna Lindqvist performs at the masquerade. The resonance is stronger than the salon — chandelier vibration, multiple wine glasses shatter, three seconds of universal apnoea throughout the ballroom | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 8 Wrap-Up |
| ~23:15, 8 August 1814 | Two-stage extraction. Emma, Georgiana, Katherine, Thomas, Nell extract Anna from Adler’s control. The substitution under Katherine’s cape works | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 8 Wrap-Up |
| ~23:20, 8 August 1814 | Confrontation with Adler exposed publicly. Otto von Kaunitz personally warns Varrio Harrowmont of “accidents that befall meddling visitors,” then drifts toward the terrace | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 8 Wrap-Up |
| ~23:25, 8 August 1814 | Adler strikes the command tuning fork (A=432 Hz). The first Harmonische Wachter drops through the stained-glass window above the dance floor. The second Wächter enters the withdrawing room and tears a civilian guest in half. A third Wächter is prepped on the roof of Adler’s coach outside | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 8 Wrap-Up |
| ~23:25, 8 August 1814 | Mikhail (Russian Officers Volkonsky Detail) killed by the first Wächter — tongue lash to the throat, then jaw closure on his head. Headless on the dance floor. Vladimir collapses into nausea. Sasha pursues Adler down the refreshment tables | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 8 Wrap-Up |
| ~23:30, 8 August 1814 | Adrien de Montferrand fires his pistol in the chaos and hits an innocent civilian woman in green in the neck | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 8 Wrap-Up |
| ~23:30, 8 August 1814 | Otto von Kaunitz walks calmly toward the terrace doors during the Wächter attack — a functional confession of insider knowledge. He exits unscathed | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 8 Wrap-Up |
| End of Round 2 (~23:35, 8 August 1814) | Session 8 ends mid-combat. Corridor cluster (Emma, Anna, Thomas, Nell, Wyndham) at the servants’ corridor entrance; Wächter 2 in the withdrawing room blocking the route. Varrio with improvised cudgels on the dance floor; Adrien with spent pistol; Katherine and Georgiana fighting toward the corridor; Adler fleeing with the command fork; Wächter 3 still dormant on the carriage roof | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 8 Wrap-Up, Session 9 Plan |
Session 9 — The Masquerade Resolves (8–9 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ~23:35, 8 August 1814 | Round 3 begins. Varrio Harrowmont snatches a wall-torch. Fire drives both ballroom Harmonische Wachter into panicked retreat; Varrio pursues and burns the first against a pillar; the creature thrashes, then stills. Wächter 1 dead | Palais Lobkowitz | The Burning Ball and the Broken Baron |
| ~23:38, 8 August 1814 | Wächter 2 emerges from the withdrawing room. Varrio throws a second torch across its face; it falls burning across the parquet. Wächter 2 dead. The corridor cluster releases its held position | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 9 Wrap-Up |
| ~23:40, 8 August 1814 | Emma Wentworth takes a knife wound under the arm (Major Wound) in the scramble — assailant unidentified, probably a Brotherhood plant not yet named. Georgiana Wentworth breaks off the pursuit of Adler to field-dress the wound, then resumes | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 9 Wrap-Up |
| ~23:42, 8 August 1814 | Katherine Ward identifies Ludwig Vogel beneath a domino mask near a side door. He leaves without engaging. Katherine does not confront. Intelligence filed | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 9 Wrap-Up |
| ~23:44, 8 August 1814 | Otto von Kaunitz slips from the terrace into the gardens during the confusion. Unscathed, unseen except by Keeper | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 9 Wrap-Up |
| ~23:45, 8 August 1814 | Georgiana Wentworth catches Anton Adler at the refreshment tables. Knife strike to the back of the knee — clean hamstring. Adler goes down. Sasha (Russian Officers Volkonsky Detail) reaches him at the same instant. Nikolai Volkonsky arrives seconds later and honours the bond — Russians yield Adler and the Command Tuning Fork to Georgiana without protest | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 9 Wrap-Up |
| ~23:50, 8 August 1814 | Katherine Ward recovers the command fork at the capture point; moments later in the withdrawing room Georgiana Wentworth asks for it and Katherine hands it across. The fork is in Georgiana’s possession from this point forward. At the moment the two Wächter died, Georgiana had felt a flicker of psychic contact through the fork — first confirmation the fork is a two-way conduit | Palais Lobkowitz | Session 9 Wrap-Up |
| ~23:55, 8 August 1814 | Adler’s Brotherhood carriage leaves the palace courtyard before the party can intercept. The third Wächter and one dormant Vektor go with it. Coachman escapes | Palais Lobkowitz stable court | Session 9 Wrap-Up |
| ~23:58, 8 August 1814 | Nell Coker detaches from the corridor cluster at first opportunity and disappears into Leopoldstadt on her own. Independent exit. Whereabouts unknown as of dawn | Palais Lobkowitz → Leopoldstadt | Session 9 Wrap-Up |
| ~00:10, 9 August 1814 | Carriage exfiltration. Nikolai Volkonsky at the reins of his own carriage; party, bound Adler, sedated Anna, wounded Vladimir, intact Sasha aboard. Route via side streets toward Josefstadt | Vienna streets | Session 9 Wrap-Up |
| ~00:40, 9 August 1814 | Arrival at Thaliastrasse 12 Safehouse. Varrio Harrowmont takes the top-floor garret as an observation post — single dormer window, rooftop hatch connecting to adjacent buildings for exfiltration. Asset activated | Thaliastraße 12, Josefstadt | Session 9 Wrap-Up |
| ~01:00, 9 August 1814 | Anna sedated (laudanum + brandy), placed in a first-floor bedroom. Vladimir’s knife wound field-dressed. Emma’s Major Wound re-dressed | Thaliastraße 12 | Session 9 Wrap-Up |
| ~02:00–04:00, 9 August 1814 | Adler interrogation in the cellar. Katherine Ward and Georgiana Wentworth break Adler without needing the Greta leverage. Intelligence delivered: Polizeidirektion strong-room ledger under Vogel’s custody; secret passage behind bookcase in Herzfeld’s University office leading to the sealed anatomical theatre; Caroline Hartley as Herzfeld’s reserve soprano target; fork is A=432 Hz, rhythmic command language, two-way psychic conduit; Vektors are failed Wächter integrations | Thaliastraße 12 cellar | Session 9 Wrap-Up |
| Dawn, 9 August 1814 | Palais Lobkowitz at first light: stained-glass window open to the sky, chandelier crystal on the floor, two burned Wächter corpses smouldering under sheets, Mikhail (Russian Officers Volkonsky Detail)'s headless body covered but not yet removed, major-domo giving statements. Geheimpolizei in attendance. Otto von Kaunitz briefs Albin Herzfeld at the University. Brotherhood response begins | Palais Lobkowitz / Vienna | Session 9 Wrap-Up |
