The woman looks confused as she responds to Talennia. "Never truly there? But she is real. She wanted to experiment on me. She must be here somewhere." She sounds weak and occasionally lets out a cough as she speaks.
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The doppelganger suddenly disappears, the illusion having apparently ended. Meanwhile, the woman on the table groans and shifts slightly seemingly in pain. She lets out a small cough and winces in pain before opening her eyes. She appears startled when she sees you all there before weakly uttering, "Is it gone?"
DM Rolls:
The doppelganger retaliates against Nik, swinging a dagger at his chest. Nik isn't quick enough to dodge back, but his leather armor successfully deflects the blow. Nik & Talennia only:
As you noticed before, though the doppelganger before you looks real enough, it doesn't seem to be physically there. Nik doesn't feel anything as the dagger glances off his armor and he doesn't even feel a slight breeze as the arm moves past him. It is certainly an illusion.
Will Save (DC 14): You finally notice that nothing you do seems to affect the doppelganger. It's clearly an illusion.
DM Rolls:
Mau's bolt tears through the hanging curtain, leaving it quivering in its wake. The curtain doesn't stay up much longer, however, as Tarn's fiery orb and the rush of flame from Cyndance's hands lights the curtain on fire while Nik barrels through it. On the other side, a doppelganger staggers back from the blows, a crossbow bolt protruding from its shoulder. Without making so much as a sound, the creature stands back up and looks at you menacingly. On the table in front of the doppelganger lies an elderly woman wearing standard patient's attire. She appears to be dead. Talennia & Nik ONLY:
Something is not right here. The crossbow bolt seemed to have passed straight through the doppelgangers shoulder and lies up against the wall straight ahead, broken in two. Nik's blow doesn't seem to offer any resistance, as if the doppelganger is lighter than a feather. Further, the flames that remain burning the creature move unnaturally, as if the each lick of flame is moving in concert with the rest. The doppelganger seems to shimmer and fade a bit. Shaking the fog from your mind, Talennia and Nik both realize that the doppelganger must be some kind of illusion. Perception (DC 15):
You see the old woman's chest rise and fall very slightly, as if she is breathing very faintly.
Initiative Rolls:
GM Roll:
Stop cheating! ;)
The silhouette doesn't react to the party as they creep steadily forward.
Before anyone can react, the man disappears through the door they all entered and runs back out to the hall. Following quickly, the group hears shouting from guards at the other end of the corridor, yelling for the man to halt. As the group turns the corner, they hear the crazy man shout "ZANDALUS SEES!" and then a TWANG! as a volley of crossbow bolts is loosed directly at him. The man falls over dead about halfway down the corridor, and the guards relax, visibly shaken by the ordeal. With nothing more they can do here, the crew returns the linen room and opens the door to the south. Several wide tables and gigantic washbasins fill a laundry equipped to service hundreds. The place looks as though it were repurposed as a failed surgery, though, with at least one table heaped with remains while corpses lie discarded in corners. A stained sheet hangs between two of the basins, dividing the room roughly in half. A lantern shines on the far side. Two 6-foot tall, 10-foot diameter washtubs stand in alcoves along the west walls, two short folding ladders leaning near each. The table here appears to have been cleared of laundry and in its place are sliced up remains, butchered beyond simple scientific inquiry. In the northeast corner of the room lie a pile of corpses. At a quick glance it looks as if there are five human bodies and two doppelgangers that have reverted to their natural forms. The lantern shining on the opposite side of the curtain reveals the silhouette of a tall sinuous doppelganger wielding a long knife.
Talennia releases the chain from the pipe, leaving the man's arms shackled. Unfortunately, the chain slips from her hand and the man quickly takes off, bolting for the door leading back out to the hallway. He is out the door before anyone else has a chance to react. You hear him yelling "Zandalus sees!" as he exits the room.
Jefir, with none of his usual snideness, responds plainly, "I have never seen anything like this before. I suppose you may be able to pawn it off to a collector of oddities for a pretty copper." Talennia is able to manipulate the chain without any issues.
