"I can wait with Broom." Harrow mutters. "I'm not doing so grand myself." "Be sure that if you find any means of healing that you bring back some for the two of us."
Harrow limps over to Broom and sits down beside her, holding his sickle in his lap. He glares at the rat corpses and at the others, but says nothing further.
John, Durril, and Xander move on down the southwest hall, having left Alico with Mashiki. They open the nearest door, and find themselves looking into a small storage room. This room, or what remains of it, reeks of chlorine and is heaped with fallen shelves and broken containers.
After a brief search, the three discover a lantern, a hammer, and three winter blankets.
They move on to the other room, but as soon as they open the door, a pair of startled, yellow centipedes the size of pythons begin skittering about wildly.
Giant centipedes attack nearly any living creatures with their poisonous jaws. These creatures adapt to many environments and feed voraciously on the local fauna, including humanoids. The coloration of giant centipedes mirrors that of normal centipedes and spans the spectrum, ranging from dull hues to bright reds and fiery oranges.
Like all vermin, they are immune to mind-affecting effects.
Many giant centipedes have a poisonous bite.
Poison (EX)
Bite—injury; save Fort DC 13; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d3 Dex damage; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +2 racial bonus.
"Watch out! They're venomous and they're too dumb to quit once they come after you."
Cage attacks the closest centipede.
missing wildly as it twists around on the floor. He swings again before it can react to him.
John's first attack is wild and out of reach, but then he steps forward and cuts one of the insects right in half.
As he almost nonchalantly sends shards of the broken containers sitting around flying into the centipede that Cage isn't attacking, Durril mutters to himself, "Are institutions like this usually full of vermin and strange creatures? Seems like it would be a bit counterproductive."
"Ach! Filthy beasts. Get back!" Xander really does not want to deal with any poison effects right now and slashes with his short sword.
"I suspect that these creatures have smelled the refuse and rot that this place now supports and have come looking for a free meal."
Durril smashes the remaining centipede to bits with a pair of telekinetic attacks.
This room is wrecked beyond belief, and something has cause a large crack to form, which is probably how the centipedes got in.
In this room, they turn up 10 feet of chain, a set of manacles, two winter blankets, and a tarnished old silver necklace worth 5 gp, but still nothing to help with healing.
Continuing down the hall, hopeful after an easy victory, the group comes into an area where rubble is everywhere. The walls between the hall and this office have largely collapsed, exposing debris-cluttered desks, toppled lockers, and several bodies that almost look human.
Most of the furniture and supplies in the room have been destroyed. In addition, the bodies of several humans lie amid the debris. Among them is a grandmotherly old nurse with a gruesomely broken leg. All seem dead. Three doppelganger bodies are also tangled amid the ruins, most riddled with crossbow bolts. Each of the group also notice that lengths of flesh have been deliberately stripped from the corpses, human and doppelganger alike.
They walk into the room, and begin to look around.
No one notices as what appeared to be the grandmotherly old nurse with the badly broken femur stands up, apparently fine, and moves up behind Durril, once more assuming it's alien, white form before attacking the unaware amnesiac.
The shapeshifter's claw rips into Durril's back, and as he turns, the creature's other claw slashes across his throat. Blood spurts as the psychic loses consciousness. The doppelganger shifts forward, and gets one final claw attack in, slashing Xander across the chest as well.
Things look grim.
Surprise Round Doppelganger (hit Durril)
Round One Doppelganger (downed Durril, 5 ft. stepped, hit Xander), Xander (up), John (up), Durril (unconscious and bleeding)
Cage slices the doppleganger with a 2-handed cut.
(power attack, 2 handed)
Harrow turns to Broom and asks wryly: "How do you think they're doing?"
John strikes a solid blow against the doppelganger with his longsword. Perhaps there is hope still.
Surprise Round Doppelganger (hit Durril)
Round One Doppelganger (downed Durril, 5 ft. stepped, hit Xander), John (hit the doppelganger), Xander (up), Durril (unconscious and bleeding)
Doppelganger- 12 damage
+ =24
+ =19
Seeing his comrade drop, Xander reacts as though in a dream. Time seems to slow down. He can see the blood falling from the wounded man. I don't even know his real name, he thinks to himself. "NOOOO!" he screams, shortsword flashing out to stab the hideous shapechanger. He buries the blade in to the hilt. He hasn't even had time to register the pain the claws gave him, to realize that he too is wounded.
