In reply to Jackson Elias (msg # 290):

Gustavs made a quick arrangement to get supplies from the mules (foodstuff, water, blankets, mirror, cigarettes, rope with hooks, more rounds of ammunition (16+16+1 = 33 rounds) and a couple of molotovs and matches. As he comes back to the group, he says to Mr. Larkin "I'll go next".

And with a small nod to everyone, he is layed down in the chimney.

In reply to Gustav Schmidt (msg # 291):

Careful to keep his knife-hand in a safe position, Dermot Murphy allows himself to be lowered unceremoniously down the chimney after the other three.

The descent down the dark and narrow shaft feels like an eternity. Your feet finally touch a sloped surface and you almost stumble. There is an opening in the wall that you can fit through. Jackson helps you out one by one into a small tunnel intersection.

The tunnel walls are lined with stone slabs and in most places they are only about 1.5 meters in height and 2 meters in width, forcing anyone moving through them to crawl or crouch down. The tunnel floors are covered with dust and fragments of broken stone; anyone crawling incautiously risks lacerating their hands and knees. There are also occasional clusters of small stalactites hanging from the ceiling, where dripping water has left limestone deposits. The smell of decay in the tunnels is overpowering and the air is filled with buzzing flies.

You have come out at a T-section, with tunnels leading east, south, and west;

The eastern tunnel only seems to run for a short while before ending in a larger room.

The south tunnel seems to continue in a straight line.

The western tunnel appears to head towards the pyramid base.

"Which way first?" asks Jackson. "I think the western tunnel is the one we want, but I'd like to know we won't get ambushed from the other tunnels before we go there."
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:07, Tue 14 Aug 2018.

You decide to head east, and after a short distance the tunnel enters into a large room.

This chamber is a plain, stone-lined room approximately 6 by 6 m. There are three filthy reed mats on the floor, with three people apparently asleep on them. You recognize one of them as the old man you just saw, covered in muck and filth. The others are an older woman and a tall, powerfully built man.

The rest of the room is piled high with a amazing collection of coins, jewelry, watches, and ancient artifacts, ranging from the contemporary to pre-Incan. Many of
the items are gold, mixed in with a variety of trinkets.




This message was last edited by the GM at 17:00, Tue 14 Aug 2018.

Wordlessly, Rachel allowed herself to be lowered into the entrance of the pyramid, with her pack and a lantern in hand. As she landed on the ground, she sees the tracks of her companions and follows through, hearing low voices echo through the tunnels.

As soon as she sees a couple of figures, her step quickens.

"Apologies for the delay. I've no love for tiny, enclosed spaces." Rachel muttered in a low voice, looking around the surrounding area.

In reply to Rachel Katz (msg # 295):

Dermot silently directs Rachel’s attention to the grotesque sleeping figures, then motions for the party to step back a little way toward the junction.

"I hate to leave enemies unattended, but perhaps we should scout the other tunnels. I'd hate for those three to attract any friends they may have as we dispatch them. Maybe we'll find where the museum piece came from."

Jackson nods. “Yes, probably better to leave them alone for now,” he whispers. “Let’s try the southern tunnel.”

He crouches down and leads you down the south-facing tunnel. This continues in a straight line for about 30 meters before turning to the east. There is another chimney hole about half-way down the tunnel, and close to it you see what appears to be a bundle of rags, sticks and other detritus.

As you draw closer, the bundle’s true nature becomes obvious. It is a mummified body, wrapped in decayed wool and cotton, although they are too rotten and filthy to be identified as any particular garments. There is something white and glistening moving in one of the eye sockets of the skull.

Murphy moves in for a closer look, and the mummified body suddenly lunges for him, grabbing for his clothes!

At the same time, the worm in the eye socket quickly slides out and crawls down the mummy’s arm, towards Murphy’s hand. It is a shapeless mass of white protoplasm resembling congealed, rancid fat, approximately the size of a human fist.

