0:08

Hello? What time is

0:11

there? Who is there?

0:13

I don't know, uh...

0:15

Situation? Green? You deserve

0:18

this. Sorry, love. I

0:20

have to take this. So

1:37

for you start to bring Dr.

1:39

Ramirez through the numerous

1:42

photographs that Frankfurt

1:44

has provided and she

1:46

pushes her glasses up again

1:49

and furs her brow and she

1:51

begins smiling. And you

1:53

can see as she leans over

1:55

this desk where this computer

1:57

is, this is a way.

2:00

from the marble drafting table

2:02

she was originally at. She begins

2:04

tapping her fingers in time with

2:06

the now very quiet Swedish death

2:09

metal coming out of her stereo

2:11

system. She nods and she turns

2:13

to you forest. You can see

2:16

this gleam in her dark eyes.

2:18

This is something special isn't it?

2:21

This is something very special. Does

2:23

this mean something to you? Care

2:25

to enlighten us? Well, it's going

2:28

to take me a few to

2:30

go through this entire reel. Did

2:32

you want to wait outside of

2:35

the office? Or did you have

2:37

other things to do in town?

2:40

It will be a few hours

2:42

for me to get through everything

2:44

and deliver you my findings, but

2:47

I will give you preliminary findings

2:49

before the sun falls before the

2:52

horizon. Uh, yeah, we could we

2:54

could kill some time while you

2:56

do this. Yeah, I'm not gonna,

2:59

I'm not gonna be any use

3:01

here, but I don't know, Tiberius

3:03

or Forrest, would y'all think you

3:06

might be able to help? Yeah,

3:08

I think I can stick around,

3:11

you know, make sure any loose

3:13

threads that might come up I

3:15

could answer. And I give her

3:18

a big smile. She seems genuinely

3:20

appreciative. Well, one thing that I

3:22

prefer doing when I work is

3:25

keeping my mind occupied. with certain

3:27

rhythms and timbers. Right now, I've

3:30

been experimenting with Opeth. Have you

3:32

heard of this group? This Swedish

3:34

group? She seems very excited. Oh,

3:37

totally. I actually love Opeth. Opeth,

3:39

I haven't, but... I'm out of

3:41

the closet, no. There's something about

3:44

the way they melt their orchestral

3:46

arrangements with the... heavy brutal beats

3:49

that they explore that helped me

3:51

think through So, if you don't

3:53

mind a little, um, high octane

3:56

music while we go through these

3:58

photos, you're more than welcome to

4:01

stay in here or you can

4:03

wait right outside the office. There

4:05

are a few benches out there

4:08

in the hallway. Uh, no, I'm

4:10

fine. Uh, I'm mostly deaf in

4:12

one ear anyways. Yeah, I'm happy

4:15

to wait in here with you

4:17

as well. She smiles. Well, Frankfort

4:20

and I will get out of

4:22

your hair. Thank you so much

4:24

for your time. In a couple

4:27

hours. Perfect. She walks over to

4:29

the stereo system and cranks that

4:31

sucker up until your teeth are

4:34

chattering, your eyes are blaring, and

4:36

she sits down at her computer.

4:39

It begins printing out copies of

4:41

each one of these photos, one

4:43

by one arranging them on her

4:46

marble drafting table, putting them in

4:48

some sort of order. At least

4:51

that makes sense to her. She's...

4:53

Moving with a ferocious energy, as

4:55

she does it, as if she's

4:58

bustling around a kitchen cooking a

5:00

massive meal for a group of

5:02

family or friends. Yeah, this is

5:05

what she gets up to, and

5:07

she begins perusing these photographs with

5:10

a keen look, sits down at

5:12

the drafting table. I assume Faith

5:14

and Frankfort, you're going to go

5:17

ahead and show it up. two

5:19

or three hours scene we've been

5:21

we've been really hoping to get

5:24

to tonight where you guys buy

5:26

shoes in Mexico. Let's go shopping.

5:29

We can montage it ending with

5:31

us fist pumping the air with

5:33

bags in the other hands. Yeah,

5:36

I love that and you know

5:38

once you guys take off those

5:40

gnarly blood covered shoes you you

5:43

do see that you're kind of

5:45

in need of some petties. Bro,

5:48

you want to get some petties

5:50

with me? Look at each other,

5:52

heads tilted and shrug and then

5:55

end up in a petty place

5:57

with a montage ending with us.

6:00

Fist pumping the air and

6:02

our feet in Ripper servers

6:04

and some pink some like

6:06

pink alcoholic frozen thing in

6:08

our in a glass with

6:10

a nice little umbrella Absolutely,

6:12

and like your feet are

6:14

horrific both of you are

6:16

special operatives Not really taking

6:18

tails your feet well Yeah,

6:20

so you have these massive

6:22

talons yellow talons with ages

6:24

of layers of layers of

6:26

layers of layers of layers

6:28

of layers of And honestly,

6:30

you're very proud of the

6:32

pinky one, Frank Furt. It's

6:34

about three inches long and

6:36

it does almost a perfect

6:38

symmetrical spiral at the end.

6:40

But you know, they go

6:42

ahead and clip that one

6:44

off and file it down

6:46

and well, you're in bliss

6:48

with your neon colored drink

6:50

because that's an established love

6:53

for your character. Yep. Now

6:55

this is all definitely abiding

6:57

by the lore of these

6:59

characters. Yeah, yeah. This is

7:01

pure, pure canon. Can't wait

7:03

for the fan art. Yeah,

7:05

it's gonna be hot. Come

7:07

to our discord for some

7:09

fabulous fan, aren't y'all? Frank

7:11

Ferton. Frank, we're in faith,

7:13

just kick it back. Frank

7:15

feet. Frank feet. Frank feet.

7:17

There we go. Hashtag feet,

7:19

we got it, buddy. God

7:21

damn. Forrest and Felix. You,

7:23

you watch the doctor. Busy

7:25

herself, looking over this. cluttered

7:27

drafting table now, and sometimes

7:29

returning to her computer, zooming

7:31

in on certain parts of

7:33

certain photographs, and just completely

7:35

absorbed in examining these. She's

7:37

taking very few notes, which

7:39

worries you a little bit,

7:41

but she moves back and

7:43

forth from the drafting table

7:46

in front of this huge

7:48

window that looks out over

7:50

the beautiful and sunny city

7:52

of Wahaka. and her computer

7:54

where she's performing more meticulous,

7:56

kind of zooming in and

7:58

enhancement tasks. It looks like

8:00

she is using some software

8:02

to... clean some things up,

8:04

change contrasts, and she's examining

8:06

certain pigment areas and some

8:08

of these non-narrative pictographs that

8:10

you couldn't make sense of

8:12

previously. Is there anything y'all

8:14

want to do? Are you

8:16

just going to let her

8:18

work? It is loud in

8:20

here. Very loud. I do

8:22

want to like check on

8:24

my phone news reports to

8:26

see if any, I don't

8:28

know, murders and burnings of

8:30

police. Catch my eye? Yeah,

8:32

no, nothing like that. Great

8:34

question. I actually would just

8:37

kind of like survey her

8:39

room and kind of see

8:41

what else is there in

8:43

her office. I'm not going

8:45

to walk around right in

8:47

front of her and just

8:49

start snooping through stuff, but

8:51

I just want to see

8:53

what I can find from,

8:55

you know, eyeballing it. For

8:57

sure. Now that you're inside

8:59

the office, her collection of

9:01

skulls is pretty impressive. must

9:03

have two or three dozen

9:05

different sized skulls. Some are,

9:07

look like they're covered with

9:09

some sort of lacquer or

9:11

preservative perhaps. Others seem bleached

9:13

white. Some are missing jaws.

9:15

Some have their jaws intact

9:17

or wired onto the rest

9:19

of the skull. Some of

9:21

them have teeth and parts

9:23

of broken orbits, placed very

9:25

carefully beside them. So she

9:27

has some sort of interest

9:30

in skull feature. where maybe

9:32

she's dark Dr. Ramirez. Maybe

9:34

we found the goth version

9:36

of her and we haven't

9:38

met the real version of

9:40

her yet. You'll never know.

9:42

I like this version better.

9:44

When you say skull, do

9:46

you mean like skulls like

9:48

different animals or specifically all

9:50

human skulls? These are human

9:52

skulls. Got it. And massive

9:54

library in here. Most of

9:56

it appears to be in

9:58

Spanish. you can tell just

10:00

from the cognate nature of

10:02

most of the words. that

10:04

it's anthropological materials, historical materials.

10:06

It looks like lots and

10:08

lots of journals, scientific journals

10:10

perhaps. These seem to be

10:12

again in Spanish, but the

10:14

corpus of academic research material

10:16

series is profound. I'm just

10:18

going to stay on my

10:20

phone because I don't want

10:23

to interrupt her process. Cool.

10:25

You're going through your newsfeed

10:27

searching for anything that might

10:29

be similar to the nightmare

10:31

that you, well, were just

10:33

a part of a few

10:35

hours ago. Well, it takes

10:37

Dr. Ramirez about three hours

10:39

as you wait there with

10:41

her. When she's done, she

10:43

walks over to her cirrhism,

10:45

turns the knob down again,

10:47

and beaming, but looking a

10:49

bit more wary, a little

10:51

tired, no less excited, she

10:53

says. I think you should

10:55

call your colleagues. I have

10:57

many things to tell you.

10:59

Excellent. Ah damn. I'll take

11:01

care of that. And I'm

11:03

gonna go call Faith. Yeah.

11:05

At this point, he has

11:07

kind of a green face

11:09

mask on with cucumbers over

11:11

his eyes. And a little

11:14

person in a tuxedo brings

11:16

his phone to him in

11:18

a perfect kind of serving

11:20

tray and says, hello, Sir,

11:22

a call for you. Hey,

11:24

that's you Eric. Oh, yeah,

11:27

sorry He's a little too

11:29

relaxed. That's the one sticky

11:31

note you need on your

11:33

computer. I know you are

11:35

I'm fake For folks sake,

11:38

someday someday it will process

11:40

at the right time. Oh,

11:42

how are you doing? Good.