Session 10 — The Fork in the Road (9 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dawn, 9 August 1814 | Engine nightmares at Thaliastrasse 12 Safehouse. All PCs dream personalised horrors drawn from accumulated trauma. Emma Wentworth: Thomas shot, Adler lifts his heart into a resonance bowl, Nightgaunt folds around her. Katherine Ward: child in geometric London, Hound of Tindalos at St. Margaret’s. Adrien de Montferrand: shoots Caroline in the throat, she is consumed by the Engine. Varrio Harrowmont: Brenner’s broken neck, pillow over Moreau’s face. Bolts from the safehouse screaming. Georgiana Wentworth: Drury Lane Theatre collapses, her hands are bronze and scaled. Wakes with the Command Tuning Fork warm in her hand — first morning it came to her unbidden | Thaliastraße 12 | The Fork in the Road |
| Morning, 9 August 1814 | Dr Heinrich Voss arrives. Stitches Emma Wentworth’s knife wound. Examines Anna Lindqvist’s bruised throat and vocal cords. Katherine Ward tries to calm Anna (slap fails), Emma Wentworth intervenes. Anna sedated with laudanum | Thaliastraße 12 | Session 10 Wrap-Up |
| Morning, 9 August 1814 | Freddy Cavendish takes Nikolai Volkonsky and Sasha (Russian Officers Volkonsky Detail) to Palais Kinsky to warn the Hartley family. Mrs Agnes Hartley dismisses the warning. Caroline Hartley already sent to a University of Vienna audition that morning — already gone. Pemberton gives Freddy urgent correspondence including a summons from Klemens von Metternich | Palais Kinsky | Session 10 Wrap-Up |
| Late morning, 9 August 1814 | Ballhausplatz meeting with Klemens von Metternich. Lord Percival Harcourt presents Anton Adler as a gift. Anna Lindqvist testifies. Otto von Kaunitz named — three seconds of silence. Leopold Fischbein presents the Bauer release order with Ludwig Vogel’s signature. Metternich issues: writ of authority, patrol diversion, Josephinum medical cover. Takes custody of Adler. Arranges Anna’s removal from Vienna. Ludwig Vogel to be arrested at 6pm | Ballhausplatz | Session 10 Wrap-Up |
| Afternoon, 9 August 1814 | Varrio Harrowmont visits Maximilian von Sternberg at the Hotel zum Romischen Kaiser. Charms Sternberg over Tokaji into rescheduling the duel: dawn 10 August, Linienwallgasse, pistols. Sternberg’s ultimatum: if Thomas does not appear, published as a coward. Varrio sends note to Countess von Thun (Maria von Thun) rescheduling her evening to the 10th | Hotel zum Römischen Kaiser | Session 10 Wrap-Up |
| Afternoon, 9 August 1814 | Polizeidirektion heist. Georgiana Wentworth, Katherine Ward, and Leopold Fischbein recover the Liber Ivonis, De Vermiis Mysteriis, and Marina Garrick’s notebook from the strong room. Fischbein argues. Georgiana produces the writ. Leutnant Gruber assists. Swift exit before Ludwig Vogel learns what happened | Polizeidirektion | Session 10 Wrap-Up |
| 6pm, 9 August 1814 | Ludwig Vogel arrested by Friedrich von Gentz at the Ballhausplatz (off-screen). Relieved of credentials and sidearm. Geheimpolizei threat neutralised | Ballhausplatz | Session 10 Wrap-Up |
Session 11 — The Duelling Ground and the Black Bear (9–10 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon, 9 August 1814 | Freddy Cavendish and Adrien de Montferrand visit the Josiah Hartley family at Palais Kinsky. Caroline Hartley not returned from the University. Mr Hartley offers money, carriages, anything. Warns against seeking help from Otto von Kaunitz or Leopold von Trautmannsdorff | Palais Kinsky | The Duelling Ground |
| Afternoon, 9 August 1814 | Adrien de Montferrand visits Charlotte Thorne at Palais Kinsky. London intelligence: cult keeps captives alive while useful. Charlotte gives Adrien her personal armory (pistols, throwing knives, skeleton keys, rifle). Pemberton told to stay put and watch Charlotte | Palais Kinsky | Session 11 Wrap-Up |
| Evening, 9 August 1814 | Nikolai Volkonsky and Sasha (Russian Officers Volkonsky Detail) arrive at Thaliastrasse 12 Safehouse demanding Adler information. Upset that Adler went to Metternich. Georgiana Wentworth offers to meet Andrei Volkonsky the following morning | Thaliastraße 12 | Session 11 Wrap-Up |
| Night, 9–10 August 1814 | Watch rotation at safehouse. All PCs dream (Emma: Thomas shot; Adrien: Caroline dissected; Varrio: broken-necked man; Georgiana: kaleidoscopic creature vision). Georgiana wakes holding the tuning fork — hidden under floorboards before sleep, found in her hand at dawn | Thaliastraße 12 | Session 11 Wrap-Up |
| Dawn, 10 August 1814 | The Sternberg Duel at Linienwallgasse (Sternberg Duel Linienwallgasse). Pistol exchange: Thomas Wyndham missed, Maximilian von Sternberg’s pistol misfired (wet pan). Varrio Harrowmont persuaded both seconds to switch to sabers. Thomas struck first — saber wound to armpit and chest, collapsed lung. Sternberg hospitalized. Thomas kissed Emma Wentworth on the duelling ground. Duel subplot resolved | Linienwallgasse | Session 11 Wrap-Up |
| Morning, 10 August 1814 | Nell Coker arrives at Thaliastrasse 12 Safehouse with university intelligence. Criminal underworld gone silent, guards doubled with professional killers, deliveries stopped. Bruise on jaw from encounter with Brotherhood enforcer carrying marked metal rod. Plans to scout university with Katherine Ward that evening | Thaliastraße 12 | Session 11 Wrap-Up |
| Day, 10 August 1814 | Georgiana Wentworth meets Major Andrei Volkonsky at Palais Razumovsky. Presented Metternich’s writ and Harcourt’s brooch. Russian military commitment: 5 soldiers (including Volkonsky) for the University assault, conditional on layout intelligence. Strategy session to be arranged via Nikolai Volkonsky on 11 August | Palais Razumovsky | Session 11 Wrap-Up |
| Afternoon/evening, 10 August 1814 | Varrio Harrowmont at Maria von Thun salon, Palais Thune-Hockenstein (Palais Thun Hohenstein). Signor Morosi introduces Sardinian mercenary option (Capitano Luca Ferrante’s company, 100 golden or political intelligence). Breakfast meeting arranged for 11 August. Baronin von Kessel gossips: Otto von Kaunitz not seen for two days. Von Thun’s seduction attempt rejected; Varrio kicked out of her apartments | Palais Thune-Hockenstein | Session 11 Wrap-Up |
| Evening, 10 August 1814 | Freddy Cavendish, Adrien de Montferrand, and Thomas Wyndham raid the Black Bear (Gasthof Schwarzer Bar), Taborstraße. Klaus Bauer killed (Thomas, saber). Werner Bauer captured (pistol-whipped, table collapsed on him). Severed arm in salt, morgue receipt, hand-drawn University basement map, and 80 golden recovered. Werner taken prisoner to Thaliastrasse 12 Safehouse | Black Bear, Taborstraße | Session 11 Wrap-Up |
Session 12 — The War Council (10–11 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Night, 10 August 1814 | University Reconnaissance Aug 10. Katherine Ward and Nell Coker scout the University of Vienna. Five guards mapped, patrol patterns identified (15-min circuit, 2-min gap at side door every 20-30 min). Albin Herzfeld observed in lit second-floor office. Sub-audible vibration felt. Guards’ overheard conversation: deadline is 3 nights away (13 August). Katherine falls from drainpipe on descent (minor injuries) | Universitätsplatz (University of Vienna) | The War Council |