"Too much death. Too much...I'm sorry, my friend" he says, gently closing the man's eyes.
Xander makes a desperate strike on the doppelganger, and cuts into it's neck with a critical hit. However, the doppelganger retaliates with a claw attack which rips the investigator open. He falls unconscious, and the doppelganger gives a screech of delight. The doppelganger's second claw attack misses John.
Surprise Round Doppelganger (hit Durril)
Round One Doppelganger (downed Durril, 5 ft. stepped, hit Xander), Xander (critical hit), John (hit), Durril (dead)
Round Two Doppelganger (downed Xander), John (up), Xander (unconscious and bleeding, needs to stabilize), Durril (dead)
Blood pools beneath Xander's body as he continues to bleed out.
"Back away beast or you die here today!" Cage growls at the doppleganger.
He slices at the creature to keep it away from Xander's body.
(two-handed)
The amorphous white being lets out a dissonant laugh as it tries to finish the fight, but John is too nimble to allow it to land another blow, for now.
Surprise Round Doppelganger (hit Durril)
Round One Doppelganger (downed Durril, 5 ft. stepped, hit Xander), Xander (critical hit), John (hit), Durril (unconscious and bleeding)
Round Two Doppelganger (downed Xander), John (missed), Xander (unconscious and bleeding, needs to stabilize), Durril (dead)
Round Three Doppelganger (full attacked John, missed twice), John (up), Xander (unconscious and bleeding, needs to stabilize), Durril (dead)
Desperate to help his comrades and seeing that the doppleganger isn't interested in quitting the fight, Cage lunges, stabbing at its heart with a 2-hand thrust focusing on accuracy instead of power.
(2-handed)
As the desperate fight wears on, the doppelganger finally slips up, and Grimm John punishes it for its mistake, running his sword through its chest to the hilt. It collapses, unconscious, as he draws out his blade.
Xander bleeds some more, but miraculously, doesn't completely bleed out.
Cage leaves his sword for a moment and attempts to stabilize his fallen comrade.
John is unable to do much in the way of first aid, but it looks like Xander is going to recover alright on his own, with some rest. Still, some magical healing at this point would be crucial.
Durril, on the other hand, is unfortunately dead.
John spends some time sifting through the rubble, and finds desks containing paper and basic writing implements, all functional, but used enough to be valueless.
John also finds a wooden holy symbol of Pharasma, a small steel mirror, and a pair of gaudy red leather boots with cat skin lining (worth 20 gp).
You also find a masterwork silver dagger in a locker full of what looks like grass-stained hunter’s clothes.
Still no healing supplies. However, John does realize that he now has a total of four doppelganger corpses, more than enough to pass inspection back with the crossbowmen at the barricade. Hopefully they have something that can help the surviving members of your band.
John doesn't recognize deity for holy symbol, but he packs it and the mirror away in his bag.
He looks over the boots, decides they might fit one of his companions and packs them away as well.
When he turns over the trunk and discovers the silver dagger, he grunts "Finally something that might be useful.", tucking it in a boot.
He beheads the four doppleganger corpses and wraps them up in one of the blankets they found earlier.
He lays Xander on one of the blankets and uses it as a makeshift litter to drag him back to the boiler room.
He pauses at the door to the hallway to make sure the coast is clear.
and then pulls him back to the room.
To Harrow and Broom he says: "We ran into trouble...." as he pulls their wounded comrade back into the room.
"I have to blame myself, there was an ambush that I didn't spot before it happened. One of the shapechangers posed as the body of an old lady and I didn't notice before it had a chance to attack us from behind. Dagger is dead and Pouch is hurt pretty badly." he tells the others.
"I killed off the doppleganger with Pouch's help, so maybe the people we found earlier will help us now."
"But you and Pouch survived, mostly." Harrow nursed the bite on his leg. "That gives us the proof we need, yes? Let's get this done. Personally, I'm tired of performing like rats in a maze for whoever put us in here."
