The Glass Cannon Podcast - Time For Chaos S1 | E4 – The Devil's Snake Juice

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

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Instacart groceries that over deliver. You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role playing game entertainment. Thanks for watching! Good evening fellow jocks and sports fans. It's Friday night. That means it's time for chaos. Let's talk at the top of this show about simple pleasures. I have this new simple pleasure I want to share, and then I want to hear about everybody's simple pleasures. We've got a bird feeder.

We haven't had it for a while. Didn't really get me that excited, but we moved it to a new tree and got some bird seed, filled it up, and it is just, it's the hoppiest bird feeder in town. All the birds are talking about it. They're going crazy. And there is this one cardinal that lives in the neighborhood

that just, I feel like he thinks he owns it. And he comes there and it's the most beautiful bird you've ever seen. And so I have been just staring at him. I think this is what happens when you get old, you get really into birds. And I feel like I'm creating a mental connection with him that at a certain point I can just put out my finger

and say, come to me, Cardinal, and he will land. Do undomesticated birds ever make friends with humans? Yeah. They do? Yeah, like crows, they bring you gifts and stuff, don't they bring you marbles if you feed them enough? Really? So you're saying this cardinal might bring me a gift?

Maybe, I don't know. I just want the gift of friendship. Did you try mama birding some worms into his mouth? I don't know. Well, I read this the other day. Birds eat worms in the morning and fruit and nuts at night. Same. Oh.

So I could go out there in the morning and just hold a handful of live worms up and then at night go back out there and be like, just say no, that's for me as well. But I just, I think that I want to get to a point where I can be like St. Francis of Assisi. They want to be the bird guy and they just, they land on me and we're like, we're just friends and he knows that I'm not going to hurt him. And I wouldn't. I don't know. Maybe I'll bring him to my house.

But I just want to be that. I just want to be a bird guy. I think I can see you transitioning into a bird guy. It's simple. You already are there. It sounds like it's just it's either you are or you are. And now you are. We got two turtle doves that live in one of our trees.

You got a full Christmas carol happening. Yeah, I think youves that live in one of our trees. You got a full Christmas carol happening. Yeah, I think you're already there. Four French hens. I know. Next up is the four French hens. I don't know. Birds are very dirty. And some people say they're unlucky, but they're also untrustworthy. God, I don't know if you're coming or going with birds, man. You love them, you hate them.

They have their lizards. They're lizard. They have lizard brains. They do have lizard. And it is not looking at you. It doesn't see you. Yeah. I will not stand for this bird bigotry in this conversation. I can't. Yeah, no. We had a bird briefly when I was a kid. It was a parakeet. It sucked.

Well, it's an asshole. Here's a sad story. The party really split along bird lines. I saw a bird last year out in the yard and it looked like it was struggling. And I was like, I think that's not a baby bird, but like an adolescent bird. And I could tell it just kept walking around and it was chirping nonstop and I could tell like it needed help. So I waited until it got late and I started calling like the ASPCA or just like helplines, like wildlife places in the area.

And finally someone called me back and they were like, yeah, don't touch that bird. Meanwhile, I'd already put it in a box and like gingerly say, she's like, you just gotta like, you just gotta put it out there. It probably fell out of its nest and it's going to eventually just figure it out or not. And I was like, I feel like I can save it.

And so she was like, you gotta go put it back. And so I took it out and I put it back and I came out the next morning and it died. And it was tragic. I felt horrible. And so I dug a hole and I buried it and I had a little ceremony for the bird. And I feel like all these birds coming back,

it's, there's something here. I don't know what it is, but I'm a bird guy now. This was a simple pleasure. It doesn't sound so simple anymore. Yeah, it's a simple pleasure. This is a journey of redemption. I don't want to go buy a bird at the store. You understand?

I don't want to be that guy. I just want the all of nature to flock toward me. Listen, who can find birds at a bird store in this economy? There's a bird shortage. It's a buying line. I got a bird guy. Don't worry about it. The bottom's falling out. I got to tell you, Troy, my dad worked for many years for the US Fish and Wildlife Service and would occasionally be on the other end of those calls you're describing.

I know I've been with him when someone would be like, there's a bird in my lawn. Help me, sir. He'd go over and be like, pick up this bird that had been like, kind of walking in circles in their yard for a while. He'd be like, thank you so much for calling us. We'll take care of him. And then as soon as you're out of eyeline, just grab it by the head and. Oh my God. This is.

Just huck it into the woods. It's like, oh God. There's nothing that's sad, but every now and then find one that you can release. All right, so I found a bee recently. Did I tell you about the bee? I must be going through something. I'm going through like male menopause.

I found a bee, and I could tell this bee was, he was in rough shape. And I was like, come on, bee, you're going to be fine. And I'm like, no, I can't have the bird situation again. So I left it out overnight. It rained, it poured, and I knew it wasn't going to be all right. And so I go out the next morning, I'm like, she's feeding the kids.

I'm like, I gotta go see the bee. She's like, what are you talking about? I slam the door. And I go out there and I look at the bee and it's there. I'm like, I didn't make it. And I just take a little stick and I poke him. And his wings start flapping. That son of a bitch was still alive.

So I'm poking him and I'm really, come on bee. You're gonna be fine, bee. And so I scooped him up on a little leaf and I brought him to the back and then I made some sugar water for him and I fed him I cared for this bee for five days it rained all five days I came back on the sixth day the bee made it he flew away he was fine I am learning so much about you. How many the lifespan of a bee? How many more days did it have? That bee's gonna live forever. And then later that day I saw another bee

and he came by and he buzzed right by me and I was like, I bet you that was him. That's the one. Just a little fox. That's the one, that's him. Brought him back from death, no big deal. Yep. And you guys bringing the animals back from death this week?

No, I once had a live bee in my mouth, though. Here we go. Now I did not know. I was playing I was playing some beach volleyball and I had like my my my can of beer sat down like on the on the sand. Oh, yeah. I was playing. I came back and, you know, I drink and I was like, what got in my beer? And I spit it out and like I spit out this bee and it just like, it hit the ground and then it just fluttered away.

Whoa. Like there was a live bee in my mouth. Drunk. And now drunk, I'm now very just, you know, couldn't fly in a straight line anymore. Yeah. Your honey wheat ale, I feel like that's happened to me too. Yeah.

Anybody else have any simple pleasures that they're really into? Oh, right, right, right. I forgot where we were going. Besides Nora's bee cook-off. Trying to save living creatures from death. I mean, I like spending my Saturdays, like two and a half hours just like watering

and or like prodding my plants. You're like a field plan person. And usually at the same time, like I do a tour of everything and everyone. I see what everyone needs. I water, I poke, I prune, I repot, I get another plant. All the while listening to usually a podcast

and that's my old lady thing that I do. Also, another thing I love to do is when like our local, like Brooklyn like area local paper comes out once a month, I'll go get it from the coffee shop and I'll read it out loud to Michael standing in the kitchen. I'll be like, do you want me to read you the paper? And he'll be like, yeah. And then I'll just like stand there

and read the whole paper out loud. You find out when the next town hall is, so you can go. We need a stop sign on Main Street. My plants and I have been talking and we think it's a dangerous intersection. Talk to me about the poking of the plants. Is that part of the- They love it.

They love poking. Hey, you. Well, you just kind of let you know. Much like these, they fight a revivifying. You zhuzhem, you spin them around. You gotta spin them around so that they grow evenly. They don't grow leaning towards one way unless that's what you want.

Then don't spin them around. I do not have a green thumb. Ross, do you have a green thumb or do you prefer some other? Do you collect stamps? I got a black thumb of death, no. I'm struggling to keep all the plants in the house and outside the house alive. But I feel like these days, my simple pleasure is taking walks around my neighborhood and checking in on all the neighborhood dogs. Just seeing like, you know,

the little dog lives next door, the young corgi that lives around the block. The, uh, there's a, there's a, there's a pit bull mix up the street. That is some like bizarre cocktail of dog DNA where he's jet black with one of those underbites. So is his got two little reverse vampire fangs that's just straight up. And he's like, just this little underbite. Yeah. I'm just a, just a, uh, I'm out here like learning dog's names and forgetting the owners. That's my, that's Yeah, I'm just a, I'm out here like learning dogs names and forgetting the owners.

That's my, that's my hobby. This is what the pandemic has done. It's forced us to find new ways to entertain ourselves. Rob, what are you doing these days? Poking plants, eating bees? I, I started, I went to my second ever open mic night for some stand up. The comedy.

A little tight five. It was horrifying. The entire experience was abysmal. I don't know, Troy, I know you dipped your toes in these waters a while ago, jumping from open mic to open mic. I have no idea how you did it. It's miserable.

Just two hours, just waiting two hours and watching. People immediately talk about how terrible they were on stage. Like, just be like, oh, this isn't working. Like, it was a mantra. I know. And then you get up there, you get up there, and you're like, I'm not gonna do that. And then the first joke doesn't go over,

and immediately it comes crawling up your throat like a worm that you try to stab inside your body. Good connector. Just to bring it around. Good segue. Comes right up, you got to stop it because immediately you just want to be like, well, that sucks. It also probably didn't help that I decided to talk about, solely talk about the He-Man

live action movie from 1987. That's a good movie. That's an amazing movie. Frank Langella plays Skeletor. He's given the performance of a lifetime. That's a good movie. That's an amazing movie from Franklin Jell-O plays Skeletor. He's given a performance of a lifetime. He's doing shifts here. Let this be our final battle. And I don't know if it was the right crowd to really delve deep into Masters of the Universe after two hours of open mic mediocrity.

But I might never do that again. We'll see. See what happens. Yeah, that's tough. My buddy had 15 minutes on Teen Wolf and some crowds would love it. Some crowds would be like, what's Teen Wolf? Yeah.

Who's in the news? I asked you guys before we started today, what happened last week. So instead of me doing the recap, I wanna hear your mishmash jumble up of what happened last week. So instead of me doing the recap, I want to hear your nish-mosh jumble up of what happened. Because there was a lot that went down. So let's try and remember that. Rob, you mentioned the throat worm. There was obviously some worm vomiting. There was a throat worm.

Yes. Feroz took some damage to her face from the acidic juices on this larvae. Right. Yeah. I think the episode started where we found Trinidad deceased. Yes, Trinidad Rizzo, the graduate assistant. And then followed a trail of gross, whatever, to what we saw was a fire, a trash fire. Yes.

And- It was a tense moment. You didn't know what you were going to run into. In the professor's office, I believe. Yes. Oh, no, was the trash fire in a closet or something? It was in like a janitor's closet. It was a distraction trash fire.

Jackson Elias was there, yeah. Distraction trash fire. Jackson Elias had been coaxed away from the professor's office by the same fire that we had followed. And so that when we when we hot-footed it back to the to the professor, he had a bunch of opalescent goo on his face. All right. He kissed me. He kissed me. Which I attempted to stab. In his body while it was in his body. We saw critters crawling under his flesh.

It made sense at the time. Yeah, I think I made an incision. Did I make an incision for the thing? I believe you guys did try surgery and failed and it made him, it was, you failed so poorly. It made him vomit and this thing just came out and then was looking for a new host. Right.

Yeah, which was not going to be my mouth. No, it tried though. And that came, I'll be honest, from behind the screen, that came a lot closer than I thought it would to entering you. And then someone else would have to slice it out of you. And then Keith's character smacked it with a lamp. That's right, the old lamp to the face.

Yeah. Took it out. And then didn't Ross just put like a cup over it at the end? Yeah, just put it in the center. It's just standard boof. It's like this teeny little super guy just right over it.

