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| | {{PlotInfo2 | | {{PlotInfo2 |
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| | [[August 2008| August 18-25, 2006]] | | [[August 2008| August 18-25, 2006]] |
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| − | ==Plot Summary==
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| − |
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| − | BACKGROUND
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| − |
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| − | The Olmecs were a Mesoamerican indigenous group located in the Yucatan
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| − | pennisula from 1400 BCE to 400 BC, and was the progenitor of the later
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| − | Mesoamerican civilzations. Very very little is known about these people
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| − | save for some artifacts, we don't know their language or their history or
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| − | how they died out. What we do know is in the form of several artifacts,
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| − | including many were-jaguar figures. There is nothing that explains these
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| − | figures or their signifgance to Olmec culture.
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| − |
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| − | The Cult of the Jaguar lasts to this day, through many pockets of Mayan
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| − | tribes that still populate southern Mexico and Northern Central America.
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| − |
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| − | LEAD IN
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| − |
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| − | Due to Nate being Be-coma'd, and Ange needing to helm the Westchester
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| − | offices, when a call comes in for a possible new venture in Guatemala, Elpis
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| − | Tel Aviv member Gavin Nash steps in as senior member. New recruit Julio is
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| − | brought along as a translator, while Monet, Jane, Kevin and John come to do
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| − | research. Terry overhears and decides to tag along.
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| − |
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| − | PLOT
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| − |
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| − | San Juan Ixtahuacan, Gautemala. Dr. David Méndez is a well-known
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| − | humanitarian who has been working closely with the indigenous populations of
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| − | Guatemala, including rehabilitating child soliders used in guerilla warfare
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| − | throughout the region. When mutants begin cropping up, Dr. Méndez invites
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| − | Elpis to come in and see if they'd consider setting up a branch in his (very
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| − | remote) neck of the woods. The village and compound are known as Santo
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| − | Tomas. When the group arrives, Dr. Méndez seems like a kindred spirit,
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| − | showing Elpis around his compound, including an orphanage that has a few
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| − | mutant children. They meet a local girl, Berta, and an eccentric old woman
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| − | called Doña Teresa, (Some say eccentric while others would say batshit
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| − | insane). They tour several neighboring villages, including some Mayan ruins
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| − | and are first introduced to the idea of Jaguar cults, which run to even
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| − | before the Mayan civilization and dating back to the Olmec period. There's
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| − | also a rumor of a jaguar that's been stalking and killing livestock and
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| − | people throughout the area for several years.
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | The group returns to the compound the next day, to find that Dr. Méndez has
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| − | been murdered and the blame placed on a Guerilla Faction calling itself the
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| − | True Peace. They meet with Eduardo Duarte, the local magistrate, who is
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| − | seemingly helpful and friendly at first, gets more and more obstinate as
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| − | Elpis refuses to swallow the cover story, especially after interviewing the
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| − | Mayan people that Méndez worked with, discovering that Méndez is not the
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| − | first death in recent months. Suspicions rise as the gang finds out that
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| − | True Peace's usual M.O. is non-violent tactics, that Duarte is thoroughly
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| − | corrupt, and Méndez's body is recovered looking like it's been torn apart by
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| − | a wild animal.
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | What looks like a cut and dry case of political corruption gets weird, while
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| − | Nash and Julio are investigating in town they discover just how bad Duarte's
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| − | corruption has gone in that anyone who has remotely opposed Duarte winds up
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| − | dead much like Méndez. After being menaced by Duarte's guards, they return
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| − | to Méndez's compound to try and come up with a plan B. But that night, the
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| − | compound is attacked by a large wild creature, it slaughters much of the
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| − | livestock and is about to break into the orphanage Retreating with the
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| − | children from the orphanage, Berta, Doña Teresa and a couple of the hands
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| − | they retreat to a small cave used for storage. Barricading the children in,
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| − | they stand watch for the creature. Then it starts to rain.
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | The creature drags away one of the hands, and then returns and attacks
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| − | Julio. Shots are fired and the creature is mortally wounded by the Elpis
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| − | team, for the first time they get a good look at it, resembling a large
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| − | cat-like creature, and it retreats into the darkness. Julio is brought into
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| − | the safety of the cave, while everyone else remains vigilant. The creature
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| − | has bitten Julio's shoulder, nearly crushing it, but they are able to stop
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| − | the bleeding, and he survives the night. Cryptically, even though she has
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| − | shown zero interest in the group until now, Doña Teresa help tends to Julio
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| − | through the night.