Cyndance pulls out the dirty handkerchief from the corpse's pocket and unwraps it, revealing a coin-sized eyeball with an X-shaped pupil. As she holds it in her hand, the eye slowly rolls itself around until it is looking directly at her. It maintains this orientation, even rotating to continue looking toward Cyndance's eyes as she moves her hand around. Every once in a while a membrane within the eye blinks.
The man, looking relieved that the creature has been killed, seems to relax a bit. He gives a few more half-hearted pulls on the pipes to no avail and continues to mutter to himself. He doesn't respond directly to any of your questions, but he does look up when Tarn mentions "Zandalus." Talennia:
The man clearly doesn't seem to be able to speak more than a few words and phrases over and over, as if he's "stuck" on the same thoughts. He does seem to be aware enough to know that he could have died had you not come along. Based on his clothes and demeanor, you feel positive he was a patient here, but it is unclear whether his current state of mind is normal for him or due to recent trauma. While her eyes wander around the room, Cyndance spots a small bulge in the pocket of the half-eaten corpse. A dirty handkerchief is just barely visible, possibly wrapped around some object in this pocket.
Talennia sneaks up upon the preoccupied creature () and stabs it in the throat. The creature howls in pain and starts thrashing, fright appearing in his eyes. Mau's lights appears and Tarn continues the onslaught, unleashing searing heat at the creature. It only takes a few more seconds before the party is able to dispatch of it. It now lies still, held up only by the manacles chaining it to the pipe. The other prisoner continues to mutter to himself, but you do think you see some relief flicker across his maddened eyes. "Zandalus... Words fail... Praise..."
With the light from the spell providing some illumination, the rest of the party can finally see the terrible sight before them. The man strapped to the pipes, noticing the group now that the light is there, looks up and cries out, "Zand... Zanda. Zandalus. Zandalus. Zandalus sees! Praise. Praise. Praise..." He trails off whispers "praise" over and over as he continues his escape attempt. The creature doesn't seem to notice the light, or perhaps it has and just doesn't care.
It takes a little bit of cleaning, but the pearl necklace turns out to be rather beautiful . Talennia moves to open the next door, inspecting it carefully at first and finding the door unlocked and without traps. As soon as the door is open, the group hears the clanging of metal against metal as well as snarling and grunting coming from inside. It is far too dark for Talennia, Mau, and Tzarnik, but Cyndance and Tarn both can see what lies within. Sturdy racks and toppled tables suggest this space once served as a sizable laundry. Much of the northern end of the room is filled with rubble. A wall of pipelike crossbeams fills the western alcove of this room. Three figures are manacled to the rack here, from south to north: a human wearing stained yellow sheets as robes and bearing a flame-shaped chalk mark upon his forehead, the corpse of a partially eaten female patient, and a humanoid creature with long, sharp teeth and pallid flesh stretched tightly over its starved frame. Knowledge Religion (DC 11) - may make untrained at a -5 penalty:
This is a ghoul, an undead cannibalistic creature. Ghouls are fairly intelligent, but often cannot control their hunger for flesh. The human appears to be attempting to stay as far from the strange creature as he can, his manacles repeatedly slamming into the pipes. The creature is ignoring him at the moment, instead focusing all of his attention on the corpse dangling by his side. The corpse's left arm has been stripped free of flesh and, having lost so much of its mass, is no longer held by the manacles. The creature has moved on to the corpse's other arm, struggling a bit due to his own manacles. It is clear that if the second arm is stripped free of flesh like the first, the corpse will no longer be an obstacle for the creature to reach the still alive human.
Talennia's bolt flies true and strikes the floating head on the cheek, piercing it and bringing it down. It falls to the floor, hitting hard and leaving smear of blood as it rolls to a stop. Meanwhile, Tarn picks off on of the hands with a particularly well-aimed blast of fire. The hands burns to a crips, falling off of Nik and smoldering on the ground before him. With only one hand remaining, Nik is able to focus a little better. His larger hammer comes crashing down on top of the hand. When he lifts it, all that remains in a disfigured lump of shattered bone and pulped flesh. The corpse's entrails continue to writhe and flail about, as if trying to break free from the rubble. Occasionally it darts forward toward the group, but is unable to pull itself free. The pearl necklace that was once worn around the corpse's neck now lies on the pile of rubble next to the entrails.