11:44

I did you get some

11:47

new shoes? Oh sure did

11:49

and a little more anyhow

11:51

back to a Why you

11:53

called? I assume things are

11:55

ready. Absolutely. Can you get

11:58

back here quick? Yeah,

12:00

we can be there pretty

12:02

quickly. He looks at Frankfurt

12:05

and as he takes a

12:07

cucumber off his eye and

12:09

eats it, we'll just be

12:12

a moment. Be well. Be

12:14

safe. See you soon. Be

12:16

well. Be seeing you. Chris,

12:19

I did, I neglected to

12:21

mention earlier. So at some

12:23

point, if Frankfurt sees like

12:26

a storm drain, he's going

12:28

to toss that police pistol

12:30

down the drain. Okay. No

12:33

problem. What's your stuff? It

12:35

is a 56. Okay, no

12:37

need to roll. Yeah, you

12:40

go ahead and chunk it

12:42

down, a drain on your

12:44

way back. And before long,

12:47

you two are back in

12:49

the office of Dr. Ramirez,

12:51

where your other two colleagues

12:54

await. And yeah, she asks

12:56

you to close the door

12:58

and have a seat where

13:01

you can or remain standing

13:03

if you'd like. Looks like

13:05

there's only a couple of

13:07

chairs in here anyway. Standings

13:10

fine. She is brimine. almost

13:12

buzzing with excitement, and she

13:14

began speaking. I haven't seen

13:17

arrangements like this, except on

13:19

a few pottery shards brought

13:21

my way from some of

13:24

the northern highlands. It's extremely

13:26

atypical and honestly a bit

13:28

messy. Usually means a junior

13:31

scribe designed and painted these

13:33

cliffs. Likely before their training

13:35

was complete, due to maybe

13:38

the loss of a mentor.

13:40

You see sacred professions like

13:42

recorders of history, these were

13:45

passed down orally as a

13:47

great and secret mystery in

13:49

most of the pre-Columbian societies.

13:52

If a scribe, a priest

13:54

died unexpectedly and hadn't yet

13:56

communicated the full ins and

13:59

outs skills that were developed

14:01

over generations, well they could

14:03

be lost in an instant.

14:06

Anyway, onto your chamber, stop

14:08

me if I start lecturing

14:10

it's an old habit. You've

14:13

brought me a story. Very

14:15

clear. story with a beginning

14:17

and an end, but what's

14:20

more, it's a warning. First,

14:22

this all confirms that those

14:24

who settled in the area

14:27

and built Yoloto Shoshokli, they

14:29

were part of a tribe

14:31

originating much farther north in

14:34

the mountains. They split off

14:36

from the greater group and

14:38

they fled here. Some supernal

14:41

event occurred in that original

14:43

village. Could be a meteorite,

14:45

could be an eclipse. I

14:48

can't be sure the pictographs

14:50

are unclear there, but some

14:52

cataclysm from the heavens. It

14:55

either brought something with it

14:57

or it awoke something that

14:59

was already there. She smiles.

15:02

That's what these tall tree

15:04

things are. She turns and

15:06

she picks up one of

15:09

the pieces of paper that

15:11

she's printed out. She points

15:13

to one of these tree-like

15:16

beings. Honestly, I expected Snakeman.

15:18

She winks at you. Anyway,

15:20

everything in the context surrounding

15:23

these images, it tells me

15:25

that the painters considered them

15:27

intelligent beings, and soon, gods.

15:30

But according to this narrative,

15:32

there were two types of

15:34

beings, even though they looked

15:37

similar. And they were aligned

15:39

against one another. Warring tribes

15:41

delivered from the stars. Some

15:43

of them remained trapped underground

15:46

or within something. Again, that's

15:48

hard to tell, but there

15:50

was one roaming around speaking

15:53

with the people's or the

15:55

villagers. It was adamant. about

15:57

destroying the trapped ones. You

16:00

can see here... She picks

16:02

up another piece of paper

16:04

and points to one of

16:07

the pictographs. You can see

16:09

here it is speaking with

16:11

the people's kings and priests.

16:14

Now the people didn't trust

16:16

the creature and as time

16:18

went on what one of

16:21

the trapped beings will it

16:23

finally escaped and this event

16:25

spread great violence through the

16:28

village. It's as if a

16:30

good portion of the village

16:32

went mad. The first tree

16:35

god convinced the villagers to

16:37

destroy the others who suddenly

16:39

appeared possessed. These are villagers

16:42

who, again, went mad. You

16:44

can see a classic Mayan

16:46

demon here, although it's depicted

16:49

in miniature, escaping one of

16:51

these slain villagers and burning

16:53

up in the purifying rays

16:56

of the sun. She points

16:58

to another image. The remaining

17:00

villagers, they're all in, they're

17:03

ready to work with their

17:05

tree god. The tree shows

17:07

them how to protect themselves

17:10

from their remaining trapped creatures.

17:12

See, it looks like they

17:14

are in prison at a

17:17

ground somewhere. She points again

17:19

to another pictograph, you don't

17:21

really see that, but the

17:24

doctor seems very sure of

17:26

herself. Now look at this

17:28

image of the tree using

17:31

what... But what I thought

17:33

was a whip to place

17:35

these rocks or gems in

17:38

the priest's foreheads. Warriors and

17:40

priests armed with this ornament.

17:42

They enter the underground prison

17:45

and they exterminate the other

17:47

creatures. See, more demons burning

17:49

up. With this ornament, they

17:52

appear to be immune to

17:54

the madness that these imprisoned

17:56

creatures bring. But sorry to

17:59

say As our tail comes

18:01

to a close, the villagers

18:03

luck, it never really improves.

18:06

The tree god unfortunately does

18:08

something to the villagers with

18:10

this. glowing stone here. She

18:12

points to one of the

18:15

pictographs that Frankford and Faith

18:17

noticed when they were inside

18:19

Yolotulshoshote. You see, they used

18:22

it to enchain the greatest

18:24

warriors and priests, enslave them.

18:26

Those who are distrustful of

18:29

this, well, they fled the

18:31

now enthralled village and they

18:33

struck off south, taking the...

18:36

Body the corpse of one

18:38

of the fallen enemy gods

18:40

with them to I'm not

18:43

sure maybe prove to others

18:45

the veracity of their experiences

18:47

But this whole story this

18:50

room it's a message. It's

18:52

a warning to others don't

18:54

go north or the tree

18:57

thing will make you its

18:59

slaves forever Beware the mark

19:01

of the third eye She

19:04

straightens up. She seems extremely

19:06

excited again. She's brimming and

19:08

she looks at you and

19:11

pauses. Incredible. Have you seen

19:13

anything like this before? She

19:15

nods and looks over at

19:18

Shoe Forest. School modifications and

19:20

ornamentation were very very common

19:22

in pre-Columbian cultures. including dermal

19:25

piercings or even implantations mimicking

19:27

a third spiritual eye or

19:29

perhaps the parietal eyes of

19:32

sacred amphibians or reptiles or

19:34

maybe even both, but I

19:36

know of a few isolated

19:39

descendants that purportedly practice similar

19:41

ornamentations today in the region

19:43

indicated by the pyramid's pictographs.

19:46

These are nestled in and

19:48

around the Pueblos Mankamunaros of

19:50

Iscaranote. Perhaps that's where you

19:53

might find more information about

19:55

these people if they have

19:57

any... again living, living, living

20:00

descendants today. But I'm getting

20:02

ahead of myself. Is there

20:04

something else I, that you

20:07

were looking for from this?

20:09

Anything else that maybe I

20:11

can help you with specifically?

20:14

Well, Dr. Ramirez, you mentioned

20:16

something about an ornament that

20:18

made them immune to the,

20:21

what do you say, madness?

20:23

Could you? Tell me a

20:25

little bit more about that?

20:28

Yes, an ornament given to

20:30

them by this initial tree

20:32

god that only later enslaved

20:35

the best warriors, priests, and

20:37

kings of the village once

20:39

its enemies had been killed.

20:42

As far as what it

20:44

is exactly, the details are

20:46

very much lacking there. It's

20:48

some sort of, she points

20:51

to one of these pictures

20:53

that you saw before of

20:55

a third eye or a

20:58

stone or a blue glow.

21:00

This ornamentation that was given

21:02

to them again made them

21:05

immune to whatever madness the

21:07

now deceased evil versions of

21:09

the tree Creatures would bring

21:12

Okay, thank you. And so

21:14

you said there's remnants of

21:16

these people in Sierra Norte

21:19

is that correct? Yes, yes,

21:21

um it is an amazing

21:23

find here because this does

21:26

link up why Some of

21:28

these groups, perhaps, still practice

21:30

similar ornamentation, whether it's a

21:33

tattoo, again, a dermal piercing.

21:35

They may have a connection

21:37

with the original peoples who

21:40

painted this incredible myth in

21:42

the room of the pyramid

21:44

where these photographs were made

21:47

from. Where can we find

21:49

the descendants of these people?

21:51

Well, again, there are a

21:54

few isolated villages. in the

21:56

highlands. I think if you

21:58

were interested in speaking with

22:01

them, you would want to

22:03

speak to, well, any of

22:05

the organizations that take visitors

22:08

through the Pueblos Mankamunados. It's

22:10

a very common tourism activity.

22:12

They're set up to receive

22:15

visitors. Now, you'd be looking

22:17

for specifically an off-the-beaten-path village

22:19

or tribe. You'd have to

22:22

ask about this. That wouldn't

22:24

typically be part of these

22:26

tours. But those who navigate

22:29

the highlands would certainly be

22:31

able to point you in

22:33

the right direction. You would

22:36

ask specifically for villages or

22:38

tribes that fit the bill,

22:40

right? Specifically practicing this third

22:43

eye ornamentation. Again, I'm sure

22:45

at least one exists. She

22:47

glances over at one of

22:50

her bookshelves and then back

22:52

at you. But the roads

22:54

and the hikes, they're notoriously

22:57

difficult. They wind through steeply

22:59

changing elevation, so a guide

23:01

would be essential. She goes

23:04

ahead and pushes her glasses

23:06

again on the bridge of

23:08

her nose, and she walks

23:11

over to her computer, leans

23:13

over and begins typing a

23:15

bit. She seems to be

23:18

muttering to herself as she

23:20

does so. There

23:22

are quite a few. The

23:24

first one that I see

23:27

here is Tlakatul Trails Expeditions.

23:29

They look like they might

23:31

have availability. Absolutely. She smiles.

23:34

She stands back up and

23:36

stands straight again and turns

23:38

around too. Have you heard

23:41

of them on Kamunados? Are

23:43

you familiar with them? Not

23:46

a bit. We are not.

