✤ FIRST CASE ✤

File: Deadly Distance

Location: Florence, Italy

Case Summary:

"Last week, a user of one of the popular supernatural enthusiast forums, Dan Murden, sent Aurum a number of strange links to posts. They were by another user who he had befriended and he sent their private emails and texts to Aurum as well. Our correspondence with Dan was long distance due to him being in the USA, just like his relationship with Italian user Mia Gambarini who he’d never met in person. In their case, they become good friends regardless and began investigating strange supernatural occurrences in their local areas while staying in contact via video streaming through either their tablets or laptops to feel less alone and safer. 
One such ‘exploration’ happened last tuesday in a historical city of Florence. Mia had posted about a series of accidents happening in an archeological dig site uncovered when builders were renovating a large basement area of one of the popular restaurants. There was numerous pathways underneath and mapping had begun last month. Little of it made it to the public as archeological workers began falling unconscious while being perfectly healthy, which spread unease in already creepy environment. She had found this out herself by speaking to them.

A culmination happened at last when workers uncovered tunnels they say was previously not there in their initial sweep. Soon they noticed a disturbing sight of a dig inspector who was not noticed to be missing earlier and was a part of original renovation crew who worked in the basement. As Mia had found out, the ‘’body’’ was in fact only the arms and legs. Investigation happened briefly but without any public announcements other than pure basic information, so Mia decided to sneak in at night and do her own sweep of the site believing it to be a work of something otherworldly. Dan as well as several others expressed their reluctance because this included possible murder but the overwhelming majority of forum supported her which gave her courage to go on.

With bad reception she could not hold a video link with Dan on the night of her disappearance but there were regular IM messages as she went inside. In your file we included this correspondence as well but she speaks of overwhelming feel of unease and stale smell before simply stopping messaging her friend back. Dan immediately called the police and a search was organized but without any success even after 48 hours. He was questioned as well but could not offer any more insight then he gave us. The site and tunnels remain closed for now until some sort of resolvement is offered but the police has no further leads and there is strong pressure from the famous restaurant to simply close off the entrance because until it is resolved, the restaurant remains closed.

Your main objective is surely the recovery of Mia but only until it endangers your safety which we believe is a strong possibility. Weigh your options and choices carefully. Resolving the entire case mystery is the secondary objective."

Case by  TheOrangeCaptain

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Excerpts from the Case Journal  

(idea borrowed from RatPrince - permission asked)

Entry One:

My first case has just been presented to me by Master Agent Secundus. It looks like I will have to investigate the disappearance of a young woman, which seems to be linked to some paranormal phenomena, and even possible murder, on an archaeological site in Italy.

I have seen a few of my peers keeping a journal about their first case, and I borrowed the idea for myself. I will try to be as objective as possible, so should my emotions get the best of me I will have a place to go to to get the facts straight (though I might add one or two personal remarks if I feel like it).

Entry Two:

The flight from Vienna to Florence, with a stop in Ljubljana, has been pretty uneventful so far. I reread the case file and went through all the notes I made before I left...my plane will be landing in the afternoon, and I am eager to hear what the local police forces and the archaeological excavation team will have to say about this.

Although I have to say I dread a bit to set a foot into the city. I´ve visited Florence with my father when I was about five year old, and my senses have developed much more since then. I will try to concentrate as much as possible on my task...hopefully that should be enough to help me focus.
  

Entry Three:

I nearly got lost! Thanks the Heavens for the existence of tourist information offices...with the help of the lady behind the counter (who was practically radiating out how annoyed she was to get disturbed again while she was doing her nails) I was able to locate that popular restaurant. The area in front of it, reaching into the restaurant´s basement, has been divided from the rest of the area with simple tape; I suspect the stereotypical "Crime Scene - Do Not Cross" tape would have attracted too many nosy people. As I arrived I heard the restaurant´s owner arguing loudly with a few policemen, and what seemed to me like the head of the archaeological excavation team, judging by his type of clothing. The man had quite the temper, so I opted to censor the swear words he used.