| Late night, 10–11 August 1814 | Midnight debrief at Thaliastrasse 12 Safehouse. Katherine reports guard patterns and timeline shift. Nell Coker translates German: deadline 13 August, not 15th. Georgiana Wentworth’s Command Tuning Fork resonates sympathetically as Katherine describes the vibration | Thaliastrasse 12 Safehouse | Session 12 |
| Morning, 11 August 1814 | Varrio Harrowmont and Thomas Wyndham meet Signor Morosi and Captain Capitano Luca Ferrante at Cafe zur Blauen Flasche. Ferrante agrees: himself and four men for 200 florins. Briefed on Harmonische Wachter vulnerability to fire | Cafe zur Blauen Flasche | Session 12 |
| Morning, 11 August 1814 | Nikolai Volkonsky arrives at safehouse to arrange War Council. William Thurner (safehouse owner) arrives, sent by Lord Percival Harcourt. Nikolai goes to third floor and returns with bloodied blade (unexplained) | Thaliastrasse 12 Safehouse | Session 12 |
| Day, 11 August 1814 | Varrio Harrowmont discovers hidden compartment in third-floor writing desk. Georgiana Wentworth casts detection spell, producing geometric star-map. Varrio suffers mental break: obsessive mania for magic. Leather Portfolio recovered: forged papers, embassy letterhead, cipher key, 200 florins | Thaliastrasse 12 Safehouse | Session 12 |
| Day, 11 August 1814 | Werner Bauer interrogated in safehouse basement. Reveals: Albin Herzfeld working around the clock, Caroline Hartley locked in south corridor ground floor. Provides university map. Machine humming building for days, guards’ teeth ache, one guard quit | Thaliastrasse 12 Safehouse | Session 12 |
| Day, 11 August 1814 | Study of forbidden texts (Forbidden Texts Study Aug 11). Georgiana Wentworth studies Liber Ivonis: harmonic gate theory, 432 Hz frequency tied to Yog Sothoth. Temporary madness. Adrien de Montferrand studies De Vermiis Mysteriis: counter-frequencies discovered. Severe mental break: Pyrenees memories projected on parlor window. Counter-ritual synthesis identified | Thaliastrasse 12 Safehouse | Session 12 |
| Day, 11 August 1814 | Georgiana Wentworth uses harmonic compass (Resonance Compass) to track resonant vibrations through the safehouse. Source: the Command Tuning Fork, still active despite being hidden | Thaliastrasse 12 Safehouse | Session 12 |
| Evening, 11 August 1814 | War Council at Heuriger Zum Rebstock (War Council Heuriger Aug 11). William Thurner confirms Otto von Kaunitz fled Vienna toward Graz. Assault plan: Werner Bauer dismisses guards; Capitano Luca Ferrante + Adrien de Montferrand rescue Caroline Hartley; Russians + investigators secure Albin Herzfeld. Georgiana Wentworth proposes counter-ritual. Leopold Fischbein formalizes mercenary contract. Assault set for pre-dawn 12 August | Heuriger zum Rebstock | Session 12 |
| Evening, 11 August 1814 | Wächter ambush at the Heuriger (Wachter Ambush Heuriger Aug 11). Harmonische Wachter crashes through pergola, spilling burning oil. Drops onto assembled coalition. Session 12 cliffhanger — unresolved | Heuriger zum Rebstock | Session 12 |
Session 13 — The Assault Begins (11–12 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evening, 11 August 1814 | Wächter ambush resolved (Wachter Ambush Heuriger Aug 11). Harmonische Wachter killed by combined effort: Andrei Volkonsky’s knife, Nikolai Volkonsky’s pistol shot, Freddy Cavendish’s killing blow. No coalition casualties | Heuriger zum Rebstock | The Descent |
| Late evening, 11 August 1814 | Counter-ritual synthesized. Georgiana Wentworth retuned the Command Tuning Fork using knowledge from the Liber Ivonis and De Vermiis Mysteriis. Experienced the Conduit Flash — a vision of cosmic geometry. Fork now calibrated as a counter-harmonic weapon | Thaliastrasse 12 Safehouse | Session 13 Wrap-Up |
| Pre-dawn, 12 August 1814 | University assault launched. Two teams: rescue team (Adrien de Montferrand, Katherine Ward, Nell Coker, Capitano Luca Ferrante’s Sardinians) via service entrance and Roman tunnels; main team (Emma Wentworth, Georgiana Wentworth, Freddy Cavendish, Varrio Harrowmont, Thomas Wyndham, Russians) via front entrance and Herzfeld’s office stairwell. Caroline Hartley’s room found empty — she has been moved to the Sealed Anatomical Theatre | University of Vienna | Session 13 Wrap-Up |
| Pre-dawn, 12 August 1814 | Liesel Hartmann found mopping outside Caroline Hartley’s empty room. Recognised by Adrien de Montferrand; Capitano Luca Ferrante’s Sardinians tie and gag her and shut her in a cupboard | University of Vienna | The Descent |
| Pre-dawn, 12 August 1814 | Both assault teams descending toward the Sealed Anatomical Theatre. Ritual active and progressing. Session 13 ends at the threshold | University of Vienna | Session 13 Wrap-Up |
Session 14 — The Theatre (12 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-dawn, 12 August 1814 | Assault on the Sealed Anatomical Theatre (Assault Sealed Anatomical Theatre). Rescue team breached via Roman tunnels and west wall door (Nell Coker picked the lock). Student cultists ambushed the vanguard — all killed. Ritual’s psychic pressure caused Varrio Harrowmont blindness and Adrien de Montferrand hysterical weeping. Russian team breached simultaneously from the opposite side | Sealed Anatomical Theatre, University of Vienna | The Theatre |
| Pre-dawn, 12 August 1814 | Harmonic Engine destroyed. Georgiana Wentworth struck the Command Tuning Fork against her sword — counter-vibrations muted the ritual’s pressure. Emma Wentworth identified acoustic baffles reinforcing the harmonics; she, Thomas Wyndham, and Freddy Cavendish toppled them. Georgiana completed the counter-ritual within the 8-round deadline. Engine putrefied and collapsed | Sealed Anatomical Theatre | Session 14 Wrap-Up |
| Pre-dawn, 12 August 1814 | Albin Herzfeld captured. Winged by Adrien de Montferrand’s rifle shot. Attacked by feral Varrio Harrowmont (face mauled). Restrained by Capitano Luca Ferrante. Handed to Russian operatives (Andrei Volkonsky’s team) in custody | Sealed Anatomical Theatre | Session 14 Wrap-Up |
| Pre-dawn, 12 August 1814 | Caroline Hartley rescued. Found on surgical table, throat being cut by Herzfeld. Katherine Ward stitched her throat wound. Carried out by the party. Voice status pending | Sealed Anatomical Theatre | Session 14 Wrap-Up |
| Pre-dawn, 12 August 1814 | Varrio Harrowmont shot by Thomas Wyndham to stop feral assault on Herzfeld. Left at 1 HP, unconscious. SAN near zero | Sealed Anatomical Theatre | Session 14 Wrap-Up |
| Dawn, 12 August 1814 | Party emerges from the University. Nell Coker fled during building shake — whereabouts unknown. Sardinians collected pay and departed. Russians took Herzfeld. Georgiana Wentworth discovered permanent physical marks: white streak in hair, iridescent skin on left hand. The Brotherhood of the Open Measure’s Vienna cell is completely destroyed — fourth of eight ritual sites neutralized | Vienna | Session 14 Wrap-Up |
Chapter 3 — Aftermath (Projected)
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| August 12–15, 1814 | Aftermath and departure from Vienna. Decompression, loose ends, Hartley family, Herzfeld’s letters. Transition to Chapter 4 | Session 14 Wrap-Up |
Chapter 4 — Calcutta (Voyage, August–October 1814)
Setting: The sea passage from Trieste toward Egypt and on to Calcutta. Folklore horror at sea; the cult chapter proper waits at Baranagar.