23:48

No ma'am. No ma'am. These

23:50

are very special communities. They've

23:53

come together under a system

23:55

of communal governance, again known

23:57

as... This involves collective decision-making

24:00

and resource management. And there's

24:02

seven or eight villages or

24:04

pueblos, each with its own

24:07

distinct culture, traditions, identity, and

24:09

they historically have shared common

24:11

resources, such as land, water,

24:14

and forests. They work together

24:16

to address shared challenges, promote

24:18

sustainable development in the region.

24:21

And at this point, in

24:23

our... Modern day, they typically

24:26

thrive off of tourists coming

24:28

to purchase textiles, food, and

24:30

to see how they live

24:33

in this very unique way.

24:35

Well, that's promising. Excellent. Do

24:37

you intend to go up

24:40

in the islands and try

24:42

to track down this group?

24:44

She smiles. I think so,

24:47

yes. Would you want to

24:49

come with us? Well... I

24:51

can't necessarily separate myself from

24:54

my work here right now.

24:56

When do you imagine you'll

24:59

be heading up? Since possible.

25:01

Regrettably I would be able

25:03

to make the trek with

25:06

you then, but I would

25:08

be so interested in what

25:10

you find. I know your

25:13

work may prohibit telling me

25:15

everything, but anything that you

25:17

might be able to be

25:20

able to. I would... greatly

25:22

appreciate hearing about your journeys.

25:24

Well, as you said, we're

25:27

not allowed to say too

25:29

much. I can say this.

25:32

We will, you know, if

25:34

we're able to come back

25:36

by, we'll share what we

25:39

can. But as you said,

25:41

unfortunately, we are also going

25:43

to have to take these

25:46

printouts and remove those photos

25:48

from your computer. We can't

25:50

leave them here with you.

25:53

It would be potentially dangerous

25:55

for you as well. I

25:57

understand that might be disappointed.

26:00

Fair, fair. It is quite...

26:02

a young man, but I

26:04

didn't expect anything otherwise. She

26:07

seems legitimately disappointed. There you

26:09

go, breaking lady's hearts. Forrest,

26:12

would you mind checking her

26:14

computer while we round up

26:16

these printouts? Of course, ma'am.

26:19

Now, the torta, my Spanish

26:21

is real good. In these

26:23

pictographs, I know you talked

26:26

about the tree beings. Did

26:28

you see anything? I don't

26:30

know. bug-like, insectoid, anything like

26:33

that? Well, the typical Mayan

26:35

demon emerging from the heads

26:37

of these mad individuals have

26:40

some resemblance perhaps to a

26:42

winged creature or an insect

26:45

perhaps it would be large,

26:47

but she goes and picks

26:49

up one of the pictures

26:52

and shows you. But it

26:54

also has facets of perhaps

26:56

a bird. It's difficult to

26:59

tell. The resemblance again to

27:01

a classic Mayan demon, again,

27:03

in miniature, is there. Fascinating.

27:06

Well, we appreciate your discretion

27:08

in this, and we'll tell

27:10

you what we can if

27:13

we find anything else out.

27:15

I would be so appreciative.

27:18

Thank you so much. And

27:20

at this point, Forrest, you've

27:22

collected everything. that you feel

27:25

you need to. Doctor, do

27:27

you have a personal number

27:29

that we might be able

27:32

to reach out to you

27:34

if we find any more

27:36

interesting tapestries or reliefs or

27:39

anything like that? Sure, of

27:41

course. Our friend said you

27:43

weren't supposed to contact me

27:46

directly, but if it's okay,

27:48

then I'm happy to give

27:50

you my cellular phone number.

27:53

It's very okay with me,

27:55

ma'am. She nods and smiles

27:58

at you. And uh... goes

28:00

ahead and gives you her

28:02

cell phone number. Ooh,

28:04

experience! Dude, 2.5 XP.

28:06

Those chocolates, man, those chocolates

28:09

were clutch. Oh my gosh.

28:11

That's right. Take notes. Anything

28:14

else you want to say

28:16

or ask of Dr.

28:18

Isabella Ramirez? No, I think

28:20

I'm good for now. Well then,

28:22

how do you want to end

28:24

the scene? We're going to all

28:26

hug and kiss her. Goodbye.

28:29

Goshy, okay. Kiss's thing and

28:31

you know, skidoo. Yeah. Go

28:33

finish our many petties, I guess.

28:35

Yeah, single file line right out the

28:37

door. Kiss is on the way.

28:39

In Locks, March, March, March. She's

28:41

genuine in her farewells to you.

28:44

And once you were making your

28:46

way down back to the elevator

28:48

bank, you can hear the death

28:50

metal begin to reach peak volume

28:52

once again. The elevator

28:54

door is close. You leave the

28:57

museum. And you're back

28:59

in your murder van.

29:01

I mean, panel van. We

29:33

are now back in the panel

29:35

van. What's next on our

29:37

list? It's about 5 p.m. now.

29:40

The sun is dipping in the

29:42

sky, beautiful, pink clouds

29:44

as the sun's rays began

29:46

to wane. What would you like to

29:48

do? Look at more clouds, I

29:51

think. That was real pretty.

29:53

Yeah, it's cloud time. Can we

29:55

just take a minute and enjoy

29:57

the view? But after that. I

30:00

think we should probably call

30:02

that service that she mentioned

30:04

Felix Forrest you both

30:07

noticed that faith in Frankfurt

30:09

are like They're not they're

30:11

wearing open toe to

30:13

sandals and their toes

30:15

look fucking phenomenal like great

30:18

I squeezed my fist and jealousy,

30:20

but I keep it away from

30:22

them so they don't see how

30:24

mad I am You drew you draw

30:26

blood in the palm over hand He

30:28

really dug his finger now on that.

30:30

At one point, Frankfurt does lean

30:33

over to faith and whispers.

30:35

You know, I'm kind of sad. Nobody

30:37

said anything about her immaculate

30:39

toes. No, don't worry about it.

30:42

Don't let them get you down, okay?

30:44

Okay. You had a special day

30:46

and you deserve to feel special.

30:48

You deserve this. I'm pretty.

30:50

You're so pretty. Mantis Man.

30:52

God damn it, they're so

30:54

pretty. Thank you. Was that

30:56

too much to ask? So,

30:59

so both of you, yeah,

31:01

let's, okay, we're good. All

31:03

of you have a couple

31:05

options, right? It's not,

31:07

it sounds like your

31:09

target may have had

31:12

some knowledge or

31:14

understanding of this

31:16

hidden chamber. The hidden

31:18

chamber had some directional.

31:21

insight for your target,

31:24

Dante Sombra, and he

31:26

may have gone in search

31:29

of these descendants, right?

31:31

Because some of the

31:33

imagery that Dr. Ramirez

31:35

explained to you, well,

31:38

sounds very familiar to

31:40

some of the work that you

31:42

do today. Yeah, there be

31:45

bugs in them hills. Perhaps.

31:47

That's gotta be an episode

31:49

name, right? So yeah, it's

31:52

an interesting thing

31:54

to find these pictographs

31:56

of these creatures, potentially,

31:59

right? Now, whether or not that's

32:01

all Sombra did in that chamber,

32:04

we don't know. He may have

32:06

taken something as well. There was

32:08

a conspicuously empty altar and nothing

32:11

really else in the chamber, right?

32:13

So he may have taken something

32:16

too, to bring it back up

32:18

there. What else did we hear

32:20

from the story that was interested

32:23

in anything that you have questions

32:25

about or that we should talk

32:27

about before we start playing the

32:30

next leg of the journey? Yeah,

32:32

it seems like there's, there's like

32:34

an internal war between the tree,

32:37

tree monsters. Probably the item that

32:39

John asked about, like, to protect

32:41

yourself essentially, I forgot what it

32:44

was, I forgot what the item

32:46

was, sorry. Yeah, so one of,

32:48

we have a creature, right, a

32:51

tree creature or a god in

32:53

this myth that Dr. Ramirez, you

32:55

know, told you, recounted to you,

32:58

that bestowed some sort of immunity

33:00

on its warriors. as it sent

33:02

them to go destroy other tree

33:05

creatures, evil ones, bad ones. So

33:07

yeah, there's something going on there,

33:09

that's for sure. Or at least

33:12

that's the myth, a little fun

33:14

story that pre-Columbian people put on

33:16

a wall. Cool. So she gave

33:19

you the name of one agency.

33:21

Yolk are also more than welcome

33:23

to not involve a third party.

33:26

That's just something that she suggested

33:28

because of the difficulty of the

33:31

track and how... Easy it is

33:33

to get turned around up there

33:35

in the highlands. So I don't

33:38

want you to feel like you're

33:40

being railroaded. You're welcome to use

33:42

your own survival and navigation skills

33:45

in unfamiliar territory and try your

33:47

luck to locate this random village.

33:49

But you should probably at least

33:52

get an idea of where it

33:54

might be from these folks who

33:56

go up there all the time.

33:59

For sure. If you're not going

34:01

to use their help, you should

34:03

probably at least check in with

34:06

them to get some bearing. Because

34:08

it is a very large. large

34:10

and densely junkled area of the

34:13

world. I've hoped that we work

34:15

with them since she's in the

34:17

no, or at least a friendly,

34:20

you know what I mean? And

34:22

she said that they're kind of

34:24

always into like touristy, like they're

34:27

down to show people. Right, it's

34:29

what they do. So that means

34:31

money talks too. So we've had

34:34

good success with that. I mean,

34:36

we can we can pose as

34:39

a research team trying to find,

34:41

you know, a village that's associated

34:43

with this symbol. this third eye

34:46

ornamentation that she pointed out to

34:48

us and see if any of

34:50

them any of them any of

34:53

the guides are familiar with it

34:55

and they might maybe they could

34:57

point us in the direction or

35:00

take us to even one of

35:02

the villages that might know something

35:04

about it. Did we want to

35:07

try the spot that she looked

35:09

up the Flackettel trails expeditions? I

35:11

say yes sure yes yeah I

35:14

think that's excellent y'all rev up

35:16

the panel van and make your

35:18

way It's now available to you.

35:21

It's a very colorful building when

35:23

you pull up to it. Vivid

35:25

paintings of flowers, birds, and the

35:28

mountainous regions of Wahaka are painted

35:30

upon this two-story building. Is everybody

35:32

going inside? Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yes.

