The Glass Cannon Podcast - Time For Chaos S1 | E6 – Just a Little Tear

Episode Date: May 19, 2025

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Starting point is 00:00:34 the premier source for role-playing game entertainment. Thanks for watching! Good evening folks, it's time for Chaos. This is our Masks of Nyarlathotep playthrough. I want to talk for a second about horror. I'm not a big horror movie guy, I never have been. I've never seen Friday the 13th, I've never seen any Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, I haven't seen any of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, any of those movies.
Starting point is 00:01:39 Is anybody like a big horror geek? I wouldn't say geek, but I like I like horror movies. Yeah. Okay. Is that a typical enough reply for you? I don't want to say geek, so I don't get quizzed on anything. Exactly. Like there's there's there's there's layers and levels to this stuff. But I feel like we're all enthusiasts. Yeah. I wasn't allowed to watch it.
Starting point is 00:02:02 No. Very except new ones. I just know what allowed to watch it. No. Very excepting. I've seen less new ones. I just don't want chat to fight me on something. Yeah. I fear them. What'd you say, Rob, you've seen less of the new ones, but you've seen all the classics? I feel like as I've gotten older and had children, my life is now more stressful.
Starting point is 00:02:22 So the idea of like, oh, after a long stressful day of parenting, I'm gonna stress the shit out of myself by watching some movie where people keep getting murdered. So I keep hearing like, like Midsommar, there's some of these newer ones that are supposed to be awesome that I have not seen yet,
Starting point is 00:02:36 because I'm just like, I can't put myself through this shit right now. Yeah, yeah, I feel you. Like those thrillers, I always liked The Shining. That was something I enjoyed, but that was more artsy, more like mental horror. But I was, I had strict parents, my mom especially, like I wasn't allowed to watch that stuff and I wasn't like the kid that snuck that. But yeah, I don't know, as I got older, I was never like, I need to go back and watch
Starting point is 00:03:00 the classics because I think I'm correct in saying they're not good movies, right? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. They're pretty trashy movies, aren't they? Maybe the first one is good, but then they just get silly. You want to fight the chat. You want to fight me.
Starting point is 00:03:16 Troy just declared war. First of all. Just classic provocateur LaValley coming in and throwing his gun at him. So you're telling me by the time it's Friday the 13th, part seven, this is a tour de force, the likes of which we haven't seen since Godfather part two? There's peaks and valleys in these franchises. There's sub genres within sub genres. You got to know what you're getting into.
Starting point is 00:03:39 You got to know what you want out of it. And then you'll get it. The bigger franchises, I feel like, any of you guys can correct me, I feel like the bigger franchises start off strong, then they kind of dip and go back and forth. But again, it's like, like Nightmare on Elm Street, first one's a classic.
Starting point is 00:03:57 Second one was much reviled, but turns out to be an amazing story of like a kid trying to come out of the closet basically. Like there's even a documentary just about Nightmare on Elm Street 2 about what the subtext of that movie really was and how some of the people making it didn't want to admit that that's what it was. And then he got like, then there's like the blockbuster one with Nightmare 4, then it gets fucking nuts and then they try to go like auteur with New Nightmare.
Starting point is 00:04:26 I mean, it just depends on who's, there's a lot to, this is not the right time to get into this. This is- We get a whole episode on. Yeah. Kate, you don't watch movies at all, but did you back in the day,
Starting point is 00:04:39 and did you watch this nonsense? I did watch like some Disney stuff over and over again, but like it was playing in the background while like my cousins were over. But I don't like scary movies. I don't think that watching them is fun. And I think I know why. When I was younger, my grandfather on my dad's side would pretend that he was Jason all the time.
Starting point is 00:05:07 One time, I had a friend over and we were playing outside and we were coming back in, the garage door was open and he's standing in the garage with a steak knife just slowly going back and forth like this, staring at us with the knife. And we were like, what the fuck? We run down the street, my friend's like, what if your grandfather really is Jason? Like, what's going on? He mortified us.
Starting point is 00:05:36 They had to come find us. We like ran away. So I don't like scary movies. Damn, okay. But that's like a legit reason why. Yeah, that's pretty. That was a scary life. You had a scary life, you didn't need a movie.
Starting point is 00:05:49 Sounds very dramatic. Yeah, so I don't think it's fun because I would live it. Yeah. Wouldn't it be weird if you ran into the house and you're like, Grandma's doing it again. And they're like, Kate, grandpa died 20 years ago.
Starting point is 00:06:00 Grandma's one of them. Jason. By tonight's anniversary. Mm-hmm. Ruben says if you go into the garage, you can still hear him. He was big adventure, it might be a horror movie. That's terrifying.
Starting point is 00:06:14 Nora, you were into him when you were young? Still am, I mean, not as much, I don't, but I feel, but that's only because there's so many more options Viewing options that you just kind of get bombarded I loved The exorcist the omen like all those movies the omen movies even though they get they get shittier as they go a lot as they Progress, but the first one was amazing
Starting point is 00:06:40 Those are like religious. Yeah, Yeah, I like a good possession. I loved the Annabelle movies. I loved, what else? Oh, you know what did fuck me up though as a child? It. I had no parental, my parents weren't really supervising what I was watching and I watched, that was like on TV once.
Starting point is 00:07:02 It was a TV movie. That's how it fucked up all children. It was because the parents were like, oh, it's on TV, it'll be fine. Yeah, it'll be fine. Yeah, and these days, like I love American Horror Story. Also watch those.
Starting point is 00:07:17 I loved Hereditary and Midsommar. They were fantastic. So I hear in there, but I like a good scary movie. Ross, I imagine you're watching mostly French new wave horror movies. Yes. All this talk of horror movies is rather pedestrian for my taste. The killer was capitalism. I find the most horrifying thing to be existential on WeeTroy. We were talking beforehand and I grew up in
Starting point is 00:07:50 kind of like out in the country, y'all, where there were a lot of video stores and we didn't have a TV for a long time. Horror movies were talked about as like kid folklore around me and I kind of built them up in my imagination to be much more terrifying than they ended up being when I finally encountered them. When I finally did, I was like, oh, I got to clear up all these blind spots. I do like a bunch of them. Hellraiser, I think, is one of my faves. That I feel like is a cut above for that era.
Starting point is 00:08:23 It's so squeamish and unique and twisted. What's his thing? What is his deal? Why is he mad? Kill people. Pinhead is what we call him. He is, of course, the hell priest. But he's not mad at all, Troy. That's the thing. He's kind. He wants to show you such things. They are angels to some, demons to others. You summoned them. They just want to show you the gossip within line between pleasure and pain. Yeah, and some caterpillar guy comes in and goes... Troy, we got to make you a list. We got to make you a top five.
Starting point is 00:09:05 Yeah. You know what? If you give me a top five in three years, I will watch all five of them. Honestly, because of what we're doing here, you should at least watch like the thing. You should watch the John Carpenter's The Thing. Yeah, I mean, that's very well-crafted.
Starting point is 00:09:18 We can each pick one old school, like a classic one and one modern one. Oh, that's fun. Ooh, I love that idea. Yeah. Kate, what am I going Oh, I love that idea. Yeah. Kate, what am I gonna be watching out of your? You're being like, mm, yeah. Cinderella.
Starting point is 00:09:30 You need to watch Aladdin with my grandfather. There are scary parts, you know what? No, I would pick like Neverending Story 2. I could never watch that. It was getting too scary. I don't like animatrons and like puppets and stuff. So there's your retro one. Maybe I did.
Starting point is 00:09:47 But the first one was pretty scary. The horse and the mud and- Yeah, but the second one was scarier. Is the second one with Jack Black? Is that the one that he's in? What? Jack Black in the second and the third one is like some punk guy that's bothering the main kid.
Starting point is 00:10:04 Weird. Yeah, it's really bizarre. Well, yeah, you make me a list and I will, I'll chug through it. My wife's not gonna watch them. So I'm gonna have to just wait, she goes to bed and watch it like right before I go to bed. She's gonna get me at the peak time
Starting point is 00:10:15 when I shouldn't be watching these. So yeah, make me a list and I'll get into it. And the reason I brought it up is obviously we've had some horrific things happen in the first few EPs. I would say we're about to close in on some pretty terrifying stuff. And it's going to run the gamut of humor, of horror, to body horror, to like jump horror, to the kind of thing that you'll, I'll say it and then seconds later it'll be like, oh God, no. And so I'm glad you guys, or three quarters of you
Starting point is 00:10:49 are huge, are buffs because I think you'll enjoy this. If I can ask you a question, Troy, as the keeper, when you get into these moments, and we've had little hints of them so far, obviously, as someone who has no frame of reference for watching any of this type of shit on screen, are you like pissing yourself? Like what are you, how are you surviving? How are you like picturing it?
Starting point is 00:11:12 You know, I don't know, because I feel like I do horror pretty decently. I run the live show that we do is horror. And I think it's because I know how to play on people. So watching you guys, I know how to get you right there. But I don't know. I have no frame of reference other than like a collective unconscious of years of watching moments and then extrapolating things from there. Even like cartoons that make fun of famous horror movies that I've never seen. Like I get the essence of what was happening there. I'm like, I don't need to see Nightmare on Elm Street to understand, you know, a couple tree house of horrors is
Starting point is 00:11:47 all you really need to understand the full gamut of horror. But this should be a fun one tonight. I'm really excited. Let's just jump right in. And we'll start with a luck roll before I forget to see if you recover some luck because you're going to need it. So once again, you roll a D100. And if you roll, I just rolled a 100 by the way, when I said that. If you roll over your luck score instead of under, you get one D10 back in luck.
Starting point is 00:12:19 All right. Any winners today? Yes. Not me, which is good. Kate's the winner. I didn't win last time, so I'm happy to win. Okay, give yourself a D10. Rob, I feel like you haven't hit one yet. Did you get one tonight?
Starting point is 00:12:34 No, I got one before, and I'm saying that in order to stall while I open up my character sheet. What else do you guys want to talk about? Well, while he's doing that, I can just say that as a wonderful prelude of things to come, when I rolled my luck roll, the only roll where rolling high is good, I rolled a one.
Starting point is 00:12:54 Oh! Gee-perse. I thought, wow, I thought I rolled a 10, and I was like, well, all my rolls are gonna be crap tonight. It's gonna be one of those Znates. I rolled under as well. I rolled under as well. You rolled under as well.
