Xbalanque
| Xbalanque | |
|---|---|
| |
| Dates run: | August 18-25, 2006 |
| Run By: | Azzy |
| Read the logs: | Xbalanque |
"I don't know about you, but I would like to leave this place. ...And never come back."
Another Elpis trip runs into trouble, this time in Guatamala, as Julio becomes and instrument of vengence.
Contents
Cast
Julio Richter, Theresa Cassidy, Jane Doe, Monet St. Croix, Kevin Ford, John Allerdyce
Gavin Nash, Doña Teresa, Magistrate Duarte, Dr. Mendez
Timing
Plot Summary
BACKGROUND
The Olmecs were a Mesoamerican indigenous group located in the Yucatan pennisula from 1400 BCE to 400 BC, and was the progenitor of the later Mesoamerican civilzations. Very very little is known about these people save for some artifacts, we don't know their language or their history or how they died out. What we do know is in the form of several artifacts, including many were-jaguar figures. There is nothing that explains these figures or their signifgance to Olmec culture.
The Cult of the Jaguar lasts to this day, through many pockets of Mayan tribes that still populate southern Mexico and Northern Central America.
LEAD IN
Due to Nate being Be-coma'd, and Ange needing to helm the Westchester offices, when a call comes in for a possible new venture in Guatemala, Elpis Tel Aviv member Gavin Nash steps in as senior member. New recruit Julio is brought along as a translator, while Monet, Jane, Kevin and John come to do research. Terry overhears and decides to tag along.
PLOT
San Juan Ixtahuacan, Gautemala. Dr. David Méndez is a well-known humanitarian who has been working closely with the indigenous populations of Guatemala, including rehabilitating child soliders used in guerilla warfare throughout the region. When mutants begin cropping up, Dr. Méndez invites Elpis to come in and see if they'd consider setting up a branch in his (very remote) neck of the woods. The village and compound are known as Santo Tomas. When the group arrives, Dr. Méndez seems like a kindred spirit, showing Elpis around his compound, including an orphanage that has a few mutant children. They meet a local girl, Berta, and an eccentric old woman called Doña Teresa, (Some say eccentric while others would say batshit insane). They tour several neighboring villages, including some Mayan ruins and are first introduced to the idea of Jaguar cults, which run to even before the Mayan civilization and dating back to the Olmec period. There's also a rumor of a jaguar that's been stalking and killing livestock and people throughout the area for several years.
The group returns to the compound the next day, to find that Dr. Méndez has
been murdered and the blame placed on a Guerilla Faction calling itself the
True Peace. They meet with Eduardo Duarte, the local magistrate, who is
seemingly helpful and friendly at first, gets more and more obstinate as
Elpis refuses to swallow the cover story, especially after interviewing the
Mayan people that Méndez worked with, discovering that Méndez is not the
first death in recent months. Suspicions rise as the gang finds out that
True Peace's usual M.O. is non-violent tactics, that Duarte is thoroughly
corrupt, and Méndez's body is recovered looking like it's been torn apart by
a wild animal.
What looks like a cut and dry case of political corruption gets weird, while
Nash and Julio are investigating in town they discover just how bad Duarte's
corruption has gone in that anyone who has remotely opposed Duarte winds up
dead much like Méndez. After being menaced by Duarte's guards, they return
to Méndez's compound to try and come up with a plan B. But that night, the
compound is attacked by a large wild creature, it slaughters much of the
livestock and is about to break into the orphanage Retreating with the
children from the orphanage, Berta, Doña Teresa and a couple of the hands
they retreat to a small cave used for storage. Barricading the children in,
they stand watch for the creature. Then it starts to rain.
The creature drags away one of the hands, and then returns and attacks
Julio. Shots are fired and the creature is mortally wounded by the Elpis
team, for the first time they get a good look at it, resembling a large
cat-like creature, and it retreats into the darkness. Julio is brought into
the safety of the cave, while everyone else remains vigilant. The creature
has bitten Julio's shoulder, nearly crushing it, but they are able to stop
the bleeding, and he survives the night. Cryptically, even though she has
shown zero interest in the group until now, Doña Teresa help tends to Julio
through the night.
Dawn breaks and the rain stops, and the group cautiously makes it's way back
to the orphanage. Julio is put into a bed and his shoulder is bandaged, but
he needs to get to a hospital. The phone lines are not working, most likely
because of last night's rain. Julio is not stable enough to make it down
the bumpy mountain, so they send one of the jeeps down to the town to get
medical supplies and get the helicopter, taking Nash, Kevin, John and
Berta. Along the way they discover a body in the road. An emaciated,
bearded man whose wounds match those inflicted on the creature, which raises
ginormous red flags, they grab the body and load it onto the jeep.
Meanwhile, Jane goes to change the dressings on Julio's wounds, to find that
he has healed significantly since last night, and though he bears no signs
of infection, he has a raging fever. Doña Teresa keeps vigil in his room
and refuses to leave his side, muttering in a language no one recognizes.
Nash, Kevin, Berta and John reach town with the body, and Duarte meets
them. Though it seems that he recognizes the body, he quickly recovers and
says it's a missing worker. He also dismisses the creature as nothing more
than a jaguar. Nevermind that whatever attacked them last night was much
larger than a regular jaguar. But instead of letting them call for help, he
has them thrown in jail on trumped up charges.
Back at compound, Julio's fever worsens, and he becomes delirious, muttering
to himself in Spanish and manifesting strange symptoms. Rashes on his knees
and good shoulder, yellow eyes and lengthened canines. Monet, Terry and
Jane try to figure out how to keep Julio stable, as he becomes increasingly
volatile throughout the day. Unsure of where John, Kevin, Berta and Nash
are, they decide to risk moving Julio and go to get the remaining Jeep.
