After quickly searching the room with the rubble, Vix finds little more than the hand poking out from behind the fallen stone and timber. The hand offers no clues as to who it might have been.
Across the hall she see what would look like a typical physician’s office if it weren’t for the preponderance of grotesque anatomical sketches, most depicting traumas and deformities of the head and brain. A sturdy display case stands open and completely empty. Looking through the drawers Vix finds numerous notes from a Dr. Arosh Chawaar. In one of the drawers is a rust-colored notebook. Vix can hardly make heads or tails of it; something about brains and water creating pressure. In marginalia are notations from one Dr. Anya Chawaar. She also notes that the slime trail leads from the empty display case.
In neither of the rooms she finds a katana.
Through the doors that Ci Ci and Miz came through the party finds an opulent, two-story office. The ground floor features overstuffed furnishings, elegant side tables, and an altar-like desk of dark marble. Yellow fog soundlessly roils against the cathedral-like windows. A delicate spiral staircase and balcony of dark iron rises to a lofty library overhead. Both floors’ fixtures frame the lake of blood spreading across the room’s center in the middle of which kneels a woman. Her back is set straight, her mouth is gaping at the ceiling; soundlessly screaming an unsteady torrent of yellow colored mist like a gritty fountain spurting sludge. The only other exit from this room is another door to the south.
Jassminder looks around the room, noting the details. She walks over to the silently-screaming woman and tries to work out whether she is still alive, dead, or something in-between.
She calls back to Ci Ci: "Whatever was in here that upset you must have disappeared - there's nothing here now but a lot of blood and a woman with mist coming out of her mouth."
Vix says to Jass, “As a general rule, a dead woman left like this is about as upsetting as it gets.”
There’s a tremble in Vix’s tone. It’s not the first dead body she’s seen here, but this one bothers her far more than the others.
Seeing Jass is examining the woman, Vix asks, “Can ye tell if she’s… impaled? I can… move her.”
Vix makes no motion to actually do that.
Ci Ci's eyes go wide in an expression of incredulity at Jassminder's statement, however, she appears mollified by Vix's reply.
"This is terrifying, isn't it? I'm supposed to be terrified at dead bodies spouting yellow mist, aren't I? Sane people are supposed to be afraid of stumbling upon a murder, right??" she whispers to herself under her breath.
After a moment, she steels herself, and watches as the other women examine the corpse.
Jassminder approaches the woman endlessly sputtering mist in to the room. Jass yawns, she steps forward, she forcibly opens eyes, she stumbles another step, and finally Jass falls over unconscious.
Saiya grins conspiratorially at Ci Ci. "Sane people yes, but we are in an asylum...don't worry about it. That's just Jass. She's different, but you get used to her." Notably she herself does not seem terrified, just curious.
She's spewing yellow mist...could this be the source? No, it seems contained to her general vicinity, but it has to be related somehow...
Saiya starts to walk into the room to examine the woman closer, then freezes as Jassminder falls over. "Jass, are you okay? Jass?!" Not getting a response, she looks again at the yellow mist. Uh oh.
Heedless of the blood, she lunges forward and tries to drag Jassminder away from the woman.
The Vixen says, “Much as I respect the dead, life is for the living.”
She attempts to rip the door from its hinges.
If she can’t pull the door off in one go, she instead grabs a bookend similar to Miz’s. Whatever her improv weapon, she whips it at the kneeling, mist-spraying woman—
—hoping the impact will topple the corpse and end the mist-spraying.
Miz just stands by as Jass barrels into the room to examine the woman spewing mist and then passes out. She is about to move to help her but Saiya beats her two it and she doesn't want to complicate matters by possibly getting in the way. Waiting, she watches to see what happens when Vix tries to toss something at the woman.
She holds her book end at the ready as she asks Saiya "Is she... ok?"
Ci Ci stands back, a look of confusion and concern on her face.
Part of her mind whispers, This is normal. This is who they are, and how they handle things. Meanwhile, her muddled, but conscious awareness mutters, "What did you expect, waking up in an insane asylum?"
Saiya yawns as she enters the mist but she’s able to stave off sleep long enough to pull Jassminder free. Jass wakes up in enough time to see Vix toss a decorative bookend right at the woman’s head, cracking it open. The woman now surely dead topples over and the stream of fog stops, followed by a pop emanating from within the woman. Any who examine the body don’t see the usual blood spray and bits of viscera that would normally accompany such a violent blow, she appears empty, as if something had scooped out her brain but left no visual mark as to how.
