[IC - Mexico City] The Ruins of the Villa

[Overlord87]

Holly stuffs some cotton balls into the ears of her friends, and things seem to get better. Huang Yan still appears to be completely lost, but at least he's not hurting himself anymore. Elena's breath steadies, even though she still looks shaken. "That song...", she says, "It was Leticia singing, I recognize her... but how can she... I don't understand..."

Meanwhile, Cam has reached the metal grill on top of the pit, and is trying to push it open. It's heavy, but it doesn't look like an impossible task... until a guard appears on the other side. He holds a long stick and with a sadistic smile starts hitting Cam until he loses his grip and falls down. He impacts the ground kn his back, air leaving his lungs as pain flares on his mind. You can see the guard laughing, before he disappears from sight again.

Ian's eyes are still out of focus. You don't know what he's seeing, but judging from the expression on his face, nothing good.

Ian,You fall towards the huge mouth and it's then you realize what exactly is in front of you: a God. Suddenly, all [b]Trammel[/b]'s and [b]Brooks[/b]'s nonsense doesn't look like nonsense anymore. Somewhere, on this planet, a God is sitting at the core of a huge mountain, and its tendrils can reach everywhere. What can you do against such a thing? Fight it? Worship it? Your mind cannot focus right now. You keep falling and falling. [ooc]You lose 4 additional Stability point and are Blasted. You also lose 4 Sanity point, and your Sanity rating is permanently reduced by 2. You have 2 choices: you can Faint, therefore avoiding the Sanity loss (but not the reduction of the Saniy rating, plus you won't be active for the rest of the scene), or you can remain awake. In that case, you'll gain 1 point of Cthulhu Mythis and will remain somewhat active, even though mostly in terms of gibbering and drooling. In addition, you may choose to have one of your Pillars of Sanity collapse, which may protect you later on and give you some roleplaying possibility right now. Let me know.[/ooc]

Cam,[ooc]You lose 6 Health.[/ooc]

[Mephistophilis]

Cam gasps rapid shallow breaths: "Jesus Christ, that hurts, Holly, can you take a look at me? We need to get out of here. There's a goon up top. I'm pretty beaten up but I don't think he could stop us all if we rush him together. Who thinks they can make the climb?" Despite the pain Cam's panic is receding as he finally sees a way out of the situation.

[Mr. Handy]

Holly nods and goes over to Cam, helping to patch him up as well as she can. "I'm a good climber," she says, "and I can even fight a little, now that you've taught me the basics."

[Overlord87]

Elena takes a step forward: "If I can help, I will. I don't want to die in a place like this. I still have to visit Paris, after all", she says trying to show a brave smile.

Looking at the wall, you can now spot a couple of the mouths. When they're closed, they look like cracks in the wall, except they're slowly moving. There might be more hidden, though. The thought makes you uneasy, but you can at least identify some sections of the wall that should be safer.

[leonardolad]

Overlord,I'll remain awake. Faint won't help us get out of this hole. If I stay awake,I'm still functioning, right? I mean, I'm aware of whats going on and can make logical actions, like climb? I'm not sure how this Pillar of Sanity works.

[Overlord87]

leonardolad,If you're awake you can act, just... under severe shock. You're probably mumbling nonsense, hands shaking, perhaps you're repeating some old nursery rhyme or any other trick to keep your mind in check. Regarding the Pillars of Sanity, any investigator has some (you can find them in your sheet). In Trail of Cthulhu, a Mythos revelation (usually obtained after using the Cthulhu Mythos ability) can shatter one of those Pillars of Sanity - simply put, in the face of an horrible reality, the investigator discovers they're no longer true. This can cause a large Stability and Sanity loss. When you experience a Sanity rating loss, like you just had, even unrelated to a Pillar of Sanity, you can still choose to have one pillar crumble. This can protect you later on, as it is a Pillar that can no longer be attacked by Mythos revelation. On the other hand, once you remain without pillars you're more or less fucked, as all your Stability tests have an increase of +1 in difficulty. See also pag. 20: https://www.google.it/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://site.pelgranepress.com/trail/files/Trail_of_Cthulhu_Condensed_Rules.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiFzfCF7tXlAhVEKewKHVYwAsoQFjAAegQIBhAC&usg=AOvVaw2G3XZR0j-IZXNj6P1HOE5r It's your choice to make.

[Mr. Handy]

"That's the spirit!" says Holly, who can't help grinning herself. "I've never been to Paris either. Maybe we can go together." She picks out the safer sections of the wall and indicates them to the others. "Anyone else need patching up? If not, I'm ready when you are."

[Mephistophilis]

Cam looks at his companions, a grim look of determination on his face. 'Okay, Holly, Elena, anyone else who thinks they can make the climb, get ready. If we're going to have any chance of surviving this we need to get out the pit, then maybe we can help the others. There's at least one guard up there, maybe more, I don't know. We're going to need to rush the grille so they can't stop all of us, get out, overpower the guard, if he has ear defenders on maybe pull them off and that might slow him down. We have to go up the wall in different directions, so he can't stop all of us. Then we can stop this noise'

OOC,Could I roll Sense Trouble to avoid the mouths and Stealth to get up without the guard noticing?

