Down these labyrinthine streets...

[Cearlan]

I run over to where Long John staggers and oh so nearly falls, making a move to catch him as I do. "Easy there old chap! Let's get you and your parrott sorted before you fall."

[Taavi]

The door of the hanson cab opens.

Long John Sees,the dead Field Marshal beckon him towards the open door with a skeletal hand. He has a sudden conviction that to step into the cab is to die. Maybe even to have been dead since Ypres.

Luke Sees,Seated within the cab is a skeleton, dressed in the heavy winter furs of a Russian Cossack cavalryman. Its grinning face and outstretched bone hand are turned to Long John. [i]2 point stability test, difficulty 5, for Luke.[/i]

[Tabs]

"Oh, well held, sir," says Long John to Luke--an expression from his pre-war village cricket days. He steps back from the cab, clutching onto Luke.

"No! No!" squawks Marmaduke.

[Cearlan]

The Cossack's hand reaching out to John instills a fear deep in my guts. My mind wanders back to my previous encounters with the traitorous swine during the North Russian Intervention. "Noo no no no!" I call out, my voice hoarse with disbelief and fear.

Luke's Stability Test - with 2 point spend - difficulty 5 (1d6+2=7) But my iron resolve manages to overcome the paralysis I initially feel as I drag my companion away. The bird protests but I persist muttering. "Damned Russian spies even infiltrate our grand capital city ... What am I saying? it's a bloody Skeleton ... such things cannot exist" 'I have to get John away from it's clutches' I think to myself - whatever 'it' may be.

[Taavi]

Luke pulls John hurriedly away from the Hansom cab.

As the two glance fearfully over their shoulders, they see a conservatively dressed businessman, clutching his Times and umbrella and checking a fob-watch, blindly rush up the station stairs and climb into the cab. The door snaps shut like a mousetrap and the cab pulls away from the kerb. After a few seconds the door shakes a bit and a muffled thumping is heard above the traffic, as if someone was pounding on the door, before the cab is lost in the London traffic.

[Tabs]

Long John raises a finger to shout, "Don't get inside the cab!" but it's too late, the cab is gone, and, no doubt, so is the businessman.

"What now?" Long John asks Luke.

[Cearlan]

"How ... how in the name of all that's sane would I know John?" I all but shout at the poor man by my side. I pause as I hang my head and breathe deeply. "I'm sorry John, all I can suggest is that we continue to follow the infernal map till we get to our destination. The quicker we get this over with the more I will like it - that's for sure. I'm just sorry to have dragged you and Marmaduke on this terrible terrible journey." I grip the beggar by the shoulder and squeeze it in a friendly manner.