The crew began their preparations for traveling to Mount Everest by doing some research at Bailey Manor. Iris found information on where the temple might be located. She found sources indicating it may be on the western side of Mount Everest, and she even found copies of the journals of the 1921, 1922, and 1924 British expeditions that allowed her to draw up a list of supplies they would need. Eleanor also contributed, finding the journal of Harold Hadley Copeland’s 1913 expedition to central Asia, which contains notes about a story his porters told him about the temple. Meanwhile, Malcolm used his military contacts to have Lewis guns delivered and installed on the Cygnus, just in case they ran into the Nazis again.

Once the crew was ready, they flew onward to India, setting down in Darjeeling (causing Penelope to giggle intently). They damaged their new landing gear, but Penelope repaired it while they refueled. They then flew on to Rongbuk Monastery. Iris attempted to help co-pilot, but Malcolm managed to land the plane with no trouble at all, smooth as glass, and parked the Cygnus about a half mile from the monastery. As it was getting toward dusk, they chose to go to the monastery and not head directly south to the mountain.

At the monastery they met the Lama, a well educated and younger man, who was interested in their expedition to find the Serpent Temple. He shared the legends that he was aware of, and marked on their map where he thought it might be – an area on the edge of the western slope near the Rongbuk Glacier. Food was also provided, and the Lama provided a blessing to the crew. That evening, Eleanor, Malcolm, and Penelope underwent guided meditation (also…opium laced incense) while Archie and Iris visited the monastery library.

Iris found a few interesting books, but Archie stumbled onto a Burmese copy of The Dhol Chants, a book of spells and charms. Iris, knowing how Archie gets with books (see: rain of blood in the prior episode) attempted to charm the book away from him. She completely failed, and instead convinced Archie that she was madly in love with him. Archie stole the book from the library without the monks noticing, but Iris saw him and was fully aware he took the book. She rebuffed his efforts to join her in her room in the monastery, much to his disappointment.

In the morning the group left for the mountain. They reached the tongue of the Rongbuk Glacier after about an hour of hiking and began to climb the icy slope. They made it to the Northern Col by lunch time and after a break to eat a hearty meal, Archie spied the ladder left by the 1924 expedition that would make climbing the glacier much easier.

The group used the ladder to climb up the col, though both Archie and Penelope had to be partially dragged up the slope. Neither were particularly adept at climbing, and at one point Iris had to stop Archie from tumbling down the steep slope. The group stopped to make camp at the top, the altitude sapping their strength. Malcolm looked back the way they came, and noticed a line of vehicles headed to the monastery, but they were too far away to make out any details. He shared this information with the others, and they all feared that the Nazis might soon be nipping at their heels.

That night, they all slept in their survival tents. Archie again attempted to join Iris in her tent but was dismissed. He decided she was just playing hard to get, a thought Malcolm sarcastically concurred. During the night they heard many strange noises – growls, howls, crunching of snow – but nothing disturbed the camp site.

The next morning the group had breakfast and discussed their plans. Malcolm again attempted to unsuccessfully discern who had arrived at the monastery. While couldn’t tell who was behind them with his field binoculars, he was sure that there were a number of gray or green vehicles.

The team pressed onward, but after an hour snow began to fall, and two hours into the trek they were caught in a full fledged blizzard. They quickly made camp, Malcolm leading the others in setting up the tents. While he was helping the others, Archie saw something in the snow – a shape, large, hairy – which he first thought may be a yeti. He dismissed that idea, however, as his recent research had led him to believe that there were no such thing as yetis. Instead he believed that it was an alien race, the Mi-Go, who wore heavy furs and inhabited mountainous regions. However, he was disappointed to realize the moving shape in the snow was only a wayward yak.

The group attempted to capture the yak, but only managed to scare it off. A moment after it disappeared from sight they heard a blood-curdling scream, which they assumed was the Yak meeting some unknown fate. Iris suggested it must have fallen into a crevasse, but the sudden disappearance and terrifying scream put them all on edge. Trapped in the blizzard, however, all they could do was dig in and wait out the weather.

The snow did not taper off until nightfall, leaving the crew with a lot of time of their hands. Archie studied his new book, Malcolm caught up on some sleep, Eleanor read a book while Iris jotted down her notes on their adventures, and Penelope spent her time building a better camp stove. Using only the minimal tools and resources at her disposal, she created the Salamander, a portable heat thrower that could melt snow and ice in a ten foot cone, was far more powerful than the stove was, and used the same amount of fuel. This invention kept the tents from being buried by the blizzard.

That night they were finally able to come out of their tents, but the evening was eerily silent. The crushing quiet played on their nerves, making them feel isolated even when right beside each other. Archie especially suffered, and a tiny bit of his grip on sanity eroded under the oppressive emptiness. Eventually they all fell asleep, and the deep silence made them all feel lost in a pitch black void.

In the morning they were happy to hear the wind whipping down Everest’s slopes. The stillness of the night before had melted away. However, Penelope did not come out of her tent to join them. They checked on her and discovered she had been taken in the night. Her gear was left behind, but the young woman was nowhere to be seen, and after a short search, they found strange tracks leading away from the camp. There were no footprints, but there was a drag path and unusual circular impressions in the snow.

The team quickly broke down camp, distributed Penelope’s gear amongst them, and followed the tracks as quickly, but as safely, as they could. The tracks led in the same direction they had been climbing, and they feared something from the temple had come and snatched away their friend. They marched for hours following the drag marks, eventually stopping when the sun dipped below the horizon. Penelope was still nowhere to be found.

As the last light faded from behind the mountains, the group pledged to find the young mechanic, no matter what.