Present: Mo, Matt, Jackie, Mark, Helen, Mel, Graham, Chris, Tommy.
It is November 1923, a couple of months after the previous escapades in the Holy Land. Grayson and Wat are junior members of the Society for Observation of Arcane Phenomomen. They know Jerry Pearce, alderman of the Society. He summons them to his rooms in Magdalen, on a Thursday afternoon. As sound fellows, who have dedicated their lives to those things that make Britain great, they are introduced to the existing party members.
My dear friends, I've not congratulated you on the success of your mission in Palestine, if we can call it that.You avoided mass destruction, at the expense of merely wide-spread destruction. It's time to reintroduce you to the work of the society.
Jerry provides a handout from the previous evening's newspaper. A break-in at the Pitt Rivers museum has resulted in the theft of, amongst other things, one of the museum's famous shrunken heads. Charles Grandage, the night watchman, is now recovering at home. The crime has been placed under the aegis of Inspector Slack, and was commited on the Tuesday.
Thisthen is aware that Slack usually gets control of those cases that nobody is particularly concerned about. He returns to St. Aldates police station to find out what they know.
Everybody else heads to the museum to see what is (or isn't) there. It is dominated by a huge Canadian totem pole. There are curators wandering around. Rose heads straight to the area where the robbery occurred. She asks a curator what happened, and gets a list of the things that were taken. Interestingly, there was only one item removed from each of several cabinets (the cabinets are organised by "theme", not geographical source of the item). Specifically, she gets the name of the European explorer whose head was shrunken (and then stolen). Tim wants to find any other information about this man, just in case of any occult connections, so he returns to the Ashmolean, to investigate.
At St. Aldates, Thisthen talks to Inspector Slack. He starts by providing tea. "I couldn't help but notice that you were assigned to this interesting case at the Museum" "Interesting? Why would anybody be interested in dusty old relics like that." Grandage provided a statement, having suffered some kind of heart attack. Thisthen offers to visit Grandage (in Headington) to get a second, better statement. Jarvis provides transport, and takes Turgood and Zodef with him.
Grandage's wife sits them down in the parlour, and provides tea. After a while, Charles Grandage staggers down the stairs. Thisthen tries to pass Turgood and Zodef off as being medical professionals, and offers Grandage a free medical examination! He takes another statement:
about 11.30 pm, he heard the glass breaking, from the main University Museum door.
He saw a dark, shadowy figure. He challenged the figure, and the figure mumbled in response.
At this point, Grandage felt a sharp pain in his heart, and passed out, until the following morning.
Thisthen asks about Grandages war background, and determines that he used to be an ambulance worker. As such he'd seen some fairly nasty things, and wasn't particularly nervous.
The figure was tall, and fairly thin. He moved easily, so Grandage thinks he was probably young.
(At this point, they're beginning to think Grandage might have a touch of German accent).
There were no prior alerts in the museum from untoward activity.
"Archibald McPherson" was the nightwatchman in the University museum that night.
Zedof determines that Grandage is in reasonable medical health, and promises a full recovery. Rosehip Syrup is the remedy! Turgood suggests simply rest and tea.
After a mass supper at the Kings Arms, Thisthen returns to type up his notes. And then goes to visit the University Museum to talk to their night watchman.
O'Neary wants to find any documentation on Peruvian shrunken heads, or the explorer. At this point in the evening, the best option is to visit Professor Martin Sorensen, the university lecturer in Anthropology, who has been in the post for 6 years. Sorenson lives at St Johns, so he heads that way.
Rose goes to visit the Gypsies in Port Meadow. She bonds with them, but they seem wary and more resentful than usual. They've not had a good welcome in Oxford.
At the University Museum, Archibald McPherson is "on duty, but can spare Thisthen a few wee minutes". Thisthen gets thename of the day-watchmen, in the hope that he will know how the burglar got out of the building. Thisthen is unconvinced about McPherson's dedication to duty (he covers miles every night!) It's possible that a visitor could have hidden when the museum closed, but the day watchman should have noticed him. They go to look at the Pitt-Rivers door. Thisthen asks whether McPherson realised it had been broken. McPherson attempts to end the conversation. There are plenty of possible hiding places in the vicinity.
Thisthen visits the Ashmolean to check on the security there. He doesn't spot anything unusual, apart from the fact that then rain is pouring down. Inside, Le'Death, thinks everything is alright.
At midnight, there's a huge crash of thunder and lightning, and a tower in the middle of town catches fire. As Thisthen runs down Broad Street and realises that it's the clock tower of Jesus college. Meanwhile, back at the museum, it's suspiciously quiet...
