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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1731712" data-attributes="member: 1210">Advanced Mental Treatment5:20 p.m., 5/24/368 O.L.G., inside the Asylum for Advanced Mental TreatmentThe heavy doors are closed and locked, and Federico and Jawbreaker glance around nervously.  Neither has a weapon with them- even the mere sight of a weapon might upset certain inmates of the Asylum of Advanced Mental Treatment.  The foyer is so clean that the tiles of the floor gleam.  There are several doors and a hallway that lead away from it.“The first floor,” says Dr. Zimmer, “is where all the communal rooms are.  For example,” leading them down the hallway and past a number of open rooms, “down here we have a series of work and play rooms for inmates who are relatively well-adapted.  The kitchens and dining rooms are also on this level.”  As they walk, Jawbreaker and Federico see a doctor performing some sort of group speech therapy with a group of patients, a few people snacking in another comfortable-looking sitting room and several off-duty interns lounging around.  “Ah, over here are the baths... storage, of course- feeding an institution of this size this far away from a city is an art all its own- and from this window here you can see the sunset.  It’s no ocean view, but it is nice enough nonetheless.  This level is also where the doctors live- our private chambers, also the private offices of those who have them.”  He smiles broadly at the two halflings and adds, “Most of the other staff- such as the orderlies, janitors and so forth- stay in outbuildings, though.  That’s about it for this level- let’s go on up to the second.”  He leads the group to a stairway that heads up.As he pitter-patters up the stairs, Federico thinks, So far everything seems okay... I hope there isn’t a terrible surprise waiting for us!  I hope they don’t try to lock us up here or something!  He shivers, his tail between his legs, as he ascends the stairway.  Jawbreaker is keeping his mouth shut, but he doesn’t like this place at all.  It doesn’t make any sense to him anyway- what the hell is this place doing out here in the middle of nowhere anyhow?  And what does Advanced Mental Treatment mean, anyway?“The second floor,” Dr. Zimmer explains, “mostly houses our inmates.”  The stairs lead up to a long, horseshoe-shaped hallway lined with doors.  All of them are locked shut, and most have small shuttered windows in them.  “We can look in on certain selected ones through the viewing windows,” he explains, “but there are some to whom even looking in on them would be terribly dangerous.”“Some with mind powers?” Federico asks timidly.“Some, yes.  Some are simply extremely dangerous.  In any event,” Zimmer opens the shutter on one of the viewing windows on a door, “here is an interesting fellow.  He thinks that Bleak talks to him, but there is no evidence of divine visitation or magic.  Of course, there is always a small chance that Bleak does talk to him, but all the evidence is against him.”  He shrugs, closing the window, then shows Jawbreaker and Federico an empty cell.  Jawbreaker looks around uneasily.  It’s a small, confined space; there isn’t much to it.  He would absolutely hate being locked up in there.  He would rather die.  He glances uneasily at the orderlies accompanying them on their tour, but nobody tries to lock him up- at least not yet.“The third level is special,” Dr. Zimmer comments.  “It’s where we perform our more advanced therapies.”  He halts at the top of the stairs.  “You must understand that our techniques may appear unorthodox, but we are well-trained professionals and have a great deal of experience with these things.  Our therapies really work.”  Jawbreaker grunts.  Federico nods nervously.Dr. Zimmer leads them on.  “Our therapies vary with the patient’s needs.  Some, such as this, might seem silly.”  He opens a door.  Beyond it is a large chamber dominated by a great window to the outside.  Before the window are a series of metal rods contrived into a sort of sawhorse-shaped construction.  Near the ceiling a long bar runs as the sawhorse’s back; from this dangles a swing, facing the great window.  Dangling from the seat of the swing are several shackles.  “Some of our more violent patients find the combination of the swinging motion and the view soothing, and sometimes they have to be shackled in to avoid incidents, but the swing here can do long-term good for some of the most badly deranged of our patients.”Jawbreaker snorts.“There are many other types of advanced treatments that we perform, as well- for example, different drug therapies- but the only therapy ongoing at this point in time is down here in this chamber.”  He strides to a door, followed by our heroes.  “Steel yourselves,” he warns, and throws open the door.“Oh God!” cries Federico.The room is garishly lit by brightly-burning oil lamps.  Several metal tables are in the chamber, occupied by patients who are strapped down into immobility.  Straps even run across their foreheads and throats.  One of the men is moaning in fear and his head is bloody.  Orderlies and doctors cluster around them.  “It’s called trepanation,” Dr. Zimmer explained.The doctors around the bloody-headed man dab up much of the blood, revealing a hole in the top of the man’s skull.  One of them pulls out a vial of fluid and slowly pours it into the hole.  The man quivers, his eyes roll, and he gives out an inarticulate shout; then he slumps in his straps.  The other man is just beginning to have the hole drilled.  Federico and Jawbreaker flee the room.Dr. Zimmer follows them, nodding sympathetically.  “It’s certainly a traumatic sight.  I tried to warn you.”“Does that... does that help people?” Federico asks incredulously.Dr. Zimmer nods.  “The right people, if their condition is right, can be greatly aided by it.”“Lets the demons out,” Jawbreaker grunts, nodding.  Zimmer looks at him in surprise. “Something like that.”“Do they ever die?”Dr. Zimmer hesitates.  “Accidents do happen, of course, but it’s extremely rare.  We’re very careful, and frankly, the sort of people these treatments are designed to help are usually so dangerous that they’ll never be released if they aren’t successfully treated.  Better some chance than none, eh?”“You have patients that are dangerous?” Federico asks.“Oh, yes.  We have dangerous patients indeed,” Dr. Zimmer sighs.  “We even have a mass murderer.”“What his name?” Jawbreaker growls.“Manson,” Zimmer tells him.“I think it’s time I went to prepare for your show,” Federico quivered.7:00 p.m., 5/24/368 O.L.G., just outside the Asylum for Advanced Mental TreatmentFederico puts on a one-man show.  He does his fruit act, he uses his best self-deprecating humor, he pulls out all the stops. He bombs.*But he keeps the staff’s attention while Jawbreaker tries to sneak inside.  With Timothy’s assistance, they can hopefully identify the person they’re here to liberate- Norman- and break him out with nobody the wiser.  And then hopefully beat a hasty retreat to more pleasant ‘wheres!  Jawbreaker scales the outside of the creepy Asylum, going up to the great window on the swing room.  He gets to it fairly easily, but once up there he realizes that the window doesn’t open.  With a grunt, he pulls his greataxe free and swings at the glass as best he can.  He loses his grip on the wall in the process, but dashes a great hole in the window.  And Federico’s show has drowned out the noise.  Though he’s badly wounded by the fall, Jawbreaker grunts in satisfaction.  Unfortunately, he’s too badly wounded to go on to stage two of the plan and secure a rope for the deer-eyed Timothy.  Kid looks well-intentioned, but scared.  And definitely some kind of half-wit. 9:15 p.m.Federico slumps dejectedly back into the camps.  “I don’t think they liked my show,” he whines.  “Those d-doctors make me nervous.”  He shudders in revulsion, thinking about the... the procedures he witnessed earlier.  “We can’t let them take Timothy back, we can’t let them do that to him!” he groans desperately.Jawbreaker limps over to him.  “I broke window, but no rope.  Fall,” he explains.Federico casts a pair of bardic cure light wounds on his barbarian pal, and then he looks at him seriously.  “If you could secure a rope up there, we could probably all negotiate our way up it, especially if someone could carry me.”  “I don’t wanna go back in the place,” Timothy moans.“But you want to help people, don’t you Timothy?” Federico asks.  He smiles brightly.  “We’ll keep you safe.  We won’t let them take you back.”  “Okay,” says Timothy.Next Time: Things get out of control!</blockquote>

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