Session 1 — The Morning After (12–20 August)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12–20 August 1814 | Aftermath of Vienna and departure. Lord Percival Harcourt gives Freddy Cavendish an India sinecure and the Order of St Aelfric pin taken from the wounded Varrio Harrowmont; Pemberton turns back for England. The party provisions in Trieste and boards the merchant brig La Speranza under Captain Capitano Niccolo Zanier, alongside passengers Jasper Endicott and Thomas Wyndham, and Nathaniel Holt aboard as “ship’s doctor” | Vienna → Trieste → La Speranza | The Morning After |
| 20 August 1814 | Departure from Trieste. Hawsers off the bollards at dawn; the brig stands out into a glass-clear Adriatic, bound for Egypt | Trieste | Session 1 Wrap-Up |
Session 2 — The Becalming (20 August – early September)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Road to Trieste, August 1814 | Georgiana Wentworth masters Enchant Knife from the Cultes Des Ghoules and begins studying Shrivelling | Vienna → Trieste | The Becalming |
| Voyage Day 1 (~20 Aug) | Nathaniel Holt joins Petar Boskovic’s dawn rigging inspection and earns a foothold with the crew. Stavros serves the infamous “good stew.” Freddy Cavendish settles Tommaso’s gambling debt when Frano draws a knife, earning the captain’s nephew’s gratitude | La Speranza | Session 2 Wrap-Up |
| Voyage Days 2–3 | The kitchen coup. Emma Wentworth, Georgiana Wentworth, and Katherine Ward take over the galley; Stavros cedes ground and the party’s fresh stores improve the food. Stavros’s hypnotic humming first noticed. Nikos tells the Whistler and Ship-of-Rhodes ghost stories | La Speranza | Session 2 Wrap-Up |
| Voyage Day 4 | Emma Wentworth’s promenade halts ship’s work; she charms the wheel from Capitano Niccolo Zanier and snaps it off its spoke. Marko strikes the cabin boy Luka in frustrated rage. That evening Freddy Cavendish charms Jasper Endicott into confessing the smuggled Saria funerary tablets, bound for the Asiatic Society of Bengal | La Speranza | Session 2 Wrap-Up |
| Voyage Day 6 | Night: Adrien de Montferrand and Freddy Cavendish follow Jasper Endicott to the hold and the party examines the crate — limestone tablets with non-fish carvings, bronze plaques with Greek funerary inscriptions, an undeciphered script. Confirmed illegally smuggled from Ottoman territory. Emma Wentworth notices Georgiana Wentworth’s iridescent mark has crept past the wrist | La Speranza | Session 2 Wrap-Up |
| Voyage Days 7–10 | Crew superstition hardens: Spiros and Ivo report Jasper Endicott “speaking in two voices” alone in the hold; Drago demands the crate go overboard. Katherine Ward completes nine days of hidden luggage compartments. Nathaniel Holt pilots the brig through the Strait of Otranto. Luka attaches to Emma Wentworth | La Speranza / Strait of Otranto | Session 2 Wrap-Up |
| Voyage Day 11 (~31 Aug) | The wind dies. Dead calm south of Crete; green phosphorescence in the water; patient knocking from outside the hull. Drago and Marko lead a near-mutiny to throw Jasper Endicott overboard; Capitano Niccolo Zanier fires a pistol and Petar Boskovic restores fragile order. The party investigates and confirms the knocking comes from outside the hull | La Speranza, south of Crete | Session 2 Wrap-Up |
| Voyage Day 12 (~1 Sep) | The party persuades Capitano Niccolo Zanier to tow Jasper Endicott’s crate behind the ship in a rowboat; the knocking continues regardless. Stavros’s humming resolves into an audible funeral prayer. Freddy Cavendish sees the drowned faces in the green water; The Drowned moan rises and Emma Wentworth recognizes the chant as Stavros’s tune. Session 2 cliffhanger — the climb is unresolved | La Speranza, south of Crete | Session 2 Wrap-Up |
Session 3 — Give Rest (the becalming resolved; landfall at Alexandria)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ~1 September 1814 (Night) | The sacrifice that failed. The terrified crew mob Jasper Endicott; Adrien de Montferrand secures the cabin key from Capitano Niccolo Zanier and a rope tether, but the sailors lower Endicott head-first into the sea and The Drowned drag him under — the rope snaps and he is gone. The knocking does not stop. Marko eyes the women next; the men and Petar Boskovic’s faction wall them off and the party bars the hatch for the night | La Speranza, south of Crete | Give Rest |
| ~1 September 1814 (Day) | Dawn: silence, no wind; Nathaniel Holt fixes them ~25nm from Gavdos. From Jasper Endicott’s journal pages Georgiana Wentworth reads the chant as an ancient Greek funeral rite — the dead beg to be seen, witnessed, given rest. Katherine Ward and Adrien de Montferrand manage the crew with a dead-husband tale and rum; the crew throw the crate overboard (it sinks). Capitano Niccolo Zanier refuses to abandon ship | La Speranza | Give Rest |
| ~1 September 1814 (Night) | The rite of the drowned (The Funeral Rite). The dead climb the hull. Katherine Ward breaks and flees (necrophobia → temporary insanity, later found in a food crate); Nathaniel Holt freezes and drops his pistol; Emma Wentworth is lost in the song. Georgiana Wentworth alone carries the rite to its end — her cracked voice turns the dead and they sink back into the sea. The wind returns; the becalming breaks | La Speranza, south of Crete | Give Rest |
| 9 September 1814 (Friday) | Landfall at Alexandria. Cleared by a health official (one death reported — Endicott); Georgiana Wentworth bribes customs and Katherine Ward’s hidden compartments pass unsearched. The dragoman Yusuf al Maghribi lodges them at the Locanda del Leone; Capitaine Thibault advises the Rosetta route; Madame Rosa Vukovich notes Georgiana Wentworth’s spreading mark; a drunken Freddy Cavendish drives off the dealer Lucas Pyke | Alexandria | Give Rest |
Session 4 — The Road to Cairo (Alexandria Day 2 through arrival in Cairo; no Choir, no Mythos — a breathing space)
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 September 1814 (Day 2) | Breakfast recovery from the first night’s revels; Thomas Wyndham gives Emma Wentworth a beaded veil in the courtyard. Madame Rosa Vukovich guides Emma Wentworth, Georgiana Wentworth, and Katherine Ward through the Alexandria Souk — Katherine Ward acquires a widow’s veil and finds it grants near-invisibility with local merchants; custom dresses commissioned (Emma Egyptian Dress, Georgiana Egyptian Dress); Emma Wentworth buys the Blue Faience Scarab Pin and Silver St George Necklace; Georgiana Wentworth and Katherine Ward commission prayer scrolls (Prayer Scroll Cylinders) (Georgiana’s names her mother Cassandra; Katherine’s gives her true name, Eleanor) | Alexandria Souk | Session 4 (transcript + table assistant notes) |
| 10 September 1814 | At the Hammam al Yasmin, bath-mistress Umm Salma identifies Georgiana Wentworth’s transformation mark as Baraka — a divine blessing tied to Al-Khidr — silencing the steam room; local women seek her touch. Meanwhile the men handle banking (Yaqub ben Ezra, then Wetherall at the Bank of England Alexandria — Nathaniel Holt catches Yusuf al Maghribi’s skim), travel papers at the Pasha’s Bureau (Pashas Bureau), and provisioning at the Victualing Market (Mansour’s donkey grievance) | Alexandria | Session 4 (transcript + table assistant notes) |
| 11 September 1814 (approx.) | Departure from Alexandria by donkey caravan (Aziza’s luck-touch and Georgiana’s flinch); the party boards Reis Salah’s djerm. At the Nile’s mouth (Nile Mouth at Rashid), Nathaniel Holt helps fight the tiller through a dangerous river bar, delivering the party safely to Rashid | Alexandria Harbor → Rashid | Session 4 (transcript) |
| ~11 September 1814 (Night) | First night in Rashid. Emma Wentworth gives Thomas Wyndham the Silver St George Necklace; he vows never to remove it | Rashid | Session 4 (transcript) |
| 11–16 September 1814 | Five days by dahabeah up the The Nile River to Cairo. Nathaniel Holt shares snuff with the boat crew, earning their respect. Katherine Ward spots a neighbouring camp using a password-challenge entry protocol; found abandoned by morning — unresolved. Georgiana Wentworth completes studying Implant Fear from Cultes Des Ghoules and begins an eight-week study of Contact Ghoul | The Nile River | Session 4 (transcript + table assistant notes) |
| 16 September 1814 | Arrival in Cairo. Landing at Bulaq; the party settles at the Auberge du Muski in the Muski district (The Muski), run by Sergeant Bruyere and Sitt Nafisa | Cairo | Session 4 (transcript + table assistant notes) |
Session 5 — The Cairo Interlude (Eid al-Fitr in Cairo through the Giza ride and departure; no Choir, no Mythos — a breathing space)
The planned second half at Wadi al Tih (the locked-room caravanserai murder) was not reached and carries forward to the next session.
