Driven by the excitement of her new discovery, Marta begins a chant. Focusing on the faces of her companions she opens her third eye, enough to take in the otherworldly glow emanating from them – and it turns out almost all of them show the potential to produce the elusive “indestructible drop”, all except for Tex.
With their travel plans in place, the group attempts to pawn off some last trinkets to cover the travel costs. But after their minimal success with this approach, their last hope is the Indian railway system which allows for free travel for everyone, albeit on the carriage roofs. With the train being the most popular mode of transport an stops being long relaxation breaks along the overland journey, there are helpful markets around each station. In one of those the investigators purchase just enough rations for the trip with their last coin – a meagre handful of food that seems even less appealing when they realize that they will be travelling on top of a deliciously aromatic kitchen carriage. Despite the roughness of the journey, they arrive safely a couple days later in Amingaon in the Assam valley, where they will have to switch onto a steamer for a river crossing.

The weather becomes increasingly dramatic with dark purple skies boding menace on the Tibetan horizon. The only upside is that all the sensible locals are travelling westwards, fleeing from the looming phenomena, which allows for an undisturbed further journey for the investigators. Another days train ride brings the investigators from Gauhati to Sadiya through rich tea country. Here Barnes and Marta notice something unusual: The tea plants lining the train tracks have a vivid rich glow to them, a lot more vibrant than would be expected. Marta feels reminded of the stories of meteor strikes that have seemingly invigorated the land and vegetation around them through their radiation, but only to burn it out and kill whole landscapes in the process. On the next train station the locals are even mumbling about the out-of-control, overgrowing plant life ever since they had observed a glowing shooting star disappearing in the mountains ahead.

And on the train platform the adventurers also catch sights of a familiar face in the crowd – the moustached stranger, this time without his tell-tale cloak, who seems to make it a habit to appear near trains. But despite his taunting beckoning he disappears in the crowd before the adventurers can catch up to him. This time the penny finally drops and Yulia recognizes the man as the Cossack colonel Andrei Vitsin, a revolutionary criminal with a reputation for inhumane violence. Relying on their hunter’s instincts the group splits up to lure and outflank the villain within the city; Yet all their clever planning is for naught when next they meet the man again as he is already sitting at a chaiwala, inviting them jovially to sit with him.
He introduces himself as Count Vitsin and declares that he is not an enemy. He gives himself talkative but confused by the adventurers’ actions. Why would they work so hard only to resist the natural order? He cites the deterministic idea that the end is foretold in prophecies and admits that he and his companions were the ones to sabotage the group’s ritual and attempted to steal the scriptures. As Vitsin is chatting away he reveals that he seems to know a surprising amount about the investigators, but he also is willing to give some information about his own group. He describes the leaders of the Tokhabaya as a triumvirate: himself, Mariam Sandrine and Hine Roimata, but thanks to a rite in which they consume their predecessors brains and indestructible drop they allege to possess the wisdom of many.
While he taunts the group with their failures and even confronts them with their hand in the death of their comrades, he also has an offer, specifically for Marta and Barnaby: Without naming his price he promises them power, enough to become rulers of their home countries. Both decline, with Lord Barnes convinced he will make it to become King one day even without the Cossack’s help. Vitsin resigns and bids the group farewell, leaving an envelope.
The encounter has the group rattled and they begin debating whether they want to continue on their quest at all or if they may be fooled once again into a false ritual.

When Marta opens Vitsin’s envelope she finds the money to pay for the tea they had and ferry tickets for the group for a travel onwards to Pasighat, the last city on their journey. On the boat pier the group attempts to hire a guide among the rows of Monpa people who are fleeing the mountains. They have a hard time communicating with the locals since barely anyone speaks the language. Only sheer luck helps them out when Franz runs into Henry Wilson, a local administrator who speaks a little bit of German. He tells the group of the dark skies and atmosphere of dread that drives the mountain folk out of their homes. And when the ferryman vehemently refuses to go upriver again, Wilson brokers an agreement: For some hard currency a boatman would drive them or, lacking the necessary funds, a Monpa guide is gonna take them through the overgrowing jungles up to lake Dhanakosha.
Yulia notices that their promised guide seems weak on his feet and even occasionally coughs blood. Wilson informs the investigators that many of the locals have developed similar symptoms when they come down the mountains. This seems to be connected to the meteor that has come down somewhere close to the homeland of these native people. In fact he assumes that it would have landed around the Namchabarwa, the peak adjacent to the Valley of the White Ape.

The investigators’ journey has to continue on foot without a guide. Soon they notice red currents in the river’s water and Marta finds out the hard way that whatever it is forms unpleasant tendrils running along the current’s flow. Barnes identifies the reddish substance as an aggressive and mildly toxic fungus, but no one can explain why it might bloom quite so dynamically.
Breaking heir way into the jungle, Marta hits a fungal pod with her trusty crowbar when it suddenly releases a scarlet cloud of spores into the investigators’ faces. Covering their mouths and noses with cloth they poke around some more, when they come across the corpse of a monkey, strangled to death by the red growth and slowly and horrendously converted into a host for more of the fungus. It explodes into a dry cloud of spores, leaving the adventurers shocked and dusted. At night they watch the campfire burning the red pollen rather spectacularly. This gives them enough of a save feeling that Barnes and Franz even have to realize that for the first time in month they spend a night without nightmares.

A couple of days of trekking through the jungle, avoiding the deadly dust, brings the group to a small stream from the mountains that marks their spot to leave the Dihang River they’ve been following. They reach the small village of Damroh, but to their horror, they find it fully overgrown, foliage and a dusting of spores covering every inch of the abandoned village. Huts, possessions and people crumbling to dust before their eyes. Plant life seems to have rapidly engulfed everything, leaving people trapped and even impaled before the fungus got to them.
Franz hears the sound of pained sobbing in the distance and while the distressed Marta attempts to stop him, he escapes her grip and wanders off to investigate. He finds a group of locals, one dead and taken over by the fungus, the others victim to the horrifying growth, but barely clinging on to life. They almost don’t have the strength left in their fungally corroded bodies to beg Franz for the mercy of death. Solemnly the Prussian grants their wish, his gun gives them a quick end to their suffering.

