(Scars do not appear to be cause of death –shock ... - Bad Request

empty when it died.
But most eerie of all was the giant rune gilded into the center of the floor in
an unfamiliar, silvery metal. It was the same rune I bore on my shoulder...
knife-edged and barbed inward and out as if it were pain betraying itself.
The Rune of Torment.
I explored the gallery, and with my careless steps a bolt of blue light shot out
from a corner, cracking against my shoulder and sending me spinning.
Damn. The place was trapped.
Well, it's not like this place could kill me.
Could it?
A sheet of leather hung from a wall, bat-winged as if it were freshly stripped
from a body, head, arms, legs, and tail. The scratchy runes were a little
faded with age, but the chill, dry air seemed to have preserved it over the
ages.
At last I have you. Never again will you torment me, for no mortal man can
escape these walls. Seek the keys and embrace death with each that you
find. Only then shall you be free.
Well that's reassuring.
Intending to progress to the next room I headed towards the passage down.
Yet foolishly I had stepped onto the seal that was the symbol of my curse,
the black mark I was fated to carry with me.
So when it glowed I stood stock-still, paralyzed with the flash. The bolt of
lightning cracked down through me like a white-hot whip, frying every
muscle and nerve along my spine into a useless puddle of molten flesh. I
collapsed, twitching a moment, before the darkness claimed me.
~~~~~
Shifting, I groaned, arching my back to work the kinks out. The renewed
flesh itched, and my nerves weren't in proper working order just yet. My
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