Darwin, Australia:
11:14 AM:
David Dodge is looking after Cowles house and is willing to help us when we arrive in Sydney. Cowles not due back for a few months yet. Australia is a confederation and a dominion of the British Empire but not a colony. A lot of gold has been recently found.
How many days ahead of us is the package? Probably about two weeks. It is going to the Randolph Shipping Company, Darwin in Northern Territory. We get a pilot for the boat. He is suspicious of us but takes the money… We avoid bad weather.
There are some nightmares on our way south.
Wesley works out that some radiation is leaking. But he can’t work out what element it is. We set up precautionary avoidance and cleaning measures.
Telegrams between Dodge and the party of investigators arranges for a meeting in Port Headland where the McWhirr excavation was taking place.
Wednesday 6th May, 1925 we arrive in Darwin. Night-time.
Darwin is a town of just a few thousand but still the biggest around. Wide racial mix compared to the rest of Australia. Cosmopolitan!
We get some sea sickness on the way down. Inevitable. There’s a customs inspection but our weapons are hidden. We find a hotel. Randolph Shipping Company is located. This is very much a no-frills working port. No flash hotels but lots of pubs.
Gupta and Trixie guard the boat. Greg, Wes, Irma and Joe go to Randolph’s warehouse. Toddy Randolph was the name used by the harbour. master. Randolph’s is down at the run-down end of the port. Where the docks almost start to look more like beach…
At The Warehouse:
01:11 AM:
We hear nothing inside. All very quiet. Joe breaks in quietly. We head in. We search the warehouse. Nothing initially stands out. Lots of inconspicuous crates. The owner lives here but is not in right now. A crate with a London W1 label on it is spotted. It also says Penhew Foundation. There is a grotesque wooden idol inside. It is humanoid with flipper-like appendages. It is Cthulhu… Shipments to Mortimer Whycroft in Cumcudgeree. There is stuff being shipped out.
It is a clearing-house of occult treasures. Gavigan was selling a lot of stuff and keeping all the important stuff for himself. Most recent shipment was about a month ago. We work out that the shipment from Ho Fong hasn’t arrived yet.
Toddy is obviously a slob but not necessarily a cultist. The Cthulhu idol is chucked into the water. Cumcudgeree is about a day or two away from us.
The next day (7th May) we go to the pub. Wes, Trixie, Greg, Joe. Irma, Simon and Gupta stay on the ship. Greg and Wes get anti-venom treatments from the chemist. At the pub. There are a couple of “ladies” hanging around outside.
Lady Of The Night: “You the guys with the yacht? Gonna buy us a beer, mate?”
It is Bertram’s Outback Inn. And the guys asking us are Rod and Davey.
Rod: “You ask a lot of questions.”
Trix: “Just being friendly.”
Trix: “what do you do then?”
Davey: “Trying to stake a claim.”
Trix: “Gold diggers?”
Rod: “Well working on the docks. I’m from Bumwillarooda originally.”
Trix: “I’m Trixie La Belle and I want to take the first flight across Australia.”
Davey: “If you fly over you can see the abos city. Some old man called Budei lives in the sand and will eat the whole world according to the abos. Ha ha! Billy Buraglong told us. He used to work for Randolph.”
Toddy Randolph walks in and orders beer and whisky.
An “Abo” also comes in.
Toddy: “Hey Billy. I’ll have what he’s having.”
They sit at the bar and chat. Mundanely. Billy gives us some suspicious glares but continues to drink. Trixie goes over to Billy.
Toddy: “I had to fire Johnny, he was no good.”
Toddy: “No miss, don’t listen to them stupid stories. Where did you hear them?”
Billy: “I heard a lecture by a professor about abo culture. The only cities that are here came with the white man.”
Billy: “I’m Billy Buraglong. My tribes from the east of here. What you don’t understand is we’re walkabout. From everywhere and anywhere. It’s a Koori way of live.”
Trix: “Mr Randolph, what do you do?”
Mr Randolph: “Import/export. That your fancy yacht? You wanna know about fancy stories about the outback, go and talk to people who go out there.”