The occupant of the student room directly below the clock tower doesn't appear at the rollcall. Thisthen struggles up the staircase, and finds the room below the clocktower is locked. Hargreaves steps past him, and picks the lock. Or, more accurately, breaks his pick off in the lock. They just break the door down instead. Inside is a "hideous and ghastly scene". In front of the fireplace is the body of a young man, his throat torn out, and blood everywhere.
There are two large black candles in front of the body, which are now unlit (although it looks as though they used to be alight). Hargreaves notes that the door was locked from the inside, so the killer probably departed via the slightly open window. The hole in his throat is larger that Hargreaves think is normal. His adams apple seems to have been removed.
At this point, Inspector Keen arrives, leading the a squad of more police. He notes that somebody has walked through the blood. Thisthen suggests it was probably the murderer (despite the fact that was himself). As they depart, Hargreaves notices the name on the bottom of the staircase is "Caradoc".
Rose goes to Headington, to ply her wares (Rosehip syrup). She doesn't get a warm welcome. At number 49, however, Mrs Grandage is overjoyed to see somebody selling syrup! She explains that Mr Thurgood is stirring up the neighbourhood watch against the Gypsies. Rose gets a recap of the robbery from Charles. He's worried about a possible return visit, to steal the rest of the shrunken heads. Rose suggests that the thief could have stolen all of them. As she leaves, somebody else shuts after her to "don't come back to parts."
Thisthen reports that most of stolen items were found in Caradoc's room, except for the Sickle, Buddhist Trumpte and the Nail Fetish. They also found two mead glasses, one with lipstick on...
O'Neary suggests that it might be a reoccurance of Sioban's activities. It certainly seems similar.
Tim finds the paper describing the recovery of the explorer's head. He'd set out in 1870.
Jarvis goes hunting for documenation on head-shrinking, and finds out that it's a sign of respect. Possibly hatred, or reverance.
Rose researches Femur trumpets. Boy, they're just weird! They get used as trumpets just because they're conveniently sized and shaped, not because there's any particular arcane usage.
Zovdef conducts a post-mortem on the body. His throat has been opened with two sharp horizontal cuts, and then his larynx removed. There's no sign that he tried to defend himself. Stomach contents includes mead and biscuits, but he wasn't incapable of defending himself (if he'd wished). There's a small transverse cut, a few days old, on his left forearm, a couple of inches away from the elbow. She thinks it was deliberate, to draw blood. He's tallish, and a bit thin, just like the burglar!
Upstairs, in the evidence room, Thisthen finds the mead glasses, with some dried mead still stuck to them. He also finds the recovered items, and some papers. Some of the papers are in Welsh, and more bloody, as though they were near the body. He catalogues the items, except for the papers...
Visting Sorenson, Hargreave and O'Neary arrive in the Pitt-Rivers museum office. Hargreaves presents himself as Perrins representative, and explains that his master in interested in becoming an Anthropologist. Sorenson says he should get an application in by Christmas. Hargreaves asks about the break-in, and Sorenson puts it down to "local lads". The sickle was druidic, for harvesting the sacred mistletoe. The nail fetish was a source of good luck (a nail is hammered in each time luck is required).
In Jesus college, Tim finds out that Caradoc was a popular chap, and a member of the University Welsh society. He had some sort of love interest at St. Hugh's, and has leftwing tendancy. He might be active amongst the embryoinc Labour party. (There is no University Labour society. Yet.)
His family come from Aberavon (in Port Talbot, South Wales).
Thurgood knows about spells which might cause a heart-attack like effect (knows about, but doesn't know the spells themselves). O'Neary does know somebody at the University Press who is capable of translating Welsh. Rose wants to get Thurgood to visit the gypsy camp. Thurgood tries to digress... Rose warns the gypsies that Thurgood is intending to bring a mob along, and they depart. At 8.30 the mob arrives to find Rose waiting for them with tea... Not much violence happens, other than some blazing pitchforks, and somebody trying to light Rose's caravan. It's put out again, after Rose prompts appropriately.
At O'Neary's suggestion, Zedof turns up at Hugh's to try and find Caradoc's girlfriend. Unfortunately, she's not really figured out why she's being dropped off there, and some confusion occurs before she gets past the porter... Just as she's being rumbled, Thisthen arrives to query the porter, about.... MURDER! and in the moment, Zedof scarpers inside the building. She finds a lounge with girls drinking coffee. As she stands uncertainly in the doorway, somebody approaches, offers her a coffee, and introduces herself as Agnes. They chat for a few minutes, and says she's looking for a friend of her second cousin, Robert Caradoc. Agnes asks around, and finds that nobody knows anything (or won't admit it at least). Maybe it's one of the other girls... Zedof leaves her telephone number, and asks for them to call her in the morning.
