January 07 - Paris - Charenton Asylum

[robertod]

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.

[Mr. Handy]

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

[aine]

Clarence looks around, interested in the architecture.

[SaintMeerkat]

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.

[robertod]

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.

[Mr. Handy]

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?"

[SaintMeerkat]

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.

[robertod]

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.

[Mr. Handy]

"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."

[aine]

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.

[Mephistophilis]

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

[SaintMeerkat]

"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.

[robertod]

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.

[Mr. Handy]

"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?"

[SaintMeerkat]

"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?

[robertod]

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."

[Mr. Handy]

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

[SaintMeerkat]

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?

[aine]

“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.”

[Mephistophilis]

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.