Reine nodded, and headed towards the chapel.
"Let's make sure he's secure and go find Winter." John says.
"The office looks like a good place to leave him."
A bit less jumpy with more sources of light around her (though that meant more shadows, at least they weren't as dark), Desdemona finally dragged her attention away from her own shadow to mentally review what the others had said.
She gave Reine a wary look. Definitely not a woman to be crossed.
She wasn't much help in hoisting their prisoner about, but she was relieved that there was a place to keep him, so that they needn't leave him in the hallway.
"Should... should we review what there is to tell Winter?" she asked doubtfully. "Though I suppose 'batten down the hatches' might cover it."
Informed that the prisoner would be held in the small barred room, Broom immediately began tidying up the cell to be to make their prisoner as comfortable as possible.
"We should just tell Winter everything we have found. She is the leader and should know all of it. By the way, should we see if anyone here can open that locked box for us?"
Possibly surprising to everyone else, Reine agreed with Broom. "Winter, at least, needs to know what we know." She dropped the unconscious apostle in the makeshift cell. "If we weren't convincing enough, or if Zandalus himself has something to say, we don't want these people being surprised in the middle of the night by a raid. And if we don't come back tomorrow... well, someone needs to know whether to send someone after us."
"We should tell Winter and let her decide what to share with everyone else."
"Maybe we can see if there's a child here that wants a puppy."
"Let's go find her."
As they approached Winter, Desdemona took a moment to whisper to Broom, "The boy, Brenton... the boy whose brother was a ghost. Would you care to leave Nipper with him? I'm sure he'd take good care of the pup, and it might comfort the boy to have such a playful friend."
"Nipper seemed to really like John though. But if he likes Brenton then that should be fine." Broom scratched Nipper behind the ears as the party looked for Winter.
"We're probably going to have to get into more fights."
"I think the dog would be safer here."
The group seemed to have come back in the middle of a rest cycle. With the sky remaining a constantly overcast, sickly yellow, the survivors had to guess at what time it really was. As the days wore on, circadian rhythms fell out of sync and so 'time' had to be agreed on by consensus rather than observation.
While it was the middle of the 'night,' Winter was still awake, talking quietly to a woman in the corner of the chapel, rubbing her back and murmuring soothing words while she rocked back and forth. Adelar sprawled on an unoccupied pew nearby, opening his eyes when he heard the group enter the chapel. He stood and quietly approached the scouts, meeting them a few steps away from Winter, almost like he'd appointed himself her minder or bodyguard.
"You look pretty serious," he said quietly to the returning quartet.
"Do we?" Reine asked, though it came out sounding more like a statement, flat and dry. she didn't raise her voice - kept it down, in fact, but Reine clearly wasn't in the mood to be explaining herself to anyone right now.
"I suppose finding the way to Zandalus' campground, killing a bunch of ghouls, capturing an 'apostle,' killing Zandalus' lieutenant, and getting back here alive will give one an air of seriousness, at that." She shrugged.
"Unfortunately, in doing all of that, we've also discovered that there's literally nothing between those crazies and this camp but the barricade. And they're running out of food out there. So, yeah, it might also be a bit serious, as well. Or will be, once they figure that out."
Reine raised an eyebrow at Adelar. "We figured Winter might want to know what's going on. Mind if we tell her about it?"
"Yeah, it's been a rough day." John adds.
Desdemona found herself mildly irritated at Adelar as well, though upon reflection, she couldn't say why.
You are not who you were, the darkness in her mind told her gleefully.
Desdemona managed not to hiss 'shut up!' aloud, but only by a thread. (Just as well - she certainly didn't want Reine to think Desdemona had said that to her.) That she would resort to such coarse language at all, much less to the source of all her fears, was a measure of her mysterious irritation.
She turned away, busying herself with patting Nipper in Broom's arms.
"Hi Adelar. We think we are really close to finding a way out, but we need to rest before we push on. Its been a tough..." Broom looked out the window at the roiling yellow fog "Day?"
Adelar blew out a breath and shook his head. "There's always something, isn't there?" He turned to look at Winter and the woman she was consoling. "Mura's been having a tough day. She hasn't been able to get to sleep. Let me go see if she'll let me spell Winter- she doesn't know me but let's see."
The Iomedaean went over and spoke quietly to Winter for a little while, then knelt next to the rocking woman and started murmuring quietly to her. Winter stood watching for a moment before finally turning to the explorers and gesturing for them all to walk some distance away.
"Adelar said you needed to talk to me."
