TEXT: 1
  Tickets-of-Leave are small 
  self-contai ned addi ti ons 
  to the Convicts & Cthulhu 
  setti ng for Lovecraftian 
  roleplaying in the early 
  penal colonies of Australia. 
  Each includes a selection 
  of game elements which 
  c a n  e i t h e r  b e  u s e d 
  collecti vely as a thumbnail 
  sketch of a mini-scenario, 
  or can be used in isolation 
  to p rov i de p i e c es t ha t 
  enhance a scenario of your 
  own invention.
  CREDITS
  Ticket-of-Leave #7  is written by 
  Dean Engelhardt & Geoff Gillan. 
  Copyright © 2017. Published by 
  Cthulhu Reborn Publishing .
  (w w w. c t h u l h u r e b o r n. c o m)
  The Convicts & Cthulhu setting 
  is published by Cthulhu Reborn 
  Publishing and is available via 
  RPGNow and DrivethruRPG as a 
  “Pay-What-You-Want” title.
  This PDF uses trademarks and/or copyrights 
  owned by Chaosium Inc/Moon Design 
  Publications LLC, which are used under 
  Chaosium Inc’s Fan Material Policy. We are 
  expressly prohibited from charging you to use 
  or access this content. This PDF is not published, 
  endorsed, or specifically approved by Chaosium 
  Inc. For more information about Chaosium Inc’s 
  products, please visit www.chaosium.com.
  7
  Introduction
  It is a fairly well-known fact that the early colonial 
  history of Australia was greatly influenced by several 
  significant “gold rushes” which brought great numbers 
  of people to the new colonies, and ultimately led to the 
  end of convict transportation. In the era of Convicts 
  & Cthulhu , all those great discoveries are still four 
  or five decades in the future. However, that is not to 
  say that the penal colonies were entirely immune to a 
  little “gold fever” – real or imagined. 
  In fact, the first “discovery” of gold in New South 
  Wales dates to the very earliest period after white 
  settlement. A convict named James Daley boldly 
  claimed to have discovered a rich vein of gold at a 
  location known only to him. Daley – a professional 
  forger by trade – actively shopped his story around, 
  creating more than a little buzz. Everyone, it seemed 
  was excited by the idea that the newly settled land 
  of New South Wales might yield valuable treasures. 
  The only problem was that the story was a complete 
  fabrication, apparently aimed at swindling the 
  authorities long enough to earn Daley (and his 
  favourite mistress) a ticket home to England.
  This curious piece of scurrilous real-world convict 
  history could, with minor tweaking, serve as an 
  intriguing jumping-off point for a dark tale of 
  Lovecraftian horror. After all, who’s to say that the 
  strange ore that Daley produced as evidence of his 
  Seams of Peril
  Replica of the London Chronicle, 1789
  
  2
  find wasn’t really something far stranger than plain 
  gold? And who’s to say that his motivations for such 
  brazen hoaxing weren’t something far more sinister 
  and occult; or that his ‘confession’ that the whole 
  affair had been a hoax wasn’t itself a deception to 
  cover a deeper mystery?
  Included below are notes describing the strange case 
  of James Daley’s gold, including a period account 
  of the matter reproduced in replica. Also included 
  is a scenario sketch “Seams of Peril” which takes 
  inspiration from Daley’s audacious swindling, 
  providing Convicts & Cthulhu investigators with 
  a weird mystery with several possible Mythos 
  connections. It can be set in any period covered in 
  the Convicts & Cthulhu timeline with only minor 
  adjustments; its account of an inland exploratory 
  expedition is based on French NSW Corps Officer 
  Francis Barralier’s initial journeys into the hinterland 
  west of Sydney around 1802.
  The First (Fake) 
  Gold Rush
  The scurrilous scheming of James Daley is adequately 
  summarised by a story published in the London 
  Chronicle of June 4th, 1789. See the replica nearby. 
  The Chronicle was a family evening newspaper 
  issued three times a week. [As an aside, it’s also 
  notable for being the first newspaper in Europe to 
  publish the American Declaration of Independence.]
  This London Chronicle account reprints a letter 
  originally written in November, 1788 – a mere ten 
  months after the colony was first established – and 
  sent from Sydney to the newspaper in London. The 
  fact that this news was deemed significant enough 
  to report half a world away provides some hint of 
  the persuasiveness of the hoax, and the keenness 
  of the colonial authorities to be whipped into a 
  frenzy – ready to send off two expeditions, no 
  less. The account also provides an enlightening 
  look at convict desperation, and the harshness of 
  the punishments dealt to the duplicitous Daley 
  (interrogations per hundred lashes is very severe).
  As described in the article, the audacious plan to 
  manufacture a fake gold rush ultimately did not quite 
  pay off. After leading the first expedition a merry 
  dance and slipping away, Daley had almost managed 
  to convince Government House to send yet more 
  men off on a wild goose chase. Presumably such 
  distractions would have given him an opportunity 
  to slip onto a departing ship, or otherwise escape. 
  But instead, the convict’s web of lies came suddenly 
  unravelled when members of his first befuddled 
  expedition made it back to the garrison.
  Scenario Seed: 
  Seams of Peril
  The following scenario seed is inspired by the 
  historical fake gold rush, but posits a number of 
  curious and otherworldly origins for the ore at the 
  centre of the mania. The scenario can be run any 
  time in the Convicts & Cthulhu era – the Keeper 
  is provided three separate options for the Mythos 
  threat behind the unexpected “discoveries.”
  Keeper's Introduction
  Convict Cornelius Faddin was a forger in London, 
  and has been recently transported to NSW. He is 
  very unhappy, and his natural insolence has led to 
  many floggings and being sent out on bush work 
  gangs which he believes is destroying his health. 
  To escape his fate, he has concocted a plan. He has 
  used some old coins and belt buckles and a ladies’ 
  brooch to forge three ‘nuggets’ of gold. He then 
  plans to put it about this has come from a mine he 
  discovered in the hinterland.
  Faddin has worked hard to develop an elaborate 
  story behind his discovery. According to this tale the 
  origin of his discovery was an overheard account 
  told by a sailor, Francis Cosker, who had passed 
  through the area some weeks ago. Cosker had – 
  according to Faddin – spied something in a remote 
  hillside which he was certain must be a rich vein of 
  gold ore. Armed with the secret location revealed 
  by the sailor, Faddin claims that he volunteered to 
  work in a quarry gang stationed in a locality close 
  to that place, sneaking away each night to search 
  remote places for the secret ore seam.
  The tale is, of course, a complete fabrication. There 
  is no such sailor named Francis Cosker: the convict 
  merely hopes that the fake sailor’s existence will 
  both reinforce his flimsy story and validate the 
  source of his “discovery.”  Faddin hopes that he 
  can convince the authorities to let him go home 
  in exchange for the (fake) mine’s location. His 
  alternate plan is to use the chance of going into the 
  
