[IC]Prologue 0.6: The Ancient Ruins

[kabukiman]

OOX:; Anderson will try to find also anything useful in the pyramid

Archaeology: 71%
[dice]0[/dice]

History: 65%
[dice]1[/dice]

Spot Hidden: 65%
[dice]2[/dice]

[jp1885]

Cynthia squelches away from the pool as the others look around. Realising that her pistol is probably useless, she draws her rapier, holding the unfamiliar weapon awkwardly in her slippery hand.

"Hey, be careful - we don't know if refitting the ward actually works. We gotta be alert for any more kharisiri, maggots and Christ knows what else.

[Mr. Handy]

Amy nods, but she can't resist taking a good look around.

OOC,Anthropology roll (41% skill) in the pyramid: [dice]0[/dice] Archaeology roll (41% skill) in the pyramid: [dice]1[/dice] History roll (65% skill) in the pyramid: [dice]2[/dice] Spot Hidden roll (64% skill) in the pyramid: [dice]3[/dice]

[Silver Priest]

Marcus continues to keep watch. He's not sure he likes how quiet it is.

[jp1885]

With no other plan being presented, Cynthia decides to join in the search.

Dice rolls,Just rolling what everyone else is rolling! Anthropology 21% Pass [dice]0[/dice]Archaeology 26% Critical pass! [dice]1[/dice]History 20% Fail [dice]2[/dice] Spot Hidden 50% Pass [dice]3[/dice]

[Zero]

Atauchi sensed his companion's apprehension, and while he too felt a degree of trepidation, the tracker was determined to maintain his stoic visage. He continued to watch their perimeter and keep an ear out for any sign of trouble from below the surface.

Spot Hidden (67%),[dice]0[/dice]

Listen (50%),[dice]1[/dice]

Finally, as if by cue, the Earth itself shook beneath the Quechua man's feet. He looked over at Marcus as he attempted to brace himself.

"This normal, señor?" he asked.

OOC:   Amended the post to reflect the ground quakes.

[jp1885]

OOC:   Would Atauchi and Marcus feel the tremors that went off as we refitted the ward?

[Raiko]

OOC:   Yes, the entire plateau is shaken by the Father of Maggots' final attempt to escape its imprisonment.

[Silver Priest]

"You'd know better than me," Marcus says. "But I'm guessing they either succeeded or are all dead. Stay alert in either case."

[Zero]

Atauchi forced a smile, nodded and maintained his vigil near the opening. He then began to mentally prepare himself for the possibility that their companions failed, and what the ramifications of that failure would be. Would they attempt to replace the wards themselves? Could they even reach the location now after the ground quake?

[Raiko]

About ten minutes after the plateau is shaken by the tremor, Marcus and Atauchi spot a gaunt figure staggering down the mountain path towards the ruins – the same way that they access the site earlier. The figure is undoubtably another kharisiri, but it appears to be in distress – wailing in pain as it desperately attempts to reach the pyramid. As the investigators watch, the kharisiri falls the ground, stretching out one arm pitifully towards the tomb of it's god, then laying motionless on the path.

Within a minute the creature's flesh and bones have crumbled to dust, blown away by the mountain wind, leaving behind only the tattered rags it was wearing.

A little later when the underground team finally return to the surface, Jackson Elias is the first to emerge, waving joyously to Atauchi and Marcus, before crouching by the open shaft to help Amy , Cynthia, Sánchez and Anderson back out into the moonlight.

Dr. Sánchez leads a survey of the site, above and below ground, that uncovers some interesting details, but sheds little more light on the origins of the Father of Maggots than Nayra's folktale about the fallen god.

The pyramid is almost certainly constructed by the same pre-Incan civilisation responsible for the site at Tiwanaku, however as with those ruins, the markings on the walls and the ward do not appear to record anything in an actual language – other than perhaps astronomical information and the position of the sun and moon.

There are however a couple of notable locations at the site. Firstly the grimmest is a charnel pit – marked by a large buzzing cloud of the blowflies, this wide pit is at the far side of the ruins and was originally the ground level entrance to the tunnels – a ramp leads down from the pit, accessible by digging through the heaps of corpses. The pit is square – about fifteen feet to a side and ten feet deep – it is piled almost full of bodies – mostly just bones now, but many are relatively recent kills. The stench close to the pit is overwhelming, the source of the smell of decay the investigators noticed as they approached the ruins.