"Yes....we've seen some things ...." John says, wiping his brow with the back of his hand and rubbing his eyes.
"We found our way all the way across the Asylum and to the doorstep of Zandulus's lair."
"He has a lot of the patients organized and as a group they could probably overwhelm this place."
"It also seems like there's a connection between the mist outside and some sort of ritual that he and his followers have performed."
"We need to rest and recover a bit. Then we can go back and do our best to end this by getting through to him and ending these weird rituals."
"We brought a prisoner," Reine added. "Human. Might be worth talking to, but really, was more to discourage the others from following us, without having to kill him, or leave him to become a ghoul. We killed a lot of ghouls. Except for the one that bit John, most of them weren't much trouble, but it's a lousy way to end. And the ritual John mentioned. It created at least one person like the Administrator, but giving off yellow smoke, not purple."
"We also killed a really mean old lady."
"I'm glad there aren't many people locked up in here as tough as that old hag."
"After she nearly killed John and Broom!" Desdemona hastened to add, lest Winter think they were running about murdering people nilly-willy.
"We brought a prisoner," Reine added. "Human. Might be worth talking to, but really, was more to discourage the others from following us, without having to kill him, or leave him to become a ghoul. We killed a lot of ghouls. Except for the one that bit John, most of them weren't much trouble, but it's a lousy way to end. And the ritual John mentioned. It created at least one person like the Administrator, but giving off yellow smoke, not purple."
Winter took in the information calmly, nodding here and there. When Reine said John had been bit by a ghoul, she asked him "And you're feeling alright now? I have a little bit of healing magic left before I need to rest for the night."
She thought for a few moments. "So Zandalus is doing this on purpose? Why?" Winter shook her head. "What does he get out of trapping us all in this mist?"
The serious, dark haired woman looked at John, then the others. "I know you said he has enough people to overwhelm our sanctuary, so what do you propose? Do we need to go on the offensive? We're mostly noncombatants but we could organize something if we had to."
***
"We also killed a really mean old lady."
"I'm glad there aren't many people locked up in here as tough as that old hag."
"After she nearly killed John and Broom!" Desdemona hastened to add, lest Winter think they were running about murdering people nilly-willy.
Winter grimaced. "An old woman tough enough to give the four of you trouble? And more of a threat than the ghouls?" She shook her head. "Sounds like you ran into the Bag Lady. Serial murderer in Rozenport decades ago. Choked her victims to death. Asylum files had her down as among the most dangerous patients in here."
She nodded reassuringly to Desdemona. "It sounds to me like you did everyone in here a favor."
"Oh!" Broom exclaimed with concern "We don't think you should go attack them. They are mixed up in all of this like we all are. We think we were able to scare them off at least for a little while. We only need them to stay away for one evening before we go find Zandalous, and then hopefully everyone will be free of this yellow fog."
"I feel fine so far." John tells Winter.
"I was a little flushed and sweaty after it bit me, but now that the wound is closed up, everything seems okay."
"I think Broom has it right," Reine added, "we're the offensive. Or, we will be after getting some rest. You've got a solid defensive position with the barricade. It shouldn't take many competent people to defend it. Rostam and some of the others are a good core. Hopefully it won't come to that, but if you make a few preparations, you could probably hold out for quite some time. The 'apostles' might have enough strength to overrun you, if Zandalus can keep enough of them organized for long enough, and if they'd surprised you."
Reine took a deep breath, then shrugged.
"They have a medic of sorts, and maybe some tough customers. But they're running out of food, and they're scared to sleep. Even if we don't kill Zandalus and his smoke-blowers, or if killing him doesn't stop... this" she waved her hand to encompass the entire situation, "we'll weaken them. Probably enough for you to be able to hold out until they die off. Maybe enough that you can beat them yourselves." Reine shrugged again.
"Just don't let anyone besides us go wandering out there alone. The barricade is defensible. Go out there, and it's easy to get picked off."
She thought for a few moments. "So Zandalus is doing this on purpose? Why?" Winter shook her head. "What does he get out of trapping us all in this mist?"
"Maybe he has no choice, either. Maybe he serves the Tatterman," Desdemona said quietly, then sighed and shook her head. "It's only speculation, but so much of what we think we know is."
"If we don't go back and deal with Zandulas, I don't think anything else will matter. We'll be stuck here in this trap until we perish." John says flatly.
"Whether it's starvation, ghouls, crazies, or the Tatterman." he pauses. "The end will be the same."
