So the characters return to Lhasa and the Eye of Shambala. We had a lot of character interaction with the 13th Dalai Lama and his prime minister, as well as a bunch of descriptive stuff about the night sky. Our inner world has no night, so they drank in the Milky Way in all its glory, as one can at 15,000 feet.

They managed to negotiate the use of five mules for the trip and gear up, ready for a big scientific expedition. Coming through the Eye, they almost immediately are set upon. The mouth of the cave where the Eye resides is blocked by a log-weighed net, and a dozen armed and armor-wearing men dash out of the trees. They’re carry strange-looking rifles, and are backed by a large flying saucer!

The commander of the flying machine is a “Lord Amon” — a Vril, although he’s claiming to be Atlantean. (Are they the same? We don’t know yet!) The characters pleasantly surprised me by not fighting or running — what I had planned for — but patiently trying to communicate. Hunter, the Terra Arcanum overseer, managed to get a great Linguistics test that allowed him to use his Trait Atlantean Language — he’d only read the language, never heard it spoken, but was able to quickly make himself understood.

Amon seemed pleased to have found Gould, whom they identified with some kind of crystal that would glow when in proximity to an Atlantean. (So shouldn’t it have been glowing while Amon was holding it..?) After some cordial talk, an invitation to them to come with him to Atlantis is rendered and they all hop in the “war saucer Aruna.”

The craft is amazingly futuristic, with a metal skin that allows them to see out as if it were glass from the inside. The controls are different, seemingly easy, and the woman flying it, knows her stuff. But in short order, they realize there is a problem. The one engine is kicking out way too much power! Gus Hassenfeldt, the big game hunter, quickly surmises it is Olga’s ability to amplify psychic or magical power that is messing with the ship. They attempt to mover her away from the offending engine, and this causes instability. A botched roll by another character leads to the pilot being distracted and jostled just enough that she biffed the control test, and Aruna spins out of control!

The characters all get tossed about at the flying saucer comes out of the sky at high speed, and crash lands in the jungles! With that, we ended for the night, with a cliffhanger (as one should in a pulp game.)