Sephiria Kaddren's Account
The Sanatorium.
After our discussions as to our next course of action, we determined to investigate the outlying farms to the south as well as the Saw Mill with a view to setting that up as a refuge from attacking ghouls. Lord Scarnetti told us that the Mill had been the site of the first attack where the original message to Quillax had been found.
We headed out to the Mill and found it little altered from the aftermath of the attack and the subsequent investigation. Blood still stained the cutting blade where the two victims had met their fate. Around the Mill, as well as around several of the local farms, were goblin footprints as well as the prints of a small canine – too small to be a Yeth Hound or a Warg. Quillax couldn’t identify them so Sephiria sketched a copy of the prints for future reference. We concluded that goblins were leaving the Whisperwood to the south and converging on Sandpoint.
Inside the Mill we find bloody bare footprints, similar to those of a ghoul but still retaining some human characteristics, and guess that the creature that made them might have been in some transitional form between ghoul and human. A blood covered handaxe near the log splitter showed that the victims had fought back against their attacker, and the stink still on the blade confirmed that the attacker had been a ghast rather than a ghoul.
Checking the immediate area we find a narrow tunnel dug under a bridge. Sephiria sends Moncey to investigate and the homunculus soon finds a sleeping goblin. It attempts to sting the goblin with the poison barb on its tail but the goblin awakens, throws off the effects of the poison, and chases Money out of the cave – straight into Neril. Within seconds the goblin is killed and in its den we find a pouch embroidered with an “H” containing 18gp. The goblin’s clothing marks it as a tribe from the Whisperwood allied with bugbears.
After our checks, we decide the Saw Mill is unsuitable as a refuge from either ghouls or goblins and instead head north towards the sanatorium where Grayst Sevilla, a survivor of one of the earliest attacks, had been taken. The sanatorium is run by Doctor Erin Habe, late of Magnimar, with the aid of two powerfully built tiefling orderlies. Sephiria starts chatting to him, wondering why he left a successful practice in Magnimar, and all of us notice a certain amount of jitteriness and evasion in his conversation. However, at Sephiria’s urging he agrees to let us speak with Sevilla.
The man is clearly in the advanced stages of ghoul fever, leaving both Elwin and Jarrick concerned as to how a cure had not been effected. Calling on Iomedae Jarrick reaches out to scour the disease from Sevilla, but it’s too late. He breaks free of his bonds and lunges for Quillax “he said you would visit me – he made me - he said you should come to misgivings and join his pack.” With Sevilla beyond a cure we are forced to kill him.
After the fight we start to challenge the Doctor on his treatment methods. He becomes defensive and tries to retreat with the two orderlies blocking our way. Unfortunately for Habe, Neril and then Sephiria teleport past them and intercept the Doctor before he can hide deeper in the sanatorium. Elwin recognises the orderlies as sailors and manages to convince them to step aside. Equally convincing is Quillax who has assumed her Bear form, and the tieflings decide discretion is the better part of valour and quickly tender their resignation from the Doctor’s service.
Meanwhile Habe sounds an alarm and from a doorway leading to the cellar emerge a squad of zombies – clearly former patients of the sanatorium – and behind them is a necromancer wearing the garb of a cultist of Lamashtu. Neril and Sephiria take down the necromancer while the zombies fall before the combined strength of Quillax, Jarrick and Elwin. With his allies defeated, Habe surrenders. A search of the sanatorium reveals a handful of other patients, but the only one we can help is a wererat called Pidget who is cured and returned to his family.
Habe tells us that the necromancer – Kayzalu Zerin – supported him financially and enabled him to continue his research on the nature of ghouls and how ghoul fever is spread, as well as the origins of ghasts. He appears to be unconcerned with the ethical implications of his research and, after leaving him locked in one of his own cells for the night, we decide to leave him at the sanatorium with a promise of closer oversight on the part of Lord Scarnetti.
Our next job is to visit Foxglove Manor which is perhaps the source of the ghoul attacks…
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