[IC - MEXICO CITY] Before the Party

[Overlord87]

You drive back to the hotel to get ready for the party - changing clothes maybe, but more than that, pushing the image of the mutated birds in the back of your minds. You have a couple of hours to rest before it's time to head for La Paz. You gather the clues you've found at Brooks' apartment, the letters, the photo and the books. It will probably be safer to keep them here, rather than carrying them with you.

Photo,[img]https://s8.postimg.cc/rpfq4djvp/Crew.png[/img]

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]

Book on Mayan and Pre-Columbian History,This book appears to have been read with attention, and there are several 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).

Occult book,It is called [b]The Womb of the Black Stone[/b] and its pages are made in limp vellum. It is handwritten, and clearly very old. [ooc]Up to one of you can skim through the book in the time you have, but reading it in detail will take more time.[/ooc]

[Mr. Handy]

"How should we approach Leticia, if she even shows up there?" asks Holly. "It could be that Brooks already got to her, or that she's split town. If she is there, we could offer to protect her from him - or whoever is after her, if it isn't him."

[Raiko]

Cameron:

"I think she's probably skipped town already with Brooks. Do you think maybe jealousy could explain the defaced photos of Laticia?"

Cam looks up from having another read through Brooks' unfinished letter to Trammel.

"This implies, I think, that Brooks met Savitree recently. I think that what we've seen in Mexico City is the result of a two or three way power grab between Brooks, Savitree and maybe Trammel.

"I figure Brooks lost and left town in a hurry with Leticia a week or two ago, but either Savitree or Trammel is still here, cleaning up any loose ends. We need to be really careful when we check out La Paz."

Cam shrugs, "I could be totally wrong and Leticia could turn up at La Paz, right as rain, but I don't think we've seen any evidence that Brooks has been here recently. His operations are shut down and everyone associated with him is dead, hiding or on the run.

"And someone other than us is staking out the places he used to run...

Or maybe I'm just morbid."

He laughs.

"If Laticia is at La Paz though, we seriously need to get to her before she sings. We don't want a performance like that record."

[Mr. Handy]

"That does make sense, now that you mention it," says Holly, "and Savitree is good with a knife. Leticia probably did run off with Brooks then, perhaps even to the dig site, unless of course Savitree got to her first. When we go to La Paz, we have been invited backstage to meet the band before the performance, so we should get to talk to her then if she does show up."

[leonardolad]

Ian Morin

"About Letícia... do you remember that Victor have mentioned that at some point she started to cover her face? Using a veil and sunglasses... And he thought something wasn't right in her face. Her eyes were too far apart, or something. Would be too far fetched to think that maybe she's the one who cut those pictures? An act of denial, self-pity... pure angry?"

[Mr. Handy]

"I'm not sure," says Holly, "but I doubt she also tossed her own place searching for something."

[leonardolad]

Ian Morin

"Oh no, I agree with you." He nods. "I'm just trying to understand the photos. I don't think we'll find Letícia or Brooks here in the city. I think they joined this Dominguez fella in Mérida. If she shows up, I think we should start gently... offer her protection. A way out. If she's not there we can try to find Javier Luna, her guitar player."

[Overlord87]

OOC:   Ready to go to the party then?

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Yes, I'm ready.

[Raiko]

Cameron:

"Guess we've got no choice, but to go n'check out La Paz now then."

OOC,That's just me saying "yes ready to move on" in character.

[ShyberKryst]

Professor Jonathan Cornwall
While the others are discussing the clues, the Professor has gone silent as he skims through the occult book that he lifted from Brooks' place: "Womb of the Black Stone."
Its pages are ancient and the vellum crumbles a bit on the edges as he scans the tome.

OOC:   Professor Cornwall has Anthropology, Archaeology, and Cryptography as investigative skills.

[Overlord87]

While you talked, Jonathan has been intently reading the old book you recovered from Brooks's apartment. As you decide to get ready for the party, you notice that he's not really reading the book, but more like staring at it. Also, he appears to be lost in thought and mumbling something you can't quite understand, in a language that is most certainly not English.

