Julius nods to Mara. "Sounds like a good idea, I've been dying to get into those records myself. I'll help you."
Didn't Dervak put the patient records in the Handy Haversack? He starts pulling records out. Dervak is trained in Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Religion), and Spellcraft, so might be able to make some headway with research. He is willing to go out and get the other records, which we forgot to put in the pack.
First Rowan talks to one of the captured cultists, Baisily, the only one willing to talk to him, smiles weakly, “Sorry I don’t know anyone by that name, you can keep your wine I’ve had enough.” Second Rowan asks a man in his late 20s, Loic a patient. “She’s not real, not supposed to listen to her.” He looks pointedly at Mara then responds to Rowan, “How do you know that name?”
While Rowan converses with various survivors the rest search through the files they have on hand. The files found in the chaplain's office contain information on patients past and present, they focus on any religious needs of the patients. They however do not have any information that mentions your names or anyone who fits your descriptions, nor do they mention Zandalus or Sara. In one of the cabinets though you do find the following items: 3 deeps purple cleric’s vestments (Pharasman), a clean leather lash, a box containing two scrolls of cure light wounds, one scroll of sanctuary, and finally a wand made out of multi-colored material which when held feels like an insect squirming in your hand, it is a wand of lesser restoration with 7 charges.
Losandro’s Journal
It contains a concise record of her daily duties and observations. It is largely mundane, filled with notes from staff meetings and interviews with the families of would-be patients. The last years worth of entries are from 4714-4715, if it's accurate you’ve lost at least 3 years worth of memories possibly more. Within the last year the names Haserton Lowls and Count Lowls appear with increasing regularity.
Julius and Mara knows that both names refer to Count Haserton Pragmus Lowls IV, ruler of County of Versex in Ustalav.
The Final Entry
Oathday: Another unexpected call from Count Lowls. These have become so common and Lowls’s focus is so singular that they no longer leave me apprehensive. He requested to see me after his visit with Zandalus, though. He claims to have a theoretical solution for the poor man’s condition. I don’t know what the count and my prized patient have been discussing and Lowls again refused to share but I doubt that lordly amateur psychologist has truly hit upon anything of worth. Regardless, I’d be a fool not to humor my liege.
Starday: Lowls’s ”solution” was not at all what I expected. I have no clue where he turned it up, but on his most recent visit he brought along a copy of Valhadis’s The Chain of Nights, a near-legendary collection of psycho-arcane studies and treatments focused on dreaming. While I abhor arcane tampering, if there’s a permanent solution to Zandalus’s nightmares, it could be here. Lowls allowed me to study the text for the duration of his visit, but staunchly refused to leave it in my possession.
Moonday: Lowls has made me an offer: his copy of The Chain of Nights. All I must do in return is accept a handful of new patients, former associates of his that have suffered some unprecedented manner of group amnesia. The terms make me suspicious, but I can learn more of these curious strangers once they’re in my care. If it means the possibility of a cure for Zandalus and others, I welcome the bargain.
Toilday: The Chain of Nights is a marvel. It will take years of study to unravel all its possibilities, but already I’ve discovered a process by which chronic dreams might be drawn forth and disposed of like so much psychic gristle. Tomorrow our experiment begins.
Asylum Library
Briarstone Asylum
Located on Briarstone Isle, Briarstone Asylum was founded in 4585 with the support of Count Haserton Lowls I and Rozenport’s Sincomakti School of Sciences. The asylum devotes itself to the treatment of patients with mental diseases and those in need of psychological care. Its staff also pursues humane, non-magical treatments of such disorders. With the exception of restraints, most physical and surgical treatment methods were phased out at Briarstone over a
century ago.
Briarstone was originally intended to be a fort, positioned to protect Thrushmoor and trade along the Danver River from pirates sailing Lake Encarthan. The fort’s construction began in 4315 and was plagued by accidents, culminating in the death of its overseer, Captain Anoch Atherton. Construction on the fort was halted and rumors spread that Briarstone Isle was haunted. To expunge the taint of urban legends, Count Haserton Lowls I convinced the church of Pharasma to perform a successful, island-wide exorcism in 4584.