Leaving the village behind, the investigators get on with the last steep climb before they finally reach the plateau overlooking Danakosha Lake. At this unexpectedly peaceful and untouched place they find time to catch their breath and even find a little Gompa and an old monk. The old abbot, Sonam Dhargey, welcomes the travellers to the sacred lake and leads them into the small shrine. The place is packed with dozens of pilgrims seeking refugee, who find protection through the lake’s waters that have been blessed by the Buddha. Sonam wastes no time and lets the newcomers know that he had visions of their arrival and while he doesn’t know of the details of their quest he is willing to help them. Yet just as they are explaining their situation, a sudden noise raises everyone’s attention: One of the refugees clutches his throat, gasping for air before he violently collapses on the shrine’s floor, dead. While Marta still rushes to his aid, Franz already declares loudly what he has immediately recognized: The man has been poisoned! And he is not the first victim in the congregation.
Marta remembers a myth of a strange ritual: The Dugma witches of the Mitok region to the north are known for their occult belief that those who poison a worthy man can inherit his good kharma. And while this is a most dreadful crime, the group cannot lose any more time on this right now.
They receive the sacred cow’s nectars from the abbot and with the help of young monk Tomkin they are rowed over the lake to the dome-shaped small Island called Citta – the Heart of the World.

Slowly they ascent the rocky island to a small plateau where the moment of truth has come. Lord Barnes, ever vigilant takes watch and circles the island, but all he finds is Tomkin, praying for the success of the ritual. The monk hands Barnes a stack of ritual bowls. Meanwhile the others have started the juniper and fir fires of cleansing. Once they have prepared the ritual space they partake in the foul tasting five nectars, with some of the tired adventurers having trouble to swallow the mixture of bovine body fluids. Marta takes the lead, chanting the sacred words, but when the incantations begin, nature around the island attempts to revolt against the group of summoners; Crashing rockslides, violent purple storms and a fiery hail pelt down all around and only the sanctity of the small island protects the group from the forces that try to stop them.
When finally the moment of truth arrives, Yulia volunteers under tears to be the willing sacrifice, putting her trust in the prophecy that this an end the unnatural suffering that has befallen the continent. And so Marta continues chanting as she guts and beheads the Russian friend. The sight is enough to make Tex waver in the ringing of the ceremonial bell for just a moment. When Marta tosses the friend’s head aside a small red-and-white sphere hovers over the blood-spurting open neck of the dead sacrifice. But the novelist has barely time enough to wonder about it when a screeching swarm of vultures barrage down from the skies, violently ripping apart and devouring the body of the sacrificed woman until mere bones are left. When they disappear as sudden as they had arrived, Marta reaches out and inhales the indestructible drop and feels the Goddess’ power spreading through her.
With such awesome and incomprehensible mystical power surging through her, Marta instinctively knows she is able to close the gate of Agartha. And when she wills the mystical gate to shut, the group can see the sky clearing and watch the clouds of disease and rot retreat away before their very eyes. When a perfectly normal torrential downpour begins to wash away all signs of the ritual as well as the tainting corruption of the lands, the remaining investigators finally have time to breathe freely in the knowledge their journey has come to an end.

Only moments later the four find themselves once again face to face with the Lords of Shambala. They congratulate the heroic group and extend an invitation for all of them to stay in this heaven permanently or for as long as they wish.
Marta Fang is moved by the epic story she has experienced and thinks it important enough that people have to hear about it. So she rests up in the heavenly realm just until her wounds are healed and then returns to the mortal realm, spending the subsequent years publishing the group’s adventures in the form of a questionable romance novel.
Lord Barnaby B. Barnes has been fully overwhelmed by the ritual, driving him finally insane. He is determined that someone has to pay for the losses and the hardship they had to endure. And so he declines all godly offers and dedicates himself to his new task on earth: Hunting down Colonel Vitsin whatever the costs.
Franz Wilhelm decides to stay in Shambala. The travels and adventures have proven too much for him to bear, the killing, death and despair along the road have taken their toll and so the once proud member of the Silver Lodge feels himself unable to return to his life among the living. He seeks nothing more but peace and quiet contemplation.
Tex Wilderman recovers for a while among the Lords, but ultimately returns back home to his farm. He leads the life of a make-believe daredevil for many more years, seeking fortune, glory and fame on the silver screen. But his mind keeps coming back to the bizarre experiences and he continues to study the occult, always ready to one day go on an adventure once more.

Yulia Kareva finds herself alone, standing in front of a large wooden wheel. Having seen the pain one can cause even in pursuit of good, she feels she can in no life bring more peace than she has achieved so far. And when a celestial voice offers her the choice of the enlightened she chooses the release from the endless cycle of rebirth.

Near the pisacha’s hideout a short interaction with a guard takes place. The cave-dwellers are suspicious at first but finally decide to let the group into their fortified camp, carefully keeping eyes and spears on them. The investigators there meet Chaudhary, an old pisacha woman. The elderly leader of the underground community reveals that she actually knows of the relics the group is looking for – it turns out the pisacha have been guarding a mysterious box for over 800 years and she feels it is the right time and cause to hand it to the travelers. However, recent developments in the pisacha cave cause an issue for this handover: The box with its fateful contents lies in the territory of the apostate Prassad and his followers who have forsaken their vow to simply guard the box and instead have come to the opinion they should instead keep it.
With Chaudhary’s group being outnumbered retrieving the items by force seems impossible, so instead the group decides on a clandestine approach: One of them should squeeze down the small well to the bottom inside Prassad’s camp while the others with the help of the pisacha will cause a distraction. Since they will have to move in total darkness Dinesh, the tortured guardian the investigators had rescued, offers to guide them, but with his life-threatening injuries the group decides to better leave him to rest with his people.

The head nun Kumari Mar offers some rope and tools to aid in the undertaking and so the adventurers take a shortcut through the tunnels that should lead them back up the stairs to the shrine though the door the nuns had found blocked in the morning. When they arrive there they find the door in fact jammed with a knife that had been driven into the frame with tremendous force.
Marta attempts to pull out the knife, but slips, cutting her hands. Her involuntarily crying out attracts two pisacha with whirlwind badges. Immediately Marta jumps into action, getting into a fight with the two surprised intruders. Although she gets injured by the monsters’ spears but fights back valiantly. The punch-up quickly escalates and between Marta and Tex the investigators manage to kill one of the attackers, but in an attempt to pursue a fleeing pisacha, Tex gets dragged away into the darkness of the tunnels.
When the rest of the group – alerted by the screaming – catches up with him they find the American struggling in the jaws of the pale pisacha. Marta’s quick reaction frees Tex of his hungry attacker, but the cowboy’s arm has been badly ripped up. Injured like this the group drags themselves back up to the mandir.
There Buna, a friendly nun, takes care of some of the injuries the fighters have endured. With their wounds patched up and everyone equipped with improvised weaponry and noisemakers the dangerous heist begins: Franz, Marta, Barnaby and Tex each descend one of the multiple stairwells, shouting insults and anthems into the darkness to draw the attention of the villainous creatures.