Jassminder manages to finish her search of the room. She notices a set of six small but powerful images sketched with coal upon torn parchment and set in fine frames. They depict eerie vistas of an endless, empty city under a sky of whirling fog. In the corner of each, a delicate copperplate records a year from 4708 to 4715 and the name Ulver Zandalus. She studies the images closely, finding them quite similar to the city from her recent nightmares. The marble desk here features several drawers filled with mundane writing supplies and extensive but uninteresting documents. One of these drawers is locked,
Jassminder also finds a number of curios, some of which others have taken already, Ci Ci is able to identify the most valuable ones: A brain-shaped sculpted wooden box, bookends depicting twin screaming and crying figures, and a brass sculpture of an Osirian pyramid. Each of the three items is worth 50 gold pieces. Ci Ci also notes that Zandalus’s paintings can also be collected and might fetch up to 100 gp for the set to a collector.
Looking through the titles in the upstairs library Jassminder is unable to determine if there is anything remarkable. Saiya however sees a few that catch her eye: On the Treatment of Ambitions, Disappointments, and Regrets by Dr. Beaurigmand Trice; On Violent Sands by Dr. Henri Meirtmane, and a signed copy of Alison Kindler’s Galdyce’s Guest: Feast of the Nosferatu. They are worth 100 gold a piece.
The Vixen is quite horrified by what she did. She runs over to the dead woman, a tear streaming down her right cheek. The pop—the missing brain—none of it makes sense.
But it seems the mist no longer puts anyone to sleep now.
“Ye’re okay, right, Jass?” In almost the same shuddering breath, she says to the dead woman, “I’m so sorry I…”
Less concerned with the 'loot' then figuring out what is going on and, more importantly, how to get out of this creepy place Miz notes to the others "There is another door down here."
She moves to the south side of the room and goes to check the door trying to see if she hears anything on the other side.
Jassminder gives a start as she wakes up, briskly shaking her head to clear it.
After having fallen unconscious in a pool of blood, her clothing is caked with it, as well as her hair. She's not compulsively fastidious, but she prefers tidiness and order over mess. She looks pissed as she tries to drag her fingers through the tangled strands. "Urgh. I hate getting blood in my hair, it's going to take hours to get it out even if we do find some hot water." She gives up trying to untangle it. Hot water, soap, scented oils, towels, a brush, a mirror... pointless to wish for what you don't have. Irrational.
But still. "There's a reason I use a bow."
Given that she's already covered in blood, it makes sense for her to be the one to examine the body. Not that anyone is exactly queuing to go near it.
Vix is still by the dead woman with the broken head. She grabs her wrist with two fingers, not because she’s checking for a pulse but because she doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing.
She gladly steps aside and let’s Jass examine the body.
“Jass, I only broke her head ’cause I thought that would stop the mist—which it did but, b-but… please tell me I didn’t kill her. If it’s true, I mean. If the truth ain’t what I wanna hear… tell me anyway.”
Jassminder is rattled enough at having fallen unconscious and woken up caked in blood that she looks directly at Vix, making full eye contact...with zero emotional connection. Her large, dark eyes are pitiless, like a shark.
"I always tell the truth. Lies complicate things. I don't know what was going on, but if all this blood was hers then she was probably already dead."
She investigates some more. "Interesting. I can't see anything like the amount of brain matter I'd have expected from a wound like that. It's as if something scooped out her brain but left no clue as to how. Another puzzle. Oh speaking of which, Saiya - can you unlock that drawer? There might be something useful in it."
She does a final search of the corpse, then gets to her feet and does her best to clean her hands.
Relieved she didn’t kill an innocent, more tears soak through the costume mask. “That’s what I like about ye, Jass. Ye wouldn’t lie, not even to ease me mind.”
Vix gets up, and chooses another throwing weapon: a brain-shaped box.
She then looks at the woman with a broken head and says, “Oh, f#*$ me. I ain’t about to desecrate the same corpse twice, am I?”
Vix opens the box!
Ci Ci looks at the valuable items with a wistful expression. "A shame we're trapped in a madhouse filled with mist-spewing corpses and creatures that can steal our faces. If I had some assurance something wasn't lurking nearby, waiting for the opportunity to murder us, I'd be happy knowing we could sell those items for a tidy sum."
She deliberately tries to avert her gaze from the corpse, and treads carefully around the pool of blood, making every effort not to step in it.
Realizing the brain-shaped box is one of the valuable items in question, Vix says, “I guess I best not throw this at anyone then.” She then puts the box in her bag for now (unless of course the dead woman’s brain is in the box!), and also offers to help carry other items.
She will approach the next room empty-handed.
She also asks Ci Ci, “Any chance ye know one o’ those spells that clean people?” Vix is not very subtle about jerking her thumb at blood-soaked Jass.