[Those who witness this, please roll you SAN or lose 0/1D8. Murphy can Dodge or use a fighting maneuver]

In reply to GM (msg # 298):

Dermot flinches away just in time to avoid the grasp of the mummy. As it reaches for him, the living white globule crawls down the mummy’s arm and makes a jump for Murphy. Fortunately, it also misses its targer and falls to the floor.

"Feck off, ya maggot!"

And then, as if reconsidering his literal instruction, he cracks a wry smile and stabs it through the middle before it can get away.

"Or maybe don't."

He casts a glace at the mummy, which flails rather lamely a few feet away. Looking back to the party:

“One o’ ye boyos wanna lend me a boot?”
This message was last edited by the player at 17:36, Wed 15 Aug 2018.

In reply to Dermot Murphy (msg # 299):

Nodding in agreement, Bromley steps over and deftly squeezes the creatures head between his boot tip and the floor. A small meaty 'pop' escapes the creature as the mummy ceases all movement.

Bromley quickly starts toeing the dirt with his boot to clean any residue off.

You carefully bypass the smeared larva and the now inactive mummy, and proceed further south. Soon, the tunnel leads out into an open chamber, much like the northern room. This room is also full of coins, knickknacks and golden relics, but there are no sleeping kharisiri. There is a rusty steel ladder set into the eastern wall, leading upwards – presumably to the charnel pit above.

You spend some time investigating the room but find nothing else of interest. Heading back north and then turning west, the tunnel branches south and west. It looks like the tunnels might encircle the entire base of the pyramid. The walls are lined with gold inlay, the same as the section found at the university. The inlay seems uninterrupted, hammered together in a continuous fashion. Limestone deposits and dust hide much of the gold’s luster.

In reply to GM (msg # 301):

Gustav, for good measure, carefully lowers the torch he is holding and proceeded to burn the white maggot, Melting it if it were possible.

Gustav Schmidt rolled 74 using 1d100. Fighting(Brawl) (50%/25%/10%):.

With the attack of the maggot, Rachel hadn't realized she had drawn her gun until Bromley was stomping on it, and Gustav was throwing a lamp at it. She drew a sharp breath, waiting for the body to catch fire, destroying any evidence they could gather--but in a stroke of luck, the body didn't catch fire. Rachel glares at Gustav. Carefully, she set down her lamp a few feet from the mummy, and began snapping pictures of it, before picking up her lamp once more and following the rest, snapping photos of the entire area.

Irritably, she glanced at the rest of the group, muttering to herself, "We're wasting time. The seals must be broken."

As they rounded around the base of the pyramid, she noticed the gold lining the walls, quite similar to the section they had found back at the university. Falling behind the rest of the group, Rachel inspected the inlays until she was satisfied. Dropping her pack, she rummaged through it for a bit, trying to find something that would help her pry the metal inlay out, but she had nothing.

Enraged, Rachel grabbed the inlay, trying to break it with her bare hands, but to no avail.

Rachel is tearing at the seal on the wall, trying to loosen a piece. What feels like a small earthquake rumbles through the tunnels, with rocks and dust falling from the low ceiling...

In reply to Rachel Katz (msg # 303):

As what feels like a minor earthquake rumbles suddenly through the tunnels, Murphy wonders for the first time whether this ancient structure is reasonably sound.

"Watch yer heads, lads, Ms. Katz!"

Johan is in a terrified state and wants to do anything that’ll prevent more worms. Or giving the maggot king more power. As Johan approaches Rachel, he notices that her eyes have gone very dark, almost black.

Rachel steps away from the gold lining, draws her gun and shoots at the gold lining. “Ms Katz please! Allow me!”, says Johan.

Bromley clutches his gun and pushes his back against the nearest wall. The shot hits. a piece of the ward is destroyed... hairline cracks appear in the walls and a horrible stench emanates from the cracks, along with more white maggots...