John and Alico cautiously move back to the end of the hallway, and drag a pair of doppelganger corpses back down in front of the barricade. Some of the crossbowmen gasp audibly, but they keep their weapons trained on the adventurers. After they return with the second pair, the leader of the men at the barricade calls out, ”Alright, enough. You can come in. But weren’t there more of you?”
A guard goes around and the small door opens to reveal another area.
These two small rooms were once clearly separated, but now a broad gap in the brick wall links them. Dusty buckets, brooms, and racks of cleaning supplies lie in the rear of one space, while the other features a small desk and chairs shoved out of the way.
"Thank you." Cage answers as the party pulls the injured to safety on blanket-litters.
"Call me ... Cage." he says as he extends his hand to shake the leader's hand.
"This probably sounds crazy, but I don't remember my real name. Or maybe that doesn't sound so crazy considering what's going on around here."
"Either way, 'Cage' will do until I figure out my true name."
"We suffered some serious wounds fighting some of these weird monsters that are infesting the place and one of us was killed." He tells the man.
"Do any of you have any healing ability to help my comrades?"
The leader returns his handshake, "The name's Vaustin York," he says, his hand shaking. York seems suspicious to the point of paranoia. Based on the sorts of things you yourselves have run into so far, you're not surprised he'd be nervous.
"You're in luck. Wait, no, you're not in luck, you wouldn't be here if you were. Well, anyways, our leader is a cleric."
He sends a couple of his men to help bring Mashiki and Xander over.
"Please leave your weapons here," he says, gesturing to a desk in the office area, "And follow me this way."
He leads you into a room that appears to have been some kind of chapel. Improvised pallets are clustered beneath sculpted divinities, and cooking fires burn beneath cracked windows in this chapel. Panes of violet and blue stained glass form spiraling patterns between prison-like bars, while dozens of candles flicker from modest alcove shrines.
The Briarstone chapel appears to be consecrated to Pharasma, as suggested by a prominent statue of the goddess standing before the sanctuary’s westernmost wall and depicted on the spiral stained glass windows. However, there are smaller, candlelit shrines to other deities, including Abadar, Desna, Erastil, Gozreh, Iomedae, Irori, Sarenrae, Shelyn, and even a modest donation box beneath the symbols of Asmodeus and Zon-Kuthon. Several lesser deities also have ledges with symbols and candles here. Each appears to have served as a place where the distressed could come and pray for guidance or mercy for their afflicted loved ones.
The chapel’s role as a place of refection and consolation has largely been pushed aside for more pragmatic uses. About three dozen people, former patients and staff of the asylum from the look of them, are huddled in this room, taking shelter from the terrors in the rest of the sanitarium.
A beautiful woman dressed from neck to toe in black leather and wool, with thigh-high boots and a long ebon cape stands helping some of the refugees. She wears a symbol of Pharasma on her necklace, a dagger at her side-slung belt, and a badge of some kind on her chest. Her hair is long, and as raven as her clothing.
"M'lady," says York, "These are the ones I told you about who passed by before. There are only four of them left now, and most need healing badly."
"I told you, Vaustin, call me Winter. Let's see what we can do for them, though," she says, as she hurries over, touches her necklace, and mouths a brief prayer. A gentle energy washes over the room, healing the wounds of all nearby.
Seeing that some are still injured, she does this a couple more times.
Just as this happens, three other figures come walking out of a side room, all looking to be in various states of confusion, but one is leading the others, in a battered asylum uniform.
"Winter, they've woken up," says the uniformed woman, "Neither of them seem to remember who they are or why they are here, but they've come out of their comas."
"Now," says Winter, the woman in black, "Please explain to me, to the best of your knowledge, what in the nine infernal hells is going on at this madhouse?"
"Thank you your ladyship."
"I was really hoping one of you could tell us what was happening."
"Our group woke up from a terrible nightmare in a set of cells in the basement of this place about thirty-six hours ago."
"None of us had any real recollection of who we are or how we came to be here."
"We had to kill one of those shapeshifters to escape the basement, but we ended up wounded severely and had to rest the night."
"Today we came up into the courtyard and entered the main building. We encountered your guards and learned that the shapeshifters were infesting the place. We explored up the hallway and encountered another of them mutilating bodies. It killed one of our companions before we could put it down."
