Masks of Nyarlathotep 2

After the excitement of the basement, we recover in the office of Professor Sanches to discuss what on Earth just happened. Trinidad is brought up to the office. She still has a nasty wound in her chest and is looking rather thin. Talking to Trinidad, she says that she was finishing her translation when Luis Mendosa suddenly grabbed her, and then tried to eat her.

We explain to Professor Sanches that Mendosa was the assistant to Larkin, which sends Sanches on a tirade against Larkin. The Khesari, according to the Professor, are a symbolism for what the Europeans did to the country when they colonised it. However, the description of them seems to match what happened in the basement.

The question is raised of who was working for whom. Was Mendosa working for Larkin, or was Larkin just a front for Mendosa? Reading through the translations that Trinidad has provided, it seems to suggest than Mendosa could be older than he looks. Normally I’d dismiss such an idea as absurd, but I’m still shaken by what I saw in the basement and my understanding of reality is somewhat shaken.

We need to go and talk to Larkin at the Espana Hotel. The concierge tells us that Professor is in room 203. Monty runs up the stairs, and I ask what sort of view his room has. The concierge tells us that it looks out onto the courtyard, so Lefty heads out to the courtyard to make sure Larkin doesn’t try to escape.

The concierge’s mother, who is an old woman sitting in the reception area, starts demanding to know who we are and what we want. I try to explain that we are students from the University, and that I work for the British Museum and are funding Larkin’s expedition. She seems to calm down, and offers us tea and coffee.

There is a faint noise from upstairs, as if someone might have forced a door open. A short while later, Monty calls down to me and I head upstairs. The door to 203 has been forced open, and the room is messy and musty. Larkin is laying in the bed, some drugs, possibly opiates, on the dresser next to him.

He is skinny, and his veins are clearly visible. They seem dark and black. He has a tattoo on his chest – it looks like some long lizard tongue. Looking out the window, Lefty is down in the courtyard below. I give him a wave, and he heads up to us.

The drug is heroin, which doesn’t explain the veins. Thinking about it, the musty smell could be gangrene. I wake him. He is surprised to see us, and wonders why we are in his room.

I ask him whether he knows where Mendosa is, and he says in room 204. He isn’t aware that Mendosa should be doing anything, but would like to get dressed. I go to the window and stand there, partly to turn my back, partly to block him escaping through the window.

Monty heads down the corridor to look at room 204. Whilst Larkin is getting dressed, Monty and Lefty come back into the room. They are carrying some artifact, which looks similar to the items from Tiwanaku. Lefty and Jackson Elias start going on what seeing ‘something’ then they looked at the artifact. They seem crazy. It looks like a standard gold mask to me.

Meanwhile, Larkin is still trying to get dressed. I give up, and insist on helping him get dressed. I sit him on the bed and get his trousers on him, explaining that I’m a nurse and have “seen it all before”. He falls back onto the bed and starts snoring again.

Monty wakes him, and gives him the news about the death of his companion. The Professor seems distressed. He says that Mendosa had been very helpful, and was also keen on getting to the Pyramid. Mendosa has helped a lot when Larkin has bad days.

I insist on giving him a medical examination. I ask about the tattoo, and he insists that he doesn’t have one, despite looking directly at it. I sketch it, and show him the sketch. He says he saw something similar, before the war when he was in Africa.

The natives had some funny beliefs, involving dancing and visions. He can’t recall exactly where in Africa. Lefty, Monty and Jackson head back to the Museum to hand the artifact to Professor Sanches, whilst myself and Clayton stay behind to keep an eye on Larkin whilst he sleeps.

I use the opportunity to search his room. He has a passport, some cash, gold sovereigns hidden in a belt, good quality suits from across the world, a case of medical grade heroin, an old gun but nothing particularly unusual.

The smell in here is getting bad. It seems to be coming from his chest. Examining it, it appears to be what it looks like. However, there’s something about it that makes me not want to touch it too much.

That evening we are invited to dinner with Professor Sanches. We leave Larkin to sleep off his heroin. We pay Miguel, the concierge, to keep on eye on him.

Professor Sanches’ wife provides a very good meal for all of us. The Professor himself is more than happy to show us maps of our destination. He would love to go with us, but he has a new archaeological society to get running, a family to look after and is down an assistant. He says that if we do need aid, then we should send him a telegram and he will do what he can to help.

He says that we should go to Puno, on the shore of Lake Titicaca. It will take about four days to drive, though there aren’t good rail links.

The Professor does find a Inego Vasquez, someone used to organising tours, to help us manage the expedition now that Mendosa is no longer with us.