Just a teeny. Yeah, no, it died and you were like, I'm not taking any chances, let's put the cup over it. So then Jackson and Elias said, I'll hang back here and like get some medical attention to him. We got to deal with this body downstairs. I know people around here, I'll take care of this. What is your plan? And then you guys were like,

we should look into the Mendoza. Yeah, because Margo found the book that had that passage that talked about Mendoza being alive like way the fuck long time ago. Hundreds of years ago when the Conquistadors came. Yes. Back in the 16th century. Yeah, the diary of Gaspar Figueroa.

That's right. Yeah, and it's a good rule of thumb when you're about to embark on a camping expedition with somebody to make sure they're not an ageless vampire. Yeah. So that was our goal. That's just standard procedure. With that minimum. So yeah, you were kind of blown away when you read that because you're like, is this

the same Dimmendoza? Oh yeah. Also, there was like, what we discerned was maybe a chunk of the gold from the underground passages of the Step Pyramid we're headed towards. And it looked as though there was some burned flesh on it as if as if contact with it had had lit ablaze whoever had touched it. Right, like someone had tried to touch it because there was this box that looked like it had been ripped open and that thing was sticking out. It did give the appearance that someone went to grab it but this gold singed their skin.

And then you made some connection between this chunk and something you read in the diary, if you remember. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I don't remember if I showed this during the stream, but I will show it now. You see the gold artifact from the museum and it has all those little symbols on it and little things coming out. It's just a chunk. It looks like it belongs to something larger.

We left that back there, right? We didn't actually take it. No, no. I think you took it. No, we didn't take it, but I made a charcoal thing of it. That's right. We're terrified of it burning our hands. Yes, or being cursed. But in hindsight, maybe we should grab it. Well, you do have at least one day before this caravan leaves, but more importantly,

you went back to Hotel España, where you're not staying, where Larkin and de Mendoza are staying. You ran into the kindly old woman who works there, Petra Neela Cupertina, and she informed you that they're staying on the fourth floor. I think you determined that de Mendoza wasn't there, right? They're like, oh no, he left. Yeah, we were going to try to snoop because we didn't want to lead on. We're just going to play dumb and not lead on that we know any of this information going in. See how he reacts.

So you go upstairs, you break into his room and he's not there. It's spotless. Looks like it hasn't even been used. There's no luggage, no anything. Although, as you're searching the mattress, you find this mirror that's kind of in the shape of a mask, very, very strange artifact. And Margot looks into it and sees some visions. And I want to hear how you wrote these notes out because they're, it's pretty spot on.

It starts out fine. Ancient stepped pyramid on plateau, pyramid breaks apart and crumbles, white tendrils with maggots reaching out from remains of pyramid. Cover hole mirror, maggots go away, maggots reform on ground. Turn into people dancing, thousands of people orgies killing blood orgy, thousands of people blood orgy on mountain. Which, incidentally, is how I felt after that open mic. Hey! Hey! That's... Comedy open mics are true cyclopean eldritch horror. It's just like, the walk home was not great. You always have to make a sanity check after.

Yeah. Now... Coming to the stage, you've seen him in the center of the universe, dancing to the panoply of mad pipers that... Rind chaos itself. It's the crawling chaos. Have you ever noticed?

Have you ever noticed how when you behold a space so infinitely large that you feel so small in comparison it breaks your brain? Anybody? Am I the only one? Anyway, kids, right? After Margo has this trip through maggots and orgy land, you come back and you're like, a joining room over here, this must be Larkin's room. Why don't we go snoop in there as well, or take a peek?

Let's take a peek. The door is unlocked, you open it up, and you see a room in complete disarray. You're smacked in the face by that Ode to Cologne, that like overwhelming stank that you smelt at the bar Cordano when you were meeting with him and Domendoza and met Jackson Elias for the first time. Then Jesse Hughes. And you see Larkin just snoozing in a chair with his shirt half open, those, those black veins and blackness coming up his arms and this tattoo of like some spiral and creature holding the spiral. And we ended last week's episode with Larkin's eyes opening.

episode with Larkin's eyes opening. So we'll pick up there and you see him sort of struggle for a moment to figure out where he is almost. You just see him like, did you ring? Did I let you in? And he's kind of looking in the direction of this doorway where you're all standing. Did you ring? Did I let you in?

We were knocking for you and didn't hear anything for quite some time, so we just wanted to make sure you were all right. Can't say I was jealous that you were up here, old boy, and that no one was responsive. It seemed like it was only the gentleman's best duty to come in and see how you were faring. My god, man.

Have you seen a bath in a number of weeks? And now he's coming to do it a little bit quicker, but he's still very slow, and he's buttoning his shirt up, and he's pulling his sleeves down, and then you see him reach across the table to like a bedside table and just open up a drawer and push some bottles, very small bottles with a liquid inside in them. And it's like, oh, I'm sorry. I must, I must look a mess.

I was just, I was just napping, just trying to rest. I haven't, I haven't been feeling well. Is everything all right? I was assuming I wouldn't see you until Monday. Aren't we thinking tomorrow? While whoever responds, can I try to just steal one of those vials? Yeah, you know what you can do is see if you can do

a spot hidden to see if you can see anything about the vials before he shoves them in. And if you roll a regular success, I'll let you know something about the bottles. A hard success, I'll say one fell to the floor and you'd kinda kick it back into your room so you can grab it. I rolled a 44 under 75.

Nice. Ooh. All right, so that's a regular success. I will say, it says in Spanish, heroina. Heroin. Okay. Heroina, I'm sure that's exactly how you pronounce it

in Spanish, so. Does it? Don't call it. Does it look like it though? Yes. Yes it does. Do a heroin check. It's a liquid, it looks like, do you know heroin?

It looks like liquid heroin. I mean, it's, I think back then, can heroin be a liquid too? I'm pretty sure that's, yeah, you wanna go ahead. It was probably in soda at the time. I would make some phone calls. It was in school houses everywhere. Hey. Coca-Cola, not with heroin.

Can heroin be liquid? Siri, how do you do heroin? Yeah, well, it's a little tiny bottle. It says heroin and it's liquid. And now you see these marks on his arms. And I think you even noted afterwards when you were thinking about his state at the Bar Cordana, that like he seemed like he was going through withdrawal. And so it all adds up.

He might be some kind of an addict. OK. Well, I'll still pick it up. I'm not. I'm a little suspicious. I'll pocket one of them if I can try. Yeah. You want to do like a sleight of hand? Yeah. Yeah. Just see.

Go back and party at your hotel. I rolled an 18 under 60. Looks like you just got some heroin. Hey. Nice. Add that to my possessions. Hey, what'd you guys do Friday night? Well, no, I got some heroin.

Got some heroin. And played Call of Cthulhu. Yeah. All right, so now he's kinda... He's trying to gather himself, but all of his motions are slow. He's very, like, slow to the go, and he's like, Well, I, um... I'm a right mess at the moment, perhaps you could just, uh, give me... Let me be, and we will speak on Monday.

I'm embarrassed to look like this. I wasn't expecting any visitors. And he seems really, don't catch it, he's not being rude, but he kind of embarrassed kind of not all there. Yes, of course. No doubt, travel exhaustion or something. What? Nothing to be ashamed of, old boy.

You haven't seen Mendoza around, have you? Mendoza said, no, no, I saw him earlier. We had lunch and then we went our separate ways. I wasn't feeling well, and so I've been here for the greater part of the afternoon. Must have my strength, obviously, for this expedition ahead. So I haven't seen him, no. I'm wondering while all this is going on and everyone's talking, if Margo can maybe try to be more perceptive just based on Larkin and roll a psychology check on him, since he seems out of it and then irritated Yeah, yeah, absolutely psychology is the perfect role

To kind of find out is someone hiding information from you or they lying or are they being purposefully obtuse? Also real quick Will we supposed to do like a luck thing to see if we can just in case this affects Kate's role Yes, I had it in my notes and I totally forgot obviously beginning of the session we roll to see if we get luck back. So yeah Kate before you do that roll just in case you want to use some luck on this roll everyone roll a luck check and I forget. It's a D10. Well, shit. If you pass it, no, first you roll a D100 against your luck and then I think you have to get over your luck. And if you do, then you get a D10 back.

Okay. Nice. I did. If I'm incorrect, let me know in the chat. I did. Oh, you did, you guys rolled over. So you failed and now you succeed by getting D10's worth of luck back.

D10, a D10? Sick. All right, I got six points. Ooh, Rob, have you hit the luck bonus yet? I remind me now, with these dice, I've got all zeros. Is that a zero, is that a hundred? That's a 100. So yeah, you get a D10 back because you failed.

Right. And Ross, what'd you roll to get your luck? I rolled a 70 over 45. Great. And then I rolled a 10, my D10 scored me a nine. So. Oh, beautiful. Nice. Nice. Kate, Margo got eight.

And then Rob, what'd you end up getting? I got a beautiful. Nice. Nice. Kate, Margot got eight. And then Rob, what you end up getting? I got a five. Beautiful. The luck economy is flowing like wine. It's flowing like heroin. Kate, give me that psychology role. All right.

Trying to deduce their motives and see if they're hiding something from us. Oh, I think that's 32 under 50. Okay, regular success. You get the sense that, you almost don't get the sense that he's lying so much as there's like blind spots in what he's talking about.

And so if he's being duplicitous at all, it's because he seems unsure about certain things. If that makes sense. Like he's so out of sorts. You don't know if he's purposefully lying or just kind of unaware of some of the things he's talking about. Are you sure that you're going to be okay tomorrow? Yes, I'm sure I will be. I'm sure he will be fine by Monday. I'll take the entire day tomorrow. This malaria, I don't wish it on my worst enemy.

It is, it is a, been a lifelong disease and when it, when it picks up it gets quite bad. And he's like itching his arms. Oh, is that the reason why your friend Mendoza isn't around? We also knocked on his door. Um, what, what do you mean? What, what? Well, we wanted to see that you were alright, so we went to go see if you knew where you were. Yes, as I said, we had lunch and then we went our separate ways.

I'm sure he's out and about. He has friends here in town. I know that I'll see him on Monday morning. I trust him. I trust him implicitly, so I wouldn't worry about Dimmuendoza and I wouldn't worry about me either. I'll be fine. But right now I'm frankly embarrassed

by the rumors of mess here. I wasn't expecting guests. I said, I don't remember how you got in here, but I am fine. You don't have to worry about me. I know I must look a fright, but I will be clean and polished for our journey on Monday. Is everything else going well?

You spent some time at the college today, yes? Was that your plan? Did I know that that was your plan? Did you share that? I can't remember. I can't remember, but let's say yes. I believe Mr. Elias had mentioned that he had a friend there.

So did you escort him there? Did we escort? Jackson Elias. Mr. Elias has some friends. Oh, not Mr. Hughes, rather. I wouldn't know his real name. It's Mr. Hughes. Mr. Hughes.

He knows everything. I'm all fucked up. Anyways, how was your day? What did you do today? Perhaps I don't know. Ah, heroin. Did it involve Mr. Hughes? Oh, nothing.

