Yesterday I made sure to chat with each of the other experts to see if anyone else had been threatened. I figure all the security I can arrange won't matter if one of them gets bullied into tossing a match on Los Susurros. Fortunately, it's not easy to find someone to threaten into being an asset, especially if you're from the spooky side. You have to find someone who isn't likely to go into denial or freak out in a way that runs counter to your goal. It's a difficult balance to strike, and I only found one person who seemed like he had been shaken up. It was one of the linguists, and he had some very interesting things to tell me. Well, actually when I got him to open up most of what he said was gibberish. He kept repeating "the knife can't cut" among other things, but that was still plenty for me to work with.
One of the earliest stories in Los Susurros tells of a trickster who protected his tribe against the Aztecs through deception and cunning. Infuriated over their numerous defeats, the Aztecs called upon three fiends to go out and slay him. The first was a snake that could slide into and animate the bodies of the dead, and it went to him in the form of a young woman pleading for aid and protection against her murderous brother. The serpent hoped to kill the trickster once it knew he had lowered his guard, but he smelled rotting flesh on the woman's breath and he led it into a ditch where he tested it to learn its true nature and then killed it. The next fiend was an imp with red feathers for hair and six fingers on each hand. The imp had mastered the skill of finding exactly the right words to strike at a person's heart, and when he set out to kill he would speak a single phrase to his target which sounded like nonsense but which would wear away at their mind until the mental torment was too great for them to put up a real fight. The imp came for the trickster and said, "The bird flies for five days straight," but in an instant the trickster replied, "And drops two eggs along the way." The imp tried a different phrase, but once more the trickster dismissed it with a nonsensical retort, and the two went back and forth for hours until the imp began stomping its feet and pulling out its feathers and all sense was gone from it. The final fiend was an Aztec warrior who had been transformed with dark magic. He had been turned into a demon such as they would craft only in times of great peril and then to complete a single task before going out into the wilderness forever. This demon could run and climb with the grace of a jaguar, and it had the power both to throw its voice and to imitate others with it. The demon would use roars and cries for help and other sounds to lead its prey on a run through the foliage until the prey was exhausted and perhaps injured and then it would kill the prey and eat its heart. But when the demon came for the trickster he noticed that when he slowed down the noises that drove him did not catch up. He soon knew he was being herded, and so the trickster veered very slightly off the demon's course while at the same time stumbling and panting to avoid suspicion. He knew the land, and he slowly changed the path until it led to a point he knew was a perfect place to ambush prey. Being familiar with the spot, he knew the direction from which the demon would strike, and so when he reached it he made sure to appear ripe for the taking until the moment when he swung around and held his spear firmly before him as the demon lunged. The next night he left trophies from each of the fiends where the Aztecs would find them, and for as long as he lived his tribe was never threatened again.
Mind you, that was a shortened version. The story as recorded in Los Susurros is much better. But the important thing is that the other expert's frantic mutters match up exactly with the modus operandi of a certain imp. I put out word to all nearby agents and other contacts of what to look out for and how to beat it, and then arranged to have a therapist specializing in the paranormal visit the disturbed expert that night while an agent stood watch. This morning I got a call saying that the imp had been taken care of.
Now to see what else is lurking about.
One of the earliest stories in Los Susurros tells of a trickster who protected his tribe against the Aztecs through deception and cunning. Infuriated over their numerous defeats, the Aztecs called upon three fiends to go out and slay him. The first was a snake that could slide into and animate the bodies of the dead, and it went to him in the form of a young woman pleading for aid and protection against her murderous brother. The serpent hoped to kill the trickster once it knew he had lowered his guard, but he smelled rotting flesh on the woman's breath and he led it into a ditch where he tested it to learn its true nature and then killed it. The next fiend was an imp with red feathers for hair and six fingers on each hand. The imp had mastered the skill of finding exactly the right words to strike at a person's heart, and when he set out to kill he would speak a single phrase to his target which sounded like nonsense but which would wear away at their mind until the mental torment was too great for them to put up a real fight. The imp came for the trickster and said, "The bird flies for five days straight," but in an instant the trickster replied, "And drops two eggs along the way." The imp tried a different phrase, but once more the trickster dismissed it with a nonsensical retort, and the two went back and forth for hours until the imp began stomping its feet and pulling out its feathers and all sense was gone from it. The final fiend was an Aztec warrior who had been transformed with dark magic. He had been turned into a demon such as they would craft only in times of great peril and then to complete a single task before going out into the wilderness forever. This demon could run and climb with the grace of a jaguar, and it had the power both to throw its voice and to imitate others with it. The demon would use roars and cries for help and other sounds to lead its prey on a run through the foliage until the prey was exhausted and perhaps injured and then it would kill the prey and eat its heart. But when the demon came for the trickster he noticed that when he slowed down the noises that drove him did not catch up. He soon knew he was being herded, and so the trickster veered very slightly off the demon's course while at the same time stumbling and panting to avoid suspicion. He knew the land, and he slowly changed the path until it led to a point he knew was a perfect place to ambush prey. Being familiar with the spot, he knew the direction from which the demon would strike, and so when he reached it he made sure to appear ripe for the taking until the moment when he swung around and held his spear firmly before him as the demon lunged. The next night he left trophies from each of the fiends where the Aztecs would find them, and for as long as he lived his tribe was never threatened again.
Mind you, that was a shortened version. The story as recorded in Los Susurros is much better. But the important thing is that the other expert's frantic mutters match up exactly with the modus operandi of a certain imp. I put out word to all nearby agents and other contacts of what to look out for and how to beat it, and then arranged to have a therapist specializing in the paranormal visit the disturbed expert that night while an agent stood watch. This morning I got a call saying that the imp had been taken care of.
Now to see what else is lurking about.
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