We met up in Lima, in a bar called Cortado[1]. Lucy, as the only Spanish speaker, rescued the other expedition members from being verbally assaulted by the proprietor, Ms Velazquez.
There we met these three clowns. From right to left: Augustus Larkin, the head of the expedition; Louis de Mendoza, his manservant; and Hesse Hughes, just another dude who signed up, much like us.
We talked for a bit, but Larkin seemed a sick man[2] and retired early, along with Mendoza, who seemed to have something against the brawnier part of the team.
We talked some more to Hesse, who admitted using a fake name to hide his true identity. Instead of being an ethnographer, he's actually Jackson Elias, a writer researching death cults. We reminisced a bit about his books (Bruce accidentally read one), then talked about the current situation. He's doing his job, obviously, researching the cult of the "kharisiri", which are apparently white skinned monsters hunting humans.
This whole situation seemed fishy[3], and when Jackson dropped a hint about a professor at the local university of archeology and anthropology, someone who wanted to come along but was rebuffed by Larkin and Mendoza, we decided to pay a visit the day after.
We walked around, asked about the area surrounding Lake Titicaca and the city of Puno, our apparent destination. Karl bought some region specific coffee, which turned out to be absolutely vile, and also purchased some local "medicine" for altitude sickness.[4] Archibald proceeded to drink himself silly. Then we retired to our hotel rooms.
The next day we met Prof. Sanchez and I made friends with him, but then Karl made him upset by repeatedly trying to persuade him to come along.
He did drop some hints about the kharisiri, which is a legend originating from the 16th century and might simply refer to the white skinned people killing Conquistadors. His assistant, a certain Ms Rizzo, is currently working on translating some writings from said period. He bade us look for her while he calmed his nerves.
She turned out to be quite dead.
We found the corpse in the basement/warehouse, and it was quite a shock[5] to see. She had been completely desiccated, in line with the fat sucking vampire mythos of the kharisiri. She also sported a circular bite wound on her chest. We investigated the body, but found nothing to go on, and failed all tracking checks.
We did find the document she was translating, as well as a broken crate she
must have been carrying. Something was taken out, but a large golden rod,
decorated with a pattern, remained. I didn't think much of it, but Archibald
noticed a bit of burned skin on the end, and decided to
steal borrow it. We sent Amos and Karl back to the hotel with
the rod, then went on to alert the professor.
Prof Sanchez also turned up dying, convulsing, foaming at the mouth. I tried some first aid, but besides getting a few words out, including "It kissed me!", I got nothing. Bruce tried punching his gut to aid in vomiting, but noticed something crawling beneath his skin and jumped away. Archibald tried as well, but a fumble had him fall elbow-first on the man's testicles, crunching one.[6]
With no other ideas on how to revive him[7], we decided on carrying him out and calling for help. We were taken away by the police for questioning. At least the guys had time to hide the golden rod before also being taken in.
After being released with no explanation, we visited the town hospital, but the receptionist denied having Prof Sanchez in. I noticed his lies, and Archibald immediately made a scene. He was beaten by the security personnel. This gave time for Amos and Bruce to sneak around, looking for a morgue or whatnot, but found nothing.
We spent the rest of the day in the university library, looking for additional information. Karl scrounged up a German description of the area were heading to.
We kept watch, but the night passed uneventfully. We met again in the morning, and got ready to move out with the expedition.
[1] That translates to "chopped up". Not ominous at all.
[2] He admitted as much, but Amos likened him to addicts suffering heroin withdrawal.
[3] Even without metagaming about the type of game we are playing.
[4] I realized it was cheap hooch, but I played along.
[5] And a sanity check.
[6] Mandatory sanity check for all men in the room.
[7] I had no wish to push a first aid check and accidentally kill him.
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