| Date | Event | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 September 1814 (Evening) | Arrival over Eid al-Fitr. Feast in the Auberge du Muski courtyard; Sergeant Bruyere shows his strong-room and invites Adrien de Montferrand to talk France. Night walk into the festival streets; Emma Wentworth is drawn to a courtyard of drummers and three professional dancers before Thomas Wyndham stops her | Cairo / The Muski | The Cairo Interlude |
| 17 September 1814 | Festival day; the The Muski shut for Eid. The party splits: Nathaniel Holt and Thomas Wyndham secure twenty oiled water skins at Bulaq; Adrien de Montferrand and Katherine Ward book seven caravan passages to Suez (dep. 20th) with Krikor Bedrossian under master Hassan al Rashidi; Freddy Cavendish finds a Frank Quarter tavern and a European (“Ben”) who clocks his Board of Control tie. A queue of women seek Georgiana Wentworth’s blessing, marshalled by Sitt Nafisa. That evening Adrien de Montferrand drinks Sergeant Bruyere’s brandy for news of France; Emma Wentworth hears festival music with no terror for the first time since the Long Corridor | Cairo | The Cairo Interlude |
| 18 September 1814 | Pre-dawn ride across the Nile ferry to Giza. The Sphinx sits buried to its neck; Georgiana Wentworth alone enters the Great Pyramid and climbs to the Grand Gallery by candlelight. Thomas Wyndham trades a cufflink for a chair and parasol for Emma Wentworth, then gives her the silver anklet held back since Alexandria | Giza | The Cairo Interlude |
| 19 September 1814 | Preparation day. Rigid trunks repacked into soft bags (camels cannot carry trunks); the party re-outfits in desert dress; tinted spectacles, water skins, dates, grease, pistols and swords assembled | Cairo | The Cairo Interlude |
| 20 September 1814 (Before dawn) | The party departs Cairo onto the Suez overland road — eighty-four miles ahead, caravan master Hassan al Rashidi, two surviving chickens. (Two days’ road → Wadi al Tih on ~22 September) | Cairo → Suez road | The Cairo Interlude |
Session 6 — The Locked Room (the Suez crossing and the caravanserai murder; no Choir, no Mythos)
| Date | What happens | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20–21 September 1814 | The two-day Suez crossing. Camels are mounted with mixed dignity (Katherine Ward bitten and thrown, Adrien de Montferrand repeatedly unseated). Gerald Hewitt earns his death across two days of cruelty and confident wrong advice. At the night camp, veiled Katherine Ward catches the Indian-English lilt under Mrs Elizabeth Ashby’s widow’s voice; Nathaniel Holt strikes Hewitt over the beating of Rajan; Hassan al Rashidi silences Hewitt with a private word after the “boy” insult; Luca Mancini lays out Hewitt’s reputation for Freddy Cavendish | Cairo → Suez road | The Locked Room |
| ~21 September 1814 (evening) | A sandstorm drives the caravan into the Wadi al Tih caravanserai; keeper Abu Yusef’s face changes when he sees Hewitt at the gate. Elizabeth Ashby offers Hewitt the drugged tea at the evening fire | Wadi al Tih | The Locked Room |
| Night, 21–22 September 1814 | The murder. Elizabeth Ashby drugs Gerald Hewitt with opium and strangles him with a silk cord, staging the door to look locked from within. See Wadi al Tih Murder | Wadi al Tih | Wadi al Tih Murder |
| 22–24 September 1814 (storm-bound) | Hewitt found dead; the mob rounds on Rajan. The investigators run an investigation instead: Georgiana Wentworth finds the small footprints and identifies the opium, Nathaniel Holt reads the thread on the key, Freddy Cavendish draws Tariq’s account of the woman at the well. Elizabeth Ashby confesses to a fifteen-year revenge and is released and invited onward to Calcutta. Thomas Wyndham pulls rank on Nathaniel Holt. Freddy Cavendish pays Abu Yusef to bury Hewitt and keep Rajan, who stays behind | Wadi al Tih | The Locked Room, Wadi al Tih Murder |
| ~24 September 1814 | The storm lifts, the gate is dug clear, and the caravan resumes toward Suez, Elizabeth Ashby now travelling with the party | Wadi al Tih → Suez road | The Locked Room |
Session 7 — The Sterile Bay (Suez, the Indian Ocean passage, and Socotra; no Choir, no Mythos)
| Date | What happens | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ~26 September 1814 | The caravan crests the last ridge and reaches Suez. Hassan al Rashidi halts at the edge of town, collects his money, and parts from the party without ceremony; Luca Mancini advises the Frankish waterfront and goes his own way. Freddy’s Board of Control paperwork and the Hugh Cavendish name secure lodgings at the Company office from the clerks Sam and George | Suez | The Sterile Bay |
| ~26 September 1814 | Nathaniel Holt works the waterfront and finds nothing — coastal craft only, the two soundest hulls under the Pasha’s commissariat, and a language wall on the quays | Suez Waterfront | The Sterile Bay |
| ~26 September 1814 (evening) | At the cellar bar, Elizabeth Ashby takes Adrien de Montferrand aside and tells him her whole history unprompted — Anglo-Indian birth in Calcutta, Silas Ashby and Sarala Dasi, the sister Malati left behind, and that she is going home. Alan passes the tip about the country ship; Pew warns Freddy about a man named Charles Ashworth | The Watering Hole | The Sterile Bay |
| ~27 September 1814 (dawn) | The charter. Holt spots the ship’s masts entering the bay; he, Adrien and Ashby reach the gangplank ahead of an Ottoman column. Manoug Aratoon takes one hundred pounds for eight passages to Calcutta, passengers in the ship’s cabin, cargo untouched. A Board of Control man aboard discourages the soldiers | Shah Alam | The Sterile Bay |
| Late September – early October 1814 | The passage. Eight people in one cabin with curtained berths. Georgiana Wentworth studies toward Contact Ghoul; Ashby speaks Bengali with the lascars and no investigator can follow it; Freddy keeps the sixteen-year-old Jumman in drink; Sona Mia polishes the Silver Navy Buckle and lies about it differently each time; Faraj sings in the galley and Emma’s music mania does not fire. Thomas Wyndham disarms Holt in a friendly deck duel — the loser buys drinks ashore and owes the ladies an apology | Shah Alam | The Sterile Bay |
| Early October 1814 | The sterile bay. The ship anchors to water at Socotra. No bird call anywhere on the shore. Jumman is taken from the shade of the cave mouth — a puddle, a barrel’s impression, no footprints — then Freddy, leaving an unlit torch. Georgiana sees an islander child in the grass and withdraws without approaching. Holt falls fifteen feet from a snapped vine and is patched up | Socotra | Socotra Cave Rescue |
| Early October 1814 | The caves. Two search parties meet underground; the crew burn the webbing; Adrien pushes the torchlight forward, reveals the breeders over the egg wall, and takes a bout of madness — walking toward them until Georgiana brings him back. Emma Wentworth climbs a human pyramid and cuts Jumman free into Thomas’s arms; Holt reaches Freddy, is bitten through the chest, and brings him down in the collapse with the drone crushed between them. Both recovered alive. The Socotran Cave Spiders stop at the shadow line. The ship finishes watering and sails for Bengal | Socotra Limestone Caves | Socotra Cave Rescue |
Session 8 — Landfall (the Hooghly, Chandpal Ghat, and the first three days in Calcutta)
| Date | What happens | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 October 1814 (morning) | The Shah Alam comes up the The Hooghly River after five weeks at sea since Trieste, the last of them in monsoon rain below decks. A Company pilot boards without invitation and works the shifting James and Mary sands, past the standing masts of wrecks | The Hooghly River | Landfall |