[Overlord87]

OOC:   You can roll Sense Trouble before climbing to try spotting the mouths and avoiding them.

[Mr. Handy]

Holly is able to spot the mouths.

OOC,Sense Trouble roll (spending one point) to spot the mouths: [dice]0[/dice]

[Mephistophilis]

Starting to climb the walls of the pit Cam's eyes dart back and forth between the malignant cracks and the grille above searching for signs of attack.

OOC,Spend 2 points Sense Trouble [dice]0[/dice]

He identifies a clear path away from the route Holly is taking and begins to ascend.

[leonardolad]

Overlord,OK, I think I got it. According to the rules, if I choose to lose one of my pillars I will avoid the shock of Sanity loss and have to role-play this loss. Is that right? Correct me if I'm wrong. I'll lose "Human equal worth".

Ian Morin

Slowly Ian starts to react. He looks at his friends struggling to climb the walls of the pit and decides he should do that too. He mumbles, probably just for himself. "These people... why... I mean... they're evil. Brooks, Letícia... all of them. They are not even human. Somebody have to put them down. Have to stop this... hehehe... We should... k-kill them. Hehe. They should be dead. Yes, yes... They should."

He then approaches the wall, looks up and starts climbing. "Coming up, hehehe... right away! There was a farmer... who had a dog... and Bingo was his name-o... B-I-N-G-O...B-I-N-G-O."

[Overlord87]

Everyone starts climbing together, trying to rush to the top and remove the metal grid before the thug can push them down. The climb is not difficult as much as it is unnerving, with the thought of a mouth opening at any moment to bite one of your hands or feet. In fact, you hear Elena let out a shriek of pain, behind you, and you can only hope she's pushing forward. Ian and Holly are no luckier, though, as a mouth opens up near their hands and bites off some flesh. Luckily (so to speak), Ian's mind is well beyond any concern for pain, and he keeps pushing forward as if nothing happened. For Holly is much harder to ignore the pain, but after pausing for a second, she realizes she can't stop and keeps pushing forward, clenching her teeth. What's sure is that there are more mouths in the wall than you anticipated, and better hidden.

Still, you finally reach the top, ready to apply pressure on the grid and remove it. Holly can see the guard above herself, getting ready to hit her with his wooden stick. She closes her eyes and prepares for the shock, and the fall, hoping that the time she gains will be enough for the others to exit the pit and overpower the thug. But the blow never comes. Looking up, she sees the thug on the ground, and Konovalov standing on top of him. He has his gun out - and that's probably what he used to render the thug unconscious. He then aims the gun towards Holly and fires a bullet - hitting a mouth right next to her feet, ready to bite! The mouth shrieks and closes, disappearing.

"Hello there, pretty lady. We can talk business now, yes? I say we might help each other, before the mouths eat you all alive. For one thousand dollars, you can buy the services of old Konovalov here. Fair deal, yes? What do you say?", he grins, gun aimed at Holly.

Spoiler:

OOC:   I have taken a spend of 4 points of Athletics from anyone making the climb.

Cam,[ooc]You take 2 points of damage.[/ooc]

Holly,[ooc]You take 1 point of damage.[/ooc]

[Mephistophilis]

OOC,Can Cam roll Assess Honesty or Streetwise to see if Konavalov means it?

[Overlord87]

Cam,You identify [b]Konovalov[/b] as a mercenary, someone who doesn't care who he works for, as long as he get paid. He can probably be trusted, at least in the short term. [ooc]No need to roll.[/ooc]

[Mephistophilis]

"Mr Konovalov, I see you understand that Mr Brooks is beyond being of any use to you. I can assure you that our employer will be willing and able to meet your terms." hisses Cam through gritted teeth.

[Mr. Handy]

"Thank you," says Holly with a forced smile. "From my position, that looks like a good deal. I'm sure we can come to an arrangement." She doesn't completely trust Konovalov, at least not in the long term. He has already shown his willingness to sell out one employer. What was to stop him from doing it again if the price were right?

OOC,I'd also like to use Assess Honesty.

[Overlord87]

"Well then, here we go", he says, helping to push the grid out of the way. He then grabs Holly's arm and lifts her up - quickly grabbing her butt with the excuse of pulling her over the edge. Konovalov has also brought some rope, which is very helpful in lifting up Huang Yan. In a matter of minutes, everyone is safe out of the pit.

"Now, important things first. We kill Brooks and his bitch. No hesitation. Earplugs won't help when we are close to Leticia. So we rush in and gun her down, yes?", Konovalov says.

Assess Honesty,[b]Konovalov[/b] is not about to become a good person, that's for sure, but he seems ready to jump out of [b]Brooks[/b]'s sinking ship. At least for now, you have the same objective.

[ShyberKryst]

Professor Jonathan Cornwall
The Professor awakes in a daze as he is shaken awake by friendly hands.
Trying to clear the cobwebs from his mind, he climbs out of the pit using the rope provided.
After hearing the conversation with Konovalov, Jonathan whispers,
"Count me in for killing these maniacs, but we need to get our weapons back..."

[Mr. Handy]

"Right," says Holly. "I'll need my gun back, then."