It was just a very eventful day. Just getting a little brief history. Before we head out. Yes, so we're sitting here trying to catch up, old man. In the midst of all this, has he pulled himself together to conceal his tattoo again? Yeah, he's tried to button himself up and you still see like a little blackness above the neck. But he just, he had his shirt like wide open. Okay, I mean, if he knows that we were in there

and it was open, then part of me is like, just why not just be like, throw a bit of work there on your chest, old boy. Saw something like it on a sailor in Rotterdam. What do you have there? The Queen Mary? Some ship with a line? Anchor? This is going to sound a bit embarrassing, but frankly, I do not know. I had some rather wild days in my youth that I'm not particularly proud of and I cannot pinpoint where I got this. It's just become a part of me at this point and as much as I regret those times in my life, I like the

reminder of a more carefree time. Obviously it would be nice if it wasn't so large. A simple butterfly on the small of my back would have been better, but instead this giant thing and I am embarrassed, but I don't know what it signifies or even when or how I got it. If you do happen to have a butterfly on the small of your back, then your eyes aren't the ones that can be trusted to tell you that it's there. Perhaps you do have one. As opposed to you need two mirrors or a trusted friend to tell you otherwise. Yes, well I lived a rather wild, wild, wild life I guess you could say. I didn't, I didn't follow in the footsteps of the family business so they think of me as a

bit of a wastrel and so I think when you grow up having your parents and your family think of you that way, you tend to embody those things. I didn't want to be a railway man like my father and my grandfather. I wanted to do other things. So that is why this expedition is so important to me, is I feel like it's finally something that I can do on my own.

I can strike out on my own and do something that gives meaning to me, and not just something that I was expected to do. The flip side of that is that it was a long road to get there, and like all of us, I'm sure I have some things that I regret but as for this it's not something I show off but I'm sure a day will come when I will determine the meaning and why I have it. If your family could see you now, they would just be like, wow.

So proud. Yes, well, they don't. They don't speak to me any longer. Though they are good to always send me a check at the end of the month. I've stopped catching them, to be honest. I think it's rude. I'd rather have their affection than their money. But no matter. We won't need any of that once we

finish this expedition we will be rich beyond our wildest dreams but I am I I'm feeling bit bit out of sorts so I'm just going to bid adieu to you for the evening and you have the day to yourself tomorrow, but remember 8am sharp, Monday morning, uh, we will uh, we will meet, the trucks will arrive and we will head uh, in the direction of Puno, uh, and then from there we will uh, switch to pack animals for the rest of the journey uh, to the area beyond Lake Titicaca. Any questions? No, I don't think so. A thousand pardons for the interruption, old man.

No, no, it's quite all right. It's good for us to get to know each other. It's just, you know, we'll talk more on the road. This is... I was not expecting visitors, as you can see. I promise I keep a cleaner... a cleaner more on the road. This is, I was not expecting visitors, as you can see. I promise I keep a cleaner, a cleaner self on the road when I'm around other people. But have a wonderful night and I will, I will see you on Monday morning, Mr. Mendoza, hand-eye. Yes.

And he kind of starts to get up to usher you out and then falls back into his chair and is just like, get the fuck out. The international sign for, please get the fuck out. I'm on her. This is heroin time. This is the worst come down ever. You really killed his buzz. So, a weird interaction there.

Obviously he was under the influence, but as Margot sussed out from that psychology role, something's not right. How do you get a tattoo like that and not remember it? But he did seem genuine. Are the holes in his memory related to the drugs? I don't know. It's just a weird guy.

Does he have malaria or is he lying about the malaria and he's just an addict? Whether or not this guy is involved in a death cult, yet another reason to give you pause about this. So what do you want to do now? Call it a night? Grab a drink at the bar? Your buddy Carter is down there on his third Pisco Sour. Yeah, we should definitely go down there and at least fill him in over a glass.

All right, you head downstairs and Cupertina is there and she waves. Hello. And you roll up to the bar with a fresh jar of heroin. Yeah. It's Saturday night in Lima. What are you doing? As soon as we. Mm-hmm.

Have you guys ever been to Peru? As soon as we all reconvene, have you guys ever been to Peru? Oh no. As soon as we all reconvene, I'm just going to like, just forgetting that there's a bunch of people nearby, just set it down on the counter and just be like, that man was goofy on the devil snake juice.

The bartender thinks it's a tip, grabs it and smiles. Eat gas! That guy was goofy on the devil snake juice. What do you guys want? I just had a reader, that means absolutely nothing in actual like I have a thing for the slang of 1920s and I didn't find anything so I just made something up.

Oh that worked. That's great. That's the only reason you took the heroin. Sorry. I'm sorry. I was like, oh, this terminology thing has failed me. You guys walk in and there's several empty cocktail glasses in front of Carter and he's staring at a cocktail napkin and really trying to turn it into a paper airplane of some kind and then sees you guys like yes Yeah, I've been keeping eyes wide open for

Dimmendosa hasn't come by Yet, but my you know just eagle vision the whole time here these drinks are killer by the way you guys really got it What happened up there? Good to see that we're being kept overwatch by the redoubtable Mr. Tillinghast. Head on a swivel and all that. Oh yeah, yeah. Just, I mean, don't let the porcelain left eye fool you. The right eye sees... What is it about when you lose a sense, the other sense comes back? I lost half my vision, but then somehow doubled my vision with one eye.

So, anyway, these drinks are great. Is that heroin? Here's some diabolical snake venom here. Found this up in Larkin's room. Whoa, he's a junkie, eh? Scores a bit, all over the place. Seems the old man's some sort of hop head. He's on the opium.

The morphine. The devil snakes. The devil snakes. That's the stuff. Drinking it straight from the fan he was. Wow. Now, now, everyone knows that heroin in a proper dosage and applied by a physician is absolutely harmless. I grew up on it. Who didn't?

What self-respecting mother didn't rub heroin or morphine on a child's gums when they got a little hurt? Yeah, just sprinkle it in the morning eggs. Yeah, scramble them up. Now, you guys went into Dementosis. Good for the humans. Rueam, I'm sure you did that very cautiously and left no trace of your entrance, right? Did you fail your locksmith roll and just kick it down? Yeah. I think we did.

I think we did. Okay, that'll be... be God you guys just amateur. What is he going to do? What is he going to do? Confront us? Like, seem like the place was cleared out except for that mask. Fortune smiled on a stilling house. There's nobody home. Doesn't look like the man's been in there the entire time. The man's been in there the entire time. Fresh was there. And how did you get into Homeboy's room? What's his name for shit?

Yes, Homeboy. Yeah, how'd you get into Larkin's room? You probably just went back outside and knocked on his outside door, right? Simple matter of turning the knob, old boy. Just turn. So you entered his room from DeMendoza's room? Yes.

Got it, okay, all right. So you see how one might assume that you had broken into Demendoza's room and that can be corroborated by Larkin. He was on a heroine. Oh, the heroine, right, okay. He was knocked out. All right, it's just always good to have a plan B, C, D,

and E, you know what I mean? Yes, we're going to exhaust the alphabet of plans, I think, because the leader of our little expedition is high on snake venom half the time. There are more holes in his memory than a piece of Helvetic cheese. So do you Americans just bring heroin out with you just everywhere, like we're gonna have?

Yeah, heroin and guns. Parts of heroin for Larkin, and that's just what you do. Yeah. Okay. Pretty much. So Marco believes that this is totally normal. Writes that down in his sketchbook.

What sort of expedition are we setting out on? Run by a man whose brain has been drilled to bits by snake juice in the company or lack of company of a person who's looking more and more is wrapping his eel like lips around the mouth of our friend. I would like to know what's going on with his Mendoza chap and in the heat. And Larkin there seems to be so many holes in his memory. And Larkin, there seems to be so many holes in his memory.

I really truly think he does not know what he does not know. His tattoo, he does not know. When, why, how he got it. I believe him. I think he's not telling us. It's definitely not encouraging since I feel like he said that he had no written map, that he had it all up in his head

Oh, he did right if it's Helvetic cheese up there. I Don't know what I don't know what we're where we're going. Well, this is where there are no holes There's a lot of information. He remembers lots of specific things when there are no holes There's lots of specific things when there are no holes. Well, as far as I'm concerned, he still could lead us any even if it's a small chance, he leads us to some sort of riches. I mean, I've got nothing better to do right now. So you're hanging out there talking, going over everything that you did up there, catching Carter up on things and realizing that Carter was probably the perfect person to go up there and do the breaking and entering as you get to know each other.

And eventually Elias shows up. Obviously, that was a faux pas on my part. As far as Larkin and de Mendoza know, his name is Jesse Hughes. But obviously, you know at this point, he revealed to you that his real name is Jackson Elias. And he comes back and he tells you that he had, what's his name, the professor, Professor Nemesio Sanchez is in the hospital and he is in stable condition in spite of the botched surgery

and the larva that was eating away inside of him. Obviously, Trinidad Rizzo is dead. The police, I mean, he didn't tell them that like, oh possibly a vampire killed her, but the police were very confused as to the state of the body and that just he kind of talked it away, but you can see in his face he's like he's got a completely different complexion now because this is a guy that doesn't believe in any of this stuff. And even though he saw Trinidad's body, he still has a hard time making these connections.

However, he comes up and he's like, so I was looking over the diary of Figaroa. Did you take that with you or did you leave it? I guess we could have left it with him. If you didn't leave it with him, but if you took it either way, he could have been like, I was thinking about it. And, or if you did leave it, then he took it with him. And he says says I have a

feeling that this is going to be important to us and he pulls out that gold chunk that was in the box he's like I don't I don't know why but when you read Figaro is note it seems like it it seems like it was a section of gold that they pried out that caused these problems. Perhaps this was that section. So whether we need it or not, I don't want to get all the way there and not have it. I'm holding it and it's not doing anything to me,

but I feel like this is something we may need. Now is it the section that was torn out? Does this have anything to do anything? I don't know but I just wanted to make sure that we had our bases covered so I'm bringing this with us. I'm bringing the diary. What did you learn about Dumbandosa and Larkin? And then you just give the whole spiel to him like you did to Carter and he's, so what's the plan? Do we just meet on Monday as planned, right? I mean, he has the trucks. If we try to organize that ourselves,

it's gonna be costly. We can always take a ship down to a city and then take the rail down, but if Larkin goes with his normal plan, he'll get there before us. We have to go, but I want to know what you think is the safest route. I don't know if it's what the safest route is, but this feels like the only route to me. I mean, unless someone else's intricate knowledge of Peru, I think we gotta tailgate with this. Tailgate? That doesn't make sense.

We'll do a tailgate at seven before the trucks take off. Should we start tailgating with the heroin in the parking lot of the hotel? I think, like I said before, if we could just play dumb, it would be our safest bet. We have one more day to prepare. And keeping them close is, perhaps, a damn sight better than getting there and being at odds with them. Alright, then business as usual. Unless we, unless anything different happens tomorrow,

we'll meet at 8 a.m., we'll keep our eyes and our ears open and... Real quick. Head to Puno. Mr. Elias, do you have any knowledge of, let's say hypothetically, this Dimmendoza is the same Mendoza from the journal? I just have a hard time believing that.

Let's just go down this road briefly. Do you know from all of your readings if there's anything written about how to best defend yourself against Kala, what's it called? Ciri? Kari Ciri. Kari Ciri. Is there anything just just to have something in the back pocket, were things to take an improbable turn into the fantastic? So I don't know anything of that. I do know that people speak of these things,

especially once we leave civilization, once we leave Lima and enter the less civilized areas like Puno. I will say this, when I spent some time over in Lake Titicaca, I met a woman, a healer, if you will, in her community, a woman by the name of Nyarara and she is looked up to by her people and we struck up a friendship and she believes in all of these things as well. Let's seek her out when we get there. I'm sure Mr. Larkin has made accommodations for us in Puno, at least for the night when we arrive before we head out on the overland journey through the highlands

to get to the area of this pyramid. So when we arrive, we'll just go off on our own, meet with Nihar and ask her this question. I don't think we'll have to worry about it, but I certainly think she could give us more information. I mean, she was one of many people that spoke to me about the Kari Siri and she was even one of the ones that said that the Mendoza was a Kari Siri. So whatever the reality is of this situation, I think she will be able to provide us with important, important information.