  3
  wilderness to escape into the mountains, where 
  it is believed by the convicts a road to China lies. 
  (This is a genuine convict era delusion that took a 
  long time to dispel among the uneducated).
  However, there is more to this situation than meets 
  the eye … exactly how much depends on which 
  option the Keeper chooses for the underlying 
  Mythos involvement.
  Lies Beget Lies
  Ever since Faddin first approached the colonial 
  authorities with his claim, rumours have started 
  circulating through the barracks and public bars of 
  Sydney. Certainly, those in positions of authority 
  have tried to keep the possibility of a gold strike 
  under wraps but Faddin and his convict friends 
  have had no problems with spreading gossip to 
  whomsoever will listen. Indeed, they rather enjoy 
  the attention that has been generated. Overall this 
  has generated a growing and evolving set of stories, 
  some of which remain close to Faddin’s original lie 
  while others have grown to incorporate a number of 
  much weirder elements – some describing peculiar 
  aspects of the convict’s nuggets, some describing 
  strange people he has been seen to consort with.
  One version of the bar-room yarn suggests that there 
  is something not-quite-right with Faddin’s “gold 
  nuggets” themself: some people claim to have seen 
  them glow with a strange lustre “like nothing on 
  God’s earth.” Other people claim that the things are 
  cursed, pointing to a succession of those who have 
  touched the rocks either becoming mysteriously ill, 
  or going suddenly mad. One version of the tale even 
  claims that several junior soldiers from the NSW 
  Corps, charged with keeping the nuggets secure, 
  mysteriously absconded overnight taking none of 
  their possessions with them.
  A second series of divergent tales have elaborated on 
  the identity of the mysterious sailor, “Francis Cosker”, 
  whom Faddin claims to have originally supplied the 
  location of the gold-mine. Some storytellers claim to 
  have it on good authority that the man who Faddin 
  overheard was actually a French military captain 
  called Cosquin, possibly sent to infiltrate the colony 
  ahead of a possible invasion. Other people conflate 
  the sailor “Cosker” with a dark-complexioned man 
  who has occasionally been seen to frequent the same 
  establishments as Faddin and who seems at times 
  “uncommonly familiar” with the convict. 
  Involving the Investigators
  There are three principal ways in which the Keeper 
  can inveigle the investigators into the sordid hoax 
  of Cornelius Faddin – via curiosity piqued about 
  supernatural aspects of overheard tavern tales, via 
  a sense of greed raised from the possibility of vast 
  golden riches, or via direct orders from the colonial 
  government to investigate Faddin’s claims.
  Official Government Party
  An obvious way to involve the adventure is for the 
  investigators to be an official party assembled by the 
  Governor to investigate the veracity of the story. After 
  all, in the original historical account two detachments 
  were sent after the ‘gold mine’ so clearly the Sydney 
  authorities were not untouched by gold fever. 
  In this instance the Governor has been approached 
  by Faddin and will in turn call forward the 
  investigators to hear Faddin’s story and mount an 
  expedition into the wilderness to find the mine. The 
  Governor will not entertain merely freeing the man 
  in exchange for the information (Bligh especially 
  has some choice words about this outlandish 
  suggestion) but insists the investigators must look 
  
  4
  into the convict’s story and if there is any chance it 
  may be true, take the convict into the hinterland and 
  locate the mine. If it can be located a large convict 
  work force will be sent out to dig up the gold. 
  On the other hand, if the convict is found to be lying 
  or if the mine cannot be found, Faddin is to be brought 
  back to Sydney for a flogging until the truth comes out.
  For the expedition, any supplies the party wishes to 
  draw from Government Stores will be condoned. 
  The party will be expected to have one military 
  officer leading them. In the absence of such a 
  person Keepers will need to substitute an NPC.
  Mythos Hunters
  It is entirely possible that, based on previous 
  exposure to the weird and preternatural forces of 
  the Cthulhu Mythos, the investigators may have 
  taken it upon themselves to seek out similarly 
  strange occurrences through the colony. The stories 
  about Faddin’s nuggets, and about the rather 
  strange company the convict is said to keep, should 
  set their “weirdness” senses tingling. True, many 
  of those bar-room tales seem so outlandish and 
  self-contradictory that some of their veracity is 
  questionable. But, who among the rank-and-file of 
  the colony would invent something as bizarre as a 
  “lustre that is no earthly colour”? Clearly there is a 
  kernel of truth under the many layers of fiction, and 
  it is the task of any Mythos Hunter worth his or her 
  salt to discover exactly what that might be. 
  Rumourmongers and 
  Opportunists
  The discovery of a rich vein of gold in New 
  South Wales has the potential to make a few men 
  extraordinarily wealthy. For some in the colony – 
  merchants, free settlers, and even convicts who 
  dream of future wealth – the possibilities afforded 
  by such a discovery are enticing indeed. Such 
  individuals may not simply wait to be asked to join 
  the official government expedition to investigate 
  Faddin’s claims, but may lobby for inclusion. 
  Alternatively, they might decide to create a rival 
  group and claim the gold-mine for themselves. Such 
  groups might to resort to bribery or other unofficial 
  means to gain access to the convict witness, Fadden. 
  On the other hand, they might decide to simply 
  shadow the footsteps of the group led by Faddin 
  (although Keepers should remind such ambitious 
  groups that they risk incurring the Governor’s 
  displeasure). Truly desperate teams might concoct 
  a plan to abduct the wily convict before the official 
  expedition is prepared and force him to lead them 
  to the gold-mine. In such cases, the team may well 
  find that they have a detachment of NSW Corps 
  soldiers on their tail!
  Initial Investigations
  Once investigators are on the trail of the ‘gold mine’ 
  they have a number of areas they can investigate 
  before proceeding into the hinterland. They can, 
  of course, choose simply to launch out into the 
  wilderness with only an untrustworthy convict to 
  guide them, but experienced investigators will be 
  well aware of the perils of such an approach.
  The sections below summarise the information 
  that can be obtained around Sydney. In some cases 
  the specific details learned unearthed via such 
  research will be different depending on which 
  of the three options the Keeper is using for the 
  underlying Mythos threat.
  Interviewing Faddin
  The mendacious convict will tell his story as 
  described above, in the Keeper’s introduction. He 
  will rant on and on about the wonders of the gold 
  mine and how the sailor Cosker is of like mind on 
  the subject. Faddin, however, refuses to divulge 
  any details on where the mine is located except to 
  say ‘west of Parramatta, in the mountains.’
  Faddin is keen the authorities release him, 
  proposing to draw them a map which they can use 
  to find the mine for themselves. His first preference 
  is obviously to simply take his reward (passage back 
  to England) and leave the colonial authorities to do 
  as they please with his information. However, the 
  Governor will most certainly not trust the word of 
  a filthy convict and will insist that Faddin lead the 
  assembled expedition to the mine site himself. 
  If the investigators do not themselves represent 
  the authorities, they will have to convince him 
  that his demands have a chance of being met, via 
  their influence, or else he will be very reluctant to 
  cooperate with any alternative plan. Even if they 
  are the appointed representatives of the Governor 
  the investigators will still be subject to the convict’s 
  
