"All right, we should all head back to Sandpoint and see if he can be cured before he dies horribly," says Kiera. "Besides, in practical terms we won't be able to get any more information out of him if he dies. And it's just inhumane to leave him to die without trying to treat him!"
She glances to Andrezi in a significant way, indicating that she likely wants to talk about something, but not in front of the doctor and orderlies.
"We still don't know who his Master is, nor the hunt he was raving about," Volkar said with a bit of uncertainty. He shook his head. "Something just doesn't seem right."
Temporarily setting aside the doctors motivations for allowing Grayst to suffer such a horrible fate, the team packs everyone up and makes ready to go back to town; all the while hoping and praying that Father Zantus can help the poor man. Along the way, Dr. Habe answers Volkars questions. "He had only the clothes on his back when he came in.. and those were reduced to bloody shreds by whatever happened to him. We ended up burning them as soon as we were able to get him sedated enough to be tended to."
As the team makes their way back along the dirt path, the bound Grayst begins to sing what at first seems to be nonsense. After a while though, words form in a singsong pattern that lend another layer of eeriness to the words!
Mumble Mumble Scarecrow,
Alone in the maize.
Sleeping in the daytime,
A stitched man he stays.
But when the moon she rises,
Up Mumble gets.
He shakes his hands at first
And moves his feet the next.
And when the dog is snoring,
And when you’re fast asleep,
Mumble Mumble Scarecrow
Will find you good to eat.
"What in blazes is he babbling on about now?" Andrezi asks before turning to Kiera.
"You looked as though you had a question or something you wanted to talk about, Miss Kiera. Just the four of us and a babbling madman now, what was it you would like to discuss?"
"Whyyyy was Doctor Habe not actually attending to this man's obviously deteriorating condition? And what did he mean by '...but the chances to study him up close'? Is Habe running an institution for the treatment of inmates, or one for vivisection?" says Kiera in reply. She gnaws slightly at her lower lip and her brow furrows with concern. "This doesn't speak well to treatment of the other inmates!"
"I fear you may be on to something there, Kiera." Andrezi concedes. I suspect we may have to pay Doctor Habe another visit before all is said and done."
"Maybe we should take a bit of a look about the place? A bit hard with our new bard here, but might have been worth considering." Volkar said as he looked back at the place they were leaving. He sighed, "Ok, well, let's be on guard and why is he singing about a scarcrow? Never heard that ballad before."
Habe looks abashed and miserable as the group turns to him with obvious questions of his malpractice.
"I am an expert on disease and on mental derangement.. this was a dream come true to be able to observe the transition as a subject succumbed to the Fever. Please.. I know I should have sent for the Father as soon as I realized what I had, but this is my life's work!! If I can understand it, study it, then perhaps I can find a cure! A medicine or prevention!! You have to believe me, it was for the greater good! But if anyone finds out what I was doing, I will be ruined here!" The man sobs, desperate to convey the need for which he allowed a criminal to suffer.
"Wait, you are a healer, and you just watched this man unravel," Volkar's question had a cold, icy disbelief to it as his eyes filled with contempt and loathing while they looked at Habe.
Dr. Habe hangs his head in shame. "Yes I did. but only so that more could be saved! If we could understand how this disease works, we could help more people! How many people a year fall to these horrid beasts, and how many to them?! What if all that could be prevented? This mans mind was already broken, and he had been a life long criminal according to Sheriff Hemlock. Who better than to study? I swear to you, I had the best of intentions!"
"And we all know where the road paved with the best intentions leads." Andrezi says dryly. "While ultimately you may have meant well, there is no excuse for this sort of behavior...frankly it is more akin to the behavior of a Nidalese Kuthonite that a man supposedly dedicated to healing the sick." he continues scornfully.
"I hold little hope for this man, but perhaps Father Zantus will be able to help. I suspect we will have little alternative but to turn you over to, and report your deeds to Sheriff Hemlock upon our arrival in Sandpoint."
"I don't know if things would go that far," says Kiera cautiously. "True, this looks bad, but Doctor Habe can expect fair treatment. Besides, what would the town do with all of the other inmates of the asylum? Someone has to look after them. There must be some kind of arrangement that can be worked out."
