Strange Aeons / In Search of Sanity pt. 2 / Eire the 4th, 3592 CE / 7-30-19

General Summary

Four strangers with no memories have woken from a nightmare to an even more terrifying reality. After escaping their cells and confronting a murderous woman dressed like a doctor, the woman, who her last victim referred to as Ilsa, has fled through a door at the end of a hall, jamming it behind her. As the dwarf and the ganzi attempt to break down the door and continue pursuit of their attacker, the elven bloodborn searches in the opposite direction, discovering a large furnace containing humanoid remains. Meanwhile, the human has retrieved the single lantern lighting the cell block in order to further illuminate their attempt to escape. Having finally pushed the door open, the pursuers see no sign of Ilsa, but the dwarf does notice a flight of stairs, and runs up it, only to discover to his dismay that it is blocked by rubble from a collapsed ceiling. The room itself is seems to indicate that the party is in some sort of cellar, as it contains a chute leading upwards, at the bottom of which are a gruesome pile of bodies. The ganzi's attention is drawn to a pile of discarded equipment in the corner, some of which trigger memories, and he is able to identify his own possessions from the pile. The rest of the party joins in, and soon everyone is re-equipped. As they investigate the pile of bodies, they discover two of the victims are still alive, a portly human male and a human female. They also have no recollection of their names or past lives, though they too are able to discern their belongings from the pile. Deciding to band together, the group attempts to ascertain the best route of escape from the basement, with the stairs being cut off. They deduce that perhaps Ilsa made her way up the chute, and to everyone's surprise, the bloodborn turns into a bat in order to fly up the chute and investigate. He discovers that the hatch at the top is easily opened, and using rope from the human's pack, secures a line for the rest of the party to make their way to the surface. As they exit the chute into an open courtyard, perhaps once a garden but now muddy and trampled, they notice a sickly yellow smog covers the sky. It reminds them of the yellow mist from their shared dream. Since no one remembers their names, the ganzi assigns everyone a nickname in order to make it easier to communicate: Fatman, Red, Shorty, Batman, Kingfisher, and Glaive Guy. The party spots a blood trail in the mud, possibly that of the fleeing Ilsa, and follow it from the courtyard through a door into an interior hallway, at the south end of which is a makeshift barricade and a pair of guards armed with crossbows. Questioning the guards reveals that they are in Stonebriar Asylum, and the guards are actually former inmates who took refuge here after the doctors began going crazy and "turning into monsters." When the party asks to pass through, they call for their commander, a man named August, who informs the party that because the monsters can change shape, including the one that apparently took the form of Kingfisher before running north down the hallway, they will need proof in the form of dead creatures before they are allowed to pass. The guards are also none too pleased when Glaive Guy and Kingfisher discover they can speak a horrifying language called Aklo, a language so alien that Fatman feels at risk of losing his sanity every time he hears it. The party begins investigating the hallway in the opposite direction. In a room that looks to be a boiler room, Fatman and Red are horrified to see two dire rats squeeze from between the pipes and rush towards them.

Character(s) interacted with

Rorgrim Coppermane, Haskell Vorsicht, Yew, Hemlock Shores, Esp Platyrhynchos, Viktor Demain, Ilsa Scanlan, August Derleth, Dunston & Dudley (guards), dire rats

Report Date

13 Aug 2019

Secondary Location

Carthia