| 8 October 1814 (mid-morning) | Landfall. The party comes ashore in a downpour and a clerk enters their names in the Company register. Nathaniel Holt gives a brief theatrical farewell and walks into the city, leaving the apology owed to the Emma Wentworth sisters, the drinks owed to Thomas Wyndham and the debt to Georgiana Wentworth all unpaid. Havildar Pratap Singh presents himself with the compliments of the Magistrate, Charles Ashworth, and is accepted as escort without challenge | Chandpal Ghat | Landfall at Chandpal Ghat |
| 8 October 1814 | Elizabeth Ashby names Blacktown as her family’s home. Pratap Singh reads her parentage instantly and says nothing; no European present notices. Adrien de Montferrand establishes that Chandernagore lies twenty miles upriver under British occupation. The party chooses the Cavendish estate over Company quarters | The Strand | Landfall at Chandpal Ghat |
| 8 October 1814 (evening) | The Cavendish estate. Hugh Cavendish receives his cousin after eleven years and presents Meg (Margaret Cavendish), five months pregnant, and little Freddy (Frederick Cavendish the Younger), who is sick on Freddy Cavendish’s suit. Over Mulligatawny, Hugh lays out the squeeze: Hawthorne Surlish owns the godowns on The Strand, the contract worsens at every renewal, consignments are held until they miss auction. The discrepancy in the tallies goes unmentioned. A messenger delivers Ashworth’s invitation (Ashworth Dinner Invitation) to dine. Meg gives Freddy Lord Percival Harcourt’s letter to Edward Renwick. Freddy tasks Pratap Singh with finding Renwick and investigating Surlish | Cavendish Compound | Landfall |
| 8–9 October 1814 (night) | Georgiana Wentworth derives the ritual date alone, overnight, cross-referencing the Revelations of Glaaki against the Calcutta Gazette Office and celestial alignment: 25 October, Kali Puja Ritual Date, the new moon. The party has a clock for the first time in the chapter. In the same night she notices webbing between her fingers and the mark advanced past mid-forearm, and tells nobody | Cavendish Compound | Kali Puja Date Identified |
| 9 October 1814 (morning) | Sunday service. Reverend Arthur Jessop reads the newcomers from the chancel: the Wentworth sisters, Frederick Cavendish (Freddy Cavendish), Katherine Ward and the Vicomte Adrien de Montferrand, a Frenchman. Every cover goes onto the public record. Meg (Margaret Cavendish) walks the party through the pew hierarchy. Sophia Surlish waves at Meg and is silenced by her husband’s look, witnessed by the whole party. A Bishop of Calcutta is reported to be coming out from Parliament | St Johns Church Calcutta | St Johns Presentation |
| 9 October 1814 (late morning) | The churchyard hour. Calcutta catalogues the newcomers in a single hour: Charles Ashworth greets each by name, Harriet Courtney prices their standing, Anne Pelham interrogates them about London and Paris, Alastair Glennie is struck dumb by Emma Wentworth, and George Drury invites them to dine. Freddy Cavendish forces a handshake out of Hawthorne Surlish, who sneers, boasts of the Charter Act, and tells him to start his audit with his own cousin before frog-marching Sophia Surlish away. Outside, Ratan solicits Havildar Pratap Singh for a Company post, is refused, is swung at and missed, and is then paid to move the Pelham palanquin | St Johns Church Calcutta | St Johns Churchyard Hour |
| 9 October 1814 (afternoon) | Elizabeth Ashby asks for company when she visits her family in Sutanuti; no day is set. Margaret Cavendish gives Katherine Ward the city’s real power map: Ashworth the cleverest man, Anne Pelham the cleverest person, handing down half the city’s verdicts from her own table. Hugh Cavendish asks Freddy Cavendish privately what he is actually doing in India | Cavendish Compound | The Magistrate’s Table |
| 9 October 1814 (afternoon) | Havildar Pratap Singh finds Renwick. Walking Fort William on his rank through troops staging for the Nepal campaign, he reads the Engineers Park records: Major Edward Renwick is eight miles north at Baranagar on a Hooghly embankment project, unposted to the Gurkha fight and certain to be reassigned once the works finish. The party registers that Renwick’s post and Mandir Mahakali are the same village | Fort William | Renwick Located at Baranagar |
| 9 October 1814 (evening) | The Magistrate’s dinner. Percy Cartwright arrives drunk and announces Hawthorne Surlish sent him instead, silencing the room. Emma Wentworth saves Georgiana Wentworth by declaring her gloves a new fashion. Freddy Cavendish plants the idea that Cartwright could run his own godown. Bakar Ali briefs Pratap Singh on every household at the table; Ratan is caught palming silver spoons. Charles Ashworth names Acharya Devendra Ghosh a personal friend and one of the finest men he knows, and invites Adrien de Montferrand to lodge with him at Baranagar. Play stopped before the final course | Garden Reach | Ashworth Dinner Garden Reach |
| 9 October 1814 (evening, the third course) | The dinner finishes. Charles Ashworth extends the tiger hunt for Saturday and it is accepted; names Kali Puja as the district’s largest night and his least favourite; tells the party how he met Acharya Devendra Ghosh in the survey of 1793; formally asks Adrien de Montferrand to survey Chandernagore and undertakes to arrange a Fort William mess dinner over Edward Renwick’s posting. Marcus Hale volunteers the temple’s night lights and chanting. At the fires Havildar Pratap Singh has Ratan beaten and sent back. In the drawing room the ladies lay out the season and the festivals; Katherine Ward overhears the Pelham ayah asking after her past. At the carriages the servants brawl and Georgiana Wentworth announces the unconscious Percy Cartwright to the company | Garden Reach | Ratan and the Spoons |
| 9 October 1814 (late night) | The compound council. Adrien de Montferrand will go to Chandernagore for the Magistrate; the party will travel with him to Baranagar on Thursday and lodge overnight. Elizabeth Ashby offers to go as guide and translator. Freddy Cavendish asks Pratap Singh for a security detail within three days and tells Hugh Cavendish to think about moving his family out before the 25th | Cavendish Compound | Compound Council 9 October |
| 10 October 1814 (breakfast) | The Monday tray. The Wentworth Letter From Salisbury reaches Georgiana Wentworth; the Government House Ball Invitation and the Tiger Hunt Arrangements arrive with it | Cavendish Compound | The Third Course |
| 10 October 1814 (morning) | The Maidan. Pratap Singh’s steeplechase ends with Adrien de Montferrand and Thomas Wyndham in the fences and Freddy Cavendish dragged over the line by a stirrup. Sophia Surlish rides up alone, joins the tilting and rings two hoops in one pass; Thomas wins the Cave a Liqueur after three rounds and opens it for the field; Sophia lingers with Freddy | The Maidan | Maidan Steeplechase and Tilts |
| 10 October 1814 (morning) | Clive Street. Emma Wentworth and Georgiana Wentworth, alone, make Crispin Pargeter admit the family capital sits in a Strand godown syndicate run by Baijnath Mullick, and make him agree to write to their father. Georgiana sees the other thin pigeonholes, all English names | Pargeter and Co | Pargeter Interview Clive Street |
| 10 October 1814 (midday) | The Gazette back files. Katherine Ward, then the sisters, find the missing-lascar notices, the Zorab inquest returns and sale catalogue, the letters debating Ram Mohan Roy’s observations, the notice for The Ghat Mothers, and the gap where Roy’s own articles were cut out. A clerk places Roy at Maniktala (Roy Garden House) | Calcutta Gazette Office | Gazette Back Files Search |
Session 11 — Red Tape and River Dolphins (10–11 October)
| Date | What happens | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 October 1814 (midday) | Lunch at the compound. The party compares notes on the morning’s tournament and the Wentworth syndicate discovery. Freddy Cavendish recounts Sophia Surlish’s fan gesture at the tournament’s end; Georgiana Wentworth reads it as a warning that they are watched, with a signal to wait. The party splits for the afternoon | Cavendish Compound | By Command of His Excellency |
