in fact , while others aboard his ship had been taken aback by this macabre spectacle , which loomed from the highest spire of the tallest cathedral in the hemisphere ( the very same cathedral built by alaric-1 ) , bunnu remained preoccupied by the presence of a far more redoubtable menace in his immediate environment : that of atmospheric pressure , which , at its sudden shift , had at first caused him a terrible earache and headache , followed by a mild case of diarrheaalthough , in truth , the latter may have come about in the aftermath of his dinner of sweet and sour hookworms the previous night .