"And when do you think will you be able to move your ***es out of here? I´ve got a business to run!"
"We are still investigating, and as long as the mapping of the underground tunnels are not finished, your restaurant will have to stay closed, I´m afraid."
"ARE YOU ***TING ME?! This is not the first time this happened - do you know how many people disappear in a city like this one on a daily basis? It´s more or less a normal occurence, and I cannot let myself and my employees being ruined by something like this!"

As the man´s anger got a bit too much for me, I decided to look around the area for a while. In front of the restaurant was a hole in the ground, leading to what appeared to be a tunnel. I was able to later meet up with the excavation head again, and he explained to me that this was one of the various tunnels they had discovered while construction work had been going on in the restaurant´s basement. He told me that up until now it looked like the tunnel system could be of Etruscan origin, and could possibly be a necropolis. As there had already been various other findings of Etruscan remains in the area, this was the most plausible explanation, though he added that the tunnels might as well be even older.

I took a second to read the restaurant´s menu before I went to the hotel, out of sheer curiosity. Too bad it is closed; everything sounds delicious. Though I doubt I could have afforded a meal there anyways.

Entry Four:

The breakfast in this hotel is pretty amazing, and I´m usually not a breakfast person, mind you. The music in the nearly empty piano bar yesterday evening was exquisite as well. I miss my piano.

First thing I did this morning was to go back to the restaurant in hope to find its owner again. Something he said yesterday rubbed me the wrong way, and I wanted to find out why there was construction work being made in the basement anyways. 

The man was outside, a big-bellied fellow with a semi-bald head, a constantly red face and an utterly expensive suit, going by the name of Fontanelli. ("He should get his liver and his blood tension checked" I thought while I absentmindedly rubbed my belly.) He was outside the building, observing the excavation team and policemen with a stare that would have scared away even the toughest men. As I approached him his anger rose again, and he tried to chase me away, yelling something about "giornale" (I think he mistook me for a newspaper reporter). I had to bite my tongue not to snap back at him and managed to calm him down a bit, telling him that I was to investigate this whole matter, insuring that he could soon reopen his restaurant. I asked if I could see where the construction work had started, and he told me they had been meaning to install a brand new heating system, but that the old heating room had grown too small, needing them to expand. He lead me into the restaurant - a very fancy looking place - and showed me the way to the heating room, located right next to te bathrooms in the basement. I nearly confused both doors, as the doorsigns weren´t all that visible anymore, and Signiore Fontanelli explained that he had planned to put on new ones once the construction work would have been over. He also explained that the system would have been replaced piece by piece, and that they had scheduled a closing period of four days to replace the important parts so that the kitchen could have kept on functioning up til then. He then again began lamenting over the financial crisis he ws put into, and I quicly managed to change subject by asking him what he had meant by telling the police that "this had happened before."

He was reluctant to tell me at first, but I could tell he was hiding something, so I insisted. Finally he told me that this was not the first disappearance hat had happened around, and even in, the restaurant, both locals and foreigners being the victims. But as this was his sole source of income and a rather popular place amongst tourists and locals equally, he had managed to keep both the media and the police quiet. It seems for some people money can truly buy everything.

Entry Five:

I then went on and visited the local police headquarters. Commissario Rubio was very friendly, open and cooperating, but I could feel his mind closing up a bit once I´ve asked him as well if there had been other disappearances in that same area.

"There are around five or six every six months", he told me reluctantly. "Most people were customers of said restaurant; only a few of them had not been consuming a meal there or had not even set a foot into the building. We suspected the owner for a while, but he´s clean; we even investigated towards the Mafia and drug smuggling rings, but we found nothing." He explained that there was no apparent connection between the missing people, and that they had tried to keep quiet about the matter as they were not keen on creating panic amongst foreigners and citizens. I didn´t reply, but asked if he could give me a written permission to investigate the excavation site myself, as it was still a crime scene. We called the excavation team, and a visiting appointment was scheduled for the next day.

Commissario Rubio also quietly informed me that it was getting more likely by the day that Signiorina Mia Gambarini, the young lady who´s disappearance I am investigating, might not be found alive. "Every day that a person is missing increases the danger of them being already dead when we find them - if we find them at all."

I am not so readily giving up yet.