"We don't know much more than that."
"I do know that we're armed, able, and determined to find answers to who we are and how to escape this place."
Xander awakes with a start. "Where are we? Are we dead?" He looks down at the dried blood on his clothing and the newly formed flash on his torso. "Dagger?" he asks. Looking around and not seeing him, he already has his answer. "We need to rescue that janitor, too." He sits up, a little stiffly and tries to assess their current situation.
Well, we aren't dead, most of us anyway. And the Pharasmin seems to have healed us. Would have been useful to have her a little earlier. And I appear to be unarmed.
"Miss, Winter, is it? What can you tell us about this place? The janitor said we're in a sanitarium. There are certainly corroborating facts that support that. And I take it you are the chaplain of this temple, yes? How long has this assault been going on? When we came to, there were a large number of bodies piled outside of the room in which we were held. Any ideas why shapeshifters would wish to attack here, and en masse? I assume other creatures might simply be opportunistic predators, like the giant rats." He leaves out the zoog for the moment. "But I'm afraid we're as much in the dark as you." He pauses for a moment in thought. "Hey, aside from the few of us, are there others who have no memory of who they are or how they came to be here? Perhaps that is important."
Her dreams were filled with terrors flitting in the void between the stars. She floated helplessly as they flew past her, each time their claws cutting deeper and deeper. She felt part of herself leaking out into the void. And then suddenly there was a bright light from which the creatures fled and she woke with a start.
Mashiki groggily opened her eyes in confusion. Around her were strange faces and she felt sore, though not in pain. Suddenly the recent events came back to her and she sat up with a start, her eyes casting about until she spied the familiar faces of her companions. ”What happened? There were giant rats and…” she trailed off and looked down at her torn and stained clothing.
In a panic again she glanced about the room. Strangers everywhere there was no place to hide so she grabbed the blanket she had been laying on and threw it over herself. ”We’re ok! Don’t look at us, not like this. Nothing is wrong!”
She cast a spell and cleaned off the black stains as quickly as she could. While her clothing was still rent, she was satisfied when the last of the discolourations were removed. She took off the blanket smiled as she looked around at all the new faces. ”Hi, We are Broom, where are We?”
Broom heads over and sits next to Xander, taking a few minutes to realize that someone is missing. ”Where is Dagger?” she asks.
Upon hearing news of his demise, grey tinged tears well up in her eyes as she becomes distraught. ”We were just trying to help. We didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt. We just saw the giant rats and it suddenly felt like something We had done before. We were excited and forgot to protect ourself. And now” she sniffles ”And then We weren’t there to help protect Dagger.”
Alico says nothing while being healed, and he adds nothing to his fellow inmates' reports and questions. However, he does walk over to the shrines and kneels before the pentacle of Asmodeus, whispering in the third tongue you've heard him use since you've met him.
When he finishes, he places a gold coin into the donation box and rejoins the others. He sits beside Broom and rests a hand on her shoulder.
"You can't afford to blame yourself, dearie. Not here, not for something that isn't your fault. Doing that will drive you to actually belonging in this place."
Cage raises his eyebrows at his companion speaking in another language in a prayer to Asmodeus, but he just shrugs.
As the half-orc collects the mirror and the manacles from the collected gear, Cage bends over and whispers in his ear.
"I don't know that we should trust these people. Why are they helping us? Why do they remember their past and we don't? What if they're the cause of whatever took our memories?"
Winter nods as John tells the tale of their struggle so far.
"I'm impressed that you made it here alive at all. From everything we've heard, its a disaster out there."
She answers Xander's questions as he asks them, as best she can.
"Miss, Winter, is it? What can you tell us about this place? The janitor said we're in a sanitarium. There are certainly corroborating facts that support that."
"Yes, we are at Briarstone Asylum. It’s a hospice stuck on a rock sitting in the Danver River. A convenient place to forget inconvenient people. The doctors here did research about diseases of the mind. Briarstone wasn’t a renowned institution, but it was far from the torture pits common folk ofen make asylums out to be."
"And I take it you are the chaplain of this temple, yes?"