"Agreed," Reine said to John with a nod. "The four of us are the offensive, and we will go out and deal with this. I'm looking forward to introducing that tattered bastard to real fear, if it comes to that. I was only saying that there's no sense sending any of the others out on their own. And if they're smart, this group can probably hold off everyone but Zandalus and his pet rag doll. Even if we don't manage to come back."
Broom listens quietly as she pets Nipper
Winter nodded as the group explained the situation. "Alright. We'll double our guard and prepare supplies for a prolonged siege of the barricades. Knowing about the threat is definitely helpful. Do you need anything from me other than a safe place to sleep?"
Broom busies herself taking care of all the mundane tasks that she can find around the camp before retiring for the... evening?
John finds a place to stretch out, pulls his cloak up to cover his head, and tries to get some sleep.
John twitches and kicks in his sleep, his right hand clenching as if it had a grip on the hilt of his sword.
Broom slept soundly, untroubled by the day's events. She awoke early feeling refreshed and reinvigorated. She was excited by the prospect of finally meeting Zandalus, but also scared about what that encounter might be like. Whatever happened, she hoped that everyone would be able to leave this place and perhaps even get their memories back.
She quickly set about preparing breakfast for everyone.
As people started to wake up she cheerfully bid them good morning as she served them their meal.
After everyone had eaten, she insisted on cleaning the dishes before preparing her equipment for the trek back to the broken tower.
"Didn't we have one of Zandalus' paintings with us? We were thinking that we could bring it with us and use it to try and convince the other survivors that we are doing some kind of holy work and see if they will let us through without a fight."
John is glad of the healing attention from Winter.
He definitely doesn't want to turn into a ghoul in his sleep and eat everyone.
He sharpens his blades and checks his gear to make sure that he is all set before they start off.
Reine came awake in the better of the two ways she'd become used to. Rather than sit up with a start, ready to claw at an expected attacker, instead Reine simply, with her eyes still closed, realized that she was awake. She took a few moments allowing her senses to absorb the world around her, cataloging each sound, each impression, until she was absolutely certain of where she was, and who was around her. Only then did she allow her breathing to change, or give any sign that she was awake.
She took a few moments before she sat up to focus her mind on the day and the tasks to come. Focused on her goal, her unseen enemies, and on the moment in which she would defeat them.
Minutes later, she was fully dressed, equipped, and ready to go. Though she did allow a smile while eating the breakfast Broom had prepared. She even went so far as to thank Broom, and comment that it had been well-seasoned.
The party woke and readied themselves to head back out into the asylum's wilder parts. As they left the chapel proper they saw Tolman Leolies trying to get Brenton and Maeve to do something or other with a makeshift ball that had been fashioned by rolling up a bunch of fabric and wrapping it in rope. The older child, Maeve, didn't look much interested and when she saw Nipper in Broom's backpack her eyes lit up and she squealed "OH MY GODS, A PUPPY!" and immediately ran over to Broom.
"Can I pet her? Please, please, please?"
Brenton quickly followed, with Tolman trying to intervene. "Ah, no, children, let's let the good people get on with their, ah, exploring. That is no doubt a trained adventure-dog." He gave the group a sheepish, awkward smile. "Sorry, sorry. It's just, ah, they don't have much to do. We'll, ah, be out of your way in a second."
Meanwhile, Brenton and Maeve were both circling around Tolman to get a better look at Nipper while reaching up to try to pet the pug. Nipper seemed just as enthusiastic to be petted, and he scrabbled at the edge of Broom's backpack, trying to get down.
"Take care of the little Nipper." John says.
"He'll be safer here with you guys for a while I think."
Broom was more than happy to see Nipper and the kids get along so well. "Its OK. Nipper is really happy to play with the kids. He can guard them while we are away."
She joined her companions "We are ready to meet Zandalus."
Reine gave the dog a doubtful look. Somehow, maybe it was just the gloom of the past few days, but Reine couldn't quite bring herself to believe that leaving an animal they'd found alive in an abattoir, where ghouls had filled a pool with the rotting flesh of future meals, to stay with defenseless, trusting children wasn't going to end badly. Still, Winter was here, and some of the others, and they should be able to handle the dog if something went wrong...right?
She shook her head, reminding herself that not everything was hopeless and evil, then turned to Broom.
"Are we?" Reine asked aloud, though rhetorically, in response to Broom's declaration. "Ready or not though, I suppose it's time. Let's go."
John will take the lead on the trip back to Zandulus's crazies encampment.