Vincent hears squeaks from the northern door and thinks the door is not trapped.
Vincent does not hear anything from beyond the door and thinks the door is not trapped.
Vincent does not hear anything from beyond the door and thinks the door is not trapped.
Vincent does not hear anything from beyond the door and thinks the door is not trapped.
Vincent hears the faint churning of a distant gigantic stomach and thinks the door is not trapped.
The door seems to resist being opened, having swollen in its frame but with a mighty heave Seamus opens the door. A bilious fog spills into the room, vaporous tendrils clinging to the chamber’s fringes. Howard, Vincent and Dakash see vague, bulbous masses moving deeper in the mist and hear what sounds like the faint churning of a distant but gigantic stomach.
The entire party sees a path leading out of the asylum, into the fog.
Vincent tells the others about the man, and asks Winter and the captain it they know of a man with a long ponytail who would be wearing a makeshift robe. Probably a patient.
After confirming details of the eye and agreeing to help haul the mirror, he checks the area within. "Lots of options. Let's start at the end and work clockwise."
As Seamus goes to the right he grunts in annoyance. "Counter-clockwise it is, then."
Winter thanks Seamus for the fish - it will give them one more day of supplies. "I don't know if there are other survivors out there like us. I would like to help them, but I'm not sure if they're doppelgangers. Use your judgement. If you find any who aren't please bring them back here."
When Vincent describes the man to Winter, she exclaims, "That's Ulver Zandalus! Before the uprising, Zandalus was a quiet man who suffered from horrible nightmares—a poet and artist whose art was disturbing, but who always seemed peaceful enough himself. All of that apparently changed, though.”
As though it had been plucked from the halls of some warm, country estate, this room is filled with inviting furnishings, a hearth ready for a fire, artwork populated by picnicking families, and a mansion-shaped cage with colourful taxidermic birds inside. Large windows might have once looked out over colourful flowerbeds, but now only show yellow mist. A battered corpse in stained yellow robes is impaled on the antlers of a stuffed elk head hung above the hearth, while another body in stained yellow robes lies beaten to death on the ground.
Vincent hears the sound of faint chirping, and realizes that the room is haunted. If anything in the room is touched, something bad will happen. The haunt can be neutralized only if the birds in the cage are destroyed.
He also sees from the windows the mist is thin enough to reveal a garden path leading from the door to another part of the asylum.
Winter makes a face at Seamus’s suggestion of the testing of skin thickness, ”Really, Seamus? I was hoping that what the guards were telling me about you lot was moonshine. I would think most people would think you’re off if you told them that.”
"Well, he is kind of special..." he says to Winter.
Looking in the room, Vincent explains the situation. "Perhaps you could shoot the birds, Seamus?"
He helps him to aim with his sharp eyes.
Howard identifies the vial of red liquid as a potion of cure light wounds, the Phylactery as a phylactery of faithfulness, and the white pearl as a pearl of power (level 1), and the dagger is a +1 dagger. Howard has no idea what the 12-inch bar with spikes nor the haversack are.
Winter nods understandingly at Vincent’s comment.”Try to keep him out of trouble.” Vincent suspects she’d probably say more, but is trying to stay diplomatic in Seamus’s presence.
Vicent hears birdsong transform into a shrill mechanical-sounding klaxon and he feels himself lifted up against his will. As he is raised towards the celling, he also spots the bird cage and stabs his longspear at the birds within.
He destroys the taxidermic birds, and with the source of magic powering his levitation up ending, he finds himself dropped unceremoniously to the ground.
The party sees Vincent being lifted into the air by an unknown force, then as he destroys birds in the bird cage, get dumped unceremoniously back to the ground.
Searching the bodies, the party finds each of them have a masterwork silver dagger, an amulet, and two potions, which Howard identifies as cure light wounds.
Winter sighs, and rolls her eyes heavenwards,then takes the tone of explaining to a child. "Seamus, doppelgangers are not human, it's not they are members of a gang. And it is not polite to go around asking people to be pricked to see if they are human or not. The most common reaction people would have to that would be that the person asking is not mentally sound that he sees monsters everywhere."
When Seamus strikes a pose on Vincent calling him special, Winter buries her face in her palms. "Pharasma grant me patience."