| 10 October 1814 (afternoon) | The Bara Bazaar. Emma Wentworth and Georgiana Wentworth, with Meg (Margaret Cavendish) and Thomas Wyndham, find the tourist stock at Basak & Nephew’s (Basak and Nephews Curiosities and Arms) fake and buy real bagh nakh and katars from Sheikh Karim Bakhsh on Iron Lane. In Fish Lane, Georgiana Wentworth extends her silver-webbed hand to a crowd of begging children, who back away calling out blessings rather than recoiling | Barabazar | By Command of His Excellency |
| 10 October 1814 (afternoon) | The Sutanuti homecoming, finally played. Adrien de Montferrand and Havildar Pratap Singh escort Elizabeth Ashby into Sutanuti; her mother (Sarala Dasi) relents into hospitality after Elizabeth’s confession in Hindi; Malati and Nikhil Dasi arrive after and are unmoved. Pratap leaves money for the family, unattributed. The boats are not asked for | Sutanuti | Sutanuti Homecoming |
| 10 October 1814 (afternoon) | The wild goose chase. Household servants send Katherine Ward hunting for nonexistent secret passages and mock her standing; she overhears them discussing Lady Anne Pelham’s household asking after her past. A drunk Freddy Cavendish stages a public display of deference to her that repairs it by evening | Cavendish Compound | By Command of His Excellency |
| 10 October 1814 (evening) | The rainy gathering. Hugh Cavendish hosts Captain George Drury and Fanny Drury, Alastair Glennie, Lieutenant William Maitland and Clara Maitland, and Diana Lockhart. Baijnath Mullick arrives by zebra carriage; Hugh reveals to the Wentworth sisters, in front of him, that he runs the GoDown Syndicate’s opium warehouses and that Hawthorne Surlish is a partner. The sisters secure a Thursday warehouse tour and a Nautch invitation. After the guests leave, the party overhears Meg (Margaret Cavendish) and Hugh arguing over being sent to the countryside | Cavendish Compound | By Command of His Excellency |
| 11 October 1814 (morning) | The Tuesday tray. Pargeter’s letter (Pargeter Letter to Sir Nathaniel) reaches the sisters and Ashworth’s chit (Ashworth Chandernagore Chit) (with his letter to Ghosh (Ashworth Letter to Ghosh) folded inside) reaches Adrien de Montferrand. Harriet’s note (Harriet Note to Meg) reaches Meg (Margaret Cavendish), who shares both its Wentworth gossip and its inquiry about Katherine Ward’s past with Emma Wentworth and Georgiana Wentworth — further than the note’s own design anticipated | Cavendish Compound | By Command of His Excellency |
| 11 October 1814 (afternoon) | Harriet Courtney’s sitting room. Emma Wentworth and Georgiana Wentworth learn of Harry Ord, vanished nine years ago asking after his family’s agent, and are pointed toward the Chandpal Ghat registers for the other names | Courtney Residence | By Command of His Excellency |
| 11 October 1814 (afternoon) | The Hooghly picnic. Adrien de Montferrand and Elizabeth Ashby ride out, exchange a sketchbook for a family history, and watch an adjutant stork and a blind river dolphin before riding back to dress for the ball | The Hooghly River | By Command of His Excellency |
| 11 October 1814 (afternoon) | The audit. Freddy Cavendish, using his Board of Control authority with Edmund Courtney’s cooperation, finds a 1791 temple subscription in the syndicate’s charitable ledger and traces the same predatory pattern across five absentee-family accounts, every one proposed by the registrar Ramkanta Sett | Writers Building | Absentee Account Pattern, Temple Subscription Ledger |
| 11 October 1814 | Recruiting the irregulars. Havildar Pratap Singh recruits Bennie Hanna to assemble sixteen to eighteen local youths, armed with clubs and farming implements, to guard the Cavendish Compound for the coming fortnight | Cavendish Compound | By Command of His Excellency |
Session 12 — The Governor’s Ball (11–12 October)
| Date | What happens | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 October 1814 (evening) | The Governor’s ball. The party arrives in the latest Viennese fashions; Emma Wentworth sets a fashion wearing tiger claws in her hair. Thomas Wyndham claims Emma’s first and last dances, dismissing Alastair Glennie. Freddy Cavendish forces a second cold handshake from Hawthorne Surlish, who frog-marches Sophia Surlish away | Government House | The Governor’s Ball |
| 11 October 1814 (~10:40 p.m.) | The carriage line. Two changed men in wet white cloth walk the carriage line, humming samapti; the horses panic; six bodyguards beat them without effect and both walk into the river | Government House | Carriage Line at Government House |
| 11 October 1814 (evening) | Major Renwick introduced. George Drury brings the party to Edward Renwick; the Harcourt Letter to Renwick wins his serious attention, and he agrees to breakfast at the compound the next morning | Government House | The Governor’s Ball |
| 11 October 1814 (evening) | Lady Moira’s request. Lady Moira asks Emma Wentworth to play the out-of-tune Broadwood Grand; the performance costs Emma’s standing | Government House | The Governor’s Ball |
| 11 October 1814 (evening) | Mullick’s promise, Cartwright’s flight. Baijnath Mullick agrees to keep Hawthorne Surlish away from Thursday’s godown tour; Percy Cartwright spots the party and vanishes into the crowd | Government House | The Governor’s Ball |
| 12 October 1814 (about 1 a.m.) | Surlish’s two carriages, and the failed bribe. Hawthorne Surlish sends Sophia Surlish home alone and takes a second carriage toward the river; Havildar Pratap Singh tries to bribe Ratan to follow and is caught by Anne Pelham, who threatens to report him | Government House | The Governor’s Ball |
| 12 October 1814 (after midnight) | The glove. On the ride home the party notices the dark silk glove that Sophia Surlish dropped and Freddy pocketed; the sisters and Katherine miss what a dropped glove means, and the note inside stays unfound | Cavendish Compound | The Governor’s Ball |
| 12 October 1814 (morning) | The breakfast revelation. Edward Renwick arrives; the Gazette’s Found Drowned notice and a sealed letter reach Freddy Cavendish; the party shows its scars and tells Hugh Cavendish and Margaret Cavendish the truth. Meg retires faint, Hugh panics, Renwick commits | Cavendish Compound | Breakfast Revelation 12 October |
| 12 October 1814 (afternoon) | The burial ground. Emma Wentworth, Georgiana Wentworth and Thomas Wyndham find disturbed graves and the doubled watch of Gopal Chowkidar and Kalu Chowkidar at the Circular Road Burial Ground | Circular Road Burial Ground | The Governor’s Ball |
| 12 October 1814 (afternoon) | Fort William sepoys. Havildar Pratap Singh persuades Hector Dunmore to detach Ram Adhin Tiwari and Ghulam Rasul to guard the compound, in exchange for a dinner invitation | Fort William | The Governor’s Ball |
| 12 October 1814 (afternoon) | Roy’s account. Katherine Ward, Elizabeth Ashby and Adrien de Montferrand hear Ram Mohan Roy name Hawthorne Surlish as the hand behind the suppression and describe the temple’s missing soldiers | Roy Garden House | Roy Garden House Consultation |
| 12 October 1814 (afternoon) | Ashworth’s letter. Charles Ashworth writes Freddy Cavendish a letter of introduction to Colonel Arthur Blackwood, with a postscript on Edward Renwick, not yet delivered | Garden Reach | Ashworth Letter to Blackwood |
Session 13 — Sundry Fittings (12 October)
| Date | What happens | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 October 1814 (six in the evening) | The Zorab sale. Havildar Pratap Singh drives the party to the sale through the storm. Josiah Venn hands over a lens from Lot 14’s tray; Adrien de Montferrand looks through it and sees two glowing winged forms in the loft. Gregor Zorab asks Adrien whether a man may give his life for a kinsman, and Mariam Zorab confides that a crown-shaped fitting is missing | Zorab and Sons Godown | Sundry Fittings |