Starting point is 00:13:06 All right, Kate, what'd you end up getting? I got an 85 over a 51 it was, and then I rolled a six for. Six? Yep. Great, well this means it's a good night to spend some luck everybody, because then you can have a better chance
Starting point is 00:13:18 of getting it back next week. So last week, God, I can't even remember where we started because we cover so much ground in these episodes. But I know that eventually you left Puno behind. The four of you, Jackson Elias and Augustus Larkin, traveling with mules and whatnot in the direction of the lost ruins. Says it's going to take you about three days of travel to get there. You're no longer on that nice road. You're no longer in cars and sleeping in hotels. You're sleeping out under the stars and you're having to deal with animals and just hills
Starting point is 00:14:07 and whatnot. At least the weather's a little bit nicer than it was in Lima, but it's backbreaking and there's just an uneasy feeling. You don't know what you're getting into and Jackson Elias is worried about what Augustus Larkin's true motives in all of this may be. The first night, you are taking shifts, making sure no trouble befalls the camp, and you hear a noise, and as you go in the direction of that noise, you find one of your... Was it a donkey
Starting point is 00:14:45 or a mule? I think it was donkey, right? It was an ass. It was an ass. Has been like, sucked dry completely. Looked exactly like Trinidad Rizo did, except it was your donkey. And then you hear a little scuffle in the trees. Are you being followed by Kari Siri? Why wouldn't they just attack you? The next day, you're about halfway through the day or so
Starting point is 00:15:14 and you hear sounds of gunfire from up ahead and over a hill. So you decide to go off in that direction. You climb the hill and you look down and you see a man just standing over what looks like a young boy. So you head over there and as you do you see the young boy has one of those disc shaped holes on his chest. He's lying in a pool of his own blood. It looks like he's been sucked but not completely sucked dry like the donkey and the poor graduate
Starting point is 00:15:44 assistant. But as you go up the man turns his gun on you because he thinks you, our Kari Siri, come to finish them off. Now he is just speaking Spanish and Jackson is trying to translate. But this is a very tense situation. And Jackson is basically looking to you to try and get out of this. He can translate. Does anybody want to do like a charm, a fast talk, or maybe even a persuade here
Starting point is 00:16:21 that Elias could tell back to them? Because this guy, he looks at Vaughn and Carter especially because they're white men. They are the men of legend that are Kari Ciri. And he's got a double-barreled shotgun he could just start firing in any second. Who's good at this? Oh, not me. I got some charm, I got some persuade.
Starting point is 00:16:43 I do too, but I feel like you might have more like you are the charm person But we get should you maybe not talk cuz they think that you're Yari Siri, no, that's good. That was like that'll really blow blow their mind because they're gonna be like, oh this guy Not even a vampire, he's awesome. Yeah, totally. All right. What do you say to Jackson? Yeah, Jackson, listen, I want you to translate
Starting point is 00:17:14 exactly what I say. The gift of gab can cross any language barrier. Guys like, okay, ready? Hola! Yes. That's not Spanish. That's the one word I know. Hello. We are not Karasiri. You gotta tell them that. And he translates. No I want to hear you Troy speak in Spanish every single thing No, don't you know soy got a city. I don't know Spanish at all. No, you nailed it. Yeah, that's actually Yeah, I'm not I'm there. We're not no no so throws. So wait you are Sorry, they let the keeper translate.
Starting point is 00:18:07 Second of all, let me just say to you, sir, I love this ensemble that you're currently wearing. Sort of a worn pant, workman-like. I think that's very, the fit is nice. Go tell Mulder. Jackson looks at you like, ahh Alright, and he translates that
Starting point is 00:18:30 and the guy looks he kinda taken aback but then he points the gun right at you, Carter. Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa It's also, it's a fabulous gun now that I see it in this new in this new light. Looks great. we want to
Starting point is 00:18:47 help we want to help you he translates uh-huh give me a charm roll you think that's your best out of these charm fast that's my best bet. Okay. I got it, but just barely. 68 under 75. 68 under 75. The guy speaks back to Jackson, and then Jackson says he doesn't know what we mean, help. What would we do to help, he says. And then Carter's just like, does anyone have any kind of medicine I can't remember does anyone have any way to
Starting point is 00:19:30 Stabilize this poor young man. Yeah first aid medicine First aid I could do that who's got a better first aid. Oh Mine's a 30. It's not that great, but I could mine is also 30. I Can't find mine right now, but I don't think it's higher than that Norm maybe you should approach cuz they're trying there like um was there something in the book about combining Combining skills or something like that? That could be different? Yeah, you know, that's a good point. Sometimes a check will, I'll be like,
Starting point is 00:20:10 you can give me medicine or healing, and either one will work. Other times it's you need a medicine and a healing, but yeah, combining, I know with group roles, it's whoever has the worst roles, and that does it for the group. But this would be one person just trying to help the boy, the young boy that's bleeding out.
Starting point is 00:20:28 Now Vaughn, you could go over there, but he seems to be most suspicious of you and Carter. If someone's going to offer assistance, if someone's gonna offer assistance, I think it may as well be you. And Vaughn I think will raise his own weapon up and sort of like, maybe even like take a knee, like, I'm just pantomiming that he's no threat.
Starting point is 00:20:53 Okay. What do you do, Faerus? I just kind of dig through my belongings for what I assume exists a first aid kit. And you said that he was, what was he, it was a, what was the exact wound? Like what am I looking at? You're looking at a wound that is almost identical to the one that you saw in Trinidad Rizzo.
Starting point is 00:21:19 Like there's just a gaping hole on his chest that is leaking blood. And as you walk over towards the boy, he's just babbling in Spanish like, And Jackson is listening, he's like, he's saying he's afraid that the bite is going to turn him into a monster as well. I'll very carefully try to at least just stop the bleeding. I rolled an eight. Ooh. Oh baby, that's a hard success. Eight under 30.
Starting point is 00:22:02 Nice. Yeah, that's a hard success. Is that an extreme? No, extreme is a six. So I did get a hard success. Jeepers, you could even spend luck to get an extreme success. Yes, I would do that.
Starting point is 00:22:14 You wanna do that? All right, that's great. Yeah, let's do that. You know what? That's huge. So, yeah, you take a shirt and just stuff it in the hole and it starts the bleeding.
Starting point is 00:22:23 I mean, you're able to tap into something and work some field medicine on this kid. And the dad is like he's got his gun trained on on Carter and Vaughn, more so on Carter now that Vaughn has given himself up. And he's just kind of he's watching you and watching the man watching you and watching the man and and Then he just he puts his gun down and he he drops to his knees next to the boy and He says something he's just kind of talking to himself and talking to the boy and Jackson says that's that's his son
Starting point is 00:23:04 this is his son. This is his son. And the man turns to you and starts speaking, but he realizes you don't speak Spanish. So he talks to Jackson and explains like they own an alpaca farm nearby and one of the animals got out and they were just looking for him And while they were out here Two people a man and a woman At least they thought they were people Rushed them from the forest just came at them out of nowhere. One of them tackled his son
Starting point is 00:23:42 Domingo to the ground and ripped his chest open just started tearing at his chest with his mouth Before he could do too much damage the father Julio Shot his gun into the air so a warning shot and that Scared them both and they scattered
Starting point is 00:24:06 And he points in the direction of where they went which is basically the direction that you're heading you've kind of come off your original path to come check on them but the direction that he's pointing is the way that you're going anyways toward the pyramid. Was, hey guys, wasn't there, I know like an alpaca farmer was the one who was sort of the source of this whole goose chase we're on right now. Wasn't, didn't Larkin say he heard something from an alpaca farmer? That was the way of it, yes.
Starting point is 00:24:44 And I doubt he's the only alpaca farmer in the country but yeah Larkin not Larkin but Jackson is like yeah I know there are many alpaca farms here it is a bit curious, but probably a coincidence. Oh, Larkin's coming now. And if you look down the hill, you see Larkin. You guys kind of bolted off, and Larkin is just coming from behind. It's like, what is going on up here? We can't take time away from the track, what happened?
Starting point is 00:25:21 And then he crests the hill and sees this. Oh my, what happened here? Devil of a thing, old man. Seems as though someone bolted out of the forest. Two souls just burst out of the gound of brush and gave this poor young man this bit of the suck. Never heard of such a thing. No, no. Uh...
Starting point is 00:25:54 There are all sorts of creatures out here in the wilderness. It wouldn't surprise me. I'm not talking about creatures, Larkin. I'm talking about a man and a woman. A man and a woman did this. Mr. Villas, I know we've been away for some time, but now I fear that you may be slipping. While I'm watching this, can I roll a psychology roll on Larkin to see like,
Starting point is 00:26:24 if maybe there's like a tell that like He's not being truthful or something. That's great. Yeah, absolutely Okay, here we go. Please please please 47 under 50 nice Wow Yeah, so he has a very odd reaction to this. And you do get the sense that he knows something he's not saying. Hmm. Well, is the boy all right? Whatever the thing was that did this to him, is he all right? Thanks to Miss Gibran's quick work.
Starting point is 00:27:09 I did my best to stop the bleeding, but I think that he might be all right if he gets some rest. Again, we're very much not trying to divulge that we know anything at this point. According to him, it was a man and a woman. You know, these parts could be very dangerous, as you said. Yes, well, I suppose. There are all manner of creatures here. Ah, I hope no one is trailing us. This was my fear all along
Starting point is 00:27:55 that others would find about this route. If it was indeed a man and woman, now then yes. Yes, maybe this does make sense. Maybe they thought they were us. Well, quick thinking there, everyone, to save these innocent people. And he speaks to the man in Spanish. And the man looks back at Larkin, kind of double-takes, because Larkin looks terrible.
Starting point is 00:28:23 And the man looks back at Larkin, kind of double takes because Larkin looks terrible. And the guy speaks back to them and Jackson and Larkin convey to you that like he's so thankful for saving his son, but he needs to bring him home. If you'd like to join them for some rest, he would be happy to offer his home instead of sleeping out of the stars, because he knows there's not much civilization around here. And Larkin is like, no, no, thank you, we cannot, we need to press on. Were we to go here, it could slow down our arrival at the pyramid. Of course, we want to make sure that the boy is OK. Is it worth us sort of trying to find out from the father here about the pyramid?