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | Dawn breaks and the rain stops, and the group cautiously makes it's way back
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| − | to the orphanage. Julio is put into a bed and his shoulder is bandaged, but
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| − | he needs to get to a hospital. The phone lines are not working, most likely
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| − | because of last night's rain. Julio is not stable enough to make it down
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| − | the bumpy mountain, so they send one of the jeeps down to the town to get
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| − | medical supplies and get the helicopter, taking Nash, Kevin, John and
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| − | Berta. Along the way they discover a body in the road. An emaciated,
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| − | bearded man whose wounds match those inflicted on the creature, which raises
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| − | ginormous red flags, they grab the body and load it onto the jeep.
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | Meanwhile, Jane goes to change the dressings on Julio's wounds, to find that
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| − | he has healed significantly since last night, and though he bears no signs
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| − | of infection, he has a raging fever. Doña Teresa keeps vigil in his room
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| − | and refuses to leave his side, muttering in a language no one recognizes.
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| − | Nash, Kevin, Berta and John reach town with the body, and Duarte meets
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| − | them. Though it seems that he recognizes the body, he quickly recovers and
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| − | says it's a missing worker. He also dismisses the creature as nothing more
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| − | than a jaguar. Nevermind that whatever attacked them last night was much
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| − | larger than a regular jaguar. But instead of letting them call for help, he
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| − | has them thrown in jail on trumped up charges.
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | Back at compound, Julio's fever worsens, and he becomes delirious, muttering
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| − | to himself in Spanish and manifesting strange symptoms. Rashes on his knees
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| − | and good shoulder, yellow eyes and lengthened canines. Monet, Terry and
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| − | Jane try to figure out how to keep Julio stable, as he becomes increasingly
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| − | volatile throughout the day. Unsure of where John, Kevin, Berta and Nash
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| − | are, they decide to risk moving Julio and go to get the remaining Jeep.
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| − | Only to find someone has sabotaged it, rendering it unable to start. Night
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| − | begins to fall, and Doña Teresa comes out of the compound, smiling. The
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| − | girls rush to Julio, only to find something very strange is happening to
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| − | him. While they watch, he changes into large jaguar-like creature, just
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| − | like the one that attacked them last night, and then he attacks them. They
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| − | lure the Julio-creature out of the main house, where after another tussle he
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| − | escapes into the night.
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | Meanwhile, Nash, John, Kevin and Berta stage a jailbreak that night, but are
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| − | almost killed when the creature attacks the jail, killing several of the
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| − | guards. Nash, Kevin, John and Berta narrowly escape and flee back to the
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| − | compound after judicious jeep-stealing. They re-group with Monet and Jane
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| − | that morning, and decide to put out a search for Julio. Because Mayan
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| − | mythology states that nighttime is the time of the spirit world, Julio will
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| − | most likely be human in the daytime and will change at night, thus
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| − | necessitating they find him before nightfall. However, the day passes and
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| − | there's no sign of him, during which they discover that while the creature
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| − | Julio turned into had been black, the one that attacked the jail had been
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| − | spotted. One of these things is not like the other... before more can be
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| − | done, Duarte shows up. With some armed men.
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | Duarte has come to do away with the Elpis team and the compound members. He
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| − | will blame a guerilla faction he has fallen out with in order to have the
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| − | government take them out. Before Duarte and his men can attack, however, a
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| − | very possessed Julio shows up, clearly Not Himself, keeping Duarte at bay.
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| − | Doña Teresa, for the first time, begins to speak sense. With Berta
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| − | translating, she paints a damning portrait of the local magistrate.
