Play@YSDC

The asylum at Charenton, the Maison Nationale de Santé, surrounded by a large garden of hedges and flower beds. Founded in 1631, it is in its current form an enormous structure with roofs and arcades in the Italian style.
As the investigators enter the building they find a young secretary at the entrance counter. The entrance hall has marble floo , high ceiling and walls decorated with paintings of illustrious doctors. The girl asks, in French, if the visitors have come to see a patient.

"We're here to see a doctor, actually," says Felicity. "Is Dr. Leroux available?"

Clarence looks around, interested in the architecture.

Archie's public school education serves him well as he replies to the nurse in passable French that he picked up from the French war bride teacher that whipped her students into shape with the enthusiasm of General Wellesley at Waterloo. While his accent left MUCH to be desired, he was able to make himself understood.

{En Français]"Good morning, madam. My name is Dr. Archibald McIlheney of London, and it is of the utmost importance that we speak with Dr. Leroux."

I will make French one of my languages.

Let me know if I need to spend a point of Medicine.

The secretary at the reception makes a call to an ineer section of the Asylum. After being informed, Dr. Leroux grants the investigators a brief audience. The woman leads them to the doctor´s office. The investigators take a wide corridor and pass close throught a series of hospital wards. The group encounter patients wandering the place in pijamas. Most patiences are placed in large wards filled with all types of people, ranging from the truly insane to the simply misfortunate. The nurse employees that take care of them seems frustrated and discontented.

Investigators arrive at the anteroom where Madame Rogniat, the director's secretary, sits. She is a bulky woman of quick intelligence. Madame Rogniat opens the director´s office door to allow the investigator to meet the director. Before entering, they notice there are several crates in the anteroom. They are piled up in a corner and covered in dust, they have probably been forgotten there for some time. Leroux dresses conservatively and well, as might be expected in such an important post, emphasizing a personality concerned with boundaries, authority, and punctilious observance of regulations.

Felicity enters the office first, wearing an expensive knee-length black dress. "Thank you for seeing us on such short notice, Dr. Leroux," she says. "We understand that you're very busy with much to do since you took over after the unfortunate passing of your predecessor, so we'll try not to take up too much of your time. What exactly did happen to him, by the way?"

Archie nods, looking at Felicity and back at the doctor. "Yes, thank you. A quick rundown would be great. Also, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, I would love to look at his file." Archie then shows the doctor his credentials.

Leroux replies coldly:
"Delplace’s death was a tragic and unfortunate accident. The staff still feels the upheaval. We have already released our report to the police on the incident. I hope you understand we prefer to keep confidentiality on this event."

He pauses.

"What can I do for you gentlemen?"

He politely discusses any aspect of the asylum with the investigators, but gets away from the topic of Delplace’s death.

Although the director tries to hide it, Archie notices that he´s very upset by the fact that visitors mentioned the incident.

"We want to learn about Count Fenalik, who was an inmate here in the 18th century," says Felicity. "In particular, we're interested in finding out his ultimate fate. He was apparently never released, so he must have ended his days here."

Did Clarence recognise the crates as anything in particular? He sees a lot in his line of work.

Clarence is happy to let Felicity talk to the doctor; maybe her feminine charms might work on the doctor’s frosty demeanour.

Andrew remains silently behind the others, nodding approvingly but studying the doctor and his office very carefully.

"Of course," Archie said. "I understand that you don't want to talk about your hospital's operations, but what about this Count fellow? Perhaps I could see his file?"

Let me know if I need to spend a point of Medicine.

Leroux's face relaxes. The director of the asylum seems relieved to know that these British visitors are ultimately more interested in the past than the present of the institution.

The name Fenalik suggests a vague memory to Leroux. He read the history of the asylum, a bit before becoming director. He remembers reading about this count, a very ancient and famous patient. The things the director remembers are little less than what investigators have already found at the library. Leroux guesses the visitors must be scholars. He asks if they are historians.

"Who do you work for, if I may ask?"

