Chapter 1- Bolivia

[kabukiman]

You are traveling in the jungle accompanied by doctors, nurses, and mules carrying supplies along a path through a wooded area. It is very hot and the place is infested with (small) mosquitos. You cannot see more that a couple of metros with all that vegetation and the road is very small.
The leader of the expedition is an italian doctor called Ursini and he is been very nervous in this last two days since you left civilization.

[SunlessNick]

June thought she was used to heat because of her early years in Egypt, but Bolivia's air feels very different from that. She's looking forward to whenever the group can stop (and wondering how some of the others seem to be able to handle it so well).

[Starspawn338]

After the last expedition in Antarctica, Butch thought it might be nice to go someplace warm. He is having some serious misgivings about that now as he swats bugs and tries to stay on the narrow path. This isn't what he imagined. He does wonder why Dr. Ursini has been out of sorts and decides to move up closer to him so he can ask.

"Is there something on your mind Doctor? You seem like you're waiting for something bad to happen."

[aine]

Jan strides forward with her rifle perched on her shoulder. She constantly scans the bushes either side and the trees above, marvelling at the luxuriant growth and the myriad insect life. She catches up with June,
“This is amazing; look at these lianas, they’re huge, must be a hundred years old. Look! I’ve never seen a frog like it- bright blue, probably poisonous. Pity we’re making so much noise; scaring away the big stuff; tapir, jaguar, anaconda; I can’t wait.”
She’s too excited to be bothered with the heat.

[Mephistophilis]

Father Malone is well used to the jungle and he trudges on, seemingly unaffected by the heat and humidity despite his impractical looking priest's garb, dog collar and all.

He looks around at his companions, and the two new recruits from the university...women, huh, how the world changes. Still, they look a bit tougher than those male academics he's been on the last two expeditions with.

As they have walked deeper in the jungle he's been feeling increasingly uneasy. Nothing he can put his finger on but things just don't seem right. Given what has happened the last two times he went into the Amazon perhaps it is no surprise he is concerned.

Alex absentmindedly fingers the ugly idol he carries in his pocket. A memento from his time as a missionary deep in the Brazilian Amazon.

He studies Dr Ursini, something seems to be troubling him too.

Psychology 70% d%

[Mr. Handy]

Harry Smith hacks his way through the jungle with his machete. "I'd rather not meet an anaconda," he says. "I hate snakes."

[Snapper]

Crowley:

Crowley, pipe clenched between his teeth, is fuming. He had been, not for the first time, reading to his companions the various letters of rejection he had received from various pulp magazines.

"They had the gall to say my Antarctic adventure lacked the lurid descriptions of scantily clad native women common to my other writing! The cheek!"

"And do they not understand the distinct lack of scantily clad native women in the Antarctic? Penguins, yes, zombie Nazis, yes, women, no. It is too much! I may as well resign myself to a life of lecturing and occasional exploration. Clearly, my writing talents will not be recognised until long after I'm dead."

[SunlessNick]

She catches up with June,
“This is amazing; look at these lianas, they’re huge, must be a hundred years old. Look! I’ve never seen a frog like it- bright blue, probably poisonous. Pity we’re making so much noise; scaring away the big stuff; tapir, jaguar, anaconda; I can’t wait.”

June makes an effort to sound enthusiastic. "It is beautiful here. I just wish the air were a little drier. I can't tell whether I 'm wet or sweating."

[Mr. Handy]

"I like scantily clad native women as much as the next fellow," says Harry, "but they don't fit in Antarctica. It's too cold to go around wearing next to nothing, and no natives live there."

[Snapper]

Crowley:

"Exactly! There were none actually there, and even with poetic licence it would have made no sense."

"Those pulp magazine editors have no taste."

Crowley glares at the Bolivian undergrowth angrily. "Last time I was here, a local sold me a huge furry spider on a leash. Blasted thing ate through the leash while I wasn't looking, then ran off with the roasted tree frog I was about to eat."

[SunlessNick]

"Did he just say what I thought he said?" June asks Jan.

[aine]

“I’m beginning to wish the blasted spider had bitten him instead.” Jan smiles and rolls her eyes at June.
“If we are now savagely ambushed by nubile Amazonian warriors, do you think Crowley’ll die happy?”

[Snapper]

Crowley:

Crowley looks over at Jan and raises an eyebrow.

"I doubt it madam. I shall die unhappy but by no means surprised."

"Traditionally, every member of the fairer sex I have become 'acquainted' with has subsequently been revealed to be a murderous devotee of Kali, a member of the modern day Hashishim, or her female flatmate turns out to be from the Andaman Islands."

"I do not have a lot of luck with ladies. Or big South American spiders."

He seems quite serious.

[SunlessNick]

"I... see," June says. "Well, let's hope no one gets savaged by anyone."

[aine]

“Well, Mr Crowley, I cannot answer for Miss Hopkins here but I’m afraid you will find my company mundane after your adventures with such exotic villainesses.
I wear sensible clothes and sturdy shoes and I like to go to bed early.” Jan replies.

[Mephistophilis]

Overhearing Fr Malone says 'There were no nubile young beauties in the Antarctic but that's not to say there was no connection to our current situation. We ran into followers of the obscure entity Druaga there, a deity I first encountered here in the Amazon.'

[SunlessNick]

"How did they get there? Why did they get there?" June asks.

[Mr. Handy]

"I hope there aren't Nazis again this time," says Harry. "I hate those guys."

[Starspawn338]

"Well I must admit that what is written and what happens is never the same." Butch chimes in while waiting for Doctor Ursini to respond to his concern. "Though I do enjoy a good pulp read when I'm not busy living the truth of what is out there."

[aine]

“Druaga? I’ve never heard of that one. Mind you, I never got to know all the myriad African deities either. Some of them are very powerful though.” She finishes darkly and then falls into deep thought as she strides along.