Documenting one family’s path to steampunk – projects, rants and stories galore.
By Madame vonHedwig on Saturday, March 13th, 2010
In which Madame is fueled by desperation. And coffee.
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Madame von Hedwig scanned the street behind the administrative headquarters of the Armée Aeronautique. The grand façade opened to an expansive court surrounded by other imposing colonial government buildings. They had entered through the front, so she knew there would be no one of use to her there. The back door proved more fruitful.
By Madame vonHedwig on Saturday, February 27th, 2010
In which our distraught parents race for help, and Madame and Chef reach an understanding.
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Only the Schöneluft had the fuel stores and engine power for a run from the Himalyas across southeast Asia to the French capital of Vietnam. She could fly nearly 80 miles an hour under the right conditions, but those conditions had not been met in years. The more children they acquired, the more comforts the von Hedwigs had deemed desirable, and the slower the great airship had become.
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Flight to Saigon
By Madame vonHedwig on Saturday, February 20th, 2010
In which, although the circumstances are dark indeed, a beacon of hope shines from afar.
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Madame took off the moment her husband was on board. Although she was agitated, her flying was steady, and they soon arrived at the mouth of the tunnel that had swallowed their children. There was no place to land. They anchored, to a stalactite above them and a stalagmite below. Herr von Hedwig rappelled down to the site, bathed in the Schmetterling’s searchlight.
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The Search is On
By Madame vonHedwig on Friday, February 12th, 2010
In which the Fearless Fabricator and his intrepid wife find disturbing evidence.
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Herr and Madame vonHedwig made their way from the mad scientist’s underground lair, trudging toward the surface. They were tired, and mired in thought, but alert for any sign of Montesanto or yeti.
A distant throbbing broke the silence of the cave. Exchanging concerned and puzzled looks, they hurried toward the sound. Suddenly, bright white light flashed against the tunnel wall ahead of them as the throb became a roar. They ran pell mell toward the fading sound, skittering to a halt at the mouth of the volcanic tube they had discovered on their way in. The engine sound that had shattered the underground silence was only a muttering far below them.
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Breadcrumbs
By Madame vonHedwig on Sunday, February 7th, 2010
In which things go from bad to worse.
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“Stop!” Claire shrieked. “Stop fighting him! Lie down!”
“What?” Mirabelle yelled.
“He ignored me! Get down!”
Gerhardt and Bettina dropped like stones, and the twins followed. The yeti halted, looking around for its attackers. Behind it, Claire crawled across the tilting floor to Adolphus.
“We need engines,” she whispered, “to slow us down when we crash.”
“How about an anchor, to stop us falling?”
Claire nodded, and Adolphus turned to address the ship.
“Has anyone seen the anch-?”
By Madame vonHedwig on Friday, January 22nd, 2010
In which violence ensues.
The Man and the Beast by iAes
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While Adolphus steered them towards the cave, Claire confronted Annabelle in hissing whispers, pointing, horrified, at Mirabelle, who had her hands deep in the fur of the yeti’s neck.
“It’s going to EAT her!”
“It’ll be sorry if it does.” Annabelle would not take her eyes off the Yeti, even to argue. Her mouth was set in a grim line.
“We’ve got to stop her!”
“Don’t make any sudden moves! You’ll get her eaten for sure.”
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Fighting the Yeti
By Madame vonHedwig on Saturday, January 16th, 2010
In which Adolphus argues, Mirabelle takes a risk, and Bettina enters the fray.
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Bettina fretted. All her older siblings were actively engaged in fighting the mustache man, while she watched. Adolphus struggled to control the ship, Claire had built a trebuchet, and the twins and Gerhardt were trying to remove the mysterious moss from the neck of the yeti. The youngest vonHedwig cast about her for something, anything she could do to help. What could be of use that the other children had discarded?
In which we find out what they have in their pockets.
Yeti Compassion by iAes
The twins studied the contents of their pockets. They had, together, 2 observation books, 3 pencil stubs, some bits of string in a tangle, a stub of chalk, 2 etched brass decoder rings, 2 compasses, 4 springs, a small hammer, 6 cut nails, 2 handkerchiefs, a cricket cage (without cricket), 7 small spanners in varying sizes, a napkin full of cookies, an apple, 2 whistles, a screwdriver, 6 ounces or so of copper scraps, a small flask of the boiler chief’s special distilled engine cleaner, tweezers, and a tin box full of cheeses. They pawed through the pile without enthusiasm.
In which Bettina finds moss where no moss should be.
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The children clustered aft in the boiler launch, guarded by a yeti controlled by an evil Italian botanist. The boiler crew’s launch was larger than the Schmetterling, but far less organized. Equipment parts were strewn about, as were tools, mechanical parts, cushions, broken chairs, tin cans, forged iron puzzle toys, a Chinese checker board with its marbles everywhere, clumps of dust and hair, and food.
The yeti stood between them and the Count like a furry wall, but never looked at the children, staring straight ahead. While Montesanto looked out the fore windows to guide Adolphus’ flight, the children explored their prison.
By Madame vonHedwig on Friday, December 25th, 2009
In which the children encounter their mother’s enemy.
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Claire, Adolphus, Gerhardt, and the twins were watching through the launch windows as Ulrik and the Chief patched up the injured crewman. They saw Bettina walk around the ship to the door, and heard the door open. A rank animal smell assaulted them.
“Good Lord, Bettina,” Adolphus exclaimed, “did you roll in something?”
He turned to see his sister frantically biting the glove of a strange man, hooded in a furry parka. Behind him loomed what could only be a yeti.
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Kidnapped!