  5
  bile-soaked ravings about how unnecessary it is for 
  him to personally accompany the expedition.
  Faddin is a professional confidence-man and an 
  expert liar, so no amount of skill on the investigators’ 
  behalf will definitively show him to be peddling 
  untruths. Even a small amount of time spent in the 
  man’s company, however, will convince anyone 
  that he is not trustworthy (no rolls required).
  Inspecting the Gold Nuggets
  The gold nuggets produced by Faddin as evidence 
  of his find are currently being kept in a personal 
  strongbox owned by one of the senior NSW Corps 
  from the Sydney barracks. This is considered to be 
  one of the most secure places in the colony to store 
  valuables, but virtue of the heavy box construction, 
  the strong lock, and the constant presence of NSW 
  Corps soldiers mere feet away.
  Investigators who are on the Governor’s official 
  business will have no problems in getting 
  permission to inspect the nuggets. Anyone else 
  will need to either exercise some influence with 
  Government House or pay a hefty bribe to entice 
  one of the NSW Corps guards to “look the other 
  way” for a few minutes.
  Faddin’s nuggets are lumpy things and not particularly 
  impressive. Investigators who have some experience 
  with mineralogy or geology can attempt to use their 
  scientific skills to evaluate the putative ore, as can 
  anyone who has experience in handling precious 
  metals for commerce. Any successful skill roll will 
  confirm that the ore is most certainly gold, rather 
  than some other mineral. It is not possible to tell 
  whether or not it has been dug out of the ground.
  Particularly sharp-eyed investigators may spot 
  features in the nuggets’ strange shape that seem to 
  suggest they may have once been several smaller 
  pieces, mashed together by some process.
  The “Unearthly Lustre”
  If the Keeper is using one of the other Mythos 
  Options, the investigators will likely be disappointed 
  when their inspection of the nuggets fails to reveal 
  any unusual glow. If they go back and quiz whoever 
  originally told them the original tavern tale about an 
  “unearthly glowing stone”, they may receive some 
  vague caveated response aimed at brushing them off.
  Rumours of Disappearances
  Some of the bar-room tales told about Faddin’s 
  nuggets include mention of a group of NSW Corps 
  soldiers who mysteriously disappeared after 
  having been given the task of guarding the gold. 
  Investigators can follow up on such suggestions 
  either by asking around Sydney or by making 
  inquiries at the barracks of the NSW Corps.
  If the Keeper is using Mythos Option A (“Gold is 
  Alive”) then there is some truth to the lurid and 
  exaggerated tales (see below). If other options 
  are being used then all rumoured disappearances 
  prove to be pure fabrication that does not hold up 
  to any degree of scrutiny. 
  In the version of the scenario sketch where there is 
  something alive in the gold nuggets, then questions 
  around the NSW Corps barracks will eventually 
  locate the commanding officer of the five men who 
  went missing several nights back. He can confirm 
  that they were given the assignment of guarding the 
  nuggets and were supposed to have spent the night 
  in the room adjacent to where the strongbox is kept. 
  The last sighting anyone had of the men was in this 
  room sometime around midnight – they were in the 
  midst of a rowdy game of cards. Sometime between 
  then and the next change of watch (at dawn) the 
  five apparently decided to abandon their post. The 
  commanding officer seems certain that the “cowardly 
  curs” must have decided to take off for the bush, 
  unable to cope with the “real man’s life” in the NSW 
  Corps. Nobody saw the men leave, however, and 
  none of them took any of their personal belongings 
  (which are still in their barracks berths; they can be 
  searched but reveal nothing of note). 
  If investigators inspect the room where the soldiers 
  were stationed they may find the filthy pack of cards 
  the men were using: these are remarkable because 
  many of the cards seem to be coated in a coarse 
  kind of gritty material. Brushing some of this off or 
  shining a light on it reveals that the grit is actually 
  small particles of gold-ore-bearing rock.
  On the trail of “Francis 
  Cosker” (or “Cosquin”)
  According to Faddin’s account, the sailor “Cosker” 
  was a hand on the convict ship Earl Cornwallis, 
  but that ship has now sailed for Bengal. If the 
  investigators check the records, the information 
  
