03/05/2026 – Mortimer Wycroft (2)
Thursday, 20 June 1935
Card Reading
In the morning over breakfast, they discuss whether to investigate Mortimer Wycroft or not. Monty thinks it best not to disturb him, so the cult remains ignorant of their presence here. Jeziah asks Cassandra, who suggests now the Great Zalkador is back, he should do another card reading.
Zalkadors’ reading tells him this person is an enemy and are dangerous. They have allies but also knowledge. He cannot get much more as there is no connection with him. Maybe someone should visit him and acquire a possession of his to help a further reading. Jeziah suggests Eddy goes and takes Tiger as back up.
They go down to the bar of the inn, finding Agatha already there having a drink. Eddy chats to one of the locals. Apparently gold has been found in the hills, which has caused a gold rush and the formation of this town. Eddy finds out that Mortimer Wycroft owns a hardware store on the edge of town.
Wycroft’s Wears
Eddy and Tiger head over in that direction and eventually find Wycroft’s Wears. It is a dilapidated wooden building with a shop taking up the lower floor and a dwelling above. There is an old truck beside it, which has white sand around its wheels and lower area, suggesting it goes out into the desert.
Inside the shop, most of the shop is a counter with shelves behind them full of different tools and equipment. One side of the shop has larger items like shovels, pick axes and other large items. Behind the counter is a curtained off area leading to the back of the shop. Eddy heads in and sees a young, but not very pretty, sour-faced girl behind the counter.
Sneaking Around
Eddy asks the girl about rope to distract her. Tiger sneaks past her into the back of the shop, finding a messy back room with some stock lying around. There is a desk with paperwork on it and another youngish woman asleep at the desk. There are also some stairs and Tiger elects to sneak quietly up there.
The stairs lead to a living area, combined living room, kitchen and bedroom. There is a man reading a book on the couch. Tiger draws his gun and asks him to look at his books. The man looks wild-eyed and demands he stop pointing the gun and him and get out. Tiger decides to hit him with the gun, but the skinny man leaps out of his way. He calls down to the girl below to get the shotgun.
Crazy Pursuit
Tiger tells him to sit down but the man says he has to hit him first. Clutching the book in his hand, the man makes a dash for the stairs. Tiger shoots at him, but misses. The man stumbles down the stairs and Tiger calls to Eddy to stop him from escaping.
Eddy hears the gunshots and decides to leave, heading for the door of the shop. The girl he was talking to heads to the back.
Tiger decides to climb out of the window and jump down to speed his chase of the man. He lands awkwardly and hurts his leg a little though, delaying his pursuit. The man exits the back of the shop and heads for the truck parked nearby. Eddy sees him too and decides to shoot out the front tires of the truck. The man swears at him to stop, then jumps into the back of the truck to take cover from gun fire.
Round 1 - Girl with a Shotgun
Tiger heads to the trunk from the back, but he sees the woman who was asleep at the desk emerging from the back of the shop, wielding a shotgun. He fires at her, but misses. She fires back with the shotgun, but her quick shot goes wide. The man shouts from the truck for her to “kill the bastard!”
Round 2 – Shot and Punched Out
Tiger fires at her again, hitting her this time. She screams from the serious wound, firing back but again wildly and missing. She backs towards the shop and starts to re-load. Tiger rushes at her as fast as he can, hitting her and knocking her out before she can fire again.
Round 3 - Girl with a Pickaxe
Eddy now moves to the back of the truck and shoots the man, grazing him. He jumps down to the other side, keeping the truck between them and throws his book, hitting Eddy in the face, then shouts demanding his book back. This distracts Eddy a little and the man leaps over the van to attack him, demanding his book back. Eddy grabs him and pins him to the truck, struggling to hold him down.
Tiger grabs the shotgun, but as he does the other girl from the shop runs screaming at him wielding a pickaxe. He shoots her at point back range, but the bullet goes straight through her without doing too much damage. She hits him with the pickaxe, wounding him in the arm.
Round 4 – Brawling and Punching
Eddy continues to grapple with the man, but that man bites him and wriggles out of his grasp. The man does not try to escape, instead grabbing for his book. Eddy hits him but it is not enough to knock him out.
Tiger then punches the pickaxe girl in the face, stunning her. He disarms her, grabs her by the hair, pointing his gun at her head and pulls her round to where the man is by the truck.
Round 5 – Knock Out
The man continues to grab for his book, which Eddy put in his coat pocket. As he does, Eddy is able to bash his head on the side of the trunk and knocks him out.
Tiger shouts to the man “is this yours” but by the time he does, the man is unconscious. He then pistol whips the girl to ensure she is out cold.