He asks them to follow him to another room. On leaving, the director gives a warning to the secretary to clear up the confusion of the anteroom as soon as possible. The group enters another room, not far from the director's office. The room is occupied by rows of shelves in which stacks of folders with yellowed documents are accumulated in an apparently confused way, but still following a chronological order.
The investigators are permitted to search through patient records dating up to 1810. Later records are thought potentially distressing to families and friends. After the entry of his name in the rolls, Comte Fenalik appears. He entered the aylum in June 1789. Oddly, no exit or death was reported. Yellowed medical records only include two medical examinations. The Comte was housed in ward 7, along with the most serious cases. The doctor at tha time related catatonia and unusual slowdown of all vital and vegetative functions, up to apparent death.

"We're working for a professor back in Britain," says Felicity. "I've studied history, at Oxford. Is there any way to find out what became of the Comte after his final examination? If he died, though there is no record of it, he had to have been buried somewhere. And of course he'd have to be dead by now. Is it possible he lived past 1810, though?"

"Yes, we are helping out a mutual friend of ours that asked us to do a little field research for him. Thank you so much for allowing us to look around."

Archie dug into the files, careful not to damage any of the aging documents.

Do I see anything unusual in the two examinations?

While the others are going to see the records, Andrew notice something among the crates in the anteroom to Dr. Leroux’s office. The boxes are left here under the eye of Madame Rogniat. Andrew sees that the lid of one crate is partly open.
There´s a bound journal or diary, on the blue chip-board cover of which a few words have been written.

E. Delplace Evènements 23

Delpace is the diractor who recently died.

Meanwhile, Dr. Leroux responds to Felicity.
"It is unlikely that he lived beyond the year 1810. As you can see, the reports say that he died earlier. Fenalik was buried in a mass grave along with other bodies. The grave is located in a spot, in the garden surrounding the institute."

He makes a gesture point to the window to a place far away from the building.
"Unfortunately. , everything we know about the count is in these records, I know it's not much."

"Thank you, Doctor," says Felicity. "Has anyone else expressed an interest in Comte Fenalik in recent months?"

Archie perks up for a moment when the director talks about the mass grave, but then his heart sinks when he realizes that not only would there be no way to find the corpse, any useful information would long rotted away.

He grabbed the two medical examinations and started parsing them, looking for anything unusual.

OOC:   Is there anything in the two medical examinations that jumps out to me?

“I’m an expert of antiquities and relics.” Clarence tells the Doctor. “You are very lucky to work in place with so much history; I see you have a few fine pieces about.”

Catching sight of the bound journal, Andrew studiously looks the other way. How am I going to get a look at that?

'Madame, can I help you move these crates?' he asks. Hoping that after he's done a little physical work he can ask her to get him a glass of water as a reward and take the opportunity to get hold of the notebook.

Archie notes in medical tests that the Fenalik patient had very low blood pressure and hypothermia for several days. It is strange, but not impossible, that he survived in those conditions even a few days.
Leroux shakes his head in response to Felicity.
"Oh no ... I think you are the first people I meet interested in this character."
Responding to Clarence, Ledoux says that the institution has indeed an important history and prestige in the treatment of mental illnesses. He hopes that mental illness will one day become a relic itself and a nightmare of the far past not yet achieved by progress and rationality.

The secretary accepts Andrew's help. The crates are carried to the archives room, the same where the other investigators are. They see Madame Rogniat and Andrew walk in with the boxes in hand. Madame Rogniat she keeps an inspection eye on Andrew, looking worried that the detective might snoop too much. Andriew while trasporting the crates, can quickly catches a peek at the title of a text and the first few lines of a page.

The Journal of Dr. Delplace
ENTRY—A dismaying event last night. A male nurse, one Guimart of 4th Ward, entered the cellars without authorization, and there, after suffering a painful wound to his right arm, collapsed. Another nurse.....

OOC:   Andrew needs to distract her if he wants to get the book and be unnoticed.

As they approach the archive and Andrew hears the sound of the others and Dr Ledoux, he stumbles and loses his grip on the box he is carrying, emptying it onto the floor, the contents flying about in disarray.

'Oh my gosh. I am awfully, awfully sorry. Let me collect those up for you.'

"I suppose more people would be interested in the Marquis de Sade, who was also here around that time," says Felicity. "I wonder if they knew each other."

