Hollie stands near the wall, looking over the bodies with a grim sadness in her eyes.
”How could so much evil be in the world? And falling on our poor little town all at once? It’s not right, not fair.”
As she thinks to herself, her fingers spin the magic ring on her finger more. Her eyes fall to the star shaped marks on the victims and she mumbles ”Really makes me not feel good about what this ring might represent nowadays...”
Cator considers their next move while Krovek performs an investigation of the bodies. "so do you think the sheriff will have the guts to arrest a noble or are we all breaking into Titus' mansion tonight to question him?"
Hollie turns to Cator, shocked at his suggestion. ”What are you talking about? Why do you think Titus has anything to do with this?”
Cator responds. "Banny, the target in the attack, was stealing from Titus, gives him motive. He is rich so he could hire a fancy intelligent undead assassin or someone who could control one. And both of the letters were written by a so called lordship, which would include Titus. Also wasn't he really eager to get everyone to stop talking about your sister? Almost like he had something to hide. I'm not saying we have enough to say it's him for sure but he's suspect number one now. Unless that bodyguard gives us a new lead I think we have to question Titus."
Hollie snarls her nose at, well, everything Cator was suggesting. But he had some convincing logic. Even so...
”Before we break into a mans home, let’s at least question the one man who witnessed it. Even if he’s still crazed, maybe he can give us a clue to the killers identity,” Hollie says as she folds her arms.
Krovek notices all three of the con men have similar claw marks to those that were found on Banny's body.
"Same bastard undead that got 'em, all three," says Krovek. "See them claw marks here?" He sniffs around to see if they have the same undead stench that was so obvious with the other bodies. If not, he makes a note to ask about that.
"This is real messed up--we gotta ask the fella who found them what's up."
Shaedeen remains unusually quiet and reserved. "Titus may have a motive for the killings, but...why would he leave a note for me? He was at Nualia's sentencing, but I don't recall him speaking to me...or even looking at me. Let's talk to the guy in the sanitarium and go from there."
Cator nods "Im getting ahead of myself. You all are right let's talk to that bodyguard in the sanitarium."
Krovek scans the bodies quickly for anything else that might be of interest () and then nods. "Time ta chat with the crazy guy."
To exist Sandpoint and head towards Habe's Sanitorium, the party crosses the Turandarok River, heading for the Lost Coast Road. Said road snakes southeast for a moment before turning west at the low mountains, and heading southwest towards the coast, to the Pyre, a headland southwest of the town itself. It then follows the coast for a few miles, crossing Cougar Creek, until it reaches the Ashen Moor, where it cuts through the moor to the south.
The sanitorium is not, however, on the lost coast road itself. Instead, it's accessible by taking the less-beaten farm roads, used by the trademen whose farms dot the landscape. The party passes some of these farmhouses in the distance, and notice various folks finishing up the crops they've planted. Cabbage, corn, beans, and tomatoes are but some of the vegetables that are spotted along the way, and careful men and women push wagons with mechanisms to keep the farms irrigated along rows upon rows of produce. A few green, soon to turn golden, fields of wheat are visible as well, the stalks reaching waist high. The party sees a handful of smaller pens with sheep, goats, and a few cattle here and there as they pass, the shephards tending their flock quietly.
A few of the ranchers and farmers wave at the party, and while one or two give a double-take at the sight of Kazaht and Draxtherian, they're too far to interact with, and they give everyone a wide berth.
A mile or so road, away from the highway (the Lost Coast Road) a squat, stone building that serves as the sanatorium has three floors under a stout, stone-flagged roof, and is built in the lee of the limestone escarpment known as Ashen Rise.
Before setting out to Habe's Sanitorium, Krovek suggests a quick visit to Father Zanthus to tell him about the gruesome murders and the possibility of undead. After explaining the tragedy, he adds a request: "Could ya maybe bless the bodies? Don't want them risin' up again. And if that don't work, might be good ta keep them bodies locked up for a bit 'til we do a good burial."
* * *
Krovek looks relieved to finally find the sanitorium. "So this is where you keep your crazies?" asks Krovek. "Guess you don't want them neither. Where I'm from, if ya go crazy and the shamans can't help, most times ya just get sent away from the tribe--find yer own way or die."
Zantus furrows his brow, "I will do what I can" he promises, after learning where they are being stored.
Hollie was relieved to be on the road, feeling the wind on her hair, and away from the judgmental eyes of Sandpoint for the moment. Drax, meanwhile, spent the journey overjoyed with his newfound freedom granted by his ability to fly, particularly since he could now flaunt this over Shaedeen, who had repeatedly mocked him for being unable to previously.
Hollie gives Krovek a sidelong glance at his blatant insulting of those who have been touched in the head. It wasn't necessarily their fault they were the way they were, after all.
"I actually have heard of this place. The owner is Erin Habe. He is an expert in dealing with injuries and afflictions of the mind. He made quite a bit of coin in Magnimar before building this place. I heard a few years back he took on a partner, an older Varisian named Caizarlu Zerren. Oh, and he has two brothers that are tieflings that act as orderlies. I think their names were Gortus and Gurnak," she says as they approach the building.