  6
  about Earl Cornwallis and its sailing are correct. It 
  is an East Indiaman currently used as a convict ship 
  which carries around 250 convicts, and departed 
  for England ten days ago. If the investigator’s 
  research skill roll is especially successful, he or she 
  will also unearth a (very incomplete) register of 
  the Earl Cornwallis’s most recent crew: there is no 
  mention of anyone named Cosker.
  Investigators who look into the rumour of a French 
  military sailor named “Cosquin” will find some 
  mention of such a person in the colony’s official register 
  of visiting vessels. Some three years ago a French 
  ship – part of a “scientific expedition” – laid over for a 
  few days in Sydney (see Ticket of Leave #2 for more 
  information on French activity in the colony). One 
  of the senior officers was named François Cosquin. 
  The fact that this visit occurred long before the time 
  of Faddin’s tale makes it improbable that the two 
  are connected (although, at the Keeper’s discretion, 
  it may have been the Frenchman’s name that Faddin 
  was thinking when he fabricated his story). 
  The “Black-Complexioned Man”
  There are numerous people around the drinking 
  establishments of Sydney that claim that Faddin 
  visits their usual haunt from time-to-time in the 
  company of a savage looking black-skinned man; not 
  one of the local Aboriginals but some other “sable-
  complexioned sort”. According to these accounts, 
  Faddin and the dark-skinned man seemed very 
  well-acquainted (“as thick as two inkle-weavers”). 
  Nobody knows the identity of the man, however, 
  and he never seems to come to the public house 
  except in the company of Faddin.
  Whether or not there is any substance behind these 
  vague tales depends on which of the options the 
  Keeper is using. When using Mythos Option B 
  (“Black-Complexioned Man”) these stories are 
  important clues – the black man in question is 
  an avatar of Nyarlathotep, and the public house 
  encounters witnessed by the unreliable bar-hounds 
  were actually the covert meetings where the 
  convict became seduced by the Outer God into 
  becoming his unthinking agent of chaos. When 
  using any other Mythos Option, the tales of black-
  skinned men are just slanderous tales put about 
  by other convicts with a grudge against Faddin (a 
  surprisingly long list). In this case the stories are 
  complete fabrications aimed to make the convict out 
  to be a degenerate type that consorts with savage 
  men after an unwholesome fashion: chasing such 
  gossip may produce some ribald entertainment but 
  will not further the investigation.
  If the “Black-Complexioned Man” option is being 
  used the investigators may be able to identify reliable 
  witnesses that saw Faddin and the dark-skinned man 
  walking side-by-side through the moonlit streets 
  of Sydney. The investigators may be drawn into 
  tracking down a series of eyewitness accounts that 
  progressively reveals the places where the two men 
  walked to – the colony’s large burying field (described 
  further in Ticket of Leave  #6). See the section 
  describing the Mythos Option for more details of the 
  perils that may wait at the end of such a hunt.
  Aboriginal Wisdom
  Before heading out into a remote and poorly-
  explored part of the colony, investigators may be 
  interested in researching what little is known about 
  the general area where Faddin claims to have made 
  his discovery. The official colonial survey maps can 
  be easily consulted but show nothing in the locality – 
  it is literally a blank region of the official map.
  A far more likely avenue of useful intelligence is 
  speaking with Aboriginal people with knowledge 
  of the region. If investigators are themselves 
  Aboriginal or have good relations with a tracker 
  they can readily learn that no native person has seen 
  anything remotely like Faddin’s nuggets anywhere 
  in the wilderlands. To get any detailed information, 
  however, investigators will need to speak with a 
  
  7
  member of Gundungurra – the Aboriginal peoples 
  who live in the Blue Mountains. Asking around, the 
  investigators can learn that some of these Aboriginal 
  peoples are friendly, some not, including some bands 
  who live deep in the mountains and have never met 
  white people. If investigators invest a considerable 
  amount of time in learning about the Aboriginal people 
  they may encounter on their expedition, the Keeper 
  should reward a bonus to any social encounters that 
  they later have with Gundungurra people.
  None of the Gundungurra ever have reason to come 
  to Sydney, but some have been known to come into 
  Parramatta from time-to-time. Any knowledgeable 
  Aboriginal tracker or investigator will know that the 
  best chance of learning the secrets of the bushland will 
  be to track down one of these visitors in Parramatta.
  The Keeper can make it either easy or difficult to track 
  down one of the Gundungurra people in Parramatta, 
  depending on the tempo and desired length of the 
  scenario. Ultimately, however, such a search will 
  prove successful. Exactly what the investigators learn 
  from speaking with their local Aboriginal contact will 
  depend on which Mythos Option the Keeper is using. 
  If using Mythos Option A or B, then the information 
  they uncover mostly relates to dangerous animals 
  and capricious rock ledges, both of which may be 
  hazardous to unprepared travellers. This information 
  proves helpful to planning and running the expedition 
  (and time spent in learning the local wisdom from the 
  Gundungurra should directly yield die bonuses to rolls 
  made when dangers arise on the journey, see below).
  If Mythos Option C (“Gurangatch’s Waterhole”) is 
  being used, the interview with the Gundungurra 
  contact will yield all of the above intelligence but 
  something more specific also. When the Aboriginal 
  man or woman hears the general description of 
  where Faddin proposes to lead the investigators, his 
  or her face darkens in a scowl – “this is not a good 
  place to go.” If investigators ask further, their contact 
  will tell them that the area in question is a Dreaming 
  place where Gurangatch – a great waterhole spirit 
  – sleeps, and where other spirits (or Burringilling) 
  may also often be found. The Aboriginal peoples 
  of the Blue Mountains know to avoid these places, 
  for at certain times they can be very dangerous. If 
  the investigators gain the trust of their contact, he 
  or she may tell more of the Dreaming songlines: see 
  Mythos Option C for details.
  The Journey to the ‘Mine’
  Eventually the investigators will have gathered 
  whatever information they are able in the time 
  available (remember the Governor is waiting on 
  their advice, probably impatiently). The task then 
  becomes trekking out into the furthest mapped parts 
  of the colony, led by a mendacious convict … and 
  then further into the great unknown.
  The Journey to 
  Civilization’s Edge
  The journey takes around 10 days to get deep enough 
  into the mountains to find either the fake gold mine 
  site (assuming it is an actual location) or for Faddin 
  to decide to escape and make for China. The days 
  are broken up into two blocks of about five days. 
  The first five cover mostly swamp and river country, 
  while the second five go into the mountains. By the 
  tenth day it will become obvious the mountains are 
  unpassable and the group must turn back. 
  (If Keepers wish to turn this into a full exploration 
  into the mountains this is beyond the scope of a short 
  adventure. They may turn to the historical record 
  First Peoples of the 
  Blue Mountains
  The vast Blue Mountains region covers the 
  traditional lands of two groups of Aboriginal peoples, 
  the Darug and the Gundungurra. Roughly speaking, 
  Darug people inhabit the Cumberland plain while 
  the Gundungurra reside in the mountainous areas 
  and to the south into the Wollondilly region. The 
  Gundungurra are the people Barralier’s expedition 
  (see below) encountered. Both peoples have a long 
  and custodial relationship to the land, flora and fauna 
  of the region, and have a diverse range of established 
  sites in the area, one art site dating back 22,000 years. 
  After their encounter with Barralier, the Gundungurra 
  people successfully petitioned Governor King to 
  maintain protected access to their yam beds in the 
  rivers of their land; this promise was rescinded by the 
  Government once King departed for England. 
  Sources: The Aboriginal Blue Mountains site 
  has an historical and cultural overview as well as 
  information on the current communities. http://www.
  aboriginalbluemountains.com.au/home
  
