The servants' impatient footsteps echo in the stairwell as they descend to the basement. The braziers flicker on the granite walls, offering little to no illumination as they pace perilously through the dark.
"How can you be so sure of the killer's location?" Impa demands information from her crazed companion. "We don't even know the nature of this man!"
"Oh, it's no man…" Imogen murmurs. A bloodcurdling screech sends shivers down their spines. Imogen pales in the light of the brazier's flame.
"That came from Marjory's room!" Impa yells. "We have to help her!"
They bound along the granite floor all the way to Impa's old haunt. The door stands eerily ajar, allowing Impa and Imogen to proceed with caution.
"Marjory?" Impa calls into the candlelit gloom. "Are you there?"
A shell of a woman shields herself against the bedside table, clinging to her candle. Impa rushes to her side.
"Marjory, it's Impa!" she greets the cowering cook. "Can you hear me?"
Marjory refuses to avert her petrified gaze as her icy finger elevates through the air. Impa follows her eyeline beneath empty bed opposite. A pair of beady yellow eyes stare back.
"Who's there?" Impa asks defiantly. "Reveal yourself, coward!"
The sound of skin grafting on granite chills them to the bone as a shapeless creature slithers out from the shadows. Impa opens her mouth the scream, but no sound emerges. Instead, she beholds the unprecedented horror before her.
"Impa, run!" Imogen screams.
Impa grabs Marjory by the hand and rescues her from the gaping jaws of the beast under the bed. She snuffs the candle and bolts for the door. Once they emerge on the other side, Imogen slams it shut and waves her hand over the doorknob.
"What in the Goddess's name was that thing?!" Impa booms.
"Never mind that, we have to evacuate everyone on this floor and bring them to the Banquet Hall." Imogen orders. "I've cast a spell on the lock but it won't hold for long – now go!"
Impa escorts Marjory down the corridor when their path is obstructed by a large unidentifiable mass. Impa casts her eyes down and notices the puddle of blood at her feet.
"Marjory don't look down!" she dissuades her accomplice. "Just keep walking until we reach the stairs!"
The shatter of splintering wood rings through the corridor as the beast crashes through the door of the dormitory. It swings its head from side to side and flicks its forked tongue in the direction of its prey. Imogen grabs a torch from its brazier and waves it like a snake-charmer. The creature follows the flame with its beady yellow eyes before chomping at the wood.
"Hurry!" Imogen calls after her companions. "To the Banquet Hall!"
She drops the splintered remains of the torch onto the tiles beneath her before racing up the staircase.