Okay, I suppose so. I'm no more credulous than you, Mr. Elias, but I don't believe any of this immortal Mendoza rot for a moment. But what matters is if they believe it, then it's best to know what we're walking into so that we can use this folklore and fairy tales to our advantage. Absolutely. You know, if they say they fly on bat wings and shoot fire out of their mouth, maybe they just attack from the trees and use guns. Any information we get, we'll have to interpret in a way that can help us. And one more thing, our friend, I'm telling us, raise an interesting point. It seems though the mind of Mr. Larkin has some, shall we say, syncopies.

What I'm saying is, if his mind is the only map we've got to this pyramid, then I'd be a damn sight more confident if I had one on paper, parchment, deer skin, or bronze. Yes. Is there an actual map to be found anywhere? No, however, with this diary that we have, and Nyara's help, I think if worse came to worse, we'll be able to find out all the information we need should Larkin lose himself.

I feel confident in that. So we're good. I just realized it would be so awful if Larkin died and we were stuck alone with Mendoza. Ooh. Right this way. Oh God. Yeah, I mean, this is what Elias told you from the start.

He's like, I think we're being led into danger. But what you do have is numbers. And the fact that Elias has spent some time here already, he has connections. Larkin has connections as well. So let's see how it all unfolds. We'll say we fade out of that scene for the night and we open up on Sunday.

You've got 24 hours before you need to meet at the rendezvous point outside of the Hotel España. Is there anything you wanna do before you meet with Larkin or do you wanna jump forward to the next day? Monday, right now it's Sunday. Do we want to try to get our hands on some local maps? Like as much as we can for, as a backup. I was wondering that too,

because it also sounds like we're on our way there stopping at a town before actually going out into the jungle, and maybe that town might have more local information about this than this town does. Yeah. And it's very easy for you to get these maps. And if you remember what Larkin showed you at dinner that night, this is the map that he showed you. Now, you don't have access to this, but you do remember that the ruins are somewhere south of Puno, south of Lake Titicaca, according to his addled mind. So you could absolutely go into a gift shop, get a map of Peru, a map of the area here, and even get a more detailed map if you wanted to. But generally you think once you get to Puno,

it's just gotta head south. Head south to an area where no one else goes because the locals are afraid of the legends of that area. I feel like, unless we do something together, I definitely want to get like a knife. Because I don't have any self-defense of my own and like I don't feel like I can fully trust everything that they give me. That's a good point. I also have no weapon. Now that we are suspecting this man of being immortal, or just a horrible person, it might

be good to have some sort of armament. Yeah, acquiring a gun, you would all know, is going to be tricky. You're in a foreign territory, you're not locals, you'd be caught up in a lot of paperwork and bureaucracy, you wouldn't have enough time to get a gun by tomorrow morning. But certainly a sword or a knife. A sword, Jesus, I wasn't expecting that to be the alternative. You're going through the jungle, get a machete or something,

it wouldn't be suspicious. Yeah, and that wouldn't raise any suspicion. So yeah, that's a smart idea. If you guys wanna go to the, there's a store called Knives Knives Knives right across from the hotel. And they have all sorts of knives. You could certainly get a machete or a combat knife, whatever you want, and it wouldn't raise any eyebrows.

I also do have a compass. We could use that as a weapon. That we could just throw it at somebody. You know, in case we need to map our way out alone. Yeah. And part of me is like, maybe Viliers has a kind of a sickening thought that like, if, like perhaps,

as much as the brain keeps bringing you back to ridiculous supernatural ideas, maybe the hold that Mendoza has over Larkin is just, perhaps he's just his supplier of the devil's poppy. So maybe Vilyers just wants to get some like cough medicine or something so that like in a pinch he's got something to turn the screws on Larkin if things get desperate. Staying off the shakes? So you want to head down to maybe the less reputable areas of Lima and see if you can score some H? Yeah, score some H. Okay.

The streets call it the Devil's Snake Juice. some H. Okay. The streets call it the devil's snake juice. You want to get the devil's snake juice now. The first for any TTRPG I've played going, we're going on a Just as now we need to know what the Spanish translation of that is, because that's what they would call it. Heroina. Oh, the day of El Diablo's Juiced the Snake. Fuego de Diablo. Probably. Yeah, Fugo de Diablo.

Yeah, I think it's Fugo. Fugo? I don't know. Yeah. Okay. So you're, you're trying to buy illegal drugs. Obviously this is a, uh, Also very, uh, dangerous. Is there an illegal drug

skill? No? Well this is what I'm looking at because I'm curious here. I think you're going to be able to score it but it's always fun to roll dice. Is that like a fast talk? What is a... Well here's the thing, you don't speak Spanish and you've got to first see if you can find a drug dealer that speaks Spanish. In this year, would it not be, and this is my own ignorance, is it possible that I might be able to procure, maybe not heroin, but like over-the-counter drugs that would contain opiates that could be,

that might, oh, even though they might not have the same potency as like, the Devil's Snake Juice. Right, something like that. Or at least like, like... Yeah, absolutely, why not? I'm sure there's something, it's not gonna have that potency like you said. I also, I also have, as a con man, I have suggested contacts, other confidence artists or freelance criminals.

I don't know, it's still the language barrier is an issue there. Then why would we, why would we just go to the drug store? If we've got contacts, we can get the real thing. It's the 20s, what's it doing here? You're right. Well, here, I'm curious, like, you obviously have your circle back in Manchester by the Sea. Do they have any contacts that run deep into Lima? I'm sure. Okay.

That's not, no. Give me a, you know, maybe you do. do give me a luck roll just for the hell of it You just got to roll under your luck And if you do then I want to hear the story of how you happen to know somebody out here like before you left Down I just I missed it by about six points. Oh use your luck Can you use luck to do this? It might be worth it just because it's fun. It's so perverse.

Okay, yeah. I'll spend, what is that, six points? Because I rolled a 74. Yep. Above 68. Burn six points of luck and explain to me how before you left Massachusetts, someone told you, like, I got a buddy, I got a cousin.

How do you know some dirty, no good scoundrel? Okay, all right, so my wife is an elderly woman. Let's just get it out there. Let's talk about it. And I'm trying to, you know, suck her dry of her money. And so- You're the vampire. Yeah, in a way, I'm a fiscal vampire. So she, despite refusing to die, is still an elderly person in the 20s.

They're pumping her full of narcotics. She's moving out of spite. I've become very friendly with her physician because I'm constantly, every time he visits, I immediately am waiting outside like nervously Twiddling my fingers and he walks out like so she's I mean she's got to be on death's door, right? I mean she she doesn't have much luck God. I can barely keep myself together doc Is she gonna make it or not? He's just like yeah, it's another cold. She's fine. Whatever, but He's like at some point in passing. He's like man

The stuff I'm getting out of Lima from this one dude It's just doing the trick for it's really keeping her alive. So maybe there's some resentment also going on right now inside of me And he just you know, randomly probably said this person's name and And now here we are. Okay, That's the flashback. I like that. So when, uh, Vaughn brings up this idea, he's like, maybe I could score something. You, it rings a bell in your head, like, I know a guy. Wait a minute.

I know that guy who's somehow keeping my wife alive, which is great, by the way. Very thankful for his work, uh, in, in harvesting whatever these narcotics are we could probably find this bro and score some pre I'm talking it's probably primo I mean it's going to some rich white lady in Massachusetts you know it's good all right so that that successful luck roll allows you to find this guy and score these score exactly what you need with the same exact potency. So you get legitimate heroin from him. Great Sunday, by the way, just buying knives and heroin.

Knives, machetes and heroin. No time for church. Either this or go to the 1920s Lima version of Coachella. Any other business you want to complete today before you start your big trip tomorrow with these possible death cultists? Did we say that, and forgive me if I missed it, did we say that Professor Sanchez is still alive? Sanchez is still alive. He's in stable condition at the local hospital.

I want to go to him. Okay. If I can. Yeah, absolutely. And I'd love to take... Flowers? Yes, I would like to take flowers and Margo. That's nice. That's just to take flowers and Margo.

That's just nice. Flowers and Margo. Okay. But that's, I don't know, it's because I'd like Margo with her artistic talent to make, do a caricature of Mendoza. I want to know if this was the person who did it. Oh, okay. Oh. Mendoza, I want to know if this was the person who did it. Oh, okay. All right, so you go to the hospital and...

40 chess. Just happens to be... At first she scoffs at you for asking for a character, but then she sees you want realistic personification of art of a person, capture their essence to really show someone who they are. Yes, however you wish to put it, a character. You can happen to do anything, riding a little bicycle.

Well, whatever. I got you, I got you. This is a great idea. You're wearing a little hat with the little pinwheel thing on top. That would be droll, yes. With a detached mouth coming out. You head to the hospital,

and as a nurse behind the desk, small hospital like two floors. And what do you say? Excuse me. My cousin of mine, not by blood, but very much related. Mr. Sanchez, I believe in your care. I'd just love to be delivering these to him, if you'd be so kind. She looks and says, Sanchez, is he... gives the international sign for one second. You see her walk down a hallway and she talks to another nurse and they're talking and they look up at you and Margot and then they go back to talking and then she comes back and she says, uh, he, uh, yes, he is, um, he is down here, um, uh, just waking up, um, right this way. Excellent. And she walks you down, uh, hallway and, uh, there's like a glass window and into that room, you see Professor Sanchez lying there and I mean, he looks

into that room you see professor Sanchez lying there and I mean he looks horrible there are like burn marks all around his mouth where you know whatever did this damn latched on and most likely put this lava inside of him and he's just like heavily drugged for pain. Sanchez, I just wanted to see how you were doing, Sport. Yes, I am alive, thanks to you and your friends. It seems as if it was all a nightmare. But now that I see you, perhaps it was real. They say I'm going to live, and I thank God for that.

Yes, indeed. Well, thank whoever you wish, but I'm glad you're still with the living professor. Yes, unfortunately. I was only just curious, not to, not to drag your mind back to the, uh, horrid event in question but... You said it was a man that did this to you. What? Yes.

A man. He... He... Yes, a man, he... he put his mouth on my mouth, came out of nowhere. Get a good look at him, did you, before he gave you this wretched little kiss? My memory is full of holes, but though it happened fast, I do remember his eyes. Piercing blue eyes. Yes, as you mentioned. Perhaps a mustache or a beard, but it was hard to say because his mouth was not a human mouth. It was like a lamprey eel, but three times the size. Teeth everywhere.

It couldn't have been real. No, man, it's just the fear talking. But think back before your fear unseated your reason, think back to that face. And you tell me if it resembled this. That's when I'll produce Margo's rendering. And he's like, Yes. Yes. El Diablo.

Whoa, really? That was him. That was the man. His mouth was not like that. But that was the man. Calm yourself. Are you positive? Yes. Do you think he is the one that

killed Miss Rizzo as well? Poor Miss Rizzo. And he starts crying. She had a whole life ahead ofzo. And he starts crying. He's like, she had a whole life ahead of her. And he starts coughing. Machines, boop, boop, boop. If that's so, we'd damn well bet her have eyes in the back of our head for going up the mountain with with that as I look down

at the drawing he is he must be what they say is I've never believed in these creatures these ancient gods or any such folklore but perhaps perhaps they are real if they are you are in great danger we're in great danger without resorting to our forest fairy tales, old boy. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all of this. Your mind has been so steeped in these dusty old books, then you're seeing it everywhere you turn. Yes, perhaps. We won't let Mendoza give us the runaround. Don't worry. Perhaps you are right. But...

