Floor 3
29 – Alienists’ Quarters
These tidy quarters are well-furnished, with a large bed, a writing desk by a window, a deer-skin rug, and a handsome chest of drawers. Paintings, mostly depicting rustic tableaux or hunting scenes, provide decoration. There’s also a large chest at the foot of the bed. Outside, rain patters against the windows.
Apart from a spare doctor’s and courtier’s outfit (in the chest of drawers), the Alienists keep a few personal effects in their chests, which are locked (Disable Device DC 25 to open or use the Brain Key). Roll 1d3 times to see what each contains:
| Roll 1d20 | Result |
| 1 | 2d100 gold pieces. |
| 2 | A fine gold pocket watch (250 gp) |
| 3 | Book on human anatomy (10 gp) |
| 4 | Scroll of Feeblemind |
| 5 | Book on mental illness (10 gp) |
| 6 | Spare Hand Key |
| 7 | Scroll of Lesser Confusion |
| 8 | Masterwork dagger |
| 9 | Scroll of Rage |
| 10 | 1d3 putrescent human brains |
| 11 | Putrescent human brain, partially eaten |
| 12 | Spare Brain Key |
| 13 | Scroll of Touch of Madness |
| 14 | Daguerreotype camera and 1d100 photographs of inmates in various states of distress, some of them hideously mutilated or grafted |
| 15 | Masterwork wheellock pistol and 10 bullets with gunpowder |
| 16 | Spare Eye Key |
| 17 | Scroll of Confusion |
| 18 | Wand of Fear (25 charges remaining) made from a human radius |
| 19 | Spare Heart Key |
| 20 | Floor plan of the asylum (above-ground only) |
The Guest’s Ward
The corridor has a trapdoor leading to the attic near the end of the hall. The trapdoor locked (Disable Device DC 25 to pick, DC 20 to, noisily, force, or open with the Eye Key).
30 – Guest Room
This small room was obviously once a cell, judging from the bars on the windows and the bare brick walls. A small bed, a chest of drawers, a chamber pot, and a stool are the only furnishings.
If the characters go to sleep after being escorted by Dr Delacroix, they’ll find themselves locked in. As Delacroix explains:
“I’m afraid these rooms are all we have. We used to have rather more patients, but in recent years we’ve had this ward converted into additional chambers for staff and visitors. Unfortunately the doors can only be opened from the outside; a safety precaution. I’ll be sure to have someone come by and let you out early tomorrow.”
Though the doors do indeed lock automatically, they can technically be picked (Disable Device DC 40) or forced (DC 25). If the characters were guileless enough to drink the wine provided them by Delacroix in the dining room, the delayed-onset poison they ingested kicks in around now (about 1 hour after ingestion) – Fortitude DC 15 to resist. If they fail they fall into a stupor for 1d3 hours and will wake up in one of the chambers in the Intensive Treatment Wing, or even strapped down to a slab in one of the Laboratories in the basement if they annoyed Delacroix somehow. Of course, with any luck the characters either pass their saves or avoided ingesting the poison in the first place. If they did pass their saves, they’ll be treated to a visit by a pair of Orderlies later in the night (they come in through the door) – make Stealth checks for the Orderlies (+11) as they approach (if the character perceives them, they hear approaching footsteps).
Disused Ward
The door to the disused ward has been locked (Disable Device DC 25, force DC 20, or use the Eye Key) and boarded shut (Strength DC 20 to quickly pull off the boards). The Intellect Devourers and their minions shun the ward because of the spirit of Valentin Morel, who has become an allip and haunts the ward. If dispersed Morel’s spirit re-forms the next night. It will only depart if the Intellect Devourers are slain or their experiments otherwise ended.
Dust and cobwebs shroud this hall, which has obviously not been in use for quite some time. An door with the words “Dr Valentin Morel” on it is evident to the left.
31 – Dr Valentin’s Study
The door to the study is locked (Disable Device DC 30 to pick, Strength DC 25 to force, or open with the Brain Key). However, there is a trapdoor from the attic (Disable Device DC 25 to pick, DC 20 to force, or open with the Eye Key).
You enter a spacious, well-appointed study with fine wooden furniture. The walls are lined with handsome shelves containing numerous medical texts, most of them pertaining to mental illness – its causes, effects, and methods of treatment. A large writing desk and a leather chair are placed near the curtained window; there are some papers on the desk, but in general the place looks disused, with a thick layer of dust lying over everything. There are some old stains on one wall and on part of the floor; they have been partially scrubbed off but are still visible, though faded, under the dust. There are also some heavy scuff-marks on the floor around the door.
The papers are diary entries. It would probably have occurred to humanoids to burn these papers and so dispose of them, but this has not occurred to the Intellect Devourers (their Grimlock orderlies do think like other humanoids, broadly speaking, but lacking sight they have never developed a written language and so have not noticed the diaries).
After reading these documents, the characters will be confronted by the spirit of Dr Valentin Morel – having been driven mad himself by the sight of the Intellect Devourers and their handiwork, and having committed suicide, he has returned as an (advanced) Allip:
There is a flash of lightning and suddenly you become aware of a figure standing in the corner, watching you intently. Dressed in a tattered doctor’s coat, the spirit bears the stern visage of Dr Valentin Morel, recognizable from the portrait in the foyer, albeit contorted into an expression of madness and despair. As he moves towards you, you see that the back of his head has been blown out, as if he put a pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger. Gliding forwards, flickering through furniture, the spirit begins babbling incoherently, reciting random passages from medical textbooks in a hideous, inhuman voice.
Sanity check on seeing the Allip (1/1d6). If you’re using the d20 Sanity rules, note that the Allip’s Touch of Madness ability deals 2d6 Sanity damage rather than Wisdom drain. If a character is reduced to 0 Sanity by the Allip, they die immediately and become an Allip as described under the “Create Spawn” ability of the advanced Allip.
The wheellock pistol is nowhere to be found.
32 – Archive and Map Room
This must be the sanitarium’s archive – there are shelves full of rolled up scrolls and record books here. Most appear to simply be inventories of supplies, payment records, and rosters of inmates or staff. On one wall are framed floor plans of l’Hôpital de Corbin and its basement.
The characters can liberate these maps, greatly assisting exploration of the asylum.
33 – Library
A hole in the roof has let water into this library room, and the books lining its shelves – mostly medical texts, by the look of things – have become thoroughly infested with mildew and yellowish mould.
The stacks are infested with yellow mould. There’s really not much to salvage here.
…
Next up: the attic and the basement.
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