"Well, I am now, I suppose. I’m Winter Klaczka, a sister of Maiden’s Choir Cathedral in Caliphas. My associates and I were helping a Royal Accuser investigate strangeness in Thrushmoor, and I just happened to be here when the earthquake happened. And then the riot... and the monsters. It's been a bad last few days. A few of the survivors, both patients and staff, have gathered in here to avoid the nightmares, both real and imagined. I've become a shepherd of sorts to them."
"How long has this assault been going on? When we came to, there were a large number of bodies piled outside of the room in which we were held. Any ideas why shapeshifters would wish to attack here, and en masse?"
"It started a couple of nights ago. It wasn’t like any riot I’ve ever heard of, though. It was more like a religious movement. Most of the northern halls are now held by robed patients who call themselves Apostles in Orpiment. Those we’ve encountered are fanatically devoted to a patient named Ulver Zandalus. Then there are the monsters. Ghouls and doppelgangers. Wherever they came from, they emerged soon after the revolt. What’s strange is that some of the patients and asylum staff say that, in the nights before the uprising, they had nightmares of exactly the sorts of things that stalk the halls now."
"Hey, aside from the few of us, are there others who have no memory of who they are or how they came to be here? Perhaps that is important."
"As far as I know, you four, and the two that just woke up, are the only ones here with any memory loss."
You've heard of this place. Briarstone Asylum is in Versex County in Ustalav.
You know a bit about Ustalav’s Royal Accusers, that they are secretive agents of the Ustalavic crown warranted to enforce laws and exact justice without regard for the nation’s baroque hierarchy of titles and rank. They have a reputation for harsh justice, acting on matters of national importance, and quietly ending noble dynasties.
Laura stands slightly hunched, almost hiding behind her greataxe, staring at the others with cold, dead eyes. She studies each of them in turn, perhaps searching them for clues of her own identity, while Winter talks and cares for the injured. Her gaze narrows as one of them mentions their memory loss, and reluctantly she speaks up. Her voice is deep and scratchy, as if it has not been used in some time.
"Yes, I too have no memory of who I am or how I came to be here. If you mean to try to escape this place, and you will take me with you, I offer my help in fighting these creatures. I believe I am good with this axe, since I have it, though I do not remember using one ever before." She shakes it slightly to emphasize its worth, hefting its weight, but her expressionless features do not seem to change in response.
"A religious movement? What the hell is going on over there?" The wheels in his mind start turning. "So there's an earthquake, followed by a religiously motivated riot, and the appearance of monsters. Perhaps this Zandalus is some sort of sorcerer or summoner. I wonder if he called the monsters, or caused the quake... or even just predicted it. The dreams are what really puzzles me."
He paces back and forth as he talks. "I've read about magics that allow some to enter dreams. What if Zandalus has this ability? If it works more easily on those in crisis, such as the patients, then it could explain the shared dreams. He could use that to convince people he's some sort of chosen one." He looks at the others. "Pardon my babbling. This is completely conjecture, of course, but it helps me to ponder through this kind of thing... not that I've ever been up against THIS kind of thing."
"I’ve never laid eyes on Zandalus myself, but some of the other survivors worked here before the uprising. They say 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," says the cleric.
Looking at the two who recently awoke, she says, "I suppose neither of you know your names either?"
One of the children who was a patient here pipes up, a little girl, "When they were dreaming they would not let go of their toys. That one is Rope," she says, pointing to Laura, and then pointing to Miniel she says, "And that one is Torch."
She walks over and hands Laura a length of rope, and Miniel her ioun torch.
The woman lets go of her axe with one hand and accepts the coil of rope with the other. Staring at it, she murmurs, "Rope." She looks at the group and confirms, "Rope." Then she shrugs and places it into her pack.
Xander kneels over by the child. "What else do you remember, child?"
Broom gives Harrow a weak smile as Harrow tries to comfort her. She remains quiet, only half listening as Winter answers question and introduces the two other sleepers.
When Pouch begins to pace and wonder out loud though, she looks up. There is something familiar about this. As she pays more attention, her thoughts wander and Dagger's fate slips from her mind.
As she watches and listens to Pouch, her smile slowly grows and admiration fills her eyes, though she doesn't know why. "Wait she suddenly blurts "We need to find the janitor and Shield and bring them back here! Maybe Winter can help?"
