July 18XX

After overseeing the erection of the new Footman Pumphouse in Bump, I returned breifly to Babbage to find, thanks to botched paperwork, my factory dismanteled and reclaimed.  I unfortunatly had to stay in a hotel before leaving again for Ichor Falls .  I had heard rumors of an artifact dating from even before the old empire, something that could make up for the loss of Project 17 when the land reclamation department dumped it in the canal (remind me if I ever see the Badger again, to fire him).  I could use time away from the city anyway, as it seemed to be undergoing some heatwave, everyone staying indoors mostly, and making it much more difficult to stave off rot, plus the occasional person wandering by muttering about raptors was annoying.  Of course anyway to recoup my losses as well, I still have to track down the automotons that apparantly escaped the factory and gone feral, test to make sure the 500 gallons of serum dumped into the canals have no adverse effects, and that sort of thing, but it can wait, for now, Ichor Falls awaited.

I went via airship, as the town has no real railway access, something about the Circle Woods around it making it difficult or something.   It was obviously a short journey by air, made longer by the fact that their dovking tower is a ramshackle affair better suited to Bump.  The captian couldn’t seem to work out how to safely dock, and the local ground crew’s dialect made it difficult to understan was on the ground, my pengi bearers hauling the crates of equipment I needed to the hotel I had made arrangements at.  It’s a small affair, about a quarter of the size of Brunel, but more importantly, it had a lock on the door, proper ventilation, and a fully stocked bar in the lobby.  Unfortunatly it was a different place where I was to meet my contact, a cafe down the street. I had a few hours, so went for a walk around the town.  It was getting dark, and I had seen few people out and about,  the howling of wolves from the woods possibly the reason, as the town had no walls.  I saw one of the nightwatchmen staning on the corner, filling his pipe and went to ask wether they had problems with the local canids, possibly I could offer the town some of my hunter clanks.  The man just gave me a strange look “There an’t no wolves in the Circle Woods.”