>>5457788As you had both suspected and feared, the cause of death is definitely paranormal in nature. If you had more time to conduct a proper examination, you’d be able to draw a more exacting conclusion but generalities will suffice for now.
Most importantly, you pick up on a faint trace of magic that seems relatively fresh when compared to the other samples in the room. After a bit of fine-tuning with Magesight, you should have a solid lock on it.
Whatever is behind this, you’ve got its scent now.
Before you can celebrate the triumph of your unexpected edge, the harsh fluorescent lights rumble and flicker before dimming completely; leaving you in complete darkness.
Luckily, this time you’re prepared; after the last blackout, you took the liberty of clipping your emergency flashlight onto your chest rig. It’s one of the WW2 issue ones, the type that you can use to beat a man to death without busting up the internals.
This bad boy can take a licking and keep on ticking.
But when you flick its switch, not even a single mote of light is formed.
That’s not right, you know for certain that the battery should still be fresh.
After a few gut-wrenching moments of silence while you fiddle with the flashlight, it finally activates; revealing a room that is now completely and utterly barren.
No furniture, no equipment, no bodies, not a single trace of human presence besides you.
Even worse, the door through which you had previously entered through has completely vanished; replaced instead by a stone archway with a Latin script stenciled above it.
Can’t quite make out what it means, but that’s potentially for the best. This place has you on edge enough already.
You steel yourself and head through the archway. As you do so, your thoughts are bouncing around at breakneck speeds.
It’s becoming increasingly apparent that the only way out is forward.
As you walk, an errant idea pops into your mind that you’re unable to quash; it’s almost starting to feel like something is toying with you.
Not long after, you reach a three-way crossroads.
