After a brief discussion, the group decides that Gustav, Morgalyn, and Teo will descend back down to the first level, while Rolf and Ghaalib remain upstairs with Vunik.  Exhausted beyond normal measure, Rolf slumps against the stone wall, his eyelids fluttering and just barely holding back sleep.

Gustav grips his weapon, holding it at the ready as he opens the door back to the hallway to make his way downstairs.  After Morgalyn and Teo exit with him, Gustav can hear the soft click of the lock closing behind them.

Pausing slightly, Gustav looks and listens... and though he hears nothing for the moment, a brief glance towards the end of the hallway reveals that the door that had been closed and locked earlier, now hangs just slightly ajar...

Teo and Morgalyn hesitate, waiting for Gustav to lead on.

Gustav's adventure resumes here from Chapter 17

OOC:  Just wanted to take a moment to see if the open door will change anything about your approach.  Feel free to let me know specifically, or generally what you want to do.
This message was last updated by the GM at 01:33, Mon 26 Oct 2020.

Gustav stays against the wall that door is in and moves down to look in the room behind that door... He still has the two handed axe which he carries up and ready.

Gustav slinks down the hallway as quietly as he can, which proves to be quite stealthy as he had taken only the bare minimum equipment with him to the asylum in the first place.

As he passes the hallway to the right (the direction of the stairs leading downward) and continues forward towards the open door ahead, Morgalyn whispers behind him in an urgent voice.  "Are you sure?..."

Gustav pushes forwards, turning his head to the girl and nodding slightly, holding up a hand to keep the others from following too close...  He just wanted a peek.

He manages the end of the hallway without incident, and he presses his face in the crack of the open door.

The first thing that hits Gustav is the bitter rank of decay.  It is not overwhelming, but instead it is a soft and sour smell that invades his face and eyes, catching in the back of his throat with a swelling discomfort.  This room too is lit by the dancing light of a few torches ensconced here and there on the walls, the meager light flickering soft shadows across the room.   With only the narrowest of views available through the door, Gustav sees a patch of wall on the right side of the room which seems to be covered with documents and diagrams - lose sheets of paper are plastered to the stone with a sort of organized interval, though the papers are too far away for Gustav to make out any details...

OOC:  Roll vs. Perception.

Gustav tries to move slightly back and forth to see more of the room... and he listens, then moves back to the others.

Gustav glances takes another moment, listening and glancing through the door, though without opening it, the task of getting a sense of what is in the room - beyond all the charts and pictures on the wall - is difficult.  For what it is worth, Gustav is not able to hear anything, which is a comfort, Gustav had half worried there were more demented spirit wolves or undead behind the door, and he was not itching at the moment to get in another fight.

The other two look at Gustav in curiosity as he returns, but Gustav merely shrugs his shoulders and leads the other two on back to the small guard room and down the stairs to the floor below.

They make their way out into the room with the large table, perhaps a sort of staffroom of sorts.

"Which way?"  Morgalyn asks, pointing at the two doors.  The one on the left having been the one they entered through earlier in the night, the one on the right presumably going to the cells on the other side of the asylum.

Lets go deal with what we know... new surprises are not a blessing right now...

Teo nods to Gustav's suggestion and heads towards the door to the left, pushing his way through before the others.

Gustav finds himself in the small corridor again, with the two doors on the left.  The one at the far end of the hall was where they had fought the doctor... where the restrained patient was being stitched up with thread upon the table...  The other door they had not been able to get through earlier.

But the thing that draws Gustav's attention is the door at the far end of the corridor, the one leading back to the cells.  For this door has been bashed from its hinges and lies strewn across the floor in two pieces in the cell block just beyond the threshold.

Audible from the distance beyond are the mixed moans and suffering of the prisoners on the first floor.

"That was the one Rolf closed behind us."  Morgalyn whispers.  "Think there's something still in there?"

OOC:  Let me know what you want to do.  I got the impression from your dialogue that you wanted to head back the way you came, but it would be immensely helpful to me if you actually described your actions so I can both move the story along as well as prevent myself from fast forwarding you through actions that you normally wouldn't have taken.

Gustav is taken aback at the smashed door, could those beasts have done it? (not sure if it was smashed in toward the hallway we are in or out away) ... either way, we need to advance to see out into the cell block. He glances at the doors as he passes looking in on the good doctor and her patient.
I am not sure how to do this, start at this end or at the far end so those released can exit ... perhaps at the far end and see them out before releasing any more? what say you?

Gustav looks in on the second room to the left, the room where they had fought the doctor earlier.  As he presses his head into the room, he sees the fat woman still strapped quite tightly to the clinic bed, unmoving.

The patient, however, scrabbles her hands and feet as she notices the motion at the doorway, pushing herself back, though she does not move far due to the thick straps still holding her fast to the bed.  The girl's face his wide with fear.

