After a short recap, as usual, we continued with our investigation. We trucked our way to Puno, then switched to donkeys. Archibald fumbled his altitude sickness resistance, but he managed, somehow. We made sure to keep watch at night, and sure enough, one of the donkeys got sucked dry. We left some equipment, then carried on, without any further clues.
Our next encounter was a couple of people atop a hill not far away, shooting their guns. We climbed up there and were accused of murder, but I sweet talked the guy defending the body of his son to stand down. I administered first aid, and all was well. Julio invited us to his family farm.
We found out that this region encounters kharisiri somewhat frequently, and that was what attacked them that day as well. They are usually white men, although this time, for the first time, one was a local woman. All dressed in regular clothing and carrying large knives. They opened large mouths with hundreds of teeth when up close. Julio managed to scare them away, but not before one pounced on his son, Domingo. We properly interrogated the family, founding out that the kharisiri never carry firearms, and that hounds smell them out. So we asked for a dog to borrow.
We carried on with dog in tow to reach the site of the ancient pyramid: a deep ravine. Looking out from the edges, we noticed the previously described people climbing atop the pyramid in the ravine, and vomiting white stuff into a crack on the roof. Then, they disappeared.
We made the climb down, along with Larkin, Mendoza and Jackson Elias. We left the donkeys behind, as the rock trail proved treacherous.
We were greeted by a chorus of moans, but it turned out that the gate had been carved into the shape of hundreds of round mouths, channeling the wind into disturbing noises.
The final destination was a courtyard containing our pyramid. The ground was sandy and unstable, and everything stank. We identified three possible avenues of attack: a large cave entrance, where dried out dead bodies lay piled meters high; a small rectangular chute; and whatever was up the pyramid.
Karl took photos of the dead bodies.
We fashioned a device of rope and wood to aid our descent, and went down the chute. Larkin and Mendoza staid up; not suspect at all.
We explored an underground network of tunnels. As far as we could identify, the tunnels looped around the pyramid; the inside of the wall was paved with a continuous lining of gold looking just like our piece from the museum.
We encountered one dried out corpse down there, which promptly jumped us, and a small whiteish creature in its eye socket made an attempt to crawl up Archibald's arm and into his mouth. Bruce punched it into bits, spraying Archibald in the face with its acidic innards. I applied first aid, and all was well.
There were several chutes leading to the surface, but each was closed off with a stone lid.
And there was one spot where the gold lining was broken - probably where the museum pieces was taken out - and sure enough, the wall leaked what looked like a puddle of fat with the small white creatures swimming inside.
We backtracked to find a small chamber filled with valuables - probably some hundred years' worth of loot from the dead bodies - and our two kharisiri sleeping inside. We beat and shot them to death. The golden rod does indeed burn them.
In the meantime, Larkin and Mendoza pulled up the rope, and asked for gold to let it down. Disappointing, but not unexpected. However, they were not content with the looted treasure; instead asking for marked golden rods.
We asked for time and tried sneaking out over the dead bodies, only to be confronted with two more kharisiri in old conquistador gear.
We pulled back and worked out a piece of gold; immediately, something big started banging on the other side of the wall.
A fine pickle we found ourselves in.
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