Clarence hears the crash and wonders what on Earth Andrew is up to. He attempts to engage the Doctor’s attention,
“Yes the Marquis de Sade. I suppose you have read the records of patients from that time hmm, Doctor?”

The secretary gets distracted and Andrew manages to take Delplace's notebook without her and Leroux noticing.
But Leroux didn't like to see the detective with those crates in hand. He knows something of De Sade, and engages in a discussion of circumstance with the investigators, while maintaining a cold and distant tone. He begins to be visibly annoyed by this visit.

"Well, gentlemen. I hope I have been helpful with your historical research. I wish you a good continuation of your study."

"Thank you, Doctor, you've been very helpful," says Felicity.

It is the end of the afternoon. The sunset light begins to penetrate almost horizontally through the large arched windows of the old Parisian mental health building. The director briskly accompanies the foreign visitors to the exit and wishes them a pleasant stay in Paris. As soon as enough leaves are removed from the institute, the investigators can calmly see the notebook they found.
Once they leave the big gate of the institute behind, the investigators calmly see the notebook that Andrew has managed to steal from the secretary's eyes.

Most of the records are common patient reports, including symptoms and drug dosages. However, the last part of the paper relates something interesting about the last days of the psychiatrist's life.

ENTRY—A dismaying event last night. The male nurse Guimart of 9th Ward hadn't left his place and the hospital for two days. The other nurses have been restless and reluctant to go and search for him.
Eventually, another nurse, P. Mandrin, investigated Guimart’s absence and, after some time, discovered Guimart on the floor of the 9th ward, in severe shock. Guimart collapsed after suffering a painful wound to his right arm. Treatment was prompt and efficacious, but upon regaining consciousness this morning, Guimart began raving to me about being attacked by a dead man.
For the moment, I have placed him in room 13, and notified his landlady of his indisposition. Alas, with Guimart was another man, one unknown to this institution, and in tragic physical condition. Many grave questions must be answered.

ENTRY—I began to question Guimart about the stranger. He does not appear on the hospital´s records. Is he a patient? What is his name? How long had Guimart kept him down there? Had Guimart kept the stranger there for a long time? Had he given him nourishment? How had he survived? I am moving the stranger to my private wing, for the moment treating the man as an inconsequential derelict until more evidence is found.

ENTRY—Even in a fresh bed the stranger’s appearance is horrifying.
Its skin is hardened, tending to a color between gray and greenish. The face has strange deformities. Given small amounts of broth, he merely regurgitates it. He takes no nourishment, yet lives in a catatonic state. Would electroshock revive him?

ENTRY—After several applications, the stranger woke, but so weakened that he could not move. He whined and begged in different, and very old forms of Greek and Latin... tales of cities crumbling, and of other, darker things. What a mystery man! It is almost easier to think we have tapped some form of group mind or racial memory.

After a few inconsequential notations, the journal ends. All the entries quoted are dated just before Delplace’s death.

"How fascinating," says Felicity. "We should see what we can find out about the police report on Dr. Delplace's death. Perhaps this stranger had a hand in it."

Furrowing his brow, Andrew reads over the account of the mysterious patient again. 'And there is no record of Count Fenalik ever leaving the asylum?' he asks.

“Fenalik was catatonic, the stranger was catatonic, looked dead, the nurse raving about a dead man, one might almost think... no, that would be preposterous, hmm.”
Clarence paces up and down, deep in thought.

"Preposterous like being pulled into another world by a model train?" asks Felicity. "I think we've all had our horizons broadened. It's not so unreasonable to think that Fenalik could still be alive, after a fashion."

Archie nodded, agreeing with Andrew.

"Preposterous. Hospitals can forget to document a lot of details, but it's difficult to believe they didn't put something somewhere about it, and I am not sure I buy the bit about the body being buried in a pauper's field."

Previously said:   "How fascinating," says Felicity. "We should see what we can find out about the police report on Dr. Delplace's death. Perhaps this stranger had a hand in it."

At the police station, the French officers are quite reluctant to give detailed information on Dr. Delplace's death, especially when the applicants are curious strangers. This information is strictly confidential.

