Letter 22: The Jung Ones

Testing Times with Tim and Tabitha

Howdey Partner!

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I finished my last letter just as things looked to be kicking off between us and a couple of the 'subjects' of this asylum we have found ourselves in. Not knowing what was going to happen I cocked my crossbow and waited for one of the mages to do something aggressive. Unsurprisingly he started preparing a spell so I fire but my bolt bounced off some form of magical shield. As I reloaded blue tentacles emerged from the ground and entangled our new friend Kassar and Ziyana. Ziyana then started attacking herself while the mage shouted "Tabitha! Slow them down".
The female mage, I assume this was the aforementioned Tabitha, replied in a rather affected voice, "Yes dear Tim!" and she cast a spell leaving some of us, myself included, feeling as if we were walking through treacle. Lady Helena staggered away while Kassar went into one of his rages and charged Tim but missed with his attacks. I focused my efforts on Tabitha but missed as well. Seeing this as a lost cause I switched to one of my rods and attacked Tabitha with a Acid Arrow spell which did hit. At the same time Adyel appeared from nowhere and Tim vanished. Lady Helena got rid of the Slow spell while Kassar attacked Tabitha but his weapon flew out of his hand and through one of the bead curtains. Kissara finally managed to slumber Tabitha just as one of the curtains parted and a guard entered took a look around and then left again.

My spell was still doing damage but we weren't taking any chances so I used a tangle-foot bag to stick Tabitha to the floor. We could hear Tim somewhere muttering invocations but we couldn't see him. Suddenly Tabitha cast another spell and vanished. I followed the guard into a room set out like a surreal garden [13] with huge toadstools dotted around it and people casually milling around. "I'll try and delay the guard" I called back to the others just as a fireball went off in the room. A slightly singed Lady Helena soon followed by Kassar joined me in the garden, the latter retrieving his weapon from under one of the giant toadstools.
Kissara and Adyel joined us just as the guards (a mixture of the monk and priests) and a middle aged gnome entered through the north door. I checked out the gnome who was wearing spectacles, a snazzy jacket and waistcoat combination and an array of flasks and scrolls in a bandoleer.

The Doctor Pays a Visit

"Now then, vat appears to be ze problem?" the gnome asked in an odd accent that I couldn't quite place.
"Where shall I start?" I asked rhetorically standing nose to nose with my fellow gnome, "Fireballs, tentacles, two of your subjects attacking us - that will do for starters."
Lady Helena joined in "Your inmates are out of control. They attacked us!"
The guards passed through the curtain and dispelled the magical tentacles after which the gnome waved us through.
"I am ze Doctor. I am glad to be finally meeting you." The gnome sketched a bow.
"We were chatting and they attacked us." Kissara continued but the Doctor waved this away and started spouting some psycho-babble before handing out healing potions to all that needed restoration.
"I am here to help find a cure for ze afflictions of ze mind. Poor Tim and Tabitha had been to the Worldwound, zis changes the magic and ze mind you know."
"That's all very interesting, can you tell us what lies in the Restricted Area?" I pushed the question while the Doctor seemed willing to talk.
"That holds all of ze most dangerous subjects." he said before bowing and walking away accompanied by his guards.

Trouser Tea for All

From nowhere, it seemed, the man who said he wasn't mad appeared again and demanded that we got him out of the prison. We pretty much ignored him and returned to our rest room to regather our thoughts and strengths. On the way we requested that a large pot of aniseed tea was delivered to our chambers. Once it had cooled a bit I poured copious amounts of it over my trousers so that a really smelt strongly of aniseed (which if you remember was one way of identifying the mysterious Casandra.

We went back to the forest room then headed south, followed all the time by the 'only sane man in the village' who insisted on calling himself Fred, into a room where people were sitting around playing dice, card and board games [14]. The walls are covered with murals of people laughing and having fun while playing games. A halfling started telling 'jokes' and 'riddles' but as he pressed past us on his way out he stole something from Ziyana but Kissara forced him to return what he stole before letting him go.

We progressed into the room to the west [15] which appeared to be a room dedicated to the arts and crafts. We left after flaunting tea scented trousers and fluffy panda and re-entered the forest room [13] and had a more in depth look around. There was a polar bear in one corner, a faun playing a set of pan pipes all under a domed ceiling decorated with a starry night scene. A rabbit bounced over to us and threatened Kissara! This talking rabbit uttered a stream of foul language but we just ignored it and moved on. Meanwhile Kassar spoke with the polar bear who was upset because he used to be a barbarian. The faun stopped playing and sidled up to Ziyana and whispered to her. "My name is Seamus, the irritating halfling over there says he knows a secret way but nobody believes him." The faun then started playing his pipes again which caused some of us to be shaken.

The Bleached Gnome

The walls of the next room [16] were covered in graffiti. Fred tells us that the rooms occupant, a gnome - bleached out and melancholy - had been there longer than any one could remember. I tried to break him out of his stupor with tales of my adventures but nothing seemed to stir him. Lady Helena added a few details in her own inimitable style and he seemed to brighten up a little.
"Do you like fluffy animals?" Ziyana asked and the gnome shook his head.
"I don't but she was taken away. The rabbit was taken but then came back. And the bear."
Kisarra shared a memory with the gnome and in return told the following tale.
"The halfling used to tell a tale of a secret way to where the bosses are. I don't think he ever mentioned where it was though."

We headed back to the games room and caught the halfling cheating at draughts. Kassar raged and picked the struggling rogue up.
"Where is the secret exit!" he roared in an intimidating fashion.
"It's in the pool room" stammered the halfling, "It's not a portal, it's a physical trap on the other side. Turn right through the door. Find the genie Kapoogee. Nobody knows where he is. He was one of the people running the asylum along with the wizard. The wizard now calls himself the Caretaker and is less friendly."

The Secret Way

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We returned to the pool room and waited out until the princess was alone. Kissara's prayers and hexes failed to subdue the princess and in return she was attacked by a Neried. I let off a Magic Missile and Kissara managed to eventually slumber her with a hex. I clung to Kassar's back and we dived into the pool. With Kos' help we managed to find the portal and I open the hatch and passed though the portal. Swimming up to the surface we found ourselves in a large lake surrounded by mountains. While Kassar pulled the others through I could hear that an alarm had been set off by our passing through the portal. We followed the halfling's directions and found a second portal - one that should take us into the bosses' quarters. While I tried to disarm the trap that may trigger another alarm a large sea-dragon swum across the lake towards us.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" it boomed in draconic. "Where are you going?"
At that point I opened the portal and we swum through into a chamber that appeared to be some form of bathing room [17].

We emerged from the water and dried off while I listened at the door - I couldn't hear anything so we opened it and entered a corridor. To the right was a pair of double doors so after listening again we entered and shut the door behind us.

We found ourselves in a warm well lit chamber [18]. At first it appeared to be unoccupied then we noticed a few floating transparent shapes. Lady Helena thought that these may be some form of visible - invisible servants and the chamber may be a Mage's Magnificent Mansion. We quickly checked the doors and found some bedrooms and a private dining area1. The place seemed dusty - those visible - invisible servants weren't earning their keep! In one of the side rooms Adyel found a cat under a bed then Lady Helena called out. This rug by the door is emitting a very strong magical aura.

Got to go now as likely as not shit is about to go down.

GG xx

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