35:35

Cool. All four of you walk

35:37

inside. And yeah, it looks like

35:39

they're getting ready to close up

35:42

for the day, but there is

35:44

one person left. She is basically

35:46

stacking some things onto a desk

35:49

and she turns when you enter

35:51

a belt jingling upon your ingress

35:54

and she looks over and in

35:56

Spanish she asks, oh, hi, did

35:58

you have an appointment? No, sorry,

36:01

we didn't know we needed an

36:03

appointment. You don't know how to

36:05

speak Spanish? Oh, oh Okay. Awkward.

36:08

Ceasing our, well, no, we want

36:10

to make one. I speak Spanish,

36:12

so. Oh, oh, all right. I

36:15

was just about to catch the

36:17

bus home. We closed a few

36:19

minutes ago. Is this something that

36:22

can wait or? I really appreciated

36:24

it if we talked. We can

36:26

make it worth your while. We'll

36:29

pay you for the time. Could

36:31

really use some chocolates, she says.

36:33

Dang. Should have bought two. Oh,

36:36

you don't have to pay me.

36:38

What can I help you you

36:40

out with? Well, we were, do

36:43

you speak English? She switches to

36:45

English. Oh, yes, I do. Apologies.

36:47

I can I can speak English,

36:50

she says. It's no reason to

36:52

apologize. It's just because these gringos

36:54

over here, you know I mean.

36:57

She never see laughs and looks

36:59

over it the other three. The

37:01

other three what? Green go wheelie.

37:04

Green guess. Yeah, we were wanting

37:06

to go into the Sierra Note.

37:09

We want to meet with some

37:11

of the villages there. Do you

37:13

know the area well? Oh, absolutely.

37:16

I mean, that's the focus of

37:18

what we do here. We take

37:20

we take groups some up to

37:23

see the seven Pueblos Man Kamunados

37:25

and that is directly in in

37:27

the Wahachan Highlands in the Sierra

37:30

Norte. I mean that's amazing because

37:32

that's exactly who we want to

37:34

make. Okay, excellent. Well we are

37:37

actually in a good spot. Most

37:39

agencies are fully booked for the

37:41

summer at this point. It's an

37:44

extremely popular circuit and there aren't

37:46

very many guides, but we did

37:48

just have a couple of large

37:51

groups. last minute cancel on some

37:53

long-term reservations. Some of our guides

37:55

are available for the next two

37:58

weeks, but they are booking up

38:00

fast. What would it cost us

38:02

to get a booking tomorrow? Well,

38:05

all four of you, you're ready

38:07

to go tomorrow? We'll be ready

38:09

if you're ready. Oh, well, typically

38:12

it's $1,200 for each adult. Well,

38:14

sounds fair to me. This is

38:17

a six day, maybe seven day,

38:19

depending on weather, trip. You are

38:21

responsible for bringing all of your

38:24

own equipment and food. There will

38:26

be places for you to purchase

38:28

food and other things when you

38:31

do reach some of the villages.

38:33

But I can give you a

38:35

list of everything that is required

38:38

of you for the tracks that

38:40

are quite far from civilization. She

38:42

laughs. You read my mind. We

38:45

definitely need to know what to

38:47

be prepared for. Is there a

38:49

particular village that you're excited to

38:52

see? One in particular that, or

38:54

have you done this before? Well

38:56

no, so we're actually coming down

38:59

as a research group, looking into

39:01

some specific ornamentation that we believe.

39:03

You know, one of these villages

39:06

might be still maintaining from their

39:08

past. And so our hope is

39:10

that. you know you were one

39:13

of the guides might be familiar

39:15

with it and that's that's really

39:17

the focus of our of our

39:20

of our of our adventure here.

39:22

Okay what what what are you

39:24

referring to? Well it's like a

39:27

and he Frankfort then kind of

39:29

describes this third eye ornamentation as

39:32

it was described to him what

39:34

they saw in the pictures. So

39:36

like a tattoo or a dermal

39:39

piercing or something? Yeah. She listens

39:41

to you carefully and nods but

39:43

she also frowns. Um, villages and

39:46

towns that are... are not part

39:48

of the touring circuit. They're not

39:50

set up to receive or provide

39:53

hospitality to foreign visitors. We can

39:55

rough it. None of the- Yeah,

39:57

like I said, we're, you know,

40:00

this wouldn't be our first time

40:02

in the backwoods doing field research.

40:04

So, you know, we're, like I

40:07

said, we'll pay for the time.

40:09

We understand what we're asking. I

40:11

mean, there are quite a few

40:14

settlements and villages in the highlands

40:16

that- aren't considered part of the

40:18

typical hiking tours. Not even really

40:21

formerly part of the Pueblos Mankamunados.

40:23

They prefer to be left alone.

40:25

They have little to offer travelers

40:28

like yourselves. They don't have lodging.

40:30

They don't have entertainment. Our tours

40:32

are award-winning. They're well curated. We

40:35

do guarantee you'll experience a deep

40:37

appreciation for the varied Mankamunado cultures.

40:39

You'll see spectacular vistas of natural

40:42

beauty. Is this a request that

40:44

doesn't? You haven't had any people?

40:47

coming around here, asking to go

40:49

out there and see these folks,

40:51

these less visited tribes. Her eyes

40:54

are darting a bit and she

40:56

takes them up before she answers.

40:58

We did have a single traveler

41:01

come through about a week ago

41:03

and we had to tell him

41:05

the same, it's actually against our

41:08

policy. There are some insurance related

41:10

concerns. We just can't bring foreign

41:12

tourists. to certain parts of the

41:15

Sierra Norte. Well, that's the thing.

41:17

We're not tourists. I'd like to

41:19

roll human to see if she's

41:22

telling the truth or lying here

41:24

or just get a sense of

41:26

what's going on. Yep. Now remember,

41:29

human is not a lie detector.

41:31

You will not ever get that

41:33

information from me. You can roll

41:36

your human. And I will give

41:38

you other information. I'm going to

41:40

roll my poly-poly test. I'm going

41:43

to roll my lie detector here.

41:45

Here we go. Success. just because

41:47

of the way she acted her

41:50

body. language the way her eyes

41:52

are moving when you first mentioned

41:55

the tattoo the piercing the third

41:57

eye ornamentation she knew exactly what

41:59

you were talking about exactly the

42:02

people you're referring to it seems

42:04

and now she's working to dissuade

42:06

you from seeking them out at

42:09

least with part with them as

42:11

helping you getting there so what'd

42:13

you end up telling this other

42:16

gentleman who came through just just

42:18

like you we had to refuse

42:20

his request Again, you're not the

42:23

first we've had to turn away

42:25

looking to rough it, as you

42:27

say. Well, I understand. I wouldn't

42:30

want to impose on, as you

42:32

said, well, curated adventures. And, you

42:34

know, you did come highly recommended.

42:37

So, again, I don't want to

42:39

put you out. But if we

42:41

could at least get some information

42:44

on where we could find those

42:46

tribes, you know, we might be

42:48

able to figure out our own

42:51

way to one guide to get

42:53

there. Yeah, because Dr. Isabella Ramirez

42:55

said that y'all were the people

42:58

for us, because we're not visitors,

43:00

we're not tourists, we work with

43:02

the, with Dr. Ramirez. From the

43:05

Museum of Cultural History? I don't

43:07

know who that is, um, she

43:10

sounds like somebody who's, I appreciate

43:12

getting a referral from anyone. I

43:14

can't, I can't place the name.

43:17

Is that somebody I should know?

43:19

Can you place a number? And

43:21

he does the money, two fingers,

43:24

together thing. She visibly deflates. When

43:26

you do that, she looks down

43:28

at the ground, and she looks

43:31

back at you. I do need

43:33

to go home. I will miss

43:35

my bus. Why don't we pick

43:38

this conversation up tomorrow during business

43:40

hours? But the policy of Tokato

43:42

Trails expedition, we cannot take anyone

43:45

off the beaten path and outside

43:47

of the Man Kamunaru circuit. to

43:49

the villages that are not set

43:52

up to receive foreign gas. Thank

43:54

you very much for stopping by.

43:56

I hope to see you tomorrow

43:59

morning. Well, thank you for your

44:01

time. We'll be here bright and

44:03

early. Felix will just leave, looking

44:06

down at his fingers, being like,

44:08

what happened? It didn't work. You

44:10

tried green when it should have

44:13

been the brown of chocolate. Dang!

44:15

Thank you for saying of chocolate

44:17

at the end. And the door

44:20

locks behind you and you watch

44:22

as a placard that reads open,

44:25

is slipped to closed, and blinds

44:27

are shut, almost rudely. And to

44:29

your right, you see a young

44:32

man, tan skin, wearing a very

44:34

sweat-stained cowboy hat, strong cowboy hat.

44:36

He's leaning against the colorful wall

44:39

of tauclato trails expeditions. And he

44:41

goes ahead and waives you with

44:43

two fingers. His arms crossed across

44:46

his chest as you're exiting and

44:48

nods to you. Howdy. Felix will

44:50

raise his hand while still doing

44:53

the money sign. He can't just

44:55

bribe your way through Mexico. He

44:57

looks very serious and honestly his

45:00

face is inscrutable. You can't tell

45:02

if he has really understood what

45:04

you're trying to get across to

45:07

him, but he goes ahead and

45:09

in English this. Come with me

45:11

down the street a bit away

45:14

from the offices. I have something

45:16

I like to ask you I

45:18

heard you asking them asking questions

45:21

inside Maybe maybe he trails off

45:23

Sure sure, let's go for a

45:25

walk Felix will look at his

45:28

fingers. You know it's baby you

45:30

still got it Give him a

45:32

little little kiss All right, so

45:35

the man quickly briskly walks down

45:37

Wauken Street, and about three blocks

45:40

down. Next to, but looks like

45:42

a small, a very small park

45:44

on the block. He steps into

45:47

its little grassy outcropping there and

45:49

stands next to an empty children's

45:51

slide and crosses his arms again

45:54

and turns to face you for

45:56

as you stop in front of

45:58

him. My name is Lono. There

46:01

was a man who asked your

46:03

same questions who came by, who

46:05

came by our office. about a

46:08

week or so ago and well

46:10

one of the other guides went

46:12

ahead and approached him and took

46:15

money from him to take him

46:17

up where he wanted to go

46:19

in in the islands and this

46:22

is a friend of mine his

46:24

name is Cass he hasn't he

46:26

hasn't returned he should have returned

46:29

with the man yesterday based on

46:31

their itinerary. There's no reason for

46:33

the delay and there's been no

46:36

communication and he would be getting

46:38

back here for his next job

46:40

as fast as possible. I'm very

46:43

worried that the man who asked

46:45

for guide services, he seemed wrong,

46:48

he seemed unbalanced, but he was

46:50

flashing huge sums of money and

46:52

cause he couldn't resist. I think...

