Shots ring out as the two cops fire into the thing, first into the body but when it doesn't slow, into the head. A dozen gunshots later and Gardiner is dead once more.
Over the following weeks, you piece together the truth of the situation. James Gardiner enjoyed a vivid and fantastical dream life but somehow lost his ability to dream. He sought occult solutions to regain his dreams and found a spell in a tome that he believed would open the way for his dreams to return. Unfortunately, the spell and the book were never seen again.
Some strange entity from another world tricked Gardiner into performing the rituals he found in the tome. One prepared his body to become a vessel for the foul entity while the other led to his death, sending poor Gardiner’s soul into oblivion. His empty body could then be possessed by the entity—just as your investigators discovered.