Mizuko doesn't hear anything through the door.
Saiya doesn't have time to examine the corpse before the mist stops flowing but she briefly felt the extraplanar energies radiating from the woman. It ceased when her head was bashed in. After Jass examines the body thoroughly she comes to the conclusion that most of the now corpse's internal organs have been ripped away, again there are no obvious incisions or cuts. Jass finds in her examination that woman has a key ring with a large number of keys on it.
Miz looks back at the others while they are still searching the room a look of concern on her face. "I don't hear anything at this door. You all said there was some mist outside right? Maybe... maybe if we can find a tunnel or something it will lead us out of here past the mist? I mean... it's a possibility right?"
There is fear in her voice, but its hard to tell why. Maybe it is not remembering anything, or waking up in this strange place without knowing how she got here, or the bizarre things the others have told her and she has seen, or a combination of it all. Either way, Miz is visibly shaking and it seems like she is just trying to find a way to get somewhere safe.
Vix finds her brain-box is empty.
"How did you know?" Ci Ci whispers back to Vi. A look of confusion and suspicious crosses her face for a brief moment, then disappears suddenly in an expression of understanding. Of course! If we know each other, and just can't remember all the details, she probably remembers me using the spell that way before.
Ci Ci tentatively approaches Jessminder. "Um, if you like, I can get the blood out of your hair with a bit of magic...save you the trouble of having to take a lot of time later."
Vix replies to Ci Ci, “I didn’t. Ye came in armed, yet ye followed Miz in here, both of ye looking ready for a fight. I figure ye’re either a magical girl like Saiya, or ye fight empty handed as I do.” With a shrug, she adds, “Lucky guess.”
Vix then approaches Miz, sympathetic to her visibly shaken state.
“We’re looking for an out,” she says as assuringly as she can muster. “And there’s a priestess named Winter, and a few survivors including a mother and her young boy. Our aim’s to get ’em all out alive.”
Looking back at the organless corpse, she adds, “I swear to Milani, if I’d any belief I could’ve helped that woman, I wouldn’t’ve done what I did to stop the mist. Even knowing she was already dead, and that what I did worked, I still don’t feel good about defacing an innocent’s corpse.
“I just hope ye know I’m doing all in me power to keep us alive. And we’re gonna find that katana o’ yers—”
What Vix says in Miz’s native tongue (and possibly her own?) sounds like it’s meant to bolster confidence.
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"Good thinking Vix. Knocking her over like that must have done the job." Saiya looks at the corpse for a minute. "Whatever she was, she wasn't alive, and I don't think she has been since this all started. Whatever 'this' is."
She glances up at Mizuko, noting the fear in the woman's eyes. "I doubt there are tunnels, or the other survivors would have already tried getting out that way. Still, not a bad idea to keep an eye out just in case. For now though we're checking everything, and we're taking anything that has even the remotest possibility of being useful. And given that we needed a f*%@ing mirror earlier, I'm inclined to view 'everything that's not nailed down' as being potentially useful." Her lips quirk. "It's not looting, it's investing in our future." It's unclear how much of that last sentence was sarcasm.
"Speaking of which..." She makes her way over to the drawer Jass had indicated, lockpicks in hand. "Just give me a second."
"Well hello, what have we here?"
Miz calms a bit at the other two woman's words. When Saiya goes to open the drawer she leans in close to Vix and whispers to her.
She forces a smile, staying near the door for when the others are ready to depart.
The Vixen is relieved by Saiya’s good thinking comment. She feared her action made her come off as mindless, heartless, gutless…
“Yeah… I kinda wish I threw a pillow instead, though.”
She says to Mizuko,
As she speaks Tien, Vix pats her studded leather jacket (Numerian-style armor?) just above the waist, then slides her hand down to her thigh-high boot. The boots looks more expensive than the jacket.
Inside the drawer Saiya finds a thick journal. Paging through it she discovers that it is a record of Briarstone Asylum's administrator, Eliege Losandro. She concisely records her daily duties and observations, it is largely mundane, notes from staff meetings, interviews with families of would-be patients. But within the last ear, the names Haserton Lowls and Count Lowls appears with increasing regularity. Saiya recognizes the name, , which refers to Count Haserton Pragmus Lowls IV, ruler of the County of Versex n Ustalav. And the final entries are of particular note:
Oathday: Another unexpected call from Count Lowls. These have become so common and Lowls’s focus is so singular that they no longer leave me apprehensive. He requested to see me after his visit with Zandalus, though. He claims to have a theoretical solution for the poor man’s condition. I don’t know what the count and my prized patient have been discussing and Lowls again refused to share but I doubt that lordly amateur psychologist has truly hit upon anything of worth. Regardless, I’d be a fool not to humor my liege.