Captain Anoch Atherton didn’t die in a construction accident. The overseer of Fort Briar’s construction disappeared, only to be discovered a week later, his entrails strewn across the site. After Atherton’s death, work halted on the fort’s construction, but locals still reported seeing lights in the deserted, half constructed structure. Rumors attributed the tragedy to the Briarstone Witch and claimed that she’d curse or kill any who trespassed upon her home.
You spend 3 hours organizing and going over the patient records, but do manage to find your own and one that mentions a girl named Sara.
Patient Record: Dervak
Male, Half-Ork, Potential Kellid blood, approximate age 27
Home unknown
Committed: 15 Gozarn 4715
Circumstances: Committed by Count Haserton Lowls IV, formerly under his employ.
Attending Doctor: Eliege Losandro
Dervak suffers from some form of Amnesia, similar to the rest of the people that Lowls committed, her remembers very little about himself and nothing of the others. I believe he also has two personalities within him one is reserved, even deferential, the other aggressive and violent.
Treatment: Therapy, sedation, observation
Patient Record: Mara bint al-Katheeri
Female, Half-Ork, Potential Qadiran blood, approximate age 24
Home unknown
Committed: 15 Gozarn 4715
Circumstances: Committed by Count Haserton Lowls IV, formerly under his employ.
Attending Doctor: Eliege Losandro
Mara suffers from some form of Amnesia, similar to the rest of the people that Lowls committed. She frequently claims to talk to her dead mother and father, but remembers little else about herself and the others.
Treatment: Therapy, antipsychotic regimen, observation
Patient Record: Theophilus Carter
Male, Human, Varisian, approximate age 20
Home unknown
Committed: 15 Gozarn 4715
Circumstances: Committed by Count Haserton Lowls IV, formerly under his employ.
Attending Doctor: Eliege Losandro
Theophilus suffers from some form of Amnesia, similar to the rest of the people that Lowls committed. The least lucid of the people committed by Lowls, he often spouts nonsensical statements. From what I can glean from him, he remembers little of his associates.
Treatment: Therapy, antipsychotic regimen, observation
Patient Record: Julius Anderson
Male, Half-Elven, approximate age 32
Home unknown
Committed: 15 Gozarn 4715
Circumstances: Committed by Count Haserton Lowls IV, formerly under his employ.
Attending Doctor: Eliege Losandro
Julius suffers from some form of Amnesia, similar to the rest of the people that Lowls committed. Unlike the others Julius is the most mentally stable of the lot seeming to suffer no additional symptoms. He remembers little of himself and his former associates.
Treatment: Therapy, observation
Patient Record: Rowan Dorn
Male, Human, approximate age 32
Home unknown
Committed: 15 Gozarn 4715
Circumstances: Committed by Count Haserton Lowls IV, formerly under his employ.
Attending Doctor: Eliege Losandro
Rowan suffers from some form of Amnesia, similar to the rest of the people that Lowls committed. After being committed he suffered from shakiness, sweating, and a mild fever, dipsomania suspected. As with the others he remembers little about himself and his associates.
Treatment: Therapy, special dietary regimen, observation
Patient Record: Loic Ulsohnen
Male, Human, Varisian, age 9
Home Dunhop, Versex County
Committed: 25 Rova 4685
Circumstances: Committed by his father, Zandu Ulsohnen
Attending Doctor: Anya Chawaar
Loic suffers from auditory hallucinations of his dead sister Sara calling for him. His twin sister died less than a year ago. Loic is frequently hysterical from the hallucinations. While I don’t believe it, one of the nurses reported hearing Sara as well. Also of note the father reported objects levitating and moving of their own accord around Loic.
Treatment: Therapy, sedation, antipsychotic regimen, observation
Development: 5/4698 Dr. Chawaar has found a tonic that suppresses Loic’s hallucinations. He’s reluctant to take the medication though and we’d like to keep him under observation.