Only to find someone has sabotaged it, rendering it unable to start. Night
begins to fall, and Doña Teresa comes out of the compound, smiling. The
girls rush to Julio, only to find something very strange is happening to
him. While they watch, he changes into large jaguar-like creature, just
like the one that attacked them last night, and then he attacks them. They
lure the Julio-creature out of the main house, where after another tussle he
escapes into the night.
Meanwhile, Nash, John, Kevin and Berta stage a jailbreak that night, but are
almost killed when the creature attacks the jail, killing several of the
guards. Nash, Kevin, John and Berta narrowly escape and flee back to the
compound after judicious jeep-stealing. They re-group with Monet and Jane
that morning, and decide to put out a search for Julio. Because Mayan
mythology states that nighttime is the time of the spirit world, Julio will
most likely be human in the daytime and will change at night, thus
necessitating they find him before nightfall. However, the day passes and
there's no sign of him, during which they discover that while the creature
Julio turned into had been black, the one that attacked the jail had been
spotted. One of these things is not like the other... before more can be
done, Duarte shows up. With some armed men.
Duarte has come to do away with the Elpis team and the compound members. He
will blame a guerilla faction he has fallen out with in order to have the
government take them out. Before Duarte and his men can attack, however, a
very possessed Julio shows up, clearly Not Himself, keeping Duarte at bay.
Doña Teresa, for the first time, begins to speak sense. With Berta
translating, she paints a damning portrait of the local magistrate.
Eduardo Duarte was a member of Guatemala's military during the civil war
years, where in order to root out guerilla rebels they would practice
'scorched earth' warfare, with acts of incredible cruelty being committed
towards Guatemala's indigenous Maya population. Twenty years prior to the
events at Santo Tomas, his regiment was responsible for wiping out what they
"thought" was a group of Marxist rebels, in a small remote village hidden
deep in the mountains. There they brutally slaughtered every man, woman and
child, and burned it to the ground. Just as they were finishing up, one of
the men discovered a cave containing what looked to be an altar and the
skeletons of what looked to be children. Seems what they had just purged
was a long hidden Jaguar Cult. Horrified, Duarte and his men destroyed
everything in the cave and buried it under rubble. On the march back to
base, they were stalked and picked off one by one, each man being dragged
away and torn to pieces. Desperate to outrun their pursuer, Duarte lead his
remaining men further into the jungle. Night fell, and the men were visited
by the animated corpse of one of their comrades, frightening and scattering
most of the soldiers, who were then savaged by an invisible spirit. Duarte
and a Pvt. named Sanchez were the only remaining men, until the spirit
attacked again. Duarte abandoned Sanchez and ran, finding the road that
they had so desperately sought, only to be overcome.
He awoke three days later in a local hospital, cursed by the Jaguar spirit
and forced to lead a half life as a man by day and a beast by night. After
many years, he has learned to control his transformations with the usage of
a talisman and occasional blood sacrifice. Using his power, he secured his
position in San Juan Ixtahuacan. It's Duarte who's been responsible for the
killings, all of the killings. Since the killings after Julio was bitten
occurred while he had the fever or was too far away.
Doña Teresa is the only survivor of Duarte's brutal purge of her village.
Sick of watching Duarte abuse his power with his supposed 'curse,' She
summoned the still living Pvt. Sanchez, who had gone native and also carried
the curse, with the promise of freeing him. But his mind and body had
shattered after 20 years of living with his curse and he would not have been
strong enough to face Duarte. When Sanchez had attacked Julio, he left him
at death's door and susceptible to the spirit world. In her guilt for
bringing the unstable Sanchez down on the people who had sheltered her, Doña
Teresa coaxed Julio into accepting the Jaguar Spirit willingly, with the
promise of being released once the spirit had had it's vengeance, saving his
life in the process. It's why he's far from a mindless monster, and has
come to take revenge for the village Duarte slaughtered during the civil
war. Night falls and both Julio and Duarte change, and duke it out, while
Elpis takes down the rest of Duarte's men. Julio emerges victorious in his
duel, breaking Duarte's neck. The rest of Duarte's men flee. The spirit
leaves Julio, it's vengeance finally achieved, and Julio returns to normal.
And then promptly passes out. (I'm finding he does that a lot)
AFTERMATH
Julio wakes up the next morning with absolutely no memory of the past few days and is stunned to find out the wounds from his original attack are completely healed. Duarte's men who aren't dead or in captivity have fled, and are being rounded up by Guatemalan authorities, due to a phonecall to the now working telephone lines. It's anyone's guess as to if they'll be caught and prosecuted. Duarte's temporary successor arrives from Guatemala City, with reports making him out to be more friendly to the indigenous peoples, while the goverment tries to mop everything up and hold an election for a new Magistrate. In the interest of smoothing everything over, in the 'sorry we almost caused an international incident' sort of way, he draws up hasty paperwork to allow Elpis official access to Guatemala. Berta assumes leadership of Mendez's compound and projects, and arrangements are made to set up Elpis offices in the town and compound.
Upon leaving, Julio is witnessed speaking to Doña Teresa, and she gives him
a small jade charm.
Related Links
External Links
Trivia and Meta
Trivia
Whether Julio actually remembered what happened to him during his time as a jaguar is not entirely clear.
Julio had a magical check up from Amanda to ensure he wasn't still possessed, and she revealed Doña Teresa had placed a magical protection on him to avoid any further instances.
Meta
Plotrunner: Azzy