  8
  for examples of such a trip, including Barrallier’s 
  second expedition in the link in Bibliography. For 
  others see Evans’ journey http://gutenberg.net.au/
  ebooks13/1300271h.html#pic-01 or Scott’s account 
  of Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson’s successful 
  crossing of the Blue Mountains http://gutenberg.
  net.au/ebooks12/1203971h.html#ch-03.  Both these 
  journeys are from 1813).
  Expedition/Heading West
  The investigators will need to decide how many 
  people they are taking. Barrallier’s expedition took 
  4 soldiers, 5 convicts and 1 native tracker. They 
  also took pack animals: because of their sturdiness, 
  bullocks are seen as suitable for hauling material into 
  the deep country. Successful use of any survival skills 
  possessed by the investigators will most definitely 
  help them to better determine what they will need.
  Other equipment can be foodstuffs and shelter, 
  although for food, kangaroos were often hunted on 
  the trips into the hinterland (assuming the party 
  includes those with hunting skills and bush lore). 
  The launching point of any western expedition is 
  Parramatta. Supplies can be purchased here or 
  brought from Sydney by cart or river boat (see the 
  core Convicts & Cthulhu book for details).
  Expedition Encounters
  Day
  Geography
  Encounters
  1
  Town (Parramatta)/Grasslands Town encounters. Kangaroos on grasslands.
  2
  Swamp/Mangroves/
  Nepean River
  Swamps make for difficult travel
  Crossing difficulties – will need to unyoke animals to get them across
  3
  Rising hills
  Kangaroos – party may wish to hunt
  4
  Many creeks/hills rising 
  into mountains
  Creek crossings slow party down
  Way into mountains will need to be decided – many options. Investi-
  gator use of any Navigation or Survival skills will show the right way
  5
  Thick 
  bushland/mountainous 
  rocky terrain/granite rocks
  Unfamiliar territory. Aboriginal people. A friendly group. They know 
  about white people and known to them as the Nattai; amongst 
  themselves they are called the Gundungurra people. They will trade 
  and help guide.
  6
  Chain of mountains. 
  Many creeks.
  Way into mountains is along creek beds. Encounter area with much 
  slate. Eventually stopped by a precipice and must go back.
  7
  More mountains. 
  Very inaccessible country. 
  A single creek.
  Ducks at the creek which may be hunted if food is short. 50% chance 
  of rain storm. 75% chance if summer. Bullocks or other animals will 
  have to remain here or be taken back; either way at least a soldier 
  and two convicts will have to attend to this duty.
  8
  Cataract. 
  Single 
  mountain 
  peak, the first not part of the 
  earlier chain.
  Three quarters up mountain can be reached but then stopped by 
  overhanging rocks.
  9
  Mountains and caves. A wide 
  creek bed where natives are 
  camped. 
  Unfriendly natives. These are another band of Gundungurra but do 
  not know white people and do not trust them. If the party has cho-
  sen a guide with diplomatic skills they may be able to make friends. 
  Otherwise, the band will disperse and come back with allies and con-
  tinue to harass the party, picking them off with spears and making 
  night attacks until they leave the area by at least a day’s journey.
  10
  Mountains and creeks.
  Any attempt to find a way through fails unless an investigator can 
  make use of their Navigation or Survival skills. Convict Faddin either 
  makes his escape now, or states that the site of his ‘gold-mine’ has 
  now been reached.
  11+
  Return journey
  Retrace steps out.
  
  9
  Encounters Along The Way
  The table nearby provides some suggested 
  encounters that the expedition may have as it makes 
  its way out into the wilderness. It assumes that the 
  group maintains a regular pace of around 4 miles 
  a day in flatter country, 1–2 in the mountains. 
  Keepers should note this countryside is very hot 
  in summer and very cold in winter, depending on 
  when the journey is undertaken by the party.
  Mythos Options
  Three alternative Mythos-related mysteries are 
  offered. Keepers can decide which they will employ. 
  Each will have some effect on the way the early parts 
  of the adventure – as well as its grand finale – play out.
  Option A: Gold is Alive, 
  Magic is Afoot
  If using this option, the true power underlying the 
  weird phenomena surrounding Faddin’s discovery 
  is actually a strange kind of Mythos creature that is 
  trapped within the nuggets themselves (at least, most 
  of the time). The stories about a black-complexioned 
  associate, and those about the sailor Cosker are all 
  fabrications or exaggerations with no basis in reality. 
  But the stories about men going missing after being 
  left alone with the nuggets; and the ones about their 
  uncanny lustre … those have basis in truth.
  The genesis of the current situation came when 
  Faddin was gathering the ingredients that he 
  mashed together to create his nuggets. The majority 
  of the pieces of gold that the convict softened over 
  the open fire to melt into his conglomerate balls 
  were nothing more than coins, belt buckles or 
  pieces of jewellery that the light-fingered Faddin 
  acquired. But the pieces at the heart of each nugget 
  came from somewhere much less prosaic. One 
  day, some weeks ago, while out quarrying rocks 
  far beyond Parramatta the convict chanced upon 
  a strange coloured rock exposed by his pick-axe, 
  split into three parts. The peculiar stones each 
  had a surface subtly alive with coruscating lights, 
  which resembled no shade he had ever seen before. 
  Recognising this find as something of worth, Faddin 
  picked up the faintly glowing rock fragments – 
  and that was the moment when his mind became 
  enthralled by the entity within them. 
  Shortly after this portentous discovery, the convict 
  concocted his plan. The notion of hoaxing the 
  colonial authorities to get a ticket home was once 
  genuine enough, but now that desire has been 
  suborned by the eldritch power that controls him. 
  Without knowing why, Faddin is certain that it is 
  important that he lead a group of people on a journey 
  into the bush – preferably to some region which is 
  very remote and isolated. This idea is actually the 
  Mythos creature’s grand plan to create the perfect 
  environment for it to consume a dozen or more 
  humans to give it the energy it needs to permanently 
  escape its captivity inside the stone fragments.
  The exact nature of the creature inside the nuggets 
  – which the voice in Faddin’s head knows only as 
  “the glimmer within” – is not clear. Perhaps it is a 
  ‘colour’ like the one in ‘Colour out of Space’ but only 
  part of a greater whole; or perhaps it is a fledgling 
  semi-substantial form of a Shoggoth. Most of the 
  time it remains dormant inside the nuggets, but 
  when it senses a vulnerable individual nearby (e.g., 
  a lone or weak individual, with little chance of 
  defending itself) the Glimmer comes to the surface. 
  It is then that the nuggets take on their “unearthly 
  lustre” as they did when Faddin first made his 
  discovery. However, while the entity was content 
  then to merely dominate the will of its first human 
  victim, now all it hungers for is the energy obtained 
  by fully vaporising a human body. For several hours 
  Possible Complication: 
  A Rival Party?
  If the Keeper wishes to add an additional twist to 
  challenge the investigators, it is possible that theirs is 
  not the only party which is hunting for Faddin’s gold-
  mine. Just as it is possible for the investigators to be a 
  rogue party, rival to the official one, so a party of NPCs 
  could assemble to be rivals to the investigators. They 
  may have their own way of having learned about the 
  location to which Faddin plans to lead the expedition.
  If developing this option, the Keeper will need to 
  decide how the level of provisioning and capability of 
  the rival group – they may be greedy amateur explorers 
  who will quickly run into difficulties, or they may be 
  professional types that have hired Aboriginal trackers to 
  help navigate the landscape. The Keeper will also need 
  to decide what motivates the rival group, and how they 
  will react when inevitably the two teams cross paths. 
  