Development: 6/4698 Loic has shown some innate magical capability. He will frequently cast spells that will variously shatter or telekinetically throw the containers of his tonic, destroying them before he can take it.
Development: 1/4699 Our nurse Naysa Walika has had a lot of luck calming Loic enough so that he takes his medications, Dr. Chawaar believes that he’ll never be able to leave the asylum but at least we can provide him a better quality of life.
Special Records
These records hold the more disturbing and supernatural nature than the rest of the patient records. Hundreds of unexplained events and brutal dramas unfold on the pages but most are not related to your group or the events currently plaguing the asylum. You do however find the patient record for Ulver Zandalus
Patient Record: Ulver Zandalus
Male, Varisian descent, approximate age 47
Home suspected to be Rozenport, Versex County
Committed: 2 Sarenith 4685
Circumstances: Transferred from Pharasmin lamentations in Rozenport
Attending Doctor: Eliege Losandro
Zandalus exhibits complete withdrawal from society and an inability to care for himself in any but the most basic modes. The symptoms of his passive antisociality chronically present as mutism and blankness. Frequent night terrors result in brief but dramatic nocturnal outbursts, shouting, shaking, fear responses. Zandalus grasps the difference between sleep and wakefulness and typically recovers from nightmares quickly.
Treatment: Therapy, antipsychotic regimen, observation
Development: 2/4687 Zandalus proves to be a gifted and prolific artist. He has enthusiastically taken to using a charcoal drawing set to create dramatic but fanciful works of art, typically of surreal architecture and skyscapes. Art calms him in the wake of nightmare. He will be afforded basic supplies to continue such art therapy.
Development: 11/4702 A shift has occurred in Zandalus’s art. He has repeatedly almost perfectly illustrated one of the ancient standing stones situated at the northwestern corner of the
asylum grounds. As the isle’s shores are off-limits to patients, I do not believe he has ever seen the subject of his work. The significance or coincidence of this brooks further study.
Development: 3/4715 Count Haserton Lowls has taken an interest in Zandalus: first his art and now the artist. Lowls has become a repeat visitor, spending hours with my patient, but refuses to explain his interest.
Mara spent several hours looking through the various records, learning snippets about her past, Sara and Ulver Zandalus. Finally, she had to take a break from her studies. "Count Haserton Lowls IV seems to be the recurring theme though all of this!", she declared. She couldn't remember anything about the man who supposedly had been her employer, yet her intuition told her there was something unsavory about him. "We all seem to have worked for him. What were we doing, and how did we all lose our memories, seemingly at about the same time?"
Later, she talked to Sara privately. She sat down beside the little girl and said, "Sara, the records that we looked though mentioned Loic. He's your twin brother, isn't he? It says he came here 30 years ago. Your name is written in there too; it says you died a year before. Can you tell me what happened?" It all sounded crazy; at this point, she didn't know what to believe.
Sara looks like she’s about to start crying, “Yes… I remember dying. But it’s backwards. I see myself dying, there is a knife in my stomach… and I’m holding myself I think. I was holding a knife and it flew out of my hand, I didn’t mean to throw it and… and it hits Sara, me but I’m not me. After Sara… I died no one listens to me, only Loic. I can move things sometimes but it gets Loic in trouble and Dad doesn’t listen to Loic when he says he can hear me. Dad brings him here cause he can’t deal with Loic anymore.”
Tears pouring down her cheeks she continues, “The doctors made Loic stop listening to me. But I can’t leave either. After a while everyone started dying and Loic ran with Naysa but I stayed somehow. I found you and hid you but when everyone found us. You and them could see and hear me! But you took me to Loic and then he drank that stuff and no one could hear me. I followed you to the mist lady, um… Losandro and I knew it would help me. After I touched it I was better but I think if I go into there again you won’t see me anymore. I’m sorry I lied to you. Please don’t leave me.”
Dervak takes his time, but he is able to read the documents.
"Mulgar taught me. He was a good man. Let's see... Yes, my father was Kellid. Once. He changed."