Starting point is 00:29:21 One of you guys, that's Carter's just like, do you want to double check with him that we're heading in the right direction what his thoughts are on the place where we're going right now sure I mean maybe if Jackson and I can just escort them through the clearing see them quote see them on their way unquote and at that time peeled off peeled off with the father and son, quizzed them a little about what they know about the area. Mm-hmm. Okay, and Jackson smooths that out.
Starting point is 00:29:54 Augustus is amenable to it. And so, yeah, you help him up. You know, you have to wait a little while for this kid to kind of get his bearings. But with the extreme success, Feroz like just nailed it. He's got some color back in his cheeks. And the father is really desperate to get the boy home and away from here because he's worried that this man and woman are going to come back.
Starting point is 00:30:22 So you kind of escort them away from where all of you are standing. And what is it that you want Jackson to ask them? Give them a sense of our current route and where we're headed and like, listen up, man. Are we being led toward this pyramid and just what sort of a place are we going to? But all sorts of fantastical stories about this place. Jackson translates and maybe adds his own question. And the man explains back and is gesturing a lot with his hands pointing in the direction of where you're heading.
Starting point is 00:31:08 Jackson nods and the man kind of basically is carrying his son and profusely thanks both of you and then walks away. And Jackson says, And Jackson says, he has heard tell of this pyramid. There are many people around here that have heard rumors of it. But he has never seen it and does not travel that far in that direction for that area is cursed. However, these Qari-Siri that attacked him, he said that they went in that direction as well.
Starting point is 00:31:49 And there have been rumors that other Kari-Siri go there and return. They are the only ones that go in that direction and come back. So there's a large group of them? Jackson maybe comes back and everyone's making their way back to the camp and Feruze gets caught up on this. And he's like, you know, my initial estimates were that there was maybe a dozen, 20 of them tops around this area. If they're all congregating at this pyramid, that could be trouble.
Starting point is 00:32:37 Yes. They seem to be different ages, and different... This is completely different from what we were initially told. Quite right, Ms. Gibran. They don't all seem to share the physiogamy that we were told to expect out of these blighters. What, um... Where the hell is this Larkin leading us and for what purpose? This is starting to look less like an expedition or an exploration and more like a trap. Keep your voice down. He is not, he is not being truthful.
Starting point is 00:33:15 You could tell when he was playing dumb, he knows more than he's letting on. I am starting to wonder is, are we going there for gold? Why are we going? Why are we needed? Why were they attacked and not us? Do you think that he knows we're being tracked because he knows who is following us? Are they... I... I am very scared for when we arrive. Jackson chimes in, it is strange. Are they leaving us alone because he's with us? Why does he need us for? Why didn't he just take us out if that were the case? What part do we play?
Starting point is 00:34:18 Why'd they only go after our ass? Yes. It's short work of our asses if to prove that if we were to depart, then we'd be next. Yeah. Well, from here on out, we got to guard our asses. Oh, we'll all be watching each other's asses very well. But I... Or it's our ass. Yes. Sis.
Starting point is 00:34:42 Or it's our ass. Yes. Sis. I mean, I've grown accustomed to my ass. Small as it is. Look, we're all, everyone's comfortable with the size and relative comfort of their ass, but minus of course the one that's been sucked to bits. It's dead ass. Yes.
Starting point is 00:35:01 Don't talk about my ass that way. Well, that's assuming it was your ass that got the sucking. I don't know, uh, we haven't really surveyed the damage. So much to say that if we are being protected, they're leaving us alone because Larkin is with us, then that perhaps dissuades me from putting a bit of muscle to him to make him tell us everything he knows before we arrive. I for one am finding it rather hard biting my tongue when he's lying to my face. So what did we do back-
Starting point is 00:35:32 What choice do we have? He's weak. Yes, what choice? Let's shake him down on the streets. If you know somebody knows something and you're about to put your ass on the line. No, then now don't forget. But if we're being followed, and they're possibly his allies, then it's very dangerous. I mean, this is the whole reason why we weren't leading on that we knew anything. It is, but he's also the only one that knows where this is.
Starting point is 00:35:57 I don't disagree that a time may come when we're going to need to confront him. And I also think we shouldn't wait until it's too late. But we need to know we can get there first. I trust Nyara to lead us. These are just general directions. If we confront him, shit goes down. We're lost in the middle of nowhere. Well, we know where the farmer is, right?
Starting point is 00:36:21 We know where that direction if we ever needed to. But yeah. Lock and slak. Are you coming? Come on! I've got the, uh, the animals. Let's, uh, keep moving. Okay, I guess we'll wait one more night. Yes. Okay, I guess we'll wait one more night Yes Press on throughout the rest of the day It's uneventful
Starting point is 00:36:55 but Maybe we just see these scenes of you guys trudging and hot and sweaty in here Using a machete to cut through brush and whatnot. All the while you're just watching Larkin who's kind of at the head of the pack. And he's getting increasingly more agitated the further you go, the closer you get to your destination. But the second night passes uneventfully. And you wake up on day three with the assumption that today could be the day you reach these ruins. If this pyramid is where Larkin believes it to be,
Starting point is 00:37:38 where Ny'Ara believes it to be, you are closing in on your destination. So you get up with probably a solid sense of dread and apprehension, maybe a little excitement. Jackson is feeding into the excitement part, even though he understands that you could be walking into your death. He lives for this stuff. Get about halfway through the day. and everybody give me a spot hidden. Ooh, I rolled a five! Under something very high, hold on.
Starting point is 00:38:15 Oh nice. Yeah, five under seventy-five. Yeah, that's beyond is beyond extreme beyond right good Nuclear that should be a new category did did anybody else pass or get a hard success. I got a 15 under 50 Okay, that's a hard success sounds 15 under 75 which is another extreme success. Yeah, that's right there. And Rob Carter?
Starting point is 00:38:47 No, Carter true to form notices nothing. Notices nothing. Well, Margot and Vaughn and Favreau's for all intents and purposes, the three of you noticed this. About maybe half a mile away or so, as you're moving along what looks like it might have been a path long ago, but now it's grown over, it's a lot easier than walking through the forest, you see about a half a mile or so away in the tall grass along the valley floor because you're kind of moving through peaks and valleys and where you're walking right now, you can kind of see down into the valley below.
Starting point is 00:39:36 You would never go down there because it just wouldn't make sense, but you look down there as you're walking and you see two people walking in this tall grass. They have this like loping gate and there's really no reason to be traveling that way when there's less dense areas to walk like the one that you're walking on and Nora with your extreme success you're walking on, and Nora, with your extreme success, you're able to see something that's so strange that the others don't pick up on. They both appear unusually bloated, like their stomachs are.
Starting point is 00:40:23 They look distended. There's something very strange about their, the shape of their body. So you look down, about a half a mile away, but there's something odd shape. Like are they, are they both pregnant? One of them looks like a man. Without verbally communicating, I wanna gesture towards everybody in our party, besides Larkin, to look towards where I'm looking and point out using gestures only what I'm seeing. Yeah, and everyone but Carter saw this, so.
Starting point is 00:41:05 Yeah, Carter's just going like, she's in the jail house now. He's just like singing in mosey. Yeah, Faeruz is able to look at Margot and Vaughn, and you make eyes with each other, you all see it. Maybe you get Jackson's attention, and Jackson's like. You all see it. Um. M-m-m-m'm seeing to, sorry Rob, what was your character's name again? Carter Tillinghast. Yes.
Starting point is 00:41:54 The most unaware human being on the planet. But so charming. Happy as a damn clam. Life imitates art, really. Yeah, Carter, you look down there and you maybe triple take and you see these two. It's so strange. That dude's pregnant. It just makes no sense to be walking that way.
Starting point is 00:42:15 Hmm. The hell? Do we tell Larkin that we see them? Maybe. Yeah, maybe. Maybe an interesting means of gauging his reaction. Do we tell Larkin that we see them? Yeah, maybe we can... Maybe an interesting means of ga-gaging his reaction. We can say, oh, they're here for the treasure or whatever.
Starting point is 00:42:34 Mm-hmm. Okay. All right, yes. Jackson nods like, go ahead Vaughn. I say, old man, have you noticed we're not alone? What's that Mr. Wilders? Just pass your eye down the valley. Seems that there might be another party making tracks towards our pyramid. What? Larkin looks down there.
Starting point is 00:43:00 Well now would you look at that. Do you think that... What were two people? What's that? Do you think that they're a threat? Well, um, they, uh, what is that, a man and a woman, perhaps? They match the description that those, uh, farmers said, so if it is them then yes, I believe they could be a threat, a physical threat, or a threat to our expedition.
Starting point is 00:43:31 What do you propose we do? Well, look at where they are. It's not like we could go down there. That would be rather dangerous. We'll never make it up to them through all this brush. I mean, what business is it of ours? I say we just, we stay on the path and make it to the ruins before nightfall. And from our vantage point, we could watch them all along the way. But one wrong step trying to chase them, we could fall down into the valley below
Starting point is 00:43:59 and break our legs. What would you do? Well, it's hard to say, because all of our actions are based on what you've told us about this place. based on what you've told us about this place. Yes, it's true. You've had to take quite a leap of faith, and for that I am quite appreciative. Certainly don't want anyone to come to harm here,
Starting point is 00:44:34 but that's another reason not to go running after these two strangers. I mean, it seems like we're just going to meet them at the pyramid. They seem to be heading in that direction, just down in the valley for some reason, where all the brush is. Yes. Yes, they are indeed.
Starting point is 00:44:56 So it seems as though we're going to converge. These two lines shall inevitably intersect. We've already seen what they're capable of back in that clearing. I saw that bloody hole in that boy's chest just as well as you did. Well, I am not, uh, not particularly open to sharing our spoils with them, but I would hate for it to come to violence. If they attacked those farmers, what would they do to us? How about we stay close to the edge of the valley here and just watch them from a distance?
Starting point is 00:45:34 We'll keep an eye on them and see if they're heading where we're heading. If they split off at any point, then I will ask for your suggestions on what to do next. But it seems our destination is in a similar area. I mean, they are courses parallel to ours. Do you think they know where they're going? Or that they're just following us? That being the case, why should we make ourselves seen? Well, I don't think they're following us. They're half a mile ahead Unless they lost our trail. All the more reason for us to watch them if they don't know where we are Well, I'm open to suggestions,
Starting point is 00:46:26 but I think it's best that we continue the course and we will bid the ruins while there's still light. If we head down there and lose our way, not only will we not make it there by tonight, we could make it there by tonight and it'll be nightfall. All right. Very well. Let's keep our eye on him. And Carter wants to sort of like drift back to sort of just keep an eye on Larkin as we
Starting point is 00:46:49 make our way forward. I don't want Larkin behind us when we get to the pyramid. Okay. And- Faerûs, or no, not Faerûs. Margo leans over to Faerûs and like whispers just, I just feel like we are walking to our deaths. I don't know what to do. This feels bad and wrong.