Talennia's shot flies true, entering directly into the floating head's mouth. The bolt pierced through the back of the thing's throat and slammed into the wall and embedding itself there. Tarn manages to conjure his flames while still keeping his arms out of reach of the biting disembodied head, but unfortunately the reserved movements cause his blast to miss. The floating head rushes toward Tarn, attempt to slam into his head in a strange disembodied headbutt, but Tarn was quick to duck under it. Meanwhile, Nik's wild hammer swing slams down in between the two arms, causing some of the rubble to spray out. The force of the blow is enough to sever the hands from their respective arms, but they continue on, using their fingers to run across the floor and leap onto Nik's legs. The first manages to only slash at his protective clothing while the second again makes contact, breaking the skin of Nik's leg. It is once again unable to grab onto Nik, however, as he easily shakes the hand off of him.
GM Rolls:
Tarn's blast of fire is off target, the jet hitting the rubble causing pebbles and dirt to spray into the corpse. A small trickle of dark blood drips from a nick in the corpse's shoulder and the writhing thing inside of it goes still. All is silent for a few seconds, when suddenly the corpse's entrails burst out of its stomach flailing around madly. The force of the entrails' emergence rips the body apart, it's arms and head severing from the corpse completely.
Both arms use their hands to pull themselves along the ground over to Nik where they swipe at his legs. The first manages only to scratch at his pants. The second, however, takes advantages of the first distracting Nik to push hard off the ground, leaping up and slashing him across his belly. While it does so, it grabs at Nik, but doesn't manage to gain purchase, falling back down to the floor below. The entrails continue to writhe and twist as if trying to pull itself free from the remains of the corpse and rubble.
The corpse continues to flail and gnash its teeth at Nik as he slowly backs away. The arms seem to grasp around randomly, including ahead and behind, twisting around at unnatural angles. Nik also notices that something appears to be writhing inside of the corpse's stomach, as the flesh pulsates in and out and moves from side to side.
After about 10 minutes of clearing rubble, the group finds that the desks underneath are beat up, but intact. The desks contain paper and basic writing implements, all functional, though well-used. None of the documents found seem to be of any real relevance, though you note that many of them have been signed by Dr. Scaen, Dr. Latchke, or Dr. Oathsday. In addition, you find a short horror story about the Briarstone Witch, who would bewitch people and cause them to do terrible things to others. Cyndance finds a wooden holy symbol of Pharasma, a small steel mirror (this one in good condition), and a pair of gaudy red leather boots with cat skin lining worth about 20 gold. Talennia finds a locked locker. DC 15 Disable Device OR DC 18 Strength check:
Inside the locker is a masterwork silver dagger buried under what looks like grass-stained hunter's clothes. Wandering a little bit north, Nik sees that most of the area here has collapsed into a heap of dense gray rubble. The occasional clattering pebble makes it sound as though the mound is not entirely settled, and more rubble could collapse at any moment. The doors to the west are the only area available to continue. A bright flash of lightning reveals a woman buried waste deep in the rubble to the north. As the light fades away, Nik sees the person's arms waving wildly, though she doesn't call out to him. Once again dark, Nik, squinting, can barely see the silhouette still waving wildly as the thunder peals out behind him.
Though Talennia's shot goes well wide of its mark, Tarn's flames and Nik's massive hammer put a quick end to the fight. The doppelganger's corpse lies smoldering on the ground before the group. A quick glance around the room indicates that this doppelganger was stripping flesh from both human and doppelganger corpses and arranging them in rows, apparently comparing them with each other. There also appear to be desks underneath the rubble. It would take about 10 minutes to clear the rubble enough to investigate further
The doctor snarls at Mau. "Doppelgangers are superior!" His face begins to change, the skin turning grey and the mouth and chin elongating unnaturally. His teeth become more pointed and his eyes turn a sickly yellow color. He suddenly takes two swipes at Nik with long sharp claws at the end of fingers that are still lengthening. The first claw connects with Nik's side, leaving a bloody scratch. The second claw meets only armor.
Given the look on his face, Mau and Cyndance are pretty sure this doctor, whether human or doppelganger, intends to strike back.