46:55

I mean, I was so concerned

46:57

before he left, I asked him

46:59

to call me when he reached

47:02

one of the milestones on the

47:04

route, but it's one of the

47:06

few places that satellite phone can

47:09

register, and he didn't check in.

47:11

Okay, so here's the thing, we're

47:13

looking for the guy that you're

47:16

talking about, that he disappeared with,

47:18

that your friend disappeared with. So...

47:20

Bono lights up, and he looks

47:23

at you, he's listening to every

47:25

word you're saying now. It's the

47:27

first time you've seen him really

47:30

show emotion. So here's the deal,

47:32

but we're looking for him and...

47:34

And if we can find your

47:37

friend, we will. But can you

47:39

take us there? I have a

47:41

job tomorrow. I'm taking up a

47:44

group of Chinese tourists. And I

47:46

don't know that area very well.

47:48

I'm new. I've only been on

47:51

the novice circuit for a year.

47:53

And I have a family to

47:55

feed. I can't take you, but...

47:58

I beg you, there is another

48:00

guide. I know a man who

48:03

is very well acquainted with that

48:05

exact area. He is a bit

48:07

unusual, but he speaks English, and

48:10

he grew up in one of

48:12

the villages there. He was born

48:14

there, and he will not charge

48:17

you much at all. If I

48:19

am honest with you, he looks

48:21

at you, and he looks pains,

48:24

like he's in physical pain. He

48:26

drinks a lot. But he is

48:28

a good guide, maybe the best

48:31

for what you need, maybe the

48:33

only for what you need. Vano,

48:35

if you can get us connected

48:38

with him, we'll look for your

48:40

friend, and if we can find

48:42

him, we'll bring him back. We'll

48:45

make it worth your while. Faith

48:47

gives him a couple hundred bucks,

48:49

just right then, and there is...

48:52

No, no, no, no. He shakes

48:54

his hand. No, no, no. I

48:56

don't want to take your money.

48:59

I just need your help if

49:01

you're going there. Please find Cas,

49:03

please fight him. We'll do our

49:06

best. I can't guarantee anything, but

49:08

we'll do everything we can. He

49:10

nods. Lano, I love a good

49:13

side quest, so we're gonna do

49:15

it. All right. Yeah, whenever you

49:18

see a dude leaning against a

49:20

wall, when you leave one of

49:22

the, you know, major scenes, and

49:25

there's a question mark above his

49:27

head, you know to talk to

49:29

that guy. I saw that bright

49:32

golden question mark. I was like,

49:34

yes. Talk from some more experience

49:36

points. I hope I get some

49:39

better trousers out of this. I'm

49:41

gonna start talking to every man

49:43

leaning against a building. when I

49:46

walk out of a building immediately

49:48

now. I think that's a good

49:50

move for me. Yeah, I mean

49:53

if you ever want to get

49:55

your gear level. If you overload

49:57

your side quests, you'll have a

50:00

hard time tracking down the main

50:02

quest. Oh, that's true. And then

50:04

I'll get bored and then I'll

50:07

stop playing my life. Yeah. And

50:09

I've got a bad, some bad

50:11

news for you. It's all a

50:14

fetch question. Oh, oh. Well at

50:16

least this way when we do

50:18

get to the final boss will

50:21

be so fucking overpowered it'll just

50:23

be easy, you know. Yeah, I

50:26

mean it is a scaling. That's

50:28

how you play it ultra green,

50:30

everybody knows that. Maybe it's not

50:33

relevant, but you just cut out

50:35

so I didn't hear what you

50:37

said after I've got a bad

50:40

feeling about this. He did it!

50:42

So if, uh, yeah, if you

50:44

could get us in contact with

50:47

this guy that can get us

50:49

there, we greatly appreciate it. Yes,

50:51

you can go right now, you

50:54

can go right now. to meet

50:56

him. There is a bar, he

50:58

points in a random direction to

51:01

you. There's a bar called Calaveras,

51:03

near the center of the city.

51:05

He is there now. Well, that

51:08

is if the owner's haven't already

51:10

kicked him out. I shouldn't have,

51:12

he looks up at the sun,

51:15

not at this hour. What's his

51:17

name? His name is Zarsamora. Look

51:19

for directions to the Calaveras Bar.

51:22

Yeah, it's very easy to find

51:24

you will need to get in

51:26

your vehicle and drive into the

51:29

center of town But yeah, very

51:31

easy to find boom got him

51:33

Thank you so much for for

51:36

looking for him. I I I

51:38

hope he is okay Ain't we

51:41

thank you. You sure you don't

51:43

want a little cash for as

51:45

appreciation? He shakes his head no,

51:48

no, no fair enough Stay safe

51:50

out there He nods turns, walks

51:52

out of the park, and down

51:55

the street, rope in his arms,

51:57

turns around and looks at you

51:59

again briefly, and then continues on.

52:02

his way. Faith you forgot to

52:04

do the the finger thing that's

52:06

why he didn't take it. Two

52:09

fingers. That's right. That's my bad.

52:11

I think I've lost something of

52:13

a personal touch lately. I mean

52:16

different cultures do different things differently

52:18

you know we're not all Canadian.

52:20

I feel like I've been been

52:23

robbed of my humanity by the

52:25

horrors I've witnessed myself doing so.

52:27

Oh, oh that stuff stuff. Anywho,

52:31

let's get going. Y'all jumping

52:33

the van and make your

52:35

way over. It is now

52:37

fairly dark outside. So by

52:40

the time you get to

52:42

Kalaveras, the lights are on

52:44

outside, it does look fairly

52:47

run down. The very definition

52:49

of a dive from the

52:51

park. At one point, before

52:53

you're able to park. You

52:56

have to stop because there

52:58

are two police officers that

53:00

are standing in front of

53:03

a line of cars. Your

53:05

hearts begin to beat faster

53:07

as you find yourself at

53:09

some sort of checkpoint, perhaps.

53:12

You look in the rear-view

53:14

mirror faith and you see

53:16

a car pulls up behind

53:18

you, or less boxing you

53:21

in on this narrow, wauhauken

53:23

street. You four stare. as

53:25

the cars in front of

53:28

you are stopped, not going

53:30

anywhere. The police don't seem

53:32

to be speaking to anybody

53:34

in the first car, but

53:37

they aren't allowing any movement.

53:39

A few moments pass, and

53:41

you begin hearing what's something

53:44

like drumbeats. You get louder,

53:46

louder, suddenly you see colorful

53:48

costumes, streamers, and dancers emerge

53:50

from one of the cross

53:53

streets where They're stopped far

53:55

before. Musicians as well. carrying

53:57

horns, drums, flutes. They all

53:59

seem to be wearing some

54:02

traditional and elaborate costumes. It's

54:04

a parade. You can hear

54:06

music drifting down. Some carry

54:09

religious iconography, unmistakably Catholic. You

54:11

see effigies of the virgin

54:13

being carried. Many carrying candles,

54:15

others dancing. It seems to

54:18

be very cheerful, not a

54:20

solemn procession. The music is

54:22

upbeat and again sounds very

54:25

traditional. None of you have

54:27

anthropology, correct, or any experience

54:29

in this region. Nope. I

54:31

don't believe so. Pretty colors.

54:34

Yeah, you are stopped for

54:36

a moment. The procession passes

54:38

by and at that point

54:40

the police officers kind of

54:43

sluggishly walk away motioning for

54:45

the cars to continue, which

54:47

they do. You're now in

54:50

front of Calaveras. It's a

54:52

dimly lit cantina. There's a

54:54

flickering neon light outside across

54:56

the bar's sun-bleached facade. It

54:59

casts shadows on the rough

55:01

asphalt street outside. Even just

55:03

a few paces beyond its

55:06

open entrance door, the air

55:08

is thick with the scent

55:10

of mescal and tobacco as

55:12

you walk up to what

55:15

is a... Well, full bar.

55:17

This all mingles with the

55:19

lively chatter of patrons and

55:21

the strains of twangy guitar

55:24

music that shift from some

55:26

ancient jukebox in the establishment's

55:28

corner. Once you're fully inside,

55:31

well, the atmosphere, it's fairly

55:33

cozy, but it... there's something

55:35

slightly oppressive about it. It

55:37

has sagging walls adorned with

55:40

faded posters and murals depicting

55:42

scenes with day-of-the-the-dead imagery. The

55:44

bar itself as you approach

55:47

that is a weathered wooden

55:49

counter. scarred by years of

55:51

use, polished to a dull

55:53

sheen by countless hands and

55:56

carelessly spilled alcohol. You only

55:58

see one bartender, Burley man,

56:00

he's a booming laugh, you

56:02

see him, talking to a

56:05

few, perhaps regulars or some

56:07

customers at his bar. There's

56:09

already a small crowd here

56:12

at this time, and the

56:14

mood is rather boisterous. You

56:16

for look around, take in

56:18

the people here. Um, everybody

56:21

can roll, humid. Oh, super,

56:23

faint. Pass, 3254. Yeah, failed,

56:25

but by eight. Success. Yeah,

56:28

you can check it if

56:30

you failed. Those who have

56:32

passed, begin scanning the room

56:34

and you can see that

56:37

the people here seem extremely

56:39

comfortable. perhaps nightly regulars, those

56:41

who have a home away

56:43

from home here at Calaveras.

56:46

People are swapping stories, they're

56:48

sharing laughs, they're raising their

56:50

glasses, the toast, whatever might

56:53

amuse them. And as you

56:55

take this in, well, you

56:57

realize it's not going to

56:59

take too much to find

57:02

your target because he's announcing

57:04

himself loudly in the third

57:06

person, as he animatedly describes

57:09

something to a group of...

57:11

Well, a few patrons who

57:13

look like they're humoring him.

57:15

They're nodding along, doing their

57:18

best to hide their rolling

57:20

eyes. Felix, everybody sees this.