For Marta it works almost too well when spears start flying around her head. When three creatures burst into the stairwell it takes her only a second to split the first one’s head open with a crowbar. Her magically reinforced body takes a number of brutal stabs from the relentless attackers’ spears and while she holds her ground bravely and manages to bash some more down she is threatened to get overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. She keeps fighting them off for longer than any mere mortal would be able to and stands her ground even when the odds seem dire. Using her apparent invulnerability she finally attempts to intimidate the group. And indeed her roaring battle cry sends them scurrying off for a moment, just long enough for Marta to flee up the stairs, hoping her work to be done.

Barnes’ singing has for once done the opposite of the usual reaction and has attracted listeners: In this case two teeth-gleaming monstrosities. As an experienced hunter – and one without a rifle at that – he knows to choose his battles and lures them carefully into the stairwell where he rushes one of them with the knife he pulled from the door earlier. His knife plunged between the pisacha’s knife makes short business of the first creature but the spear from the second one finds its way to gruesomely injure the Englishman in the struggle. Spitting blood he still manages to slice his remaining attacker. And with a foolishly desperate attempt the hunter manages to lethally drive his knife into the face of the surprised monster. With life bleeding out of him he still proceeds to claim his hunter’s prowess by brutally choking the injured one to death.

Tex meanwhile has a friendly back-and-forth with a pisacha who has accompanied him downstairs. They bond over fighting tactics and their love for fire ants, even across their language barrier. When the screams of their companions start echoing up the tunnels he decides to investigate. Tex carefully makes his way down, avoiding any encounters and follows a tunnel, illuminated only by his own flimsy torch. So when he means to hear shuffling in front of him he instructs his pisacha friend to throw his jar of ants. The crash and subsequent mortified scream in the darkness up front tell him that they must’ve hit something and the cowboy and his fanged friend retreat as quickly and unseen as the had approached.

When the noises start in the depth Yulia grabs a rope and squeezes herself into the well. Inch by inch lowering herself down a tight hole into the dark tunnel until she reaches a cave with scurrying movement in the total darkness. Attempting as soft a landing as possible she finds herself in the ankle-deep mud on the bottom of the well. The pitch dark around her does not reveal the sources of sobbing and slight movement noises in the cavernous blackness, but the tension makes her slow to a crawl. After an eternity of feeling around, her fingertips find the outlines of a buried cube-shaped object. Disturbing it even the slightest bit releases a horrendous cloud of stench, overwhelming even in comparison to the charnel reek that permeates everything, but the quiet Russian holds steady and frees the box from the muck. When the lights of her approaching companions shine down nearby tunnels she accelerates her efforts and quickly ties the box to the end of the rope. Suddenly she is startled by the gut-wrenching pained screaming from a nearby creature – and just a second later blinded by the glaring lamp of an approaching Prussian.

In Franz’ tunnel everything seemed quiet, too quiet. When he suddenly becomes aware of some scuffling noises in the corridor behind him he goes to investigate the scraping. To his horror he discovers two pisacha sabotaging the support structure, attempting to cave in the roof above him. The proud Silver lodger fires his rifle, but the hardened skin of the pisacha seems barely punctured. One hard pull with the clawed hands and the structure collapses, blocking the tunnel and leaving the disgruntled Franz no choice but to descend the stairwell he was guarding on his own, down into the lion’s den.
Franz steps downstairs, following the noises of struggle that echo through the tunnels. When he reaches a central cave he is greeted by the blinded Yulia and a horrible sight: Two pisacha nailed to the wall, both apparently horrendously tortured and one writhing in pain covered in fire ants. Together Franz and Yulia manage to send the tied-up box on its way up the well to the surface before they both follow the pained screams of Lord Barnes. They soon discover the Brit in the process of claiming a gruesome trophy from his fallen enemies. Franz attempts to stop the hunter’s bleeding, but when rushing steps approach through the tunnels they drag the injured Lord up the stairs, escaping the shadows, mud and blood for good.

Back up on the surface the investigators catch their breath in the sanctum and take stock of their loot: The box turns out to be lavishly decorated and made from precious metals; Even when cleaned it shows no signs of age or tarnishing. Inside the unlocked chest they find two items wrapped in only slightly aged velvet: One is a bell made of gilded bell-metal covered in complicated symbolic patterns. Marta recognizes them as protective patterns against natural disasters but when she rings the bell nothing supernatural seems to happen beside a pleasant ringing noise. The other recovered object is a vajra, a small metallic scepter, similar in material to the lost ritual bowls and in shape to the khaṭvāṅga, but five-pronged. Marta’s read here is that it’s a symbol of protection and mastery over the five realms.

For the night the nuns of the mandir offer a single cramped guestroom to the group who happily catch up on their much-needed sleep. In the morning Lord Barnes bullies his way into a bigger breakfast from the nun and thankfully gets mistranslated well enough so that his angry tirades don’t fully reach the well-meaning shrine keepers. Shortly after the group splits up again. The boys find their way to the police station to recover Barnaby’s impounded possessions where they argue with an irritated police sergeant for a while. While they are able to retrieve the rifle, the officer makes it quite clear that the investigators are no longer welcome within the city of Patna.
Meanwhile the women have a look around in the local library where they are brushing up on their Buddhist knowledge and make sense of some of the Shambala lords’ riddle: The “indestructible drop” is something innate in some people of high spiritual enlightenment and cannot be learned. Marta derives a mantra to assess people’s predisposition for it.
The Great Guru turns out to be a common name for Padmasambhava. And while he was born at lake Danakosha the research reveals that there are in fact two lakes of this name. This fits with the mention of twin places, with the riddle pointing towards the one where he “was not born”. The known one lies near Peshawar where the bowls would have been found, whereas it turns out the second lake is close to the valley of the White Ape, and has a small gompa located close to it. The group decides this to be their next goal.