Kiera glances askance at Andrezi, like she once again has something to add but doesn't want to say it directly in front of their charge.
Resigned, Dr. Habe sighs all the way from his toes. "I can only beg of you based upon reason and for the majority. Mistress Kiera, you are correct. I am the only one qualified to deal with those poor souls still at the Sanitarium.. but we must deal with this problem at hand first and then you must do what you must do." With that, the doctor lapses into silence. He constantly checks on Grayst as the party moves slowly back to Sandpoint.
It is not very long before you finally reach town.. and when you reach the Cathedral, an acolyte meets you at the doors. "What have we here?" he asks, concerned for an apparently sick man that has been restrained by many loops of rope and many knots.
Andrezi nods toward Kiera, acknowledging her request.
"Good day to you, acolyte." Andrezi says in greeting. "Is Father Zantus about? It would seem that this man is in the late stages of ghoul fever and beyond my ability to cure him. We thought that perhaps Father Zantus would be able to attempt to cure this man before more drastic and final measures are taken."
Volkar walked in surprise as he tried to understand Dr. Habe's explanation of why he had allowed the man's condition to worsen. "I hope that the Good Father is much more understanding than I can be for your delays in curing this man."
Volkar watched as they approached the new cathedral. It was a large structure and he couldn't help but see some of the memories of the goblin hordes running about the grounds. He sighed as Andrezi explained their reason for return.
The acolyte stands stunned for a moment as Andrezi describes the nature of the sickness. His face pales as the blood leaves his face in a rush and he stammers "Gh.. Ghoul Fever? HERE? You brought..? Oh dear!" With a flush and a puff of dust, the acolyte very quickly disappears back into the temple. After a moment, you can begin to hear the panicked mans voice echoing from within, calling for the good Father.
Very soon, you can hear Father Zantus' voice through the open doorway, admonishing what you assume to be the young man from before. "A man of the gods should not be seen to panic, and the needs of the sick and ill should always come before your prejudice!" apparently, the Father has been reading the man the riot act while coming to your aid. As he appears in view, his grim visage lightens some as he sees who is at his door.
"Welcome! Lets just take a look at what we have here.." he says, approaching the litter. He cracks a smile and looks aside at Volkar as he says "At least it wasn't one of you again.. I was worried for a moment!"
Returning to his serious mien, he bends over the patient before fixing Habe with a damning glare. "You and I will speak Later." he almost growls. Turning to you, he says "To the sick rooms with him, and quickly. I will meet you there." Father Zantus hurries into the cathedral, trusting that you know the way after your many trips.
Andrezi aids in transferring Grayst to one of the sick rooms. "Father Zantus, if you are willing to let us leave Grayst here for the moment, I believe we need to speak with Sheriff Hemlock...and Doctor Habe has to answer for his...experiments."
"I agree Andrezi, there isn't a way to justify what the man allowed to happen to him who was in his care," Volkar nodded in firm agreement. But, there was a part of this that still didn't add up, why would Habe let this happen and who was the Master that the sick man had been talking about?
"It's ultimately up to Sheriff Hemlock to decide how this is going to play out," says Kiera. "And leaving this man to suffer was horrible. But we still need to figure out what to do about the sanitarium."
~~~~~~~~~~
Later, when the Sheriff has taken Dr. Habe and the group has a chance to talk privately, Kiera says, "Sorry if I came off too 'sympathetic' to Dr. Habe; as we were traveling back to town I didn't want him to become so desperate that he tried something in order to escape. So I was trying to be circumspect instead of implying that if he came to the sheriff with us that it would be guaranteed that he was going to spend the rest of his life incarcerated. I mean, even if that was to be his fate, I didn't want to risk telling him that before we got him to the sheriff and risking him doing something rash."
"But this also brings up the question, as you hinted at, Volkar - what else is going on there? Even if Dr. Habe was doing this just for his own edification, what is he hiding in the sanitarium? Where did he put his notes? Who else became a victim of his research? We should make sure that the place is not hiding any more horrors. Especially if there are other patients trapped there who will starve to death if nobody checks in on them!"
