The Quandry Chronicles, Session Zero: Tatsu
Image by Kassi Q
The Quandry Chronicles Book One: The Lost Scarab of the Aethernauts! is an illustrated pulp adventure inspired by the tabletop gaming system Space: 1889 and shot in Second Life. Narrated in sessions like a tabletop campaign, QC will post weekly on Fridays, unless I get a bit ahead of myself 🙂
"Tatsu-san, you have quite outdone yourself.” The Japanese cultural attaché, a small, slender man resplendent in morning coat and top hat, gazed at the traditional Japanese teahouse, re-created in a park in London, in admiration. “I see why you have His Imperial Majesty’s favor! We will show the British how ignorant they are of the way of tea!
“And of course –“ he handed her a leather envelope, so full it could barely close. “Your compensation from the Foreign Ministry – and our gratitude.” He bowed and wandered off to explore the subtle paths of the traditional garden.
Tatsu, never one to trust, counted the substantial pay packet. Forging a letter of introduction from the Ministry of Culture had paid off! Never mind the cash: carefully concealed listening nooks would provide a fortune in information from eavesdropping on all the world’s diplomats and Britain’s elite as they toured the pavilions of the World’s Fair.
She sat on a stone bench concealed in the garden and tried to roll up the wad of cash tight enough to fit into her handbag, but it caught on – oh yes, the morning’s post, unopened. She removed the letter and slit it open with a fearsomely sharp dagger concealed in her kimono sleeve.
Of course, an invitation to the exhibition of photographs from the ancient city recently uncovered in Egypt, opening tomorrow at the Crystal Palace. As the Director of Acquisitions for the Imperial Museum in Kyoto, the invitation was expected – but there was a covering note, in English, in a bold but elegant handwriting:
“My dear Lady Tatsu:
“While I am still smarting from the British Museum’s loss to you of the funerary statues of Hatshepsut, I commend your skills in identifying them and your wiles in snatching them from my man in Cairo.
“The Americans have a crude but useful saying: ‘If you can’t beat them, join them.’ During the reception, if you could steal away to the Aeronautical Pavilion in the North Gallery, I would like to propose a mutually beneficial endeavour.
“Yours,
E. A. Wallis Budge
Egyptian Acquisitions
The British Museum”
Budge! Her longtime rival! He pulled strings from his office deep in the British Museum, and soldiers, spies, and adventurers moved to his will, in the name of stripping Egypt of its finest treasures. She preferred to work closer to the action, and had whisked more than a few treasures out from under him, but he won most: the British were more feared and respected in Egypt than the distant Emperor of Japan. If he wanted to work *with* her…
She began to plan.