The train whistle is still cheerily piping when the adventurers are stepping onto the platform in Patna. With the city being parted into a more orderly Western half and an overcrowded chaotic bustle to the East. Their first steps take the group to the Patna Museum, where the British interpretation of the local culture turns out to be of little help on their quest. However, the helpful curator Salindas Gupta can point them to the Agam Kuan well that is allegedly positioned right above king Ashoka’s torture palace. He also tells them about the mandir, home to a convent of nuns led by Kumari Mar, which is build over the well. Meanwhile Marta reads up in the library on the tyrant Ashoka who ruled Magadha in the 2nd century BCE. And while he proves to be a controversial historical figure, there is no mention of his treasures or hidden hell entries.

Since the group’s supernatural escapades have left their financial resources at a lake in Tibet, Barnaby decides to march into a bank of India and demand to be handed the necessary funds. Yet to his great surprise he is not only refused what’s rightfully his, he is also told that this “Lord Barnes” has been reported missing in Beijing 14 months ago.
Hours go by in which Barnes irritates a superhumanly patient bank clerk with anecdotes of his exploits. To only his own surprise these stories are insufficient to convince the personnel of his identity. Finally, when his insistence becomes too much, the police gets involved. And so Lord Barnaby Basil Barnes finds himself in a situation he isn’t used to: In a cell in a Patna police station.

A state-provided solicitor attempts to help Barnes’ case, and despite the Lord’s best self-sabotage manages to have him released under strict terms. Barnaby, for the first time in months separated from his gun, asks his way around to find the place of worship the rest of the group have been off to, but ends up being led to the decidedly non-Hindu St. Paul’s convent. He happily accepts the catholic nuns’ hospitality and partakes in the charitable dinner they offer and even strikes up a friendly conversation with Khumar, a fellow pauper. Khumar is luckily able to piece together Barnes’ half-remembered quest and points him in the right direction.
A short while later the British hunter arrives at the mandir where he finds footprints in the garden, leading to a suspicious hole in the ground. Without hesitation he demands a lantern from a nearby priestess and surges ahead down into the hole.

In the meantime the rest of the group had crossed the city and found the large wooden mandir, a beautiful and clearly closed structure. A priestess informs them there has been a “situation”, so the temple would be closed today. With a bit of charming she agrees to let the investigators in to talk to their leader. Inside they are greeted by the agitated Kumari Mar, who lets them know “the children of the goddess” are locked in the basement and need to be freed. When Marta steps up to the sealed cellar door the charnel smell almost overwhelms her. In combination with the brightly coloured images of a four-armed red woman on the walls, she connects the dots pointing at the presence of pisachas.
After they fail to break open the seemingly impossibly tightly closed trapdoor, Kumari leads the investigators to the Agam Kuan to explain the situation: Last night she had noticed strangers on the grounds, disappearing into the darkness. When in the morning the pisacha – who are apparently an accepted part of the temple life – didn’t appear for their morning ritual, the priestesses realized that their exit door was suddenly sealed, which caused great concern.
Marta honours the well by throwing in one of her last coins while the penniless Yulia commits a horrible faux-pas when she instead drops a bullet in the well. It doesn’t take long for the bullet to be spit back out by the well, covered in excrements.

The adventurers agree to help the nun and are led to the place where she last saw the stranger. There in the temple garden they find not only a number of cigarette butts, but also a trail of prints in the mud – one trail of a pair of boots and one that of cloven hooves. Through sheer luck Marta manages to follow the tracks: While the boot prints seem to indicate that a person has escaped over a garden wall, the monstrous paw prints end at a nearby stone pillar.
Not only does the earth around the pillar show signs of disturbance, the stele itself is decorated with carvings of a familiar face: The yakshini who had just days ago promised that the adventurers would see her again.
Marta manages to shift the pillar aside to open an underground entrance and is the first to climb down a rickety ladder into the darkness. The head priestess is amazed by the discovery, brings some lanterns and joins the group in their descend into the dark cave.

Down there the group find themselves in a cramped and confusing, lightless tunnel network. In the almost tangible silence they hear faint noises of fighting in the depths as well as indistinct weeping. In the dark they pass by the dead body of a pisacha, with a whirlwind symbol carved into his forehead.
In a side chamber they find the source of the weeping: In the cavern above a water basin, a gigantic iron wheel is suspended and on it a tortured pisacha is bound and left for dead. The group comes to his aid, freeing him and Franz patches up the odorous creature who had been close to death. Between bloody coughs the pisacha tells them what is going on down here: One of the pisacha society, Prassad, had been visited by a “messenger from the goddess” wearing the whirlwind symbol. This “messenger” had convinced the treacherous pisacha that six strangers would soon arrive to steal king Ashoka’s treasure. He had convinced a group of the cave-dwellers that their current leader, Gulrukh Chaudhary, is unable to sufficiently protect it. These doubts were enough to have bloody war amongst brothers erupt in the little pisacha community.

The exhausted creature agrees to take the group to his leader Chaudhary and they head off into the tunnels. But this is the moment they run – quite literally – into Lord Barnes again, who instinctively upon seeing the stinking monster punches out the injured pisacha. With their guide knocked unconscious the investigators stumble around in the dark aimlessly for a while. Only when Barnes slaps the pisacha awake again he can guide them the rest of the way.

As he leads them through ever-more confusing tunnels they finally arrive at a barricade, where they are greeted by beady eyes in the dark and the sound of knifes being drawn.

Waking in a strange and barren white world, Barnes, Tex, Marta, Franz and Yulia rub their eyes ad look around. To their confusion they have to realize that they seem to perceive their surrounding very differently: Yulia sees them standing on a small plot of land surrounded by glaciers and an immense forest. A shimmering heavenly palace is visible in the distance. Tex and Franz see the same glaciers and majestic forest, but only a mundane looking stone building, while Barnes and Marta perceive the virgin-white snow fading into creeping darkness on the horizon, forming into a charnel ground with a bone edifice.
Deciding that this must be a dream, the group advances towards the structure. And as they approach, they see three figures standing in front of whatever building they see. The figures they see are just as varied for them: While Yulia thinks she sees three radiant, glowing figures stand in the small park, Tex and Franz see them as frightening but passive creatures in front of the simple hut. Barnaby and Marta meanwhile see monstrous, half-rotten, growling beasts, spewing thick ichor.

