... A middle-aged woman.

The woman standing before you smiles warmly and says, "you must be the man from the papers. Would you like me to show you around?"

Immediately warming to her gentle manner, you reply, "Thank you, ma'am. I'd love that."

The woman turns and walks off without looking to see if you're following. You quickly follow as the woman guides you around the house, leading you from room to room, explaining certain interesting facts about each. Eventually, you wind up in front of a decrepit, moldy door.

The woman turns to you,a grave expression on her face. "It is very important that you be careful in here. Please do not touch anything." That said, she turns and opens the door.

The room within is dark, but not for long. As you stand there, your eyes slowly adjusting to the gloom, flames leap up along the walls, burning atop a shelf that runs along the sides of the room. The flames reveal strange markings on the walls, and even stranger ones on those parts of the floor that aren't hidden in shadows and dust.

The woman walks directly into the centre of the room. "The curious thing about this room", she tells you, "is that, if you stand in the centre and look straight up, you can see the sky through the hole in the ceiling".

You move to the centre and look up. By the time you realize that there is a strange symbol on the ceiling, you also realize that the woman might as well have told you that "gullible" was written on the ceiling. There is no hole to be found.

Suddenly, you hear chanting, in voice that sounds like the woman's. You try to look, to see what she's making all that noise for ... but you can't move!

Then.....

Written by S. Mundane (edited by wanderer)

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