OOC:   1 dot Cop talk spending + a reasonable justification

Andrew explains to the French police officers that they are tracking a murderer from London and have reason to suspect he may have been admitted to the asylum. They are concerned that he may have been involved in the doctor's death.

He offers for them to get in contact with the intelligence desk at the embassy in Paris to confirm his credentials.

OOC:   1 point of Cop Talk spent. Andrew is confident his contacts in the intelligence service will back up his story.

Felicity flirts with the policemen, and while it doesn't appear to help loosen their tongues, it doesn't hurt either.

Andrews' words are convincing to the inspector, who demands no credentials.
"So ... from what we were able to judge it was indeed an accident. Doctor Delplace was killed by an electroshock device... one of those things they use ... it seems it was old and defective. The device even overheated and the internal circuits burned out. Doctor Delplace was probably trying to get it working again. He was alone. All the patients were in their rooms, watched by the nurses."
"The new director doesn't want this story out there. You know how it is. People don't like to know that the asylum still uses certain methods. But there´s no dangerous killer on the loose inside the asylum, Mr. Murray. Your murderer is somewhere else."

"If Dr. Delplace was alone," asks Felicity, "on whom was he using the electroshock device?"

Archie shakes his head. "You know, that electroshock therapy holds a lot of promise, and it may still find a place in treating the brain. But these are early days and it has been abused."

"It does sound to me like there must have been someone else in the room. I'm not sure that I'm buying he was just doing maintenance."

The commissioner shrugs and sighs.
"Delplace wasn´t testing the device on someone. It looks like he was cleaning it and seeing if still worked."

Turning to Archie
"Indeed, it´s difficult to believe that the devices kill him due to its malfunctioning and the doctor´s imprudence. But our investigations resulted in nothing else. No suspicions, no motives and no clues other than the damaged device. We have repeatedly questioned all the staff. Nobody knows anything. Maybe someone is lying, but we haven't been able to indict anyone. We can't rule out that Delplace used the device to commit suicide, although I admit that would be a completely unusual method."

“There’s still this strange patient unaccounted for.” Clarence pipes up. “If only we could speak to him. And the nurse seems to have been attacked in, um...”
Clarence racks his brain, “Ward 4. Where he was unauthorised to go, I wonder what goes on in there, hmm?”

Archie nodded, leaning in toward the commissioner, switching to his heavily accented French. "Yes, I understand, officer. Believe me, I am not questioning your competence, nor that of your...ehh...how do you say...police de frère. It just seems odd."

"Was there a note? Did your detectives find that he had recently cancelled future social or professional engagements?"

"We should find and talk to the nurse," says Felicity to Clarence. "He might know."

The police commissioner answears to Clarence.
"Oddly, we could not find any diary or notebook on which Delplace might have taken somenotes. It seems that the doctor did not have this habit. Or at least, so say his colleagues and nurses at the asylum."

OOC:   I´m assuming the investigators did not talk to the Commissioner about the doctor´s notes found by Andrew.

Previously said:   "We should find and talk to the nurse," says Felicity to Clarence. "He might know."

Evening falls over Paris. Some nurses change shifts at this time. Maybe the investigators can find someone coming out of the Asylium.

"Let's go to the asylum now," says Felicity. "The shift is changing, so we can ask those coming and going. Someone is bound to know him."

'We will need to be inconspicuous. Not just charge in there all guns blazing. Many of them will recognise us from earlier and may have been warned not to talk to us. It sounds like we are looking for this nurse Mandrin or Guimart if he ever made it out of the asylum.'

He furrows his brow again.

'And what precisely do we think the consequences would be if this mysterious patient, who is most certainly not the former Comte Fenalik because that would be impossible. What would happen if he got out of the asylum?'

"I imagine the consequences would be quite dire indeed," says Felicity. "I'm sure he was locked up there for a very good reason. I'm not exactly known for my discretion, but I could perhaps change my appearance if we had time. I don't think I have time to do much more than swap hats, however."

Archie nodded at Felicity. "I believe you are right. We should be able to find someone who knew him. We can at least give it a try."