The Villains’ Competing Schemes

Drake, Narbondo, Pule, and Shiloh pursue overlapping prizes, turning separate ambitions into an escalating struggle.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Engine as a Prize

A Dispute over Invention Drake’s demand Kelso Drake tries to buy Keeble’s perpetual-motion plans, then threatens him when Keeble refuses. He treats invention as an asset to acquire and deploy, not as a responsibility. A second set of motives Narbondo’s interest in the same circle of people and objects reveals that Drake’s demand is part of a broader criminal design. The club begins to suspect that the villains’ plans overlap.

A Criminal Alliance Uncovered

Cooperation in the Shadows A meeting place Godall sees Drake and Narbondo connected to the Blood Pudding and to the animated dead. Their secrecy suggests a practical bargain rather than a shared ideology. The alliance’s purpose Drake may want workers who cannot resist, while Narbondo wants the Homunculus and its power. Their cooperation is unstable because each expects to benefit more than the other.

The Alliance Unravels

Rivals at the Breaking Point Trust gives way Pule tries to redirect the prizes toward himself, Shiloh bargains for the Homunculus, and Drake’s men pursue the boxes. Their dealings become a series of betrayals rather than a stable coalition. Public collapse At the Heath, the villains fight amid the crowd, and both Drake and Pule lose control of their plans. The boxes and the departing craft escape the structures of criminal ownership they tried to impose.

Early in the London plot

After Godall observes the Blood Pudding meeting

From the Wardour Street raid through the Heath climax