Ven will split the items between Aenian and himself. "This stuf may come in handy. Let's keep moving."
He moves to the end of the hall.
Aenian takes a couple items and then nods to Ven, gliding up the hall as well, since his extract is still active.
The walls at the end of the corridor have largely collapsed, almost completely blocking passage further north, and exposing the room to the east. The rubble around another door to the west looks like it was recently cleared enough to open it.
A narrow gap is open through the rubble north. You can hear something moving within. Pebbles occasionally clatter down from the ruined walls and ceiling.
Debris covers desks in this staff office, amid toppled lockers and several bodies that almost look human. A single man is here, dressed in a white doctor's coat. He is carefully peeling a long strip of skin from one of the corpses.
Ven looks uneasily at the corpses and then looks up at Aenian with wide eyes. Something is wrong here. No doctor skins his patients. Ven then raises crossbow and readies his action if the doctor becomes hostile, but will otherwise wait and follow Aenian's lead.
Aenian peers intently at the doctor trying to discern if its the same one as before and then giving up looks at Venn and waves him back down the corridor before he slinks into the shadows.
Once he sees Venn move at least 20 feet down the corridor, he'll whisper aloud but point his voice down the hall.
"Doc ... you forgot to kill me all the way, I'm coming for you."
Ven moves back into the corridor.
The doctor spins upon hearing Aenian's voice, but fails to see him hiding in the shadows. He snarls, looking about frantically. After a few moments, it drops to the ground near the bodies in the rubble, shape-shifting into the form of a wounded old woman. He starts moaning in pain, pretending to be wounded.
If so, Aenian beckons to Venn and then points into the room and pantomimes returning to the hallway and finishes by pointing to the end of the hall where the wall of crossbowmen are.
Ven nods. I think he wants me to lure the doctor out.. He then steps into the room. "Excuse me, I'm looking for an insane, shape changing doctor. Oh yes, you'll do nicely!"
He then turns and bolts into hall towards the crossbowmen.
The doppleganger does not chase, but continues to groan in pain while watching the break in the wall. "Help me," it cries, weakly.
Aenian will hang loose and wait ...
Patience is key here ... let's hope Ven piqued his interest
After a minute, the old woman gives up her crying and stands. It stands and walks silently over to the wall break. It glances south, but still misses Aenian in the rubble.
Instead of chasing after Ven, it heads to the north.
Aenian casts faerie fire on the woman-ganger and then moves south, yelling "Doppelganger! Shoot it!"
Fire and move south, rehiding in the shadows
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Once Aenian makes his move, Ven will fire on the Doppleganger. He is careful to stay out of the guards line of sight.
One of the guards reacts as Aenian's faerie fire envelops the doppleganger, but with the distraction and not being able to properly see what he's shooting at, the bolt never makes it.
Ven shoots as well, but his aim is just as poor.
Aenian will fire and then move south.
He'll shout to Venn, "Don't hold back, killing that doctor-thing is our ticket to safety and understanding."
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Ven lowers the crossbow, closes his eyes and allows his inner darkness to take control. The doctor is not the only monster here. He then grasps the fragment of a spell from the shadows of his forgotten past. Pointing his finger, a bolt of energy lances out at the shape changer.
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Aenian's bolt strikes the door frame, but Ven's magic missile hits true. The grandmotherly woman screams, turning back to you, its face twisted in fury. "I will use your skin as a cloak," it hisses a threat as it stalks up to Aenian. It slashes a bloody scalpel at Aenian's throat.
Aenian steps back to the southeast, reloads and fires, "Don't be shy boys, pincushion this flaming old lady with a razor. We'll try and give you a firing lane."
"Probably shouldn't hold anything back, Ven ... we need to get in good with those men to the south to figure out what the hell is going on here."
Ven curls his lip into a sneer. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy killing this crone."
He fires a second magic missile at the doppleganger.
; +1 bleed
Aenian reloads and fires. Scrambling to make space from the woman, his aim suffers again. Ven's force missiles luckily are guided by magic and find their mark, impacting the doppleganger hard. The creature hisses in pain and its features twist unnaturally. For a moment, its tongue elongates and snaps like a snake's tail.
You hear the guards to the south shouting as they reload. Bolts whip past. The creature slashes at Aenian again, hitting nothing vital but scratching a clean line across his armor.
"Keep it up!" Aenian shouts as he steps back, reloads and fires.
Ven will fire one last magic missile at the creature.
; +1 bleed
Aenian keeps backing up and firing. At point blank range, it is hard to miss, and he drives a bolt deep into the woman's gut. Ven's previous hits continue to bleed, and he sends a final force missile twisting around Aenian to impact the thing's chest. Gasping and bleeding, the doppleganger collapses to the floor, reverting to its 'natural' shape.
Ven reverts to his normal self and then smiles grimly at Aenian. "Well maybe this will convince the guards."
He then begins dragging the woman's corpse back to the checkpoint. "Sirs, we present to you one dead doppleganger! You see gentlemen, we are on your side. Now, please help us get out of this cursed prison!"
Aenian stores his crossbow and follows Ven, injured and tired. "Please, we need help ... and this place is insane!" He pleads alongside Ven.