In the porter's lodge, Thisthen explains about the tower being hit by lightning, and the finding of the body. He doesn't want anything turning up in the press, but the man had his throat cut! The porter doesn't react to the name "Caradoc". Some of his personal effects led them to believe that he might be "stepping out" with a girl from Hugh's. After some denial, the porter suggests a picture would help: Thisthen produces a photograph from the Jesus newspaper, but the porter doesn't recognize him. No recognition, but on further explanation, the porter explains the girls would have had to sign in and out. Nobody signed out last night, and only two on Tuesday night (which are not important).
Zedof wanders around the college, exploring. Agnes rushes up to her, and explains that Mr Caradoc was the special friend of Rebecca Morris, who is no longer around. Her room-mate (Freda Day) says that all of Rebecca's stuff is gone! And Freda is down in the coffee room now.
Freda is a rather anemic wispy-looking young woman. She saw Rebecca around lunchtime on Thursday. By the evening, she realised that a suitcase had gone. Freda thinks she was a little strange, and always turned every conversation into an argument about politics (including friends in the town). She studied PPE.
Freda runs to the lodge, to tell the porter that her room mate has disappeared. Thisthen uses his powers of deduction to decide that the girl had ... a Welsh boyfriend. The porter announces that Caradoc has been murdered, and Freda faints! They revive her, and Thisthen starts interrogating her. Rebecca did wear lipstick, on occasion, didn't drink, and wasn't particularly religious. She never talked about the Pitt-Rivers. They then head to Freda (and Rebecca's) room, and collect Zedof on the way. All her books appear to be PPE related, or light novels. There are some letters from her parents (in Cardiff). There's no makeup, but her jewelry is still here. Freda thinks that Rebecaa must have only taken a couple of days worth of belongings. Thisthen looks under the matress, and finds a half full bottle of mead. They collect a matriculation photograph of her.
O'Neary takes the papers round to a friend who can translate. He suggests returning them to Thisthen. The friend seems to be reluctant, so O'Neary keeps an eye on the house, to make sure nothing untoward happens. But it starts raining. And getting generally nasty. O'Neary runs back to the house, and says he needs to return the papers to the police to send to Scotland Yard. He gets some of the translation, and no lightning strike happens.
Hargreaves suggests finding a member of the Society of Ancient Phenomena to translate it. O'Neary and Le'Death plan to visit Jesus library to investigate. They're made welcome, and Le'Death explains that they're arguing about the Welsh or Aramaic origins of some words. They sign in, and get the run of the relevant books. There are six texts of the approximate age, but not of relevant content. There's no record of Caradoc having even signed into the library. But there are records of the Caradoc family itself, going back to pre-Norman days. However, in the last few hundred years, their fortunes have been declining.
Thisthen blows up the photograph of Rebecca, and goes to the train station. He finds a member of staff who remembers seeing Rebecca getting on the last train to Reading, on Thursday night (well, Friday morning, as it was about 12.30 am). The assistant says she could have then caught either a train to Cardiff or to London. They check the office books, and find the sale of a single ticket to Cardiff. Thisthen calls the police station nearest Rebecca's parents, and asks them to take her in for questioning. Thisthen suggests sending a couple of men, just in case...
Rose finds out that the Labour meetings are in the backroom of the Exeter hall pub, every Saturday. She enlists Le'Death to help getting.
Thisthen finds footprints in the flowerbeds below Caradoc's room. They're from womens shoes, and something that could be from a suitcase. He takes a tracing of them.
Hargreaves collects a translation of the spell sheet. One of them is an oratory spell...
Thisthen gets a returned call from Cardiff, telling him that Rebecca never arrived in Cardiff. He asks them to get a photgraph of her (from the parents), and check that at the station.
Outside the Exeter Hall, at 7pm, Gypsy Rose parks up. She and Le'Death enter, and he buys them drinks. Hargreaves turns up as well. The Morris cycle factory is being passed off as being cruel capitalist owners.
In other news, there's a general election due in a few weeks, and Ramsay MacDonald is planning to stand, as the Labour candidate for Aberavon. He's got great ideas, but is not reknowned as a speaker.
Thisthen and Jarvis drive to Reading where they find that station staff saw Rebecca getting on the train to Cardiff. She could have caught a connection to Aberavon early on the Friday morning, arriving around lunchtime.