The doctor takes some punishment from Talennia's crossbow bolt and Tarn's flames, but Nik's attack seems to glance off of the doctor's arm. Having been brought out of his engrossment in his "science" the doctor turns toward the group snarling fiercely, clearly aiming to retaliate.
GM Roll:
The party moves northward along the hall toward the doctor's office, taking care not to make very much noise. The walls between the hall and the office have largely collapsed, exposing debris-cluttered desks, toppled lockers, and several bodies that almost look human. Hunching over the bodies is a man in a torn doctor's coat, stripping skin from the corpses and laying alongside one another in long strips. He is muttering to himself, repeating the same sorts of phrases over and over again, "Need to compare the degradation... Mmmm.. My analysis shows I could be right. I should find more flesh. The science must be completed. Mmmm..." Initiative!:
Looking closely, Talennia catches a glimpse of a name tag on the doctor's coat that says "Dr. Latchke." She and Nik both notice that not all of the bodies are human. In fact, a few of the bodies are clearly doppelgangers. The doppelganger corpses have also had their flesh peeled.
"It's quite simple. I wish to be free. And I feel I need my own memories back to accomplish that goal." You feel certain that everything Jefir has said during this conversation has been the truth.
The centipedes are dispatched with ease. Searching the room, Talennia finds ten feet of chain, a set of manacles, two winter blankets, and a tarnished silver necklace worth about 5 gold. Cyndance:
"I suspect that if Eti were still alive, I would still be with her. Whatever took your recent memory seems to have affected me as well. I look forward to the day we can both exact revenge on whomever has done this." The walls on the right further up the long hallway appear to have collapsed, but the group will have to move ahead to see what is in the room. They do know, from their crude map, that this room is an office for support staff. Further up, the hallway appears to have collapsed right around where a guard station was once posted. The door on the left leads to a linen storage and drying room and the laundry. DC 20 Perception: You hear some quiet muttering coming from the office on the right.
Cyndance:
After a brief moment, just long enough Cyndance thinks he won't answer, "You may call me Jefir, like Eti did before you." Once again, Talennia finds the door unlocked and upon opening it sees another ravaged storage room. This time, however, Talennia finds two giant centipedes milling about the wrecked shelves and debris. They have not noticed her. DC 11 Knowledge (Nature):
Giant centipedes have a venomous that has the effect of slowing the victim's reflexes and reducing their hand-eye coordination. Initiative:
Cyndance:
"You do quite well when you take charge. Perhaps you should consider casting aside your victim mentality and grow a spine of your own." You can't see the spirit, but you get the impression he is smirking. Talennia spends a few minutes rummaging through the debris in the room and discovers a winter blanket poking out from under a broken shelf. Pulling the shelves aside, she discovers a pocket that the debris collapsed around, leaving what was under it untouched. In here are three winter blankets total including the first that Talennia noticed, a lantern, a common hammer, and a cracked though still usable hand mirror.
Confident that there are no traps to be found, Talennia opens the unlocked door revealing a storage room. It appears as if the recent tremors have destroyed the various shelves in the room. This particular room smells of chlorine and is heaped with fallen shelves and broken containers. It appears as if most of the cleaning supplies and linens that were once crammed on the shelves have been looted. Talennia gets the impression that the shelves have not been moved since they have fallen, so perhaps something may be found underneath them.
The tiny creature bites down on Tarn's hand as he brings it around. Much like a papercut, the bite hurts but isn't particularly threatening. The fire from Tarn's hand immediately sets the small thing's fur ablaze. It lets out a pitiful, guttural squeal, speaking in some language that you don't know, and then it falls off of Tarn's arm, landing on the floor with a soft thud, the flame finally dying out. The glow from the creature's large, wide eyes fades out.
Meanwhile, the rats move out from underneath the boilers to attack. The first bites at Tarn's ankle and the second at Nik's. Tarn was not quick enough to avoid the bite, but Nik was, deftly jumping back.