"I agree, Kiera, we should go back and do a more thorough investigation. The only question is how soon do we go. Habe did have his orderlies, but I'm not sure I trust them to take care of any remaining patients either. On the other hand, I'm not so sure I want to leave town until the situation with Grayst is resolved one way or the other."
"Also, the orderlies can't manage the place on their own. Habe has to get payments from the town and from the families of the inmates to keep his sanitarium open, I'm guessing - or else he has a mysterious wealthy benefactor," says Kiera. "With Habe out of the picture, who collects money, pays staff, keeps the doors open? I wouldn't trust the orderlies to stay more than a week."
She taps one finger against her lips as she thinks, then says, "Tell you what. Let's talk to the mayor and see if she has any information about the funding and construction of the sanitarium. Who originally built it? How long has it been there? How did Dr. Habe keep it open and funded? If the town isn't paying for it, then it has to be private donors and investors. Then once the situation with Grayst is under control, we can go back and look for records, logs, anything that will tell us what's going on there."
"Eventually we will have to do something with the inmates... probably find a sanitarium in Magnimar to take them. I don't know of anyone locally who has the qualifications to run such an establishment."
"Let's see if Father Zantus can cast remove disease on Grayst. If so, at least he won't be in immediate danger of dying and turning into a ghoul. I'll pay for it if necesssary."
"I think we need to scout about that place a lot more closely," Volkar said as his fingers twirled the forebeard bead. "Mayor is probably a good starting point, but we might be able to ask the Good Father too about how they interact with Habe."
The team leaves Grayst in the care of Father Zantus, then escorts Dr. Habe over to Sheriff Hemlock for a "conversation" about his recent practices. Once Dr. Habe has been set in an office, Sherrif Hemlock takes the party aside to get their side of things. "We will have to take this before the Mayor, and I'm not sure where it will go from there. Dr. Habe was wrong not to provide timely and needed care to Grayst once he identified the disease. Although he did not directly cause the harm, neither did he provide correct treatment.. hmm.. you have certainly given me a conundrum to deal with, on top of everything else. Now, what are we going to do about the Sanitorium? I understand there are still patients there?"
Kiera says, "Yes, we should go back and get a survey of the place, try to find out the condition of any other inmates."
"Sadly, the magic of the mind is not well-understood enough to take the place of therapy, so we must rely on practitioners like Dr. Habe in these cases," she says. "But perhaps we could go to Magnimar and see if there is a sanitarium there that would care for the patients. If we can acquire Dr. Habe's records, we could perhaps contact the families and let them know what has transpired in brief - that the sanitarium can no longer care for their relatives and a transfer must be arranged."
Sheriff Hemlock considers Kiera's words carefully as he paces around the office. "You raise several good points, but there is already too much on our plates. I must place more importance on capturing this killer for right now.. but I promise that we will get to the bottom of this."
Sheriff Hemlock straightens, apparently having arrived at some conclusion. "I tell you what. We are already stretched too thin, and I dare not send you so far and delay our investigations while a killer roams our town. However, Father Zantus may be able to spare an acolyte to see to the other patients at the Sanitarium until we have some time to sort this out. I will keep Dr. Habe here under detention until we can look closer at his activities, as well as preparing reports of your testimonies. I believe that should wrap this up neatly until we have more of an opportunity to set this case to rights."
"All right, so, do you want us to examine the sanitarium, or see if we can find any other leads? Sadly what Grayst said was not very helpful, and I'm not entirely sure where to look next," says Kiera, a bit downcast.
"Well, Would you trust Father Zantus and his acolyte to assess the situation at the Sanitarium? If so, we have two options. I can send a boy to the temple asking Father Zantus to move on that while we put our heads together to figure out where to go from here, or you can go to the temple, check in to Grayst and speak to the Father yourselves."
"I trust Father Zantus completely, of course, but I don't want any acolytes to get in trouble if they find something unexpected," says Kiera. "Especially if it's tied to our case. What if the murderer was actually hiding there? Seems unlikely but we should be careful regardless."
"While I, as Kiera has already said, fully trust Father Zantus to oversee anything that needs to be done with an remaining patients, I simply do not trust Habe. If he had kept Grayst, a man on the verge of turning into a ghoul, as an experiment, what else might be there?" Andrezi says.