I believe things now I did not just days ago. You saw it. You saw that thing crawling on the floor that came out of me. There are dark happenings going on under our noses. Yes, I don't precisely know what that thing was, but there are all sorts of strange beasts in this hemisphere that I'm not aware of. Cigarette?

Are there any books at the local library that are about this folklore? No, fairy tales. That is all. The newspapers will tell of the deaths that people claim to be caused by this garrisieri. by these carry Siri but it is not real journalists do not take this as truth so no one has ever dug deep very well will you rest now professor yes sorry sorry for the fright. I am tired. Wait. As you're starting to walk out, he's like... This may seem foolish, but the nursery rhymes they tell of these creatures is that they

cannot die like normal beasts. That if you cut off their head they will still walk and reattach it. They must be burned or dismembered or they will continue to haunt you. This is what they tell the children. But perhaps there is truth to it as well. Yes, well thanks for the sweet bon voyage. We'll keep that well in mind. Margo adds one more machete to her list. We'll keep that well in mind. Margot adds one more machete to her list. And his eyes... just...

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And what seemed like it would be a fruitless conversation with de Mendoza may have given you a little information there. Up until now, everyone, you know, not even in the scientific community, but in the journalists, people like Elias and this professor, they don't take this stuff seriously. They have an interest in this, but their interest is like, what is the truth behind these ghost stories? What is the truth behind these local legends?

But now he's seen something manifest. Even though he was attacked by it, he's still not 100% sure, but he does remember these things. He does remember seeing a huge mouth and teeth. But he still thinks maybe it's a nightmare. But he does say, the fairy tales say, cut their head off and they'll still getcha. Gotta burn em. They gotta be burned or dismembered So you've got a Bit of a situation here

Anything else you want to do on Sunday? Yes, I would say we should probably Purchase I don't know lamp oil that we could like tear some cloth and make a torch and light it up Yeah, yeah Anything that will burn like that? and tear some cloth and make a torch and light it up. Yeah. Yeah. Anything that will burn like that. High proof alcohol, high proof rum. I mean, I don't know if that'll last the whole trip though.

I know people aren't gonna drink lamp oil. That was already on Vaughn's shopping list for different events. They have two jars of heroin, they've only been here three days. So they have like waterproof matches and stuff, because now outside of lamp oil, like something to make a fire

in case we need to burn a body, I guess. I think Vaughn is a chain smoker and has a lighter. Zippo, a 1920s Zippo. Little trench lighter. A 1920s Zippo. A little trench lighter. So Margo buys a second machete. You guys get some lamp oil and just make sure you have things that can catch fire. And Jackson, if you see him at all during the day, he's just, he checks in with you and you can see he's kind of fired up. Even though there's danger, like you can tell he kind of lives for this. He's like a gonzo journalist. He likes to be in it.

He wants to know exactly how it all works. And for months now, he's been on this trail and now tomorrow you're leaving. So maybe that gives you a little bit of hope because there's a lot of fear surrounding this. But he seems pretty excited. Yeah, I think Vaughn is a little similar where like there's a lot of fear, but it's like the limit experience of it is thrilling. It's like, see something that people have only seen in dreams, so many people are frightened of to see. Test all these wild theories, put them through the test of reason.

Yes, something to do with that. Although, we must keep our eyes open for there's no two ways about it. We're going into the jungler up the mountain with a murderer Carter just walks up to bond talking to himself Did it carve that ring out of the poor girl's chest there must be some strange Everything all right, man God tilling has still take this the wrong way, but I never get used to seeing your face.

I mean, at this point, it's some of the least horrific things we're talking about. So at this point, I've never felt more comfortable. Yes, well, have you ever come to grips? Have you ever come to grips with a man, Tillinghouse? Do you ever had your back against the wall and had to use one of these? He pulls out his little pistol.

My past is shrouded in mystery, sometimes even from myself. Well, you need not tell me everything, but it might come to it, old boy. We're going into this very remote place with someone I don't trust or league. Or if we're just being broke. I know that you were overseas, you know, fighting that great war.

Everything okay now? You feel level? I mean, we already got to worry about a potential vampire guy here. I just want to make sure, you know, we can trust you too, right? You're going to keep it together? Of course, old boy. Everybody calm down and have some heroin. Yeah. Also, for a second Vaughn is probably taking you seriously. Like, no, right.

Of course. No, no, no. I assure you, Tilly, it's these dull, quiet times that make me feel as though I'm going mad. It's when things start picking up, when the hurly burly's up, that's when things become clear. Mm-hmm, yeah. Well, look, I got these potatoes in spicy cheese sauce.

It's a Peruvian delicacy. I looked it up before I got here. You gotta try one of these, man. They're dynamite. Fantastic! And so Sunday passes as well. Your third day in Lima and your last night and you wake up bright and early Monday morning and we just see like a montage of all of you packing up your things getting ready looking at yourself in the mirror primping cleaning yourself getting ready and then one by one convening outside of your hotel along with Mr. Jesse Hughes,

as far as you'll need to refer to him going forward. And you head in the direction of the Hotel España. You get there and you see three trucks are there. Maybe it's like quarter of eight. And they're there, they're ready to go. You also see Augustus Larkin. He looks light years better than he did when last you saw him.

He's got a crisp white suit on. Perhaps the same suit he was wearing the other day, but now it is pressed. He, his hair is done. His shirt is all buttoned up. You can't even see a little bit of the tattoo sneaking out. His sleeves are down so you don't see his blackened arms and blackened veins. He looks fresh and he waves to you.

Hello, hello, my companions, are you ready? You're here on time? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried that you wouldn't show up at the last moment until I saw you with my very eyes. I just can't believe this is coming to fruition. Wonderful, wonderful. Just going over some last few things with the men here. I'll be with you shortly, but don't go anywhere. We're going to be boarding up in about 12 minutes and he starts talking to the one of the drivers and you don't see de Mendoza around at all. He finishes up with the driver and that driver goes and talks to the other two drivers and he says all right wonderful we are ready to go you can can probably, three of you fit in one truck,

and then two of you in another, or you can split it up any way you want. I'm going to be riding alone with the first driver. You can take the other two trucks, because we have to talk about certain things along the way. Mr. Domendoza will not be joining us on this part of the expedition. I spoke to him yesterday and he had some things he had to do in town. I think something may have come up with his family. He did not say as much, but that was the feeling that I got. And

it's possible he may meet up with us later, but as I told him, that you know, we may already be out in the wilderness by the time he comes. So unfortunately, he won't be joining us on this, but I'm not too concerned. I have the five of you and you are all ready and raring to go. So, yes, we are all set. So he's meeting up with us. Oh, when? He might. He might meet up with us. But as I told him, you'll have to find us in Puno before we set off for the Overland journey, because by then it will be like finding a needle in a haystack. So if he chooses to, he will leave tomorrow and take a steamer all the way down and then the rails. That's his only chance of reaching Puno on time.

But he has money and he could do that. It's unfortunate. I think he would have really, really enjoyed seeing the area. And I'm still holding out hope that he will meet us in Puno. But unfortunately, he won't be joining us for this leg of the journey. Can you? I can't remember if you went into this when we first met, sir. But how did you guys meet?

How do you guys fall into one another? Demendoza, I meet so many people. But I met Mr. Demendoosa when I first came to Lima and we just really hit it off and I was looking for some help and he was looking for work and so I just it just seemed to be a match that worked. I don't know how much you spoke to him the other night. He's a bit of a quiet fellow. You're not a talker. Yeah, not a talker.

And I will admit he is a bit of an irascible fellow, but he and I get along enough so that he was happy to work for me. I am disappointed that he is not here for this because we've been talking about it so much, but... Yeah, this seemed like something he wouldn't want to miss. Yes, yes, yes. Well, that's why I'm still holding out hope that he will meet us in Puno, but unfortunately, he will not be here. Luckily, we have a strong presence like you, Mr. Tillinghouse. I think that you'll be able to help and...

Charisma goes a long way. You know what I mean? Yes. Well, we'll need all of that with the locals when we get out there. It's a shame that only Mr. Hughes here speaks Spanish, but I know everyone out there. We will get by. but look at the time. We must get ready. Please choose your trucks and we will set off

for the adventure of a lifetime. And so how do you guys wanna group up in these trucks? I wanna sit with Elias. I just wanna sit in the front front because I get car sick. Me too. All right, so you sit in the front in one of the trucks and, Carter, you want to go with Elias. Yeah.

What about Faerus and Vaughn? Now that Mendoza's not here to keep an eye on, yeah, Vaughn is kind of bewildered and is like, I suppose I'll sit any old place. Who else is like with us besides the people that we know and have met? Are there like randos with us? Just three rando drivers. Okay. And the five of you and Larkin. That's it.

Nobody else has joined the expedition. Now you know that the professor wanted to, or had offered his services, but he was turned down. And then almost murdered. It's almost as if he knows too much. Perhaps he knows a little too much. I think if at least we split up into twos, then we'd be able to ask the two different drivers.

Yeah. Get some whatever information we can. I'm trying to see. I have like mediocre like charm and stuff like that. I do not. Okay. And Carter has some charms, so maybe split up Carter and Margot.

All right. So we'll say Carter and Elias are in one truck, Margot in another truck. And then, Favors, do you want to go with Carter and Elias or Margot? And same question for Vaughn.

I'll go with Carter and Elias. And I'll go with Margot. Margot and Vaughn. I'll go with Carter and Elias. And I'll go with Margo. Margo and Vaughn. Thick as thieves, hospital buddies. So you set out, and these truck drivers are pretty gruff, and you probably think they speak very little English, but they can get by. The journey by road is approximately 800 miles and it's going to take three days to get to

Puno, traveling down the coast to the city of Camania before heading up into the Andes Mountains and across into the highlands. You know, the other way that he was suggesting is that you take a, you know, had you decided, you know, we're gonna go our own way, or maybe this is the way that Domendoza is going, you take a steamer from Lima via Molendo, and then you can take the rails. And it's faster, but it's a little more expensive.

And Larkin is footing the bill for this. So it worked out. And then in 1921, there are no commercial air services between Lima and Puno. This was a pulp game though, you could technically hire a private airplane, but this ain't pulp. Although it's a little pulpy.

