1.2 - In Search of Sanity - The Dead Don't Dream

After vanquishing the Argus Wall haunt and revealing the door beyond, you eventually are ready to press onward.

Having now learned about the situation at Briarstone Asylum and gained a safe haven, you venture into the sanitarium's central halls. You suspect you might learn more about yourselves and about the nightmare gripping the entire asylum.

Throwing the door open reveals an enormous, cathedral-like hall. White tile, spiderwebbed with cracks, lines the walls. A prominent, oval desk faces staunch double doors along the southern wall, while hard benches and portraits of somber doctors line the walls. Regal stairs ascend toward a second floor, but rubble has crushed the upper flights, blocking passage. Lofty windows, gridded by bars, flank the southern doors and reveal yellow mist seething just beyond.

In addition to the door you just entered through, you also notice an opposing set of large double doors on the northern wall of the room. There is what might be an office door just east of there, and again a set of double doors in the south-eastern corner of the room. If you make your way to the north-east, you also find a door that appears to lead into a courtyard.

Meeting Tolman and the children strengthened his need to figure out this horror and vanquish it, and so he pressed on with a bit more hope than before.

"Hold, friends, and let me see..."

አስማትን ፈልግ።

He looked around the large room with his third eye.

Axon senses no magic immediately visible as he enters the room and scans it.

"Nothing jumps out at me... yet," he said.

Razhel moves into the large room and looks around. She holds her crossbow ready, as she checks out the room.

As your group moves further into the large room, you find it quite empty other than the features you already noted from the western section.

You find a hall stretching East but an impassable wall of rubble blocks this eastern exit.

You note that unlike most of the rest of the asylum so far, the ceiling here in this area is about twice as high (about 20ft from the ground).

You are able to traverse the north-west stairs as far as the first landing, about halfway up to the ceiling, but beyond that is another wall of rubble - beyond that you can see that the upper floors of the asylum in this area must have nearly collapsed entirely.

Having all but cleared the room, you note the large doors to the south appear to be the entrance doors of the asylum, with the desk being likely for reception of guests. The other doors would lead further into the asylum rooms and grounds, including: the double doors to the north, the room to the north-east, and the room to the south-east. Lastly, there is the door you find in the north-east, reachable after navigating some rubble, that appears to lead to the courtyard.

Other than the feeling that this entry hall once meant to instill a sense of reliability and prominence in those who visited, there is little else you note before deciding which path you would like to explore further.

As much as the place reminded him of the horrors without, he wanted to see the courtyard again.

"Just a quick look at something green, not just yellow," he said as he carefully moved over rubble to the door. He checked to see if the door was locked or barred, and gave it a once over with his second sight.

Even before he sets his hand to the door handle, Axon can hear the wind. He slowly opens the door to eastern courtyard, revealing an outside area with high asylum walls hedging a large garden. Only thin breaths of sickly fog seep in from overhead, though beyond its just as thick as ever. Misty wisps slip between leafless trees and simple benches, giving the impression of silent beasts prowling through the garden. You can see about twenty feet up before the yellow fog obscures your sight.

Powerful winds sweep through the courtyard, stirring the misty tendrils into violent, spinning cords of yellow sinew. The howling is alike an infernal chorus as it blows across the rooftops high above you. Before stepping out into the wind, Axon watches and gauges, noting the wind picking up hard enough at times that it might actually be difficult to traverse the garden, and anything flying through the air would have great difficulty going where intended.

Upon the wind you hear strange sounds - like low growls or rustling footsteps.

At the northeastern corner of the courtyard, a sturdy wooden shed leans against the wall, clearly visible through the foliage though some 100ft away in early afternoon light.

"There's a shed out there. Should we check inside it?" he asked while looking around the courtyard.

Grim holds onto the brim of his hat with one hand while cradling his crossbow in the crook of his other arm. "Its not exactly strolling weather out there." He says to robed guy, now sporting the weird disembodied eye. "Have at it, if you think we should check out that shed you see."

"Anything we find out there could help those trapped in here... like us. What say the rest of you?"

"I...I'll go where you go, but I can't say I like the look of it out there," Iosef says. "We could always wait and see if the weather calms down - it was calm enough yesterday after we escaped that basement."

"It doesn't matter to me either way." Razhel speaks up. "As long as we keep moving."

Should we all go or just a couple of us? Elias says as they stand there looking at the courtyard.

"A fair question, Knight," Iosef says, "I will hold back and watch from the doorway. To make sure it is safe and provide assistance from the rear, of course."

" I suggested this so I must go out into the storm but none of us should be alone. Will one of you stay with Glasses while the others search the shed?""

"If we must, I will stand guard with crossbow here at the doorway." Grim says.

"Let's go before it gets any worse," he said as he went outside, his second sight focused on their surroundings as they went to the shed.

Keeping an eye on Axon as he leaves the doorway, Elias keeps the other eye on the environment around them. Moving as quickly and yet carefully as he can, Elias hopes to make it before the winds pick up again.