"I would feel much better about the safety of Father Zantus or his acolytes if we were to investigate the sanitarium more fully first."
The Sheriff acquiesces to the insistence of Kiera and Andrezi. "If you wish.. You make some valid points. Talk to the Father, maybe you can act as escort for the acolyte and then check the place over before leaving him in charge. How does that sound?"
"Once you have finished with the Sanitorium, then we can see were we are in the investigation and what we need to do to move forward."
"So, back to the Sanitorium? Well, then, I suggest we leave first thing in the morning," Volkar said after hearing the discussion between the Sheriff and Kiera. [b]"Just doesn't make sense that Habst turned into that creature, and the others were killed. Makes no sense."[/b}
"First thing in the morning is fine by me. That'll give me a bit of time to lend a helping hand to Father Zantus with Grayst anyway."
"Well, then maybe a good dinner, a tankard of mead, and we can rest up before heading out." Volkar twirled the beard bead again and then nodded his head. "Gives me the ability to double check that these little friends are ready for any surprises.
He patted the pouch of small casks and smiled.
Andrezi heads back to the Cathedral while the rest of the group heads back to the Rusty Dragon to whittle away the rest of the day.
Andrezi carefully peers around the corner of the sick room to find Grayst sleeping soundly. The man appears to be afebrile, his flushed and sweating appearance replaced with pale but generally healthy countenance. He turns away to seek Father Zantus and finds him in the head priests office looking worn and drained.
"It took another scroll reading, much as I did for your friend Volkar," the Father explains. "It took a lot out of me, but I was able to stop the Ghoul Fever and save the man. I am not sure how much of his mind is left.. it seems that he went through some horrifically traumatic event before the Ghoul Fever took hold. I dare say that I hesitate to believe this man will ever be able to look after himself again."
You all head back to the Rusty Dragon, where Ameiko meets you enthusiastically. "Taking the day off for once, ya? I will get you some lunch. Just park it in your normal spot, and I will be right with you!" She quickly returns with a platter that you are not used to: light and fair. Fruits, vegetables, a bean paste in a bowl topped with an oil and some spicy powder, and flatbreads to go around. At you astonished looks, the woman gives a laugh. "Thats right, when you are about, its never for lunch, is it! The heavy spicy stuff is for dinner!"
Eventually Andrezi meets back up with you to catch the tail end of the lunch before the group goes their separate ways until morning.
Dawn has yet to break over the horizon and certainly not anywhere near breaking over the top of the city buildings when the party meets back at the stables to ride out to the Sanitarium again. You saddle your horses in the gray light and head towards the gates once more! Once again, it is a quiet couple hour ride before you come upon the vale where the quaint and solitary building rises before the escarpment of rock.
"Whole of mind or not, his fate is still better than that of joining the ranks of the undead. Thank you, Father." Andrezi says with a bow.
"If the worst is true about Grayst, and he will never be able to care for himself again, I suppose he will have to return to the sanitarium - hopefully under the care of someone more understanding than Habe. My companions and I will be heading out at first light to ensure that the sanitarium is suitable for patients again. We will be in touch when we are sure it is safe."
"Hopefully we will not find too many more horrors Habe has inflicted on those supposedly under his care." Andrezi says, his words dripping with disdain for Doctor Habe.
Volkar met up with the group at the stable and helped get his mount ready. He was still trying to understand the events of the day before and the weird song that Grayst had been singing. "Mistress Kiera, did you know the patient Habe had in his care and custody?"
"Grayst? No, I don't think we ever met. But while everyone calls me the local girl done good, I've only lived in Sandpoint for a couple years. I don't know all the farmers and laborers who live here, there are a lot of people!"
The team chats as they make their way through the city in the predawn gloom, then settles in for the ride. As you approach the Sanitarium, one of the caretakers steps outside to greet you. "Where's Doctor Habe?" he asks, concerned.
