Amadeus shudders. "Or maybe Blanco is bird food."
Amadeus is still shaking slightly, having discovered a new phobia of bird-attacks. He nods to the others and steels himself as best he can. "I'll open the door. You lot kill the g!%-d&+ned birds. Ready?"
Once they're ready or a minute has passed, he throws the door open.
Amadeus screws up the courage to open the hidden door, revealing an entire flock of birds sitting and waiting for just such an occasion- they all begin flapping and singing anew, surging toward the opened door far faster than you expected!
Not really having a better idea, Evelyn grabs the vial of Nectar and opens it before stiffly nodding to Amadeus. The moment the door opens, she hurls the vial into the room, hopefully with enough force to shatter it.
The vial of Nectar shatters on the patio and many of the birds dive into a scrum and start squabbling over it, feathers flying everywhere. To your horror, you see that some have extended long proboscis-like tongues from the Mouths within their beaks to better slurp up the Nectar.
"LORD IN HEAVEN!", Dominic gasps, running from the secret room for the patio door. Grackles and blackbirds unmoved by the Nectar dive at him, leaving cuts on his shoulders and arms while he pulls the patio door open.
Officer Blanco rushes to the glass door to let the young priest in.
"WHAT THE HELL?!?" Amadeus books after Dominic, gesturing wildly for the others to follow.
It's neither dignified nor particularly graceful, but Amadeus shoves and claws his way over and past both Officer Blanco and Dominic back into the penthouse with only a few small scratches from the birds.
Freddy is pretty shaken up and stilll catching his breath. "Amadeus, where are Evelyn and Joseph?"
"Back... GASP... there. Tried to get them to come, but BIRDS, FREDDY. BIRDS that BITE.
Joseph runs across the patio, trying to escape the Nectar mutated birds.
The birds buffet him with their wings and dive at him, but they're too lethargic from the Nectar to pierce his skin. The dilettante jumps into the penthouse, slamming shut the glass door.
The remaining birds start swarming Evelyn in the secret room, diving through the hidden door to peck at her!
The study is filled with the wet, gurgling song of the birds and Evelyn is slapped with flapping wings and cut with their talons and beaks.
Evelyn pauses for a moment, strangely fascinated by the birds' clearly irregular anatomy. Too fascinated to be disturbed, evidently. She gets a much better look at them when they flap around, lacerating her all over. The pain elicits a short cry that snaps her back to her senses, reminding her that she is the only one left in the secret room. Holding her purse over her head in an attempt to protect her face, she barrels out of the room, making a break for the glass door.
Dr. Malley sprints across the patio, fending off the birds with her purse. She finally bursts into the penthouse, slamming the glass door behind her. The birds strike the door, a few crippled specimens falling to the floor outside.
Still more of the mutant flock peck at the door, cracks beginning to spread in the glass...
"Let's get the hell out of here before they get through that glass. Freddy hustles back to the elevator, hoping everyone else follows.
Amadeus is half a step behind Freddy, still shaking slightly from the bird-shock.
Freddy frantically buzzes the elevator downstairs.
The birds continue pecking incessantly at the glass.
Dominic start praying in a panic, first in Italian and then in Latin.
Officer Blanco pulls out his weapon, facing back toward the patio.
You hear the elevator approaching through the doors.
There's a crash behind you, followed by the rush of wings. The elevator door slides open. A tide of black-feathered birds sweeps in through the broken patio door.
C'mon, c'mon, c'moooon." Freddy mashes on the call button impotently as the birds crash through the door.
The elevator doors open, Oscar the concierge sliding open the metal cage.
"Is everything alr-", he begins as Amadeus dives into the elevator, Dominic and Joseph directly after. Freddy and Evelyn hesitate for a split second, shoving Officer Blanco inside as the flock dives at them.
They flail their arms, fending off the birds while they jump into the elevator and hurriedly close the doors, little cuts and abrasions becoming apparent as the elevator descends.
"What- what happened up there?!", Oscar asks, looking at your scratched and bleeding faces.
"BIRDS! G$*$$~NED F%CKING BIRDS, MAN!"
Officer Blanco adds his own rant in Spanish.
[Spanish]"The crazy junkie bastard had attack birds! Can you believe that?! Just wait until I get my hands on him!"
Oscar looks thoroughly disturbed by the circumstances, letting you off in the lobby.
[Spanish]"Well- Officer, what do I do?"
Officer Blanco wipes sweat from his brown.
[Spanish]"We gotta call animal control or something... I'll call Detective Gomez..."
In the building lobby, Officer Blanco gets on the phone back to the station, his notebook open on the desk. At a glance you can see that he has some scrawled notes under the heading 'Novo' and you see 'entravista de V. Cortez' written down. He isn't paying attention to you right now.
Once Blanco is out of earshot: "So, if we want to lose our tail, I think this may be a good opportunity. As much as I'd like to ditch him though, I'm not sure if I want to end up Mexico City's most wanted though. This job is tough enough without being on the wrong side of the law. It might also be a good idea to get some medical attention, those birds did a number on my back."
Evelyn grimaces. "I'm not certain that I could handle being on the run right now. What we need is somewhere to lie low and go over these notes properly," she remarks, hefting her purse for emphasis. She winces slightly, the wounds on her hands stinging something fierce. "I could also get us all patched up. Best we avoid the hospital if at all possible."
Noticing that Officer Blanco is preoccupied, Evelyn glances at his notes, curious about what he gathered from their situation.
Blanco had notes about Luz Records, harassment attempts by Jonathan Brooks and someone named Konovalov directed at Victor Cortez. In addition to information that looks familiar to you, there's a note about recording session musicians with the name Javier Luna and a bar called 'La Paz' in Coyoacán.
