The Haunting of Brightwood Asylum
Part 1
As Alice continued to dig into the secret history of the House of Seasons, and the coming of the Blight, she started to become aware of something missing, edited out of history. It started to take shape from the places something should have been but wasn't, edges of narratives that didn't line up. There appeared to be an entire ancient kingdom that had been struck from history, edited out, slowly becoming apparent in the shape of its absence.
And to make matters stranger, she didn't appear to be the first to be making these connections. Over and over, on every book, every document she checked out, she kept seeing the same name, signed out before her. Lorelei Catesby. She recognized it immediately. Everyone at Balefire knew it, and its every implication filled her with dread. Just days earlier, they had all heard the news. A student researching into forbidden texts was driven mad by something she had found. She was committed to Brightwood Asylum where on her first night there, she had taken her own life.
Delia reached out her connections, and found someone who worked at the asylum with a bit of information. Rumor was, Lorelei still haunted her cell. The administration there had called in an exorcist, arriving in a few days, to deal with the issue. Would they be able to contact Lorelei, to see what she had learned? Time was short. For the right price, Delia's asylum contact would leave a back door open for them, but once inside, the rest would be up to them. Throughout its long history, many dangerous witches had been committed to Brightwood, and it was heavily warded. But Delia and Thornapple had quite a bit of experience getting into places they weren't supposed to be.
And to make matters stranger, she didn't appear to be the first to be making these connections. Over and over, on every book, every document she checked out, she kept seeing the same name, signed out before her. Lorelei Catesby. She recognized it immediately. Everyone at Balefire knew it, and its every implication filled her with dread. Just days earlier, they had all heard the news. A student researching into forbidden texts was driven mad by something she had found. She was committed to Brightwood Asylum where on her first night there, she had taken her own life.
Delia reached out her connections, and found someone who worked at the asylum with a bit of information. Rumor was, Lorelei still haunted her cell. The administration there had called in an exorcist, arriving in a few days, to deal with the issue. Would they be able to contact Lorelei, to see what she had learned? Time was short. For the right price, Delia's asylum contact would leave a back door open for them, but once inside, the rest would be up to them. Throughout its long history, many dangerous witches had been committed to Brightwood, and it was heavily warded. But Delia and Thornapple had quite a bit of experience getting into places they weren't supposed to be.
After convincing Lorelei that they were there to help, it all came pouring out. She wasn't sure how, but someone had done this to her. The madness, the suicide, these were powerful curses at work. She would tell them everything she knew, but she needed their help first. As a vengeful spirit, she was bound to the place of her death. She wanted out, a chance to find who had done this to her, before the exorcist severed her connection to this world forever.