He reads some more. "It's been three years? Hmm.. Working for a Count. What would he want me for? Killing things? Splitting wood? Oh, he wanted to cure crazy people... must be why I agreed to work for him. I was looking for a cure, found a wizard in Ustalav who said he could help, but it was a trap. He sent me to Lowls? Or maybe Lowls rescued me from the wizard? I can't remember.
But... I think maybe this Count Lowls is more interested in the madness than in the cures. See? He spends time with Zandalus in 3, that's Pharast, 4715. Then we are committed in Gozreh 4715, the next month. And we were working for him. Must be a connection. Like he spread Zandalus's madness to us. We had dreams of the places Zandalus drew.
Why would he be interested in the madness? Some shamans eat mushrooms to have visions of madness. Nethys is mad. Lots of magic in madness. Things to learn if you can avoid going mad yourself. Or if you don't mind going mad."
He listens to Sara's story. He asks gently, "Little one, you must rest and go to Pharasma. Do you know what you need to do to go to your rest? Do you need to talk to Loic one last time? Does he need to apologize? I think he makes things move without meaning to. I don't think he meant to hurt you. He has a magic he can't control."
After happily leafing through all the note, Theophilus says,
I wonder what kind of job I had?
The gentleman smiles.
Least lucid seems a bit harsh...
Julius smirks. "Heck yes, most stable. Although in a group of amnesiacs, that doesn't seem like much of a victory."
His smile disappears as he gets to Zandalus's file and he makes the same connection as Dervak. "Lowls...he's not just a count, he's THE Count. As in, he rules this land. We used to work for him? I wonder what he would've wanted with us...I mean, we make a fairly motley crew. Explains why we work so well together though. I think you're definitely on to something though, Dervak-whatever was infecting Zandalus, somehow we got hit with it as well. Three years...gods, I can't believe we were out for that long."
Dervak nods at Julius.
"When we get out, we pay this Count a visit."
He turns to Theophilus. "I'm sure what you say makes sense to smart people, Theophilus. Sometimes I don't understand it all but that's okay. Just as long as I understand what I need to do.
What you did for the Count? Your job makes the most sense. A Count needs hats and clothes. Like for dancing and court and stuff."
Theophilus laughs.
Dervak, my friend, you make me sane!
He winks.
Mara wrapped her arms around Sara and hugged her close. "I'm not going to leave you, Sara! You have my promise." I just have to find a way to help her.
After learning he was a patient...
”Well, s$+*. I figured you guys were patients, no offense, but I didn’t think I was as well. That is a lot to take in. As for the count, I wonder what I did in his employ?
The other thing I find curious is that we were all admitted on the same day, and all by the count. We might know each other, if only we could remember. Whatever affected us... it happened around the same time.”
Rowan takes a long pull off his wine flask and slumps down to the floor, leaning against the wall as he slides down. He seems a bit lost in his thoughts.
Sara embraces Mara back, “Thank you.” Sara does not respond to Dervak’s insistence that her spirit should move on. However, Sara’s shadow grows long and casts onto Dervak causing the hairs on the back of his neck to raise and gooseflesh to form on his arms.
When the conversation turns to Count Lowls Winter takes a special interest in the information. “I need those files, I can scribe a copy of course, and if you remember anything about your former employer, tell me. Before this nightmare started I was helping Royal Accuser Omari investigate the Count for abandoning his duties. There were rumors he had business at Briarstone so I was sent here to turn up anything there was to find. Before I could start the revolt happened.”
Julius knows that Ustalav’s Royal Accusers are secretive agents of the Ustalavic crown warranted to enforce laws and exact justice without regard for the nation’s baroque hierarchy of titles and rank. They have a reputation for harsh justice, acting on matters of national importance, and quietly ending noble dynasties.
Everyone else merely knows them as royal investigators.
Mara mentioned to the others, "It sounds from the files like we're close to Thrushmoor. When we get out of here, we might want to check up on the Sleepless Detective Agency there. We found one of their calling cards."