Tying Them Up
Tiger and Eddy take rope from the shop to tie up the man and both girls. Eddy points out that Robert McKenzie mentioned that Wycroft has three daughters, so they should keep an eye out of the third one. Tiger thinks they may be cultists, but resists the urge to kill them right away. They search their prisoners and find a number of keys on them.
They put them in the back of the truck, but Eddy points out that he shot out the tires, so this truck is going nowhere. Tiger suggests searching the place. Tiger heads upstairs, while Eddy searches the downstairs. Tiger finds a jar of odd-looking black grease paint and a biscuit tin with £30 Australian Pounds, which he takes. He looks through some paperwork upstairs, seeing paperwork for Randolph Shipping Company. He grabs lots of papers, puts them in the biscuit tin and takes them for the others to check.
Eddy does not find much downstairs. He decides instead to check the book the man threw at him, which is called Wonderous Intelligences. It seems to be in older English, but is still mostly readable. There are a lot of notes in the margin, especially a section that talks a lot about unusual sexual practices. Another part talks about finding something under the earth and the phrase “City of the Great Race.”
Third Daughter
Tiger says they now need to either kill these people or take them away. Eddy is a little shocked about this, but before he can say much, they spot a small, armed group, led by a third young girl, approaching. #They look like miners and are armed with guns and mining tools.
Tiger moves to shoot the tied up people, but his gun jams before he can kill any of them. Eddy objects strongly. The girl shouts “Bring my father out or we will kill you all!”
Drive Away
Eddy looks around and sees a second truck parked further back by a shack. Tiger has him go and bring the truck around, using the keys they got from the prisoners. He drags the prisoners off the first truck, loading onto the truck that Eddy is brings around. They then drive off quickly, under fire from the girl and miners, but they miss.
He finds the truck troublesome to drive, as the clutch slips. As he does, the man is awake now. He shouts curses and tries to escape his bonds or roll off the back of the truck. Eddy pulls up and Tiger goes around and punches him out again, breaking some of his teeth. Eddy drives out of town and pulls up.
They then drive out of town, parking up within sight of the town. Eddy wants to stay in the van, to look after the prisoners and stop Tiger from killing them, as the big man is clearly “two guppies short of an aquarium.” He persuades Tiger to walk back into town to tell the others where they are. Tiger takes the book and the paperwork from the shop with him.
Monty Follows Up
Back at the Inn, Alex, Monty and Jeziah are supervising the loading of their trucks with supplies. Zalkador, Agatha and Cassandra are at the bar. Jeziah comments that Eddy and Tiger are taking a long time to steal a small object. He asks Monty to go check on them.
Monty asks for Mortimer Wycroft and eventually finds where his place is. By the time he gets there, he sees the girl with the miners talking to a small crowd lead by someone she called the Mayor, demanding something is done. Her father and two sisters are gone. There were shots fired, she is very concerned about them. She describes one of them and the moustache description gives away to Monty that it is Tiger.
The Mayor points out that the attackers drove off in a van – there is not much he can do. They could be anywhere now. They have an argument about this. The Mayor says he can inform the authorities at Port Hedland or get the State Police, but that will take a number of days to arrange. The girl is not happy.
Tiger Explains
Monty leaves at that point, heading back to the inn, by which time he sees Tiger has arrived. He tells the others that Wycroft and his daughters were cultists. He gives them the book and paperwork. Jeziah asks about his injuries and Tiger explains there was a fight. He tells them there are a fire fight. He has them tied up in a truck outside of town.
Jeziah, Cassandra and the others are stunned by this. Tiger tells them they were cultists, as though that justifies everything he has done. He refers them to the book. Cassandra has a quick look, but she will need to take time to read through it. She is now concerned everyone in town is looking for him.
Monty tells them he does not think the authorities will act quickly, but they should speed up their departure. Tiger points out the prisoners are out there with Eddy and he needs to get back to them to make sure they do not escape. He then begins to worry about whether the prisoners really are cultists and goes quiet.
Speeding Up Departure
Jeziah goes to their guide, Barry Bainbridge and checks how quickly they can depart. He says not all of the water and food is loaded and it is not safe to go until they are fully stocked up. They will have to wait until morning. Monty agrees to take Tiger with the truck that has the petrol – which they have a full supply of - out to where Eddy and the prisoners are, then agrees with Barry to meet at a landmark outside of town in the morning.
Zalkador does a tarot reading to find out what to do next. He gets a card suggesting that behind everything here is the Emperor – which he now associates with the Dark God from beyond the stars. The man they have taken prisoner though knows how to get where they need to go, but the man is The Fool – mad or difficult to understand.