Once they reach the structure, Hollie dismounts from Midnight and gives him a gentle pat before securing his reins on a hitchpost. "Let's go see if we can meet with Mr. Habe and speak with this sick man."
Lunal scowled and lightly smacked Cator on the shoulder at his callous attitude. "Seriously? Show some respect."
Lunal rolled their eyes but seemed glad Hollie could keep the prideful dragon under control. Such creatures were powerful, yes, but not quite earth-shattering until they had a few centuries under their belt. Although the pride seemed to be something they were born with.
Then Cator threatens Drax again. Lunal goes stiff. I will have to remind him of the temperament of dragons.
Lunal goes paler than normal inside, especially at the sight of Banny Harker. There's a strange twinge of familiarity...almost a perverse pleasure. Which only serves to make Lunal sicker. "I...I need a moment..." Lunal turns around a corner, and after a moment sounds of vomiting issue forth. They wave off any attempt at comfort. "Just..hrrgg...just search the place, tell me if you need any...hykkk...magical help..."
Lunal is glad to be outside and traveling in the open, fresh air. The farm is calming, and Lunal casually plucks a few green tomatoes and absentmindedly nibbles on them as they walk. As Drax casually takes to the air behind them, flexing his new claws, Lunal leans in close to Cator. "Makes you remember how much more dangerous dragons get with age." An amused smile flashes for a moment before hiding behind a green tomato.
Cator says sarcastically to Lunal "so you are saying we should take Drax out now before he gets too dangerous? Lunal I never knew you were so cold blooded! But seriously, I don't know if you noticed but that dragon's on a leash"
Not seeing much point in waiting, Cator approaches the door and knocks.
Cator hops off of his horse and approaches the squat building, walking up onto a porch. The old floorboards of this wooden veranda creak under as he steps onto them, audibly.
When he knocks on the door, there's no response. The door doesn't seem locked. Cator sees through a window that there appears to be an empty reception room on the other side of the door. This room contains a desk and three chairs—two to the west, one to the east. A cord hangs from
a hole in the southern wall above a sign that reads, “Ring for service.”
Shaedeen is quiet during the short trip. She makes a point of not noticing that Drax can now fly. At the sanitorium, she follows Cator to the door. She gazes around nervously, almost as if she's afraid she's being watched.
Cator opens the door and heads into the reception room. He glances around and then pulls the cord on the southern side of the wall.
Hollie follows along inside the reception room, looking the place over with idle curiosity.
Drax makes a point to send a strong gust of air with his wings over Shaedeen as he lands before bounding past her and into the room behind Hollie.
"What was that?" Shae wonders aloud, making a point not to look at Drax. "Must've been a mosquito. Shut the door before any more get inside."
A bell rings when the cord is pulled, audible to the south.
After about a minute, a kindly-looking man wearing a scarf around his head unlocks the southern door and comes into the reception area. He says, in an obviously slightly-annoyed voice, "yes, yes, what is it - I am very busy-"
Then he sees Draxtherian, and nearly jumps. "w..what is that? What do you people want? We have nothing of value!" He looks terrified. He opens one hand outward, as it in supplication, but begins to rummage through the folds of his robe with the other, clearly searching for something, "h...here please! This is all I have on me!" He backs towards the door with the other hand open, containing one gold and six silver pieces. His eyes show genuine fear, and he looks on the verge of bolting.
"It's just a giant mosquito," Shae says with a smug smile. Then she adds, "We were sent here to interview one of your patients." The teen then quietly says who exactly the group has come to see...Grayst Savilla.
The guy is only staring at Draxtherian in fear, almost paralyzed, he can barely hear Shaedeen. He's watching the drake, his eyes wide, the only part of his body which are moving are his knees, which are shaking.
He doesn't respond to Shaedeen.
Annoyed at Drax's behavior, Cator says "Hollie can you ask Drax to go to his special place? He's frightening the locals"
Cator then turns to the man and says "sir we are so sorry to startle you, we don't want your money. We have been deputized to investigate a series of murders and want to talk to one of your patients."
Krovek has both Kazaht and Shadowmist stay outside, ordering Kazaht to be nice to the horses.
When the man cowers before Draxtherian, Krovek has to suppress a laugh. Just another cowardly human, he thinks. He focuses on stretching out his legs after a long horse ride.
Seeing the man is actually terrified of Drax, Shae tries to soothe his fears...while buttering up Drax at the same time. "Why, that's Draxtherian, noble ally to Hollie Skyborn, the Priestess of Sandpoint! Haven't you heard of them?"
Drax is at first flabbergasted that the man would be scared of him, a creature of goodness and virtue such as he. But then again, he was just a human. And such frail creatures are usually wise enough to be fearful of those that are of superior species.
Usually.
”Sir, I do apologize, but as the half-elf has said, I am no danger to you. I am a protector. A guardian of Hollie and those that she considers allies, as well as of innocents in danger of those who would visit evil on them. Unless you intend to harm anyone in that regard, which you do not seem, then you have nothing to fear of me,” he says as reassuringly as he can.