Starday: Lowls’s ”solution” was not at all what I expected. I have no clue where he turned it up, but on his most recent visit he brought along a copy of Valhadis’s The Chain of Nights, a near-legendary collection of psycho-arcane studies and treatments focused on dreaming. While I abhor arcane tampering, if there’s a permanent solution to Zandalus’s nightmares, it could be here. Lowls allowed me to study the text for the duration of his visit, but staunchly refused to leave it in my possession.
Moonday: Lowls has made me an offer: his copy of The Chain of Nights. All I must do in return is accept a handful of new patients, former associates of his that have suffered some unprecedented manner of group amnesia. The terms make me suspicious, but I can learn more of these curious strangers once they’re in my care. If it means the possibility of a cure for Zandalus and others, I welcome the bargain.
Toilday: The Chain of Nights is a marvel. It will take years of study to unravel all its possibilities, but already I’ve discovered a process by which chronic dreams might be drawn forth and disposed of like so much psychic gristle. Tomorrow our experiment begins.
In addition to Losandro’s journal, the locked desk drawer also contains a magnifying glass, two vials of alchemist’s kindness, a vial of smelling salts, two vials of soothe syrup, 4 doses of antitoxin, 2 doses of opium, a scroll of fox’s cunning, two scrolls of remove paralysis, a candle of spirit protection, a small tin filled with incense of open thoughts, a greater talisman of beneficial winds on a thin silver chain, and a braided leather cord holding a lesser talisman of healing power and a lesser talisman of warrior’s courage.
Lahrehn scratches her head - or at least the part of her mass that she used to emulate a head - as they read the entries.
This is all so confusing! - she says, looking at the others - At least we might have something of use, here, to continue exploring this place to find an exit in a safer way.
"Huh." Saiya pages through the journal, pausing as she gets to the most relevant bits near the end. "Um, I think I may have some clue as to who we are here. Apparently shortly before everything went crazy Count Lowls requested the asylum take care of some 'associates' who all had amnesia." That's...not what she'd been thinking. If we were patients, why was all our stuff in the basement with us? Why were we separated from the rest?
She tucks the journal away for safekeeping. "When and if we get out of here, it looks like we owe Count Lowls some questions. One person getting amnesia is an accident. Six is a conspiracy. Is there a spell that erases memories?" She pauses, then shakes her head. "Not important right now. What is important is that this drawer was filled with all sorts of other goodies. Catch." She tosses Vix the talisman of warrior's courage and, after a second of consideration, Ci Ci the talisman of beneficial winds. "That one protects against spellcasters that try to make you afraid, and that one protects against falls." She takes the talisman of healing power and puts it around her own neck.
"Definitely worth the time it took to pick the lock. Anything else in here, or are we ready to move on?"
Vix grins at the gift. “Yeah… let’s get the new girls their stuff. Gotta be around here if they, um… got here however we did.”
The Vixen resists the temptation to kick the door. She slowly opens it to see if it leads outside or inside.
Ci Ci looks at the talisman for a moment, then puts it on.
"Surviving falls might be useful. Too bad there isn't an talisman of "protection from getting your brains scooped out and your head turned into a censor for yellow sleep mist. If there were, I'd have to fight you for it. Heh," she says, ending her comment with a forced chuckle.
This hall is dark and empty except for the smashed remains of lanterns on the ground. Five more doors branch from here.
Saiya is able to pick out a few beads of blood soaking through the boards on the far door. The far door is also locked,
The Vixen asks, “So how shall we deal with the locked door? Piiiick the lock? Or kiiiick the lock?
“…’t door?”
Ci Ci tentatively approaches Jassminder. "Um, if you like, I can get the blood out of your hair with a bit of magic...save you the trouble of having to take a lot of time later."
Jassminder nods without hesitation. That would help. Thank you," she adds after a moment. Manners and politeness don't come naturally to her, but they are a useful learned response.
"Surviving falls might be useful. Too bad there isn't an talisman of "protection from getting your brains scooped out and your head turned into a censor for yellow sleep mist."
Jassminder hefts her longbow. "This is a powerful amulet against all sorts of bad things happening to us."
Vix nods at Jass’ words, trusting that bow may very soon prevent badness, then gives the door a good—
“F+#~!
“—the f#$&’re these doors made of? I swear, I’d be on that operating table looking hole-ier than a ratling’s cheese wheel had they imprisoned me in a broom closet!”
Vix’s other leg whirls around—
—delivering just enough power to take out the bloody door.