Marta and Barnes don’t take this vision very well. While Marta falls stiff and catatonic upon seeing the horrific sight, Barnes lashes out in wild aggression. Shouting and shooting he storms at the foul decaying monstrosities, but his bullets go right through the apparitions.
When the creatures finally speak, the situation becomes only more complicated. They welcome the confused group to the Northern city of Peace, announcing themselves as the lords of shambala, the agents of kharma. The tone is less than friendly as they seem to mistake the investigators as servants of the King of Fear – and they intend to speak judgment over them for their hand in opening the gate of Agartha. After ricking the group with an exchanged fake ritual, the children of Fear have sacrificed Tenzin to use his indestructible drop for the opening ritual. Because of the group’s role in the catastrophic event, the only way to atone for their failures and misdeeds is to go back and close the gate.
To guide them, the Lords bestow the knowledge of an actual closing ritual upon the investigators. In the form of a riddle, the adventurers are guided to first seek out some jars of knowledge at a place of divine learning, then to a place called the Emperor’s Gateway to the Narakas. Collecting a number of mysterious implements for another ritual on the way, if they follow these steps they may be able to close the gates once again.
The kharma judges proceed to hand out glasses of strange milk that seems to cure the investigators of their bodily and mental ailments. Then with a clap of their divine hands they transport the group back into the earthly realm.

Landing with a loud clatter in a pile of crates in a tent they stare into the astonished face of Daniel Mortimer, the head of the archaeological society. Tex, Yulia and Marta fall into a fit of hysterics for a moment, screaming at Brit, but Franz and Barnaby adjust themselves quite quickly to the situation. With a quick look around they notice that they find themselves in a dry, arid environment, very different from where they just came from. While Yulia accidentally breaks some irreplaceable pottery Franz finds some 8th century dice, similar to some that Tenzin had played with.

It turns out Mortimer is actually in the process of unearthing an 8th-century university where reputedly Padmasambhava has lectured. Excited to learn that they might be already on the first station of their riddle-led journey, the group is just about to explore the dig site when an earthquake rocks the valley. They sky looks grim and stormy.
They are guided around the excavation side by an elderly helper who tells them the story of Śāntarakṣita, the wise teacher and his followers who carried the Buddhist wisdom into Tibet. After a short discussion with Mortimer about the ancient use of jars to store documents, it transpires that the archaeologist expects some hidden jars somewhere within the excavated university.

Suddenly, the weather seems to go on the attack: A dark, overwhelming cloud of harrowing storm rages towards the dig site, summoning first a sudden momentary singe of unnatural scorching heat and then by punishing rainfall. Racing into the cover of the tents, only Lord Barnes notices a single mango tree. It alone seems to have withstood the sudden burning heat, as everything around it is deadly scorched. And even out of season the mango tree carries the most delicious, succulent fruit. Adjusting to the arboreal miracle rather sharpish, Barnes produces a pickaxe and attempts to dig into the mound the tree is stood upon. But his attack at the soil is cut short when the tree drops a fruit, which splits opens on impact, spilling forth a number of thick snakes, hissing and driving the lord away from the mound.
Then Yulia attempts to appease the guardian snakes, playing the kangling flute. But unexpectedly instead a woman appears, climbing down the protected tree. The woman, naked and unnaturally friendly with the snakes turns out to be a yakshini, a spirit keeping the mango tree from harm. However, as strange as the spirit appears, she is sympathetic to the investigators’ quest and allows them to dig underneath the roots, as long as the tree is not harmed.
And there they find, in a hollow space underneath the mound, three jars, sealed with wax.

In an unoccupied tent they open the jars, discovering a crumbly, delicate parchment written in Sanskrit. And while they still bemoan the fact that none of them reads the language, Daniel Mortimer appears. He enthusiastically claims the documents for the ASI, but after some wild attempts at intimidation, subterfuge, slapping and pleading he agrees to translate and transcribe the ritual text for the self-proclaimed world saviours.
The resulting ritual turns out to be even more gruesome than the play-acted sacrifice of the past fake instructions. And not only is a real sacrifice required this time, also a handful of implements are needed: A mystical bell, a dakini knife, the juices of a sacred cow …
When they discuss what steps to take next, Mortimer points out that “Naraka” is not an actual place, but a phrase equivalent to Buddhist hell. This reminds the group of a myth: The semi-historic legend of king Ashoka and his horrific Palace of Torture known as the Hell Chambers, one of which might still underneath a well in Patna.

While waiting for a ricksha to bring them to the railway station, the group speaks once more to the yakshini. She patiently explains to them how to use the kitari blade that Franz has last taken from Tenzin. Letting it taste the blood of an insect, she imbues the knife with a mystical warmth.

Looking around the clearing after their sudden loss of the bowls, the group slowly tries to explain what just happened. And while there is still disagreement over whether the situation would’ve been improved by either more or less violence, some group member collect whatever evidence and explanation they can glean from the creature’s hideout. And while Yulia and Marta are incapable of reading any of the monsters’ writing, Hans studies his very own piece of literature: The ritual scroll, obtained at Derge. To everyone’s unease it turns out the ritual contains a very detailed play-acted dismemberment of a willing sacrifice, but Tenzin insists that this is correct, however barbaric it may seem. Also the group discovers a pile of bowls, collected by the insectoids, of which they grab two as potential replacements for the stolen ones.

The following journey takes a handful of days through unexpectedly warm climate during which Lord Barnes blazes the trail through the undergrowth, rarely conferring with the Monpa guide. The group spends the trek connecting and getting to know each other, eventually feeling they’ve learned something and grown as people. The relaxed camaraderie fades into the background when finally the party arrives at a picturesque waterfall and enchanting rainbow. When Hans mentions the rainbow being a sign of good luck, Marta reacts in the most sensible way – by running face first into the waterfall. To her luck and surprise she fails to smash into a rock wall and ends up in a hidden cave instead. And so, after bidding their guide adieu, the group descents through the hidden tunnel, crawling through the claustrophobic darkness.
When the investigators realize they are no longer crawling on rock, but on a bed of peach blossoms, they are not exactly relieved. But the eventual arrival makes them breathe freely again, breaking out of the cramped tunnel into a grand, lush valley, whipped by green ominous lighting from a thunderstorm above.

