July’s adventure is set in Paris, France. At The Bastille. The place of execution for many of the Nobility in France at the time of the French Revolution when the peasants stormed the Bastille in 1789. Although the revolution itself lasted from 1789 to 1799.

King Louis and his Queen Marie Antoinette lived a frivilous life. Louis had no idea of how his people were struggling to survive and Marie Antioinette was more interested in dresses and jewellery to care about anything else.

Sadly the revolution didn’t reach all it’s goals and resulted in blood baths slaughtering the rich families of the Nobility, along with their King and Queen.

As the 18th century drew to a close, France’s costly involvement in the American Revolution and extravagant spending by King Louis XVI (1754-1793) and his predecessor had left the country on the brink of bankruptcy. Not only were the royal coffers depleted, but two decades of poor cereal harvests, drought, cattle disease and skyrocketing bread prices had kindled unrest among peasants and the urban poor. Many expressed their desperation and resentment toward a regime that imposed heavy taxes yet failed to provide relief by rioting, looting and striking.

Over 17,000 people were officially tried and executed during the Reign of Terror, and an unknown number of others died in prison or without trial.

On January 21, 1793, it sent King Louis XVI, condemned to death for high treason and crimes against the state, to the guillotine; his wife Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793) suffered the same fate nine months later.

Following the king’s execution, war with various European powers and intense divisions within the National Convention ushered the French Revolution into its most violent and turbulent phase. In June 1793, the Jacobins seized control of the National Convention from the more moderate Girondins and instituted a series of radical measures, including the establishment of a new calendar and the eradication of Christianity. They also unleashed the bloody Reign of Terror (“la Terreur”), a 10-month period in which suspected enemies of the revolution were guillotined by the thousands.

The victims would be kneel at the guillotine with their neck on the block as the blade dropped and sliced their necks, severing their heads from their bodies. The heads would drop into baskets placed infront of the block, and most times, on busy days with a lot of executions, the basket would have several heads in when the next poor victim knelt down.

Women would sit around the guillotines and watch the executions shouting and cheering as the heads rolled, and often sat knitting as they would infront of their fires at home. It was surreal and horrific.

Every year on 14th July France celebrates Bastille Day, this was the day the peasants stormed the Bastille in 1789 as it was a symbol of the monarchy’s dictatorial rule. There were just 7 prisoners at the time, but the storming of the Bastille was the flashpoint of the French Revolution.

The guillotines were dismantled and destroyed, but a few remain around the Bastille today but are inoperable. Until recently.

A dastardly villain has replaced the dummy and inoperative guillotines with real ones. So that when the tourists pose with their heads on the block, the blades will fall.

X-Pets your mission is to find these guillotines and make them safe by any method you can or to replace them with dummy ones.

As usual there will be a competition at the end of the mission. Please use the usual hashtag #XPComp to enter the competition.

Good luck Super Heroes! Be careful! Be funny but most of all be safe!

Mission Control over and out!