Starting point is 00:47:11 It does feel like we're being led to slaughter. This is such a, I don't trust any of it. No. But at this point, if we are being followed and if they do know Larkin and are aligned with him, then maybe this is our only way to stay safe into the meantime. We need to keep our eyes peeled right now, even if they're with Larkin. We still have the numbers. But if we get close and notice more, don't we turn around and we run?
Starting point is 00:47:48 Yes. Until then, what hangs at the balance is whether we are his hostages or he is ours. Did we note that we had binoculars with us? Didn't we roll to see if we had that and passed or failed. Cause if we do, I would like to, like as we're continuing walking, keep a harder eye out there, down there. See if there's more. Yeah, I feel like you, I feel like you failed the binoculars role, but.
Starting point is 00:48:16 I feel like that's what I remember. That makes me so sad. So I'll just use my regular eyes. Why would you? Did we check this if we had a bazooka? Did we get a bazooka roll? I mean, that's the fun of the luck roll because like a pickaxe you'd obviously have rope, you'd obviously have binoculars. You probably should have, I probably should have just gave it to you, but it was more
Starting point is 00:48:33 fun with the luck roll so you forgot to pack it. But you do have a beat on them and obviously Faeru says 2020 vision was able to see the shapes of their bodies. What is going on here? There's something about fat. What, isn't there? Well, they're full of our donkey juice right now. Wait.
Starting point is 00:48:57 Wait. I think I'm pretty clear. I think that's, I don't know, how bad of a phrase. I know it's mad, in hushed tones, like, I know it's mad what Tilly has to say, but for all intents and purposes, I believe the man might be afraid. It could very well be full of our donkey juice,
Starting point is 00:49:14 that juice, of course, being fat. True. Not to be confused with giggle juice, which is our safe word, right? Duns the mouse. Right, yes. But do you remember remember there was that worm that tried to enter through my mouth
Starting point is 00:49:30 and what if that has something to do? What if the worm is growing? What if they burst? Because did it very much, Troy, did it look very much like it was like a baby bump or there just like all or all around Rotundness it looked more baby bumpish. Yeah, definitely swollen around the stomach area and Larkin might remind you he's like well the legend is that they were fat sucking vampires yeah
Starting point is 00:50:05 my whole life is being turned upside down there's no way any of this can be real I still believe that there is some logical explanation to this even though I've seen what I've seen yes who can press on keep watching them press on. Keep watching them. Press on. Keep your hands on your weapons. Right. So you travel along this upper hill area looking down into the valley below at these two figures. Still about a half a mile ahead.
Starting point is 00:50:41 You start to gain on them a little bit, but you know if you really wanted to catch up with them, you'd have to start making checks, honestly, mechanically, and if you failed those checks, bad things could happen, or you could just get lost, which could be equally bad. So you watch them, and they're always within your sight. From time to time, they'll look up, and you're like, are they looking at me? You get that sense, like, are they looking? Can they see? Just keep going and the day presses on but eventually the path narrows and starts to climb up the side of a small peak and I mentioned how
Starting point is 00:51:22 Larkin was getting more and more agitated as the day goes on and this final leg of the journey, you can see him just like looking all around, like darting glances everywhere. He's coming off a little manic as you get closer and closer to the pyramid. And as you get to this hill and this path, Larkin's like, yes, yes, yes, this is it. All right. This is what we have to do. We have to climb this somehow and get around to the top.
Starting point is 00:51:54 Either way, the path forward is too precarious to get the animals up there, unless any of you are trained in animal handling or mountain survival. So we're going to have to leave the animals here and make this climb and you are going to lose sight of these people very, very soon. And you see that like as you've approached the hill, the valley has started to fall out of sight as well. But now you've got to climb this area and leave the animals below.
Starting point is 00:52:23 What do you guys want to do here? climb this area and leave the animals below. What do you guys wanna do here? Don't the animals have our gear? What will we stay in? We'll just, we'll take what we need and make trips up and down if need be. But the animals will never survive. Going up here one wrong step, they'll break their leg and we'll have to do the unthinkable.
Starting point is 00:52:43 I need them to be, make sure that we can get everything back. The riches, the gold. There is much, there's important carrying stuff to the pyramid as they are carrying stuff back. We can take what we need. And what if they get attacked like one of them got attacked last night, two nights ago? Well, if you'd asked me earlier, I would say someone could stay down here with the animals, but with those two things lurking about and who knows what else, if someone has to go, I'd rather it be the animals. I don't know, I don't know. I don't want anyone else to miss out on this experience. I say we just, we tie them here and we just, we come back and check on them.
Starting point is 00:53:30 That's the best we can do. All right. And you're saying that... Are we spending the night at the top of the hill? I really don't know what to expect, Ms. Sauer. Possibly, possibly there could be too much to dig out in one day and we'll need to spend a couple days here. We have enough ration for three days and then the three day journey back.
Starting point is 00:53:54 We should, I don't know, I really don't know what to expect, but I want to get there before they do. So you're saying we climb this thing, once we get to the top we're going to see this temple? So you're saying we climb this thing once we get to the top we're gonna see this temple. I believe that once we crest this mountain here yes we should see something on the other side. How long does it seem like it'll take to get to the top that he's pointing to? It's a little precarious like you don't think if you make a mistake you'll fall unless you
Starting point is 00:54:24 fail miserably But it could take about 15 minutes to get to the top you think well Why don't we just send a couple people up there or just Larkin? I don't know and see if that's what we're gonna do before we make the decision to ditch our animals I don't know that I want him out of my sight Yeah Larkin you're gonna be able to make this climb man you seem a little you know iffy yes no I know my my health is not the best but I've come too
Starting point is 00:54:56 far to give up now yes yes I shall be able to make this climb Who's coming with come on? And he starts to go All right machete up Machete up to some of you want to stay and some go with Larkin and then holler down or do you all just want to go? I'm gonna go Okay, Jackson wants to go. He's like, I'll go with them. Um, Margo, Vaughn, do you want to stay here and then we'll holler to you?
Starting point is 00:55:32 Or do you want to come up with us? I feel like someone should stay. Okay, well here's what we can do. I won't let you stay. If you hear shots fired, help, come help. It might be too late. It might be. Same here. Yes, same.
Starting point is 00:55:54 Same. Yes, Frow Laine, Sauron and I will stay by the animals until we hear that the coast is clear and we shall stay down here and do likewise. All right. So be it the coast and all that, what? It's a real Sophie's Choice here, which is reference to a movie that has come out for decades. Also, what are movies?
Starting point is 00:56:20 Um, I'll... Carter, what are you doing? How about I strike a middle ground, you know? I'm gonna let you guys start going up a bit, chill, you know? Have a ciggy, and then I'll start so there's someone that's sort of like a relay in between. Oh. That works. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:56:43 Jackson's like, good, good, good. All right, let's go. So, Faeruz, you're going with Jackson and Larkin. Give me a climb check. This is really to see how long it's going to take you. Not if you fumble, that's a different story. But you don't have to worry about falling off the side of a cliff, it's just tricky. Really wish I would have put some more points in that.
Starting point is 00:57:12 Right about now, I failed. I rolled, I can't even use luck points at this point for that. Yeah, that's all right. It's really just to see how long it takes. And for you, you're struggling to get to the top. Whereas Larkin, in spite of his bad health, scrambles up there pretty quickly, as does Jackson Elias with a 24. So he's close to Larkin. But now you guys notice that like, Feroz is lagging behind and the three
Starting point is 00:57:46 of you are with the animals and Jackson is alone with Larkin. Any of you change what your plan is here? I'll start. I'll go try to get up now to get at least alongside Feroz. Okay, go ahead and give me a climb check. That's probably gonna be great. Don't do a lot of climbing in the Northeast. Oh, I got a four. Hey, all right. Four.
Starting point is 00:58:11 4 under 20. 4 under 20. All right, so that's an extreme success, I believe. Yeah, that's a fifth value. Yeah, fifth value. OK, exactly extreme. All right, so I'm going to give you the option. could like walk up to Feyruz like you're all right And then go ahead to catch up with them if you want or you can just meet with Feyruz and both of you go together
Starting point is 00:58:33 I'll kind of get up alongside Feyruz like you're all right How is he that fast? He's just Constantly sweating over getting up to go get a drink of water. I don't understand how he's he that fast? He's just constantly sweating over getting up to go get a drink of water. I don't understand how he's climbing that fast. You're spending too much time around them books, honey. Wow, okay.
Starting point is 00:58:54 I'm sorry about that. That just came out. I'm sorry. I don't know if you wanna say that around somebody with a firearm. She puts a shot in Carter's leg. Just shoot the pinky toe, just the pinky toe. That does kind of work, she just kind of like clicks it.
Starting point is 00:59:12 She's like, I just, you know, it's just, I'm- Yeah, I'm like, what was that? It's so humid here that I feel like I'm not thinking straight, especially when I talk to Dames. Right. Um, and I just kind of gesture with my gun for him to like, keep walking. I'll go first, I'll go first. Right.
Starting point is 00:59:34 So, Carter, after tripping over himself, makes it up the mountain with ease. So you get there first, and Vaughn and Margo hang back, and then... Seems as killing as being his charming self as usual. So you get there first and Vaughn and Margo hang back. And then- It seems as killing us as being his charming self as usual. You can't even hear us, you just see me gesturing. Echoing down, or just judging your gestures. You hear Faberous' gun safety go up. You guys make it to the top and you start to clamber around the edge of the peak and
Starting point is 01:00:09 you see a narrow path leading down now from the top of the peak that you were just climbing. Where Margo and Vaughn are, you see now that those two people are gone. In fact, as you sat there debating how you guys were going to deal with this mountain, they're lost to sight at this point. But you get up there and Larkin is just wide-eyed, Verus, when you get up there and look at him. Because down at the bottom of this path is a plateau that overlooks a deep windblown valley. The surrounding land is arid and there's no plant life anywhere. It's barren and dusty except for a few ruins scattered across the basin.
