I was reading in the Syrtis Star that the Prince of Wales was to visit Syrtis Major when Cpt. Percy Hardinge of the 1st Pahuney rifles paid us a visit with a message that Lt. Governor Sir Anthony Algester had invited us to meet with him at the governor's residence. With the governor were his wife, Sir Robert Commings, personal private secretary to the Prince of wales, Count Vladamir Orloff, Russian ambassador to Syrtis Major and Sir Ernest Everingham, personal liaison to the foreign office.

We had breakfast with the Governor. He seemed nervous as did his wife. She eventually excused herself with a headache. He told us a tale of disturbing events in the last week. There had been 3 murders in the residence by three different members of staff. The perpetrators claimed to remember nothing and to have been possessed.

The murderers were:
Molly Clarke, a cook who stabbed Lucy Alsopp, another cook.
James Bowman, a guard who shot Michael Oldman, another guard.
Renton Keith, a butler who strangled Katherine Smith, a housemaid.
All the murders took place late at night.

We interrogated Molly. Her story was that she was in the kitchen with Lucy preparing a snack for the Count. She had had a headache for about an hour and suddenly felt a chill then a feeling of something cold going inside her. She described an alien presence in her mind, and hearing words she did not understand. She then described having an out of body experience, being blindfolded in a place that echoed with voices around her and being tied down to a cold metal table. She woke 10 minutes later to find she was being restrained by the guards and Lucy dead. The Rev. examined her and found her eyes to be dilated. She told him that Dr Percival Straight was prescribing her Laudanum and Opium.

We then interrogated James. He was scruffy and unkept. He said they were 'doing the usual' though he had been suffering from a headache all day. Suddenly he felt cold, turned round and saw a ghost fly at him. He described it as looking like a man but taller with skin between its arms, transparent and glowing blue. The description sounded much like a High Martian to me. He said the apparition flew into him and he felt something in his mind, words he did not understand, then he found himself strapped down on a cold metal table in a large chamber. He was there for a few minutes then woke to find he had shot Michael and was being restrained.

As the governor's wife had excused herself with a headache earlier and both Molly and James reported having headaches before the murders, Tarquin and the Rev. went to see her. She had been having migraines for over a week. The Rev said she looked healthy but her eyes were dilated. She claimed she could not sleep last Wednesday evening, worrying about the royal visit and went to check on preparations in the guest quarters. On the way she saw an apparition flying down the corridor which disappeared near the counts room. She described it as glowing blue with whispers of light, tall, long arms with flaps of skin. She also described feeling cold. She also revealed that a private Marcus Riley had also seen something and had been taken off duty.

We went to speak to the governor. When we arrived he was talking to the count so Tarquin and Maxfield sneaked off to search the counts room knowing he was not there. The rest of us waited patiently for their conversation to finish, and to give Tarquin and Maxfield more time. The governor was speaking Russian so we were unable to understand their conversation.

The following I have pieced together from what everyone experienced as things got somewhat strange. When they arrived at the Counts room, Maxfield tried unlocking the counts' door but the lock jammed. Tarquin then kicked the door open while Maxfield smashed a vase to disguise the noise. Maxfield searched the room, finding a gun, a torn scrap of a docking receipt from royal navy dockyards for a steam tug called 'Herculian' and a rolled up scroll in Martian addressed to the Count which was signed Hattabranks. Under the bed he found a small locked chest. Meanwhile Tarquin waited by the broken vase for the butler to arrive then distracted him by blaming the governesses dog for knocking the vase over.

Maxfield forced the chest open. Inside he found a glowing blue cube out of which something shot at him. He then described finding himself in a large chamber at the bottom of a shaft. There were some High Martians with him, and he was in the body of a High Martian. The High Martians were praying at an altar. Maxfield could understand some of what they were saying, that the Cult of the worm would be pleased. The Prince of wales was mentioned and could count Orloff be trusted to get the English to leave mars in exchange for technology.

Tarquin ran into the room when he heard Maxfield shout 'he had found It', but when he queried him, Maxfield said he was mistaken. Tarquin noted that Maxfield called him ‘friend’, something he never does, and that he seemed to favour his left hand. Tarquin tried to take Maxfields pistol, they struggled and Tarquin got shot. Maxfield fired another shot at him then fled. Tarquin chased and pinned him just before he was able to throw himself over a balcony. Maxfield shuddered and a blue cloud emerged out of him and shot away.

We were running to investigate the shots and saw the blue cloud fly at us. It tried to enter me but I shrugged it off. It then went into Jean-Luc who drew his pistol. I quickly shot it out of his hand assuming it was about to be turned on us. Rev. Jones started performing an exorcism on Jean-Luc and the blue glow shot suddenly back out of Jean-Luc and flew into the counts room, disappearing under the bed. We investigated and recovered the box it had originally come out of.

The Count fled the mansion And we pursued. We caught up with the counts carriage and a gunfight ensued. The driver of the counts carriage was killed and it went out of control and crashed. We detained the count and took him to the governor. The Count claimed diplomatic immunity and the governor reluctantly expelled him back to Earth and Russia. The three individuals accused of murder were released, and we were given invitations to the garden party being held for the Princes visit.

The garden party was a disappointing affair. Everyone seemed more focused on brown nosing to the Prince, who took umbridge at every perceived slight, which in turn seemed to infuriate the governor. Maxfield was the only person who seemed able to fit in with the toffs.