  10
  after it has so fed, the Glimmer has enough power 
  to emerge from the nuggets altogether, taking on 
  the form of a semi-substantial glowing mist floating 
  through the air. It was in this form that the glimmer 
  managed to devour all five of the NSW Corps 
  guards charged with guarding the rocks.
  The Glimmer’s ultimate end-game is to lead the 
  investigators’ expedition out into a remote part of 
  the wilderness where it is confident that they will 
  be fully cut-off from any possible help. If the location 
  is close to the place where Faddin first found it, 
  so much the better – there are other Glimmer-
  filled-rocks buried close to the same location, any 
  of which could be activated if enough vulnerable 
  humans were placed nearby. Each human that is 
  vaporized is another step towards freedom for 
  Faddin’s Glimmer, or a first step towards some 
  other Glimmer being unloosed upon the world.
  Option B: The ‘Black-
  Complexioned Man’
  This option makes use of the reference made in the 
  historical gold-rush hoax to a “black-complexioned 
  man” and conflates that with the Black Man 
  mentioned by H.P. Lovecraft in the story ‘Dreams 
  in the Witch House.’
  If using this option, there is nothing strange about 
  Faddin’s nuggets, despite various the various wild 
  stories – they really are just conglomerations of gold 
  bits and pieces smashed together by the desperate 
  convict. What is significant, however, is the body 
  of lurid tales that exists describing curious people 
  seen to associate with Faddin around Sydney. Of 
  particular note is a black-skinned man that has 
  been seen to accompany the convict occasionally on 
  his sojourns to filthy dockside public houses. Some 
  people believe that this curious man might have 
  been the sailor, Francis Cosker, who the convict 
  claims first told him of the gold-mine’s location. 
  Others refute this, and Faddin flat out denies it. 
  Some say that the black man is The Devil Himself.
  In fact, the Black Man is an avatar of Nyarlathotep, 
  to whom Faddin is in thrall. Indeed, he is an 
  insane cultist who first encountered the Crawling 
  Chaos while dabbling with a witches’ coven back 
  in England. He has signed the fateful book and is 
  slave to the Outer God. Since arriving in New South 
  Wales, Faddin has been seeking out ways to further 
  his god’s foul ends in the colony. On nights of the 
  new moon he has found that he can call the Black 
  Man to him by reciting the chant he learned by rote 
  back in the coven, while standing in the middle of 
  the burying ground at the end of George Street. For 
  a few hours, the dark-skinned form will walk side-
  by-side with its acolyte and whisper horrible and 
  insane ideas into his ear. Brazenly and audaciously 
  the convict likes to take the sable-skinned avatar 
  into public houses, knowing full well that such an 
  odd character will attract attention.
  Based on the unclean notions whispered by 
  Nyarlathotep, the convict has concocted a plan to 
  more permanently bring his god to Earth, and in 
  particular to New South Wales. The Outer God has 
  given Faddin a new chant – words freshly tattooed 
  upon his chest. He has been told that if he utters 
  the words ‘in a place of desolation” he will call 
  forth the “true form” of Nyalarthotep. He believes 
  that as soon as he is out of the limits of settlement 
  – either on a ship going home to England or in the 
  wilderness of the mountains – the Crawling Chaos 
  will manifest, if he says the chant.
  Initially the convict planned to call forth his god as 
  a solitary act, but the Black Man whispered a more 
  seductive idea to him. Why not assemble a group 
  to accompany him to a wilderness location and 
  summon the Crawling Chaos in their presence? 
  Would they not be driven to madness, falling to 
  their knees in worship of Nyarlathotep? In this way 
  Faddin hopes to consecrate a brand new coven 
  – with him at the centre and his god by his side 
  permanently. While this is clearly an insane plan, 
  it is also a dangerous one for the unfortunate party 
  of investigators accompanying the madman. The 
  climax of the adventure will see Fadden attempting 
  to summon his terrible master at whatever location 
  he believes is sufficiently isolated.
  If the Keeper wants a longer scenario, he or she can 
  extend the earlier section by putting the investigators 
  on the trail of tracking down sightings of the 
  “black-complexioned man.” His appearances will 
  be accompanied by weirdness: many people will 
  remember a shadowy and disturbing figure coinciding 
  with strange phenomena. The search might culminate 
  in the investigators tracking down the Black Man, 
  perhaps cavorting with Faddin in the burying ground, 
  only to have him vanish right in front of their eyes.
  
  11
  Option C: Gurangatch’s 
  Waterhole
  If using this option, there is nothing strange about 
  either the gold “nuggets” or Faddin’s dubious 
  network of associates. All of the stories that have 
  been circulated are ridiculous lies and fantasies. 
  What is real, however, is the convict’s duplicitous 
  plan to escape the colony in exchange for the 
  location of his phoney gold-mine.
  To execute this plan, he will lead the investigator’s 
  expedition out into a remote area of the Blue 
  Mountains foothills, a place chosen by him for its 
  isolation (since he believes it will be easier to abscond 
  once the expedition is effectively lost). Unfortunately, 
  the area selected by Faddin is home to ancient horrors 
  of its own, as the expedition will discover to its peril.
  Among 
  the 
  Gundungurra 
  (Blue 
  Mountains) 
  Aboriginal people, the area towards which 
  the expedition is headed is notorious as being 
  dangerous. It is the sleeping place of Gurangatch, 
  a powerful spirit (or “Burringilling”) from their 
  traditional Dreaming stories. Gurangatch was said 
  to be a half-fish, half-reptile with shimming scales 
  of green, purple and gold and powerful shining 
  eyes whose light could piece through deep water. 
  The local people are taught from an early age not to 
  stray too close to a certain waterhole, unless they 
  have brought an offering to appease Gurangatch. To 
  do so invites ruin: the spirit might lash forth with 
  his mighty tongue, even has he once did to create 
  some of the local rivers.
  Aboriginal 
  investigators 
  will 
  likely 
  place 
  considerable weight upon the song-line legends 
  of the Gundungurra peoples, even as most white 
  investigators will dismiss them. Discounting these 
  tales altogether is, however, perilous since the 
  waterhole in question is in fact the home of a horrible 
  aquatic cryptid creature – a huge dark-furred thing, 
  sporting wickedly sharp teeth and claws. In future 
  decades, repeated sightings of similar monstrosities 
  in and around waterholes and rivers will result in 
  colonists giving a name to such elusive but deadly 
  horrors – the bunyip. However, at this point in 
  history the creatures have no name; but all who hear 
  their baleful howling on the wind shudder at the 
  thought of running into such an unknown predator.
  Whether there is any connection between the bunyip 
  and the tale of Gurangatch is left for the Keeper to 
  decide; conceivably the tales of vicious attacks at the 
  waterhole over many hundreds (thousands?) of years 
  may have crystallised into a story. Alternatively, the 
  Spirit of Gurangatch is an altogether different entity 
  and the bunyip is but a recent interloper who has 
  taken up residence in the waterhole (perhaps to the 
  irritation of the Dreaming spirit).
  The only thing that is certain is that the path 
  chosen by the dishonest convict Faddin will bring 
  the expedition to the waterhole in question. Kind 
  keepers may wish to give some warning to the 
  investigators, perhaps allowing them to hear a 
  
