The interrogation of Hyve began with Sabrina casting Suggestion to loosen his tongue. Under the spell’s influence, the sage admitted he believed another of the ancient seals had been unearthed—this one in the Lazar Principalities. Pirates had found it, though Hyve didn’t know much more.
He also offered some insight into Crove, the asylum’s administrator. Hyve suspected Crove was a spellcaster; he’d once seen him unleash a beam of light at an ogre. The mention of Professor Zenden came up again—Zenden had asked Hyve about the Horn of Quintus weeks ago. Hyve recalled being told it was aboard a rail car traveling through the Mournland.
That name stirred unease. The Mournland had once been Cyre. Bordering Breland to the north, it was transformed five years ago when a magical cataclysm swallowed the entire nation in a thick, unnatural fog, killing nearly everyone. Now, nothing truly lived within its borders.
Audrey Rose collected a few tomes of personal interest while Hyve, visibly shaken, revealed more. The ritual he and the others had performed bound fragments of their souls to the seal. The creature they had awakened believed it could reclaim its full strength by hunting them down and murdering them one by one.
Sabrina gently convinced Hyve to remain under the town’s protection—a sort of sanctuary-prison. He reluctantly agreed.
Back on the streets of Carrion Hill, something felt off. The townspeople were panicked, many hastily packing carts and fleeing. Sabrina stopped one dwarf to ask what had happened. The dwarf, wild-eyed, said that several newly built houses had been crushed, Meyer had been cut in half, and one of the guard towers had been flattened.
Sabrina turned to warn Hyve—only to find he had vanished.
Nearby, a small boy named Ches Mortalbea tugged on the end of her robe. He clutched a stuffed owlbear and explained that his father worked for the mayor. They pushed their way through the crowd and reached the mayor’s office after an hour, but found it abandoned. Ches's father arrived shortly after and led them to the destroyed guard tower.
The tower was utterly leveled. A familiar blood spiral had been painted into the stones. The air stank of burnt electronics, and Myre’s lifeless body lay nearby—coated in slime. He had been killed recently.
The group immediately set out for the asylum, a large, one-story rectangular structure. Its main double doors hung open ominously. Sabrina noted that the building had no windows, and she spotted side entrances at both far ends. A seal from House Jorasco was posted on the door—but it was a counterfeit. Sabrina removed it.
The party approached the left side entrance. A heavy wooden door barred the way, but Zita unlocked it. Inside, they found an empty chamber with several doors. From the shadows, a man in scaled leather armor with a cage on his head roared and charged at Zita, landing a blow.
Sabrina cast Daze to disorient him, Audrey Rose engulfed him in flames, and London knocked him out cold, then tied him up. The party pressed on, passing through a set of wooden doors to the left. They moved through a room and into a long hallway, eventually reaching a door at the far end. There, the corridor branched into a T-intersection, with another door straight ahead.
They chose the forward door and discovered the main office of the asylum. Sabrina knelt and inspected the rug, then searched the desk. Her efforts revealed a hidden compartment containing a twisted wand carved with an eye on one side and an ear on the other. It was a Wand of Suggestion, still holding nine charges. The command phrase was: “Going once, going twice, sold.”
Exploring further, the party moved through another door into a private lounge, then into a small library lined with shelves. The books focused on savage cultures and esoteric faiths—most of them referencing the Cults of the Dragon Below. Audrey Rose discreetly swapped out some of the duller history volumes for the more arcane texts.
Backtracking, they returned to the large double doors from the main office. These opened to a broad hallway with yet another pair of heavy doors ahead. To the left was a wide passage; to the right, a smaller one.
Two men in straightjackets stood before the central doors, chained in place. They shrieked and lunged but were held fast by their restraints. Sabrina quickly dazed one, and the group passed through the door into a stairwell descending into madness. Maniacal laughter and shrieking echoed from below.
At the bottom, two women in straightjackets stared silently. One lunged for Sabrina’s face as the group moved forward.
Searching the area carefully, London used his keen sense of smell to sniff Crove’s chair. Catching a faint scent, he led the team to a hidden door deep below the asylum.
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