A decade ago, a band of occult investigators battled against the summoning of an ancient and monstrous evil. They failed. Now you must piece together the puzzle and finish what they could not. The stakes are high, and so is the price to pay. Can you do it?
Christopher hesitates on the threshold on the hidden room, he realises why Cam hesitated, as the disturbing 'aura' of the room had disturbed him too. Looking around Christopher is taken aback by the items inside, this looked like it may have been Brooks'sanctum - the altar, the desk and bookcase; these were ll the items and potential evidence that was missing from the apartment itself.
Christopher scanned the walls trying to see if there was another hidden door, one that would lead into the hallway or the lounge area.
Spoiler:
would using Architecture to spot this work?
Christopher moves to the desk, carefully he starts to search...
Professor Jonathan Cornwall "The five ancient Mayan symbols are roughly translated as mountain, mouth, transformation, light, and song."
"I'm at a loss to explain what this all means though..."
The Professor writes this down in a small notepad from his coat pocket, and then quickly moves to the bookcase to look for clues.
Jonathan walks towards the bookcase and starts skimming through the books. About half a dozen are classic and cutting-edge books in the Mayan and pre-Columbian studies. Jonathan recognizes books from respected authors - most of them are books he has read, too. The books have been rigorously read and handles, without much care, and there are highlighted passages. These passages seem to focus on pre-Columbian religion and "fringe and forbidden Gods" in the Mayan pantheon, especially one called Golxumal (ghol-zhoo-mohl) also known as "The Fisher from Outside". According to one passage, the Fisher from Outside was worshiped at an ancient site in the heart of Yucatan - a site intended for other purposes but captured and repurposed by the Cult of Golxumal. It was called Chichén Xoxul (chee-chen zhoo-zoll). There is one photograph tucked away inside one of these books. On its back, there's written: Dominguez and his crew.
Then there are three books about Mexican folk songs and music and six blank books, still unused. Finally, there is one old-looking book, looking more about occult than about actual history, called The Womb of the Black Stone. It is handwritten onto pages of limp vellum, and it looks very precious. Brooks must have spent a considerable sum to get his hands over this.
Meanwhile, Holly and Christopher carefully examine the desk and all its drawers. There's a treasure of letters here, although mostly are written in some kind of code and not immediately understandable. All of the encoded letters appear to have been sent from Trammel. But there's also an unfinished letter, an answer from Brooks to Trammel. You also find a letter coming from a certain S.S. and another one, the most recent of all, from a certain Sancho Dominguez.
Unfinished Letter to Trammel Part One,[img]https://s8.postimg.cc/mgkp61yr9/Letter_Trammel_1.png[/img]
Unfinished Letter to Trammel Part Two,[img]https://s8.postimg.cc/4drmeuq1x/Letter_Trammel_2.png[/img]
Letter from S.S.,[img]https://s8.postimg.cc/ph1jmupkl/Letter_s.png[/img]
Letter from Sancho Dominguez,[img]https://i.postimg.cc/TPsdvZc6/letter-merid.jpg[/img]
Holly shows the others the letters she found. "Do you think you might be able to break the code?" she asks Jonathan. "That may get us some more answers. It looks like this dig site in the Yucatan will be our destination once we are finished in Mexico City, but that will take some preparation. We should also look up Sancho Dominguez, who made the arrangements for Brooks's expedition there. If we can find him, we may be able to convince him to share what he knows with us, maybe even take us out there - if we can trust him."
OOC: I just noticed one letter was cut by the forum, unless it's just me. I can't resize it until the next weekend unfortunately, but I'll fix it as soon as I can.
Professor Jonathan Cornwall
The Professor grabs the book featuring Golxumal, the picture of Dominquez' crew, and the occult book, "Womb of the Black Stone." "Holly, I have a little skill in cryptography. Please, gather up all the letters and I can take a closer look after we leave this cursed place."
"Maybe track down this Francisco de la Vega as well,"Cam passes all the letters back to Holly, "If Dominguez had to cross his lands, then that's a lead to locating where Dominguez. Plus, it doesn't sound like they like each other much. Maybe this Chichén Xoxul site is even on de la Vega's land, it not then it's probably close."
Cam points to another of the letters, "This other one from S.S.? Figure that's almost certainly Savitree Sirikhan, the oriental woman? You told me that Edgar Job thought she would have been the one to take over from Echavarria if anyone."
He shrugs, "Well, reading this, she don't think much of Trammel, and looks like she's got her own expedition and her own group. So that's Dominguez here in Mexico, Ayers maybe still in Ethiopia and now Savitree somewhere else. Where the Hell's Ko Kruk Island anyway? Sure as Hell ain't in Tennessee."
Raising an eyebrow Cam continues, "This place right here makes it look like Brooks might have left town a couple of weeks ago, maybe when he got the telegram from Dominguez or maybe 'cus he got scared. We should probably take a look at his girl's place next – see if anyone's home.
"I figured that Brooks must have had Felipe killed at the hotel, and maybe he still did, but the other thing you mentioned Job sayin' was that Savitree had a thing for knives. Cutting herself and others?"
Cam grimaces, "Whoever killed Felipe definitely had a thing for knives, they cut up his face for the fun of it. Real sick stuff."
OOC,[ooc]Sorry for the big post. I've been reading lots for a couple of days to join in, and then this apartment has more clues than everywhere else I've read about. Anyway Cam's been really quiet for ages - he needed to talk! ;)
[quote="Overlord87"]I just noticed one letter was cut by the forum, unless it's just me. I can't resize it until the next weekend unfortunately, but I'll fix it as soon as I can.[/quote]
The whole image can be opened or downloaded, by right clicking, so it's no big deal. EDIT: Also, it's not actually cut off on my laptop, just on my phone.[/ooc]
"Thanks. Yeah, that makes sense," says Holly, collecting the letters. "We can check out Leticia's place afterwards, and we also want to go see her and the band tonight. Have we gotten everything there is to get here? If so, we should make tracks. I don't think Brooks will come back, but that doesn't mean our presence here will go unnoticed. The concierge does have access to a telephone."
You pick up what you've found and head for the exit. Ian seems visibly shaken, but also sort of relieved. Turning his back on the vial of nectar was not easy, but he is proud of himself for the first time in a long time. As you leave the creepy room behind, the sun welcomes you back into a world of normality. Or so you'd think, at least.
It's Jonathan that notices it first. Perched above you atop the dirty coops is a single grackle, shiny and black, tilting its head this way and that. It opens its mouth to let out an eerie caw and reveals, at the base of its beak, a glistening and grisly mouth ringed with tiny, hooked teeth. Its caw is wet and brief, like a crow gagging on pus. You all freeze, horrified, looking at the creature.
Then you hear the caw answered by the flock descending upon you...
Spoiler:
Everybody roll against a Stability loss. You can also write your immediate reaction to the event.
Terrified, Holly scrambles to get back in the apartment before the birds can reach her. "Quick, back inside!" she screams. "They're hopped up on Nectar!"
"What th...,"Cam is already bringing up his pistol to shoot at the lone bird when he sees the flock decending. He lowers his gun and tries to pull his jacket over his head as runs after Holly, desperate to get under cover.
OOC,Stability Roll - Spending 2 points:
[dice]0[/dice]
[ooc]Could you clarify, I wasn't sure, but I think we're on the balcony immediately outside Brookes' secret temple, rather than out on the street?[/ooc]