The guards call out Vaustin, who listens to your pleas with a skeptical eye. After a moment, he relents. "Alright, Winter said to let you in if you came back, but that don't mean you're off the hook." He signals to some other guards inside, and you hear the side door getting unbarred and unlocked. The door opens and two guards, a man and a woman, wave you inside.
Vaustin comes around the corner as the guards secure the door. "Leave your weapons here. No funny stuff." He does not sound flexible on the matter.
After you relinquish your weapons, Vaustin guides you through a small guard station adjacent the barricade, then through another door that opens into a large chapel. Improvised pallets are clustered beneath sculpted divinities, and cooking fires burn beneath cracked windows, through which you can see only citrine mist. Panes of violet and blue stained glass form spiraling patters between prisonlike bars, while dozens of candles flicker from modest alcove shrines.
The tall stone statue to the west suggests the chapel is consecrated to Pharasma, but you can see the smaller shrines are dedicated to other deities.
Last, but not least, the chapel is filled with nearly a score of ragged refugees. They are a mix of ages, from pre-pubescent to venerable, and wear an assortment of clothes, including the smocks of asylum interns, to the utility uniforms of orderlies and nurses. What they share in common is that most are roughed up and wounded, some severely.
A beautiful, raven-haired woman dressed in dark livery and bearing the spiral symbol of Pharasma at her neck stands from attending a wounded patient and walks over to greet you.
"Welcome, strangers. I am Winter, de facto leader of this humble sanctuary. You are free to stay and rest, though space is limited. Any aid you can provide would be appreciated, as you can see we are in dire straits." She looks you over briefly. "I will come by and heal your wounds, if time and resources permit." She gives a brief smile, then makes to return to her duties.
Up close you notice, in addition to her Varisian features, that Winter's eyes are mismatched, one green and one golden.
Ven smiles and thanks Winter. "I'm afraid that neither my friend nor myself have any recollection of how we came to be in this place. Where are we?" He looks at the guards and the remains of the doppleganger. "What happened here?"
Seeing that the woman is busy, Ven nods. "We can talk later. What can we do to assist you?"
Aenian looks around in a bit of a fog, "So, what is this place? And why are you here? Were you all 'patients' of this doppelganger doctor as well?"
Trying to be useful, he pulls out the winter blankets they just recovered from the storage area and offers them up to Winter or Vaustin, "Not sure how you are on supplies, but these may be of use?"
Aenian counts his bolts as well to see how many he has left, sighing as he doesso "Mmm, burned through these a bit quick ... thirteen, fourteen, fifteen."
Winter looks at you, "Sad, but not surprising. You are in Briarstone Asylum."
"We will speak later, and I will try to explain what I can. If you wish to help, there are still some wounded I have not been able to attend." She gestures to a woman and a boy on nearby pallets. The woman has bandages around her torso and her arm in a splint. The young boy is covered in bloody bite marks, and quivers in his sleep.
"You can ask around as well. There is plenty that needs doing." Winter nods and returns to her rounds.
Vaustin thanks Aenian for the blankets, still wary but genuine in appreciation. "You really don't remember anything? A couple days ago, or more maybe... I can't really say how much time has passed. That damn fog makes it impossible to tell day from night!" He grimaces, shaking his head. "Anyway, a bunch of the inmates revolted, but things went weird. The fog showed up, people turned into dopplegangers and worse, and then the tremors hit, collapsing half the building." He shudders at the memory, then locks it away behind a stern mask.
"Anyway, we still need those dopplegangers cleared out. They're the biggest threat to our refuge here. I understand if you guys want to rest before going back out there."
"We can always use help breaking down firewood, or preparing food if you have any skill with that kind of thing."
Ven nods with some hesitation. "Let me rest the night and I'll help you hunt the dopplegangers. I don't suppose there is anyway out of here is there?"
He will help with both the firewood and food preparation. He also makes an attempt to learn people's names and their stories.
"You're certain they weren't doppelgangers before hand and just tricked you? And how many of them are left that we need to clear out? "
Aenian considers again," Do you know us?"
And then a bit more, "Have you sent others to fight these things? "
He will help with food and firewood as well, although he has no particular proficiency with either.
He will rest and prepare new extracts.
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Vaustin York shrugs, looking honestly unsure. "I have no clue. Maybe they were, but a lot of things made sense until a few days ago, and then they just went... sideways."
"I haven't seen either of you before, but its a big facility. There were hundreds of inpatients."
"Not sure how many or where the doppelgangers are. That's part of the problem. We've been here locked down and just trying to survive."
*
Splintered furniture and fallen support beams lay heaped in one corner of the chapel. A crowbar and handaxe are all the survivors have to break wood apart. A young Varisian man is working the pile in a disorganized fashion. He twitches to attention when you approach, looking at you nervously. "I'm Denman. Who are you?"
*
Several campfires set up around the chapel have cooking implements, collected water, and basic food supplies, but the survivors trying to prepare meals are using amateurish and wasteful methods.