  12
  bellowing wail on the wind coming from across the 
  next rise. Once they are at the shores of the bunyip’s 
  waterhole, their fate is sealed – the horror will wait 
  for an opportune moment (perhaps while one of the 
  expedition is separated from the rest) – and then 
  silently strike. Bunyips are fearsome opponents, 
  presenting the investigators with a deadly combat.
  Of course, true to form, Faddin will almost certainly 
  use the attack of the bunyip as a handy distraction 
  to mask his escape from the investigator group. 
  Those caught up in fighting the thrashing whirlwind 
  or teeth, claws, and malevolent flesh will need to 
  achieve extraordinary results on their skill tests to 
  notice the degenerate convict slipping away. Some 
  may wonder whether perhaps the man is somehow 
  in league with the beast …?
  Statistics
  Game statistics for Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition are 
  shown below.
  Cornelius Faddin
  Mendacious 
  hoaxer 
  and 
  scruffy 
  convict, aged 37
  STR 55 
   CON 35 
  SIZ 75 
  DEX 80  INT 70 
  APP 40  POW 70  EDU 55 SAN 30 
  Hit Points: 11
  Damage Bonus:  +1D4 Build:1 Move: 8 Magic Points: 14
  Brawl 
   
  50% (25/10), damage 1D3 + Damage Bonus
  Chiv 
   
  50% (25/10), damage 1D4 + Damage Bonus
  Dodge  
   
  40% (20/8)
  Skills: Credit Rating 3%, Insight 65%, Fast Talk 70%, Listen 
  40%, Persuade 45%, Sneak 50%, Spot Hidden 45%.
  The Glimmer Within
  (Mythos Option A)
  TThe Glimmer Within is a strange otherworldly 
  entity, something which partially exists in our 
  world and partially elsewhere. It may be related to 
  other, better documented, creatures of the Cthulhu 
  Mythos or it may be something unique.
  Composed of a semi-material intelligent mass 
  of weird light, the Glimmer Within greatly fears 
  bright illumination (which can harm it, see below). 
  Francis Barrallier, NSW 
  Corps Ensign, Governor’s 
  Aid and Explorer
  Barrallier’s 
  family 
  were 
  refugees 
  from 
  Revolutionary France. At age 20 he worked for the 
  British allies of French Royalists at the capture of his 
  home city of Toulon in 1793. Barrallier came to the 
  attention of a relative of the Duke of Portland who 
  became his patron. He achieved a post with the new 
  Governor of NSW, Philip Gidley King and arrived in 
  Sydney in 1800. An engineer by training, he worked 
  as an architect for King, a commissioned officer in 
  the NSW Corps and as King’s aide-de-camp. By 1802 
  he was active as an explorer. In October, striking out 
  from the Hawkesbury, he went west into the Blue 
  Mountains seeking a way into the interior. 
  There is a suggestion some of Baudin’s French 
  party visiting Sydney might have accompanied 
  Barrallier and that he did not disclose this to King, 
  as Lt Governor William Paterson didn’t trust him. 
  Certainly, few records of this earlier exploration 
  survive. In November, Barrallier embarked on a second 
  expedition, managing to penetrate around 100 miles 
  into the Blue Mountains before being able to find a way 
  further west. This was the first European expedition to 
  get so far. Barrallier was noted for his deep interest in 
  and capacity to get along with the Aboriginal peoples 
  he encountered, including the Gundungurra (Blue 
  Mountains) peoples. It’s been argued this was in part 
  because of the explorer’s cosmopolitan upbringing in 
  the port city of Toulon. 
  In 1803 he fell out with King and left Sydney. He 
  wished to return to New South Wales but never managed 
  to. Barrallier continued to rise as an engineer and military 
  officer, his service including drawing a military map of 
  Barbados.  Barrallier was appointed surveyor-general of 
  Guadalope and retired in London, a Brevet Lieutenant 
  Colonel in 1846; he died aged 80 in London. 
  Sources: Vivienne Parsons, 'Barrallier, Francis 
  Louis (1773–1853)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography: 
  http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barrallier-francis-
  louis-1745 and Valerie Lhuede, Francis Barrallier in 
  NSW, Journal of the Institute for the Study of French 
  Australian Relations, 35, December 2003. https://
  www.isfar.org.au/category/explorations/no-35/
  
  13
  To protect itself it typically takes refuge inside 
  other matter – in the case of this scenario, a piece 
  of rock whose fragments were used by Faddin’s in 
  his ‘gold nuggets.’
  Even while the Glimmer Within is hidden deep 
  within another object it is intimately aware of 
  its surroundings and can innately sense weak 
  creatures – potential prey – nearby.
  The Glimmer Within’s level of activity depends on 
  its current Magic Point total. It is able to rest deep 
  within an inanimate object indefinitely, but to draw 
  close to the surface of the object – or to emerge from 
  it altogether – requires spending Magic Points. 
  Coming to the surface (where it manifests an alien 
  and unnervingly pale fire) costs 1 Magic Point per 
  round, while achieving separate existence (as an 
  animated glowing mist) costs the Glimmer Within 
  3 Magic Points per round. If the creature runs out 
  of Magic Points altogether it retreats quickly to the 
  core of its host object; if prevented from returning, 
  it soon dissipates. Unless killed, the creature 
  refreshes Magic Points at the normal rate.
  The Glimmer Within has one goal: to consume the 
  essence of living things in order to steal their energy. 
  By doing so it not only replenishes its scarce resource 
  of Magic Points, but also grows its permanent POW. 
  If a Glimmer ever raises its POW above 200 it has 
  achieved sufficient energy to escape from the Earth 
  and return to its home dimension.
  STR N/A  CON N/A SIZ 05 
  DEX 85  
  INT 80 
  POW 85   
  Hit Points: N/A
  Damage Bonus:  N/A Build: - Move: 4 Magic Points: 16
  Feed By Touch 
  85% (42/17), damage 1D6 + vaporising  
   