Two maggots squeeze out and head towards... Johan and Bromley. Johan squishes his with his cane. Bromley dances around, but the larva crawls up his trouser leg, leaving a caustic trail along the leg. In a panic, Bromley pulls his trousers down, while shouting for help!

Rachel fires more shots at the warding! The cracks widen....You can see something inhumanly large squirming behind the cracks...  fortunately it's too difficult to see clearly.

Rachel screams "I see it-- we have to free it-- it's the only way to end this all!"

The larva slides around on Bromley, seeming looking for a way to enter his body - but fails. Bromley is also screaming, a mixture of fear and pain. Gustav runs up and jabs his torch at the larva but misses both it and Bromley’s abdomen.

Seeing Bromley struggle with the larva, Rachel attempts to wrench the larva off him, saying, "We've got to break the seal, stop playing with that thing!"

“I'm going to put the other piece back,” shouts Jackson. “That might stop it!”

Rachel grabs the larva and flings it against the wall, where it more or less explodes from the impact. "NOW BREAK THE SEAL.", she shouts. Bromley pulls up his trousers and scampers clear.

Murphy wants to know what's gotten into Rachel all of the sudden. He failed to notice any mental issues before, so he's surprised. "What's all this yer blatherin' about? Put that gun away before ye hit me with a ricochet!"

"Break the seal! That's how we end this and succeed!", replies Rachel.

"Succeed at what?" says Murphy.

"She's mad!" shouts Bromley from a distance. "YOU'RE THE ONE RUNNING AROUND WITH HIS PANTS OFF" Rachel screams back.

"Ma'am, breaking the seal means letting those maggots out. Surely you do not want that?' says Murphy soothingly.

"No, you don't understand-- we have to free it so the world is rid of it!"

Dermot does not like the sound of this. "Oh, yes, of course! We have to free it! Unfortunately, we're in the wrong pyramid! We have to wait until we get to the other one to free... it..."

"For as long as it's here, all these maggots will keep multiplying-- if we set it free, it'll leave, go back to where it came from!", says Rachel earnestly.

More maggots are starting to squeeze through the cracks...

Jackson has rounded the southern corner and is gone from sight.

Gustav suddenly jumps at Rachel and wrestles her to the ground, while saying 'I’m so very sorry, Ms. Katz but you'll kill us all of you continue to do that. Look at the maggots!'

Rachel struggles to break free. "ONCE WE GET BACK TO NEW YORK, I am filing an official complaint, Mr. Schmidt!". Bromley quickly bends down and takes her gun away.

Jackson calls from around the corner. "If you're done messing around, I could use a hand!"

Bromley turns the corner and sees Jackson further down the tunnel. He is close to a large crack in the wall where the missing piece of the ward was. In front of him is a pool of rancid white fat, making it difficult to reach the wall section. The pool is probably not too deep, but the surface of the pool moves constantly, as larvae within writhe around below the surface.

Bromley fishes one of the Molotovs out of his backpack and tells everyone to stand back. He flings it into the pool. The fat within the pool is highly flammable and catches light easily. Within seconds, it emits thick clouds of black smoke, making it difficult for anyone nearby to breathe. The fire rages wildly, leaving only a thick, tarry residue in the hole when it burns itself out after a few minutes. You are all choking and gasping for air.

Jackson wets a handkerchief with water and ties it around his face, suggesting you follow suit. After the pool is cleared, Jackson takes out the missing piece from his backpack and jams it back on the wall. “Let's try to fix the last holes!”, he says. “We need some gold!”

Bromley heads back to the southern room and fetches some gold sheets and trinkets. You cover up the bullet holes as best you can. you notice the air has cleared from the stench and there are now thousands of dead flies littering the floor. This takes a good while.

Rachel's eyes gradually lose their black luster and turn normal again. She shakes her head, waking up from what seemed to be a crazy dream. Looking up at Gustav, she looks around, trying to confirm if her conclusion was right. "Gustav-- Gustav, Larkin, he made me do it!"

