18/09/2022 – The Cult Closes In (18)

Sunday, 17 February 1935

New Moon

They spend this day mostly resting and recovering.

Cassandra works out that the last sacrifice at Misr House happened at the new moon. There is another coming soon and she suggests it will be necessary to act by then to stop another person being killed.

Monday, 18 February 1935

Private Detectives

They discuss what assignments to give to their private detective and whether to change things. Zalkador re-arranges for two detectives to watch Empire Spice. One will watch the place, the other follow the woman wherever she goes and see if she meets with Gavigan. The third one will continue to watch the Penhew Foundation and try to find Gavigan.

Jeziah goes out to get local London newspapers for reports of kidnapping and cult activity. Joe Quimby returns to his own house in order to pack and move to Liverpool to live with his brother. Alex helps him pack.

They do not have much more to do that day, so the day passes uneventfully.

Tuesday, 19 February 1935

Astor Manor is being Watched

The next day, the private detective agency calls with an update. They have the name of the proprietor of Empire Spice, Zahra Shafik. She left Empire Spice yesterday with two other Egyptian males, visited the Penhew Foundation for a short time then went to Astor Manor. She stayed observing the place for an hour or so and then left one to watch the Manor.

This spooks everyone and they have a crisis discussion. Cassandra begins to fear that one of her staff may be working for the cult. She asks Jeziah if they have employed anyone at the estate recently, but he confirms they have not. The three staff at Astor Manor are Bertie, the grounds keeper, who lives on site, Mavis, the cook, who comes in at meal times, and Rose, the maid who cleans and tidies on a regular routine 9am to 6pm.

Jeziah goes out with the grounds keeper to do a sweep of the grounds and the Manor, but there is no suspicious activity or items that they can find.

Lack of Caution

They consider how the cult has found them. Cassandra speculates that Zalkador has taken a number of important items from Misr House, may be Gavigan has traced them through magic. Also, when they visited Penhew Foundation she gave her real name and signed the visitor’s book. May be they worked it out from that. They resolve to be careful about that in the future.

Zalkador attempts to do a tarot reading to determine if any of the cult are in contact with staff at the Manor, but the response is inconclusive.

Suspecting the Cook

Cassandra becomes concerned that food at the Manor may have been poisoned and proposes not to eat the meal prepared by the cook. They discuss how to hide the fact that they are onto the cult and test if the cook is working for the cult.

When Mavis arrives, Jeziah asks her to wait around after dinner. They use a cleaning bucket to thrown the food away after Jeziah brings it up from the kitchen. He also spends more time with the cook, questioning her about her family. There does not seem to be anything suspicious about her behaviour or her answers. In the end the meal is uneventful and Mavis leaves.

They all take weapons to bed that evening and agree to shoot anyone who enters their room, so don’t go into each other’s rooms. As they are retiring to bed through, they cannot help notice that the wind has picked up. Jeziah points out that heralded the appearance of the monster that attacked them at Misr House.

End of Episode Eighteen