"Get away!"  She murmurs in a hoarse whisper, as if her voice has left her completely.  "Don't hurt me!"

Perhaps she should be the first we free and send running ... Morgalyn, can you cut her free...

We will not hurt you, we will set you free...

I make sure the door is open to the cell hall and give her a clear run out of here; I suggest Teo assist Morgalyn to make sure she isn't attacked. I stand in the hall to make sure she goes the right way...
This message was last edited by the player at 22:29, Wed 04 Nov 2020.

"Right."  Morgalyn nods as she takes her knife and walks towards the patient still strapped down on the table.  Gustav walks towards the door and the cell block, trying to ensure the way is clear.  "This won't hurt none, so don't worry."  Morgalyn adds as Gustav is out of the room, and he can hear the sound of Morgalyn slicing the leather straps.

The cells seem to be more lively than they had been previously, for even as Gustav walks into the halls, he notes that some of the patients are awake.  Immediately across from him, Gustav notes a middle aged man who cowers in the corner of his cell, flinching visibly as he sees Gustav walk through the door.

"Don't let them take me!"  The man moans under his breath, barely audible by Gustav.  "They are coming!  I see them in my mind and my nightmares!"

In the cell adjacent, another man timidly comes towards the bars, peering towards Gustav.  "Let me out!  I'll pay any price!"

Farther on down the corridor, more sounds of moaning and screams echo.

Before Gustav has much more time to contemplate the situation, he hears the rush of feet from behind him, and looks around just in time to see the patient from the clinic rush past him, cradling her injured arm against herself.  She does not so much as pause as she passes Gustav, but continues to bolt down the hallway and turns towards the exit.

"Not shy about leaving, that one."  Morgalyn chuckles from behind Gustav as Teo and the lockpick rejoin Gustav.  "I don't think any of these are going to give us any trouble."

One can never tell...  lets be cautious and protect each other... start at this end and work down...  he opens the first door, with theman cowering  You are free to go.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:34, Mon 09 Nov 2020.

Gustav begins by opening the first cell on the right, and though the cowering man continues to shudder and push himself farther back into the corner of his cell at first, when no attack comes, he timidly steps forward, then rushes past Gustav, Morgalyn, and Teo at a full sprint, making his way out towards the exit.

One after another, Gustav opens the cells, with some of the patients immediately fleeing, others hesitating for moments before making their way outward.

The woman that had so allured Gustav earlier, watches with hungry eyes as Gustav opens her cell, though as he opens the door she only runs away like the others.

Only when Gustav reaches the last three cells do things go markedly different.

In the third to last, the man still sits on his slate, his eyes blank and unfocused, though he still seems to breathe as Gustav approaches him.  Realizing that the man seems incapable of coherent movement or thought, Gustav gives up on the man, leaving his cell door opens as he presses on to the last two.

The next patient is a woman who sits up on her slate, brushing her thin, yellowing hair with a broken comb.  Gustav opens her cell likewise, though she simply shakes her head, mentioning "They'll be coming for me soon."

The last old man in the cell closest to the exit seems more confused that some of the others, asking Gustav if he had come from up there while he pointed towards the ceiling and mentioning he needed to go to the kitchens to prepare dinner for the queen.  Gustav nods to the man, while inwardly shaking his head, mentioning to the old man that they moved the kitchens to outside the asylum gate.  With some prodding, the man finally shuffles towards the exit at a leisurely pace.

OOC:  All the inmates on the West side of the asylum have now been 'freed' although two remain, one that seems completely catatonic, the other entirely mad and beyond convincing.  Across the entrance hall, you can see more cells on the Eastern side of the asylum.

Gustav closes the two cell doors and locks them again, keeping the catatonic man and the blonde woman confined. Should we open the doors on the other side much, what do you think?
He tries the door to the other hallway, gently at first.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:11, Sat 14 Nov 2020.

"Yeah, might as well get them all."  Teo agrees as Gustav tugs open the opposite door using his ring of keys.

Gustav leads the way down the hallway, opening up the first cell of a woman who shrieks and draws back in her cell as Gustav approaches.  Gustav leaves the cell open, suspecting that most of the patients had little good come of the workers opening their cells.

The second cell is occupied by a man who seems much more eager to escape.  As Gustav approaches, he runs to the bars, pleading for his release, and Gustav is only too happy to oblige.  He notes that as the man runs pell mell from the cell block, the woman in the first cell runs free from her cell too, now that there is a little distance between them.

The next few cells have patients who are each odd in their own manner:  A woman who grins as Gustav opens the cell, sliding wraithlike away with the quietest of feet as soon as the door is opened, a man who rushes free once his doors are opened though his face is screwed up in a look of discomfort, an active man who roams his cell, searching for something, though he seems happy to leave upon the offer...