"Made you do what, exactly?", he asks.

"Break the seals! He told me to break the seals-- there was something different about him. Sanchez was there too-- I think he might be in on it."

You become aware of horrible screams coming from the eastern room! You run towards the screams. In the eastern room, there’s only a pile of grey ash where the large man was sleeping. The old man has withered away to a desiccated corpse. The old woman is literally falling apart, screaming in fear and confusion in Spanish for the Father of Maggots to save her….
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:28, Thu 16 Aug 2018.

Jackson walks back to the open chimney and tugs on the rope - the signal to pull people up. nothing happens. He swears loudly and turns to you. “Looks like it’s the corpse ladder for us. Grab as many valuables as you can!" Not sure if we'll be able to come back again if things go south"

[You can roll Appraise, Archaeology, History or Hard (½) EDU to take the most valuable items;

Fumble; you pick useless crap, worth only $100, +0 Credit Rating
Failure = $2000, +2 Credit Rating
Success = $5000, +5 Credit Rating
Hard Success = $8000, +8 Credit Rating
Extreme Success = $10,000, +10 Credit Rating

You fill your backpacks with as much treasure as you can hold and then begin the horrible climb out of the tunnels. After a long ascent, the rusty ladder leads to a most gruesome sight: a large pit, filled with human remains. Here at the bottom, the bodies are skeletal but nearer the top, they are fresher. There is a sort of a tunnel ramp, created when the kharisiri have climbed in and out of the pit.

Jackson curses like a sailor but grits his teeth and makes his way up through the bodies, pushing them aside as he climbs. He pauses as he reaches the surface and then climbs out, bending down to help the rest of you up.

At first, the area seems deserted, but then you spot a grey pile of dust in a human outline. Near to it is a crumpled body. It is Sanchez, but it looks like he’s been dead for at least a week. There are no signs of Larkin or the porters.

“Attend me!” The voice is loud and resonates with an unearthly resonance. You look up and see Augustus Larkin, standing on top of the pyramid. He stands straight, with no sign of the physical weakness that normally plagues him, and his voice is strong and deep. His eyes are a deep black.

“You think you have won? This is only the beginning. The Bloody Tongue will grip you tight until you are all crushed! Or if you are very lucky, you may live long enough to see the skies turn black and all humanity perish. We will meet again. For now, here is a reward for your efforts.”

With that, Larkin begins to move his hands in strange gestures. The air next to him seems to rip, and a hideous, misshapen tentacle appears from the rift, probing, seeking…

[SAN roll, please; 1/1D6]

Okay, thanks for the rolls guys. I’ve rolled for Art for now. Just need SAN checks from Gustav and Rachel for the tentacle, please.

Bromley, please make an INT roll— if successful, temporary insanity ensues (but you will get 5% Cthulhu Mythos).

Results so far from looting, climbing the Corpse Ladder and seeing the tentacle;

Gustav; $8000, +8 Credit Rating. Corpse ladder loss 0/tentacle loss ?
Bromley; $2000, +2 Credit Rating. Corpse ladder loss 3/tentacle loss 6
Dermot; $10,000, +10 Credit Rating (-3 luck). Corpse ladder loss 0/tentacle loss 1
Rachel; $2000, +2 Credit Rating. Corpse ladder loss 0/tentacle loss ?
Johan; $5000, +5 Credit Rating. Corpse ladder loss 0/tentacle loss 1
Art; $2000, +2 Credit Rating. Corpse ladder loss 0/tentacle loss 1

Okay, what are you doing about the current situation? Larkin is about 25 yards away, on top of the pyramid. He’s busy with the summoning.

DEX order; Larkin 95, Gustav 75, Art 70, Rachel 70, Johan 70, Jackson 65, Bromley 55, Murphy 50

In reply to GM (msg # 310):

Dermot Murphy is ready for this. He may even enjoy it. As disturbing as this apparent summoning ritual seems, there’s never been a man who couldn’t suffer from a .45 bullet or three.