I am going to spend the rest of the day in the public library and on the internet; maybe I can find out a bit more about the Etruscan culture before going down into those tunnels tomorrow.

Entry Six:

The visit at the library was not very fruitful; the few books they had on the subject didn´t give me much valuable information. I was able to find out more on the net; nothing that seemed important to the case, but enough to understand what the archaeologists were talking about.

I entered the tunnels with one of the archaeologists, and one police officer. They showed me where they had found the limbs of the dig inspector that had gone missing, and the newly discovered tunnel. The very faint dark red, almost dark brown mist I saw confirmed that he had entered the tunnel, but also that he was dead, probably having found his death right after or even while his arms and legs had been detached from his body. Soon that last imprint he left would be gone as well. I asked if that really was the tunnel that had appeared out of nowhere, and they showed me the first maps they had done, showing no indication of it. 

As Signiorina Gambarini had told Dan about the limbs, I suspected she had entered the tunnel as well, and so did I. Soon I noticed the stale smell that had been mentioned in the case record, albeit it being very faint. The tunnel took a turn, and I nearly let out a scream of surprise when I saw Mia laying there on the floor - only to realise a few seconds later that this wasn´t actually her, but an imprint she had left, not at all faint. I could almost make out all of her features, which indicated that she must be nearby, and the slightly blue colour of her misty imprint showed me that she was injured, but very much alive.

But this wasn´t the only thing that had left an imprint: I could se a huge dark ghostly figure with claw-shaped fingers dragging her unconscious body away from the place. I had no idea what this creature was; the only non-human encounters I have had up until now were with animals, and although their imprints were similar to human ones, they had a different smell to them. But this was neither human nor animal. I pointed towards the floor, pointing my flashlight towards the draggig marks left behind by Signiorina Gambarini´s shoes. The policeman drew his gun, secured the rest of the tunnel and told us we should leave and call a back-up unit. I protested, explaining we might be able to find the missing woman in time, but he insisted, stating it would help us be on the safer side.

Entry Seven:

I did leave the tunnels with them, but only for a few minutes. It might not have been the wisest move, but something inside of me told me that I was so close to solving this all that I could not resist. The policeman went and made his call, the archaeologist went to tell his colleagues about the drag marks we had found, and I went back into the tunnels, armed with a flashlight, and two mobile phones (I own two because one always switches itself off; it must be some power supply issue, but I´m too fond of it to trash it). I entered the tunnel again, found Signiorina Gambarini´s imprint, and continued walking into the direction in which she appeaed to having been dragged. 

After a few steps onwards I began noticing dark splatters on the walls, some dried to brown patches, some still bright red - blood. The stale smell became worse, and soon transformed into what smelled more like decay. I had to pause a few times, feeling nauseous, and there were moments in which I was convinced my lunch wanted to see all of this as well. I could taste my own fear on my tongue but blended everything out, which cost me much will power. Maybe it was also the adrenaline rush of the moment enabling me to control myself that well, I don´t really know. The tunnel took another turn to the right, and the smell of rotten flesh and decay was at its peak; I admit that I nearly vomited when my flashlight shone into the room behind the turn, out of various reasons.

First of all, there was the body. There was undoudebtly a corpse on the ground. The walls were covered in blood, and one spot was still dripping. I could make out the bloody jacket of a construction worker and did not need to look further to confirm that this was the limbless body of the dig inspector. And in front of this horrendous pile, I found Mia Gambarini, unconscious, with a wound on her temple. I could see that she was still breathing; though I could not make out whether she had any internal damage, and I blame my own fear for it,

There was however no trace of the other missing victims, and the dig inspector´s body was the only corpse I could spot.