While satisfied by the smash, Vix wonders if they need come in to see what leaked all that blood, or will it come out?
When she’s pointed the drops of blood, Lahrehn steps back to a safe distance. Would it be trapped?, she thinks, before watching the red haired pass by her and go directly to kick the door.
Miz frowns when the open the door to only find a hall with more doors, but then shrugs as she thinks At least it's not a dead end, still a possibility to escape...
While Vix heads straight for the bloody door, Miz stays back still holding her book end defensively.
Jassminder nods without hesitation. That would help. Thank you," she adds after a moment. Manners and politeness don't come naturally to her, but they are a useful learned response.
Jassminder hefts her longbow. "This is a powerful amulet against all sorts of bad things happening to us."
Ci Ci runs her fingers through Jassminder's hair, cleaning it of blood with a small bit of magical energy.
With a loud thunk Vix knocks on the door, she notices when she pulls away there are smears of blood where she contacted the door. From behind the northern doors someone yells, "I told you to stop trying to break down the doors Bertold! And shut up you're ruining that white stuff they give us."
"At least wait for me to answer before you start kicking the door down," Saiya grumbles as she moves down the hall. "I'd rather leave it intact in case we need to barricade-"
She's interrupted by a voice. Whirling around, she focuses on the doors to the north. "And that's why we explore as we go instead of running straight to the end." It seems to be directed to herself more than anyone else. Stupid, we just found three people alive in these rooms, should have anticipated there might be more.
"Any of you good at negotiation?" She's primarily looking at Ci Ci as she asks, although the question is meant for any of the 'new people.' "My last attempt to convince people we were friends not food didn't go so well. I mean, it sort of worked in the end, but we had to kill two of them before the third would actually listen to me."
Jassminder's eyes narrow as she hears the yell. "Leave that door for now," she tells Vix. She nods in agreement with Saiya. "Let's see who's in there."
She puts an arrow to her bowstring. "I would not assume that anyone here is friendly."
When Saiya asks about negotiating Miz chimes in "I like talking to people, I mean... one of the few memories I have is being the life of the party at a tavern, so I can try!"
She moves closer to the door, but looks to Vix to see if she will be the one to open the door, still hesitant about not having a real weapon or armor.
Ci Ci is about to respond when Miz chimes in. She gives a small sigh, though it isn't entirely clear if it is one of relief or annoyance.
"Sounds like she's going to handle the talking," Ci Ci replies.
Vix is about to apologetically explain her question was rhetorical, but…
…after the commotion, she replies to Miz, “Yeah, I’ll stick by ye. Maybe ye’re best off without the bookend, and we appear as two unarmed women. For all intents and purposes, even if I’m naked, I ain’t unarmed.
“How about, I knock, you talk? And might ye give me a signal word if ye want me to use intimidation tactics?”
Vix will knock politely when everyone is ready, and will open the door gently if permitted.
Miz tightens her grip on the bookend as Vix suggests her putting it down as she mentions she is armed even if naked Miz finally nods before setting the bookend down on the ground.
When Vix opens the door Miz will call out, being sure to have Vix between her and the door. "Excuse us, we heard you calling out to someone named Bertold. We are kind of lost and looking for help. Perhaps you could help us?"
Vix opens the door to find cluttered racks with boxes and a sprawling collection of haphazard junk spilled across a dusty storage room. The room has been partially ransacked with some of the shelves knocked over and their contents scattered across the floor. Two humans populate the room, one holds a katana awkwardly while rifling through a storage box. Another sits in front of an array of mismatched dolls and holds a chalk board with gibberish written on it. Both wear simple clothing unevenly dyed yellow.
The one holding the katana blinks while staring at Miz and Vix, he says finally "You're not Bertold." The one holding the chalk board says, "Hey Ernesto didn't the Bag Lady say to kill anyone who wasn't wearing yellow?" They both look at the party with bloodlust in their eyes.
Miz eyes the katana and shouts at the man holding it "Hey! That's mine..." She picks up her bookend and takes up a defensive stance to protect herself as best she can until they can retrieve her blade.
Noticing their expressions, Ci Ci steps forward and extends her hands in a fan like position.
”Burn!” she screams, unleashing a wave of fire at the men.
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"Not just me then. Seems like no one here wants to listen to reason." Before Jassminder can interject, Saiya adds, "Asylum, right. Reason is apparently optional."
She runs into the room, drawing her rapier as she runs up to the startled apostle. "Don't suppose you'd answer if I asked who the hell the Bag Lady is, would you?" Given that she punctuates her question with a stab from her rapier, she doesn't seem to expect a response.