Starting point is 01:01:10 These man-made structures are the only thing that is breaking up the monotonous brownish gray of the dirt. It's almost as if it dropped 10 degrees in temperature the minute you crested the hill. And despite the cold, you all that are up there notice an increasing number of flies in the air wafting up from the valley below. It smells similar to our first impression of Mr. Larkin there. It does. You wonder if it's just the wind catching Larkin or no, that seems to be coming from the valley and it's a little overpowering.
Starting point is 01:02:07 And this is the same. We cannot see them. See who? I'm sorry. Not, uh, I sound like I was talking about the Flats. Uh, Larkin and, uh, uh, what's his name? Jackson. Jackson.
Starting point is 01:02:19 Yeah. No, no, you catch up to them. They're there as well. And Larkin is just standing there wide eyed. What were you going to say, Faerûs? I was going to say, is this valley the same valley that we saw overlooking the same valley that we saw those two people? Or is this a complete, is this like a different orientation of space?
Starting point is 01:02:42 So when you guys got to the hill that you needed to climb, the valley sort of wound around and so you lost sight of them and you think it's possible that it's wound around that they've come to this from a different way. Now that you're standing on top and looking down you see that there are other ways one could approach the ruins. But yeah, right now you're just taking in this view from above the sort of bird's eye view of the ruins. There's a stone wall surrounding the whole area. It's difficult to tell how tall it once was, because it's mostly buried in silt, but the portions that are still visible protrude from the ground at various heights from like six to twelve feet.
Starting point is 01:03:36 Looks like because of the silt deposits it would be pretty easy to climb over, but there's also a over but there's also a big rectangular doorway flanked by huge stones and topped with some sort of carving right at the end of this path leading downward from the top of the mountain. The carving looks particularly interesting but you can't make it out from where you're standing. Well, I would like to get closer to it to see what these carvings are. Okay. And what about Margo and Vaughn? Are you waving them up or are you...? Yeah, I think this is not a thing to go in alone. Yeah. This is not a thing to go in alone. Yeah
Starting point is 01:04:27 Carter kind of scrambles up to try to make it can they see him at the top sort of Yeah, if you look back behind you guys can look up and through all the trees that are dotting this you can kind of see a chunk of Carter Okay Carters like hey, come on, just come on. Let's go. I say goodbye to the rest of our asses because I don't think we're going to see them again. And head up the hill. Gently pat, pat the donkey on the nose, pat the ass and then hold, as our belts are and then go.
Starting point is 01:05:00 Don't worry, we'll be more attractive targets at this point. All right, so now all of you see what Augustus and Jackson and Marco, excuse me, Augustus, Jackson, Feroz, and Carter saw. And now let's- I'm wondering, now that I see it, does it look like that vision I saw when I looked into the mirror of that thing? Mask? Was it a mask?
Starting point is 01:05:34 It was, it's like a mirror mask. It looks like a golden mask with a mirror on the other side. So yeah, Margo, you get up there and you see from your vantage point beyond the walls a stepped pyramid, but it's only like three stories high. It's very, very small. So not quite deja vu. Not quite deja vu. The vision you saw was of a massive pyramid.
Starting point is 01:06:12 Okay. This is not that. Is it possible for Carter to sort of get the attention of his compatriots here or even whisper to them? With his like, it was like Larkin so entranced by what he's seeing that we can kinda have a quick... Yeah, for sure.
Starting point is 01:06:32 Alright yeah, Carter's like, listen, if we're gonna shake him down, it's right now. Isn't... I thought this would be... bigger? It's, I don't care how big it smells. This dude is up to some shit. Our asses are dying, like, it's time. Like, it's time. This is it? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:06:55 Yeah. It's time to find out what this guy knows. I'm not going any further. Okay. There's flies. What are these flies doing? This is gross. Oh, there's one in my mouth! Okay, what are these flies doing? This is gross?
Starting point is 01:07:07 ones in my mouth All right, I I agree Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way now that is we could he said what are we gonna like Let's rough them up. What if I just mean I like I a gun, what if I sneak up behind and just, you know, gun to the back. There we are. No need to come to blows, old man. I think we can be very persuasive
Starting point is 01:07:35 without resorting to violence. No fun. And then if he doesn't comply? Yeah, then he gets a knuckle sandwich for free. On the house. Great. I'm talking about my fist hitting him in the face. Yes, yes.
Starting point is 01:07:59 Are we on the same page? Okay. Yes. I'll get his attention. I'll get his attention. Larkin! whose carver kinda tries to like get in front of him to position Feroz kinda behind him.
Starting point is 01:08:16 Yes, Mr. Tilling asked. Listen, sorry to bother you. I know you're enthralled right now. I just can't believe it. I feel like I've spent all my life waiting for this moment, living in the shadows of my family that thought I would never do anything on my own. And yet now look at me here.
Starting point is 01:08:40 We're the only ones that know about this. We are on the precipice of glory and riches. He looks in your eyes when he says riches. The likes of which you cannot even imagine. Yeah. Yeah. Um, about that. And then he's kind of like Blackburn's and Faerust's. And Faerust's, you, I think you're muted. Faerust has lost her voice.
Starting point is 01:09:14 There you go. My mic gets possessed and likes to mute itself. Add it to the tension. Yes. He feels the cold edge of Faehruz's gun on his back in a click. What exactly are we getting into? What are you taking us into, man? We take it back a step further,
Starting point is 01:09:36 because as you approach him to put that gun on his back, Faehruz, you notice two people inside the walls of the pyramid. And we'll find out who those people are right after this quick word from our sponsor. So I imagine you're walking with the gun out and ready and then all of a sudden you see two people down there and one of them is ascending the steps of the pyramid. Like I said, it's only like three stories. And the other one is waiting below. When the one climbing reaches the top,
Starting point is 01:10:31 it walks over to what looks like a crack in the stone on the top portion. And then it kneels down and just starts vomiting into the crack. Whoa! Whoa! This like white fluid is coming out of its mouth into the crack. Whoa! This goes on for like a minute or so, and then when it finishes, it goes down to the bottom, and the other one comes up and does the same exact thing.
Starting point is 01:11:12 At this point, all of you are watching this, even Larkin. And after they go through this process, you notice that they look much thinner than they did before they perched and when they finish they start walking in your direction but they're behind this wall and you guys can actually duck down and not be seen and they walk in the direction of like the front door and then disappear out of sight. You direct your attention to roll 20. This is what you see
Starting point is 01:11:59 here. Gustus, Carter, Faeruz, Vaughan, Jackson, Margot just traveling down this path. And you can see that small stepped pyramid. You can see this crack. And then they walked in the direction of the door at the end of the path. But behind this wall, once they got closer to the wall than where you're standing, they're out of sight and the door's never opened.
Starting point is 01:12:36 Faerûs still has a gun. All right, what the hell is going on? I don't know I Think you do and then it's name was that Carter Was just reaches forward and rips open What's his name shirt I really ruin the tension there by not remembering his name Larkin sure I can thanks
Starting point is 01:13:06 This is a block I meant Dogville, your shirt. Oh, you see a totally gnarly six pack. Do you rip his shirt open? I go to rip his shirt open. I have to roll for that. So what is going on here? And you just
Starting point is 01:13:22 rip his shirt open. And you just, swah! Rip his shirt open. Yeah. And you see the full tattoo, which is, you know, you saw a chunk of it before, but now you see the whole thing and it just looks like this creature with like, looks like this creature with like, it almost looks like it has a tongue for a head that reaches up into the sky.
Starting point is 01:13:53 And it's just this black abomination covering his chest. And he looks at you, he says, what is the meaning of this, Mr. Tillinghast? What is the meaning of that? And he's pointing at his chest and I'm like, what the fuck is that? What the fuck is going on down there? What are you doing to us?
Starting point is 01:14:10 Why are we here? Perhaps we should all keep our voices a little. What the fuck is this? What the fuck is that? Quite right, Mr. Tillinghast. But as coarse as Mr. Tillinghast's speech is, I dare say he's correct. What the fuck is going on, Mr. Larkin?
Starting point is 01:14:29 Who are these people with these distended mouths and this bizarre vomitus into the pyramid we're all seeing? You know a damn sight more than you're telling. Why would you think I would know this? You're turning on me at the last minute because you want all the gold. Is that what this is? This is about wanting to stay alive.
Starting point is 01:14:49 You haven't been very forthright with us. What is that all about? You know more than you're letting on. It's painfully obvious. What is wrong with you? What is wrong with your friend who couldn't make it? All right, listen, listen. I may have been untruthful about my condition.
Starting point is 01:15:15 I do have malaria and it does bother me from time to time, but I have another sickness as well. I am, I have been struggling. I should say with an addiction to Heroin yeah, yeah, yeah, we know about that. Oh You do you do? Well, I don't know if you really know what it's like It's terrible and something that I'm trying to I'm trying to work with so if I seem like I've been Duplicitous with you or if I've been holding things back or if I've been duplicitous with you, or if I've been holding things back, or if I've been pissy with you,
Starting point is 01:15:46 it's because I'm going through serious withdrawal, because I understood the stakes of this mission, and I needed to be of my right mind and my right strength, and it's only made things worse, to be quite honest. But now here we are, and you're choosing now to attack me. Why did you bring us here, sir? I mean, why, sure, why did you bring me here? Who knows very little about the area,
Starting point is 01:16:11 barely speaks the language, when by rights you could have taken others more qualified. Well, because I- I desperately wanted to see this, and although now that I'm gazing upon it, I dare say I don't know if I should have been. Because I don't have the strength to do it to myself, alright? Whatever it is we're gonna find in there, I can't go after it. I'm too weak.
Starting point is 01:16:33 Why not just hire... Local Muscle? Why us? Why-why put you in- Literally anyone? Well, I was worried Local Muscle would throw me under the bus the minute that we came to this site! I thought people like you had a... Well, great. That's just wonderful. I spent my whole life working on this research, destroyed the notes so that no one would follow me, and it was the people that I brought along that would do this.
Starting point is 01:16:59 You, Mr. Hughes, the one I'm most disappointed with, I felt as if you of all people would protect me. Seems as if you're all in goods. Is that what this is? Or can we go in there and for once just have a moment unlike any other and discover something that has never been discovered before? Why choose now to do this, to confront me?
Starting point is 01:17:23 We can do this later. You just need one wrong move. You seemed pretty... Do what, Leta? I have it on good authority from Margo over here that you seemed pretty unperturbed by that young man and his wounds. You know something about this. You know something about this, you know something about the cari-siri.
