A Late Night in Arkham

Professor Christine Strauss pondered over her instruments inside the Science Building of Arkham, Massachusetts' prestigious Miskatonic University. The microscopic substance under her microscope acted unlike any other specimen she had ever encountered. It was unclear whether they were plant or animal, but they moved with a hidden purpose which told her they were alive in some way. Swirling and reproducing, their patterns seemed random, however, and the longer Christine stared, the more difficult and uneasy her research became. The spiral patterns of the organisms were almost hypnotic.

It was very late in her research laboratory and Christine looked up from her notes, rubbing her eyes to relieve the strain. It seemed as though everyone else in the building had left for the night. It was then that a strange sound became noticeable to her. Possibly the sounds of feet scraping against pavement? Christine stood and listened for a moment, looking to the window only to realize that the sound was scratching from within the sample locker on the opposite side of the room. It slowly became louder and louder, as if something were living within the container.

Slowly she crossed the room, stepping ever closer to the shuffling and scratching from within the metal locker, then she bravely extended her arm to turn the latch. Just as it was lifted, the locker door sprung open to reveal a formless black ooze. A scalpel blade lashed out from a glistening dark strands and cut Christine along the cheek, startling her and causing her to sprawl backwards in a daze. Her mind struggled to comprehend the nature of this creature as it slithered out of its cell, then upward, stretching itself and becoming larger. The locker had been used to hold biological samples which the creature now wielded, absorbing animal organs and using sheep eyeballs to glance wildly around the room. It spotted a vent in the ceiling and ripped the cover away, flinging it wildly. It then sounded a high pitched screech and clambered into the air duct, vanishing from the Professor's sight.

The Professor's mind reeled from the horrifying experience of the creature. Had the thing been in the locker the entire time? Perhaps it had been growing there. She recalled the contents stored in the locker. Other than the innards of local animals and some harmless plant specimens, the locker had contained the bulk of the unknown microbes Christine had been researching.

Upon further investigation she found that the samples she had been studying had vanished from the table as well. Had the entire experience been a bizarre dream? Her senses told her it hadn't, and she was filled with an unexplainable dread for all of Arkham's well being. She gathered what reason she could muster and decided to investigate the mystery behind this queer and otherworldly specimen that had found its way to her town. There had to be clues somewhere as to its origin, and to begin she would need to revisit the place the samples were first discovered: The Black Cave.