I would say... It's semi-pulp. Yeah, some pulp. Mushy. Just mushy mush. Some pulp. Can we get it... Would it be a spot hidden or something to peek in the back of these trucks? What sort of provisions and equipment

has Larkin provided? Oh yeah, that's a good question. You know what I'm gonna do in the meantime is I'm gonna show you the sort of route, the suggested route here that you're gonna go. So you'll see Lima and then there's the city of Pisco and then all the way down is Camana, see it? And then once you hit Kamanya is when you head

east over to Puno, which sits right on the shores of Lake Titicaca, and then from there is the general area where he says the ruins are. So you see what that route is gonna look like. It's a three day journey by car to get to Puno, and then it's probably the same length by foot to go just that small distance to wherever the ruins are and that's assuming you go directly to where the ruins are and you all have kind of concerns about whether

or not that's possible although you feel like those fears have been a bit assuaged by Jackson. So there's like digging equipment, there's shovels and tarps, tents, lanterns, blankets. There's equipment that pack animals would carry, so saddlebags and other stuff. Everything that you would need for an expedition and most importantly nothing out of the ordinary. Okay. The music is very non-confrontational. I feel like this is very peaceful. It's a very NBC town right now. During a large portion of this car ride, Carter is just talking off Elias's ear, just like being like, look, I know you're writing this book and I know you need a protagonist. I know originally you said you're not going

to do nonfiction. Right. But I just want to see, should you shift into fiction? You know, again, you're going to need a strong lead character, kind of a rake, kind of a somebody the audience can get behind. I don't know if you noticed but I had some probing questions back there about how long that Larkin knew Dimmendoza. I mean, I was asking other questions along the way. I sat in a bar for a while. Oh, you're thinking he's talking about you? Oh, you're suggesting you? Yeah, I think right now, I mean, look,

you got that guy that was in the war, great. He's handsome, he's cool, he's got an interesting accent. But you want somebody that's gritty. You want someone with boots on the ground, you know what I mean? Yes, yes, yes. So I'm not gonna push it so much right now, and then, you know, 10 minutes later, he's like, now listen, if chapter two in the book starts.

Yeah. And he tells me, he's like, Mr. Tillinghouse, I actually began as a fiction writer. I, my interest in dark stories began by reading them and then writing them. And then as I learned more about the world, I found out that a lot of these dark stories had even darker truths attached to them.

And that's why I went the non-fiction route. But I'll tell you, there's something about all of your stories that makes me want to go back and dabble into fiction. And- And in terms of dark truths, let's talk commissions. Because that's something that a lot of people don't, I think a lot of people try to,

I'm not gonna say 40%, I'm not gonna say that right now. Sure, sure, sure. I'll tell you, if I'm able to finish my book on this journey, you will all be thanked in the in the afterword. Oh. Okay. Yeah, that's...

I guess that's kind of meat in the middle. It's not cash. Or being featured anywhere in the subsequent pages. But yeah, we got a long ride. I got a lot of time out. We'll figure it out. Yeah, we'll figure it out.

Taking a look around, is there like, do we notice that he's packed any weapons? Or like, what sort of, how have they prepared for this? Yeah, so. As opposed to us. You don't know if Larkin's back in any heat. You didn't see any guns or weaponry in his office. If anything, de Mendoza was his weapon.

If the rumors are true here. If you ask Elias or if you just look on his person, you don't see that he has any weapons You see I'm curious because I actually have his character sheet I'm curious if he's packing anything here No, he does not have any oh no he does if you ask me it's like Well, I've never had to use it, but I always keep a 45 handy on journeys like this. And so he's got a 45 revolver.

I don't imagine I'm going to need to use it, but when you get deep out there into the country, I want to be protected if any wild animals come after us. Now with all this other stuff, I'm glad I brought it. What animals have you encountered? Oh, there's hyenas and leopards, snakes, all sorts of shit out there. Hyenas? Yeah. Hyenas, you say. Hyena fucks with me, I'll shoot them with my revolver.

Tell you what., you say? Hyena fucks with me, I'll shoot him with my revolver. Tell you what. Tell you what. I don't mess around with hyenas. Yeah, no, I live in New York. Everybody has guns. But coming on a trip like this, it's just smart. And now, seeing where we're heading here

I'm glad I brought it. I also the subject matter that I study it's it's best to have some protection but truthfully if it if it came to blows I don't even know how useful I would be. I'm thankful to have all of you along, seeing what you were able to do when that, whatever that was, attacked Ms. Feroz here. I feel a lot safer having you on my side. He's like the most likable guy in the world. You've only been with him a couple days and you just be like, I want to hang out with this guy all the time. Give you a little background on Puno just so you have a kind of a picture in your mind's eye. Puno is small, much smaller than Lima, about 20,000 residents.

And it stretches back from the shores of Lake Titicaca up into the overlooking hills. And the more prosperous areas are the ones that border the lake. There are even little islands on the lake where people have residences. The majority of the buildings in Puno are one or two story structures made from stone or brick and the streets they line become increasingly narrow and more maze-like. The farther uphill one goes. Maybe Elias is kind of regaling you with these stories of Puno so you know what to expect because there's a there's a bit of a culture clash between

Lima which was is kind of on the rise getting a little more cosmopolitan and Puno which is still very It's not like uncivilized, but it's a little little less civilized It's not like uncivilized, but it's a little less civilized. The center of the city has a broad plaza ringed with greenery and trees overlooked by the cathedral basilica of St. Charles Borromeo. The countryside is all farms, and so when you leave Puno to go south,

you're probably gonna be going through a lot of farmland. They also raise alpacas, and he said that this is where he found these artifacts, was from an alpaca farmer had had these artifacts that his grandfather stole from the alleged pyramids. Not a lot of tourists in Puno in the 1920s. So Elias warns you that you're probably going to get some looks because they're not used to seeing people like you and Carter and Vaughn

especially make it extra looks because they're white men and those people who believe in the legends of the Qasiri might give you might make the sign of the cross when you walk by. Elias says he's seen that and so don't be offended That's just a face people are doing that anyway That's true. You notice that a lot in way, but actually every time Everyone's so religious around me. It's crazy You know, yeah, yeah the trip like Just like so what's your theory, frowline sour?

Are you talking to me? What is the pronunciation thing? Sour, sour. It was, it was never much good. Frowline. Frowline? Frow? Frow? Fraulein. Fraulein? Frau? Frau? Brau?

German is her third language. Shh. Oh, you're saying something in German. I thought you were making fun of my scowl or something. Fraunleins. Fraunleins. Fraunleins. Fraunleins. This, no, no. Frown lines. Frown lines. Yeah, frown lines. Frown lines. Frown lines.

This is how I remember. It's a mnemonic device I use to remember German words. Americans are just crazy. Wow. Now, Frown, I was curious about your theory about what it was we saw. What the devil was that thing that slithered out of that man?

It was a giant maggot. What's a giant man? Well, she maybe says it'll a quiet and she's like leaning. She doesn't know like the driver. What the driver can understand. Just kind of something. Just so, sir. Do you take this this drive often?

No. No. No? No. Do you talk a lot? Do you know English? No. No? It was definitely a giant maggot.

I'd like to say that I've seen my fair share in my time. I never known one to grow to that particular size. I mean, I saw them in when I looked into the mask, the mirror, also the maggots. What? Yeah. I saw you real for a moment when you looked at that thing. Fraulein. I didn't tell you. Fraulein. Never mind.

Am I pronouncing it wildly incorrectly? That's not how they say it in Germany. This is not how we say it in Germany, but you know. Close. I love that you thought he was calling you Sour Frownlines. Yeah, I'm sorry. What did you say? I forgot my last name was Sour too.

It's not the worst culture clash I've had with a Bosch. Yeah, have you told them what you saw in this mirror? Yeah, yeah, I imagine I told you, at least at the bar when we were talking and filling in Carter, yeah. I imagine I told you, at least at the bar when we were talking and filling in Carter. Yeah. But you know, you're making the connection, maggots. You said maggot and you're like, actually, I then there were the maggots I saw in the mirror as well. Just this thing that I cannot place yet is the blood orges. place yet is the blood orgy. Just was it the mask?

Was that me? Was that me projecting onto the mask? What do you think? I don't speak English. Oh, not me. Oh no, let's hear your theory. No, I don't speak English. Oh, not me No, I don't understand driver driver, what do you think about blood or cheese? I do not understand this sad-looking frown-lined woman

In the other truck Carter's turns the Ferris like, I bet you they're not talking about shit up there. I bet you that truck is boring as hell. Well, they don't have the heroin. You know, is this one time in Berlin, there was no blood involved, but never mind. Anyway, I just cannot place as a Blood Orchid. I'm... Can I tell you Troy,

I just rolled psychology, and I rolled a 14, which is four above my actual skill, so I'm just gonna go ahead and foolishly spend the luck to get under it. To make my... So, I will attempt to actually like so Villiers like Oh, Fräulein. I think maybe when you looked in that thing, it was this what you might call a fearful

trigger. Hmm? Your mind is telling you what you're afraid of. You'd seen a horrible thing come out of that man and you saw it again there. As for this bloody orgy, I can't say I know where that comes from, except to say that human desire is a great mystery, and perhaps it's showing you something. You think I dream while I'm awake? It's perhaps less common, uncommon than you might think.

I think we fool ourselves into seeing all sorts of things, and this is what explains most of the hung bugs in the world that you hear talked of these days. Have you never seen anything weird before? I've seen a great many weird things in my time Fra Lainsa. Not one of them needed a vampire, a devil, or a god to explain them. The reasoning I'm not too sure But I don't know. I really hope Damon does it doesn't meet up with us I certainly hope so as well

Yeah, very strange. I might keep my eyes on you, since that's the sort of vision that I think came from your own mind. Mm hmm. So keep your eyes on me. Well. Make sure to give you something to look at. And you can see him just like, like looking at you quizzically throughout the throughout the most of this journey. And the driver is the most sane person in that truck. You know, maybe you've shared some of this with Elias, and Elias maybe brings it up in the other truck,

and says, this vision that your friend had it's very very strange I I feel like I'm being taken on a journey I wasn't expecting you know there are I have read of cults performing you know... mixing sex and death. I don't know what is going on here. But I think we're going to find out a lot once we get to this pyramid. And you continue on your journey. And eventually as you start to to like maybe around day two of this the altitude starts getting to you you have to get adjusted because

you're going up into the mountains the climates a little better Lima was hot and sticky here it's cool and really cold at night but the altitude is getting to you so everybody give me a con check to try and avoid getting altitude sickness oh jeez oh con is good all right all right nice I rolled a 50 under 80 all All right, so you're good. What about Carter? Yeah, I rolled a 32 under 70. Oh great, no altitude sickness for you. Froudline Sour? I am good, a 31 under 60.

You guys are rolling rocks. Ross, are you sick? I'm sick as hell, baby. I rolled 65 over 50. Oh, you got some altitude sickness. I'll tell you what this means. It's like, until you adjust to the altitude, any physical check you make is gonna take a penalty die because you're just like a little heady.

But tomorrow you'll get another chance to adjust. And it might be when you get into town, you could ask the locals like, if this really is bothering you, like, like can I is there any way I can avoid this? Here, have some heroin. No, they say a little heroin, I'll just rub it right on your eyes. The poppy, nature's cure-all. So you you may notice Margo or you you may not, because you're weird, that Vaughn seems a little sick.

He's very pale and doesn't look all right. I think Greer and the Gills, yeah, and you probably, you maybe notice him bringing out this little just folded, stained piece of paper from his breast pocket and sort of like unfolding it and like looking at it and reading it and putting it back and almost like rubbing it almost for security. Yeah she turns around from the front seat. Maybe she's fine because she knows her limits and is sitting in the front seat and she's not carsick and she's prepared. I don't know. She turns around, she smacks you and she goes,

fun, fun, we're almost there. We're almost there. Aren't you so excited? Also look at this view. We're so high up now. This is truly the monkey's eyebrows. Yes, correct. Don't you think?

Yes. Yes. Sitting in the cat bird seat. Ah. It's a monkey's eyebrows. She's like trying to like take a swing from a hip flask. Like just clutching his head, which is pounding. She turns to the driver. She's like, I'm going to teach you German

so we can talk to each other. Fraulein. Fraulein? Fraulein. Fraulein. German so we can talk to each other. The driver uses what little English he knows to say, I can't wait till this drive is over. And he eventually pulls in after three days time, you get into Puno and it's nice. It's actually nicer than you thought it was. It seems like a vacation spot.

