The Patient and the Prodigy

[Notes from Dr. Mason's files]

WILDE HOSPITAL 14 July

PATIENT: Miss Tanis di'Gaetano. Middle-aged. Herbalist (Occultist?) of family tradition. Patient asked to see me specifically. Brought to Wilde Hospital by airship from ruins located at [REDACTED].

INJURIES: Multiple fractures. Frostbite. Anomalous scars (see below). Patient was heavily sedated but I was able to gather some information about her attacker. She was collecting rare herbs known to grow among the ruins. Frostbite on hips (and it's a record heatwave in the Steamlands).

"The mushrooms I found were writhing...almost animate, angry, but gleaming metallic gold a bristling with spikes like cacti. The parade marshal thing in massive body armor slammed me onto my side right on top of one so it pierced my flesh and organs under the ribcage on my right side."
 
NOTE: Punctures on right side are fully healed! She should have died from a punctured lung! Taking samples of yellow residue on healed wounds to the Consulate for analysis. Obviously this fungus have regenerative properties. Could this be a non-addictive alternative to Mason Reanimation Formula?

"Then it put [it's] gauntlets on [my] hips and [unintelligible] roared hearty laughter. It was gloating and taunting when I woke up in vicious pain..."

Frostbite pattern does indeed suggest giant mechanical hands. The "body armor" is radiating cold? At least 12 feet tall...

parade marshal thing in massive body armor slammed me

NEW BABBAGE WULFENBACH CONSULATE 15 July

Spoke to Baron. While a Jaeger might indeed decorate body armor with cords and medals, no Jaegers in these Steamlands match that description. Who would decorate a robot like a Hussar or Jaeger? Need a description of the head...hat? Helmet? Jaegerspeak?

POSSIBLE SUSPECTS

ASH NO! Let's get that one out of the way...

Clara Tyngvassen? No. Decorated with cord, not pink ribbons.

Hotspur O'Toole? Nope. Wonderfully silly idea.

Dr. Obolensky I almost wish it was but he's still dead. Spoke to him by ouija board in March. More's the pity. Rogue creation escaped from his lab before it exploded? Unlikely. Would have seen it by now.

Iason Hassanov? Absolutely not, but could there be other wanderers from Hassanov Empire?

Doctor Steel Sadly no. He would have been singing. Still MIA.

Drosselmeyer Possibly? NO. Called Reanimators Guild. Still in custody.

Aliester Mason...
Possibly? Antiquated decorations are his style. But it doesn't sound like clockwork armor. I could see him donning a knight's armor to protect him from the sun. Interest in alchemy...looking for new ingredients for a bloodwyne recipe?

Marcus? Father? Both unaccounted for...

Wired inquiry to Union of Mad Scientists. Had to pay up on back dues. BLAST! There goes my absinthe budget!

 WILDE HOSPITAL 16 July Patient is improving. Further description of attacker:

"Huge metal mask with a permanent grin and moveable lower jaw. Helmet, yes, rather Trojan, with a huge dark red feather plume on top. (I did say parade marshal.) I didn't get the impression anything was inside but maybe a brain encased in steel."

He told her he was issuing a challenge to ME.

(PLEASE don't let this be family member!)
CYBORG. VAIN GIANT CYBORG. VAIN GIANT BATSH*T CRAZY BRAIN IN A JAR CYBORG. {--- been there. done that. Twice.

N.B.W.C. 17 July Telegraph facsimile from U.M.S.H.Q.

PATENT: Portable Liquid Nitrogen Cold Fusion Reactor for Powered Armor

OWNER: Hans von [REDACTED]
Patent does not include Brain in Jar.
Patent REJECTED due to heat differential issues. Leaking Nitrogen. Deadly to user.

Hans joins Guild of Evil Geniuses. No surprise there.

Registered Villain Name: COLD DEAD HANS (Seriously? SERIOUSLY?)

DISCOVERY: Tests confirm mushroom residue contains healing properties (see attached report).

LIKELY SCENARIO: Hans refuses to see flaws in own invention, fatally injured. Hoarding mushrooms to stay alive? Undead?

MYSKATONIC U.
NEW BABBAGE CAMPUS
SPECIAL LIBRARY
MYCOLOGY SECTION 18 July

RESEARCH: "Surgeon Spores" used by pre-Babbage civilization. Thought extinct. Side effects described as "severe" but no details.

N.B.W.C.18 July

"YAGI MASON" (???)
Young child (girl) found wandering Wulfenbach Island. Claims to be Ash's companion. Delusional? Prank? Ash's amorphous pet "Yoggy" is missing. Not unusual occurrence. Conducting tests...

RESULTS: UNICELLULAR!!! Pseudopods. Massive strength. Completely malleable. She is/was Yoggy.

She knows Mason history! BW's gift... FOUNDER WHAT HAVE YOU DONE THIS TIME?

Qli, Ash, Koen still missing.
Velvel: "the angel is not with me"
I refuse to summon the Founder. He's caused enough trouble!
Is there anyone else available? 

Halting construction of Quantum Synchronizer I was building to rescue my children. I'll take it with me.

Yagi has wrecked my lab. Entirely by accident mind you. Luckily still under my annual repair budget. But still, can't keep her here. Can't risk another explosion. I have no choice but to take Yagi with me. She may prove an asset. She seems to have Ash's knowledge of firearms...