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | Eduardo Duarte was a member of Guatemala's military during the civil war
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| − | years, where in order to root out guerilla rebels they would practice
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| − | 'scorched earth' warfare, with acts of incredible cruelty being committed
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| − | towards Guatemala's indigenous Maya population. Twenty years prior to the
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| − | events at Santo Tomas, his regiment was responsible for wiping out what they
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| − | "thought" was a group of Marxist rebels, in a small remote village hidden
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| − | deep in the mountains. There they brutally slaughtered every man, woman and
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| − | child, and burned it to the ground. Just as they were finishing up, one of
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| − | the men discovered a cave containing what looked to be an altar and the
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| − | skeletons of what looked to be children. Seems what they had just purged
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| − | was a long hidden Jaguar Cult. Horrified, Duarte and his men destroyed
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| − | everything in the cave and buried it under rubble. On the march back to
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| − | base, they were stalked and picked off one by one, each man being dragged
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| − | away and torn to pieces. Desperate to outrun their pursuer, Duarte lead his
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| − | remaining men further into the jungle. Night fell, and the men were visited
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| − | by the animated corpse of one of their comrades, frightening and scattering
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| − | most of the soldiers, who were then savaged by an invisible spirit. Duarte
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| − | and a Pvt. named Sanchez were the only remaining men, until the spirit
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| − | attacked again. Duarte abandoned Sanchez and ran, finding the road that
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| − | they had so desperately sought, only to be overcome.
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | He awoke three days later in a local hospital, cursed by the Jaguar spirit
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| − | and forced to lead a half life as a man by day and a beast by night. After
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| − | many years, he has learned to control his transformations with the usage of
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| − | a talisman and occasional blood sacrifice. Using his power, he secured his
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| − | position in San Juan Ixtahuacan. It's Duarte who's been responsible for the
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| − | killings, all of the killings. Since the killings after Julio was bitten
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| − | occurred while he had the fever or was too far away.
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | Doña Teresa is the only survivor of Duarte's brutal purge of her village.
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| − | Sick of watching Duarte abuse his power with his supposed 'curse,' She
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| − | summoned the still living Pvt. Sanchez, who had gone native and also carried
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| − | the curse, with the promise of freeing him. But his mind and body had
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| − | shattered after 20 years of living with his curse and he would not have been
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| − | strong enough to face Duarte. When Sanchez had attacked Julio, he left him
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| − | at death's door and susceptible to the spirit world. In her guilt for
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| − | bringing the unstable Sanchez down on the people who had sheltered her, Doña
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| − | Teresa coaxed Julio into accepting the Jaguar Spirit willingly, with the
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| − | promise of being released once the spirit had had it's vengeance, saving his
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| − | life in the process. It's why he's far from a mindless monster, and has
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| − | come to take revenge for the village Duarte slaughtered during the civil
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| − | war. Night falls and both Julio and Duarte change, and duke it out, while
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| − | Elpis takes down the rest of Duarte's men. Julio emerges victorious in his
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| − | duel, breaking Duarte's neck. The rest of Duarte's men flee. The spirit
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| − | leaves Julio, it's vengeance finally achieved, and Julio returns to normal.
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| − | And then promptly passes out. (I'm finding he does that a lot)
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| − |
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| − | AFTERMATH
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| − |
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| − | Julio wakes up the next morning with absolutely no memory of the past few
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| − | days and is stunned to find out the wounds from his original attack are
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| − | completely healed. Duarte's men who aren't dead or in captivity have fled,
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| − | and are being rounded up by Guatemalan authorities, due to a phonecall to
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| − | the now working telephone lines. It's anyone's guess as to if they'll be
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| − | caught and prosecuted. Duarte's temporary successor arrives from Guatemala
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| − | City, with reports making him out to be more friendly to the indigenous
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| − | peoples, while the goverment tries to mop everything up and hold an election
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| − | for a new Magistrate. In the interest of smoothing everything over, in the
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| − | 'sorry we almost caused an international incident' sort of way, he draws up
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| − | hasty paperwork to allow Elpis official access to Guatemala. Berta assumes
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| − | leadership of Mendez's compound and projects, and arrangements are made to
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| − | set up Elpis offices in the town and compound.
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | Upon leaving, Julio is witnessed speaking to Doña Teresa, and she gives him
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| − | a small jade charm.
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| | ===Trivia=== | | ===Trivia=== |
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| − | Whether Julio actually remembered what happened to him during his time as a jaguar is not entirely clear.
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| − | 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.
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| | ===Meta=== | | ===Meta=== |