Tenzin immediately begins setting up his ritual, supported by Marta. The rest of the group meanwhile notices the ringing of the bowls once again in synch with the thunder-strikes. And additionally, the ringing is echoed from a spot in the undergrowth, where after quick investigation Lord Barnes discovers the two bowls that had gone amiss.
The ritual is being set up on a lake shore, and when the adventurers peer over the lake’s surface they notice the shimmering outlines of a gate, behind which swarms of ghoulish creatures seethe about. The ghastly sight is enough to send Marta and Barnes into hysteric outbursts, their uncontrolled laughter echoing throughout the valley. Only after they have caught themselves, the ritual preparation can continue. Throughout the setup Hans becomes increasingly wary of Tenzin’s scheming, and when the stress finally gets to him he refuses to handle the mystical bowl and in an outburst throws it onto the ground. Undeterred, Tenzin proceeds to command everyone through the steps of the ceremony.
And so the triangular kyil khor ward is prepared, the pyres lit and the bowls filled with water and herbs before heated. As Hans refuses to take part, Tenzin hands Franz the khaṭvāṅga. The packages of meats and fluids are handed out to everyone to consume, meanwhile Tex and Yulia play their mystically imbued instruments.
As the rite goes on the weather intensifies with gusts of icy winds lashing hard around the group. Even Tenzin seems shaken and tense when the moment of truth approaches. With everyone in position he requests Franz to step up and draw the required glyphs as shown by the scroll. And even when Franz muddles his way through the drawing somewhat humdrum at best, the rite proceeds with the drinking of a hallucinogenic brew.

With every participant being thoroughly under the influence of the thorn apple, time seems to lose its meaning and the rite slows down to an hour-long indiscernible dance. Hans – the only one not drugged – uses the the opportunity and attempts to pull Tenzin out of the ritual circle and potential harm. And while Franz realizes what’s going on, his hallucinating mind perceives Hans as a insectoid monstrosity, kidnapping the guru. With Marta interfering, a tussle over Tenzin breaks out. But this commotion is just enough for a blue-cloaked figure to suddenly jump out and grab Shen Chu, who had been waiting off to the side.
Pure pandemonium breaks out as two blue-cloaked attackers go for Shen Chu and Hans, while the rest of the group grabs guns and attacks the swarm of insect creatures they think they are suddenly surrounded by. With most of the investigators violently hallucinating, shots, punches and screams are being thrown seemingly at random, with Barnes and Marta only missing Hans by a hair’s width with their deadly attacks as well as a deadly spell searing into his brain. With the situation rising to such infernal chaos, Hans sees only one way out: A swift gunshot finds Tenzin’s head!
Only seconds later a hooded stranger’s blade hits deep into Hans’ guts sending him mortally wounded to the ground. For an endless moment he writhes, attempting one last spell, yet the sight of carnage sends him into wild madness, cackling and coughing his last breath.
Yet the horrors seem to have no end as Yulia in her drugged state attempts to rescue Shen Chu from her attacker, but manages only the unimaginable: Shooting the poor orphan girl, wounding her horrifically. Yet her suffering takes only moments: Barnes finishes the job, virtually obliterating the child in his haze.

When the three hooded attackers turn and run, a shimmer in the air intensifies, growing until a sudden white light blinds everyone. And when the adventurers slowly blink back to consciousness, they are no longer in the valley; Instead they find themselves on the white featureless plane from their dream.
And above them tower three giant creatures, looking different to each of them: Some see radiant, leonine apparitions, some scary beasts with kind eyes full of understanding and disappointment, whereas some see angry monstrosities apparently ready to devour them.

Hans, Yulia, Franz, Shen Chu and Tenzin are warm and safe in the Monpa village. Tenzin attempts to leave the hut but Hans spots him and challenges him over where is going. Tenzin claims to need a rare ingredient, the thorn apple, from the local area. Hans asks Tenzin about the disconnect between the purity of lifestyle a lama is leading against a drug, but Tenzin reveals that it is in the ritual they obtained in Derge.

In Marta’s absence, Tenzin also attempts to teach Hans the ritual to open the gate; Hans asks why Tenzin will not be performing this himself and the lama responds that he will have a different role, as a symbolic sacrifice. It’s purely symbolic though — he’s done it numerous times before and is still fine.
He encourages Hans to learn the Tibetan chants needed for the ritual which Hans does successfully.

Meanwhile Tex, Barnaby and Marta are in a cave on the hillside, Marta having crawled into a small tunnel at the bottom. The freezing temperatures affect the party in the cave and dishearten them as the first signs of exposure kick in. Barnaby suggests grouping together naked, but after Tex refuses, he continues to strip naked and embrace Tex. Marta crawls out of the cave into a lake, the flapping sound she heard earlier is gone, with luck she finds some dry wood that she brings back to the others.

The following day, Hans skips breakfast and mediates at the edge of the village both watching out for the lost party members and thinking about the purpose of the quest. Franz joins the village for breakfast and spends time talking to the village headman about the Migyu and if recompense can be made

Meanwhile, Lord Barnes, Tex and Marta decide to head down the mountain, discovering a shot dead migyu, Barnaby skins it to add to his pile. They have trouble navigating their way down. Barnaby wanders off into the forest to ambush a creature following him while Tex and Marta continue to the village.

Tex loudly greets the village people but the still bloody skins on his back lead the village to regard him with sorrow. Marta ingests some of the thorn apple that makes her dance around high.

Hans gives a speech about Buddhism and violence not being the answer; it moves Franz and he seeks solace in the words as way to reconcile his crime. The rest of the group agree and a postive vibe enfuses the group.

Some strange creatures are noticed, the same that Barnaby had attempted to stalk yesterday. Superficially they appear to be Migyu but with some odd differences like backward jointed legs. Marta charges at them, with Barnaby following when he notices the creatures moving to flank Marta. They sing a weird song that causes them to fall into a trance, unable to react.

Suddenly 5 creatures appear out of the forest surrounding the remaining party as well and begin singing. They grab two of the blazing sky iron ritual bowls and, shedding the Migyu skins, revealing themselves to be giant inectoid creatures, fly into the sky.

We pursue their trail leading to a strange depression in the hills. Marta rushes ahead and comes across two of the creatures working on a large complex machine of electricity, the bowls have been integrated into them. Marta tries to yank them from their socket but fails. The insects attack Marta landing a few blows but doing no damage. Barnaby fires a shot but the range is too much. The insects grab the bowls and rush through the hut and flee off into the sky with their fellows.

Tex and Marta start pressing buttons and pulling levers on the strange machinery in the cabin in a potentially shortsighted method of learning about the technology. The hut begins to shake, sparks fly, but in a stroke of extreme luck text hits the shutdown button and the hut’s machinery whirs to a stop.