She then thinks hard about what Winter said. As she did, she felt her thought sliding against thoughts from others as she often did when concentrating.
She didn't have to let her mind wander to know where Briarstone was, the janitor had mentioned where they were and she knew the region having lived in the area, but as her mind touched others she could not find memories of Royal Accusors and she stopped thinking about it when she touched a mind that was filled with nothing but overwhelming screams that jolted her back to the present.
"You know Pouch, this place looks like a place that would write a lot of stuff down. Wouldn't there be a lot of records where we could find out about why we are here? Why are we inconvenient? And there is the book we dreamed about too! Right? Would you know where they keep books Winter?"
Having started, Broom excitedly continues talking "And what was the Accusor investigating? Could this strangeness be what he was looking for? Where is he? What are the pictures of that Ulvar painted?
Brooms questions then begin to drift off topic "Does walking around help you think better? Would swimming work too? What if you just sat in a chair and swung your legs?"
Alico watches the newcomers wander in, listening to Winter explain the situation as best she could. His teeth clenched at the talk of that "priest" and who he automatically assumed was the source of his current mental status.
"I want to kill this Ulver." His female vocals rasped. "I want him to suffer for daring to do this to me. I want to tear him apart and watch as flies and maggots consume his flesh ... then eat those! I want to devour his vile heart!"
"Calm down!" Harrow hissed at his feminine voice, biting back black wisps at his lips. "You are not helping. We're tense as it is!"
He glances nervously at those close to him and to the cleric housing them, hoping she didn't notice his outburst. However, with the strange assortment around him he wondered if he really stood out that much.
"Broom here is right." Harrow's regular echoing returned as he speaks to Winter. "There is an orderly downstairs in the cells who tried to help us. He could use your aid as well, dearie."
"Going back for the others will mean we have to go back down into that body pit." Cage hesitates.
"but we need to make sure that they're safe."
Miniel is still visibly confused as she meets everyone. Upon having her brightly glowing ioun torch returned, she whispers softly, clutching at the ankh necklace hanging around her neck: "the light...new light...the dawn...brings new light. Yes." Nodding solemnly as she replaces her belongings, she says, "Well, I guess I'm Torch. That's more than I can remember about myself right now. I can help as well, I think. If I don't get in the way." The elf's eyes flitter around nervously as she speaks, as if she doesn't trust them to give her an accurate picture of her surroundings.
"It shouldn't be too hard. There's already a rope. All we have to do is tell them to come on up. BUT Broom is also right about the records! Does anyone here know where the patient records are kept?"
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Xander kneels over by the child. "What else do you remember, child?"
The child shrugs. "Wash your face. Eat your vegetables. And always say your prayers, or Rovagug will gobble up the whole world from the inside out!" She laughs, a rather frightening giggle given the context of her words, and then runs off to try to go play with some of the other children.
"Don't worry about Maeve, she says some strange things sometimes, but I'd say she's pretty well adjusted, after what she's seen," says Winter, as the child alternates between trying to convince a couple of the other children to join her in her play. One, a little boy shakes his head over and over, clutching a a shadow lantern and refusing to leave his corner. The other seems like he might like to play, but he seems to be wracked with frequent mini-seizures and a young Varisian woman who is sitting next to him gently discourages Maeve from dragging him to his feet.
"Little Brenton there," she says, gesturing to the boy holding the shadow lantern,"He was brought here with his brother. They lost their parents. During the disaster he was separated from his brother, and hasn't said a word since."
"Then there's poor Bates," she continues, pointing to the boy with the seizures, "His seizures are getting worse and worse without his medication. Not to mention what happened to him during the riots," She lets out a shiver, "I don't know what to do for him. At least Mura is taking care of him. She is mute, so it’s hard for me to communicate with her, but she seems to be very protective of him."
"Wait she suddenly blurts "We need to find the janitor and Shield and bring them back here! Maybe Winter can help?"
"Going back for the others will mean we have to go back down into that body pit." Cage hesitates.
"I want to kill this Ulver." His female vocals rasped. "I want him to suffer for daring to do this to me. I want to tear him apart and watch as flies and maggots consume his flesh ... then eat those! I want to devour his vile heart!"