Starting point is 01:17:46 And we just watch two fat, lumping people barf into the pyramid and leave and they're not fat anymore and you want to go in and you don't care. And he's just like, you're hitting him with all these truths and he's like slinking over and starting to cough and he's sweating and he looks dizzy and then he almost looks like he's going to fall to the ground and then suddenly his entire demeanor changes and he like stands up rigidly with no sign of the physical weaknesses that you've seen since the moment you met him and all this time you've
Starting point is 01:18:35 been traveling with him. And a voice emanates from him that is not his voice and you see his eyes go completely black and pupil-less and a voice comes out and is like why must you continue to push against this weak vessel. Larkin has failed me for the last time. And now you will suffer eternal torment beyond human comprehension. And as he says that, the ground starts to shake and Larkin's hands go out to the side and you see above him
Starting point is 01:19:30 Like a small tear in the fabric of reality start to form That's I knew that was gonna happen and we are in a combat a Little tear in reality is starting to form and this thing that used to be Larkin is standing there Everybody give me a sanity roll His demeanor makes so just a little tear in reality. It's not a big tear in reality Jesus I love it cheese crackers under crackers Yeah, you want to roll under?
Starting point is 01:20:10 What is that a good huh, it's a good hot Five under 60 He's a tear in reality unperturbed See one tear in reality She's ready for it. Seeing one tear in reality, you see them all. Yeah, you see them all. Nothing to write home about. Yawn.
Starting point is 01:20:28 Let me know when it's a full rip. Did anyone fail their sanity check? Yes, sir. Oh, no. Vaughn. Vaughn. Oh, man. Somebody roll up Ross a new character
Starting point is 01:20:42 so it's all ready to go when you lose his mind All right, you take one point of sanity loss What as the more horrible things have yet to? Happen any other fails? No, I made it got a nine who Red hot let me ask you this, who, oh god, I didn't think you'd push him.
Starting point is 01:21:07 Here we are, who had their gun out? Ah, I did. Be honest, we're using the honor system. I did. Yeah, I know you did. You were ready to shoot long ago. It's only one other gun, I think. I mean, I didn't say that I had it out,
Starting point is 01:21:18 but I think it's, if we were spraying this plot, I think it's pretty clear that I would have it. I have my machete. You guys were planning that I would have it. I have my machete. Yeah, okay. I have my rifle. Great. So that will affect when people go. Now, you know, we're obviously learning the rules as we go, and a couple weeks ago I had
Starting point is 01:21:35 said that a ready firearm, you only got that bonus on the round that you attacked. But I guess as long as it's ready, we're learning from our amazing backstage helper, Michael, that as long as it continues to be ready, you continue to get that bonus. It's only when you need to reload, or if you go full automatic and you need to like move or whatnot, that you lose that bonus. So with guns drawn, you probably wanna stay
Starting point is 01:22:02 as far away from this thing as possible. So let me sort this Fairuz you go first this thing Augustus Larkin although he no longer looks like Augustus Larkin is standing there with just black eyes Fabric of reality being torn apart and as you there looking, you see this like gray ooze in the split starting to turn into some sort of insect looking creature. Mm-mm.
Starting point is 01:22:34 Mm-mm. What would you do? Don't like it. I am going to shoot at Larson. All right, you're gonna just shoot right at Larkin? All right, give me a fire answer. All right. No, you said Larson, you have to shoot at Larson. Larson comes you're going to just shoot right at Larkin? All right, give me a Firearms roll. All right. You said Larson, you have to shoot at Larson.
Starting point is 01:22:47 Larson comes up, I've got the mule. Hey, what are you doing? All right, remind me what I roll again. He was the mule hander, handler of Larson. I have your mules. Remind me what I'm rolling for, is it the skill? Firearms skill? Yeah, roll Firearms skill and you want to roll under.
Starting point is 01:22:55 Okay, so I'm going to roll under. Okay, so I'm going to roll under. Okay, so I'm going to roll under. Okay, so I'm going to roll under. Okay, so I'm going to roll under. Okay, so I'm going to roll under. Okay, so I'm going to roll under. Okay, so I'm going to roll under.
Starting point is 01:23:03 Okay, so I'm going to roll under. Okay, so I'm going to roll under. Okay, so I'm going to roll under. Okay, so I'm going to roll under. Okay, so I'm going to roll under. Okay me what I'm rolling for. Is it the skill? Fire arm skill? Yeah, roll Fire Arm skill and you wanna roll under. Okay, so I got my hand gun rolling under. I rolled a 15 under 50. Oh, hell yeah. That is a hard success.
Starting point is 01:23:19 Well, here's the good news. Larkin is not moving because he doesn't care about your gun. However, give me the damage not moving because he doesn't care about your gun. However give me the damage. Oh he doesn't care about my gun I don't like that at all. Like that one bit. He's still asking for damage I feel like that's a nice sign. Alright so it's a 1d6 I rolled a 4.
Starting point is 01:23:40 Four points of damage. Four points of damage. Alright so you B, fire off your 22 and it hits him like right below the ribs. And you see the bullet go in and just, explosion of blood comes out, but he does not flinch. However, he is bleeding profusely.
Starting point is 01:24:00 All right. It is now Vaughn's turn. All right, yeah. Shots have been fired, so Vaughn, who is somewhat mad at the moment, is seeing this change and levels to the best of his ability, his rifle, and takes a shot as well. I don't like any of those noises. No. And I rolled an 85. Oh 85. Under 90. Boom! With the shotgun right there.
Starting point is 01:24:42 Echoes throughout the valley. As he stands there and you see that tear getting wider and wider and there's some sort of creature being formed behind the void and its arms are too long for its body. And now it is Margo's turn. And now it is Margo's turn. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr luck roll, but like have anything on me to like make something that's like flammable. You fiend!
Starting point is 01:25:27 Bear spray. We have the lamp oil. We have a lighter. Yeah, you do have. I'm just wondering, like luck roll, that I bring it up with me. Yeah, I would say you have it. You have the lamp oil. That's something you would definitely want to bring with you because you assume you're
Starting point is 01:25:41 going to be exploring ruins. Yeah. Okay. Cause that's like the only- What do you want to do? you because you assume you're going to be exploring ruins. Yeah. OK. Because that's what I want to do. Throw it at him. Yeah. Well, the only thing I can think of is like the how you beat. I don't know what that is coming out of the space time tiny rip that's getting bigger. But like with the curry series, you're supposed to either chop them up
Starting point is 01:26:00 right in little pieces or burn them. So I want to try to throw something burning at what was Larkin. Okay, all right, so you want to douse him in oil and hope that maybe somebody else will set him on fire because I'm just thinking in terms of action economy. Being able, are you going to blow the oil while you hold a match?
Starting point is 01:26:24 Right. Getting him covered in oil. Getting him covered in oil, if you succeed on that toss, then all it needs is someone to light him up. That's what I'll do, because I don't want to get close enough to try to hack him to pieces. I don't think that is in Marco's nature or anyone's nature, so I'm gonna throw try Dossamon oil Alright, let me see what you got what kind of skill do we want to use for this?
Starting point is 01:26:53 I have what's your oil toss skill or we've points. Well my regular toss is 20 Oh, you have a regular toss through I've got a throw. Yes, it's a throw of 20. Oh really, you have a regular toss? I've got a throw. Yeah, there's a throw. A skill of 20. Oh yeah, all right, give me a throw. Maybe you'll get in the ballpark if you don't pass and use a little luck. Maybe I should get a bonus because he's not moving.
Starting point is 01:27:18 No. No. Fine. I appreciate the guess. 25 and I'm using luck to bring back. You know what? Five. I appreciate the guess. 25 and I'm using luck to bring that down. Oh yeah. Great use of luck there. Okay, awesome.
Starting point is 01:27:34 Easiest points I've ever spent. You're being oiled up. So, yeah, you just, you take this glass thing and you fire at him and it hits him and just, pssh, oil splashes all over him. Starting mixing with the bullet wound. And then Carter to finish out the round. Carter, what is going on here?
Starting point is 01:27:55 I would like to say that I have a lighter. I feel like everyone in the 20s has got a lighter. Just a zip-on. Everybody smokes. You know? Or you can make me roll for that. It's up a lighter, just a zip-on. Everybody smokes. You know? Or you could make me roll for that. It's up to you. No, I think you're a smoker.
Starting point is 01:28:10 Everybody smoked back then. It was cool. So what do you want to do? Light it and toss? Yeah, Carter takes. Or do you want to walk up to him and pssh? Well, I felt like I was close-ish to him during my finger wagging in this face, which could
Starting point is 01:28:28 set me up for disaster going forward here. So I don't want to rely on my throwing here. I'd like to just... Is there a way to just tell like yeah like I'm a foot away just yeah well I think it's you tore his shirt off I did you like shirt this could be to talk yeah I mean if you tore that shirt open you're standing right there I think you can just light him. I mean, to me- The Zinja's chest hair. To me, I wanna make you roll something,
Starting point is 01:29:10 but I also think you can just fucking light him. Cause we'll say the difficulty is like trying to get the area that's covered in oil. You know what I mean? Like you're fumbling with this lighter. If he had like oil on his chest covering the tattoo, you're like trying to get that. So that to me sounds like a maneuver,
Starting point is 01:29:26 but you can talk me into a skill here if you think it makes sense before I find the actual skill. Maybe you can charm the oil. Yeah, I should charm myself into thinking I can do it. Hey oil, you come here often? Yeah. Let's see.
Starting point is 01:29:43 I mean the only kind of action stuff I've got is brawl. Yeah, I mean when in doubt it kind of falls under brawl. Just jabbing it forward into his chest. Yeah, you know, don't think too literal about brawl. Let's go with a brawl roll here. Alright, so... The beauty of rolling is like something really bad or something really good can happen. So that's why you want to have it. I think it has to happen.