57:22

Felix, you can understand him.

57:24

Since he's speaking Spanish, nobody

57:27

else can let you hear

57:29

him calling himself Zarasamora. Everybody

57:31

hears him yelling that, pointing

57:34

to himself as well. He's

57:36

telling some story about... an

57:38

encounter, a recent encounter, with

57:40

some impossibly large serpent during

57:43

a recent Highland track. That

57:45

sounds like a ridiculous tall

57:47

tale to you, Felix. Like,

57:50

the man telling the story

57:52

seems fully engrossed in his

57:54

own retelling. You, who also

57:56

passed, you also notice that

57:59

the bartender is watching Zarsamora

58:01

very carefully, as if expecting

58:03

something bad to happen at

58:05

any moment. You can see

58:08

him as he's speaking to

58:10

other patrons. He's... always kind

58:12

of we're really casting his

58:15

eyes over to the wild

58:17

gesticulations of Sarzamora. I've been

58:19

that guy in the bar.

58:21

I'm going to look at

58:24

the group, let them know

58:26

a little bit about what

58:28

he's talking about, and go,

58:31

I think that's our guy.

58:33

Okay, let's let him wrap

58:35

it up and we'll proposition

58:37

him to take us where

58:40

we want to go. Let's

58:42

go get a round of

58:44

drinks and one for him.

58:46

Yeah, that's exactly what I

58:49

was thinking. Great idea. Cool.

58:51

What, uh, what do you

58:53

purchase for Zazamara and his,

58:56

his reluctant audience? Not buy

58:58

him, them drinks, just him.

59:00

Oh, okay, cool. What are

59:02

you gonna buy Zazamora? Does

59:05

Zazamora have a drink in

59:07

his hand right now? He

59:09

does indeed. What is he

59:12

drinking? What is he drinking?

59:14

It is some ochre to

59:16

brown liquid in a low

59:18

ball. There is no ice.

59:21

We will point at the

59:23

drink to the bartender and

59:25

ask for one of those

59:27

The bartender again a very

59:30

burly tall man. He cocks

59:32

an eyebrow. This is not

59:34

a people's eyebrow like it

59:37

looks like a very worried

59:39

eyebrow And he says in

59:41

Spanish. Are you sure do

59:43

you know him? A far

59:46

away relation. Oh my god

59:48

my condolences He goes ahead

59:50

and from under the bar

59:52

produces a blank decanter with

59:55

one of those little stainless

59:57

steel spots on top. and

59:59

fills a glass. You only

1:00:02

drink s maskal. Pass, you

1:00:04

see the low ball. Perfect.

1:00:06

Let's have one for all

1:00:08

of us here. Well, you're

1:00:10

not going to want this

1:00:12

one. He smirks, puts it

1:00:14

back under. I'd rather have

1:00:17

something that I can hold

1:00:19

down. Sure thing. Of course. He

1:00:21

pours each one, if you. A glass

1:00:23

of maskal, and passes them

1:00:26

over. That'll be $8. Did

1:00:28

you just say $8. Eight. God

1:00:30

damn it. Makes me so bad.

1:00:32

Anywhere in Dallas, it's like, you

1:00:35

don't order Miss Galen. It's

1:00:37

like, that'll be $17. Yeah,

1:00:39

exactly. It's like Scotch or

1:00:42

something, yeah. I'll point at

1:00:44

Frankfurt and say, oh, he's

1:00:46

picking up the bill today.

1:00:48

You bitch. He looks

1:00:51

over at you. Frankford

1:00:53

examines his perfectly manicured

1:00:55

nails and says, yeah,

1:00:57

I got that today.

1:00:59

Beautiful. Your hands flap open

1:01:01

and discuss everybody in the bars,

1:01:03

you produce your money, and you

1:01:05

pass over the money. Do you

1:01:07

give the man a tip? Yes,

1:01:10

I do. Well, I'll just, I'm

1:01:12

gonna pull out, are we paying

1:01:14

in cash or? It's all cash

1:01:16

all day for you, Delta Green

1:01:18

slash Pegasus pupils. Sorry, I'm paying

1:01:20

an American dollars or, I'll just

1:01:23

ask him like, could you take,

1:01:25

uh, take American dollars? He

1:01:27

nuts. He said, Ochoo to, uh,

1:01:29

Except Felix, then he goes, he

1:01:31

says to you in English, eight

1:01:33

dollars. I just hand him a

1:01:35

twenty. I'm saying, I keep it.

1:01:37

Thank you. He goes ahead and

1:01:39

takes, takes the money and then

1:01:41

cheerfully passes each one if you

1:01:44

eat your drinks. Well, let's go

1:01:46

make a new friend. Mm-hmm. You

1:01:48

four approach, Zard Somora. And you

1:01:50

notice his small audience as you

1:01:53

tap him on the shoulder in

1:01:55

the loud boisterous bar. They disperse

1:01:57

the moment that Stars are Morris

1:02:00

and leave you with him

1:02:02

as the man turns to

1:02:04

face you. I've definitely worked

1:02:06

with this guy. Oh boy.

1:02:09

A pirate? What is this

1:02:11

doing? A lot going on

1:02:13

here. So Sarsamora is a

1:02:15

thin, lanky man. Weathered, lined

1:02:18

face. He must be in

1:02:20

his late 50s, maybe early

1:02:22

60s. It's hard to tell

1:02:25

because the man is so

1:02:27

sun-beaten that... His skin is

1:02:29

basically brown worked leather. He

1:02:31

wears beaded necklaces. They look

1:02:34

like they hold some importance

1:02:36

to him. They're adorned with

1:02:38

strange little mystical carvings that

1:02:41

you don't recognize. He also

1:02:43

has shells beads and small

1:02:45

bells that are pinned to

1:02:47

his vest. He wears over

1:02:50

a dirty, stained, yellow flannel

1:02:52

shirt. He wears a small

1:02:54

hat. adorned with different feathers.

1:02:57

You're not sure exactly from

1:02:59

which birds, but Felix, you

1:03:01

can see a couple falcon

1:03:03

feathers in there. You see

1:03:06

a buzzard feather. You see

1:03:08

a bunch of down feathers

1:03:10

from pigeons, which you kind

1:03:13

of wrinkle your nose at.

1:03:15

But the man otherwise seems

1:03:17

lively. eccentric happy with the

1:03:19

spirits that are obviously flowing

1:03:22

through his veins as he

1:03:24

has been gesticulating fairly wildly

1:03:26

while telling this story. He

1:03:28

has wispy facial hair and

1:03:31

long scraggly gray hair that

1:03:33

pokes out from under the

1:03:35

hat that he's wearing and

1:03:38

he turns smiling crooked smile

1:03:40

and he says yes do

1:03:42

I do I do I

1:03:44

know you in Spanish? And

1:03:47

for the audience, he looks

1:03:49

like working class Johnny Depp.

1:03:51

So like same outfit, but

1:03:54

like a more rugged, you

1:03:56

know, worn down face. Sure.

1:03:58

Accurate. Are you Zarszamora? Indeed,

1:04:00

indeed, you have found Zarsamora,

1:04:03

he says. I mean, we've

1:04:05

heard good things. Oh, that

1:04:07

is hard to believe, my

1:04:10

friend, and who are you?

1:04:12

Well, we're friends of Lono.

1:04:14

Ah, young Lano, he says.

1:04:16

That's the guy, yeah. He

1:04:19

said that, uh, you could

1:04:21

help us out. You see,

1:04:23

uh... We were looking to

1:04:26

take a trip up to

1:04:28

the Sierra Norte. American, he

1:04:30

says and looks over at

1:04:32

the other three behind you

1:04:35

in this crowded bar. A

1:04:37

group, international group. In English,

1:04:39

he says, should I speak

1:04:41

English? Oh, yeah, they'd like

1:04:44

that a lot better. International

1:04:46

as in Canada and America,

1:04:48

you know, is the same

1:04:51

language, really. He looks at

1:04:53

all of you now, and

1:04:55

you feel like... A well-practiced

1:04:57

speech is about to occur.

1:05:00

Welcome, my friends. Welcome to

1:05:02

Wauhaka. I am Zarsamora. And

1:05:04

before we discuss business, we

1:05:07

should have a seat and

1:05:09

we should meet one another.

1:05:11

Come. He turns away from

1:05:13

the bar. And you walks

1:05:16

through the crowd towards a

1:05:18

booth near the back of

1:05:20

Calaveras. I'm just going to

1:05:23

ask the bartender if he

1:05:25

has an energy drink and

1:05:27

try to buy that to

1:05:29

wash down the drink. Oh,

1:05:32

great call. I had forgotten

1:05:34

about your issues. Yeah, let's

1:05:36

see how that works. I

1:05:39

don't know if you can

1:05:41

just keep doing that. I

1:05:43

can try. Okay. You can

1:05:45

take more stimulates to keep

1:05:48

going, but every dose after

1:05:50

the first costs 1D6 well

1:05:52

power. How much well power

1:05:55

do you have? Oh

1:05:58

no! What did you say it

1:06:00

cost? One D6 willpower. Oh, well

1:06:02

I have three so better not

1:06:05

test that out. So if you

1:06:07

lose one willpower the chances of

1:06:09

you having an emotional breakdown is

1:06:12

extremely high. Hmm, right. What if

1:06:14

she loses six? Yeah. Then she

1:06:17

has an emotional breakdown. And it's

1:06:19

rough. Again, minus 22 all skills.

1:06:21

So you have two options, right?

1:06:24

You can risk it. You're definitely

1:06:26

not an emotional breakdown that's still

1:06:28

minus 22 all skills. Or you

1:06:31

can let it, you can be

1:06:33

exhausted, suffer your exhaustive penalty, which

1:06:36

is minus 22 all skills. I

1:06:38

think I'm gonna risk it. So

1:06:40

1D. Right. It's also a minus

1:06:43

20 to sand sand tests. I

1:06:45

should be very clear. And stat

1:06:47

tests. So skills, stat, and sand.

1:06:50

Cool. Go ahead and roll out

1:06:52

1D6 to risk it. Is it

1:06:55

a risk if you know it's

1:06:57

gonna be bad? Can't say it

1:06:59

without the biscuit. Oh God. I

1:07:02

got a 3. Your willpower is

1:07:04

now zero. And go ahead and

1:07:06

roll your sanity. Oh, sorry, you

1:07:09

have zero warp how you cannot

1:07:11

succeed at any tests, including sand.

