Death, Fire and a Kiss
- gorddum
- Apr 6
- 4 min read
The following day at 3 p.m., the group assembles alongside Jesse Hughes—Jackson Elias—at the Museo de Arqueología y Antropología to meet with Professor Nemesio Sánchez of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.
Jesse Hughes—Jackson Elias introduces the party to Professor Nemesio Sánchez in his office at the museum. As the discussion turns to Augustus Larkin’s planned expedition, Sánchez grows visibly heated, expressing his frustration that Peru has no laws preventing foreign explorers from removing artifacts from archaeological sites. He bitterly refers to such expeditions as little more than grave robbing. After a moment, realizing how strongly he has spoken, the professor composes himself and offers a brief apology for his outburst before continuing the conversation.
As the conversation continues, Professor Sánchez proposes that the only way to counter Larkin’s efforts is to mount an expedition of their own. He explains that both he and his student assistant, Trinidad Rizo, have already begun preliminary research. Rizo, he notes, recently went to retrieve an artifact from the basement and has been working on translating a mid-16th-century document written by the conquistador Gaspar Figueroa. As time passes and she does not return, Sánchez begins to apologize for the delay, attempting to dismiss it as her tendency to lose herself in her work—but there is a subtle shift in his demeanor. What begins as reassurance slowly gives way to unease, a growing nervousness that something may not be right.
Noticing the shift in Sánchez’s demeanor, Eustis Winlock—having known Trinidad and met her before—offers to go look for her. Lyonell quickly agrees to accompany him. Sánchez provides directions to the storage room located almost directly beneath his office, where she was last seen. As they depart, Rupert Maxwell and Black Jack remain behind, turning their attention to the maps spread across the professor’s desk, studying possible routes—whether to follow Larkin’s expedition or prepare one of their own with a clearer understanding of the terrain ahead. Mel, meanwhile, remains quiet, her attention drifting across the room as she observes the group, her expression thoughtful, as if weighing each person and their motives in silence. Alan Knight and Jesse Hughes—Jackson Elias—stay with Professor Sánchez, continuing the conversation as the tension in the room quietly builds.
Eustis and Lyonell make their way down into the storeroom below, where the air turns cold and heavy, the light fading quickly into long stretches of shadow. It is dark, eerie—unnaturally still. Eustace produces a lantern, its beam cutting a narrow path forward as they move deeper into the space. Ahead, they spot a door left slightly ajar. Inside, they find her.
Trinidad Rizo lies motionless on the floor.
The wound at her neck is grotesque—circular, precise, as though something had been drawn out of her rather than taken by force. Blood, fat… marrow. Whatever happened here was not natural. Nearby, they discover a two-foot golden artifact etched with intricate geometric runes, its surface marred by fused, burned flesh—yet when touched, it is unnaturally cold. Among Trinidad’s work, Eustis also recovers her translation—fragments of a mid-16th-century account hinting at conquistadors transformed into something monstrous… and within it, a name: Luis de Mendoza.
Above, unaware of the horror below, the rest of the party remains deep in discussion—maps spread wide, plans forming—until the faint scent of smoke breaks the moment. It grows quickly. Alarm sets in. The group moves to investigate, then to act—evacuating the building as the fire reveals itself. Mel rushes toward the stairwell, calling down to Eustace and Lionel, warning them of the danger spreading overhead.
Black Jack locates the source—a cabinet ablaze. With sheer effort, he forces it across the room and heaves it out the window, sending the burning mass crashing to the ground below.
And then—
The screams begin.
From outside the university.
Sharp. Panicked. Spreading.
Outside the university, a crowd has already formed, gathered tightly around a man collapsed on the ground. The party rushes forward—Mel reaching him first, with Black Jack, Rupert Maxwell, and Alan close behind, Eustis and Lyonell not far off. It is Professor Sánchez. A thick mucus clings to his lips as he struggles to breathe, his body trembling. In a low, rasping voice, he manages only a few words: “He… kissed me.”
Mel’s eyes catch it first—the unnatural movement beneath his shirt. Something writhes under his skin. Without hesitation, she cuts into the fabric and then the flesh beneath, revealing a slick, slug-like creature forcing its way through his body. She pulls it free and throws it to the ground. In the same motion, Rupert steps forward, driving his Bowie knife down hard, crushing it before it can move again.
Sánchez convulses, his body seizing as the life seems to drain from him. Just before he loses consciousness, he whispers a single name—“Mendoza.”
A doctor arrives moments later, and Lyonell steps forward immediately, composed despite the chaos, assuring him that the professor will receive the best care available—on his tab. The party quickly turns Sánchez over to the doctor’s care. In the aftermath—Trinidad dead below, and whatever had just been pulled from Sánchez now lying in pieces—the group regathers, shaken but thinking ahead.
In the chaos, they realize they had lost sight of Jesse Hughes—Jackson Elias. When questioned later, he offers a simple explanation—he panicked.
With the day’s events weighing heavily on them, the group makes their way to Lyonell Reginald Farnsworth III’s residence in Lima to regroup and consider their next steps. Along the way, Black Jack keeps an eye out for a photography shop, but finds none—another small frustration in an already unraveling day. At Lyonell’s manor, removed from the chaos of the streets, the party finally has space to think. Plans begin to take shape as they weigh their options: follow Larkin’s expedition, confront him and Mendoza directly, or forge their own path using what they’ve uncovered with Sánchez. The choices before them are no longer academic—they are immediate, uncertain, and dangerous. What path they choose now may very well decide not just the success of the expedition… but their fate within it.
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