(I go last, so I’ll wait to to roll.)

Gustav didn’t lose any SAN for the corpse ladder but does lose 3 SAN for seeing the tentacles.

Both Gustav and Bromley spend the first round aiming at Larkin who is about 25 yards away. I assume Murphy does the same.

Gustav shoots first with his revolver. Long range is Hard, so 30%, with a bonus dice for aiming. Or he can fire 3 shots, each with a penalty dice.

Bromley then fires. Normal range for .30 Carbine. Skill 65%, with a bonus dice for aiming.

And lastly, Dermot with his Webley. Long range is Hard, so 20%, with a bonus dice for aiming. Or he can fire 3 shots, each with a penalty dice.

Summary for bonus or penalty dice; please roll 3D10 instead of the normal 1D100. Select the options Record each Die - and also Unique Die. If it's a penalty dice, you select the highest of the first two rolls as the 'tens', and then use the third roll as the 'ones'. With a bonus dice, you choose the lowest roll.

Bromley, Gustav and Murphy open fire. A bullet slams into Larkin but he continues to gesture. An unearthly piping sound emanates from the widening rift. Johan shakes his head in horror, memories of the circus dancing in his head. He screams to block out the sound of the guns and pipes, and starts to charge towards the pyramid.

Bromley’s rifle barks again, and Larkin staggers and falls to his knees. His face seems to swell for a moment and dark liquid gushes out of his mouth and into the crack on top of the pyramid. As he screams and collapses, the rift abruptly closes and severs the tip of the tentacle, which falls writhing to the ground.

Gustav fires several more shots into the now prone body and calmly reloads his revolver. The tentacle begins to sizzle and smoke as it dissolves into putrid goo.

You lower your weapons and take a deep breath. Somehow the awful stench that has permeated the entire area seems less offensive. It is as if a heavy load has been lifted off your shoulders.

You search Larkin’s corpse and the tents for further clues but find nothing noteworthy. Inspecting the gray ash, you see several pieces of white linen cloth nearby – leading you to suspect that de Mendoza shared the fate of the kharisiri below.

As you load your equipment onto the remaining mules, a low rumble shakes the ground and a stone falls down from the pyramid with a loud clatter.

“Don’t know about you all, but I would really like to get out of here!” says Jackson with a nervous laugh. “It’s not far to the farmhouse – we can seek shelter there.”

[You each gain 3D6 SAN]

Art can't explain it, but the last 24 hours just seem a blur. Surely this isn't the idea he had for exploration and adventure when he began to travel.
The weight of the retrieved artifacts and treasures assures him that everything he's seen, everything that's happened is not some fever dream.
It's not exactly reassuring to him.


Bringing himself back to the here and now, he smiles a grim smile at Jackson, and agrees that shelter would be ideal right now. He follows the others, his eyes passing once more over the now-collapsing pyramid.
'Good Riddance' he mutters


_{07:44, Today: Dr. Arthur Digben (Art) rolled 12 using 3d6. SAN regain}

So for skill increases, I’ve tried to keep track of successful rolls by extrapolating them from the Dice Roller – and probably didn’t got them all. This is the tally so far. If in future you want to keep track of which rolls you make, please feel free. And if you feel I missed some rolls, please let me know. :)

To check for increases; Roll 1D100 for each skill checked. If the result is higher than the skill or over 95, add 1D10 skill points. If an increase raises a skill to 90% or more, add 2D6 SAN

Art; Medicine, First Aid

Bromley; Rifle

Gustav; Handgun, Psychology, Brawl, Appraise, Spot Hidden

Johan; Occult, Brawl, Dodge, Appraise, Spanish

Murphy; Handgun, Brawl, Appraise, Psychology

Rachel; Psychology