Shades of Grey

Benjamin was initiated for stealth, and thought of himself as a black silhouetted cat as he sneaked down the rough stairs. He carefully investigated the room as he let the lantern illuminate the grey masonry, infected with mold. He had not placed the lantern onto the floor before he realized the proximity of something more in the room than just deceptive shadows. Something had silently crawled from the hole without Benjamin's notice, and was now shambling toward him. It was the horrid smell from the thing's heavy breath that made him aware of it's prescence.
It was slowly revealed from its position in the dark as it entered the lightened area of the room, and he unwillingly witnessed it's loping guise with escalating fear. The back of the hunched creature was covered in thornlike scales along it's protruded spine. The skin was black as ink with some shades of grey, and had a surface that reminded Benjamin of that from a stingray.