| 12 October 1814 (evening) | The box speaks. Hovhannes Zorab uncovers Lot 14, Dr Venn seats a fitting, and the cylinder cries out in a dead man’s voice not to be sold. The buyers stampede. Katherine Ward loses herself and screams in Cockney at a childhood pickpocket. Gregor runs with the cylinder | Zorab and Sons Godown | Sundry Fittings |
| 12 October 1814 (evening) | The carriage on the Esplanade. A Mi Go tears through the carriage roof and seizes Dr Venn. Emma Wentworth wounds it with her tiger claws and Georgiana Wentworth breaks its fighting limb with a poker; it falls away into the rain, dead. Freddy Cavendish fires at it and misses. Two bloodless punctures are found behind each of Venn’s ears | The Esplanade | Sundry Fittings |
| 12 October 1814 (night) | Dr Venn’s bungalow. The party finds Gregor in the study with the needle crown in his skull and Movses Zorab speaking from the cylinder. The buzzing entrances all but Adrien, who wakes the others with wax. Emma knocks the cylinder from the desk and the crown tears out of Gregor, leaving him catatonic. Georgiana kills one Mi-Go with the poker; a second escapes through the window | Venns Bungalow | Sundry Fittings |
| 12 October 1814 (night) | The study looted and staged. The Mi-Go have the instrument case. The party takes Brain Cylinder Lot 14 and its fittings, 340 sicca rupees, six gold mohurs, Venns Daybook and the Pnakotic Manuscripts. They drug Dr Venn and scatter his own notes around him | Venns Bungalow | Sundry Fittings |
| 12 October 1814 (night) | Gregor brought home. The party finds Mariam bandaging Hovhannes beside the dissolving remains of a creature that attacked the godown in their absence. Katherine persuades the family that Dr Venn is to blame for Gregor’s state | Zorab and Sons Godown | Sundry Fittings |
| 12 October 1814 (late night) | Back at the compound. The party gives Pratap everything from Dr Venn’s cash box, 340 sicca rupees and six gold mohurs, for his loyalty and his silence. Georgiana sits down and does not get up for some time | Cavendish Compound | Sundry Fittings |
Session 14 — A Morning of Manners and Monstrosities (13 October)
| Date | What happens | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 October 1814 (dawn) | The wrecked carriage. Margaret Cavendish finds the coach smashed, with Mi-Go carapace and wing dissolving in the sun. Adrien de Montferrand tells her to calm down. Hugh Cavendish is taken aside for a dressing-down | Cavendish Compound | A Morning of Manners and Monstrosities |
| 13 October 1814 (breakfast) | The cylinder is dead. Emma Wentworth seats every fitting on Brain Cylinder Lot 14 at the table and nothing answers; Movses Zorab is dead. Havildar Pratap Singh has the coach repaired and the horses replaced, billed to the East India Company | Cavendish Compound | A Morning of Manners and Monstrosities |
| 13 October 1814 (morning) | Surlish’s floor. On Baijnath Mullick’s godown tour Georgiana Wentworth and Thomas Wyndham find opium chests stencilled for Baranagar, the stained cot and the drain where the hum is in the water. Four yellow-sashed men back away from Georgiana’s hand. She takes a sample of the residue | The Strand | A Morning of Manners and Monstrosities |
| 13 October 1814 (morning) | Fort William. Freddy Cavendish delivers Ashworth Letter to Blackwood. Colonel Arthur Blackwood keeps Edward Renwick off the Nepal draft and moves the mess dinner to Monday 17 October | Fort William | A Morning of Manners and Monstrosities |
| 13 October 1814 (eleven) | The Committee. Anne Pelham examines Katherine Ward’s cover; Margaret Cavendish lies for her. Privately, Lady Anne offers fifty pounds for Hawthorne Surlish’s copies of the petitions, and gives her Lady Anne Card | Courtney Residence | A Morning of Manners and Monstrosities |
| 13 October 1814 (Thursday) | Sophia’s note. Freddy Cavendish finds and reads Sophia Note in the Glove, from Sophia Surlish. He stays in Calcutta while the others go upriver | Calcutta | A Morning of Manners and Monstrosities |
| 13 October 1814 (afternoon) | The pale water. On the boat to Baranagar, Adrien, Elizabeth Ashby, the Wentworth sisters, Pratap and Thomas pass a pale sheet on the water in the last mile below the village, with head-sized globes rising from it. Pratap is briefly insane; one boatman begins to hum its note | The Hooghly River | A Morning of Manners and Monstrosities |
Session 15 — The River of Rites and Ruin (13 October)
| Date | What happens | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 October 1814 (afternoon) | Renwick’s works. Edward Renwick tours the upriver party round the earthworks and gives them tea; James Hatcherly complains that half the labour force has been replaced. a nervous young sepoy asks Havildar Pratap Singh for a private word | Renwick Embankment Works | The River of Rites and Ruin |
| 13 October 1814 (afternoon) | The nursery. Katherine Ward tells Margaret Cavendish of the cults and horrors; Meg will not leave her house. Freddy Cavendish urges a safe room | Cavendish Compound | The River of Rites and Ruin |
| 13 October 1814 (dusk) | Baranagar. The party walks the bazaar and buys shawls, then is received at Acharya Devendra Ghosh’s house with Ashworth Letter to Ghosh | Baranagar | The River of Rites and Ruin |
| 13 October 1814 (evening) | Samapti at Ghoshs Table — Ghosh reveals the cult and the night of Kali, and has Otto von Kaunitz unmade at dinner; Georgiana Wentworth bares her hand. The party flees to the Dak Bungalow | Ghosh House | The River of Rites and Ruin |
| 13 October 1814 (evening) | The Surlishes dine. Hawthorne Surlish insults the house; Sophia Surlish tells Freddy and Meg what her husband does on Tuesdays and accepts sanctuary | Cavendish Compound | The River of Rites and Ruin |
| 13 October 1814 (night) | Surlish House Burglary — Katherine takes Surlish’s pocket-book and the petitions from his study | Surlish House | The River of Rites and Ruin |
| 13 October 1814 (late) | The challenge. Surlish threatens Hugh Cavendish’s syndicate; when Sophia refuses him, he knocks Freddy’s blade aside and calls him out for dawn on The Maidan. Two thumps land on the roof | Cavendish Compound | The River of Rites and Ruin |
Canon Corrections
Corrections to earlier entries go here with a date stamp. Append only; do not edit the entries above.
- 2026-04-22: Chapter 0.5 (The Scandal Beneath the Stage) date corrected from “May 1814” to Tuesday evening, 14 December 1813. Chapter numbering reflects play order, not chronology.
- 2026-04-22: Chapter 1 Stonehenge entry corrected “Nathaniel Creed” to Nathaniel Rooke. The NPC entity file Nathaniel Rooke is AUTHORITATIVE; “Creed” was a name inconsistency from scenario prep.
- 2026-04-23: Chapter 2 “Lyon investigation” section fully reconstructed. The original entries (sourced from “Overall Timeline” prep document) mixed confirmed play events with scenario prep that never occurred. Replaced with confirmed events from Keeper interview (April 2026). Events removed as not played: audition trap, cult framing/false information to authorities, coded warning note, infiltration of cult rehearsal, trusted contact found dead, public assassination attempt, Duplessis compromised, eve of ritual, Fourvière Ritual (did not happen — Savarin killed before August 15). Events added: bandit inn, ciimba road ambush, Goupil’s masquerade, tunnel expeditions 1–2, travel-to-Vienna encounters (cannibal tavern, Swiss chalet, golem). Marina Garrick death circumstances confirmed: self-detonation with oil and gunpowder to destroy the Chakota during the Silkweavers’ Guild Assault, not at Fourvière.
- 2026-10-20: The Lyon ritual was set for 14 July 1814, not 15 August (15 August was the Vienna date). The assault on 12 July pre-empted it. Read the 2026-04-23 correction’s “before August 15” as “before 14 July”.
- 2026-10-20: Katherine reached Vienna from Kraków on the morning of 8 August, some 270 miles in about thirty-six hours. She rode post-horses, changing at every stage, at ruinous expense.