Trix: “Where’s your office we might need some things sent back.”
Mr Randolph: “Right over there. Billy will help you out. I’m sure we can come to an agreement.”
Stories we hear in the pub:
Greg – Gold bearing reefs run for thousands of miles. (Trying to impress his mates). They go east.
Wesley – Don’t go in the dessert there are snakes in the sand that will kill you. Deadly poisonous.
Greg – Big mining company over in the east about 25 guys were killed and the government covered it up? Derby Dave from Wales too. Some of them were yanks I reckon 3 of them. They dug a shaft 30’ down. He paid ‘em. Some of the abos in the dessert worship a bat god. Victims covered in hundreds of tiny bites. A white madman is leading them I heard! Or just a half breed, come on!
Toddy and Billy leave the pub. Billy talks to a couple of people on the way out.
The Nest Day:
09:22 AM:
The merchant ship arrives that we have been waiting for… It is being unloaded at Randolph’s warehouse. Toddy and Billy arrive with a handcart onto which a box is placed… Ho Fong is written on it and they take it into the warehouse. The box is placed onto a steamer on the 9th May. We notice that also written on the box is the addressee. We follow the steamer that the box is placed on.
“Is it my imagination or has that boat been following us?”
On Monday 11th May we arrive in Port Headland. A freight train runs from Headland down to Cumcudgeree. The box is taken to the station and left on the platform. Trixie undoes her top two buttons and tries to distract the guard while we requisition the box from the train.
Greg casts cloud memory on the guard… And succeeds! Tell him to forget that Greg was ever here and the box never existed.
Guard: “Sorry what was I saying?”
We get the box back on the boat: It is the Yithian communicator!!!
The train takes 8 hours to get to Cumcudgeree. We consider going there before Dodge turns up. We split into 2 groups. Gupta, Greg, Irma, Joe go on the train and the others stay behind with the Communicator.
The day is scorching the land is dry. Nothing moves. We arrive in Cumcudgeree where it is very quiet. Thousands of horses and mules, some trucks. We look around and find Mortimer Whycroft outfitters. We deliver the empty box. The dingy shop is packed with mining equipment and parts etc. Everything you need for mining. There is also a dynamite shack “Danger Keep Out!”
3 Kooris are outside.
Greg walks in. An abo goes in and stands behind the counter.
Gaidar: “Your best electric torch my good man.”
He points. Another abo walks in behind him. The other is a woman. A skinny gaunt and pale man walks out into the shop.
He looks at Irma.
Whycroft: “Just leave it over there.”
Irma: “You’ll have to sign for it. It’s from Penhew.”
Whycroft: “Should I know him? We don’t need to speak in private. Are you after a tip?”
Irma: “I’ve got a tip for you. Mind who you work for.”
Whycroft: “Boys, get these gentlemen to leave. Time for them to go.”
Irma: “You can either make a scene or talk to us.”
The aborigines tell us to go. No response. He looks distracted. Odd.
Irma: “What do you think is inside this box?”
The Kooris draw knives. We pull out guns. He runs. Irma runs after him and jumps over the counter knocking over a big jar of buttons. The Kooris who have the antler motif tattooed on them attack.
The female Koori throws a boomerang! And misses. One tries to stab Irma and misses.
Gupta vaults the counter, dodges a Koori and goes after Whycroft who is running upstairs ignoring a shotgun on his way. Irma punches the Koori with a crunching blow but doesn’t stop him. The Koori is foaming at the mouth, a fanatical lunatic. Greg knocks out one of them. Joe fails to vault the counter and the Koori woman tries to stab him with scissors.
Upstairs, Whycroft is trying to get out of the window.
Gupta: “Don’t try it Mister, I got you.”
Whycroft : “No no no NO NO!”
He persists in trying to get out of the window. Gupta hits him with the butt of his Tommy gun. He tries to dodge, fails and opens the window. He has some kind of box in his hands. Irma enters the room and we both grapple him. Gupta grapples him to the ground. Irma takes whatever he is holding. It’s a book.
“No no it’s important!”
“Wonderous Intelligences” by James Woodville.