When we go to visit Larkin, he is quite shaky. He vaguely recalls what happened last night, and needs to be reminded about what happened to Mendosa. Larkin had been making inquires to obtain aid whilst preparing for the mission, and Mendosa had introduced himself and offered assistance.

We spend much of the day preparing for tomorrow’s expedition. Clayton insists on stocking up on garlic and stakes. I stock up on medical supplies. We take good footwear, torches, climbing gear and explosives.

After two days we arrive at Molendo, a town on the coast. From here, we will be travelling inland towards Puno at Lake Titicaca. It will be our last stop before heading up into the mountains.

We take a supply of coca leaves in order to help us deal with the altitude of the highlands.

Travelling up into the highlands, I feel the effects of altitude sickness. Given the choice of sitting with Larkin and his gangrene, and Clayton and his Garlic, I choose to sit in the truck with Clayton. Eventually we get to Puno and check into our hotel. There is a telegraph service, so I send a message back to Professor Sanchez to let him know we have arrived.

Jackson tells us that there was a woman here who was very helpful with his research named Nayra. We plan to go talk to her after eating.

Nayra is a Yatiri, a wise woman. Her home is on the outskirts of the town, a short stroll away. On arrival there though, her house seems to be deserted. Neighbours working in their gardens either side tell us that she has gone away. She was worried that there were strangers here – white men lurking in the area who seemed to be a threat. Possibly because Jackson isn’t white (and also speaks Spanish, which they can understand), they are willing to give us directions to where she is currently residing on an island. They also provide information on where we can get a canoe to get across to her.

We head down to the lake where there are some fisherman who are willing to loan out their boats. There are a couple of locals – a middle aged woman and a teenage boy lurking around and watching us. After we set off in the boats, we notice that they are following us in a canoe of their own.

We get to the docks at an island in the lake. Getting out of the boat, the ‘land’ bounces in a rather disconcerting way. It seems to be made of reeds and is floating on the lake. We are met by an old woman, who is Nayra, and she leads us to her hut.

We are offered coca tea, whilst Jackson explains to Nayra that we think we saw a Kharisiri. Nayra explains a bit about their beliefs. They worship the lake as the mother goddess Mamacota. When the Spaniards came they threw the symbol of their goddess, the copacahuana, into the lake.

She knows of the Pyramid, since the stories have been passed down through the generations. Many years ago an ancient evil god fell from the sky and fell into the Lake, and could not bear it because of the healing waters of the lake. It crawled out of the water, and brought hunger with it. It consumed everything it could. Ako the Trickster came to save the people. He told the hungry evil god that there was a place that was full of nutrition. He convinced the god to crawl into an armadillo burrow, where upon Ako sealed it with stones. Ako then told the people to build a pyramid over the top of the burrow, binding the god with spells worked in gold.

The god from the sky still lives under the temple. It is advised to avoid the place. The last people who went there were Spanish, which was how the Kharisiri came to here. If we were to go that way, we should avoid caves. There are things made of bone which are bound to work off the debts that they ignored in life. They are not dangerous, but the wind that comes with them is.

There are also other things living in caves which seek to consume humans.

These are all probably just myths and legends which are interesting only from the perspective of the stories of these people. However, if the vampire appeared to be real, then maybe these other things are some sort of threat as well.

Suddenly these is a shriek from outside, and the island rocks. Outside, there is the woman and boy, plus two scraggly men. The fishermen are trying to hold off the people, but the boy seems to be trying to eat one of the fisherman.

Monty fires a shot in the air, which causes the fishermen to freeze, but the tall white men and the woman and boy seem unbothered. The white men open their mouths way too wide – showing off lamprey-like mouths similar to Mendosa. Monty fires some more shots, hitting one of the targets. Lefty shoots three shots, and misses. Jackson takes a single shot, hitting the woman.

The fishermen begin yelling Bruja!

The gun fight unfolds, as I try to keep at the back. Not knowing how to use a gun, I try and keep a look out for anything else crawling out of the lake or reeds. The fishermen pull the kid off the victim he is biting. As they pull his mouth apart, a giant maggot drops down out of the mouth. They immediately concentrate on pummeling it to death.

The Kharisiri seem to be recovering after being shot, so it is necessary to shoot them again. I grab a machete and try to help chop up one of them, burying the blade in its shoulder.

Eventually we manage to part their heads from the bodies, which seems to put them down permanently. After it is over, the fisherman pass around a bottle of alcohol, which probably doubles as paint stripper. It works well to settle our nerves though.

The Kharisiri are definitely real, which is absurd. The stories about things lurking in caves and gods under pyramids are also absurd. Maybe there is truth to them as well?