The other notable location is a chamber within the tunnels – originally used as workshop during construction of the ward, this chamber is piled with artefacts and trinkets looted from the victims of the kharisiri over the centuries, mixed with items that may have been on the site much earlier, or pilfered by de Mendoza and the other conquistadors. There is an enormous hoard of items here, from the contemporary to pre-Incan, much of the items are gold. This is doubtlessly where Larkin acquired the two items that he showed off back in Lima.

Removing all of these items from the site would be a major undertaking.

[jp1885]

A fat-smeared Cynthia breathes the night air in deeply, too tired to think about anything other than trying to clean up and rest.

She certainly has no wish to go back down there again, least of all investigate the charnel pit!

[Silver Priest]

"Great work everyone," Marcus says. "One of the kharisiri crumbled to dust before our eyes, so I think whatever you did did the trick."

He'll volunteer to examine the rest of the pyramid, but the only part that really attracts his interest is the artifacts.

"Well, what should we do with all these. Giving them to a museum might lead too too many questions being asked. I think the only thing we can do is take as much as we can with us. To compensate us for all the trouble we've been through." Already visions of riches are dancing in the bodyguard's head.

[Mr. Handy]

"It was Cynthia that did it," says Amy. "She was so brave. We have to make sure nobody ever finds the pyramid again. Otherwise, someone could break the ward again plundering it like the conquistadors did. The treasure should be returned to its rightful owners when they can be found, but the kharisiri probably killed a lot of them. As for the rest, we can at least carry out the smaller pieces, assessing what's the most valuable. We can't keep all the treasure for ourselves. It belongs in a museum. If we kept a lot of this stuff, it would raise just as many questions, but I think Dr. Sánchez would know what to do about them. We can just change the location where we found them, and nobody will be the wiser. There will probably be fewer problems if we take them to New York than back to Lima. There won't be as many people there with local knowledge of Peru."

[Anatomist]

'Most of this are historical objects, i will not accept any of it been damaged or lost. There's plenty of "modern" very valuable objects too, so i guess splitting up that would be good enough compensation for our trouble.' he starts to walk while he thinks.. 'What about concealing the most historical objects at Elizas Ranch? and compensate her for the trouble?. We can periodically fetch an object and donate it to a museum with troubling visitors numbers?, to boost it, you see what i mean?
Eliza would be able to build the Ranch up again, but we would have to bind her to absolute secrecy. I would even make her buy this land and as Amy says, we conceal the pyramid as good we can.'

[jp1885]

Cynthia squelches up to Sanchez and nods.

"I agree with the Prof. Maybe Nayra could help Eliza keep it secret too? She already knows the pyramid's location after all. We should also fill in the shafts - dynamite the entrances, or if that risks damaging the ward, then at least fill them in."

She surveys her surroundings.

"It'll take a long time, but I think we should be safe enough to camp here for a few nights now. Perhaps one of us could fetch John too, so he knows we're okay and can help us."

[Mr. Handy]

"Yes, that's a good thought," agrees Amy.

[kabukiman]

"We can say that we caught some thieves, but they escaped and we have no idea where they got the artifacts."- says Anderson

[Anatomist]

"We can say that we caught some thieves, but they escaped and we have no idea where they got the artifacts."- says Anderson

'In my opinion that would raise so many questions, enormous riches in hands of thieves? that escaped... where they go, how, why and so on. Dear Anderson, discretion and secrecy my friends are our allies in this situation i think, and gold to pay of course'

[Zero]

Atauchi cracked a small smile when he saw Doctor Sánchez emerge from below, perhaps the first time any emotion was intentionally displayed for the others to notice. He moved to shake the professor's hand and then listened intently as the details of the events were relayed to Marcus and himself. The news of treasure certainly interested the local man, for he had little money, and the chance at riches was his primary reason for joining Larkin's expedition team in the first place.

"I think it best we split treasure many ways, send out of area hidden with farmed and made goods. We keep share, museums sound good for rest, better than left here." he said.

OOC:   Basically Atauchi is recommending that they smuggle everything out in small lots to avoid suspicion. They can send crates at varied intervals to varied locations. The haulage yard could be useful once again for that part, perhaps.