"Vincent - scratch that - don't let him get all of you into trouble."
This room is partially collapsed, destroying most of the buckets, mops, and feather dusters that were stored here. The party finds nothing of value in the room. They make their way through the fallen portion of the western wall.
They see a heap of masked bodies littering the ground and a long desk, several chairs, sideboard, and numerous once-stately landscape paintings barricade the door of this somber conference room.
Searching the room reveals a former orderly wearing a suit of padded armor and wielding a sap, two thunderstones and a golden ring worth 150 gp.
Vincent opens the northern most set of double doors.
Sagging shelves, held together by dust and an extensive system of rolling ladders, ring this library of husky, dull-looking tomes. At the room’s center broods a heavily worn table surrounded by uncomfortable chairs. A chandelier of iron vines dangles above. The scents of leather and old paper pervade the high-ceilinged space, but so does a distinct bestial musk.
Three ratlike creatures, one with two tails that have tiny human hands in place of its front paws, and an unnerving human face with a toothy mouth are high up among the bookshelves.
"Rhyfeddwyr! Dewch i ffwrdd o'n gwerthfawr!" They squeak out in alarm as they catch sight of the party.
Intruders! Get away from our preciousss!
Howard recognizes them as ratings and they are immune to poison and disease, have evasion and have some nifty spell like abilities. Vincent can't remember anything about them.
Spell like abilities:
Constant—detect magic, read magic, speak with animals, spider climb, tongues
3/day—cause fear, dimension door, invisibility (self only)
1/day—summon swarm (rat swarm only)
Howard also remembers that ratlings prefer to dwell in areas where their constant thirst for knowledge and boundless curiosity can continuously be quenched. They often pilfer scrolls and books to quench their thirst for knowledge, just as they chase children to quench their thirst for blood.
Dakash moves forward and draws his crossbow, then loads a bolt into its frame.
"I respect those with a thirst for knowledge." Dakash says, "We seek knowlege, too. A way to escape this place."
The arrow whizzes over the tiny ratling.
”You seek knowledge too?” The ratling with two tails looks at Dakash curiously, its ears perked up. ”Then maybe we have something in common.” She raises up a paw in halting motion, and the other two stand down.
”Please stop that trigger happy human,” She glares at Seamus, ”From shooting any of us. We may be able to work out an agreement.”
”I am Genny Two-tails, and we have claimed this territory as part of the Sharp Tooth clan.” She then turns to look at Seamus, "Yes, we talk perfectly fine. In fact, we probably speak more languages then you do."
”If you want to do it with a prick test, at least do it with a sterilized needle. That is, a needle that has been put into boiling water before you start pricking people. Who knows where you’ve been putting your arrows, you might be giving people tetanus.” Winter chides Seamus. ”Or did you not think about that?”
”Besides, did you think that if they could rearrange their body structure to look like any of us – they could fake the bleeding as well?”
Genny gives a long-suffering sigh, as she turns to her other brethren.” Rydych chi'n gwybod, mae'n well gennyf y dyn glas. O leiaf mae'n synnwyr. Ddim yn hoffi hon idiot ffun.“The other two snigger.
You know, I prefer the blue guy. At least he talks sense. Not like this raven-haired idiot.
Then she turns to face Seamus and puts in, ”Because we’re all trapped here without any way out of the yellow fog?”
She cocks her head, ”Sure, we could be trying to kill each other, but is that going to make things better for either side? Does it get us out of the yellow fog?”
”Oh, I forgot. You aren’t trained as a physician.” Winter’s voice is thick with sarcasm. ”Tetanus, for the uninformed is commonly called lockjaw. It affects nervous system and causes muscles throughout the body to tighten. Eventually the afflicted person can’t breathe and dies.
Tetanus can be caused by puncture wounds by metal objects, which is what you were proposing to do to EVERYONE.”
”Maybe – but everyone dying of tetanus because you were suspicious of doppelgangers isn’t helpful.” She then sighs, ”You aren’t going to give up, are you?” She goes into the room and takes out a small box of needles, then passes it to Vincent. ”Look, I am sure Seamus has the best of intentions, but I’m not sure he’s going to remember.”
”If he really wants to do this prick-test of his – please make sure the needles are sterilized, before you apply it on anyone. If you need extra firewood or a pot, just get it from Captain Vaustin.”