Starting point is 01:30:06 We can't just be like, you light the enemy on fire. Even though you're just standing right there, you're fucking petrified of what's going to come at you. So you're like, trying to get the lighter. So yeah, so Carter takes the lighter out and does the cool like snap. So it goes and like turns on and he goes I never liked you bro and then throws the throws the thing and got a 28 under 70 all right so right where the oil covers the this horrible creature on his chest you hit it and it it lights up and the fire starts crawling up his chest, you hit it and it lights up. And the fire starts crawling up his chest
Starting point is 01:30:46 onto his clothing and he is just standing there, still black-eyed, whole, still ripping. Give me a D4 worth of damage. That he will take every round that he continues to be on fire. Got it, of course I didn't have that ready to go. Four. Four, so four from Faeruz's gun,
Starting point is 01:31:07 four of this persistent fire damage, and the guy is just now lit up like a Christmas tree, and the hole is getting wider, and now you see this creature is like, it kinda looks simian in shape in the way it has these long arms that could touch the ground if it was on the ground, but it has like a cockroach's body
Starting point is 01:31:30 with a head that has just eyes going from ear to ear and then long antenna popping out. It is something not of this world. And it's starting to climb through the tear in space and reach out towards Carter. But it is back to Faeruz's turn. Faeruz, what do you do? Oh, hell no.
Starting point is 01:31:53 Okay. Carter's just like, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please. I'm gonna shoot at the thing. The insect thing. Okay, you're gonna shoot at the thing. Yeah, can I, how many shots can I fire in one go? How many rounds does your thing hold, three?
Starting point is 01:32:13 Yeah. Okay, and you've used one, so you've got two left in there. Yeah, okay. So if you take a penalty die on both of those shots, you can fire them both off, but then you'll have to reload next time, which will drop you an initiative.
Starting point is 01:32:25 What if Larkin is actually the key to this portal, and if we were to kill Larkin, then maybe everything would shwoop. He's like on fire and the thing got bigger. Cause just cause he's not dead yet. It's up to you. You shoot at the cockroach. You know what? I don't want to make the cockroach mad. Let's shoot at Larkin.
Starting point is 01:32:48 When in doubt, don't make the cockroach mad. They survive. I'll do one. I'll fire one bullet at him. Okay. See what happens. You can unload your clip, too. You just take those penalty die. Yeah, but I don't know, let's just do one, let's see what happens. Okay.
Starting point is 01:33:10 I don't wanna do the penalty, I don't wanna take a penalty. I rolled a 40 under 50. You guys are on fire. No, I'm like Larkin. And another four points of damage. So you shot this guy who's on fire and already bleeding out of one bullet hole. Boom! It hits him again,
Starting point is 01:33:31 and his body like flinches from the pain, from the shot, and blood just shoots out and covers Carter. Ow! That's what I do! Just covers his face like a scene out of The Boys. And now it's Vaughn's turn. You see this thing reaching out towards Carter and Larkin is just standing there.
Starting point is 01:33:54 Larkin. Larkin. Larkin. Just hearing Vaughn muttering to himself in shame having just like fired into the sky basically in the last round. It's like, no it's not fair. It shouldn't be this difficult. Why in God's name would it come to this? And I'm just um I am I'm I think because that first shot went wild and because maybe
Starting point is 01:34:24 he's a little more crack than everyone else he's like becoming just like staring into this thing that should not be coming out of the sky and because he's not thinking tactically takes a shot at that thing okay it doesn't matter because he fails again. No! Well the good news is it's too far away from you to try and, well you shot at it so it's not like it could fight back. The best it could do is take cover, but it doesn't seem to be afraid of old Missin' Vaughn.
Starting point is 01:35:03 Why wouldn't this giant simian cockroach be afraid of me? Okay, let's have some fun. You know what, I think we're having quite enough fun here. Don't want to have too much fun, you know? Be spoiled. Oh no, I think we should have as much fun as humanly possible at all times. Okay, all right. That's what John Belushi did.
Starting point is 01:35:31 Look at him now. Look where that got. Yeah. Wow. All right, here we go. Robb Stalling as I look up these, what I'm trying to do here. All right, so Vaughn, if I may call you Vaughn, what I want trying to do here. All right, so Vaughn, if I may call you Vaughn,
Starting point is 01:35:45 what I want you to do, what is your POW score? POW. Y'all, what's my POW? Your power, right? My POW, yeah, my POW is my power, but what is it though? My POW is, oh shoot. It's 35. Thirty five.
Starting point is 01:36:08 Awesome. Give me a POW roll. Okay. And I'll, you know what? I'll do one too. I don't like this one bit. See, when I said that my POW was a 35? Well I rolled a 66. Jeepers!
Starting point is 01:36:28 All right. Somewhere in your mind. Yes? You hear a voice. Of course I do. That says, join me. No! No! No. No!
Starting point is 01:36:46 No! No! No! No! Slow motion. No! And your mind is already struggling from the sanity loss over the past week. And you just feel in your mind like you need to kill.
Starting point is 01:37:03 Fae-roos. No you don't! No. No you don't, no! No you don't! Saatchpil, it's indigestion, it's a larp burn. Now Vaughn, you've already used your action this turn, but walk me through what Vaughn does when he hears this. Join me, join me. Join me. Join me.
Starting point is 01:37:26 And it's as though like, it's like, what are movies even? Vaughn's been to movies, there are movies. And suddenly it's as though he's at the picture show. And like, watching this little like, uh, Mille-Aid Brothers effect in front of him. Um, and uh, like, uh, go, go, go, and this burning person is suddenly just like a burning landscape and Faerûs is not Faerûs, but like a figure in a, uh, pickle helm and a gas mask like phoo, phoo, phoo like like phasing in and out in front of him it's like better you than me oh boy
Starting point is 01:38:17 one more boss for the boneyard and um that's what's going that's what's going through, that's what's going through, that's what's going through Von Villiers head right now. And it's Margo's turn. Okay, well, again, I still have a machete not going to go up and try to hack at anyone or anything. I was trying to like tear apart my character sheet to see if there's anything I can roll that will give me any like information but I don't think that there is because this those type of things. Um, so I think, well wait, I see Vaughn aim at Faerûs. Yeah, so Vaughn takes a shot and then like, you know, I would say give me a spot hidden
Starting point is 01:39:23 in the moment here to see if you notice this. Because there's so much going on I don't think we like we just check on Vaughn make sure he's not a good he's never shown any sign of attacking his friends but I just think I rolled a seven all right so you're you're looking at this you look over at Vaughn and Vaughn is like pointing his gun towards faerus yeah you just see Vaughn's face is like slack, and the bolt is clink clink, and turning towards Faerûz Shabran. I maybe try to yell at you, like,
Starting point is 01:39:59 Vaughn, Vaughn, what are you doing? Faerûz, look! And probably nothing happens, you're not gonna respond. And do I hack at you is the thing, because that's all I can do. You know, this might turn into some PvP in this coming around. Or you hack at Larkin and he dies and the thing closes
Starting point is 01:40:28 and Vaughn comes back to us. We don't know. We don't know. I'm going. But there are options. Let me tell you, I'm gonna try to hack at your gun cause it's a big gun, right? Like I'm gonna hack it out of your hands.
Starting point is 01:40:45 The rifle, like trying to smack the butt of the rifle? Okay. Yeah. So, brawl? Yeah, do a brawl and I would say, Vaughn, you have the option to, in this instance, to just kind of dodge to pull your gun away Okay, so it'll be a brawl against the dodge here. Here we go. Oh god. I really could use that seven right now instead of Opposed rolls
Starting point is 01:41:19 62 over 30 I also failed You also failed but where you were Well, it doesn't matter you both failed so you just you go to swing out and just miss wildly and Vaughn you see that And now it is Carter's turn Carter's gonna just take a swing and lock in with this machete. Okay pulls out the machete and just hacks at him. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:41:54 Give me another d4 damage for the burn. Four. Max damage again. So just the flames continue to lick up his body and take a hack Just double-check. I'm pretty sure I know what this is. We're all Nope 86 over 70 Luck luck. Oh, yeah. yep, let's burn 16 points. Let's do it.
Starting point is 01:42:27 16 points of luck turns that into a success and you hack at Larkin. And as your blade hits him, all in one moment, the rip above him just sssssssss Larkin falls to the ground. And just the fire just continues licking and just keeps burning him. Yeah. Let's feel amazing. You're just kind of like you're you you feel like you were taken
Starting point is 01:43:02 out for a moment. And you you're back, you're back here now and you don't feel like you want to shoot your friends but you lost time. Tear the limbs off! Oh my God. Yep. So like Larkin looks down, looks dead. Larkin looks down, looks dead? Uh, Larkin looks... dying. The limbs must be hacked.
Starting point is 01:43:32 The flames continue to lick off of him and eventually like the fire goes out, the oil burns up, and he's just laying there like crisp, and he's gasping. And he reaches out towards you. Oh no. Moshing you towards him Carter just I am not having a worm barfed into my mouth again Carter's like what's that? He's doing like an ash. What can't hear you over you're dying
Starting point is 01:44:22 What do you want to say buddy? And he just says Thank you For ridding me of it And then he dies you done, okay, he's done he's done Chop off the limbs or he's gonna come back. We knew we were told we were this is the first rodeo Jazz is like wait wait wait wait wait wait But he was no Kari searing
Starting point is 01:45:04 He was a man possessed. Possessed. And you look at him and you see that like his, even though what's left of him is just like full of bullet holes and machete swings and burnt skin, his demeanor has changed as well. I'm thinking like Anakin at the end of Revenge of the Sith, where he's just like crisp. But there's something very, very different about him. And Jackson's like, I think he was a man possessed. We can and probably should hack off his limbs to be safe, but... This is no... This is no Kari Siri.
Starting point is 01:45:48 This is... This is something else. Did you see that... That rip in space-time? I didn't- What the fuck was that?! Kinda hard to miss the rift in space-time, nor the cockroach, a humanoid, reaching for my face. I thought I'd lost my mind, so you all saw it. Oh yeah.
Starting point is 01:46:07 Do I remember what happened? I would say your memory of it is more, isn't like that you were gonna kill Faerûs, it was like, like a friend was embracing you. That's it, but like, that's your memory of it, like you feel like a friend just embraced you and told you to do something you didn't wanna do, but you don't remember what the pieces of it are.
Starting point is 01:46:45 Now Margo, you saw Vaughn turn his gun, but Vaughn looks fine now. Do you say anything to him? Yeah, I like still probably I'm standing facing him, holding up my machete, going, who are you? Are you the same as Larkin now? Steady on, Saur. No.
Starting point is 01:47:08 No. I saw the same damnable things you all did. Bloody useless, though. I kind of set my rifle down. You can see there's like pouring sweat. Like, you all proved yourselves handily, though. God's sake, Salwa, why are you looking at me like that? You pointed a gun at me.
