#21

go whence i came

#22

Manuel smiles with satisfaction at your choice. “Very good. You will like Dr Lopez. Come with me.”

A taxi takes you through the narrow streets of Merida, past Spanish-style buildings and to the university. Dr Lopez has an office on the fourth floor of a building with long hallways and high ceilings. You enter his cluttered office and he speaks.

“Welcome to the land of the Mayans,” Dr Lopez says with a smile. He waves his arm about the room. Just as you are thinking that you would be grounded if your bedroom was as messy as Dr Lopez’s office, you notice that it’s crammed with Mayan art. You are looking at an amazing collection of pottery and stone carvings. There are snakes, monkeys, jaguars and fierce-looking half-human, half-animal forms. Even in the age of computer animation, the ancient Mayan icons are still powerful and menacing, you think.

“You are here about your friend, the young American TV reporter, aren’t you?” Dr Lopez says in a kind voice.

“Yes. Yes I am. Can you help?”

“Perhaps,” Dr Lopez replies. “He came here and asked for information. The mystery of the Mayans has lured many. Tom is not the only one to disappear. He was keen to learn so I offered him a special and dangerous approach.”

“What was that?” you ask. The hair on your neck and arms is rising. Something is afoot.

“A time-travel potion developed by the Mayans hundreds and hundreds of years ago. I gave Tom a bottle of it before he left for the site at Chichen Itza. The potion works best if you take it near one of the ancient pyramids. My guess is that your friend used it and has yet to return. I cannot explain the fresh blood on the stone altar at El Castillo, the largest pyramid there. If Tom did something to anger the Mayan priests, the blood might be his. When angry, the priests could be vicious and brutal.”

“So what can we do?” you cry.

Dr Lopez reaches into his desk and pulls out a small flask. He holds it out toward you.

“Here. Take this. It is the last of my supply. This potion will let you travel back 800 years, to the time when Mayan civilisation began to disappear. But remember. Don’t show fear when you get there. You must be brave. Manuel will go with you.”

Dr Lopez nods toward your guide. You look at Manuel, who looks back. His eyes are filled with kindness. “I will go with you if you want me to,” he says gently.

  • Take the potion and travel back in time to look for Tom
  • Decline the potion and go to the ruins at Chichen Itza instead to talk to the local police

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#23

The guy’s clearly an alcoholic

1 Like
#24

Not falling for this, he’s after my kidneys. First easyJet flight home, please. To anywhere but Luton.

#25

You decide to go straight to Chichen Itza to talk to the police. First, you and Manuel drive to your hotel in Merida to spend the night. Merida was founded by the Spanish after their conquest of Mexico in the sixteenth century. Their old churches and fortresses give the town a Spanish flavour.

“Tomorrow we begin,” Manuel says. “Chichen Itza, the largest site of Mayan ruins, is famous as a center of lost power. It holds a huge pyramid, a domed observatory, a deep water hole or cenote, and the famed and feared ball court. In ancient times, the losers of the ball game also lost their lives.”

That night, you notice that Manuel is quiet. He clears his throat to speak. “I have been thinking,” Manuel begins. “You may want to go to Uxmal first. While smaller than Chichen Itza, Uxma is far older. The Temple of the Magicians at Uxmal is filled with mystery.”

“That last day, Tom kept it a secret where he went,” Manuel adds.

  • Go to Chichen Itza first
  • Go to Uxmal instead

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#26

Some bonus pictures as we journey through Mayan history here:

Temple of the Magician (Uxmal)

1226×815 560 KB

Great Ballcourt (Chichen Itza)

1224×816 187 KB

1 Like
#27

This poll will close at 10am, then today’s journey will commence.

#28

remember having this book. dont remember making it out alive :ghost:

1 Like
#29

The highway to Chichen Itza runs through flat, scrubby land. A few houses line the road. Then you see a giant form on the horizon. It grows larger and larger as your bus approaches, until the bus stops for good in the monument’s shadow. El Castillo, the giant pyramid, looms above you.

Broad avenues lead out from the pyramid to other stone buildings, to courtyards, and to the evil ball court where Mayans lost their lives if they lost the game. One avenue leads to the cenote, or giant well, which has taken the bodies of many sacrificial victims.

A group of twenty people stand quietly at the base of El Castillo.

Your eyes follow a finger pointing up into the sky. The top of the pyramid is glowing with a bright red colour! Where is it coming from?

A large spacecraft hovers over the pyramid.

“What does it mean, Manuel? What’s happening?” You are frightened.

“These Mayan ruins are contact points for other planets. That group of people has been asked to leave Earth for the planet Merganatic.”

You believe in UFOs, but now that you are seeing one, it is frightening.

“Manuel, this is incredible. Why is that thing here?”

“Earth is seen as a leading planet. Other civilisations want to learn from us. They send emissaries to ask us to return with them to an outergalactic congress on the rights of life in the universe. That is the last group of people attending the congress to depart. If you think Tom may have gone on the mission, you should join them.”

Is Manuel making this up? There is no denying the bright red glow on top of the pyramid.

  • Join the mission, knowing the danger of never returning
  • Stay and finish your job

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#30

but theyve mastered intergalactic travel?

duh

2 Likes
#31

Really fancy a teriyaki chicken Itsu.

2 Likes
#32

You laugh out loud and point at the spacecraft and the people entering it.

“Great show, Manuel, great show! Tell me, how did you do it? What is it, the set for some movie?”

Manuel does not smile and does not speak. He shakes his head and moves off to join the group who are going up the transporter beam into the spacecraft.

As he walks away, Manuel turns to you and motions with a small rod. A beam of light shoots out of it. Suddenly you are so frightened that the hair on the back of your neck stands up and goosebumps appear on your arms. The beam of light is like an eraser and it wipes your mind clear of all memory of the day. Your last image is of a smiling Tom aboard the star cruiser.

Suddenly the spacecraft is gone and you are standing at the foot of El Castillo. You can’t remember anything that happened after your breakfast with Manuel. It is quiet in the great courtyard. Your big chance has come and gone. You blew it.

The End

#33

Some really poor decisions there guys

3 Likes
#34

Cowards, the lot of 'em. Refusing to take a mysterious ‘time travel’ drink from the weird professor we’d just met, not jumping aboard the first ‘spaceship’ we saw…feeling kinda low about DiS tbh.

4 Likes
#35

Look, if we’d drunk the potion or got on the “spaceship” we’d be dead by now. In many ways, this is a win.

1 Like
#36

Great work everyone, can’t believe we completed the game so quickly!

1 Like
#37

sorry everyone

#38

About time

#39

Tbh, I don’t think I would want to have found Tom if he had started going along with this Manuel character. Think this is definitely a win.

1 Like
#40

gtfo