*
As Ven moves around the chapel, one of the survivors is becoming loudly agitated. A middle-aged Varisian man is currently being hedged into a corner by a woman dressed in guard's armor. "Loic, listen to me. You have to take your medication," she implores, but the man hears none of it. "I... I can hear you, Lois! Come back!" he shouts, looking for a way to escape his corner. The woman is completely engaged keeping him from running off. As you near, she glances at you over her shoulder, a cry for help in her eyes.
Ven will show the survivors how to use the available ingredients to cook several of his favorite recipes. He will use his knowledge of the local cuisine to spice the food appropriately. "The trick is to season the salted mutton with powdered melange to tenderize the meat and bring out the flavor."
When Ven sees the woman in distress he moves to assist. "Loic, can you hear me? What are you trying to run from? You are safe with us!"
He turns to the woman. "What is your name? How long has he been in this state?"
Aenian sighs and shies away from the bright light of the cookfires and heads over to the corner to cut wood finding flashes of inspiration in the way the grain runs in the pieces of firewood.
Aenian watches the affair from his shadowy corner and smiles, then affects a womanly demeanor and cries out from afar, "Loic, it's me, Lois ... I haven't left, just away at the loo. Make sure you eat your food, and I'll be right back!"
Loic ignores Ven and Aenian's words seem to distress him even further.
The woman nods her thanks, "Nasya Walika. I'm an asylum nurse... or was." She adds, "His twin sister died many years ago, but he still has frequent auditory hallucinations of her if he skips his medication. If he runs off, he'll get into more trouble."
"Do you have any tricks to calm him down?"
Aenian looks at his newfound companion and nudges him forward, doing his best to keep a smile on his face and to look non-threatening. "Look man, I was just kidding. If you take your meds, they'll stop bothering you, promise!"
Ven smiles at the man and attempts to reassure him. "Aenian is right, things won't seem so bad once you get back on your medication. Please listen to the nurse."
Your words have a positive effect. Loic still appears confused, but he focuses on you for a moment, which brings him to a lucid state for a moment. He finally sees Nasya, someone he recognizes, and sighs in relief. She closes in and offers him his medicine, which he takes in a jittery demeanor.
A few minutes later, Loic is calm and starts to get drowsy. As he sits down at his bedroll, Nasya comes over. "Thank you, friend. I was afraid he would bolt and get lost in the ruins. Likely his death with whatever is running around out there." She extends her hand, "Nasya Walika, as I think I already said."
***
Ven has extraordinary success despite the meager supplies, turning out a delicious combination of flavors that has the survivors humming and nodding their gratitude.
"Best asylum food I've ever had," exclaims a stocky older woman, probably in her fifties. You see she is armed and armored as a guard, though it is clear she is not used to them.
Also noteworthy, when the meal is served, a bookishly handsome young nurse leads in two younger children from the doors to the east. One is a boy who clings to an odd lantern, never letting it go, even while eating. The other is a girl, acting sullen. After they eat, she guides them back through the doors.
***
Aenian ignores Denman and proceeds to try breaking up the debris into usable fuel. He fumbles at it, struggling without proper tools, and creating more of a mess than firewood. Denman shakes his head, complaining, "Hey, you're making it worse, bud." Notably, his results are pretty meager also.
Aenian eyes her skeptically, "Haven't been so enthralled with the last couple medical pros we ran across here ... sure you're not a doppelganger?'
He tries a weak smile. "You recognize either of us?"
Aenian throws down his axe in disgust, "Well yeah, that's obvious ... wanna give me some sweet tips on how to do it right?" He points at the other guys' leavings.
Ven will introduce himself to Nasya. "I'm Ven Vega. Well, at least I think I am. I can't seem to remember exactly who I am or how I got here. Strange, eh?"
Ven will detect magic on the lantern. "Nice lantern kid. Where'd you get it?"
Ven will attempt to enlist the armored woman. "We plan to go back out tomorrow and hunt the remaining dopplegangers. We could use some help." He looks pointedly at her sheathed weapon. "You know how to use that thing?"
Denman glances at his own pile and shrugs, conceding the point. "Our tools suck eggs." He holds up the crowbar. "I mean, what kind of wood am I gonna cut with this?" In his struggles with the debris, Aenian noted that the handaxe, in addition to being unsuited to the job, is dull and has a large crack in the blade.
***
Nasya raises an eyebrow at Aenian's attemt at humor, and shakes her head to his second question. "You don't look like patients, or asylum staff for that matter, but you're suffering some kind of amnesia? It's possible you were just arriving at Briarstone when the uprising happened. It's a big place -- if you weren't in my ward, I could have gone weeks without bumping into you."
***
Ven detects no magic from the lantern. On closer look, you see it is a kind of shadow lantern, with various animal patterns depicted. As you ask the boy about it, he flinches back and holds the lantern away from you defensively. He eyes you like a threat. "Was my parents'. You can't have it."
***
The armored woman recoils slightly, frowning at the suggestion. "I... don't think that's gonna happen. Meaning no offense, but I don't know you. I mean, thanks for prepping the food, but... well, I'm probably not the best choice to go out there anyway. Captain York maybe -- he's actually got experience in the military."
"My name's DeNae," she adds at the end, awkwardly.