Blanco gets off the phone and you act nonchalant. After about half an hour the police arrive from the local station and Coyoacán to look over the scene. They find no birds, but see plenty of damaged property. Your statements are taken and the secret room with its weird altar is photographed, but that's all that can be done for now. By the evening hours when other tenants are coming home, the police indicate that you can return to your hotel (after they take down the address, of course).
Freddy pops the film out of his camera and hands it over to Officer Blanco for his evidence.
"Alright, let's see what was in that secret room. Hope it's something juicy after having to deal with those birds."
"This is... Mayan," Evelyn remarks as she inspects the painted symbols. Those college electives were really pulling their weight. "I recognize the style of the markings, but I don't know what they mean."
Turning her attention to Brooks's hidden book collection, she inspects the titles, searching for any that might stand out.
The bookcase is mostly empty, containing a dozen books on Mesoamerican art and culture, half a dozen blank books (still unused), three books on traditional Mexican folk songs and one book stuffed with correspondence from Samson Trammel written in a simple code.
Evelyn can tell that these books have been rigorously read and handled, without much care, and she can recognize respected authors and photographers in the mix. With her knowledge of Anthropology, she knows that the Mesoamerican texts are a range of classic and cutting-edge works in the field of Mayan and pre-Columbian religion and "fringe and forbidden gods" in the Mayan pantheon, especially one called Golxumal , also known as "The Fisher From Outside." According to highlighted passages, the Fisher From Outside was worshiped at an ancient site in the heart of the Yucatán- a site intended for other worship but captured and repurposed by the cult of Golxumal. It was called Chichén Xoxul .
Unfinished Letter to S.S. in Bangkok.
Unsent letter to Samson Trammel in Los Angeles
Notes on Brooks' expedition, methods and supplies. Accompanied by a photograph of ten men dressed for a wilderness expedition, a note on the back says "Dominguez and his crew".
In summary, Samson Trammel had been angry with Jonathan Brooks since Nectar sales in D.F. have been poor and the recordings weren't bringing in revenue, Brooks' communications were growing increasingly sporadic. Brooks distrusts Trammel, doesn't believe that the Thing With A Thousand Mouths/Liar From Beyond/Fisher From Outside is who Trammel says it is. Brooks has dispatched an expedition to ruins in the Yucatán known as Chichén Xoxul to find out more information. You know they went overland from Mérida, the capital of the state of Yucatán.
You may be able to follow his expedition to learn more about the Liar should you wish.
After looking over the notes: "Alright, it looks like maybe we should find out more about this Chichén Xoxul. We could travel over to Yucatán and maybe find a local guide?"
"I agree. This jungle site seems like it holds answers. Oh, I wish Anatoly was still alive. He would be useful to us, I believe. But we must go without him." Amadeus scratches thoughtfully at the wounds where the birds scratched him, distracted.
Father Dominic, who had been quiet this whole time, stands up.
"I have to return to the Vatican.", he says. "This, this global cult, these ancient evils- the church will have to be mobilized! I'm sure of it!"
Despite your protestations, Dominic is set on returning to Vatican City. While you discuss your next move, he retires to his hotel room to get some rest and make his travel arrangements back to Italy.
Evelyn does not put up much of a fight when Dominic announces his intentions. She had tried to warn him from the start about what they were facing, and even now, he had not yet seen the worst of it. Perhaps his departure was for the best. Or so she tells herself.
"We should depart for Mérida as soon as possible," she agrees, after considering their options. "There is still this music angle... but with the law enforcement breathing down our necks here, it will be difficult to get anything done."
Freddy shakes Father Dominic's hand as he leaves. "We appreciate all of your help in this Father. We will do our best to finish what Anatoly started."
Freddy nods to Evelyn. "I was thinking the same thing. I think we've out stayed our welcome in Mexico city. Before we leave though, would you mind stitching me up? Those birds sliced right through my shirt.."
Doctor Malley patches up everyone's bird bites, including her own. You get some rest after a crazy day and phone Detective Gómez in the morning and feed him a story about head office at the Bank deciding that the money's a lost cause. He makes it clear that you should check in with him the next time you're in D.F. for any reason.
You pack your bags once again, including all the materials from Brooks' secret room and get ready to slink out of Mexico City for the Yucatán.
"Much as I would like to head home to clear my head for a while, I'm thinking we should head straight to the Yucatán. What do you all think?"
You all pack your bags for Mérida, checking out of the hotel early in the morning after rousing Frank to get the plane ready. On your way to the airfield you have a chance to grab some postcards and write a note for who you have back home.
Jonathan Brooks and Leticia de la Luz are still out there somewhere, but it will be someone else's problem to sort them out. With the name of the Devouring Mountain and the details of the expedition Brooks sent into the jungle, you have enough to continue your investigations- and hopefully discover the truth.
You leave the hotel and climb into the rental car. Driving through town to the airport, four sullen-faced musicians stand on a street corner, playing a woeful tune of lost love, defeat and death. One line, sung in Spanish, translates to "She kisses and makes promises, but she also bites and tells lies."
From the airport, you turn in the rental car and pay the damages for running into the police car a few days ago. You give Janet a call to update her on where you're going next before piling into her gleaming silver plane, flying across the gulf to Mérida the capital of the Yucatán state.
You touch down on the runway at Mérida-Réjon Airport at around eleven A.M. It's a busy, multipurpose airport with a crowded airfield. Getting out at the tarmac, it takes a little bit of time to arrange for a hangar for the plane, but it's nothing that Joseph's bank account can't smooth over for you.
An attendant at the airport, while stamping your passports and signing your entrance papers smiles and asks,"What brings you all to Mérida? We get tourists, but not usually Americans."