Losing the bowls seems to have dented Tenzin’s usual quiet confidence, but he suggests the group press on and do what they can.

As the group waits for Albert’s situation to stabilize, Tenzin takes Marta aside to begin – with limited success – to teach her the words of the upcoming ritual. And while Marta struggles through the ancient phrases, the others run into a bizarre western gentleman: The Prussian representative of the Silver lodge, Franz Wilhelm, introduces himself to the group. Visions and predictions the lodge had about impending doom have him seek out Tenzin to assist him on his quest. Since the adventurers are spellbound by his mesmerizing Teutonic moustache they quickly agree to welcome him on board. And so after a heartfelt goodbye from Albert the khaṭavāṅga is employed once more to travel into the vague area of the mysterious valley.

It is a shock to everyone when they are hit with stormy blasts that nearly carry them off the cliff they find themselves suddenly on. A nearby mountain reminds Tenzin of what he expects the entrance to the valley look like and so the investigators shield themselves against the winds and journey around the chasm. While Marta notices that the bowls vibrate with the lightning strikes, the rest of the group notices nearby inhabited huts. Picking up the language of the lowland Lopa tribe, the group decides to inquire about the way to the valley. Barnes enters the first hut – decked out with a white ape rug like most buildings here – and in a multitude of broken languages befriends the confused locals. Marta’s ill-judged interjections have Tenzin intervene and he communicates with the local man whose tea the investigators keep insulting. The local however is unwilling to lead the group into the valley out of fear with the cryptic “The Migyu aren’t the only Migyu” being his only explanation. Apparently two different species of ape creatures are roaming the area.
Since no other information seems to be gained from the Lopas, the investigators cross a nearby bridge and make their way up the mountains slope. A set of human and ape footprints have Barnes run off immediately to pursue his simian game, and Tex and Marta enthusiastically follow along.

After only a short time of exploration the three find a dark cave and when they follow a gnawing sound from inside they discover two of the large white ape creatures. And even though they seem harmless and probably not even fully grown, Barnes’ rifle makes short work of them. The pelts of the innocent young primates prove less satisfying to the Lord than he expected, but nevertheless he goes upon the dirty work of collecting them. Once he has obtained his grizzly trophies the trio is ready to descend back down the mountain, when Tex suddenly loses his footing and humorously threatens to tumble down the mountain. But Tex’ complaints about the crumbly walls make the group think to follow a breeze deeper into the cave – and indeed they manage to find an outer wall.
Only a quick gunshot later nothing is achieved except giving Marta a horrible ringing in her ears. And so, not to be defeated by the stoic, impassable rock, Marta’s magically warded fist meets the wall repeatedly. Even an unexplainable buzzing sound doesn’t deter her from her aggression until a wiggling tunnel is opening up in the stone. And so Marta does wiggle indeed, pushing herself into the cramped, claustrophobic, lightless tunnel.

The others meanwhile find their way into a forested terrain where the sound of the bowl, in harmony with the occasional lightning strikes, appears to be even louder than before. The noise also attracts an unexpected visitor: A Migyu has approached and peacefully plays with the musical bowls. But when it is spooked by the echoing boom of Barnes rifle shot, it absconds, bowl still in hand. Franz barely hesitates before firing upon the peaceful creature, wounding it horrifically. With the rare animal screaming in mortal pain, the bowl is retrieved, but a shouting match ensues between Hans and Franz over the slaughter of innocent wildlife. With an unsurmountable rift breaking between the two, the group only slowly resumes their trek.

Finally reaching the Monpas village above the tree line, the group led by Hans introduces themselves to the locals. In basic Tibetan they communicate that the storms have been hitting the area for months now, limiting their access to their hunting grounds. The village spokesman tells them about the Migyu; How human-like they behave and even create artworks on the walls of their caves. The shaman Goran unfortunately also thinks the Valley of the White Apes a myth and wouldn’t even know a valley in the area at all. Nevertheless he invites the travellers to stay the night, warning them not to travel in darkness since ounces are on the prowl.

Lured in by the red-skinned beauties, Marta, Albert and Tex enjoy a delicious feast in the darkening woods. And with Hans and Barnes watching them from the bushes they feel increasingly relaxed and at ease with the incense-wafting sirens. Only Tenzin with his usual mysterious insight seems to resist the enticement and is just about to pull his companions with him when the leader of the demonic ladies shows her true colours – sprouting wings and and fangs, growing to superhuman size and demanding the group to stay. And with the glamour broken, the feasting adventurers have to realize that what they’ve been consuming are gruesome bits of another chilling charnel ground.

Seeing this, Barnes and Hans are overcome with a mad heroic fervour, threatening the demonic creatures with guns. And a wild skirmish ensues. The Dakini employing their magical tricks of invisibility, flight, superhuman strength and leathery thick protective skin soon turn the clearing into true pandemonium. Bullets, claws and magic slashing spells are flung between the combatants! An awful lot of running, screaming and screeching occurs. While Barnes manages to blow one of the Dakinis away, all the injured Tex accomplishes is jamming his gun in the heat of battle.
To everyone’s horror one of the demonic beasts pounces onto Albert, mauling him mortally. But between Barnes blasting creatures out of the sky the rest of the group manages to flee off the clearing and drag Albert with them. The remaining fiend does not follow them, apparently unable to leave its place of power.
Once the chaos subsides Tenzin springs into action to patch up Albert’s horrendous wounds. With him barely clinging on to life, the Chinese academic’s days of adventuring are over. Carefully the group transports him back to Derge where Albert finds rest and care in the monastery’s house of healing.

Tenzin uses the opportunity to finally prepare his reabus. With Tex in tow he collects a variety of unappetizing bodily “essences” and mixed meats from a local butcher. While the revolting meat patties sizzle over a flame over night, the adventurers get a chance to sit together and study the freshly printed ritual scroll. Since it is written in the ancient Bon, only Tenzin is able to comprehend the ritual text, but he promises to translate the text on the road, so others would be able to perform the rites if necessary.
And so the investigators decide to use one more mystical charge of the khaṭvāṅga to shorten the upcoming travel to the Valley of the White Apes.