As Gustav opens up the cell of a docile man nearly the size of Magnus the Minotaur located nearly on the corner of the cell block, he notes that on this wing too their is a wooden door in the corner like on the other side of the asylum.  Here though, the door is not boarded up, but looks like it has had some recent use...  A thin trail of sticky, half-dried blood leads into the room...

OOC:  You've let most of the prisoners escape from the eastern wing as well, though there are three more cells after you've turned the corner.  The next two appear to be empty, and you aren't sure about the last one, though there doesn't appear to be anyone standing at the bars.  Unlike the doors leading into the wing and those of the cells, this corner door is solid wood, so you can't see into it before opening the door.

Gustav listens at the door, then if he hears nothing, he tries the door, cautiously, he dismisses the 3 cells, concentrating on what might be happening in this place of hellish actions.

Gustav opens the door slowly and peers through the open crack between the door and frame.

Despite his battle-hardened experience, Gustav inwardly gags as he appraises the picture before him, for the room is littered with blood.  It pools in various places on the floor, with wide swaths of trails and footprints dragged between them.  The metallic tang of fresh carrion assaults Gustav's nose and mouth as he leans forward slightly to get a better look in the room.

The room at first appears empty, apart from the mess on the floor and some spatters on the wall where it appears that fist-sized water balloons of gore has been hurled against the stone.  But as Gustav looks around the doorframe, he notices a single form hunched down in a corner in a pool of thick, reddish-brown ick.  Sure for a moment that the man is dead, Gustav is shocked as he notices, the thing begin to move...

Slowly, still on hands and knees, the thing turns.  Gustav feels his gut lurch as the face looms into sight.  It is... or was a man.  The thing's forehead is a mess of blood and bone, the skin split apart and peeling away from a shattered and emptying cranium.  Beneath the cracked spiderwebs of bone, soft, pink material spills from inside, slipping down the abomination's empty eyes and gruesomely broken and disfigured nose.  The red slick of blood has dried all across the thing's face, teeth, and clothes.

Gustav falters for only a minute to compose himself, though the thing is already making it's way to one foot...



OOC:  You are standing in the doorway and are just under 6 yards from where the abomination slumps.   Morgalyn and Teo are still behind you in the hallway.

Gustav slams the door and Looks quickly for a lock... if there isn't one he simply commands RUN, Undead
Otherwise he tries desperately to lock the door;  A couple of seconds at most... before leaving quickly... if this route, he will say UNDEAD, get away..

Gustav steps out of the room, slamming the door shut.  For a moment, he attempts to lock the door, though after a brief inspection, he finds no lock, and besides, the key ring he holds has dozens of keys on it.  He would never find the right one in time!

Bidding the other two to run back towards the entrance, Gustav hurries along behind them, slamming the iron grate shut near the entrance hall.  A look down the hallway shows the abomination following, his shambling frame taking slow, uneasy steps as his empty eyes glare in Gustav's direction.

"Shit!"  Morgalyn stops as Gustav mulls over their options.  "There are more of those things!  What the fuck is this place!"

"Do we leave it?"  Teo breathes heavily after the sprint.  "Or do we take the thing out before it follows us back upstairs and lets the whole place know we are here?"

OOC:  The zombie is about 20 yards down the hallway, and it is not moving all that fast.  While the door to the room the thing was in didn't seem to have a lock, the iron grate leading to the entranceway certainly does.  Do you want to take the time to try and lock this door, or do you want to keep running upstairs?"

Gustav closes the grated door and finds the key to lock it... this would be just the thing for investigators to find... that would (Hopefully) cause further inspection. I don't know how long it's been, but lets get Rolf and get the hell out of here...

Gustav grabs frantically at the keyring, picking one of the keys at random to try in the hole to lock the iron bars shut.

Slowly, his shambling body moving with awkward jerks and steps, the abomination hobbles forward.

Cursing, Gustav drops that the first key, reaching for the next as he discovers the thing does not turn.

One after another, Gustav tries the keys within the lock as the thing moves slowly closer, its expression aching with desire.  One after another, the keys fail, and Gustav gives himself one more try as the thing has now closed to within a few short paces.

"Get ready."  Teo grips his club, standing just a step behind and to the side of Gustav, readying himself to strike.

Gustav jabs the key in the lock and flicks his wrist, and the key turns!  Wrenching the key out at the last second, Gustav stumbles backwards as the things arms grab through the gaps in the bars.  It presses its teeth clear to the iron, and impressing upon Gustav the overwhelming stench of blood and the gore of the thing's open head fracture.

In a moment, Gustav catches his breath, though his heart still thumps madly in his chest.  Teo agrees instantly with Gustav's plan to get back upstairs and then to leave immediately.

"I'm ready."  Teo says simply, following as Gustav leads the way back to the stairs...

This story resumes in Chapter 17:  One flew into the Cuckoo's Nest.