”Ooops. Right, we didn’t see that coming…” Gemna looks sheepish, but looks at Seamus with a more favourable light, impressed at his knowledge of their language. Then she switches to another gurgling language which no one understands, ” නමුත් ඔබට කථා කළ හැකිද?”
But can you speak Boggard?
”Sure – you could have all the space in the asylum, right until the otherworldly-yellow-fog-with nasties within gets in and kills everyone in here.” Gemna states, ”And that doesn’t do any of us any good.”
”Stuff I could tell you? Not much. There were some tremors in the ground while we were exploring the area, and destroyed our retreat passage to our warrens deep beneath Briarstone Isle. Then the otherwordly-yellow fog with nasties lurking within came in, so we hid ourselves in the library, while trying to find our way back to our kin.” Gemna shrugs her shoulders.
”Hmm. I’m not actually in a position to decide that. Don’t fret too much, I’ll get to my leader then I’ll let you know.” Gemna runs down a tunnel in the wall and reappears from the same tunnel a minute later.
”Ratch says that we will stay here, not bother any other humans or pet lizards, unless in self defense. You may use the library as much as you wish, but you must help us get rid of the otherworldly yellow fog – so we can venture out of this place and dig tunnels back to our warrens.”
”Also – even after we leave for our warrens, we want no other two leggers, other then you lot, in our library, since we have claimed it as our territory. These are our terms.” Gemna answers.
Vincent grunts typically, saying something in Aklo.
He then nods to the others and does a quick search of the library before leaving the ratlings to their new home.
Dakash nods as well. "So may it be"
"So it may be." Genny climbs down the bookshelves and spits saliva on her hand then looks expectantly at Seamus.
Once Seamus has done the same, she holds out her hand for him to shake.
Then Genny asks another of her brethren to bring Ratch over, as per the agreement. Ratch appears in a puff of gray smoke, with a loud ”BAMF!” sound, together with two dire rats.
Howard has no clue how they appeared suddenly. Genny bows respectfully to him, then says in a guttural language, "Одамон мехоҳанд, ки дар бораи сагҳои зард, тӯҳматчӣ, ороишдиҳӣ, ҳаввориён, оркестр ё Dreamland, Lord Ratch маълумотро бештар бихонанд."
The humans wish to know more about the yellow fog, the tatterman, Orpiment, Apostles of Orpiment, or the Dreamland, Lord Ratch.
”So, you are the humans that we have a treaty with for knowledge?” Ratch eyes the party appraisingly, ”I would wish to know more about the other big two-leggers around this place, and in exchange, I offer you knowledge on an entity of the Dreamlands, that we know as the Shredman.”
"You first," He gestures generously for the party to proceed.
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Vincent looks at Seamus expecting him to discuss the gangsta of doppels, but when he doesn't automatically speak up, replies.
"The ones near you lived here. They are hiding from the dangers there and are no threat. There are a group of cultists claiming to worship some Orpiment, who fight with them. Then there is a group of doppelgangers. Shapeshifters. We do not know why they are here or how they arrived, yet. Your turn."
Dakash smiles, "Not all of us are humans"
"What do you want to know? They are tired. They are scared. They wish to leave this place. And they hope that we can help them."
"That is good to know, even if not all of it makes for good hearing," Ratch nods at what Vincent has told him.
"Yes, I know, Samsaran. But you all look like big two-leggers to me." Ratch answers Dakash.
"How do we identify the group of cultists? And do you know where their territory is?" Ratch asks Vincent.
"But yes, I will uphold the end of my bargain..."
Ratch orders the doors to be firmly shut and no one outside can hear the conversation before continuing,”The Shredman that haunts this halls is an old horror, long before our time. He was first summoned from the Dreamlands by a woman known as the Briarstone Witch – for she knew that he is a servant of the King in Yellow – a Great Old One who was associated with her patron -The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young.”
”Together they slew every living soul in Thrushmoor, 700 years ago. The humans mark the event as Thrushmoor Vanishing. Then when Briarstone witch disappeared, his ties to Briarstone Isle also faded away with time, and he drifted back to the Dreamlands, limited to preying on those who dream on Brairstone Isle. Yet somehow the horrors of the past have come back to haunt us...and now appear in these very halls...how?"