Hollie likewise attempts to calm the man. ”Yes, I promise you that you will remain safe while we are here. And what the others say is true. We have been asked and appointed by Sheriff Hemlock to investigate some murders that have occurred, and we understand that you happen to have a survivor of one of the early attacks here in your brother’s facility. We just would like a moment to speak with him, if that would be alright? Could we perhaps speak with your employer, Erin?”
The man puts his coins away, and calms his nerves. ”hmm? No, I am Erin Habe. This is my sanitorium. I try to help those who have no other source of help, yes.” He takes a deep breath. ”Well, you all can speak with him, I suppose. I’ll have the orderlies bring him down, but with respect, Sir Dragon, please could you wait here? You would frighten my patients, surely. The rest of you could wait with me just there, in the workroom.” He waits for agreement that such a thing is possible.
Hollie curtsies and says, ”Thank you sir. But yes, my Draconic associate can wait here for our questioning to be completed. You wouldn’t mind, would you Drax?” she asks, shooting him a pleading look.
The dragon obviously wants to protest, but looks at the door and is certain he can get through it if need be. He offers the draconian equivalent of a shrug before circling around the center of the room and finding a spot to curl up and wait.
Erin leads everyone but Draxtherian south, into the larger room. It looks as if this area was intended to be a workroom and kitchen, but has only served as a kitchen recently. He knocks on two of the doors set into the western part of the room, and emerging from each room after a moment is a tough-looking person wearing a white coat. They have ruddy skin, and seem to wear small horns. They seem to be related.
They are tieflings.
Erin says quietly to them, "could you bring Grayst down carefully, please?" The two men give the party sidelong looks, and then nod at Erin, heading upstairs.
Erin fidgets a bit, looking nervously at the party.
noticing Erin's nervousness, Cator eyes Erin skeptically
Krovek sees Erin's nerves and wonders if it was the lingering effects of Drax or something else.
"Hey doc, do you know what's wrong with Grayst?"
He's obviously nervous about everyone being here. He keeps looking at the door.
Erin seems nervous - and when he glance at the floor, ceiling, and walls, Krovek sees why. He's concerned about the old building you're in, and doesn't want it getting damaged by all the heavy footfalls.
Erin was watching the stairs when Krovek spoke, "oh, hmm? Not sure. I know that he is quite sick, and possibly close to death. I believe it is some erm, brain disease."
Lunal looms quietly as the others soothe the man's fears of Drax.
Lunal glances between the others for a moment, then rolls their eyes. "Are you hiding something Erin? Look if it's something bad just accept that we're going to find it, and if it's just embarrassing trust that we won't care." Lunal almost sarcastically casts mage armor with a raised eyebrow at Erin.
When Lunal casts the spell, the man yelps, and runs south, to the stairway. "I knew you were here to rob us!" He points at Lunal, "stay away! You're all liars!" It looks like he's ready to flee up the stairs.
"And how would you even know what I just did? For all you know I just cleaned my boots, or dried my hair. Probably need to do both after going through this musty old building anyways." Lunal looks for something small and unimportant in the room, like a rock or small piece of wood or bauble, but then pauses. "You're not afraid of magic for some reason, are you?"
"You're all liars!"
"No I'm not," Shaedeen lies, smiling sweetly.
He points, "y...you cast a spell! I know what verbal and somatic components are, I'm not stupid! Please leave!" He points at Lunal, specifically.
Lunal rolls their eyes again. "Ooh big scary magic user is here, better hide the children." Lunal walks out and dramatically fakes verbal and somatic components of a spell, like what somebody would do in a poor impression to explain it to a child. "Drax, care to join me? It appears those touched by the arcane aren't welcome here."
Shaedeen's amusement at the spectacle slowly turns to concern. She whispers to Hollie, "Um...are the inmates running this asylum?"
Hollie gawked at the scene unfolding. ”I have no idea...” she whispered in reply.
She then steps forward and says ”I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. I assure you, we mean you no harm. None of us. You have my word.”
In the lobby area, Drax turns his head at Lunal’s dramatic return. ”Join you? Where are you going?”
"Outside, to breathe. Get some fresh air away from the stupidity in there." Lunal suddenly stops and looks at Drax. "Actually I've been working on a new trick recently. Not quite as impressive as your flight, but starting to get there..."
noticing that Lunal cast mage armor, Cator tries to reassure Erin again "my apologies for Lunal. I can assure you the spell they cast was purely devensive. I think everyone is a bit jumpy right now. Lunal intends you no harm."
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Deciding that he might be part of the problem, Krovek tries to tread lightly as he's in this old building. He figures he better let the pretty ones do the talking as he looks at Erin and gives the most non-threatening smile a large half-orc can manage.
The man looks like he's about to flee, but calms down when Cator explains the situation. "I... we don't have any weapons! Why would he need to defend himself!" He looks annoyed and flustered, but rubs his temple, and mutters something to himself.
After a few more seconds, the two orderlies bring down Grayst, whose skin is pale and looks gangrenous, his hair wild and eyes milky white. Grayst is mostly nonresponsive, wrapped as he is in a straitjacket. He looks wildly around, not seemingly able to focus on anyone nearby.