After perusing Losandro's library Mara finds a number of mundane but remarkable texts: On the Treatment of Ambitions, Disappointments, and Regrets by Doctor Beaurigmand Trice, On Violent Sands by Doctor Henri Meirtmane, and a signed copy of Ailson Kindler’s Galdyce’s Guest: Feast of the Nosferatu. These texts are valuable (50gp each) but don't relate to your predicament.
"Huh. So the Accusers are after Lowls? Interesting. They've deposed many families in the past. Them coming after Lowls and us ending up here...I have a feeling the two are linked. You have to do something pretty bad to get the Royal Accusers after you."
Mara was weary of looking though books. "Anyone want to do some more exploring today? I'm tired of reading," she said.
"Yes!"
Dervak slams shut the book he is reading, eager to get back out there.
"Aww..."Julius lightly closes his book, clearly sad to have to leave his reading.
Theophilus jumps up from making tiny strings of paper hats.
Exploring is a most proper position to be prioritized!
Mara said, "We might want to avoid a direct confrontation with Zandalus until we've rested. I wonder if he's with the group beyond the double doors off of the Dayroom? My idea is to explore some of the other rooms first."
She walked past the bloody door, and listened at the door on the north side of the hallway.
"Works for me."
But what about Sara? Are we just ignoring the problem for now? Well, Mara knows these things better than I do.
Dervak has his longspear in hand, and is ready to go in the room when Mara opens the door.
Racks of cleaning supplies and bins of stained laundry stew here, filling the close space with a unique, acrid reek. Amidst the fabric is the body of a woman in an orderly uniform who died from multiple stab wounds. On the body you find a suit of studded leather armor, a cloak of resistance +1, a potion of bull’s strength, and a potion of protection from evil.
Theophilus steps up to tbe poor woman. The gentleman doffs his top hat.
Alas, poor Loric; I knew him well!
He then casts Detect Magic; identifying the items.
Strange, but these particular items have magical properties. They really pay attention to detail with the uniforms here!
Mara searched the supply closet. "Once we've done exploring for today, we should bring the body back to the chapel. Maybe Winter can consecrate it, so it doesn't somehow return as an undead," she suggested.
Once she was done in the supply closet, she walked into the dayroom and listened at the western door.
Mara hears the sound of light snoring coming from the room.
"Someone's sleeping in there; let's see who it is!", Mara whispered to the others. She opened the door as quietly as she could.
Chipped white paint peels from the battered frames of a row of identical beds. Dingy white curtains separate each bed, but offer only the illusion of privacy. Strapped to the northern most bed is a sleeping man. When you get closer his eyes still closed, he starts screaming, "No! Not again! Keep away! I don't want anything from you!" There are five restraints in all one on each limb and one on his torso.
Casting Guidance on himself, Theophilus enters the room.
Excuse us, my goid sir, but ee have been rather lost as to what the needle point is going on! Any clues?
Mara tried to talk to the man in a soothing voice and figure out if it was safe to remove his restraints and bring him back to the chapel. "We're here to help you. We can take you to a place where your dreams will be better. My name is Mara; What's your name?"
The man only screams, ”Get away from me, bastard!” Then he falls limp. Mara can clearly tell he’s no longer breathing.
Mara and Rowan can see right after the man expires a small puff of citrine mist exits his mouth and nose.
Theo solemnly doffs his hat.
Who would like to say a few words for the recently rude and departed?
Dervak will watch the body closely. He thinks it wrong to mutilate corpses, but if it starts to move then all bets are off.
"He's not breathing!" Mara shouted. She rushed to the man's side and administered a jolt of positive energy.
The energy from the healing hex does not discharge when Mara touches the man, clearly beyond mere healing effects.
After a minute the man’s flesh takes on a grayish pallor as his tongue, now freakishly long, lolls out of his mouth. Julius, Mara, and Rowan, knows the man has transformed into a ghoul. Julius has a vague sense that the transformation should take longer but he can’t remember the exact circumstances. The now undead creature struggles against its bonds ineffectually attempting to bite anyone who gets too close.