After they somehow had managed to collect the blessed instruments and were whisked away thanks to Tenzin’s magical powers, the group had found their way into the via the printing house to the Tibetan monastery Dzong Chen. Waiting for their opportunity to present their newly acquired, surprisingly graphic thangka to the monastery’s abbot the investigators discuss the nature of demons with Tenzin. Where the monk is fairly open-minded about the depiction of him in the throws of passion with a red-skinned supernatural creature, the rest of the group is more hesitant about what it might mean.

The night in the monastery is surprisingly restful for a change, with only Lord Barnes waking in the middle of the night. When he realizes than what woke him was the noise of Shen Chu’s disappearing footsteps he gets up and feels his way through the dark. It does not take long for him to manage waking up the rest of the monastery as well, albeit by crashing into an extraordinarily breakable shelf of vases. Only once the chaos has subsides does Shen Chu reveal something she has witnessed during her nightly walk: A dark-skinned woman in the same blue cloak as the trainstation stranger meeting clandestinely with the treasurer of the monastery. She has seen the monk handing over a box, similar to the transport container of the thangka.
When the group investigates the stables, where the meeting had taken place, they are surprised by an escaping rider who hastily disappears into the shadowy woods. Assuming that this is his moment, Tex jumps on a parked donkey and gives chase. Pursuing the mysterious rider to a nearby camp he manages to get a glimpse of her and her whirlwind pendant before she manages to disappear into the dark wilderness.
The agitated Hans, followed by the rest of the group, kicks open doors on his hunt for the treasurer Kunchen Chodak. The treasurer is shaken out of bed and, when confronted, presents the thangka – the inflammatory one depicting demon fornication – safely in its box. This only fuels Hans’ rage over this brazen deception and a gun is drawn. But when the monk is still denying his betrayal, the situation suddenly escalates with a bang – Hans has shot the traitorous man in the knee. This finally drives him to confess his lies and threaten the adventurers with the rise of Agartha.

The stress of the journey and the impending doom begins to show its effects on the group: The adventurers barely hesitate to tie up, strip and threaten the agent of the Tokabhaya. Marta goes so far as to publicly mutilate herself to intimidate the approaching alerted monks. With Barnes’ gun at his throat Chodak confesses that he has handed over information and treasures to the mysterious cult of strangers. He expects to benefit from their goal of shaking up the existing order, since a total rule of one power means an end to struggle. His frenzy finds a climax when he manages to set himself on fire in front of everyone’s disbelieving eyes. Unfortunately his flammability had just been critically increased by Yulia’s misguided application of paraffin when treating Chodak’s bullet wound.

After the horror of watching a man excruciatingly burn to death the adventurers pass the rest of night in a restless attempt to cope with the events. Only when the morning comes, the abbot of the monastery finally steps in front of the violent strangers to beg them to leave. Tex, Hans and Tenzin manage to convince the abbot of their good intention and the treasurer’s betrayal. He even accepts the lewd tapestry in place of the expected gift, even though his disappointment is hard to miss.

On their journey back to Derge the group is lured by the sound of music. Sneaking up on the lights, smells and sounds of a camp they discover an inviting feast and four red-skinned, alluring women beckoning them in. Tex doesn’t hesitate to “encounter” these beauties from up close, especially when one of them is the spitting image of the one depicted on the thangka. The demonic women (and shape-shifted men) extend an invitation to the whole group, claiming that they simply wish to enjoy the travelers’ company.
With Tex, Albert and Martha falling for the lure very much immediately, Hans and Tenzin are intent on investigating further. Meanwhile Barnes, Yulia and Shen Chu creep in the shadows, keeping eyes and guns trained on the eerie roadside festivities.

Barnes used the mirror to search for suitable corpses and found some along with buried cookware
The party spent several minutes debating who should be the one to use the ritual knife to skin the corpse. The task eventually fell to Barnes who, despite some trouble, did a suspiciously good job of skinning the human, suffering only minimal sanity loss
Resources were gathered for the ritual, Marta suggests a spot of light grave robbing for a container in which to boil the water
Everything gathered, musical ritual begins, Tex and Yulia chant while constructing and playing the instruments, Barnes and Marta guard the boundary of the juniper circle
Tenzin and Albert also chant
Marta is terrible at spotting things and Barnes can’t hit a jackal
Skeletons surround the circle and eventually Shri Chitipati, guardian deities and Lord and Lady of the burial ground turn up to join in the dance
Pleased by Tex and Yulias performance, Citipati leaves and the ritual is a success, infusing the instruments with their life energy (POW)
Tenzin, realising we’re running out of time sacrifices some of his own life energy and one of the 3 skulls on his Khaṭvāṅga to teleport us to Tibet
This proves too much for Marta, who runs screaming into the snowy wastes, still dressed for Indian weather, regaining her senses just in time to avoid going off of a cliff
Tex helps her up and Marta suddenly reaslises that she can no longer look at the Khaṭvāṅga
The party makes their way towards a printing house. The plates for the ritual and the ceremonial paper have been misplaced, so to fill the time an agreement is struck that we can receive the scrolls we need in exchange for delivering a thangka to a monastery in Dzogchen
Tea was offered but Marta is too exhausted from her ordeals to care, she heads to the area where the pilgrims rest, followed by Lord Barnes, insisting that Marta write up their latest adventure with him as the main character
Marta rages, accidentally casts Flesh Ward on Barnes, punches him (ineffective) and goes to bed
Barnes meanwhile felt a surge of British courage and ran outside to find the legendary white ape. Failed his climb check and fell the distance of 3 buildings but suffered no more than a slight winding
He proclaimed himself the King of England to a donkey who was, surprisingly, able to rescue him – a day trapped in an icy chaam alone did nothing to his sanity, must be a British thing
Barnes eventually returns to the party, his stench of death sending Marta running from the building
Tex dreams of the large, featureless white plane with the downward staircase, he had his weapons with him despite having given them up. He overhears minions of the King of Fear talking about how the King cannot currently enter the world without monks stopping him (did this happen after arriving at the next town?)
In the morning, the party is shown the thangka, it depicts the Abbot of the monastery at Dzogchen surrounded by his most revered teachers.
The party sets off and Marta, for the most part, resists the urge to throw Barnes into danger to test the efficacy of her spell
Party arrives, Barnes argues with an ani (a female lama) but eventually tucks King George into bed with a blanket and kiss goodnight
We deliver the thangka to the head monk only to find it now depicts Tenzin having sex with a red skinned woman. Apparently some universal gaslighting and a peek at our friend’s onlyfans is enough to cause further sanity loss in the party