1:07:13

So you immediately fell your sand

1:07:16

test. I wrote. Sorry, you failed,

1:07:18

it doesn't matter. So you failed

1:07:21

your sanity. And I have to

1:07:23

control your agent now. Oh. As

1:07:25

you four turn to follow Zarsamore

1:07:28

to this corner of the bar.

1:07:30

Feel like you feel forced tugging

1:07:32

on your sleeve. You turn and

1:07:35

you look at her. And she's

1:07:37

shaking shaking. and tears are flowing

1:07:40

down her face. What's gotten into

1:07:42

you? I don't know, something's wrong.

1:07:44

Something's wrong. Something's wrong. I got

1:07:47

it. I can't be here. I

1:07:49

can't be here. I can't be

1:07:51

here. All right, all right. Well,

1:07:54

she turns, let's go of your

1:07:56

sleeve and starts walking out of

1:07:59

the bar by herself. Y'all, I'm

1:08:01

gonna take her to the van.

1:08:03

You two got this? Yeah, we

1:08:06

got this. Thanks, Felix. I'll, I'll,

1:08:08

you know, direct her with my

1:08:10

hands on her shoulders towards the

1:08:13

van. She's trucking you off and

1:08:15

she starts walking down the sidewalk

1:08:18

away from Cala Vedas. What role

1:08:20

your psycho analysis? Oh, you mean

1:08:22

nothing? Oh, let me, let me

1:08:25

look, hold on. I got a

1:08:27

double check here. I think everybody

1:08:29

has a little bit. Is there

1:08:32

psychotherapy? Oh, I have psychotherapy. Apologies,

1:08:34

yeah. There you go. You're great.

1:08:37

A great ad, failing. 26 out

1:08:39

of 16. Go ahead and check

1:08:41

it. Yeah, you start, you're trying

1:08:44

to convince her to stop. You

1:08:46

just can't really get her to

1:08:48

pay any attention to you. She's

1:08:51

shrugging you off pushing away. She's

1:08:53

crying, and I like try to

1:08:55

like shake her. to, you know,

1:08:58

you know, how people do. Gotcha.

1:09:00

Okay, so you, you're trying to

1:09:03

shake her and she's rebuffing you

1:09:05

quite a bit. She turns and

1:09:07

she says, just let me go,

1:09:10

just let me go. All right,

1:09:12

I'll let you go, but I'm

1:09:14

not leaving you alone. Is that

1:09:17

right if I walk with you?

1:09:19

Shakes her head, I need to

1:09:22

get out of here. I gotta

1:09:24

get out of here. All right,

1:09:26

well, we'll. We'll get out of

1:09:29

here. We'll make sure you're safe,

1:09:31

all right? You walk a little

1:09:33

bit behind her because she won't

1:09:36

let she walk with her. And

1:09:38

at one point, she sits down

1:09:41

on a bench on the side

1:09:43

of the road in front of

1:09:45

what looks like a fairly busy

1:09:48

disco tech. And you see her

1:09:50

just close her eyes and pass

1:09:52

out. Oh, dang. Okay. All

1:09:55

right, I'll just go over,

1:09:57

sit down. and just like

1:09:59

put her head on my

1:10:01

lap and just kind of

1:10:03

wait for a minute and

1:10:05

I'll text the the team

1:10:07

that I'm down the street

1:10:09

and that she's passed out.

1:10:11

Got it. All right. We're

1:10:13

going to go back to

1:10:15

the interior of Calabedas now.

1:10:17

Oh my friends, my friends.

1:10:20

The other two, they were

1:10:22

not with you? Oh they

1:10:24

were, but they had to

1:10:26

step out for a minute.

1:10:28

Shall we wait for them?

1:10:30

No, we can get started

1:10:32

right now, actually. Well, sounds

1:10:35

wonderful. Indeed. Why are you

1:10:37

seeking out Sarsamora? We were

1:10:39

told that you could take

1:10:41

us to some of the

1:10:43

more remote tribes of the...

1:10:45

bear with my pronunciation here.

1:10:48

Sierra Norte peoples? Specifically, we're

1:10:50

looking some... for some of

1:10:52

the folks who have some

1:10:54

of the third-eye ornamentations. Business!

1:10:56

He smiles and leans in.

1:10:58

The scint of strong liquor

1:11:00

is moving out of his

1:11:03

aura very powerfully toward you.

1:11:05

Respect. Well, before discussing business,

1:11:07

I must insist that we

1:11:09

share something very special. A

1:11:11

kiss? What you have in

1:11:13

mind? He looks over at

1:11:15

the bar. Do you see

1:11:18

that black bottle there at

1:11:20

the very top shelf? Papa

1:11:22

Diabo Argenio. He points at

1:11:24

the bar. You're not exactly

1:11:26

sure what he's referring to.

1:11:28

Faith just goes ahead and

1:11:31

nods. One bottle of that?

1:11:33

And then we can talk.

1:11:35

Hmm? Sure. Why not? No

1:11:37

business until the drink. widely.

1:11:39

Yeah, Paris or Frankfurt looks

1:11:41

over at Faith and is

1:11:43

like, well, this guy's fleecing

1:11:46

us already. Okay, let's go

1:11:48

ahead and get the bottle.

1:11:50

You walk back up to

1:11:52

the bartender and once you

1:11:54

are able to communicate what

1:11:56

you want, his eyes widen,

1:11:59

he rolls them, he looks

1:12:01

over at the tape with

1:12:03

Zard Zamora and your colleague,

1:12:05

shakes his head. He said

1:12:07

in English, are you sure?

1:12:09

What's the damage? That's $200

1:12:11

American. For the bottle? For

1:12:14

the bottle? Yeah, all right.

1:12:16

Let's just get this done.

1:12:18

He goes ahead and reaches

1:12:20

to the top shelf, brings

1:12:22

down the full unopen bottle

1:12:24

of Papadiyalo Arquenio. He opens

1:12:26

it up for you. Want

1:12:29

fresh glasses? It really deserves

1:12:31

fresh glasses if you're going

1:12:33

to drink it. But I

1:12:35

doubt he's going to let

1:12:37

you have a drop. Oh,

1:12:39

no, I'm sure. Let's go

1:12:42

ahead and have a few

1:12:44

fresh glasses. He passes you

1:12:46

three glasses, and the bottle

1:12:48

takes your money. All right.

1:12:50

Be careful. Will do. Frankfort

1:12:52

walks back over to the

1:12:54

table, sets the glasses down,

1:12:57

and then pours into each

1:12:59

glass, and then puts the

1:13:01

bottle down, and then sits

1:13:03

down at the table. Papa

1:13:05

Diablo. Zassamore says, picks up

1:13:07

the glass. Let's the scent

1:13:09

waft. See, motions above the

1:13:12

glass. Invisible currents must be

1:13:14

hitting him in the face

1:13:16

because his expression is one

1:13:18

of pure, pure divine worship.

1:13:20

He takes a long sip

1:13:22

and then downs the entire

1:13:25

glass. He takes the bottle

1:13:27

and refills his glass. He

1:13:29

looks serene now with his

1:13:31

eyes closed. His mouth. Serene

1:13:33

now with his eyes closed.

1:13:35

His mouth. perfect smile and

1:13:37

his eyes slowly open and

1:13:40

he looks at both of

1:13:42

you. They're just a a

1:13:44

little bit classier than they

1:13:46

were before. The Sierra Norte,

1:13:48

he says. Where did you

1:13:50

want to go, my friends?

1:13:53

Well, look, we're part of

1:13:55

a, us and our two

1:13:57

friends who had to step

1:13:59

out, we're part of a

1:14:01

research team. We'd spend time

1:14:03

out in the, out in

1:14:05

the wilderness, tracking down things.

1:14:08

Sometimes we work for various

1:14:10

publications or, you know, TV

1:14:12

channels or whatever, but wanna.

1:14:14

on a project right now

1:14:16

and we've been guided to

1:14:18

you as we've been trying

1:14:20

to track down a village

1:14:23

that still practices we've come

1:14:25

to call it third eye

1:14:27

ornamentation and you know he

1:14:29

proceeds to explain it to

1:14:31

him and says this is

1:14:33

what it looks like and

1:14:36

it's like we've been led

1:14:38

to believe that you may

1:14:40

know where this tribe is

1:14:42

at and if so we

1:14:44

would very much like love

1:14:46

to to hire your services

1:14:48

to help us get there.

1:14:51

He's listening intently. Poring shot

1:14:53

after shot of mascot. When

1:14:55

you're done, he looks at

1:14:57

you. Some of these villages,

1:14:59

no one will go to.

1:15:01

They're hostile to outsiders. They

1:15:04

dislike tourists. These places are

1:15:06

avoided easily by the agencies

1:15:08

and the guys. You see

1:15:10

the routes to get to

1:15:12

them. They're invisible. Except to

1:15:14

those who live there. But

1:15:16

I know the people you're

1:15:19

looking for with the forehead

1:15:21

marks. He taps his own

1:15:23

forehead emphatically. The village is

1:15:25

called Escenpiel. They are different

1:15:27

and they welcome outsiders. They

1:15:29

have little to offer tourists

1:15:31

like the other Mancamonados. Just

1:15:34

some planned fabrics and mountain

1:15:36

sheep. Nothing remarkable there. The

1:15:38

journey is very challenging. It's

1:15:40

hardly worth the effort. But

1:15:42

for... 1,000 American, three more

1:15:44

bottles of Papa Diabolo Rakeno,

1:15:47

and I will take you

1:15:49

anywhere you want. How about,

1:15:51

uh, $800 American and two

1:15:53

more bottles? We just bought

1:15:55

you one already. Oh, oh,

1:15:57

oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh,

1:15:59

no, you see, we shared

1:16:02

this bottle. I want, for

1:16:04

my own collection. Three four

1:16:06

bottles 800 an act Frank

1:16:08

for looks over at faith

1:16:10

we make that work Seems

1:16:12

doable you just haggle him

1:16:15

up I have to Yeah

1:16:17

Yeah, it's he was absolutely

1:16:19

trying to I mean he's

1:16:21

still getting the fucking steal

1:16:23

items I mean, the agency

1:16:25

was charging 1,200 per person,

1:16:27

charging you a thousand flat

1:16:30

and some, in some booze.