Jonathan,Handwritten onto pages of limp vellum, The Womb of the Stone is a Hungarian translation reputedly transcribed from a folding book which is described in detail and almost certainly represents a Mayan codex similar to the Dresden Codex. The content of the book, however, bears little resemblance to the other Mayan codices which survived the flames of Spanish intolerance. It takes the form of a mystical autobiography as the author performs the mental and physical preparations necessary for some form of momentous religious rite. Some of the acts described may represent actual practices of the Mayan religious caste (such as the application of face paints or tattoos using a queerly metallic substance), but others seem to be symbolic explications of the spiritual journey undergone by the “chosen” (for example, the visions of a “sky-born citadel” which hang in a seemingly hallucinogenic “empyrean void” which is “one with the skies of Earth”). Many of these acts are barbarous, involving acts of violence either committed by the author or done to them. In one lurid passage, the author is forcibly castrated because his “seed which shall be transformed” has not been deemed “worthy of inheritance” (or perhaps “lacking of primogeniture”). The ritual at the heart of the book consists of entering “the needle which is a dark (black? starless?) echo of the Stone”. It suggests the author’s religious beliefs revolve around some form of primitive animism: Life is a river that nothing from the universe can separate itself from. “That which is apart is illusion; all things are as one.” (More literally, “share a common pool (of blood)”.) This “binding of Life” forms a tenuous (nebulous? ethereal?) link “between worlds”. After the author passes through the “transforming womb” of the ritual, he engages in what appears to be a dialogue with his god, an entity he names “Gol-Goroth”. The actual words exchanged, however, are rendered in a script apparently unfamiliar to the Hungarian translator (who instead merely attempts to duplicate the original characters). Studded around these incomprehensible words, however, are brief descriptions of the “chosen place (large land?)”. The author’s attention is apparently drawn repeatedly to the “great eye” which hangs in the “vastness” above. You feel somehow certain that in the right place, you could commune with this dark god just by pronouncing the right words, which are now burned in your mind, as you can't help repeating them like a broken record. [ooc]Jonathan gains 1 point of Cthulhu Mythos and loses 1 point of Sanity.[/ooc]

[Mr. Handy]

"Jonathan, listen to me," says Holly, placing a hand between his eyes and the book to keep him from seeing it. "I think it's time to put the book away."

OOC,Can I use Psychoanalysis to try to get through to him?

[Overlord87]

Spoiler:

Just shaking him or otherwise energetically getting his attention is enough to get him out of the trance.

[Mr. Handy]

Seeing that Jonathan doesn't react, Holly grips him by his shoulders and shakes him.

[Raiko]

Cameron:

Cam looks on as Holly tries to snap Jonathan out of it.

"Hey Prof! You okay?"

Cam stands ready to give Jonathan a "friendly" slap if the shaking doesn't work.

[ShyberKryst]

Professor Jonathan Cornwall
"Uhhhh.....yeah, yeah, I think I just experienced some kind of trance-like state....." The Professor stammers as he slouches into a chair, rubbing his temples.
"It, it, its as if the author, and maybe Brooks too, were trying to commune with this dark god, Gol-Goroth."
"Quite, strangely, I feel like I could repeat the ritual myself if I were in the right place at the right time...."
"Perhaps we should get going now. My apologies."
Jonathan takes the pocketbook from his coat and starts furiously jotting down notes with a stumpy little pencil nub...

[Mr. Handy]

"It's all right," says Holly. "I wouldn't advise repeating the ritual. Nothing good would come of it. I agree, we should head to the party."

[carnage_lee]

Christopher Fontana

"Hang on a few minutes, I've got an idea..." Christopher says as he steps back into the room. He holds up four small stoppered glass vials "I thought of these when Cameron said we don't want Leticia to sin." he pauses "Dr... Holly do you still have that 'sleeping potion' that we found at Brooks's apartment? I thought we could decant some of that into these vials and if the opportunity arose one of s could slip a dose into her drink... enough to make her woozy..." he looks at Holly expectantly.

[Mr. Handy]

"I can do that," says Holly. "I'll have to estimate the dose, having never seen her before, as I don't know how big she is, but I can err on the side of a lower dose. We don't want to knock her out, after all."