Starting point is 01:47:47 You were going to shoot her. I would never. What you did, your whole face changed. Changed? I, uh... Mr. Elias perhaps is right. This wasn't one of them. Clearly, that wasn't one of them. It, um... It... it's... it spoke to me, but it... it wasn't... it wasn't speech, it was... it was like it reached right through me. I... it just...
Starting point is 01:48:50 It was speaking in the voice of everyone I... everyone and everything I ever trusted. But now it's gone. I swear to you, it's gone. How can we be sure? that it won't come back? Well, I suppose you can't be sure. I suppose I can't be sure either. You guys just hear like turn around and Carter's just like hacking at the limbs of Larkin
Starting point is 01:49:32 Hack at the limbs chop off his limbs chop off his legs chop off his head And now it is just five of you here outside of these ruins And just five of you here outside of these ruins and this was an experience obviously you're all kind of trying to rebalance yourself what do you do now Jackson is like well now we know that that's dealt with we don't know what other dangers may lay inside there were two other people there you saw them right so flies and stuff around the flies are terrible and it stinks of rotten meat just wafting on the wing, that constant hominir. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Same, same. As this is going on, can I take a closer look at, you said that there was like markings
Starting point is 01:50:52 on that wall? Yeah. So if you walk down towards the gate, you see that outside of the doors is what look like carvings now you see is a long head. It's like a carving of a head like within an elongated cranium. It could be an archaeology roll or something in that area. It's like a, it looks like it's supposed to be human, but it's so thin and elongated, it's grotesque.
Starting point is 01:51:34 Could I use? It's too long. Cryptology? Sure, sure. Okay. Yeah, that's in the ballpark, especially for your character. I rolled a 37 under 70, so a hard success. All right.
Starting point is 01:51:49 No, wait, no, no. Sorry. That's not a hard success. I just missed it. Regular success. Oh, I'm going to spend two blocks to make it a hard success. To turn into a heart? Okay, great. So while you don't recognize what its exact significance is,
Starting point is 01:52:08 you know that the design of the head resembles the designs of the Tiwanaku people. And there are some differences, but it's definitely Tiwanaku in design. Now, Tiwanaku is a pre-Columbian site in Bolivia. It's close to the border with Peru, and it was discovered by one of the conquistadors. It has been a site of serious archaeological study since the 1860s. So I'm sure you have studied it in your time, but very little is known of its inhabitants because they left no written records. Now, the pendant that Larkin showed you at the Bar Cordano was also a Tiwanaku artifact, as is the golden mirror
Starting point is 01:52:57 that Margot looked into under the bed. So as you start to piece this all together, you think that this site was most likely created by this group, the Tiwanaku, and then they left it. It was created for some very specific reason, and then they left it behind. But if an artifact from the Incans was found as well, then maybe, you know, it kind of ties into what Larkin was saying, but now you know that it's not just a Conquistador death cult. There's something else going on here. Like the Conquistadors came here after the Tiwanaku tribe built it, but you can't figure out what transpired there. out what transpired there. This all connects Margo, the mask, and this hieroglyph here, and that pendant, the pendant that Larkin had. It's all Chiwanaku.
Starting point is 01:54:03 It's all connected. It's all Chiwanaku. It's all connected, but... But the Contesitos came here and this was already built. What did they come here for? Sounds like we're missing a piece. If this was built before they came here, what do you think this was used for? We just saw those two barf into the cracks well yeah right now it's being used as like barf just a barf trough
Starting point is 01:54:37 yeah but and then also the the one artifact was the Incan. So what are we missing? We're missing chunks of time. I don't know. Are we gonna go in there? Carter's like, what was the story we heard about the, what culture did it come from where the cosmic space god landed and then got tricked into a hole? Oh, what Nyara told you about.
Starting point is 01:55:17 Yes. That's right. She told you a long story about an ancient evil god who fell from the sky and landed in Lake Titicaca, bringing hunger with it and devouring all it touched. And was that the, which culture did that originate from out of all the ones we're talking about? Or do we know? You don't know for sure. Was that just local folklore? Yeah, it's local folklore, but it would probably be, it could be very well be attributed to
Starting point is 01:55:49 the Tiwanaku people. They're just such a mysterious group. No one quite knows what they did. But you know that in that story, Ikeko, the trickster hero Ikeko told the evil god where to find the best food. It says, oh, it's underground. And Ikeko convinced this evil god to crawl into an old armadillo burrow and then place stones over the burrow to trap the god below. And then that site became sacred and they built a temple over it binding
Starting point is 01:56:26 it in place with spells worked in gold. My god. Okay yeah those are I have I found my notes now and that's yeah sky god people avoided they think it's a tomb. So Carter kind of turns to Feyruz and he's like, do you recognize this thing with the long head? Is that any kind of deity that you've ever seen in any of your learnings? It's Tiwanak and so was the pendant. And so was, I believe, Margo, the mask that you found.
Starting point is 01:57:11 Yes. It all ties together. But this was all pre-Columbian. It's before the Conquistadors came over. What purpose did it serve? And why would they be interested in this now? So all long faith here could be the space god. The space from what Ny'arra was telling? Yes. The evil god from... It was tricked by the trickster god.
Starting point is 01:57:44 She said she saw exactly what we just saw. An evil sky god. That looks like an evil sky god. It certainly came out of the sky at me. Which would make this... Where it was trapped? A pile of stones. If... and... Which means those people aren't just disgorging themselves.
Starting point is 01:58:10 It's not... I know a vomitorium is not a vomitorium, but they're... They're not vomiting, they're feeding something. Yes. Yes, and then that would mean that the gold slabs, the ones that we found, is what's keeping this thing inside. But I'm wondering if it got out at one point with the inkens, and that's why you see so many like different timed artifacts. And if the broken piece that we are carrying is part of the spell that kept it bound in, no wonder there's so bloody many of them walking about. Well that thing was ready to come out regardless of what was in the wall
Starting point is 01:59:01 or not. That thing was ready to pop. Well, can we put it back? We could, or we could leave. We could go back to our homes. We could never, I never, I'll be honest with you guys, I never wanna see that again. I never wanna see a hole in the fabric of reality open and some insective. It's just you guys might have different preferences. Personally that wasn't a cool experience for me. How are we supposed to go back when we know that
Starting point is 01:59:37 we're being followed? How do we ignore just what we saw and what we know? It's easy. We get on those donkeys and we just go and we have Pisco Sours by 72 hours from now. It's gonna be awesome. I don't think I could ever relax again. No, we've come this far. We have to press on. We can do this together. Do what? What are are we doing why are we why are we here why we can go in there and telling us if you walk away now and others here stay and face whatever it is we're going to face in there you may think that you won't regret it but there's a part of you that will nag at you every day until you die.
Starting point is 02:00:27 I don't know What this what this gold thing is? I don't know what's happening I scarcely can believe it if my eyes didn't just see it, and I didn't feel it in my mind. I couldn't I couldn't even get a shot off They're telling me I almost shot you get a shot off they're telling me I almost shot you I bloody well can't live with myself unless I try to set something right I'm going in there to try to put this thing back together and keep that thing whatever it is from getting out what away from too many things already. You're making a good point in insinuating that I'll be going back alone.
Starting point is 02:01:11 That's not necessarily preferable either. If that thing that we saw can just rip through space, what's to say that it wouldn't do that wherever we end up running away to? It could come back at any time. Well, for one, the real estate market in Gloucester, I don't think you'd be able to afford a house. You know, it's not liquid probably. But, fine, fine.
Starting point is 02:01:35 If everyone's going, then, ugh. Guys. All right, what are we doing? Tell me. Do we have more lamp oil on us? We could climb over the gate or we could just walk through these doors. Either way, inside is the only way. Let's make sure we have every drop of that oil that we have in our possession. And we need to bring the gold bar with us. Yes.
Starting point is 02:02:08 That's the... yes, that thing. I've got that. I've got that here. I brought it with me. Oh good, because I did not want to go climbing back down that hill. Is there anything on those donkeys that we need before we... I'm in. We got it, right? We've got our weapons we've got it's role playing climbing give me 17 climb check searching through pouches I've got a pouch search skill all right yeah let's soldier on you crazy people.
Starting point is 02:02:47 All right, so what do you want to do? You want to go over the gate? Like I said, it's broken, so you can't tell how high it ever was in its prime. It goes sometimes at six feet, sometimes it's 12 feet, but there's like sand deposits that have blown against the outer wall so that you could easily hop over. But there's also this these double doors leading right in. All it needs is a welcome mat. Which can I look around for the whatever branches something to end with the remaining part of the
Starting point is 02:03:20 shirt that was torn off. Can I make a torch leading in? Yeah, sure. It's starting to get laid out, starting to get dark, but you've still got the light a little bit. Which of those two options is closer to the spot where we saw the two disappear? To the south. So if you look at your map here,
Starting point is 02:03:42 obviously at the end of this pathway, you've got the double doors but you could scramble along the wall to the south where it starts to turn and it seems like they were walking in that direction. At least it appears that way when they didn't come out of the doors they were kind of walking down. So you see if you look down there there are enough silt deposits that you could just hop over the wall or go over there and look over down and see what's on the other side. I think we should just give a little peeky, a little peeky over that wall. We don't need
Starting point is 02:04:16 to walk through this door just yet. Very well. Let's just put our peepers over the wall, Let's just put our peepers over the wall, make sure we're not walking into more of those things. Something that should by right be scuttling upon the bottom of the trench in the deepest part of the ocean. Crawling out of the bloody sky. So you start to walk along this wall to get a better view on the other side of it where these two vomiting figures disappeared out of your view as they moved closer. So you get down there and you start clambering up these silt deposits and you get up and you look down and you see the rest of the site. There are a number of crumbled walls that indicate there were other structures there in the past but now all that is left are walls, archways leading nowhere.
Starting point is 02:05:27 But right on the other side of the wall here where these figures disappeared is a pit, about 15 feet wide on each side. And the stench of death and decay is overpowering the second you look down and the sound of flies buzzing about there they're biting at you viciously all coming up from this pit that is full of human remains and as you're looking down into this pit of bodies, you hear a noise behind you. And you turn, and it's Augustus Larkin's severed head. What? The bloody tongue will grip you until you are crushed, and you will not live long enough to see the skies turn black and all humanity perish.
Starting point is 02:06:38 We will meet again. And then the head just deteriorates and turns into a bunch of flies that go everywhere. And we'll see you next week. ["Flyin'"] Flies! Oh my God. Wasn't the head floating? Floating head!
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