"The three who were killed, it sounds like you knew them. And that they probably have many enemies...do you know if they had any friends?"
"Not likely. Those are the kinda blokes that'd sell their own mothers for a couple gold pieces. In fact, I think Lener even tried to after his old mum died. Got reports of a phony slave auction for her, but we knew she'd been dead for six months." remarks the guard, clearly both amused by the antics and glad that they won't continue.
Rajendra smiles in response. "Ameiko told us that the madman was their bodyguard. After trying tricks like that with the wrong people, I see why they needed one."
Elena wasn't a big fan of these men being so jovial about what they had seen. She held her tongue and was ready to go to the sanitarium when the others were prepared.
The group prepares to head to the sanitarium, but the guards give out a yell. "Oi! I thought we were getting ale for our troubles!" the human, whose name you never asked, bellows after you.
---
You approach the Sanitarium, located south of the town. You tie up the horses that you borrowed from Sheriff Ameiko on the nearby fence and move towards the run-down building. The floorboards of the mental health facility creak as you walk on them. There appears to be the front door, directly to your left as you climb the few stairs, but the porch wraps around the building to the right, leading to another door.
Rajendra wordlessly signals to Ameiko, holding up a few gold for the drinks.
"How about you sweet-talkers knock on the front door while the uh..." Jim gestures awkwardly at himself, Raj, and the dwarf, "...rest of us, take a look around." he says with a half smile.
Elena nods at the suggestion. "I guess sweet talker is a compliment," she laughs as she moves to the front door and raps on it. "Hello...anyone here?"
Rajendra looks around at the building, then closes his eyes and listens. "I sense that there may be something more to learn from him. Or perhaps from anything he had with him when he was brought here."
Ziebodug tosses a few coins to the man, saying "And here is for the round after that," nodding to Raj as he buys their drinks. "Good day, good sir."
---------
The dwarf nods as he moves to look around the place. Here's hoping I don't end up here some day, he thinks to himself.
After a minute or so, an elderly man with his head wrapped in a burgundy headwrap answers the door. "Hello. We aren't interested in the word of Razmir or Pharasma or Groetus. Have a good day." says the man as he tries to close the door on you.
"Hold on, hold on. We aren't agents of any of one outfits. We are acting deputies from Sandpoint. We need to ask some questions here, and soeak with a witness to a crime that happened the other day," Elena smiles, as she tries to stick her foot in the door to keep it from being shut.
"He is currently not seeing any visitors. His mental state is... uhh... compromised, I believe is the most tactful way to state it." the man says. "If you are actually deputies, then you should be aware of what atrocities the man committed and this deep psychological scarring has left him rather... incoherent at best."
"Perhaps if you come back in a few weeks, then I can see if my treatment can have him in a more amenable state for authorities, such as yourselves."
Meanwhile...
Jim jimmies with the side door to see if it's locked and, either way, to find a way in.
"No disrespect, doc, but we will be seeing him anyway. We need information, and even if this guys has lost his grasp on reality, he is the best source we have. Please be so kind to show us the way."
"Trust me, doctor, five minutes and we will be on our way. I really must insist. If we have to go bring the Sheriff back with us, I'm afraid everyone here will be arrested. We don't want to stir up any trouble like that, do we? Give us five minutes and we will be out of your hair."
Jim inspects the rear door and finds that it is just a standard locked door, however his picks are unable to overcome the lock.
---
"I don't appreciate your tone and I am conducting important research work at the moment and don't have time to babysit some deputies from Sandpoint." the man says haughtily. "If you haven't noticed, this isn't Sandpoint and your authority doesn't extend to my property."
"Additionally, you cannot arrest me as I have committed no crime. No allowing you on to the grounds of my own establishment is no crime that I am aware of and the man was committed to my facility by order of the Sheriff. Her jurisdiction ended when that occurred." he states roughly as you threaten the man with jail time.
Jim shrugs and tries his picks again.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Ellena tries to keep the man's attention focused on her and the others, instead of the back of the building.
"Of course your work is important. We have been told all about it. What is the main problem with the man we are looking for? Has he just been overcome by the awfulness he saw?"
"Now, now... let's not get ugly here. The thing is, sir, that we expect this is not the last case, and that your guest probably is key to stopping more murders. So while you may be within your rights to refuse us access, I am sure you would want to do all that you can to avoid seeing a repeat of the grisly scene, right?"
Rajendra looks around while Jim tries to open the door, paying particular attention to any windows that overlook the entrance.
Diplomacy Aid Another from previous post
"Come back tomorrow and I will have him sedated and ready to at least try to be asked questions." says the man whose name you still have not asked. "May I have your names for the file?" he asks of the three in front of him.
---
Jim keeps trying and finds that his skills are barely able to unlock a standard locking mechanism, but he finally is able to trip the pins, hearing the familiar click of the door unlocking.
"Of course. I am Ziebodug Bandmocken... no, not of the Sandpoint Bandmockens... a totally different family tree there. That's spelled with a Z and only one 'I'. That's right. Tomorrow, you say? Very well, we will hope for the best until then."
Elena wasn't sure she wanted to reveal too much about herself, but after thinking a few moments, she gave her real identity. "I'm Elena Lovain. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Are you sure you can't work us in today?"
---
"I shant forget. As we rarely have any visitors." remarks the man, firmly keeping the door open only partially.
At Elena's insistence, the man frowns. "Pleasure, but I'm sorry. My work is too important to be kept waiting at the moment, but tomorrow will work brilliantly for me." says the man.
As Jim manages to get the door unlocked, Rajendra holds up a hand. "It is best to wait until we know whether the others were able to get in honestly. Let's see if there's a key on the inside, so we can get in quickly if we need to."
Jim takes a quick peek around to see what the inside looks like, and if there happens to be a nearby key ring or such.
Jim and Rajendra give a quick glance inside and see several oiled raincoats hanging on pegs above a bench. Other than that, this room is quite bare. There do not appear to be any keys and the inside of the door has a simple twist-mechanism to lock the door.
The unnamed man shakes Jace's hand and closes the door. You can hear the door being locked shortly after it closes.
Jim closes the door and moves to reconnect with the rest of the party for their assessment of the situation and to determine how they might be faring.
Rajendra nods slightly and follows Jim.
Jim sees Elena and the others moving away from the front door. He jogs up to meet them. "What did you find out?" he asks hopefully.
As the surreptitious pair comes around the building at a distance, Rajendra eyes the crowd in front of the door. "It seems they did not get in. Let's stay back here, out of sight, and wait for them."
"I didn't get a good feeling from that guy. I say we camp close by and come back here first thing in the morning. I think while we try the front again, the rest of you sneak in the back. I bet he comes up with a reason to try and keep us out tomorrow too. You can sneak in and figure out what exactly is going on in that place."
The Vudrani shakes his head minutely. "I agree that we should stay here, but we should keep a watch on this place and not sneak in without more than a suspicion."
After the party moves away and regroups, Ziebodug says, "OK, looks like we have to wait till tomorrow, but let's keep an eye on this place. I get a feeling this guy can be trusted, but I don't want to risk someone walking this guys out of here in the night."
Zie looks for a place to set up an unobtrusive stake out.
You spend the night in the nearby woods with relatively few comforts as no one planned for an extended stay in the forest, however dawn comes and nothing or no one seems to have left the sanitarium, nor entered it.
After his morning meditations and exercise, Rajendra follows the others down to the sanitarium. As usual, he keeps to the background and tries to be unobtrusive.