GM Rolls:
Tarn leans down to look underneath the rear boiler and sees two large orb-like eyes staring back at him. These eyes are the source of the faint light, oddly enough. As he's looking, two more sets of eyes open up in the shadows, flanking the first pair. These eyes, however, are red and menacing. Before Tarn has a chance to react, the first pair of eyes darts toward him. As it nears, Tarn catches a glimpse of the creatures writhing face tentacles, before it jumps up on him and bites at his neck. This tiny creature has glowing eyes, simian appendages, and tendrils extending from a mole-like nose. Knowledge (Nature) DC 11:
This is a zoog. Spiteful, nasty creatures with a taste for the flesh of sentient beings, zoogs lurk in the shadowy, moldering places of the world. Often mistaken merely for otherworldly animals, zoogs possess base intentions and vicious demeanors that set them apart from lowly beasts. Congregating in loose, tribal societies, these sinister creatures claim the depths of dark woodlands or moldy forests as their homes, favoring lands where the boundaries between worlds and planes grow thin and strange creatures—not unlike themselves—slip between reality’s cracks.
Commonly, zoogs eat fungi and plants, but they also have a taste for the meat of sentient creatures, treating the butchering and consumption of such beings as a rare privilege. Zoogs also detest cats, and go to great lengths to slay felines of any sort and devour them. The other two eyes start to move forward as well, leaving the shelter of the shadows. These are two very large rats, each about the size of a small dog. Their fur is course and patchy and foam drips from their snarling mouths. Knowledge (Nature) DC 5 - may attempt untrained:
These are dire rats. These large rats are more dangerous than their average counterpart. They are a common pest and easily dealt with when in low numbers. Because they commonly live in sewers and dungeons where they scavenge for dead animals, they are also know to carry diseases.
Mighty iron boilers crowd here, their pipes piercing the walls and ceiling. Shadows and rust fill the narrow gaps between the cold tanks. The heavy iron door of one of the tanks lies partially open, while the others remain closed. Nik notices a faint glow emanating from beneath boiler toward the rear of the room. Other than that glow, the only light in this room comes from the open door.
"Look, we just can't take the chance with you right now, not without you proving yourselves to us. You bring us three dead doppelgangers and we'll reconsider your request. That's the end of it." Unfortunately, Mau doesn't know any other way to test for doppelgangers, other than to notice them doing something odd or inhuman. Nik thinks he hears a slight scratching sound as he nears the door on the western wall, but it could be his mind playing tricks on him. While the group debates what to do, a loud thunderous peal erupts from outside and the rain picks up in intensity.
"Sounds like something a doppelganger would say." The man looks at you distrustfully, then his expression turns a little more ympathetic. "They show their true form when they die. Look, if what you say is true, then you should have no problem killing a few more. Bring me three dead doppelgangers, then maybe we'll rethink whose side you're on. They've been lurking in the big wash rooms back that way." He points down the hallway behind you. The man, though clearly tired and stressed out, does not appear likely to budge on this.
"We don't parlay with shapechangers." The four guards lift their crossbows to their eyes, clearly preparing to fire upon Tarn and the rest of the group, when the sound of a door opening and closing can be heard behind them. "Step aside, Denman." A tall man, fit and clearly a trained fighter, steps up to the barricade. He carries a lamp, allowing you to better see his face and those of the men around him. He wears leather armor and is carrying a crossbow on his back and a mace on his hip. In the light from the lamp, you see that the other four guards are each wearing makeshift padded armor and carry only their crossbows. The man who called out to you, presumably Denman, steps aside his crossbow still trained on Tarn. "Now, I suggest you all remain still for a moment before someone has to get hurt." He clearly means you. "This whole place seems to be overrun with lunatics and monsters that can look like anyone. Until we know you aren't once of them, you will kindly keep your distance."
Finding no traps on the door, Talennia tests the door handle, finding it unlocked. The door opens easily outward into the corridor. Broken lanterns and several battered doors line this cold, rubble-strewn hallway. To the south, a pair of swinging doors lies shattered upon a 4-foot high heap of wrecked furniture clogging a broad doorframe. The hallway is dark, save for the faint light coming in through the open doorway and a light that is visible beyond the barricade to the south. "Whoa, there! We got more here!" Silhouetted by the dim light behind them, four men stand at the barricade. Talennia's elven vision proves useful here as she can see that they have all trained crossbows on her and the rest of the group as they enter the hallway. "Stop there, or we'll shoot. Don't make another move!" Quieter, you can hear him say to another, "There's a lot of them."