1:16:32

800 now, thank you very

1:16:34

much. Oh, yeah, you did,

1:16:36

you did your job. Frankford

1:16:38

spits into his hand and

1:16:40

hands it out. It says,

1:16:42

deal. All right, all right.

1:16:45

He doesn't touch, oh no,

1:16:47

you spit in your hand,

1:16:49

hand it out, to shake

1:16:51

his hand. Just goops it

1:16:53

up. That's a deal. Nice.

1:16:55

So he looks at it.

1:16:58

Shrugs spits in his hand,

1:17:00

and it is a hell

1:17:02

of a luke, and then

1:17:04

messily rubs his palm with

1:17:06

yours, mingling the disgusting fluids

1:17:08

together in honor of this

1:17:10

deals well-struck. G'n't always count

1:17:13

on you to make it

1:17:15

so much worse. Have a

1:17:17

deal, Micharito Grinko. Frankfort grabs

1:17:19

a bottle, pours three more.

1:17:21

shots and cheers and throws

1:17:23

it back. At this time,

1:17:25

Faith, you do receive a

1:17:28

text messages from Felix. The

1:17:30

aforementioned text message is letting

1:17:32

you know that he won't

1:17:34

be coming back, he's not

1:17:36

able to. I can't remember

1:17:38

if you had specifically said

1:17:41

that Forrest needed your hope.

1:17:43

No, I said that she's

1:17:45

passed out, I didn't ask

1:17:47

for help. Okay, got it,

1:17:49

got it. So, Sarmora, let's

1:17:51

go of your Lou covered

1:17:53

hand and proceeds to produce

1:17:56

a crumpled notebook paper packet

1:17:58

out of his pocket, smooth

1:18:00

it out of his pocket,

1:18:02

smooth it out of it

1:18:04

a bit on the table,

1:18:06

smearing it a bit with

1:18:09

saliva. It's written in English

1:18:11

and in an elegant, elegant

1:18:13

hand. This is what you

1:18:15

will need to bring. It

1:18:17

comes from a sensible source

1:18:19

and will probably keep you

1:18:21

healthy on the trip. But

1:18:24

you'll need all of this

1:18:26

before we set out tomorrow.

1:18:28

Okay. I'll read this a

1:18:30

lot if that's... okay. Yeah,

1:18:32

if you want to read

1:18:34

the whole it's pretty long

1:18:36

or you can just summarize

1:18:39

it. It's really yeah, it

1:18:41

does go longer and longer

1:18:43

Yep, you just kind of

1:18:45

summarize it real quick, but

1:18:47

it's it's nice for them

1:18:49

to know what he handed

1:18:52

you It's I would say

1:18:54

a deeply detailed List of

1:18:56

items to bring along including

1:18:58

backpacks navigation, sufficient water filtration,

1:19:00

ready to eat food like

1:19:02

energy bars or MREs you

1:19:04

know, what kind of clothing

1:19:07

to expect to wear, the

1:19:09

kind of shelter to bring,

1:19:11

as well as first aid,

1:19:13

and light sources, and fire

1:19:15

starting kits, multi-tools, communication devices,

1:19:17

any personal items, and emergency

1:19:20

stuff. Yeah, it just goes

1:19:22

on and on. It's very,

1:19:24

very in-depth exhaustive, I'd say.

1:19:26

Zazamora has nearly drained the

1:19:28

bottle by the time you

1:19:30

look over the entire list.

1:19:32

the exhaustive list. So can

1:19:35

you get all of that

1:19:37

for tomorrow? Because we can

1:19:39

leave that early if you'd

1:19:41

like. I think if if

1:19:43

you're aware of a place

1:19:45

where we can get all

1:19:47

this, we definitely could. Oh,

1:19:50

is there like a REI

1:19:52

around here? There's a, I

1:19:54

dropped it in the chat,

1:19:56

there is actually, it's both

1:19:58

a sports store, trophy store,

1:20:00

gun shop, and outdoor gear

1:20:03

and tactical gear shop called

1:20:05

Super Aurora de Waca. You'll

1:20:07

go to the Super Aora

1:20:09

de Waca. That will get

1:20:11

you set up for everything.

1:20:13

It's a real place. Ah,

1:20:15

perfecto. We'll do that then.

1:20:18

We'll get that stuff. Maybe

1:20:20

if you want to meet

1:20:22

us there, we'll leave straight

1:20:24

from there. How's that sound?

1:20:26

Oh, no, no. You can

1:20:28

tell he's starting to really

1:20:30

succumb to the effects of

1:20:33

the Papat Diablo. You will

1:20:35

meet me at noon tomorrow,

1:20:37

near Placato Trail's expeditions. And

1:20:39

we will soon together see

1:20:41

the village of three eyes

1:20:43

and no flesh. I promise

1:20:46

you. Now go. I want

1:20:48

to drink alone. Okay. He

1:20:50

pours himself another shot. He

1:20:52

raises it to both of

1:20:54

you. And he sort of

1:20:56

turns away from you towards

1:20:58

the wall and trinks it.

1:21:01

Okay, well, fuck us then.

1:21:03

It appears you're, what is

1:21:05

it, audience with Zardzamorez over?

1:21:07

Yeah. Yeah. All right, well,

1:21:09

we've got the list of

1:21:11

stuff to get, so we'll

1:21:14

get that first thing in

1:21:16

the morning. I guess we'll

1:21:18

head back, get a good

1:21:20

night's sleep. What do you

1:21:22

think? Perfect. Yeah, sounds good

1:21:24

to me. Sorry, I'm still

1:21:26

looking for places we could

1:21:29

potentially go. I found another

1:21:31

one called Lagran Montagna. There

1:21:33

you go, plenty of places.

1:21:35

They got climbing gear too.

1:21:37

Yeah, there's a bunch of

1:21:39

climbing that happens in this

1:21:41

area. I don't know that,

1:21:44

yeah. Lagran Montagna seems to

1:21:46

be more legit because I

1:21:48

think they focus just on

1:21:50

outdoor camping gear and not

1:21:52

also soccers and basketballs and

1:21:54

trophies for kids. Yeah,

1:21:56

I don't know man. It's weird. Well? what they got.

1:21:58

You will need to spend

1:22:01

lots of money basically every every

1:22:03

dime you have from the original

1:22:05

to you on a safe

1:22:07

safe house, get something wired from

1:22:09

snedigo which is totally possible

1:22:11

from Senetica, which is guys are But yeah,

1:22:13

you to call it a

1:22:15

night to call it a night. you

1:23:17

Everett, your your apathy our

1:23:19

mission. Weeks turn turn to dust

1:23:21

and still no trace

1:23:23

of given you a great opportunity to given

1:23:25

you a great opportunity the

1:23:28

lead from within one

1:23:30

of the most powerful energy

1:23:32

conglomerates in this world. me,

1:23:34

what has me, what has

1:23:36

my generosity towards you actually

1:23:38

produced? Patience, Mr. Merrick.

1:23:40

Your fervor the make the dead.

1:23:43

Though perhaps that's the

1:23:45

goal. goal. Shall

1:23:47

I sit through

1:23:49

the through the anything reports

1:23:51

it. anything useful? Do it. patience

1:23:53

is a thread

1:23:55

thin. is a I thin.

1:23:58

I am disturbed that the

1:24:00

one who sleeps beneath continues

1:24:02

to insist we make these

1:24:04

insipid, um, holy recordings. I

1:24:06

also feel like, like we

1:24:09

are perpetuating this stagnation by

1:24:11

feeding our lord the content

1:24:13

of these broadcasts, as if

1:24:15

he awaits the next segment

1:24:17

with some degree of earnestness

1:24:19

beyond mortal Ken. Ours is

1:24:21

not to question as you

1:24:24

often remind me, Mr. Mallard.

1:24:27

Look here's something from noise which

1:24:29

a whispering herald found a symbol

1:24:32

scratched into an alley wall a

1:24:34

triangle an eye at its heart

1:24:37

and beneath it the sleeper dreams

1:24:39

of reunion odd even for us

1:24:41

a revelation the triangle a Trinity

1:24:44

of fate woven by cosmic hands

1:24:46

the eye a sensational beyond the

1:24:49

mortal coil beyond the mortal coil

1:24:51

he dreams of me Perhaps, Mr.

1:24:53

Malek, there is a chance. It's

1:24:56

graffiti from that dreaming eye cafe

1:24:58

on Fifth Street. The weekday barista

1:25:01

keeps complimenting the pallor of my

1:25:03

skin. Says it's ethereal. Your pedestrian

1:25:05

mind is a blight, Everett. This

1:25:08

is no mere scribble. It's a

1:25:10

beacon. The remaining whispering heralds shall

1:25:12

listen for its echoes across the

1:25:15

ether. Sam Windham, Misfit, Lucas, Max

1:25:17

Albert, Micah, Evra, Evans, 142, and

1:25:20

alternate realities, seek its whispers. And

1:25:22

the Keepers, I suppose? Yes! Michael,

1:25:24

Ilea, basics, Brent, Julian, Dixie Pultab,

1:25:27

Maruda, Space Chef, Geek wards, scour

1:25:29

the streets, unearth this abyss of

1:25:32

a cafe, or whatever lair it

1:25:34

marks. And bug buzz are fallen

1:25:36

inquisition. Delve into the shadowed corners.

1:25:39

Find the anomaly it hides. A

1:25:41

grand hunt, then. Shall I? struck

1:25:44

them to discreetly this

1:25:46

lead? lead? yes, but

1:25:48

with but with We

1:25:51

draw closer to

1:25:53

to reclamation. Let no no

1:25:56

whisper escape their

1:25:58

ears, no shadow

1:26:00

their gaze. you As

1:26:03

you command, Mr.

1:26:05

Malek. I'll ensure the the

1:26:08

message is carefully

1:26:10

relayed. need to stir the

1:26:12

No need to

1:26:15

stir the slurry

1:26:17

yet. yet. let Duko

1:26:19

and let our master of

1:26:22

the of the mists.

1:26:24

shroud their efforts

1:26:27

in secrecy. His

1:26:31

proves my

1:26:33

methods bare fruit.

1:26:35

Indeed, cast

1:26:37

shadow I'll

1:26:39

see it done.

1:26:41

along reach. I'll see it

1:26:44

done. Did you focus, Everett?

1:26:46

you quarry awaits,

1:26:48

Our I awaits, and

1:26:51

I will have counsel restored.