But all the buildings are very modest except for the, you know, the church and the hotel. But even the hotel, like the nicest hotel in Lima, this is just like very, very small. You think that there's maybe six rooms in the whole place and Larkin hops out and now Larkin looks a little beat up. And you imagine if he has been using, he wasn't using on this three day journey. And so he's, he looks a little rough, little rough, kind of like he did at the end of dinner.

And he's like, well, hi, this is it. We're halfway to our destination. I don't know about you, but I am exhausted from that road journey. And I am just going to check us all in and call it a night. Obviously, you're free to do whatever you like, although having spent some time here, I can tell you this is not a place to go bouncing around. I would stay in the hotel.

There's food and drink. I just wouldn't wander here at night. It's a bit lawless when compared to Lima, but I'll check you all in and you can just go get your rooms and tomorrow we will get up bright and early and we will begin our trek to the pyramid. Actually we'll probably have to leave in the late afternoon so you'll have some time to yourself during the day. Just please meet me by two o'clock ish. I'm going to go

in the morning and gather all the pack animals that we'll need and just the rest of the supplies. So 2 2 2 2 30 at the latest and we'll we'll we'll head out there. I hope you feel better and she kind of gives like a very not subtle wink. Thank you. And then slowly backs away without turning her back towards him. Thank you. You see him go in the hotel and he's just talking to the woman and looking over his shoulder you guys and talking some more and then he just

waves and gives the motion like you guys are all set when you want the drivers pull in and begin like unloading the supplies and whatnot and Jackson comes over to you it's like he's not wrong saying that this area isn't the safest, but I know people here. I think we'll be fine. And if he wants to leave at 2.30 tomorrow, I say we go speak with Ny'arra now. It's still early. I'm not surprised hearing what you said that he wants to turn in. I think he's probably going to go ride the dragon.

But for now, I say we use this time to speak with my friend and you can ask any questions you have. So capital idea. Let's let's let's let's go. And so he takes you outside of the city on foot. It's a little bit of a walk. And you do, Carter and Vaughn, get dirty looks from everyone you walk by.

Some of the older people like stepping back in shock. They're just afraid that you are. Carter and Siri. Other people just give all of you looks because they know you're not from here and they're not used to seeing foreigners. So he takes you to this area up in the hills just above Puno and goes up to a house and knocks. There's no answer. He knocks again. Still no answer. And then there's a small little hut next door and a neighbor pops his head out and like waves at Jackson and he waves at the guy. Clearly they know each other and he gives you the

I'll be right back and goes over and speaks to the guy and the guys like pointing and and talk while he talks to Jackson and Jackson talking to him in Spanish so none of you know what he's saying but he comes back as the neighbor goes back into his house and he says I hey I'd be lying if I wasn't concerned this may have happened, but when I first came here and began getting to know the area, getting to know some of the locals, and I met this Yetiri, as they call them, healer, wise woman,aira. She became paranoid as we kept talking that someone was watching her. Every time we would meet she was always looking over her shoulder. She believed it was the Kari Siri because we were speaking of the Kari Siri. And so she thinks that just by mentioning them that they're going to know. And now I feel like a fool dismissing her fear so callously

having seen what happened to Professor Sanchez. So I even ignored her paranoia, but her neighbor, her friend who I've met, he said she has moved on from here and she's staying with friends on one of the floating islands of Lake Titicaca. I'm going to leave it up to you. I believe we could get there tonight. It is still early and she would show us wonderful hospitality.

We'll find out everything we need to know and then sneak back to the hotel in the morning and Larkin won't be any the wiser. The other option is we go back to the hotel and we never speak to her. I feel like it would be worth it, but I want you to feel comfortable with the decision as well. This would be a little bit of a trek. We'll get there by by nightfall but I feel very close to this woman and I feel

like she would welcome us with open arms. Do you think we should send some people and keep some behind? Like is there anything else? Because this would take up all of our time here, is there anything else we would want to do here? I mean, that's up to you. Elias seems to think like we're good. Better that Domendoza isn't here. The only wild card right now is Larkin. But it's gonna be, as far as you know,

the five of you and Larkin making the rest of this journey Larkin has already said if there's any supplies you need to get buy him he'll give you a receipt But you guys are pretty loaded. You've got your weapons now just in case you need them. You've got your heroin Pretty much said what else do you need? When you're in Peru have a trap Yeah Carter's Carter's down to, I feel like the more we know, the better. Yeah, and Feru's always, she has to know

as a general, that's her thing. So I don't think she would ever pass up the opportunity to meet her and find out. I think at this moment, every time Vaughn is still, the headache starts to grow from the altitude. She's like, just keep it moving. Fresh air and all. Can't seem to get enough breath.

Yes, let's go. You okay there V? You need a little nip of that smack we got? Maybe, you know what helped me in the middle? You wouldn't you touch, but you put a little you put a little dab on your fingernail and no liquid, it's not going to stay there long. Just give it a look. Just give it a quick root to stick in your belly button and swirl it around.

Yeah, I get there eventually. Yeah, I dropped. Just putting on different parts of your body. Something's going to absorb it at some point. All these into consideration? Just not in the ears. So you give- Dab it on various membranes. Okay.

Yes. So you all give the obviously paranoid vet horrible advice, and then head off with Elias towards Lake Titicaca. The neighbor said that she is staying on one of the small islands there. Elias knows his way around, so he takes you on these dirt roads.

The sun's starting to set. He's like, we need to move with haste. I'd like to get there before the sun sets. And he's all jazzed up. This is like, this is his adventure. He's like, well, Mr. Tillinghast, perhaps I will get back into fiction. I feel like a real adventurer now doing this,

the nighttime romp into Lake Titicaca. Perhaps you're onto something. Plus it's the 20s, you get a way to write the word tit in without getting censored. That's always fun. That's always fun. Just keep talking about this lake. Yes, yes, I shall, I shall name it that.

The, the, the, the mystery of Lake Titicaca. I knew, I knew you were going to come around. You can write the nonfiction too. You can have a foot in both worlds, you know what I mean? But there's a, there's an appetite for this. I, and I am in my appetite for it is growing. And it is for you four as well. This is great. I'm glad my appetite for it is growing. And it is for you, Thor as well. This is great.

I'm glad you're all here. Come. It's getting late. And he takes you there and there's a dock and he talks to the guy on the dock and you can tell he's bartering to try and use his boat to get across. And the guy is haggling with him and finally agrees.

He'll row you across to this island where he believes Nyara to be. haggling with him and finally agrees he'll row you across to this island where he believes Nyara to be. So you hop in the boat. Everybody roll a spot hidden. Nope. I rolled something good I just don't know what I what where is my 75 okay, that's a regular success hidden. I rolled a 16 under 75 that is Stream shoot it's not it was like one point off from an extreme, but it's hard our hard success. Yeah hard success great Rob I rolled a hundred again. Ooh.

That's a, that's a Bumble, a Stumble Bumble. That's a Fumble, yeah. Whatever it's called. That would be a Stumble Bumble or a Fumble. It's a Fumbley Bumbley. The kids call them Stumble Bumbles. Two hundreds in one session that really amounted to not a lot.

It's because you put the heroin in your eyes. It's like, I can't see shit. It clouded your vision. I only see my own irises. It's weird. You can see from the inside. Those of you who passed, as you get to the dock,

there's more people around, okay? It's a little like small village within the city. And you all get the feeling that you're being watched. You didn't have this feeling at all. You felt like you were getting dirty looks. But as you get here, you just feel like every time you look,

like somebody's staring at you, but you're not sure. You get onto the boat and you start to take off. And you're floating out in the water, and Feroz, you just see a middle-aged woman with a young boy just staring at you. I just kind of nudge.

Well, I guess since Rob can't see. You nudge his bad eye, his bad side. I'm gonna nudge Marco. What? Do you see that? She like darts around very conspicuously, I guess. And do I get the feeling, oh, I'm sorry, go ahead. No, I was just gonna say, and then I guess I'm sure. Yes, he's the people.

Is this like a.. What are these foreigners doing here? Stare? Or is this like a creepy.. Well, you all got that sense some like people were watching you and you did get those dirty looks and even you got those dirty looks.

Obviously Carter and Vaughn got worse looks. More superstitious looks. But this moment as the boat's taking off, you're kind of looking at all the people milling about and you just see this woman and this little boy just staring at you.

Like they got caught staring. And it's something just very unsettling feeling. Watching all of you. And then they turn away and staring and it's something just very unsettling feeling. Watching all of you. And then they turn away and disappear into the little village. What was that all about? What? You fall off the boat and drown.

I drown. I can't see my own arms to swim. We are like quite the gaggle of individuals. That's true, we were getting stares earlier. Just something very unsettling about that. That child should have been dead hours ago. That's it? Agreed.

That is definitely what is creepy about that. You just float along. Your youth is when sleep is most important. You float along the water and you're making good speed. This guy's a pro. You travel for about two miles and you see all these little islands within Lake Titicaca. And all the islands, the larger ones have little villages within the islands as well.

Small huts, very, very mundane, but people milling about and they're watching you as well. So it's kind of like, it's got this apocalypse now kind of vibe. You're just like going through and seeing all these little, almost look like tribes watching you. And eventually you make a landing at a small island that has maybe nine huts. And as you get off the boat,

you notice there's like a lot of people packed in to these very small huts. Families with several children, men, women, young, old, and they all kind of get up and walk towards the boat as you are all disembarking and Elias gives you a hand as I've said, let me let me handle this, and he walks up to speak and as he does the guy on the paddle boat just fucking turns around and leaves you there.

As was planned. He's not spending the night. And Elias speaks to them in Spanish and you hear him say Nyara's name and a middle-aged, well maybe 50s, early 50s, And a middle-aged, well maybe 50s, early 50s, points to a small hut that's like just off the center of where all the huts are gathered. So Elias gives you the, come with me, and you just walk through this crowd of people and they barely move to let you go by.

They're looking at you just like, what is going on here? Who are you people? And Elias walks up to the hut and enters and right behind him you come in and you see this old, old woman with like white hair just sitting on the dirt floor of this small hut. There's a bed.

There is a table with like a shrine on it that's burning some sort of incense. And she's just sitting on the floor and she sees Elias and her face just lights up and she goes to get up to hug him, but he waves her off and hugs her instead. And then he's in Spanish, you can tell he's introducing you, he's like, these are my friends, these are friends, They come in peace to learn of your wisdom. We have many questions. May we sit? And she says, yes, yes, yes.

I'll reveal what she looks like on the Roll20 so you can see. About mid-70s, wrinkled, bright, lively eyes, though, even though she looks very old and like she's seen some shit. She laughs. She's got like an infectious laugh. Jackson says something to her funny and she just, and he says, I'll speak to her and then translate what she says. But I'll imagine that you can hear her voice, so he's not just doing that, this role play where I just

say something in Spanish and then have him translate. No, no, I think that's how this should go. Well, here, you all have, this was just like Pathfinder, be like, you can all comprehend languages. She first says, ah, and she reaches behind her to where there's this bag and she offers something to Jackson to give to you, Carter, like food, and then hands them out to all of you. It's just like, it looks like jerky. And this is something that we eat.

Okay. Yes. Okay, yes, okay Right, she's doing it now or yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes Suppose it would be rude as a guest grass yes, to decline they just give a little nod and Yeah, take a little bite down the hatch and you you start chewing on it and it's just dried wood. And she just starts slapping her knee and laughing. She's just, she's. Ha ha!