Standing out in the rain, Tzarnik notices that the rain feels unnaturally warm, like bath water after its been used.
Mau notices that there are streaks of mud leading from the service room doorway to the door leading to the western hallway. It appears as if someone or some thing was dragged through the mud between the two doors. In fact, upon further inspection, she notices that there is dried mud leading directly to the chute.
Not seeing anything concerning on or around the door, Tarn pushes it open. Though the rain sounded heavy from within the room, it appears to actually be fairly light. Trampled flowerbeds lie smeared and squashed across the muddy courtyard. On all sides, stark gray walls climb toward a narrow gap of sunless sky. The dark clouds in the sky appear to have a faint yellowish tint. This courtyard appears to be in some serious need of maintenance. From where Tarn stands, he can see a door just to his immediate right on the western side of the courtyard. From the map, this is the western hallway, which leads to the chapel, some offices, and the front entrance of the asylum. In the southeast of the courtyard, a shed-like structure appears to have collapsed. From Campre's map, this looks like the location the collapsed stairs from below would have led to. The courtyard extends farther north, though Tarn cannot see it from here. Again, the crude map indicates this leads to a hallway in the northern portion of the asylum, containing entrances to a conference room, doctors' offices, a lounge area, and eventually to the administrator's office.
After a bit of difficulty, the group finally manages to climb up the chute. At the top, a metal door swings open outward, easily leading into what appears to be a small service room. A quick glance around doesn't reveal anything of particular use within the room. To the south is a door, the only other exit from this room apart from the chute. Based on discussions with Campre, the door should lead to an open courtyard. A peal of thunder rings out and a loud rush of sound indicates that it has just begun to rain.
As Talennia knows from the map provided by Campre, the stairs lead up to a laundry. Unfortunately, it appears as if a fallen wall above has blocked the way out. She can see heaps of rubble choking the passageway. Tarn doesn't find much by the collapsed tunnel. A quick examination shows that it has collapsed completely and would take days or weeks of constant heavy work to clear it enough to get through. Campre's map didn't have this tunnel marked on it, but he volunteers that it might have once connected this area to the morgue. Nik stumbles a bit while climbing up the pile of bodies in order to get a look at Doctor Scaen. Turning her body over, he is surprised to see neither his own face, nor that of the Doctor Scaen. Instead, he sees a greyish humanoid face with a narrow head and a guant, noseless face. Further inspection reveals that her arms and legs are long and gangly and very thin. DC 13 Knowledge (Nature):
This is a doppelganger, a strange being that can take on the shape of those they encounter. While the group is investigating the various parts of the room, a deep rumbling can be heard. Suddenly, the room begins to shake a bit. Some of the rubble in the tunnel shifts and the walls collapse a little further, though Tarn is far enough back to be out of harm's way. The stairs rock and sway, causing Talennia to crouch down and grab tightly to the rail in order to keep from losing her balance. Thankfully, the stairs do not collapse. Nik is less fortunate, as the shaking causes the bodies beneath him to shift causing him to plunge beneath a few, the dead, rotting bodies now crowding around him. The stench overwhelms him as he attempts to pull himself free. Thankfully, his forethought at protecting himself with his own clothing protects him from any potential diseases he may have contracted from the corpses around him. Unfortunately for everyone, the only way out appears to be by climbing the chute. Before the quake, Nik glimpsed enough of the chute to know that it will be a relatively easy climb .
"I'll be okay for now. If you have anything I can use to bandage some of these cuts, that might be helpful." By now, the fire has died out and the smoke has cleared a bit. The buzzing of the flies gets louder as they are now longer subdued by the smoke. There are three areas of interest in this room: the collapsed tunnel, the pile of dead bodies below the chute (including, presumably, Doctor Scaen), and the rickety stairs.
Cyndance: After a period of prolonged silence, enough that you start to think the spirit has decided not to respond, he says, "Very well. You'll one day see reason to let me leave you, or you will die and I will leave you anyway. Better that it be away from this place. How shall I help you today?"
At this point you can decide what version of the spirit you wish to have for the day and he'll comply.