"Calm down!" Harrow hissed at his feminine voice, biting back black wisps at his lips. "You are not helping. We're tense as it is!"
"Broom here is right." Harrow's regular echoing returned as he speaks to Winter. "There is an orderly downstairs in the cells who tried to help us. He could use your aid as well, dearie."
Winter looks at Alico strangely, and raises an eyebrow, but says nothing.
"Vaustin, take your best man and go down there with them to find those two," Winter says, her voice suddenly going from soft and kindly to completely authoritative.
The group, along with the guards, makes their way back down to the basement and brings Shield and Campre Linweigh back to the chapel, and both are taken to a side room to recover. Shield has to be carried, as he is still in his strange, conscious coma-like fugue.
"You know Pouch, this place looks like a place that would write a lot of stuff down. Wouldn't there be a lot of records where we could find out about why we are here? Why are we inconvenient? And there is the book we dreamed about too! Right? Would you know where they keep books Winter?"
"Does anyone here know where the patient records are kept?"
"Yes, I’d assume a place like this has a records room. I’m not sure where that would be, but I have an idea of someone who might. I’ll introduce you to a few of your fellow survivors in a moment," says Winter.
Having started, Broom excitedly continues talking "And what was the Accusor investigating? Could this strangeness be what he was looking for? Where is he? What are the pictures of that Ulvar painted?
"Haserton Lowls, the count of Versex, appears to have abandoned his duties as one of the nation’s rulers. Accuser Omari had reason to believe that Lowls had regular business here at Briarstone. She sent me along with other associates to investigate the asylum while she went on to Thrushmoor."
"As for Ulver Zandalus, I’ve said about as much as I know. Some of the former staff might know a little more. Speaking of that, let’s do some introductions."
She points to a bookishly handsome young Garundi man kneeling at the shrine of Shelyn, "That's Tolman Leolies, a nurse, and apparently an aspiring amateur artist." Tolman smiles, and nods.
She introduces a twitchy man cutting carrots over a large stew pot as Denman Wenoparess, a member of the kitchen staff, and the man gives a little wave.
She points to a couple of the guards that escorted you into the chapel, over by the door, both Varisian women. "The younger, smaller woman is DaNae Foulkes, a former patient who had anxiety issues that basically disappeared with the recent trauma. The older, full-figured woman is Naysa Walika, one of the more experienced nurses here, though she hadn't been working here long."
"And of course, I believe you met Vaustin York already," she says, pointing to the portly, bald Varisian with whom you negotiated entry, "He was an orderly here, but he has some military experience, so I made him my 'captain of the guard,' per se."
She walks over to where a Kellid woman is lying unconscious on a cot. "This is Airwynn Savoia. She was part of the support staff, and Vaustin says that she has probably more knowledge of the asylum than any of the other survivors. If anyone would know where the records are kept here, it would be her. I’ve done what I can to help her, but she suffered a lot of broken bones during the earthquake, and now she has a fever. I think she might have an infection. She needs medical care that I can’t really provide. Can any of you help? Also, while you’re at it, could you take a look at Bates? His seizures, as I said, are beyond me, not to mention all the bite marks one of the lunatics gave him during the riot."
"Come to think of it, I have several other things I could use help with as well if you guys don’t mind. Then you can join us for dinner and get some rest."
She points to where splintered furniture and fallen support beams lay heaped in one corner of the chapel, sitting next to a stack of firewood. A handax and crowbar are lying on the floor nearby.
"We can always use more firewood, first off."
"Can any of you cook? Denman is good at chopping carrots and firewood, but he isn’t that great of a cook."
There are several small fires set up about the chapel with cooking implements, collected water, and basic foodstuffs. Some of the survivors are trying to prepare meals, but their methods are amateurish and wasteful.
Just then, from the corner of a the room one of the survivors starts wailing loudly and miserably, and struggling to get past the other people nearby. One of the nurses, Naysa Walika, seems to be trying to calm and restrain the middle-aged Varisian man, but failing.
"Oh, no. Loic Ulsohnen is having another one of his fits. He has hallucinations, apparently, of his twin sister who died when he was eight. Looks like he is refusing to take his medicine. Can one of you go and try to help calm him down?"