The high, windowless brick walls of the buildings flanking the narrow alleyway rise up prison-like on either side, causing your footfalls to echo distantly as you probe your way into the shroud of darkness. Huge rats stalk through the rubbish that lies scattered about, glaring at you with hungry yellow eyes. A strange smell clings to the air here, but not the festering stench of rotting refuse. It is something altogether different.
You hear the skittering sound of unshod footsteps slapping the cobbles up ahead. It fades out...
As you move on, your light finds a bundle stretched out across the cobblestone. At first you take it for a pile of decaying rags, but soon your eyes adjust and you realize the mass before you is actually the twisted shape of a human male, his throat torn open, eyes wide and staring.