Cyndance:
He responds in quite a condescending tone, "Why, my dear, from what I can gather, I am inhabiting you. I don't know why, nor do I know how I came to be here within you, but nevertheless here we are. Now, if you'll be so kind as to simply let me go then I will leave you to your own devices and be on my merry way." Though the rest of the group can see Cyndance's anger flare up and her facial expressions at an apparently inward conversation, they cannot hear the conversation itself.
Talennia finds several scorched humanoid bones inside the furnace. The interior feel warm, as if it was used fairly recently. The vents leading up and out of the furnace are particularly wide. She thinks that, though cramped, it may be possible climb through the shafts. Cyndance: "I see you wish to speak with me." The voice is the same as the one you heard before. It is extremely familiar, almost as if this spirit is a distant relative you haven't spoken to in some time. "Perhap you will tell me just who you are."
"It's only been about two days and I've been hiding down here for just about all of it. Doctor Scaen brought you down here shortly after everything started and then didn't come back until this morning. She muttered something about having to burn the bodies before she noticed me hiding in the furnace room. There was something not right about her. I didn't know she was capable of changing her face." Campre trails off, lost in thought.
Nik looks beyond the door, and finds an entrance room to the basement. A broad chute extends diagonally through one of the room's half-crumbled stone walls to the east. The lowest point of the chute is about eight feet off the floor. Beneath it lies heaped more than a dozen mutilated humanoid bodies. The smell of rot, decay, and smoke in the room is nearly overwhelming, and the buzz of flies hangs in the air. Judging by the torn clothing, the bodies at the base of the chute appear to be a mixture of orderlies and asylum patients. All are clearly dead and appear to have been so for for days. However, there is one fresh body on top of the pile. Doctor Scaen appears to have succumbed to the flames, her clothing having nearly burned entirely away and her flesh charred. From here, Nik cannot see her face clearly. To the north, a tunnel extends about ten feet before dead-ending in rubble. It appears to have completely collapsed. To the south, a flight of rickety, wooden steps climbs toward the high ceiling. -- Campre responds to Talennia's request. "I'm fairly new to this asylum, so I haven't memorized it entirely. But I can draw you what I know, if you have something to write on and with. There've been a number of tremors lately, so not everything will be accessible." Assuming you have the materials, he's able to draw a very crude map of the southern portion of the asylum, describing what the rooms were used for.
The cat's cage isn't locked, thankfully. Mau is easily able to open it up. The cat immediately moves to her side, rubbing against her legs and purring. Somehow, Mau knows that the cat's name is Nyan.
"Not everyone. But a number of doctors and patients have started killing each other. I was hiding down here for a while, until I was found by Doctor Scaen. She's kept me locked up, until today. I'm... not the first person she tortured. She kept muttering something about the 'frailty of human flesh.'" The northwestern end of the room contains nothing but an alcove with a table and a second alcove where the roof and walls appear to have collapsed. Behind the pile of rubble is nothing but dirt, indicating you are in a basement. To the south, there is another room adjoining the first. An iron furnace hunkers in corner of this room, its four-foot square door half open, but no fire burns within. Nearby sprawls a heap of gory clothes and other dubiously flammable trash. Of more interest to Nik is a cage with a black cat inside and, nearby, five separate sacks containing weapons and armor. While searching the room, Nik also finds a rather impressive looking viol among the soiled pile of clothing. The instrument appears to be extremely well-made and intact, except that it is missing a bow.
Mau: Mau can feel the presence of the cat in the furnance room, as if she shares some sort of connection to it.
"You're at Briarstone..." Seeing the still confused looks on your face, he clarifies. "You know... The asylum? Briarstone Asylum. Oh, that's right! You were the group of patients they brought in about 10 days ago. You were all catatonic, or something." Suddenly remembering there were more questions directed to him, he turns to Mau and Cyndance. "I haven't seen any of your stuff, sorry. And there should be some medical equipment somewhere upstairs, but... Well, I'm not so sure I want to leave here until its safe. Everyone's gone mad."
As he is freed, the injured man immediately starts to hold pressure to one of his deeper wounds, in order to stop the bleeding. "Thanks. I thought for sure Doctor Scaen would cut me to ribbons." He pauses for a minute. " My name is Campre. I'm an orderly here. Or at least, I was..." Though the door the doctor escaped through is open, smoke from her burning clothes has obscured the room from your view.
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