But what frightened me most was what I saw at the back of that room; there was a dark figure with seemingly no facial feature other than red eyes. It had claws on both its hands and feet and appeared to be crouching. It emitted a strange sound while breathing, a bit like a person with huge breathing difficulties. I observed it for a while; although it seemed to be alive and awake it didn´t move, and I dared laying the beam of my flashlight onto it. It swallowed the light beam whole, a bit like a black hole, but still didn´t react. I slowly took my old phone out of my pocket, hoping its battery would las long enough to track down its GPS signal, and put it on the floor. Then I switched off my flashlight; the light coming from the larger spotlights in the main tunnels was faint but enough, and so I reached down to pick up Signiorina Gambarini, keeping my eyes on the creature as long as possible. It still didn´t move, and as I had the young woman secure in my arms, I quietly backed away from the chamber, back into the tunnel, and back ito broad daylight. I was greeted by police forces; an ambulance was called to take Signiorina Gambarini to the nearest hospital.

Final Entry and Conclusion:

I have contacted the Agency and updated them about the case. I still don´t know what kind of creature I´ve encountered, but we agreed it was best someone else rather than me would be taking care of it.

Signiorina Gambarini is recovering slowly but well. She has no recollection of what happened to her during the time she was down in those tunnels; she remembers however feeling nauseous because of the stale smell and believes she fainted because of it, possibly banging her head onto one of the walls.

The DNA tests of the blood on the walls confirmed that it was indeed the dig inspector´s blood, and Signiorina Gambarini´s one one spot, most likely where she hit her head while fainting. No other blood samples have been found. Therefore I conclude that it wasn´t the creature´s primary intention to kill its victims. The police agreed as well that it might have killed the dig inspector because it got disturbed by whatever it was doing and killed him to protect itself, and later fed on his body just because it was there and already dead. 

The police was able to track my old phone, though it was not easy due to it being placed so deep in a tunnel. We discovered that the chamber in which I had found the bodies was located not too far from the restaurant´s heating room, and thus the bathrooms as well. Further excavations will show whether there were smaller tunnels linking the newly discovered one to the restaurant´s air vent system, but both construction workers and excavation team believe it to be most likely the case. It would explain why most of the victims were restaurant customers, the creature likely sneaked into the heating room and possibly from there into the bathroom, or maybe even unto the street on a particularly quiet night. My personal theory is that money and the police forces both played a part in silencing those who reported the missing people.

The following questions remain unanswered:

- Why did the creature abduct all those people, and where did it bring them? Are they still alive?  As I don´t yet know how to handle such an entity I don´t see myself fit to track down the other victims, and leave it thus to the hands of my colleagues.
- Did Mia Gambarini injure her head while fainting, or was it the creature that injured her? Obviously it did not mean to kill her, otherwise she would have long been dead.
- Why was the creature not moving the moment I met it? Was it unable to detect me for some unknown reason? It could have easily attacked me. (Though when I reported back to the Agency and described the scenery, the theory arose that the creature just had finished eating, and was thus resting to digest. It would explain the relatively fresh blood on the wall. But it also means that I may have been incredibly, incredibly lucky.)

It seems that I am able to control my senses and emotions better in situations like these. Not that I enjoyed the fear and the anxious adrenaline rush, but it certainly helped me to stay focused. Although I must also note it saddens me that my own fear blocked me from seeing possible imprints of other missing people: it could have helped finding them.

They told me my first case would be an easy one. It was relatively easy to solve, but if that´s the outcome of an easy one I really don´t know at this point if I´m ready to tackle a more difficult one.

Scenes Depicted:

Scene One: Ludwig arrives in front of the popular restaurant and has a first look at the construction/excavation site.
Scene Two: Lui has entered he tunnel and encounters Mia Gambarini´s imprint - and the imprint of a dark entity dragging her away.
Scene Three: Lui manages to pick up an unconscious Mia Gambarini and carries her out of the tunnel, still wary of the creature lurking next to them.

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Artist´s Comments:

Okay, this proves that I watch waaaay too many horror movies.
What was I even thinking? XD Oh boy, this was fun.

I´ve also learned that like 90% of my bridal style pictures look nearly exactly the same. I need to practice those.

As for the story: I really hope it comes through that this creature, however it might look, is NOT A KILLER. It does abduct people God knows why to God knows where, but it does not snatch people to kill them. The dig inspector most likely tried to defend himself more violently than the other victims might have (I believe they fell unconscious because of the smell), so the creature defended itself by tearing off the poor guy´s limbs, killing him in the process. Not sure it even knew what it was doing.

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Credits: