Stonebriar Asylum

For over a hundred years, Stonebriar Asylum operated as a refuge for those affected by ailments of the mind. Even as the sanitarium drifted from the influence of the Rosewood Academy of Natural Sciences, it remained a sanctuary and place of true medical research. In 3577 CE, a resident doctor, Eileen Lozando, began treating a former Rosewood student, Zander Ulverus. Zander had been a promising protege of Professor Henri Meirane, but after returning from a venture with the professor across the Cape of Good Fortune, Zander began suffering terrifying nightmares. While abroad, Meirane had encountered a cult sworn to the dark god Hastur, sometimes called the King in Yellow, and robbed them of a tome called The Chain of Veils, an ancient Tareshite text devoted to both science and arcana related to dreams. Zander was captured by the cult and kept as their prisoner for a time before Meirane freed him, and together they escaped. Upon returning to Rosewood Academy, Zander's memories of the harrowing events in the Tareshite jungles turned into terrible dreams, visions infected by the symbols and chanting of the King in Yellow. Within his dreams—a realm bordering on the King’s demesne, the nightmare city of Carcosa—Zander's mind was consumed. For 15 years, Zander lived under the supervision of Lozando and the doctors of Stonebriar Asylum. He gained some renown during that time as the mute patient who drew startling visions of his nightmares, with powerful impressions of spiraling skies and vast, dead cities. Some of his art was even displayed at the Rosewood Academy, whereupon a local noble, Baron Haver Lowell, IV took notice. An impetuous pseudo-academic without the disposition for true scholarship, Lowell doggedly attempted to enter the Rosewood academic scene, resulting in public embarrassment. Despite this, Lowell's interest in hidden histories and lurid tales of horror, as well as his considerable wealth, brought him into possession of several occult tomes and left him with some passing familiarity with forbidden topics. Upon visiting a gallery event featuring Zander's dream art, Lowell recognized shapes and scenes common to descriptions of the Dreamlands, Carcosa, and, most shockingly, the Stelae, strange obelisks from a lost civilization located in his very own hometown of Rushton. In the following months, Baron Lowell immersed himself in study of the Dreamlands and began paying visits to Zander at Stonebriar Asylum. In his observations of the mute patient's artistry, Lowell became increasingly convinced that Zander explored the Dreamlands each night. Over time, he became certain that he might even follow Zander into the Dreamlands and learn what connection the Stelae held to realms beyond. The results were a success, revealing that the city infecting Zander's mind was not only fabled Carcosa, but also the manifestation of a forgotten city of the material plane called Nezarine. With a new focus for his obsession, Lowell set forth to make the discovery he’d always lusted after. But the Baron didn’t simply abandon Zander. By way of a reward, he left Doctor Lozando, now Administer of Stonebriar Asylum, with two gifts. The first was a copy of The Chain of Veils and directions on a rite that might excise the nightmares from Zander’s mind—a method that sounded like a cure for the man’s torment, but that also assured none could follow in Lowell’s path. The second were several of his former agents, hirelings whose minds he had sacrificed in a Dreamlands ritual. Lozando enthusiastically accepted both the tome and the amnesiacs. It didn’t take her long to attempt the ritual Lowell directed her to in The Chain of Veils. She had expected the nightmares released by the rite to be something small and inanimate, like the excising of a brittle mental bezoar. The results were almost immediate: Zander spoke to Lozando for the first time in their long doctor-patient relationship. Encouraged by the breakthrough, Lozando eagerly prepared for more discussion with Zander, but didn’t seek to rush matters. That night, though, Zander’s nightmares spread. Although the afflicted artist slept soundly for the first time in decades, something had indeed been released from Zander's dreams. Another child of the Dreamlands, one that had latched onto Zander years ago, slipped through the dreamscapes of Stonebriar's patients. The Tatterman now hunted unrestrained. A native of the Dreamlands and an ancient servant of Hastur, the King in Yellow, the Tatterman sought to peel away his victims’ living facades, revealing the beasts inside each dreamer. He stalked the asylum’s patients in nightmares. Those he killed before they awoke suffered terrifying transformations into the creatures known as ghouls and doppelgangers. Some underwent even stranger changes. The plague of dreams and unpredictable emergence of monsters threw the asylum’s staff into a panic. In the midst of these events, Zander—encouraged by the Tatterman—turned the rites from The Chain of Veils back on Doctor Lozando, turning her into an oneirogen, and living portal to the Dreamlands. While the staff was distracted, Zander gathered a flock of impressionable and dangerous patients, anointing them his Apostles. What should have been a typical evening’s routine turned into a violent uprising, led by a Tatterman-influenced Zander. Stonebriar Asylum fell quickly. If the creatures lurking in the sanitarium’s hidden places weren’t enough, an ancient bhole that slumbered beneath the island became infected as well and shuddered in its dreams, causing a tremor that collapsed much of the asylum’s upper levels, killing dozens and damaging the ground floor. Many of the survivors attempted to flee, but found the isle ringed by an unnatural yellow mist. This fog, a manner of ether seeping from the Dreamlands, had been unleashed by Zander's tampering with dreams and the power contained within The Chain of Veils Through this fog and the additional oneirogens Zander created, creatures native to the Dreamlands began to manifest in the Asylum, making it a place of pure nightmare. Stonebriar Isle a became a cage from which none could escape. It was in this chaos that a glimmer of hope emerged, when the amnesiacs whom Baron Lowell had interred at Stonebriar began to regain some semblance of their sanity and set out to find the source of the curse infecting Stonebriar and put an end to it. Though still without their memories, they were aided by a visting cleric of Accuris and some of the asylum's surviving patients and staff. These Adventurers - Esp Platyrhynchos, Hemlock Shores, Haskell Vorsicht, Rorgrim Coppermane, Yew, and Kingfisher - fought their way through monsters and strange Dreamlands manifestations, ultimately finding and defeating the possessed Zander. But Zander's death was the final key that the Tatterman had been awaiting, allowing him to fully manifest physically in the material plane. Though the Adventurers managed to destroy his physical form in a brutal battle, it came at the cost of some of their own. Haskell and Rorgrim were killed, and Kingfisher, infected with ghoulish features, driven mad. With the death of Zander and the Tatterman, the yellow fog lifted, though it is unclear if it took all of the Dreamlands creatures with it. Many of the survivors, led by the cleric Winter, took boats from the island's docks to the nearby town of Rushton. Among those who stayed were the Adventurer Yew, whose sanity having always been in question, had declared himself the new ruler of Stonebriar. However, an investigation several days later by members of the Watchers Guild found the ruined asylum completely empty, with no sign of life. Everyone left on the island had disappeared without a trace. Stonebriar Asylum currently remains empty and abandoned, though members of the Rosewood Academy's School of Medicine have discussed seeking funds to open a new sanitarium closer to the school for research purposes.

Purpose / Function

Stonebriar Asylum was built in 3459 CE with the support of Baron Haver Lowell I and the Rosewood Academy of Natural Sciences for the purpose of creating a safe haven for those poor souls afflicted with ailments of the mind. It was constructed on Stonebriar Isle, long thought to be haunted by a local legend known as the Stonebriar Witch, until Baron Lowell ordered the Church of Accuris to perform an extensive exorcism over the entire island in order to quash the fears of the locals.

Alterations

Stonebriar Asylum was built on the site of a fort which which had been planned for construction in 3189 CE by Captain Enoch Aetherton with the purpose of protecting Carthia's coastline from pirates. Many strange occurrences plagued the construction of the fort, culminating in the mysterious death of Captain Aetherton, and the fort's construction was ultimately halted. Rumors attributed the tragedies to the Stonebriar Witch.

Architecture

The building was constructed in the style of the more fashionable estates of 34th century Carthia. Large windows allowed an abundance of natural light to flood the the asylum's wide hallways, creating a peaceful atmosphere for the afflicted who roamed its halls.

Defenses

The asylum was built on an island as a natural deterrent both to unwanted visitors and a way to keep the patients contained.

History

2892 CE - A Mother Ariadne is recorded as residing within the original village of Rushton at the time of the Rushton Vanishing. She is said to be of Pellish and Sartorian descent. Mother Ariadne will later be claimed as the original Stonebriar Witch. 3189 CE - Captain Aetherton attempts to build a fort on Stonebriar Isle with disastrous results. 3458 CE - Baron Haver Lowell I orders Stonebriar Isle exorcised by the Church of Accuris. 3459 CE - Construction begins on Stonebriar Asylum. 3592 CE - A great curse falls over the Asylum, casting it in a strange yellow mist. The curse is dispersed by a team of Adventurers, but not long after, all remaining residents of Stonebriar disappear, leaving the Asylum an empty ruin.

Tourism

In its current state as an empty and possibly haunted ruin, Stonebriar is sure to attract the occasional ghost hunter or Adventurer.
Residents: Hemlock Shores - patient (escaped) Esp Platyrhynchos - patient (escaped) Garrok - orderly (escaped) Winter - visitor (escaped) Nyssa Wallace - nurse (escaped) Airynn Savory - nurse (escaped) Leo Tolman - nurse (escaped) Brendan Liebkin - patient (escaped) Dana Folkes - patient (escaped) Bailey Harborcoat - patient (escaped) Yorick Bateman - patient (escaped) Loren Olsen - patient (escaped) Kosta - patient (escaped) Moira Bateman - patient (escaped) Yew - patient (missing) Viktor Demain - patient (missing) August Derleth - orderly (missing) Ramby Mantooth - ratling leader (missing) Jessie Meeks - nurse (missing) Dunston - patient (missing) Dudley - patient (missing) Ivory Gardine - cook and Apostle (missing) Ilya Vokost - patient (missing) Rorgrim Coppermane - patient (deceased) Haskell Vorsicht - patient (deceased) Eileen Lozando - Director (deceased) Zander Ulverus - Leader of the Apostles (deceased) Julian Rivers - patient and member of the Apostles (deceased) Ellis Renfield - resident doctor (deceased) Ilsa Scanlan - resident doctor (deceased) Denman Winepress - cook (deceased) Lawrence Keys (Doctor Latchkey) - resident doctor (deceased) Ophelia Day (Doctor Oathday) -resident doctor (deceased) Norman Gage - patient (deceased) Father Serakian - cleric of Accuris (deceased) Denis Liebkin - patient (deceased) Ichabod Klade - patient and Apostle (deceased) Tick - patient and Apostle (deceased) Lester Wyman - patient (deceased) Adelaide Freeling - patient (deceased) Anya Chaur - resident doctor (deceased) Dalamar Calabiri - orderly (deceased) Camper Linwell - orderly (deceased) Mister Fincher - Head Groundskeeper (deceased) Miss Delilah - Head Nurse (deceased) Miss Lentz - nurse (deceased) Caleb Runestab - Head Cook (deceased) Brian Cernalo - patient (deceased) "The Bag Lady" - interdimensional traveler (deceased) Jacoby Wierus - visitor? (missing) The Tatterman - interloper (deceased?)

RUINED STRUCTURE
3592 CE

Founding Date

3459 CE

Type

Hospital

Parent Location

Carthia

Owner

Zander Ulverus

Ruling/Owning Rank

Cult Leader

Owning Organization

The Apostles

Related Report (Primary Locations)

• Strange Aeons / In Search of Sanity pt. 11 / Eire the 5th through the 6th, 3592 CE / 10-29-19
• Strange Aeons / In Search of Sanity pt. 12 / Eire the 6th, 3592 CE / 11-5-19
• Strange Aeons / In Search of Sanity pt. 13 / Eire the 6th, 3592 CE / 11-13-19
• Strange Aeons / In Search of Sanity pt. 14 / Eire the 6th, 3592 CE / 11-19-19
• Strange Aeons / In Search of Sanity pt. 15 / Eire the 7th, 3592 CE / 11-26-19
• Strange Aeons / In Search of Sanity pt. 26 / Eire the 9th, 3592 CE / 5-19-20
• Strange Aeons / In Search of Sanity pt. 3 / Eire the 4th, 3592 CE / 8-13-19
• Strange Aeons / In Search of Sanity pt. 4 / Eire the 4th, 3592 CE / 8-20-19
• Strange Aeons / In Search of Sanity pt. 5 / Eire the 4th, 3592 CE / 8-27-19
• Strange Aeons / In Search of Sanity pt. 6 / Eire the 4th, 3592 CE / 9-3-19
• Strange Aeons / In Search of Sanity pt. 7 / Eire the 4th through the 5th, 3592 CE / 9-17-19
• Strange Aeons / In Search of Sanity pt. 9 / Eire the 5th, 3592 CE / 10-15-19

Related Report (Secondary Locations)

• Strange Aeons / The Rushton Terror pt. 1 / Eire the 9th, 3592 CE / 6-10-20