"The Shredman is a relentless and remorseless hunter. Once he has turned his eye on a victim, he hounds the said victim to his death. And his shredded yellow robes are drenched with blood – for everyone who dies in their sleep in this place is his victim.” Ratch intones.
Seamus opens the door to find a hallway with a passage leading westwards that looks partially collapsed.
There are two doors on the right, one door on the left, and one door straight ahead. The door straight ahead bears the nameplate "Administrator Eliege Losandro" and Howard, Vincent and Dakash spot a slime trail of yellow mucus running from the door at the end of the hall way to the passageway west.
Vincent does not hear any sound from the other side and thinks that the door is not trapped.
Vincent does not hear any sound from the other side and thinks that the door is not trapped.
Vincent does not hear any sound from the other side and thinks that the door is not trapped.
Vincent does not hear any sound from the other side and thinks that the door is not trapped.
Vincent does not hear any sound from the other side and thinks that the door is not trapped.
Vincent does not hear any sound from the other side and thinks that the door is not trapped.
Vincent opens the door and the party finds this room’s sagging ceiling rests largely upon a pair of sturdy bookshelves. A desk and set of chairs skirt the edge of a sizable fissure in the floor. Searching the desk reveals a brooch which Howard identifies as a Brooch of shielding and behind the bookshelves the party finds a plain brown cloak which Howard identifies as magical, but cannot tell what it is.
Vincent opens the door and the party finds that this would look like a typical physician’s office if it weren’t for the preponderance of grotesque anatomical sketches, most depicting traumas and deformities of the head and brain. A sturdy display case stands open and completely empty. The slime trail originates from this room and there is spilt preservative fluid on the floor.
Vincent rumages through the desk to find the notes within belong to a Doctor Arosh Chawaar, who pursued new treatments for hydrocephalus. Many of these notes bear marginalia from the doctor’s sister, Doctor Anya Chawaar of Katheer. He figures that the book may be valuable to medical practitioners and pockets it.
Vincent opens the door and the party finds two desks are crammed into this crowded office. More space has been dedicated to filing cabinets, bookshelves, and stacks of loose research than room for occupants.
There are two bodies slumped over the desks. Vincent, Howard and Dakash note that the young doctors here were slain by blows to the back of the head.
Vincent finds a thick yew wand etched with the symbol of Sarenrae hidden in the back of the eastern desk, with a piece of twine is wrapped around it, connecting to a note that reads, "Mr. Lantz, this is a place of science, not faith. Please keep your religion at home.”
Howard identifies the wand as a wand of bless, and it has 18 charges remaining.
Vincent opens the door and the party finds ceiling of this room has collapsed, crushing a table and well-worn couch. A pale hand extends from the rubble.
After 10 minutes of digging, the party manages to find find an individual crushed beyond recognition. Search her pockets find a capped syringe with a red liquid, which Howard identifies it as a cure moderate wounds potion.
A once-handsome wood conference table now sits marred by the partially toppled southwest walls. Between heaps of collapsed stone, a closet door still stands.
One deformed humanoid creature with an extra large head,has made a nest in the closet of doctor’s entire collection of floating, aberrant brains, spinal columns, dissections, lab coats and the remains of Doctor Chawaar himself. The other deformed humanoid creature is perched on top of the shelf near a heavy, preservative-filled mason jar containing a hornlike tumor that once rooted in a patient’s brain.
Vincent recognizes them as pickled punks. Their skin contains an irritant and a creature damaged by a pickled punk’s bite that deals damage to pickled punk with a natural weapon or unarmed attack,must succeed at a Fortitude save or break out in an itching rash. A creature affected by this rash takes a –2 penalty to Dexterity and Charisma for 24 hours (multiple allergic reactions do not stack). Remove disease or any magical healing removes the rash instantly. This is a disease effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.
High asylum walls hedge in this spacious courtyard garden. Only thin breaths of sickly fog seep in from overheard, though beyond it’s just as thick as ever. Misty wisps slip between leafless trees and simple benches, giving the impression of silent beasts prowling through the garden.Vincent, Howard and Dakash hear the flapping of wings, low growls, and rustling steps from the fog.