"He's still in town, talking with Sheriff Hemlock and Father Zantus about bringing some help in temporarily," says Kiera. "The issue with Grayst was quite serious and the priests are looking to heal his body, and are going to come offer assistance with any other inmates who've suffered injuries or physical ailments. We need to get a complete tour of the facility to find out how many inmates are still here, what the routines are like, and what additional assistance could be helpful. Don't worry, your jobs aren't going away - the issue with Grayst simply showed that there was more medical trouble than Dr. Habe could handle on his own."
"Well, then his song and his talk of a Master doesn't make any sense," Volkar said as they were riding towards the sanitarium. He rubbed his chin and looked about. "The guards might have heard more."
The second attendant appears as Kiera is giving her explanation, and the two men share a worried look.
"As you wish.. but Doctor Habe is a good man and a very capable doctor. I don't see what the problem here is.." That said, he steps back to allow you to enter the Sanitorium. The brisk sense of cleanliness still fills the place, emphasized by freshly scrubbed floors and surfaces. A somewhat sour smell of burning incense abounds throughout the building. Leading you through the kitchen and into the main room of the first floor, the man you have been speaking with turns and addresses you once more.
My name's Nate, and this here is Sam. We help Dr. Habe around here.. most cooking and cleaning, looking after the patients and keeping them fed and clean, stuff like that. We live in the bottom floor of the little cottage you passed on your way up here. Dr. Habe takes the second floor, but he is up here every waking moment, so its almost like having the place to ourselves."
"As for our patients, we only have the two now that you carted off the other guy. One is Blind Sedge, and old farmer with no family left to care from him. The other is Wald; 97 years old and crazy as a loon. It's a shame really. His body is as spry as ever, but his mind didn't get the message and checked out early. Both of them have been here a while now." he says.
"Dr. Habe does what he can for them, and we have exercises and stuff that we are to do with them to help, but theres not much to work with, ya know? Anyways.. the tour."
Nate moves through the first floor, opening a door to a larder and another to a washroom, then showing you the stairs to the cellar. Down here, you find a storage room of odds and ends, but nothing else.
Moving upstairs to the second floor, Nate shows you the two occupied rooms and talks about their treatment. "Dr. Habe tries to talk to them, but there's only so much talking that you can do with someone who's checked out this far. We use that room for their indoor exercises, and we try to get them outside on walks when the weather is good." Peering into this room reveals several sets of stackable rings, some clothes with large oversized buttons and closures, some easels and chairs covered with old paint, and other items unique to measuring and training motor skills and dexterity.
Looking into the individual cells, you find them to be small and spare, but comfortable as can be made considering. Of the occupied rooms, Blind Sedge lays on his bed as a breeze flutters through his partially open window; while parchments covered with childish splashes of color adorn the walls of Wald's room.
Moving upstairs, you find that the attendants have been hard at work putting Grayst's room to rights. The bed is repaired and back in place and the tatters of the straightjacket are nowhere to be seen. Some attempt has even been made to clean the walls and floor of the room.
"So, did Grayst come here with anything? Any personal items of note?" Volkar asked aloud as they were standing in the man's room.
Nate shakes his head. "He came in some blood soaked and tattered rags that may have been clothing at one point.. but we burned those as quickly as we could. He didn't have so much as a beltpouch other than that. We cleaned him up and gave him the same clothes we give all the patients.. but soon after he started getting worse and we had to put the jacket on him. Not long after, he went completely mad and kept biting and fighting, burning with fever.. speaking all manner of mad things.. pretty much as you saw when you got here."
"You won't mind if we have a look around for ourselves, will you?" Andrezi asks, expecting the two orderlies to protest.
The two orderlies look at you oddly.. "No.. we don't.. but you've seen what there is to see. Be our guests.. We will wait for you downstairs." With that, the two men move down the stairwell, headed for the kitchen and common room where you can hear them begin the bustle of cooking.
"Right, nothing to see here, it's all just the way it should be," Volkar shook his head as the obvious mocking tone wove its way into his words shared with his companions after the two men had left. "If that is the actual case, then I have a great fort to sell one of you, recently liberated from a goblin horde, nothing there to worry about either."
The two orderlies look to each other in even greater confusion before returning to their duties..
Kiera separates from the orderlies and once again cases the building from bottom to top. She concentrates so hard her head begins to hurt.. but no secrets show under her magically enhanced sight.