And Jackson's laughing too because he got her once, she got him once with the old dried wood jerky bit and she's just, ha ha! She's like choking, she's laughing so hard. And she's just crying and laughing. And he's like, she's a trickster, she gets the real kick out of this, just go with it. Don't need any more of that though, it's toxic.

I like this dame, she's cool. And he asks her a question and she says I know an old story about how a ancient and evil God fell from the sky and landed here in Lake Titicaca. It crawled out and brought hunger with it, devouring all that it touched. The trickster hero Ekeko told the evil god where the most nutritious food could be found underground, showing it tubers and grubs. Ekeko convinced the God from the sky, tempted by the food, to crawl into an old armadillo burrow. He then placed stones over the burrow, trapping the guard down below.

Ekeko then returned to his people and told them that this was now a sacred site and they should go and build a temple over it. And he bound that temple in place with spells worked in gold. The god from the sky still lives under the temple to this day, and those who know of it are wise enough to know to avoid its tomb. All of us here in Puno do not go near, but we also never forget. This place is the pyramid that you seek." And Jackson just shakes his head and says to you and then translates to her as well.

He's like, I had always been quick to dismiss the more fanciful aspects of Nyara's stories when we first met. But now I wonder how much truth there is in her myths. What questions do you have for her? Honestly, I heard gold, and then I'm assuming everything after that was just nothing threatening or terrifying at all. So I'm good. I just hit this gold. You heard the Spanish word for gold. Yeah. I've learned that in my time here.

Doesn't take me long. I feel like I want to ask about the vision from the mirror mask in a way that won't freak her out potentially. Okay. How do you word it to Jackson to translate to her? Um, so I'm thinking Jackson already knows because we talked about it at the bar. So I just say like, I want to, like all of this seems connecting with like this evil God and with the grubs underground and like seeing the maggot and that guy

and then seeing the maggots in the vision. And then there's these pieces that don't have any connection yet, like the blood orgies and the dancing. Well, did the maggots seem like the worm that we saw in your vision? It was a similarity to them, for sure. Yeah, it's hard to say with those were exactly it, but it it seems too convenient

that you fighting this gross looking slithery larvae like maggot. And you saw an explosion of maggots in your dream. Yeah, just like, I feel wary about saying that like, we saw a golden mask and we looked into it because also like the treasure from that place with it being sacred. Yeah, you don't know maybe maybe somebody stole that from there.

But like at the same time, if anyone's gonna believe a story like that, it's her. She just told you that they believe and God trapped another God and they built a temple over it, bound the God in place, spells worked from gold, and now no one goes near there. And that's the pyramid you seek.

So I think if anyone's gonna be hip to what you're throwing down, it's her. I guess just like tell her that and that we saw it in a golden mirror mask. And can you elaborate more maybe? She closes her eyes as Elias translates this. Her eyes pop open wide. I have seen the same things in my dreams as well. Perhaps these maggots come from the God who sleeps beneath the temple.

Perhaps this pyramid is the same one from your vision. Maggots feed off the dead. I pray that you keep your life so they do not feed off of you. Do you think she would know anything about the gold that we saw and that was written in the in the journal? Um, maybe Jackson says, should I show her the piece that I took? Yes. Yeah, she holds it, takes it from him. And she's like, this is part of something greater.

Perhaps this was part of the ward that held the god in place. If so, it must be returned for If the seal was broken He could get out and then he just she quickly hands it back to Elias like she doesn't want to touch it And what does all this have to do with those carasiri chaps They connected to this And what does all this have to do with those Karisiri chaps? Are they connected to this subterranean god from the stars? He mentions the Karisiri. She says Karisiri.

Karisiri comes from the words we use for carving something up with a knife. The Qari-Siri are known all over from Peru to Bolivia and beyond, although their names change from region to region. They say the Qry Sirri is a man like you, points at Yuvon. White man with a wide brimmed hat. He walks at night with a long knife that he uses to butcher people and steal their body fat. Sometimes they say they use drugs to extract their fat or magic or strange tools, leaving their victims to die slow, lingering deaths. The stories I have heard firsthand tell of a Kalliseri who sucks the fat out with his mouth.

Ooh. Like some kind of human leech. And I'm looking now at Margot as we're hearing that. I have a photo of Trinidad. I took a picture. I don't know if Lima had anywhere for me to develop it. Yeah.

I mean, I would say this is your jam. This is your expertise. You're an artist. You do. You deal with this stuff. I think you do have something you could show her. I show the photo like this.

She says, yes, I have seen many who have looked just like that. Perhaps, perhaps you are in danger. If you have come across Kari Siri, they are watching you. And it is only a matter of time before they try to take you as well. There are some who believe that it was the Conquistadors, the Conquistadors who brought the Kharisiri with them and then used them, used the fat that they stole to grease their weapons. Some would say that the Conquistador priests would use the stolen fat as holy oil for offerings to their dark gods.

All I know is, they are real and they see all. Is there any way to protect yourself against these things? Act first. Do not travel alone at night and always burn the bodies. But in my experience, those who encounter Kary Ciri do not live to tell. Well, that's encouraging. Jackson says, if there's nothing else, Naira, can my friends and I spend the night here? It would be good to see you once more and I want to speak with you. They found this journal and we are heading in the direction of the pyramid. We have someone with us who says he knows where it is but all of us are unsure if he

can be trusted. Do you think based on your knowledge in this you could give us an approximation of where this is? And she just very she gives the kind of nod that is like, I don't want you to go there because you won't return. But if that's what you want, I can help. But if that's what you want, I can help. Well, it sounds like we have to, unfortunately, return some of the gold to the temple instead of going there and removing it. So I think that should be, hopefully,

incentive enough for her. And Jackson is like, yes, yes, if what she's saying is true, then returning that will be important, but we're all going to do just fine without going against customs here. Anyway, we should let her rest. And you can see she's weary from even like talking about this and seeing the picture of Trinidad. So thank you for your time. Thanks for the wood. Thanks for the dried wood, Jerky. You tricked her. And Elias, maybe one of her daughters or cousins comes and offers you space. Wouldn't have been as nice as the hotel, but there are beds that you can sleep in.

There's a hut for the women and a hut for the men. So Jackson will stay with Carter and Vaughn and Margo and Faerûs are given their own quarters as well. And you're just sitting in these rudimentary huts on an island in the middle of Lake Titicaca. Tiddikaka. Carter's like, I'm having some trouble finding the sink in the toilet. Is there, it must be, there's a toilet hut. They point to some bushes. Ah, shit.

I mean, yes. Yeah. Yes. That's exactly what's those potatoes I ate three days ago. Am I the only one who feels as though his head's been given a once over with a croquet mallet? God. Yes. Ever since we came up here.

Yeah, poor Vaan's got the altitude sickness. And eating wood. And eating wood, that didn't help at all. No. I feel like Margo's excited to be with Feyruz because talking with Carter and Vaughn, they try to write off everything as hocus pocus. And I feel like Margot doesn't fully believe

every single thing she's hearing, but also knows what she saw, knows what she has a photo of, and is starting to put pieces together maybe. I don't know if they're supposed to fit there, but saying what is with this expedition where we are on to get this gold, but then we keep hearing that the gold

is protecting everyone from this the sky god. I don't know. Maybe like what if this is all true and they want us to take the gold off to release this god and then the world ends. Well, it would seem if anything bad was happening, it's already happening. I feel like we're in the middle of it. And I just wish I knew what my entire life, trying to decipher what these things mean. The fact that I can't tell what this thing means yet is just driving me mad. Here, I'll show you. And I start flipping through I bring out like my mom's journal Look at this and like I start flipping through just rudimentary and it as you progress

It just gets more and more rambly and then it just becomes Indecisive and then it just becomes symbols This had to have been something I Still can't find out what this means. Did you write this? No, no, it belonged to my mother. Oh. But I spent my entire life trying to figure out what these sort of things...

If there's a code for something, what it all means, how it connects to everything. what it all means, how it connects to everything. And the fact that I can't figure out what this means, and that everybody just speaks in hushed tones about it, and strange devil men are trying to kiss you and then implant worms into your insides. Lest they all do. It is very frustrating having all of this happen in front of us, in front of our very eyes and have it all just washed away as myths and fairy tales.

Poor Trinidad. They're going to cover up her entire reason for dying, and then she'll never get a proper, I don't know. Yeah, they're gonna be looking for some regular murderer somewhere. Yeah, there has to be a reason. Eventually, you guys get tired. The road journey left you weary, and you know that the rest of your journey to the pyramid site,

assuming it exists, is going to be nights out under the stars, in maybe even less comfortable places like you are now. So you eventually all fall asleep and you're just troubled by these ghost stories of the Nyara told, stories of the gods fighting each other and wondering how much truth there is to this just leaves you all racked with nightmares. Imagine Margo having this dream of like being in an art gallery and there's a bunch of people standing around a painting, one of your, and you know it's one of your paintings and they're all like talking about it and giving their opinions on it and you just slowly walk up seeing them giving their opinions and then you turn to look at the painting and the painting is just a 10 foot tall canvas

covered in writhing maggots. Ew. Yep. That would definitely be awful, awful dream. And Faeruz, maybe you have this nightmare where you're like walking down a hallway looking for your mother and there's just doors and you're like walking down a hallway looking for your mother. And there's just doors and you're opening one door and she's not there. Then you walk up and you open the other one. You just hear your footsteps don't quite match

the speed with which you're walking. So the echoes of the footsteps are louder and out of sync with your actual footsteps. And then finally you get to the last door and you push it open and you see your mother standing from behind. And then she just turns to look at you with her arms outstretched. And instead of a face, she just has this long larva, like the one that attached to your face.

It reaches out toward you. Carter, you have a nightmare where you wake up in bed and you're inside that hut but you aren't. You're somewhere else and there's a mirror nearby and you look in the mirror and your face is whole again. And you hear a sound outside and you walk in the direction of that sound and you see that all of Lake Tit in a foxhole somewhere. And you're trying to load your gun and your sergeant or your commander is like yelling at you and you just hear sounds of bullets and you're trying to get it together, trying to get it together, trying to get it together, and then suddenly the gun starts to melt onto your hands

and it starts burning your skin and you see your skin melting into the gun as well and it starts traveling up your arms and then you feel it throbbing in your head, a pain worse than the altitude sickness. worse than the altitude sickness. And then all of you awake to the sounds of screaming. And you've been having nightmares all night but you wake up and you look over and Carter you see Vaughn, Margot you see Faeruz and you all hear screaming coming from outside your hut. What do you do?

Pop up, run to the flat. I run towards it, but you know, weapons. Is it one scream or is it like many people? It sounds like 20 people are screaming. It's blood curdling screams and yelling. Machete, knife, two guns. Elias gets up as well and you go outside and you look outside of the hut and you see the bodies of several of the villagers just lying, eviscerated on the ground, men, women, children.

Some of them are fighting with some other people. And so you can't quite tell, it's like, you're in this haze of like, who is attacking who, because you didn't even get a chance to meet all these people and know who's who. And all of the bodies on the ground have massive holes on them that are just pouring out blood

and the blood is pooling onto the ground and rolling all the way into the lake. And then your huts were right next to each other. You see stepping out into the moonlight in front of you. That middle aged woman

and that young boy that Beir they saw on the docks, except something is very wrong with them. Because their mouths aren't normal mouths. Their mouths have extended outward into huge circles with a double row of ring teeth around the circumference and a long tongue that's sticking out and they go to attack you guys! And we'll see you next week! No, I don't like it. I don't like it, I don't like it one bit. That's what we do in Chaos 10.

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