Dervak points the longspear at the ghoul and looks among his companions, to see if anybody will tell him to stop.
If nobody does, after about two seconds he shoves the spear through the ghoul's heart.
Theophilus looks on at the subsequent death, undeath, and back to death episode displayed before him. A forlorn expression appears on his face.
And I didn't even have time to go get any popcorn before the show ended!
Julius nods frantically at Dervak. "That transformation was far, far too fast. This is not a normal ghoul. We should step back just in case it gets out."
Mara recoiled in horror at what had become of the man she had been trying to rescue. As Dervak moved to slay the undead creature, she slumped against the wall. "If only I'd looked in here earlier, we might have been able to save him!", she cried in anguish.
The imprisoned ghoul quickly dies a second death to Dervak's spear.
The room is mostly stripped bare but there is a straitjacket and hoodwink cowl laying crumpled in the corner.
"We better keep moving; there could be others we could rescue," Mara said. Action seemed more desirable that remaining here to contemplate her failure. She quickly searched the room, before heading back out into the corridor. She moved to the four-way intersection and scanned for a hostile presence.
"That man was dreaming. Was he killed in his dream? And then turned into a ghoul?"
Two hallways meet here beneath a lofty ceiling. High windows, alive with the nauseating fog beyond, give the space an airy feel. A portion of the western hallway has collapsed, blocking it with tons of rubble. Many of the rocks in the area are claw-scarred, something has been trying to clear the rubble. It looks like if you spent several hours at you could finish the job. Down the hall into the far southern room you see an eerie glow.
"How could something that happened to him in his dream do that to him?", Mara asked Dervak. The idea seemed preposterous, although it was hard to tell what was possible, given what she'd seen and felt the past few days.
Presented with a hallway with a row of doors, she moved to the first one and listened.
Theo putzes around after the group. He seems distracted.
The gentleman will assist in any searching.
Sara looks up at Mara with a hint of fear in her eyes, "Things like dreams are real here..." she glances at Dervak and Theo but also briefly places her hand over her heart, "And dangerous."
Hearing nothing Mara opens the door. Human-shaped carnage covers the bed in this room. Perhaps the remains of a patient trapped here and set upon by one of the horrors that stalk the halls.
Searching the room Theo finds a gold signet ring with a holly-and-hawk emblem that Julius knows is the emblem of the Millair family of Redleaf Lake.
Mara shuddered at the horrible remains in the room. She had difficulty concentrating on searching, and had to retreat into the hallway. "We need to find a way to keep the bad dreams at bay, and embraced the good ones," she replied to Sara.
After the others had finished searching the room, she moved to the next door and listened.
I shall like to see the manager of this hotel! Guest gone crazy! Employees wide mouthed and vicious! I say that we are entitled to a ffree continental breakfast! I just love those tasty muffins!
"So...if you die in your dream, you die for real?"
A shapeless mess of sheets and pillows piles atop two plain beds. Bold chalk letters high on the opposite wall proclaim this to be “Brenton and Debis’s Room.”
The Gentleman finds a pair of carved wooden knights in the tangle of sheets at the foot of the southern bed.
Mara and Dervak agree that the carvings aren't particularly valuable.
Following the same procedure the party explores the rest of the small rooms.
In the room just to the south of Brenton and Debis's room there are three figures laying dead. Two wearing yellow robes lie slumped on the floor, having suffered repeated vicious blows to the face. A third, an old man easily in his eighties and wearing a light cloth dressing gown, has fallen back across the bed. He is dead, but has a satisfied smirk on his face and still grips a sturdy leather boot with blood on its heel. The boot's partner lies on the floor nearby.
Theo and Julius note that the boots while well worn bear the maker's mark of Angier's, a famed shop that holds the royal warrant for leatherworking. If cleaned up a bit they could sell for 100 gold.
In the final southern room you see a portion of the tiled ceiling has given way allowing heavy bricks to fall across the bed and floor. It seems no one was in the bed at the time.