   
   
   
  power drain (see below)
  Dodge  
   
  45% (22/9)
  Armour: None, but invulnerable to physical attack.
  Sanity Loss: 0/1D4 to see a Glimmer Within. 
  SPECIAL POWERS
  Vaporising Power Drain: Any living creature whose 
  flesh comes into direct contact with the Glimmer Within 
  will be partially vaporised. This manifests as sublimation 
  of flesh, typically resulting in part of the victim’s body 
  simply boiling away. Each exposure costs the victim 
  1D6 × 5 points of characteristic from POW, STR, CON 
  and DEX. If any characteristic reaches zero the victim 
  has been entirely converted to energy, leaving behind 
  only the smell of ozone. Each five points of POW lost 
  by a victim cause the Glimmer’s Magic Point total to 
  increase by 1 and its permanent POW to increase by 4.
  Vulnerability to Bright Light: will shun bright moonlight 
  (which causes it 1 Magic Point of damage per round); 
  direct sunlight is more damaging still (1D6 Magic Points 
  of damage per round of exposure). Artificial illumination 
  from a bright lantern will cause 1D3 MP damage/round.
  The Black-Complexioned Man
  (Mythos Option B)
  The ‘Black Man’ form of Nyarlathotep resembles 
  a normal human, but one whose every feature – 
  skin, hair, eyes and even teeth – is jet black. This 
  striking figure doesn’t resemble any negroid or 
  Aboriginal races.
  STR 115 
   CON 165 SIZ 85 
  DEX 100  INT 430 
  POW 250  
  Hit Points: 25
  Damage Bonus:  +1D6 Build: 2 Move: 9 Magic Points: 50
  Fighting 
   
  90% (45/18), touch damage 1D6 + Damage  
   
   
   
  Bonus or power drain (see below)
  Dodge  
   
  75% (37/15)
  Armour: None, but the avatar of Nyarlathotep can 
  regenerate 1D6 Hit Points by spending a Magic Point. 
  The Black Man can spend multiple Magic Points each 
  round in this way, if he so desires.
  Spells: Any that the Keeper wishes.
  Sanity Loss: 0/1D2 Sanity Points.
  SPECIAL POWERS
  Power Drain: If the Black Man successfully touches a 
  victim, he can choose to either inflict hit point damage 
  OR to drain 1D6 x 5 points of the victim’s POW.
  The Bunyip of 
  Gurangatch’s waterhole
  (Mythos Option C)
  The bunyip is a huge and terrifying aquatic cryptid 
  creature that lives in a waterhole. It resembles an 
  enormous seal, with a face that has vaguely canine 
  features but which sports wickedly sharp and long 
  teeth, more akin to a crocodile. Their hide is an 
  
  14
  unwholesome amalgam of fur, scales, and leathery 
  skin. From head-to-fin the bunyip is about twelve 
  feet long, but it can flit speedily through the waters 
  disappearing in an instant below the brackish 
  water of the waterhole. If needed, the creature is 
  easily able to climb out onto dry land, although it is 
  marginally slower traversing the rocky shore.
  While attacking, the bunyip is silent and single-
  minded, however the creatures have been known 
  to issue forth a bellowing cry at other times. This 
  malevolent and savage roar, full of hatred and 
  hunger might be designed to warn other predators 
  away … or perhaps to attract prey to the waterhole.
  The bunyip has some supernatural control of the 
  water-level of the waterhole, making it rise or fall 
  rapidly (see below).
  STR 260  CON 115 SIZ 195 DEX 90  INT 75 
  POW 225  
          Hit Points: 31 
  Magic Points: 45
  Damage Bonus:  +5D6          Build: 6 
  Move: 10/16 swim
  ATTACKS
  Attacks per round: 1
  Fighting attacks: Bunyips can attack with either bite or claw
  Claw: Being hit by a bunyip’s claws results in the victim 
  becoming grappled by the beast; no damage is taken this 
  round but every round afterwards the victim takes damage 
  equal to the bunyip’s Damage Bonus. This continues until 
  the victim can break free, an act that is only achievable by 
  overcoming the creature in an opposed check of STR vs 
  STR. The extremely high STR of the bunyip makes such a 
  contest almost impossible (although kind Keepers may 
  allow one or more other investigators to assist).
  Like what you've read, but don't yet own the core Convicts & Cthulhu sourcebook? Head over to RPGNow or 
  DrivethruRPG and grab yourself a copy, either in PDF or softcover Print-On-Demand. Either can be obtained under a 
  "Pay-What-You-Want" pricing model where you pay only the basic cost of creating the copy ($0 for PDF, or about USD 
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  Fighting 
   
  65% (32/13), bite damage 1D10 + Damage  
   
   
   
           Bonus; claw damage as above
  Dodge  
   
  50% (25/10)
  Skills: Detect Prey 95%, Stealth 95%.
  Armour: 10-points of hide, scale and fur.
  Sanity Loss: seeing a bunyip costs 1/1D10 Sanity Points; 
  hearing it’s baleful howl on the wind costs 1/1D3.
  SPECIAL POWERS
  Raise and Lower Water: by spending 10 Magic Points 
  the bunyip can cause the water level in the waterhole 
  to rapidly fall or rise. This will cause the volume of water 
  to either double or halve in the space of a few minutes – 
  quite an unnerving and unnatural sight.
  Further Source Material
  The accounts of the fake gold rush in newspapers 
  and journals were reprinted in the book ‘This 
  Peculiar Colony’ edited by Ronald Rose, an amusing 
  collection of vignettes from convict and other colonial 
  life. It was published by Rigby Press, Adelaide, 1981. 
  The story was also covered briefly in David Collins’ 
  (Colonial administrator and later Lieutenant 
  Governor of Van Diemen’s Land) journals. 
  Barrallier’s account of his journies provides its 
  own golden seam of rich incidental detail of travel 
  in the hinterland before the Blue Mountains were 
  opened up to white settlers in 1813. It is free at 
  http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks12/1203731h.html 
  For the Gundungurra story referred to see: http://
  press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p99461/
  mobile/ch11.html which contains an article from 
  early 20th century anthropologist R.H. Mathews.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Call of Cthulhu (CoC) (BRP) [multi]/7th edition/Convicts & Cthulhu/CoC 7e - Convicts & Cthulhu - Ticket of Leave #07 - Seams of Peril.pdf